Vampire: The Masquerade - The Dying Fields, Episode 4

[00:00:02] Speaker A: Hello, friends, and welcome to another single serving tabletop adventure from Queen's court games. That's us. Look at how Friggin excited everyone is to be here. They are excited because tonight we are playing the dying fields, a scenario for the streets run red supplement for the masquerade. You probably already know that because you've watched the first three episodes, and you're like, why are you talking to me, Aaron? I know what's coming up. Like, we're getting to the good part, so stop introducing people and let the dice go. And to that, I say, I'm sorry. I am Aaron, and tonight, I will be your storyteller. As we wrap up things in the town of Willerton, Illinois, you can find a link to streets run red if you've enjoyed it so far but are still on the fence, type exclamation point game in chat, and that will take you to a link where you can buy it or you can follow the show notes on podcast or YouTube. In addition, you should probably also follow some of the amazing people here. You're gonna have to wait until the end to find what those links are. Exclamation point cast in right now. It's kind of cheating, but, like, I'm not gonna tell anybody. However, I will let them introduce themselves, nevertheless, as gangrel, survivalist, guru, magpie, aficionado, and friend to barred owls near and far as Hayley Drake. It's vy. [00:01:19] Speaker B: Hi. [00:01:22] Speaker A: From the boardroom to the barn board floor. Oh, that sounded so much better in my head. I didn't make it there in time anyway. It's Roxanne Silvestri. Hello. Former SiA agent has been so patient, keeping her weapon in her holster. Well, minus the scarecrow bit, but otherwise has a skill set. Desperately eager to use it. And my men might get their chance this night. It is our technical sort of an audio expert. Aubrey. Hello. Lucky toreador. Having visions, touching things they're not supposed to, getting themselves into all kind of premonition trouble. Toreador kitsch. Antiquer. Jordan Phipps. It's Clara. [00:02:11] Speaker C: Hello. [00:02:13] Speaker A: And joining us all the way from the lovely craftians and other cider studios. By the way, caught your vod on your game. Really enjoyed it. Other people should follow my advice and go see it. It's Sade. [00:02:24] Speaker D: My gosh, stop. But also, hi. [00:02:30] Speaker A: Well, we will cover recaps in just a moment. But first, this is the part where I have to stop and show off an incredibly cool intro video. See? Wasn't that worth it? I told you it would be. I mean, I didn't. It was implied. Anyway, so to this point in the story, I have asked Jordan to do a recap. I have asked Haley to do a recap. I don't remember who hasn't done a recap, though, because that's the important question that we're getting to. [00:03:29] Speaker B: There have only been two recaps, Aaron, because there only were three episodes, and you don't do a recap the first episode, because there's nothing to recap first. [00:03:37] Speaker A: Episode, I'm like, I'm gonna recap the world for you. [00:03:41] Speaker E: Recap the whole world of darkness. [00:03:42] Speaker A: Just whole. [00:03:43] Speaker E: Goddamn. [00:03:43] Speaker A: There's a part of me that's save. There's a part of me that wants to punish Haley and make her do the recap again, but that's not fair, and I'm a bigger man than that. So let's get out a. We'll see which of the remaining folk have to deal with this problem. The dice have chosen. Aubrey. Aubrey, you are the folk. [00:04:02] Speaker F: I am the folk, apparently. Well, last time, we started off with wrapping up our investigations at the library. Uh, you know, we. Not too much from there. Uh, but on our way leaving the library, we said we were going to go to the graveyard. And on our way to the graveyard, we were way laid just a little bit, um, something about, uh, circle of life. Scarecrows, juicy, bleeding scarecrows. Uh, and, uh, Aaron just being a bit of a bastard. [00:04:42] Speaker A: A bit. You flatter me a bit. [00:04:45] Speaker F: And then eventually, we were able to piece together what we needed to do to appease said Goblin Rhodes and recreated the circle of life. Gave a scarecrow some blood, which won't have any repercussions later, I'm sure, and went from there to the graveyard, which we forgot. We didn't even make it to the graveyard. And we were like, oh, we didn't even make it there. And then we eventually got to the graveyard, and there we, Roxanne had some fun with the oblivion powers, and we did put together that everybody who has this one very specific symbol on their gravestone was a sacrifice, and there are a lot of them. And then we went into a chapel, I think it was. Yeah, chapel is, you know, kind of. There were a bunch of really weird bowls filled with stuff on the altar. One of them had coins, which Haley took one. And then leaving, there we were. We met our good friends, the magpies again, all staring at us from graves. And we just walked back to our car, slowly. And then when we got into our car, they left. They said, fuck it. We said, fuck it. We left and ended up at the saloon, where we learned that. [00:06:26] Speaker A: Everett had. [00:06:28] Speaker F: To search for the name in my brain for a second. Had come through and talked to the anarchs at the bar. They'd pretty much just given him the same thing they gave everybody, like, you know, don't feed on the help kind of thing, and sort of sent on their way. We did learn about a ghoul named star child, who was a ghoul of the bartender. [00:06:54] Speaker A: I don't remember his name. Robert Warrington. [00:06:59] Speaker F: Robert Warrington, yes. And said, you know, they've been acting weird, so they might be connected to this. There's also a gang girl out there somewhere that we should probably talk to at some point. [00:07:11] Speaker A: Maybe. [00:07:11] Speaker F: Maybe they're connected. Who knows? And then from there, we made our way back to the hotel. We had. We made our way back to the hotel and encountered. Why are names just escaping me tonight? [00:07:29] Speaker A: The Zira, it was. [00:07:32] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:07:32] Speaker A: Bradley as well. Yeah. [00:07:33] Speaker F: Bradley was first. Bradley getting rid of some luggage from the other people who were staying there who had also just up and left town. Very suspicious, uh, touching that and, uh, summoning a barn owl friend. We learned that apparently a lot of. [00:07:53] Speaker A: People get taken out to the field. [00:07:55] Speaker F: And then after that, everything tastes really good. Then we talked to Nazira and had a bunch of revelations and realized that we should probably go out in the field soon. [00:08:08] Speaker A: I mean. I mean, should you go objectively? No. Must you go? A different answer. [00:08:16] Speaker F: Yeah. We want to finish our mission and get the stuff we need. We need to go out in the fields and deal with this Judas tree. [00:08:24] Speaker A: Mm hmm. Anything that Katya missed lurking in any adjacent brains? [00:08:34] Speaker B: No, that was like, a really solid recap. [00:08:37] Speaker F: Oh. It's because I re listened to it to do all the music. [00:08:39] Speaker C: I mean, we could talk about all the stuff that we talked about with Nazira, specifically what's in the fields. [00:08:47] Speaker F: The jewish tree. [00:08:49] Speaker A: Yeah. I think you're going to get a much better sense of what's in the fields as the episode unfolds. So we can just let that serve as the information that people will be taking on. How's that sound? [00:09:00] Speaker B: Love this. Nothing can go wrong in the fields, right? [00:09:04] Speaker A: No, no, no. I mean cornfield. What's the worst that could happen? Yeah. Well, in the precise moment we left, Jordan had just finished having a premonition in which she was transformed into a scarecrow tree. That is where we left everybody. It was also quite, quite, quite late in the morning, approaching morning, so the day sleep will be coming for you relatively quickly. There's maybe room enough to do 15 ish minutes of work. But aside from that, you probably shouldn't be leaving the hotel. [00:09:39] Speaker F: Sadly, I guess I'm have to hunt before we do that tomorrow. [00:09:47] Speaker B: Yeah, because we can't eat anybody who works here. Right, Jack? [00:09:53] Speaker D: Right. Entirely right. [00:09:56] Speaker B: Ok. Yeah. [00:09:59] Speaker A: Easier to ask permission or. Sorry. Easier to ask forgiveness than permission. Right? [00:10:03] Speaker D: Yeah, exactly. [00:10:04] Speaker F: There's only like one person here. Not enough to share. [00:10:10] Speaker A: Not for those of you who do ascribe to a certain moral code, but all the same. Yeah. It's not a lot of time to go out and try to find someone in Willerton who's up at the bright hour of, you know, four or 05:00 a.m. That said, then we. I don't recall if you'd made specific sleeping arrangements. [00:10:28] Speaker F: We were all in one room. [00:10:30] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:10:31] Speaker C: I believe the word kindred cuddlepuddle was said. [00:10:34] Speaker E: Yeah, because if we don't, there's a chance we'll get fucking kindrednapped. [00:10:40] Speaker F: Chair underneath the door. [00:10:42] Speaker B: I would like to state, I did not say kindred cuddlepuppe this. [00:10:46] Speaker E: Absolutely. Gotcha. [00:10:47] Speaker A: Just going on the record there. Okay, well, I'll put that in the notes for Kevin Jackson. And if he finds a valuable information, I mean, I'm sure he will. Great. Then you each find yourself some part of the room to fall asleep in. I know that vampires are territorial and there are only two beds. [00:11:06] Speaker E: I'm taking one of them. [00:11:08] Speaker A: I saw that coming. Who gets the other one left over? [00:11:12] Speaker B: It's Jordan. Let's be honest, Jordan is way too prissy to sleep on the floor. I have tried to take her camping before. I mean, camping, it's. Anyway, she's not super happy about it, ever. So it has to be Jordan. [00:11:30] Speaker C: I offered it. I offered it to Jack, and he was too much of a gentleman to say no. [00:11:36] Speaker D: I'm sitting next to the front or sleeping near the door, so I appreciate it. [00:11:41] Speaker C: If no one's going to use the bed, I'm going to use the bed. [00:11:44] Speaker F: Does this place have a tube? [00:11:47] Speaker A: I'm sure it would. [00:11:48] Speaker F: I mean, why not, right? [00:11:50] Speaker A: You have an ensuite bathroom. It's a hotel. It's an old hotel, but it's a hotel for, like, you know, rich hipster tourists. And they want to go, like, glamping, I think is the word. So whatever the equivalent of that is for rustic hotel, they're going to want, like, I'm going to say claw foot bathtub is a must. And then probably one of those toilets that has the tank like, up on the corner of the wall, right? Mm hmm. I'm sure there's a specific plumbing word for that. If you know it in chat, please. [00:12:13] Speaker E: Type the chain on it. [00:12:15] Speaker A: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. [00:12:16] Speaker B: So full on convention sleeping here. [00:12:22] Speaker A: So I know that Jack is near the door. I know that Roxanne and Jordan are in beds. Katji, were you threatening to put someone in the tub or volunteering? [00:12:33] Speaker F: I was gonna volunteer to sleep because yet again, it's a solidly defensible place if things happen, and generally, people don't check if someone were to break in. [00:12:43] Speaker C: You know, so of the five of us, the one who has the gun and is the straw has the most dots in fuck other people up is going to hide in the bathroom. Only in case one of us all gets. You know, I mean, you would have. [00:12:57] Speaker F: You probably would have worked with me long enough to know that it's pretty common that I do this. [00:13:01] Speaker E: All right, well, technically, I also have a gun. [00:13:05] Speaker F: It's just smaller mini guns and a mini knives. Enough for everybody. [00:13:10] Speaker A: Also, the room's not that big. I don't know what, like, gigantic penthouse suite you're imagining, but this is much more like Hyatt regency room, right? Not. [00:13:20] Speaker C: Yeah, it was more a statement on the willingness for a certain kindred to protect their friends. It's fine. [00:13:28] Speaker E: Kindred or kindred, babe? [00:13:31] Speaker A: Well, I really hope that this is the conversation that happens as you're going to sleep and as the sun gets the lethargy starting to spread into your vocal cords, and eventually everyone is just out. Now, apropos of nothing, there are special rules in vampire. The masquerade for waking up when the sun is out. You need to make a rouse check. And then you also need to roll your humanity at a difficulty level or aiming for a difficulty level. That depends on the level of danger. So, again, hypothetically, just throwing this out there. If, for example, while you were asleep, someone shouldered down the door, obliterating the hinges and also the chair, and then that person was followed by four or five thugs. Like, where do you think we'd rate that on. On the difficulty scale? [00:14:27] Speaker F: Sounds very loud. [00:14:29] Speaker A: I see everyone saying two. That's probably too low. [00:14:33] Speaker F: Two is great. Two is a great difficulty. [00:14:37] Speaker E: We're going by the number four. Fingers. Yeah, I was gonna say the number of fingers. Probably more like four. [00:14:43] Speaker D: Extremely valid. I was wondering. Add them together, please. [00:14:46] Speaker A: So. Well, Jack, you're the closest to the door. You were the first one who will experience this. I think you'll actually. Your body will probably be jostled as it happens. So I'm going to say it's probably easier for you, but go ahead and roll humans, and we'll see if you bother to wake up. [00:15:05] Speaker D: Two, six minutes. [00:15:07] Speaker A: Okay. Well, Jack's out. Still a little sleepy. We can say that your body is jostled, yes, but it rolls a bit like a log. And then whoever these. These hypothetical people who have not recognized exist yet, step over Jack. I don't know which of you they're going to go after. I struggled with decisions, so I'm going back to the dice. Okay. Hayley, will you please roll humanity for me? [00:15:40] Speaker B: Sure. Well, that could. That's not bad. That is a critical success with five successes. [00:15:51] Speaker A: Yeah, it makes sense that the instinct for preservation would be rising further in you than in Jak. One, they stepped over Jack. Jack only really kind of got jostled around. Two, your body was being lifted up, which is worse than what happened to Jack. And second, someone is trying to jab a needle into you, and I think that changes the math in terms of the self preservation instinct. So make a rouse check as you wake up. [00:16:22] Speaker B: Well, I definitely don't get hungry, or the beast is not fucking around right now. [00:16:26] Speaker A: Yeah, you'll need that. You'll need that for later, because, you see, the hypothetical people are real people. There is a wild eyed, I would say, gentleman, but there's nothing really gentle about him. It brings up more of a granola hippie vibe. So very straight, shoulder length brown hair. It's got, like, a bit of that. That country dirtiness to it. Plain t shirt that is sweat stained and other things stained. And then, like, linen trousers, the kind that, like, a yoga teacher might wear. And then behind him are five assistants, we'll call them of various genders, who are wielding clubs like batons, more like the kind that, like, a 1920s policeman might carry a truncheon, I think is actually the correct. So when you come to, there are two of them, one on each arm, who are kind of holding you back, like, lifting you up. And then our hippie friend has, again, a big syringe, not the kind that you get, like, a vaccine with, but the kind that you would inject, like, a horse with. Um, it's dark because you've got the windows blacked all the way out, so it's not super easy to tell what's in it, but, I mean, it's probably not good. Anyway, what do you want to do? [00:17:58] Speaker B: I would like to kick the hand with the syringe in it. [00:18:03] Speaker A: Okay. You're being held back so it's going to make the difficulty quite a bit harder for you to wrangle your body. But then, on the other hand, you are athletic, and I think, like, part of rock climbing is learning how to just, like, move your legs around, right? [00:18:16] Speaker B: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. A lot of flexibility here. [00:18:19] Speaker A: Okay, well, then if you're just going for a kick and you don't want to do any damage, try dexterity and athletics. [00:18:24] Speaker B: Okay. All right, I can do that. Dexterity and athletics. That is five successes. [00:18:37] Speaker A: Okay. So you do manage to swing your foot up and kick the syringe actually out of their hand. You can hear it hit the floor and start rolling immediately, the very, I guess, simultaneously to that, you hear the hippie person screaming, fuck, this one's awake. And then it gets, I guess, like, better if you're against getting stabbed with a needle, but worst if you're against getting the shit beaten out of you by truncheons, right? [00:19:08] Speaker B: Sure, sure. [00:19:10] Speaker A: So there are two of them, one on each arm. The others are proceeding towards the rest of coterie. Right. So there's one in front of you, two attached to you, and then three others that are proceeding through the room. The one who is one of the three is going to kind of come behind you and attempt to put a bag over your head. So I'll pull up the rolling sheet. They get five dice. [00:19:40] Speaker B: Not happy about that. [00:19:44] Speaker A: Well, you wouldn't have to worry about it too much. They get three successes. Now, this is the first round of, quote, combat. Was you kicking the thing? We're in the second one. Now, you can defend with dexterity and athletics, but each additional attacker is going to reduce your pool by one. [00:20:02] Speaker B: Okay. If I blood buff, it lasts for that whole round. Right. So I would get one action for one action. Oh, fudge muffins. Okay. Well, I would like to not have a bag over my head because that, I think, is going to make it a lot harder to see what I'm fighting against. So, yeah, that's fine. That is six successes. [00:20:36] Speaker A: Okay, well, sex will allow you to wrangle around again, not accomplishing any damage just because you are trying to avoid being bagged. That's fine. The other two, in a way you might expect. I mean, just imagine for a moment you were trying to put a bag on someone's head and they were stopping you from doing that. And you had friends with clubs. What would you want your friends with clubs to do to assist you in this process? [00:21:00] Speaker B: Probably beat the shit out of the person they're holding. [00:21:06] Speaker D: There's nothing I could do to help. I'm just jostled. [00:21:09] Speaker C: None of us sense danger at the. [00:21:11] Speaker A: End of this round. Then we'll do the wake up for everyone around you. Yeah, well, that's a really good idea. I don't know if I was going to have that idea myself, but I like where your head's at. So two more. They all have a five pool. When it comes to physical attacks, first one's going to manage three successes. The second one is going to manage only two. But remember that every time you defend, you have to reduce your pool by one. [00:21:40] Speaker B: Okay, let's go, baby. Minus one there. Well, that is a critical success with eight successes on the first one. And the second one, unfortunately zero. [00:22:11] Speaker A: Okay, so the first attack you'll be able to deflect just fine. The second one will do two superficial plus one for the weapon three. And then it's halved because you're a vampire. I believe you round up still, though, which would be. So you'll take two superficial damage. If that happens. Now, all of this noise is going to reduce the amount of difficulty for those of you to wake up, however, real quick. Okay, Jordan and Roxanne, the two people who are not currently entangled with Haley, will have, at this point, actually manage to bag you. So assuming you wake up, and I mean, like, fingers crossed for all y'all, you have a burlap sack secured around your head and will take a dice penalty from being effectively blinded. Yes. That said, let's call the difficulty for this one three, because it's. It's pretty severe danger. You can tell. And I'll let everybody else at this point get into it, too. And then, Jack, you can make another roll as well. [00:23:19] Speaker E: So that's just r 70, ten. [00:23:23] Speaker A: Whatever your humanity is. Yeah. [00:23:28] Speaker F: Oh, Jesus. [00:23:31] Speaker E: A bunch of those went at once. [00:23:36] Speaker F: That is seven successes from me. [00:23:39] Speaker A: Okay, cat is awake. [00:23:41] Speaker E: I believe that is five for me. [00:23:44] Speaker A: Still beats three. Good to go. [00:23:46] Speaker C: Is six to six count as a success? [00:23:48] Speaker A: Yes. I really like that. Jack is still out. [00:23:58] Speaker B: Jack has. Jack has four. Jack has four successes. [00:24:02] Speaker D: Okay. [00:24:02] Speaker B: A nine, seven, a six and a nine are your successes. You're welcome. [00:24:06] Speaker D: I appreciate that. [00:24:06] Speaker B: This is the first time I got you. [00:24:09] Speaker D: Thank God. No, I'm not just dead to the world. Literally. I'm back. [00:24:13] Speaker A: It would actually be hilarious if this whole thing happens. And then you're like, oh, my gosh. Okay, so now we travel to initiative order and in vampire, the masquerade. Unless you want to get really, really, really, really crunchy, the general rule is that supernatural things go first, and then you break ties by dexterity. And then mortal things go, and you break ties by dexterity. So in theory, all of you should get to act ahead of the mortals. Perhaps not so true for the other one. Is there anyone who has a four? Dexterity. Okay, so Hayley and Katja will objectively go first, and then the rest of you are sitting at three. Okay, so then it will go to Jack, and then to Jack simultaneously, rather, with the supernatural person who is here, and then Roxanne and Jordan last. So, Hayley, you tangled up. And we'll say it's going to happen after it happens simultaneously with katya. But I want to give Katya this moment to explain. Your brain alarm goes off. I don't know what that sounds like. If it's like a danger, Katya, or maybe just a siren or a little whisper, but you know something is wrong. So you come lurching up out of the bathtub. You can hear what's happening in there. Maybe you can catch, like, a glimpse of a struggle through the door. I'm assuming you left it open as tactically prudent. Now what happens? [00:25:43] Speaker F: I will pick myself up, hoping that they haven't noticed me yet, and pull the knife out of my boot. And essentially, my plan is to, if there is one very, very close to this room, like to the bathroom within, we can still use disciplines, things like that, right? [00:26:04] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:26:08] Speaker F: Except this one I can see from where I am. I'm just gonna blink and, like, stab the knife into his shoulder. [00:26:21] Speaker A: Sounds as good to me as any possible action could. We didn't really establish which side of the room the bathtub is on, but I rolled the dice, and so it's on Jordan's side. So the one who is currently bagging Jordan will be closest to you. In case people aren't familiar. Will you describe what Blink does to the audience? [00:26:39] Speaker F: Blink is I swiftly close in on a foe, almost as if it's a blink of an eye. You know, I'm just moving that fast. [00:26:50] Speaker A: And does it require a rouse check? [00:26:52] Speaker F: It does, and I'm going to roll that. [00:26:54] Speaker A: Yeah, make one of those and then make one for waking up. [00:26:57] Speaker F: Yeah, I succeed on the rouse check too blink. But I will get hungrier from just waking up. [00:27:06] Speaker A: Okay, subtract that accordingly, and then you are making a knife attack. So that should be Dex and brawl, right? [00:27:13] Speaker F: Yes. [00:27:14] Speaker A: Sorry, Dex. And, yes. [00:27:19] Speaker F: I was like, I have. [00:27:23] Speaker A: No fleetness. [00:27:24] Speaker F: Just lets me move fast. I was like, does it give me anything? [00:27:30] Speaker A: Yeah, it doesn't. [00:27:37] Speaker F: That is five successes to bury that knife in his shoulder. [00:27:40] Speaker A: Okay. The congregants, as we're calling them, actually do get a much better pool for fighting than they do other stuff. So seven dice in that pool. Oh, six. Oh, that's so upsetting. [00:27:54] Speaker F: And I was like, oh, God, is it worth even willpowering? [00:28:00] Speaker A: Katya rolls a critical success for five. And then the person she is fighting rolls a critical on six. So you jump in to stab this person in the shoulder, and for whatever reason, be it some preternatural senses, they would probably say it's the blessed will of their God that lets them see you coming. Regardless, you end up in this fight situation with them, and the knife gets turned back on you as you come in, like knocking the hand away, glancing across you. So they win one on the margin. Plus one. Two, actually, for the knife, which would put you at three. Superficial damage again, half it. So you'll take two, Haley successfully. Not bad. Congratulations on that, by the way. [00:28:45] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:28:46] Speaker A: Still wrapped up with the two persons, the one in front of you is drawing a dish. Disgusting looking scythe from there, like behind them, like up out of the back, like tucked into the. Behind the jeans kind of thing. Right. Really? Just like a hand sickle. Right. The kind that you would use in a horror movie to kill a vampire, for example. [00:29:10] Speaker B: Sure. [00:29:11] Speaker A: You can hear what, based on the sound of the footsteps, can only be Katya. Right. Nothing else in this room is moving that fast. And then some back and forth kind of scuffling. That's what you have access to information wise. What are you going to do? [00:29:25] Speaker B: Well, I'm still wrapped up with these two guys behind me, so I'm actually going to use my sheer strength and brawling abilities to run backwards with them wrapped up in me, and I'm going to smash them into the wall. [00:29:40] Speaker A: Just so we're clear, because this is going to be dangerous. You're running backwards into a wall that you can't see, which is also where the secured window is. [00:29:50] Speaker B: Yes. [00:29:51] Speaker A: And that's a risk you're willing to take on? [00:29:53] Speaker B: Yes. The dude is pulling a scythe. They have syringes of unknown substance. They're trying to bag my friends. Yes. It is a risk I'm willing to take. It is calculated. God, I hope I'm good at math. [00:30:07] Speaker A: Okay. I just wanted to make sure, because in case things start going sideways, I didn't want you to be like, what do you mean the window broke? Just so we're clear, there are two of them. They've each got a seven dice pool. This is not a combat maneuver. I mean, so you kind of have willpower. Well, that kind of is. It's a grapple. Right. But you can blood buff, you can activate other disciplines depending on how much hunger you want to hunger. [00:30:31] Speaker B: Unfortunately, I do get hungrier from the blood buff, which sucks. But that is okay because I will take those extra two dice for sure. Six successes with a critical. [00:30:49] Speaker A: Okay, so then there are two of them. Gentlemen, let's see how it goes for them. My God. Wow. Just tens everywhere today. Does the second one manage to help? Yeah. So the seven successes together with them. So, like, there's. There's good thundering around. It's a bit of. You get to go a little bit. They get to go a little bit. Stumbling, wrestling. If nothing else. You've managed to keep two of them tangled up. The. So that's our two. Four dexterities. We go to the third. So, Jack, at this point, again, seeing all these things happening, you are closest to the door. So you can actually see the. The one hippie person pulling the scythe out with one hand. They don't go to swing with it, though from what you can tell, they are looking for the syringe. What do you do? [00:31:49] Speaker D: I'm gonna get up and headbutt him, like, immediately. So, like, reach up, grab him by the shoulders as he's looking for the syringe. Hey, bud. And then headbutt. But, of course, you have to roll to see if that's successful. So. Yes. Do I rouse, um. [00:32:03] Speaker A: Have I roused you? If you haven't yet, yeah, you'll need to rouse to. [00:32:06] Speaker D: Wakey, wakey, wakey, wakey. [00:32:10] Speaker A: No. Wakey, wakey, vampire. [00:32:12] Speaker E: Sticky. [00:32:13] Speaker D: The beast. The beast is the thing happens to. [00:32:17] Speaker A: The best of us. [00:32:18] Speaker D: Can I use prowess to add to, like, melee damage to do this? [00:32:23] Speaker A: Absolutely. And unlike a blood buff, prowess lasts for the entire scene, so you'll get to add your potence rating to everything you do. That is potency. Awesome. So you don't get any hungrier from that. [00:32:41] Speaker D: That's good. And then I'm going to do the. [00:32:45] Speaker A: Thing, which is strengthen brawl for a headbutt. Nice. Classic. [00:32:56] Speaker D: I think that's great. I can map. That's fine. [00:33:03] Speaker A: One, two, three, four, five, six s. Six against two. That's a hell of a headbutt. Oh, yeah. That's an insanely good headbutt. You get four on the margin. Basic melee attacks. Not doing. No. You had prowess, and I think which 01:00 a.m.. I thinking of because one of them adds to your attacks and damage is that prowess? [00:33:25] Speaker D: Add a potency to strengthen. So I added one from the potency. Is that correct? So I added one already. [00:33:31] Speaker A: Yeah, but I think it also applies to damage. So you do six. This is a crushingly hard headbutt, which, I mean, I don't actually know how you describe a six superficial damage headbutt. That is crazy. But it's the stuff of legend. Certainly something you're going to be able to talk about for a long time. You ring his bell like quasimodo. Suffice it to say, but can I. [00:33:57] Speaker D: Just adjust my jacket as soon as he falls to the ground? [00:34:00] Speaker A: But supernatural creatures do still have that kind of damage. So only taking three, it is still a savage headbutt. So you see them stumbling back, obviously surprised that you're there now and turning to kind of face you, which will take that off of Haley. For his part, he is going to scramble still for the syringe. So let's just see if he manages to pull that off. Three successes is enough to do it. So scythe and, sorry, a sickle in one hand. And then also once the room kind of folds from seven rooms into one room again, then finding the syringe on the floor, picking it up around the actual tube part, not really messing with the plunger, and has squared off against you. Sickle in one hand, plunger in the other. Now, at this point, Roxanne, Jordan, you wake up. Jordan, you have someone to help you in your situation. But I do need a rouse check from both of you. [00:35:14] Speaker E: That is a rousing success. [00:35:21] Speaker C: Nope. [00:35:22] Speaker A: So Jordan's gonna get a little hungry, or Roxanne won't. And now you have seen everything play out as it is. Except you haven't. Cause you got a bag on your head. [00:35:36] Speaker E: I would like there to not be a bag on my head. [00:35:39] Speaker A: Okay, so, Roxanne, because you don't have Katya stabbing away the person who's working with you, you are going to have to grapple with the person who is currently struggling to keep you bagged and possibly worse. So gonna be strength and brawl out of you, or are you gonna take a different angle? [00:35:57] Speaker E: If I could see, I would grab the lamp on the bedside table and thwack him with it, because at least I have a single goddamn dot in melee. But apparently that's not what we're doing. [00:36:07] Speaker A: I mean, that counts if you. I think it would. It'd be a really compelling way to get someone to stop putting a bag over your head, hitting them with lamp right yeah, if I did that, or. [00:36:16] Speaker E: I was gonna hit him with my shoe. I feel like that. That's in the Lazambra lasombra tradition. It's a lizabra tradition. You gotta beat him with a shoe. [00:36:27] Speaker A: Well, I will let you decide, but in either case, you're gonna take a negative two dice penalty to your pool on account of being blind. Air. [00:36:35] Speaker E: Um, can I blood buff it? Cause why the fuck not? This is a one shot. Well, I'm hungrier, but, uh, yeah, I'm gonna. I'm gonna grab the fucking, uh. It's one of those. I'm so sorry, Jordan. It's probably one of those cute little kitsy, like, rotten metal with the little, like, the stained glass on the lampshade. I'm gonna beat him with that. [00:37:09] Speaker A: That's a tiffany lamp. [00:37:11] Speaker E: Yeah. Okay, so is that gonna be strengthen melee? [00:37:17] Speaker A: Is a lamp a melee weapon? I believe so. I mean, the good news is that you rolled a one, and so did he, so it's a very awkward, clumsy experience for both of you. Yeah, maybe this is his first mission, you know, out of the church, or he's just not used to this kind of thing, but all the same, it ends up being kind of a wash. You don't make it out of the bag, he doesn't make it any closer to capturing you, and none of you take any damage. [00:37:52] Speaker E: That's. You know what? That's fine. I'm not. I'm a lover, not a fighter, so this isn't my wheelhouse either. [00:38:00] Speaker A: Well, I don't think it's Jordan's wheelhouse either, but that's not going to stop me from asking what you want to do on this turn. [00:38:08] Speaker C: God, take. If no one's on me, I'm going to take the bag off. I feel like that's a really good start for whatever happens next. [00:38:19] Speaker A: I mean. Yeah. [00:38:20] Speaker C: Oh, excellent. Okay. I genuinely didn't know. [00:38:24] Speaker A: You are not currently being Roxanne. They are actively trying to capture, but the person who was trying to capture you is currently busy getting stabbed, so you can pull it off, just like a free action kind of thing. [00:38:36] Speaker C: Excellent. Part two, chaos. Love this. For all of us. I assume I don't have a chance to observe who is in the worst danger, but in which case, who is the closest to me? [00:38:50] Speaker A: Akatsia is closest to you. The gentleman who was bagging you is still probably close to the bed that you could reach out and touch them, and then second to that would be Haley, who is now in the center of the room between the two beds. And then furthest away would be Jack dealing with the hippie person. [00:39:07] Speaker C: Okay, well, Clara knows that scythe guy is the main threat, but Jordan's a dummy. So guy, who's the closest, I assume has eyeballs. [00:39:18] Speaker A: Yeah, it's not written down, but I think that's the case. Yeah. [00:39:20] Speaker C: Cool. I'm going to remove him. I'm going to see if I can alleviate him of that burden. [00:39:28] Speaker A: Okay. Called shot to the eyeballs does reduce your dice pool. [00:39:31] Speaker C: I have dexterity. I don't have melee. I'm working with what I can squeeze out of this. [00:39:37] Speaker A: No, that's fine. I mean, if you just want to grapple in that way. But if you're saying specifically I want to gouge his eyes out, I think it's a negative four for something the size of an eyeball. [00:39:46] Speaker C: In that case, let's just jump on his back. And if his eyes go. His eyes go. Listen, I am getting what I can get. [00:39:56] Speaker A: We already know that he has defended against Katja, so his pool will be smaller. You have that going for you. [00:40:01] Speaker C: Excellent. What do you want me to roll for this? [00:40:03] Speaker A: Oh, God. Dexterity. Probably because it's not strength at this point. And I don't know. I mean, it is kind of brawl by nature. [00:40:16] Speaker C: I truly. I'm like, can I make an argument for. And there's nothing here I can even fake. [00:40:23] Speaker A: You can always grab a couple more dice with a blood buff. [00:40:26] Speaker C: Let's blood buff. Is there anything I need to do on the VTT for that? [00:40:32] Speaker A: Sorry? You need to roll a rouse check first, and then when you do, you will add a plus to modify her to the role that you eventually make. [00:40:41] Speaker C: All right, well, no successes on the rouse, so I guess I'm very, very fucking hungry. I may actually solve a couple problems all at once, as per tradition. [00:40:51] Speaker F: You and me both. [00:40:52] Speaker C: All right, well, I'm at full hunger now, so I don't think I get a choice. And then you said it's brawl and. [00:40:59] Speaker A: Dexterity with her plus two modifier. [00:41:03] Speaker C: Oh, come on, baby. Okay, well, that's one success. [00:41:19] Speaker A: I'm a little upset as a storyteller because that is also one success from him. He has significantly more dice than you do. But I'm sorry to report that you do not manage to rip his eyeballs out. But neither does he manage to do anything meaningful to you, in part because he's busy with Katya. [00:41:40] Speaker C: Well, I like to think I helped. [00:41:44] Speaker A: Hey, it will make. I mean, you split his dice regardless when it comes to whatever happens next. And what does happen next because we are back up at the top of the initiative order with Katja and Hayley. [00:41:57] Speaker F: Have that knife. Jordan is playing spider monkey, and I will move to, rather than the shoulder, right into the gut. [00:42:10] Speaker A: Okey dokey, and. [00:42:19] Speaker F: Let'S do another dexterity melee. Three successes. [00:42:33] Speaker A: Three successes for you against three successes for him. I think to make this actually work and not just have people jostling back and forth going to start awarding die to the attackers. Not die, but successes. Innocence. So if you are attacking and you tie, you will inflict damage, in this case, just the margin on the die or, sorry, on the weapon, which should be two. Yeah. So hooray. Actually managed. Yeah. To get a few more stabs in. Jordan, what's your hunger on right now? [00:43:05] Speaker C: I'm maxed out. [00:43:07] Speaker A: Okay. Also, everybody else is hungry, just for my edification. Three. Three. Three. That three or a four? That's a three. Okay. So only Jordan has to make a hunger frenzy. Check right now as Koch's knife dips underneath the hair shirt that this man is wearing. And then you smell it. [00:43:35] Speaker C: For successes, although I feel like I could eat. [00:43:41] Speaker A: You. Yeah. You aren't pulled involuntarily into frenzy where I get to compete your character. But if you want to ride the wave, then that's. [00:43:50] Speaker C: I mean, I feel like it'll take him out of combat if he's getting fed on anyway. So whenever that comes around, I think that's what we're doing. [00:43:58] Speaker A: Yeah. You're at the bottom of the initiative order. Unfortunately, based on your deck score, Hayley comes next. Haley, what do you want to accomplish? [00:44:08] Speaker B: I would like to turn to the one that is wrapped up with me closest, and I would like to try and bite him. [00:44:16] Speaker A: Okay. [00:44:19] Speaker B: Because why not? And with the hope of food sometime soon, I am going to blood buff it because they have a lot of dice, and I would like more dice. [00:44:32] Speaker A: A perfectly reasonable argument. [00:44:35] Speaker B: I don't get any hungrier. Fantastic. [00:44:41] Speaker A: Well, it's strength and brawl to do a biting attack. [00:44:46] Speaker B: Well, that's five successes from me. [00:44:49] Speaker A: Excellent. So you finally managed to kind of wrestle off the one side. Five against two. So you get three on the margin. Plus two for a bite. Or is it plus one? I don't remember. Let's say plus two. It's more fun that way. We're getting gory in here. That's fine by me. And you bite based on where he's holding you. So it's about here, right? And he's got the arm bar up, so you can probably get, like, into the meat with the bicep or chomp down on a forearm. Kind of up to you. I'm not sure which of those meats is more sinewy than the other. Actually, Haley would know. [00:45:25] Speaker B: Well, if you're going for the underarm, it's tricep, so, you know, those tend to be less. [00:45:31] Speaker A: Three of them. How many steps are there? [00:45:35] Speaker B: Three. [00:45:36] Speaker A: Oh, thank God. No, that's not true, because quadricep is real. [00:45:41] Speaker B: Yeah, but that's in your legs. [00:45:43] Speaker A: Oh, I know. There is no Unicef, so. Well, all the same, you managed to get a bite off. Are you engaging a feed at this point? [00:45:53] Speaker B: Yes, I am. [00:45:55] Speaker A: Okay. Your. What's your brawl? Or. Sorry, what's your stamina? Actually, is the weird one here. [00:46:02] Speaker B: Three. [00:46:03] Speaker A: Cool. So you can. You can slake up to three hunger in a round. You've secured the bite, and then the drinking starts in the next turn. But good for you. That is Hailey's turn, which means it goes to Jack. Simultaneously with our supernatural friend. [00:46:19] Speaker D: Everyone was talking about biceps and triceps. Like, yeah, let's go. Sorry. Um, my guy. Uh, I have a question. [00:46:27] Speaker B: Storyteller. [00:46:28] Speaker A: Shoot. [00:46:29] Speaker D: Um, the person that's on Roxanne. Like, are, like, how? Okay, actually, let me ask you, if I could do this, could I throw this supernatural person who I have a feeling is starchild? Uh, I do not Jack. And throw that person at the person attacking Roxanne. [00:46:53] Speaker A: Yeah, I think in the book, it's in the index, under throw a motherfucker at another. [00:46:57] Speaker D: Yeah, throw another mother. Another motherfucker. [00:46:59] Speaker F: Yes. [00:47:00] Speaker E: Are you about to get help? Like, let's do get help. [00:47:05] Speaker A: Yes. Strength and brawl is the normal grappling thing, so we can go that way with him. [00:47:12] Speaker D: And then I add, because of my prowess, like, an extra one. [00:47:16] Speaker A: Yeah. And you can go ahead. When you click in the VTT and it brings up the dialogue and strength and brawl, you can put your modifier there. That way you don't have to count manually. [00:47:26] Speaker D: Oh, yeah. [00:47:27] Speaker A: Thank you. Six. Yeah. Six against four. That is doing it. So it's kind of a good news bad news situation. It's all good news for you. It's less good news for Roxanne because Roxanne, who is blind, has no idea that this person is flying in their direction. So you're struggling with the person, and you got hands around, like, trying to hold it down, and you're swinging this lamp around just trying. And then all of a sudden, another third thing lumps down onto you. There is no damage for bodies being flung. I don't think I was aiming more. [00:48:14] Speaker D: For throwing them off of Roxanne, but if it's going to pile onto Roxanne, I'm so sorry. [00:48:21] Speaker E: Do you mean you're trying to get. [00:48:24] Speaker D: Them off of you? Yes. High speed human. Well, high speed supernatural. [00:48:29] Speaker A: Okay, I'll run with that. Okay, I'm imagining that the person holding rock tan, they're, like, leaning over, which is how I ended up with the falling, but we can go with that, too. Uh, and, you know, you beat him by two, so that's fine. Uh, so then, yeah, Roxanne, you have this, this, these, like, hands kind of around your neck, holding you down, and then you hear, like, it's kind of just like an elephant thundering. And then this body hitting body, and it's. I mean, everyone knows that, like, punch in the gut sound as. And then all of a sudden, there are no more hands. And you're still blind, but there are no more hands, which is good. Problem is, and we established this before that what is on the other side of the room from Haley and Jack. [00:49:13] Speaker D: It was me. I'm the problem. It wasn't Hailey. [00:49:16] Speaker A: It was me. I'm going to. Yeah, I know. I think in the audience, somebody knew it was going to be one of you. [00:49:26] Speaker E: It were rules. [00:49:27] Speaker A: Good. [00:49:28] Speaker E: No, I just. I'm picturing, like, all Roxanne hears is just. [00:49:40] Speaker A: So. This is just going to come down to a straight up luck roll for them. Oh, boy. Yeah, I rolled a 99, which is not great. So you hear the thumping of the feet, and then you hear the crunch on the wall, and it's. It's not like, it's not like a Jean Claude Van Damme movie where you just literally threw them through the whole thing. So the room does not immediately burst into sunlight, obviously, but it does crack the center of it. And now there is a single shaft, a spear, about this wide of sunlight straight down the center of the room, pointing at the door. Now, Roxanne, not so bad that you have the bag on your head because you are not going to roll terror frenzy like your other four friends. [00:50:37] Speaker F: That's just. We hit the frenzy button. [00:50:39] Speaker A: Mm hmm. Okay. Three is the difficulty there, because it's not sunlight that you cannot escape. It's just the premise of it being too close. Just even seeing it, like, that's the thing that can kill me. I don't like that. Excuse me. So, in this case, Jack rolling to Concha. Ruling two, you're most interested in getting as far away as you can right now from where that sunlight is means, Katya, you are fangs out, hissing, claws, terrified, backing into the bathroom, and then jack on the opposite side. Same thing, but towards the closet. You don't have to get in the closet, but you are not going to engage. [00:51:36] Speaker D: I did in that thing. I'm already out. [00:51:39] Speaker A: Nobody puts Jack in the closet. No. Who puts Jack in the closet? Closet. So, you guys, you're backing up towards it, staying as far away from that sphere of sunlight as possible. Now, Haley, you aren't facing the window, but you do have ears. You can see what's happening. Roll decks and athletics for me. [00:52:14] Speaker B: Uh, that's not great, is it? Because what I see on. On the VTT right now is, is one success and possible bestial failure. And I know we don't usually report the possible bestial failures because you'll tell us if it's a bestial failure, but I have a feeling with my cute little Hayley brain that it's a bestial failure. [00:52:45] Speaker A: Yeah, but, I mean, in a way, this is better, right? Because in that moment when you feel the rays of God who hates you, stretching down from the sky to touch your back and your neck and your shoulders, and it's that instant, searing hot, black, ashy smell that's coming off of you, would you rather have the beast be like, step aside, I got this. Or would you rather have a normal failure? [00:53:18] Speaker B: I mean, the beast is. The beast knows. The beast knows best in this situation, right? [00:53:24] Speaker A: That's the only a few things that it's good at, so you kind of have to give it its do. [00:53:30] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:53:32] Speaker A: So, if you don't mind, I'll be borrowing Haley for a while as we continue through the remainder of this scene. Everybody else passed their checks. That is excellent. You have thrown the person, at this point, the artist, possibly known as star child, has seen where the room is going and is going to book it for the door. I will have them make the dexterity check to see if they make it far enough, and we'll go from there. No. So, here's the thing. Very easy to run out of a room under normal circumstances. A lot more difficult to run out of room with Haley flailing with two people on her arms. So, on zero successes, he's not going to make it all the way out. He will make some progress, essentially, just to the other side of Haley. So, instead of being between the wall and Haley, he is now between Haley and the door but stumbling, kind of thundering forward. Now we turn to Roxanne and Jordan. [00:54:40] Speaker E: All right, can I get the bag off my head now. [00:54:43] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, that's a free action. [00:54:45] Speaker F: Thanks. [00:54:46] Speaker A: You've been, I think the term is unmotherfuckered. [00:54:52] Speaker E: And there is currently a shaft of sunlight spearing through the room. And I'm a lasombra. [00:54:58] Speaker A: Yeah, just don't stand it. You'll be fine. [00:55:01] Speaker E: Do I need to do the frenzy? [00:55:04] Speaker A: Uh, yeah. [00:55:14] Speaker E: Okay, that's three. [00:55:15] Speaker A: That's fine. [00:55:16] Speaker F: Yeah, that's just, uh. [00:55:17] Speaker A: Just don't do anything stupid. You'll be okay. You are calm and cool and in control. There. [00:55:23] Speaker E: There's the brief, like, oh, shit. Moment. Um, who is closest to me? As far as combatants. [00:55:32] Speaker A: There are three. Now. There is the one that Jack threw star child into who is smashed up against the door. There are still two on Haley, and those four bodies are on that side of the room nearest you. The others are further away. Away. [00:55:53] Speaker E: Okay, um, I'm gonna go for the closest one that is not currently in melee with Haley because I'm not gonna be able to help that at all. Um, and this is the, the asshole that just got chucked. [00:56:13] Speaker A: Mm hmm. [00:56:14] Speaker E: Okay. [00:56:15] Speaker A: Um, well, star child. I mean, the other way it would be chucked. [00:56:22] Speaker E: Um, um, yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna. Do I have any disciplines that could help me? [00:56:30] Speaker A: No. [00:56:30] Speaker E: All my shit is gonna make people's brains do weird things. [00:56:38] Speaker A: Well, well, you have an idea. I can see it in your face. [00:56:47] Speaker E: I have an idea, but I don't know if it's gonna work based on what we know about the people in the town, because I have mesmerized and I could mesmerize this bastard and be like, hey, fucker, protect us. [00:56:59] Speaker A: Mm hmm. [00:57:00] Speaker E: So that's my, that's my, that's my thought. [00:57:04] Speaker A: Getting dominate up to the point where someone will put themselves in harm is not something that you can do. But you could mesmerize someone to stop. Right? [00:57:15] Speaker E: Yeah. Okay, so, um, can I mesmerize them into stopping and then chomp? [00:57:23] Speaker A: Pick one. One person? Yeah. [00:57:26] Speaker E: Yeah, I'll do the, the asshole that got thrown. So gonna roll off the bed, hop over, avoid the piercing light of God, and, like, grab face, hand. Mesmerize. [00:57:45] Speaker A: Okay. Sorry. Mesmerize does need a rouse. Check. [00:57:48] Speaker E: It does. [00:57:49] Speaker A: And then you'll have to roll for that discipline he will defend with his mental pool. [00:57:54] Speaker E: Oh, well, I'm hungrier and I'm at four, so that's gonna be fun. Discipline. What are you, someone's gonna have to give me the role for this. Cause I don't lasombra. Manipulation and discipline. [00:58:14] Speaker A: It should be automatic on your sheet. Maybe you should be able to click the little die next to mesmerize, and it should take care of it for you. Ahaha. [00:58:23] Speaker E: Yep. [00:58:31] Speaker A: No, that's a bestial failure against his two. [00:58:35] Speaker B: Yep. [00:58:35] Speaker A: That's. [00:58:36] Speaker E: That's a bestial failure. [00:58:37] Speaker A: Okay, but that's fine. Cause what a better moment than to talk about the Lasombra compulsion to dominate, right? So if you can't accomplish it with your vampiric powers, what's the next best way? [00:58:54] Speaker E: Um, grab and bite? [00:58:58] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, intimidate. Right? Snarling, hissing yeah, when you. [00:59:02] Speaker E: The usual, the standard, like, you've just pissed off a vampire, and she's gonna make you regret it kind of a thing. [00:59:09] Speaker A: Mm hmm. And so, yeah, like, how fucking dare this mortal, this just rural America trash, peasant, defy you. And that's the mood that comes out to follow. So we'll get to that in a second. But, Jordan. [00:59:36] Speaker C: Okay, so lay of the land is, all of my combatant friends are hiding in closets, and star child is, in. [00:59:48] Speaker A: Fairness, Haley isn't hiding, but is a little bit on fire. [00:59:52] Speaker C: Okay, cool. Hailey's a little on fire. The other two people who are better at punching things are hiding in closets. I have retained my sanity, but I'm very hungry, and Roxanne is currently in the middle of eating somebody. [01:00:06] Speaker A: It's attempted eating. [01:00:08] Speaker C: Attempted eating. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. I'm panicking. The only thing I could think to do right now is feed. Cause I am at max hunger. I don't think I get many other choices, and it may kill two birds with 1 st, but I also have, like, a negative role to dexate strength. [01:00:35] Speaker A: Well, yeah, you could probably get some help. I mean, I'm not gonna hold you too tightly to the initiative order, Katya, if you wanted to assist in the process, I'm sure you've seen Jordan when she's hangry, so. [01:00:47] Speaker F: Yeah, I have. And she's probably got the best chance to do it right now, so. [01:00:53] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So we put two and two together, let them defend once. It's kind of like the reverse Haley, where two against one, right? And if you can beat their role, then, yeah, we can say it becomes feeding time. [01:01:07] Speaker C: Excellent. That will neutralize at least one person. [01:01:13] Speaker A: Point of fact, there's. There's enough human to go around if you're willing to share, so. [01:01:17] Speaker C: I'm not willing to share till I'm flaked, so figure that out later, Katya. [01:01:23] Speaker F: As long as none of them escape. There's enough. There's one for each of us. [01:01:26] Speaker C: Star child's at the door. I'm not thinking smart enough. I think too. I don't think Jordan would be thinking tactically at this time. So what do you need us to roll? [01:01:39] Speaker A: Maybe strength and brawl from Katya holding him in place. Strength and brawl from you. I also Jordan, unfortunately. [01:01:48] Speaker B: Well, you know. [01:01:57] Speaker F: Yeah, it's only two for me. [01:02:03] Speaker A: Ah. But adding the two of those numbers together is three, which is also the number that the congregant got. And we've already decided that ties are going to the attacker. So describe for me, the two of you together, kind of how this happens. We know that it starts with Jordan riding that wave full on vampire, right? There's no attempt to blush, there's no attempt to. The fangs are out, claws are coming, the hissing, scratching. And Katya, you perform some kind of maneuver that pushes this person closer to being et. [01:02:38] Speaker F: I make sure that, you know, Jordan probably not taller than this person. So I essentially kick out their knee so that they have to force to, like, kneel so that they're on a level that's a lot easier for Jordan to feed. [01:02:54] Speaker C: Oh, hell yeah. Thank you for that. Yeah. Not pretty, not pleasant. I'm sure somewhere someone's into that kind of thing, but they're not going to be into it for very long. It is not so much like a cute, dainty, nibble and suck situation like you would in a movie. This person no longer has a throat when Jordan is done, it's just unfortunate for everybody involved because I don't intend on leaving anything left. [01:03:27] Speaker A: That's fair. And there's really nothing more sophisticated than that, right? You can just drink. The next question to answer would be, do you stop? All right. [01:03:40] Speaker C: Someone came for us. I'm just saying, if you play this game, you lose. [01:03:47] Speaker A: Works for me. The consequences of dragging this person down to zero will be on your immortal soul. That's fine, but, yes, you also takes a little bit longer to suck an entire human dry than the one turn that you have. Speaking of turns, though. So that'll take us back to Hayley. It being your turn now? [01:04:12] Speaker B: Yes. I thought you were controlling Hailey for a while. [01:04:17] Speaker A: Yeah, I was just looking for, like, you know. How you feeling? [01:04:21] Speaker B: Oh, I mean, not great, right? Being on, like, feeling the sun on your skin. People talk about, oh, I miss the feeling of the sun on my skin. I don't. I don't. I remember now what it feels like when there's sun on your skin. It's not great. [01:04:41] Speaker A: I think it's overrated for most humans, too. [01:04:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:04:45] Speaker A: And honestly, just kind of looking at. Looking at this, Haley does not seem like the out in the sun type, just visually, from what I'm picking up from. From your camera. [01:04:52] Speaker B: Okay. Thanks. Thanks. [01:04:56] Speaker A: Yeah. So, I'm gonna open up your character sheet for a second because I don't remember. Do you have any really cool physical disciplines? [01:05:05] Speaker B: No. [01:05:06] Speaker A: Really? That's difficult. Disappointing, because I want. [01:05:08] Speaker B: Yeah, I know. I know. Nope. I have weighted the feather, and I have unswayable mind. That's it. That's all I got. [01:05:15] Speaker A: Oh, weight of the feather would have come in handy. All right. No, we can do this. That's fine. In that case, we will start with a blood buff, because nothing is going to get in the way of you and your beast from making a mess of this thing, and you're going to want all the pieces you get. Congratulations. That's a success. You're not getting any hungrier being able to clamp down on the arm. As we've discussed, we can do feed until you're done, but what is better than just feeding? [01:05:54] Speaker B: I assume ripping out parts of human bodies with my teeth. [01:05:59] Speaker A: Oh, that's. That's gross. I wasn't gonna make you do that. No, I was saying what if. What if you could feed and still fuck up this other guy at the same time? Right? [01:06:08] Speaker F: Oh. [01:06:08] Speaker B: I mean, sure. [01:06:09] Speaker A: They say women are better at multitasking. [01:06:14] Speaker B: Yeah. I have adhd, so I don't. I don't know about that. [01:06:17] Speaker A: Oh, Haley's hyper fixating on the. Well, the good news is, with your current stamina with the blood buff, that can raise one of your attributes to four. How much blood's in a human, Haley? Not, like, the actual number of liters, but mechanically. [01:06:39] Speaker B: Oh, God. I don't know. I don't. Enough to take me down. Oh, okay. Great. Enough to take me from full to slaked completely. I know that. So I guess five makes sense. [01:06:49] Speaker A: Yeah. And you got four stamina. So this is what's happening. I'm taking that away from you because you're currently frenzying, but I do want you to describe as Haley, what does it look like when you vacuum out this human from most of their blood to almost none of their blood? [01:07:09] Speaker B: Have you ever had a Capri sun? Yeah. So, you know how, like, you put the straw in and, like. I mean, yeah. Like, you can sip it, you can enjoy it, whatever. First off, you always do it from the bottom. Just. I'm getting that off the table right now. If you're. If you're not poking your capri suns through the bottom. You're doing it wrong. And I will. Yes, I will fight you about this, Jordan. Anyway, so as you. As you start drinking, you can sip it, you can enjoy it, but you could also just squeeze and go. And that's kind of what this looks like. As all of the blood just kind of. From every single limb, everything just kind of shrivels up. Not. Not to the degree of the Capri sun, but, like, you kind of. Like, it gets a little. The skin gets a little tighter, right? And then, like, certain parts, like, start to kind of feel a little, like, hollow. Because now there isn't stuff filling it out. And, like, the cheeks look a little sunken and the. The legs look a little too sinewy. I don't know if this guy was a runner, but, you know, I mean, he kind of looks like it now. [01:08:12] Speaker A: You sure? Shit. Not running anymore? [01:08:14] Speaker B: No, definitely not. [01:08:15] Speaker A: Tells me this guy's running career is over. [01:08:17] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. [01:08:20] Speaker A: Well, yes. So this has gone pear shape for some of our friends with Hailey and Katja going, Jack, you are the last hope of stopping starchild from escaping. Allegedly, star child. [01:08:35] Speaker D: Well, I'm in a closet. Where is his closet? I would like to get out of the closet. Cause I don't belong here. [01:08:44] Speaker A: Would never force you into a closet. I'm not that kind of straight white man. I feel so fucking bad for making that joke. Like, not bad enough to not make it, but bad having made it. Yes. You'd be putting yourself, Aaron. You would be putting yourself at personal risk. I will let you be totally fine with just hanging back, starting to escape. If you wanted to spend willpower to actually break the fear, throw yourself into danger for the mission, that is a choice you can make. [01:09:20] Speaker D: That's what I'm doing. So, two. [01:09:29] Speaker A: Oh, I don't think two is going to do it. But, I mean, if you want it bad enough, you can take an aggravated point of willpower damage. [01:09:36] Speaker D: Sure, I'll do that. [01:09:39] Speaker A: Much harder to get back. But that's the kind of, like, just digging deep bit, right? [01:09:44] Speaker D: Do I like roll again? Like, roll? [01:09:46] Speaker A: No, you'll just. Yeah, just take it as aggravated on your willpower tracker and then describe to me how you are going to try to stop Starchild from making it out the room. [01:10:00] Speaker D: Where's the closet? Like, how is, like, the closet? Is it the closet facing the door? [01:10:04] Speaker A: Or, like, let's say it's adjacent, right. So the, you know, basic rectangle shaped room. And in the far. Like, if you're standing in the doorway far back, left corner, that is Katya's bathtub room. And then the. The door is actually probably offset. So it's like one quarter of the way across the door, and then the closet takes up the rest of that. [01:10:26] Speaker D: Okay. [01:10:27] Speaker A: And then this spear of light is the door is on the one side, and you are on the other, and it's just crushing straight through. [01:10:34] Speaker D: So I have to pass through the light to get this guy? [01:10:37] Speaker A: Yeah. It's gonna hurt. That's what I'm asking. Is it worth it? And you know what? Between you and me, you have to explain shit to these people. You can be like, you're vampires. You get it. I wasn't. I was fucking terrified. So if you don't want to, totally fine. You don't have to be the big damn hero unless you want to. [01:10:53] Speaker D: He wants to be the big damn hero. Like, look at him. So I'm going to take a deep breath and charge through it. I'm gonna charge star child before he gets to the door into the next wall, essentially try to crush him into it. [01:11:14] Speaker A: Fair enough. So I will roll star child's defense, and either way, you're gonna take one aggravated damage from passing through the sunlight. That's just. That's just on it. [01:11:26] Speaker D: All right, so strengthen, bro. Can I roll willpower again? [01:11:42] Speaker A: Oh, it's a combat move. Oh, you know, that's eight dice and one success. That is horrifying. [01:11:51] Speaker D: That's horrifying. [01:11:53] Speaker A: Clara, please stand further away from sade. You are infecting their dice. [01:12:00] Speaker C: How dare you? [01:12:04] Speaker A: So, unfortunately, yeah, star child, you make that, and it's gonna be top ten plays of the week. NFL, as you come in to tackle for the legs, and he just high stepped, twists, and is out the door. But at that .2 of the combatants are being fed on. One of them is still attached to Haley, who, with the blood buff, is not letting him get away. He does not want to be here. And she is saying, in case my friends need you, you are next. There's still the one pinned against the door, which means you have five congregants, two of which, by the time Haley and Jordan are done, you'll be dead. So, Hailey and Jordan, go ahead and set yourself to zero hunger. Congratulations. Also, you know that little part of your humanity, tracker? Where the stains go. I want to. Might want to click that button, too. Katya, Roxanne, Jack, there's enough for everybody. I will say that you can't interrogate people who were dead. So think about that before you start making decisions. [01:13:12] Speaker F: I don't need to drain somebody completely. I'm only at hunger. Three. [01:13:16] Speaker D: I don't either. So that's why I was like, I'm gonna leave him alone. [01:13:20] Speaker F: Yeah, I'm gonna. I'm gonna take two from one person, which will bring me down to one. And he'll just be taking a nice nap for a bit. [01:13:32] Speaker D: I'm only gonna take one and leave it at two. So, like, I'll. I want to interrogate them and have. [01:13:39] Speaker F: Him not sleep more of. I was going to interrogate him after we all wake up in the evening. [01:13:46] Speaker E: Four. So, like, I don't know if I've got a choice. Also, that was a bestial failure earlier. [01:13:52] Speaker A: Yeah, you're probably gonna go, you can make a frenzy check to not consume a whole human, because that's the thing. Once you start eating, stopping is a whole other better. [01:14:03] Speaker E: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. [01:14:08] Speaker A: Oh, my God. Yeah, you're fine. [01:14:10] Speaker E: Yeah, that's. That's critical. That's seven. Um mm. [01:14:15] Speaker A: Down to one is perfectly reasonable, totally safe. And if you have any attachment to humanity whatsoever, you would not callously just drain someone. He's an asshole, but he's still a human. [01:14:26] Speaker E: I don't know if Roxanne does is the thing. Cause Lasombra and former Sabbat. [01:14:36] Speaker A: Leave that in your hands. And why don't we put some suspense in it and you can tell me when we're done. [01:14:43] Speaker E: Okay. [01:14:45] Speaker A: To the mechanical point. When you make a check to stay awake, it lasts for one scene, and combat is kind of the end of the scene. So you have two options. You can continue to spend willpower to stay awake, and because it's during the day, it's not going to come back for whatever happens after this. Or you can attempt to devise some means to secure these hostages through the night and hope that they don't make it out. [01:15:13] Speaker C: Do we have duct tape? Oh, we do have duct tape. [01:15:15] Speaker F: We have duct tape. I probably have zip ties in my bag and, you know, duct tape, zip ties, gags. It's a good time. [01:15:30] Speaker C: Yeah, just put them in the bathroom. Fix the window or tarp up the window. [01:15:40] Speaker D: What about that door? Because it's busted through. [01:15:43] Speaker A: Well, we have other rooms. [01:15:46] Speaker B: We have two other rooms. [01:15:47] Speaker C: There are two other rooms. You're right. I forgot we had rented another one. [01:15:49] Speaker D: We just, like, shouldn't we just move to another room? [01:15:52] Speaker F: Yeah, that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna move to a different room. [01:15:54] Speaker C: As we're headed to the Katya. [01:16:00] Speaker F: I was just like, we're moving to another room. [01:16:02] Speaker C: As we're headed to the other room, I hang the, like do not disturb on our door, move to the next one. I don't want someone coming in and noticing we. Jackson polished the place. [01:16:14] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, they might. You made a lot of noise up here, but yeah. Yeah. [01:16:21] Speaker C: Covered in blood, shuffling to the next room with bodies. [01:16:27] Speaker A: You duct tape some mouths shut. You patch up the door that's there. It would be criminally inconvenient if there were, like, sunlight pouring through down the hallway. And I'm sure that's not a road that we want to go down. So we can narratively clean this mess up and not, like, storyteller nickel and dime you and to be here for years trying to figure out how you make it down that hall. But next piece would be. I will, probably. What's your larceny at, Katya? I'm assuming you have the most. [01:16:56] Speaker F: I don't actually have larceny. [01:17:00] Speaker A: Does anybody have larceny? Okay, so it's gonna fall to Haley with survival, because you have a bunch of survival, right? Yeah. So you know how to tie snares and, like, what is a human snare but, like, a squirrel snare but bigger, right? [01:17:15] Speaker B: Oh, I literally have a specialty for traps and snares, so, yeah, there you go. [01:17:23] Speaker A: So, between Kai is the basic zip ties, the duct tape and stuff. You can create an environment that is secure enough that unless someone comes to rescue these people. And to be honest, it did not seem that that was going to be the case. They will be sturdy. Great. And then you return to sleep. Roxanne, now is the time for you to let us know. How many bodies are we putting in the next room? Is it two or is it three? [01:17:57] Speaker E: It's three. We are not beasts. [01:18:03] Speaker A: Very well. So you'll be at one hunger, Jack and Katya. Also down to one hunger, Haley and Jordan. Don't worry about it. Then we go on through to the night you raised. The restraints that you put on are secure. So you have some pretty battered folk. They've got those eyes. Have you ever seen those, like, really into it, christian eyes? Like when they're at church and like, oh, the spirits in the room. That is how they are looking at the five of you. Is that Jack? [01:18:44] Speaker F: Oh, I was just saying. [01:18:46] Speaker D: Holy spirit, activate. Don't mind me. [01:18:51] Speaker A: So they do look angry. They do look zealous, but they also look smug. [01:18:58] Speaker C: There is no way we can convince them we're part of the church, can we? [01:19:04] Speaker F: Probably not. [01:19:05] Speaker C: All right, well, I'm out of ideas. [01:19:15] Speaker F: It's either that or we start breaking fingers. [01:19:17] Speaker E: Yeah, I was going to say this seems more like your line of work than anyone else's. [01:19:24] Speaker F: Yeah. You know, breaking our fingers. People tell you things. [01:19:32] Speaker B: Okay, but we can also just, like, ask. [01:19:36] Speaker F: Asking is not really. [01:19:38] Speaker D: You can try that first and then do your method. [01:19:42] Speaker B: Literally. Just ask a question. [01:19:47] Speaker A: Hayley. The moral compass of the group, minus that part. You ate a human. [01:19:50] Speaker B: Look it. Look it. I had a perfectly valid reason. I think it's ridiculous that I get a stain for protecting myself, but here we are. [01:19:58] Speaker A: You get one because you're protecting yourself, as opposed to getting two or three for just callously eating somebody. [01:20:03] Speaker C: Death throes are beautiful, and I stand by it. With the toy. Your doorway. Let's ask very nicely. [01:20:09] Speaker F: Well, could somebody who's a nicer inclined than me ask those questions? And I will stand intimidating. And Lee in the background. [01:20:17] Speaker C: I don't know what to ask. I've never interrogated somebody before beyond asking what. How old an item that I was purchasing was. [01:20:27] Speaker F: I mean, we do know what we're looking for. We need to know where Everett is. I think it's really the. [01:20:36] Speaker B: We need to know why they decided to come and break into our room and try and attack us. Literally any. Any questions. [01:20:44] Speaker C: Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. [01:20:46] Speaker D: I can just ask if. Yeah, like, it's fine. And if I'm bad at interrogating, then by all means, Katya go off. [01:20:57] Speaker A: I like the vibe here where Hayley and Roxanne and Jordan and Katya are having the debate about the strategy of how to extract information and what they want to know. And then you just see, like, that. That conversation is happening, like, away from camera. And then Jack just crosses the frame and then squats down and is like. [01:21:15] Speaker D: So, hey, buddy, so let's not. Let's not beat around the bush. Quick question. [01:21:21] Speaker A: Do we. [01:21:22] Speaker D: Can we, like, are they, like, disguised or, like, have something blocking their face, like, kind of thing? Or do we see their faces? [01:21:28] Speaker A: Yeah, you see their faces. It's no one you recognize, no one that you bumped into? Just wanted to make sure it was Vera the whole time. Now, unfortunately, just. Just some strangers. [01:21:38] Speaker D: I was wondering if one of them was Bradley. That's all. I'm like. I'm like, I'm onto you, Bradley. But, no, Bradley's a good kid. So I crouch down and look at both of them. It's like. So you want to explain why you just try to black bag us? [01:21:58] Speaker A: What comes out of this person's mouth? Is slavering devotion, feverish insanity. I'm not going to do it because I feel like if I do slip into an upsetting rendition of the american rural lifestyle. But it's lots of. We will feed our God no matter what it takes. You can kill one of us, you can kill two of us. Their blood will return to the soil, and we needed you for tonight. But the great cycle will continue. Without your bodies or without ours, there's nothing you can do to stop it. [01:22:34] Speaker D: Chill. [01:22:35] Speaker A: Chill. [01:22:36] Speaker D: It's a lot. [01:22:36] Speaker B: It's a lot. [01:22:38] Speaker D: Who is your God? Let's start with that. What is this magnificent, glorious God that feeds the blood to the soil? Let's start there so we can have. [01:22:47] Speaker A: A thing that sleeps and dreams and bleeds. The thing that whispers and feeds. They've got. It's like a la. They've got, like, a thousand names for this guy, and they're going to go through all of them until you stop him. [01:23:04] Speaker C: If you didn't get us, who do you get? Do you got some backups? [01:23:10] Speaker A: It only ever takes one. More is better. [01:23:13] Speaker C: But you didn't get us, so who'd you get? [01:23:17] Speaker A: Just big smile. Big, big smile. [01:23:24] Speaker F: Nazira. [01:23:31] Speaker D: Nazira. That guy say, looking at them. [01:23:34] Speaker A: Oh, they'll be on the point. They're not gonna ask. They're not gonna answer nicely at this point. [01:23:39] Speaker C: Someone kick him. [01:23:41] Speaker D: Can I just backhand one of them? Like, suddenly, just out of nowhere? [01:23:46] Speaker F: Hell, yeah, Jack. [01:23:47] Speaker A: Manipulation. Sorry, a would be manipulation and intimidate, I think, is the. Or strength and intimidate would also work if you're just gonna brawn up on him and look menacing. [01:23:58] Speaker D: Don't have intimidate because I have golden retriever energy that's, like, muted down, so I don't think that's. [01:24:03] Speaker E: Babe, baby, baby, baby. Let me handle this. [01:24:08] Speaker A: Right? So Jack is down there trying to be very polite, like, I mean, just tell me who was going getting ready. [01:24:13] Speaker D: To, like, back in, but, like, I don't think I can do it. [01:24:16] Speaker A: And then Roxanne just. Just puts a hand on Jack's shoulder and is like, it's okay, sweetie. [01:24:21] Speaker E: It's okay, sweetie. Yeah. I'm gonna kick this guy over and put my $5,000 shoe on his throat. [01:24:28] Speaker A: Some people pay good money for that on the Internet, but go ahead and roll. Manipulation and intimidate. I see Jordan coming late to that joke, but I know that Hailey was there from the beginning. I saw the faces. [01:24:41] Speaker C: No, it was a. It's been zero days since the Lasombra foot fetish joke. [01:24:51] Speaker A: Oh, Jesus. This episode of dying fields brought to you by Quentin Tarantino. [01:24:59] Speaker E: Uh, four successes. [01:25:02] Speaker A: Yeah. So you essentially step on me, mommy, but in a bad way. And, like, the. [01:25:10] Speaker E: The heel. The heel is very close to the carotid. If I step down much harder, you're going to bleed out on this floor. [01:25:18] Speaker A: And that's a powerful motivating factor for anyone, I would assume. Never happened to me, but I think that would convince me to speak as well. Plainly, they don't need you. Do they have every orc? They don't say the name. They don't know his name. They don't care. But they are able to describe a kindred meeting. What you have been told at Ray York looks like. [01:25:42] Speaker E: Great, great, great. Are you going to tell us where our buddies being held? Or am I going to drain you like we did your friends? [01:25:52] Speaker A: The ritual is going to take place in the field. They're going to sacrifice your friend, and they are going to sacrifice those amongst the community willing to give their lives to the greatness beneath the soil. [01:26:05] Speaker E: Uh huh. Yeah. You harvest, and then you sacrifice, and then there's a rebirth. That's it, right? Of course it is. [01:26:15] Speaker D: Why like this? Why now? Like, you're taking people more and more? Why? [01:26:23] Speaker A: There's never enough. The greater the bounty we feed him, the more he feeds us. One is sufficient to slake the hunger. But true bounty comes only with great, great sacrifice. [01:26:39] Speaker D: So it just sounds like you and your God are greedy. [01:26:45] Speaker A: Greedy? You what you are, want to call us greedy? [01:26:54] Speaker F: Yeah. [01:26:54] Speaker A: The vile and dark leeches that stalk this world. There's a lecture coming after that. [01:27:02] Speaker E: Yeah, I'm gonna press down a little bit harder on his throat just to get him to shut up. I'm not gonna crush the windpipe. I'm just. It's that, like, one of those. We don't need. We don't need any of that, sweetie. Okay? I wanna see if we can get Nazira. This sounds like something that they might be very much interested in, because it sounds like we're gonna have to go out into the fucking field. [01:27:32] Speaker C: Can we ask. Okay, can we ask where the thing is taking place and at what time? So we know what to crash? When? [01:27:39] Speaker A: Oh, like, literally right now. They're getting ready. [01:27:41] Speaker C: Oh, motherfucker. [01:27:43] Speaker A: They needed you this morning so they could take you out into the fields and have you ready to go. [01:27:47] Speaker C: Oh, God damn it. All right, we'll find. I'm sure we're gonna find it in a second. [01:27:54] Speaker E: Um, do they. Do these guys have anything on them? Like, any bits bottles of this weird ass, culty ass nonsense. Did trinket something or other. [01:28:04] Speaker A: No sigils, no medallions, no tattoos, no identifying documents, no wallets. They. They dressed lights and came in because they were expecting you to stay asleep. That's fair. [01:28:14] Speaker E: And we don't have. The one with the scythe is the one that got. Got away, right? [01:28:19] Speaker A: Correct. False. [01:28:21] Speaker E: I wanted the scythe. [01:28:23] Speaker C: What happens if we. If you don't feed him a thing? [01:28:28] Speaker A: Never happened. [01:28:29] Speaker C: Be a wreck. [01:28:31] Speaker F: First time for everything. At least. [01:28:35] Speaker A: No one knows it's never happened. [01:28:40] Speaker E: Okay, um, so we have a friend to go pick up. [01:28:46] Speaker D: It sounds like. [01:28:49] Speaker E: I am super annoyed with this culty bullshit, to be perfectly honest. Someone please convince me not to rip his throat out. [01:28:59] Speaker D: You're not going to get that from me. [01:29:01] Speaker F: You're not going to get that from me, either. Look at Red Haley, hoping that the moral compass says something. [01:29:08] Speaker C: Look, if you're not throwing. [01:29:11] Speaker B: If you're not gonna eat him. [01:29:19] Speaker E: You. [01:29:19] Speaker A: Are just gonna throw this out here. Do any of you know how to get to the ritual site? [01:29:26] Speaker C: I was gonna ask, and everyone said we already knew. [01:29:31] Speaker A: I mean, it's in the corn, but there's a jillion miles of corn. Right? [01:29:36] Speaker C: Give me an address. [01:29:37] Speaker E: Dude, address. [01:29:39] Speaker A: But the point is, they know the way, so you could. [01:29:42] Speaker E: Okay, so you're gonna lead us out there. Persuade them by persuade. Can I, you know, do the thing that I've been doing, which is continue to step down? [01:29:55] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. [01:29:57] Speaker E: It's just like. All right, listen. We really want to pick up our friend and, like, get the fuck out of here. So you can lead us out to where we need to go, because, I mean, you were gonna take us out there anyway. You might as well just get it over with. We'll just be a little more active than we would have been otherwise. [01:30:20] Speaker A: Say, it's a little suspicious how quickly he agrees, but. [01:30:29] Speaker F: We'Ll be prepared for this, at least. [01:30:31] Speaker E: We don't have a choice, but sure, yeah. [01:30:37] Speaker A: Well, then we know that there's going to be a small amount of preparation to do, but not a ton. Because if you spend any more than a few minutes getting things together, you will probably be too late. Or at the very least, you don't know if you'll be too late. And wouldn't it be embarrassing for you to have spent a whole bunch of time making a big, tactical, cool plan, get there and the party's over, right? So we will say that the coterie prepares themselves. I'm not going to do, like, the D and D. How many torches you bring, and you got enough rope. We will say that you are professionals, sort of at Lyle's. Katya, make sure that everybody is dressed accordingly for the show. And piling into the car, you have your hostage, who will begin helping you navigate your way through Willerton towards the cornfields. You've been so fortunate thus far to not have bumped into the Judas tree. And that continues the road they lead you down. Again, not unlike the road you met the scarecrow on, but this one, much less menacing, because you can still see other buildings around. Pitch black, dark of night. There are nothing, nothing, nothing. And then you can see the cars that are parked along the side. And as the corn waves back and forth, the little paths where individual people have pushed the rows aside with their presence coming through, you can see that the. Not the stalks, but the ears on the corn, a little broken. You can tell that people have passed. At the very least, Haley would be able to. Whatever you do with the gentlemen who have drawn you here is a bit irrelevant at that point, because, you know, whatever your destiny is, it is that way, through the fields. And to find out what happens there, we will have to come back from our break. Only ten minutes. Don't worry about it. I'm sure everything's gonna be fine. Seen a bit. Well, we made it back all in one piece. I don't know that the same can be said for our coterie. They are freshly fed, freshly bled, and they have all the information that they need to perhaps solve this problem. We'll come down to decisions and the dice to see if they can put an end to this mess in Willerton once and for all. So we left the break that the coterie had had. Their, let's say, victims, their temporary, unwielding associates had driven them down to a part adjacent to cornfield, several other vehicles to. Judging by the number of pickup trucks and cars that are here, it's got to be like half the town that has showed up for whatever is going on in that cornfield. Once you turn your lights off, assuming you turn your lights off, you are going to be able to see in the distance, the little glow somewhere in the middle of the cornfield, some kind of light activity out in that distance. It's not going to be hard for you to navigate your way in that direction. I presume you managed to secure the hostages once, and you could do so again if you're so inclined. You could also have them escort you into the field if that sorts things out. But this is as confrontational as confrontation is going to get a few hundred yards into that cornfield. There's a ghoul with some hostages, and he is going to make a sacrifice to his ancient God. And in most circumstances, that's the kind of thing that you would just brush off, right? Like whatever other weirdo. But you have felt the power that this thing has. You have lived in the universe that it can create in your brain. You can go and you can rescue Everett. You can grab the message and bail, but whatever you do, you know what's happening here is real. Stands to you whether you want to deal with that or not. Fuck that. Yeah. [01:34:52] Speaker C: So Hayley had the plan of distracting the full KWOI rescue effort, right? [01:35:04] Speaker B: Yeah. I think that our best chance of getting out of here with Everett is going to be to draw. I mean, there are too many people here to just let us walk up and. Excuse us. We're gonna take. Take him. You don't need it. It'll be fine. So I think our best bet is to create a distraction as far from Everett as possible, which gives Katya the best chance of getting him. [01:35:32] Speaker C: So here's my minor logistical problem with that plan. I think that requires two cars. [01:35:42] Speaker A: Does it? [01:35:43] Speaker C: Well, if half of us are on a far enough distance away, that would distract. Oh, are you just thinking on the other side of the crowd? [01:35:50] Speaker B: Just. I mean, on. On the other. So we don't know how big this clearing is, so it could be like that. It's a mile wide, and it's. It's going to be problematic. In. In my absolute best case, it's. It's not that big. It's a few, you know, dozen feet wide, and, you know, we can slink around the outer edge. It would take a while because we'd have to sneak through corn, but, you know, eventually we'd be able to find our way back. [01:36:21] Speaker C: Okay, that was my primary concern, that. [01:36:24] Speaker A: If you're thinking about driving to the other side of the cornfield, remember what has happened every time you try to drive anywhere in this town. [01:36:30] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, no, that wasn't the goblin roads, hales. [01:36:34] Speaker E: I mean, out of all of us, except for maybe Katja, you're probably the best equipped to, I don't know, light some corn on fire on short notice. [01:36:45] Speaker B: Probably, I'd imagine, survival nonsense. [01:36:48] Speaker E: Yeah, and everything. [01:36:50] Speaker A: Not a compliment you get every day. [01:36:53] Speaker D: A little. [01:36:53] Speaker E: Little arson never hurt anybody. Yeah, except for when it did. [01:37:00] Speaker F: Chicago. [01:37:01] Speaker E: Yeah, that part. Storyteller. Would the. Our fucking culty weirdos be able to tell us where the, um. [01:37:09] Speaker F: Um. [01:37:10] Speaker E: Um, brain sacrifices get stashed. [01:37:17] Speaker A: I don't know if they'd have that information. They have to be kept nearby. I don't know that they would describe the ritual to you. They are zealously loyal. You can get some information out of them. There comes a point where they rather swallow their tongues than tell you. Right? [01:37:32] Speaker E: Okay. You don't know if you don't ask. Um. Yeah. I say we cause a kerfuffle on the other side of the field and go in and grab our boy and get the fuck out of here. Let these assholes do what they want to do. [01:37:53] Speaker D: I agree. [01:37:54] Speaker F: We weren't, uh. It's not our job to disrupt a cult. It's our job to get Everett back to Chicago. [01:38:01] Speaker B: Well, it's our job to get the note. It would be nice if we got Everett back to Chicago, but that was not the mission. Just. Just so we're all clear, weren't you. [01:38:13] Speaker D: The one that, like, didn't want to murder these two? [01:38:16] Speaker B: I don't want to murder people, but I'm just saying, like, if we get there and he's been dead, it's not like we failed. We just have to, I don't know, grab his jacket or something. I'm just saying it's not over if he's dead. Dead. [01:38:30] Speaker C: Let's just try. [01:38:32] Speaker B: For Everett, I am the moral compass, but I'm also being realistic about the fact that we're dealing with a cult. I'm sorry, Jordan. Go. [01:38:40] Speaker C: I'm just saying, we try for Everett, and if we don't get. And, like, you know, note as a consolation prize. None of us expected this much. We better get a thick ass boon for it. [01:38:54] Speaker A: I think one of the benefits of accomplishing the mission is that you are allowed to step in Chicago ever again. [01:38:59] Speaker C: Yeah, okay, well, quiet. [01:39:05] Speaker A: But let's leave the politics for another night, because there are some preconditions to those debates that need to be met before they're worth having. Right. So unless you have another means of entering the cornfield, I think we're all going to hop out of the car and slink off on foot into the night. [01:39:26] Speaker C: Gross system. [01:39:29] Speaker B: I would definitely give Roxanna a spare pair of boots that I have in my bag because her heels are not going to cut it in this field. I already know. [01:39:39] Speaker E: Yeah, no, the Louboutins are staying in the car. [01:39:42] Speaker A: Yeah, got it. [01:39:43] Speaker C: You have a spare gun in case we have to do a gun thing? [01:39:47] Speaker F: Yes, I have several spare guns. [01:39:50] Speaker A: Katya can just, like, open up her. [01:39:52] Speaker E: Cloak and be, like, picturing that scene in Pirates of the Caribbean, where Elizabeth Swan is just pulling weapons out of her personage. [01:40:03] Speaker F: I'm keeping knives and guns in places. [01:40:06] Speaker A: You didn't know you could keep. [01:40:07] Speaker F: Guns and knives. [01:40:10] Speaker E: There it is. [01:40:13] Speaker A: I also just had a flash to Akatya, but doing the re four gun dealer voice, like, what are you buying? [01:40:19] Speaker D: I literally thought that. [01:40:20] Speaker C: I literally. [01:40:25] Speaker A: Well, good. We're all on the same page. We've created a collaborative storytelling universe where everyone has the same visual image. To that end, stepping off the road, walking those three or 4ft that we now know exist in the midwest, between road and corn, past the vehicles and stepping into the fields. One thing that I think surprises most people when they find themselves walking into a cornfield is how quickly you can lose sight of what's ahead of you and what's behind you. The corn is taller than all of you. And the way that each. The ears and the stalks, they're fairly close, so you're pushing through it, and it's got that. That jungle foliage feeling where you can kind of see the shape ahead of you. If there's a one vampire in front, turn around, you might be able to hear the rustle of another one behind you. But for the most part, it is like being swallowed up on all sides by corn. It's green, it's itchy, it's scratchy. You don't have to worry about that because you're vampires, but you can feel the humidity in the air. Corn sweats to maintain its temperature. You can hear the normal sounds of nature around you. Cicadas are a thing that I think people who come to the midwest aren't ready for. Then they discover it. And then as you make it a little further, you start to hear those. It's got to be human activity, but what is it? And there's a low droning, not quite in the range of, like, mongolian throat singing, but closer to just a steady hum, a chorus of voices, just maintaining the same note, proceeding, stepping closer still. Above it, you can hear it's raspy and staccato, just a constant over and over. So you have this, this droning, this, and then above that, just a little, slightly higher frequency. The now there is a clearing, and as you get closer to it, you can see the corn starting to give way. It's easier to kind of tell. You can see the shapes a little better in the distance. So you're not going to just stumble out into the middle of this thing. Right. You will have ample warning to kind of get your bearing set up and then make a plan from there. Approaching the very edge, you see star child. There's no one else it could be. It's the same hippie who was in your room a little before, standing now shirtless in the center of a clearing that's probably 50 yards apart or in diameter. I'm sorry. In radius. So it'd be a hundred feet edge to edge with dozens and dozens and dozens of townsfolk. They're wearing burlap sacks like the one that was on the scarecrow with dark black robes made of the same material hanging off of their shoulders. At one end of this circle, you see a flank of burlier looking folks carrying truncheons that you're now familiar with. And at their feet are three suspiciously human shaped garment bags. And then on the other side is the towering, knotted, twisted figure that Jordan saw in her dreams. This ugly, misshapen, almost cancer ridden looking tree, thick around the base like the baobab with creepy thin limbs sticking off of it a little bit like the arms you'd put on a scarecrow. So that is what you see. All of that starchild muttering to himself. It's a bit too far away for you to hear. To say nothing of the fact that there's that constant drone and dozens and dozens of. [01:45:21] Speaker B: How many guards are next to the body bags? [01:45:24] Speaker A: Call it six. [01:45:28] Speaker B: Can we call it less? [01:45:31] Speaker A: We could. But then you go to do something about it, like, all right. And then the 6th one hits and you'd be like, what the fuck? You said there were four. And I'm like, well, I told you there were four. But that was only because you asked me to. [01:45:42] Speaker B: Fine. [01:45:44] Speaker A: They are standing. Not like they're not on top of the bags, right, they are guards, but security is a bit lax. It's clear they don't necessarily expect someone to be sneaking up. It would be a tremendously difficult thing absent some other distraction. But not impossible to sneak up and get them back from behind them. [01:46:09] Speaker C: Two tourists they got yesterday. And our boy, I assume. [01:46:16] Speaker F: Yeah, it's a good assumption. [01:46:22] Speaker A: So we split the party with five going one way. Sorry, four going one way. And Hailey stalking off on her own towards the Judas tree. Well, as mentioned, does take time for these things to happen. And it's not so long after you start moving that without any clear signal or sound all the droning and breathing stops and there's a dead quiet pause that hangs for. I mean, humans are terrible at estimating time off the top of their heads but feels longer than you're comfortable with. Then you see Starchild raise his arms up above his head and begin to speak. The voice that comes out of his mouth is not the voice you heard when you were in the hotel. The words that bubble up from his throat don't seem like they're in a language that was meant for a human mouth to form. It gurgles like thick, like a slurry up from a sewer drain off of his lips and spilling out the crowd. But despite the lack of intelligibility to any of you, everyone in the room, the room is wrapped. Attention. You've made it about halfway when, arms up, he brings them together in front of himself, palms up, and then gestures towards himself. And one of the guards takes the rightmost body bag, the one furthest away from you, and unzips it. And by a shock of curly brown hair, pulls someone up. Hayley, you're a bit far away, but I think the rest of you are close enough. You can tell that's not Everett, that Everett didn't have curly hair. [01:48:34] Speaker F: That's what that's. We got her description. [01:48:39] Speaker A: His face, his mouth is covered in duct tape. If you were close enough, you would probably be able to here, because you can see the way that his neck is bulging as he's trying to scream. The bubble of the duct tape coming out as he's trying to force the words. Obvious panic in his eyes. Drags the guard, drags this man towards the center. Star child is silent until this poor, terrified tourist is thrust down in front of him. You remember that sickle, Starchild looks up to the skies, then gestures back towards the Judas tree and says, for our great and slumbering God, we provide sustenance. And with the precision of a butcher, draws the scythe across the neck and holds the head at just the right angle so the blood flows quickly out of the wound. Going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you are mission driven enough to not stop and just stare, that you can get the picture and continue moving. Right? [01:50:13] Speaker F: Unfortunate, but we have a mission. [01:50:16] Speaker A: And the entire time they're waiting for this tourist to bleed, which doesn't take long, but again, longer than you'd think. The droning continues. The breath is back. So that is about the time that our coterie arrives in their respective positions. Haley, I'll need you to make a roll to set up your trap. Probably be wits and survival for Katya. Jack. Roxanne, you're going to need to do dexterity and stealth. Worth asking at this point. Roxanne, as a lasombra, how are your shadow powers. [01:51:08] Speaker E: Liel? Um, I have access to oblivion, sight and shadow cast. Right now. [01:51:18] Speaker A: I can think of a way in which being able to cast shadows would be helpful. [01:51:26] Speaker E: Let's see. Shadow cast. This power draws upon the darkness within the user to project a supernatural shadow from which to manifest other powers. No matter the ambient lighting, this shadow usually mimics the movement and shape of the user, but can sometimes grow distorted and even monstrous, resonating with the current temperament of its owner. Little extra cover never hurt. [01:51:58] Speaker F: Yeah. I also have cloak of shadows. [01:52:01] Speaker A: Yeah, you explain that for the audience. [01:52:04] Speaker F: Cloak of shadows. As long as I am standing perfectly still, I will blend into my surroundings. And as long as I don't kind of have some sort of COVID make no sound and don't move. [01:52:15] Speaker A: Move. [01:52:16] Speaker F: So, essentially is cloak of shadows standing. Find the perfect time, move to another spot. Stand still again, vanish. Move to another spot. [01:52:29] Speaker A: So, Roxanne, if you want to rouse, I believe it's a rouse to use that power. We can give a little bit of extra cover to folks. [01:52:37] Speaker E: Yeah. And that is a rousing success. [01:52:40] Speaker A: Well, there you have it. So, stretching out from Roxanne, I think most of you actually saw this shadow a little earlier in the graveyard. This time it is controlled as she stretches the void of light to just catch those little bits that flicker in between the guards. They're silhouetted against these lights, so you see just the little bits of torchlight coming between their forms. And that's something that she can just billow out and block. [01:53:12] Speaker E: That's a weird image in my brain. You've got this lasombra in an all black business suit and borrowed fucking. I don't know. What kind of shoes does Hailey wear? [01:53:28] Speaker B: Your standard Timbalands. [01:53:30] Speaker E: Yeah. So a borrowed pair of timbalands. Just, like, stalking through the cornfield and pulling shadow in. That's weird. That's weird. [01:53:41] Speaker A: Just based on. And based on just kind of my picture of Haley and my picture of Roxanne. The boots are also too big. [01:53:50] Speaker F: Yes. [01:53:51] Speaker A: So they're a little, like, wobbly as you. You know, a little bit. [01:53:54] Speaker E: Just a little bit. Didn't have the fourth thought to shove some socks in there. [01:54:03] Speaker A: So, Jack and Katya, how'd those stealth roles turn out? [01:54:07] Speaker F: Do I have any bonus for logo shadows or. [01:54:13] Speaker A: I don't think it's gonna. It's not gonna help because when you're stealthing, the moving is the part. If something were to go wrong, you could, you know, immediately stop and be okay. [01:54:22] Speaker F: Oh, Jesus. I want to spend some more power on that. [01:54:25] Speaker A: Yeah. I can't imagine why. Staring at one six s as Katya rolls willpower. [01:54:35] Speaker F: And it's three. Hoping that they're all very distracted with. [01:54:39] Speaker A: This ritual difficulty was set at four, but with Roxanne giving the bonus, I'm. [01:54:52] Speaker E: Also going to rewrite, reroll willpower because what the fuck? [01:54:59] Speaker A: Well, two things I will say that if Roxanne is busy moving the shadow, you're probably not going to want the stealth because you can't reroll hunger, die. And you only have two dice, which means the odds of you achieving three successes or more is infinitesimal crit on the two dice that you have. Yeah. [01:55:19] Speaker E: That's fair. [01:55:20] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:55:20] Speaker E: Okay. [01:55:21] Speaker A: So it's probably safer for everybody if you are doing the shadow work and then letting the two people who can actually. Stealth index. Stealth index. [01:55:30] Speaker E: I wasn't sure if I needed to move with it, that's why. [01:55:33] Speaker A: No, I mean, what's the point of being a shadow wizard if you have to move the shadow around by hand, right? Hailey, how'd your trap go? [01:55:40] Speaker B: Five successes. [01:55:42] Speaker A: Okay. [01:55:43] Speaker F: At least someone did really well on their role. [01:55:46] Speaker A: With five successes, I would say you'd be able to rig up a rough timer on it. Not anything. So, you know, like an egg timer in your pocket. Right. It's not that kind of thing. But you could set up. So maybe there's a, there's like a candle in it, and then after a certain amount of time, that'll hit something. Right. You could, you could set up like a two to three minute timer. [01:56:06] Speaker B: Okay, easy. [01:56:10] Speaker A: Like two to three minutes. Not a precise thing, but you know that you'll be able to get away, for example, from the conflagration you're about to cause, which would be helpful. Yeah, we already, we already, uh, frenzied once tonight. We don't want to, you know, be embarrassing twice. So, uh, Katya and Jack, you arrive there. There are only two body bags. Now you're gonna have to move fast because both of you are actually kind of intimately familiar with how long it takes a body to bleed out. So. Yep. Are we just grabbing the bags and going? [01:56:48] Speaker F: Yep. Idea is blink in, grab one bag, soaring leap out, fleetness, and, like, just. [01:56:59] Speaker D: Like, going past as fast as I can to grab this body that's left over. [01:57:03] Speaker A: I think that's gonna ruin the stealth aspect. So if you're stealthing up with the bag and then GTFO, that's fine. That's what I mean. [01:57:13] Speaker D: Sorry about that. [01:57:15] Speaker F: Wait till the last possible second to blink in right next to the back. [01:57:18] Speaker A: And then on a successful shot, stealth you don't like, you can make it right up to the bag without doing things. [01:57:24] Speaker F: Oh, if we could do that, then, yeah, then that is do that, and then we'll, uh, either blink or. Sorry. Probably blink out. Just poof. [01:57:35] Speaker E: Also, just point of interest, I'm pretty sure we want to wait until the fire's going. [01:57:40] Speaker D: That's true. [01:57:40] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:57:41] Speaker E: So that was another blank fire grab. [01:57:45] Speaker A: Yeet. [01:57:47] Speaker F: Yeah. [01:57:48] Speaker A: Um, Haley, once you have your trap set, what do you want to do? [01:57:52] Speaker B: I would like to kind of make. [01:57:55] Speaker A: Hmm. [01:57:56] Speaker B: Probably head back towards the car, but kind of, like, circumnavigate the circle. So I'm, like, heading towards, like, where they would potentially be. So kind of follow the path that they took on the side where, like, closest to the car. [01:58:15] Speaker A: Okay. And then, Jordan, where have we left you? [01:58:19] Speaker C: A wide berth behind. Far enough behind the rest of the crowd on team extraction that I did not have to roll a stealth check. [01:58:28] Speaker A: But you will have to roll wits and awareness for me. [01:58:30] Speaker C: God damn it. All right, well, fine. Actually, can I activate my heightened senses for this? On a sheer paranoia level? [01:58:40] Speaker A: Yeah, it's at willpower. You can always have them on. It's gonna make the cicadas really loud. [01:58:45] Speaker C: All right, well, that's fine. Wits and awareness. Boop, boop, boo. [01:58:49] Speaker F: They're screaming right next to your ear. [01:58:52] Speaker C: Well, they can chill. Why am I not seeing awareness on here? There it is. Double checking what height and census does. [01:59:09] Speaker A: Something gives you bonus dice, but it would lower the difficulty of the roll just because you are focused more on. On things. [01:59:15] Speaker C: Well, it made it a two. It makes it one success for now. It says here. Adds auspex rating to all perception rules. [01:59:26] Speaker A: Well, there you go. What's your aspects? [01:59:30] Speaker C: Four. [01:59:32] Speaker A: Okay, so you can add four to. [01:59:36] Speaker C: Hear the crap out of what's happening next. [01:59:38] Speaker A: Well, it's not four successes. It has four dice. [01:59:41] Speaker C: Well, fine. 1 second. [01:59:47] Speaker A: That would be terribly. Oh, can. I don't want to live in a world where the powers add successes. Then the game's no fun for me. [01:59:54] Speaker C: Well, good news for you is it's still one success. [01:59:58] Speaker A: It does give you more dice to roll willpower against if you'd like to. [02:00:02] Speaker B: Fine. [02:00:04] Speaker C: Willpower, reroll that. All fucking five of them. That's. It's insane how poorly I roll. [02:00:11] Speaker A: Willpower can let you reroll. Three dice. [02:00:16] Speaker C: Two more successes. [02:00:18] Speaker A: That's good, because three of you need to hit. That means you will not be caught entirely by surprise by the thing that is stalking up from the corner behind you standing still with your attention, facing the ritual. You are not your. Your easy prey, but it's the. That little brush of the corn. You, you. It's not the sound like the wind blowing through it. You can hear there's a body coming. And when you spin, you see standing maybe six or 7ft away from you, hunched down, creeping forward. A young woman, like 18 or 19. Hair is caked, filthy, kept very, very short, buzzed down GI Jane style, but still just with messes, clumps of dirt in it, face smeared and smudged, already has a darker skin complexion, but with streaks of muck on it. With clothing that. I mean, that might have been like a band t shirt at one point, but now it's ratty holes, has been been torn. Could be anybody. But the red glow of the eyes is what's going to give it away as a vampire. [02:01:34] Speaker C: Hey, buddy. [02:01:37] Speaker A: Fuck. Keep your voice down. Who the fuck are you? [02:01:45] Speaker C: First I asked first. [02:01:47] Speaker A: I know you definitely weren't here. [02:01:49] Speaker C: First I asked first, though. [02:01:53] Speaker A: Oh, my God. Where? [02:01:56] Speaker C: I don't know. I genuinely am like, this is gonna be a bad idea. I don't know if I should flex this, but we're gonna flex it. We're from Chicago. [02:02:07] Speaker A: Oh, fuck. I mean, I heard you were, but you came to deal with this. Do you know what you're getting into? [02:02:15] Speaker C: Not really, no. [02:02:17] Speaker A: Keep your voice down. [02:02:21] Speaker C: You just need to get the note that's on one of the people who might get sacrificed. [02:02:29] Speaker A: Oh, fuck. You're not even here. You're not here to stop him. [02:02:34] Speaker C: Well, we would do that, but we kind of are under. We're a little outmanned. [02:02:40] Speaker A: God, fuck. [02:02:42] Speaker C: What the fuck are you and what are you doing here? [02:02:44] Speaker A: I'm Mary angel. This is my town. [02:02:50] Speaker C: Well, good job. [02:02:56] Speaker A: Okay, so what's your big fucking plan? It's not just you, right? God help us if they sent just you. [02:03:03] Speaker C: God help us if they sent just me. No, it's a fire. We're gonna make a distraction. I'm gonna get the people out of here and then we're gonna figure it out later. Okay, what's your plan here? [02:03:17] Speaker A: I'm gonna kill the one who's in charge of all this. [02:03:21] Speaker C: Honestly, great idea. You do that. [02:03:25] Speaker A: But you don't understand, right? Like, you can't leave. [02:03:28] Speaker C: Oh, yes, we can. [02:03:30] Speaker A: No, like, I understand you might think you can, but, like, do you think I would be here if I could fucking leave? [02:03:35] Speaker C: Well, there's a goblin road situation. But we've appeased goblin goblins before. [02:03:41] Speaker A: Yeah, we all thought that but, like, honestly, do you think. Fucking. Do you think Warrington is hanging out here because he fucking likes it? Okay, Nazira is like, oh, man, I just love country living where there are no chanfreezer books or wizards. [02:03:54] Speaker C: I sort of assumed that was a politics thing on her end, and I assumed the other one was another politics thing on their end. [02:03:59] Speaker A: No, we can't leave the thing that keeps the thing in here. It works on all of us. [02:04:09] Speaker C: So what are we supposed to do? Set by the Judas tree. Oh, come on. [02:04:18] Speaker A: No, I don't know how any of this works. I just know that he's the one who runs it, and now's a good time. Is any. [02:04:26] Speaker C: Oh, my God. Okay. Um. [02:04:29] Speaker A: Who. [02:04:31] Speaker C: Okay, uh, wait. Okay, well, all right. Well, if you'd like a little help, we're about to set fire to some corn. Some corn, like, any minute now. [02:04:41] Speaker A: What? [02:04:43] Speaker C: Distraction. [02:04:45] Speaker A: Oh, God. Okay. Well, I'm. I'm so glad I bumped into you before I ran into what is apparently gonna be a big firebomb trap. Okay. [02:04:56] Speaker C: Yeah, good luck. [02:04:59] Speaker A: Where are the rest of them? [02:05:01] Speaker C: Around working on it. You're gonna blow their cover. [02:05:04] Speaker A: Can you be more. I don't. First of all, I don't think I will. Second, can you be more specific about the around part? [02:05:12] Speaker C: And I, like, look around. [02:05:18] Speaker A: You can tell her that you're going to get the bodies, right? [02:05:20] Speaker C: Yeah, we're going for the bodies. There's weird shadows. There's a little sombra with us. [02:05:24] Speaker A: Huh? Fucking digits. [02:05:26] Speaker F: Get better. [02:05:26] Speaker A: Better. Okay. Okay. Okay. For. [02:05:32] Speaker C: Where were you earlier? This is your town. You don't know. I'm here to solve this fucking problem. All right, there's going to be a big distraction if you want to use that to make your move. Great idea. I have. And gun and no ability to use it. Really? So we got people who kind of know what they're gonna do. But our plan was to get the bodies in the car and then get out of here. But you say that's not gonna be a little happen. [02:05:59] Speaker A: I don't. Haven't tried anything else. I've tried leaving, and that hasn't worked. So I move. [02:06:05] Speaker C: I'm hoping that we have a compelling reason to go. And that'll be enough. [02:06:12] Speaker A: Fuck. All right. Did you drive here? [02:06:14] Speaker C: Yes. [02:06:16] Speaker A: Okay. [02:06:18] Speaker C: Um, that black suv. Meet us over there when you're done with. Okay. [02:06:27] Speaker A: You're serious? [02:06:29] Speaker C: I don't know what. [02:06:30] Speaker A: This gangrel just disappears into the corn. [02:06:35] Speaker C: I'm so sorry. [02:06:37] Speaker A: At that point. So this is happening kind of simultaneously with Haley circumnavigating. With Katja and Jack arriving at the body bags. What happens now? [02:06:55] Speaker D: We're just waiting for the trap to go off now, right? [02:06:58] Speaker F: Yeah, we're waiting for the boom. [02:07:01] Speaker A: Okay, absent the. Given the lack of tactical communication headgear where Haley could be, like, echo one, bombs planted, t minus two minutes exfil, it's going to be a little less sophisticated. Right. So, I guess we can rearrange the chronology so that you want to wait behind the. The corn line. Then the firebomb goes off. Then you sneak forward. So that's where we are. Yep. Which then means the conversation that Jordan is having with Mariangel will be punctuated when she's like, I don't know what you want to do. And then she's like, what's the plan? And then she's like, whoosh. Like, oh, that's the plan. That. That is the plan. [02:07:40] Speaker C: Hold you. [02:07:41] Speaker A: And now we're all. Now we're all caught back up. Okay, so, when the firebomb goes off, what's the exact like? Okay, so that's when you start sneaking forward. Yeah. Immediately a wave of panic spreading through the room. First surprise looking over. What was that? The explosion noise. But corn. I mean, it's not like, the most flammable thing in the world on account of it being like plant matter that's irrigated, it's wet. But that doesn't mean it's any better to be trapped in a field full of when it's burning. So, all of a sudden, I would say about three quarters of the people are now booking it out in various directions. That means the sneaking gets you there, right about the time when folks are gonna be running around. So the idea of sneaking out of here, like, eh, I might see anyway, so maybe something expeditious is more. [02:08:40] Speaker F: Yeah, that's what. That's what soaring leap is for. [02:08:44] Speaker A: Jack, do you also have soaring leap? [02:08:46] Speaker D: I believe I do. Yes. [02:08:48] Speaker A: I do. Not gonna lie, it's cool as hell if you're both just like, puces. And then, you know, soaring leap lets you jump by things five times your rating horizontally, so you can clear the corn. But I guess, Haley, from your perspective, even Jordan from yours, doesn't matter where you are in the corn. If you can see through the clearing, you just see, like, just grasshopper style. Two of them jumping off with the bags behind them. You land down into the corn, smashing up into the face. I'm sorry, Katya, but your aviators. And you're not wearing sunglasses at night. That'd be ridiculous. Or maybe you are. I don't know how vampires work, but yes, you get there and. But you're smashed up by the various stalks and you land. Unzip the body. Ow. Unzip the body bags. One tourist, one Everett York. [02:09:43] Speaker C: Oh, thank God. [02:09:45] Speaker A: Everett York, currently staked. Oh. [02:09:49] Speaker D: Uh, can you pull that out? [02:09:55] Speaker A: Just instantly, the panic left over. Combative, because, like, the last thing he remembers. [02:10:04] Speaker D: Grab him by the shoulders. Chill. [02:10:06] Speaker A: Beckon up. Backing up. Who the fuck are you the fuck here to save you from Chicago. From Chicago? What do you mean, from Chicago? [02:10:15] Speaker D: We came down because you've been missing for a while and questions later. It's not the time. We need to. [02:10:22] Speaker F: Yeah, we gotta go. We gotta go. It's either. You can go back to the cult or come with us. [02:10:29] Speaker A: Fuck. Okay. Okay, fine. But if this is a. Don't worry. It's okay. No. So he's on board, chasing behind you. Hayley, how long do you spend admiring your firebomb? [02:10:41] Speaker B: Probably not very, because I'm happy that it's gone off. And there's, like, a moment where it's like, yeah. But then I'm still just continuing to try and find them while also heading back towards the car. [02:10:57] Speaker A: So all this is great. We're all running back towards the suv, and Roxanne puts the shadow away, and Jordan is like, yep, there's the fire Audi charging off in that direction. You arrive at the suv to find a problem. Mary angel did go to the suv, but the cultists have already spread out. So there are three of them currently squaring off with this gangrel around your vehicle. And, you know, the longer it takes to deal with this problem, the more of them are going to be coming out of those woods. [02:11:29] Speaker F: Gun out, shoot. [02:11:31] Speaker A: Fair enough for me. No? Roll. Dexterity roll. Uh, what is that? Decks and firearms? [02:11:36] Speaker E: Actually, yeah, I've got a gun too. [02:11:41] Speaker A: Works for me. I'm. Yeah. What's the first thing you do when you leave the cornfield? I start shooting people. Excellent. Go for it. [02:11:48] Speaker F: They're coldest. [02:11:49] Speaker D: Wait, so there I was with my guns out. Is that like. [02:11:53] Speaker F: And anyway, I just started blasting. That's six successes for me. [02:12:05] Speaker E: That's four for me. [02:12:06] Speaker A: Yeah, so, I mean, it's. It's like fucking smoke and aces. You just come out, bam, bam. Just putting rounds downrange. Two of them following me. There's plenty enough for Mary angel being one on one with occultist. And I suffice it to say, Jordan, she is significantly more capable in combat than you are. So the squibs are going off in the films. People falling over. And then Mariangel. Just one feral weapons claw strike. The body goes hurling across the air. Everyone now arriving into the suv. It's getting kind of crap. Five of you, three passengers. That's eight now. But that's fine. That's why you're driving a family sized vehicle. [02:12:51] Speaker C: Katya, are you driving? [02:12:53] Speaker F: Yes. [02:12:54] Speaker C: Okay, cool. [02:12:55] Speaker E: Thank you, Joshua Crozier. [02:12:57] Speaker A: So, Katya, you start driving off. There are more people coming in behind now. It's a chase. There are two pickup trucks behind you. Like, big, like, f 350s. Actual farm trucks. Not like, my penis is small. How do I look good in public? Trucks. So, like, working trucks. People in the front, firearms. You can see leaning out of the windows, standing up in the back of the truck. What are we gonna do? [02:13:25] Speaker F: I will be defensively driving, and I will open the moonroof as well for somebody to lean out of and take. [02:13:31] Speaker A: Some shots out of. [02:13:35] Speaker B: Yeah, I could. [02:13:36] Speaker E: I'll tell. Fucking. Okay. Sure. [02:13:39] Speaker F: It's either that or somebody else takes up a driving. [02:13:42] Speaker C: I got a dot in both of those options. [02:13:46] Speaker A: I like this. I like. I like this. The moon roof opens, and Roxanne is starting to get up. And then, like, Hailey doesn't have a gun. Like, I'm the nutshell or whatever. That's not what Hailey's here for. And. But then Jordan has the pistol and is like, oh, God damn it. It's like trying to rope the slide. At this point, Everett York reaches over and just takes it from you and rolls the window down. Right. [02:14:07] Speaker C: Thank you, Everett. [02:14:10] Speaker B: Hi. [02:14:11] Speaker A: Gun? [02:14:12] Speaker E: No, I'm just. This is the second time I played a kindred firing out of a window. It's weird. It's weird. [02:14:24] Speaker C: I have two nickels. [02:14:26] Speaker B: I did. I did have a small thought. I have my little hatchet, and I was wondering if I could stand up in the moonroof and then chuck it at the car with the intention of shattering the windshield right in front of the driver. [02:14:43] Speaker A: I mean, that's gonna be hard, but also incredibly cool if you pull it off. [02:14:48] Speaker B: I know, right? [02:14:49] Speaker A: I think the moonroof is taken, and I really don't want it to seem where you're both squeezing up through it. Right. So. But, I mean, out the window is totally fine. You're an adventurer. Like, this is the only thing that you hate about this moment is that you're not getting jacked to TikTok it for you while you do it. [02:15:04] Speaker B: I know. How cool would that be? [02:15:07] Speaker F: I like to. [02:15:08] Speaker D: Slowly, just for story, just like. [02:15:14] Speaker C: The amount of masquerade violation. As you're like, this is gonna be. [02:15:17] Speaker A: So bad, you can keep it for yourselves. Right. You know, you don't need to. In the locked folder on your phone. Yes. Okay, so then it sounds like I need Katya to make a drive check. I need roxannemic firearms. Check. And I need Haley to roll decks and athletics. [02:15:35] Speaker F: It's a dexterity drive, right? [02:15:37] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:15:39] Speaker E: And for those successes on the shooting. [02:15:41] Speaker A: Okay. [02:15:43] Speaker B: Because this is really difficult. I am going to blood buff first. [02:15:47] Speaker A: That's good advice. [02:15:49] Speaker F: Yeah. I am probably also going to do that as well, just for extra dice rousing success. Would things like cat's grace help me or fleetness? [02:16:01] Speaker A: Cat's grace is for balance. Fleetness. No, I don't think. Because you're not running, you're driving. Right. But honestly, what did you roll? Oh, you haven't rolled yet? Okay. [02:16:13] Speaker F: Me, I'm gonna get hungry, but I'm only up to hunger, too. Let's do some drive decks with those two extra dice. Two. And I want to. I'm going to spend willpower. Just. I don't want to deal with two successes. Yeah. [02:16:39] Speaker A: So, for context, Katya's driving is going to determine how easy it is for the rest of you to do this stuff. Right? Three total. [02:16:45] Speaker F: Three total. [02:16:46] Speaker A: Okay. So no bonuses, but no penalties. That's Katya managing to keep it on the road even as gunfire comes in. Uh, concentrating on that, not having that flinch moment like the bullet goes through the whole car, hits the windshield, and then she ducks. And then next thing you know, she's looked away from the road, and there's another fucking scarecrow crow. Cause apparently that's how it works in this town. So Katya is handling the stress of driving, and straight down the middle, engine roaring, big v eight block. Do we want to save? Yeah, let's save the hatchet for last, because that's gonna be the coolest. So, Roxanne, what was your result? [02:17:24] Speaker E: Three successes. [02:17:26] Speaker A: Okay, three. Yep. Totally fine. Again, no penalty from Kya's driving. So you're shooting. It's enough to get. Can't even tell if you've hit somebody, but it's enough to keep them from ducking down. You can see the driver of the car kind of swerving back and forth as the pock marks hit the windshield. [02:17:41] Speaker E: Covered fire. [02:17:42] Speaker A: Exactly. Everett also doing his part. Let us see what Everett's dice pool is gonna do for that. Oh, my God. Everett, you should have been on this adventure the whole time. Oh, damn. And Everett. [02:17:58] Speaker F: No. [02:17:58] Speaker A: Fuck it. Everett can roll willpower, right? That's allowed? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So Everett actually does quite well as well. Five successes from him. So in that case, you do see Everett and he's watching the firing. And five successes, he's not lining up for a person. He gets that shot and then you see the poof come at the front left tire of one of your pursuers and it just instantly spins flying off into the cornfield. Turns out, doesn't make it that far into the cornfield because the corn is very dense and the car can only go so far. Right now we know. So, Haley, one of them goes sailing off. And this is, you have the hatchet and you're kind of like watching everything go. You see that? But it's all in slow motion for you. Cause you're in like video game bullet time, right? Trying to get everything lined up and you swing it back when the moment's just right, like katya's going straight down the center. You don't even care about all this stuff. Shell casings coming down around you and then you chuck it. And what was your role? [02:18:56] Speaker B: Seven successes with a willpower reroll. [02:18:59] Speaker A: Hey, seven. So I'm going to tell you what standard difficulty in VTM is. Three. Right. And things that are slightly harder are four things that nigh impossible. Get to the five or six range. And in this case, I'm not going to hold it up because they would not work on the camera. But seven is exactly the target. It's not just that you manage to throw it at the windshield because like, any fucking putts can do that. The spin happens, so the actual blade is what hits first. It continues to tumble. And you know what's really hard to fucking do? Drive a truck with a hatchet in your forehead. So you see the driver just roll back as the momentum of the strike carries him. His hands are off the wheel. The other person reaches over to grab it, but over corrects and then both cars are gone. You're free and clear from the chase. Katja, where are we going? Actually rewind a second. Haley, what is the excited noise you make? [02:20:02] Speaker B: It's kind of like a shriek and a little bit of a giggle because. Oh my God, that was really fucking cool. [02:20:11] Speaker E: Holy shit. [02:20:11] Speaker A: Hell yeah. Jack pushes the stop recording button. Nice. Now, Katya, where are we going? [02:20:27] Speaker F: We are driving away from here. We definitely like, and just like, look in the back mirror at everyone else and just go, speak now forever hold your peace. Any last things we need to do in town? [02:20:42] Speaker C: I peek over to Mary, Mary angel, who I assume is in the car with us now. [02:20:48] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:20:49] Speaker C: Did you get the dude? [02:20:51] Speaker A: What dude? I mean, that's me asking what they're talking about. [02:20:54] Speaker C: The cult leader. Did you get star child? [02:20:57] Speaker A: Oh, no. Fuck no. The whole field's on fire. [02:21:00] Speaker C: Okay, well, fuck. [02:21:03] Speaker A: Look, doesn't matter, doesn't matter. Like. Like, we just grab them and we can. We can fucking go, right? Like, I. We can go, like, Nazir, we should. [02:21:10] Speaker C: Get the other two, right? That's nice. [02:21:13] Speaker F: Yes. [02:21:15] Speaker C: Hotel, hotel, hotel, hotel. [02:21:17] Speaker A: So that's the party bus comes. I mean, I don't think you're following traffic laws anymore, right? [02:21:22] Speaker F: No, no. [02:21:24] Speaker A: So just roaring forward and then, like, the screech and the smoke off the tires as it kind of, like, drifts into the sideways, like, parking space sideways that point. Nazira hears it and comes charging out, Robert Warnington in tow. She's running at you and she goes, did you do what? Did you get it? Did you figure it out? [02:21:43] Speaker C: Get in the car. [02:21:45] Speaker E: We gotta go. We gotta go. [02:21:47] Speaker A: Where's Everett? [02:21:48] Speaker F: In the car. [02:21:49] Speaker C: In the car. [02:21:51] Speaker E: I'm gonna roll down the window and, like, Everett say hi. He's like, can we go? [02:21:57] Speaker A: Can we go piling the car? And as they're doing that, like, Warrington looks upset, but various, like, looks. Looks irritated but concerned. Nazira piling in. Now there's his body stocked on top of one each other. Also a very confused tourist in the car, still sitting in the back. Just like, I think. I think it's more sense that he was in the very, very back, right? So you have the thing that pops up close it. So he's just, like, curled up on the ground. Just like not asking questions until. Until the tempo has slowed. So then Nazir at this point is like, no, no, I got it. Here's the thing. It's not about the tree. It's about the kindred. It's about the people. And once they had Everett and continuing the vital on the ground, they need to recharge it. That's what's keeping us here. We can. If all of us go, then it stops working. There's no. There's no vita to. To pour on the ground. So we gotta get out of here and then stop. [02:22:46] Speaker D: Okay, then let's do it. [02:22:48] Speaker E: Go, go, go. [02:22:48] Speaker C: Say less. [02:22:51] Speaker F: We're going. We're not spending any more time here than we absolutely need to. As soon as, like, literally, they. They're probably in the doors. Probably haven't even closed yet. They're definitely not buckled. We're going. [02:23:02] Speaker A: Limbs all over the place. As you take like a screaming left turn, floor it getting like 6ft to the gallon with the pedal to the metal, and the suv goes roaring north out of Willerton, Illinois. Feels good. Going to be about a few miles out of town when you realize you're not being pursued. There's no giant fireball chasing you. There hasn't been some kind of weird goblin roads rubber banding nonsense that pulls you back into the. Into the city. That is probably the time for people's adrenaline if they are human, or sense of adrenaline, if they are not to have calmed down. [02:24:01] Speaker C: So, apropos of nothing, there's a person in the trunk. [02:24:09] Speaker D: Yeah. [02:24:11] Speaker F: Yeah. [02:24:15] Speaker E: Got them out. [02:24:16] Speaker B: Whose belongings, including their wallet and any identifying information, has been thrown out. [02:24:25] Speaker D: The right thing to do is to just take them back to town. [02:24:28] Speaker F: Right? [02:24:30] Speaker B: Not that town. [02:24:31] Speaker D: Well, not that. That's what I meant. Chicago. [02:24:34] Speaker F: Yeah, take him to Chicago. [02:24:37] Speaker A: Quivering, terrified. German accent coming from the back. I won't tell anybody. No. [02:24:43] Speaker F: We believe you. [02:24:45] Speaker E: We believe you. [02:24:48] Speaker A: Love America. Mouse. [02:24:50] Speaker D: No. Jack's looking. Jack looks like Jordan. No. [02:24:55] Speaker E: If worse comes to worse, we could probably just dump the poor bastard at the nearest gas station. [02:25:02] Speaker C: Yeah. With cash. [02:25:05] Speaker E: Yeah. No, yeah, fine. Yeah, it will get out of town. We'll find a gas station. Roxanne will hand him like $100 out of her wallet. Be like you didn't. Don't worry about it. [02:25:19] Speaker B: I worry about dropping him off at a gas station this close to the city. [02:25:23] Speaker A: But you can drive as far as you want, drop them off. We can see any gas station. [02:25:29] Speaker F: It'll be like halfway between enough time. [02:25:31] Speaker D: Between that, like, there's no worry about. [02:25:34] Speaker E: Yeah. [02:25:34] Speaker C: Let's call it. [02:25:35] Speaker E: Let's call it halfway between Willerton and Chicago and homie gets some cash and, you know, is free to go on his merry way. [02:25:44] Speaker F: Is there like a payphone at the gas station? [02:25:48] Speaker A: I'm gonna say it's like, it's 2023. There probably isn't. But then against rural Illinois, so there probably is. [02:25:55] Speaker F: I'll just put in a call to some, like, old friends of mine that maybe they should definitely move on the town sooner than they thought. [02:26:05] Speaker A: Cash in that one last favor. Actually, I like it the other way. That it is your responsibility to make a phone call like that every now and again because there's a vampire killing quota that your friend has to meet. And you know what happens if you don't give him someone easier to knock off. [02:26:23] Speaker F: Yeah. And I mean, these people. Si. Will stay busy with all of this for a little bit, so it'll get them out of our hair for a tiny bit of time. [02:26:38] Speaker A: Mary angel also not interested in going back to Chicago, so when you go to drop off your german tourist friend, she will also depart. No need to get more involved with the city gangrel, as it were. Which leaves the five of you and Everett York in the car. Everett saying, God, I mean, I had no fucking idea, but I'm glad someone sent you to get me, or else God fucking knows what would be happening. [02:27:10] Speaker C: Now, you have that message that you were, like, transmitting, traveling with, right? Oh, I. I will kill you. [02:27:20] Speaker D: Please don't. Jordan, don't do it. [02:27:23] Speaker A: No, she's talking to me. [02:27:27] Speaker D: My bad. [02:27:27] Speaker C: You don't know who I was talking to. [02:27:29] Speaker D: That's true. Read that wrong. [02:27:30] Speaker F: My bad. [02:27:31] Speaker A: Patting down his outfit, uh, like a blazer, um, over a. I wear a nice polo shirt, something like that. Traveling in a respectable, like, upper middle class kind of. Leave me alone if you're the police. And get out of my way if you're a local kind of outfit. And he's like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's in his pocket, and he pulls out. It's not even an envelope. It's a thick, expensive parchment kind of paper that has been folded into the corners in to form, like a little envelope and then a big old wax seal on it. [02:28:05] Speaker E: Boink. [02:28:07] Speaker A: Whoa, whoa. No. If you're grabbing it, he's pulling it back. He's on like a. Like Blue's brothers mission from God, sworn to deliver this letter. [02:28:16] Speaker C: Buddy, we just saved his life. [02:28:19] Speaker A: You're gonna have to take my life if you want this letter. [02:28:23] Speaker C: Hey. [02:28:24] Speaker E: Hey, storyteller. What's on the wax seal? [02:28:28] Speaker A: I think you would have to roll wits. Send. Sorry. Intelligence and politics would be the role to figure out what the seal is. I don't know who has that in abundance, but anyone can try. [02:28:41] Speaker E: I decently okay with that. You said intelligence? [02:28:47] Speaker A: Mm hmm. Intelligence and politics. Also. Apropos of nothing, I would also take intelligence and history. [02:28:54] Speaker C: Give me, like, 2 seconds. [02:29:00] Speaker E: Two successes on four dice. [02:29:02] Speaker A: Yes. You don't recognize it from any kindred business, but maybe Jordan, could. [02:29:08] Speaker C: I have history. [02:29:10] Speaker A: Academics would work. [02:29:11] Speaker C: Thank you. It's like I don't have history. [02:29:15] Speaker A: Yeah. History is not a skill. It's under academics especially. That's my bad. [02:29:21] Speaker C: Four successes. [02:29:23] Speaker A: Yeah. There's a reason that Roxanne doesn't recognize it, because it's not kindred in nature. That is actually a 14th, maybe 15th century seal from one of the Tolbooth castles that made up the Holy Roman Empire. [02:29:39] Speaker C: Fascinating. [02:29:40] Speaker A: We don't know which one, but it has the general the outside bit, that is, of the Holy Roman Empire. And then they each had their own individual on the inside of it, and it's. [02:29:51] Speaker C: He's got his hands on it. He's not gonna let me get my. Grab your little historian fingers. [02:29:55] Speaker A: Absolutely not. He's happy to talk to you about it. He will not let go of the possession. Like, if you want to look at it, he can. Whatever, but. [02:30:02] Speaker C: So who are you coming from? [02:30:06] Speaker A: I don't tell him. A courier. I picked this up from a dead drop. All I know, it's got some weird fucking magic on it. So only the prince can read it, and I'm supposed to take it to him. [02:30:19] Speaker C: Give me, like, ten minutes in a hairdryer, and I can get it open for you guys. But if it's got magic on it, I can't do anything about it. [02:30:25] Speaker A: I mean, like, not for nothing. The magical bit is obvious. There is no way that they have manhandled him like this. And the seal is still intact. But not only is the seal intact, the letter is immaculate. Like, no folded edges, no streak marks, no nothing. [02:30:39] Speaker C: Holy roman empire gives me lasombra vibes. But otherwise, I got nothing that looks. [02:30:44] Speaker E: Like nothing that I've ever seen. [02:30:49] Speaker A: The monogram letters. Ng. I don't think that would mean anything to me. View. [02:31:00] Speaker E: Don't think so. Unless you want us to roll for it. [02:31:04] Speaker C: Unless we roll for it. [02:31:05] Speaker A: No, no. I mean, it's. [02:31:10] Speaker E: Listen, we got what we needed, and we're gonna get him to the prince, and that's really all I care about at this point. Apparently pointing to Nazira and Warrington. [02:31:22] Speaker C: Yeah, Nazira. And are you two even allowed back in the city? [02:31:29] Speaker A: You know, that's, um. That's a bit unclear. There's a slight reputational issue that have to be resolved, but I'm sure that if we talk to the prince and if you were to, for example, put in a good word about the assistance that I provided you, how helpful I was in solving the mystery and the steps that I took to see you out of the city, then perhaps everything would go okay. [02:31:51] Speaker D: I would say, like, jack sees Roxanne do the whole lean back. I lean back, like, oh, sorry, I. Hold on 1 second. I apologize. I see Roxanne, lean back, cross arms. I double check. And I was like, oh, yes, me too. [02:32:06] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:32:09] Speaker F: I'm just driving. Yeah, I'm just driving. I'm letting them do their thing, like. [02:32:14] Speaker A: Leaning forward, like, all I'm saying is that there are a great many things that tremere are capable of. There aren't that many in Chicago. And were I to be inserted into their. Their good graces, I would obviously be willing to support and. And be an ally of the person who helped me accomplish that. [02:32:33] Speaker C: What about you? [02:32:35] Speaker A: A Warrington would prefer not to be in Chicago. Warrington would prefer to leave, but does not want to get out in the middle of fucking nowhere because he's not a german tourist or a gangrel. He needs wheels. [02:32:49] Speaker E: Well, uh, I mean, Nazira, we. I feel like we've been able to develop a bit of a rapport. So at the very least, I would be more than happy to put in a word with the prince for you. [02:33:06] Speaker A: I would, of course, be grateful. And then, I mean, I would be in your debt. You'd call upon me for any favors that I might be able to provide. [02:33:13] Speaker E: Ah, and the world turns on. Yeah, I suppose if Warrington. If you're not a huge fan of the big city, we can probably dump you off at one of the suburbs. [02:33:29] Speaker A: Yeah, find me a truck stop, biker bar, something. I know how to get my way out from there. [02:33:33] Speaker E: Okay. [02:33:35] Speaker A: Also. [02:33:36] Speaker E: Right. [02:33:37] Speaker A: Yeah, well, you know, anarchs, we're. We're not exactly what the camera was as we are. [02:33:44] Speaker E: Yeah, I mean, given my clan, I think I can kind of at least sympathize on that. [02:33:52] Speaker A: Yeah, well, um, I don't know what the deal is with you all and the whole thing, but, I mean, feel free to tell your boss that she was great. Probably want to leave my name out of it. [02:34:05] Speaker E: We didn't see you. [02:34:06] Speaker F: Yeah. [02:34:08] Speaker A: Works for me. So, stretching into the epilogue, then, I think the prince, of course, grateful the return of the letter, less so, but still grateful for the return of Everett York. He is a courier, will not be remaining in Chicago. Has a private meeting with the prince while you're not around, and you'll never see him again. The letter is delivered. That was the important part. And in exchange for which, the prince has given each of you a boon to claim either a haven or territory in his city for your exclusive use in feeding. So you can mark that on your character sheet and take that offline. Nazira will have a very difficult time ahead of her with Abraham Dusable being who he is. But with your support, the prince is willing to leverage a little bit to see that this tremere is allowed to remain in the city on a probationary basis. Of course, all the normal caveats to make it seem seem like Mister Dusable is still in charge. We will let each of you kindred return to your nightly life. And then the camera drifts across a window of a 6th story, nice little like rowhouse in the rich part of Chicago. Kevin Jackson reaching forward and plucking the seal off of the letter to unfold it. I guess the camera's over his shoulder, so you can kind of see the letter, but you can mostly see Chicago laying out ahead. And then the voiceover reads, Prince Jackson. The rumors are correct. The tremere dissenters responsible for recent disturbances in your city have continued to cooperate with their masters in Milwaukee and intend to deliver what they believe to be the artifact to h in the weeks immediately to come. I have not been able to determine whether they possess the true book or something else. Neither do I know what they hope to achieve with the secrets therein. My associates, as always, stand ready to assist you in dealing with this issue. You need only ask yours respectfully, n g. And then fade to credits. [02:36:52] Speaker E: Oh, dear. [02:36:54] Speaker A: Well, you don't have to worry about. That's some other coterie's problem. [02:37:03] Speaker F: I'm looking at half of that coterie's problem. [02:37:07] Speaker B: It's me. [02:37:11] Speaker A: It's us. [02:37:14] Speaker C: That sounds like a you problem, but yeah. [02:37:17] Speaker B: Yeah. As a tremere in the other. Yes. Yep. [02:37:21] Speaker C: You problem, not me problem. You problem. [02:37:25] Speaker A: Well, before I let you back in, Koch. Excellent. I don't see the. I don't see the big deal is. Well, friends, this has been the dying fields, a scenario out of streets front red, which is a scenario book built for rural adventures, getting your kindred out of the city no matter what city you're in, and letting them experience life away from their power structures, away from their contacts, away from their allies, and trying to get them to branch out a little bit. It's meant for the midwest, but you are a creative storyteller, so you can put it wherever you want. You can find this book by using exclamation point game in chat to find the whole lot of them. None of this would have been possible. It would have been just me talking to myself for 9 hours, which I think is not the kind of content that twitch or YouTube are looking for. So I am very grateful that I was joined by our five delightful kindred, beginning with Queen's court games outdoor cat. You will soon, very soon not, I mean, like a little soon, be able to see her on Mekong, our southeast asian, planet hopping space opera, which we're terribly excited about, to say nothing of other QCG products. We start a game, and then we hear this noise pawing at the door, and we open it, and it's Clara she comes in and she just sits at the table where the game is, and we're like, all right, I guess you're in it now. Anyway. Clara tells who you are. Aside from that excited, that part, and where people can find you. [02:38:52] Speaker C: Now that I'm in the game, I want out. I'm Clara. I'm all over the Internet as clearly golden. Unless you're into mermaids, in which case you can find me on instagram as mermaid clarity. As Erin said, I am here playing the all night society, our weekly vampire, the Masquerade podcast, in which I play Maya de la Sombra, who is perfect and has never done anything wrong in her life. And I also share time over at Happy Jacks RPG podcast, where, oh, my God, I'm in two upcoming games that are weekly for a while, demigods and soon to come, a savage world game that is based on the wizard of Oz. Who knows what's happening over there? We haven't started it yet. We haven't done ourselves in two, and it's scaring me now. But otherwise, yeah. You can follow me on Twitter to find out what the fuck I'm up to at any given moment. [02:39:48] Speaker A: Adjacent. Our wonderful Jordan Phipps. We have Katya Sokolov, the Benu Hakeem gun slinging dream, also known as Aubrey, who runs our technical department here at Queen's court games. You will eventually hear something amazing sounding and tans. And every time you do, you can say, thanks, Aubrey. Because Aubrey's the only one who knows how to do it. The rest of us are just big, dumb ass idiots who were like, we recorded it. Can you make it sound good so people actually listen to it? And she says gratefully, yes, I can do that for you, my poor, sweet children. Aubrey, tell us where else people can find you and the work that you are doing on the Internet. [02:40:24] Speaker F: Hello, I am Aubrey. You can find me everywhere on the Internet at Matt Queen cosplay. And if you want to hear more of me playing games and running things, if you want to hear what I am like as the GM, you can check out goblets and gaze for awesome pathfinder y goodness. It is on its. We are on our fourth season, the end of our first campaign. It is two years coming, and it's just. I'm very excited to see the end of it. I am also very happy to have the end of it. I need a break. And you can also find me as the sword lesbian sawyer who makes all the wrong decisions on bring your own mech, and you can catch me as Ryan on escaping Carcosa, and then a bunch of other things that will be announced when they're announced. So just keep an eye on my twitter. [02:41:17] Speaker A: As you should. Aubrey is prolific and talented. Also prolific. Also talented playing our Roxanne Silvestri. Now, I understand, Laura, this was a difficult role for you to step into because it wasn't someone who could solve problems with melee attacks. So I appreciate that just demonstrating your range, but if people want to see the good old classic Laura Tutu style, where can they find you? [02:41:42] Speaker E: Well, first and foremost, hi. Hello. Good evening. You can find me as Laura Tutu, usually Laura tutu on most social media platforms. You might just have to throw another underscore at the beginning and end of that if you want to see my classic melee main nonsense. I mean, the first and best choice would be to get all caught up on tans because everybody's favorite country gang girl is coming to the city. That's right. Calamity Madden is finally coming to Chicago in, what, like, two weeks? When this comes out, one week. Two weeks. One. [02:42:18] Speaker A: I don't have really good grasp on time. Soon, soon. [02:42:23] Speaker E: TM soon. Yeah. So calamity is coming to the all night society for that gangrel melee. Goodness. You'll be able to potentially find me with the crimson fox tavern whenever we get that shit up and running with the hounds of hearsome doing some feywild nonsense. Rumor is that I might be hanging out with peach over at Nat 20 Productions for a wee little one shot benefiting Planned Parenthood. [02:42:55] Speaker F: I'll also be playing in that. [02:42:56] Speaker E: Oh, yeah, look at that. [02:42:59] Speaker A: I wasn't invited, so that feels great. [02:43:02] Speaker B: Well, it's so I wasn't either. If it makes you feel any better. [02:43:07] Speaker A: Aaron, those of us who aren't cool can just meet over in the corner. Yeah, I'm sorry, Laura. Please continue. [02:43:18] Speaker E: Other than that, the best place to find me is hanging out with these fine folks on the Queen's court games discord, where we occasionally get loud and feral and scream about the things we love. [02:43:29] Speaker A: That's true. Among the things that we love, our resident art director, Artzar, and usually playing the nerdy one. Now, I gave you fists. You got to use them. You fucking ate a whole human like, wow. Vy. If people want to see you not eating whole humans, because it's not something you do terribly often, like once in a blue moon. Where can they find you? [02:43:56] Speaker B: Hi, everybody. You can find me on Twitter for vampire because my name is Vy and I love vampires. I'm over here at Queen's court games, doing pretty much everything. I'm new. Not running over. I'm not running anything. We're playing anything over in at 20 productions because apparently PJ hates me. I thought we were friends, but apparently not. But you know what? Given how I did not survive Daltonshire, I'm not surprised that he did not invite me back. Anyway, it's fine. I do everything over here at QCG. I'm in so many things. [02:44:30] Speaker E: A little. [02:44:31] Speaker B: A little behind the scenes fact. I am recording four things in the next four days for QCG. So it is a very, very, very busy schedule. So are you, Laura? Yes. Yeah. Yep. It's going to be a busy weekend. So, so much fun. We have so much. Yeah, we have so much good stuff coming out. Super, super excited. Cannot wait to share all of that with you. [02:44:56] Speaker A: On the topic of people who are producing way too much content, at least as I understand it. First of all, Sade, thank you so much for joining us. We've been trying to get through the game forever, and I hope it was excellent and worth your time, because I certainly feel that way, and I think the rest of us agree. [02:45:10] Speaker D: But it was pretty nice. It was pretty dope. Thank y'all. Y'all are wonderful. So thank you for walking me through the world of the masquerade. And I played my. My himbo Jack, who I adore, and I love playing. Playing with all of you. You're all fantastic, let me just say. But yeah. Hi, I'm sade she, they, pronouns. You can find me everywhere as Ssambrose, except for Twitter, which is Ssambrose because Twitter, as you all know, hate me. I'm the founder and creator director of the other side of studios. You can follow us at othersiderstd. I'm on Twitter. We just did our premiere of Arcane Core Aftermath, which was pretty good. We're gonna keep it going. We have a few more episodes to go to wrap up season two, as we brought that over to us. And I'm really excited for y'all to see because there's a lot of emotional moments, and I'm proud of the entire cast for the amazing things that they've done. Of course, you can find me on the Lovely Craftings podcast four Seasons catch up. We're on hiatus, but that's a binge watch. That is a binge watch. And there's a lot of eldritch stuff going on in there, so please watch it. I was terrified in r1 time active, like, actively was scared because of a voice mod that I was not told was going to happen somewhere. I'm not going to tell you when, but you'll know. You'll see it. Other than that, you can also find me on friends who roll dice. And we're wrapping up siren song, which is a monster of the week game. And they're lovely. It's on Fridays, but if not, you can find it on their YouTube. So yes, thank y'all. Y'all are wonderful and fantastic. [02:46:53] Speaker A: I had an amazing time. I have an amazing cast. Wouldn't be anywhere without them. But if you'd like to see me telling you more about how awesome they are, you can find Merrin in words, where mostly, well, most recently I confessed to a deeply embarrassing job that I had while I was in college. But aside from that, normally, talking about rules, talking about systems, getting little writing tips and taking you through my process. Else if you want to find things that I am running or doing, it's usually always here. I am under strict orders not to make content for other people because I have to do it for us. Can't have dessert until you eat your vegetables and oh my fucking God, they're like so vegetable. So keep track of the upcoming stuff that that is happening. Head on over on Twitter to Queenscore RPG or Queen's court games. Literally everywhere else that has a longer name allowed. I think that covers it. We will be back here next. Sorry, back here next week, same time 3 hours ago and I'm pretty sure I know what we're playing. Do you want to tell them. [02:47:58] Speaker C: If I guess I'm gonna be wrong? [02:48:01] Speaker A: No, I'm expecting Laura and Bea to guess. [02:48:06] Speaker B: I think it depends entirely on the recording. So it's either going to be what we record tomorrow or what Laura and I are currently in DM's debating if we should push our Saturday recording for because I have two late nights that are going to keep me up till 04:00 in the morning. So it's going to be one of the two things that get recorded in the next two days. It'll be a fun surprise for all of us to figure out, which I. [02:48:27] Speaker E: Mostly don't want to potentially kill thee. [02:48:29] Speaker A: So like, literally the viewers are going to find out about the same time. [02:48:33] Speaker B: That I find happens next week. [02:48:35] Speaker A: It's going to be great. But thank you so much for hanging out with us. You can go to our YouTube channel to find more of our other stuff going on. The online society podcast, head on to one shots and other mischief where we throw all of our not long series games, tons of content there. Also, come hang out on our discord where you can make fun of v, you can make fun of Laura, you can make fun of me. You can share people pictures of cute dogs or pictures of food you want to eat. That's kind of our jam. Special thanks to our Duke Tier Patrons, Callie, Mark, and Ben, and also to our newest patron, Matt Penn, who just jumped in. If you would like to join in supporting us, you can do so. Patreon.com queenscourtgames you'll get some cool stuff. We just dropped a two and a half hour behind the scenes episode. Postcards are out, wallpapers out. Can't beat that deal. In the meantime, ambulance. Meantime, though, we are going to head off, do our debrief. We will see you all around real soon. Bye for now. Bye.