S1 Ep6: Feed the Machine

[00:00:30] Speaker A: The reaper does not listen to the harvest. Terry Pratchett. When last we left off, you all were standing in a church in the process of engaging in a not wedding in an effort to help a ghost move on and let go of this mortal coil. However, towards the end of the session, just before we left for the night you saw a great dark cloud hovering over the church outside. And it sank in through the windows and through the front door and began to form a figure before you. This figure looked like it was draped in fabrics that were somehow woven out of shadow. As you stand here now, however, those shadows, that fabric begins to pull away, flaking off at the ends almost looking like something between smoke and sand. As it gives way to a more established figure. You see the hat first. A wide brim, slightly taller than the rest of the head and a pale, gaunt face with a cigarette hanging from between the lips. Jeans are covered by chaps and cowboy boots, all of it black and gray. And various shades of monochrome. Of monochrome cover his features. A gun belt hangs around his hips with revolvers on either side. And almost before you can recognize that he's moving one of them is in his hand and it is leveled on the male ghost, who is just slightly removed from Arthur. So just as much leveled at Arthur as it is on the ghost. Well, all, ain't this convenient? [00:03:15] Speaker B: Can y'all hear him? [00:03:19] Speaker A: Everybody can hear him. [00:03:21] Speaker C: I think we could see him, too. [00:03:23] Speaker A: Yes. [00:03:29] Speaker C: I. Arthur's going to turn to his friend and see what his preacher friend, Jack, is doing. [00:03:35] Speaker A: Jack is no longer reading. Jack is staring in abject horror at what has just materialized in front of him. And as you all hesitate, Zephyr, you notice before anybody else does his free hand returns that what looks like a hand rolled cigarette to his lips before it moves to the empty holster where his gun used to be. And when he pulls his hand back, long, heavy looking spectral chains hang from his hand. He's not looking at you, but you're the first person to notice because everybody else is focused on other thIngs. [00:04:34] Speaker D: Are they, like, just on his hands or are they on other places on his body, too, kind of like drag? [00:04:41] Speaker A: He is just holding them in his hand. His eyes are very intently focused on the male ghost. I will let everybody know that you may not necessarily understand what is going on but all of you have a sense of impending doom and the very real pressing feeling that you have not even seconds to react to what's happening before something happens. [00:05:21] Speaker E: Well, in that case, my instinct was immediately to kind of look at Gozer and send him forth to bite this thing's arm if he can. [00:05:32] Speaker A: Okay. All right. Sounds like we are starting combat. I love that. Everybody's just. [00:05:44] Speaker C: Arthur was going to ask in his mind if the ghost knew why the guy was pointing gun at him. But it sounds like things are going to happen too quickly for that to be a conversation. [00:05:55] Speaker A: Yeah. This is going to unfold very quickly. Yeah. I would like everybody to roll me. Composure plus awareness. There is no option to use willpower to reroll on this particular role. I just want everybody to get a feel for how quickly you can react. [00:06:31] Speaker E: One for Gozer as well. [00:06:35] Speaker A: Yes. No, wait. He's just going to go on your turn. It just makes it easier. Okay. [00:06:40] Speaker D: Say composure and awareness. [00:06:45] Speaker A: Yes. Okay. And then everybody let me know. Three for Rosanna, three for Victoria. Sorry, I have to take notes. Arthur got two. [00:07:11] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:07:14] Speaker A: Zephyr got what? [00:07:15] Speaker D: One. [00:07:17] Speaker A: Okay. Rosanna got what? [00:07:20] Speaker B: Three. [00:07:21] Speaker A: And Victoria got three. Ladies are kicking y'all's ass, man. [00:07:29] Speaker C: I know. Think the guys are just like, eh. [00:07:42] Speaker D: That'S kind of crazy. [00:07:43] Speaker C: That's just like a weird cowboy ghost. [00:07:48] Speaker A: Interesting. [00:07:49] Speaker B: Like, what the fuck? [00:07:51] Speaker A: Interesting. Okay. Unfortunately, none of you managed to beat the man in front of you. [00:08:02] Speaker C: Sure. [00:08:04] Speaker A: However, comma, a lot of things are going to happen at once. As is typically the way with combat, none of you are in melee range at the moment. Gozer can move into melee range, however, so we're going to have Gozer take his thing, and then we will start ranged with Cowboy. So can you please roll Gozer's attack? Roll, please. [00:08:43] Speaker E: Four. It seems like he doesn't have a dice pool for attack, but physical is six, so just roll that. [00:08:57] Speaker A: Does he not have, like, brawl or anything? Okay, so we'll just do physical. Yeah. [00:09:06] Speaker C: The dog doesn't have brawl. [00:09:10] Speaker E: I haven't taught him that yet. [00:09:11] Speaker C: Too nice of a dog. [00:09:13] Speaker B: Gozer's the best boy. Just not. [00:09:19] Speaker C: He's a lover, not a fighter. [00:09:20] Speaker B: Well, I mean, you saw how he was with Rosanna last week. [00:09:25] Speaker E: So that's two successes for Gozer. [00:09:28] Speaker A: Okay. Sorry. Taking notes. Keep a track of stuff. And I keep losing my. I keep losing my notes document. Okay, so Gozer darts forward and jumps as if he's going to bite into this being. And for a moment, you could swear that you see his front paws make contact, and then he passes directly through the body and lands behind. However, he whips around and he is facing, and he is still growling menacingly and snarling and snapping at this guy's heels. The guy barely blinks. He just doesn't react very much before he takes a shot at the Hubband Ghost. Hubby ghost. I'm going to roll my physical dice over here. [00:11:10] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. [00:11:18] Speaker B: Have you decided to do this, Arthur? Have you agreed to this? Don't look at me like that. [00:11:25] Speaker A: So you all hear the crack of this gun and it is like thunder in this small building. Victoria, your ears are ringing. You're incredibly sensitive. Hearing. It's not so bad that you're going to be at a disadvantage, which you get the feeling that if you get too close and this goes off, it very much will cause disadvantages. [00:11:46] Speaker E: Thank goodness. [00:11:50] Speaker A: It's just at the point where you're like, you're going to cringe every time you hear it. At this point, you guys don't see the bullet, but Arthur specifically feels it. Arthur, you're not going to take any damage, but you feel the ghost very much take damage. And you hear him grunt in pain and you watch as he seems to fall out of you to his knees. And there is like spectral blood pouring over the front of him. Rosanna, you feel the horror and the terror and the revulsion of your tag along. And everybody hears this. It doesn't come out of Rosanna's mouth, but everybody hears it. There is a ear piercing scream of just the worst kind of agony. She is watching her soulmate die in front of her again. And you all watch as the husband is desperately trying to stop the bleeding, holding his hand over his chest and over his stomach. He's not even sure where the blood is coming from. It's just a panic. And there is gurgling. And the man in the cowboy hat kind of flips the gun around his hand and then levels it again. And this time on your friend Arthur, who rapidly has started to flip through his Bible like he is looking for a particular passage. And the gun is now leveled on him. Obviously his turn is over, so he's not going to take a shot yet. And the man just goes. Time for him to get to the labyrinth. Your friend, though, and he'll just kind of shake his head. You skinwalkers all learned to mind your own goddamn business. Okay, anybody who is at range, we're going to go down the list. Who wants to do something? The first is Rosanna. Is there anything that you want to do? [00:14:39] Speaker B: I think my first thing that we need to do is we need to get the priest out of the way. So I think I'm going to spend my turn taking him by the arm and not caring if he says yes or no. She's just going to drag him to a place where it might be semi safe. So this guy can't let off his gun on this gentleman. [00:15:07] Speaker A: Okay, we're going to call that a. So he's not moving with you, not because he doesn't want to, but because he's just not thinking clearly. So we're going to say strength plus. [00:15:29] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:15:33] Speaker C: So just, you can go. I know we were going down the order, but I was going to do the same thing. So I guess my question is, could Arthur also be helping and thus giving her whatever extra die to her thing that she's doing? Because that was. [00:15:50] Speaker A: How many dots of strength and brawl does Arthur have? [00:15:54] Speaker C: Just the one combined. [00:16:00] Speaker A: So between the two of you, Arthur could give Rosanna an extra die. Rosanna, I'm going to have it be strength and composure because your hanger on is flipping her shit. So you have to overcome her panic as well as his physical resistance. [00:16:23] Speaker B: Great. Fantastic. I am loving this. Boys and girls, let's go. Strength and composure. And I get an extra die from my lovely assistant. [00:16:38] Speaker A: Just to be aware, Arthur, you are sacrificing your action this turn to do this. [00:16:43] Speaker C: Yes, I am. Yeah, that was going to be my plan as well, was get him out of the way. So I think that in this case. [00:16:50] Speaker A: As long as you are aware and okay with that, I am also okay with it. [00:16:55] Speaker C: Thumbs up. [00:16:59] Speaker A: What are we at? [00:17:01] Speaker B: Three? I think I'm going to spend a willpower to reroll those two failures, though. [00:17:06] Speaker A: Okay. [00:17:11] Speaker B: Seven successes. [00:17:12] Speaker A: Critical. Okay. Between you and Arthur, you manage to haul this man bodily off of his feet and drag him behind the altar. You don't know how much protection it is going to give to spirit, but maybe at the very least, he's not reading anymore. Like he's so freaked out by the fact that he's being manhandled by a woman who is, like, half his size that he is just kind of along for the ride. Victoria. What would you like to do? [00:17:53] Speaker E: Something incredibly stupid. So my plan. [00:17:56] Speaker A: I love incredibly stupid. [00:17:59] Speaker E: My plan is to run straight at this thing because my bells have a two meter radius in which they can affect. Because of the ward perk, I'm going to run up as close as I need to get to this guy and just start opening the rift so I can yeet him out and then close it back up again. That's the plan. I'm not sure if it's going to go that way, but that is the plan. [00:18:21] Speaker A: Okay, so you want to yeet the. [00:18:23] Speaker E: Ghost guy through the shroud? [00:18:25] Speaker A: Yes. [00:18:27] Speaker E: I want him using your bells. Yes. Like I did last session. [00:18:32] Speaker A: Okay, so I'm just going to remind you this is something very new that you have only recently discovered you even know how to do. You have no idea how it works. You barely know how to try and close it behind you and you are working on the fly. [00:18:45] Speaker E: Okay, I have one intelligence. It's not a great idea. [00:18:51] Speaker A: I'm just reminding you because you need to be aware of the risks involved. You as the player. Okay, very cool. We're going to use your standard roll for your bells, but I'm going to say that because you don't know what you're doing. You were at a negatiVe. What's your dipole composure? [00:19:13] Speaker E: And a cult. [00:19:14] Speaker A: Yeah. What's your total together? [00:19:17] Speaker E: I believe that's a five. [00:19:18] Speaker A: Yes, five. We're going to say you're at a negative one. [00:19:22] Speaker E: Okay. [00:19:23] Speaker A: To try and do this on the fly. And I'm not going to allow willpower rolls. [00:19:27] Speaker E: Okay? Will you allow desperation? Actually, I can't use desperation because I need to subterfuge a ghost, or at least supernatural in order to get it. Never mind, let's roll. [00:19:39] Speaker A: Four dice. [00:19:48] Speaker E: Three successes. [00:19:50] Speaker A: That's not terrible. Okay, interesting. So you, you switch into this mode of barely restrained fury and desperation. You could see Gozer going Bah fucking listic on this thing that he can't seem to bite. And just instinct takes over and you start working your bells and trying to remember what you did to try and pull the shroud to a point where it was thinner and thinner and thinner and you could see him react. And everybody in the room, it was already cold. You had already felt like a fairly substantial drop in temperature where you could see your breath and everything. It has just gotten even more frigid in this place. Rosanna is shivering behind the altar priest. Guy's eyebrows have kind of started to ice over a little bit. Victoria? [00:21:09] Speaker E: Yes? [00:21:10] Speaker A: Will you do me a favor and just roll me a single die? [00:21:15] Speaker E: I can do this for you. [00:21:26] Speaker A: All right, cool. It's fine. It's all totally fine. So you manage to pull the veil to the point where it is as thin as you think you can get it. And maybe there's a chance that you could yeet this ghost cowboy guy back through the veil. What you didn't take into account is that doorways open both ways. And you all hear the thunder of hooves and the raucous shout that you have heard in every cowboy film ever made of triumph and just that joyous rebellion that I'm not going to do, because I will blow out my microphone in everybody at home's ears. But you all know the sounds, the cowboy sounds. You hear revolvers being fired into the air, and you all see and hear horses with men on them. It looks like they are thundering into the church, except that they're not really coming from anywhere. They're just sort of appearing, coming from up behind. And they are all wearing cowboy hats and firing guns into the air. And they are all dressed in monochromatic tones, just like the man in front of you. And he sort of arches a brow and looks casually over a shoulder at them, and he goes, well, that makes it easier. Thank you, ma'am. [00:23:15] Speaker E: I'm not done yet. [00:23:21] Speaker A: Is there anything that you can do on this turn, or was that your whole thing? [00:23:28] Speaker E: I guess that's all I can do because the next turn, I'm going to start closing this and trying to force them back. [00:23:34] Speaker A: Okay, very cool. Arthur's already sacrificed his turd. Zephyr. What do you want to do? You are standing here, and there are many weird, all black clad ghost cowboys in the room. [00:23:55] Speaker D: Accidentally wore that outfit. [00:23:57] Speaker A: Accidentally dressed for the occasion. [00:24:01] Speaker D: Quick question. Would I need to have the ring on to be possessed by the husband ghost? [00:24:13] Speaker A: Well, the husband ghost is no longer inside of Arthur. He looks like he is dying in front of the altar. And Arthur still has the ring on, as far as you know. Okay, so in theory, no, but also kind of, yes. You know that he went to the one who was wearing the ring, but he's not currently in the one who's wearing the ring. [00:24:37] Speaker C: Yeah, the last time we interacted, the one jumped into Victoria, so there is precedent. Right. So just throwing that out there from. [00:24:48] Speaker D: My memory, just double checking. So, yeah, so I'm just like, oh, shit. So I'm going to run up to the husband ghost and kind of reach my hand out. Jump in. [00:25:04] Speaker A: Jump in. Or something. [00:25:05] Speaker D: I got you. Just to try to save him to see if that helps. [00:25:14] Speaker E: Okay. [00:25:16] Speaker A: Wasn't expecting that move, but I'll take. [00:25:20] Speaker B: It. [00:25:21] Speaker A: So I need you to roll. What am I going to have you roll for? This? This is so weird. Let's do composure and do composure and occult. Okay. So he looks at you, and he lifts a hand, and you can see the blood dripping from his fingers as he tries to touch your hand. And you feel that cold steal over you. Your whole body kind of seizes with it as he tries to kind of push himself into you. And it works. But the first thing you feel is this incredible, intense amount of pain. Oh, shit. Because you just took on a possession of a ghost who's dying. So suddenly you feel like you're dying. You're not physically taking any damage, but you are feeling every moment. And you can feel the dread and the terror that he feels. [00:27:02] Speaker D: And then if I can move again, I'll hide behind the altar with Arthur and Rosanna. [00:27:14] Speaker A: It's not that big of an altar, guys. Okay. Yeah. [00:27:18] Speaker D: I'm just like, I got to get out of here. [00:27:25] Speaker A: So it's now all of the ghost cowboys turn. I'm just going to have them go on at the same moment because trying to space them out would be ridiculous. There are like, five of them in the room right now. This is so ridiculous. [00:27:50] Speaker E: By the way. [00:27:53] Speaker A: Rosanna, I'm going to ask for a role, understanding that this is not going to be your turn. This is just to see how well they can see where you are. I'm also going to need this role from Zephyr. I am going to need Dex and stealth from both of you. Funny enough, Arthur is not of consequence at the moment. [00:28:17] Speaker C: At the moment. [00:28:18] Speaker A: Well, you're not carrying a ghost. [00:28:21] Speaker C: Also true. [00:28:24] Speaker D: Three. [00:28:31] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah. [00:28:33] Speaker A: Okay. [00:28:34] Speaker B: All right. Wrong. [00:28:43] Speaker A: It. [00:28:44] Speaker B: One. [00:28:47] Speaker A: Lovely. Okay. You okay? Cool. Unfortunately, Rosanna, he sees you, there's no hiding you, and he's going to take a shot. I'm going to roll some dice. Interesting. Okay, Rosanna. Everybody hears the gunshot, but, Rosanna, you feel it physically. You take one. Superficial. It's not a huge deal for you. However, your hangaron takes a lot more and falls out of you. Stumbles and collapses. And you can see her like diaphragmus, white wedding gown as she falls and kind of tumbles down off the steps of the altar. Elijah or Zephyr? Sorry. Zephyr, you react physically without even recognizing that you're doing it. Everybody hears you scream. No. And you realize immediately that it is the ghost that you are desperately trying to save in the same moment that she falls out of you and stumbles and kind of topples into the middle of the aisle at the base of the altar. Rosanna, you watch as those ghostly chains that the first guy had, another one has pulled out a set and they seem to fly from his hands to her and wrap around her wrists and they are hauling her back towards their courses. Another one is going to take shot at Zephyr. I have already rolled. Unfortunately for him, he missed. So Zephyr and his tag along are safe for the moment. There is still the crack of gunfire. And Zephyr, you barely manage to duck enough to avoid the bullet, just enough of your body is hidden that they miss. [00:31:46] Speaker D: Okay, sorry, can I say anything while they. [00:31:50] Speaker A: All this. Oh, yeah, no, absolutely. You could say stuff. [00:31:52] Speaker D: I was going to be like, wait, hold on. What do you guys want? Why are you here? [00:32:00] Speaker A: This, like, I mean, if I'm gonna. [00:32:05] Speaker C: Die, like, it's fine, especially Dobaness. [00:32:13] Speaker A: So. So hold on. I'm gonna go down the list and we're going to see if anybody wants to interrupt and react while you are trying to talk, because technically, you're all moving at the same time. Rosanna, technically, you were the first to get to do something. You do hear Zephyr starting to talk. Are you going to wait for Zephyr to talk or are you going to react? [00:32:43] Speaker B: I think what I. Well, shit. All I really can do right now is I'm going to look to Arthur and I'm just going to give him the you can kill these ones look. And I'm going to try to run after the woman and try to force her back into me wording. I'm going to try to let her. There's no way to say this correctly. You know what I'm trying to say? [00:33:30] Speaker A: Okay. All right. Interesting. I have to think about what to make you roll for this. I'm going to say this is a Dex athletics role. [00:33:48] Speaker B: Being a cult. [00:33:49] Speaker A: It cannot, because you have to try and catch her before they drag her to them. You're lucky I'm not making this a strength athletics, which is what most athletics roles are. I'm letting you use decks. [00:34:04] Speaker B: Two dice. Oh, well. [00:34:13] Speaker A: It. [00:34:14] Speaker B: One success and I'm not even going to try to. One success. [00:34:25] Speaker A: One success. You dart after her. And unfortunately, that dress is not easy to move in. You step on the ends of your gown and stumble and land on your knees about 5ft away as she is dragged up and draped over one of the horses. And the cowboy who has her, just to add insult to injury, smacks her on the ass and. Oh, that's cute. I love it when the living ones think that they can save people. Like, all this shit ain't inevitable. Victoria, you and Gozer. [00:35:26] Speaker E: Gozer is probably flipping out. It doesn't seem like he can do much to them, so I don't really give him another order. But hopefully he's kind of, like, standing near me. And I'm going to start reversing this and try to send them back before they can take the good ghosts with them. [00:35:43] Speaker A: The good ghosts. Okay. I would like to know how you plan to try and force them backwards. [00:35:53] Speaker E: I don't know. It seems as though the chill comes out when it's opened. So they have opened this somehow on their own? [00:36:03] Speaker A: Yes. Well, there's a lot going on with how all of this works, but I. [00:36:11] Speaker E: Know when I begin to reverse it and I begin to thin it or thicken the shroud again, the chill goes away. [00:36:21] Speaker A: I can only, as a reminder, the part of the chill had already dropped before you opened the veil. It just got more intense when you opened it. [00:36:30] Speaker E: Sure. But the idea is, I think I'm going to thicken the shroud to a point where they get stuck. That's kind of my thoughts there. [00:36:42] Speaker A: Interesting. We'll give it a shot. I'm going to say that you're probably not going to be able to do it to all of them all at once, but you might be able to cut off at least a few of them. [00:36:54] Speaker E: Okay. [00:36:55] Speaker A: So go ahead and make your roll. You are still at negative one because you have never tried to do this before. You're not entirely sure what you're doing. [00:37:03] Speaker E: Can I use willpower this time, though? [00:37:06] Speaker A: Yes. [00:37:07] Speaker E: Okay. Two successes I had to willpower reroll there. [00:37:17] Speaker A: Okay, so you are in very much the same situation that you found yourself in last night, where you were experimenting with this. Something does not want you to put the veil back up the way it's supposed to be. And it is fighting you. It is like trying to move through oil. It's like something is sticking to you and trying to stop your arms from moving the way that they should. Trying to stop your bells from sounding the way that they should. And you can see as one of the cowboys looks a little alarmed and then winks out of existence, but the others are still there, and the room is not quite as cold as it was. [00:38:08] Speaker E: Hey, that's something. But I am struggling. I'm putting everything. I don't care if something's trying to hold me back. I'm going to keep pushing forward and reverse this. And hopefully you send them back to where they're supposed to go. But as I'm doing this, there's, like, blood trickling a little bit out of my nose as the effort from playing my bells in this way just begins to take a toll on me. [00:38:35] Speaker A: Arthur, you've been given permission. You can kill these ones. Unfortunately, there's a lot of them and only one of you. [00:38:45] Speaker C: Yeah. So, couple of questions. So I can see all of this, right? I can see that the person, you can see all of it happening on the horse. [00:38:53] Speaker A: Okay. [00:38:55] Speaker C: Just want to make sure that I knew that they were taking her. Then the second question. I know that Arthur probably would have had the brass knuckles in his pocket, but I don't know if he would have handed his book off to Zephyr or not while they were doing the wedding ceremony. Zephyr's right there either way. Yeah, I think that what I want to do is have Arthur just kind of go like monsters, rail, stay down to his friend, and then basically try to do what Rosanna was doing, but not to get the girl back into her, but get to the writer and try to just slam him with the book real fast and see if I can knock him off his ghost horse and thus delay the whole whatever is going on over here. [00:39:45] Speaker A: Okay. So I'm not going to make you roll to see if you can get there because you're not trying to catch her before she gets yanked away or anything like that. You're just trying to close the distance. Correct. And they're not going anywhere at the moment. So I will allow you to make your roll. I will also say that you are no longer in despair because you saved your friend. You redeemed yourself. [00:40:12] Speaker C: All right, I like this. This is great. [00:40:15] Speaker B: Cool. [00:40:17] Speaker C: All right, then let me build this dice pool differently than I thought I was going to be building it. There's. All right, so gotta make sure you have the numbers right and then desperation. What is our desperation? [00:40:37] Speaker A: Currently, you are at rough four. [00:40:47] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh. [00:40:49] Speaker A: Would you like to overreach or choose despair? [00:40:54] Speaker C: Okay, overreaching, I forget. Just help me remember is overreaching and it ups to the danger, right? [00:41:02] Speaker A: Yeah, you succeed at a cost. [00:41:05] Speaker C: Okay. [00:41:07] Speaker B: It looks like we're already at danger five, though. [00:41:10] Speaker A: No, you're at danger four. It's slightly. Oh, no, it's supposed to be four. Stuff got moved around. I'm sorry. [00:41:18] Speaker C: That's all right. We're going to be at danger five because I want to succeed with my six successes. [00:41:24] Speaker A: That's cool. [00:41:26] Speaker C: Also, I just got out of despair. It'd be weird to go right back into it. [00:41:30] Speaker A: You and Dixie, man. [00:41:35] Speaker C: So, yes. [00:41:37] Speaker A: Choose overreach. Got it. [00:41:42] Speaker C: Choose overreach. [00:41:45] Speaker A: Awesome. It just locks it in so that you can't fix it. Six successes is very good. You jump at this guy, he does not look like he was prepared for that. You get the feeling that living people don't typically advance on these guys on the very rare occasion that they can actually see them. And you bring your book against him and throw all of your faith and drive and that newfound sense of purpose that you got from saving your friend. From helping Rosanna. To save your friend from being killed by a ghost cowboy. And you throw the book and you slam it against his chest and he topples backwards off of the horse. He is not gone. He's still there physically, but he's no longer on the horse. The girl still is and does not seem to be terribly responsive. But you hear a colorful string of both Spanish and English cursing as he topples backwards off the horse. One of the other cowboys kind of laughs at him gruffly, like, you get the feeling that this is not something that happens frequently. So they're all going to probably give him shit for the rest of eternity for that time that a poindexter in a priest collar with a book managed to smack him off his horse. [00:43:28] Speaker C: Well, Then just. Last thing is, Arthur's just going to quote from Revelations. He's just going to say something like. And I looked and behold, a pale horse. His name was Death. You know that whole verse? He's just going to be saying that as he stands over this. That's how his power works anyway. [00:43:51] Speaker A: Yeah. Zepper, you have a ghost that's dying inside of you. You can feel it. You're not sure what happens if a ghost dies. You're not sure what happens to you if a ghost dies inside of you. [00:44:13] Speaker D: Yikes. [00:44:17] Speaker A: Yikes. [00:44:21] Speaker D: I did have a question. Since I'm currently possessed by a ghost, if I were to interact with another ghost, could I physically touch them? [00:44:35] Speaker A: Eventually. You are certainly welcome to try. Actually. Here, roll me intelligence at a cult. Okay. And I'll tell you what kind of a sense you get from the situation. It's not something you've ever had any sort of training in, but. [00:44:56] Speaker D: Intelligence and a cold. Just one. [00:45:04] Speaker A: Do you want to do any rerolls? [00:45:08] Speaker D: Yeah, I'll reroll. [00:45:12] Speaker A: Much better. Critical six is pretty fucking good. You get the feeling that. Yes, absolutely. Having this ghost inside of you is going to give you a very unique advantage. You have effectively, Elijah leveled the playing field with the supernatural, which is something I believe you need to do in order to use your desperation think. I think that's how the entrepreneurial stuff works. [00:45:43] Speaker D: I think so. [00:45:44] Speaker A: God. [00:45:44] Speaker D: Let me check, because I was thinking that if the ghost that Arthur smacked, if his gun fell out of his hand or something, I could pick it up and shoot one of them. But I was assuming that did not happen. I'm sorry, could you say that, saying. I was asking that question because I wanted to possibly use one of the guns if it fell out of the ghost's hand that Arthur smacked. [00:46:26] Speaker C: Is Zephyr entrepreneurial? [00:46:28] Speaker A: He is, yes. [00:46:31] Speaker C: According to the book, the desperation dice field is when he's building, inventing, augmenting, or repairing while on the hunt. [00:46:37] Speaker A: I'll say that this counts as augmenting. He took a ghost inside of him in order to be able to interact with things. So, yes, I will say that he is effectively augmenting himself. [00:46:46] Speaker C: I agree. [00:46:47] Speaker D: Hell, yeah. [00:46:49] Speaker A: Okay, so maybe it's the thing that he has to do to get his desperation dice back. That's probably what it. Okay, Zephyr, this is such a weird idea, but I'm here for it. I'm going to allow you to make a resolve. And, Dex, check to try to get to the gun before cowboy does. And if you get it, I will absolutely allow you to use it as a weapon. [00:47:26] Speaker D: And I would add my desperation die to that. [00:47:30] Speaker A: Yes. Okay, you get to add four dice. [00:47:38] Speaker D: Wait, to what I already have? [00:47:41] Speaker A: No, you get four desperation dice on top of what you already have. [00:47:47] Speaker C: So in the dice roller, after you do the pool, then you kick the more, and then there's the desperation. Then you put four in there. [00:47:55] Speaker A: You're going to have a real big pool for this, I hope. [00:48:00] Speaker C: For desperation. We should all have pretty big pools if we're doing things right then. [00:48:05] Speaker D: You said resolve and decks. All right, sorry, do I just do. [00:48:18] Speaker A: Like, my decks plus resolve? [00:48:21] Speaker D: It's five in total. [00:48:22] Speaker A: Okay, so you're going to do dice Hunter, pull a five, and then click the more, and it'll pop up with a bunch of things that you could choose. You're going to pick desperation and then do four. Okay. Just make sure that the dice are different colors so that we can tell whether or not you've failed on a desperation die like Arthur did. [00:48:52] Speaker D: Just making sure. [00:48:55] Speaker C: Yeah, because we've got overreach and other options that could happen. Oh, jeez. [00:49:13] Speaker A: Okay. [00:49:16] Speaker C: They really want this to go a certain way. [00:49:18] Speaker A: For sure. Okay, so, Zephyr, I'm going to give you an option that I normally should not give you because your danger is already maxed. I shouldn't allow you to choose overreach. I will give you the option to use overreach, which will allow you to continue to use your desperation dice in the future. But it is going to cause something big is about to happen besides this. Yes. [00:49:51] Speaker C: This is the mini big. We have a big, big to come. [00:49:53] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:49:56] Speaker A: Told you things were going to get real hectic from here on out. [00:50:00] Speaker C: Danger level six. [00:50:03] Speaker A: Or you could choose to go into despair, which just means that you don't get to use your desperation Dice again until you find another opportunity to level the playing field. It. [00:50:18] Speaker D: I'm going to open. [00:50:20] Speaker A: Okay. I'm so sorry. Okay, excellent. All right, overreach. So I wasn't planning to do this until later in the session. [00:50:32] Speaker D: Oh, no. [00:50:44] Speaker A: I have an SPC who was not supposed to get introduced until the second half of the session, but I think may have to make an early appearance. [00:51:01] Speaker D: I'm so sorry, you guys. [00:51:06] Speaker A: Harper, it's unclear to you why. [00:51:18] Speaker B: But. [00:51:18] Speaker A: Your boss, in the middle of everything that is going on where you were supposed to be, your boss's head snaps up and you could swear the eyes. You could swear his eyes go red and he lets out this growl that is both angry and excited and feral just all at once, all these things that you have never. He's usually very kind of stoic and calm, but he's not right now. In fact, you could almost see. It's almost like he's bearing fangs that he doesn't have with the way that his lips curl back in this snarl. And he tells you, hold on. And then this swirling black vortex opens up underneath of you and hands reach up through the ground and they grab your legs and you get yanked straight down bodily into this vortex, which immediately sucks closed behind you. Everybody in the church. All of this happened without you guys seeing it. But now you guys see another swirling black vortex opens up in the middle of the church, and this woman pops up through the floor. These black hands lift her up and out, and they almost seem to claw at her as she steps free, but somehow they don't manage to hold on to her. It's like she's water. To them. She looks very much alive. She has a healthy flush in her cheeks. Harper, would you please describe what you look like as you step out of this vortex? So Harper is black female. She's about five six, pushing a six. She's got a snap back on, a little button down. It's got roses on it, black and white china. She's not really much for bright colors. And she pretty. Looks like your average person. You would probably walk past on the street or probably look back and be like, oh, thAt's a nice shirt, but just a casual, chill looking person. She's got glasses. Yeah. And she's kind of looking around, kind of like, well, what's the party I've been invited to today, Harper? You see a crowd of, well, you now know them as the Reapers that your boss works with. You all struck a lucrative bargain with them where if they helped you to gather up the things that you came here for. Your boss would allow them a cut. [00:54:50] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:54:52] Speaker A: You also on the opposite side of the church. Well, with the exception of one person. As you look at the cowboys, you see two people. You know who they are. You see Arthur holding up a book and shouting scripture and you see Zephyr, who is staring at a reaper who has just regained his gun before Zephyr could grab it. So I actively recognize them. Of course you do. They don't recognize you, but you recognize them. You know exactly who they are. And all it takes is a quick glance around the room and you see Rosanna and Victoria, although the dogs knew. That's unexpected. Nice touch. But she's going to look to not even paying attention to the humans or the skin walkers or whatever they're called. She's going to look to the Reapers and kind of go, what's going on here? I thought you guys can hang. Doing our jobs. Collected a couple waywords. Your boss didn't say we weren't allowed to. Yeah, but my boss brought me here, so it seems like he actually can't handle what's going on here. I don't know about all that. We've already got one of them and the other one's dying inside of that one. He'll enter the labyrinth anytime now and he kind of gestures at Zephyr. Something tells me your boss may have brought you here because it's your first opportunity to face off with the kind of skinwalkers who think that they can actually do something. Think that they actually know something. All right, I'm going to do that. So, I'm going to go over. Not fully going over to. But I'm going to walk over to where the dying ghost is. That's in Zephyr, correct? That's inside of Zephyr, yes. Gotcha. So, I guess I'm going to casually walk over to Zephyr, hands crossed, and go, listen, I don't want to hurt you. We just need the ghosts in you. We'll take them, and we'll just get right on out of here. Take them to the forges, man. It's not good for much else. Yeah, we just got to take them and then we'll move on and you guys can move on with your lives. [00:57:58] Speaker D: The forges? What's that? [00:58:00] Speaker A: Don't worry about it. Just give me the ghost and we can go. [00:58:04] Speaker D: I start stepping back, it's like, no, I don't know who you are. Just kind of showed up. [00:58:17] Speaker A: Can I do. Well, we're going to say that you have done quite a bit. So we're going to start back over at the top of the round. [00:58:30] Speaker C: So did Zephyr succeed or fail? I was kind of. [00:58:33] Speaker A: Oh, no, he failed. Yeah, he did not roll enough. He got. He got one success on his normal dice. We're going to start back over at the top of the round. The first cowboy that you guys saw, very casually, levels, takes a very long, slow drag from his cigarette and levels the gun on Rosanna's head. Doesn't do anything, but she's like less than a foot away. It wouldn't take much. Like he doesn't even really have to aim. Just levels the gun. I make it a rule, while I might be lying in my pockets, I've always made it a rule not to reap someone before they're due. But you all are surely pressing my nerves and trying my patience. The others are kind of glancing around and looking a little awkwardly. The one who got knocked off of his horse is back to, like, holding his horse's reins and looks like he's gonna swing back up into the saddle, but is not doing so yet because it's like they're trying to get a feel for what the hell Harper is going to do, what this woman who just showed up is going to do. Victoria, is there or not? Victoria? Rosanna, is there anything you want to do? [01:00:27] Speaker B: I am going to reach into my conveniently placed pocket. I'm just going to take out my pen really quick and you see me open it and a little bit of ink splurts out and I begin to draw across on my forehead. I want to activate dwarf, the unnatural. [01:00:56] Speaker A: Okay, that just stops them from coming closer, right? Yes. Okay, go ahead and make your role. [01:01:04] Speaker B: I believe it is resolve an occult, and I have a specialty in ghosties. [01:01:10] Speaker A: Yes, certainly applies. [01:01:21] Speaker B: Seven successes. [01:01:23] Speaker A: God damn. All right, well, it's safe to say they're not going to move any closer to you. [01:01:28] Speaker B: And I'm going to get right into the face of this guy, making him very uncomfortable to be around me. [01:01:45] Speaker A: I'm just going to remind you that they can't move closer to you does not mean that they can't attack you. So if you were getting that close, you were putting yourself at point blank range for him to shoot you. Okay, just as a reminder, if you still want to do it because you want to cry havoc, then fuck it, go for it. But you should just be aware this does not stop them from attacking you. [01:02:08] Speaker B: Okay. [01:02:10] Speaker C: Yeah, it's the repel that stops them from what I have. Yeah. [01:02:16] Speaker E: Wart is the one that stops them from possessing you, which is what Victoria uses. [01:02:21] Speaker B: Yep. I don't have much that I can do. I'm going to keep the thwart up because I don't want any more of them getting close to me. [01:02:47] Speaker A: Makes sense. [01:02:49] Speaker B: I am just going to slowly back up and kind of try to get behind somebody who might be a little bit built. I'm going to go towards Victoria. [01:03:18] Speaker A: Okay, cool. Victoria, are you or Gozer going to do anything? [01:03:25] Speaker E: Yes. They'll try and send them back through. [01:03:28] Speaker A: All right, give me another roll. [01:03:32] Speaker E: Still at a negative one. [01:03:35] Speaker A: Yes. [01:03:42] Speaker E: Oh, my gosh. [01:03:43] Speaker A: Damn. Six successes on four dice. What the hell, Victoria? [01:03:52] Speaker E: Everyone else is rolling like, eights, and. [01:03:54] Speaker A: I'm like, I got four. [01:03:56] Speaker E: Let's go. [01:03:58] Speaker A: I would like you to roll me two dice. And I would like you to before you do. So pick evens or ODS odds. All right, so if you roll ODs, this goes 100% in your favor. Two ones. You are the luckiest bitch ever. Okay, so you feel the veil start to harden and you watch as two more of the cowboys get. I don't know, it almost looks like they get stuck in, like, jello where their movements get really slow and really labored and they're fighting against it, and then they wink out of existence. Funny enough, one of the ones that you managed to Trap in it was the one who had bride ghost on his horse. And so he and his horse wink out of existence, and the ghost topples to the ground. But she's still surrounded by the rest of them. There's still an awful lot of people between her and you guys, but she's at least now not being carried away. [01:05:26] Speaker E: I will say at this point, my ear is probably starting to trickle a little bit of blood as well. [01:05:30] Speaker A: Yeah, Arthur, I'm not even going to make you roll for it. You can still see that the one's got the gun on Rosanna's head. Like the gun has just followed her even as she backed away. [01:05:46] Speaker C: Yeah, so I'm definitely going to be slamming the book into him while I'm continuing to just rattle off the continuous chain of revelations as if I was reading it. [01:05:57] Speaker A: Okay, go for it. [01:06:00] Speaker C: Because I definitely don't want him to shoot Rosenna. So my goal is to, if I can't injure him, at least knock his gun away. All right, Hunter. Oh, it's Dice Hunter. Dice Hunter. One day I'll have my pools memorized. [01:06:28] Speaker A: Oh, no, wait. [01:06:32] Speaker B: Let me see. [01:06:34] Speaker E: Are we ready for danger seven? [01:06:39] Speaker A: Unfortunately, there's not much else that I can throw at you guys to ratchet up the danger anymore. So you're going to go into despair one way or the other? [01:06:48] Speaker C: Yeah. I have to choose despair again? [01:06:50] Speaker A: Yeah. Click the choose despair button. Okay. You still have five successes. That's not bad. [01:06:59] Speaker C: Question is, do I want a willpower? Oh, I can't. I'm in despair. I can't. [01:07:08] Speaker A: You can't willpower. When you're in despair, willpower doesn't affect your desperation. [01:07:14] Speaker C: Tell that to the dice roller. It is not going to let me. [01:07:17] Speaker A: I will allow you to roll two extra dice. [01:07:21] Speaker C: Okay. [01:07:25] Speaker A: Silly. That may just be an overlook thing in the way the dice bots build two dice, not. [01:07:33] Speaker C: Not three. [01:07:33] Speaker A: Yes. [01:07:34] Speaker B: You only have two failures. [01:07:35] Speaker A: You only have two that. You only have two failures. [01:07:39] Speaker C: Are we looking at the same one I've got? Oh, yeah, I see what you're saying. Never mind. You're right. And they failed anyway. [01:07:44] Speaker A: Okay, cool. Still five successes. Not bad. You turn, and it's like a backhand because this guy wasn't exactly standing, like, in front of you. He was kind of standing to the side and slightly behind you because you hadn't targeted him originally. So you turn and you swing this backhand with your journal and just nail him square in the middle of the back. And he lurches forward, and you can see smoke kind of coming off of his back and shoulders where you hit him. He's still very much standing. It doesn't look like he took as much as you thought he would, considering how hard you swung on him, but may also just be the nature of what he is unclear. I will say this. All of you, by now, have very much realized that these guys are much more substantial and much beefier than the other ghosts that you have fought. These guys are not to be fucked around with. Right? So he lurches forward, and he spins, and the gun's now leveled on you. He's not going to actually do anything because it's not his turn, but for Flavor. That's cool. He's now focused on you instead of Victoria Zephyr. You didn't manage to get the gun, but you are up close, and you are confident that you could physically interact with these guys. Oh, God. Also, you still feel like you're dying, and you could feel. It almost feels like a weight on you. Something heavy that's, like, dragging on your soul. And that feeling of dread and terror is getting ever more oppressive. [01:09:50] Speaker D: I don't even know what I can do. [01:09:52] Speaker A: Damn. You don't have to do anything. I'm just giving you the option. [01:10:06] Speaker D: Yeah, there's not much I can do right now, so I guess I'll just kind of continue backing. Yeah, I'll keep backing up away from Harper. [01:10:17] Speaker A: Okay. [01:10:18] Speaker D: It's like this tall, strange lady is here. Help. [01:10:23] Speaker A: It is at this time that you all feel the first rumble and you hear what sounds like low, distant thunder. At the same time, the ground under your feet trembles and the whole building around you seems to shake and particles of dust fall from the rafters above you. Harper, you know what that means. It's also your turn. Zephyr does not look inclined to give you the ghost, but you are relatively certain that if you wanted to, you could make it so that he doEsn't have a choice. Yes, Harper. Hearing the rumbling and the noise, she's going to turn her ears towards it and just kind of be like, there it is. I have an appointment to make, so I'm going to try to puppet Zephyr. Okay, Victoria and Rosanna, what are the range on your anti possession things? [01:11:45] Speaker E: 2 meters. [01:11:48] Speaker A: Oh, my God. How many feet is meters? [01:11:51] Speaker C: 2 meters would be something like 6ft. A meter is 3ft. [01:11:58] Speaker A: Okay. Hmm. I'm having to think of the layout. I'm sorry. I was not prepared for this. [01:12:13] Speaker E: You. [01:12:16] Speaker A: Harper, you can try, but you can also tell and feel, especially from Victoria's bell. Oh, no, wait. Victoria's doing something completely different with her bell. She's not doing that anymore. But Rosanna is. So you don't know where it's coming from. Exactly. But you can feel that there is something that is going to make it exceptionally difficult for you to puppet Zephyr. [01:12:41] Speaker B: I also have a specialty in ghosts, so it'll be even more difficult for her if she is it. [01:12:47] Speaker A: Got it. Cool. [01:12:49] Speaker B: All right, then. [01:12:51] Speaker A: So then I'm just going to tackle. Give me strength and brawl. Your standard sheet is fine. Okay. Oh, dear. [01:13:08] Speaker D: Herself with women. And it's tackling me. [01:13:12] Speaker A: Help. Strength and brawl. You're too cute. [01:13:17] Speaker B: That's why. [01:13:17] Speaker A: Yes. Strength and brawl. Zephyr, you have to oppose this with either strength or Dex plus brawl. I'll allow either. [01:13:29] Speaker D: That's strength. [01:13:30] Speaker A: Something tells me you're going to lose, but you're welcome to try. Did you overreach? So you do still get your desperation dice because you tried to even the OD. Or you have augmented yourself. [01:13:49] Speaker B: I think that's correct. [01:13:53] Speaker D: And since I already used one, it's three dice. [01:13:56] Speaker A: You are welcome to use willpower, Harper, if you would like. [01:14:00] Speaker C: Okay, three dice. No, desperation dice is always the desperation dice is separate. Always be four. [01:14:07] Speaker D: Okay? It's always four. [01:14:08] Speaker A: Okay, well, it's four at the moment. [01:14:11] Speaker C: Unless that fluctuates, right? [01:14:13] Speaker A: Yes. So I got three feelings? [01:14:16] Speaker B: Yeah, sure, why not six? [01:14:19] Speaker A: Damn. Okay. Oh. Six versus eight. Unfortunately, you two, unfortunately, Harper wins. That being said, this is the most mighty struggle you have ever seen Zephyr put up to do anything physical. Zephyr is not a fighter. Zephyr gets winded carrying a particularly heavy box, but Zephyr fights with all of the gumption and gusto of a Greek wrestler. Just puts everything he has into this, but still somehow just gets bodied by this woman who does not seem to have nearly the struggles that he does. It's effortless for her. And in the end, she ends up bringing her hand down against Zephyr's chest and her fingers curl like she is trying to grab at him, but she's not actually trying to get purchase on his skin or even his shirt. And you guys watch as she, with a bare hand, starts to drag a spectral form out of Zephyr. It is not going to be a quick process the way that she's doing this, but it is clear that she has the ability to affect the incorporeal, even with just her bare hands. [01:15:59] Speaker D: While she's doing that, I'm just like laying there. [01:16:01] Speaker A: I'm just like, oh, yeah. Holy shit. At least buy me dinner first. Jesus Christ. Unfortunately for you, Zephyr, the next person and the next people in the order are the cowboys and Harper. As if they understand what you are doing. Several sets of chains kind of fly towards you, but around you. And you watch as you start to pull this body out, you get just enough where the torso kind of separates just slightly from Zephyr's. And the chains slide underneath the spectral torso but above Zephyr's chest and wrap around it. And then between you and them, they start to drag the hubband ghost out and back and away. And another rumble happens. This one is much, much louder than the last one. And the walls start to splinter around you as the ground shakes violently. And then there is a last, final. It's not even a rumble, it's just a boom. And it is so loud and so sudden. Victoria, your flaw comes into play. All what's left of the glass in the windows shatters. The ground shakes so violently that the floor starts to splinter. And then the head cowboy, who Arthur just hit, looks annoyed, like he really wants to shoot Arthur, but instead he puts two fingers between his lips and he whistles sharply and he says, it's time to go to work, boys. And they all jump. Those who are left jump up onto their horses and ride off through the front door and through the walls around you and dissipate. Harper. In the same moment. Oh. They leave, dragging the ghost guy behind them in chains. He is screaming, but he gets dragged along in their wake. Harper, you step back from Zephyr and it's like a barely registered thought in your head, I'm done is kind of all you think. And that same swirling vortex opens up under your feet. The hands reach up and grab at your ankles. They grab at your calves and your thighs and they yank you down as you wave at the people in the church and you disappear. And as all of you are standing there in the aftermath of whatever the fuck that was, Arthur, all you hear was, what in the ever loving hell is going on? And it is your friend who is crawling out from behind the altar. As the cowboys dart on their horses, away through walls and out the doors, you hear the thunder of hooves and the raucous shouts, the firing of their guns until they seem to pass away too far out of your range to be able to hear them. Temperature. The ambient temperature rapidly seems to rise back to a much more normal level. It's still a little cold because Victoria has not managed to completely close the veil where it is or restore the veil where it is. But perhaps that is for the best because as you are standing there and your priestly friend is freaking out, another figure emerges, this time not on horseback and not really anyone that any of you would know at a glance. Not even Rosanna. Because even Rosanna has only ever seen him as nothing but a weird staticy shadow. Max, you are able to step out into full view of these people that you have been trying to communicate so hard with. [01:21:30] Speaker C: With his knuckles on, Arthur opens the book and starts saying his hold them in place thing because that's what he was about to do when they all kind of ran off. Anyway, I know that this is Max, but as a player, but as a character, Arthur. [01:21:49] Speaker A: Yes, I understand. Arthur begins to read from his book. Max. And you feel your feet almost. It's like they're encased in cement. You can't move any closer to him. It doesn't hurt, but you feel physically like you just can't get closer. [01:22:14] Speaker F: So Max is going to hold up his hands pretty slowly. He's going to say, I'm sure this isn't the best time, but made it a little bit easier for me to show my face. It's better than a radio. [01:22:37] Speaker C: Arthur stops and goes, Max? [01:22:41] Speaker F: Yeah. [01:22:47] Speaker C: Oh, and he'll stop. Slowly lower the book. [01:22:54] Speaker E: I would like to make a roll to be able to hear again. So that's a wish and awareness. [01:23:03] Speaker A: Sure. Door dice. Hunter, dear you. You do realize that your hoodie has quite a lot of blood on it, though. Thankfully, it's black. Nobody else can see, but you know it's there. [01:23:51] Speaker E: Upon realizing that everything has left and this is Max. And not like another spooky cowboy person, I'm going to kind of just finish closing the rift, but not in a way like I'm going to kill Max or send Max back. He starts acting negatively to that, though. [01:24:14] Speaker A: I will stop. I think, Max, you kind of instinctively know what she's doing the second she starts. And you know that they will not be able to see you and it'll be stuck with. Only Rosanna will be able to interact with you again. If she completely shuts. [01:24:31] Speaker F: Say, he'd kind of know gesture and say, oh, hold on, I don't want to speak through Rosanna, if that's okay. [01:24:44] Speaker E: Sending you back and that's like just rubbing some of the blood on my neck. [01:24:50] Speaker F: It's very taxing for me to be. [01:24:52] Speaker A: Here. [01:24:55] Speaker F: But it would be an important time, given that everything that just happened. I'd be lying if I said I didn't realize a few things, maybe at the worst possible moment, but here we are. [01:25:18] Speaker E: I'll pause then for the moment and it's kind of nice because my muscles are shaking and it just gives me a moment of reprieve. [01:25:35] Speaker B: What were those? [01:25:40] Speaker F: I don't know, but I've. [01:25:48] Speaker A: Max, you do know. [01:25:50] Speaker F: Okay. [01:25:51] Speaker A: You didn't really have a firm idea of what they were when you were alive. But Orpheus agents have run into them a couple of times. [01:26:02] Speaker F: Right? [01:26:04] Speaker A: You are very well aware that those were reapers. Those were Wraiths who have been around a while. [01:26:09] Speaker F: Would I have a name for it? I guess that's my question. [01:26:15] Speaker A: Yeah, we're going to say, yeah, you've got a pretty solid idea of the name. You're not entirely sure what they do after they're done with what they were collecting, but. [01:26:28] Speaker F: He would be forthcoming with that. He would say, I was a reaper. They drag off the departed, and to be frank with you, I haven't been brave enough to find out where. [01:26:42] Speaker A: But. [01:26:50] Speaker F: There being here is kind of my first inclination that something terrible was about to happen. And he'd kind of look around the church with dust kind of falling off the walls and everything kind of scattered about from the rumbling and the boom. And he would say, I felt a. Like a strong gust of wind. [01:27:27] Speaker C: And. [01:27:27] Speaker F: I don't know, I think they're probably connected. [01:27:39] Speaker D: They mentioned the forge. Have you heard of that? [01:27:46] Speaker F: We didn't really make a habit of interacting with them when I was alive. And now that I'm dead, I try to stay away from them as far as possible. I'm sure it has something to do with the more intricate parts of being dead that I've been trying to avoid. But I can't really tell you anything. I can't speak to it. [01:28:17] Speaker E: So we just fought the cleanup crew. [01:28:23] Speaker F: Something like that. Well, the question, he would kind of lean back and. Okay, so they're drawn to the recently departed. Does that make sense? It's like the reaping. It's where we get the idea from. Right, but nobody was going to die in the church, right? Well, not until they showed up anyway, right. And so I guess what the question is, why were they here in the first place? And then I think I figured out why. And he would look kind of in a southeasternly direction. And he would say, a lot of people died just now and they were prepared for it. [01:29:16] Speaker E: We're all still here, buddy. [01:29:19] Speaker F: Not in the church. [01:29:27] Speaker E: Where did people die then? [01:29:30] Speaker F: Good point. I'm assuming it's just towards like a random corner of the church. Right, but the implication of the gesture would be that he's pointing kind of vaguely that way. Yeah, that way. [01:29:43] Speaker A: You guys have been on the road enough to know that he is pointing to the southeast. Given the city that you were in, there aren't a lot of things to the southeast. You guys are pretty far south yourself. He's effectively pointing out of the city towards the coast. [01:30:05] Speaker F: A lot of people, you can get a feeling. Not to be a broken record, but you can call it a feeling. [01:30:19] Speaker A: Does anybody here have their phone on them? And the ringer on. [01:30:30] Speaker B: Rosanna always does. [01:30:33] Speaker C: I think we established that Arthur's ring area set to not disturb in the middle of things, so. [01:30:38] Speaker B: Yeah, and Rosanna doesn't give shit. [01:30:41] Speaker A: But your phone is on Arthur? [01:30:43] Speaker C: Yes. [01:30:44] Speaker A: Anybody else have a phone on them? Everybody but Zephyr and Max, obviously. The phones in your pockets go ballistic with the public emergency alarm tones. [01:31:07] Speaker E: We'll check that out. [01:31:09] Speaker C: Arthur is going to ignore it, as he always does. And going to turn to his friend and try to explain what's going on. So they can handle that over there. [01:31:19] Speaker B: Rosanna is going to also check her phone. [01:31:22] Speaker A: Okay, Rosanna and Victoria, as you pull out your phones and you look at your text messages and the alerts on your phones, you see that there was an explosion at the docks in the city. A cruise liner has blown up. Police are currently. Current. Police are currently calling for people to stay in their homes, to shelter in place and even just a quick look at the news or whatever. Nobody knows exactly what happened. It's literally been like two minutes at most since that final, last big explosion. What little you do know is that it was a cruise liner. It was filled with people. And that there are an awful lot of pundits who are not saying for sure that it was terrorism, but are heavily hinting that it might have been terrorist. Like, everybody's just like, well, what. What the hell else would it be? [01:32:46] Speaker E: These fucks, they come through, kill all these people or take them or whatever they do, and then they come all the way over here to grab some ghosts that have been dead for 70 years. [01:33:00] Speaker F: I think they were more waiting for the important Bit to happen. And I hope that doesn't sound insensitive, but important to them. Call it killing time. [01:33:17] Speaker A: Killing unintended. Arthur. [01:33:27] Speaker C: Yes. [01:33:28] Speaker A: Your friend is staring at Max with much the same amount of horror that he was staring at the cowboys. When Max waves, it only gets worse. He is clutching his Bible and praying feverishly and looks like he's not sure if he wants to punch you or cry or. [01:34:02] Speaker C: I. So Arthur's response is to just put his hand out, both his hands out. But there's stuff in his hands, right? And say, okay, listen, Jack, listen. [01:34:15] Speaker A: You asked me to come out here and help your friend work through some trauma. What is going on? [01:34:22] Speaker C: It's not just a matter of spiritual warfare in the sense of winning the hearts of the people to save their souls. There's a real legitimate warfare happening in the world. And the spiritual warfare that you and I were engaged in before is just the small tip of the iceberg to what's really happening out there. And this, what you just saw today, that's what's really going on. And that's what I've been up to lately. [01:34:58] Speaker A: You realize that the whole spiritual warfare thing is supposed to, like, it's a metaphor for trying to save people's souls. [01:35:07] Speaker C: Supposed to be a metaphor, Jack. Supposed to be. But let's pretend for a minute, man, let's just pretend, brother, that it's not a metaphor. [01:35:20] Speaker A: Arthur. Jack, was the coffee laced with something? Am I on just a really bad trip and you just don't want to tell me? No, because I'll forgive you if you're just honest with me. [01:35:39] Speaker C: I'm going to be real honest with you. Do you believe in the Bible? [01:35:44] Speaker A: You know I do. [01:35:46] Speaker C: That's why I asked the question, because I knew the answer was going to be yes. So all of that isn't just allegories and stories, man. My friend, it is real. [01:36:01] Speaker A: Are you saying that those cowboy things were what devils? [01:36:10] Speaker C: Right now, I'm not entirely sure what they are. But I get the distinct feeling that what we witnessed was right out of revelations. And that is what we've been dealing with. That is what my friends and I do. Now, I don't even know how to explain, but at some point, my eyes were opened and I realized it wasn't just a matter of being in the cult. That's what you used to call it. And it was accurate. There was more, a whole lot more hiding just behind what we people, we priests, men of the cloth do every day. And so far, you've been a wonderful warrior in that fight, man. [01:37:03] Speaker A: I just baptize babies and oversee weddings and put people to rest. This is not in my purview. [01:37:17] Speaker C: And I really hope that it isn't part of your purview, friend. I was trying to keep you from that. I didn't want to explain why I needed your help, but I needed your help for real, actual warfare. [01:37:36] Speaker A: I. You willfully brought me into the, into. [01:37:43] Speaker C: The middle of this because I knew that you were you and I needed help, but I couldn't tell you why. And you were the only one that I thought could do it. [01:38:03] Speaker A: Arthur, roll me Wits plus decks. [01:38:14] Speaker C: Wits plus decks. [01:38:16] Speaker A: Yes. [01:38:17] Speaker E: Are you interpreting a punch? [01:38:19] Speaker A: I think that's what happened. [01:38:21] Speaker B: I believe he's going to be getting a Bible whipped at him is what is happening. And the whip, if he knows enough. [01:38:31] Speaker A: To dodge you, look up just in time to see a fist flying at. [01:38:37] Speaker C: Your face and knowing that it's coming. I'm just going to take it, okay? Even if I could dodge it, I'm just going to take it. [01:38:46] Speaker A: You take one superficial, he clocks you pretty fucking hard in the eye. [01:38:56] Speaker C: That was when I go, does the shielding stop that? Do I not get hurt at all? [01:39:01] Speaker A: You decided to take it. [01:39:03] Speaker C: I'm just kidding. It's fine. [01:39:06] Speaker A: You take one superficial as your buddy who has known you for years clocks you right into you're going to have a shiner in a couple of hours. [01:39:17] Speaker C: Expectation of his response. [01:39:20] Speaker A: He is trembling with how angry and freaked out he is. [01:39:31] Speaker E: Oh, go ahead, Rosanna. [01:39:39] Speaker B: Do we hear skin to skin? Punching happen. [01:39:45] Speaker A: Yeah. You guys are, like, looking at your phones, trying to figure out what the hell is going on, and you hear, Arthur just get decked. [01:40:01] Speaker B: You can go first. [01:40:03] Speaker A: I was just going to ask if. [01:40:04] Speaker E: We can hear the conversation as well. [01:40:06] Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. [01:40:10] Speaker B: Excuse me? [01:40:13] Speaker A: Don't start with me. [01:40:15] Speaker B: Don't you dare start with me, all right? I'm the reason that you are still alive right now. [01:40:21] Speaker A: Now, you're also the reason I was here in the first place, because he lied to me and told me that I was here to help you deal with some sort of fucking trauma, not to deal with demons and devils and. [01:40:33] Speaker B: All of this your job as a priest? [01:40:36] Speaker A: No, we don't do this. I oversee marriages. [01:40:40] Speaker B: I don't personally give a shit. You took a vow as a priest. I would know. My daddy took the same vow 30 something years ago. [01:40:51] Speaker A: You took a vow that you did nothing. You did was holy. [01:40:56] Speaker C: Jack. She's not wrong. Listen, I understand. I understand what you're saying. [01:41:02] Speaker A: In my priestly vows, said that I was going to get into a fight with whatever the fuck that was. I don't know what the. I don't know what you dragged me into, but I'm leaving and you should never call me again. [01:41:18] Speaker C: That's fair. [01:41:20] Speaker A: And he is out the door. Damn it. You're welcome to say something. [01:41:26] Speaker D: Damn. [01:41:28] Speaker F: What are you going to do? Just pretend like all of this didn't happen? [01:41:33] Speaker C: Victoria. [01:41:34] Speaker A: Victoria. What did you want to say? On his way out? [01:41:36] Speaker E: I guess I just go, oh, no. I've learned the truth. And it's awful in the most sardonic way. My hands are trembling with the bells in my hands, like, whatever shall I do? Being aware of the world, how it actually is. [01:41:53] Speaker C: And Arthur's a little perplexed because he's actually heard Jack give a grand sermon on the devil. Trying to tempt people before and coming for souls. And so I'm like, what? [01:42:06] Speaker B: This is why I don't like men of the cloth. For the most part, because they're all a bunch of hypocrites. [01:42:13] Speaker A: Yeah, he's already out the door. [01:42:15] Speaker C: Excuse me? [01:42:16] Speaker B: I said for the most part. [01:42:18] Speaker C: Okay, fair. [01:42:26] Speaker B: I'm sorry. [01:42:30] Speaker C: No, I mean, I guess I kind of deserve that, but. [01:42:34] Speaker B: Are you okay? [01:42:36] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. No, it's fine. Might not be able to drive today. [01:42:42] Speaker B: We can get you some ass and compress when we get back. I'm. This is all my fault. I didn't. [01:43:04] Speaker F: Completely fair. Probably not all your fault. Some people prefer the blissful ignorance of a simple life and. What are you going to do? Protect yourself against ghosts you didn't even know were going to be here. No. [01:43:41] Speaker E: But the extra ghosts were totally my fault. And at this point, I'm just going to collapse onto the floor with my head in my hands. [01:43:50] Speaker A: Gozer makes his way over to you and is, like, licking at your cheeks and whining. [01:44:00] Speaker E: He gets head pets. [01:44:04] Speaker A: You notice that he is avoiding Max. He, like, takes the long way around where Max is standing. [01:44:21] Speaker F: Long story short, I came here to tell you that you have to go to the harbor. [01:44:30] Speaker E: Ah, as if police are going to let us anywhere near a recently exploded cruise ship. [01:44:38] Speaker F: Doesn't matterta. [01:44:54] Speaker B: We should take a few minutes anyway. Is Mrs. Carter still on the ground? [01:45:08] Speaker A: No. You don't know exactly what happened, but when Harper got pulled into that vortex, her body sort of tumbled in with Harper. Like, the hands reached out and grabbed her and dragged her in. You don't know what that means or where she. Arthur, make me a wits and. [01:45:44] Speaker C: Oh, nice. [01:45:49] Speaker A: Very good. It is as you are standing there that you look down and you realize that the ring around your finger has gone pale and, like, it's lost all of its shine. It's not gold anymore. And as you slip it off of your finger to get a better look at it, it cracks. [01:46:20] Speaker C: That doesn't bode well. [01:46:22] Speaker A: Like, all the value and meaning that it had is gone. [01:46:31] Speaker C: Good news and bad news. Good news is, I think we resolved the ghost situation. Bad news is, I don't think we did a good job of it. And now Arthur will walk over to Rosanna knowing that she must be feeling something. You okay? No. And knowing that Zephyr's hurt and Victoria's hurt are sort of torn because there's physical hurt and emotional hurt all happening at the same time. Steph, are you okay? [01:47:59] Speaker D: Yeah, sure. Totally not traumatized by a weird gang of cowboys and a lady tackling me. [01:48:13] Speaker A: But I think you'd be used to that by. Think. [01:48:22] Speaker C: So Arthur's gonna wrap an arm around Rosanna and go, come on, let's get the others together. [01:48:30] Speaker D: I guess. While that's you, did you discard the ring or did you keep it? [01:48:38] Speaker C: Still carrying it? Yeah. [01:48:40] Speaker D: Damn. [01:48:41] Speaker A: Okay. [01:48:43] Speaker C: I mean, I can give it to Zephyr. It holds no necessity for me anymore, as it seems that Rosanna is safe. [01:48:54] Speaker D: I'll wait. It seems like a really bad time to. [01:49:00] Speaker C: But yeaH, Arthur will just tuck in his pocket along with his stuff. Right? Because his hands are all full with things. [01:49:12] Speaker B: And Roseanne is just gonna kind of wrap her arm around Arthur and just, it's a very light squeeze, but she kind of just squeezes at his sad. Maybe there isn't a peaceful way to do this. [01:49:52] Speaker C: There's got to be a peaceful way. I'm sure, Rosanna. I mean, I don't think we handle it peacefully. Max, was there a better way to handle what just happened? [01:50:06] Speaker F: Are you willing to negotiate with a terrorist? [01:50:12] Speaker C: No. [01:50:14] Speaker F: Okay. [01:50:21] Speaker A: Rosanna, make me a. What's an occult check, please. [01:50:28] Speaker B: Okay. [01:50:29] Speaker A: And you do get your specialization in ghosts. Okay, tell me what you roll. [01:50:48] Speaker B: Five. [01:50:49] Speaker A: All right. As you are leaning against Arthur and grappling with your self doubt and questioning whether or not the things that you thought you could do are actually possible, you feel it. You were so caught up in the moment and so caught up in the physical realities of what was happening earlier that you didn't notice it at first, but now you do. You can hear this distant, otherworldly wailing sounds, like thousands upon thousands of voices screaming. They're not so loud that you're deafened. They're not so loud that they're going to make it so that you can't interact with the people around you. But you can tell that they are probably miles away, but there are still so many of them that you can hear them. And you can feel the press of an excess of spiritual energy, like a tide, like waves that are kind of slowly but surely pushing at you from the Southeast. [01:52:26] Speaker B: Json. Oh, my God. Can anybody else hear that? [01:53:00] Speaker C: Hear? [01:53:01] Speaker A: Nobody else can. Well, Max can. Max can hear it. Max can feel it. In fact, Max can probably hear it and feel it even more truly than you can. [01:53:24] Speaker B: I think I can hear. Hear them. All of the screaming and the crying. [01:53:49] Speaker C: Of the screaming. Crying of what? Rosanna? [01:53:59] Speaker B: And then she's going to point where Max is pointing. All of them. [01:54:12] Speaker F: So Max is going to start to pace kind of along the aisle of the church, right? And he's going to say, look, you're never going to get a better opportunity. We are never going to get a better opportunity. You need to go there. And Rosanna needs to ask one of those dead people what happened before. Ideally one of these, the posse gets to them. Because that's, because that's what this reads like to me, right? They were here. They were ready. They were gathered up in a group before the explosion happened. It was planned. And sure, maybe it's not the smartest thing. Maybe the police will stop you, maybe you'll be in danger. But you're never going to get a better opportunity to figure something out, get to the bottom of it. [01:55:22] Speaker B: As he's talking, I put my thumb and get a little bit of Slava on my thumb and I just wipe the cross off of my forehead and I drop my repale. The unnatural, or my dwarf. The unnatural. Whatever the hell it is I got. They all sound the same. Yeah, we need to go and we need to get to the bottom of this because I hear them in my head and it's not. We need to go. And like Rosanna, not waiting for anybody, she slides out of, kind of like slides her arm off of Arthur, but as she does, she just gives his arm a squeeze and kind of gives him a smile and then she bolts out of the church. [01:56:37] Speaker A: Is everybody following? Does anybody want to do something before they follow? [01:56:41] Speaker C: I think Arthur's just going to try to make sure that Zephyr can get up and that Victoria can get up and make sure they can walk and get out of the church. And he's just going to look at Max, because Max is a ghost. [01:57:02] Speaker B: You get one gracious stare. [01:57:04] Speaker F: I sure am. [01:57:10] Speaker A: What's it. [01:57:12] Speaker E: See you later, Max. [01:57:16] Speaker C: Thank you, Pretoria. Can I help? [01:57:19] Speaker A: I don't know. [01:57:22] Speaker F: Look, before I go, I wanted to say thank you. You're doing what I can't. And I don't know if there's anything I could do for you in return, but it means a lot to me and I'll try to figure out something. [01:57:48] Speaker A: You. [01:57:49] Speaker C: I mean, you've been helpful thus far, so thank you. [01:57:57] Speaker F: I just talked to you in your downtime, right? So, I don't know. Be careful. [01:58:11] Speaker A: Victoria. I'm not going to make you roll at this point. You know what you're doing and you're not under any stress, really, except that you've got to hurry after Rosanna. So you manage to close the veil. You all get the sense that Max is still very much close by. He's not going to go far, but he winks out of existence for now, where you cannot see or hear him anymore. And you all hurry after Rosanna, who I assume has gone back to the RV. [01:58:59] Speaker B: Yep. [01:59:02] Speaker A: Here's my question, Rosanna. I have a couple of questions, actually. Are you going to wait for everybody else or are you just getting in the RV and going and leaving them behind? Because Arthur's friend took his car. [01:59:22] Speaker B: I think Rosanna's going to give them about two minutes and if they don't show up, then she might go. I don't know if she would take the RV. She might see if she can call a ride share and have them drop her off, maybe like a few blocks away, so it doesn't seem super suspicious. [01:59:54] Speaker A: It doesn't really take that long. And for the sake of just not having to split the party too poorly, we're going to say that you hear Victoria ringing her bells and you're not dumb. You know what she's doing? She is attempting to close the veil. So you give them enough time to actually accomplish that and they come out. They come out of the church literally seconds. Seconds after she finishes looking a little haggard, little beaten in some cases, and they all pile into the RV with you. Who's going to drive? [02:00:48] Speaker C: Not Arthur, as he is currently one eyed. [02:00:52] Speaker B: Not Rosanna. She's probably too panicked. [02:00:56] Speaker D: I don't have any dots. [02:00:58] Speaker A: And, oh, it looks like it's Victoria. Then by process of elimination, Gozer gets the passenger seat. [02:01:09] Speaker D: Gozer drives. [02:01:12] Speaker B: Probably has more dots and drive than any of us. [02:01:18] Speaker A: Best boy. Yes. [02:01:20] Speaker E: I'm driving and heading off to where this apparently happened at the docks. And as I start pulling out, I just go, what is our plan to deal with this? [02:01:34] Speaker B: Well, I'm going to try to communicate with one of them. [02:01:42] Speaker E: Sure. [02:01:45] Speaker B: I can hear them. They're still here. As they're doing that, Roseanne is going to go and get Arthur, like a cold compress and just kind of rest it on his eye. [02:02:02] Speaker C: Thank you. [02:02:04] Speaker B: You're welcome. It's the least that I can do after my plan ruined Your friendship with that man. [02:02:13] Speaker C: It wasn't your plan that ruined the friendship. It was probably the way that I spoke to him and what I told him. But it was. I mean, for his own protection, really. And you know, Rosenna, honestly, I think that after he's done being angry, he'll probably start seeing some of the truth. I'm sure it'll be fine. We've been friends a long time. Sure, we'll be fine. [02:02:52] Speaker B: If it means anything, you are a great fake boyfriend. And you would have made a great fake husband. [02:03:02] Speaker C: Ah, I wish I could say that that was the. No, that was the first time I've heard that. I was just messing with you. [02:03:12] Speaker B: Um, then she's just gonna. [02:03:17] Speaker C: You made a. Made a beautiful fake wife, by the way. [02:03:25] Speaker B: Thank you. [02:03:30] Speaker C: Awkwardly look at Zephyr. [02:03:32] Speaker B: Yeah, you would have made a beautiful fake husband, too, Zephyr. I'm sure of it. By the way, that shirt looks fantastic on you. [02:03:41] Speaker D: Thank you. [02:03:45] Speaker A: Zephyr's like. This shit's awkward. So what's the plan, guys? Head into the harbor, talk to some. [02:03:57] Speaker E: Ghosts, get as close as we can without alerting any of the authorities. See if Rosanna can speak to anyone, if she can't, then we're going to have to breach somehow. [02:04:14] Speaker A: Well, it doesn't take long for you to start seeing checkpoints, Victoria. The first couple that you see, you kind of turn off along like a side road. Like you weren't actually headed towards the checkpoint. You just got close. But after a while, you realize that every road that you can find that could potentially lead to the harbor is either cordoned off or has a checkpoint on it. They are stopping people from getting closer to the harbor because as far as they're concerned, there may have been a terrorist attack. [02:04:57] Speaker E: Rosanna, do you feel anything? [02:05:01] Speaker B: Do I feel anything? [02:05:02] Speaker A: The closer you get, the stronger it is and the louder it is. [02:05:06] Speaker B: It's loud. They're definitely still here. [02:05:14] Speaker E: Park and go in. Can you do this here? [02:05:19] Speaker B: I can try to connect from here, but if it doesn't work, I'm going to have to go in. You guys don't have to. It might be dangerous, but I can try from here first. [02:05:37] Speaker E: Please do. [02:05:42] Speaker B: So I'm going to actually get out of the car. I'm going to grab, like, a small box of supplies, a couple of, where are we parked? Is it like a parking lot? Is it like a side street? [02:06:00] Speaker E: Probably a parking lot. [02:06:02] Speaker A: Okay, so you guys have pulled off into a parking lot in what is effectively a shipping district. You're close to the docks area. So you're not in the docks, but you're surrounded by warehouses and things like that. Here it is the middle of the day, so there's quite a few cars and whatever, but you are pulled off into one of the parking lots. [02:06:33] Speaker B: Okay. How close are the cars to our RV? I assume not super close because we would need a little bit of a. [02:06:40] Speaker A: Space to park our, you've got enough space to maneuver. There isn't a ton of space, but it's close enough that if you want to set up like a little ritual center or something like that, you absolutely can. [02:06:51] Speaker B: Perfect. So she's basically going to take out one of those small, portable tables. And you see, probably for the first time, her true set up of stuff that she's got. She's got tall, beautiful rimmed candles, a small book of matches. She's got like a little thing of incense that she's going to light up and kind of like a little mat to kind of catch any of the ash. And she sits and she's lighting these candles and she kind of starts to murmur to herself, not like a prayer, but more so, almost like an incantation of some sort. And when she's finally done lighting the last candle, she's going to take a seat, close her eyes, and she's going to begin to focus and try to connect with one of these spirits. [02:07:53] Speaker A: Okay, let's make this a resolve and a cult, and you get your specialty. [02:08:06] Speaker B: Do I get to add my desperation because I'm trying to get knowledge? [02:08:14] Speaker A: Well, right now you're just trying to make contact. So not on this role, but on any persuasion roles or anything like that, you would absolutely get it. [02:08:21] Speaker B: Fantastic. Cool. So that's nine dice for me. Cool. Ten critical. [02:08:34] Speaker A: Critical. Ten. Jesus Christ. Okay, well, I didn't think you were going to be able to connect from this far out. Here's what I will say, because I knew that this was going to be a challenge for you. Even with a lot of successes, you not only don't have a hard time making a connection, it's like you've opened the floodgates. There is a sudden, intense rush of spirits and souls that are drawn to you. Rather than trying to connect with just one, you are suddenly trying to keep dozens at bay so that you can just connect with the one. You are almost immediately overwhelmed by what's coming through. What I would like to know is how you want to handle the sudden onslaught. [02:09:44] Speaker B: I think she is going to kind of pick a voice at random and kind of try to hone all of her mental, her attention on that one voice and kind of keep the others out. [02:10:02] Speaker A: Okay, I'm going to give you two options. [02:10:04] Speaker B: Okay. [02:10:06] Speaker A: You can either take superficial willpower damage to just automatically succeed. [02:10:15] Speaker B: Okay. [02:10:17] Speaker A: Or you can roll and take your chances. [02:10:24] Speaker B: What would I have to roll? [02:10:27] Speaker A: Um, resolve an awareness, noting that if. [02:10:43] Speaker B: You fail, I don't. Yeah, it's. [02:10:47] Speaker A: Well, it's. It's not so much that if you fail, you're not going to make contact. It's that if you fail, you're going to have an extremely difficult time communicating with just one. And you may end up with a mixed bag as far as information goes and potentially some backlash. [02:11:07] Speaker B: Okay, I will take the point of superficial willpower damage. [02:11:12] Speaker A: Okay. So mark off. Mark off a superficial willpower. [02:11:16] Speaker B: Yes. [02:11:21] Speaker A: Um, as this is happening, you pick a voice that feels, I don't want to say familiar, but is basically more familiar to you than any of the others. For whatever reason, she just sounds easier to hone in on. And you realize as you are trying to kind of pull her out of the crowd, that you can feel a large, strong, and sure hand on your shoulder. And as you kind of look up and slightly behind you, you can see that Max is standing over you and is helping to kind of push the wave of people back so that this one woman that you have kind of reached out and grabbed on to can get to you. Thank you. Max checks if there's anything you would like to say. You are welcome to. [02:12:31] Speaker F: Nothing. [02:12:35] Speaker A: Max has this very intense, concentrated look on his face. This has taken an awful lot for him, but he is doing his best. [02:12:44] Speaker B: I feel you, Max. I know you can't say shit right now, but I feel you. [02:12:55] Speaker A: All right, so you manage to pull this young woman. She looks close to your age, maybe a little bit younger, doesn't look like you, but looks very close in age to you. And she looks terrified and scared and desperate and confused. What's happening? [02:13:23] Speaker B: Hey. [02:13:26] Speaker A: Did you feel that? Like the ship shook? Where is everybody? What's happening? [02:13:37] Speaker B: Okay. [02:13:38] Speaker A: Oh, God, is that smoke? [02:13:39] Speaker B: Okay, I need you to do me a favor and I need you to just close your eyes for one moment and focus on my voice. [02:13:56] Speaker A: She seems to be trying to listen and focus on what you're telling her to. [02:14:03] Speaker B: My name is Rosanna. You don't know me and I don't know you, but it's very important for you to work with me right now because I'm trying to help you. And I need you to keep calm as I explain what has happened to you. I need you to answer some questions for me so I can help. [02:14:36] Speaker A: I'll try. Sorry. [02:14:40] Speaker B: First of all, can you tell me your name? [02:14:45] Speaker A: Amelia. [02:14:47] Speaker B: Amelia, it's nice to meet. [02:14:54] Speaker A: I'm scared. [02:14:56] Speaker B: I know it is a very scary time right now, but I need you to just listen, all right? So you were involved in something heart wrenching, and unfortunately, you didn't quite make it. I can talk to you because I'm able to speak with what you are. Nobody else can hear you, but I can't. And I want to help save your soul. What do you remember? What was the last thing that you did before the rumble? [02:16:05] Speaker A: We, we just checked in. We've only been on the ship for, for an hour, hour and a half where we were waiting to go out. My, my brother, he said he was, he was gonna go up on deck to, to get some, some pictures and, oh, God, I don't know where he is. And there's all the smoke in the room, and I can see it out in the hallway and everybody's yelling, what's happening? What's happening? My parents. Their cabin is on a completely different floor from ours. I don't even know how to get to it yet. Can you tell me, Rosanna, as you are talking to her, and she seems to be in the throes of reliving the moments before her death, you can see that there is something kind of sheer and weightless, but somehow still substantial, hanging over her, almost like a shroud or a cocoon. It's not something that you can touch, but you can see it. [02:17:37] Speaker B: Tell me, do you see what's hanging over your head? [02:17:42] Speaker A: I could see smoke. People are yelling. Maybe I should get off the boat. But I don't know. I don't know if I could find my way back. I don't know if I could find my way off. There's people all over the place. Oh my God, the hallway is so crowded. What is going on? [02:18:16] Speaker B: I need you to follow the sound of my voice. Follow me. [02:18:22] Speaker A: I'll try, I'll try. [02:18:24] Speaker B: Follow me. I'm here. [02:18:28] Speaker A: Rosanna. [02:18:29] Speaker B: Yes? [02:18:31] Speaker A: I need you to roll charisma and persuasion. [02:18:38] Speaker B: Okay. [02:18:42] Speaker A: Well, hold on. Is there an insight or is it empathy? Roll me. Charisma, insight. Okay, it's effectively going to be like an empathy check. You're trying to connect with her emotionally to keep her calm, right? [02:19:02] Speaker B: Add anything or. [02:19:03] Speaker A: No, no, not at the moment. [02:19:13] Speaker B: Two, I'm going to reroll those failures. [02:19:15] Speaker A: Okay. [02:19:18] Speaker B: Three. [02:19:31] Speaker A: She seems to be drawing towards you is the best way that I can describe it. And as she does so, you can see that film, that gauzy thing hanging over her starting to very slowly start to thin and it almost looks like there's little rips forming in it. [02:20:07] Speaker B: Being around as many ghosts as I have been these last couple of days, would I have any idea what that is? [02:20:14] Speaker A: No. You've never been around a ghost this new and so you've never seen something like this. Okay, all the ghosts that you've interacted with have been dead for a while. I will say that the more you focus on her and you see the press of bodies that Max is helping you hold back, they all seem to have this. Max is the only one who doesn't. I will allow you to make an intelligence occult role to see if you can maybe put two and two together and you can in fact have your desperation dice. All five of them? [02:20:57] Speaker B: All five? Yeehaw. Intelligence occult. I'm assuming I don't get to add my specialty to this. Or you do. I do. Okay, huNter, eat desperation. There we go. Eight successes. [02:21:26] Speaker A: Eight successes and no botches. [02:21:30] Speaker B: What's that? The ladies not getting any botches on their desperation dice. What's this? [02:21:44] Speaker C: You can rub it in her face. Why not? [02:21:48] Speaker B: And I had five dice. [02:21:50] Speaker E: Imagine getting to use your desperation dice. [02:21:55] Speaker A: Hey, look, it's not my fault you haven't taken the approach that you need. [02:21:59] Speaker E: I don't know how to be stealthy or sabotaging a ghost that just shows up at a. [02:22:08] Speaker A: Well. It could have also been manipulative. I would have taken that, too. Rosanna, as you are pulling Amelia towards you, as you are acting as something of a beacon for her, you think back on all of your studies and all of the work that you've done to try and figure out how ghosts work. And you remember reading something that suggested that freshly dead ghosts in particular, no matter how they die, all seem to have a hard time understanding that they are dead and that it is something of a state of being that kind of falls away from them like a shroud being pulled off of their eyes. Some of them never. Some of them, they lose the shroud but never fully become cognizant like the ghosts that you've encountered so far were just forced to relive their deaths over and over again. But you have read about some ghosts who become aware, but it's only after the wool comes off their eyes, so to speak, and you start to think that maybe that's what this is. It's almost like a spiritual, physical manifestation of that inability to grasp what's happened to them. [02:23:50] Speaker B: She's just going to keep calling for Amelie to come. [02:23:58] Speaker A: Amelia. [02:23:59] Speaker B: Amelia. [02:24:02] Speaker A: Amelie is a pretty name, though you slowly but surely coax her towards you, Max standing over you and holding back this constant press of spirits. And as you are making yourself this beacon that she is drawn to, you have a moment where you kind of get to look out over the rest of the area around you and you realize that the souls are countless. There is so much death and so many dead hovering and flying around you that you can actually kind of see the veil that Max has talked aboUt. The shroud, it's like it's under stress. It's like there's too much pressure in one space for it. And you wonder if maybe this is what it looks like after a natural disaster. Victoria, your phone rings. [02:25:32] Speaker E: We'll check who it is. [02:25:41] Speaker A: It's not a call so much as a text message. And it is an alert that you have had set up with some of your contacts where if they have something important they need to talk to you about, they can. It's not entirely surprising that somebody is reaching out. The underworld seems to kind of go all a Twitter, so to speak. Whenever something of this magnitude happens, I. [02:26:14] Speaker E: Will inspect this message. Then. [02:26:20] Speaker A: It'S basically just. Basically just a heads up, call me kind of message, or a check in kind of message, if that makes more sense. They haven't put anything super specific in just yet, if that makes sense. [02:26:42] Speaker E: Yeah, I guess I'll respond with I'm fine, or give them a call. [02:26:53] Speaker A: Um. [02:26:56] Speaker E: It just depends on, like, the context of this message. Like, if it's a. Let me know if you're okay. I can just be like, yep, I'm fine. [02:27:08] Speaker A: You. You text back to kind of give them a, yeah, no, I'm fine. And then your phone rings. [02:27:24] Speaker E: I'm sitting there, like, trying to get some of the blood out of my ear with a tissue. What can I do for you? [02:27:34] Speaker A: Oh, thank Christ you're safe. Yeah, it is. [02:27:41] Speaker E: Oh, I get kind of like, this look on my face that probably, if anyone in the cell was paying attention is definitely, like, infatuation. Dietrich. Hey. Crazy time right now to be calling me. What's up? [02:28:00] Speaker A: Well, I don't know if you've looked at the news. [02:28:06] Speaker E: Yeah, I'm parked outside of that right now. [02:28:14] Speaker A: I know it's been a while, and I know that last time we saw each other, you left in a huff, and things were awkward and a little tense, but you have a habit of getting yourself into the middle of things that you shouldn't get into the middle of. And I don't know, I just had this gut feeling kind of in the middle of this. [02:28:39] Speaker E: But don't worry. I'm safe. For now, at least. [02:28:42] Speaker A: Listen, please tell me that you haven't fallen in with terrorists. Please tell me that that's not a thing. [02:28:49] Speaker E: Take me for. No, of course I haven't. I just happened to be in the same city, and things happened, and this is not a secure line. If we're going to start talking like this, I insist on us being in the same room with maybe wine and dinner. [02:29:09] Speaker C: That escalated quickly. [02:29:10] Speaker B: Get it? [02:29:13] Speaker A: There are a lot. That's. That's a lot to unpack. I mean, you know, maybe. Sure. But first, you're safe. And you're not caught up with whoever did this. [02:29:38] Speaker E: No idea who did this. [02:29:41] Speaker A: Okay. But you are in the city. Yeah. Are you going to need a safe house? [02:29:49] Speaker E: We could use one. I think some stuff happened. Dietrich and I kind of go a little quiet at this point. Like, I don't want the rest of the cell to hear, and I just say I left in a huff because I don't know how to deal with my own emotions. It's not obvious I really like you. You're quite fantastic. [02:30:18] Speaker A: I mean, no offense, it was pretty obvious you liked me when you were screaming my name. But if you need someplace safe to stay, I can make some calls. [02:30:40] Speaker E: I appreciate that. [02:30:41] Speaker A: Dietrich. Is it just you? [02:30:44] Speaker E: No, there's three more of us on a dog. [02:30:48] Speaker A: Oh. Boyfriend? [02:30:52] Speaker E: No, nothing like that. [02:30:55] Speaker A: Girlfriend? [02:30:56] Speaker E: No. [02:30:58] Speaker A: Damn. Okay. [02:31:00] Speaker E: What do you mean, damn? This is good for you. [02:31:05] Speaker A: I mean, you know, what man says no to two, fair. [02:31:15] Speaker B: Yeah, ask Arthur speaks the truth. [02:31:21] Speaker E: Yeah. If you have a place for us, we could use it. Just give me a text back with the location. [02:31:28] Speaker A: I'll make some calls and get in touch. Is there anyone I should call to let them know that you're safe? [02:31:36] Speaker E: Nah. [02:31:41] Speaker A: Okay. [02:31:44] Speaker E: Yeah. [02:31:47] Speaker A: What were you going to say? [02:31:52] Speaker E: I have some friends, but I'm not sure if you're really associated with them. But I'll contact them in due time. Are you familiar with Les. [02:32:13] Speaker A: Maybe? I think so. The name is familiar. [02:32:19] Speaker E: Yeah. Just drop a message by Les Noel, if you can, that I'm in pretty deep. Someone with more experience would be a good ear to talk into or sounding board off of. [02:32:40] Speaker A: Okay, I'll make some calls and I'll let you know where to go. Thanks. And he will hang up. [02:32:51] Speaker E: When I hang up my phone, I kind of let it just kind of sit loosely in my hand. I'm staring vacantly at the other side of the RV. There's this tinge of blush in my cheeks. [02:33:07] Speaker A: I will give the boys a chance to react if they wish to. [02:33:11] Speaker D: I don't say anything, but I'm making eye contact with you. [02:33:16] Speaker C: Arthur's just going to start nodding and go, friend. [02:33:25] Speaker E: Can you cover your eye? You corrected yourself. [02:33:27] Speaker A: Victoria's nodding. Yeah. [02:33:31] Speaker E: Friend. Good friend. [02:33:35] Speaker C: Yeah, sounded like it. And who's this good friend? I mean, I don't need to know unless I'm going to meet him soon. [02:33:47] Speaker E: Or you might. I don't know where he is right now, but he's kind of the guy I go to for information and things like that. [02:34:00] Speaker C: Things like that. Okay, cool. Well, does that mean we have a place to go from here? [02:34:12] Speaker E: Yeah, we can sleep in somewhere that isn't the RV, hopefully. I'm just waiting for a message back. [02:34:20] Speaker C: Got it. We'll just keep an eye on Rosanna till she's done. [02:34:28] Speaker E: Yeah. Wish I understood this, what she's going through, but. [02:34:35] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, I. [02:34:43] Speaker A: It. [02:34:43] Speaker C: Feels like it's really hard for her, honestly, and hard of me wishes we could help in some way. [02:34:54] Speaker E: Yeah. Got my wish, though. Just doesn't feel good about it. I wanted our RV to be less haunted. [02:35:09] Speaker C: Yeah, me too. I think we're on the same page on that one. But also didn't want her to be upset about it. Yeah, this one hurt. How are you doing? I mean, you were basically unconscious for a second there. I mean, not that you were, but you were close. [02:35:33] Speaker E: Yeah. I don't know what I'm doing anymore. I'm at the point where I'm throwing past at the wall to see what sticks, right? And see if it's good enough, if it's done. I feel like I'm just causing more problems. [02:35:53] Speaker C: I mean, you were trying to keep those vortexes or whatever, the gate closed, right? I mean, you were trying at first. [02:36:03] Speaker E: And that's why there were so many more. [02:36:07] Speaker A: I don't know. [02:36:08] Speaker E: When you close something, you got to open it first, right? [02:36:13] Speaker C: Wait, you opened it? How long have you been able to do that? [02:36:27] Speaker E: Since Hela bend. [02:36:38] Speaker C: That's not good, I don't think. [02:36:44] Speaker E: No, not really. [02:36:51] Speaker C: But you can close it as well. I saw that. [02:36:56] Speaker E: Yeah. Takes a lot out of me, though. [02:37:05] Speaker C: I would imagine. And I look at Zephyr. Did you know she could open gates to the ghost world? [02:37:18] Speaker D: This is all new to me, too. [02:37:21] Speaker E: Be fair, when we were arguing and I was driving the other day, I did kind of bring up, oh, it's all my fault that Roxanna had her passenger. It's kind of what I was getting at. It just didn't elaborate. So I told you all very indirectly. [02:37:42] Speaker C: So when did you open that ghost portal? [02:37:52] Speaker E: We were at the car crash site, and I was trying to keep her at bay. And then she began to fizzle into reality a little clearer. And I'm pretty sure that's when I was opening it the first time. [02:38:09] Speaker C: And at the church, were you the one who let in whatever that was? Or. [02:38:18] Speaker E: The woman that came out of the floor and tackled Zephyr? I had nothing to do with that. [02:38:23] Speaker C: I was talking about all of it. Like the dark, shadowy cloud stuff. You started ringing your bells. I know. After he showed up, you caused it. [02:38:34] Speaker E: Maybe it was me the whole time. Like I was playing. And then he showed up. Maybe it was me. [02:38:44] Speaker C: Well, then I would suggest that we don't do that again. Is it like a tone or a function? Do you have to say certain words? How does it work? [02:38:56] Speaker E: I thought it was a tone, but now that you've mentioned it. I wasn't trying to open it at first. But then when I ran up to him, that's when I was trying to open it, and then I tried to close it. But you're right. I was playing the whole time. [02:39:20] Speaker C: So this is a new level of your ability that we need to keep control of, I think. [02:39:27] Speaker E: Yeah, I'm getting that now. After I released Spectral cowboys. [02:39:39] Speaker C: Yeah, that certainly didn't help the situation in any way. Mmm. Well, nobody died, fortunately. [02:39:56] Speaker E: A kind of gesture out the RV window at the chaos going on in the harbor. [02:40:05] Speaker C: Well, sure, but according to Max, that was already going to happen. We just kind of got in the way. Maybe we should do something instead of wait here. Maybe we should see if we can talk to someone or find out more information while we wait. [02:40:30] Speaker A: On that note, Victoria. Or not Victoria. Rosanna. Sorry. You have been very slowly coaxing Amelia to you. She has a long way to go. You are still quite a bit away from where the explosion happened, and she is trying to fight against a wave of humanity, so to speak. [02:41:03] Speaker B: I'm going to make it a little bit easier on her, and I'm going to kind of step away from the candles and everything, and I'm going to start kind of resting one of my hands on top of Max's to kind of see if I can get him to follow me. I'm going to start kind of walking just a little bit closer, just to close that distance between the two of us. Just a little bit. [02:41:42] Speaker A: You're going to start walking through the parking lot towards the harbor. [02:41:47] Speaker B: Yeah, not getting, like, right at the harbor. I don't need police tackling me down because one dot strength. [02:42:01] Speaker A: Got you. Okay. [02:42:04] Speaker B: If they tackle me, I have 30 broken bones. [02:42:08] Speaker A: Got you. [02:42:11] Speaker B: And I don't think I'd be that pretty or that smart if I have 30 broken bones. All right, but I'm going to get to where I can comfortably wait for her without rising too much suspicion. [02:42:31] Speaker A: Okay. Maximilian, would you please roll six dice. [02:42:41] Speaker B: Axe my guy. [02:42:44] Speaker A: I just want to see how much help he can provide you. Holy cow. All right, then. [02:42:52] Speaker F: I'm locked in. [02:42:55] Speaker A: Max is so with it and so with you that you are amazed that he is not somehow fused with your soul, because he is like you may be a beacon that is drawing all of these spirits to you, but Max has turned himself into, like, a spiritual tower shield where he's just holding everything, a riot shield, where he is, like, holding everything at bay. You can see the focus on his face. Oh, he is not at all, like, staticy or dark and shadowy for you anymore. You don't know if it's the fact that you have finally seen him so it is easier for you to make out his features or if it's the fact that the veil is so thin here, but you can see him and he is focused. He has the look of a man on a mission. And you're pretty sure he'd be sweating if he was alive because he's working really hard to keep you safe. [02:44:00] Speaker B: You are doing a fantastic job, Max. Thank you. I appreciate the help. [02:44:09] Speaker A: No response. Okay, Rosanna, so you manage to walk out of the parking lot and slightly down the sidewalk a bit. [02:44:22] Speaker B: Do the boys and the. [02:44:24] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm going to roll. Hold on. We're getting there. It doesn't occur to you at the time, but the reality is that you are so intent on what you are doing that you don't even realize how far away have, like, even if they notice and try to call out to you, you're not going to stop. You are so zoned in on what you are doing. On that note, I would like Zephyr, Arthur and Victoria to all make me wits awareness roles. Victoria, you were at a negative one because you were on the phone with Dietrich when this happens and you're a little distracted. [02:45:14] Speaker E: Okay. [02:45:18] Speaker A: Daddy Dietrich is very distracting. [02:45:22] Speaker D: I got three. [02:45:27] Speaker C: I got four. [02:45:34] Speaker A: Two. [02:45:35] Speaker E: Let's go with two because I did not. Negative one. [02:45:38] Speaker A: Okay. All right, cool. Victoria, you don't notice anything out of the ordinary. You are petting your dog and blushing over your call with Daddy Dietrich. That was just happening. Arthur, you are just suggesting that you guys start reaching out to people to look for more information. When you look up and spot Rosanna walking, she's already like a hundred yards away. By the time you, you and you and Zephyr at the same time, both look up and realize that she is out of the parking lot and on the sidewalk and walking down the sidewalk away from the RV and that all of her stuff that she pulled out to do her ritual thing is still on the ground next to the RV. She just left her mess and has walked away. [02:46:34] Speaker C: I'm going to go after her. [02:46:38] Speaker D: Do you want me to watch her stuff? [02:46:41] Speaker C: I think Victoria can watch her stuff. Come help. [02:46:45] Speaker D: Okay. [02:46:49] Speaker E: Stay safe. [02:46:53] Speaker C: Always. [02:46:58] Speaker A: Love, Victoria. Okay, watch the stuff. Watch the stuff. Okay. [02:47:06] Speaker B: Watch the stuff and talk to Daddy. It's what you do. [02:47:14] Speaker A: While the boys are out chasing after Rosanna. Victoria, is there anything you want to do? Anyone you want to call? Any arrangements you want to make other. [02:47:27] Speaker E: Than waiting for where we might be setting up the message getting passed on to Les, so that's cool. Maybe the only thing I can think of you okay? [02:47:46] Speaker A: Yeah, sorry. I'm fighting with my headset. Continue. [02:47:49] Speaker E: The only thing I can think of is if we need to get inside of this, I might be able to call someone or be able to break into this compound in order to get us closer, but I can't really do that unless I get the go ahead from the others. Right. [02:48:05] Speaker A: Well, okay, so it's less of a compound and more of a just getting past what is essentially police blockades. You know, plenty of people who could probably get you the credentials you need to be able to bypass the police blockades. And as long as you kept a reasonably low profile while you did it, you could probably get around closer to the scene. Especially because once you make it past the police blockades, the chaos is going to be amplified pretty significantly. So as long as you kind of keep your heads down while you're there, like you've done this a few times, you can get closer to disaster sites or whatever if you can get past that first line of defense. [02:48:48] Speaker E: In that case, I'm going to start pulling those strings just in case we need to actually get in there. And I'll wait for the others to come back while I make these calls. [02:49:00] Speaker A: Okay. Let me pull up your sheet, make sure that I've got all of your correct stats. So we're going to call that a charisma and let's do a charisma and. [02:49:28] Speaker E: Subterfuge. [02:49:30] Speaker A: Subterfuge to try and find the right people to talk to. [02:49:35] Speaker E: Okay. [02:49:36] Speaker A: And then to actually convince them, we'll need a charisma and persuasion. [02:49:52] Speaker E: I do get my desperation dice for this, but I don't think I'm going to use them. [02:49:57] Speaker A: I mean, you absolutely do get it, but if you don't want to, you don't have to. [02:50:01] Speaker E: Yeah. More problems than, yeah, no, I'm not going to use them and I'm going to willpower. And that did nothing. So two successes. [02:50:14] Speaker A: Okay. So it takes a hot minute to get in touch with the right person. There's a lot of phone tag, there's a lot of call this person, and they're like, oh, they don't operate out of here anymore. But this is the number I was given to get in touch with them. And there's a lot of bouncing back and forth and it takes a while, but eventually you manage to make a connection with a man who is essentially like an inn that you happen to have at ATF. He works a lot with a lot of Federal bureaus and things like that. So make me a charisma and persuasion to see if you can get him to furnish you with what you need to get your cell to be able to operate behind the cordon, so to speak. [02:51:22] Speaker E: All my luck was used earlier. This will put me at one willpower. If I reroll this. [02:51:33] Speaker A: It'S up to you. [02:51:34] Speaker E: Oh, my God. Okay, so one success. [02:51:37] Speaker A: Okay, he is a little iffy and says that he will see what he can do. But he warns you that he's very much in one of those positions where kind of all eyes are watching the ins and outs in Houston right now. So just whipping up something really quick would put his job on the line. So he says he'll try and do what he can, but he can't make any promises. [02:52:16] Speaker E: Not my best work. I'm probably just frazzled. About earlier. [02:52:21] Speaker A: Daddy called and you're not at your best right now. Um, okay. Now, while that is happening, Zephyr and Arthur, it doesn't take long for you to catch up to Rosanna. Rosanna looks like she is walking through like waves that are constantly trying to push her back or like a storm that is blowing really hard against her and she's having to fight the wind. That's what it looks like she's doing. Like she's fighting against this pressure that's constantly trying to force her back in the direction she came from. But she's not stopping. [02:53:09] Speaker C: Rosanna. [02:53:16] Speaker A: Rosanna. You can faintly hear them. [02:53:23] Speaker B: He doesn't respond. She keeps walking. [02:53:26] Speaker A: Okay. [02:53:30] Speaker C: Before she gets close, I think we should walk with her. I feel like stopping her will probably stop whatever she's doing, but at the same time, we should stop her before she gets arrested for her. Yeah, so maybe we just stay with her for a minute and see what happens. This is very weird. [02:53:56] Speaker A: You guys manage to get nearly a block before Rosanna stops. Rosanna, you stop because Max and that hand on your shoulder tightens and you look up and you realize that if you go any further, you're going to be walking directly into a police cordon. You've gotten as close as you possibly can without arousing suspicion. But you can feel Amelia, and she is getting ever closer. She is fighting to get to you. And you can feel a growing sense of pressure and panic the closer she gets. It's like she is on the verge of breaking through that shroud that you saw on her. [02:54:47] Speaker B: Adam, you're doing good. Just listen to the sound. My voice. Okay? Come to me. It's okay. [02:54:59] Speaker A: I can't find my way off the ship. I can't. There's so much smoke, there's so many people, and, oh, God. And there's this panicked, gasping breathing. And then it's like this person stumbles out of nowhere and directly into you, Rosanna. And she doesn't meld with your body, but you see this young woman literally stumble out of nowhere. She just broke through the edge of a crowd. And she kind of, like, stands in front of you, and you see that diaphanous thing around her. And just on instinct, you reach out and you try to grab it, and you pull at it gently, and it falls away from her. And there's this moment where she looks confused, and she's not sure where she is, and she's trying to make sense of what just happened. Amelia, where am I? [02:56:13] Speaker B: You're in Houston. [02:56:15] Speaker A: Well, no, I know that, but where am I? I was just on the ship. Oh, God. Oh, God, I think I'm dead. [02:56:28] Speaker B: Yes, darling. Ow. [02:56:32] Speaker A: What? There was. The whole ship shook. And we could hear the water smacking against the side of it. And then there was smoke in the hallway, and all of the alarms were going off and people were yelling, and it was dark. And then there was another rumble. And that's all I remember. No, I remember more. I remember heat and light and pain. And then everything went dark. And then your voice. [02:57:13] Speaker B: Yes. [02:57:15] Speaker A: And him. And she's pointing at I. Where's my family? [02:57:26] Speaker B: Amelia. [02:57:28] Speaker A: What? [02:57:30] Speaker B: It was a terrorist attack. [02:57:34] Speaker A: What? [02:57:36] Speaker B: There are tens of thousands of people who are in the same predicament as you are right now. [02:57:43] Speaker A: Out of character. Maybe not tens of thousands, but it certainly seems like thousands at the very least. [02:57:48] Speaker B: I mean, to be fair, to be. [02:57:51] Speaker A: Fair, from your perspective, it might seem like tens of thousands. [02:57:54] Speaker B: Yeah. I got a lot of voices in my head right now. Truly? Truly would be a Malkavian. [02:58:02] Speaker A: The cobwebs got nothing on what you're experiencing right now. She looks baffled. What do you mean, it was terrorist attack? We were going on a cruise. It's for my birthday. [02:58:34] Speaker B: Something on the ship went off. I don't quite know, but we could feel it. I want you to know right now, can you see the other? And at this point, do I finally notice that Arthur and Zephyr are like, yep. What the hell do you, whatever. Do you see the other two that are with me, not the man back here? She's, like, patting Max. [02:59:12] Speaker A: So many reverends. So cute. [02:59:16] Speaker B: Fair? Are you talking about? He's married. And I don't think he, you know, never mind. [02:59:35] Speaker A: But, I mean, that's also a little unfair, don't you think? [02:59:43] Speaker B: I don't want to answer that right now because he's not the point. Arthur can go be pretty elsewhere. And she says that out loud. [02:59:58] Speaker D: Yeehaw. [03:00:09] Speaker B: But I can see you and you and I can talk to one another. Is there anything? [03:00:17] Speaker A: Are you dead? No, but is he dead and she's pointing at Arthur? [03:00:26] Speaker B: No. [03:00:28] Speaker E: Damn. [03:00:32] Speaker B: Ma'am, ma'am, this is not the time for you to be hitting on my friend. [03:00:37] Speaker A: He can't hitting on him. If I'm going to be dead, I might as well get something out of it. [03:00:43] Speaker B: I mean, I think my friend behind me is know. I don't know, Max, I don't know. But he's shaking his head. [03:00:56] Speaker A: And none of y'all are ready. [03:01:00] Speaker B: Like, and then she kind of looks at Zephyr for a minute and then just nevermind. [03:01:09] Speaker A: I don't know. He seems to like much more dangerous people than me. I don't know, I've just got a feeling. [03:01:16] Speaker B: Yeah, he likes to live dangerously. [03:01:20] Speaker A: Seems like he'd be really into people who could wrestle him. That's just not my style. [03:01:25] Speaker B: You know, he does have a thing for women who are stronger than him. Tackling him to the ground. I've seen it happen a couple of times at this point. Oh, man, can I hear her saying that out loud? [03:01:37] Speaker A: I'm just like, yes, you can. You can't hear the other half of the conversation, but you can hear Rosanna's half. Rosanna? I don't know who you're telling that. [03:01:48] Speaker D: To, but that's not true. [03:01:52] Speaker B: And I stopped my conversation with Amelia and I just look at Zephyr, I raise my eyebrow at him and then I just look back to the one. [03:02:03] Speaker A: Amelia is looking at Max like, is she always like this? Max just sort of shrugs like. [03:02:14] Speaker B: Anyway, these two aside, we are going to try to help your soul rest. [03:02:28] Speaker A: Okay, but how? [03:02:38] Speaker B: So obviously you are now aware that your kind exists. We are wouldn't call us experts, but are informed on kind of how to deal with your predicament. [03:03:12] Speaker A: Being dead thing. [03:03:15] Speaker B: Yeah, that whole thing. Unfortunately, this isn't a movie and I can't hand you a book on what it's like to be recently deceased. If I could, I think I'd make quite a living and I'd be helping out a lot more people than I have been. But in order for us to help, we need an understanding of what you are going through right now. [03:03:55] Speaker A: Right now I'm just sort of trying to find a way to be light hearted about the fact that I'm not going to see? 27. [03:04:08] Speaker B: If it helps. You don't have to worry about wrinkles. [03:04:17] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess it does a little bit. [03:04:23] Speaker B: You don't have to. [03:04:24] Speaker A: I don't even want to go on this stupid cruise. But my mother convinced me that it would be fun. A fun birthday excursion with the family. This was the worst idea ever. [03:04:40] Speaker B: Hey, I get mothers making you do things that you don't want to do. My mother forced me into beauty pageants for my whole life. [03:04:49] Speaker A: Well, I mean, look at you. Of course she did. [03:04:52] Speaker B: You flatter me. That one again was out loud, but this is what I wanted to do with my laugh. First of all, I'm happy that I was able to reach out to you because it was very overwhelming to find a voice that I could connect with. And you were the voice that I connected with. [03:05:28] Speaker A: So what happens now? [03:05:37] Speaker B: A couple things could happen. I could. I gotta find what's keeping you here. [03:05:52] Speaker A: I mean, you think maybe it has something to do with the fact that I just got dead pretty violently? [03:06:02] Speaker B: I'm actually going to look up at Max. [03:06:10] Speaker A: You can ask him something or you're just going to look at him. [03:06:13] Speaker B: I'm going to look at him and be like, is that a possibility? [03:06:21] Speaker A: You would know that it's probably a likelihood. Like she died suddenly and traumatically and probably before she was supposed to. So her soul has not moved on. It also hasn't been collected yet. [03:06:37] Speaker F: He's got unfinished business, just like I do. But she'll be hopefully escorted and passed on and, well, I don't know how long that'll take. But in the meantime, while you have. [03:07:02] Speaker A: Her. [03:07:06] Speaker F: I would ask her about maybe those cowboys or that woman. [03:07:14] Speaker B: Right. [03:07:17] Speaker F: Maybe you can't help her move on. I think everyone has to do that in their own way. But. [03:07:27] Speaker B: Did you say anything? Any cowboys? Yeah. Black guys on horses with guns. [03:07:40] Speaker A: Or. [03:07:41] Speaker B: A woman with a black and white shirt. Snapback. [03:07:48] Speaker A: Well, the woman sounds familiar. What can you tell me past somebody like that in the hallway on the ship when we first boarded? Like an hour prior. I mean, but there's also like hundreds of people, if not thousands. So I don't know if it was your lady, but I saw somebody like that. And I think, now that you mention it, I think I might have heard horses. When I was coming to meet you. I thought I was getting off the ship, so it didn't make sense at the time, but I guess if I was really walking down the street, it makes a little bit more sense. I swear I thought I heard hooves and horses. Nang. Why? What are the mean who the hell? I mean, don't get me wrong, I know that this is Texas and we do silly, stupid shit like that all the time, but, like, who rides a horse through the middle of town after a terrorist attack? [03:09:18] Speaker B: Not who, what? [03:09:20] Speaker A: What do you mean? [03:09:23] Speaker B: They're kind of like you, except older. [03:09:32] Speaker A: Older, older. [03:09:35] Speaker B: And we encountered them at a church and it looks like they go around and almost like, collect bodies, souls, ghosts, whatever you want to call them. [03:09:59] Speaker A: Like Grim Reapers? Kind of grim reapers with six shooters. [03:10:04] Speaker E: Really? [03:10:05] Speaker A: That's kind of dumb. [03:10:08] Speaker B: I mean, you're not wrong. [03:10:10] Speaker A: The hell kind of afterlife is this? Why are the pearly gates? Where's my cloud and my harp and my. [03:10:25] Speaker B: I could ask the good. The good priest. Priest? But I'm not well skilled in heaven or angels or devils. [03:10:46] Speaker A: Listen, I went to church every week and I'm pretty sure that I got offered a fluffy cloud and harp and the ability to look down on and judge all of my relations, and I'm a little disappointed that that's not what's happened. [03:11:00] Speaker B: I mean, you can still look down and judge on all your relations. Nothing. Nobody's stopping you. [03:11:05] Speaker A: Except that I'm still on the ground. [03:11:09] Speaker B: True. [03:11:10] Speaker A: I need my perch so that I could feel appropriately righteous and superior. That's how it works, right? [03:11:19] Speaker B: Sure. [03:11:19] Speaker A: I'll be honest with you, I was never a great Christian. I didn't go to church very much. [03:11:25] Speaker B: It's okay. Neither was I. My daddy was a pastor. [03:11:29] Speaker A: Wow, what a pair we make. [03:11:33] Speaker B: I feel like you and I would have been best friends, something like that. But they're called reapers or whatever. The men on the horses, they come and basically collect souls or ghosts. Yeah, you're a ghost. Feel like I don't have to tell. [03:11:57] Speaker A: You that, but you kind of picked up on that. [03:11:59] Speaker B: Yeah. We are trying to get a better understanding, and so the information that you gave us, that helped a lot. [03:12:17] Speaker A: I didn't do much, but I'm glad I could help. [03:12:22] Speaker B: Trust me, the little bit that you did give us helped because it gives us answers that we didn't have. [03:12:33] Speaker A: Is there anything else I can help with? Can I come with you or do I have to hang around with. And she'll cut a turd and, like, gesture at the masses of people. [03:12:49] Speaker B: Okay, so I kind of already had, like, a backseat rider. I don't know if my friends would be okay if I took on another one. And this one she says out loud for them to hear. [03:13:01] Speaker C: Yeah, no, absolutely not. [03:13:07] Speaker B: Sorry. The guy said no. [03:13:09] Speaker A: You snapped me out of whatever it was that I was dealing with because made me aware. And now you're going to abandon me in the middle of the street? [03:13:21] Speaker B: I'm not abandoning you. [03:13:25] Speaker A: But I'm not allowed to come with you. [03:13:27] Speaker B: You can't ride on me. [03:13:29] Speaker A: I didn't ask if I could ride on you. I just asked if I could come with you so that I'm not in the middle of a crowd of people who don't know that they're dead waiting for some cowboy grim Reaper to come take my soul. [03:13:56] Speaker B: Zephyr and Arthur see Rosanna purse her lips as though she's contemplating something. Give me one. Give me one moment. And then she turns back to the other two. [03:14:20] Speaker A: Okay. [03:14:23] Speaker B: Listen, I said, I know. I know that we probably have some silent agreement that I don't have anybody in me anymore, but I kind of pulled her out of shambles and, well, kind of feel bad if I just leave her here. [03:14:46] Speaker C: Could we leave? [03:14:49] Speaker B: I don't expect you, y'all to say yes to her being in our RV, but do you think we could at least find a place to make her comfortable? [03:15:07] Speaker C: Zephyr. [03:15:08] Speaker B: Yes. [03:15:09] Speaker C: Any ideas on what that means? [03:15:11] Speaker D: I'm assuming that she wants to bring her with us, but in a way where it's not, like, weird. I don't know. [03:15:24] Speaker B: He's got it. You don't have to say yes, but I did kind of just rip her out. Broke the news that she's dead. And, you know. [03:15:40] Speaker D: I mean, I'm fine with it, but I don't know how the others would react. And also, Gozer doesn't seem to like. [03:15:51] Speaker B: Well, I mean, yeah, and it doesn't even have to be, like, with us. I mean, if we could even just, like, find her. Find her a place so she could be at ease. [03:16:04] Speaker C: Okay, so I understand that you're a little upset about how things played out with the last ghost person. Guess Max is still going to hang around, right? Is this ghost going to be like Max, then? [03:16:38] Speaker B: I think so. I mean, I don't know if she's going to be as informative because she's my age. [03:16:51] Speaker C: Okay. [03:16:53] Speaker D: I am a little worried about having more than one ghost on the RV because it seems that the Reapers tend to come to places where it's multiple. [03:17:06] Speaker B: That's why I'm saying we don't have to take her with us. We just need to find her a place where she can at least be comfortable. I mean, I don't know if she can even go back to that ship. And I don't want to leave her out just on the talking about her like she's a stray dog. Okay. [03:17:24] Speaker C: So what you're suggesting is that we find a way to settle her spirit before we move on from here. [03:17:31] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't want the Reapers to come after her. [03:17:35] Speaker C: I can agree to that. That's fine. [03:17:45] Speaker A: While all of this is happening, Rosanna, you hear Amelia attempting to make conversation with Max. She's not flirting or anything. She's just like, so how long have you been a ghost? Can you still taste things? Can I vape while I'm dead? [03:18:20] Speaker B: Rosanna actually breaks down to laughter to the point where she haS, like, a tiny little snort. Escape. [03:18:30] Speaker A: Is there anything that makes it worthwhile? Can we walk through walls like they do in the movies? Yeah, awesome. Can we do the thing, like, at Beetlejuice where they, like, open their mouth really wide and eyeballs pop out on their tongue? No. Damn. There have got to be more bonuses to this. [03:19:02] Speaker B: I mean, you could be like Danny Phantom. [03:19:06] Speaker A: Oh, I could be like Danny Phantom. [03:19:09] Speaker B: How'd you just become a ghost fighter or whatever? I don't know. [03:19:14] Speaker A: I could try. Never been much of a fighter. And, hey, I'm dead, so it's not like I could break a nail. [03:19:21] Speaker B: Now, there you go. [03:19:23] Speaker A: There's another plus and look fabulous at the same time. [03:19:31] Speaker B: Oh, I really would have liked this one. She's sassy, but not like, I'm going to possess you and kill you Sassy. Like the good sassy. Kind of remind me of my sister, actually. [03:19:53] Speaker C: Hmm. A sassy ghost. Yeah, we better put this one to rest as fast as possible. Don't you agree there, Zephyr? [03:20:03] Speaker A: Hey, your cute referendum friend sucks. [03:20:10] Speaker B: Well, I mean, he's pretty to look at. [03:20:12] Speaker C: It's obvious that he was kind of semi joking, right? That's why he was like, don't you think, Zephyr? But he doesn't know what the ghost is saying. [03:20:23] Speaker B: Yeah, listen, like I said, he's pretty to look at, and you can look at him as much as you want, but sometimes he says things and it's a thing. [03:20:35] Speaker A: I mean, isn't that most men, sometimes they say things and the cute factor goes down a little bit. [03:20:43] Speaker B: I mean, you're not wrong. [03:20:45] Speaker A: I know. [03:20:49] Speaker B: I like this one, though. I'll keep them around. Don't say that about most men. [03:20:58] Speaker A: I don't know, this one seems kind of useful. And she'll kind of, like, point at Max. Doesn't talk much, though. He just keeps shaking his head and shrugging at me. [03:21:12] Speaker F: Personal. [03:21:15] Speaker B: There you go. Oh, Arthur, by the way, the ghost thinks that you're really cute. [03:21:27] Speaker C: Okay. [03:21:29] Speaker B: Which is really funny to me, considering she's dead, but, you know. [03:21:37] Speaker C: Right. [03:21:39] Speaker D: Still a person, though. [03:21:41] Speaker C: That's true. Well, thank you. Flattered. [03:21:51] Speaker A: I mean, it's nice that he's flattered, but I like the other one. Now he acknowledges that I'm a person because I'm dead doesn't mean I'm dead dead. [03:22:08] Speaker B: This is more bizarre than the last one. Although I do like the way that you talked to me more than the last one. [03:22:18] Speaker A: I'm sorry that my coping with the fact that I just died days before my birthday is not in line with what you would expect from most people. But I'm doing the best I can. [03:22:30] Speaker B: And I appreciate it. Listen, the last one tried to possess my friend and ram our RV into a pit. We don't talk about that, though. [03:22:53] Speaker A: Did she also make you dress in a really old wedding gown or was that a personal choice? [03:23:06] Speaker B: Oh, this was not me. [03:23:09] Speaker C: Suddenly Rosanna doesn't like this ghost as much. [03:23:13] Speaker A: I mean, don't get me wrong, the fabric is really pretty, but it's a little dated, don't you think? [03:23:19] Speaker B: I mean, listen, this woman was like from. This woman got married in the something. We did the best that we could at a thrift store. It's very breathable. [03:23:30] Speaker A: I mean, it looks like it's very breathable. [03:23:32] Speaker B: So breathable. And on this day, Rosanna made a best friend who's a ghost. [03:23:38] Speaker A: Rosanna and her best friend, the ghost. So can we get out of the middle of the road? [03:23:46] Speaker B: Yes. Yes, we can. We should probably head back to somewhere that's safe where we can kind of discuss how we want to proceed forward with this whole not rider, but kind of just chilling ghost until we can find a way to make her soul rest a little bit easier. [03:24:07] Speaker C: Yeah. Does she have any places she likes that maybe we can let her roam free? [03:24:17] Speaker B: Which favorite place? [03:24:18] Speaker A: Christ, I am not some dog. You were dropping off at the farm upstate. [03:24:25] Speaker B: No, but for real, is there, like, a place that you like to hang out? I apologize. Sometimes we aren't the best at wording things in this group, but we do want to give you a place where you would be comfortable. [03:24:46] Speaker A: I don't know. Home isn't exactly here. I'm from Austin, but that seems like it would be a while out of your mean. Look, I'm happy to just tag along as long as I'm not. You know, where cowboy reapers can get me? I'll find a place to hop off when the time's right, if that's okay. [03:25:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [03:25:15] Speaker A: Ghost hitchhike. And she's looking at Max. [03:25:20] Speaker F: Well. Well, in a way, you're going to. [03:25:27] Speaker A: Have to teach me. [03:25:31] Speaker F: It would not. [03:25:34] Speaker A: Excellent. Go senpai. Let's go. [03:25:40] Speaker B: Don't tell me you watch anime. [03:25:43] Speaker A: I mean, I'm in my twenty s and it's 2022. I don't know what you expect. I think everybody of our generation has seen some anime. [03:25:54] Speaker B: Yeah, you're right. Weeb. [03:26:02] Speaker A: Orc. [03:26:06] Speaker B: Wait until you see my book collection. [03:26:10] Speaker A: Oh, so nerd. Gotcha. [03:26:14] Speaker B: A scholar. Different. [03:26:17] Speaker A: That's just a fancy word for nerd. It's okay. She'll go like, she's got to throw her arm around you and you'll feel it, but then it just sort of passes through you and she's like, oh, shit, sorry. [03:26:29] Speaker B: Yeah, sorry. Anyway, so cool. Yeah. So we'll find you a nice place for you to go and be comfortable and it will make it work, but you're not allowed to possess me. And if you try, I will have him. [03:26:55] Speaker A: Even if it's to try and save your life? [03:26:59] Speaker B: If you think you can save my life. I mean, I'm pretty much pass. Even at this point. [03:27:08] Speaker A: Look, I will try not to possess anybody unless it is in service of a greater good. [03:27:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I can get behind that. I just don't possess any of the others. I can handle it. I don't want them to freak out. [03:27:30] Speaker A: Got you. [03:27:31] Speaker B: Thanks. Yeah. I think you and I, we're going to be friends. [03:27:40] Speaker A: Sure. [03:27:42] Speaker B: Yeah. Even if it's just like a temporary thing, it's the least that I can do. Because you are actually going to be a really big help when it comes to taking down whatever it is that this is. [03:27:56] Speaker A: I am. [03:27:58] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [03:28:02] Speaker A: We established I'm not a fighter, right? [03:28:06] Speaker B: That's fine. Never said you had to be. [03:28:10] Speaker A: Okay, I guess. So you all make your way back to the RV. You guys kind of climb into the back. After Rosetta gathers all of her stuff up and Amelia kind of steps up into the back of the RV and looks around and she gives this long, low whistle like, damn, she does not sound impressed. Oh, I'm sorry. [03:28:43] Speaker B: Would you rather go back there? [03:28:47] Speaker A: I'm sorry. I didn't say nothing. I didn't say nothing. Just looking like that, I guess I kind of expected a little bit more luxury. [03:29:00] Speaker B: It's not a predictable looking thing, but it keeps us safe. [03:29:08] Speaker A: Who's that? And she'll kind of gesture at. She's. [03:29:14] Speaker B: She's really cute. That's Victoria. [03:29:18] Speaker A: Did you say that out loud? [03:29:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [03:29:22] Speaker A: Victoria you heard that? Rosanna thinks you're cute and is talking to someone. [03:29:31] Speaker E: Rosanna, do I feel like a little bit of a chill as a ghost walks into the. [03:29:38] Speaker A: A little bit. And Gozer looks a little bit on edge. [03:29:42] Speaker E: God damn. [03:29:42] Speaker C: She's talking to another ghost. Apparently we're going to find a place to set this one free. [03:29:55] Speaker B: This one's a short term passenger, but not a real passenger because she's not going to be riding on any of us. But she's the one that I was able to pull from the ship. [03:30:11] Speaker E: Okay, so you're able to do that? That's, that's good. How'd that go? [03:30:18] Speaker B: Well, we even know each other for maybe 20 minutes and she's already called me a dork. I've called her a weeb. This one's a lot more casual than the last one. [03:30:27] Speaker E: I mean, what did you find out? [03:30:34] Speaker B: She could hear the hooves. And whoever that woman was that tackled Zephyr, she was on the ship like an hour before everything went off. [03:30:51] Speaker E: Okay, I've been trying to pull some strings and get us a closer look in there, but I'm not going to lie, it's been tough. Nobody really wants to work with me in this town, so. Sorry. [03:31:03] Speaker B: A bit of a dangerous game. I mean, like, it's fine. We got one. [03:31:13] Speaker A: Victoria, your phone rings. Steetrich. [03:31:18] Speaker E: Rosanna. I gotta take this. [03:31:20] Speaker A: Rosanna, you watch as Amelia leans over the back of Victoria's chair. Just looking at the picture on the screen of Victoria's phone. It's like, oh, he's hot. [03:31:30] Speaker B: Oh, my God. Oh my God. Get over here right now. So help me. Get over here. [03:31:38] Speaker A: Why does her phone say daddy on it? [03:31:47] Speaker E: Not knowing this, I answer my phone with Gusto. [03:31:57] Speaker A: Hey, I found. I called in some favors. A friend of mine has a place. It's not the fanciest, but it'll do in a pinch. [03:32:07] Speaker E: Things have changed since last we saw each other. And I only take the fanciest rooms now. [03:32:13] Speaker A: Oh, well, shit. I guess you're shit out of luck then, kid. [03:32:18] Speaker E: It's fine. Where's the address for this place? And I get my journal out and I start to scribble it down, he. [03:32:26] Speaker A: Will rattle off the address for you. It's on the other side of the city. And you get the feeling, looking at your map, looking at the road Atlas that Arthur insisted be bought the night before necessary. Looking at the road Atlas, the Rand McNally Road Atlas that Arthur insisted be purchased the night before, you get the feeling that he may have purposefully found you a safe house that is as far away from the docks as possible without leaving. [03:33:10] Speaker E: That's fine. I'm not going to argue. We'll just have to do some traveling. But I write that down, I go. Thanks. Are you. Are you in town? [03:33:21] Speaker A: I am not. I'm in Louisiana. No offense, but I'm not going anywhere near Houston while this shit's going on. But if you come east, I'll be through New Orleans. We'll figure something out. [03:33:40] Speaker E: Yeah. [03:33:42] Speaker A: You owe me dinner anyway. [03:33:45] Speaker E: It's true. I did offer dinner. [03:33:48] Speaker A: You did. [03:33:50] Speaker E: Okay. Thank you. Bye. And I'll hang up all Twitter painted. [03:33:57] Speaker B: Rosanna's staring right at you. [03:33:59] Speaker A: She likes him. [03:34:02] Speaker B: Rosanna's staring right at Victoria, giving her the look. [03:34:07] Speaker E: What? We have somewhere to stay. It's apparently shitty, and it's as far away from the docks as possible, but it's somewhere where we can. [03:34:22] Speaker A: Rosanna, have you seen the picture of this daddy guy? He's so hot. [03:34:30] Speaker B: So, who was on the phone with you? [03:34:36] Speaker E: My contact. His name is Dietrich. I met him a while back. [03:34:42] Speaker A: Oh, Daddy Dietrich? [03:34:44] Speaker C: He's a friend. Arthur's gonna explain to Rosanna. He's a friend that she's trying to have dinner with your whole face. [03:34:58] Speaker B: Oh, that's cute. [03:35:00] Speaker E: Yes, I have a romantic life, sort of. Yeah, I kind of screamed at him and ran out the door, but it's a romantic life all the same. [03:35:13] Speaker B: Yeah. More of a romantic laugh than me. Victorious. [03:35:18] Speaker E: Says the woman who just got pseudo married. [03:35:22] Speaker A: Wait. Oh, yeah, because you're not allowed to judge me anymore. I'm just thinking about all the things that I'm going to miss out on because I'm not alive anymore. At least I didn't get pseudo ghost married. [03:35:44] Speaker B: It wasn't or. It wasn't what you think. [03:35:50] Speaker A: And this time she's blushing. Come on, nerd. [03:35:58] Speaker C: Should we get to driving to the safe house? [03:36:01] Speaker E: Yeah. And by the way, we're going to New Orleans at some point. [03:36:07] Speaker B: That's fine. I figured we were going through Louisiana anyway. [03:36:10] Speaker C: Yeah, it's on the. [03:36:14] Speaker B: Oh. Maybe I'll drop you off in Louisiana. You like parties? [03:36:20] Speaker A: I love parties. [03:36:22] Speaker B: Yeah, you'll be fine. New Orleans, then. [03:36:26] Speaker A: Bourbon Street. [03:36:28] Speaker E: There you go. [03:36:31] Speaker A: Victoria, you start up the RV and pull out and head for the safe house. You guys arrive, and it is an old, rundown former fire station, like one of the little fire stations that maybe at one point could have taken, like, two or three engines at most. And it looks like somebody bought it and has been slowly but surely starting to kind of renovate. It like the upstairs where all of the bunks and everything would be has been worked on a bit and things like that, but a lot of it is still pretty run down. Hasn't really been touched as much. But hey, there's enough space that you could pull the RV into the garage once somebody goes inside and figures out how to open the door, which takes a hot minute. But Zephyr figures it out. He's got a fair amount of technical know how. And as you guys are kind of settling in and Victoria is cooking in the RV's kitchen because there is no working kitchen in the safe house. There is a knock on the door. [03:37:58] Speaker B: I'll get it. [03:38:01] Speaker A: And when you open the door, a familiar face greets you and the woman who tackled Zephyr earlier at the church is standing there with one eyebrow up and her arms crossed over her chest. And that is where we are going to call it for the night.