S1 Ep8: Arsonist's Lullaby

[00:00:30] Speaker A: Thomas Jefferson once said, time is really the only capital that any human being has and the only thing he can't afford to lose. Doctors know they have only minutes to save a life in distress. Law enforcement knows they have only narrow windows to stop deadly crimes. Parents living in poverty know that they have to make their meager means stretch for as much time as they can. Time is an ever present oppressive force hovering in the background of everyday existence for people of all walks. But it is perhaps of more consequence for Mad Men than any others. Mad Men rush headlong towards horror and death, violence and mayhem. Mad Men know that there will never be enough of them to stop everything that threatens humanity. Mad Men know that time, for them, is fleeting, brutal, and limited. Mad Men face the dwindling sands in their hourglasses with a grim smile, knowing that the limit is at is the heart of what makes them dangerous. Tonight, let's tell a story about the Mad Men. Good evening, Hunters. Would you all please take a moment to introduce yourselves? [00:01:44] Speaker B: Hi, my name is Elijah, and I'll be playing Zephyr, the entrepreneur. [00:01:49] Speaker C: Hi, my name is legacy, and I'll be playing Rosanna the Inquisitive. [00:01:54] Speaker D: Hi, my name is Zoe Trooper, and I'll be playing Victoria, the underground. [00:01:59] Speaker E: Hello, I'm Gary. I'll be returning to play Jesse, a fellow hunter compatriot. [00:02:05] Speaker A: And I'm bloodied porcelain, your storyteller for the evening. When we last left off, we were in Houston. There was a, we'll say, a significant event that ended in the abrupt closure of thousands of human lives. You all were confronted by someone from your past who, to vastly undersell it, fucked up your worlds for a bit. But you managed to learn some things from her taunting and her lessons. Lectures. You learned about reapers. You learned more about how Wraiths and ghosts work. You learned more about what the afterlife really is. For some, at least. You heard from an old friend that you met in Arizona who had just arrived in Houston about the next day after you guys did just in time for the explosions to happen and didn't really know what to do. Or if you guys were around and made a plan that you guys were headed to New Orleans to try and stave off the next catastrophic event before it happens. And that he may very well be joining you in the effort. It is, of course, the morning after the explosions. Victoria's migraine has subsided, though she's still got a nasty case of tinnitus. She's at least not in pain anymore. Gozer has seemed to figure out his place in the pack, which is that if Victoria's not around, he's going to bully all of you for food. But to be fair, you brought that on yourselves. He has also discovered a love of spare ribs. So have fun with that. Anytime you order Chinese food, you all have woken up relatively early the next day. Because most of you weren't actually out late the day before, the only ones who were were Rosanna and Arthur. Arthur wakes up at his normal time. He's in rough shape. He's clearly hungover. But that phone that he carries, that only ever seems to ring for one person, rings almost immediately after he wakes up. He walks away from the RV, outside, takes his call, and comes back with a grim look on his face and seems eager to get on the road and headed for New Orleans. Doesn't really seem to want to talk about what the call was. What are you guys going to be doing with your morning? [00:05:52] Speaker D: Out of character for Victoria, this morning for breakfast, she just slaps down a box of cereal. We got work to do. Rosanna, I need you to look into these people called Nem, New Era militia. I think they might be responsible. And if Harper wasn't lying to us, which, goodness knows, she could be. These people, if they're responsible for the cruise ship, they're going to be responsible for the concert as well. And Harper said that they left a trail. They let everyone know what they were doing. And we just need to find out what that trail is and where they plan on attacking. [00:06:44] Speaker C: Give me, give me, like 2 seconds. By the way, are you guys cool if Jesse tags along? Might be good to have an extra set of hands. And if Arthur's not feeling up to it, like we need muscle, if he's. [00:07:03] Speaker D: Still in town, by all means, I'll. [00:07:06] Speaker C: Shoot him a text and I immediately go to do that. I whip out my phone, go to text him. Remember, he takes fore fucking ever to get back to us. And then I'm going to call him. [00:07:22] Speaker A: Excellent. Jesse, your phone rings. [00:07:26] Speaker E: Yeah. Wake up having slept in my car from the night before. Just grab the phone blindly and then open it and just. Hello, this is Rupert Van Wheeler, deputy reporter of the Golden Beagle. [00:07:38] Speaker C: Yeah, Jesse, it's Roseanne. If you want, you're good to tag along with us today. What condition is your truck in? [00:07:55] Speaker E: Anytime I start, there's a 30% chance it won't start. And after I drive more than like an hour, there's a 60% chance that it'll stop at any given moment. [00:08:04] Speaker C: I'm going to send you a location. We'll attach your truck to the van, to the RV. Just ride with us today, okay? We don't have time for breakdown on I 94, wherever the hell we are. [00:08:17] Speaker E: Yes, sounds smart. Meet you there. [00:08:21] Speaker C: And then once you hang up and then send him the location that they're in. [00:08:25] Speaker A: Excellent. Jesse, you get the location, and as you are waking up and, like, looking at your phone, figuring out where you need to go, you realize that she said I 94, which is nowhere near you at all. I 94 is like the northern part of the country. You're in the southern part of the country and you should really be taking I ten, but you could address that later. You're suddenly like, who have I entrusted that? I'm going to get to New Orleans accurately to go on the assumption that. [00:09:01] Speaker E: It'S I ten, but if I get there, no one's there. I might be calling and going, am I supposed to be somewhere very far north right now? [00:09:10] Speaker A: Excellent. Okay. After your phone call to Jesse, Rosanna, is there anything that you were going to do or are you guys just going to go meet him somewhere? [00:09:21] Speaker C: I mean, she gave him the location of the firehouse. They're not going to be there. Know, but she's immediately going to lock her. She's going to do her tried and true, go into her bunk, throw her blankets over her face, and she's going to start researching every little thing she can about Nem. [00:09:44] Speaker A: Okay, excellent. Who's driving? [00:09:50] Speaker D: Either me or Zephyr. [00:09:52] Speaker A: I have no idea. We can say that Arthur is driving if you would like. [00:09:59] Speaker D: Sure. [00:10:00] Speaker A: Okay, cool. So Arthur will take over driving. Victoria, you go to take Gozer out for his morning ritual. And when you step out onto the front stoop, which is not the same place that Arthur went when he answered his call, he went out one of the back doors. There is a basket on the front step, and it is wrapped up in cellophane with a big, black and silvery, glittery bow on the top. [00:10:30] Speaker D: Okay. Given my suspicious nature, I am immediately expecting it to be either something that's going to explode when I touch it, but I will try to push that down and I will inspect it cautiously. [00:10:44] Speaker A: Well, it's wrapped in cellophane, which is clear, so you can see what's in it. You can also smell what's in it. It's muffins. Like, freshly baked from a local bakery. Muffins. And there is a little card attached to the. [00:11:01] Speaker D: He's. He's being sweet. I'll read the card. I assume it's from Dietrich. [00:11:06] Speaker A: It is. Can't wait to see you. And then it's just signed DD. [00:11:15] Speaker D: Yeah, I'll bring it in once Gozer is done. And there's that guilt in my stomach because I know Dietrich's in New Orleans and New Orleans is about to have something, like, brought on it and I need to call him and give him a heads up. But for now, there's muffins. We just got to sort what we're doing out and then I'll deal with that. [00:11:40] Speaker A: Excellent. Okay, Zephyr, anything that you want to do in the morning? [00:11:48] Speaker B: Have to roll for haunted. Correct. Because it's a new morning. [00:11:54] Speaker A: You do. You and Rosanna both need to roll. [00:11:57] Speaker B: Okay. [00:12:00] Speaker A: Thank you for remembering and being honest with me about it. [00:12:05] Speaker C: I totally forgot. [00:12:06] Speaker A: So thank you for so, you know, in the face of all of my sound. [00:12:15] Speaker B: One. [00:12:16] Speaker A: Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Are we allowed to reroll these or are not? These are not rerollable. Okay. Rosanna, you had horrible nightmares the night before. You dreamed of watching that cheap ass $2 movie and eating strawberry creams with Jillian. And then these huge, heavy looking, ghostly spectral chains shooting up from under the bed in the old safe house and wrapping around her and then hauling her screaming down through the bed and there was nothing that you could do to stop it. You had dreams about the same thing happening to Victoria and Zephyr and Arthur. You had dreams about ghostly spectral cowboys with smoking six shooters and the chains hanging from their gun belt like it's just another piece of iron that they use in their work. Zephyr, you had a really hard time sleeping. You didn't really have dreams, but you earned nightmares. But you couldn't stay asleep. It felt like somebody kept. Like. It felt like somebody kept touching you and you would snap awake and there wouldn't be anybody. There's. And then you'd fall asleep and then an hour later, something would touch you and you'd snap awake and there wouldn't be anybody there. And you're reasonably certain it's not Amelia because you talked to the air. You offered to let her kind of soak in so that she could have a conversation with you because you thought maybe she was trying to get your attention, but nobody answered. And there is a heavy feeling of dread in the pit of your stomach when you finally give up the ghost and wake up in the morning. Is there anything you would like to do before you leave? [00:14:51] Speaker B: Because we're meeting Gary somewhere else. Sorry. [00:14:56] Speaker A: Oh, he's coming. [00:14:58] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. So I guess in the meantime, I'm just kind of, like, helping, I guess. Victoria with passing out the bowls of cereal and just kind of like cleaning up the place before we officially get ready to go. [00:15:18] Speaker A: Excellent. Okay, Rosanna, we will do your role for your research. Once you guys are on the road, it takes Jesse about 20 minutes to get to the safe house. Jesse, you get lost a couple of times. It's not like your phone has GPS. You're relying on a street map. [00:15:43] Speaker E: I got maps. [00:15:44] Speaker A: Yeah, you're relying on a street map. And you have no idea how old this thing is or how much the layout has changed. You're Also still dealing with the aftermath of what happened. There's still a lot of police cordons and whatever. So it's a lot of kind of driving in these weird roundabout ways to find the location before you finally arrive at what looks like an old two to three Bay firehouse. It's definitely not big enough for the area that it's in anymore, but you imagine that before this was officially part of Houston, it was probably its own little town. And this was, like the local firehouse. One of the garage doors is open and the RV, you can see is inside. And Victoria is headed inside with the biggest fucking wolf dog thing you've ever seen next to her. [00:16:48] Speaker E: And they get that it's badass. Yeah. I'll pull up, find a place to park that where we can organize getting the truck hitched, and then I'll grab my travel bag, grab some equipment from the glove box, pull off an old photograph from the dashboard, and stick that in my back pocket and then go and meet. [00:17:10] Speaker A: Excellent. [00:17:12] Speaker D: I'll immediately, like, upon seeing Jesse's truck roll up, I'll wave and just yell, muffin. [00:17:22] Speaker E: Do you have muffins? [00:17:24] Speaker D: Yeah. And I hold up the basket. [00:17:27] Speaker E: Fuck, yeah. [00:17:31] Speaker A: Victoria, you immediately notice that Gozer does not react to Jesse the way that he usually reacts to people. Usually he's a little wary and stays very close to you until you give him permission. But his ears immediately perk and he looks very interested. And the only reason why he isn't, like, you could tell that the only reason why he isn't leaving your side to immediately go over and check out the new person is because you haven't given permission. [00:17:58] Speaker D: He likes you. Jesse, this is Gozer. [00:18:03] Speaker A: Gozer is like, doing that, like half prance, half wine excited dance that dogs do. [00:18:10] Speaker E: Is he, like, new? [00:18:12] Speaker D: Yeah, he's a new member of the cell. I kind of wave Gozer. It's like a flick of my hand and I let him go meet Jesse. [00:18:19] Speaker A: Well, he takes over. He takes off it, and kind of jumps up on Jesse and is like licking at Jesse's face. [00:18:25] Speaker E: Oh, this guy. He's great. I like this one. [00:18:31] Speaker A: Jesse. He is obviously not entirely dog. He's mostly Wolf. He's huge. And it is only the fact that you are very tall and fairly solid despite being a slender guy that he doesn't just bowl you over with how excited he is to spend to get close to you. [00:18:50] Speaker E: Oh, yeah, I'm into it. I'm giving him all the scritches, the rubs on the head. It's a great time. [00:18:55] Speaker D: Yeah. We found him in Gila Bend. [00:18:59] Speaker E: Or rather he found us, like when I met you guys. [00:19:04] Speaker D: A little after that, we went. [00:19:07] Speaker E: So I missed it. [00:19:08] Speaker D: You missed it? Yeah. You missed meeting Gozer? [00:19:15] Speaker E: Well, I'm meeting him now. At the very least, that makes up for it, I guess. [00:19:19] Speaker D: I'm actually surprised he likes you so much. There must be something about you. Granted, I like you a bunch, so appreciate it. [00:19:29] Speaker E: Most people don't like me either, so. [00:19:33] Speaker A: Kindred, I'll take it. [00:19:36] Speaker E: I'm what they call an asshole. I don't really get it, but. [00:19:42] Speaker D: Come inside. There's a question, a very broad question I have to ask everyone. [00:19:50] Speaker E: All right, let's get to it. [00:19:54] Speaker A: Jesse, you follow them into the RV. The RV, it's a little cramped, especially now that we have added you and Gozer to the mix. But it's clean. They keep it clean. They do what they can to take care of it. It smells like Chinese food right now, but not in that weeks old like we had this weeks ago and it still smells like this. It smells like they probably just had it within the last 24 hours, but it also now smells like muffins because there is a huge basket of muffins that has just been put on the little micro topped table. Zephyr's hanging out at the table. Arthur, who looks hungover but at least looks sober, is smoking a cigarette, drinking a coffee and in the driver's seat looking vaguely annoyed that things aren't moving yet. [00:21:01] Speaker E: Give him a nice little kind of nod of solidarity and then I'm going to do finger guns at Zephyr. Hey, somebody. Jesse, good to see you. [00:21:23] Speaker B: I still don't trust you. [00:21:27] Speaker E: You're just going to say blatantly now? Yeah, actually, I prefer that. Actually. I appreciate that part. [00:21:33] Speaker B: You said Gozer likes. [00:21:39] Speaker D: Guess like without hesitation. [00:21:43] Speaker B: And I'm, like, looking at Gozer and then looking at Jesse and I'm like, I mean, you guys look the same, so I'm not surprised. [00:21:53] Speaker E: Wow. Okay. I'll give you that one. I'll give you that. Can I at least get your real name in response now, though? [00:22:04] Speaker D: No? [00:22:05] Speaker E: Okay, fair enough. [00:22:08] Speaker A: Still somebody. [00:22:11] Speaker E: Still somebody. [00:22:13] Speaker D: It's at this point that I close the RV and I say in hush tones, because I'm still worried about someone listening in on us. But I go. One of the contacts I got a hold of yesterday was a man named Joseph. He described the blast from the cruise ship. And I will go into detail, kind of like telling everyone what he said in hopes that someone has some sort of knowledge in this area and can figure out what this group is using in their arsenal. If none of you have any kind of idea about explosives, that's fine, too. [00:23:01] Speaker E: I might. But I would like to say that Rosanna and Arthur are a bit hush hush about what's going on here. For respectful reasons, they don't want to say anything about your two permission. So I'm mostly in the dark here. You want to keep me that way, that's cool. Just want to let you know. [00:23:21] Speaker D: Ghosts came to reap people. That's my understanding of the situation. There's also, like, the ghosts are also involved with killing lots of people as well as reaping them. So that's fun. [00:23:44] Speaker E: Yeah. That's a big no no, I think. [00:23:47] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:23:50] Speaker A: Okay, so, Zephyr, do you have Arsenal or the thing that gives you explosive stuff? Specifically. [00:24:05] Speaker B: I do have improvised gear and ordinance. But no. RC. [00:24:11] Speaker A: You have ordinance. [00:24:12] Speaker B: Yeah, ordinance. [00:24:14] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, so I'll let you make a roll. Let me pull up your sheet, because for whatever reason, yours is like, the one sheet that's not already open. Couldn't tell you why it make me an intelligence and science role. But I want you to add two dice because you have ordinance. [00:24:44] Speaker B: You said intelligence and science. [00:24:47] Speaker A: Yes. With two extra dice. Eight. Okay. [00:25:01] Speaker B: Three. [00:25:02] Speaker A: Would you like to use any willpower? [00:25:05] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:25:07] Speaker A: Let's see. [00:25:08] Speaker B: Oh, that's better. [00:25:09] Speaker A: Five. Okay. You understand to a degree, what's being discussed. A lot of it is mostly about the tonnage of explosives that were used or that this guy Joseph thought was being used. He's a reporter, right? He's not an explosives expert, but he spent enough time in active war zones with terrorist activity that he's kind of picked up on some of the signs in the lingo, whoever these people are, this was incredibly well thought out, probably very well funded, and would have taken time to put together which kind of matches up with the timeline that you guys have gotten from Max. Max has said that he's been dead for about two months and that he thinks all of this started even before he died. So, you know that it probably would have taken at least two months to bring everything together that would have been required to pull off explosions of this type, even with them targeting something like a cruise ship where they've got to have fuel on board and a fairly significant amount of fuel. So you very much can follow what Victoria tells you, even though she doesn't really follow it, and can kind of translate that into layman's terms for the rest of the group. So those who are not necessarily science and explosion minded understand just what this took. If this attack in New Orleans is going to follow the same pattern, then there is a very, we're talking extensive loss of life again, but you also don't know if they're going to follow the exact same pattern. So if they go with explosions again, there's a chance that they could end up leveling, like, an entire arena, essentially. [00:27:37] Speaker D: I think once Rosanna figures out some more stuff on the new era militia, we can figure out if it's the same people based off of. [00:27:51] Speaker B: Can. Go ahead. [00:27:53] Speaker A: No, go. [00:27:55] Speaker B: We can. If there are pictures of maybe suspicious people that have been in the area for the past two months or so when we get to New Orleans, maybe we could just keep a lookout on. If we see them again around that area. [00:28:18] Speaker D: I can try and make some phone calls to see if I can get video footage from around the cruise ship before we leave, but I don't think we have a whole lot of time at this point. [00:28:29] Speaker E: I know some people I can make some calls as. [00:28:32] Speaker D: Okay, yeah, that'll. [00:28:34] Speaker A: That'll free that up. Okay. So while Arthur and Jesse focus on hooking up Jesse's truck, which is going to take a little bit of. A little bit of a process. So it takes some time while that is happening. Victoria, would you like to call some of your contacts and see if you can get a hold of things like camera footage? If you can maybe get some information on NEM. [00:29:06] Speaker D: Sure. [00:29:09] Speaker A: You have contacts in most levels of law enforcement. So while you'll have to be careful about who you call and how blatant you are with those who are not necessarily your contacts, but maybe adjacent to them, it shouldn't be too difficult for you. [00:29:28] Speaker D: Right. [00:29:30] Speaker A: You will get to use desperation dice because this is using your underground contacts to subvert the supernatural, which I believe is what you have to do to get your desperation right. [00:29:43] Speaker D: Stealth or sabotage? [00:29:47] Speaker A: Subterfuge. [00:29:48] Speaker D: Subterfuge. [00:29:49] Speaker A: Yeah, it's subterfuge because you're working with criminal elements. I'll allow that. Sorry. [00:30:00] Speaker D: Dice roll Are we looking at? [00:30:03] Speaker A: Let's do wits and subterfuge? This is mostly because you are kind of talking around the people that you need that are kind of between you and your contacts. If you can get to your contacts, you'll get what you need. Does that make sense? [00:30:28] Speaker D: Oh, my goodness. [00:30:32] Speaker A: Oh, dear. Overreach or despair. [00:30:39] Speaker D: We can't overreach anymore because we're at five, right? [00:30:42] Speaker A: Oh, no, you're not. You're at three now. [00:30:46] Speaker D: Okay. I've yet to despair, so let's try that. Okay. [00:30:54] Speaker A: You can despair, you can willpower. Normal dice. I don't know why it doesn't allow you to. If you would like to willpower, you can. Otherwise you have four successes. [00:31:07] Speaker D: I'm going to reroll three. [00:31:11] Speaker A: Yeah. Cool. For two more successes. Excellent. Okay. It takes a little bit of maneuvering. Everybody's really busy because of what's happened and because of the fact that this looks like a terrorist attack. There's a little bit more, a little bit more security. [00:31:47] Speaker D: If I outwardly say I know too much, that raises some flags and gets us in trouble. So it's a lot of give and take, beating around the bush kind of thing, right? [00:32:00] Speaker A: But eventually you get through to one of your contacts. This is A guy at the FBI who owes you because his brother has a drug problem and got himself into some deep shit. And it was becoming something that was threatening to this guy's career. And he got in deeper than he really meant to. And you kind of helped him dig himself out because you put him in touch with the right people to kind of smooth things over. And he's hesitant to give you what you're looking for, but also knows that he owes you. And if he doesn't give you what you're looking for, there's every chance that all of that evidence that you helped kind of make quietly go away and all of those people who were threatening his family because of his brother's debts could come crawling out of the woodwork again. So he kind of hems and haws a little bit and then eventually says, give me a secured email address and I'll make sure that you get what you need, which doesn't take much. You know, you've got Rosanna nearby. She's always got stuff like spare secured emails and things like that that she can kind of give you on a whim. And he sends over what they have. He does make a note that he doesn't have access to everything, but he is giving you what he can. Part of it is the fact that Homeland is involved, so there's a lot of squabbling for who has jurisdiction right now. But he's giving you what the FBI managed to get their hands on before Homeland kind of swept in and locked everything down and started being assholes to everybody. [00:34:03] Speaker D: Joseph took a chance on me by giving me what little information he had about the tonnage of the explosion and stuff like that. I want to pay that forward. I'm also going to use one of those drop emails to update him on some of my findings. Like, obviously not the deep FBI stuff. [00:34:23] Speaker A: Because. [00:34:27] Speaker D: That will lead a trail towards my other contact. But whatever Zephyr was able to fill me in, he gets that. [00:34:35] Speaker A: Okay, that's easy enough. I won't make you roll for that. That's a great way to keep a contact in your wanting to work with you and being willing to come back to you. Even if you turn out to maybe not be Entirely on the level later. [00:34:51] Speaker D: He did. [00:34:51] Speaker A: You may end up being. [00:34:53] Speaker D: Tell him what I found and that's what I'm doing. [00:34:57] Speaker A: Yeah, okay, very cool. So as the truck gets hooked up to the RV and you guys kind of set out on the road. Rosanna, my darling, could you roll me intelligence and investigation? You can use your desperation dice because. Wait, you can't use your desperation dice because you're looking up a mortal group. Not necessarily. [00:35:38] Speaker C: Well, I mean, it's regaining information for any part of the hunt. [00:35:44] Speaker A: Oh, well, then fine, yes, you absolutely get your desperation dice. Okay, you have four dice. [00:35:51] Speaker C: Yes. [00:35:57] Speaker A: Oh, your main pool is going to be one die lower. [00:36:02] Speaker C: One die lower. [00:36:03] Speaker A: Yeah, because of your nightmares. [00:36:10] Speaker C: Okay, all right. [00:36:12] Speaker A: Normally it would be two die lower, but I'm only going to do one because you've got the time to off balance some of that struggle. Jesse, could you make me a wits and a cult check, please. Oh, dear. [00:36:34] Speaker C: I think I'm going to choose despair as well. And I'm going. Feels like it's appropriate. [00:36:42] Speaker A: Okay. [00:36:43] Speaker C: And then I'm also going to willpower, reroll three of those. [00:36:47] Speaker E: This is not going to go very well for me. I'll wait until Roseanne's done, though. [00:36:53] Speaker A: You can use intelligence if it's higher than your wits. [00:36:56] Speaker C: But I got a critical. [00:36:57] Speaker A: You got a critical? It is. Nice. [00:36:59] Speaker E: Jesse's not a very mental based man. [00:37:03] Speaker A: So what's your total successes, Rosanna? [00:37:06] Speaker C: Seven successes. Critical. [00:37:08] Speaker A: Okay. [00:37:15] Speaker E: I have one success. [00:37:17] Speaker A: Well, that's better than nothing. Okay, Jesse, you know what ghosts are? No. Rigs are. You're not sure you've ever encountered a reaper, you're not sure you would know if you had. You have fought a handful of ghosts, you've dealt with a handful of hauntings over the years. You know that they tend to. They tend to present unique challenges because most normal old physical attacks don't do anything to them. [00:37:52] Speaker E: There's always an issue because my job was to point and shoot. [00:37:56] Speaker A: Right. But thankfully, you are a trained hunter, and you do know that in the past couple of years, you've gotten better at honing your, we'll say, willpower, for lack of a better term, into allowing you to focus on hitting things that wouldn't normally be something that you could impact physically. So while it takes a little bit more concentration, a little bit more time, a little bit more effort, you are reasonably certain that you can handle it. Where you really shine is dealing with the bodies that they occasionally possess. [00:38:30] Speaker E: Oh, yeah. [00:38:33] Speaker A: And you do know that if you can force them out of the body, you can save the life of the human that they've taken over. Sometimes it's not an option, but you do what you can do. [00:38:43] Speaker E: I have any ideas on methods on how I would go about forcing a ghost to have a body. [00:38:48] Speaker A: It's anything from exorcisms to somebody with raw faith like Arthur can sometimes force them out of a body with just an attack. There are rituals in different types of witchcraft and magic that can do it. So you may be with people who can help with that part of it. Your job mostly may actually just be like, handling the body and keeping it from hurting anyone or hurting itself in the process. Sometimes if you just lock down the body so it can't do anything, the ghost will jump ship because it can't do what it needs to do. So it's really kind of all about how you guys decide to go about things as to what exactly your role is going to be, if it is to disable or simply to kick some ass. Okay. All right, let's see. Seven critical. Such a brat. Okay, Rosanna, what you know about Nem? Nem is not the first name that they've ever had. They have had several rebrandings. You do note that a lot of their rebrandings seem to coincide with the fact that the far right keeps taking over the whole militia subculture. These guys are not like far right extremists. They're not neo Nazis. They're not Christian nationalists. They're nothing like that. They are very much what their name states, where they are all about making basically their mission statement is that they want to make the world better. And they recognize that sometimes the only way to really change a system that is set in its ways is to blow shit up. It's not their first choice. It's not something that they want to do most of the time. But they have not been against the idea of political violence in order to. What's the word? Even the ODS for the environment, for example, this is a group. At one point, they blew up, like, not an oil rig itself, but the stuff that was needed to build the oil rig. Like, they just sabotaged the. The materials over and over and over again. You do notice that they have had an incredibly low body count before now. Like, every time there was a death until yesterday, it seems like it was accidental. It was never intentional. It was usually something like they went and they targeted supplies to build an oil rig and somebody was there after hours and got caught in a crossfire kind of thing. Does that make sense? [00:41:55] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:41:59] Speaker A: A lot of what they stand up for is they oppose the intractability of a lot of modern governmental systems. They're not down with the fact that it takes Congress 50 fucking years to pass simple legislation that should have been passed two decades ago kind of thing. They're very much all about trying to save the environment and are willing to get disruptive to stop the things that they think are going to cause significant harm to the environment, like oil rigs, like fracking operations, that sort of thing. But this is the first time that they have ever been involved in something of this magnitude. You do catch some chatter on the dark web that people are talking about them potentially being involved, but that everybody's really confused. This does not seem like their bag. Going after thousands of innocent people is not normal for them. [00:43:12] Speaker D: Just reciting some thing we heard last session. They claimed responsibility for this, right? [00:43:19] Speaker A: Yeah, supposedly. Okay. It's one of those things that a lot of groups have posted and claimed responsibility. It's really hard to verify that those groups are always who they say they are. You know what I mean? It is not unheard of, and Rosanna would know this. It is not unheard of for one group to post that another group is responsible in order to basically put that group under a microscope sort of thing. It is not uncommon for people who don't know what the fuck they're talking about to get online and say some shit that isn't true. [00:43:59] Speaker C: People lying on the Internet and spreading misinformation. Blasphemous. [00:44:09] Speaker A: But the main reason, Victoria, why you guys kind of stumbled onto the idea of NEM being involved is actually because Harper is like a known member. It was less that there was supposedly them claiming responsibility and more that you were able to identify Harper as an active member. Is there anything specific that you're looking for? Because with seven successes, I can tell you all kinds of stuff, but it's like a lot of this isn't necessarily going to be information that you need. So is there something specific that you want that I haven't already told you? You can ask questions and dive deeper and I will allow you to do that. [00:44:56] Speaker C: Yeah, sure. I want to know if any of my connections have any sidens of NEM, I guess. Can I also pull on the information just kind of going into it to see what concerts are going on in New Orleans tonight. [00:45:18] Speaker A: Yeah, so the New Orleans concerts are really easy. That doesn't require a role. There are several, but the really big one is that there is this, like, I want to say, punk metal band. I'm not going to put a name to them because I don't want to accidentally name like a real life band, but a kind of punkish metal band that is significant or that is specific to our particular world of Darkness has a concert going on and they are not quite sold out, but almost entirely sold out. The websites for all of the ticket resellers and things like that are like less than 100 tickets left kind of thing. And this is in an arena with seating for well over 1000, probably even more than that. [00:46:20] Speaker C: Okay, sure. And then I guess kind of going back down to the rabbit hole a little bit. I want to find out. So obviously they deal with explosives. Are there any big non, I guess, violent political polls that they've made and maybe a member of them running for Congress? Any names, any known names that I can get? [00:46:56] Speaker A: Oh, you can get names of active members. You can get names of old members. You can't find a whole lot of specific information on each person, but, like, a name and a photo is really easy. And somebody like Victoria may be able to help offset the lack of information that's on these people. You can tell that they have actively worked to stay off the dark web's radar as much as possible, probably because of some of the shady shit that they're up to. They're like, we don't want any more of our information than we absolutely have to have online, be online. But you can find names and pictures, like very basic information. There is a general consensus among most of your peeps on the dark web, though, that like, the government is more likely to have more information than they do. You could, in theory, get a contact to, like, hack into, like, government servers to try to find things, but it's would, one, take time, two, take money, and three, would not be guaranteed because the NSA is involved right now and anyone trying to breach that kind of security is going to run into some pretty major pushback. [00:48:21] Speaker C: All right. Yeah. I mean, she's going to know all this down in her notebook. The last thing I think I'm going to have her do is I want her check her email. [00:48:35] Speaker A: Okay. There is nothing from Peter to your last email, if that's what you're looking for. You also note that there are no emails or messages from the people that kind of dropped off the face of the earth. That doesn't necessarily mean anything because there are some people who kind of come and go for days at a time. It's also only been like less than 48 hours since last time you checked in. And with everything going on in the world, who knows where these people are? They may have gone to ground for a bit. You're not sure. [00:49:17] Speaker C: All right, well, then I am going to take the blanket which is thrown over my head, wrapped around me and my notebook, and I'm going to make my way out very slowly with that look of dread that, again, they might know a little bit too well. [00:49:48] Speaker B: Are you okay? [00:49:49] Speaker C: I don't want to talk. I have the information. [00:50:02] Speaker D: So it's not a red herring. They're actually legit. [00:50:12] Speaker C: So NEM seems to be, to put it lightly, almost like a political. [00:50:26] Speaker E: More. [00:50:27] Speaker C: Like anarchy than anything. But they seem to be fighting against things that drift this world apart and are working to put a more quote unquote united stance on everything. They've never been, though. It's funny, a lot of my research states that they've never done anything this big. I mean, they attacked construction going to make oil rigs and stuff like that. But anytime anybody's dead, it seems, it's like it's accidental without any purpose. So for them to attack a cruise ship like this intentionally, found out which. [00:51:10] Speaker B: Go ahead. Sorry. [00:51:13] Speaker C: I also found out which concert it's going to be. [00:51:18] Speaker D: Start. Good. [00:51:24] Speaker C: Yeah, but they don't seem like, I mean, mind you, they have set fire and have exploded many things, but it seems like it's more in line with things that are hurting the environment. Almost like oil rigs, maybe places that do like greenhouse gas emissions. And even then, it's never like a physical building. It's more like they explode the parts that are going towards the construction of. [00:51:54] Speaker A: That shift to concerts and cruise ships. [00:52:00] Speaker E: First case, that's almost respectable. Plans going to ship. Got to fix that shit. But suddenly switching to blowing up a cruise ship, killing a bunch of people. Different modus operandi here. [00:52:11] Speaker C: And then it almost feels like that they're doing the exact opposite of what they've always done, which is stand up for environment. You know how much damage blowing up a cruise ship does to the environment? [00:52:22] Speaker E: Oh, I know. I'm pissed off about that. That's why I wouldn't look into it. [00:52:31] Speaker D: If we're to follow everything that's happened until now, we were warned by the one Ghost about Ghost spy network. The Orpheus group. Do you think these two things tie together? [00:52:52] Speaker E: So something definitely happened to their chain of command, at least for environmentalist group. [00:53:00] Speaker A: Sorry, Go ahead. [00:53:01] Speaker B: Sorry. I was going to say I don't think Jillian is the only one that's possessing somebody in that group. You think maybe it's, like, her and maybe a team or something where they're just taking them over to cause all of this? [00:53:22] Speaker C: That's almost what it feels like. It feels like they. You know, because this group has a track record. They are known for blowing shit up and causing a riot. And like I said, it's something that's borderline anarchy in itself. But that almost seems like the perfect disguise of. Okay, well, they're already kind of seen as not great in the eyes of the government. What's something bigger with more intent to throw the as from one thing to another? [00:54:07] Speaker D: And we've been warned multiple times now that the veil is too thin, it's about to burst. And it feels like the Orpheus group is orchestrating that somehow, wherever they are. [00:54:28] Speaker C: I do not think that their intentions are good whatsoever. [00:54:35] Speaker A: Jesse, would you like to see how much you know about. [00:54:39] Speaker E: Sure. [00:54:39] Speaker A: Sure. [00:54:40] Speaker E: What should I roll for? [00:54:41] Speaker A: That? You should roll. We're going to go with intelligence and do street wise or occult. [00:55:04] Speaker E: Over. Just as good. This is not your stroll here. [00:55:11] Speaker A: No. [00:55:13] Speaker D: Good luck. [00:55:16] Speaker E: Alternatively, I could call some people who might know more. [00:55:19] Speaker A: You could do that? If you would like to. [00:55:22] Speaker E: I can call my boss, I guess you could say. [00:55:27] Speaker A: Yeah, well, you can call one of your old hunter people, because I have contact three. [00:55:37] Speaker E: So they'd probably better rely on other people who might have more knowledge than me, as I don't have much. [00:55:47] Speaker A: Go for it. Sent you a message because you have some behind the scenes stuff I have to ask about before I know who you're calling. [00:55:58] Speaker E: Yeah, I got you. [00:56:03] Speaker A: It's cool. Yeah. So you pick up your phone, tell me the name of the guy that you are calling, or at least what you're going to call him when he answers the phone. If you use nicknames. [00:56:33] Speaker E: Yeah, I'll be calling reference things. I guess you could say it's a code name or a nickname. Call up Houdini. [00:56:45] Speaker A: Excellent. All right, cool. So you make the call, and it takes a couple of rings before there is a gruff voice on the other end. Sounds like whoever this person is swallowed gravel at some point in their life that it's that kind of like not a growl, but kind of growly. Or like they've spent their entire life smoking kind of thing. Sup, kid? [00:57:23] Speaker E: Hey, Houdini. So I'm working this job, right? You know about it? And this is related? I just thought you. Well, I was hoping you might know a bit about something called the Orpheus Group. [00:57:42] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:57:44] Speaker E: Could you tell me how much you know it's related? [00:57:49] Speaker A: I assure you I know enough that they think they know something and they're fucking with things they shouldn't. [00:57:56] Speaker E: What do they think they know. [00:58:03] Speaker A: These assholes are dealing with? They're dealing with making contact with the afterlife, essentially, ghosts. Using them like tools instead of what used to be. People using it to gather information, find leverage. [00:58:40] Speaker E: Sounds kind of fucked up. And you said they're causing problems with this? How so? [00:58:44] Speaker A: Well, do shit like this enough you can, for lack of a better term, create bleed. It's like, you know how if you get a new pair of jeans, you throw them in the washer, a bunch of dye comes out the first few times you wash them? Yeah, sure. [00:59:05] Speaker E: I've washed my jeans before. [00:59:07] Speaker A: Definitely, kid. That's gross. You've got to do your laundry. [00:59:12] Speaker E: I don't have a house. I have a shitty truck. [00:59:16] Speaker A: There are places where you can stop for a couple of hours and wash your dance. Never mind. That's beside the point. Don't come over until you've done your clothes. Until you've washed your clothes. [00:59:28] Speaker E: All right, fine. So. Yeah, bleed creates bleed. [00:59:36] Speaker A: Yeah. So you throw fresh jeans into a washer. You're supposed to wash them alone or with other types of jeans of the same color. Because if you throw them in with, like, a white T shirt, that T shirt is going to come out looking grayish blue and not in a nice way. It's going to have dye soaked into the threads. Makes everything come out looking dingy and dirty. Bleed is when stuff that's supposed to be on the other side of the veil ends up on our side. Gets easier for stuff to come through. Makes it so that this thing that keeps our world, the living world, separate from that world gets so thin that they start to be able to interact and impact each other. Ghosts get stronger, hauntings get worse. People die. [01:00:42] Speaker E: Yeah, I see. That could be a problem. [01:00:45] Speaker A: Yeah, but Orpheus has money and connections, and they're protected by some very powerful people. [01:01:01] Speaker E: Yeah. All right. Anything else, or is that all you can do for me? [01:01:10] Speaker A: I mean, I can tell you that their HQ is somewhere in New York. [01:01:15] Speaker E: Bit far from us right now, but good to know. [01:01:19] Speaker A: But that they send people out all over the country. [01:01:24] Speaker E: Any station in Louisiana, by chance. New Orleans, specifically? [01:01:28] Speaker A: They don't really have stations. They just send out agents. [01:01:34] Speaker E: That's fair. I don't know how you would know, but you somehow know things. I don't know how you know them, but do you know if there are any agents in New Orleans by chance? [01:01:45] Speaker A: I don't know. Off the top of my head, but I can look into it. [01:01:48] Speaker E: I appreciate it. [01:01:55] Speaker A: Listen, I don't know how this is tied up in the job that you were doing, but if Orpheus is involved, that means that you are dealing with things that you have not necessarily been trained to deal with before. Yeah, not to an extensive degree, anyway. Just be careful. [01:02:24] Speaker E: I'm keeping my head on a swivel. I assure you, it's running parallel with what I'm doing. [01:02:32] Speaker A: All right. [01:02:32] Speaker E: In fact, I'm getting close to finishing up what I'm doing. I hope. [01:02:36] Speaker A: Because if Moriarty finds out that you went out on this job that got distracted and got yourself killed, it's going to be my ass. [01:02:44] Speaker E: It's not a distraction. [01:02:46] Speaker A: I'm going to find a way to go through the fail and bring you back just so that I could. [01:02:50] Speaker E: So you could beat my ass. Yeah, okay. Yeah, I get it. Okay? I'm not going to fuck this up, all right? I promise. [01:03:01] Speaker A: See that you don't. [01:03:03] Speaker E: Yeah, thanks, Houdini. [01:03:05] Speaker A: Yeah. Then click, he hangs up. [01:03:12] Speaker E: So, yeah, he knew a lot about the Opeus group, or at least way more than I do. [01:03:17] Speaker D: Okay, yeah, we know a little bit. What did you just find out? [01:03:23] Speaker E: What do you guys know so that I don't end up repeating anything? [01:03:29] Speaker D: Oh, gosh. Bunch of idiots researching ghosts, using them essentially as a spy network. And they are causing a lot of problems. And thinning the veil. [01:03:46] Speaker E: Yeah, similar things. I also was told that a lot of what they're doing is they're, like, trying to mess around with the afterlife, learn its secrets, learn what's going on the other side. And because of that, because of the way they go about it causing bleed. That's what he said. It's thinning the veil. And because of that, more rafes, more ghosts, more hauntings are getting through, and it's causing a lot of issues. He also told me that their headquarters are in New York, so guys want to make a detour after that, go for it. I asked if they have any agents in New Orleans. He might get back to me on that one. He might not. I don't know. [01:04:31] Speaker D: Yeah, sounds like we're on the right track then. How Nem got wrapped up with the. [01:04:37] Speaker A: Orpheus group, don't know. [01:04:39] Speaker D: But it does seem as though they're just like one big unit now, causing. [01:04:43] Speaker E: Some feeling suddenly swapping side from doing something that it's arguably really good. It's a good know. Earth's going to shit. We got to fix it. Like I said, to suddenly. Yeah, let's blow a bunch of people, kill him. Who cares? I get the sense that Orpheus or someone related to them kind of did a little bit of a merger there somehow. I was also told they're powerful, rich, got a lot of friends in high places and probably low places. So, yeah. [01:05:24] Speaker B: I wouldn't be surprised if they were. Because if they're killing a bunch of just innocents, I wouldn't be surprised if they were either building an army or collecting all those souls to maybe barter with whoever. Because when the Reapers were there with Jillian, they seemed kind of buddy buddy, but not entirely friends. It's a whole thing. [01:06:01] Speaker A: Okay, so just to remind folks, when Jillian showed up and the Reapers were there, it was pretty clear from how they interacted and how they spoke to each other that they were working together, but not because they worked for the same person. It was more that the Reapers had made a deal with, were kind of. They were getting a cut of what was happening. And given everything that Jillian has told you about what happens with souls when they die and how they get reaped in the different places that they go, chances are a portion of the souls from each of these mass casualty events is going basically into the Reaper's pockets. They get to take those souls back to the afterlife and do what they need to do or do whatever they need to do to make. To turn that into currency. Mmhmm. [01:07:03] Speaker E: You guys mentioned something about a concert, right? Well, yeah. Mentioned, I knew, but, you know, what concert is happening, what the venue is, so that's something we should get tickets for so we have more access, more maneuverability. Because if so, I'm going to pull out Arthur's wad of cash they gave me. I know who's paying. [01:07:27] Speaker C: Dear. I'll take that, actually. Thank you, Arthur, for your generous donation. Shoves it in her bra. I think I can get us tickets. [01:07:44] Speaker D: I plan on calling Dietrich today. And listen, to keep this short, I have a man on the inside. But I'm going to give him the choice whether or not he wants to stick around and work for us and help us out, or if he wants to get out of Dodge. Because if you have any loved ones in New Orleans, it might be time to call them and let them know. [01:08:11] Speaker E: My family hates me. And they're still in California. [01:08:15] Speaker C: Yeah, my family's in Tennessee. [01:08:21] Speaker D: But, yeah, if he does stick around and if he does decide to help, I might have someone on the ground watching out. Before we get there. [01:08:34] Speaker C: I am going to see what I can do about some tickets. Do you know who's playing some metal band? Not really my cup of tea, but. [01:08:50] Speaker B: Can I see? [01:08:53] Speaker A: Look over Rosanna's shoulder. It's a punk rock band. There's a little bit of a metal influence, but they are not, like, true. [01:09:05] Speaker C: A. [01:09:06] Speaker A: It's slaughtered Pig. [01:09:07] Speaker B: I love them. [01:09:11] Speaker A: That's the perfect name. Love it, man. [01:09:14] Speaker E: I have older albums. I can't play them because my radio is broken. [01:09:19] Speaker A: But I have a few cassettes. [01:09:25] Speaker E: Yeah. [01:09:26] Speaker C: What the hell is up with your car, dude? [01:09:28] Speaker E: It's a long story. Let's say the radio is broken, so you can't take it off of cassette mode, and the cassette that's currently in there won't come out. And so because of that, I don't either listen to silence or ABBA 24/7 why? [01:09:50] Speaker C: You played ABBA last night. [01:09:53] Speaker E: You know that thing where your friend shows you, like, a video where it's like a song is mixed incorrectly as, like, a joke, but then you listen to so many times that when you listen to the normal version, it doesn't sound right. So kind of the same thing. I've listened to ABBA so many times that any other music just doesn't really sound right anymore. And I hate that. It fills me with, hmm. [01:10:15] Speaker B: So sorry. [01:10:17] Speaker E: Thank you, Jesse. [01:10:19] Speaker A: The anti AbBA hunter. [01:10:22] Speaker C: It's okay. Everybody's entitled to their own incorrect opinions. [01:10:26] Speaker E: The moment I find out any member of that group is something pertaining to our world, I'm gunning for them. [01:10:34] Speaker C: Okay? [01:10:35] Speaker E: Because I'm sure at least one of them is, like, a blank body or something. [01:10:40] Speaker C: Pretty sure two of them are dead. [01:10:43] Speaker E: As far as we know. [01:10:48] Speaker A: All right, maybe they're only one kind of dead. Maybe they haven't fully completed the dead cycle. [01:10:55] Speaker E: They could be back through the veil right now for all we know. [01:10:57] Speaker C: They could be watching you right now and you don't even know. They could be playing ABBa inside your head. [01:11:04] Speaker E: I think I would hear it if it was inside my head. [01:11:08] Speaker C: Suddenly that's all he hears inside his head. [01:11:12] Speaker A: Rosanna, from next to you, where nobody is currently sitting, you hear? I was right, he is kind of cute. [01:11:24] Speaker C: What are you doing here? And she says that out loud for everybody to hear. [01:11:31] Speaker A: Where else would I be? [01:11:33] Speaker C: Oh, my God. Yeah, you know, sorry, sorry. Hold on. I'm just talking to the invisible people anyway. [01:11:42] Speaker D: Yeah, I waved my hand at Jesse, like, don't worry about it. [01:11:46] Speaker E: Don't worry, okay? [01:11:49] Speaker B: It's just our resident ghost. [01:11:52] Speaker E: Isn't that the main issue we're having right now? [01:11:56] Speaker B: We're having a lot of issues. [01:11:59] Speaker E: Aren't we all? [01:12:02] Speaker C: This one was one of the ones from the explosion. I managed to pull her in and I don't know, she's sassy. She kind of reminds me of somebody that I know. That I knew. [01:12:12] Speaker A: Just admit you're in love with me. [01:12:14] Speaker B: It's fine. [01:12:14] Speaker A: They can handle it. [01:12:16] Speaker C: Is that what you're calling it? I think I like you as an acquaintance. Don't think I'm cut out for the whole in love thing. [01:12:29] Speaker D: I only get half of this conversation. [01:12:31] Speaker A: But I just go. [01:12:32] Speaker D: Did you just friend zone a ghost? [01:12:35] Speaker E: That's what I was. [01:12:40] Speaker A: That's getting clipped. [01:12:43] Speaker C: Listen, I'm not saying that. Maybe if she know more alive or not, I'm not here to. [01:12:53] Speaker A: Oh, so you're a racist. I get it. [01:12:55] Speaker C: Oh, is that what you're calling me now? Jesus. Jesus, Mary and Joseph. [01:13:02] Speaker E: Have you guys gotten used to this yet? [01:13:05] Speaker D: It's hard. I'm not going to lie. I was possessed for a little bit and that made me so very mad. [01:13:13] Speaker A: Who would have thought that ghost hunters would be so hot? Can you stop calling him mean? Let's be honest, most of y'all are pretty hot. Victoria's hot too. [01:13:26] Speaker C: I mean, true. [01:13:29] Speaker A: That was real sweet, by the way. Doesn't talk much that, but we had a grand old time while you were out yesterday. [01:13:40] Speaker C: Oh, you managed to get a hold of him? [01:13:44] Speaker A: Oh, he let me tag along. [01:13:46] Speaker C: Is that so? And then she's going to look directly at Zephyr and sip her tea. [01:13:53] Speaker B: What? [01:13:58] Speaker C: Heard you hung out with my friend last night. [01:14:01] Speaker B: Yeah, we just hung out. [01:14:05] Speaker A: It was easier to talk in that way than trying to use grains of rice to communicate. [01:14:13] Speaker C: Yeah, true. Listen, not everybody's going to have it as easy as I am talking to you, but I can. Whatever. And then she looks at Jesse. [01:14:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:14:26] Speaker C: By the way, she says you're hot. So that's what she wanted me to tell you. Anyway. [01:14:33] Speaker E: Thank you, dead person. [01:14:37] Speaker A: Jesus, at least use my name. [01:14:40] Speaker C: Her name is Amelia. [01:14:43] Speaker E: Thank you, Amelia. The dead person. [01:14:46] Speaker A: You're welcome. [01:14:49] Speaker C: She says you're okay, so it is a bit much. I understand. But apparently I've got some sort of gift and I can just talk to dead people. Well, ghosts, I guess. [01:15:18] Speaker A: Also dead people. [01:15:19] Speaker E: They made a movie about this. [01:15:22] Speaker B: Which one? [01:15:26] Speaker E: The one with the bald guy. [01:15:31] Speaker C: Patrick Swayze. I was going to. Oh, wait, no, that's Dirty Dancing, I think. [01:15:37] Speaker D: No, that's ghost. [01:15:38] Speaker C: That is ghost. Okay. I have my movies. [01:15:40] Speaker A: He's talking about the 6th cents, I think. [01:15:43] Speaker C: Oh, the 6th Sense. [01:15:44] Speaker E: Yeah, that one. Are you sure you're not dead? [01:15:50] Speaker A: No, I've been in her head. She just doesn't have a Whole lot of pop culture references up there. [01:15:58] Speaker C: Oh, I'm sorry that I spend most of my time hidden from the outside world. [01:16:04] Speaker A: It's all conspiracy theories. And the Catholic Church. I couldn't tell you why, but. [01:16:11] Speaker D: Just start pinching the bridge of my nose. [01:16:17] Speaker C: Do not talk about them ungodly creatures in this. [01:16:23] Speaker A: House. Hey, Rosanna, this is going to sound like a weird question. I didn't know how to ask Zephyr about this yesterday because he was real upset. His bag is glowing. [01:16:47] Speaker C: Do I see Zephyr's bag? [01:16:50] Speaker A: You do. [01:16:51] Speaker C: Do I see it glowing? [01:16:53] Speaker A: No. [01:16:54] Speaker C: Okay. Glowing how? [01:16:59] Speaker A: Just glowing. Looks like a real strong kind of glow in the dark effect, maybe, I don't know. It's weird because for me, things don't look necessarily like they used to when I was alive. There's a lot less color over here. So when something is all lit up, it's real obvious. [01:17:22] Speaker C: Zephyr, what's in your bag? [01:17:24] Speaker E: I hear this. [01:17:26] Speaker A: You do? [01:17:29] Speaker E: Is Zephyr. [01:17:30] Speaker B: Anyway, the bag thing I like, go over to my bag. It's not the one that has the book in it, though. Okay, well, yeah, it's in there. [01:17:42] Speaker A: You've had it in your bag every time you said you were putting it away. So I was just like, okay, yeah. [01:17:47] Speaker B: So, yeah, I just go over and just slowly pull out the book. [01:17:57] Speaker A: But. [01:17:57] Speaker B: I don't open it. I'm just like, oh, yeah, it's a book that I found when we went to that little store. Why? [01:18:09] Speaker C: Is that what was going. [01:18:11] Speaker A: Yes, that's it. [01:18:14] Speaker C: Let me see that. Book. [01:18:18] Speaker A: I don't know that you should touch it. It gives me bad vibes. I'm just saying. It's glowing. She might want to address that. [01:18:28] Speaker D: When Rosanna says, let me see that book, I stood Zephyr a look. I'm like, eye twitching. [01:18:34] Speaker A: Just. [01:18:35] Speaker D: What are you going to do? [01:18:38] Speaker B: I really don't want to give her the book, either. Yeah, I really don't want to give her the book. I just kind of hold it. I'm like, no. Why? [01:18:53] Speaker C: Because that shit is lighting up like a Christmas tree for my friend and I don't trust it. [01:19:01] Speaker E: Is it like a special book that you guys got from somewhere? [01:19:07] Speaker D: It's unique. [01:19:11] Speaker E: Unique like you got from a thrift store, or unique like you found it clutched by a dead priest in their tube? [01:19:18] Speaker B: This has weird writing and stuff in it. [01:19:24] Speaker E: So the second one okay? [01:19:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:19:31] Speaker E: And it's lighting up the ghost radar, I guess. [01:19:40] Speaker D: You any good at ciphers, Jesse? I mean, it's Cypher's book, but I. [01:19:48] Speaker E: Knew someone who was. So I could try to fake it until I make it, see if I picked up anything. But normally, no. [01:20:00] Speaker B: I'm still holding it. But I kind of open a few pages, none of the really gruesome ones, and then I show it. I'm just like, yeah. I've been trying to figure out what some of this stuff says. It looks like it's some sort of a cipher or code, or maybe a puzzle. I don't know. Can your ghost friend read it? Maybe. It's like only certain things can read it. [01:20:36] Speaker A: I can't read it. It's all lit up. [01:20:48] Speaker C: She can't read it. I would try to read the ciphers for you, but I'm not gonna lie. Things that glow like that, I've seen. I've seen movies. I've seen enough movies, Amelia, to know that things that glow weird like that, probably you should not be touching. [01:21:14] Speaker E: Or maybe you should touch them. Isn't that, like, glowing a good thing sometimes? Like Holy grail or whatever? [01:21:21] Speaker C: Do I look religious to you? [01:21:24] Speaker A: Oh, but you are, though, sort of. Weirdly, you have a complicated relationship with God. We're going to have to talk about that at some point. [01:21:34] Speaker C: I think you're reading a little bit, too. The incorrect direction about my direction is. [01:21:41] Speaker A: That you need some therapy. [01:21:46] Speaker C: Welcome to 2022, sweetheart. We all need therapy. [01:21:50] Speaker E: True. [01:21:55] Speaker C: I need it. He needs it. He needs it. She needs it. He needs it up there. And, God, even the ghosts need it. [01:22:05] Speaker D: Speaking of things, I don't even know how to segue into this conversation. But if the Orpheus group has decided to choose this location based off of thinned Shroud, which I have a hunch, I'm probably going to try and close it. [01:22:33] Speaker C: Are you sure that is safe? Do you remember what happened the last time? [01:22:39] Speaker E: Like you specifically. Not like the cell royal. [01:22:43] Speaker D: You, me specifically. I found a way to open up to the other side and then close it. I'm not great at it, but if that's their goal, and if we screw up, I'm going to have to close it. [01:23:03] Speaker E: Okay. We should try to get spent a while hunting weird, supernatural things that shouldn't exist. You guys are making everything I do sound really mundane by comparison. Yeah, take that. As you wish. [01:23:22] Speaker B: We're just a bunch of little freaks. [01:23:26] Speaker E: That's kind of friends. [01:23:28] Speaker C: All I know is that once we get to Louisiana, I think it might be worth for us to go and visit a couple of occult shops, see if we can find anything. But we see a couple of shops, maybe we can pick up some weapons. My friend told me that it might be best if we arm ourselves, if not to fight the ghost, to hold back against the possessed bodies of the ghost. [01:24:06] Speaker E: I mean, I can fight those pretty good. [01:24:09] Speaker C: Yeah, well, listen, I don't know, if you look at how we're all built. It ain't the fat, that's for certain. [01:24:21] Speaker D: I mean, I think Gozer is the most capable fighter amongst us. And I look at the dog, who's probably, like, just licking. [01:24:34] Speaker E: Yeah, yeah, we should probably get you guys some guns or something. [01:24:38] Speaker B: Yeah, it also, before we start fighting ghosts, wouldn't be better to try to get the concert canceled so we can try to avoid people dying. [01:24:53] Speaker E: That is a really good idea. [01:24:55] Speaker C: I mean, we could go find some gnarly, like, food somewhere and give the band food poisoning. Food poisoning seems to be my go to. [01:25:05] Speaker B: Well, I've been to a few of their shows in the past, and they're very much like, will throw piss and puke at the crowd and they love. [01:25:18] Speaker A: It. [01:25:18] Speaker C: Suddenly, I'm really not looking forward to this hunt. And that's coming from me, who's usually not looking forward to any hunt. [01:25:38] Speaker B: I was thinking we could just destroy their equipment. [01:25:46] Speaker E: Support. [01:25:47] Speaker C: I do have an idea that might. And then she's going to look to Amelia. [01:25:55] Speaker A: What. [01:25:58] Speaker C: You feel like doing some more fun ghost things? [01:26:05] Speaker A: Who do you want me to possess now? [01:26:08] Speaker C: It's not who you got to possess, actually. [01:26:12] Speaker A: Oh, damn. Gave her an idea. [01:26:18] Speaker C: I'm conjuring up a plan. So, I mean, it could be easy. We could send in our compatriot as she gestures to the nothing, have her give a security guard the inspiration to let us through and do our jobs. We destroy some equipment, they got no choice but to call off the show because you can't play without any instruments. Some people shouldn't play even if they have instruments, but, you know, music is subjective. [01:27:03] Speaker E: Also, fuck up the breaker. No power. Change the speakers. Even if they get it. Backup equipment. [01:27:08] Speaker D: Here's the thing. I kind of want to use the equipment so I can close the veil easier. [01:27:27] Speaker A: Oh, hell, that's a good idea. [01:27:29] Speaker C: Mmm. [01:27:34] Speaker D: I don't know if it's how far the noise can reach, but I would assume so. [01:27:46] Speaker A: It. [01:27:47] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, there another way we. [01:27:51] Speaker E: Can take a closing venue down, then. [01:27:57] Speaker D: Only think about, like, getting the band tied up in traffic or sending them. [01:28:03] Speaker A: To the wrong venue or tipping off the authorities. [01:28:14] Speaker C: Yeah, you could hear that. [01:28:19] Speaker B: Oh, sorry. [01:28:25] Speaker A: That was Elijah, not Zephyr. Elijah was like, oh, yeah, that's a good idea. [01:28:32] Speaker C: Amelia said that maybe we could try to tip off the authorities. [01:28:38] Speaker D: I mean, that's not a bad idea. I was thinking about it myself, but from what Harper said, apparently the cruise ship got plenty of warning, which I still have yet to see any kind of notification that like, hey, social media, we were going to wreck cruise ship today. [01:28:54] Speaker C: I'm going to go on my phone to that group chat, and I'm just going to put a post out. If anybody sees any information on where NEM is going to be tonight, I'm willing to. [01:29:15] Speaker A: Okay, let's make this a charisma investigation check. [01:29:34] Speaker C: Okay. [01:29:34] Speaker A: Which is an OD combo, I know, but you are asking people to do stuff for you. [01:29:39] Speaker C: Can I get any bonuses because of my fame? [01:29:44] Speaker A: Your fame? Let me look at your sheet. Let me look on your. [01:29:52] Speaker C: It is people in the know. That's who I'm reaching out to because they're all a bunch of fucking weirdos. [01:29:59] Speaker A: But didn't you decide that people in the know are people who are involved in conspiracies and big stuff with the church and whatever, not necessarily terrorist organizations. [01:30:14] Speaker C: We just had said that it was people in the know. We didn't really go into too much detail about what that was, but I. [01:30:21] Speaker A: Assumed that it was, like, supernatural stuff because that's kind of what you were into. [01:30:25] Speaker C: Yeah. All right, that's fair. Okay. [01:30:31] Speaker A: And you are still in despair. [01:30:33] Speaker C: That is fine. But it's okay because my redemption is I got to learn something new. [01:30:40] Speaker A: Let's give it a shot. See if you can learn something new. [01:30:42] Speaker C: All right. [01:30:43] Speaker A: You said it was charisma and investigation. [01:30:47] Speaker C: All right. Three successes. All right. [01:31:06] Speaker A: Not bad. There's some general chatter that people are going to look into it and see what they can find, but it's going to take them a little bit. [01:31:15] Speaker C: Okay. [01:31:16] Speaker A: It's not going to be an immediate. Oh, yeah, no, I got this already. But they will see what they can dig up. One guy does warn that it's not going to be easy. These guys don't have a huge verified online footprint and they've actively avoided being big on the dark web. So what they have is on the general Internet, which makes it even harder really to kind of verify anything because kind of anybody could be doing it. But they'll see what they can come up with. [01:31:52] Speaker C: I've got people working on it. [01:31:57] Speaker A: So is there anything that anybody wants to do during the drive to New Orleans or are you guys good to anything else anybody wants to do? [01:32:09] Speaker D: I have one more thing I wish to do. [01:32:11] Speaker A: Yes, ma'am. [01:32:13] Speaker D: I'm going to text Dietrich, first of all, saying thank you for the muffins. I need to talk to you privately before I get to New Orleans. We're on the way. [01:32:27] Speaker A: I'm free whenever. Just let me know to expect you. [01:32:34] Speaker D: Yes. I'm actually going to give him a number for one of my burner phones. And I'm hoping that he will also get the clue from the talking privately to also contact me with a burner phone. [01:32:46] Speaker A: Yeah, it takes him a little bit, but about 20 minutes later you get a call on that burter from phone from a number you do not recognize. [01:32:57] Speaker D: I'll pick it up. [01:33:00] Speaker A: What's up? [01:33:03] Speaker D: Well, we've discovered some things. And who would have guessed? I'm out here stopping people from blowing up places. But the next attack is going to be in New Orleans. And I wanted to give you a heads up. [01:33:22] Speaker A: Jesus Christ, what have you gotten wrapped up in? You were always connected to some shady shit, but this is big. [01:33:32] Speaker D: It is crazier than I'm even making it sound. And I don't have time to really explain it to you, but we think we narrowed down where the attack is and I wanted to give you a choice. [01:33:48] Speaker A: Well, this is my city. Nobody fucks with my city. [01:33:54] Speaker D: Good to hear. [01:33:56] Speaker A: And like hell I'm going to let you go into this alone. [01:34:00] Speaker D: I want you to be careful. We have some pictures of people you should watch out for. If you have an email that I can dead drop, I'll send any information we've gathered to you. But we need confirmation that the place that's going to be hit is actually the place that's going to be hit. And I will start talking about the band and what we learned and where we think it's going to be. [01:34:33] Speaker A: Um, he kind of soaks it all in. You hear him occasionally talking to somebody in the background. You can hear like the tapping of keys. And eventually he gives you an email that you can send information to. And he promises that he will kind of disperse it among his people. Because you know enough about Dietrich to know that he's got people in all corners of New Orleans. This is his city. He doesn't necessarily run everything that's underground, but he has a big enough stake and knows enough people that if he calls in some favors, he can have almost every inch of every neighborhood covered to some degree. [01:35:15] Speaker D: Listen, when I say it's weirder than it seems, don't send anyone in. They need to be cautious. I don't know what could happen, but information, that would be great. [01:35:34] Speaker A: Okay, so we'll maybe not send out the full army. Maybe just key personnel. [01:35:42] Speaker D: Yeah, that probably for the best. We've been brainstorming ways to stop the concert from happening, but I would prefer that equipment remain like band equipment, amplifiers, stuff like that. [01:36:02] Speaker A: See what I can. [01:36:05] Speaker D: Um, actually, I'm gonna get, I hesitate using Rosanna's name because he doesn't know who Rosanna is. But also, at this point, we're all in this mess together. So I eventually just go, I'll get Rosanna to email the dead drop all the information we've collected. We'll be there soon. [01:36:31] Speaker A: Okay, I'll text you a location. The drive from Houston to New Orleans feels like it takes forever. Ends up taking a good chunk of the day. It is evening when you roll into the city. The concert is tonight. You all have limited time to do whatever it is that you were going to do. Whether you are going straight to the venue to try and stop whatever's going to happen before it happens. If you were going to try to disrupt things so that the concert doesn't even get off the ground, that is all up to you and how you would like to handle it. So what is the plan? [01:37:34] Speaker D: Has there been check in from Dietrich's crew, basically confirming our suspicions or anything like that? [01:37:42] Speaker A: I assumed that you would call him. Okay, if you would like to do. [01:37:46] Speaker D: That, you gave us a location, but I'm a little loath to go to the location now because there's something really important I want to ask Rosanna. But yeah, for now I can call him. [01:38:01] Speaker A: Okay, so you call him and he picks up immediately. Hey. Was wondering if I was going to hear from you before the concert. [01:38:15] Speaker D: Yeah, we just arrived in town. Any luck? [01:38:21] Speaker A: A little bit. I had some of my people out on the streets. There has been a lot of activity around the arena, but, I mean, that's pretty normal considering. We think we may have caught a couple of them. They are dressing in ways to try and keep a low profile, so I can't be positive because I didn't want to risk any of my people getting close enough to really tip anything off. But I just dead dropped a bunch of photos to that email that your friend Rachel sent me. Stuff from Rosanna. Rosanna? [01:39:08] Speaker C: Sorry. [01:39:08] Speaker A: That's okay. [01:39:11] Speaker D: Okay, we'll look into that. Right. [01:39:18] Speaker A: Um, I'm glad you were able to. [01:39:20] Speaker D: Find some confirmation you like. [01:39:24] Speaker A: What are you planning to do to keep this from going bad? Because I'd owe some people, but got some pull. I could maybe get it delayed. I could maybe get it canceled. [01:39:43] Speaker D: Yeah, actually, our thoughts were basically like, either sabotage the band or sabotage the equipment. But what are your thoughts? [01:39:55] Speaker A: I mean, getting it delayed isn't hard. I can call in a favor at the power company and maybe get the power shut down for a while, which won't necessarily out and out cancel it if they can. See if they can get things Back online fast enough. Cancellations are a little bit more extreme. They usually require credible threats. But I don't know if you want to tip off these people that something is going on by calling in a tip. [01:40:25] Speaker D: We need one of them here. And I'll give a description of Harper. Was she seen at. [01:40:37] Speaker A: Roll me, roll me one die? Let's see. All right, and evens or ODs? Evens or ODS. [01:40:48] Speaker D: ODS. I'm going to do ODS. [01:40:50] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah, they did spot her. It was early on in the afternoon. It's been hours. Nobody has seen her since. But she was spotted. [01:41:08] Speaker D: She's here. That's good. [01:41:12] Speaker A: Or she was. At the very least, it's been hours, so who knows if she still is? [01:41:17] Speaker D: She is the one we need to not spook. So if you can. [01:41:25] Speaker A: I mean, I can have people keep their eyes peeled for her specifically, please. Yeah, I can do. [01:41:35] Speaker D: Yeah, we'll, we'll be there soon. Hopefully we can discuss logistics on how to slow this down or cancel it altogether. But we can't spook Harbor. And I would appreciate the equipment to be left behind. So that really, in my opinion, only leaves redirecting the band to somewhere else. [01:41:57] Speaker A: That sounds like a threat. Then. If there's a credible enough threat. But again, you call in a threat, you're probably going to end up spooking the people behind it, at least for my part. What I can do is either tip off that somebody knows that something's going on, so your people may make, may make a break for it, or I can just delay the show. [01:42:37] Speaker D: I'll kind of lean away from the phone at this point and posit the broad question to the group. It's like, delay the show or call in a threat and get eyes on. [01:42:48] Speaker A: It's. [01:42:56] Speaker D: I mean, ultimately, we want people to not get hurt. Right? [01:43:00] Speaker C: Right. [01:43:01] Speaker B: Yeah. Because I feel like if there was a threat, it could also cause people to run and you don't want to deal with. [01:43:10] Speaker A: That's. [01:43:20] Speaker B: I'm down for whatever you guys end up deciding. [01:43:26] Speaker C: The only problem that I see with us calling in a threat is what if it causes even more mass hysteria and gives them more ammunition? Louisiana's big, and New Orleans is a big party city. We don't know what we would be dealing with if we called in a vague threat. [01:43:59] Speaker D: Delay it as much as you can. Then I think. Dietrich. [01:44:06] Speaker A: Yeah, I can do that. [01:44:09] Speaker D: Thank you. Swing by your base of Operation soon. [01:44:18] Speaker A: Okay. He will murmur something in what sounds like Cajun Creole and then hang up. Is there anything you guys want to do while you're waiting for this to happen? [01:44:42] Speaker E: Just one thing I would like to say is that probably about, like, halfway through the drive, I would have had my muffin, naturally, and then went to a secluded corner, as secluded as you could possibly get in this cramped camper, and just probably popped out my own pocketbook and started reviewing notes of my own job. But after a while, it probably becomes pretty obvious that I have not turned the page at all. [01:45:09] Speaker A: Hmm. [01:45:15] Speaker E: And that's it. I'll probably just be there until someone says, hey, yo, it's time to go. [01:45:20] Speaker A: All right. Gozer kind of goes between Jesse and Victoria throughout the day. He mostly spends his time with Victoria because that's his human, but occasionally wanders over to Jesse to get a good scritch in, or at one point ends up kind of like half napping at Jesse's feet. [01:45:54] Speaker D: Probably when gozers went over there to get less attention from me. I take Rosanna aside and say, hey, Rosanna, how do I say this? Can you teach me how to dress and put on makeup better so I can be pretty? [01:46:23] Speaker C: First of all, I'm going to let you know this right now. Missy, you are gorgeous. First of all, you're gorgeous. [01:46:34] Speaker A: Okay? [01:46:34] Speaker D: But I'm not, like, conventionally gorgeous. You're supermodel gorgeous. Listen, I'm trying to impress someone here. [01:46:54] Speaker C: Is it Daddy? Is it Daddy that's on your phone? [01:46:58] Speaker D: Yes. [01:47:01] Speaker E: Look up for my book. [01:47:02] Speaker A: Who, Daddy? [01:47:04] Speaker D: Dietrich. [01:47:05] Speaker E: Awesome. Look back down. [01:47:13] Speaker C: You know what? You want to learn how to. How to put on makeup a little bit more and dress, I can teach you that. But Ridley. Victoria, I think that you are so. [01:47:36] Speaker D: That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. And at this point, I just kind of very lightly punch Roseanne in the arm. I don't know how to take compliments. Sorry. [01:47:51] Speaker C: It's okay. Neither do I. But I think that you're very pretty. But if you want to learn how to put on makeup and dress better, I'm more than happy to give you a few pointers. And, I mean, I won't force all of this on you. This is a product of years of childhood trauma. But fine. [01:48:19] Speaker D: Hey, we're all a product of our childhood trauma. Not disregarding yours. [01:48:25] Speaker A: But, yeah. [01:48:26] Speaker C: No, that's why I said we could all use a little bit of therapy. [01:48:29] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:48:36] Speaker C: I've always wanted to do stuff like this. Sure. I've got my bags and my trunk full of my clothes and stuff. I don't know if you'll fit into my things, but we can take a look at what you've got and style. [01:48:52] Speaker A: It up a little bit. Okay. [01:48:55] Speaker D: Excellent. Thank you. [01:48:59] Speaker C: Not a problem. If you wouldn't mind, I'm kind of wanting to try something new too. Okay. I don't wear a whole lot of black, if you couldn't tell. [01:49:17] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, that's one of the eye catching things about you. Really? One of the many. [01:49:28] Speaker C: Oh, shut. Shut up. And then she's going to playfully punch Victoria in the arm. Then we'll swap style tips. [01:49:43] Speaker D: I mean, if you want to look like you crawled out of the trash, I know how to do that. Really? [01:49:52] Speaker C: I'm. I've got some pieces that I just kind of need a pep talk to wear. I don't wear a whole lot of them. [01:50:01] Speaker A: Teach me how to look badass. Victoria. [01:50:08] Speaker D: Yeah. I will be your number one fan. [01:50:14] Speaker A: Maybe not the number one. [01:50:15] Speaker D: I think the number one gives $400 a month. Is that correct? [01:50:21] Speaker C: No, that's tier three. And it's 250. Got to make my money to fund my project somehow. Yeah. [01:50:35] Speaker A: Well, on that note. All right, so for the last stretch of the drive into New Orleans, Rosanna dives into helping Victoria spruce herself up, while Victoria almost kind of helps. Like, not spruce herself down, but does a hard fucking redirect into something that actually looks like it might be a little bit more appropriate for going to a heavy metal concert. There's a corset in black and real form fitting jeans and these boots that look a little too cover model esque. Until Victoria digs through her things and finds little, essentially cheap silver bits and bobbles and puts chains around them and things like that and kind of medals them up a little bit, that sort of thing. There's dark lipstick and all of that. And by the time it's over, it's like Sandy and Grease's transformation at the end, where you go from this really pretty, colorful, preppy girl, know the girl who looks like she belongs, know the tough guy. Victoria, on the other hand, looks much more cleaned up, much more put together. And Victoria's always been pretty, but it looks much more purposeful. She's not. She's no longer working against the look of somebody who rolled out of bed and into the most comfortable pair of sweats they could find. It does have its merits. You both look like you are headed for a concert like this, but you look like you are going out to try and look really good at that concert. Just because I can't picture Victoria in lots and lots of color, just really sexy darker, you know, for what it's worth, is typically what you are pretty sure Dietrich would be into. So it works out. So at the very least, if you go to this. Go to this venue, you'll blend in, the two of you. The other two will blend in, but for a very different reason. Jesse looks like most like country boys who are going to show up for an event like this. He's laid back in his flannel and his jeans. Zephyr has digged out, like, a metal band T shirt just to kind of play the part, but is, as usual, in his all black. And now I feel a little bit bad for telling Elijah not to wear makeup because it could have absolutely pulled it off. I didn't know that you guys were. [01:54:00] Speaker D: Going to go for. [01:54:03] Speaker B: I even got the bondage pants. [01:54:09] Speaker A: I love it when Elijah kicks back and throws his leg up. Paint me like one of your French girls. Oh, that's getting clipped. Okay, so are you guys headed straight to the venue, or are you headed to Dietrich's? [01:54:31] Speaker D: First, I would suggest going to the Ops center, but if we want to get a leg up on the venue, that's also an option. [01:54:41] Speaker A: Well, he did say that he doesn't know how long he can keep it delayed. And it was already evening by the time you roll into town. Okay. [01:54:50] Speaker D: Up to you all. [01:54:52] Speaker B: It might be better for us to split. So just in case, if he can no longer delay it, we're already there as well and we can just start destroying whatever just to get them out of there. [01:55:11] Speaker D: Okay. In that case, I have to go to the venue because I was going. [01:55:16] Speaker A: To try and close the bill. Hey, very cool. So I'm going to assume that you guys are just all going to go to the venue. I think that probably makes the most sense. With the plan that you have in place, you guys pull into the section of the city where the arena is just in time for the town around you to go dark. And Victoria having spoke to Dietrich, you know, that's kind of the beginning of your countdown to try and head this off before anything gets blown. Know, there's like emergency lighting that's coming on in certain places. You could see places that probably have a generator or something given the number of hurricanes that New Orleans tends to see where lights will flicker on in windows. But for the most part, this section of the city around the arena is black. [01:56:19] Speaker E: On our way out, I would like to, sorry. Get everyone together to be like, wait 1 second, 1 second. And then pull out the Polaroid camera and get the closest thing to a selfie of the whole group and then get that and just some friends going to a concert. [01:56:37] Speaker A: Oh, that's awesome. That's great. Arthur sticks around just long enough to get the Polaroid taken and then looks at the rest of you and with a very serious face says, I got some information earlier on the church. There's some stuff going on locally I want to go look into. I'll be careful, but I'm going to go do some recon. But we can't afford to all divert or even for half of us to divert. So you guys should stay. [01:57:17] Speaker D: And I have words with you about this later, but yeah, I don't want you distracted on this job. And I kind of say that with. [01:57:22] Speaker A: Like a bit of spite, like there's. [01:57:24] Speaker D: A bigger issue here, but whatever. [01:57:29] Speaker B: Don't die. [01:57:32] Speaker A: Don't intend to. He doesn't look like it hits him. Doesn't look like it hits him. Your tone, Victoria. It looks like he is so caught up in whatever it is that is Going on in his head that it does not click for him that you are annoyed that he is peeling off. [01:58:03] Speaker D: Which is exactly why I want him gone. Because he's too distracted to do this. [01:58:11] Speaker A: And he'll kind of pause before he leaves and he looks over at Jesse. Take care of them, especially her. And he kind of nods at Rosanna. She has a habit of putting herself in harm's way every chance she can. [01:58:29] Speaker E: You guys said you're not too good at fighting. Well, I am. So I'll try to fill my role well. [01:58:37] Speaker A: And then he will step out of the RV just in time to meet up with what looks like a ride chair that pulls up, and he is gone off into the night. The rest of you, you are about a block away from the venue. Arthur suggested that you park a little bit away, not so far away that you can't get back quickly, but far enough away that you don't tip off to Jillian if she's still here, that you're here. [01:59:13] Speaker B: Can I use sensei unnatural while we're out here? [01:59:20] Speaker A: You absolutely can. Roll your stuff. Wits and science. [01:59:30] Speaker B: Okay. And then I do also have specialization, so it'll allow me to add three. [01:59:40] Speaker A: Extra dice to a skill. [01:59:44] Speaker B: Can I use that in this role or just flat? [01:59:46] Speaker A: What's your specialization in? [01:59:50] Speaker B: Well, it just says the improvised gear, but it'll allow me to. You can add it to a particular. [02:00:00] Speaker A: Your sense. The unnatural is not a part of your improvised gear. [02:00:03] Speaker B: Okay. The separate. [02:00:06] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. So your specialization is on the gear, but not on your sense. The unnatural sense. The unnatural specialization would be things like, I have a specialization in Wraiths, or I have a specialization in vampires. Okay. [02:00:21] Speaker B: Good to know. Thank you. [02:00:24] Speaker A: No worries. Okay. I have the OD feeling that your improvised gear is going to come in very handy later. [02:00:32] Speaker B: I got three. [02:00:36] Speaker A: You got three? [02:00:38] Speaker B: Yes. [02:00:39] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. There's a lot of unnatural around you. You can't necessarily tell what it is. If you didn't know better, you would think that there had already been a mass casualty event. You can sense just waves of unnatural activity coming off of the area around the areas around you, but it's like the areas at large. It kind of in the immediate area, there isn't a ton. You can feel what you assume is Amelia because she is hanging out very close to Rosanna. You can feel, how do I want to put this? But you can also feel it at distances. Does that make sense? [02:01:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [02:01:45] Speaker A: Like, it is this ever present kind of pressing force around you that's at a distance, but you are also in, and you don't have to roll for this. You just know you're in New Orleans. Like, this place is known for being haunted. It's known for being full of supernatural stuff. You've never known how much of that was real. But you do know that in stories like that, there's always some sort of nugget of truth. Right? So you're not sure if there is an uptick in your surroundings where there's more stuff going on. Right now, this is one of those things that because you're not right up on top of the venue, you're not going to get a clear read. Does that make sense? [02:02:29] Speaker B: Yeah. [02:02:29] Speaker A: Like the closer you are, the easier it'll be to tell how much of this is just the city and how much of this is, like, the specific venue and area. Okay. [02:02:44] Speaker B: Mmm. [02:02:48] Speaker A: But the air is very much thick with this. [02:02:55] Speaker B: Spooky. [02:03:02] Speaker A: All right. [02:03:08] Speaker E: You guys think we have to deal with metal detectors on our way over? [02:03:12] Speaker D: Not with the power out, I don't think. [02:03:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [02:03:15] Speaker E: Okay, good. Because I kind of just reach into the back waistband of my jeans and then just pulled out a revolver. Because if we did, then this would probably be an issue. [02:03:25] Speaker C: You got one of those? [02:03:28] Speaker E: I got a hunting knife. [02:03:35] Speaker C: I'm from the south. We don't really do hunting knives. We did. [02:03:41] Speaker A: Guns, Rosanna. Oh, sorry. [02:03:47] Speaker E: I was just going to say I'm there close up. Anyway, I'm going to pull the revolver back out, turn around so I'm holding the barrel and hand it or hold it out for someone else to take. [02:03:56] Speaker A: Oh, well, he is offering you a revolver. [02:04:00] Speaker C: I take the gun. [02:04:02] Speaker E: Careful of that. [02:04:03] Speaker A: Sure that'll end well. [02:04:07] Speaker C: Rosanna, do me a favor. [02:04:11] Speaker A: Enroll me wits and awareness. I would like you to add one die to it. [02:04:22] Speaker C: Okay. [02:04:32] Speaker A: Three. Would you like to willpower at all? [02:04:37] Speaker C: Sure. [02:04:38] Speaker A: Okay. [02:04:39] Speaker C: Four. [02:04:40] Speaker A: Four. All right. As you tuck away the revolver, goodness knows where you're going to put it. But as you tuck it away, probably into your purse, let's be fair. Probably into your purse, a little fat bag. As you tuck it away and you step out of the RV, you can hear music, but not like it's this almost otherworldly music. [02:05:29] Speaker C: A new song on my Spotify started up. [02:05:33] Speaker A: It is this flowing, lilting, otherworldly music. And it is coming from a cluster of trees. Looks like it might be like a park or some sort of public green space not far away. You do know that the arena is kind of on the, not quite in the center of everything. [02:06:06] Speaker C: Hmm. And without any word, she's just going to start doing that, doing like a thing where her hips kind of sway to the side and she's following the music to wherever it's taken her. [02:06:25] Speaker A: Okay. You guys see Rosanna start to kind of wander off away from where you guys were planning to go. Kind of in the opposite direction. [02:06:39] Speaker E: We'd be worried about that. [02:06:41] Speaker D: Rosanna, where are you going? And I just hop out of the RV and I have my bells with me as well as my violin, which is, that's the big leagues. [02:06:54] Speaker E: I'm going to leave the Polaroid photo on the counter, then follow as well. [02:07:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I guess we're taking a trip. [02:07:05] Speaker D: All right. [02:07:08] Speaker A: So it takes a little bit to get there. You end up kind of having to go around a couple of blocks toward what turns out to be a little city park with trees and manicured lawns and all of that. And you feel yourself drawn towards what looks like a willow tree. Amelia does not follow you towards the tree. Amelia hangs back. She's like, I don't know how I feel about this. That thing's glowing up a storm, too. [02:08:03] Speaker C: Is really. [02:08:05] Speaker A: Yeah. It doesn't feel like Zephyr's book, but it doesn't feel right either. [02:08:26] Speaker C: Give me one moment. Amelia. And she doesn't even realize that people are following her. She's going fully into this willow tree. [02:08:39] Speaker A: Victoria, you feel a very cold wave next to you. [02:08:49] Speaker D: Shudder a little bit. [02:08:50] Speaker A: You've gotten accustomed to what it feels like when there's a ghost close by. It doesn't feel like it's trying to touch you. It just feels like it's very close. Rosanna, you step between the drooping branches of this willow tree and into this od almost protective little circle. It feels like the rest of the world outside of it falls away. And the light here is ever more not light. The music here is ever more clear, ever more present. It is haunting and soothing kind of all at once. And there is a rustle of the branches around you. And your eyes sort of flutter and close as you feel yourself almost kind of being, not physically, but like, mentally and spiritually kind of carried away. And when you open them again, you are standing in the middle of a warm, green space that doesn't look like any place you've ever been. There are dancing lights around you. It feels like the enchanted forest in every childhood story you ever read. You can feel and taste the magic in the air around you. It is thick with it. And there is a woman seated nearby. She looks a little bit like you. You can see some vaguely familiar features. She's got very long blonde hair with just a tinge of red to it, like yours. She has freckles all across her cheekbones and across her nose. It's like if an artist were to render, like, the perfect freckles for her face. That's what she's got. Her eyes are almost kaleidoscopic with color. There are so many colors that you can't really tell exactly what her true color is. And she is dressed in a gown of vines and leaves and flowers. Well, I was wondering when you'd finally show up. Took you long enough. Been so shrouded in death, it's taken forever to get you called over here. [02:12:18] Speaker C: I'm sorry. Who are you? Where are we? [02:12:27] Speaker A: That's a complicated question, though, needless to say, I'm family. Sort of. Oh. You've ever wondered where all of the things that you can do came from? It? [02:12:55] Speaker C: She steps closer to the woman and kind of. Kind of looks for a place to sit. [02:13:03] Speaker A: Yeah, there's little, like, moss covered stones and a fallen log. There's all kinds of places you could sit. It all looks, despite being very unnaturally natural, also looks very comfortable. Weirdly. [02:13:23] Speaker C: Then, you might be able to provide me with a little bit of insight as to what I am. [02:13:31] Speaker A: Oh, well, I thought you had figured that out by now. You're a witch. Not a bad thing. It just is what it is. You've got magic in your blood, but you're more innate than bookish, so you're not a mage. You're also less chaotic and less likely to rip reality to shreds. So that's good. Can't fucking stand mages. [02:14:05] Speaker C: Wait. So I can do magic? [02:14:10] Speaker A: You've been doing magic for a while now. [02:14:16] Speaker C: I never really thought it was magic. I just. I don't know. You know, you do. You do a lot of reading, and you do a lot of experimenting with things on the Internet. Sometimes you think that it's just you kind of losing your mind, but gaining a part of your mind back. Where are we? [02:14:39] Speaker A: Like I said, that's complicated and would take a lot longer than we have. I can only maintain this sort of place so long. But I have a gift for you. You're a bit in over your head, quite frankly, and you're going to need help, and I can't be there physically to help. There's too much death in the world right now. It drains me anytime I get close. But I can help you. Hold out your hand. Palm up. There we go. All right. She reaches out, and her hand feels somehow both warm and soft and kind of coarse, like the bark of a tree, even though you can't see any texture on it. And her fingers kind of trace the back of your hand and over your knuckles down to your wrist. And then she loops them around your wrist. Not tight, but she holds on, like she's holding your hand in place. I apologize. This isn't going to be pleasant, but we're working with borrowed time. And then you see the branches of that willow tree shoot towards you, towards your hand. And several of them pierce into your palm. And it burns. It burns. But it's not like a fire. It burns like living lightning is coursing into your body. And you can see these branches pushing into your palm. And you can feel them going down your arm and along your arm and your chest until you can kind of feel them coalesce in the center of your chest, like they're near your heart. They're not squeezing, they're just sitting there. And then the ends pass through your hands and your hand heals over. And while you can still feel a tingle inside of you, it doesn't hurt anymore. It's like a tingling warmth in the center of your chest now. And as you look down, while you're wearing this corset, you can see the top of what looks like incredibly intricate but also incredibly precise tattoo of Celtic network that disappears into your corset. All right. Well, when you need it most, when you're confronted by something you need to handle with force, that'll help. I'd love to tell you more, but I don't have time. This place is hard enough to maintain with all the death in New Orleans. [02:17:58] Speaker C: Do you at least have a name? [02:18:02] Speaker A: And as you were asking, her mouth opens like she's about to answer you and the space around you shimmers and fades away. And you are standing in the dark in front of, under the branches of the tree. [02:18:17] Speaker E: Rosanna, did we see all this? [02:18:21] Speaker A: Nope. You didn't see anything. You just saw her go into the tree and Zephyr felt. [02:18:29] Speaker D: I felt something cold. [02:18:32] Speaker A: You felt something cold? Yes. Zephyr felt like a warmth and a pulse and smelled clover and honey for just a moment before it faded. But Rosanna hasn't come back out. Of course. She's only been in there a couple of seconds. What felt like minutes to her felt like seconds to you. [02:19:01] Speaker E: She went inside the tree, into the. [02:19:05] Speaker A: Branches, not into the tree itself. You know how willows kind of drape down and create a space inside of them? Yeah. [02:19:12] Speaker E: Hanging out. For some reason, my mind is that she just like fades through. Like the trunk. She's in the tree. [02:19:18] Speaker D: Why? [02:19:21] Speaker C: I'm going home now. Fades in. Ah. [02:19:32] Speaker D: She doesn't come out. I'm, I'm tempted to go in and check on her. [02:19:37] Speaker C: And then she's going to kind of stumble out of the branches. [02:19:43] Speaker E: Okay. [02:19:47] Speaker C: Yeah. [02:19:48] Speaker A: Everybody except Rosanna. Make a wits and awareness, please. [02:19:55] Speaker C: Uhoh. [02:20:00] Speaker B: The venue blows up. [02:20:03] Speaker A: We're too busy in the trees. [02:20:07] Speaker C: Sorry, I had to go be the. [02:20:08] Speaker A: Lorax for a second. [02:20:11] Speaker B: I got three. [02:20:12] Speaker E: I got 1212. [02:20:15] Speaker A: Anybody wants to burn willpower, they have the option to burn willpower. [02:20:19] Speaker D: I do not because my willpower hasn't really recovered yet. [02:20:22] Speaker A: You should have gotten willpower back after you slept, remember? [02:20:24] Speaker D: Yeah, but I used like four last. [02:20:28] Speaker A: Your, what's your three? [02:20:30] Speaker D: Is my composure. [02:20:32] Speaker A: Okay, Jesse, do you want to use willpower at all? [02:20:35] Speaker E: No, I'm going to save it. [02:20:38] Speaker A: Jesse's like, now I got to keep these motherfuckers alive. [02:20:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [02:20:41] Speaker E: If stuff goes to shit, I'm going to need that. [02:20:43] Speaker A: Okay. Jesse doesn't notice anything. He's confused. Mostly. Victoria, you immediately notice the lines of what looks like a tattoo along Rosanna's cleavage that wasn't there before. Zephyr, you notice not just along her cleavage above the corset, you notice that there is what looks like a Celtic network tattoo around her wrist and going up like her forearm. [02:21:27] Speaker B: New ink. [02:21:37] Speaker D: All right. [02:21:41] Speaker C: I think I had an outer body experience. [02:21:44] Speaker A: An outer body experience or I did. [02:21:48] Speaker C: A lot of drugs. You guys didn't give me any drugs, did you? [02:21:52] Speaker E: I was about to ask you. Drugs? [02:21:54] Speaker B: I wish. [02:21:56] Speaker D: Nope. [02:21:57] Speaker C: I'm sure if I had drugs, I would be more than happy to share with you, Jesse. [02:22:02] Speaker A: Victoria. Gozer is sniffing in Rosanna's direction. His hackles aren't up, but he looks curious and confused. [02:22:12] Speaker D: I watch him just kind of knitting my eyebrows and I go, hopefully this is a good thing. [02:22:22] Speaker C: It seemed like it was a good thing. I sat in some. And then she's going to pull the branches to the side to see if she can find the moss. [02:22:38] Speaker A: Rock? No, it's just like roots and grass. [02:22:48] Speaker C: There was rocks and moss and a pretty lady with freckles and very colorful eyes. And she was in a long dress. [02:23:03] Speaker D: I'm kind of used to Rosanna just seeing stuff at this point. So I just kind of nod. [02:23:14] Speaker C: I'm going to touch the tattoo on my wrist and see if anything happens. [02:23:19] Speaker A: Nothing happens. It just, it feels like normal old skin. Like it doesn't hurt. It doesn't feel like it's a fresh tattoo, anything like that. You do notice that it is far more precise than any normal tattoo could ever be. [02:23:35] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. And then the woman shot me with Willow tree wood. Why you so, you know, freaked out? [02:23:56] Speaker A: Is Rosanna feeling very freaked out? [02:23:59] Speaker C: Very freaked out. They're coming after me. [02:24:08] Speaker A: Make me a thinking. I'm sorry. Let's see. Make me a composure and a cult role. But you were at a negative two. [02:24:37] Speaker C: Two successes. [02:24:41] Speaker A: Nothing happens at the moment. But you can feel that just this side of electric warmth kind of pulse inside of you. It feels like power, like you're holding on to a live wire that just doesn't hurt somehow. I will say this. The cold coming off of where you can see Amelia standing is much more intense to you now. Like you can feel it pushing against you in a way that it didn't before. Not unpleasant, but much, much more noticeable. Maybe she was right. [02:25:30] Speaker C: Maybe she was right. [02:25:35] Speaker A: Victoria, your phone buzzes. Your burner phone. [02:25:40] Speaker D: I answer it. [02:25:43] Speaker A: It's not a call, it's a text message. I don't know how long this is going to last. [02:25:52] Speaker D: I just quickly respond back with like, we're working as fast as we can. Thanks. [02:26:03] Speaker A: You just get a thumbs up emoji. [02:26:12] Speaker C: We should go. We should go. [02:26:20] Speaker A: Rosanna heads off back towards the arena. Obviously this is a problem for another day as far as she's concerned. [02:26:35] Speaker C: Of course. Just add it onto the list of other problems she's got to take care of. Take a number. Weird vine lady. [02:26:52] Speaker B: Back to the venue we go. [02:26:58] Speaker A: Okay, so what's the plan? The place is still dark. You could see that there's some measure of emergency lighting inside, but it's not much. [02:27:09] Speaker D: All right. In my brain, I've cooked up as much of a plan as I can. I need the doors barricaded. Somebody should probably look for where the explosives are and deal with those. And I'm going to take that stage, wait for the power to get back on, and then play to close the veil or at least thicken it so that whatever they're planning here just isn't going to work. That's all I got. What are your thoughts? [02:27:41] Speaker E: I can deal with explosives. [02:27:44] Speaker B: I guess I'll barricade the doors. [02:27:48] Speaker A: Can I make a suggestion? Yes. I think Zephyr should at the very least go with Jesse to deal with the explosives. Yeah, ordinance is kind of your thing. [02:27:59] Speaker B: Yeah, he's just like, I'm going to accidentally blow up everybody again. [02:28:05] Speaker E: I'm okay of getting blown up. [02:28:09] Speaker C: I can barricade the door. [02:28:13] Speaker A: I'm assuming we're talking about the doors the back of the building, not the front of the building. Because if you barricade the doors at the front of the building, all of those innocent people have nowhere to go if things go sideways, right? Yeah. [02:28:26] Speaker D: We don't want more people getting into the main part. I didn't realize there were people in here with the power out. [02:28:36] Speaker A: Yeah, no, they were here and getting ready for the concert. There was a crowd inside already, waiting. [02:28:42] Speaker E: Actually, if Zephyr's going to be dealing with the explosives, I feel like I should go wherever it's more likely that things might go. Know, fighty, fighty, punchy, punchy, shooty, shooty. [02:29:00] Speaker D: That kind of changes my thoughts, though. Maybe finding a way to escort people out. [02:29:07] Speaker E: I could try that. [02:29:13] Speaker A: That is up to you guys. You know that there are innocent people inside already because people tend to show up early for these events so that they can get their seats and not have to deal with a massive crowd. It's nowhere near the full number, but this is relatively close to start time. You don't have so much time that you've only got like 100 people inside. You've still got quite a few. [02:29:36] Speaker E: Yeah, I'll find a way to get people out. [02:29:38] Speaker D: If there's people in here, I would not suggest barricading the doors. [02:29:44] Speaker A: That said, I will give this to you because there was so much research done on the way here. You guys do know that if they're going to try to plant things, the best places to do that are places with heavy foot traffic or little to no foot traffic. So we're talking the public bathrooms, which are all at the front of the house, but also a lot of places that are like backstage and behind the scenes. Most arenas have what are essentially tunnels that help staff get around without having to fight with crowds the whole time. So those are good places to put things, that sort of stuff. [02:30:32] Speaker B: For the areas that we can't really reach without getting past security. Could Amelia sneak back there? I mean, she's a ghost. [02:30:44] Speaker A: She's certainly willing to try. There is also the chance that you guys could sneak in past security or mingle as y'all are dressed like you belong here. So it's really kind of just depends on what approach you want to take. [02:31:03] Speaker C: Can try an approach. [02:31:08] Speaker A: You do have Rosanna, who has a way of batting her lashes and getting what she wants. And Victoria looks so. [02:31:22] Speaker D: All thanks to Rosanna's help. [02:31:25] Speaker A: Victoria, if you want to be able to get up on stage, you do need to be able to have a chance of getting backstage. [02:31:32] Speaker D: Yeah, I was going to maybe employ. [02:31:37] Speaker A: Stealth to do that, but employ stealth, you could also employ Rosanna because a. [02:31:45] Speaker D: Little bit of column, a little bit of column B. [02:31:52] Speaker C: Called divide and conquer. [02:31:55] Speaker A: Okay. So what I'm understanding is that Rosanna is going to be the distraction for security. While Victoria works on getting by security, do Jesse and Zephyr want to kind of follow suit and also try to get backstage? Do you guys want to split up and have one of you take the places at the front of the house that are most likely to get targeted while the other one goes to the back? Like, how do you guys want to play this? Yeah. [02:32:26] Speaker E: I think right now, priorities find a way to get as many people out of the venue as possible. So that might be a good idea to sneak backstage. I kind of have an idea on how to convince people to get out of there. And then after that, I might try to find a way to get to where it's most likely to get attacked. [02:32:47] Speaker B: Well, I guess if you're doing that, then I can just go look. So you're not like, trying to bounce between two different things. [02:32:54] Speaker E: Got it. [02:32:55] Speaker A: Okay. [02:32:55] Speaker B: Yeah. [02:32:56] Speaker C: All right, that's cool. [02:32:57] Speaker A: Very cool. All right, so we're going to have to go kind of in turns for this. Just to make sure that everybody gets their time. We are going to start with Rosanna. Working on getting attention shouldn't be too difficult, given the way she is dressed and now she's all tatted up, which only somehow makes her fit in even more. Rosanna, how are you going to approach this? Honey, I assume you're going through the front of the house because that's where you're going to draw the most attention. [02:33:32] Speaker C: Oh, of course. She's going to do the cute little thing where her corset is a zip up in the front. So she's just going to kind of like, approach the one that looks the most weak minded. And she's just going to zipper down her top a little bit and just kind of very gently, kind of get on her tippy toes, because I assume that she's wearing either boots. She has, like the boots? [02:34:11] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:34:16] Speaker C: Excuse me. [02:34:23] Speaker A: Yes, ma'am. [02:34:26] Speaker C: You see, this is my first ever show, well, my first ever time in New Orleans. And I'm a bit nervous and I'm a bit scared. I don't know where any of my friends are and they all kind of left without me. They say a woman like me shouldn't be walking around at night. I could use somebody who's very strong and maybe knows his way around here to get me back to safety. [02:35:01] Speaker A: Excellent. Okay, so you were going for the damsel in distress play? [02:35:06] Speaker C: Oh, definitely. [02:35:08] Speaker A: All right. Now, is your goal to just get and hold attention so that people can get by? Is that the goal? [02:35:19] Speaker C: Yeah, she wants to hold the attention and play as a distraction, maybe every now and again, brush up against them to kind of keep their eyes on her. And every now and again, just like her hip will sway by them just to make sure that they've got hurt. [02:35:36] Speaker A: Their eyes firmly on her. Got it? Okay. All right, so what I'm going to do with this is I'm going to just have this. Apply a blanket plus two dice to the rest of them getting through. You don't have to roll for it. Just going to happen. You purposefully said, I'm going to call out the weakest willed one. You guys do notice that the normal, what do you call it, metal detectors are obviously powered down. A lot of security has, like, the wands on their hip, but for the most part, they've just kind of been, like, telling people to hang out outside and have only been allowing people through every so often or things are moving a lot slower. So when Rosanna kind of, like, draws this guy's attention, it kind of opens up, basically leaves one of the doorways a little less guarded than it usually is. And it's kind of dark inside. So there's a chance that you guys could slip by without an issue because the others are kind of busy trying to keep the crowds away or keep the crowds under control outside. So I would like everybody to make me a Dex and stealth roll, please. [02:37:00] Speaker E: There we go. [02:37:01] Speaker A: With two extra dice. [02:37:21] Speaker B: I'm going to reroll that. Are we allowed to reroll? [02:37:24] Speaker A: You are absolutely allowed to reroll. [02:37:27] Speaker E: I would like to reroll that as well, actually. [02:37:30] Speaker B: Four. [02:37:31] Speaker A: That's a lot. [02:37:31] Speaker D: I got a three. Also, it should be noted that Gozer has incognito. [02:37:37] Speaker A: That's better. [02:37:39] Speaker E: That's now four as well. For me. [02:37:42] Speaker A: Does incognito just give him a bonus or does he just automatically work? [02:37:47] Speaker D: It seems like it's automatic. I'll pull it up real quick. Of course, now it's giving me problems. [02:38:02] Speaker A: While she's looking that up, Jesse and Zephyr, you guys both managed to slip by without an issue. [02:38:07] Speaker E: All right, are we just in the venue or are we backstage? [02:38:10] Speaker A: Now, you're in the front of the house, so you're in the venue, but you're like where normal people tend to come in. [02:38:19] Speaker D: All right, go ahead. [02:38:23] Speaker E: No, you go ahead. [02:38:25] Speaker D: It says the animal can masterfully stay out of sight, hiding just out of observation range or blending in for practically any situation. Unless someone looks for it, they will not know it's there. And this is the storyteller is the judge on which animals can possibly employ this ability. [02:38:42] Speaker A: Well, on the bright side, you have had it canon that Gozer wears a harness, so most people kind of will glance his way. But because your role was good enough and he's wearing a harness, it's kind of like most people just assume that he's some sort of service animal and don't really think anything of it, if that makes sense. [02:39:08] Speaker D: Yeah, we did state, though, like, he doesn't have an actual service animal vest or anything. [02:39:15] Speaker A: I know, but the average person does not understand the difference, I'm going to be honest with you. So it's kind of like one of those things where they just sort of glance at him and take note. Yeah, but they just kind of assume, oh, service animal. Okay, cool. He's supposed to be here. So. [02:39:42] Speaker D: They. [02:39:42] Speaker A: So you guys make it in. You're in the front of the hoUse, Rosanna, you kind of glance over the security guard's shoulder and you see that your companions have managed to scooch by without being noticed. Oh, this poor security guard looks like he is terrified that you're about to cry and he doesn't really know what to do with the idea that there might be a crying woman on his hands here in a minute. He's like, ma'am, I don't know where your friends are, but the power is out, so putting out an announcement right now isn't going to work. But if you hang out, it's okay. [02:40:36] Speaker C: I'll be fine. You've been such a great help, and I hope that maybe I'll see you after the show. And she's going to use that to just kind of, like, step back and walk up. [02:40:54] Speaker A: He is so dumbfounded and awkward and worried that he has said the wrong thing or that he has not been helpful enough that you are able to literally just walk by him into the venue. [02:41:09] Speaker C: Men. [02:41:13] Speaker A: Which is what Victoria gets as she gets closer. [02:41:21] Speaker C: Okay, that was fun. [02:41:25] Speaker D: All good work. [02:41:28] Speaker C: Thank you. God's greatest gift to me helped us. [02:41:34] Speaker A: Okay, now that everybody is in, who is going to check out stuff around the front of the front of the house? Who's going to be looking in the public spaces for potential exploding things, and who is headed for the backstage and potentially, like, the service passages and stuff like that, which is where you're more likely to find the really big exploding things? [02:42:01] Speaker E: I'm heading to backstage and I want to ask, does it look really warned off? Is there any checkpoints in place to make sure no one gets back there? Or is it pretty just like they're not worried about that right now, they're more worried about just not letting anyone in at all. [02:42:14] Speaker A: Some places with security, but it's not like, crazy. It's not like there's five bodyguards at every door kind of thing. There's like one guy at a door looking kind of bored. Just generally making sure that the crowds don't end up where they're not supposed to. But those are the most obvious doors. If you want to take some time, you can certainly look around and see if that there are less obvious Doors. [02:42:39] Speaker E: I may do that. But first I want to turn to everyone else, be like, all right, hear me out. Need to get backstage. Would you guys be willing to stage a fight so that guy goes to try to break it up and then I can sneak in. [02:42:58] Speaker D: Rosanna, do you want to do a cat fight? [02:43:01] Speaker C: Oh, my God. Yeah, let's do it. [02:43:04] Speaker E: Awesome. [02:43:04] Speaker A: All right. [02:43:05] Speaker E: Wonderful. [02:43:06] Speaker A: Oh, amazing. [02:43:08] Speaker B: While they're doing that, too, I'll be in the front checking spaces, checking like. [02:43:14] Speaker A: Bathrooms and concessions and stuff like that. Got it. Okay. [02:43:18] Speaker C: Deferred's actually recording it to put it on the Internet for money. [02:43:25] Speaker A: Doesn't use the Internet. This isn't so much going to be a roleplay thing as I would like Victoria to describe to me what this cat fight is going to look like and where Gozer is. [02:43:42] Speaker D: Think I give Gozer the order to stay low and out of sight. [02:43:48] Speaker A: He will do that. [02:43:49] Speaker D: He's not going to be involved in this. I don't want him to get excited and get taken away by security or whatever, but I apologize in advance. [02:44:06] Speaker A: To Rosanna. [02:44:08] Speaker D: And just like, I'm going to try not to be rough, but here we go. [02:44:13] Speaker A: And I'm just going to reach a. [02:44:14] Speaker D: Hand out and grab Rosanna's hair. [02:44:21] Speaker C: And I guess I'm going to do the same. And very, just like. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. And then yank her in. [02:44:29] Speaker D: Yeah, there's no words. Probably just screeching. [02:44:34] Speaker A: Oh, I love it. I love it. Okay. [02:44:38] Speaker D: Big chaos energy. [02:44:40] Speaker A: Oh, my God. This is not where I saw the session going. I would like each of you, you'll have your choice here between charisma and performance and manipulation and subterfuge. [02:45:02] Speaker C: I'll do charisma and performance. [02:45:05] Speaker D: I think I'm also charisma, performance. [02:45:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:45:15] Speaker C: It's not a great dice pool for me, Chief. [02:45:20] Speaker A: Rosanna, because of your, because of your nightmares, you were down one die. [02:45:26] Speaker C: Okay. It's even worse of a pool now. It's okay. [02:45:44] Speaker A: Okay, well, between the two of you, you have four successes, which isn't bad. Victoria really saved your bacon. She proves to be an impressive performer. Or maybe she's really taken out some of her recent anger and frustration on you, mate. There's a part of you that wonders if she's imagining that you're Jillian right now, because she goes pretty hard. She doesn't do any real damage, but she sells it to the point where there's that little voice in the back of your head that's like, maybe she needs it. Maybe she's really angry at me. Like, it doesn't hurt. But maybe she really. Maybe she's pissed. Victoria proves to be really good at this, and you're like, why hasn't she been helping with the manipulating people thing more? [02:46:34] Speaker D: Not my first cat fight. [02:46:37] Speaker A: Definitely not. Victoria. You notice that Rosanna does not manage to get into it as well as you do. She tries, but her forte is really about seduction, seduction, and being really pretty and the person that everybody wants to help. So you play it up even more, maybe yank her hair a little bit harder so that she actually does scream and means it, that sort of thing. [02:47:09] Speaker C: If she does that by reflex, I think Rosanna would actually try to slap. [02:47:13] Speaker A: Her hand out of. Yeah. So that only makes it even more realistic, which is perfect, Gary, because at that moment, several security people kind of run in their direction. And you notice that one of the big doors that leads to what you're pretty sure is backstage or a service passage or something like that is left open. Zephyr, you also notice that one of the service passages, which is near a bunch of concessions and stuff like that, like an area where workers can kind of walk around behind concession stands and whatnot. It didn't really have any security by it originally, but now everybody who works in the concession stands, it was loitering near the concession stands, trying to maybe get food before they're forced to toss it out at a discounted rate. They're all watching. So you could pass by unimpeded. [02:48:16] Speaker B: Yeah, sneak on through. [02:48:23] Speaker A: Um, so, all right, now that you two are kind of in the background and whatever, what are you guys going to do? Are you guys, like, looking for stuff? Is that what's happening? Am I calling for investigation roles? [02:48:43] Speaker E: Maybe. Now that I'm backstage, I want to try to see if I can find, like, a discarded clipboard and or headset. [02:48:56] Speaker A: Make me. [02:48:57] Speaker E: It doesn't even have to have details on or anything. Just a clipboard itself, even. [02:49:01] Speaker A: It's just a clipboard. You can find a headset. You'd have to actually go looking for. [02:49:05] Speaker E: I'll see if I can find a headset as well. More pieces to the ensemble wouldn't. [02:49:10] Speaker A: So that's give me wits. An investigation or intelligent investigation, depending on what you have higher. [02:49:18] Speaker E: It's definitely wits. [02:49:23] Speaker A: Let's see here. Zephyr, are you looking for exploding things? [02:49:27] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm just getting my little rat hands in there, looking around. [02:49:33] Speaker A: Make me an let's go with intelligence and either investigation or science. Your choice. And you can add one die for ordinance. Would you like to burn a willpower, Gary? [02:49:58] Speaker E: No, I'll take the one. I don't want to burn too many. [02:50:01] Speaker D: Okay. [02:50:02] Speaker E: Because I at least have the clipboard. [02:50:04] Speaker A: Which is you find a clipboard and you find what looks like a trucker hat with the band's thing on it. [02:50:18] Speaker E: I'll take it. I'll put that on as well. [02:50:21] Speaker A: It looks really new, so if anybody looks too closely, they're going to tell that you just scooped it up off of a table in the back. But it's more than what you had before, Elijah. Three successes. Yeah, you absolutely can. [02:50:41] Speaker B: Yeah. That's looking sad. Oh, that's much better. Five. [02:50:47] Speaker A: That is much better. Okay. You start looking, and it doesn't take you long to start finding what look like small explosives that look like they're all on. Like they're strung together, essentially, like there's wiring connecting them. So that if one goes off, it creates a chain reaction and they all go off. It's not the most sophisticated thing you've ever seen before. You've got enough experience that you probably would have done this better. Especially knowing that you fucked up during your job where Jillian was captured. You know what mistakes you made. And you have been actively thinking since finding that out about the things you would have refined to make it better, to make it more effective. So you know how they work. You know where a good chunk of them are, at least the ones in the front of the house. You assume, because looking at the amounts, it's not so much that this would level the building. This would do some serious damage. It would definitely impact structural integrity. But it looks like these were set up mostly so that when they go off, they stop people from being able to run. Does that make sense? [02:52:19] Speaker B: Yeah, I kind of want to disarm it, but also I don't want to set it off. [02:52:31] Speaker A: You are certainly welcome to try and disarm it. From what you can tell, it would take a lot to set it off from here. Like, you'd have to seriously fuck up to set it off. From here. Because this is not designed to go off at like a hair trigger. This is designed to go off with a very specific pulse through those wires. It would take time because there are multiple things that you're going to have to disable. But if you are willing to invest the time and go from one to the next, you could certainly disable them and you would give people a better chance to run. If an explosion does happen in the back, this would be a much safer way for them and for emergency responders to be able to get in. And. [02:53:23] Speaker B: Yeah, I'll go ahead and try to disarm it. [02:53:27] Speaker A: Okay, very cool. We will come back to that. And I'll have you make a roll in a bit, ladies. You two go at it. And Victoria, you've been in enough cat fights to know that security is hesitating. Because while security will break up fights between dudes, getting in the middle of a girl fight is never wise because girls are vicious. Girls will grab things and rip them out of your skin, kind of vicious. So given the number of successes earlier, you let it go on just about as long as you think you can get away with before they'll start physically hauling you apart. And then you sort of shove Rosanna back and away from you. [02:54:24] Speaker D: Before I do that, I want to tell her, distract them, and I am going to take off the moment I shove her away. [02:54:35] Speaker A: Like running? [02:54:36] Speaker D: Yeah. I want to get to the stage right, because I need to set up the equipment. [02:54:43] Speaker A: Okay. All right. So you shove Rosanna back. Rosanna, what are you going to do with that message? [02:54:55] Speaker C: She's going to fall on the floor, lift her head up, and a couple of tears are going to fall from her face. [02:55:10] Speaker A: And she's a melodrama. [02:55:13] Speaker C: Yeah, she's going to be melodramatic, but look hot while doing it. She's just going to look out to one of the guards and just kind of give him the, you help me up eyes. [02:55:29] Speaker A: Okay. [02:55:30] Speaker D: It's the same guard from earlier that. [02:55:33] Speaker A: Were like, I was worried I was. [02:55:34] Speaker D: Gonna get attacked because my friends are here. [02:55:38] Speaker E: You just west side. [02:55:40] Speaker A: Victoria, what do you have to do to get out of despair? [02:55:45] Speaker D: I have to best someone. Best my quarry. Hold on, let me look at it. It's pride, which I think is best your quarry in any kind of altercation, be it physical or non physical. [02:56:02] Speaker A: Zephyr, what do you have to do to get out of despair? [02:56:06] Speaker B: I have to get in the good graces of the quarry or collect a piece of their power. [02:56:16] Speaker A: Well, depending on how your attempt to disarm things goes that might pull you out of despair because you'll literally have access to a ton of explosives, which is kind of where a lot of their power comes from right now. Okay. Victoria, you have to best your quarry. Well, unfortunately, security is not your quarry. [02:56:39] Speaker D: Is Rosanna my quarry. [02:56:43] Speaker A: Now, I was. [02:56:47] Speaker C: Made to look hot and be a distraction, not fight. I don't know what you want from me. [02:56:55] Speaker A: Rosanna. Amelia is standing nearby. Looks like she has no idea what to do. And then you see her face change. Like she has made a decision and is determined to do something. And she takes a couple of steps back and then takes a running leap at the nearest security guard. So while multiple security guards are trying to help you, them, a couple of them look confused and are, like, looking after Victoria. And people are shouting and there's just general chaos. Like, nobody knows what to do with this situation because Victoria just fucking, like, there's confusion about who's going to help you, who's going after, like, all of that. The nearest security guard to you kind of shudders. Like, this full body shudder. And his face screws up for a minute. He looks really uncomfortable before it passes, and then his head snaps up because I'll get her. And, like, this really thick accent that you're pretty sure he didn't have when you talked to him earlier. And then he turns and he runs after Victoria. You, meanwhile, are left to play the rest of them like a fucking fiddle. So I would like to see a charisma, performance or persuasion. [02:58:37] Speaker C: Can I add my looks? [02:58:39] Speaker A: You absolutely could add your looks. However, you are at a negative one because of your nightmares. Okay. [02:58:59] Speaker C: I'm going to reroll some of those. [02:59:01] Speaker A: Okay. [02:59:04] Speaker C: There we go. [02:59:05] Speaker A: That's much better. Yeah. So you've got people wrapped around your finger. Somebody's talking about maybe, like, calling an ambulance because maybe you're hurt. Somebody else is like, we'll just take her to the first aid tent. There's a lot of. Just, like, you're getting babied. And more than one looks like he is eager for your phone number but is not saying it because he doesn't want to be employed. [02:59:29] Speaker D: Bad times weren't my guy. [02:59:32] Speaker C: No one's getting, like, the extra eyes. [02:59:38] Speaker A: Victoria, there is a security guard chasing you. [02:59:46] Speaker D: Instinct dictates to try to lose him. I assume we've studied floor plans of this place since we're trying to. [02:59:53] Speaker A: Absolutely. [02:59:54] Speaker D: So I'm going to try and just lose him. If worse comes to worse, Gozer is going to pop out of wherever he's being secret at grapple him. And I'm just going to try and punch the guy out. I'm not great at punching people out, so that's the flaw in that plan. [03:00:14] Speaker A: Okay. So to try and lose him, I'm going to say it's a wits and stealth. Okay. I love everything about this. Y'all are just this bucket of chaos. [03:00:35] Speaker D: Two successes. [03:00:37] Speaker A: Two successes isn't bad. [03:00:39] Speaker D: I might use a reroll here because this is kind of crucial. [03:00:43] Speaker A: You can if you want to. Three successes. Yeah. So you duck around the corner and you're pretty sure you've lost him. And a couple of minutes later he runs by where you have ducked into, like you turn into basically like a little side hallway and you're kind of ducked down and waiting. And Gozer's next to you, it looks ready to pounce. And you watch him run by. You notice that his gate is a little awkward. It's like he doesn't quite know how. [03:01:08] Speaker C: To move in his. [03:01:11] Speaker A: And then the footsteps stop after about five to 10ft and he's like, damn it, she's fucking fast. [03:01:20] Speaker D: Like an empty sea in a video game. Where did she go? [03:01:25] Speaker E: Spin the wind. [03:01:28] Speaker A: Well, all right. Well, now I'm back here, what the hell do I do? Just kind of hang my head and. [03:01:42] Speaker D: Wait for him to leave. [03:01:44] Speaker A: You watch him pass by again, but going back in the direction that he came from, like just looking around awkwardly doesn't spot you at all. [03:01:55] Speaker D: Awesome. [03:01:56] Speaker A: And you and Gozer managed to sneak out of your little hiding spot. Okay, cool. Jesse. [03:02:06] Speaker E: Yes. Okay, so I'm backstage. [03:02:10] Speaker A: You are. You are dressed like worst roadie in. [03:02:13] Speaker C: Existence, but you're backstage. [03:02:14] Speaker E: Going to try my best. Before I got there is an access to the main stage itself from backstage, right? [03:02:20] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, absolutely. [03:02:21] Speaker E: I won't go onto the main stage. [03:02:24] Speaker A: Okay. [03:02:25] Speaker E: With my clipboard, my hat, trying to look the part. So I kind of go up to the main stage and I'm going to, in my loudest voice possible, just call it to everyone that's still like straggling in here. So tension, everyone. We're really sorry about the whole delays going on. We're working on the power, but as like an apology for that, the venue has ordered some food trucks. They're going to be outside in a little bit. So we encourage you. Go enjoy those, get something to eat, have some fun. And once we're all good to go, we can bring you all back in and have a good show. How's that? I want to go to the edge of the stage after that and then try to motion the nearest guard or security guard I see over as well. [03:03:03] Speaker A: Give me manipulation and subterfuge. You get two extra dice because you were tempting them with food. [03:03:11] Speaker E: All right. Anything for the equipment as well that I'm wearing. [03:03:16] Speaker A: I'll give you one die for the not amazing equipment. Yes. [03:03:21] Speaker E: Okay. All right, that's ten dice. [03:03:26] Speaker A: Not bad at all. So many dice asking for extras, like you needed them. [03:03:35] Speaker E: Maybe I do. [03:03:37] Speaker A: Would you like to reroll anything? [03:03:39] Speaker E: I'll reroll them. Why not? Just so make sure it's really effective. Yeah. Now that. [03:03:45] Speaker A: Wow. All right. Seven successes. Good Lord. Yeah. So you begin effectively a mass exodus. It's not a panicked run or anything like that, but people, there's kind of, like this murmur among the crowd where they're like, you could tell that a lot of people are kind of discussing it between themselves. And then not everybody, but a large portion of people turn and start walking for the access. [03:04:14] Speaker E: Yeah. Then I kind of try to wave the nearest security guard I see over. [03:04:19] Speaker A: He comes over. He looks confused, like he does not recognize you. [03:04:25] Speaker E: So what they want is to basically just get as many people encouraged to go out and enjoy that as possible. And then once that happens, assuming we get everyone, which what we want. That's ideal. But might not happen, probably won't happen, is basically get all of you guys, all the security guards outside barring the gates, make sure no one else comes in with just, like, a few people remaining inside to look around, make sure no one else is in here, and then get those people out. There are people in here. [03:04:53] Speaker A: Why? What the hell is going on? [03:04:57] Speaker E: I don't know. I'm just doing what I'm told here, man. Something about make sure no one's in the way while they fix the power and they check out all the breakers and the wires. I don't know. [03:05:08] Speaker A: We've been telling them for years they've got to check the wiring. [03:05:11] Speaker E: Exactly. That's what I've been saying as well. That's what I've been saying. But, no, they're like, it's fine. And then this happens, and now we have this whole debacle, and we all got to just pull things out of nowhere. [03:05:21] Speaker A: All right, fine. See what I can do. [03:05:24] Speaker E: Thank you. Man. [03:05:28] Speaker A: He looks frustrated and confused, but not at you. He just looks annoyed that this is what his night has become. Like. He thought he was going to get to see a cool show, maybe make sure that nobody jumps up on stage. And here he is dealing with this bullshit, and you see him and the other guards kind of split up and start collecting the stragglers and urging them to head out. You do hear a couple of them mention that the electricity is a little bit of a probleM, and they just want to make sure that while they're doing tests and whatever, nobody gets stray sparks and there's no risk that an overhead light's going to explode or something like that. [03:06:09] Speaker E: That's what I want. [03:06:17] Speaker A: So. Excellent. That happens. That is happening. Zephyr, my darling, I would like you to make another roll. Same dice, your. Your improvised stuff with the ordinance bonus and all that stuff. [03:06:38] Speaker B: The seven one, right? [03:06:40] Speaker A: Yes. Oh, would you like to reroll? [03:06:47] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm rerolling that. [03:06:49] Speaker A: My God. [03:06:50] Speaker B: No. We all die. I'm so sorry, guys. [03:06:55] Speaker A: Well, thankfully, it was only going to cause an explosion if you got one or less. Oh, fuck. You do manage to ruin a couple of the explosives, but you managed to get a hold of a couple as well, so you are no longer in despair. In the future, you will be able to use that. The explosives are now on your person, the ones that are still working. There are some where it's just like the wiring was so bad that you couldn't save it, so you just basically botched their stuff to make sure that it wouldn't work at all. But it's not going to work for anybody without extensive effort to try and recover it. But what you could do on the fly allowed you to collect several explosives. So you now have a source of the enemy's power at your fingertips. I just imagine you shoving pieces of explosives into the pockets of this jacket that you're wearing. All right, Victoria. [03:08:02] Speaker D: All right. Do I make it backstage to where all the instruments and stuff are? [03:08:08] Speaker A: You are walking through the service areas, headed basically the same direction that Jesse did. What you notice is that there are several, what look like roadies and even a couple of security people who are headed in the opposite direction, and they are talking about food trucks. [03:08:28] Speaker D: Oh, excellent. [03:08:30] Speaker A: They don't seem to pay you any mind. They just walk by. [03:08:33] Speaker D: Excellent. I'm going to act like a roadie. While they're all off getting their food trucks, if anyone approaches me for any reason, I'll be like, wait, you don't like food? Just kind of remind them that the food truck is there and continue working. My plan is to make sure that all the sound systems are set up so that when the power comes back on, I'm going to find a secure place to kind of like, belt music through the mic and try to seal the fail here. [03:09:08] Speaker A: Okay. So I would like you to make. [03:09:17] Speaker D: There's a lot happening there. [03:09:18] Speaker A: There is a lot happening. You're trying to do so many things at once. [03:09:22] Speaker D: I see. Most everything's set up, so I'd just be doing a check of the systems. [03:09:27] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm less concerned about the check of the systems and more concerned about how you're going to get there and what to have you roll for that. [03:09:33] Speaker E: I'm also back there. Am I able to come back around and assist? If possible. [03:09:39] Speaker A: Yeah, you could probably meet Victoria. It's more about, all right, Victoria, make me a manipulation and stealth roll. Let's just make sure that you can get past where security tends to be at the thickest, which is around where the band and all of their very expensive equipment would be. [03:10:00] Speaker D: Please, dice. [03:10:13] Speaker A: That's not bad. You get a couple of weird looks, but you're back here, so people know. It's one of those things where Victoria has learned that if you walk like you belong here, if you act like you belong, people won't question you too much. And it doesn't hurt when Jesse kind of comes around the corner and spots you and goes, oh, hey, I've been looking for you. [03:10:35] Speaker E: Exactly. [03:10:37] Speaker A: Jumps into a conversation with you. The others are like, oh, okay. [03:10:40] Speaker E: I'm also going to try snag, like, an extra clipboard and just hand that to her. Just carry this. It'll make it way more believable. I've done this trick so many times. [03:10:51] Speaker A: Nobody questions the guy with the clipboard. [03:10:53] Speaker E: Clipboards and ladders are the way to go. [03:10:56] Speaker A: So you guys head toward. Head toward the back. Um, I shouldn't say you head toward the back. You head toward the stage where you notice that it's. It's become a little bit of a ghost town. There's, like, a very small number of people that are still kind of milling around. You don't see anybody in the crowd. You see a couple of roadies who look like they're, like, double checking wires. Everybody seems like they're very on edge about this electricity problem now that there's a rumor going around that the electricity in the building is bad. So they're, like, really looking and double checking and making sure. Just going to remind you that nobody has been looking for the main cache of explosives, which would all be in the back. [03:11:59] Speaker D: Yeah. Hey, Jesse, I'm going to ask you to take Gozer while I'm doing this, because he's not going to help me much. Maybe his nose can sniff out something that goes boom for you. I'm going to take a microphone. I'm going to probably call into the lighting scaffolding and start playing as soon as I can. If you see anyone coming for me, if anyone's discovered my position, intervention would be nice, but I'll watch her back. Thanks. Just try to find the bombs first. [03:12:36] Speaker E: I think me and Gozer are on it. Just kind of motion for Gozer in like a very casual way, as if he's like a person. Be like, all right, let's go, bud. [03:12:46] Speaker A: All right, Gozer comes with you. I'm going to have you make a role, but this is not to see if Gozer is going to play along. This is more to see how good of a team you and Gozer are. I would like you to roll your charisma plus animal handling or animal Ken or whatever it is. I would like you to add three dice. [03:13:18] Speaker E: This will also be a big tool. That's two. But I'm burning through willpower so fast. Yeah. I'm going to reroll. [03:13:35] Speaker A: Four successes. That's not bad. Okay. It's a little awkward, mostly because Gozer seems to want all of your attention more than he wants to do the thing that you need him to do. But after a little bit, after some back and forth, and you kind know. [03:13:52] Speaker E: I'm like, Gozer, if you listen to me, I'll give you a Gozer snack or something. I'll give you two Gozer snacks. [03:14:00] Speaker A: Spare ribs. I heard them talk about spare ribs. There will be so many spare ribs for you later, but you two cut a head off. Okay, Victoria, does Gozer have, like, an investigation or a perception? [03:14:18] Speaker D: Let me look at his sheet. Awareness. That's it. Yeah. [03:14:25] Speaker A: What skills does he have? [03:14:29] Speaker D: Okay, he has physical, five. Social, one. Mental, one. Awareness, four. Brawl, six. Intimidation, four. And stealth, four. [03:14:40] Speaker A: Okay, but he doesn't have, like. [03:14:45] Speaker D: Investigate. [03:14:46] Speaker A: No. Okay, well, then we're going to go with investigation or perception or whatever it's called. [03:14:54] Speaker D: Awareness. [03:14:54] Speaker E: Awareness. [03:14:55] Speaker A: Awareness, yes. Thank you. [03:14:57] Speaker D: Okay, would you like his mental? I guess. [03:15:04] Speaker A: Let'S do mental. Okay. [03:15:06] Speaker D: Physical could also work because he's sniffing. [03:15:08] Speaker A: Oh, that's true. Let's go physical. That's a good point. [03:15:11] Speaker D: Very good. A massive dice. Are rules better than I do? [03:15:24] Speaker E: Goes are better than I did. [03:15:26] Speaker A: Seven successes. Okay, so, Jesse, you kind of have to track down the first example, which doesn't take. Basically, you've got enough experience as a hunter to know that if you want to take out a building, you go to the place where the most weight rests and you pretty immediately find an example. And it's a big example. Like, you can tell that this is serious shit. This could level a good chunk of the building. But that's all gozer needs to get the scent. And he's off. Thankfully, you guys studied the plans. It's very easy for you to kind of mentally note where all of these clusters of explosives are. But he is on it. He is a sniffing machine. You do have numbers for the rest of the group. I'm just going to go ahead and hand wave and say that was something that you guys discussed, was that if you got split up, you have ways to communicate. And you know that Zephyr is incredibly skilled with the boom booms. If you are not yourself skilled. I'm not sure. I don't remember. [03:16:41] Speaker E: No. Once I find all that, I'll, I guess Walkie. Zephyr calls everybody and just be like, text him. Yeah, that would take way too long for Jesse. [03:16:57] Speaker A: No, that's fair. You can call him. [03:16:59] Speaker E: Yeah, that's like, hey, me and Gozer found the main stash. Get over here whenever you're done dealing with whatever. And I'm not going to touch anything. [03:17:10] Speaker B: Okay, I'm on the way. I found some by the front of the building. [03:17:18] Speaker E: Are they handled or still alive or what? [03:17:21] Speaker B: We're all good. [03:17:23] Speaker E: Okay, cool. Kind of backstage. I'll just give them, like, directions. Yeah, I'll leave the rest to you. Keep an eye on it. Kind of keep an eye on Victoria. Try to do both at the same. [03:17:37] Speaker B: Yep. [03:17:38] Speaker A: Excellent. Victoria, you are climbing to get to a point where you can kind of hide among the scaffolding and everything else without being spotted. You have got yourself one of the wireless mics. You have no idea if you're going to generate feedback where you are. There's a chance, but until there's power, you have no way of knowing. Rosanna, that awkward security guard that did the full body shutter and ran away, has returned to where you are looking slightly bewildered at the first aid tent. Ma'am, maybe I should escort you. [03:18:26] Speaker C: That might help. [03:18:29] Speaker A: All right, let's get you, I don't know, back to your people. [03:18:37] Speaker C: She's just going to wrap her arm around him and let the security guard drag her off. [03:18:49] Speaker A: The rest of the security guards look vaguely put out that you were leaving without giving anyone your number. [03:18:57] Speaker C: For shits and giggles. She's just going to slide one of them her number. It's like a very. One of those in the pockets as she's walking out. She doesn't really care who. Yeah. [03:19:08] Speaker A: Excellent. Awesome. [03:19:09] Speaker C: Make one of them happy. Jesus. [03:19:11] Speaker A: Okay. You hear a little bit of commotion behind you as the others are like, oh, man, why has it always got to be you? It's always you that comes home with three new numbers every time an event happens. Amelia, on the other hand, is like, it's really weird being this. [03:19:34] Speaker C: The, what's the weather lock up there. [03:19:38] Speaker A: I mean, it's nowhere near as weird as. And she'll just kind of look down the front of her body. [03:19:47] Speaker C: What are you. Oh, yeah. [03:19:50] Speaker A: Awkward, is it? Yeah. It's got to be something that you just get used to. But I don't have time. I don't have time to get used to it. [03:20:03] Speaker C: Do not envy you right now. [03:20:05] Speaker A: The voice starts getting more and more effeminate. You've got this big, bulky security guard. [03:20:12] Speaker C: Listen, after all of this, we'll go get gumbo. We'll go do whatever you want. But for now, you got to be. Yeah. [03:20:26] Speaker A: You walk by people who are looking at you like you have lost your damn mind. All riGht. Thankfully, you now have a security guard who just escorts you backstage. Not a huge deal. And you arrive roughly at the area where Jesse and Gozer currently are at about the same time that Zephyr manages to get there. It takes Zephyr a little bit longer. Like, Zephyr shows up about 20 to 20 to 30 seconds later. Because Zephyr, you had to take a rather circuitous route through the service tunnels and everything else. And things are not labeled. Well, in this place, everything sort of looks the same. It's just all these just gray walls, gray cinder block walls. It's really hard to follow, like where you're going. But eventually you show up and you see Rosanna and Jesse at about the same time. You all get the text from Victoria that Victoria has managed to get into place. And it is at about that time when one of the people that was in the list of NEM members kind of comes around a corner looking really frustrated and muttering something about circuits and wiring being cut off and what the fuck is going on and what's up with this weird power outage? And they look up and they spot you. Now you have managed to catch them off guard. You guys have one round before I'm going to call for actually entering combat to see if you guys can disable this person. [03:22:29] Speaker E: Tackling them. [03:22:32] Speaker A: Disable this person before they have a chance to raise the alarm and potentially kick off an entire combat. [03:22:39] Speaker E: I'm flying through the air, tackling this guy, trying to get him to the ground. [03:22:43] Speaker A: I'm going to assume that because Gozer is with Jesse. Gozer is going to follow suit. Yes. [03:22:48] Speaker E: Awesome. [03:22:49] Speaker A: Rosanna alarm goes through you and worry. You feel that tension that always comes when a fight's about to start. But it's different this time. That tingly warmth in your chest gets really intense and shoots down your arm. And before you realize what's happening, branches start to sprout out of your palm and wrap around each other and form a bow. You can see the string, nobody else can, but the string looks like silver gossamer. Impossibly strong, but almost, but barely there. And you just instinctively know somehow that if you pull back on the string, an arrow will be there. [03:23:49] Speaker C: Yeah. So she's going to pull back and then release. [03:23:57] Speaker A: Okay, cool. So I would like Jesse to make me strength and brawl Gozer to make me physical and brawl. Does Gozer have brawl? Yes. Physical and brawl Gozer to make me physical and brawl Rosanna to make me whatever your firearms, roll those decks and firearms or composure and firearms or whatever. [03:24:21] Speaker C: It is mine do their composure or resolve in firearms. [03:24:24] Speaker A: Whichever you would like to use. [03:24:26] Speaker E: That's four successes for me. [03:24:30] Speaker A: Four successes for you. Four successes for Gozer. Rosanna. Four successes. Sweet baby Jesus. [03:24:40] Speaker D: I want to point out Gozer's pool of eleven dice for this role. [03:24:45] Speaker A: Yeah, I understand. I played a character with the guard dog in the last game, remember? Yeah, it was amazing. Zephyr, is there anything that you would like to do or are you immediately going to the explosives? Are you entrusting dealing with the threat to them while you disable the. [03:25:08] Speaker B: Yeah, Rosanna's got a whole thing going on. So I'm just like, they got. Just let me take care of this. [03:25:14] Speaker A: Okay. So I'm going to let you roll your seven dice. I'm also going to allow you to add your desperation to this. You have seen what they are doing. You understand how it works. I will consider that for the sake of making the mechanics work for us, I will consider that a modification for you. You also have many examples of this big thing and that's plus Four, right? [03:25:38] Speaker B: For desperation? [03:25:39] Speaker D: Yes. [03:25:40] Speaker A: You guys are currently at four dice. [03:25:42] Speaker B: Okay. [03:25:49] Speaker A: Fuck. [03:25:50] Speaker B: Guess we're going into despair. [03:25:55] Speaker A: It's still six successes. That's pretty good. You can choose overreach. It just makes your danger go up by one. And you guys won't be at five. [03:26:06] Speaker B: What level are we at now? [03:26:08] Speaker A: Three. [03:26:09] Speaker B: Three? Yeah. [03:26:17] Speaker A: Now reroll. Well, no, you don't need to reroll your failures. You've got six. That's great. Okay, so danger goes up. Excellent. Okay, so a lot of things happen at once. I'm not even going to have this guy try to roll against you. Like, there were just too many successes for him to have a fucking prayer of overcoming. So Gozer and Jesse hit this guy all at once. Jesse, could you make me a composure and subterfuge roll, please? [03:27:06] Speaker E: All right, that is five. [03:27:18] Speaker A: Okay, cool. Very cool. You and Gozer both just body this dude at the same time. You basically impact the body at the same time. The whole body seems to kind of spasm and jerk. And you can see this light at the center of their chest. And then Rosanna does this thing where she reaches into the air like she's gesturing, like she's grabbing something above her head. And then she almost acts like she's pulling backwards. And you see, for just a moment, you see a ghostly form ripped out of this body. As you push the body back, the ghostly form goes back towards where Rosanna is. Like it's forced towards her by a couple of feet. The body goes limp with you and Gozer kind of on top of it. Gozer is growling and spins and turns on the ghost. [03:28:29] Speaker E: I'm going to get the body away and try to start dragging away, because from what I know, I feel like ghost has been taken out of body. This guy's just a guy now. [03:28:37] Speaker A: Yeah, the guy's just a guy, and he's unconscious. He's not going to be able to do much of anything for right now. So you drag him away. Gozer is turned on the ghost. Rosanna, you've managed to force this ghost out of the body of the person it was possessing. Beautiful Victoria. You notice before anybody else does because they've got so much chaos going on over there. You hear the of electricity and then the chunk, chunk, chunk, chunk, chunk. As lights start to come on. Okay. [03:29:19] Speaker D: I don't waste any time. I have my violin in hand. I start using the same principle of the resonance of my bells to basically belt out the eerie tune that this time, instead of opening first, I'm going to go straight to the closing of the veil. [03:29:35] Speaker A: You want to try and strengthen the veil in the sand? Yeah. Okay. Very cool. All right, make me your role. [03:29:44] Speaker D: I want to make an argument for performance, but if you want me to. [03:29:48] Speaker A: Do, I am happy to allow performance, and I will give you an Extra two dice because you were doing it over speakers. [03:29:55] Speaker D: Awesome. [03:29:56] Speaker A: You have a massive sound system at your disposal. [03:30:07] Speaker D: I also have a specialty in violin. Is that okay to use? [03:30:10] Speaker A: Absolutely. Okay. [03:30:24] Speaker C: Oof. [03:30:25] Speaker D: I'm going to reroll the failures because there are many. [03:30:29] Speaker A: Okay, four successes. Four is not bad. You're a little caught off guard. There is some feedback at first. And your ears, which were already ringing from the damage you did to them yesterday, don't appreciate it. You wince really hard and for a moment you feel almost deaf. It's like you're playing with Cottonwol in your ears, but you push through and you continue to play. Rosanna and Zephyr, you feel the shift in the air around you. Rosanna, the air feels thick and heavy and warm. Zephyr, you're not sure what's going on, but something big is happening and you can hear Victoria's violin. So whatever it is has obviously got to do with what she's doing. Okay, y'all have bodied this challenge. I did not think it was going to go this well for you. [03:31:38] Speaker D: Well, it's because we did so badly with the Reapers. [03:31:44] Speaker A: Came back with a vengeance. Came back with a vengeance. You all, somehow I'm going to make what would probably be a longer story short so that we can get to the point where you just have to get out of the building without getting caught. Zephyr, with that many successes, manages to gather nearly every bit of explosives that are left. He requires Jesse to help carry some of it because there's so much, but manages to clear out 90% of it. Zephyr, you may not necessarily need to use all of this, but you have done some shady shit in your life and you know that this stuff would catch a pretty penny. And you have somebody in your cell who could probably help you sell it. Victoria, you, despite your hearing, taking a bit of a beating again. With that feedback from. From the sound system, you are filled with a sense of just victory. Raw, unabashed victory. You are no longer in despair. You play. There is general confusion. Amelia has kind of broken off from the rest of the group, like when she realized what was happening. You saw the security guard bolt for the stage and the audience areas. And as you are climbing down from the scaffolding, Victoria and everybody is kind of gathering back up. That security guard comes back and is panting heavily. Man, this body doesn't run enough. All right, so we got a little bit. We got not long, but we got a little bit. I sort of barricaded the doors from the inside. [03:33:49] Speaker D: See, I knew nothing about Amelia being in this body. So I like to imagine as he comes running up, I immediately go into a stance like, I am going to knock your lights out. And then it's like, oh, this body feels funny. And it's like oh, Amelia. [03:34:06] Speaker A: Hi. You look great, by the way. But we should go. It's not going to take long before they realize that that music wasn't the only weird thing going on. Okay. [03:34:16] Speaker D: Yeah, that takes a lot out of me. So I'm going to lean on you a bit. Let's go. [03:34:27] Speaker A: You see that? For a moment, the guard looks hesitant, and then just sort of bends and puts his shoulder under your stomach. And then just bodies. You just like fucking potato carries you. Sorry. I know, but this is faster. [03:34:50] Speaker D: All right, that's fine. I'll just rest up here. [03:34:54] Speaker C: Can I get my hands to go back to normal? [03:34:58] Speaker A: Your hands are normal. It's just that you're holding a bow. [03:35:01] Speaker C: Oh, cool. [03:35:02] Speaker A: You do get the sense that if you want to get rid of it, it'll just go back into your hand. It'll be very uncomfortable. Okay. [03:35:11] Speaker C: I'm just right in front of the group. I'm just going to flip the bow right back in my hands. [03:35:17] Speaker A: Yeah, Victoria, you watch. Everybody gets to watch as this bow unravels itself into vines again, into those vine like branches, and then pierces into her palm and disappears inside of her. [03:35:30] Speaker E: That's very unsettling. But cool trick, though. Awesome trick. [03:35:35] Speaker D: Blood trickling down my nose, just going, what? [03:35:38] Speaker A: As I'm being carried away. Excellent. Okay. All right, so we're going a little bit over on time, so I'm going to have everybody make me two rolls each. You can make me decks or strength and athletics, or manipulation and stealth, depending on what is higher. Victoria, I will allow you to roll. Manipulation and stealth to add to the dice that I just rolled for Amelia behind the scenes. [03:36:18] Speaker E: Weirdly, it's the exact same for me either way. [03:36:22] Speaker A: And Gozer doesn't have to roll because he's got that thing. [03:36:25] Speaker C: Yeah, it's the same for me, too. [03:36:28] Speaker B: Manipulation and stealth. [03:36:31] Speaker E: I got two successes. [03:36:32] Speaker A: Manipulation at stealth or Dex or strength at athletics. [03:36:38] Speaker B: I have nothing in that. [03:36:40] Speaker C: Yeah, no successes. [03:36:45] Speaker A: All right, does anybody want to spend a willpower? [03:36:48] Speaker B: Yeah. [03:36:51] Speaker D: I guess this is my last. [03:36:52] Speaker A: Willpower. [03:36:57] Speaker E: Because I don't have to worry about this yet. Do we get them all back at the end of the session or some of them? [03:37:01] Speaker A: You get your composure or resolve. Worth it. [03:37:06] Speaker D: Did nothing, but I am tapped. [03:37:10] Speaker A: Okay, everybody rolled once. Yes. [03:37:18] Speaker E: I now have five successes. [03:37:20] Speaker A: Okay, now everybody roll again. And then I want you to give me your total between the two rolls. [03:37:26] Speaker E: Same rolls. [03:37:27] Speaker A: Same rolls. Unless you want to change. [03:37:31] Speaker B: I have four in total. [03:37:35] Speaker E: I have eight in total. [03:37:37] Speaker B: Nice. [03:37:38] Speaker D: I use my despair. [03:37:40] Speaker C: I got two in total. [03:37:41] Speaker A: Yeah, you could absolutely use your desperation dice. [03:37:44] Speaker D: Yeah. Okay. Watch me despair again. Be great. [03:37:51] Speaker C: I've got no bitches in the stealth pool. [03:37:57] Speaker A: You've got two successes, right? Sweet Jesus. Okay. Yeah. All right. So Rosanna definitely holds some people up. The heels were not a great idea. They look amazing, but they were not the best option for what is effectively supposed to be fleeing a crime scene. [03:38:23] Speaker C: It's not for. [03:38:28] Speaker E: I'm just going to turn back and be like, just take them off for now. [03:38:31] Speaker A: There's no time to take them off, unfortunately, but you guys run. Thankfully, Jesse and Zephyr are able to kind of link arms under Rosanna and sort of like half lift her off her feet as they run. It's not amazing. It's a little awkward. Rosanna's feet sort of are forced to kind of like half touch the ground as she's, like, running along. But she is suddenly lighter than before and is less likely to make noise as she's running, like army jogging. Yeah. To be fair, it's mostly Jesse. We've all seen how many strength dice has. I have two. [03:39:15] Speaker D: Oh, hot damn. [03:39:16] Speaker A: All right. Still mostly Jesse because Jesse's got like eight fucking successes. [03:39:20] Speaker E: Arm wrestling competition later. [03:39:23] Speaker A: But you guys manage to bolt for the back doors of the venue and you get through just as a wave of security start pushing in. You can hear them running down towards the. Towards the backstage area. Just as you guys manage to push out of one of the back doors and you slip around, a number of large tour buses and semis that are parked nearby disappear into the. [03:39:58] Speaker E: Are there food trucks? They eventually just go ahead and order them because I said there were going to be some. [03:40:06] Speaker A: If you decide to cross back around front on your way to the RV, which you could absolutely do, or you could take the long route. If you go back around front, there are a couple of food trucks that are completely overwhelmed. Like, there are lines a mile fucking long for these food trucks. And people are bitching that they didn't order enough. And the guys at the food trucks are like yelling that they don't know what they're talking about. Like, nobody ordered this. They just showed up because they heard that the power was out and everybody was outside. Like, these guys basically on their own reconnaissance went. That sounds like good money to me. Let's go. [03:40:44] Speaker E: Awesome. [03:40:47] Speaker A: You guys manage to make it back to the RV? Well, not quite to the RV. You guys kind of stop nearby the front of the building. The security guard puts Victoria down, looks kind of awkward and gives her this, like, lopsided smile. You look real pretty. All right, I gotta go drop off this meat sack. I'll be back. [03:41:19] Speaker D: Thanks, Amelia. [03:41:22] Speaker A: And again with that really awkward gate. Sort of like walks away towards the crowds. [03:41:28] Speaker E: That was Amelia? I thought he just decided to join us for some reason. You guys seem cool with him, so I was just going along with it. [03:41:39] Speaker A: Rosanna, you watch as the security guard kind of goes to where he's mingling just on the edge of the crowd. And then you watch as Amelia sort of peels herself out of his body and returns to you looking awkward and like she Feels like she needs a shower. [03:41:56] Speaker C: You did good work, Amelia. That was fantastic. And you look like you're getting more. [03:42:02] Speaker A: Comfortable with the, yeah, it felt wrong, though. It's weird taking over somebody's body without permission. Well, it seems necessary because you did good. [03:42:21] Speaker C: You did good. And I think I owe you a reward. [03:42:26] Speaker D: Oh, right. I can't hear this. [03:42:29] Speaker A: You can't hear this, but you could hear Rosanna talking. You know that she's talking to Amelia. [03:42:35] Speaker C: And I think I owe you a reward for your hard work. [03:42:42] Speaker A: How about tomorrow or later this evening? I need to just get used to not being in a body for a minute. [03:42:48] Speaker C: I completely understand. [03:42:52] Speaker A: Tell Victoria she's light as a. [03:42:56] Speaker D: Of I'm just laying on my side, my. [03:42:59] Speaker A: Head stolen, and tell Jessie to pick her up. [03:43:04] Speaker C: God, Jesse, mind helping her? [03:43:08] Speaker E: Oh, yeah, yeah, totally. I'm going to go try to help her. [03:43:13] Speaker D: Oh, the ground is so nice and cool. [03:43:16] Speaker E: Yeah, I know, but you got to sit up. [03:43:22] Speaker A: You guys gather up Victoria. Amelia Wanders alongside Rosanna and you reach the RV, feeling, I was going to. [03:43:36] Speaker E: Say, as we get there, I'm like, we took a before picture. It's an old tradition between me and my old partner that we do an after one, too. So everyone get it and I'm going to get the camera ready once more. [03:43:48] Speaker A: And then millions like, damn it, I abandoned my body. [03:43:54] Speaker C: I'll get in this picture. And she's going to reach her marker. [03:43:59] Speaker E: Outline later of where Amelia is and then just snap it. [03:44:04] Speaker C: Rosanna's going to reach her hand out for Amelia to take to step in so she feels part of the picture. [03:44:12] Speaker A: Amelia won't get into your body, but she is going to stand next to you and you can feel where her arm is around your waist. Victoria feels something very similar around her waist, except that it's just cold along the smaller back. And everybody is sort of posed around this empty space where Amelia would be. And that's the photo that you get. [03:44:40] Speaker D: I like to imagine when we develop it. There's like, a smudge there that most people would go, no, it's totally a ghost. No, it's just artifacting. [03:44:48] Speaker A: Right? [03:44:49] Speaker E: I just realized because in the before picture, Arthur's in therE, but in this one, he's not. But we're leaving an empty space. [03:45:01] Speaker C: I like to think that there's that empty space and everybody's smiling around it, too. [03:45:06] Speaker A: Everybody's grinning. Everybody looks really accomplished and happy with themselves. All right, very cool. You all manage to get back to the RV without any issues. You take your photo. Everything is going great. It's a lovely night. Victoria, your phone rings. [03:45:33] Speaker D: I answer it. [03:45:35] Speaker A: Please tell me that you got out of there. [03:45:38] Speaker D: We did. We did it. We stopped it. [03:45:44] Speaker A: Awesome. Great. Are you okay? You don't sound so good. [03:45:50] Speaker D: Oh, I am so messed up. I could use a good night's sleep. [03:45:56] Speaker A: Okay, well, you have my address. Just come by. I've got spare beds and showers. Okay, you've been here. It's a big place. With Victoria's prompting, you guys load up and you find a place to park the RV for the night. Grab your overnight bags and head to what turns out to be. No, I'm sorry, you don't have to find a place to park the RV. You guys kind of go outside of the city a little bit, and you pull up to what ends up being a large manor plantation house that has been overhauled pretty significantly. [03:46:40] Speaker C: Victoria, you never told me that he had a sugar. [03:46:50] Speaker D: You know, I guess I'm not after his money, though. [03:46:56] Speaker E: Do you think he has a laundry room I'm allowed to use? [03:46:59] Speaker D: I think so, yeah. [03:47:00] Speaker E: I've been told I should wash my clothes. [03:47:02] Speaker C: Do you not wash your clothes? [03:47:04] Speaker E: I don't often have time to. I drive a lot. [03:47:08] Speaker C: Everywhere. [03:47:09] Speaker E: I know laundromats are a thing. I just don't often have time to use them. [03:47:13] Speaker C: Oh, my God. Boy, I am going to fucking teach you how to wash a pair of jeans. Jesus Christ. It doesn't seem that difficult. [03:47:23] Speaker B: In the middle of them arguing, I just kind of, like, nudge Jesse, like, a little too hard with my elbow, and I pull out a tour shirt from the venue, and I'm like, you're all right. I hand it to him. [03:47:42] Speaker A: I love it when you guys allowed to use your name, maybe. [03:47:50] Speaker E: Okay, we'll stick with somebody until I'm allowed to. Somebody? [03:47:55] Speaker B: Yeah. [03:47:55] Speaker A: You guys pull up, and as you're pulling up, a handsome older man with dark salt and pepper hair kind of steps out onto the front porch, and he is holding what looks like a glass of bourbon in one hand, and he just sort of leans against one of the pillars, and he's smiling at first until he notices. Whoa. [03:48:20] Speaker B: Fucking God. [03:48:24] Speaker A: He's smiling at first until he notices. [03:48:29] Speaker B: Okay, sorry. [03:48:30] Speaker A: That's all right. He's leaning against one of the pillars, and he is smiling at first until he notices how rough Victoria looks, but also how dressed up she looks. And he looks like he's not entirely sure how he's supposed to react. And then he notices that she seems like she's staggering a little bit, and like she's got to be propped up. And he sets the drink aside, and he walks out rather quickly to where she is and just scoops her up into, like, a princess. Gary. [03:49:05] Speaker D: Yeah. I wrap my arms around him. And I missed you. [03:49:11] Speaker A: Miss you too, Shaw. Let's go. And he'll kind of lead the way. Inside you are met with a younger man who looks like he could be a younger version of who you now assume is Dietrich. They don't look exactly alike, but he looks like he could be a younger version of him. He looks like he's maybe 19. [03:49:40] Speaker D: And he's like, all right, that Dietrich has children. [03:49:44] Speaker A: Dietrich does not have children. He does, however, have a much younger brother that he very recently met and has kind of taken in. What little you know is that this kid spent most of his life in the system until Dietrich found him. But he kind of greets the rest of you, points out where the kitchen is, points out where the spare rooms are, says you guys could take whatever rooms you want. Makes note that there is dog food. Like, really nice, high end dog food in the kitchen for Gozer. You can help yourself to whatever food is available, and that every room has its own private bath. So you all are welcome to relax and get pampered and feel better. All right, I have one more thing, and then I swear we're done. Sorry that we went a little bit over Rosanna. As you are settling in for the night, you have your laptop, and you're just doing your general check ins, trying to see what's going on. And you have a new email from Peter. [03:51:07] Speaker C: I open it almost immediately. [03:51:11] Speaker A: Dear Rosie, I can tell you've had a rough go of it. The fact that Jay is alive is startling, considering you had said she was not earlier. The fact that she came to you after the destruction of life that happened, I'm not sure it would be wise to trust her, especially if she seems not herself. For VZ and a give them space, but let them know you're there. If this is a great shock to them, as great a shock to them as it is for you, then it is certainly time to be supportive of each other. I'm. Well, I've been working for the past few days now. A few of the contractors working for us tried to steal from the company storage and needed to be let go. Also found out one of the college interns was a company spy for a competitor. We had a polite chat with them on ethics and then brought the situation to light with their dean. It's a shame, honestly. They were so bright otherwise. I'm safe and sound. A little tired as of late, but that's what happens when you're working so often. No rest for the wicked, I suppose. I'll try to send you a voice message when I get time. Sincerely, Peter and that ladies and gentlemen, is where we are going to end for the night. Thank you for joining us.