S2 Ep4: Gun in My Hand

[00:00:35] Speaker A: Hi, I'm legacy, and I'll be playing Rosanna. [00:00:38] Speaker B: Hi, I'm Scott, and I will be playing Arthur. [00:00:42] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Termite, and I'll be playing Piper. [00:00:45] Speaker D: And I'm bloody porcelain. I will be your storyteller for the evening. You. The nature of corruption is not a darkness that exists outside of humankind, but rather the things humankind is willing to do when it believes its ends are just. What is the price of a bit of magic? A supernatural edge? A piece of forbidden knowledge? The answer is always the same corruption. Little by little, inch by inch, a soul is darkened by ambition, by curiosity, and by obsession. In every case, the blackened soul makes the same plea. But it was necessary. The ODs are stacked against us. We needed these answers. We had to do it. It would be madness. Tonight, let's return to telling a story about the Mad Men. Good evening, hunters. When last we left off, you were dealing with quite a number of things, really. The realization had hit our three hunters who followed Rosanna to her date night with her friend, that they had left behind Victoria's body unprotected, and simply hoped that no one would come looking or stumble across it. The realization and revelation came up that lunar moths were the calling card of the Linnaeus Society, a fact that Arthur was aware of, but had deemed not to share right away until they returned and found her body gone. Rosanna summoned up her gumption to finally use a piece of knowledge, a little bit of power that had come to her after a vision, to summon what turned out to be the source of all of her magic. And found out that it wasn't her magic at all, but the magic of some strange, powerful woman who seems to have been tied to Rosanna's bloodline. Isabel suffered the effects of a particularly nasty curse in which she can only see the world through crumbling ruins and decaying corpses. Piper was confronted with the information that an agent who has previously looked into her is currently siddling up alongside someone who means quite a bit to her. And Arthur was confronted that after two months of not reaching out to his wife, the speaker has taken her back into his close personal circle and may even be moving her to Louisiana. Ah, unless I forget. Rosanna was also confronted with the knowledge that her sister is out there somewhere and apparently bears the mark of the church where we left off. Rosanna had summoned this woman. Arthur, Isabelle and Piper were looking on as Rosanna asked questions and managed to pull tidbits of information from this woman, who is apparently bound to her in silver and gold chains. And that is where we will pick up. Still in the middle of this parking lot. In the middle of a glade. That is impossible. Couldn't possibly be real. The plant life is too vibrant. The smell of the flowers is too pungent. And let's not forget that this is in the middle of a paved parking lot, surrounded by buildings where none of these things could possibly have occurred naturally. Rosanna, she is kneeling in front of you, having just told you that your family are thieves. [00:05:51] Speaker A: How long. How long has this gone on? [00:06:00] Speaker D: He sort of looks around for a moment and then shakes her head. I don't know. I'm not always aware of the passage of time when I can't be called upon. I'm in a place that's dark and quiet. It's like I'm sleeping without dreams. Close. We'll. [00:06:45] Speaker A: We'll get this fixed. [00:06:50] Speaker D: She seems surprised to hear you say that you want to fix it. [00:07:04] Speaker A: I have always been under the impression that there was something wrong. I didn't know if it was with me or with my family. And now I know it ain't worth having if someone had to suffer to get it. [00:07:39] Speaker D: She still. Again, she looks surprised. Um, like she doesn't quite know what to say to that. Like the last thing she expected was for you to make some sort of vow that you were going to find a way to fix what was done to her. And she kind of shifts in place where she's kneeling in front of you, like she's trying to get slightly more comfortable. And when she does, the chains kind of rattle a little bit and they slip just a little bit around her wrist. Like, they're not loose enough to come off, but they move just a bit. And you can see, like, redness marring that kind of perfect skin. Isabelle, are you watching? [00:08:41] Speaker E: Yeah. Because if I remember correctly, things look more normal than they. [00:08:46] Speaker D: Very normal. Can you make me a perception and medicine? Check. [00:08:52] Speaker E: Intelligence, medicine. [00:08:54] Speaker A: Nope. [00:08:54] Speaker D: Perception and medicine. [00:08:55] Speaker A: Wits. [00:08:56] Speaker D: Wits and medicine. I apologize. Listen, I run many systems. Oh, you're good. [00:09:01] Speaker E: That's why I was, like, clarifying. Like, is it. [00:09:06] Speaker D: Yeah, wits. My bad. [00:09:15] Speaker E: That is seven successes. [00:09:18] Speaker D: That is a lot. And it's a critical. Holy cow. Okay, so, Isabelle, it's not just that her wrists are red where the chains have been. It looks like they've been burnt. And they're fresh either, because without getting close, you can't be sure if it's just the fact that they are genuinely fresh burns or if they're just burns that have never been allowed to heal. But you can see where the skin is like, bubbled up and it looks like it's blistered. [00:10:06] Speaker E: I think without thinking, Isabelle goes back into the RV to look for any kind of first aid kit. And the brain is working on the very little sleep and a lot of stress. And his first idea is, well, there's a burns. I can do something about that and is going to find a first aid kit and bring it out. [00:10:31] Speaker D: As soon as you were a couple of feet away from. Away from where you were, you notice that the world around you seems to start to go gray and crumble. [00:10:46] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:10:47] Speaker D: Thankfully, by the time you get back to people, it's back to normal again. [00:10:54] Speaker E: That's interesting. But seeing that I will approach Rosanna and the woman and just say, you're injured. I'm going to offer up. I can help with those healing. [00:11:22] Speaker D: She looks down at her wrists as if it's like this has become so commonplace and so normal to her that she hadn't even really thought about it. I don't know if you can fix it, but if you can provide any relief, and she'll kind of look back at Rosanna and it's all right, you. [00:11:49] Speaker A: Don'T need my permission to seek medical attention. [00:11:52] Speaker D: I think you misunderstand the nature of this connection. I do. [00:12:02] Speaker A: Give it to her. [00:12:06] Speaker E: And start slowly start working. [00:12:09] Speaker D: She kind of holds her arms out and you, again, can't remove the chains, so it's awkward. But as you get close enough to see, you can tell that these are literally burns that have never been, they've never healed. And it looks like it's one layer of burns on top of the other. And this has been going on for a long time. She winces slightly as you work, but it also seems like there's a part of her that has lived with that pain for so long that she has learned to cope better than most would. Yeah. And she holds her wrists out for you to do your thing. I'm not going to make you roll because you can't fix the burns. You can only kind of essentially create a layer between her skin and the chains is what you end up doing of bandages, which she seems genuinely grateful for. Once she realizes that the chains can't actually touch her skin for a little, you. She sort of glances at Rosanna like she is looking for again, looking to see if Rosanna's gonna do anything to tell her no or to give an order. And when she doesn't, she kind of reaches up and she touches the spot between your eyes with just the tip of her middle finger. And you feel. It's almost like being touched with that perfect temperature of crisp coldness for a moment where it's really, really genuinely soothing. And then it goes from. As it sort of spreads through your head, it goes warm and it feels. The only way I can think of to describe it is it feels like you've been touched by raw joy and will end life. And it sort of chases that oppressive, dark feeling that you had kind of into the darkest recesses of your mind. At least temporarily. [00:14:53] Speaker E: Yeah, there's kind of a relief. The release. There's. The shoulders kind of were a little locked and kind of like moment after a while where your body just kind of unclenches and you relax and it's just like. Feels weird and. Thanks. [00:15:19] Speaker D: You're welcome. I can't make that last for long. Your nightmares are very intense. [00:15:37] Speaker E: Yeah, it's. Any help is appreciated. [00:15:49] Speaker D: Of course. [00:15:57] Speaker A: I'll fix this. I don't know how. I don't know how long it's going to take, but you don't deserve to be a product of generations before me being greedy and selfish. [00:16:43] Speaker D: You get the feeling like I'm not going to make you roll for this. You get the feeling that she wants to believe you, but doesn't entirely. [00:16:50] Speaker C: Yet. [00:16:58] Speaker D: Is there anything I can do to help? [00:17:03] Speaker A: I don't know, actually. I need to find my sister. If she calls on you, make note of your surroundings. [00:17:25] Speaker D: I'd try. It's hard to. I can't always see anything. I didn't realize at first that there were two of you. Sometimes your family line, someone individual comes along and they're strong enough will to pull me on their own or they have a deep enough need, but. I don't know. I'll try. But usually she's smart enough to summon me in a place where I can't see much of anything. [00:18:12] Speaker A: Is there anything that I can do for you? Anything? [00:18:27] Speaker D: I don't. I don't know. [00:18:40] Speaker A: I know that my words aren't going to match up to the stuff that I can only assume that they put you through. But I really am sorry for everything that you've gone through. And I'm 100% serious when I say I'm going to do everything in my power to make it right. [00:19:19] Speaker D: She nods again. I'll be honest with you that we've been like this for so long. I don't know what happens to me once these are gone. And she kind of holds up her. [00:19:34] Speaker A: Wrists. [00:19:39] Speaker B: But. [00:19:42] Speaker D: Suspect it'll be. Well, it'll hopefully be better than going back to the dark. [00:19:59] Speaker A: Until we do, it's. [00:20:09] Speaker D: I understand it may not be possible, but if it is, the next time you call on me. If it could be somewhere with more grass, I'd appreciate that. It's been a long time since I felt the real thing. [00:20:25] Speaker A: Duly noted. I might call on you in a few days time. Maybe we can change out bandages and keep them relatively fresh. [00:20:47] Speaker D: Shenans again. Sorry, I didn't get any of your names. I mean, I know yours. And she'll point at Rosanna. [00:21:05] Speaker A: I'll leave that up to them if. [00:21:07] Speaker D: They want to tell you. [00:21:15] Speaker E: I'm Isabelle. [00:21:20] Speaker A: Piper. It. [00:21:27] Speaker B: I know how this game goes. If I give you my name, then something bad happens. I've heard these stories before. [00:21:37] Speaker C: He's in pain. [00:21:40] Speaker B: Yeah, but you could just call me a preacher. It's fine. [00:21:49] Speaker D: It. [00:21:50] Speaker A: Thank you for giving me the information that I needed to figure out that sometimes normal humans are worse than what we fought. [00:22:11] Speaker D: Sort of nods a little bit. She, odly enough, doesn't seem all that insulted by Arthur's kind of passive aggressiveness. But she also doesn't seem like. She doesn't necessarily seem like she agrees with what he's saying. And she sort of pauses for a moment. Before you send me back, just. Do any of you have a blade of some sort? Scissors? Is that what you call them? [00:23:05] Speaker A: I think we have some. And she's going to turn to Piper's. [00:23:12] Speaker C: Already on her way inside. [00:23:16] Speaker D: When Piper comes back out, she sort of shifts and leans her head to one side and offers a lock of her hair to Isabelle. This won't protect you all the time, but if you take a bit and you tuck it under your pillow when you sleep, it'll help with the nightmares that are going to come. [00:23:48] Speaker E: Thank you. [00:23:49] Speaker D: It'll only work while you're sleeping. [00:23:52] Speaker E: That's better than what I've got so far. [00:23:56] Speaker C: I might be able to use it to help them up consistently, too. [00:24:01] Speaker E: I'll gently cut the lock of hair. [00:24:07] Speaker D: Yeah, she lets you cut a few inches. Basically a little lock that's a few inches long. You notice that she is very careful not to reach out and touch the scissors. Like she pointedly avoids being the one to do it. And then she sits back. It's the least I can do for the moments of relief. And she kind of looks down at her wrists. [00:24:34] Speaker E: Yeah. I'll change the bandages next time I see you. [00:24:42] Speaker D: Thank you. She'll look back at Rosanna. You'll probably want to put me back. If normal people come by, they won't see all of the. She'll kind of gesture at the trees and stuff, but they'll still see you. An approximation of me. [00:25:11] Speaker A: Very well. I hope that before I send you back, I really hope that she doesn't treat you terribly when she summons you. [00:25:31] Speaker C: And if she does and we can talk about it, make sure you tell us. [00:25:36] Speaker A: Anything bad that she does to you, let us know. [00:25:45] Speaker D: I'll try. I can't promise I can't disobey you. But I also can't disobey her. [00:26:02] Speaker A: How about this? You need to tell ME anytime you get hurt and I can put the pieces together. [00:26:16] Speaker D: I'll try. And she'll not. [00:26:18] Speaker A: Good. Okay. Rosanna is going to sit by her side and just very gently touch the top of her hand. And then she's going to begin to meditate in hopes of sending her back. [00:26:47] Speaker D: It doesn't take much. It's significantly easier to send her away than it was to pull her to you. She kind of like you. You open your eyes just as you finish the meditation and meet her gaze. And the two of you sort of lock eyes for just a moment. And then she shimmers and disappears. And with her slowly fade the trees and the grass and the moss and the flowers, until you are all left with the lingering scent of clover and apples and honeysuckle and those rocks that were really a little bit more concrete that Rosanna just found in chunks around this kind of dilapidated area. And it's quiet and dark. Isabelle, be, it's not immediate, but you can see kind of in the middle distance where buildings are very slowly starting to crumble in front of your eyes. You know, you've got a little bit of time before everything in your immediate vicinity looks dead and crumbling. You are still holding that lock of hair in your palm. It feels warm in a way that isn't physical. [00:28:55] Speaker E: Kind of just take a moment and just wrap it around my hand and just sort of feel the warmth of it. Kind of stealing myself for what is to come. [00:29:13] Speaker D: You effectively, oh, number one, you and Rosanna are both getting a temporary willpower point back. And Isabelle, you effectively are going to have like a plus one to your dice pool for any future roles that you may have to make where the curse is concerned, as long as you have that piece of hair with you, it will not keep it at bay. But you do feel a little bit more comforted and a little bit better able to bolster yourself against the horrors that you know you're going to see. Okay, you all are standing in a darkened parking lot, having just seen all of this and heard all of these revelations about Rosanna's family history. [00:30:35] Speaker C: Rosanna, next time you go off and do something like this, let us know beforehand. [00:30:40] Speaker E: Yeah, it's just a little bit of warning, but I think it's something. It's a thing to work off of. [00:30:57] Speaker A: I need a drink. [00:31:01] Speaker E: I think we all do. [00:31:04] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:11] Speaker A: I'm sorry that I did. That wasn't in my. [00:31:17] Speaker C: Apologize. Do not apologize for doing it. I just want you to know that we're in this together. Don't do things like this on your own. [00:31:32] Speaker A: I wasn't in my most rat mind. [00:31:39] Speaker E: It's been a night. I don't think any of us are. [00:31:47] Speaker A: I. Bad news is that if things don't go to plan, there's going to be some bloodshed one way or another. Sorry, you all and the four of us need to get some sleep. It's very late. Or drink until we pass out. [00:32:38] Speaker C: At this, preferably. Don't do that. [00:32:42] Speaker E: We do have a few bottles we can kill before crawling to bed. [00:32:47] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm sorry, again, I know that you told me that I shouldn't apologize, but I's just going to kind of walk past everybody and go back into the RV and close the door behind her. [00:33:28] Speaker E: I think after a moment, Isabella will follow. Right now we need to sleep and come at things in the morning with a clearer head. [00:33:38] Speaker C: Yeah, I definitely don't agree with drinking until we fucking pass out. Not a good idea. [00:33:48] Speaker E: Rarely ever is. [00:33:56] Speaker C: I will also follow inside. [00:34:02] Speaker B: Arthur is going to stay outside for a little while. He needs to be alone and think through things. He's become quite angry, but he's trying not to say anything because the moment he was about to speak, all the others were, like, super supportive. And so he's like, cool. I've just got to shut down or else make a fight with the entire cell. [00:34:24] Speaker A: Okay. [00:34:27] Speaker B: I mean, eventually he'll go to bed, but it will probably be at least an hour of him stewing by himself before he comes in. [00:34:33] Speaker D: Okay, so who's drinking? [00:34:37] Speaker E: I mean, I started earlier. [00:34:39] Speaker D: I'm just. I love it. Okay, I need all three of you to make me. [00:34:51] Speaker E: Guess. [00:34:52] Speaker D: We'll go. Stamina. Just. Yeah. Stamina and resolve. I'll allow stamina and resolve. [00:35:01] Speaker C: All right. Doing so good. [00:35:09] Speaker A: Wow, man. [00:35:11] Speaker D: You get the feeling Piper's done this before? [00:35:15] Speaker E: I got two successes, but I think it was mostly because I started earlier and probably have not eaten a lot of food tOday. [00:35:22] Speaker D: Yeah, and I got four. Okay, Piper, you're fine. You get a little toasty, but you're fine. Aubrey, you did start earlier. You get just shit faced as quickly as possible. As it turns out, that kind of works in your favor. It makes holding on to that feeling that being near that woman gave you, it lets you hold on to it longer so that it's not. It. Like, it's still kind of clinging to you when you pass out. You pass out significantly earlier than Rosanna and Piper do. Rosanna, you don't make it as far as Piper, you're very emotional, so you're probably drinking about twice as much as Piper is, or at least twice as fast as you get. You get sloppy relatively quickly and you end up kind of passing out on the main bed because the three of you are hanging out back there. Gozer is curled up on the bed as you guys are drinking, and you and Isabelle just sort of conk out on the bed with Gozer tucked between you. And Piper is the one to pull the blanket over every. Pull the blankets over everybody and tuck everybody in and go to bed. And, Piper, you are still awake and kind of cleaning things up, having just tucked them in when Arthur comes in. [00:37:37] Speaker B: So do you want to talk about the fact that apparently there's all kinds of stuff that we're not talking with about just elephants in a room at all? Or are we just going to ignore the fay in the room? [00:37:58] Speaker C: That's rich coming from you, Arthur. Talk about it tomorrow when everyone's awake. [00:38:14] Speaker B: All right. I guess then that not a time to have a conversation about everything that's going on. That's how you feel. [00:38:25] Speaker C: But we all need to sit down and have a conversation about everything that's going. [00:38:34] Speaker D: Well. [00:38:34] Speaker B: I will say one thing. There was some level of reluctance on your part to do something rash, and that at least, is smart and prudent. So while I may seem like I'm incredibly angry, and I am, that was smart. But we'll talk about it tomorrow. Get some sleep. [00:39:07] Speaker C: You need that. [00:39:14] Speaker B: And Arthur will just lay down on the little couch thing in the kitchen where he sleeps. [00:39:22] Speaker C: Is there an open bed? [00:39:24] Speaker D: There is. There are two open beds. Arthur just isn't refusing to use one. [00:39:30] Speaker C: Arthur, take the fucking bed. [00:39:34] Speaker B: This is fine. [00:39:37] Speaker D: To be fair, Piper, you were informed, like, as soon as you and Isabel got here, that this is just where Arthur sleeps as he converts the kitchen table into the bed couch kitchen couch table. [00:39:52] Speaker B: The kitchen couch table table thing. [00:39:59] Speaker D: Okay. You all fall asleep. I need Rosanna to roll me your nightmare. Roll. You are going to be at a negative one. Die. Given the trauma that you have experienced in the past 24 hours. What stats do I have? You roll for that. [00:40:27] Speaker A: Think it's unspent willpower. [00:40:29] Speaker D: Okay, Isabelle, I also need you to roll your unspent willpower. But you have an extra die because you have, effectively, a talisman. [00:40:39] Speaker E: Would willpower reset at the beginning of the session? [00:40:42] Speaker D: You get either your composure or your resolve, whichever is higher. Back in unspent willpower points. [00:40:50] Speaker E: I literally spent one willpower last session. [00:40:53] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:40:53] Speaker A: And do we account for the temporary willpower that we got? [00:40:59] Speaker D: Yeah, I'll let you keep that because you literally just got it. Five successes and three successes. Hot damn. Okay, Aubrey, your sleep is a little unsettled. It's not so much that the dreams are nightmares. It's more that they're very tense and alarming. Like you feel hyper vigilant through them, if that makes sense. But it's not like it's what you were worried it was going to be, which is nothing but car crashes and dead bodies and just the worst horrors. Rosanna, you are fine. You do dream about your sister, but it's not scary. It feels a little bit like your subconscious is just sort of turning over everything that you learned and working through it. Okay, you all wake up in the morning. Isabel, you are hung the fuck over. Rosanna, you are also pretty hungover, just not quite as fucked as Isabelle is. You have a nasty headache and you're sleepy, but you're fine otherwise. And Arthur and Piper. I mean, Piper, you wake up and you have a low level, like, hangover headache, but you downed a bunch of water and took some aspirin before you went to beD. You're fine. You've done this before? You wake up and immediately take a shot. So you have a little bit of the hair of the dog, and that just mellows you right the fuck out. [00:43:24] Speaker B: Arthur made coffee for everyone, which means it's sludge. [00:43:28] Speaker D: Oh, the kind of coffee that you can chew. [00:43:35] Speaker C: Do I need to teach you how to use the coffee maker? [00:43:41] Speaker B: Is there any other way other than you just put all of the. Just fill up the filter until it's completely full and then. [00:43:54] Speaker D: How much money has Arthur been throwing away coffee for two months. [00:44:00] Speaker B: He's been drinking out, right? [00:44:01] Speaker C: He's been drinking gas station coffee. [00:44:04] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Just gas station coffee. [00:44:08] Speaker E: You grind the entire bag, for one thing of coffee, right? [00:44:12] Speaker A: Yeah. Each bag is a cup. [00:44:18] Speaker B: Not how it works. Bags. [00:44:23] Speaker A: What is this? Coffee. Thank you. Whoever made it. [00:44:30] Speaker C: There's more coffee grounds in there than there is water. [00:44:38] Speaker A: She'll kind of sniff the mug. Strong. [00:44:44] Speaker B: Okay, that's why you had milk, right? [00:44:47] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:44:51] Speaker A: I dip my finger into the mug. [00:44:54] Speaker D: And you don't make it more than a couple of centimeters into the mug. Before you can feel the coffee grinds collecting. [00:45:03] Speaker C: It comes out like mud. [00:45:05] Speaker D: Yeah. Lime. In fact, you are reasonably certain that you don't even want to put this down the drain in the RV because it'll just fuck up your gray tank. [00:45:17] Speaker A: Okay, this is maybe salvageable. Good morning. Good morning. [00:45:41] Speaker D: Okay. I assume that you are not looking up at people. [00:45:46] Speaker E: Yeah. If I woke up in the morning and everything looked destroyed and wrecked and decayed. Yeah, there's probably especially to help with the hangover that I'm feeling is my head is on the table, like, just trying to press my forehead against something that's cool. And my eyes are most definitely closed. [00:46:19] Speaker A: Isabel, don't touch the coffee. [00:46:25] Speaker E: Monosyllobic words from her. This morning, Piper is going to walk. [00:46:31] Speaker C: Arthur through how to properly use a coffee maker. So here's the amount of coffee grounds you're supposed to use. A little bit less, depending on how you like your coffee. Don't fill the damn thing full. [00:46:46] Speaker B: That's why I've seen cups like that at certain places, like coffee shops and things. I see. Listen, at home, usually someone else makes this, or when I'm on the road. [00:47:01] Speaker C: Someone just buy it. I know. [00:47:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:47:06] Speaker A: Used to be Victoria. [00:47:10] Speaker B: I guess I was just trying to do something to apologize. Because it's clear that I said something wrong to you, Piper, and to the rest of you last night. Gonna work together then. But we should at least be on the same page as to what our goal is. [00:47:31] Speaker C: Four of us all need to sit down and have a nice long conversation about the things that the two of you haven't been telling us to start. Starting to assume there's a lot. [00:47:46] Speaker A: It's not that there's a lot. Well, it's a very long story of things that we went through. Yeah. Might be best if we sit down over breakfast for this. [00:48:13] Speaker E: Lots of carbs. [00:48:19] Speaker A: Rat. [00:48:22] Speaker C: I can do lots of carbs. [00:48:26] Speaker A: Just cook a whole bag of potatoes, I guess, and just throw it in front of her and she'll be fine. Maybe like an egg and, like, a strip of bacon. Don't want to upset your stomach after the nut that you had last night. Are you okay? Are you okay? [00:48:47] Speaker E: This hand comes up, makes kind of an emotion there. [00:48:56] Speaker A: Are you two okay? [00:49:01] Speaker C: No. [00:49:05] Speaker A: So I guess we're all on the same boat. Yeah. [00:49:14] Speaker C: But I'll make breakfast and we can talk. [00:49:19] Speaker D: Hey, Piper. [00:49:21] Speaker C: What's up? [00:49:22] Speaker D: What are you making for breakfast or am I filling that in for you? [00:49:26] Speaker C: No, we're going to make some rice, fry some eggs, do a bit of bacon on the side and some toast. Nothing super exciting, but. [00:49:41] Speaker D: Good for soaking up the alcohol the next morning. [00:49:45] Speaker A: All right. [00:49:48] Speaker D: You all sit down with, for the most part, a very normal seeming breakfast. Except that there is also rice in the middle of it, which is a little weird for an American breakfast, but you'll take it. While she is cooking, I'm going to assume that Arthur puts the kitchen, couch, bed, table thing back together. And that's where everybody sits down for sure. [00:50:18] Speaker B: He cleans up his bed and folds the blanket and throws it somewhere on one of the empty beds. [00:50:25] Speaker D: He is vaguely domesticated, at least well enough to fold a blanket. [00:50:35] Speaker B: What you got to do when you're on the road, sometimes fold a blanket. [00:50:42] Speaker D: Okay, go ahead. HaVe your conversation. I'm interested to hear how this goes. [00:50:49] Speaker A: Okay, well, we should probably start from the beginning. [00:51:04] Speaker E: Usually a good idea. [00:51:05] Speaker C: Definitely a good place to start. [00:51:10] Speaker A: So before you two got involved, we were actually a group of five. Arthur and myself and Victoria and Zephyr and our friend Jillian. And we kind of got together under some insane circumstances and did this with each other for. God, like a couple months. [00:51:43] Speaker B: Yeah, a few. [00:51:48] Speaker A: Everything kind of went to shit. The day that Jillian died. We were in the middle of a hunt where we didn't know what we were doing. [00:52:02] Speaker B: We thought it was a vampire. [00:52:03] Speaker A: We thought it was a vampire, but it ended up being werewolves. And we set a building to explode to try to take down werewolves. And unfortunately, Jillian didn't make it out in time. Put us on the run for Good week, week and a half, where we discovered that I was able to see and talk to ghosts. Went ghost hunting for most of that road trip. Stopped a mass ghost invasion in Louisiana, which is where I got this. That woman that you. [00:52:59] Speaker B: I got this. [00:53:03] Speaker A: That woman that you saw yesterday, the one in the chains. She made a bunch of trees appear. I got caught in them. She said, here, this is for you. Put that on my chest. And I'm. Well, I think you should see this now before we need it. And you're shocked by it. [00:53:25] Speaker C: I'd rather not. Situation with your visions. [00:53:31] Speaker A: And you all see. She reaches out her hand and begins to focus. And the tattoo begins to actually shift and move down her arm and out her hand. And a beautiful long bow begins to form. Rosanna looks very uncomfortable as this is happening. She grabs onto the table and holds out just, like, winces, like, once or twice. But eventually, after about a minute or two, it comes into full fruition. The body of the bow itself is made out of vines and twines, and there's some little flowers on it. And then you can't see the bow. But when she gives it a small pluck, it's almost like a very fine silver. This thing could apparently kill supernatural and forms the protection. But after we fought off the ghosts, we all had things that we needed to do on our own. So we split up for a couple of months. Well, now we're here. Two of our friends are dead. One of them is missing in action. Life sucks. Life kind of sucks right now. If I missed anything, please fill in the gaps. [00:55:40] Speaker B: Just that during the major ghost invasion, as you called it, our friend who was dead came back and we were sort of enlightened to some things that happen when you die. And so the only reason why that's kind of important is because in that situation, we discovered that Victoria could mess with the shroud or whatever it was that separates the spirit ghost world thing from ours. And so when we were at her house to find her dead, one of the things was her bells, which is what she used for that. So there's some potentiality that. That has a very important aspect of our investigation here. So thought it important to share. [00:56:41] Speaker C: So, Rosanna, you mentioned you got something as well. Arthur. [00:56:49] Speaker B: Yes. While I am uncertain as to where I stand in the eyes of God, considering that the group that I was part of that led me to this life was apparently not really a religion at all, but a cult controlled by something I apparently also, like the bow, can kill supernatural. And I mean, I can. As in I just punched a ghost? [00:57:36] Speaker A: Yeah, he punched a ghost. And I ripped the ghost out of the material plane in two way world. [00:57:44] Speaker B: Yeah, it's much bigger what she did, but I can still just apparently punch a ghost. [00:57:51] Speaker A: Yeah, so it. If any random, random person even remotely found out about what we did, we would probably both be in sack wards. [00:58:13] Speaker B: Which is sort of the reason why we kept it a little bit closer to the vest. [00:58:18] Speaker A: Yeah, until we couldn't anymore. [00:58:23] Speaker E: That's fair. Kind of wish we'd known. I mean, a little bit more of that going in. [00:58:32] Speaker C: Those things I understand to an extent I don't understand is keeping things like the lunar moths ties to the society that Victoria was after a secret. Arthur? [00:58:49] Speaker B: Well, I wasn't sure. Like I said, I wasn't sure if that meant anything, because Victoria did talk about the Linnae society, but not as much with me as others. So I wasn't entirely sure that I was getting that right. But coming back confirmed it and that there was some link. I understand your frustration. I would expect that all the information was shared with me. So I understand why you're upset. And it makes sense if we're going to work together. I shouldn't have not said anything. I should have said something, even if it was wrong. [00:59:35] Speaker C: If we only do things on the basis of certainty, we will never accomplish it. [00:59:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:59:42] Speaker A: And I'm sorry for not being open about what was going on with me. When I first was reintroduced to the both of you. I did not know what I was. And no offense, I'm sure that you guys would have been open, but a group of hunters hosting a supernatural something risk. [01:00:18] Speaker E: Yeah, I understand. I think it's more of just that stuff could have come when you trusted us. I guess it's just more of the. [01:00:30] Speaker C: It's the things that are relevant to the. [01:00:34] Speaker E: I had. If I had known that there was somebody who was going to come after Victoria's body, I would have insisted more that we don't do what we did. I would have volunteered to stay behind or something. [01:00:49] Speaker A: To be fair, I mean, one person staying behind is just as dangerous as what happened. [01:01:00] Speaker C: If one person had stayed behind, they'd just be even more dead body. [01:01:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Based on what we saw, it's likely if you had stayed behind, we would be having a different discussion right now. [01:01:12] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that from now on, if we do need to split up, for whatever reason, buddy system it. [01:01:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:01:28] Speaker C: Also, I think for the sake of anything, we should probably talk about any ties anybody has to. Either people that would want them dead or people that the other can go to in times of need. [01:01:52] Speaker E: Yeah. Everything on the table. That's the only way this works. [01:02:01] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. I have a friend, the person that I went out to meet yesterday. His name is Peter. I have been pen Palin with him for the last five years. He works for some government agency. It's kind of a confidentiality thing. He can't really talk about it, but apparently he brings bad guys to justice. But it's not like a police force. He's safe. I've run background checks on him throughout the last couple of years. Don't ever bring me near Catholic Church. [01:03:05] Speaker C: Good to know. [01:03:08] Speaker E: Very good to know. [01:03:09] Speaker A: Piper would know why, and she just knows. Piper would know to not let me. [01:03:21] Speaker E: Get too close to the Catholic Church. I honestly, I don't know if I can recommend anyone get too close to the Catholic Church. [01:03:29] Speaker A: You know, fair. [01:03:35] Speaker B: I prefer Protestantism myself. [01:03:38] Speaker A: Think you would really like my father then? [01:03:45] Speaker E: Well, if anything happens to me, there's a number in my phone. It is to my contact in the second Inquisition. They work. Is Dr. Alison Langley. She'll know what to do if anything happens to me. [01:04:13] Speaker C: That is a very dangerous friend to have. [01:04:21] Speaker E: I have known her since before she joined. She kind of brought me into the fold. She. I was in the hospital for a while when I was a teenager, and she was my doctor, and we've kept in contact. [01:04:46] Speaker D: Rosanna, me intelligence and do academics, and I will give you a plus two to your dice pool. [01:05:06] Speaker A: Okay, Dan, that willpower to reroll. [01:05:27] Speaker D: I was wondering. [01:05:28] Speaker A: I was like, oh, there we go. [01:05:31] Speaker D: That's much better. So you, with your history with the Catholic Church and your time having known people like Piper and cricket, you know what the second Inquisition is? You know that it is kind of a joint monster hunting organization that is split between the Catholic Church and several government bodies. And while that might freak you out a little bit because of the tide of the Catholic Church, not all of the second Inquisition is the Catholic Church. But if anybody could potentially find Wren and Ren does belong to something church oriented, maybe if she's tied to the second Inquisition, Isabelle's contact might be able to find her. [01:06:28] Speaker A: Hey, Isabelle. [01:06:30] Speaker E: Yeah. [01:06:31] Speaker D: Of course, asking that question does potentially put you on the radar. It is a mixed bag. But there's a possibility. [01:06:44] Speaker A: Your friend, second Inquisition, she more government based or. [01:06:54] Speaker E: She's a doctor. She works with a group out of more of the government based, I guess. [01:07:04] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:07:05] Speaker A: Okay, so I had a. My. There is a not zero chance that my sister might also be in the second Inquisition. But on the Catholic church side. [01:07:32] Speaker D: I. [01:07:32] Speaker A: Don'T want to put your contact, your friend, in a predicament in which might put her and us on a radar. But if you could ask if she's heard of a woman named LaBelle. [01:07:54] Speaker E: I can ask and sort of put out feelers. Maybe I'll figure out something and I can ask if she's at least heard the name. [01:08:03] Speaker A: Like I said, I don't want to put you or her in a situation where it could get you all in any trouble, or us in any trouble. But I would kind of like to know where my sister is. [01:08:23] Speaker E: Yeah, I'll see. I mean, Allison is good at getting information. [01:08:29] Speaker A: Okay. [01:08:36] Speaker B: Well, for sharing stuff that people should know. I only have one contact. It's. Her name is Katie Lynn, and she is my wife. [01:09:03] Speaker E: There's a distinct raise of the eyebrow. [01:09:09] Speaker B: But she is a believer. And as of last night, I had discovered that she's in the. Potentially in the inner circle, or being invited to the inner circle for the something that is the head of the Church of the Rising Star. And that does not sit comfortably, because the reason that I left has a lot to do with what the something is doing to the followers. And I don't even understand it, but they're not alive when it's over is to clarify. And so being in that close circle means that there's a chance, and it's probably above 50% chance, that she will end up that way very quickly, if it's not just a ploy to draw me out, because I know it's secret. [01:10:39] Speaker C: Now, when you say not alive, do you mean not alive and walking around, or. [01:10:50] Speaker B: As in, take the remnants away and bury them in the woods far off in the distance so no one knows what happened? Kind of not alive. [01:11:06] Speaker E: That does sound like a problem. [01:11:10] Speaker B: And so this group knows that Zephyr and I left. Saw us leave. In fact, this thing, whatever the speaker is, saw us leave and is aware that we left knowing something that we shouldn't know for its safety. So that's why I live this way. [01:11:42] Speaker E: I've read a lot of stories about cults. [01:11:48] Speaker C: Eight out there. Not a fun time. [01:11:51] Speaker B: No. If we Go into any place where I need to show an identification and you see something that says something entirely unrelated to me that I show someone, it's because I can't be Arthur there, wherever it is. [01:12:15] Speaker C: Do you have a proper identity? [01:12:21] Speaker B: The passable one, for sure. But I don't try to push it by. How good is using passable? I try not to use credit cards. And I don't try to purchase things or get loans or things. But I can get a drink at a bar. [01:12:45] Speaker A: Yeah, let's just say that the hunk of junk, when we bought it, I was the only one who was credible enough. Which is why I want to burn it to the ground. [01:13:04] Speaker C: I can fix that. It's. [01:13:20] Speaker E: Everyone knows I'm a medical examiner in California. Yeah, I'm on sabbatical. [01:13:28] Speaker C: So far as everybody knows, I'm. [01:13:31] Speaker B: Just. [01:13:32] Speaker C: Out of college and a normal person. Well, since we're going over people that might be after us. [01:13:43] Speaker B: I don't have. [01:13:44] Speaker C: The greatest track record with the federal government. [01:13:49] Speaker E: I'm shocked. This is my shocked face. [01:13:52] Speaker D: You. [01:13:54] Speaker C: I don't think you know how bad it is, Isabelle. [01:13:59] Speaker E: I'm sure you're going to tell me. [01:14:04] Speaker C: Let's put it this way. If my birth name got out, I'm pretty sure there'd be police warming wherever I was last seen. [01:14:21] Speaker A: Awesome. [01:14:26] Speaker C: I've destroyed and defaced a lot of government property, and I don't fucking feel bad about it. [01:14:34] Speaker B: Yeah, I was going to ask if that was all, because. That's fine. [01:14:40] Speaker A: Yeah, that's why Piper and I get along so well. [01:14:46] Speaker C: Also, the reason that your second inquisition contact, Isabelle is so dangerous. At least with me and the group, there's at least one organization that I'm not on great terms with. Turns out they're not the biggest fan of somebody taking their information and giving it to people that might actually use it. Actively looking for me right now there in California. And they might be on our way. [01:15:45] Speaker D: Soon. [01:15:48] Speaker E: So we should not be in Florida. [01:15:54] Speaker A: I think it might be time for us to consider investing in new real estate. Getting the hell out of here. [01:16:08] Speaker E: I talked to my contact last night. She has somebody in New Orleans that might be able to help me with that. This whole thing that's going on. [01:16:22] Speaker B: Got it. [01:16:23] Speaker A: Going back to New Orleans. [01:16:28] Speaker B: We. Well, we probably needed to anyway. [01:16:35] Speaker C: Sounds like have some things. I think that's our next step. [01:16:42] Speaker A: Yeah. Hey. Yeah, I was going to say you and I need to talk to cricket about this. And I'm really happy that the four of us are finally able to kind of open up with one another. This. If this is going to work. [01:17:10] Speaker D: This. [01:17:11] Speaker A: Is a good first step. [01:17:15] Speaker C: I am Darfur. I need to take a look at the identity you have. The fake. [01:17:28] Speaker B: We just. Zephyr and I paid someone when we escaped to Jillian. Zephyr and I paid someone to create something, but it was fast and dirty for sure. [01:17:46] Speaker C: I'll just look over, see if I can make it better. If not, I should be able to make you a new one in a week. [01:18:02] Speaker A: Well, now what? [01:18:06] Speaker E: Get a new RV. [01:18:08] Speaker C: Get a new RV. Blow this one up. [01:18:12] Speaker A: Or we could sell it. [01:18:15] Speaker E: Do we have time to sell it? [01:18:17] Speaker A: I mean, we could use it as a trade in for a new RV. [01:18:20] Speaker E: That's true. [01:18:21] Speaker B: Yeah. There's a few things that I'll need to do before we can do that. [01:18:28] Speaker A: What? [01:18:31] Speaker B: There may or may not be a pile of money under the mattress in the main room. [01:18:40] Speaker E: Honestly. [01:18:44] Speaker C: Probably the smartest thing you can do in this situation. [01:18:51] Speaker B: I can't keep it in a bank account because I can't have one. I have one that I was using for a few online subscription purchases, but it's shut down now. It doesn't exist. [01:19:12] Speaker A: Oh, Isabelle. Speaking of online subscriptions, I should probably also let you know, the two of you know. But she does not. I have a small online following. Tiny little online. Just a little bit. Nothing bad. [01:19:39] Speaker C: A small following there to follow something that's a bit less small. [01:19:44] Speaker A: I don't know what you're talking about. [01:19:47] Speaker E: Look. [01:19:51] Speaker A: So if you're not pro sex work, I would definitely suggest. [01:19:59] Speaker C: Given our line of work, if she's against sex work, then I don't know how the hell she survived this long. [01:20:05] Speaker E: Look, in college, there was a very rich older guy who liked to take me out on dates. [01:20:12] Speaker A: Oh, really? [01:20:15] Speaker D: How funny. [01:20:16] Speaker A: I'm also into rich older men. [01:20:19] Speaker E: I mostly just like their money. [01:20:25] Speaker C: Give me some time, I can probably get up without you having to go through the whole dealing with the rich older man thing. [01:20:32] Speaker E: That's why I got A job. [01:20:38] Speaker B: They're not all bad guys. I'm just saying. [01:20:40] Speaker A: No, they're not all bad guys. [01:20:44] Speaker E: No, he was perfectly nice. A bit boring. [01:20:48] Speaker D: Well, ah. With the knowledge that more than just Rosanna has had money slaves, I would like, let's see. Rosanna and Arthur to please roll me. Just straight intelligence. Actually, you know what? Everybody can do this. Everybody can roll. Straight intelligence. I'm pretty sure everybody knows that this was in the plan. [01:21:29] Speaker C: Well, okay. [01:21:31] Speaker D: Jesus, Piper. Just on fire tonight. What have you done with termite? So accustomed to termite struggling to roll well, ever so everybody remembers this because this wasn't a super high bar to clear. As you guys are sitting there talking about next steps and going to New Orleans, it hits all of you, kind of at the same time that it's almost noon. Dietrich was supposed to be here by, like, eight or nine this morning. And not only is he not here, nobody has heard from him. [01:22:18] Speaker B: Well, Arthur assumes that it's because he got the message and isn't coming, so he's not worried. [01:22:24] Speaker A: Rosanna's going to pull out her phone and dial the number. Give me one moment. [01:22:34] Speaker D: It goes straight to voicemail. [01:22:36] Speaker A: Oh, well, fuck. [01:22:39] Speaker B: So I think we also need to consider the Linnaeus Society, at least in this regard, of a sort of humany vampire cabal of evil that we experienced last night. Yesterday. [01:22:58] Speaker A: Yeah, we need to dig a little bit deeper into that blank body that was here. [01:23:12] Speaker E: If we have a photo, I can see if Allison hasn't ever seen the person before, has encountered anything. [01:23:28] Speaker A: We also have cricket. And no offense to your friend Isabel, but if cricket can't find out jack shit about this guy. [01:23:45] Speaker C: She won't help. [01:23:47] Speaker A: She will. [01:23:48] Speaker E: I thought I'd offer it. [01:23:50] Speaker A: No, no, I mean, like, anything that we can get. Even on the whereabouts of where this gentleman might have ended up. Is he still in Florida? Was he able to, I don't know, find a quick getaway to another state? [01:24:09] Speaker C: Even if he did, let's see, it's been 12 hours. 18 hours at least, on the other side of the damn country fair. That's just if they're driving. [01:24:30] Speaker A: Well, we also have to factor in daylapse. [01:24:41] Speaker C: Well, it doesn't matter if they have something to drive. Door down. [01:24:45] Speaker B: Right. That's what I was going to say. If they're in the back of a car that's faded in a metal box or something, and there's a person driving them and they can get anywhere. [01:24:58] Speaker A: Well, kind of factoring in sleep, because even the toughest as nails person needs to sleep eventually. [01:25:16] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:25:19] Speaker C: Keep in mind that's just their drama. [01:25:29] Speaker A: We'll have to check in with Cricket later on today or tomorrow or something, see if they found anything. [01:25:34] Speaker C: Yeah, we need to see what's going on with featuring. If we can find anything. [01:25:41] Speaker A: I just tried to call him, and it went straight to voicemail. Which means one of three things. One, he is taking a couple of days to himself after we lost the body. Two, he's going out to get revenge himself, which will definitely get him killed because I love the man. He has got more resources than the four of us times ten combined. But resources doesn't get you killed if you don't. Can still get you killed if you don't know what you're looking for. Or he's not talking to us because we lost the body. [01:26:25] Speaker C: Arthur couldn't get a hold of him. If you know him, knowing that we lost the body are not terribly high. [01:26:43] Speaker B: That is a good point. I left a voicemail, so there's a chance that something happened to him on the way. [01:27:01] Speaker E: And I'm going to say this just because I feel like someone should put this out there. We know that he's not working with them. [01:27:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:27:14] Speaker E: I just thought I needed to be the one to say it. Just put that out there. [01:27:18] Speaker B: Well, no, he, in a way, asked us to kill the bastards. Sort of put us on a mission. Yeah, he was working with them then. He knew that that would inevitably lead to us killing him. [01:27:36] Speaker E: But are we sure that he is the same person? The same group that came and got her body is the same group who was responsible for her death? I'm just being paranoid at this. [01:27:50] Speaker A: No, no, that's good. We need. We need paranoid. [01:27:55] Speaker C: At this point, I think it's entirely possible. Even if the society is the one to kill Victoria and he knew about it, that doesn't necessarily possibility that he's working with them. What happens in a hierarchical situation when somebody at the top gets taken out? [01:28:18] Speaker E: Yeah, it could also be. Maybe they promised him something. Maybe they promised him Victoria back. [01:28:34] Speaker D: Okay, so what's the plan, guys? [01:28:40] Speaker E: We're selling this RV and getting a new one. [01:28:43] Speaker D: Excellent. I am not going to make this painful for you. You have somebody in your party, in your cell, who has one dot in finance. So I am going to allow Piper to make the core role. Piper? It is going to be intelligence plus finance. I will give you Rosanna's plus two from her appearance merit. If Arthur and or Isabel have any ways that they think they could contribute to a social situation, I may give you more dice for them. [01:29:20] Speaker B: Arthur can contribute to a social situation because social situations are what he loves. But he can also hand over a big garbage bag full of money that's been hiding under the. [01:29:37] Speaker D: Okay, okay, so I'll give you an extra die from Arthur, because Arthur is going to be able to make a hefty deposit. [01:29:44] Speaker C: Yeah, extra die because most of it in cash. [01:29:47] Speaker D: Yep. Isabel, anything from you? [01:29:51] Speaker E: I got resources. I also did put away the dots earlier for, like, a save house. [01:29:57] Speaker D: Yes. And that'll be great for you guys building out your RV once you have it. This is more for the getting it. [01:30:07] Speaker E: I can toss in some resources as well. [01:30:10] Speaker D: Okay, then I will give you one extra die for Arthur as well. Or not for Arthur. For Isabelle as well. You know what I mean? You have a total of four extra dice. Jesus, I can talk, I swear. Okay, well, that's six. That's pretty fucking good for you. Roll those nine. A nine dice pool. Okay, Piper, it doesn't take you long to find what you need or what you think will work best. This thing is not this year's model. It's last year's model. But it has, like, less than 10,000 miles on it. It looks like a family might have taken this on a single, really long road trip. And then the father was just like, I hate driving this thing because it's big and it's awkward. [01:31:08] Speaker B: Try to back it into one spot and realized how hard that was. And then was like, no, I'm out. [01:31:13] Speaker D: Realized that if he made the mistake of going past the pump at a truck stop, that he'd have to just go around the fucking block and try again. And was just like, we're never doing this again. We'll just fly everywhere. [01:31:26] Speaker B: Wait, you have to empty all of those tanks that hold all of. No, we're done here. [01:31:37] Speaker D: You essentially go to a place that specializes in used recreational vehicles. Do you guys want to blow up? Because you're not, like, honestly, Piper rolled so well that you don't really need the trade in. [01:32:00] Speaker B: No, better idea. We leave it somewhere as a decoy. [01:32:05] Speaker D: Okay. All right, cool. [01:32:07] Speaker E: I have ordinance. [01:32:09] Speaker D: You do blow it up. You have ordinance and termite Piper have a deep need to blow things up and see them burn. [01:32:22] Speaker B: But if we rig it to blow up when something comes looking for us, then they maybe. I don't know. Maybe that's not a good idea. [01:32:33] Speaker E: Well, we can rig it to blow up non lethally, like a bunch of flashbangs or something. [01:32:40] Speaker D: So it's less about killing somebody and more about being an asshole. Okay. [01:32:46] Speaker C: Turn it into a fireworks show with. [01:32:49] Speaker B: A note that says, hey, supernaturals, nice try, nice try. [01:32:55] Speaker E: Linnaeus society. [01:32:58] Speaker D: Okay, so Piper manages to find kind of the perfect setup, ends up being a weirdly good negotiator. You're not sure if that's because Rosanna's got her tits out, like, sitting next to Piper and the guy's just really distracted or if it was the money that did the trick. It's just a lot. By the time it is over, Isabel and Rosanna have joint ownership of. Well, Piper does too, because Piper's got a really good identity. I was just like, you know that thing, that word that they use in this setting that I keep forgetting? [01:33:50] Speaker A: Credit score. [01:33:53] Speaker D: A mask with a really good credit score. [01:33:57] Speaker B: Arthur's just the weird guy in the corner who kept, like, unfolding $100 bills while they were talking to the salesman. [01:34:07] Speaker D: I'm thinking that when you guys walked in, Arthur pulled the tab out of his collar and is effectively acting like he's the security that you brought along because he is carrying basically a suitcase full of cash. Because that's what you guys have insisted on paying with. And the guy is 100% like. You can tell by the way he's looking at you that he's like, this is shady as fuck. But I'm not going to ask any questions because the bills seem clean and their credit has come back perfect. [01:34:40] Speaker E: And other things. [01:34:42] Speaker D: Yes. And also boobs. He is pointedly looking away from how shady all of this seems. And you guys manage to leave with a kind of almost state of the art, very new one of those bus style RVs with the rooms that kind of pop out on the sides and in the back when you park somewhere. [01:35:13] Speaker B: But does it have space for the conspiracy board? [01:35:18] Speaker D: Of course there is space for the conspiracy board. There is always space for the conspiracy board. This thing actually has walls where you could actually hang up the conspiracy board. [01:35:31] Speaker E: Okay. [01:35:31] Speaker D: There isn't a ton of open space on the walls because there's lots of windows, but there is space where you could actually hang up your conspiracy board for once. There is a proper bedroom with, like, double bed, just a little bit smaller than a queen. It's got bunked beds. It's got bunk beds that are actually significantly bigger than the old RV's. Bunk beds. Much more comfortable for adults to sleep in. It's got one of those convertible couch things, except that it's like properly big. And the middle seats, if you fold the table down into the floor, the middle seats are actually like recliners that you can kick back in. It's real nice. And it has a proper bathroom and enough water storage that people could actually shower in here. Maybe not all of you in one day, but in a pinch, if you can't stop somewhere where you can hook up to a water connection, you could actually shower. All right. And between sessions, you guys will be able to kind of outfit it with more stuff. It's got the space. You may not be able to get a full surgery in for Isabelle, but you could probably set yourself up essentially with the means to be able to have a mobile surgery where things kind of fold away when you don't need them sort of thing. It won't be perfect, but it'll be much better than what you have now, which is a really old RV with God knows what germs. No matter how well Rosanna scrubs it. You all have secured a new RV. Where are you planning to leave the old RV? [01:38:01] Speaker E: Does anyone have any good ideas or fun ideas? [01:38:20] Speaker C: Only so much fun you can have with an RV and a shitty one of that. [01:38:37] Speaker E: I guess we're going to find a place where it won't be noticed quickly, but we can be sure that people who are looking for it will find it. [01:38:47] Speaker C: I mean, we're in Florida. [01:38:50] Speaker E: Yeah, park it in a RV park or something. [01:38:57] Speaker D: Okay. All right. You guys find an RV park nearby where you guys have been this whole time? I would like Isabelle to take the time to make a roll for your munition's check. And I want you to tell me exactly what your goal is with the munitions or are we sticking to flashbangs and things? [01:39:27] Speaker E: Unless any, like. Because flashbangs are a safe option just in case anybody comes across it, that we don't cause collateral damage. But say if a bunch of just teenagers break into just a random RV, they're just going to have a really bad time rather than die. [01:39:48] Speaker C: Flashbank. Confetti cannons. [01:39:52] Speaker B: Confetti cannons. [01:39:54] Speaker C: Scratch that. [01:39:54] Speaker D: Glitter. [01:39:55] Speaker C: Glitter bombs. [01:39:56] Speaker E: Glitter. Flashbangs and glitter bombs. [01:39:59] Speaker B: Do we have any silver mix in with the glitter just to make it painful for something that maybe doesn't like silver? No. [01:40:12] Speaker D: Silver in a form that won't hurt somebody innocent is not something you're going to be able to just find anywhere. [01:40:26] Speaker E: Because even silver shavings, that would do. [01:40:29] Speaker D: Some very real damage if it hit somebody who couldn't. [01:40:39] Speaker E: So it's be like, can we make holy water bombs? But, like, yet again, it's still probably going to cause problems from shrapnel. So I think flashbangs and glitter cannons are a great idea. [01:40:53] Speaker B: I mean, we had this discussion. Zephyr brought this up. I can make holy water. I just don't know if it actually works the way that we're expecting it to. [01:41:03] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:41:05] Speaker B: Some water balloons or something. [01:41:08] Speaker D: You guys could rig up one of those pranks that people tend to do in school where they put like a bucket above a door and when the door opens, the bucket turn. Yes. [01:41:25] Speaker A: If anything, what it will do, it'll provide a nice binder for the glitter. [01:41:31] Speaker D: That's true. [01:41:32] Speaker E: Exactly. But that is going to be a composure plus science for me. [01:41:44] Speaker D: Yes. [01:41:45] Speaker E: To rig all of this up. Oh, that's. Would my spec in chemistry help? [01:41:59] Speaker D: Yeah, I'll say that it does. [01:42:02] Speaker E: Cool. Three successes, but I'm going to spend that willpower to reroll for it. Just three failures. That's five. [01:42:16] Speaker D: That's pretty good. Yeah. You feel reasonably certain that this is going to go off the way that it should. You're pretty proud of the work that you manage, given that you don't have a ton of materials on hand. At one point, you send Piper and Rosanna to the store to pick up all of the glitter that they can find at the local craft store, which turns out is a lot. And just for good measure, they also pick up some silly string and stuff like that. And you get everything kind of set up and rigged that if somebody goes in the back door of that RV, they'll get hit full force with everything. If they go into the cab, the flashbangs will go off and everything will explode inside. But it's a little less impactful just because you're worried about taking out windows and stuff. Because if it is just some teenager who's trying to break in so that they have a place to have a good time with their girlfriend or whatever, you don't want them to get glass in the eyes. [01:43:31] Speaker E: They're not going to have a good time. [01:43:32] Speaker D: They're not going to have a good time. Whoever comes into this is going to have a terrible, terrible time unless they roll like a god to try and disable things before they can get in. But even that, the chances are incredibly, incredibly low. [01:43:50] Speaker C: Just let that be a lesson to those damage. [01:43:54] Speaker B: Yeah, just teach them about breaking into RVs that they don't. [01:43:59] Speaker D: Whoever ends up with this RV next is going to be trying to clean glitter out of the carpets and out of all the upholstery for years to come. In fact, they may decide that it's a lost cause and just blow the damn thing. Okay. [01:44:16] Speaker E: It will also let the people who might be after us and think they're going to surprise us. We know they're there. [01:44:23] Speaker D: They're coming after us. That was very true. That was very true. Okay. Are you guys leaving directly for New Orleans? Are you doing anything before you want to go? Is there anything you want to look into, research or whatever that you want to do before you bail? [01:44:41] Speaker B: Does Rosanna have everything she needs from her apartment? If we don't end up coming back. [01:44:45] Speaker A: To Florida, we never had a chance to get back to the apartment. [01:44:50] Speaker D: That is very fair. Do you want to go to the apartment? Okay. While the drive is happening because you guys have much more comfortable digs. Now who's going to drive? Because I am going to require a drive roll. All right, Rosanna, give me decks and drive. [01:45:12] Speaker A: Okay. I've been working up for this one. [01:45:16] Speaker D: That's good because last season you started without any dots in that and I was like, why are you guys in a let's go on a road trip game and nobody has dots and drive. [01:45:27] Speaker A: When we roll some of the three successes. [01:45:29] Speaker D: Let's go three. Okay. It's a little awkward. This is much longer than anything that you've, like, there's no way for me to say this without it sounding dirty. So you've never had to control something quite this big before and it takes some time. At one point you essentially pull up on the GPS, essentially like state roads, back roads that are less likely to have traffic just so that you can practice to get comfortable before you finally go out on the interstate. Because as somebody who lived in Florida for several years, you don't want to be on I 95 unless you are comfortable driving at high speeds because they'll just run you off the road. So you spend several hours getting used to it, getting comfortable with things before you finally get on I 95 and head goodness. I guess it would technically be south slightly to where your old apartment was. Is there anything in particular that anybody wants to do during the drive because you have some time? [01:47:03] Speaker B: Well, since we're in sort of a soft, rolling vehicle, I think Arthur would try to talk to Piper about his ID and fake identity. And also, there was a discussion just a few days ago about potentially looking into the financial situation of a particular individual. And since we've put that out, all the cards are on the table, as it were, that it might be time to talk with Piper about the Colts and the speaker and see what we can find. [01:47:45] Speaker D: Piper, you have cobbler? Yes. [01:47:50] Speaker C: Yes, I do. [01:47:51] Speaker D: Is there a roll that you have to make in order to look right now? I know it takes time, but I will have you roll now to see how airtight you can make this. [01:48:07] Speaker C: It does not say. [01:48:10] Speaker D: Okay, well, in that case, we are going to go with intelligence and larceny. [01:48:21] Speaker C: All right. And it says it takes three days per dot of the mask, so six days. [01:48:28] Speaker D: Okay. All right. [01:48:30] Speaker B: She's good at this. [01:48:32] Speaker D: She is good at this. Yes, it. [01:48:41] Speaker C: Just in case. [01:48:45] Speaker D: It. That's very good. Yeah. Like I said, it's going to take time. It's going to take the better part of a week. But you manage to set Arthur up with a mask that he can feel comfortable using, with details that he is going to be able to recall relatively easily, and it's going to come. It's not 100% foolproof. There are still situations he's going to want to avoid. Don't go through airports, that sort of thing. But you have a credit score and a bank account that you can use. They've just got a go ahead. [01:49:38] Speaker B: I was just going to. No more just stuffing money into books that are randomly distributed in the. [01:49:47] Speaker D: So Piper makes it clear that that's probably still a good idea to do. But at least now you have the means to purchase things online. You don't have to go through a six step process to go to a store to get a prepaid credit card, to get a prepaid card to load the money on, and then wait for it to clear, and then all this. There aren't a million hoops to jump through anymore. Now you can just toss some money in the account and you've got it for a rainy day. But holding on to some cash isn't a bad idea. You know, it'll get you by in most day to day stuff, as long as you stay away from the really high security places. Okay, now, you wanted to have Piper try and look into the financials of the speaker. [01:50:40] Speaker B: Yeah. To sort of get some more idea on the other side of the speaker that Arthur had zero real knowledge about, and thus be able to kind of track what is up to you. Like, for example, there was a whole nother sect that he knew nothing about. And so something like a record or financial record or something of the speaker might be helpful to information. [01:51:05] Speaker D: So the first thing that Piper is going to have to break to you is that without the speaker's real name, it's going to be a little hard to look up specifics. However, they do have somebody looking into all of that. And when Piper checks her email, there is an email from cricket that is basically saying, there's a lot to parse through. It's taking me some time. I will check in with you as soon as I have more. It's basically just a. Hey, just a heads up. I'm working on it. But there's a lot for me to have to. A lot of hoops for me to have to jump through. However, comma. While Piper can't necessarily look into the speaker specifically, Piper can look into the cult's financials. [01:51:53] Speaker B: Okay, yeah, that's still helpful. [01:51:58] Speaker D: So, Piper, if you could give me another hacking role. [01:52:05] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:52:06] Speaker C: Would you like me to just roll for global access? [01:52:09] Speaker D: Yes, please. [01:52:10] Speaker C: I unfortunately don't have money tap yet, but I can still look at things. [01:52:15] Speaker D: You can look at things you just can't do much with. [01:52:22] Speaker A: Fuck. [01:52:24] Speaker D: Wow. Okay. Didn't think that was going to happen. As well as you've been rolling tonight. That was the last thing I expected. That's a fail by what, Piper. You start poking into things, and it's less that you can't get access to anything and more that you start coming up with so many accounts, and they're kind of all over the place. And you can tell that a lot of these are dummy accounts. This is not a process that you're going to be able to parse through in a single sitting. You're going to have to try again later and probably come at this from a smarter angle than just trying to brute force your way into a given account. You can tell that There are accounts there, but you don't know which one is real, and you can't necessarily get to all of the pertinent details. [01:53:30] Speaker B: Yeah, that makes sense. It's a complex web of. [01:53:38] Speaker D: Hang on. Because we may be able to fix this. You guys have desperation, dice. [01:53:42] Speaker E: Fuck yeah. [01:53:44] Speaker D: And you were doing underground things. You were literally hacking Little Miss Underground. Little Miss I do illegal things. And that's where my desperation dice. You have two desperation dice that you can use. [01:54:05] Speaker C: Only one of them actually roll as it. But that is two more successes, and neither of them are ones. [01:54:12] Speaker D: You do, in fact, have access to things. Okay, so the first thing that you know is that there is definitely more money here than even the most well established cults should be able to come up with. Like, you have known cricket long enough and helped cricket with enough stuff when it comes to getting into conspiracy groups and cults and agencies, that you kind of have an idea what to expect from a cult of this size, monetarily, even if every member that joined the cult gave over every penny they ever made, which, based on all of the money Arthur is squirreling away, is not the case. Even if every single one of them were handing over every penny, and they never spent anything, which seems unlikely because they put people out on the road. And Arthur has said that he got paid per diem. There shouldn't be this much money in these accounts. You can't see where all of the money is coming from because it looks like it's getting bounced through multiple accounts before it gets to theirs. And none of those accounts are terribly specific about what they are. Does that make sense? [01:55:43] Speaker C: Yeah. Long story short, giant money laundering? [01:55:48] Speaker D: Yes. [01:55:50] Speaker B: Okay. [01:55:51] Speaker D: There is a significant amount of money here the speaker could reasonably afford. Just from the accounts that are registered to the church. They could afford to open up an easy ten to 20 more locations worldwide and have them be well outfitted. I say worldwide because why would you have that many in the US? [01:56:21] Speaker C: Right. [01:56:25] Speaker D: But, yeah, thEre's a lot of fucking money here. [01:56:30] Speaker C: I think this might go beyond just some cult. [01:56:37] Speaker B: I mean, that's not good, because. [01:56:43] Speaker E: I. [01:56:43] Speaker B: Was worried about the speaker and the thing that the speaker is. But you're suggesting that there's a bigger picture, bigger connections. Potentially something worse that the speaker is part of. [01:57:02] Speaker C: Might not necessarily be. That might just be he's a lot more powerful and well connected than he seems. This amount of money is not something to laugh at. And it's not the amount of money that something like this should have under normal circumstances. [01:57:25] Speaker B: I see. Well, that's worse than I was sort of hoping for. I was kind of more hoping that we could figure out where maybe a hiding place that he might own. But if you're saying it's much worse than that, then there's a bigger problem than just what's happening. Great. [01:57:58] Speaker C: If you give me some time, I might be able to, let's say, fudge. Some numbers need some time to work out how to do it, but I can probably make that number a lot less scary. [01:58:20] Speaker B: Well, yeah, I guess time is what we have. So do what you can do. I do appreciate your help with this. I know that things like this kind of are situations that put you in, whoever's doing it, into potential danger, getting found out, getting caught, things like that. I think I expressed how important this is to me yesterday, this morning. [01:58:49] Speaker C: I'm doing that shit for damn near eight years. [01:58:54] Speaker B: Yeah. Still, to appreciate that you put yourself out on a limb for me, even if that's kind of what you do. Especially after not so great interaction last night. [01:59:14] Speaker C: I'm a bit prickly when it comes to not a fan super. [01:59:23] Speaker B: And I can admit that I sometimes get a righteous indignation when it comes to the supernatural, which is not necessarily justified. But thank you for the help. And, yeah, do whatever you feel comfortable doing to help with this situation. I know it's kind of more of a personal. More than what we're working on. [01:59:56] Speaker C: Well, right now, I not even capable of it, but give me some time. [02:00:03] Speaker B: You got it. [02:00:04] Speaker D: It. Rosanna gets you guys to her apartment. It's not super far away. We're talking maybe 30, 40 minutes, which is part of why Piper doesn't have the time to properly aggregate all that information and dig into where the money is going, let alone where it's coming from. But she has lead now. All right, I need to know who is going inside, who is staying with the RV? Obviously, Rosanna is going inside. Arthur is going inside. [02:00:58] Speaker B: Yes. [02:00:58] Speaker D: So Piper and Isabelle will stay with the RV. Okay, cool. [02:01:04] Speaker A: Y'all want any drinks while I'm upstairs? [02:01:09] Speaker E: I'm okay. [02:01:12] Speaker C: Yeah, I should be. Good. [02:01:16] Speaker D: All right, you guys head inside. Is there anything that you guys want to talk about while you're in there? Should I give you a moment, or are we jumping ahead? [02:01:32] Speaker B: About last night? We should probably. Maybe. I mean, I feel that I should say something to you. That. [02:01:50] Speaker C: You. [02:01:53] Speaker B: You opened yourself up to me and you admitted some feelings, and I'm. I wasn't very responsive to them. [02:02:02] Speaker D: And. [02:02:03] Speaker B: And then, of course, right after that, there was the thing that happened and I got worse, but. Sorry. [02:02:20] Speaker A: Listen, Arthur, I understand why you were upset yesterday. It was something that I probably could have saved. I wasn't thinking straight. But that's not an excuse. It's just a reason. And I'm sorry if I made you upset. That wasn't my intention. [02:03:09] Speaker D: It. [02:03:10] Speaker B: Yeah, no, it's. It's fine. Sounds like we have to free you from the shackles or her. From the shackles to you. And I just want to let you know that no matter what happens, I will stand with you on. [02:03:37] Speaker A: That's. You've grown a lot in the last couple of months. [02:03:51] Speaker B: Yeah. Had a lot to think about. And last night, when I had my phone call with. Well, when I had my phone call, there was something that sort of came up. And that is that. [02:04:15] Speaker E: There are people. [02:04:16] Speaker B: That I care about, and I might lose them. And that's kind of where my mind was at when you tried to talk to me. But thinking more about it, I realized that there's not just one person that I care about. And that's not a new thing for me. But it's not fair. Like, I don't know how to approach it right now, considering that that person isn't without. One of the people that I care about isn't really here to kind of be aware of or approve of another person that I care about. And I don't really know what to say. I'm just saying that I was in a place where I was worried about losing the people I care about. [02:05:13] Speaker A: You are never going to lose me unless someone forcibly takes me out. We made a promise that we would always watch each other. [02:05:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [02:05:34] Speaker A: And no matter what happens, Arthur, I keep my promises. I do love you. I love you a lot. You will always have me by your side. Nothing to worry about. [02:06:14] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think that I do have different feelings than just cell mates in this hunt game. But I think we're a little busy. Maybe right now with things on our minds. Creatures that we have from our past, but still. [02:06:51] Speaker A: Although I would like to point out that you were the one that said that last too unpredictable. [02:07:04] Speaker B: I did say that, didn't I? [02:07:06] Speaker A: You did. [02:07:08] Speaker B: Damn, you are smarter than me. [02:07:14] Speaker A: Well. [02:07:21] Speaker B: Could we maybe get the things that you need gathered up and get them back down to the RV? [02:07:29] Speaker A: Yeah, I just wanted to grab all my tablets. [02:07:36] Speaker B: Sure. That's the electronic pad things, right? [02:07:42] Speaker A: Yeah, and I wanted to grab some of my cameras and stuff. [02:07:55] Speaker B: Yeah. If you need, I'll go in the living room and see if I can find any of these tablets and bring them with us. [02:08:05] Speaker D: Okay. Well, on that note, let's pivot to people who actually know what tablets are. Piper and Isabelle, is there anything you guys want to talk about outside? [02:08:20] Speaker E: Well, I imagine just kind of working in my own little corner. I will have texted Dr. Langley. It essentially is doing what she said is doing daily updates as to, yes, I'm still alive. I am still here. It's just some basic. My brain keeps going, texting, five by five. [02:08:49] Speaker D: All right, hi, I'm checking in. I haven't gone completely off the fucking deep end yet. My heart rate is X. Blah, blah, blah. I'll let you know if I have another panic attack. Okay. [02:09:05] Speaker E: Kind of basic stuff. Because Piper and I have also both been in the big conversations that need to happen. So we've gotten out our kind of things. I don't think Isabel has anythIng. She's like, I need to talk to Piper about this. [02:09:19] Speaker D: Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay, well, that's guys. While you ladies are hanging out and waiting, and Rosanna and Arthur inside, packing up stuff and making sure that they're not leaving too much evidence behind of who Rosanna is and why she was here, there is a knock on the door to the RV. [02:09:50] Speaker E: Look over at Piper like, you expecting someone? You shall. Or do you want to. [02:10:00] Speaker C: I can. As she walks over to the door, Piper is going to grab a knife from the kitchen and just kind of put it in her back pocket and then go and open the door. [02:10:19] Speaker D: Okay. Sir, would you like to describe what Piper sees when she opens the door? [02:10:30] Speaker F: Well, first, there is a pop and glitter fills the cabin of the RV. [02:10:43] Speaker D: Yes. [02:10:44] Speaker F: Standing at the door is a man about, say, right at six foot, very neutral features. Kind of. If you think about the most nondescript, middle of the road face, that's about what you're looking at. But he is standing there with a full tack vest on and kind of not much else besides the clothes that he's wearing. Just a simple green shirt and black pants. [02:11:20] Speaker D: Piper, you are covered in glitter. [02:11:24] Speaker F: I was going to throw the flashbang, but that seemed mean. [02:11:32] Speaker C: Do I have any idea who this guy is? [02:11:35] Speaker D: No. [02:11:36] Speaker E: Cool. Like, in the background being like, what the fuck? [02:11:46] Speaker C: Who are you? [02:11:50] Speaker F: Well, that's a complex question. Do you want the truth, or do you want the bad news or the good news first? [02:12:05] Speaker C: Me, the truth. Because if you don't, then I will find it. [02:12:10] Speaker F: Oh, no, not on me. Sorry, friend. Normally, we would be having a very different conversation. I think the name that you guys gave me is gunshop. [02:12:34] Speaker E: In the background. I'm going to send a text to Rosanna, essentially, cell group chat. That just says, we have a visitor. [02:12:51] Speaker A: We need to. [02:12:54] Speaker B: Well, sure. I think I gathered up all of these tablet things. [02:13:00] Speaker A: Thank you. And Rosanna will just begin to run downstairs. [02:13:14] Speaker D: I apologize. Gun shop. Are you carrying your signature item? [02:13:20] Speaker F: Oh, yeah. He's not carrying it. There is a duffel bag sitting next to his left foot. And it looks absolutely filled as far as it can go. [02:13:29] Speaker D: Okay. I just needed to make sure. Continue. [02:13:35] Speaker A: I apologize. [02:13:37] Speaker C: You care to elaborate on what that means? [02:13:44] Speaker F: Well, I have some information that might be of interest to you and your ilk. [02:13:53] Speaker E: Our ilk? Wow, that's a new one. [02:13:56] Speaker F: I mean, what else do I call? Shitty reality? Cops that aren't even really good cops? [02:14:07] Speaker E: Yeah. [02:14:10] Speaker C: If you're trying to use the word cop to describe me, you're about as far away from the mark as you can get, right? [02:14:17] Speaker F: No, you just oppress whole groups of people. Anyway, that's not why I'm here. I have your dead friend in my bag. [02:14:28] Speaker D: Really? [02:14:28] Speaker E: Excuse me. [02:14:30] Speaker C: Yeah. [02:14:32] Speaker F: So are the other two coming down, or are they done tongue kissing or whatever the fuck you all do? [02:14:39] Speaker C: No, that's just them. [02:14:42] Speaker F: Okay, I know you sent a text. Are they just slow? [02:14:48] Speaker D: This is around the time that Rosanna and Arthur come around the corner. [02:14:55] Speaker F: Boobs McKinsey and the Padre. How y'all doing? [02:15:01] Speaker D: I'm sorry, who the hell are you? [02:15:04] Speaker A: And why is there fucking glitter all over my van? [02:15:08] Speaker E: Harvey, whatever. [02:15:13] Speaker F: It could have been the flashbangs. [02:15:16] Speaker E: I think they found our present. [02:15:20] Speaker F: I have a present for you. He reaches down and unzips the duffel bag. And you can see that there's almost like the edges of a body bag, almost impossibly obscured from view and bigger than the actual duffel bag as he pulls it out. And he walks onto the RV, like, come on. [02:15:48] Speaker D: Piper, are you going to get out of the way? Are you going to attempt to stop him from bringing himself and his bag onto the RV? [02:15:55] Speaker C: Before we do that, can I roll to sense the unnatural? [02:15:59] Speaker D: You can absolutely roll to sense the unnatural. [02:16:02] Speaker B: I think that Arthur's going to try to detect things, too, because he just pulled something bigger than the inside of the thing it was in. [02:16:11] Speaker D: Everybody go ahead and roll whatever it is that you're going to do, okay? And we will just go down the list, and you all can tell me what exactly you are using. [02:16:24] Speaker E: I am not rolling anything because I don't have anything. But Isabel's leather jacket is kind of on a pile on the table and there may or may not be a gun in it that is pointed right at the person. And her hand is resting on top of. You know, so far, she's not making any moves until shit pops off. [02:16:49] Speaker D: Okay, for reference, because I know that this got asked in the discord chat, but I didn't want to say anything until after the intro scene for Gunshop happened. [02:17:02] Speaker C: That role was to find traps on the RB? [02:17:06] Speaker D: No, that 15 dipole was to see if he could, in one go, disable everything before it went off in his face. And he rolled nine successes on 15 dice. Yes. [02:17:22] Speaker E: I don't want to fuck with this person, but I'm ready to fuck if they go first. This person disabled something that I set up, and it's just. [02:17:35] Speaker A: Folks. [02:17:36] Speaker E: Yes. [02:17:37] Speaker D: Okay, let's see what the roles are. [02:17:43] Speaker B: Was four for me. [02:17:45] Speaker C: Also got four. [02:17:47] Speaker D: Okay. Termite or. I'm sorry, Piper, your earpiece is playing a tone that's about mid range, but it's very similar to the tone that you get off of. When I say similar, it's kind of in the same vein, but not quite as scary as what you get from Isabelle since she got cursed. Not quite as musical as what you got from the woman that Rosanna summoned. It's magic, but it's a much more like mid range, not terribly polarized magic, if that makes sense. [02:18:40] Speaker C: Interesting. [02:18:42] Speaker D: It is powerful, but it is not something that pings as particularly good or particularly bad. You are unsure if that is specifically the bag or if that is just him in general. Arthur, your gauntlet thing is glowing. [02:19:08] Speaker B: Yeah, that's all that he gets, is it glows. Cool. Yeah, it just starts glowing when that happens. Cool. So as Arthur starts to follow, but at a distance, the fuck are you? And you better talk fast. [02:19:34] Speaker F: Well, see, I am the one that makes sure that you chuckle fucks don't absolutely cock the world up worse than it already is. [02:19:48] Speaker E: We must be doing a real bang up job of that. [02:19:52] Speaker F: Oh, yeah, speaking of which. And he reaches down and quickly unzips the body bag. And inside is the body of Zephyr. Their hair is shock white. Their face looks extremely emaciated and sunken in. They're kind of like, curled up in on themselves. And they just look extremely desiccated. So I am guessing they weren't killing things for sport, experimenting on them, cutting toes off when they were rolling with you guys. [02:20:28] Speaker B: You have about 2 seconds to make yourself clear. [02:20:32] Speaker F: It's pretty clear. I brought you your friend. I'm here to give you information, which is not a thing I normally do. Typically, I kill all but one of you, maim you horribly, and then send you off to choose to either retire or die, and tell your friends to do the same. But today, there are a lot bigger issues than my qualms of what the fuck you're doing. [02:20:58] Speaker E: I am going to get up from where I am at the table. Does gunshop look also dead, or do they look any. [02:21:12] Speaker D: They look like very much alive, looks. [02:21:17] Speaker E: Like a normal person, whereas everybody else in the RV is probably looking like a corpse right now. [02:21:22] Speaker D: Oh, no. I apologize. Yes. No, because of your thing. Yes, I'm sorry. That was my bad. As the storyteller. So he looks a bit like a corpse. He is less extreme than the others. However, it doesn't happen often. And mostly what you have found of them, it's not something that you've really been expected to help with, but you've seen research material and whatever from your friend on things like zombies. He looks a little bit more like a zombie to you than just a corpse, if that makes sense. He looks a little bit more put together and a little bit less. There's no way he should be up and moving. Does that make sense? [02:22:14] Speaker E: Yeah, it does. And that is something that Isabelle is going to note also. Piper, did you collect your little things from us? Then Isabelle is going to be like, can you do. If there's a body to look at, I need to be able to see what it actually looks like and what's up with. [02:22:37] Speaker F: That's why I brought it to you, because I didn't do that. And to be honest, for once in my life, doesn't happen often. I don't know what the fuck happened. [02:22:50] Speaker C: Let me do the roll to extend the ward, and then I will spend. [02:23:01] Speaker B: You just. You just found him that way? That's what you're trying to tell me? [02:23:08] Speaker F: Scout sound or whatever. [02:23:09] Speaker D: Arthur. Arthur. I'm not even going to make you roll for this. Zephyr looks like the corpse that you saw come out of the speaker's tent. The hair is white, the skin is pale, and he is gone. [02:23:25] Speaker B: Yes. Callback to the last time that Arthur saw that, which was so long ago that I, as a player, forgot what they look. Ah. Okay. Change of tone. [02:23:36] Speaker E: Then. [02:23:38] Speaker B: Arthur will stare for a long moment and just kind of seemingly dissociate for a moment while the rest of you do. [02:23:46] Speaker D: Don't you have a role that you have to make for PTSD? [02:23:49] Speaker B: Is there a role I just shut down for a little while and become useless? [02:23:54] Speaker D: Okay, that's fine. Then we won't roll. If you're just going to choose to do that, then I'm fine with that. Piper, did your word work? [02:24:03] Speaker C: It doesn't actually give a difficulty for that. [02:24:06] Speaker D: Then I'm going to assume that three is enough. Isabelle. It takes a moment, but you feel that vibration against your chest, and slowly but surely, the world around you goes normal. And gunshop looks like a normal dude. The body in the bag. However, that's unique. You've never seen anything like that before. Like, I'm not even going to make you roll. You have literally never seen a death like this before. [02:24:36] Speaker E: And when it see that, there's almost something that clicks where it clicks completely over to, I must solve this puzzle. And it's something like, okay, this is something I can do. This is something I can work with and is immediately just being like, I'm going to need to lay out this body. I'm suddenly aware that this is somebody that you both knew. And this is going to be awkward. [02:25:03] Speaker D: You're also in the middle of a parking lot of apartment complex. [02:25:06] Speaker A: This may not be the place, but. [02:25:09] Speaker E: It'S like, I'm going to move down and move over to the body because I thought we brought it into the RV, so we're not. [02:25:15] Speaker D: It's in the RV. [02:25:16] Speaker E: I'm going to start pull on gloves and start checking it over for my initial. Just being like, okay, what can I initially notice before I get to a thorough examination? [02:25:29] Speaker A: While she's doing that, do I notice how Arthur's kind of dozing off? [02:25:36] Speaker D: Yeah. Well, it's not so much that he's dozing. You recognize this because you have dealt with the kind of trauma that you have. You're pretty sure that that's what you look like when full blown catatonic anxiety happens. [02:25:55] Speaker A: He's just going to wrap an arm around him and lead him to a bed and whistle for Gozer to follow. [02:26:03] Speaker D: Gozer will follow, although Gozer pauses in front of gunshop and just sort of, like, sniffs at him for a moment and then. Does that dog sneeze that dogs do and walks by and follows you? [02:26:22] Speaker F: I'm going to give him a little pet on his head. [02:26:25] Speaker C: He's a good boy. [02:26:27] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:26:31] Speaker D: He doesn't seem super thrilled about being petted, but he also doesn't growl or snap, which is unusual. [02:26:40] Speaker C: So I'm fucking. I'm going to echo Arthur's question of what are. [02:26:52] Speaker F: Oh, well, I used to work for a bunch of dirty bureaucrats, but then I decided, better of know. Anyway, we should probably focus on the task at hand. We can get to that later. Doesn't really much matter what I am in a room filled with a person who's cursed, somebody who smells like the dreaming, which is interesting. I don't know what the fuck you're about, Padre, but that's magic. And that you might be a little closer to me there. And he is. Oh, gosh. [02:27:41] Speaker C: Words. [02:27:44] Speaker F: He's looking at termite kind of just like. He pauses there for a second. Piper, we might need to talk after, but we'll see how this goes. [02:28:01] Speaker E: Interesting. You know about the curse. Seeing as I barely had it for 24 hours. [02:28:08] Speaker C: You'Re anywhere near you and have any ability to sense feet, any sort of magic, it's really fucking hard not to. [02:28:17] Speaker E: That's fair. [02:28:19] Speaker F: I mean, tracking you guys isn't exactly hard. Rosanna here has, like, a public page on the Internet. [02:28:27] Speaker A: Yeah, but I haven't post to it in a couple weeks. [02:28:36] Speaker F: Still connect it to a phone that pings its location every so often. [02:28:39] Speaker A: Are you sure about that? [02:28:42] Speaker F: It was enough for me to find you. [02:28:46] Speaker A: Who are you? [02:28:48] Speaker B: Gun shop. [02:28:50] Speaker F: A friend for now. [02:28:52] Speaker A: Gun shop, whatever. Have your nickname. You need to get to the point. Where did you find him? [02:29:06] Speaker F: Well, like I said before, I try my best to make sure that you guys don't cock the world up already more than it's done been cocked up. Unfortunately, your friend here decided to go messing with a bunch of things that they shouldn't. Not been messing with somewhere about like Raleigh, North Carolina. But, yeah, I was honestly going on my way to plug a few extra holes in them and found them like that. [02:29:44] Speaker E: What were they doing? [02:29:46] Speaker F: From what I can, you mentioned something. [02:29:48] Speaker C: About torturing and cutting people's toes off. [02:29:53] Speaker F: Yeah, I don't know what happened. To be real, I've kind of known a little bit about you guys for a while. I will say, out of everything, I do have to give you some props, which I don't do often. You saved a lot of people. And after that cruise liner went up, I lost a friend of mine, which is where my interest started. [02:30:22] Speaker A: Wow. [02:30:24] Speaker F: That's why we're able to have a conversation right now. [02:30:27] Speaker A: I'm sorry about your friend. If you couldn't tell. We know what that's like. [02:30:35] Speaker F: Yeah, and for both of their sakes, that's why I'm here. [02:30:43] Speaker A: All right, well, whatever happened has our friend in not great spirits. I got Gozer on cute puppy detail, so hopefully that pulls him out of it after a little bit. So you have no clue what could have possibly happened to him? [02:31:17] Speaker F: I have some clue. Unfortunately for you guys, you are headed on a direct collision course with it right now. If what I'm assuming your guys'plan is, is to go find this cult right at some point, well, that might need to move up on your priority list a little bit. I don't know what the fuck that speaker is. [02:31:56] Speaker A: You think that the speaker has something to do with us? [02:31:59] Speaker F: I'm pretty much almost certain they weren't the only body. [02:32:06] Speaker C: That would explain Arthur's reaction. [02:32:08] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm going to go check on him now, actually. [02:32:17] Speaker E: Yeah. [02:32:19] Speaker A: She's gonna turn and go back to the bed that she dragged Arthur to and goes her at on emotional support service animal duty. [02:32:36] Speaker E: We need to get Gozer a little vest. [02:32:38] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:32:41] Speaker D: Awkwardly. Because he doesn't. He gets along okay with Arthur, but they're not buddies. They're barely tentatively able to be in the same room. But he is, like, sitting and just has just sort of, like, set his head in Arthur's lap, but his eyes are, like, darting around and he keeps looking from, like, gunshot to everybody else and then back to gunshot to everybody else. It's okay, boy. [02:33:17] Speaker A: You're doing the best you can. [02:33:21] Speaker D: Arthur. If you would like to attempt to snap out of it, you can roll me your unspent willpower. [02:33:27] Speaker A: Okay. [02:33:28] Speaker E: When do you want me to roll any kind of medicine on this body? [02:33:32] Speaker D: In a minute. Hold on. [02:33:34] Speaker E: I wasn't just going to ask. [02:33:36] Speaker D: You're not really doing much with it, right? It takes. It takes a hot minute, Arthur, but when you feel Rosanna kind of settle down on the edge of the bed with you, you actually, for the first time, kind of register the warmth and the weight of Gozer's head in your lap. [02:34:03] Speaker A: Arthur? [02:34:07] Speaker B: Yeah. [02:34:08] Speaker D: Arthur? [02:34:09] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm here. [02:34:13] Speaker A: I know. Hey. [02:34:21] Speaker D: You don't. [02:34:22] Speaker A: You don't need to be in here. [02:34:26] Speaker B: Yeah, I should be out there and trying to do. I. He didn't. He. So this guy didn't do that to Zephyr? [02:34:45] Speaker A: No, I know. He told me what he thinks might have happened, and we're going to kind of expedite our trip. We're going to go take care of it. [02:35:09] Speaker B: What do you mean? We're going to take care of it? I don't think you understand. That is what the speaker does to people. [02:35:29] Speaker A: And if we don't stop it, it'll happen to a lot more. [02:35:37] Speaker B: Yeah. [02:35:39] Speaker A: Open your mouth. And she's going to take out one of her little strawberry creams. And if he opens his mouth, she's just going to pop it in and close. Give it a. [02:36:02] Speaker D: Um. Arthur, you do, after a moment, feel a little warmer, a little bit like somebody gave you a really long hug. [02:36:21] Speaker B: I never thought that candy would make me feel like this. Maybe we can guess it's been a while since I've really had some good candy. [02:36:38] Speaker A: Well, you know what I always say my day gets a little bit better with the strawberry cream. [02:36:46] Speaker B: I guess. So what do you have in here? Amphetamines. [02:36:56] Speaker A: A little bit of that magic touch. [02:37:01] Speaker B: Well, we've probably got talked to this person since I think that they might be telling the truth, that they're kind of on trying to help in some way. [02:37:12] Speaker A: Yeah, she's just going to wrap him up in a hug. I'm really Marb. [02:37:27] Speaker D: We're gonna. [02:37:27] Speaker A: We're gonna. [02:37:28] Speaker D: We're gonna. [02:37:31] Speaker A: We're gonna make that man that person that would ever pay. [02:37:42] Speaker B: Yeah. [02:37:46] Speaker A: And she'll give him a little kiss on the forehead if he doesn't pull back. [02:37:51] Speaker B: Oh, he does not pull back. [02:37:56] Speaker A: And then she'll get up and walk out. [02:38:02] Speaker D: Hey, while they were talking, were the three of you discussing anything? [02:38:15] Speaker E: Yeah. Isabel is going to look up at gunshop and be like, can you tell me anything else about how and where you found this person? You think of any details? Could be important. [02:38:31] Speaker F: Really shitty attempt at a shallow grave in Raleigh. From what I could tell, they were cutting a path through anything they could get their hands on. It was really bad. I had to rush to get to them before something else did because I was worried if they found a friend here, Zephyr was going to cause a nearby town to have a really big problem of a lot of dark shit. Trail kind of went cold for a while. I found a lot more bodies. Even found where they were holed up. I didn't at first go for them because I was worried they were still with you all. Fortunately or unfortunately they weren't. But I guess their new obsession was this cult and all the disappearances around it. And. [02:39:29] Speaker D: Correction, it was less that they were interested in the cult and more that you could see that they were very obviously targeting the speaker because they were only going after supernaturals. Different types of supernatural. [02:39:50] Speaker F: So looks like that didn't go too well for them. Or the twelve other bodies I found with them. [02:39:59] Speaker E: All of them. Same kind of. [02:40:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [02:40:05] Speaker E: Fascinating. And writing small notes in my shorthand. [02:40:10] Speaker C: Wrong reaction. [02:40:14] Speaker D: Isabel, will you make me an intent medicine check? This is just for preliminary look over the body. You are nowhere near. You guys have not had time to set up to be able to properly cut a body open or anything without making a huge mess. But. [02:40:41] Speaker E: It is five successes. [02:40:44] Speaker D: The first thing you notice is that for something that looks so emaciated, there's definitely blood in this body. It's weird. It's like the skin is just sort of sagging in. Does that make sense? [02:41:07] Speaker E: Yeah. [02:41:10] Speaker D: It does not have the kind of decay that suggests that they've been dead a long time. You're thinking no more than a few days probably. It's hard to be 100% sure because of how weird the death is. So you've met Zephyr. Zephyr was African American. He had dark, dark hair and his hair is shock white. His skin has a kind of gray tinge to it when you pull back the eyelid to try and get a look at what the eyes look like to see if they're damaged in any way. There is no color to the iris anymore. It's like they're completely clouded over. But the weirdest part is that there isn't a single mark on this body that looks like it killed them. There are some hints that they probably took a beating at some point before they died. But the marks are older. Yeah, definitely not from when they died specifically. Does that make sense? [02:42:36] Speaker E: Like it might have been they started healing from it a little bit before they died. [02:42:41] Speaker D: Yes. But the complete lack of any sort of obvious wound is what really strikes you as weird. Like, you know that blank bodies have a way of being able to cover their tracks. But if they're going to kill somebody, they just take all the blood. [02:43:00] Speaker E: There wouldn't be blood in this body. [02:43:02] Speaker C: If it was a blank. [02:43:03] Speaker D: But there's definitely still blood in here. There's enough that there's no way it was a blank that did. [02:43:11] Speaker E: Like. You do hear the word fascinating and curious a few more times as Isabella's looking over this because it's just like completely disassociating from who this person was. Now this is a science experiment to her. [02:43:25] Speaker D: Yes. Gotcha. [02:43:28] Speaker F: An audible groan from gunshot fascinating. [02:43:32] Speaker E: Oh, God. [02:43:34] Speaker C: Yeah. That is not the kind of reaction something like this should give. [02:43:39] Speaker F: We're supposed to be the fucking monsters. [02:43:41] Speaker C: Jesus. [02:43:42] Speaker E: It's absolutely horrifying. But it is also fascinating that somebody do this. I've never encountered this before, so it is new for me. And the fact that something can do this could feasibly kill somebody by it is like they drained, but it's not drained. Still has all of his blood. Because if it was a no blood. [02:44:08] Speaker C: They didn't drain his blood, they just. [02:44:10] Speaker E: Didn'T drain his life. Not a blank yet, like drained the life, the energy, like everything out. [02:44:19] Speaker F: I checked too. I have a few contacts. Zephyr isn't exactly walking around anywhere either. Otherwise he's gone. I really need you to understand, he is gone. [02:44:40] Speaker E: The spirit drained the spirit. [02:44:46] Speaker C: And it's. [02:44:47] Speaker E: Just completely in mortician brain. And this is where she feels most comfortable and most at home doing this kind of work. And it's just being like, I'm going to need samples of this, this and this. And it's kind of like making lists of being like, maybe I can get Alison to run me some more tests, because there's no way I have space to run these tests where I am. Maybe that'll give us more information as to what the effects it has had on his body. [02:45:19] Speaker D: Arthur, this is the scene that you walk back out to. Isabelle is, like, obsessing over making notes. She hasn't made any incisions or anything like that, but she has got Zephyr out of the. Essentially laying in the body bag. But the body bag is open from top to bottom, and she is examining every inch. [02:45:43] Speaker B: It's called ascension. Yeah, at least that's what the speaker called it. [02:45:49] Speaker F: Ding ding. [02:45:52] Speaker E: Did Zephyr have any effects on him, or is it just whatever's here? [02:46:02] Speaker F: Would I have gotten his phone? I'm assuming? [02:46:06] Speaker D: Um, yeah. I mean, it was. It was a prepaid, so it's not like there was much to it. There was a handful of numbers that were called, but most of them, when you look them up, were places like a local pizza joint and stuff like that. The kind of places that you call when you were on the road and you need to pick up food on your way to go do a thing. [02:46:34] Speaker F: Once I found where they were betting down, would I have gotten any other notes or anything like that? [02:46:40] Speaker D: Hmm. You know, that somebody, you're not entirely sure who, which is a little concerning for you, given your focus and how good you are with technology. Somebody sent them some weird stuff that you managed to intercept. You know, that they got sent what seemed to be an address for a server with a bunch of weird puzzles and stuff on it. You didn't fuck around with it. You just saw that was there the last time that they tried to reach out to. [02:47:21] Speaker F: Really, all that. [02:47:24] Speaker D: The thing that stands out the most to you about everything with Zephyr, though, gunshop. And the thing that put you on Zephyr's trail probably faster than you might have, considering the good grace that you were giving these guys after what they did in New Orleans and all the lives that they saved, was the fact that every time Zephyr killed something, he took a piece of it with them, with him. And half the time, things didn't even die before he took the pieces. Like sometimes he just took the whole person while they were still alive and did some truly heinous shit, apparently in the name of experimentation, from what you could tell. [02:48:16] Speaker C: Yeah. [02:48:20] Speaker D: You'Ve seen some really terrible scenes, considering what you do hunting hunters. You've seen the scenes that you leave behind when you decide to go to town on a cell. And nothing has really given you pause quite as much as what Zephyr was willing to do to a supernatural if he caught them alive. [02:48:47] Speaker F: I don't know what happened to your friend in general, but especially what got me interested in them in the first place. [02:48:58] Speaker B: They. [02:49:01] Speaker F: Snatched up one of my kind right as she figured out what she was. [02:49:12] Speaker D: And. [02:49:14] Speaker F: When I say he stripped every part of her that he could to study it. [02:49:24] Speaker C: I. [02:49:29] Speaker F: I don't know. [02:49:32] Speaker D: I. [02:49:48] Speaker C: Can'T imagine a monster more terrifying than humanity itself. [02:49:55] Speaker A: What I said earlier. [02:49:57] Speaker C: Now, when you say your kinds. [02:50:05] Speaker B: Really. [02:50:05] Speaker C: Getting off you as magic of some kind. [02:50:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [02:50:12] Speaker E: You looked less dead, which was very strange. Come on, y'all got it. [02:50:20] Speaker F: Y'all smart. [02:50:22] Speaker D: Who wants to make into the cult roles? Anybody who wants to make an intimate cult role is welcome to make one. [02:50:32] Speaker C: All right, there we go. [02:50:36] Speaker D: Wow. Back to rolling. Like you, I see. [02:50:39] Speaker E: Oh, Jesus. I'm also going to spend a willpower to reroll some of that. Two successes. Wow. [02:50:47] Speaker D: Okay. [02:50:48] Speaker E: I'm still way too focused on this body. [02:50:51] Speaker D: Curious. [02:50:52] Speaker A: That's a critical nine for me. [02:50:56] Speaker D: Okay, for those of you who only rolled one, it could be one of those. You would almost think he was one of those magical blank bodies, except that it's daylight, so that doesn't make any fucking sense. [02:51:16] Speaker C: My first assumption was just mage. [02:51:21] Speaker D: How many successes did you Roll, Piper? [02:51:24] Speaker C: Oh, one. [02:51:26] Speaker E: I got two. [02:51:28] Speaker D: Okay. [02:51:28] Speaker C: But I know he's not a blank body. [02:51:31] Speaker D: You know he's not a blank body. But you've also never encountered a mage. I'm not sure that you would know what a mage is, so you're probably thinking maybe some weirdo kind of faith thing like what Rosanna's got going on because she felt a lot like magic, too. Maybe they don't all feel like life and happy joy things. Arthur. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. That's kind of where your brain is at, Rosanna, because of all of the research you did into your powers. You know exactly what gunshop is because there was a time when you were wondering if maybe you were one. He's a mage in a very big way. [02:52:34] Speaker A: Oh, my God. [02:52:36] Speaker D: You were not sure that you'd ever actually encounter one in person and know about it is the thing. Because mages tend to pass for human more often than not. In fact, there's a line of thinking among some hunters that mages just are humans, that they're not any different. They're just like what you guys can do with the various special things that you figured out how to use. Just more extreme. [02:53:04] Speaker B: Though. You're a warlock. [02:53:06] Speaker A: Not a warlock. Not a warlock. [02:53:09] Speaker F: See, you're starting on that shit already. [02:53:11] Speaker E: That's real tough talk coming from somebody. [02:53:13] Speaker F: Who might as well be celestial. [02:53:15] Speaker B: Chorus. [02:53:16] Speaker F: There's a whole group of people just. [02:53:18] Speaker A: Like you, all right? There is no. [02:53:23] Speaker F: Are you going to take your girlfriend out, too? You're going to take her out back and shoot her in the back of her head, too? Because last I checked. [02:53:33] Speaker A: Enough. [02:53:36] Speaker D: We are in a very dire and serious. No. Enough. No. [02:53:45] Speaker A: Enough. [02:53:50] Speaker B: I was just going to like him. That's all I was going to say, but then he had to go off and do that. [02:53:56] Speaker A: I don't want to hear it from Arthur. [02:54:02] Speaker D: He's in trouble. [02:54:07] Speaker A: Gun shop. I am very not extra familiar with mages, but in the midst of trying to figure out what I am or was, I did a little bit of research of my own. Your kind, they are phenomenal in ways that most other supernatural aren't even aware of. [02:54:39] Speaker F: No, a lot of y'all don't agree with that sentiment. [02:54:45] Speaker A: They don't know. [02:54:48] Speaker E: Look, this is the first time hearing about mages like, I have no beef with you. [02:54:55] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:54:58] Speaker F: You got one more time with me, Padre. Okay, the lights in the RV start to. [02:55:04] Speaker A: Right. All right, listen. We don't need to be getting on toe stepping territory right now. We appreciate you bringing Zephyr to us. Let me be the first one to say it. You didn't have to, but you did. Piper. [02:55:29] Speaker C: Yes. [02:55:30] Speaker D: With awareness, please. Okay. Don't worry. It's not a hard role. I just need to know that you noticed. Well, yeah. Okay. When the lights go a little wonky, you catch movement out of the corner of your eye and you turn to look at your laptop screen, and there are lines of code like you have never seen before that flow across your screen for just a moment. And then the lights settle and your screen goes back to normal. [02:56:15] Speaker B: She has read about that. You didn't have to. [02:56:20] Speaker C: But I think Gunshot's right. I think he and I should never talk. [02:56:32] Speaker F: I came here out of good faith. But if you want to run off and get yourself murdered or whatever the fuck that is, go ahead. That's fine. I can figure something out. I can find another cell that has a little bit more brains in them, and we can try it again. [02:56:47] Speaker A: No. [02:56:48] Speaker E: Yeah. [02:56:52] Speaker A: Listen, Gunner, we could really, really use the help. We don't know what we're really dealing with. We don't know what this speaker is really capable of. The only one that does is Arthur. And if you are willing to help us, I would. I would. [02:57:32] Speaker E: I would appreciate it. [02:57:36] Speaker B: All right. [02:57:37] Speaker F: But if he calls me a warlock one more time, I'm turning his kneecaps into butterflies. [02:57:40] Speaker D: Oh, don't worry. [02:57:41] Speaker A: If he calls you warlock one more time, you can just send him my way. [02:57:49] Speaker B: I only have one comment. [02:57:53] Speaker E: Actual butterflies. [02:57:54] Speaker B: Or do you mean, like, bending them outward? [02:57:57] Speaker C: I think he means several butterflies. [02:58:00] Speaker B: That's what I was thinking. Interesting. Okay. That's something I didn't know you could do, but that's interesting. [02:58:05] Speaker D: That's really cool, though. [02:58:12] Speaker A: I think it's pretty cool, but it's fascinating. Okay. All right. In any way that you would be able to help us? I don't know if you are able to do this, but in return, I'm really Good at communicating with ghosts. If there was anybody that you needed to talk to. [02:58:47] Speaker D: Service. [02:58:54] Speaker F: We'll see how that goes. Everything else goes first. As it is, I don't trust any of you. As long as we got that. [02:59:06] Speaker A: Yeah, that's why this is strictly transactional. [02:59:16] Speaker F: All right, then. So what were you planning next? [02:59:27] Speaker E: Think we were heading to New Orleans. [02:59:33] Speaker C: I think before we do that, we should work out the rest of these puzzles. [02:59:40] Speaker A: Yeah, we do have puzzles to go over, don't we? [02:59:44] Speaker C: Seems like figuring those out might be mean. [02:59:48] Speaker E: I can conquer, divide. We can work on them as we drive. Puzzles are, like, one of my favorite things. They're easier to understand than people. [03:00:09] Speaker C: People don't exactly follow patterns. Most of the time, puzzles tend to. [03:00:14] Speaker E: Yeah, that's why I like them. [03:00:17] Speaker A: Also, I'm sorry that I raised my voice. It got very uncomfortable. [03:00:27] Speaker D: Okay, so who's driving? [03:00:33] Speaker B: Arthur is not driving for. He's going to just stare at gunshop and make sure he doesn't do anything. [03:00:39] Speaker D: I love it. Because who couldn't really solve most of your puzzles? So now you're just going to stand here. You're going to sit here and be crotchety and unhelpful. So that's great. That's fine. Okay, so Rosanna's driving, which is good, because Rosanna is the one person who solved all of her puzzles. I believe it was. Isabelle had one, Piper had one, and Arthur had three that didn't get solved. [03:01:17] Speaker B: Yeah. Zero out of three were solved on Arthur's end. [03:01:23] Speaker D: No, I apologize. Arthur had two that didn't get solved because it was anything. Three and up got solved. So you managed to solve two out of or three out of five? [03:01:36] Speaker C: Three out of five. [03:01:38] Speaker D: Okay, all right, out of character, because I don't have this particular note in front of me because I didn't think about having this in my prep for tonight. Does anybody remember what kind of puzzles we gave Arthur? [03:01:55] Speaker C: Arthur was working on riddles. [03:01:57] Speaker B: They were riddle puzzles. [03:01:58] Speaker D: Riddles. Okay. Piper was doing code things, Rosanna did anagrams, and Isabelle did. What did we give Isabel? Was it logic? Okay, are we going to do the same thing except that you guys are going to divide up the two that Arthur didn't solve between the two of you? [03:02:31] Speaker E: Yeah, I guess so. [03:02:32] Speaker C: Yeah, I think so. [03:02:33] Speaker D: Is Gunshop going to help? [03:02:38] Speaker F: Yeah, but only because the trail. Everyone else is cold. He might as well collaborate. [03:02:45] Speaker D: Okay, all right, so I'm going to allow Isabelle and Piper to both make two roles InT and academics for both of Isabelle's Piper. Intent. Academics for one. And intent. Technology for the other. You both get an additional two dice because Gunshop is helping. [03:03:16] Speaker E: My spec in research doesn't count, right, it does not. Cool. [03:03:22] Speaker C: All right, I will do the technology first. [03:03:26] Speaker E: Doing my first intelligence. Academics. [03:03:31] Speaker D: All right, first two roles from both of you are good. [03:03:34] Speaker E: I've just done one. [03:03:37] Speaker D: All right, I meant the first role from each of you. [03:03:48] Speaker E: As I said, Isabel's great at puzzles. [03:03:52] Speaker D: Between the three of you. [03:03:54] Speaker E: Oh, wait, that's not even counting. No, I had that, but I was also like, I get a bonus for coldly logical. And I forgot that bonus too, but I don't need it. [03:04:05] Speaker D: Damn. Okay. Yeah, no, between the three of you, you blow through these puzzles. While Rosanna is driving towards New Orleans, Arthur is in the passenger seat, but he's got it turned so that it faces into the RV. And he's glaring at gunshop the whole time. [03:04:30] Speaker F: At a certain point, he grabs a nearby blanket and does the flare of a magician. And when he drops it, you can see he's pulling from his pocket. He pulls out just a very fresh looking 1911. He waves his hand over it and it's gone. [03:04:51] Speaker D: The gut chef's now doing magic tricks because Arthur won't stop staring at. [03:05:00] Speaker F: Wait, I got one. I got one for you. I got one for you. [03:05:02] Speaker C: Preach. [03:05:03] Speaker A: Oh, no. [03:05:06] Speaker E: Fuck yourself. [03:05:10] Speaker D: Wow. Okay. Amazing. [03:05:14] Speaker A: Can we not vape in the RV, please? Yeah, I see you doing it, Gunchop. [03:05:23] Speaker D: Put it away. [03:05:25] Speaker B: Listen, Gunshop, I don't trust you, but I understand that you are helping, so I'm going to let that slide. What the fuck is a celestial chorus? [03:05:38] Speaker F: All right, so imagine if we got you the weird religious, fanatical hang ups and whatever the hell. And you gave it the power to bend reality to your will and you decided to instead be super close minded and still read a book. That's about it. So you're kind of like 100th of the way there. [03:06:09] Speaker A: Interesting. So are there, like you mentioned, celestial. Course. How many different types of mages are there? [03:06:19] Speaker F: See, I don't know about all that. Well, I do. I'm just not going to tell you that. Although I think your friend over there typey is probably one of mine. [03:06:39] Speaker E: For a bitch. [03:06:41] Speaker F: Not yet, but a little too good with computers. [03:06:51] Speaker E: Speaking of, know anything about curses? [03:06:57] Speaker F: A thing or two, anything? I don't know, I have a person for. [03:07:03] Speaker E: Care to share. [03:07:06] Speaker F: Is bad. [03:07:08] Speaker E: Yeah, it's been a great 24 hours. [03:07:13] Speaker F: Like I said, we'll see how this works out. If it's purely transactional, I get what I want. I might be able to help you out with something, but we'll see. [03:07:22] Speaker E: Yeah. [03:07:27] Speaker D: Gun shop. Would you like to roll to see what you can figure out about the curse? That's. [03:07:34] Speaker F: Yes, but I'm going to do it on the low. [03:07:38] Speaker D: Yeah, I got you. I would like you to roll me. Do go with nine dice. This particular curse is not in one of your specialized areas. You can reroll failures if you would like. [03:08:00] Speaker F: Sure. We will burn a willpower. [03:08:10] Speaker C: Hold on. [03:08:10] Speaker D: You hit the button. [03:08:14] Speaker B: There's a button. [03:08:15] Speaker D: Yeah, there's a reroll failure button. [03:08:17] Speaker F: Let's get it. [03:08:20] Speaker D: Okay. [03:08:22] Speaker C: Didn't change anything. [03:08:24] Speaker D: You know enough to know that particular curse doesn't come from a mage. [03:08:34] Speaker F: Well, wouldn't be one of mine. [03:08:39] Speaker D: The other thing you know is that it is definitely blood magic. [03:08:45] Speaker F: Oh, piss off. Any vampires lately? [03:08:49] Speaker E: Pretty sure that one of them was didn't directly tangle with one, but one is certainly left us a surprise gift. [03:09:03] Speaker C: Yeah, been a few years since I last pissed off one directly. [03:09:11] Speaker E: Most of the ones I pissed off I thought were still back in California. [03:09:16] Speaker D: Another thing that you can see is that while this is definitely blood magic that did this to her, it is tapping into her subconscious and psyche in particular. It is pulling on the things that frighten her the most. Like it is harnessing her personal nightmares. So while a mage could probably fix it, or a magically inclined vampire could probably fix it, somebody with enough faith, liKe, not necessarily like Arthur's, because Arthur's seems to be honed in a very. [03:09:58] Speaker E: Specific. [03:10:01] Speaker D: You know, somebody with enough faith, if they could get it to kind of mirror in her, could potentially do it. But what is most likely to be able to at least dampen it if it not solve it altogether is actually probably something inclined towards the dreaming. But on the darker end of the spectrum, you're thinking unsealy, while Rosanna, specifically the dreaming that you feel coming off of her, is very Sealy oriented. [03:10:42] Speaker F: Well, fuckity Faye bullshit might help, but not the brand of fuckity Faye bullshit that your friend has. The not so nice, cuddly, cute cottage core, whatever the fuck the opposite of that. Those guys aren't especially amenable to people. So we'll workshop it. Gun shop will workshop it. [03:11:07] Speaker E: It's literally more than I had 30 seconds ago, and I owe you one. [03:11:16] Speaker D: I'd also like to point out that now that you have spent a little bit more time working with and next to Piper, yes, she seems a little bit more inclined towards your type of magic if it were happening. There is also a weird kind of. She feels her. Specifically, she feels a little bit like a dead zone for magic when you get close to her. Now, that's not completely unheard of. Some mages have the ability to just kind of shut all the magic shit around them down and go, no, not dealing with it. Or it could be that there is something about her that makes her decidedly not able to do magic. You're not sure what it is. Most humans have at least a little bit of magic in them. A little bit of the ability to touch the weave. But you just try to, like, even a little bit, you send just a tiny little bit of energy towards her. It's not going to do anything towards her. You're just trying to get a sense for her to see if she's maybe near her awakening. And nothing. It's just like hitting a brick wall and she doesn't seem to notice. [03:12:38] Speaker C: That's weird. [03:12:39] Speaker F: I'm going to keep that one in your pocket. [03:12:42] Speaker D: Got you. [03:12:45] Speaker A: Better go in that pocket where that vape is. Boy. [03:12:49] Speaker F: I know the fuck you think you're Calling boy. [03:12:51] Speaker D: I could be your father. [03:12:55] Speaker E: Careful. Rosanna might be into that. [03:13:02] Speaker D: I mean, to be fair, you've seen her public facing page. She might be into that. All right. Okay. Do you guys want to do anything else while you're on the road? [03:13:16] Speaker E: Focus on these puzzles mostly. See if I can crack them. [03:13:20] Speaker C: Piper does have to check in with Melanie. [03:13:23] Speaker D: All right. The puzzles you guys solve. Rosanna had been the one writing everything down, but I'm sure she would be happy to pass over the piece of paper to Piper to fill in the blanks with the new resolutions. So whenever you guys are ready, you will be able to put in the answers and see what it gives you. However, Piper has a phone call to make. Piper, there isn't a ton of privacy here, but you've kind of told your friends about what's going on. And you get the feeling, given the way your computer has reacted to Gunshop's presence at times, that if he wanted to know, he would just know. [03:14:12] Speaker C: Yeah. [03:14:15] Speaker D: So let's go ahead and make that phone call, shall we? [03:14:19] Speaker C: All right. That's a much more reasonable time. [03:14:24] Speaker D: It is a much more reasonable time. It is not the middle of the night. In fact, it's kind of the middle of the afternoon for her because it is getting on towards late afternoon for you. Cool. There's a couple of rings, and then the phone picks up, and you can hear the kind of low murmur of chatter that you would expect to hear in an office setting in the background. Hello? [03:14:56] Speaker C: Hey, it's Piper. [03:14:58] Speaker D: Hey, baby. How are you? [03:15:00] Speaker C: Oh, I'm not too bad. Stuck on the road again, but, yeah, finally getting things figured out. [03:15:09] Speaker D: Good forward momentum on that job that. [03:15:12] Speaker C: You'Re doing a little bit, yeah. [03:15:17] Speaker D: Good. [03:15:19] Speaker C: Fucking weird, though. [03:15:22] Speaker D: I'm sorry. Are you okay? [03:15:27] Speaker C: I'm fine. [03:15:29] Speaker D: You making new friends? [03:15:32] Speaker C: Yeah. Working with some interesting people. [03:15:39] Speaker D: Yeah. Should I be worried. [03:15:43] Speaker C: For my safety? Maybe, but that's about it. [03:15:48] Speaker D: Okay, well, that was meant to be a tease, and now you're worrying me. [03:15:52] Speaker C: No, I'm fine. They seem like good people. [03:15:57] Speaker D: Okay. All right, cool. So what's up? [03:16:06] Speaker C: You mean in general? [03:16:11] Speaker D: You called me baby. I'm happy to hear that you're alive and things are okay and you're not, like, hurt or dying. And it's not two in the morning. [03:16:23] Speaker C: I just wanted to check in, make sure he knew I was okay. That's most of it. Want to check and make sure you're okay? [03:16:31] Speaker D: Yeah, I'm good. I'm just at work. [03:16:34] Speaker C: All right. [03:16:36] Speaker D: Just got out of a big meeting. Boring as usual. Should have been an email. [03:16:42] Speaker C: Most of them should be. [03:16:45] Speaker D: Yeah. Really like to work from home. I think some of us are going to go out for drinks after work, but other than that, I'm fine. [03:16:57] Speaker A: All right. [03:16:59] Speaker C: New friend? Matt was his, right? [03:17:02] Speaker A: Uh huh. [03:17:03] Speaker C: Tell him I said hi. [03:17:06] Speaker D: Okay. If he gets along well with you. [03:17:12] Speaker C: He must be good people. [03:17:14] Speaker D: I mean, he certainly seems like it. He's really nice. I blew a tire this morning and he came and helped me fix it. [03:17:24] Speaker C: Well, at least you can count on him for that. [03:17:27] Speaker D: Speaking of which, don't be mad. Have to take your car to the body shop because I apparently don't know how to put a car up on a jacket I sort of damaged. It's not bad. And the guy at the shop that we, that I stopped at on my lunch said that they could fix it in like a day. So it'll be fine by the time you get home. But I'm sorry. [03:17:55] Speaker C: That's all right. Those things are pain in the ass. Okay. [03:18:04] Speaker D: Well, my boss is looking my way, so I should probably get going. Unless you need something specific. [03:18:11] Speaker C: No, that's all. [03:18:13] Speaker D: Okay, well, I love you and I'm glad that you're safe. And at least text me whenever you get to where you're going. [03:18:21] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. [03:18:23] Speaker D: Okay. Bye, baby. Bye. [03:18:25] Speaker A: Love you. [03:18:25] Speaker D: Love you, too. And she hangs up. No. Bye, baby. Sorry. [03:18:36] Speaker C: I still have emotions, unlike some people. [03:18:38] Speaker A: Hey, you sound like you have fun at parties. [03:18:41] Speaker F: I have great fun. I'm an absolute fucking riot. [03:18:47] Speaker C: You know, I know a thing to do about starting those. [03:18:51] Speaker F: I'm aware. [03:18:56] Speaker D: Okay, you all continue your drive and make it into New Orleans. And it's late evening. There is time to pick up dinner and find a campsite that is big enough and has hookups for water and power and all that stuff that you guys can pull into for the night. We've only got about 10 minutes left, so we're not going to get into the puzzle stuff because that's a whole thing that we can tackle. Next time you guys pull in. Rosanna, as you guys are pulling in, like kind of the whole way through the city after you picked up dinner, you started to feel, I don't want to say queasy, but uneasy. And it was one of those things that was, you were uneasy in your gut, like something felt off. And the longer you kind of tried to press it down and ignore it because you were driving and getting to where you needed to be, the more insistent it got until it had migrated from your gut, like up the back of your neck to your mind and it felt like you were being physically tugged. And you hold on to that control the best you can as you pull in and park and you stand up to get out of the seat thinking, I'm just going to go outside and get some air. And you stand up and everybody else sees your knees give way and you just crumple like a rag doll gun shop. You specifically feel and taste a surge of the dreaming when this happens. [03:21:23] Speaker F: Oh, smells like freshly cut grass. Oh, shit. [03:21:30] Speaker C: Are you allergic to freshly cut grass? [03:21:32] Speaker F: I got seasonal shit. [03:21:33] Speaker D: It's fine, Rosanna. The world goes black as your body hits the floor of the RV. And when you open your eyes again. You are standing in a cell like the one from the vision that you had, except you're not alone. You are standing there with tuafla. She is still in chains, except that they are more extreme and they are not gold and silver here. They are heavy and they are iron. There is a collar around her throat and manacles around both of her wrists and both of her ankles. And the chains, instead of going to you, extend from her to beyond the bars that make up one of the walls where a woman who looks remarkably like you is standing there in a nun's habit and she is gripping those chains with one hand and has her rosary in the other. And she sort of looks you over, up and down, makes a sound that you can only describe as derision and disapproval. Hello, sister. And that is where we are going to end things for the evening. Thank you, everyone, for joining us. It was lovely to play with, to play for the night.