S2 Ep8: Bad Things

[00:00:30] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Aubrey, and I play Isabelle. [00:00:33] Speaker B: Hi, I'm legacy, and I will be playing Rosanna. [00:00:37] Speaker C: Hi, I am Scott, and I will be playing Arthur. [00:00:41] Speaker D: Hi, I'm termite, and I'll be playing. [00:00:43] Speaker E: Piper, and I'm bloodied porcelain. I will be your storyteller for the evening. You? In a world of men and monsters, the difference between life and death, light and eternal darkness, is often a matter of planning, of preparing for the worst. Because the worst is lurking around seemingly every corner in this world. A certain type of person is known for their planning and forethought. The mad men, they stockpile food, clothes, and weapons. They keep getaway vehicles gassed and on standby. They maintain little black books not of one night stands and convenient dalliances, but of those just like them. They research, they plan, they prepare. Over and over and over. Most would call such extreme measures overkill. The mad men call them what they are. Survival. Tonight, let's tell a story about the mad men. Good evening, players. [00:01:48] Speaker D: Hello. [00:01:49] Speaker E: During our last episode, our cell had a little bit of downtime. For once, nobody died. Some people got laid. [00:02:05] Speaker B: Some people. [00:02:06] Speaker E: Some people got cuddled. Relationships were tested. Hard truths were confronted. A dragon was met. And the cell got together to plan for the ambush, arranged by Loki on one Vincent Pendleton. We are going to pick up with our first scene being between Rosanna and Arthur having gone out to dinner after the preparations happened. Go ahead, you two. [00:03:10] Speaker C: Yeah. So, I honestly and earnestly believe that this whole thing with Loki is potentially a bigger ruse to something else, and that it's not really Loki that we're dealing with. [00:03:33] Speaker B: Okay, listen, Arthur, as much as I would love to hear your conspiracies about what you think this guy really is, we need to put it away for a second. You and I need to have a serious talk right now. [00:03:54] Speaker C: Okay. [00:03:56] Speaker B: Cellmate to cellmate. [00:03:58] Speaker C: Yeah, of course. [00:04:02] Speaker B: So, we're here. You got your wife back. Congratulations. Now what? [00:04:17] Speaker C: Well, I still think that we have a little bit more before she's actually safe. [00:04:26] Speaker B: No, here's the thing. She's not safe. She's not. Arthur, I need to know, what are your plans for keeping Katie Lynn safe away from what we deal with on a day to day basis? What are your plans? How are we going to protect her when we're going off on hunts? What are we going to do if we have to leave her behind? What if she gets caught up in a mess that she does not belong to? Have you thought about what would happen if she discovered what's truly out there? In the world. [00:05:15] Speaker E: Or. [00:05:17] Speaker B: You know what? Maybe that's a lot to think about. Let's try another thing. Are you staying or are you coming with us? [00:05:31] Speaker C: I guess I hadn't really thought about all of that. I just really was very concerned about getting her away from the danger that was in front of her. I honestly don't. I don't know. I guess it never really occurred to me. How can I put her in that danger? You're right. If she's with us, she's in just as much danger. [00:06:03] Speaker B: She's in more danger than us. Arthur, you have to remember, you and I at least know what we're getting into. Isabel knows what she's getting into. Popper knows what she's getting into. Zephyr and Victoria knew what they were getting into. Have you told Katie Lynn what it is that you've actually been doing for these last couple of months? [00:06:31] Speaker C: How could I possibly tell her what I've been up to? Okay, I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself. [00:06:37] Speaker B: Okay, so you didn't tell her what is going on? Arthur, I just. I want to be completely upfront and honest when I say that right now, when we have so much that is unknown to even us, who have been in this business for a lot longer than most of us are able to tell stories about. I mean, a lot of our kind get thrown into the ring and then die because they're ill prepared, don't know how to plan. I mean, look at what happened when we didn't prepare the last time. Are you sure that it is a justified risk to bring your wife into a world where if we do not plan and we are not ready, it could be her laugh. Your laugh, my laugh, and the laugh of our two other cellmates. Could you really live with yourself if you decided that you were going to stay with her? And I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. You don't share what's going on and you keep it a secret. What happens when a vampire or werewolf ends up at your door and she opens it thinking that she's going to be nice? And they see her and they say, oh, you're his wife, you're the love of his life. I'm taking you as collateral because he pissed me off. [00:08:20] Speaker E: You it? [00:08:24] Speaker B: Or what happens if you decide I'm going to leave her? Because this van thing, this going across the country and fighting supernaturals isn't for her. But I'm going to keep talking to her and I'm going to keep again, warm with her. Keep giving her these promises that I'm going to come home and you never come home again because something happened. I am just saying, and I mean this out of all of the love and compassion in my heart. You need to come up with a plan of how you are going to handle her now that she is a part of your life again. Because I am going to tell you, there is a reason that I don't get involved with anybody that I don't know, are aware or have some sort of awareness of what is going on. Because that can bring in a laugh of pain, especially if the ones that you love on you or fall victim to what we are. We are. People look at us like we're crazy, right? Like we could go off and preach and talk and make all these plans about bringing people together and for the good sake of the Lord and for taking down all the vampires. People think we're crazy. [00:10:04] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:10:08] Speaker C: I mean, that's one of the major reasons I couldn't just tell Katie Lyn what was going on. [00:10:15] Speaker F: She wouldn't believe me. [00:10:17] Speaker B: But now you've made the mistake of bringing her back into your life. Listen, I completely get it. I do. If I could, I would bring my friend with me and we could go on all these really cool adventures. And he works for the government, so he might have some actual support. But the life of a hunter is a very lonely existence. And I've grown to know that every single day of being in this space with everybody, there's a reason that I cling to you. And it is because you are probably the closest thing to normal I can feel while knowing that I'm keeping innocent lav safe. What happens if she gets turned into one of them because we made the mistake of trusting that we could keep her safe. How do you plan on keeping her safe? Do you have one? Did you think about that before we decided to go out and chase after her? I get it. I do. She is your wife. She is somebody that you hold near and dear to you. But sometimes if you love someone, honey, and you got to do what you got to do to keep them safe. I know that he offered you to be the new voice of the rising church, of the rising star, but you got to think about the people that you'd be putting at risk if you took that position and you stayed. Sometimes being around the people that we are around on a day to day basis is the safest that we can ever be. I grown a lot of sympathy for you over the last couple of months. I know that these words that I'm saying to you are not easy to hear. And I support you in whatever you decide to do. But just know that if you decide to say, I cannot stay with you, because I refuse to be the reason that somebody falls victim to my life choices in the grave that I dug for myself. And you're smart enough to know that everything that we do comes with a calculated risk that we need to take. And I want you to make the decision for yourself what you think the calculated risk is worth. Is it worth maybe, possibly, you might have, like, a slim chance that you go back to a normal life and just lay low for the rest of your days and hope that none of them find you. But they know our faces. They know our names. They know our stories. They know things about us that we don't even know about us. They have our scent. They have hatred in their eyes for people like us, because we have hatred in our eyes for people like them. And I refuse to let you make a decision that you know will hurt you in the end, because as much as you love your life and as much as you love your wife, you're going to love your life and love your wife a little bit more knowing that she might be out of danger. [00:14:54] Speaker C: You have made some good points just now, and I guess you're right. [00:15:05] Speaker B: That's why I'm the planner of our group. [00:15:16] Speaker C: Yeah. I don't know that I could continue with knowing that she was going to be in danger every single day. [00:15:27] Speaker E: It it. [00:15:29] Speaker B: Honey, I hate to say it, but the longer that you spend around her, the more it's going to be of a risk. And like I said, I'm willing to give you the support that you need, and I'm willing to hold your hand through whatever decision it is that you make. But you got to make one that is going to be something that you 130% really want, because whatever that decision that you make is, you have to lay in bed with the consequences of it. You pick your burial space. At the end of the day, every decision that you make regarding who you surround yourself with and the people that you allow to be let in, into our world, into what we do, into our hunt, everything is a choice. And every choice is going to have a domino effect. And while she might be safe where she is now, and I really hope that you know that I'm not saying this out of spot or whatever it is, but my feelings on the matter are we're in a really bad situation right now, Arthur. We got things that we're not prepared to fight coming after us. I just don't want to see it ruin you. And I don't want to see it ruin somebody that you care about. Because if we die, we knew. We knew that this is what we were getting into. And it's probably a bit messed up to say, but if you go into this and expect that you're going to live, well, you've got a delusion. But ain't nobody innocent deserved to have to go. What we go through just because they fell in and got wrapped up tight with. Well, us. [00:18:15] Speaker C: Yeah, there's no reason. [00:18:22] Speaker F: Go ahead. [00:18:23] Speaker B: No, you go. [00:18:25] Speaker C: You're right. There's no reason that someone should be in danger simply because they love us. We can't put them through that. [00:18:47] Speaker B: Katie Lynn seems like a very nice woman. Maybe you need to let her make decision. Make the decision on her own, whether she wants to get involved or not. But I wouldn't. I wouldn't. She's already in danger as it is. Can't be Icarus. We can't fly too close to the sun. [00:19:33] Speaker E: All right, with that in mind, we're going to pivot back to Isabelle and Piper, who were continuing preparations for the upcoming issues, and eventually, I would assume, headed back to the compound for the night. [00:19:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't think we had that much more that we needed to get done in this swamp. [00:20:00] Speaker E: No, but they sort of bailed and left you there. So I figured I would pitch it to you and find out if you two had anything in specific you would like to do. Or you just got to go back. Something or someone to do back at the compound? [00:20:17] Speaker A: A bit of both. Yeah, a bit of a column. A bit of column. [00:20:22] Speaker E: Understandable. All right, so are we going there first before we do anything? [00:20:29] Speaker A: Yeah, unless Piper has anywhere that she needs to go. [00:20:34] Speaker D: Not really. She has a phone call, but she can make that during the drive. [00:20:40] Speaker E: All right, cool. Well, then we will say that Isabelle's driving now that Isabel has access to the ability to just shut off the curses effects for a day. It took a God of magic to do it, but here we are. Piper, who are you calling? [00:21:04] Speaker D: She's going to call Melanie. [00:21:06] Speaker E: Okay. All. [00:21:11] Speaker D: Know, just so she can talk to her one more time before she potentially dies. [00:21:16] Speaker E: Just in case she dies. Yeah, I get it. All right, so Isabelle's driving. Piper kind of steps back into the back of the rv for some privacy and makes the phone call. It takes a few minutes. You realize that you're about 3 hours ahead of her, and it's late afternoon for you. So she's probably just getting off of work at the best. So it takes a few minutes, several rings for her to pick up, but she eventually does. Hello? [00:21:56] Speaker D: Hey. Sorry, time zone. Still not used to it. Forgot about what time was album. [00:22:07] Speaker E: Hey, baby. [00:22:08] Speaker B: Hey. [00:22:13] Speaker D: How are you doing? [00:22:15] Speaker E: Good. Are you all right? Sound a little stressed. [00:22:23] Speaker D: Just really tired. [00:22:28] Speaker E: You should take a nap. [00:22:29] Speaker D: Been a rough few days. [00:22:32] Speaker E: Yeah. Anything I can do? [00:22:38] Speaker D: Honestly, we can just talk for a bit. Don't really have anything I want to talk about, but this is first chance I've had some downtime basically, since I left. [00:22:54] Speaker E: Yeah, you've seemed really busy. You usually call more, but. Yeah. No, we can talk. I'm sorry. But they were so cute and I couldn't help it. [00:23:11] Speaker D: How many? [00:23:13] Speaker E: Three. I was only going to get two, but no one wanted the third one. And I was worried that they'd end up all getting taken to a shelter. And it made me sad. And they were all just so cute cuddled up together. [00:23:32] Speaker D: Well, I look. [00:23:36] Speaker E: And one of them is super soft and fluffy and all white, and one of them is super, and another one is all black. And then the one that I wasn't going to bring home is like a mixture of both. He's got like a weird little kind of pseudocal print thing going on. And I love him and he's such a doofus. You would love him. He's so cute and so stupid. [00:24:03] Speaker D: I'm not sure how much longer it'll be before I can make it back, but. [00:24:11] Speaker B: I. Are you crying? [00:24:18] Speaker E: Maybe if you don't like cats that badly, we could rehome them. It's fine. [00:24:28] Speaker D: It's not that. I promise. [00:24:32] Speaker E: Okay. Why are you crying? [00:24:42] Speaker D: Like I said, just really tired. I haven't had the chance to decompress much for the past few days. There's a lot going on. [00:24:59] Speaker E: Do you want to talk about it or can you not talk about it? It's. [00:25:08] Speaker D: Not something I should talk about, unfortunately. Work stuff. [00:25:14] Speaker E: Right. [00:25:16] Speaker B: Okay. [00:25:17] Speaker D: But once it's over, I'll try and tell you as much as I can. [00:25:27] Speaker B: Okay. [00:25:28] Speaker E: You know, whatever is safest. I don't want you getting in trouble. Yeah, especially because you get in trouble, you might not be able to come home as soon as you're supposed to, and that would be really sad. [00:25:45] Speaker D: Exactly. It's really nice to be able to talk to you. Can. Can you send me the tools of the kittens? [00:26:01] Speaker E: I will send you every picture of kittens I can get my hands on. [00:26:09] Speaker D: Wonderful. [00:26:13] Speaker E: And it takes a moment, and then your phone starts vibrating in your hand, and you realize that it continues to vibrate for, like, a solid minute. Your phone keeps buzzing, and when you look, there's at least 20 to 30 pictures in your inbox. [00:26:34] Speaker D: You are the best. [00:26:37] Speaker E: I do. Do what I can. I tried to send you a video, but it's apparently too big, so I'm going to have to cut it down into smaller clips. [00:26:49] Speaker D: Yeah, that tends to happen. Such a pain in me ass trying to send videos. [00:26:55] Speaker E: Yeah, it is. But I'll get them to you. Just give me some time. [00:27:03] Speaker D: Thank you. [00:27:06] Speaker E: Listen, I know it's later there. You should go. Have a good meal. Make yourself some tea. You took mine, so I know you've got some. And then hit the bed. Go to bed early tonight. Get some rest. Sounds like you need it. [00:27:29] Speaker D: Yeah, I'll do my best. [00:27:35] Speaker A: Go ahead. [00:27:39] Speaker E: Just kind of hoping you'd find this on your own, but it seems like you might be a little busy and a little clueless. You know that interior pocket in your laptop bag? The small one that zips up? [00:27:53] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:27:54] Speaker E: Go open that. [00:27:55] Speaker D: Okay. [00:28:00] Speaker E: Yeah. So you go over to your laptop bag, and there's, like, this little interior pocket that's meant to hold random peripherals or whatever, like a usb dongle or something for your mouse or whatever is what usually ends up in there. And you reach in and there's a little perfume bottle. And it's the travel sized one that you got her for Christmas, but it's her scent specifically. Find it? Yeah. Good. I was worried that the assholes at the TSA had stolen it because that shit's expensive. I thought maybe if things got rough, you could put it on a t shirt or something and wear it. [00:28:55] Speaker D: I appreciate that. [00:28:58] Speaker E: Thank you much. But you left in such a hurry, I didn't have time to plan for anything bigger. And you took my tea. [00:29:08] Speaker D: Yeah. I'll make sure to bring you back more. [00:29:12] Speaker E: You'd better. [00:29:17] Speaker D: Thank you. [00:29:19] Speaker E: Of course. Baby. Listen, I don't like to do this, but I have one more meeting before I'm out for the day. Sorry. [00:29:28] Speaker D: You go ahead. [00:29:31] Speaker E: I love you. Great. Bye. [00:29:36] Speaker D: Bye. [00:29:38] Speaker E: You hang up. [00:29:43] Speaker B: All right. [00:29:46] Speaker A: Trying not to listen. In the front of the RV. [00:29:53] Speaker E: Piper went all the way back to the private room at the back. So I think it would be hard for you to pick up on most of that. You. You arrive at the compound. Isabelle. Patty is at the. Is at the gate. He's the one who opens it up, gives you a little wave and a look that suggests that he knew you couldn't stay away. Kind of waves you in to park where you did before and closes the gate behind you. Is there anything that you want to do, anything that you want to do before bed? [00:30:43] Speaker A: Well, I guess I'll eventually talk to both of them because I will probably ask for their help. It's just an extra couple hands for this, just in case things go really wrong. Other than that, it's, it's kind of a, do one last check over all of my gear and my supplies, make sure everything is there, everything is good. It's ready. And then kind of try to relax for a bit. Not let myself get stuck in my head for leading up to all of this. Just step back, relax. [00:31:27] Speaker E: Absolutely. Yeah. The boys are happy to join you. They mentioned that the speaker had kind of talked to them a little bit about the potential that you might want them to come along so they are ready, willing and able. You do see, as you were kind of sitting out on probably one of the, like, probably the back deck of the big house that, walking by on one of the little streets that they've got in the compound. Oh, no, you wouldn't, you wouldn't know who he is. Never mind. [00:32:15] Speaker D: I see someone walking. [00:32:16] Speaker F: I don't know who they are. [00:32:17] Speaker E: Okay, random dude with a little bouquet of, like, store bought flowers. Yeah, random guy. And tov kind of looks over and snirks a little bit and mutters something in Russian before taking another pull on his beer and focusing on you again. They are both happy to go and help you and do whatever it is that you might need them to do. And you are, of course, welcome to spend the evening with them as, quote, unquote, preparations for the next day. [00:33:10] Speaker A: Of course. Look, it's good to have a good rest and be, well, relaxed. [00:33:17] Speaker E: Absolutely. All right. Anything else from you two at the compound before we jump back to Rosanna and Arthur? [00:33:28] Speaker D: I don't think so. [00:33:29] Speaker E: All right, cool. All right, Rosanna and Arthur, you two have wrapped up your conversation in your dinner. We're going to say that you pick up a rental car just for the sake of ease, rather than taking an Uber where you cannot have sensitive conversations about what's to come, what's next, you two? [00:33:55] Speaker C: So, how do you feel about our preparations for tomorrow? [00:34:15] Speaker E: I. [00:34:17] Speaker B: I think that we are as prepared as we can be, considering we don't know what we're getting ourselves into with this Vincent fella, but. [00:34:38] Speaker A: That is. [00:34:39] Speaker B: The laugh in which we choose to live. You never know if you're going to be really prepared, but I'm feeling hopeful. [00:34:53] Speaker C: Sorry. [00:34:53] Speaker B: No, it's all right. [00:35:00] Speaker C: Well, I think that we've got quite a bit going on for us. With some of the new preparations Isabel made and tweaks and things. I'm just not sure that we have enough. Because what if this Vincent person has bodyguards or whatever? How do we deal with that? What if he's not alone, is my biggest concern. [00:35:27] Speaker B: I mean, you're a speaker, Loki, whatever we want to call him in the confines of this car, he's got bodyguards. Might be worth it if we talk a couple of them up, see if we can bring some as backup. [00:35:50] Speaker C: Sure, that would be helpful. But do we want to trust fully in his abilities or his resources, do you think? [00:36:00] Speaker B: Do you have bodyguards and people with big guns who would be able to help us? I'm going to take your silence as no. [00:36:13] Speaker C: Well, I had a really crazy idea. [00:36:17] Speaker E: Because as if the universe were reaching out to remind you at that point, dancing queen comes on the radio. [00:36:24] Speaker B: Oh, hold on a minute. Hold on a minute. Rosanna is going to take out her phone. I think I know that we talked about maybe pulling him in for a couple projects. This might be the perfect time to do it. Could be good to see if he's at least in the area and is willing to hear us out. [00:36:48] Speaker C: Who gonna. [00:36:54] Speaker B: Go through her contacts, point to Jesse's name, and before Arthur can say anything, just hit his name on her contact list and dial him up. [00:37:05] Speaker E: Jesse, I don't know where you are currently. Probably in that old beat up truck which has broken down for the fourth time this week. And your phone is ringing and it's a familiar number. [00:37:23] Speaker G: Well, I'm not in my truck, but we'll get there. As I flip the phone open. Click it. Jimmy Buffett, reporter for the golden beagle. How can I help you? [00:37:33] Speaker B: Is that your undercover name? Jimmy Buffett? The singer? [00:37:39] Speaker E: You've got to be. [00:37:40] Speaker G: Roseanne. [00:37:42] Speaker B: Honey, how you doing? [00:37:43] Speaker E: I'm doing. [00:37:44] Speaker G: Hold on. Give me 2 seconds. I'm actually checking out the grocery store right now, so just. [00:37:49] Speaker B: Sure. [00:37:50] Speaker G: Okay, look, I know the coupon expired in 2013, and I know I drew a two over the one to make it look like it hadn't. [00:37:59] Speaker D: I know it was obvious, Jesse, just take it. [00:38:04] Speaker B: Anyway, I'm very broke, Jesse. [00:38:09] Speaker G: Okay, I didn't want to do this, but if you don't take it, I'm going to start crying, and it's not going to be normal crying. I'm going to be weeping, cater Wally screaming and rolling around on the floor, snot coming. [00:38:23] Speaker C: Obviously broke. [00:38:24] Speaker G: I might even pee a little. [00:38:26] Speaker B: Okay, I think we can bribe them with money or at least a sandwich. [00:38:30] Speaker D: And they're going to drag me out. [00:38:32] Speaker G: And I'm going to dial it up to eleven. [00:38:34] Speaker D: People are going to dig out their. [00:38:35] Speaker G: Phones, they're going to record it and they're going to post it. And when you get back home from your job that doesn't pay you enough for at least a month, please just take the coupon. [00:38:51] Speaker B: Jesse. Jesse. [00:38:52] Speaker C: Jesse. [00:38:53] Speaker E: All right. [00:38:53] Speaker G: Hey, guys, I'm back. [00:38:55] Speaker B: Do you need money? And will, listen, listen, we need help with the project. I will pay you and I will feed you if you just come and help us with something really fast. [00:39:09] Speaker G: Well, I'm not going to take money from you guys, but I will feed you good. [00:39:14] Speaker B: I'll take the food and I will get you drinks and whatever it is that you need. I'll get you good and drunk. I know that's what you'll really like, but I missed you guys so much. I missed you too, baby. You happen to be in Louisiana at all? [00:39:32] Speaker G: I'm close by. [00:39:35] Speaker B: Think you could make yourself available to meet a couple of friends and kick some? [00:39:41] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:39:42] Speaker G: Yeah. Where in Louisiana? [00:39:44] Speaker B: I'll take field location. [00:39:46] Speaker G: All right, cool. Depending on where it is, I can probably get there by morning. I'm going to have to let my group know that I'm heading out, but that should be fine. [00:39:55] Speaker B: Yeah, that is completely. [00:39:57] Speaker E: All right. [00:39:58] Speaker B: I know that you kind of ride with another group of friends, but we could really use the Help and you could really use a sandwich. [00:40:09] Speaker G: I really could. Yeah. All right. I'll see if it's cool. It should be. Things are a bit weird right now with my situation with them, but that's a whole other story. I'm not going to get into it, but yeah, I'll be there. I'll be there. [00:40:27] Speaker B: All right. I know that you have one of them old fashioned phones. [00:40:40] Speaker G: Yeah, it flips. [00:40:41] Speaker B: Yeah, it flips. You got any way that I can maybe wire you some gas money at least? [00:40:56] Speaker G: No, you don't have to do that. If I make a good enough argument in my group, they'll probably spot me some money for that. [00:41:02] Speaker B: Well, you let me know if you need anything. All right? [00:41:05] Speaker G: I appreciate it. [00:41:07] Speaker E: All right. [00:41:07] Speaker B: Sending lots of love your way. Get here safe. All right. You have a blessed night. [00:41:12] Speaker G: Thanks. You too. And hey, can't wait to catch up once I get there. [00:41:15] Speaker B: I know it feels like it's been forever. [00:41:17] Speaker E: It really has. [00:41:18] Speaker B: I've got AbBA, my car ready to go for you. [00:41:21] Speaker G: Oh, no, please. I already have to. Listen to it. Enough. The CD is still stuck in there. [00:41:27] Speaker B: Really? [00:41:28] Speaker G: It's been stuck in there? [00:41:31] Speaker E: You can hear dancing queen playing in the background of Rosanna's end of the line. [00:41:35] Speaker G: Oh, that's urine. I thought somehow the car turned on on its own and started playing it. That would have been the worst. Are you singing to it right now? [00:41:45] Speaker B: No. [00:41:48] Speaker G: You're torturing me here. Maybe I got to rethink this whole food. Okay, I take it back. [00:41:57] Speaker B: All right, I'll text you that location. We'll see you tomorrow. All right. [00:42:00] Speaker E: All right. [00:42:01] Speaker G: See you tomorrow. [00:42:01] Speaker B: All right. Lots of love. And then she's going to hang up the phone. [00:42:05] Speaker C: We're going to slip him about $100 into his glove box, aren't we? [00:42:09] Speaker B: 100%. I feel bad for that poor, unfortunate soul. [00:42:14] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:42:17] Speaker B: At least make him get that stupid CD out of his car. Imagine listening to the same thing on loop over and over and over again. She says that she puts dancing queen on again. [00:42:34] Speaker E: All right, are you guys going back to the compound for the cool? You head back toward the compound, having spoken to Jesse and made sure that you have what you need and that he is on his way, which he seems to be, at least he will be. You assume if he can get that damn truck of his running, because in the two or three times that you have seen him, the truck is broken down every time. It's usually a quick fix, but one of these days, it's just not going to start up anymore. You have the feeling there's only so many potatoes you can fix the radiator with before the radiator is just like, fuck you, I'm not irish. So you get back to the compound, Patty opens the gate for you, kind of points over to where the RV is parked, and closes up the gate behind you. [00:43:54] Speaker C: I always forget that they don't do that. [00:44:00] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:44:04] Speaker B: No offense, Arthur. Your group is a bit overly formal. [00:44:19] Speaker C: I'm sorry, what? [00:44:20] Speaker B: Your group is just not like the whole opening and closing the gate in life. The nice houses kind of just being built for just the fact to say that I sometimes forget that you come from a cult. [00:44:43] Speaker C: Yeah, well, it's a community of people who take care of each other. That's how we look at it. Or I did, for when I was in it. And that's how they look at each other is, as a community, a big. [00:45:09] Speaker B: Know. There are a couple of other really interesting families out there. You ever hear about the Manson family? [00:45:19] Speaker C: I had a feeling you were about to reference them. Have I heard about them? Are you kidding me? Every single time I left the compound to go out and recruit people. Every single time. [00:45:31] Speaker B: Just messing with you. Listen, I'm trying to bring a little bit of laugh and laugh back into tonight. [00:45:41] Speaker C: You're not wrong, though. There's some crazy at the top of this food chain, isn't there? [00:45:50] Speaker B: A little bit. Now, mind you, again, like I had brought up before. And if we told anybody this, they'd be like, you all are on some of them weird new psychedelic drugs, aren't you? [00:46:06] Speaker C: I mean, they might say that to you. For me, they would just think I was still part of the cult. [00:46:14] Speaker B: Well, to be fair, it doesn't matter if people think that I'm crazy. People find crazy hot. [00:46:24] Speaker C: I heard something about there being a scale once, but I don't really understand what that's all about. [00:46:30] Speaker B: Something like that, yeah. [00:46:34] Speaker C: Well, I guess. Thanks for really putting me into perspective tonight. [00:46:42] Speaker B: I just want to reiterate again that whatever you decide to do, I, in my heart, stand by. I understand that there is probably still a part of you that wants to stay because she is your wife and you care about her and you want to make sure that she is safe. And I know that you're going to be making a really tough decision. But if I can walk you through. [00:47:15] Speaker E: It. [00:47:19] Speaker B: I'm here for you. [00:47:22] Speaker C: Thanks. I'm really. It's hard for me to realize things. I understand that. And it's taken me a while to recognize that I don't make the best decisions. And without your help, this whole last year would have been terrible. I would have done things all wrong. So. [00:47:59] Speaker B: She's going to rest a hand on his cheek. [00:48:04] Speaker E: You. You. [00:48:07] Speaker B: Are going to be okay. No matter what. We are here as a support for one another. I don't think you realize this, but you and I tend to balance each other out in the weirdest possible way. Because I can tell you that if I had to do it by myself, I'd probably be a wreck. [00:48:48] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:48:54] Speaker E: You. [00:48:55] Speaker C: Well, I guess I've got to go figure out what I need to do and get it done. [00:49:02] Speaker B: Allow yourself a chance to sleep tonight. Don't go and pull an Arthur. [00:49:17] Speaker C: I want to ask what that means, but. I know what it means. Yeah. [00:49:26] Speaker B: Unfortunately, I've learned to read you like a book, honey. [00:49:32] Speaker C: I guess that goes along with the territory of being together. In a cell, in a group, in a friendship, in a. Whatever we call this. Yeah, I'll try to sleep. [00:49:56] Speaker B: That's a threat. Or I'll put you to sleep myself. And now she says that she walks back inside the rv and closes the door. [00:50:06] Speaker E: Okay, Rosanna, you walk in and can you please make me a wits and what's an insight? [00:50:18] Speaker C: Please? [00:50:19] Speaker B: Yes, ma'am. [00:50:59] Speaker E: Piper is there and is working at her computer. It's very clear to you that she's been crying. Just a little unusual. You're not sure you've ever seen Piper cry. [00:51:16] Speaker B: Piper, honey, are you. [00:51:20] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:51:20] Speaker D: Yeah, I'm fine. [00:51:22] Speaker B: No, you're not. [00:51:27] Speaker D: Yes, I am. I'll be. [00:51:32] Speaker B: And she's gonna kind of stand behind Piper and just lay a hand on her shoulder. I'm not going to ask. You can tell me if you want. Whatever it is, we'll get through it, okay? [00:51:55] Speaker D: I really hope we do. [00:51:58] Speaker B: Poor thing. I'm sorry. I know that this is going to be real stressful. [00:52:08] Speaker E: But. [00:52:12] Speaker B: We have each other's backs for a reason. And come hell or high water, I will do whatever I can to make sure that you make it out. Safety. [00:52:36] Speaker D: I am ready to burn this swamp down to make sure we make it out of this. [00:52:47] Speaker B: And that is the piper that I know and love. She'll rest both of her hands on both of Piper's shoulders and just kind of give her a very quick shake. It is not going to be easy. And we know that. [00:53:09] Speaker D: Nothing we ever do is. [00:53:13] Speaker B: Even the fun stuff we do is difficult. [00:53:17] Speaker E: Yes. Knee. [00:53:21] Speaker B: Strawberry. [00:53:25] Speaker D: Yeah, it's better than most. [00:53:28] Speaker B: She'll reach into her little purse and take out the little pack of strawberry creams and unwrap it and just pop it in Piper's hands. [00:53:38] Speaker D: Yeah, Piper pops in her mouth. [00:53:45] Speaker E: Piper. It's Blake tasting sunshine. You understand why she keeps giving it to Arthur? Because that sad motherfucker needs shit like this on a regular basis lately. [00:53:59] Speaker D: By the way, you should go talk to Levon. [00:54:10] Speaker B: I will if I happen to see him before I go to bed. Why? Is everything all right? [00:54:16] Speaker D: Oh, everything's fine. [00:54:20] Speaker B: He did, by the way, make sure that your cast iron skillet was. [00:54:24] Speaker D: Yes, he did. [00:54:26] Speaker E: Okay. [00:54:26] Speaker B: Thank God. I told him that it was important and that if he didn't, a redhead would have his head. He then laughed, said. That's what she said. And then I slapped him. But I made sure he at least reseasoned it for you. [00:54:47] Speaker D: No, I talk with them. [00:54:53] Speaker B: Good. I'll pop out. I'm probably going to go for a quick walk before I settle in for the night. [00:55:03] Speaker D: Before you go, Piper is going to stand up and talk. Rose angle. [00:55:12] Speaker B: You're a good girl, Piper. [00:55:15] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:55:16] Speaker D: There are a lot of people that would disagree. [00:55:18] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I don't care how many government buildings you burn down, you're still a good friend. [00:55:34] Speaker E: Thank you. [00:55:37] Speaker D: All right, I'm going to bed. [00:55:41] Speaker B: Please do get some sleep. You deserve it. [00:55:49] Speaker D: I'm not sure about that, but I need it. [00:55:53] Speaker B: Well, listen, I will give you the same veiled threat that I just gave to Arthur. If you don't fall asleep, I will put you to sleep myself. [00:56:01] Speaker D: Yeah, I will just add you to the list. People trying to do the same. [00:56:05] Speaker B: Yeah, but mine isn't as lethal. [00:56:11] Speaker D: Nice. [00:56:12] Speaker A: Good night. [00:56:14] Speaker D: Piper is going to bed. [00:56:17] Speaker E: Piper is going to bed. Did Piper have tea before she went to bed? [00:56:20] Speaker D: Yes. [00:56:21] Speaker E: Okay. Piper will get, if she needs it, will get one extra temporary willpower back instead of just her usual. I don't remember what her usual is off the top of my head, but sometimes a good cry and the right tea is all you need, right, Rosanna? You going for a walk? [00:56:47] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm going to go for a walk. [00:56:49] Speaker E: Funny you should mention that. You are kind of out. Just enjoying the quiet. It's still muggy, still a little warmer than you would necessarily prefer. But the sun's going down, the cicadas are out. It's beautiful. If a little hot. You walk by trees with that heavy spanish moss hanging off of them. And you can. Being in a place like this where everything is kind of handmade, everything's a little bit more rustic, a little bit more simplistic, it's very easy to imagine that you've kind of stepped into a movie and you're walking by one of the smaller houses. Looks like it's probably a little bit older. Might have even been on the property before the cult bought it. It looks like it gets worked on fairly regularly, but it's a little bit more, I don't know, a little bit more like mass produced than a lot of the other ones. And sitting out on the porch with a bottle of beer in one hand and a discarded or a little bouquet of flowers. Store bought flowers are kind of like discarded on a table nearby is Leon. [00:58:38] Speaker B: And then you'd be out here tonight. [00:58:43] Speaker E: Me either. Um, got you flowers. They're a little wilted now. Hot. And he'll kind of reach over and grab the bouquet and hand it out and, yeah, they're a little bit wilted because it's really warm. And these were not meant to be, like, carried around all day while waiting for the person that they were supposed to be for to show up. But you could tell that they would have been really pretty simple, but pretty. They're little white daisies with I don't remember what they're called, but the little yellow, almost baby's breath sized flowers around them. [00:59:37] Speaker B: Oh, these are. These are still gorgeous. [00:59:44] Speaker E: You'd know if you liked flowers. [00:59:49] Speaker B: Nobody's ever bought me flowers before. [00:59:52] Speaker E: Are you fucking kidding me? Every man in your life just kind of stupid? [01:00:02] Speaker B: Every man in my life was my preacher father and a couple of friends. [01:00:18] Speaker E: Your friend should have been buying you flowers every day. [01:00:24] Speaker B: I guess he technically did once. Paying him back for them, though, kind of felt bad because it was for a job, so. [01:00:36] Speaker E: Ah, great. Well, those are for you. Thank you. I was going to ask you if you wanted to go to dinner, but you kind of got back late, so I'm guessing you already had dinner. [01:00:54] Speaker B: Yeah, but usually I like to have a drink after dinner, if you'd like to maybe join me. [01:01:10] Speaker E: He sort of perks up a little bit at that. Yeah, I'd like that. Do you want to just get something here, or do you want to go out? [01:01:21] Speaker B: You know what? Let's. [01:01:23] Speaker E: I don't. [01:01:24] Speaker B: I don't mind drinking here. [01:01:26] Speaker E: All right. I don't have anything fancy, but I have bourbon and I have beer. I'll take a bourbon woman after my own heart. And he leads the way inside. And this is a lot like the house. And I know that just for the audience's reference, this is a lot like the little house that Tov and Patty share. It's two bedrooms. Unlike Tov and house, however, Patty is clean. Like, has chores and gets up every morning and makes sure that the place is clean. Tov, on the other hand, is not. So it's kind of this constant battle over there for Patty to keep the place relatively nice. Tov just sort of like, tosses shit. Know it's not trash from one place, from one end of the place to the other, but there's discarded clothes. Know he'll just kick his boots off in whatever corner is convenient. And this place, quiet's place, is, like, hard the opposite direction. Everything is incredibly spartan. There is, like, military precision in where everything is. Or in one of the corners is a rather large gun safe, Rosanna. And it's just in the living room, just a gun safe that's almost as tall as he is. [01:03:05] Speaker B: He has to look up at the gunsafe to get a whole view of it. Look back down, you shoot. [01:03:18] Speaker E: Yeah. I've been known as something of a hobbyist. He sort of scratches at the back of his head as he goes to pour a drink. I know it's a bit of an eyesore, but when we had an engineer out, this was the only room where the foundation was strong enough to hold that much weight. [01:03:40] Speaker B: Hey, Enl. It's all right. I actually shoot, too. [01:03:50] Speaker E: Really? [01:03:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Kind of group in the south, you'd look like a sucker if you didn't know how to shoot a gun. [01:03:59] Speaker E: That's fair. [01:04:06] Speaker B: I stick to more archery these days. [01:04:12] Speaker E: You're a hunter. [01:04:17] Speaker B: Kind of, yeah. Well, damn. [01:04:23] Speaker E: Maybe if you stick around, I'll take you out with me sometime. [01:04:33] Speaker B: Hey, this is going to sound like a bit of an OD question, but my group and I are going off on a job tomorrow and. [01:04:45] Speaker E: Mentioned something about that. [01:04:48] Speaker B: It's a little bit dangerous and there's some risk involved. [01:04:59] Speaker E: Yes, I will go with you. [01:05:05] Speaker B: You took the words right out of my mouth. Thank you. And she's going to take the moment that he puts the drink in front of her. She's going to look at it, and then she's just going to kick it back. [01:05:22] Speaker E: He'll laugh a little bit. That's stressful. [01:05:30] Speaker B: Last couple of months have been very stressful. I don't get to often just enjoy pleasant company. [01:05:44] Speaker E: He'll pour you another glass and push it over. You can stay here as much as you need to. Mikasa. Asukasa. I've even got a spare room if you don't want to share mine. None of the other guys can handle living with somebody as OCD as me. [01:06:08] Speaker B: Did you see how spotless the RV was? [01:06:12] Speaker E: I did kind of assumed that was you and Piper. Arthur is not the. He doesn't seem like the type to do heavy, in depth cleaning. [01:06:25] Speaker B: It was actually all me. [01:06:28] Speaker E: Damn. I figured with the way that Piper looked, like she was going to kill me if I didn't take care of that cast iron properly, that she at least was scrubbing the kitchen on a regular basis. [01:06:41] Speaker B: I will admit, Piper is a fantastic cook. Can make a poached egg like I've never seen before. It is actually very impressive. But they, the three of them, know that keeping that place Spotless is, like, my stress relief. It's like it's the one thing that I can control in my life. [01:07:10] Speaker E: Yeah, I've never been. I don't know, I think the military kind of ruined me forever, being able to be relaxed about my surroundings, because everything's got to be in the right place. And if I walk in here and something's out of place, I immediately want to kill somebody. So I can't stand the thought that somebody was in my space without permission or without me knowing. Tov was my roommate for a while. I don't know if you've met him. He's a fucking slob. And we almost came to blows a couple of times. Good guy. But apparently Russians don't put a high premium on organization or chore day. [01:08:05] Speaker B: I'll have to take your word on it. It's okay. I love the man. But Arthur and I kind of had to go our separate ways to go work on some projects by ourselves. And when I came back, the place that we had originally been kind of like traveling around with was an absolute pig style. And I thought I was seeing red. I'm very particular, I think. [01:08:38] Speaker E: I believe that's. So tell me about what we're walking into tomorrow so that I know what I'm bringing. Is this a bring the big toys type of outing or. [01:08:56] Speaker B: Depends on what you mean by big toys. [01:09:01] Speaker E: He'll kind of hold up a fingers in one moment, and then he'll walk over to the gun safe and tap in a code on it and open it up. And he pulls out. It's currently in pieces, but you could tell rather quickly as he pulls the case out and opens it. It's a full on fucking, like, 50 cal sniper rifle. [01:09:23] Speaker B: So is that why in pass and have heard people refer to you as quiet? [01:09:31] Speaker E: Yeah. Like I said, I shoot a little for fun. [01:09:40] Speaker B: That might actually just do the trick. Just in case. [01:09:45] Speaker E: Okay, I guess I will be your overwatch. [01:09:55] Speaker B: And Rosanna is going to walk up to the gun safe and kind of, like, guide his hand to put the gun back in. And she's going to close the door this time. She's going to just kind of, like, back him up into a wall and look up. I don't often have time to let loose, and I'm in a much better headspace tonight. [01:10:45] Speaker E: Okay. He's got this little, like, half smile on his face, like, he looks like he knows what you're going to say, but he's still going to let you say it. [01:10:59] Speaker B: She's not going to say anything. She's just going to lean right up and start just kissing him. [01:11:08] Speaker E: Excellent. All right, well, to say the least, he doesn't push you away. As we go to fade to black on this scene, the audience will see, after several long moments of just slow kisses, quiet scoops Rosanna up off of her feet and carries her through one of the back bedroom doors. Arthur, what are you up to? Once Rosanna goes into the rv and you are kind of left to your. [01:11:59] Speaker C: Own devices, Arthur basically spends probably the next hour sitting on the porch of the house that belongs to Katie Lynn. Not entirely sure if he should go inside, because part of him feels like he's not as welcome as it may seem. But part of him also recognizes that he should probably go inside and try to go to sleep. But instead, he spends that hour on the porch smoking and making notes in his journal. There's a few things on his mind that he's trying to work out, but eventually he'll find his way in. But before. Before that. [01:12:50] Speaker E: That happens while you are working in your journal and sitting out on the couch or out on the porch couch, one of your more recent wives, like one of the ones that you married, like, literally a month or two before you left the. Before you left the cult in California, makes her way up onto the porch. She's younger, she's blonde hair kind of. I don't want to say plain, because she's pretty, but she's not, like, remarkable pretty. You know what I mean? She's like that typical girl next door kind of pretty. And she kind of walks up on the porch and sees you. And she does like a triple take where at first it's like, oh, there's Arthur. That she looks at it, she goes, wait, Arthur yet? No. And then, oh. And she just sort of stops and. Hi. [01:13:51] Speaker C: Hey. [01:13:55] Speaker E: Forgive me for being disrespectful, but where the fuck have you been? [01:14:03] Speaker C: It's kind of a long story, actually. [01:14:07] Speaker E: But are you back or just visiting or. [01:14:17] Speaker C: I want. It's pretty complicated. But I am working with the speaker at the moment, and once I take care of something, I'll be back. [01:14:31] Speaker B: Okay. [01:14:33] Speaker E: Her name is Julia, by the way. [01:14:36] Speaker C: Thank you. [01:14:36] Speaker E: Well, Katie Lin is midwifeing for one of the other families. Woman went into labor, so I don't know if she's coming back tonight, but you're welcome to. I mean, I'm sure she told you, right? You're welcome to one of the bedrooms. [01:14:57] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. This is her house. So that. I mean, it's not as much, but. [01:15:06] Speaker E: I mean, it's, you know, can't presume the family's house. That's why she designed it this way, so that there was space for all of us. [01:15:17] Speaker C: Yeah, that's fair. Yeah. It's not a house in California, so it's a new thing for me. It's obviously my fault for being gone for so long. Yeah. How are you doing? How's everything going? [01:15:45] Speaker E: Pretty good. Just been busy trying to help. Their crops aren't as good here as they are in California, so I've been trying to help with planning out some above ground planters help offset the quality of the soil quality problems that they're having here. Right. Yeah. Well, you would know from when you met her that before she joined the church, she was a botanist. She's got the know how. [01:16:29] Speaker C: Your specializations would probably figure that out. I mean, if anyone could do it, it would be you, right? [01:16:35] Speaker E: Yeah. There's a lot to it, but. Yeah. No, it's fine. It's just that there's only certain things that are really made to grow in this, and half the compound is kind of lowlands, so nothing but swamp plants can grow there reasonably. So it's a lot of planning, but we're working on it. We're making some adjustments. Do you want to come inside? [01:17:09] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:17:09] Speaker E: Or do you want me to give you your space? I can give you your space. It's fine. [01:17:14] Speaker C: There's a few things I'm thinking about, but, I mean, I'll probably come in when you're. Wait, how are things going with you and the progress in the levels and moving through? [01:17:33] Speaker E: They're going okay. I've had some struggles. She kind of gives a little shrug. No offense, Arthur, but you kind of took me in and then bailed. [01:17:46] Speaker C: I was about to say that that's probably mostly my fault for not being around to help you with that, but. [01:17:52] Speaker E: Katie Lynn's really stepped up. She's done a really good job of keeping us all together. Nobody's fallen out or bailed since you left. It's kind of wild, honestly. She was kind of a mess when you first left, but she's thriving now. I don't know. It's like she was made for this to run things. [01:18:26] Speaker C: Oh, I. Yeah, I know. [01:18:35] Speaker E: She misses you, though. She talks about you a lot. [01:18:40] Speaker C: Yeah, I miss her, too. She's helping run everything, though. You're figuring things out. [01:18:51] Speaker E: Yeah, with the family. She's keeping all the wives together. We're doing pretty. [01:18:58] Speaker C: Should some of you. Has nothing changed for the family since I've been gone? [01:19:05] Speaker E: Oh, no. Things have. You know, we were kind of a little bit on hold because nobody in California wanted to talk to us until the speaker stepped in and started putting things to rights and whatever. And I guess when it became clear that some of the people there were not going to let go of the grudge and the judgment, he decided bringing us here was the best idea. And I am inclined to agree between you and me. I don't know. I've been courted a little bit by some of the people here, so that's good. I guess. [01:19:46] Speaker C: I guess that makes sense. I didn't really think about the reason that you moved out to this compound was because of the stigma. [01:19:59] Speaker E: I mean, it's not like he told me specifically, but from what I picked up from Katie Lyn, that had a lot to do with. [01:20:05] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. Because when I talked to her, it sounded like there was sort of some ostracization. And now someone's courting you. That's good. [01:20:18] Speaker E: Yeah. [01:20:18] Speaker C: Good to hear. I'm really sorry that I left you guys like that. But I guess I'm really happy and excited for Katie Lynn to really stand strong. [01:20:42] Speaker E: Yeah, she's doing really good. I don't. I wish she hadn't had to figure out how, but it's good to know that she can. And it's good to see that she's thriving in spite of all the hardship. She really kind of took the brunt of everything in California. She wouldn't let people pick on the rest of us as much. [01:21:19] Speaker C: Wow. [01:21:21] Speaker E: She's kind of a mama bear when she wants to be, which is weird because she's really nice, but that switch gets flipped and she just sort of gives a little shudder. Let's just say I'm glad I'm not on her bad side. [01:21:38] Speaker C: Wow. I've been on her bad side a few times. Not many, not many, but. [01:21:45] Speaker E: Yeah. But you're different because she's in love with you. You should see how she is when she doesn't particularly like somebody and they do something that makes her mad. [01:21:56] Speaker C: That is a thing I have never seen. Well, it's been good talking to you, and I'm glad that you have something you can do out here that helps the community and not that you weren't doing anything there, you know what I'm saying? But something that you can help them out here. Everything's going well. [01:22:19] Speaker E: Yeah, me too. Well, I'll be inside. I've got a. Yeah. [01:22:27] Speaker C: I was just going to ask. Who's courting you? Is it anyone I should talk to? [01:22:34] Speaker E: There's a couple men that I've spoken to. Nothing formal. We're just getting to know each other. And maybe when you're properly back, I'll introduce you. [01:22:50] Speaker C: Right. Yeah. No, when I'm back, we'll talk for sure. [01:22:54] Speaker E: Yeah. Because you're going to have to be a part of that process if you're back. Right. That's how it works. [01:23:04] Speaker C: You're right. That is exactly how it works. [01:23:08] Speaker E: Okay. Well, you let me know when you are properly back and I will happily introduce you. But I don't want to confuse things this early on. [01:23:19] Speaker C: It's the first step, so I get it. Too fresh, too early for my involvement. Yeah, I'm sure it's early enough for Katie. Lyn's involvement, though. [01:23:32] Speaker E: Yeah, she's been really helpful and supportive. She introduced me to one of them. He's the doctor here. [01:23:49] Speaker C: Wow. [01:23:53] Speaker E: Anyway, I should get inside. She pats this big basket of, like, it looks like sheets and things like that. I've got to go swap out the sheets on all the beds. Everybody here sweats so much we have to change them constantly, so it's like living in a hotel. [01:24:17] Speaker C: Yeah, I know what that's like. [01:24:22] Speaker E: I will be inside if you need me. [01:24:26] Speaker C: Yeah, thanks. [01:24:29] Speaker E: And she will disappear inside, head up stairs with this big, heavy basket of clothes. You turn back to your journal. About 20 minutes later, she'll come out and just quietly put down, like, a glass of lemonade next to you, and then disappear back inside again. [01:24:49] Speaker F: Very good. [01:24:51] Speaker E: All right. When you finish with your journal, are you just going straight to bed, or is there anything you want to do before you turn in? [01:24:59] Speaker C: No, that's it. Once he finishes making his decision, he's going to have drank his lemonade, of course, would be the polite thing to do. And then head back in and try to go back to the room where he slept the night before, the one that was sort of like Katie Lynn's bedroom, because he thinks that's the room he's supposed to be in. And then try to go to sleep. [01:25:24] Speaker E: Fresh sheets. All of the windows have been opened, the overhead fan is on, but the bug curtains are closed, that sort of thing. It's clear that Julia came in and prepared the room to make sure that it would be comfortable for you because she knew that you'd be walking into a sauna otherwise. But, yeah, you have the room to yourself. It is comfortable, it smells good, the sheets are fresh. And that's about that. Okay, everybody assuming that Isabel is going to get with her boys. [01:26:14] Speaker A: Yeah, that's the plan. [01:26:16] Speaker E: All right. [01:26:18] Speaker A: Unless something's going to stop me, which I don't think it is. [01:26:21] Speaker E: No, I don't think so. You've got your pendant upgrade or your grigory bag upgrade, and you got your little. Your little fay charm so that you can sleep properly. And you've got your two living, breathing sleeping pills, who are happy to make sure that you are well and truly exhausted when your head hits that pillow. [01:26:51] Speaker F: Exactly. [01:26:52] Speaker E: Was there anything important that you wanted to discuss with them beforehand? [01:26:57] Speaker A: Because we don't know truly where this is happening. I hadn't finished fully formulating the plan yet, but I had sort of mentioned that probably it is going to involve them lying in wait. And that the less people that appear to be there are probably going. It's probably going to go a little easier. So we can at least have that ability to surprise the person. [01:27:28] Speaker E: Understood? Yeah, no, they are totally fine with that. They are happy to play support. The biggest question that you get asked is, if shit goes down, do you want them to focus on the main guy, or do you want them to focus on anyone he may have brought with him? [01:27:44] Speaker A: Focus on anyone that may have been brought with him. That's going to be the biggest. [01:27:49] Speaker E: You want them on crowd control. [01:27:50] Speaker C: Got it? [01:27:50] Speaker A: Yeah, crowd control. [01:27:53] Speaker E: Okay dokey, everybody heads to bed for the night. You all manage to get a lovely night of sleep. Everybody, including Arthur. If you need it to get to full, get an extra temporary willpower. I think I already told piper this. Same for Rosanna. Isabelle and Arthur, is everybody at full willpower points? Excellent. [01:28:33] Speaker A: I will be until I spend that one when I wake up. [01:28:36] Speaker E: Yes, well, unfortunately, I can't do anything for you regarding that until you find a way to break your curse. [01:28:43] Speaker A: I'm working on it. [01:28:51] Speaker E: All right. You all wake in the morning. Rosanna, you wake up in quiet's arms. It was a nice night. It wasn't quite the bright, shining thing that the romance novels make it out to be, but that's almost kind of better because the romance novels kind of make it sound like it's unreal. And this feels real and really good. I think you might be muted. [01:29:34] Speaker C: Muted. [01:29:39] Speaker B: Okay. Thank you. Do I make my nightmare roll? [01:29:47] Speaker E: No, not this time. Not because of anything magical, I promise. You just genuinely had a really good night. There were no nightmares. [01:30:03] Speaker B: All right. She's going to make sure that she's up a little bit extra early, and she's going to make him breakfast. [01:30:11] Speaker E: Oh, that's very sweet. Okay. Anything in particular or just you got to work with what's in the kitchen? [01:30:22] Speaker B: I believe there were fresh eggs somewhere. [01:30:27] Speaker E: There are fresh eggs in the kitchen. [01:30:29] Speaker B: Perfect. Yeah. Then she's going to make him, like, scrambled eggs with like a little bit of pepper jack cheese. She's going to do like, sausage links, cinnamon raisin bread, a side of those tiny little potatoes. Like the smashed potatoes. [01:30:59] Speaker E: Yeah. [01:31:00] Speaker B: And then on the side, she's going to put her signature little candy for him to have a taste. [01:31:11] Speaker E: That's adorable. He wakes up. He seems surprised that you managed to get so much done without him waking up again, and he sort of blinks and looks around his kitchen as he's standing there looking at all of the. [01:31:26] Speaker B: Food, and he's like, kitchen spotless. [01:31:32] Speaker E: People don't wake up before me. I mean, I woke up early. Early, but I didn't want to move because you look so cute and I didn't want to wake you up, so I guess I fell back asleep. And you were able to get out of the bed and do all of this without waking me? That's impressive. [01:31:53] Speaker B: I call it my special superpower. Hope you like having a big breakfast. I tend to want to eat a little bit more before going off on the field. [01:32:11] Speaker E: Yeah, no, I can live with this. He sort of scratches the back of his head and looks like he's about to say something and then decides against it. And then he spots the little candy on the edge of the plate and he goes, oh, that reminds me. 1 second. And he sort of disappears into that spare bedroom and then comes back out. And you can see that the spare bedroom, at least when you glance into the doorway while it's open, looks like it's been converted into like a home gym office area. And he comes back and he's got a little gift bag, and it is pink and sparkly with like white kind of glittery tissue paper sticking out of the top of it. I tried to go with something, I looked for something more understated, but this was all they had for bags. But you seem like somebody who likes pink, so I went for it. It was this or the 50 and over the hill bag. [01:33:27] Speaker B: Well, I appreciate you not calling me old quite yet. Thank you. You didn't have to get me anything. [01:33:41] Speaker E: It's nothing special. [01:33:43] Speaker B: And she'll just peek into the bag and move the tissue paper over. [01:33:48] Speaker E: There are two big bags of your favorite candies. I had to go to five Walmarts to find those, but I finally found them. [01:34:06] Speaker B: You went through all that trouble to just get me some? [01:34:12] Speaker E: Oh, Piper said you liked it. Hope you don't mind me asking your friends what your favorites. [01:34:24] Speaker B: Oh, Piper, you're a really good friend. [01:34:30] Speaker E: Somewhere in the distance, Piper's going, yes. [01:34:32] Speaker B: Yes, I am a great friend. [01:34:34] Speaker E: Best friend. [01:34:41] Speaker B: She's going to take the bags and look them over and put them back in and put them off to the side and unwrap the candy that she had placed out for him. Open your mouth. [01:35:00] Speaker E: Okay. He hesitates for a minute, and it looks like he's not entirely like he has to fight the urge to say something inappropriate. But he finally does exactly what he's. [01:35:10] Speaker B: Told, and she is going to unwrap the candy and hold him by his chin and keep his mouth open. And she's just going to slide the candy right into his. Right into his mouth and then close his jaw. [01:35:28] Speaker E: Mmm. That's pretty good. [01:35:36] Speaker B: And then she'll wait a second for it to really kick him. [01:35:41] Speaker E: There's this moment where he's just sort of enjoying it. And then you can tell that there's this moment of realization when it hits. And it's kind of a surprise at first, and then it's a little bit of shock and pleasure all at once. He's just like, damn, I never had candy that could do that before. I'm going to have to buy those candies and keep them in stock because that's like the best bad day candy I've ever had. [01:36:28] Speaker B: I always say that my favorite candies bring me a little bit of sunshine, especially on the gloomy days. [01:36:38] Speaker E: You have enough of those? Yeah. No, I'm going to have to go shopping for more candy later. Here, keep those. [01:36:47] Speaker B: Here, keep one of these bags. [01:36:51] Speaker E: Are you sure? I bought them for you. [01:36:56] Speaker B: Yeah, but I want to share them with you. And I don't share my strawberry creams with just anybody. You should be feeling real proud right now. [01:37:12] Speaker E: Yeah. Good to know that this is the second thing in 24 hours that you don't share with just anybody that I've gotten to experience. [01:37:26] Speaker B: Oh, my God. [01:37:27] Speaker E: Listen, I'm sorry. You've left so many opportunities to be that guy open. I had to take at least one of them. [01:37:38] Speaker B: Fun. [01:37:40] Speaker E: The end of the day, I'm still a guy. I'm not a dick, but I'm still a guy. [01:37:44] Speaker B: Fair. Now shut up and eat your sausage. [01:37:50] Speaker E: He sort of chokes and yeah. You two spend a lovely morning teasing each other and going back and forth and making really inappropriate but very relaxed jokes. It is probably the most normal morning you've had in over a year, maybe ever. Like, there's a part of you that goes, oh, I get it now. I get why Arthur values what he has with Katie Lynn so much. It's good to have someone that you could feel normal with. Isabel. [01:38:35] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:38:36] Speaker E: You wake up well rested, but sore. Yeah, two days in a row. You're not accustomed to this level of workout. You don't know how many calories you've burned. Way more than think I can make up for it. Patty is, as usual, up first. Tov is still asleep next to you. He is snoring quietly in your ear. Occasionally you move or whatever, and he sort of mutters in Russian and kind of pulls you in a little bit closer. He's treating you a little bit like a body pillow, just, like, wrapped around you. [01:39:19] Speaker A: And Tob was the one with all of the tattoos, right? [01:39:23] Speaker E: Yeah. [01:39:25] Speaker A: I think there's a bit of time before Isabelle actually gets out of bed. She kind of takes the time to commit this to memory, just in case. She has had so many things like this disappear or good things taken away. [01:39:48] Speaker E: And it's just Patty is the one with all the tattoos still fine. [01:39:54] Speaker A: It means I'm not tracing the tattoos, but I am definitely spending time just sort of committing this moment to memory, how this feels. Curled up in bed with someone and managed to sort of turn around a little bit. Enough to at least look at Toph's face and sort of try to imprint it on my mind, because I know what we're doing is very dangerous. [01:40:26] Speaker E: He looks peaceful, which is a little bit of a shock for you, because Tov, as a person, when he is up, like, awake and animated, is incredibly intense. Like, everything about him has a really deep level of intensity to him. He's one of those guys that you can just has a little bit more animal to him than most men, than most people do. Does that make sense? Like, the way that he carries himself and the way that he approaches every situation and the way that he looks at people, there is a level of he's just very aware and kind of very intensely studying everything that's going on. And he seems like one of those people that probably approaches every situation in a very intense way. At least from your limited experience of him, he is very focused. Yeah, all the time. So seeing him kind of relaxed and peaceful is nice, and his hair is kind of in his face. And when you move to face him, after a while of you studying him, his eyes kind of flutter open, and he looks at you and then around the room and back at you. Morning. Are you okay? I'm not hurting you, am I? [01:42:12] Speaker A: No, you're fine. I know that this job, it is going to be dangerous, and just wanted to take a little moment to enjoy the quiet before getting up and moving closer to that, because if, you know, can pretend it not going to happen for a little bit. [01:42:54] Speaker E: He'Ll kind of reach up and stroke your hair. If you haven't given us a lot of details, and that's fine. We're used to that with the boss, if shit goes wrong, goes sideways, you get behind me, I'll get you out, okay? [01:43:25] Speaker A: Yeah, I will. People like, the person that I'm going to go confront are dangerous. And it's been a while since I've done something like that, and I always get very nervous beforehand. [01:43:51] Speaker E: I will help with your nurse. And that scene is going to fade to black rather suddenly. [01:44:00] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:44:01] Speaker E: Everybody has had their following morning and now has the opportunity to congregate at the RV. You technically have the full day ahead of you, but chances are it is probably going to take you. Not even chances are, you know, it's going to take you a while to get to where the setup has been located because the speaker was not willing to put it somewhere close to home where it would put the church at risk. So by the time you guys get there, you might have an hour, maybe two, before the Linnaeus society show up. So is there any last things that need to happen before you and the three companions that you are bringing with you leave the compound? [01:45:05] Speaker A: Don't have anything I need to do at the compound. [01:45:11] Speaker E: Okay. [01:45:12] Speaker D: Like the moment Piper waked up, she locked herself and woke up. Once she woke up, she waked up. [01:45:23] Speaker E: I'm sorry. You're right. [01:45:25] Speaker B: Go ahead. [01:45:26] Speaker D: Once she woke up, she basically immediately went to the RV and locked herself in the lab. [01:45:33] Speaker E: Got you. Quick question for my players. Because we bring this up every episode and no one ever deals with it, what are you going to do about the body that's still in the freezer in the lab? [01:45:53] Speaker A: Are we going by any swamps? [01:45:56] Speaker E: Yeah, several you've been to. You're literally around New Orleans. It's all swamped. [01:46:02] Speaker B: Are we going around a swamp? She says, as there's a swamp probably 30ft away from us. [01:46:08] Speaker A: I didn't want to drop it near the compound. [01:46:10] Speaker E: That's fair. Probably not a great place to leave it. [01:46:14] Speaker B: Come on, it's free. [01:46:16] Speaker A: When we're on our way to where we need to go, when we find a nice, pretty empty stretch of road that we can turn off to the swamp and we can just. [01:46:28] Speaker E: And you could ditch your emotional support, corpse. Got it. [01:46:32] Speaker C: I mean, not after saying a few words about it, but certainly nothing too intense because we don't really have the. [01:46:44] Speaker A: Zephyr. I did not know. [01:46:48] Speaker E: Zephyr. I think I met you once in passing. Gotcha. Okay, cool. [01:46:54] Speaker C: Arthur quickly realizes when they hit the road, by the way, that he did not get the memo that it was shades day today. [01:47:02] Speaker B: Arthur, we are dealing with kindred, I think is what they're calling themselves. Yeah, blanks. [01:47:11] Speaker D: We were told to have sunglasses. [01:47:16] Speaker A: Or direct eye contact. [01:47:18] Speaker D: Came from Loki. So you assumed that it was a fucking lie, didn't you? [01:47:24] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:47:25] Speaker B: This is one of those instances where it is okay to believe him. [01:47:32] Speaker C: I believed him once before and that didn't work out so well. [01:47:35] Speaker D: Okay, then believe me. And Isabel, we've dealt with kindred several times before. [01:47:42] Speaker B: And me, I have extensive knowledge on this stuff. I have a whole library dedicated to it. [01:47:50] Speaker C: I think I'm all right. [01:47:51] Speaker D: So do we want to revisit the blindfold idea? [01:47:54] Speaker E: Yes. [01:47:54] Speaker A: I'm attempted. Yeah. Because the last thing we need is you. Because we don't know exactly what this person can do. [01:48:05] Speaker B: I've got a silk one that says princess on it too. If you really knew. [01:48:09] Speaker A: Perfect. But the last thing we need is you, Arthur, looking directly at this person, meeting the eyes. And then suddenly we have to fight, you and him. [01:48:22] Speaker D: Yeah, I can keep us safe for a while. [01:48:28] Speaker A: We really should have just invested in, like, mirror shades. Really what he needs to. [01:48:35] Speaker B: You think that reverse psychologies it himself in the ass? [01:48:39] Speaker D: I don't think he works like Medusa. [01:48:42] Speaker A: That's fair. [01:48:43] Speaker B: That would be so cool, though. Uno. Reverse. [01:48:51] Speaker E: Okay, while you guys are harassing arthur about the fact that he ignores advice constantly, I would like someone to make me investigation. Intelligence investigation. I will allow Isabelle to kick whoever that is two extra dice. Because of her expertise in bodies and. [01:49:19] Speaker B: Things, I could probably roll it. [01:49:23] Speaker A: I would be rolling with. If it's intelligence investigation, I'd be rolling with six dice. [01:49:27] Speaker E: So would I. [01:49:28] Speaker D: With the plus two from Isabelle. I'd be rolling with seven. [01:49:34] Speaker B: I'd be rolling with eight. If we were doing it with. [01:49:37] Speaker G: Yeah. [01:49:37] Speaker A: Then go for it. If you get the plus two, roll with eight. Yeah. [01:49:41] Speaker E: Piper, while Rosanna is rolling this investigation check, I would like you to roll your global access roll. [01:49:51] Speaker B: Actually, because of my creed, do I get my desperation dice on this? [01:49:57] Speaker E: You do. You're at four desperation dice. [01:50:00] Speaker B: This can only go well. [01:50:03] Speaker D: Access is intelligence technology. [01:50:05] Speaker G: Exactly. [01:50:06] Speaker A: It can only go well. [01:50:07] Speaker G: Yeah. [01:50:08] Speaker D: This has never gone poorly for us ever. That's five successes on the global access. [01:50:15] Speaker E: Excellent. See that? You chose not to use your desperate. Oh, no. You're in despair. You can't use your. [01:50:23] Speaker D: For three days. [01:50:25] Speaker E: Oh, no. [01:50:28] Speaker B: You know what? I'm willing to fall into despair for this. Me getting my desperation dice back is very easy. [01:50:37] Speaker D: Keep in mind that falling into despair does. [01:50:39] Speaker E: Yeah. [01:50:40] Speaker D: You mean you will fail. [01:50:41] Speaker B: Yeah. I probably wasn't going to do too hot with that role anyway. [01:50:45] Speaker A: That was four successes already. [01:50:48] Speaker C: Still failure. [01:50:50] Speaker E: Yeah, but if you choose despair, you auto fail. [01:50:53] Speaker B: Yeah. Don't worry, guys. I'll do us all a solid and not put us at seven. Danger seven. [01:51:00] Speaker E: What can go wrong? [01:51:01] Speaker A: It's danger seven. [01:51:05] Speaker E: What nobody else can see, that we can see, is that we have had pcs in the background who are saying, up the danger. Up the danger. Do it. Okay, so you're going to go into despair, which means that you fail. All right, cool. That's awesome. That just means that you made a not amazing choice for where to dump the body. Yeah, I'm sure this can only go well for you. [01:51:33] Speaker A: Get the FBI on our backs. Why not? We transported a corpse over state line. [01:51:38] Speaker D: We can't do. [01:51:46] Speaker B: For a reason. So that wouldn't happen. [01:51:52] Speaker E: You mean you were rolling to dispose of a corpse? [01:51:58] Speaker B: Rosanna doesn't know what she's talking about. What do you think she is? The. [01:52:04] Speaker E: Know, I thought. Yeah, a little bit. Just a tiny bit. [01:52:08] Speaker C: I think I misunderstood the memo. [01:52:10] Speaker B: Yeah, no, see, Rosie, instructions unclear. Dumped body in sewage tank. [01:52:20] Speaker E: All right, you all dumped the body. You think it's in a good place? We'll see. All right, continuing on. Piper, your role was mostly to make sure that you could take care of any potential, like ATM cameras, traffic cams, that sort of thing on your way. You rolled well enough that you're pretty sure you got them all. [01:52:45] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:52:46] Speaker D: That is a margin of one on the roll. [01:52:49] Speaker E: Yeah. You're pretty sure you've covered your tracks well enough, and you all head off to find the location the speaker set for this meeting, which is a ways out. It's not quite in the swamp, but it's still in a lowlands, so it's a little soggy when you get there. It's very muggy. There are a fair number of bugs, but there is also a lot of foliage and some OD outcroppings and old buildings and things like that that aren't really used anymore, which provide various hiding places and height advantages to anyone who can be at a distance. The RV pulls up and there is already a beat up old truck at the location when you arrive. [01:54:03] Speaker C: I see not much has changed since the last time I saw him. [01:54:07] Speaker A: Friend of yours? [01:54:11] Speaker E: Oh, there you are. [01:54:17] Speaker G: I see them pulling up. [01:54:19] Speaker E: Yeah, it's a big ass rv. It's a much bigger rv than the last one you saw them in. [01:54:26] Speaker D: Last one was nicer rv. [01:54:28] Speaker E: Yeah, the last one was beat up and something out of the rolled off the production line, like in the last two years kind of thing. The size of a bus. Yeah. [01:54:40] Speaker G: Then I climb out the truck and I start waving. [01:54:43] Speaker C: We made a phone call before we got back to the compound. Last night? [01:54:49] Speaker B: Yeah. This is an old friend who's in the same line of work as we are. [01:54:55] Speaker A: Say they're a hunter. It's safe here. [01:55:00] Speaker B: We got people in the back. Isabelle. [01:55:07] Speaker E: The boys rode their bikes. They did not ride in the rv with you? [01:55:11] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Then he's a hunter. With the friend. [01:55:18] Speaker A: More the merrier, I guess. [01:55:21] Speaker G: I assume my fellow here also climbs out with me, but that's up to him. [01:55:29] Speaker E: Morning. Definitely late afternoon. [01:55:47] Speaker G: He took a nap in the truck. I told my group that I was coming with you guys, and they insisted he'd come along. Hope that's cool. [01:55:55] Speaker H: It was really late for me. [01:55:57] Speaker D: Okay, I'm going to ask the question that we should all be thinking. Who the hell is he? [01:56:02] Speaker A: I'm thinking a question, too. [01:56:06] Speaker G: Do I see the other two members of the cell at this point? [01:56:08] Speaker E: Oh, yeah. I would assume they're all getting out of the rv once they all kind of get. [01:56:11] Speaker G: I'm going to take a step back and just hold up. Scooby. Gang is looking a little bit different. [01:56:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Unfortunately, two of our gang unfortunately passed. [01:56:29] Speaker C: We lost Victorian Zephyr. [01:56:32] Speaker G: I'm so sorry, guys. [01:56:37] Speaker B: It's a part of the life, unfortunately. [01:56:41] Speaker G: Yeah. Well, anyway, this is Briggs. [01:56:45] Speaker H: Nice to meet you. [01:56:46] Speaker B: Hi, Briggs. It's so nice to meet another friend of Jesse's. [01:56:51] Speaker E: And it's nice to meet a friend of Jesse's. [01:56:52] Speaker H: Oh, my goodness. You all look a little worse for web. [01:56:56] Speaker B: It's still wonderful this morning. [01:56:59] Speaker H: I don't know how to put it. Some of you, it's like a weird line between all of you. [01:57:04] Speaker D: It is still late afternoon. [01:57:07] Speaker H: Is it really? [01:57:08] Speaker G: Rick's doesn't really time that. [01:57:10] Speaker E: Well, listen, you. [01:57:14] Speaker H: Out of my bunk and said, get in the truck. I said, okay. I put my headphones in. I passed out. That's all I remember. [01:57:22] Speaker G: I wasn't the one told to grab you, all right? They told me to get you. [01:57:26] Speaker H: No, it's fine. He looks at his watch. [01:57:30] Speaker E: Fuck. [01:57:32] Speaker H: You got it? [01:57:36] Speaker E: You hear a bark come from inside the rv. And then my best friend and Gozer busts out of the rv and tears across the space between you and just tackles you. And you are immediately off your feet on the ground. This big ass Wolf dog is licking all over your face. [01:57:57] Speaker G: Yeah, I'm tossing with him. I'm messing. Scratching him up nice and good. Great, right? [01:58:04] Speaker C: Forgot about that. [01:58:06] Speaker E: There's a big old boy. I went back to season one to check to see what the role was. [01:58:14] Speaker B: Briggs, this is Gozer. He's kind of our mascot. Absolutely. [01:58:21] Speaker H: Oh, my goodness, look at you. [01:58:23] Speaker B: Can I feel free. [01:58:26] Speaker E: Yeah. [01:58:28] Speaker H: Sorry, I was asking. [01:58:29] Speaker E: Looking at Gozer, can I. Gozer kind of pauses after a minute because he's doing that thing that excited dogs do where he's, like wagging his tail really hard and kind of whining and half yipping as he's getting screeched all over by Jesse. And then when you make your advance, he kind of pauses and looks at you and leans over and sniffs at your fingers for a minute, kind of experimentally, and then sort of head butts your palm. [01:59:03] Speaker H: This goes behind his ears. Start scratching them. It's a good old boy over here. [01:59:08] Speaker E: Yes. He gets slapped in the face by his tail a couple of times. Oh, I'm so. [01:59:14] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [01:59:15] Speaker H: Well, I'm being so rude, though. [01:59:19] Speaker B: Names. [01:59:19] Speaker H: I'm so sorry. I'm Remy Briggs. Nice to meet y'all. [01:59:23] Speaker A: Isabelle. Nice to meet you. [01:59:26] Speaker C: Piper Arthur. [01:59:29] Speaker B: Rosanna. [01:59:33] Speaker G: And it's nice to meet you guys. Piper and Isabelle. For the first time. [01:59:38] Speaker E: There is a throat clear behind you. Three rather large, broad shouldered, viking looking dudes in biker leathers are standing nearby. Excuse me. [01:59:50] Speaker D: Piper points to. [01:59:54] Speaker C: You two. [01:59:55] Speaker D: Want to introduce them? [01:59:58] Speaker B: Yeah. And these three are our friends. I believe that one is Patty tod. [02:00:14] Speaker E: Patty will sort of nod and quiet. [02:00:19] Speaker H: Nice to meet you fellas. Damn. Freaking big. [02:00:26] Speaker E: Yeah. [02:00:27] Speaker G: Agreed on that point. But I'll step up and shake each one of their hands once I get to quiet. Be like, quiet. Unique name. [02:00:36] Speaker E: Yeah, it's a nickname. Jesse Briggs. Do you already have your toys out or are they still in the back of the truck? [02:00:49] Speaker H: They are very much in the back of the truck. They're not the kind of thing. He's not going to walk out of the truck with them. [02:00:54] Speaker E: Okay. I'm asking because quiet is holding a hard case that you would immediately peg you know exactly what's in. [02:01:06] Speaker B: Oh. [02:01:08] Speaker H: Oh, that's why you're. [02:01:12] Speaker G: It. [02:01:13] Speaker H: I like this. [02:01:15] Speaker G: Yeah. [02:01:16] Speaker H: I have to look at your hardware real quick when I get a second. These introductions are lovely, Patty. I'm calling t. Anyway, I'm going to look at that, but I would love to look at that. [02:01:29] Speaker E: Sorry. [02:01:29] Speaker H: Take a step back. I am so sorry. I get excited when I see one of those. [02:01:33] Speaker E: Anytime for a fellow enthusiast. [02:01:36] Speaker G: All right, well, with all that out of the way, so I did kind of jump the gun a little bit on the phone. Do you want to kind of explain what exactly. We're here for. [02:01:51] Speaker A: A meeting. We're meeting someone. [02:01:56] Speaker D: An ambush. [02:01:58] Speaker A: Yeah. The person who doesn't really like to come out during the day. [02:02:04] Speaker G: Okay. Putting pieces together there. All right. [02:02:11] Speaker A: Kind of run on a liquid diet, right? [02:02:13] Speaker E: Yeah. [02:02:14] Speaker G: Sounds fun. [02:02:17] Speaker B: Is from the same circle that Victoria was a part of right before she met us. [02:02:27] Speaker E: Gotcha. [02:02:28] Speaker B: And we think that they have Victoria. [02:02:38] Speaker D: We more than think they have Victoria. We have video evidence of them taking. [02:02:44] Speaker B: Victoria, but we don't know if they have her directly. Right now is the only problem. [02:02:53] Speaker A: Shit. [02:02:54] Speaker G: All right, so is this like a. [02:02:55] Speaker H: Recon thing and then go in? Are we going to be invited to try to retrieve after finding that out and then be a rude guest, or are we just crashing the party altogether? [02:03:04] Speaker D: They're coming to meet with somebody. That somebody's not exactly here. [02:03:12] Speaker A: I'll be the one that's probably doing most of the talking. [02:03:15] Speaker H: Okay. [02:03:16] Speaker D: So from pretty much the moment they show up, things are going to be, if not outright hostile, tense. [02:03:25] Speaker A: I'm hoping I can get at least some information before things do go belly up, because I need information on a couple of things that this person has. And in a perfect world, we get out of here without any shooting. I don't think it's possible, but it is an option that I will leave on the table, because if we can get all the information we need and I get what I need, and I have something I can offer this person, hopefully that might make them a little bit more amenable. There's some people that are looking for them. I can put them off the trail. [02:04:07] Speaker G: All right, well, Roseanne and Arthur know that I'm good at hidden hard, and good at running my mouse, so whatever you need me to do, just let me know. [02:04:17] Speaker B: Very persuasive at grocery stores, too. [02:04:22] Speaker G: It didn't work. [02:04:23] Speaker H: Did you try the coupon again? [02:04:27] Speaker D: I don't want to talk about it. [02:04:28] Speaker G: I don't want to talk. [02:04:30] Speaker D: Hold on. What happens? [02:04:31] Speaker H: Oh, God. [02:04:33] Speaker G: It's nothing. [02:04:36] Speaker E: You didn't even drink water the last. [02:04:37] Speaker H: Time, and you were just trying to piss yourself on the ground. It wasn't working, and then it dragged. [02:04:41] Speaker A: You out of there. [02:04:43] Speaker E: Jesse. [02:04:45] Speaker B: Jesse Lacasse. [02:04:47] Speaker G: It kind of went viral, though. It did still kind of go viral. [02:04:50] Speaker H: It was all over the place. You are correct. [02:04:52] Speaker B: How do you know that it went viral? I've seen your cell phone. That thing's being held together by duct tape and prayer. [02:04:58] Speaker H: No, that was me. [02:04:59] Speaker G: Yeah, he showed me. [02:05:01] Speaker H: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. [02:05:04] Speaker A: I don't want to look around the area, see if I notice anywhere that someone might come in from. The best place is to set up. [02:05:13] Speaker E: Okay. Make me pull up your sheet. Make me wits and. Wits and stealth. [02:05:34] Speaker A: All right. [02:05:35] Speaker E: Which is a weird die pole to ask for, but I think it makes sense, given what you're looking for. [02:05:40] Speaker A: Yeah, I was tempted to ask if I could use my creed, but I was like, no, we've already tempted fate once. For now, I will save that for the times when it really, really matters. That's not the right, because I was entrepreneurial, so it was like, I mean. [02:06:02] Speaker E: You could if you want to. You absolutely could. [02:06:05] Speaker A: Yeah, but we've already tempted fate once, and I'd much rather save that. [02:06:10] Speaker E: You guys don't have great luck with your desperation. [02:06:15] Speaker A: I would prefer to save that for a time when it's like we desperately need it, like in the middle of combat or something. [02:06:22] Speaker E: I understand. [02:06:26] Speaker A: Three successes, but I am going to spend a willpower. I also spent a willpower at the beginning of the day to activate the talisman. I figured, yeah, I'll spend a willpower to reroll those failures for seven. Success. [02:06:40] Speaker E: Yeah. No. You are very confident that you guys are going to set up, like, the best ambush possible. You don't know. So the only thing that I will say is that after a moment of kind of looking around, Isabelle realizes that she may be better off letting Briggs and quiet find their own perches. And it may be better for everybody if you guys don't know where those purchase are. [02:07:08] Speaker A: Probably a better idea. [02:07:09] Speaker E: Yeah. [02:07:13] Speaker G: I was going to say, before anyone else moves, I'm just going to kind of put my hand up. It's like, wait. Before anyone does anything, I got a tradition to uphold, and I'm going to go grab my Polaroid Camera from the truck. Everyone get in. [02:07:26] Speaker H: Oh, no, don't. It makes such a noise. [02:07:30] Speaker G: I do this every time. It's tradition. I can't just not do it. [02:07:34] Speaker H: Everybody clanch. [02:07:35] Speaker A: It's going to be interesting. [02:07:39] Speaker G: Roseanne, Arthur, remember last time? [02:07:43] Speaker B: I still have that Polaroid, by the way. [02:07:46] Speaker G: Oh, good, I'm glad. [02:07:47] Speaker B: I'm not saying sweet. [02:07:49] Speaker C: Oh, boy. [02:07:51] Speaker E: Everybody kind of crowds in because it's a big group. After a minute, tov kind of steps away, says, I will take the picture. [02:08:03] Speaker G: Are you going to be in it? [02:08:07] Speaker E: But it's okay. We'll take an extra picture where one of the other boys will take it. We'll have two, and everybody will be in a picture. [02:08:19] Speaker A: All right. [02:08:24] Speaker D: Yeah. [02:08:24] Speaker E: Well, you could absolutely do it, Piper. I'm not going to make you roll for this. This is such a silly fucking thing. I'm not going to make you roll for it. [02:08:35] Speaker D: I probably have to use both drones for it. [02:08:41] Speaker E: You have to pull out the bigger of your two Drones, because it's the only thing that can lift this much weight. And it's only because this is the drone that you've outfitted to use guns. Basically, you remove a couple of the guns to change the weight distribution, and you put the thing on top of it. And then the other drone has those more fine instruments and has a little thing that can tap the Button on top of the camera, and it takes a couple of minutes because it's really hard to get that thing steady enough to get a decent picture when it doesn't have a high Quality Camera. In fact, you're pretty sure that the Video Feed that your drone gets is going to be higher quality than this fucking Polaroid is going to be. But you make it work. And bricks wasn't wrong. It is really loud for a Polaroid camera. This thing is so old that it sounds like it's dying when it snaps and spits the photo out. There's a moment, Piper, where you're not sure that it's going to blow up or that it won't blow up, but eventually it spits out a photo, and everybody's standing there looking various states of awkward, confused, and just uncomfortable, but everybody looks vaguely amused. Yeah, I said Piper, who looks worried because she's looking at her phone, because she's controlling the drone. [02:10:12] Speaker G: You guys want to keep this one, or. [02:10:15] Speaker B: I'll keep. [02:10:16] Speaker C: Listen, you just took a piece of my soul, so, yeah, I think you. [02:10:19] Speaker D: Need me to look at that camera. [02:10:22] Speaker H: No, please. It doesn't. But please don't talk about. [02:10:28] Speaker A: You don't have the time for it right now. [02:10:31] Speaker B: The camera is bad. You should hear his truck. No offense. [02:10:35] Speaker G: None dagging. [02:10:36] Speaker C: You should hear me. [02:10:37] Speaker E: How many times did I break down. [02:10:38] Speaker G: On the way over here? [02:10:39] Speaker B: Bricks? [02:10:39] Speaker E: Two? [02:10:39] Speaker B: Three? [02:10:40] Speaker A: Listen. [02:10:43] Speaker H: And he just, like, gestures at his hands that are just, like, covered in oil. There's, like, scars and stuff like that. It's like a burn on his left forearm. I don't want to talk about it. [02:10:53] Speaker E: Quiet like. Slips a handkerchief out of his back pocket and hands it to Briggs. You're not touching my gun until you clean your hands. [02:11:03] Speaker F: I wouldn't. [02:11:05] Speaker D: You. [02:11:05] Speaker H: I would never. [02:11:10] Speaker A: Okay, back to the preparations. We are burning daylight. [02:11:14] Speaker E: Yes. So, Isabel, with seven successes, that is also a critical. You let Briggs and quiet go and do their thing. They sort of disappear, going in the same direction at first, and you assume split up. Tov and Patty will go to separate sides of the area that they are most likely to enter from and sort of disappear into the bushes. I have rolled for them behind the scenes. They rolled very well on their stealth checks. Good. It becomes very obvious very quickly to those of you who are hanging out with these guys that they are all former military of some sort. It seems like they're probably different branches and even different nationalities, but they are all former military because they move with that bearing. They all carry their rifles exactly like you would expect a soldier to carry a rifle. And when they split up before they kind of disappear into the foliage, you can see the two of them kind of making hand gestures at each other as they communicate on where they're going to be and how they're going to make this work. Briggs, it's also very obvious to you that quiet was a sniper in the military. He doesn't really get into his branch or anything and exactly where he picked up on it. But it's very clear after spending time with him. [02:12:45] Speaker H: No, he sees me walking alongside it with my big girl, of myself with ozveal. That's the name of his rifle. [02:12:52] Speaker E: Of course it is. [02:12:54] Speaker H: Absolutely. [02:12:54] Speaker E: It is not surprising. I am Jack's total lack of surprise. Jesse is probably going to set up in. There's this abandoned. It looked like it used to be a house at some point. And it's got a lot of open space at the bottom with open windows where the glass has long since been broken out of them. So he can either shoot through the open window at people or can just duck down behind the concrete until it is time for him to show up. I am assuming Piper is probably going to set up in the same building but upstairs because it gives her a wide angle that she can utilize her drones from. [02:13:47] Speaker D: Yes. Would it be possible for me to set up a routine for my little scout drone? [02:13:57] Speaker E: What kind of. [02:14:00] Speaker D: To tail one of them if they try to run away? [02:14:05] Speaker E: Absolutely. You'll have to tag that person for the drone to know where to go or who to follow. But yes, you can kind of pre program it to follow a thing once you give it a specific command. [02:14:18] Speaker D: Awesome. [02:14:32] Speaker E: Arthur and Rosanna, where do you guys want to be? I'm going to assume that you guys, at least Arthur is going to want to be close to Isabelle, because Arthur is a close combat fighter. [02:14:41] Speaker C: Yes. He's also a talker, so. Makes sense. [02:14:46] Speaker E: That's true. [02:14:46] Speaker C: With her. Yeah. [02:14:48] Speaker E: Rosanna, with you having the bow, would you want to be a little bit of a distance away? Do you want to hide somewhere? [02:15:00] Speaker B: I think that I'm going to have her out with the other two. I'm going to keep her a little bit back. I'm not activating her bow just yet. [02:15:20] Speaker E: Okay, so you're going to be visible? [02:15:23] Speaker B: I will be visible, yes. [02:15:26] Speaker E: Okay. Do you want to be close to easy cover? Do you want to be close to something? You can step behind if you need to. Do you want to be out in the open? Where do you want to. I'm trying to figure out how much you're trying to set yourself up for protection. [02:15:54] Speaker B: I will be close enough to where, if I need to, I can duck behind something and shoot. But Rosanna is also a talker. [02:16:06] Speaker E: Okay, so we're going to say that you are by Jesse's truck. It'll give you an easy thing that you can duck behind if you need to. It's one of those old steel body trucks, so it can take more of a beating than like, a normal car can. And you can shoot over the hood if you need to. With the what? [02:16:28] Speaker C: One last thing. Whenever it's appropriate, based on the limitations of the scene, I would like to try to empower the artifact that Arthur carries. [02:16:36] Speaker E: Go ahead and do it now. Let's just get it out of the way. If anybody needs to do any kinds of checks for their abilities, this is the time. [02:16:43] Speaker B: Okay. [02:16:46] Speaker E: It may not actually be happening right now, but I'd rather you roll it now so that we're not doing it in the middle of the scene later. Yeah, I won't. [02:16:57] Speaker C: Use some. Yeah. Didn't help me at all. [02:17:04] Speaker B: I will also. [02:17:15] Speaker E: No. [02:17:20] Speaker B: I'm going to spend a point of willpower to reroll that. Yeah, I think I'm good on empowering my bow. [02:17:32] Speaker E: Okay. [02:17:33] Speaker D: My role was fritz of bluebird, which hopefully won't come up because there won't be people that close to me. [02:17:42] Speaker E: Okay. Wow. Jesus. Rosanna. Rosanna empowers. Oh, Arthur, sweetheart. [02:17:51] Speaker C: I know we'll never see. [02:17:54] Speaker E: Maybe this time you won't get 16 fucking successes on a 15 die roll for one. [02:17:59] Speaker C: No, the empowering just adds two more dice. [02:18:02] Speaker E: Right, I know. I'm just saying, the less dice you roll, the better for me. Okay, you all get into positions and lie in wait. Isabella's kind of front and center. Arthur is kind of, like, stood slightly back into the side of her very. A little bit in, like, a bodyguard stance. He looks a little bit like he's channeling the bikers when they kind of form up around the. [02:18:35] Speaker F: Few times. [02:18:37] Speaker E: And Rosanna is nearby waiting to see what happens. All right, Mr. Pendleton, good evening. Would you like to describe how you and your entourage make your entrance? [02:18:55] Speaker C: Yes. [02:18:59] Speaker F: When the sun sets and nights fallen in. A large suv comes not barreling down, driving into the appropriate meeting spot. And out of the front come two individuals, one who looks to be a much similar to the viking gentleman, large, buff, ex military looking individual, buzz cut. And from the driver's seat comes a very toned woman. Both of them are obviously wearing body armor and are armed. Out of the back comes an individual who looks much younger than the other two and looks a bit more overtly confident, but also very much looks like he sort of gives off that energy of a kid going to war, as opposed to actually understanding what this means. And then out of the passenger side back door comes Vincent, who looks like he has decided to wear a full suit to this meeting, as opposed to his usual ensemble, and has cut his hair. So that way he isn't basically causing all kinds of issues with sweating and just having the heat of Louisiana on top of having a whole full head of hair. And when he steps out, he will look to the area and not see the speaker and doesn't really show any reaction to this aside from a slight tilt of the head and a possible activation of some auspecs disciplines. [02:21:16] Speaker E: Gotcha. Gotcha. [02:21:19] Speaker F: For reference, he'll be utilizing both sense, the unseen and heightened senses, and he's going to be heightening his hearing. [02:21:29] Speaker E: Okay, you can make me a. Was it perception, awareness. [02:21:37] Speaker F: Wits and awareness. [02:21:38] Speaker E: Wits and awareness. I'm sorry. Too many systems with vaguely similar names. [02:21:43] Speaker F: Yes, very many. I understand. And since I'm using heightened senses, it will be adding my auspects to the role. [02:21:54] Speaker B: Correct. [02:21:57] Speaker E: You don't see anybody invisible. For what it's worth. [02:22:01] Speaker F: Fair enough. But I might sense something special about some of the people I might see. [02:22:09] Speaker E: You might make your role five. Yeah. You notice some things that are special, first and foremost. Oh, and I forgot to leave. I left this out earlier. Gozer is at Isabelle's side, standing like a loyal guard dog. Or sitting like a loyal guard dog. The best of boys. [02:22:40] Speaker F: Only the best. [02:22:47] Speaker E: The first thing you realize is you immediately tag that Isabel is under the effect of the curse that you owe. You can smell it in her blood, even from where you're standing. It has got its hooks deep into her. You can also kind of tell a little bit that there is some other type of magic at play around her that seems to be dampening the effects right now. Or you can guess that it's probably dampening the effects with how good your role is. You can see Rosanna, who you've never encountered, the dreaming, but you have read about it. The Linnaeus society and the tremere have books and studies that they have done on changelings and changeling magic. And while you've never encountered it, you are reasonably certain that that's what you're looking at? You are not sure if that makes her a changeling. If it does, she'd be a relatively weak one because it's not like it's all over her, but it kind of doesn't necessarily feel fully like her. Does that make sense? [02:24:05] Speaker F: Yeah. [02:24:06] Speaker E: It's almost like a ghost image on top of her. [02:24:08] Speaker H: Like an echo. [02:24:09] Speaker E: Yes, exactly. That's almost precisely what it is. The mage disadvantage for an echo. Arthur didn't empower his thing, so you can tell that he's got something to him, but it is very hard to place. It. Makes you uncomfortable, though. [02:24:36] Speaker F: Understood. [02:24:38] Speaker E: And you don't know where the others are, of course. [02:24:42] Speaker F: But once he's generally done a brief analysis of those he sees, he will move out in front of his men, his retinue, and he will make. As soon as they move to step in line, he will turn to them and say, stay with the car for the moment. I wish to see where exactly this goes. [02:25:08] Speaker E: Celine looks concerned, but nods and stays with the car. And the other two just nod and stand there. [02:25:17] Speaker F: And then he will turn back to the group and move to be at a decent distance to where he doesn't have to scream to speak to them, but not close enough to have a very personal conversation. [02:25:29] Speaker A: That's fair. [02:25:31] Speaker F: Good evening. [02:25:33] Speaker A: Good evening, Mr. Pendleton. You're kind of a hard man to reach. [02:25:40] Speaker F: Well, given that you know who I am, I think you could understand why. [02:25:47] Speaker A: Yes, you put it that way. [02:25:53] Speaker F: I'm sorry, but you have me at a. [02:25:58] Speaker A: You can call me Isabel. [02:26:01] Speaker F: Miss Isabelle. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. [02:26:07] Speaker C: You can just refer to me as the preacher. That's fine. [02:26:12] Speaker F: Wonderful. [02:26:21] Speaker B: You can call me Rosanna. [02:26:25] Speaker F: Miss Rosanna. Pleasure to meet you as well. And your furry friend, Gozer. [02:26:35] Speaker C: Gozer. [02:26:36] Speaker F: Excellent. [02:26:37] Speaker E: Gozer growls low and quiet. [02:26:41] Speaker F: That's to be expected. [02:26:45] Speaker E: You have not met an animal who likes you since your embrace. [02:26:48] Speaker F: No one thought of animal can. Ain't enough to do it. [02:26:52] Speaker E: No. [02:26:55] Speaker A: I hope that we can have a pleasant conversation and come to some sort of accord. [02:27:07] Speaker F: That would be my preference as well. I don't like anyone coming to harm, especially those under my care. And he will just sort of, like, look back a bit to his retinue. [02:27:20] Speaker E: Which is funny, because looking at this kind of tall, lanky dude in a suit or not, and then looking at his retinue. His retinue, all look like they are rough and ready and could probably kick some ass in their own right. But he seems oddly protective over the people he's in charge of. [02:27:43] Speaker F: What is it you would like to discuss, Miss Isabelle? [02:27:49] Speaker A: I'm going to start with. I do have the unfortunate luck to be dealing with a curse that you place. Removing it would be a great start to this conversation. [02:28:12] Speaker F: As much as I would be willing to assist you, there is only two ways to alter or affect that curse. The first, to truly remove it, would be for you to face your trauma and work through it, likely with the assistance of therapy. And that might be a bit too long of a process for what you're wanting. However I could alter it, it would place you a bit more firmly on the line between the living and the dead. Not like myself, and not exactly like the departed spirits who still linger. But it would be less intrusive to your daily life. It wouldn't be gone, but it would be changed. And you would be changed. [02:29:18] Speaker A: And try to think if I've heard anything about something like this before in anything I've come across. [02:29:29] Speaker E: Make me an intercult role. Anyone from her group can do that. You won't necessarily be able to communicate with her if you do. [02:29:38] Speaker A: But would my specialization in kindred help? [02:29:44] Speaker E: It's blood magic. We'll say it helps. [02:29:46] Speaker B: Okay. [02:29:50] Speaker E: Jesse and Briggs, this also includes you. If you two would like to roll, just to see what you understand. [02:29:56] Speaker A: I got another seven successes. Critical. [02:30:00] Speaker E: Jesus. [02:30:01] Speaker G: What roles were they again? Colt. [02:30:02] Speaker E: And what else? It's a cult. If you have specializations in kindred, that helps. Seven, crit. Five, crit, four, and two. [02:30:13] Speaker G: Anyone else going to go so well. Oh, wait, no, that didn't work. [02:30:26] Speaker E: It just slash h space. Roll. [02:30:30] Speaker G: H. Roll. Oh, there it is. I don't know what I messed up with. I got one success. [02:30:36] Speaker E: One success. I. No, not h general, guys. H roll. [02:30:44] Speaker G: Yeah, I did that as well. [02:30:49] Speaker E: Good chat. One success. Okay, the guest hunters are not sure. They're like. It makes sense. If it's something to do with trauma, it makes sense that she should have to work through her. Know. That sounds rough, buddy. Piper, you kind of get the same sound. That sounds about right to you. You know that isabelle's got a lot of trauma that's informing this. Based on what you've heard from the mages that have spoken to know, the only other option that you can think of is that you spend all of your time hugging isabelle. And it might help a little bit sometimes. [02:31:38] Speaker B: You said hug. A cell member. And she instantly went, no. [02:31:45] Speaker H: My God. [02:31:48] Speaker G: What was that? Cringe. [02:31:51] Speaker E: Welcome back. I guess having finding out that the only way you could potentially help Isabel with her curses dog was not acceptable. [02:32:00] Speaker D: Apparently not allowed. [02:32:02] Speaker E: Okay, it's moving up the list. Four, five, and, um, Rosanna, again, it's one of those things that knowing that her curse is tied into her blood, it makes sense that it would be difficult to remove it. And it makes sense that working through her trauma would probably help. But beyond that, you don't really know enough about blood magic itself. You haven't had the time to do the intensive level of research that you know you could because you've been so caught up in everything else that's going on. Arthur, everything that he says sounds right. It makes sense also because you're you. You're pretty sure that if she just believed hard enough, God could burn that out of her. But you're also not sure that Isabelle is capable of believing that hard. Isabelle. Everything that you have experienced with the different mages, who could not remove this curse from you, who could not boil it out of your blood, who could only tone it down and help you control its effects, it's deeply disappointing. But it's not overly surprising that this is not something that he can just change. However, comma. What stands out to you is the idea of standing on the precipice between life and death. You have heard of people who are mediums. You have spoken to Rosanna about her ability to see ghosts. And if he's not talking about making you dead or undead, that's what you come up with, is that it seems like he is probably offering to make you a little bit more intimately familiar with the balance between life and death so that you are better able to grapple with. How? With he's effectively taking what the curse has done to you and turning it into a potential asset and something that you have more control over. [02:34:32] Speaker A: Yeah, I'll definitely take that second option. And as a show of goodwill, I'll let you know that second inquisition knows that you are still wandering around. But if this works, I can make it so that they are not looking for you. [02:35:03] Speaker F: I'd be very appreciative of that. Thank you. [02:35:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [02:35:07] Speaker F: After seeing what they did to my home, well, I don't want them to do the same to anywhere else I take residence. [02:35:18] Speaker A: Yeah, I might need something to show them, but we can figure that out. [02:35:24] Speaker F: Easy enough at the end. [02:35:27] Speaker E: Yeah. [02:35:33] Speaker A: And you did take a body from us. What did you do with it? [02:35:41] Speaker C: Pretty important one. Yeah. [02:35:47] Speaker B: Where is she? [02:35:50] Speaker F: Safe. [02:35:54] Speaker C: Safe from who? What? [02:35:57] Speaker F: Those that caused her to be deceased in the first place. The lupines. Those that would use her spirit and the unique intricacies of her blood against you, me, the society, the second inquisition, anyone they deemed a threat. She was very important to an associate of mine, and we wanted to make sure that she was taken care of, not just dumped in a swamp or a shallow grave. But given proper respect. [02:36:46] Speaker A: Do any kind of insight check into bullshit? [02:36:52] Speaker E: You can? Absolutely. Roll me wits and insights. [02:37:05] Speaker C: Nice. [02:37:05] Speaker E: I'm going to say any of the pcs who would like to roll this can. [02:37:21] Speaker A: Uh. I got three successes. [02:37:24] Speaker C: Five for Arthur. [02:37:25] Speaker D: That is the wrong number. [02:37:28] Speaker E: What was your number supposed to be, Piper? [02:37:31] Speaker D: Four. So I just rolled one too many dice. [02:37:35] Speaker E: Okay, so we'll just take the last one off. So that's a five? [02:37:38] Speaker B: Yes. [02:37:39] Speaker E: Okay. Yeah, no, that's fine. Rosanna. It's really hard to keep in to get a good read on him. This is not something that is uncommon for kindred. A lot of kindred have this. You know from your studies that a lot of kindred are kind of constantly fighting this inner beast that can dampen their humanity and make them either less or extremely more expressive. Pendleton seems like he probably wasn't all that expressive in life, and being dead probably didn't help that much, so he's hard to get a good read on Isabelle. You're not, again, not sure he could be telling you the truth. It doesn't sound like an overt lie. From what you know about Victoria, everything that he said makes sense, but he doesn't really seem to give a fuck about her specifically. But that may also just be because he said she was important to somebody else, not to him. Arthur and Piper. Everything that he is saying lines up. Victoria told you about Madame Portia. She told you about how important the society was to her and how important she thought she was to them. And especially Madame Portia. Him showing up to take her, them showing up to retrieve her body is kind of in line. If she really meant as much to Portia as she said she did, you would expect that Portia would have a stake in wanting to make sure that she rested. Also. At the very least, Arthur, you know, and Piper, they've kind of told you a little bit about what Victoria could do with her. Bells. She was capable of things that none of the rest of you were capable of. And none of the rest of you really ever understood how she did what she did. Just that she could do things and could do powerful things, like she influenced the veil between life and death on her own, to the point that she could tear it open or thicken it so that unwanted wraiths and ghosts couldn't come through it. So if the Linnaeus society, which is so invested in bloodlines, which you know from your research, was concerned about what she could do falling into the wrong hands, maybe the secret to what she could do was in her blood. Maybe they. Maybe they wanted to make sure that she was somewhere others couldn't take advantage. Maybe they want. But I also think Arthur's paranoia is going to mean that. Yeah, all of that makes sense. All of that could very well be true. But also. Maybe they just wanted to keep that secret for themselves. [02:40:51] Speaker C: If the Lupines, as you called them, needed her blood or body, why did they leave it in her apartment for so long? Why didn't they just take it with them? [02:41:07] Speaker F: It's an excellent question. One that I don't have an answer to. I don't know the workings of the lupine mind. Aside from knowing that they are very emotional beings, it's very likely that they were too busy slaughtering her to remember to grab what was left, I honestly could not tell you. I wish I could. As a clarification, the curse that unfortunately befelled Miss Isabelle was not solely meant to slow you. It was meant to make the lupines much easier to deal with. As emotions are stronger for them, as are emotional and mental duress, they're far easier to deal with when they are focusing on existential crises and mental trauma than when they are focused on tearing someone apart. [02:42:12] Speaker C: So the trap wasn't meant for us? [02:42:16] Speaker F: No, not solely. It was meant to slow you down. It was meant to weaken them. [02:42:36] Speaker C: Well. [02:42:41] Speaker A: It does sound like a bridge that we may need to cross at a later point, but I think we all need more information about that and what's going on, because you don't know what the body is. So, I mean, us doing anything to you would not get us any closer to that. And I'm saying it very loudly for Arthur. [02:43:01] Speaker F: If anything, it might get you further away, as the linear society does not take wounds lightly. [02:43:14] Speaker A: Kind of a way to say everybody to keep their cool. But what would you need to do this ritual or whatever? [02:43:26] Speaker F: Storyteller? [02:43:30] Speaker E: Honestly, not a lot. A lot of it is time. You'd need some of her blood. You would need some herbs and spell components, most of which you have in the car, which this is all stuff that you've become accustomed to doing. Runs like this, where you met with the speaker and he introduced you to a potential unawakened mage. Or you guys handed over somebody from your society that was becoming a problem that needed to go away. That he could either take off to one of the compounds and introduce to the cult and give them a new life, or just quietly get rid of them in a way that they're not going to come back and become a problem. Yeah. Most of what you need to help Isabelle into that transition so that she is closer to life and death is time and blood from her. You could do it here if she wanted you to. [02:44:38] Speaker F: If it would please you. I could take care of the ritual now. It would take a bit of time. And for clarification and honesty's sake, it would take some of your blood, because I am altering it. He just looks to Arthur and says it's blood magic. What exactly do you expect of me. [02:45:07] Speaker A: Isabelle? [02:45:08] Speaker C: I know I'm not quite the expert on kindred, but I feel like that's not the smartest plan. [02:45:13] Speaker B: It is her decision, Arthur. [02:45:16] Speaker A: Look, Arthur. [02:45:18] Speaker C: No, I'm just trying to just devil's advocate here. You make decision. [02:45:26] Speaker A: I. It's not like I can just. I have two options. One is go to therapy, and in a few years, maybe it will go away. But seeing the world like that on a regular basis. Because it takes mental concentration to keep this thing up. Now, as I hold on to the bag, and if there's something that I can do to lessen that and not have to see it, maybe I can find that time for therapy. And maybe I will move past it in a few years. But it's the option that sounds the best for now. There's no easy way to break it. So said it's deep in the blood. [02:46:31] Speaker B: How much of her blood are you going to need? [02:46:35] Speaker F: Not a lot. [02:46:36] Speaker E: A cup, maybe two. [02:46:37] Speaker F: It's not much a cup. Two at the absolute most. Not enough that she's going to mess or feel too anemic afterwards. She might just need some orange juice and a cookie. [02:46:48] Speaker B: Well, I got one better for her. And I'm going to reach into the bag. I'm going to take out the candy. Suck on this as he's drawn your blood. [02:46:59] Speaker F: Those are quite hard to find. [02:47:02] Speaker B: They really are. Why do you know that? [02:47:08] Speaker F: My sister liked them. I can't even enjoy them now. They'd all taste like ash. [02:47:15] Speaker B: That's a greek tragedy. Anyway. Suck on that for a while. If it is something that you decide. [02:47:24] Speaker C: To do. [02:47:28] Speaker E: Isabelle, this is your choice. Are you giving up the blood? [02:47:32] Speaker A: Yes. I'll give up the blood. [02:47:34] Speaker B: Okay. [02:47:38] Speaker E: There is this od moment. I'm not going to make either of you roll for this. You're both trained medical professionals. This is something that you should just be able to do. But there is this odd moment where two trained medical professionals come together using a. Because of the ceremonial nature, you can't just do, like, a proper blood draw from your elbow. But Vincent produces an assem and a rather wide, deep chalice. It's not quite a goblet. It's really more like a chalice. It's gilded, almost. And you hold your arm out, and there's a moment of discussion where you kind of murmur to each other about how this is going to go and what exactly he has to do. Because at the end of the day, he is a doctor of sorts, and he is explaining to you what he's going to do, very much like you would expect a doctor to do. And then he kind of pauses and realizes, all right, she's human. And kind of turns. And one of his team brings over, like, a first aid kit, and they swab the area and the knife, for your sake. [02:49:02] Speaker A: Good idea. [02:49:03] Speaker C: Thank you. [02:49:06] Speaker E: Before he slices into your arm, it's not super deep. It's not like it hurts. But the athemae is very sharp, so it's not as painful as it could be. There's no tearing to this like you would expect from a dollar knife. And he rather quickly fills up the chalice. And then the member of his team hands you gauze and things so that you can step back to a more comfortable area or distance. [02:49:54] Speaker A: And I want to watch everything very closely, kind of taking mental notes on how this is done. [02:50:02] Speaker E: Okay, Vincent, your companion Celine brings over a effectively, it almost looks like a leather, like an old school leather doctor's bag, but it has been altered to hold all of your components and things that you might need inside of it and produces a book for you to read from. And I will allow you to describe your ritual. [02:50:30] Speaker F: So the ritual, once he has the chalice of blood and he has effectively wiped off the blade, not licked it as much as the beast might want him to, and puts the blade away, he will pull out the book and the various components of various herbs and will basically begin not loudly chanting, but loud enough to where people can hear and speaking in Latin. As he works through an old ritual to alter what has already been touched by death. To then be more, to have the blood and the one who it comes from be more in control of it, beseeching any spirits to heed them, not torture them to know that this one is a friend and his eyes will be covered in the black oblivion sight as he does so. So that way he can make sure that if there are any spirits around, they're paying attention. [02:51:49] Speaker E: Okay, please roll me. Let me pull up your sheet. Roll me. Wits and occult, and your specialization in blood magic absolutely helps. [02:52:09] Speaker F: All right, I am going to rouse, if that's okay, to give myself some extra dice. [02:52:15] Speaker E: Absolutely. [02:52:17] Speaker F: Fantastic sadness. I get hungrier. [02:52:30] Speaker E: The beast inside of you sighs in this just. It's that sigh of having just breathed in the most exquisite scent. And you can feel the blood inside of you calling out to you to. [02:52:51] Speaker F: Take more back to your cage. [02:52:58] Speaker E: Come on. [02:53:03] Speaker F: Did I stutter? [02:53:04] Speaker C: I said back. [02:53:08] Speaker E: You'Re no fun. [02:53:11] Speaker F: So I've been told. [02:53:20] Speaker E: Okay, make me the roll. If you have not already doing so. [02:53:26] Speaker B: Now. [02:53:30] Speaker F: That is six successes. [02:53:32] Speaker E: Six. Very good. Yeah, it goes far easier than you thought it would. This is actually not a ritual you've had to do before, like you've done the curse. You've woven that curse before, but you've never had the opportunity to do the next step to. [02:53:56] Speaker F: No one's ever cut up to me. [02:53:57] Speaker E: To do it exactly. But it goes surprisingly well. There are spirits around. They are watching very closely and very intently. And you weave this magic, Rosanna, you can see this. You can see the magic going through the air. It is like a red haze that kind of lifts from that chalice and swirls through the air around you. You can see it coalesce around what look like vague shapes to you. And you open up that second eye that you've gotten so good at turning off so that you're not constantly inundated, so that you can look and you could see there are spirits, and they are from various time periods. There are some in civil war garb, there's some in early settler, kind of like spanish settler stuff, there's some that are more recent. And they all kind of reach out towards this haze as it swirls around them and it kind of pulses through them. And their normally kind of grayish, see through forms become red with it. And then that energy kind of pulses back through it, back through this red energy that is pulsing. And it kind of goes up into the air and it swirls above Isabelle's head before descending on her like rain. Isabelle, what you feel is something that is simultaneously hot and cold, hits the top of your head, and then it begins to sink through you and you can feel it. Have you ever done that game as a kid where somebody puts their hand on top of your head, and they smack it with their hand and they act like they're cracked an egg. Yeah, it feels a little bit like that, except that there's no physical force to it. It's just this weird, hot, cold feeling that soaks into your scalp and works its way through you, down your cheek and neck, your shoulders. Your chest coalesces in your belly, and it still goes out to your extremities. But you can feel the energy kind of pulse in your stomach and in your chest. And you feel something kind of burn through your veins. Again, it burns like fire, but also like that extreme level of cold that feels like something is burning you. It's painful, it hurts, it's not pleasant. But you can also tell that you're not physically being harmed. Does that make sense? [02:57:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:57:19] Speaker E: And as time goes on, because this takes a long time. For those who are just watching, this is like a ten to 20 minutes process where you can see Isabel breathing heavily. You can see sweat breaking out on her skin. Her sweat actually looks almost like it's tinged with blood. At times there are tears that slide down her pale cheeks that are red. But Isabelle, over time, you can start to see the forms of these spirits around you. The living people around you, for a moment, flicker and look like those corpses. And you recoil just a little bit. And then they start to look more and more alive, more and more like the people you know them to be. And the spirits become more and more real. More and more, they coalesce more and more into actual beings that are hovering in the air around you. [02:58:31] Speaker A: Just sort of looking around, trying to remember as much as she can of all of this for writing down later. [02:58:47] Speaker B: Rosanna's gonna rest a hand on her shoulder. How do you feel? [02:59:00] Speaker A: Different. [02:59:03] Speaker B: You're looking all around you. You see them too. [02:59:10] Speaker A: If what you're saying is spirits, yeah. [02:59:17] Speaker B: You got a lot to learn, kid. [02:59:24] Speaker A: Hopefully I've got the time now. [02:59:28] Speaker E: Isabelle, make me composure and cult. No specialty. [02:59:36] Speaker A: Okay? I would like to spend a willpower to reroll. That's only one success. [03:00:02] Speaker E: Okay. It is just a moment. You almost don't catch it. Rosanna's hand touches your shoulder, and you instinctively turn to look at her. And there is a moment where you see a wound in her forehead. You know exactly what kind of wound this is. You've seen them on your table before. It looks like she's been shot. But you blink, and then it's gone. You. [03:00:59] Speaker A: After the whole thing is over, I'll look over at Vincent. [03:01:07] Speaker E: Vincent, you're tired. That took a lot out of you. Your beast is raring, but you have managed to hold it in check. [03:01:20] Speaker A: Thank you. [03:01:23] Speaker F: You're very welcome. [03:01:26] Speaker A: And as I said, I can get second inquisition off your back. I can tell them that I dealt with you. You've met the final death. I have anything you can part with that might prove that. [03:01:48] Speaker F: Do you think DNA would be better or an item? [03:01:53] Speaker A: DNA would probably be better. I believe they have something to compare it against. [03:01:59] Speaker F: Understood. And he will take his athemae and just very quickly cut off one of his pinkies. [03:02:11] Speaker E: Jesus. Okay. You're going to take a level of damage for that, but, Isabel, he hands you a whole ass pinky. [03:02:24] Speaker A: Well, I imagine I have something in my pocket to. [03:02:27] Speaker E: Absolutely. You have an investigator's kit. You've got. [03:02:33] Speaker D: A question? Yes, Piper. Do parts of kindred turn to ash after they're separated from the main body? For a. [03:02:44] Speaker E: Think, yes. Technically. [03:02:46] Speaker F: I think it would depend on their age. [03:02:50] Speaker E: He hasn't been turned for very long. Yes. No, that's very fair. He's new enough that you're reasonably certain, Piper, that it's not going to go to ash. It will degrade quickly, but it won't be so quickly that they won't be able to pull DNA from it. If she gets it to them fast, she gets it to them within the next 24 hours, it should be okay. [03:03:11] Speaker A: And I'll put it on ice and stuff. That might help. [03:03:16] Speaker E: Perhaps. You had a whole ass corpse in that freezer. What's a pinky? Right? [03:03:20] Speaker A: What's a pinky? [03:03:21] Speaker E: Yeah. [03:03:23] Speaker C: All this extra space. Now got to put something in there. [03:03:25] Speaker A: Exactly. [03:03:32] Speaker E: Make me that roll again. One more time, Isabelle. [03:03:38] Speaker A: All right. It's two successes. I only have one willpower left to spend. [03:04:01] Speaker E: I would not recommend spending it if you're on your last one. [03:04:05] Speaker A: Yeah. [03:04:05] Speaker E: I was like, yeah, but if you had a candy, didn't you? [03:04:11] Speaker B: Yes, she did. [03:04:12] Speaker E: That would have given you a willpower back. [03:04:13] Speaker B: Good vibes. [03:04:15] Speaker A: Then I would have gave me willpower back. So therefore, I have a willpower to spend. [03:04:22] Speaker E: Yeah. [03:04:22] Speaker A: I'll go down to one willpower left just to reroll these failures, try to get a little bit better. That's three successes. [03:04:28] Speaker E: Slightly better. Okay. When you reach out to take the pinky from Vincent and your fingers kind of brush his hand for just a moment as you take it, because you're trying to maneuver carefully enough that you get the pinky without your fingerprints or DNA ending up on him. You look up at his face, and it is for just a moment desiccated and like a corpse that's long dead. And you see a stake driven into his heart, and his eyes have gone completely white, and then you blink and he's normal again. If you would like to make a wits and insight roll. [03:05:16] Speaker C: Yeah. [03:05:17] Speaker E: To see if you understand what the fuck you're seeing. [03:05:21] Speaker A: I, the player, have an idea, but see if it lines up with what? Isabel? So, four successes. [03:05:37] Speaker E: You think you're not 100% sure. You wouldn't know without being there for the moment when it happens. But you have the feeling that you are seeing at least someone's most likely death. How they die, what they look like before they do, or as they do. You also have the instinctive feeling that you can probably control how much this happens to you, but because it has literally just become a thing, you haven't quite figured out the mechanics of it. [03:06:12] Speaker A: I really don't want to see everyone's possible death, but I'll figure that out at a later time. [03:06:18] Speaker E: You know, from having spoken to Rosanna enough about the things that she can do, that it is very possible to learn how to control and turn that kind of sense, it's. [03:06:28] Speaker B: You just got it. [03:06:29] Speaker E: You're a little overwhelmed. [03:06:33] Speaker A: Yeah. Future thing. [03:06:36] Speaker E: Yes. [03:06:41] Speaker F: I have to say, of my limited interaction with hunters, this has been the most pleasant. Thank you for that. [03:06:51] Speaker A: You're welcome. I'm glad that it didn't come to blows. [03:06:57] Speaker F: As am I. I've lost enough people. [03:07:04] Speaker A: Yeah. I would like to think that you're not all bad. [03:07:16] Speaker F: Oh, trust me, several are worse. [03:07:19] Speaker A: In fact, I met quite a few. But that's what I keep telling myself. That you all can't be bad. You can't all be bad. But maybe one day I'll have more evidence. [03:07:35] Speaker F: Well, hopefully one day we can work together on that. The one who ensured that I wasn't immediately destroyed for existing as this told me that I can do a lot of good if I try hard enough. I want to believe in that. [03:07:57] Speaker A: It's a noble cause. I hope to do a lot of good as well. There's some people I gotta make up for. [03:08:09] Speaker F: I can understand that. And Vincent's going to take a second, and then he will just, like, hold up a hand and just slowly reach into his jacket and pull out a card and offer it to isabelle. [03:08:28] Speaker A: I will slowly reach out and take the card. [03:08:35] Speaker F: Feel free to contact me if you have any need of the assistance of a blood mage or perhaps the Linnae society. We don't want to be your. [03:08:52] Speaker A: Will. If that is true, we may end up reaching out. I might reach out at some point. I don't know. We'll see. [03:09:00] Speaker F: I have two things. One question and one polite request. [03:09:09] Speaker A: Okay. [03:09:10] Speaker F: One, how easy was it for you to convince the speaker to sell me out? [03:09:17] Speaker A: Actually, quite easy. [03:09:19] Speaker F: Yeah, that's what I expected. [03:09:22] Speaker A: Yeah. [03:09:22] Speaker C: He's not a super trustworthy person. [03:09:25] Speaker F: No, he's not. I couldn't even find out his real name. It's just the speaker very full of himself. And two, you said that you know someone within the second inquisition. [03:09:42] Speaker E: Yes. [03:09:42] Speaker F: Or you know who? Their files. [03:09:47] Speaker A: I have a contact. [03:09:49] Speaker F: If you could quietly, without raising suspicion. Could you look into a few names for me as well? Names I would prefer to know the fate of. [03:10:06] Speaker C: Sure. [03:10:07] Speaker A: I can probably figure out if we still believe, if they're kicking around or if we know they've been. Know they've met their death. [03:10:20] Speaker F: Brilliant. And he will quickly just pull out a pad of paper and a pencil and just scribble them down and pass them over. And they are the names? Charles Fletcher, Sam Stricken, Michael Quinn, and Ace Ramon. [03:10:42] Speaker A: I will look into these, and I'll let you know at some point. [03:10:48] Speaker F: Thank you. [03:10:52] Speaker E: Excellent. Vincent, as you are standing there doing this, Celine steps up and whispers in your ear and informs you that, sorry, TJ has not checked in. [03:11:13] Speaker F: Keep contact him directly, and then I will look up to the others. I'm assuming you had other friends elsewhere. [03:11:23] Speaker A: Yeah, we had some contingency plans in case things went wrong. [03:11:29] Speaker E: It's not responding. [03:11:30] Speaker B: Sir. [03:11:40] Speaker F: Could you please check in with your friends to see if they have. [03:11:46] Speaker D: Been. [03:11:50] Speaker F: Quick on the draw, as it were? [03:11:54] Speaker E: I will say, because Piper is smart enough and absolutely would have thought of this. Everybody who is not necessarily here with the group was given, essentially, earwigs to be able to communicate with you guys. [03:12:05] Speaker D: Yeah. [03:12:08] Speaker E: So if you would like to contact people outside of those in the immediate vicinity, you can. [03:12:13] Speaker A: Yeah, reach out and say everything good. Anyone run into any problems? [03:12:28] Speaker E: Rigs, Jesse, you guys hear this? [03:12:33] Speaker H: Yeah. Found someone getting mighty comfortable up here. [03:12:39] Speaker G: I've just been hanging out. Really? Saw a few birds. They're pretty cool. [03:12:45] Speaker A: What is the status of that person? [03:12:50] Speaker H: They don't have to worry about getting comfortable no more. [03:12:54] Speaker E: They're not dead. Just for reference, they're not dead. They're just subdued. [03:12:59] Speaker A: Okay, clarify. [03:13:01] Speaker E: They're asleep. [03:13:02] Speaker H: Sorry. It was a moment. I'm so sorry. [03:13:06] Speaker A: Would you be so kind as to return them. [03:13:14] Speaker H: Right now? [03:13:16] Speaker G: Okay, let me keep watching birds. [03:13:19] Speaker A: Sounds great, Jesse. [03:13:21] Speaker B: Good for you, honey. Good for Jesse. [03:13:28] Speaker E: So it takes several minutes, but eventually Briggs shows up and Briggs has a rather large dude who's only slightly smaller than Briggs himself over one shoulder. And Briggs has, like, he has Loretta under his arm and has another sniper gun kit in his other hand. [03:13:52] Speaker H: It's Lucille. [03:13:53] Speaker E: I'm just sorry. I'm sorry. I don't know why I thought it was Loretta. [03:13:57] Speaker D: She refuses to say. [03:13:58] Speaker F: Lucille. [03:14:00] Speaker E: It's the l names. You said it once. Give me a break. [03:14:05] Speaker H: You good? Yeah. He's got all that bundled up, and he'll gently put down his lady, and he'll just toss the other gun to the one side, and then he'll gently lay down this individual on the ground. [03:14:18] Speaker E: TJ is still breathing. Vincent. It looks like he probably got knocked pretty hard over the head, but he's alive. [03:14:24] Speaker F: Okay. I just wanted to make sure that he was still able to go home. Thank you for that, sir. [03:14:36] Speaker H: Wanted everything to go smoothly, quietly, and without bloodshed, so that's what I did. [03:14:42] Speaker F: That's what I think alike. [03:14:45] Speaker E: Absolutely. Hey, does anybody else have anything they want to talk about or do before Vincent and his companions? [03:15:00] Speaker D: God damn it. Can I do that thing I wrote in my journal? [03:15:08] Speaker E: You want to cancel it? [03:15:10] Speaker D: Oh, no, not that thing. [03:15:13] Speaker E: Wait. Oh, new thing. Sorry, I haven't seen that. [03:15:15] Speaker D: Yes, new thing. [03:15:18] Speaker E: Make me. That's a weird role, Dex. And technology. [03:15:27] Speaker D: I mean, should I just make my role with the edge? [03:15:31] Speaker E: Oh, yes. I didn't know that there was an edge specifically for what you were trying to do, but yes, absolutely. [03:15:35] Speaker D: I mean, just for the drone. [03:15:38] Speaker E: Yeah, go for it. And I will give you two extra dice because you're doing it. Well, roll two more dice. [03:15:53] Speaker D: I would like to spend willpower. [03:15:56] Speaker E: Go for it. [03:15:58] Speaker D: Okay, well, that's only force tests. [03:16:01] Speaker E: Bad. It's not bad. Still enough, isn't it? [03:16:05] Speaker D: None of these things actually have difficulties? [03:16:08] Speaker E: Okay, cool. Well, then we will say that it happens, and you just don't know how well it's going to work until later. Yeah. [03:16:20] Speaker D: Then, because it will be important. Where is it does give me a. [03:16:27] Speaker A: Role for. [03:16:31] Speaker D: Essentially how long they last. [03:16:34] Speaker E: Yes. [03:16:35] Speaker D: I just don't remember where in here it is. [03:16:39] Speaker E: It's okay. While you look that up, does anybody else have anything that they want to do or say before Vincent and his crew leave? [03:16:47] Speaker F: Feel free to ask me anything. I can't say I'm a completely open book, but if I can assist, I will. You all seem to know enough that the idea of us trying to hide too much is rather mute. [03:17:04] Speaker A: Anyone? I have one question, but if nobody else does, I'll ask. There's. I don't know how much you know about other people like you, your activities or anything. I am kind of trying to. I guess it's a weird question to. [03:17:44] Speaker E: Ask. [03:17:46] Speaker A: Someone who I care about. They're like you now. I. Who I was mentioning earlier, I hope still a good person. I don't. Isabelle is just like. Is there. She said a last name. Sorel. I don't know if you've heard of someone with the last name Sorel before or. Her last name is Langley. [03:18:36] Speaker F: Storyteller. [03:18:39] Speaker E: Sorel. No. Langley. Yes. [03:18:45] Speaker F: Langley. Rings familiar. [03:18:47] Speaker D: The drone will remain active for the next three days. [03:18:53] Speaker E: Cool. [03:18:53] Speaker C: Good. [03:18:59] Speaker F: Do I know anything else about Langley other than just the name? [03:19:04] Speaker E: Yes. Hold on. Sorry. I was not necessarily anticipating this. I have to get to the other part of my. [03:19:10] Speaker A: Nobody else had any questions. So I was like, this is a thing that Isabel's going to ask about if nobody else has anything? [03:19:19] Speaker C: I had a question, but you had a more important question. [03:19:23] Speaker F: Oh, boy. [03:19:24] Speaker E: You know a young premier who goes by the name Nessa. Know of a premiere who goes by the name Nessa? It's. You don't know a ton. You don't know a ton about her. Just that she was embraced. She had about a. She had about a year where she was running around with other. With other tramiers. Some of them were associated with Linnaeus society, some not. And then she went missing. She's been assumed dead. [03:20:10] Speaker F: Langley? Yes, she said her name was Nessa to those who knew of her. [03:20:20] Speaker A: Yeah. [03:20:23] Speaker F: I know that she had been associated with some of the members of the Linnaeus society and others who were not. For about a year, we lost track of. [03:20:39] Speaker E: Her. [03:20:42] Speaker F: Presumptions are grim. But if you would like, I could ask around those that spent time with her to see perhaps, if I might learn. [03:20:59] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And as Isabelle is talking, she's playing with a necklace that all the rest of the cells wear all the time. And if you care, anything I appreciate. [03:21:15] Speaker F: Course. Of course. Then you will need to give me waiters to contact you as well. [03:21:25] Speaker A: I imagine I have something I could write a number on. [03:21:30] Speaker E: Or he's got a little booklet. You could just write it in his. [03:21:35] Speaker F: Little detectives notebook pamphlet. [03:21:40] Speaker E: It looks a lot like what you take your notes on. Isabelle. On the rare occasion that the police actually come at you. Have you come out to look at a crime scene? [03:21:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [03:21:50] Speaker E: Well. [03:21:53] Speaker A: Give a way to contact me to Vincent for any information he might come up with. [03:22:02] Speaker E: Done. [03:22:03] Speaker F: Perfect. [03:22:05] Speaker E: Arthur, you said you had a question. [03:22:10] Speaker C: Is the Linnae society. I'm just not sure I understand it. The entire purpose to create kindred like you. [03:22:25] Speaker F: Our purpose is multifaceted. Yes, there's the want to increase our numbers as recent knights have been unkind to us. Especially given the vigor with which the second inquisition hunts us and blows up city blocks to do it. But it is not our sole purpose. We are also a society that focuses on uncovering hidden truths. Information about magic, about the history of the world that perhaps isn't in books. We want to know more. Some for the betterment of our group, some for the betterment of themselves, and a very select few for the betterment of all. I can tell that you're not one to believe me when I say I'm one of the few. But I shall say it anyway. [03:23:38] Speaker C: Mmm. [03:23:41] Speaker F: Believe what you will, Preacher. [03:23:46] Speaker C: Yeah, it's kind of how it works, isn't it? [03:23:53] Speaker F: Words can only take us so far. [03:24:06] Speaker E: Anyone else? [03:24:11] Speaker A: I don't have anything else. [03:24:13] Speaker B: Okay. [03:24:16] Speaker E: Vincent and his people gather up the unconscious man and his gun. Celine eyes Briggs like she wants to try and take him, but is good enough at following orders that she won't. [03:24:38] Speaker H: He gives her the most deliberate wind. Click. [03:24:42] Speaker C: Yeah. [03:24:42] Speaker B: Come on. [03:24:45] Speaker E: Come on. And they load things into their suv and they drive away, leaving the rest of you alone. [03:25:01] Speaker C: So we just let him go back out there and vampire. [03:25:11] Speaker D: Blocking up? Yeah, we just let him go. Definitely. We didn't just let him go. The fuck did you think I was doing? [03:25:26] Speaker A: Something? But look, I feel good about the call I made. We made a deal. Help me with this. Let him go. And we got information about Victoria. It's something to work on. I mean, us fighting them would have only caused more problems in the end for. So at least maybe for now, that if we dig into the Linnaeus society and learn more about them, maybe they're not going to try to murder us. Maybe one faction not trying to murder us is good. [03:26:11] Speaker B: And I've said it before, and I will say it a million times, every decision that we make has a consequence that will follow up. If we had decide to go after him, that would be an entire society, cult, whatever. You might have it on our asses. [03:26:41] Speaker E: And because I think Rosanna would have absolutely thought about this, not just your asses, but potentially on the rising stars asses. Because the speaker was who set all of this up. [03:26:53] Speaker B: Don't forget that your people have ties to their people, Arthur. And remember what we discussed last night. Everything's got a risk. [03:27:12] Speaker D: I have a question. Has Jesse joined the rest of the group? [03:27:16] Speaker E: Probably by now. [03:27:18] Speaker G: I'm there. But this seems like an internal cell kind of thing going on. So I'm just kind of. I was curious if he was still. [03:27:23] Speaker D: At the house watching birds. [03:27:24] Speaker H: We're over there. Just like. I think we did good. [03:27:27] Speaker B: No. [03:27:27] Speaker E: All right. Okay. It's like, oh, let's let them. [03:27:30] Speaker B: You did fantastic. Good job, bird watching. [03:27:35] Speaker D: All right, thank you. [03:27:37] Speaker G: So, tgifroids, anyone? [03:27:40] Speaker D: I want to check for some things real quick. [03:27:44] Speaker H: I mean, you saw a cardinal. I was thinking red robin. [03:27:46] Speaker B: I owe you dinner. I forgot. [03:27:49] Speaker D: Oh, yeah, you do. [03:27:53] Speaker C: To the rv. [03:27:54] Speaker D: All right, while they're all fucking around, I'm going to use sensei. Unnatural. [03:28:00] Speaker E: Okay, go for it. [03:28:02] Speaker D: The guy did some weird shit to Isabel, and I don't know what. And I don't like that. [03:28:07] Speaker C: Yeah. [03:28:10] Speaker A: Five. [03:28:11] Speaker D: Which is. [03:28:11] Speaker A: I see ghosts now. [03:28:13] Speaker D: Typically, the hiatus dead people. [03:28:17] Speaker E: Isabelle's resonance has changed a little bit. It's in some ways similar to Rosanna's, but different. It does not feel quite as malevolent as it did before. [03:28:33] Speaker D: All right. And just to cover my base, is anything else fucked up? Is there, like, a weird dead zone where all this shit happens? [03:28:43] Speaker E: There are, like, ghosts and shit around. You can tell that, but it's not uncommon to run into spirits. You can never see them, but you can hear them kind of thing. [03:28:52] Speaker D: Okay, cool. [03:28:54] Speaker E: Spirits tend to be. Unless they are a little bit more overt or more like wraiths. Ghosts and spirits tend to just kind of be like this low level background noise for you because you can't interact with them and they can't interact with you. You just are vaguely aware of their presence. [03:29:14] Speaker F: She looks better. [03:29:21] Speaker B: Rosanna is going to wrap an arm around Isabelle and kind of pull her in and just whisper. All you gotta do to turn it off is just do a quick, mindful meditation. It'll take a little bit of time to master, but also. [03:29:43] Speaker D: Yeah. [03:29:44] Speaker E: Jesus. [03:29:44] Speaker D: There are a lot of ghosts. [03:29:46] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [03:29:48] Speaker D: All the time, but most of the place. [03:29:52] Speaker A: But I also may be able to see how someone dies. [03:29:56] Speaker D: Sorry, what? [03:29:58] Speaker B: Damn. [03:30:01] Speaker A: I get, like, a flash when I look at people sometimes, and it's quite possibly their possible death. [03:30:09] Speaker G: Can you see Briggs's? Is it embarrassing? [03:30:12] Speaker H: Probably is. I'm due for one, like, slipping. [03:30:16] Speaker G: Fell in the bathtub. [03:30:18] Speaker E: So, Isabel, this is something that you would probably recognize now that you have a little bit more time to think about it. You were only seeing it when you were touching. [03:30:25] Speaker D: Yes. [03:30:26] Speaker A: Yes. [03:30:28] Speaker E: So, no, you cannot see Briggs's possible death right now. [03:30:35] Speaker A: Currently. [03:30:41] Speaker E: It is about this time that you guys all hear footsteps coming from a couple different directions and from two different directions. And Tov and Patty both step out of the underbrush. And then while you guys are kind of cleaning up from everything that you've set up in the area, Rosanna just feels a tap on her shoulder, having not heard anybody come up behind her. And when she turns, quiet is standing there. [03:31:21] Speaker B: She gets nervous and goes to reach to activate her bow and then turns around. [03:31:26] Speaker E: She's like, hey, sorry. [03:31:28] Speaker D: Also, at some point, a big old four legged spider drone kind of scuttles up. [03:31:36] Speaker E: I like that one. It's creepy. Wow. [03:31:47] Speaker D: All the other one's not here right now. [03:31:52] Speaker E: Quiet kind of up, nods over at Briggs and gives him a little grin. [03:31:59] Speaker H: Sorry about that. [03:32:01] Speaker E: Why would you be mean? He was closer to you than to me. Somebody had to deal with it. [03:32:08] Speaker H: Yeah, but it was also like, if I just went over, like, a few feet to the left, he would have been. I don't know, it was like, I want my homie to get the glory. But it was like I was there. [03:32:18] Speaker E: He walked like a bear. He was really loud. He was poorly trained. Poorly fucking trained, also. [03:32:27] Speaker H: Who drags their rifle? [03:32:29] Speaker E: I don't know. [03:32:31] Speaker H: I would never do that. Don't worry, baby girl. I'm never going to do that to you. [03:32:37] Speaker G: Are you talking to Lucille again? [03:32:39] Speaker H: Absolutely, I am. [03:32:40] Speaker D: You named your gun, don't you? [03:32:46] Speaker A: I've named knives before. [03:32:49] Speaker B: Yeah, I've got guns that. [03:32:53] Speaker H: You go. You're the weird one. [03:32:56] Speaker A: Do you not name your drones? [03:32:59] Speaker E: No. [03:33:01] Speaker G: That looks like a Stephanie. [03:33:07] Speaker D: It turns to you, and you can hear the gun cock. [03:33:13] Speaker H: That's definitely a Stephanie, for sure. [03:33:16] Speaker G: Every Stephanie I've ever met would do that. [03:33:18] Speaker E: Makes me think more of a Karen. But. [03:33:23] Speaker H: Karen would have fired already. [03:33:25] Speaker B: You would just hear it slap, click and then cock the. [03:33:30] Speaker E: I'm only. I'm only asking this because you brought one of the coolest people I've ever met with us. And quiet says, as he kind of gestures at Briggs, are these two coming to help with the big project in a couple of days? [03:33:44] Speaker G: Big project. [03:33:49] Speaker E: Could always use more hands. [03:33:50] Speaker D: Use more hands. [03:33:52] Speaker E: We can't have all, like, the whole Mc can't leave the compound if we're going to be away from it. [03:34:03] Speaker B: I think that it would suit. Well, if you guys want to, I don't know, earn a quick buck and a bite to eat. [03:34:10] Speaker A: Place to stay. [03:34:11] Speaker G: I'm all for that. Absolutely. We might need to report back. Let him. Let our group know. [03:34:16] Speaker D: But we can probably start queuing before they agree to help us. That would also be helpful. [03:34:22] Speaker B: See, here's the thing, Popper. I know the way to get this man to kind of help us with projects? Yeah, I'll buy you food, and we have a really comfortable place to stay. And alcohol. [03:34:35] Speaker H: You had me an alcohol. [03:34:36] Speaker E: There you go. [03:34:39] Speaker H: Wait, listen. [03:34:40] Speaker E: Yeah. [03:34:40] Speaker D: All right, so you're all on board. [03:34:43] Speaker G: Like I said, we got a report back, but we can probably swing it. No problem. [03:34:48] Speaker H: I have one request. [03:34:50] Speaker G: He's always got one request. [03:34:51] Speaker H: Call it, Stephanie. [03:34:53] Speaker B: No, I tried. [03:34:56] Speaker H: All right, let's go. [03:35:01] Speaker D: Piper's, like, looking at the other people to stop her from saying the next thing she's about. [03:35:05] Speaker G: We should. [03:35:09] Speaker A: Points at ToD, Patty, and quiet. Yeah, conversation. [03:35:15] Speaker E: Somebody, and this is quite. Somebody's going to have to explain what the fuck just happened because we saw and heard all of that. [03:35:24] Speaker A: Yeah, let's do that back at the compound. [03:35:30] Speaker G: And if someone wants to give us deeper details about this project, someone can load up in the Jesse mobile with me. [03:35:39] Speaker B: All right, I'll take the rv. [03:35:42] Speaker H: For the love of God, please. [03:35:44] Speaker B: No, you're riding with us because we're going to have a long, long conversation. [03:35:51] Speaker G: Yeah, you do need to know the details. [03:35:53] Speaker D: It's better you hear them. I'll be honest. I'll be distracted for most of it. [03:35:58] Speaker H: And for a long day. [03:36:02] Speaker E: All right. [03:36:03] Speaker G: Also, just so you know, the volume on the stereo is also broken now as well, so it's going to be a little bit loud. [03:36:08] Speaker H: It doesn't go to eleven. How many times I have to explain this to you? It stops at ten. [03:36:15] Speaker G: If I could turn off, I would. [03:36:23] Speaker E: As these two bicker like an old married couple, the cell and their companions will split up. Briggs, Jesse and Rosanna will go off in the truck. Piper, Isabel, Arthur will get into the rv, and the boys with the bikes will follow the rv. [03:36:41] Speaker A: I was almost just like. I don't know if Isabelle wants to get in the rV. I don't know if she wants to have that conversation with Arthur right now, actually. [03:36:48] Speaker E: Isabelle, Piper, Arthur, get in the rV. Tov and Patty will follow the rV. Quiet's going to follow the truck so that somebody is there to pick up Rosanna after she has her conversation. [03:36:59] Speaker G: Is there one detail I can say about when we load up into the truck? As we get in there, something Rosanna will see is that pinned onto the dashboard is a Polaroid photo of Jesse looking about 16 years old, icing smeared on his face, a ruined cake in front of him and standing next to him is a girl, roughly age, laughing, wearing an ABBA T shirt. And written on the bottom is happy birthday, Dufus, Dakota. [03:37:35] Speaker E: Love that. [03:37:36] Speaker D: Okay, Piper is kind of in a panic. Going to go cancel that message. [03:37:43] Speaker E: Okay, cool. On that note, because we're already overtime, we're going to call it for the evening. Thank you, everybody, for joining us. Channel.