S3 Ep6: Ain't No Easy Way

[00:00:30] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Aubrey, and I play Isabelle, the entrepreneurial. [00:00:35] Speaker B: Hi, I'm legacy, and I play Rosanna, the faithful. [00:00:41] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Scott, and I play Arthur, the faithful. [00:00:45] Speaker D: Hi, I'm termite, and I play piper, the underground. [00:00:50] Speaker C: Hello there. I am Alarig, and I play Peter. [00:00:55] Speaker E: Hello. I'm Solomon, and I play Vincent, the tremere. [00:01:03] Speaker F: I'm bloodied porcelain. I will be your storyteller for the evening. Trust. Noun. Trust is defined as a firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something. But it is rare to find all of these things in one. Something may be strong, but not reliable or true, but unable to affect change. Hunters trust one another based on the shared goal of the hunt, but may discover, secret by secret, that their goals are pulling them in different directions. [00:01:42] Speaker A: Towards safety, towards understanding, towards control, towards resolution. [00:01:52] Speaker F: What becomes of hunters when they are no longer hunting? The same thing. And what will those hunters do when they themselves are hunted once more? When the ghosts of Hunt's past keep coming, unrelenting and dangerous as a sharpened knife? Do they turn on one another? Or do they seek new understanding and band together to survive? Tonight we continue a hunter story. Good evening, players. [00:02:26] Speaker A: Hello. [00:02:27] Speaker C: Hello. [00:02:31] Speaker F: Well, last week was a time, wasn't it? [00:02:37] Speaker D: I don't know what you're talking about. [00:02:39] Speaker B: Totally fine. [00:02:40] Speaker F: We had some big revelations. We had some intense heart to hearts, some serious disagreements. There were tears. There were confrontations. And there were deals made. We had Isabelle reveal to the cell as a whole that she had ghouled herself in order to save her own life while attempting to save someone else who required a blood transfusion. We also found out that Isabel tipped off Vincent and the tremere, that mages were coming after Rosanna tipped off Ophelia that the tremere were gaining new membership from an occultist group called the Linnaeus Society. All of this through the likelihood that piper might find the book that could lift the curse that has been bearing down on her and filling her with disturbing nightmares about cutting into herself, vivisecting other people and other creatures, and so much more, putting all of that into. Into serious jeopardy. And in all, Arthur continued to be Arthur. And was vaguely disapproving of everything. Okay, maybe not so vaguely. Fairly overt, overtly disapproving of everything. All with the background of a series of phone calls from a bishop who is part of the second Inquisition and specifically leads at least part of the society of St. Leopold. In the end, the cell agreed to work with the second Inquisition, seeing more benefits than drawbacks for them, including the very real possibility that they will have the opportunity to confront Rosanna's sister Rin. They got the name of a powerful vampire. A powerful and old vampire that Piper has been haunted by since she first learned about the things that lurk in the darkness. And the possibility that Isabel could become a property scientist and not have to spend all of her time out in the field risking her life. She could be working with beakers and test tubes and centrifuges and significantly less. More bullets. And Arthur. Well, Arthur would probably, hopefully, eventually get to go home to his wife and the cult that he runs. Just wholesome things. In the middle of all of the bickering, towards the end of it, Tov stepped in, at least vocally, and made it clear that the cell wasn't behaving like a team, that they were so busy being at each other's throats and passing judgment on one another for decisions made with the best of intentions, that they were forgetting who their actual enemies are, and that if they didn't get their shit together, he was going to call in his. He was going to pull rank effectively and insist that Isabelle and Patty come home. We pick up shortly after a heart to heart between Rosanna and Isabelle. Outside of Arthur's home, Piper and Arthur are still inside. Piper just sort of took Arthur's head off because Arthur had the nerve to imply that Isabel has an unhealthy fascination and focus on vampires. And Piper pointed out that his own unhealthy fascination and focus on vampires nearly got him killed. So bearing in mind that it has been not even a full 20 minutes since Frazanna and Isabelle disappeared outside and had their conversation, Piper and Arthur, is there anything that you guys wanted to discuss before or discuss? Well, it's just the two of you inside. [00:07:25] Speaker D: Piper had gotten up and walked out. [00:07:26] Speaker C: She stormed her. Yeah, she stormed up. [00:07:29] Speaker F: Apologies. I remembered everything else except for that. That detail. My bad. [00:07:35] Speaker C: The only person would be Arthur and Katie Lynn, but I think we covered that between the shows. [00:07:39] Speaker F: Yeah. Katie Lynn is not home right now. Katie Lynn stepped out to give you guys privacy for your conversations. [00:07:47] Speaker C: And there we are. Arthur is by himself. [00:07:50] Speaker F: Piper, you are out in the rv. Yes. Yes. What are you doing? Um. [00:08:01] Speaker D: She'S probably just gone back to trying to see if she can find any leads on any potential people that might have the book or have recently had the book. Not necessarily thinking she's gonna find anything, but just needing to do something with her time. [00:08:22] Speaker F: Gotcha. Okay, well, Arthur, you are inside alone for the first time in a hot minute. Anything you want to do, anyone that you want to call. Anything that I should be aware of before I pivot back to the girls who just had their heart to heart. [00:08:44] Speaker C: No, I think that this would just be one of those times when Arthur is him finally being by himself and not having anyone to talk to. He's just gonna have to think about what Piper said and consider it deeply. Until such a time as someone comes home, whether it's the girls or Cadielynn or quiet walks back in or something like that. [00:09:04] Speaker F: Gotcha. Well, in that case, Rosanna and Isabel, you are outside. I believe you guys had just shared a hug. [00:09:20] Speaker B: By the way. Uh, isabelle, um, I just. I've got a lot of questions. I guess there is a part of me that is at least semi curious. I mean, do you. Do you feel any different? [00:09:43] Speaker A: I can't really say that I feel different, I say, as I'm, like, wiping away some lingering tears, if honestly it wasn't for the glowing red eyes. And I don't know, maybe I feel like isabelle is, like, thinking about this as she. As, you know, she's made notes. And it's just like, I feel healthier than I have. [00:10:28] Speaker F: Yeah, physically, you feel a little bit more hale and hearty. Not significantly so. But you feel you went through this phase after your last big breakup where you went to the gym kind of religiously for a few weeks, and you ate really, really well and you were sleeping really good because you were kind of just. You had to throw yourself into something to get really obsessive for a few weeks. And that's a bit how you feel. Like you are in, like, peak condition taking care of yourself. But also when you really try, you see exceptionally well in the dark and have figured out that that's when your eyes glow. [00:11:09] Speaker A: Yeah. So it kind of feels like if you've ever had one of those times where you're going to the gym, taking care of yourself, feeling incredibly fit and healthy, and then I can see in the dark. I don't know if things will happen over the. I don't plan on taking another dose unless I have to. So if anything, it'll just be like a month of going to the gym and then back to normal. [00:11:55] Speaker B: I mean, if there's anything that I can do. I don't. I don't know what. You know, vampires were never my specialty. Mine were the actual dead things, ghosts. And now I guess it's the fae and magic and a whole mess of other things. But, yeah, I'm just. I'm. I'm curious. [00:12:31] Speaker A: And, um, I am, too. It's. I've been drawing some of my own blood and taking a look at it. It definitely looks different. [00:12:49] Speaker B: Do you think. And I'm just. I'm just kind of spitballing ideas here. Um, do you think that. That the blood curdling in that. In that person's system that you were helping, do you think that my blood might have any, like, effect to that? I don't know how. How the fae lineage thing gets passed down or whatnot, but if I got something in my head, maybe something's in my blood. [00:13:27] Speaker A: I mean, if you're okay with me taking some of your blood to study, I can certainly run some tests on it. And see, I don't have a lab, so there's only so much I can do. [00:13:41] Speaker B: Unless it is the least that I can do for the way that I lashed out. [00:13:50] Speaker A: Tensions are high. I understand. [00:13:53] Speaker B: Well, I mean, we got that book that we got to chase down. We have my sister we're gonna have to deal with. And let's be honest, once the second inquisition actually gets their hands on me, I'm gonna die, too, so. [00:14:07] Speaker A: Well, hopefully, we. I have Vincent's number, at least the number he gave me. I'll give it a call and see if I can get in contact. [00:14:17] Speaker B: I mean, maybe this Vincent guy can help us get an idea of what the lot. He said that he did some magic mumbo jumbo bullshit. Maybe he might be able to help us with this. [00:14:28] Speaker A: I mean, apparently, whatever Cophelia said, they're like vampire mages. [00:14:33] Speaker B: Vampire mages? [00:14:35] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:14:36] Speaker B: What's next? Vampire werewolves or whatnot? [00:14:40] Speaker A: I think those might exist, but I think that the oldest, like, vampires who can do certain things and make themselves a little bit more animal like. [00:14:51] Speaker B: I don't know. I don't know. Listen, the Ann Rass novels and the movies only got me so far in my dedicated, hard earned research. [00:15:02] Speaker A: I mean, some of the stuff is right, you know, most of them are pretty. Pretty spot on with the whole vampire scene, can't be in sunlight thing. Yeah, I mean, fair, but I'm also going. I also call my contact at the Allison and see if she's encountered this black vein poison before. If. [00:15:30] Speaker B: Be careful with what you tell her. [00:15:33] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm gonna. [00:15:36] Speaker B: If they catch wind that I've got something in me. Not everybody in that line of who's exactly what Ren and I are. [00:15:47] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, honestly, it's more of, like, I'm gonna ask if she's encountered this before and share notes that it seems to attack kindred blood. That seems to what it targets. [00:16:05] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:16:06] Speaker B: All right, well, if I can help in any way. You know, you and I are kind of the deal makers in our cell. For better or for worse. [00:16:21] Speaker A: For better or for worse. Yeah. [00:16:24] Speaker B: And sorry that I told Ophelia about Vincent and Linnea society. [00:16:35] Speaker A: Same idea. We didn't know that they were, like, mortal enemies. [00:16:40] Speaker B: No, no. [00:16:42] Speaker A: Yeah, so I was just, like. I feel like I should at least give him a heads up that we accidentally sicked people who can alter reality on them. [00:16:54] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I mean, all things aside, I'm just, uh. I'm happy that we were able to clear the air. [00:17:06] Speaker A: Yeah, me too. [00:17:08] Speaker B: And, um, we can only go up from rock bottom, so, uh, that is true. Unless we somehow find layer two of rock bottom. But I think that at this point, that, uh, that's a little bit difficult. [00:17:24] Speaker F: Oh, yeah? [00:17:28] Speaker B: Well, then, goddamn. Grab a pickaxe and a shovel, and I guess we can see where this. Where this shit storm goes. [00:17:40] Speaker F: Okay. If you want to take a sample of Rosanna's blood, I'm not going to make you roll for that. You've been doing this long enough. And taking your own blood that you could take somebody else's, no problem. It's been a long time since you're a med student. You got this. You wanted to call Vincent. [00:18:07] Speaker A: Yes. It is nighttime, correct? [00:18:09] Speaker F: It's just about. Yeah, the sun's just about setting. We'll say, for the sake of ease, that all of the calls and discussions and everything took up most of your day. [00:18:21] Speaker A: Yeah, well, that is what I want to do. Especially. I'm relatively gonna hope that he's at least in roughly the same time zone as I am. And if not, I'll leave a message. [00:18:33] Speaker F: Okay. You take out your phone, find the contact. It is obviously not named Vincent because that would be silly. You've got him named under, like, a. Like a pizza joint name or something like that. Yeah. And dial up the number. And after a few rings, a familiar voice picks up. [00:19:08] Speaker E: Good evening. [00:19:11] Speaker A: Oh, good, you're awake. I didn't want to leave a message. It's, uh, Isabelle. [00:19:23] Speaker E: Miss Isabel. It's been a while. How are you? [00:19:27] Speaker A: Uh, been better. It's been a bit, uh, hectic lately. Uh, are you doing all right? [00:19:42] Speaker E: I can't complain too much. We've had a few more things put in place since your last message, but nothing that really is a detriment. [00:19:56] Speaker A: That's good. I'm glad my message was able to find you in time. I know it might be a long shot, but I wanted to ask for a possible favor. I'm trying to find this book called the Darksome Anatomies. One of my friends is unfortunately cursed by it, and we're trying to deal with that. I didn't know if you had come across it in your studies or know anywhere it might show up. [00:20:42] Speaker F: Vincent. Oh, go ahead. [00:20:44] Speaker A: Sorry, we're kind of running out of options at this point. [00:20:48] Speaker F: Vincent, you do not know of any book called the Darks and Anatomies. However, comma, you know an awful lot about curses. Can't fix all of them. But you've worked. Worked enough and unworked enough that if you can see the person that the curse is on, and depending on how exactly it set its claws into them, you might be able to help. But it would require you being there. [00:21:22] Speaker E: Always coming to me with care. [00:21:24] Speaker F: Curses. [00:21:25] Speaker E: Is this going to be a common thing that we do, Miss Isabel? [00:21:31] Speaker A: Honestly, I can't really say for sure. But, you know, we'll see. What. It's a third one, whenever that happens. [00:21:43] Speaker E: That'll be our lucky curse. It might grant us a wish. [00:21:47] Speaker A: One could only hope. [00:21:50] Speaker E: I would be willing to assist however I can. I would need to study the effects of the curse itself, and to do so, I would need to be present to witness it. [00:22:02] Speaker A: Yeah, for, um, at the. We're in New Orleans. Uh, the compound of the church of the rising star. [00:22:20] Speaker E: I will. [00:22:22] Speaker F: You could be there by the next night. [00:22:27] Speaker E: I will speak to others within society, and if possible, we will be there by tomorrow night. [00:22:35] Speaker A: Yeah. And I'll owe you one. I don't know how you. I'll do this, but I'll owe you one. [00:22:46] Speaker E: Very dangerous words, those. But. [00:22:56] Speaker F: Okay, do the two of you hang up or anything else you need to say? [00:23:03] Speaker A: I don't think there's anything else Isabella needs to say. [00:23:06] Speaker E: Not yet. [00:23:09] Speaker F: Okay. All right. You hang up with Vincent. Vincent hangs up with the words. Those are very dangerous words ringing in your ears, Isabel. Well aware that you just made a very open ended promise to an immortal being who may have less than savory intentions. [00:23:34] Speaker B: Was I there for this phone call? [00:23:35] Speaker A: Sure, it's fine. [00:23:36] Speaker F: You were. You were absolutely there for this phone call. What's really funny, Rosanna, is that while, yes, there's a certain level of that risk with mages, most of your mage companions that you have met, the very few that you have interacted with have all kind of warned you that you want to avoid making open ended promises to beings like Faye. Uh, also vampires, but especially fae. [00:24:10] Speaker B: I don't trust you on this one. Uh, Isabelle. But I was warned about making, uh, promises and deals with, uh, with vampires. I don't quite know what it means, but I'm gonna trust you on this one. You definitely know what you're doing with the vampire things. A lot more than I know what I'm doing with the vampire thing. Just, uh, that's fair. [00:24:35] Speaker F: Speaking of. [00:24:36] Speaker A: Please, lord of that. Better. [00:24:39] Speaker B: I'm sure that it will be fun. At least it's not the fae. You never want to make a deal with the fey. [00:24:48] Speaker A: I mean, I've heard all the stories. [00:24:51] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, to be fair, we also made a deal with the God once. So, I mean, yeah, we're kind of bad at not making deals with these things. We're not. [00:25:10] Speaker A: That's what I get for making a phone call right after a very emotional moment. [00:25:15] Speaker B: Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine. Listen, and if they try to put you in a weird situation, I've got a bow. [00:25:24] Speaker A: It's true. [00:25:26] Speaker F: You could always just kill em. [00:25:30] Speaker B: I've got a bow and a gun and a. Quiet and I guess an Arthur. I've got a bow and a gun. It'll be fine. [00:25:42] Speaker A: Yeah, just. I guess I'll not mention that last little bit to the others. [00:25:49] Speaker B: Your secret is safe with me. [00:25:53] Speaker F: Because secrets always go so well with this group. Okay. All right. I am going to put the offer out there. Rosanna, you know that the second the seller agreed to the deal with Bishop Thomas that y'all did, you start at a clock. You have 30 days. You have one month in which Wren can have nothing to do with your Fae companion. And thus, you are free to interact with her as much as you wish on any topic that you wish. Ask without. Without the concern that rin is going to know. And there's going to be backlash. [00:26:48] Speaker B: Okay. [00:26:49] Speaker F: You also know that Vincent is not going to show up until tomorrow. So you have basically tonight and during the day tomorrow to do that if you wish. You don't have to. But I'm just making you aware because we have a period of time that is open right now. [00:27:06] Speaker A: Oh. [00:27:07] Speaker F: Oh. Oh. [00:27:08] Speaker B: Isabelle, you wanna see my friend again? [00:27:12] Speaker C: Sure. [00:27:13] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:27:14] Speaker B: You know what? This might be per. This might be actually the apt moment to get her involved. Wren can't punish her. The vampires aren't here yet. [00:27:27] Speaker F: And you might be able to find information before you call Alison. [00:27:30] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. [00:27:35] Speaker A: Random voice. [00:27:36] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:27:41] Speaker F: Listen, listen. I can't count the number of times y'all have gone to make a phone call or send a text or whatever and have forgotten something. And then after the session, been like, oh, shit, I didn't do that thing. We don't have time for that to happen anymore. So I'm gonna give you nudges so you don't forget things. [00:27:57] Speaker B: Thank God for whoever or whatever you might be for reminding me of the fact that I got magic that we can finally use. I mean, I'm normal. [00:28:11] Speaker F: I'm cool. [00:28:11] Speaker B: I'm cool. Come on, let's go in the woods and summon Faye. Actually, I'm gonna start doing things the right way, and she's gonna pop her head in to the house to just talk. Have a quick. Hey, I'm gonna head out with isabel to arthur. [00:28:37] Speaker F: Arthur, you were informed that roseanne and isabel. Are you going out to the woods? [00:28:44] Speaker C: That. Are you gonna bring quiet and patty with you, just for safety sake? [00:28:53] Speaker B: I mean, I can. [00:28:56] Speaker A: Make sense while. [00:28:58] Speaker B: I have a clock and while I have time, I want to get information. And now that I don't have to worry about somebody being punished for getting that information, I'm going to use it to the best of my ability. [00:29:16] Speaker A: Wow. [00:29:18] Speaker C: So you're planning on bringing your friend forward? [00:29:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:29:22] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:29:22] Speaker B: I mean, if you want to come and watch some trees grow, we can get you in a wheelchair. [00:29:29] Speaker C: I don't need a wheelchair. I can walk just fine. I may need to pause a couple of times on the way, but. [00:29:40] Speaker A: I. [00:29:41] Speaker C: Would feel more comfortable with someone going with you. I know that you're bringing isabel, but especially on. I know you're gonna go farther away from the compound than just right in the middle of it, which would absolutely cause a disturbance. [00:29:55] Speaker B: Oh, 100%. [00:29:57] Speaker C: But I would feel safer with somebody there to help protect you. [00:30:03] Speaker A: We got Patty, we got tall. We got Patty, we got quiet. [00:30:07] Speaker B: Well, if I. [00:30:08] Speaker C: If I'm going with you, then, I mean, you could. Whatever. With. With Patty and quiet. Probably smart to bring at least one of them. [00:30:16] Speaker A: No, no offense, Arthur. You're really not in a position to protect people right now. [00:30:24] Speaker B: I was more so asking if you wanted to come, because I saw the look on your face when everything started growing around, and I think all of us just need a little bit of. She'll just take a strawberry cream out of her. Out of her bag and just slap into his hands. [00:30:40] Speaker C: No, I think that I would feel more comfortable being there, just at least observing the situation. I would feel more comfortable. [00:30:51] Speaker F: Right. [00:30:53] Speaker B: Maybe we should ask papa if she wants to come, too. I don't think that we've actually done anything, Sema, within our true realm in a while. [00:31:07] Speaker F: Together. [00:31:08] Speaker A: Let me extend the offer. I don't. [00:31:12] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm hoping that after our blowout, maybe the four of us can just start from square one. At least try to have some semblance of teamwork. We're not. Things have been really tough, and I get that. And things have been kind of tense, and I understand that. But we're not doing anybody in this group any favors by constantly fighting. [00:31:42] Speaker F: And. [00:31:46] Speaker B: You know, working as a team is going to help us. Help her, help you, help you, and help me. So I think maybe a group apology towards one another might be in order. And maybe we just start from scratch. [00:32:13] Speaker C: Just to have a little group seance in the woods and forgive each other. [00:32:17] Speaker B: Just the three of us. Piper and my little fae companion that lives rent free. Kind of, sort of in my head. Isabel, you're gonna love this. I don't know if I've ever shown you truly like what? What it's capable of, but when it's in the forest. [00:32:37] Speaker A: Yeah, I think last time I met them, it was in the middle of a parking lot. [00:32:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:42] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm gonna also grab my medical kit. Because if I remember last time, the. [00:32:48] Speaker B: Chains, the last time that I summoned her, when I was able to gain more of that control, the chains were the goal, were gold and light, and her wrists didn't seem that bad. But yes, you are right. [00:33:04] Speaker A: Because I don't know, just in case. [00:33:05] Speaker B: I don't know. I don't know what happened after. But she's got 30 days where it's just really only me, so I'm. Let's go grab. [00:33:25] Speaker F: Okay. Um, Arthur, are you going with them? It was unclear to me what the decision was. [00:33:31] Speaker C: Yes. Arthur is insisting to go with them. It was a little bit of a. Isabel. Arthur disagreeing on whether or not Arthur should go. But Arthur's going to go. [00:33:40] Speaker A: Isabelle was thinking as the doctor. [00:33:44] Speaker F: I took Isabelle's protest less as whether or not Arthur should go and more whether or not Arthur is going to be useful if something goes wrong. [00:33:51] Speaker C: Yes, correct. But Arthur's going anyway. [00:33:55] Speaker F: All of you get together. You go to the RV. Piper, for the sake of quickness, you are invited to go along to see the fabie summoned. [00:34:09] Speaker A: Yeah, she'll go. [00:34:12] Speaker F: Okay. [00:34:13] Speaker D: She's not really getting anywhere. [00:34:16] Speaker F: No, not at the moment. Tracking down the books is proving ever more elusive. You do see the. You did, however, manage to pick up on a few more of what look like the victims of the young woman who has the curse scattered through the midwest and the causes of death are getting progressively more and more disturbing. [00:34:45] Speaker D: Yep. [00:34:48] Speaker F: Okay. All of you together with Isabelle and Patti, giving Arthur, basically, some folks to lean on when he's feeling a little unsteady. And Isabelle occasionally refusing to let anybody walk any further so that Arthur can have a moment to catch his breath and not end up busting a stitch or something. You all eventually make it out into the forest. It is dark. There is a waxing moon. It is most of the way full, but not entirely. And Rosanna, you find that same opening that you summoned her in last time. What you and Arthur both notice when you walk in, though, is that there are fresh climbing vines that have begun to grow up along some of the trees, and fresh moss that looks like it would have just grown in within the last week or two since the last time you summoned her. Like, just her presence for the time that you had her here brought a little bit more life into the area. [00:36:16] Speaker B: Oh, these weren't here last time? [00:36:20] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:36:30] Speaker A: Oh, that's wonderful. [00:36:35] Speaker B: Sorry. [00:36:36] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:36:39] Speaker C: It does seem like the fruits of bring her hair are fairly positive. [00:36:49] Speaker B: It's amazing what imagination can do. It's a screener. Anyway. All right, and she's going to start up her setup. She's got her incense, uh, her, her rocks. Um, and she's going to start, um, doing that, like, makeshift summoning circle. Um, and, um, the entire time she's, she's, uh, she's humming out her, her little, her little chant. So I will go ahead and make that roll. [00:37:42] Speaker D: Piper makes sure to stay, like, ten to 15 bases away while this is all happening. [00:37:48] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you. I'm gonna spend a willpower to reroll three of those, if that is okay. [00:38:18] Speaker F: Yep. [00:38:21] Speaker B: Five successes, Betty. [00:38:23] Speaker F: Goody. Good. Okay, you all watch as Rosanna sets up her, her summoning circle. Draws the circle out of. Not salt, but sand. [00:38:44] Speaker B: Yeah, sorry, it's sand. A little bit of dirt from the earth. And she'll go in with a little bit of, like, like, a little vial of what can only be described as, like, moon water. And she'll start to sprinkle that around, and then that is when she'll say the fae's name, which I cannot pronounce for the life of me. So please. Okay, finger gun. [00:39:23] Speaker F: You finish your summoning, and everybody gets to watch as night blooming flowers begin to burst into existence on branches and vines that did not have flower buds a moment ago. Trees begin to. The saplings begin to suddenly sprout up out of the ground and grow at a rapid pace. All of the air fills with the scent of springtime just after a light rain. That kind of Petrichor meets fresh flowers and dew in the air. And in the middle of it all, in the middle of the summoning circle, is that petite, kind of willowy figure with the very, very long red hair that just tumbles and curls around her. And she sort of looks around and looks a little confused at first. Like there's that moment of panic on her face when she first kind of shimmers into existence. And then it's. She realizes that she's apparently not where she thought she was going to be. And she relaxes a little bit and then looks really confused and kind of gives Rosanna a worried look. For what it's worth, this is the first time he's seen any of this. And he is visibly wide eyed, a little in all I wanted to bring him. Isabelle, your very irish lad moves his hand like he's about to cross himself, and then realizes what he's looking at. And he stops. And you see him immediately start to pet at his pockets. And he pulls out a. A granola bar that's still in the wrapper and unwraps it and, like, sets the granola bar down just inside of the summoning line like it's an offering. And then, like, tucks is very careful to tuck. To tuck the wrapper back into his pocket and not let it end up on the ground. And he just sort of looks awkward, like he's not entirely sure that he did the right thing, but he's trying to remember the stories that he grew up with. Yeah. Uh. [00:42:13] Speaker B: Welcome back. Um, Patty, you don't have to be so shy. You can. You can. It's all right. Hang around with me long enough. It happens more often than you think. [00:42:31] Speaker F: Um, Patty just sort of, like, shakes his head and kind of, like, is scratching at the back of. He does not know what to make of what's happening. He just sort of inches a little bit closer to Isabel. [00:42:44] Speaker B: Quiet with us. [00:42:46] Speaker F: Quiet is not. Oh, no. Yes, he is. What quiet did when he realized that Patty and he were being asked to come because Arthur has concerns about security, is quiet went and made a big circuit and has in his coming back, he basically went to walk the perimeter. But Toifua kind of looks around for a moment, looks a little confused, and then turns back to Rosanna. I thought we weren't supposed to talk unless there was an emergency. What's wrong? [00:43:24] Speaker B: Well, this is a little bit of an emergency and a little bit of a common news for you. She's not gonna hurt you for the next month. [00:43:41] Speaker F: Do you know that. [00:43:45] Speaker B: I made a couple deals? [00:43:49] Speaker F: Deals are dangerous business. [00:43:52] Speaker B: They are dangerous business, but we don't like what happens to you. So I. I made a deal with some people that I typically wouldn't, to buy you a chance to breathe while we get this all figured out. [00:44:16] Speaker F: She kind of looks around like she's looking for verification from other people that that is, in fact, what's happening. And seeing Isabelle nod and Arthur kind of half nod like he doesn't really want to acknowledge her existence, but also wants to back up Rosanna, and he's not sure how he feels about it. She just sort of looks back at you. [00:44:42] Speaker C: And he also slightly agrees with her assessment that deals are, you know, dangerous business. [00:44:48] Speaker F: Um. She kind of looks back at you. Rosanna. Um. Thank you. What? Uh, there isn't a lot I can do from here, but, um, if I can help with anything, I will. Like your friend. And she kind of looks over at Piper. [00:45:13] Speaker B: Wait, you. You're able to help her? [00:45:19] Speaker F: Well, I don't think I can fix it, but I can feel a powerful f. A powerful evil hanging around her. Like a shroud. Like a death shroud. I mean, I don't know that I can fix it. I can't make any promises. [00:45:34] Speaker B: I know, I know, I know. [00:45:36] Speaker F: I mean, it's harder for me to affect the physical world now, not having a body of me on. [00:45:45] Speaker B: Right. [00:45:48] Speaker D: Well, I mean, there is also the other part of anything magical trying to be used on me. [00:46:00] Speaker F: I. My magic isn't the same as most magic. It's about your mind and your imagination more than anything. Like I said, I don't know if it'll work, but I'm happy to try, if I can, if you want me to. [00:46:21] Speaker B: I mean, that's up to her. [00:46:26] Speaker D: I mean, I have no reason to say no. [00:46:36] Speaker F: Is there something else you needed for me? [00:46:39] Speaker B: I just wanted to let you know that you're gonna be all right. And we actually had. I was wondering if you would be okay with it, where she can't hurt you. If you might be willing to help us a little bit more so we can get everything kind of situated and. [00:47:03] Speaker C: Get you not to interrupt, but I'm suddenly having the realization that we might have been able to ask Tawatha here for help instead of the vampire mage. [00:47:12] Speaker F: I don't think I can fix it. The best I might be able to do is bolster her spirits. [00:47:19] Speaker A: Kind of what she did for me last year with my curse. [00:47:26] Speaker F: My gifts are diminished without a body of meal. [00:47:33] Speaker C: But I'm wondering about the book. It's just the thought that just now occurred to me, and I feel incredibly stupid for not having thought of it before. [00:47:42] Speaker F: Book. [00:47:45] Speaker B: There is a book that is tied to that evil that you see looming over her head. I don't know a whole lot about it, but it did something her. And we're trying to. We're trying to basically track it down so we can track down his counterpart and see if we can lift that curse. [00:48:19] Speaker F: I don't know if I can help with that. [00:48:22] Speaker B: I'm not. I'm not expecting you to be able to help that. But if you've got a way to make her feel even just a little bit better. [00:48:34] Speaker F: I'll do my best. You said there were other things, though. [00:48:41] Speaker B: She'll. Look at Isabel. [00:48:44] Speaker A: Recently, I encountered a poison. It was curdling someone's blood in their veins, and I think it related back to the fae in some way. Is this something that you've heard of before? [00:49:09] Speaker F: Her eyes go a little bit wide at that. I. We don't. We don't make poison specifically, but some of our arts, the darkest of our arts and the cruelest ones can manifest as poison. [00:49:32] Speaker A: Yeah, it was. It was a rather nasty thing. [00:49:38] Speaker F: Um, are you telling me that there's one of my kind out there hurting people like that? [00:49:50] Speaker A: I don't know if it. Would it be possible for one of your kind to maybe make a weapon that does this or that's something you could coat a blade with? [00:50:07] Speaker F: Just about anything is possible with my people. Given time and ingenuity, we have some of the best crafters that your world's ever seen. Because we come from a place where there aren't rules like you have here about how things work. Basically, if you can think it up, my people can, in theory, make it happen. [00:50:37] Speaker B: Well, I mean, part of that comes with the question. We were trying to kind of narrow down what it might have been. What kind of weapon did you make, Bran? [00:50:50] Speaker F: Well, I didn't. Well, I mean, I did, but I gave it to you instead, remember? [00:50:56] Speaker B: She didn't ask you for anything else? No knives, no swords, no nothing. [00:51:03] Speaker F: She did. [00:51:08] Speaker B: Did you make it for her? [00:51:10] Speaker F: I didn't have the power to. That kind of gift isn't something that I can just give away all the time. There's a reason why I sent it to you and not to her. I put it in the kinder hands that I could think of. But it would take me years to summon up the kind of strength it took to make one of those again without it risking my existence. [00:51:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, that's. [00:51:45] Speaker F: But the. Did you see who did it or get any. Did they tell you anything about the person who did it? [00:52:05] Speaker A: Um, I heard it secondhand. The person who got poisoned was, at the time, not really in a place to talk. And I think Isabel kind of has a moment where she's like Jay said, this person was starting to wake up, didn't they? [00:52:32] Speaker F: He did. He also, uh, told you what little he knew about the person who attacked his ghoul. Um, he did mention that they were in a suit, um, and that he. [00:52:49] Speaker A: Was stabbed specifically, um, and that he. [00:52:53] Speaker F: Was pretty sure that whoever did it was human. [00:52:57] Speaker A: Yeah, it was, uh, the person that I got the information from thinks who did the stabbing was more likely than not human. It was. They were wearing a suit. And this person was stabbed. The person who was stabbed, I think, is only just starting to wake up. I think I managed to save their life, just barely. [00:53:32] Speaker F: Well, it's unusual. They're not unheard of for a human to be able to use something chimerical. So in theory, the weapon that they used to stab him could have been something created by my people or imbued with power by my people. But in theory, they might have also just created a poison with. By wheel, by. By harnessing autumn as a power, as an art. And, you know, giving it to someone to coat a blade with. I don't know. Without having the blade in front of me, it would be hard to tell. But that's. Autumn isn't a gift that I have. She kind of gestures around her. I'm a bit more associated with spring myself. [00:54:32] Speaker A: Well, it's more information than I had before. It helps solidify a hypothesis of mine also. How does her. How do her wrists look? [00:54:44] Speaker F: Fine. They are currently in those kind of delicate gold manacles. There are chains hanging off of them, but they are not red and irritated for the moment. But I say that if they've got something from one of us, um, autumn is the powers that they used. Um, it's harnessing death and decay. And, um, the. The words of power for. For autumn are, um, dangerous. Um, it's not something you use lightly. So I could be wrong, but I have a hard time imagining that whoever made it gave it up willingly to a human. [00:55:50] Speaker A: Yeah, that's. I am going to continue digging and figure out what it is. Because no matter what it is, it's incredibly dangerous. [00:56:01] Speaker F: Aye, it is. Autumn isn't something most people use. I certainly don't use it in. Well, where other people can see it most of the time. If you use it, it's desperation. Unless you're cruel by nature. [00:56:20] Speaker A: I think it might be much more. Second. [00:56:27] Speaker F: I mean, if it's. If a human is wielding it and knows what it is, and she'll kind of look towards Rosanna. They might not be in exactly the same position your sister and I are, but they probably stole it. Took it as? Took it from. From one of my people. [00:56:59] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, no matter what it is, we. We definitely need to deal with it. [00:57:04] Speaker B: Sooner rather than later. [00:57:06] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:57:07] Speaker B: They're hurt. [00:57:10] Speaker A: It literally almost killed me to save that person. [00:57:14] Speaker F: I'm sorry. [00:57:15] Speaker B: They have the potential to hurt a lot more people. [00:57:19] Speaker F: Things, I'll tell you, it's a potent weapon to wield, especially against someone who's dancing with death. [00:57:32] Speaker B: Under sick. [00:57:33] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:57:44] Speaker B: Did you want to see Piper? [00:57:45] Speaker F: Now, that's up to her. Piper, do you mind if I try to give you. [00:57:58] Speaker D: I mean, go for it. [00:58:03] Speaker F: She kind of makes her way over to the edge of the circle closest to you. And she glances at Patty as she passes him. But he looks so awkward and unsure and like he doesn't really know what to do, that she just kind of gives a little smile and keeps walking like passes by him. And she moves over to Piper and reaches out both of her hands kind of palm up, like she is waiting for Piper to take her hands. [00:58:43] Speaker D: Piper will walk over very slowly. Take her hands. [00:58:56] Speaker F: There's a moment where, for just a second, Rosanna, you see this probably more than anybody else does, just because of your intimate connection with her. There's a moment where she and Piper talk. Touch. Where her image flickers a little bit, like she's about to wink out and then solidifies again. You assume that that's probably her getting so close to Piper and her black hole for magic. And then, Piper, you feel these delicate, cool, soft hands holding yours. And her thumbs start to rub little circles in your palms. She turns your palms upwards so that her thumbs can wrap around, and they start to rub little circles in your palms. And she kind of hums to you. And after a moment, you feel compelled to kind of shut your eyes and let yourself relax a little bit. Not like I'm gonna topple over level of relax, but just sort of like your shoulders sag just a little bit as they let go of some of that stress. And you don't know exactly what happens, but there is a kind of warmth that starts to spread through you. And you feel a little bit like Christmas morning with a cozy fire. And like hot cocoa and all of the good, warm, happy feelings about that, about those early moments on a day that's supposed to be all magic with people that you love. It's that sensation, that hearty, heartfelt, homey feeling kind of settles into your bones. And then she pulls her hands back. It's a little difficult to get through whatever. I don't know what is going on. If someone did that to you or if you were born with that sort of, I don't know, magical resistance. But you should be able to sleep a little bit better tonight. Hopefully. At the very least, it should keep the nightmares away. [01:02:00] Speaker C: Thank you. [01:02:03] Speaker F: I'm sorry I couldn't do more. [01:02:07] Speaker A: Man. [01:02:08] Speaker D: Unfortunately, I don't think there's much anybody can do to actually stop it. I think this book is a bit above the pay grade of anybody we've dealt with so far. [01:02:23] Speaker F: So sure that I've had the interesting fortune of getting to interact with some of Rosanna's magically inclined friends. They might be a little bit better able to help than me. I tried to help more. But without a body, there's limited effects I can have. I can affect Rosanna from a distance. But anyone else, I have to be up close like this. Um, and she kind of hesitates for a moment and then stands on tiptoe and just pecks your forehead. Piper. And it leaves this kind of like, cool, tingly sensation behind on your skin. And then she kind of steps back into the circle. And around this time is when quiet kind of emerges from off to the side. Quiet. And your fae companion have met before? He kind of up nods at her. She gives him a little wave. He nods at Arthur. And then he leans against one of the trees and just generally stays out of the way and stays true to his namesake. And tuatha turns back to Rosanna. You said we have a month. [01:03:58] Speaker B: One month. [01:04:01] Speaker F: All right, not to be pushy, but at the end of this month, what happens? [01:04:13] Speaker B: Hopefully one of two things. One, we get rin to lay off you. At least not go so hard as she has been. Or two, one of us is dead. Well. [01:04:41] Speaker F: I hope you don't mind my saying so. I hope for my sake it's, um, not you. [01:04:49] Speaker B: Um, if it isn't me, then. Then we work on either allowing you a chance to escape and break the chains that my family has put you through for years and years and years. [01:05:08] Speaker F: I've had some thoughts about that. And I admit I've been doing a wee bit more sneaking around than I probably should when you and your sister are asleep. But when you slip into the dreaming, it's kind of the only time that I have the opportunity, and I haven't been able to interact with any of my people. There's something about the bonds that are around me that keep me from being able to reach them. But I've noticed changes in how they live compared to how they used to. You have to understand, my people aren't from this world. We don't come from here. We come from the dream. But we came here to live among mortals a long time ago. And I guess some time after your ancestors bound me, things changed. And some of my kind went back to the dreaming. And some were left behind. The commoners were left behind. And the ones that got left behind had to develop a way to survive without dying, without banality setting in and destroying them. And they learned how to bond their souls with the souls of mortals. And it creates a cycle of rebirth. Basically. A changeling is born into a mortal form, doesn't know that they're a changeling for a long time, and then they wake up to what they are for a brief period of time until they forget again and go back to seeming like normal mortals until they die and then they're reborn into another body later. And, um, I don't know what happens to me if I'm let go because I don't have a body. I don't. I don't have. I don't have a mortal that I'm bound to in that way. I mean, I'm bound to your family bloodline, but it's not the same. My soul is separate from yours. I don't have a body to go to, and I don't have a mortal match, so to speak. And I don't know if I survive, if I'm free. I don't know. I don't know if I live. I don't know if I can start the cycle that the others did so long ago and try to do the same thing they did. I don't know if I do what some of the ones who came back from the dream and later did, though. That idea makes me very uncomfortable. Well, ultimately, it's not really up to me. Um, you're the one who holds the key. But I just want to be upfront and honest with you about the reality of my situation. [01:08:37] Speaker B: What. What do you want? [01:08:43] Speaker F: I mean, I. I've never wanted anything more than to be free. But I don't know that there's a way for me to be free without hurting someone or potentially hurting someone. And I don't want that either. I don't even know what groups I'd belong to anymore. There's two courts now, not four. And there's. There's new noble houses that didn't exist before, and I. What does it mean? That I was royalty when nobody recognizes the bloodline I came from. So. And I don't. And nobody knows how to get back to Arcadia, so. [01:09:49] Speaker B: I have an idea. I just need to work it out a little bit more. But there might be a way for you to get out. [01:10:12] Speaker F: Huh? I mean, I know that you could just break the bonds. That's easy. I could tell you how to do that right now. But it. Rin would know the second you did it. And I don't know what happens to me after you do it. Does that make sense? [01:10:36] Speaker B: It does. It does. [01:10:42] Speaker F: There's a number of options, but none of them are good. [01:10:45] Speaker B: Are we able to interact through the. When I fall asleep. I've been having weird dreams recently, and. [01:11:00] Speaker F: From what I can tell, your dream about being in the dreaming, your vision was just a vision. But yes, I can come to you in your dreams. [01:11:10] Speaker B: Okay. And the. The nod that she gives as I do that. [01:11:20] Speaker F: Oh. Okay. [01:11:25] Speaker B: I think I might be able to help you with your predicament. [01:11:29] Speaker F: How? [01:11:39] Speaker B: The people that I made a deal with are not people who want me a laugh. [01:12:00] Speaker F: So if your sister's dead, they're gonna want you alive, because you and your sister are the only ones in the family who can reach me. And neither of you have had any children to pass the gift along to. [01:12:18] Speaker B: I'll give you the rest of my plan. [01:12:23] Speaker F: All right? [01:12:30] Speaker B: But we'll get you out. You don't need to suffer by my family's hand any longer. There's one thing that I hate more than the crap that we've been through in the last year and a half, and it's the fact that we've gone through all of this crap in the last year and a half. And on top of that, my family has done nothing but drain you drive of every gift that you have. Myself included. [01:13:22] Speaker F: Well, I am. All right. I'll come to you when you're sleeping, I suppose. Is there anything else I can do for any of you? [01:13:39] Speaker A: No, I'm good. [01:13:44] Speaker B: I know that she was able to mess with your chains. Do you know how she was able to do that? [01:14:01] Speaker F: Not exactly. Force of will, mostly. Gwen's got an exceptionally powerful force of will. She manifests the things that she thinks about with surprising clarity and ease. I suppose it's all of that. What? Self control, church teaching and such. [01:14:47] Speaker B: Looking at her, looking at her chains and everything. How thick do they look? Are they like. Like a thin line of chain? Are they, like, kind of, like thicker and, like heavier looking chains? What? What do they look like? [01:15:11] Speaker F: They look a. They're not thin, but they're not like heavy, heavy chain either. They're kind of right in the middle that, you know, it's for lack of a better way of putting it, but, you know, like chain dog leashes, like that kind of thickness. Okay. On the rings, but they're gold specifically. [01:15:37] Speaker B: If sheer force of will is how she was able to do that, Rosanna wants to kind of, like, stare at them and focus on them and see if I can thin them out even more to where they're like necklace, chain. Like the chain links on like a. Like a. Like a necklace. [01:15:58] Speaker F: Make me an unspent willpower. Check and add your resolve. [01:16:05] Speaker B: Okay, article six successes. [01:16:27] Speaker F: That's pretty good. You managed to bring them down not all the way to a necklace, but they're probably about the thickness of what you would expect from, like a men's. Like a railroad wristwatch chain. That kind of thickness. Okay. A little bit. A little bit thicker than a necklace. Not quite as thick as the kind of leash setup. Yeah, and she seems to move a little bit easier once they lighten up. She kind of looks down at them. That wasn't bad for your first try. Yeah, well, take up meditation. Might help. Church doesn't call it that. They call it praying, but it's just meditation. [01:17:25] Speaker B: Very well. [01:17:30] Speaker D: I think prayers are meditation with an ulterior motive. [01:17:37] Speaker A: Trong the mantex. [01:17:41] Speaker C: Yeah. Different sides of the same coin. [01:17:50] Speaker B: I will do what I can to make this next month as comfortable. Comfortable for you as I possibly can. God, no. [01:18:02] Speaker A: You deserve it. [01:18:06] Speaker F: It'll be plenty comfortable just knowing that she's not waiting for me every time you call on me. [01:18:14] Speaker B: And if you can teach me more, the more that I know, the more that I'm able to help. [01:18:25] Speaker F: She'll kind of nod a little bit once I have an idea of what you want to know. I'll do my best. Your magic and my magic aren't exactly the same, but, uh, I'll do my best. Will do. Out of character. Just. Just remember your family's magic. They were basically mages. She's a fae. It's not quite the same. You're just. You're channeling stuff off of her. [01:18:55] Speaker B: So that is fair. That is very fair. Rosanna's gonna step in and give her a little kiss on the forehead. If you need anything. Anything that I can do to make it comfortable. [01:19:17] Speaker F: She'Ll. Now, she'll nod. I'll, um. I'll see you when you sleep, I suppose. [01:19:28] Speaker B: Wonderful. [01:19:30] Speaker F: Um. She kind of glances over at Isabelle. Um, it's good to see you're not looking through autumn's eyes so much anymore. [01:19:45] Speaker A: Thank you. [01:19:46] Speaker F: It's almost like someone's given you a bit of life to look at. And she kind of glances over a Patty. [01:19:54] Speaker A: Isabel will take Patty's hand and give it a squeeze. [01:19:58] Speaker F: Patty is grinning like a moron. And then she just sort of leans in and whispers to Rosanna, is he alright? [01:20:11] Speaker B: Oh, he's very, very excited to see you. He's a. He's from where they appreciate. [01:20:25] Speaker F: Your. That explains the offering. Yeah, she'll kind of nod a little bit and she'll walk over and take the. Take the granola bar, which somehow, at a quick glance, everybody could see is perfectly clean, like the dirt and everything did not seem to cling to it at all. And she kind of bobs him a little curtsy, which just makes him smile all the more dumbly. And she'll look at Rosanna, look at Piper, look at Arthur and Isabel. At each of you get a little smile and a little nod. If you don't need anything else. [01:21:09] Speaker B: I will leave you to rest. [01:21:13] Speaker F: She'll nod. There's a long moment where she and quiet kind of meet eyes. And then they nod at each other. And then she kind of crosses one ankle in front of the other, pivots on the balls of her feet in the little pirouette, and she's gone. And the trees begin to shrink back down into the earth. The night blooming flowers begin to close back up and fade away. And you are left mostly with the smell of Petrichor earth after a hard rain, but less the sweetness of the flowers. [01:21:58] Speaker A: Time to walk back to the compound. [01:22:01] Speaker F: Patty's just staring in vague awe. [01:22:06] Speaker A: I mean, sometimes acting sounds like it's sequel things. [01:22:12] Speaker B: So, uh, Patty, how was your first taste of the fae? [01:22:20] Speaker F: I thought she'd be smaller. [01:22:23] Speaker B: No, they're not pixie sass. [01:22:25] Speaker C: She's not a leprechaun. [01:22:28] Speaker F: Out of character. Rosanna, you do know that there are some that, that can get real tidy. She's just not one of them. [01:22:34] Speaker B: Yeah, don't, don't, don't get me wrong. Like, they are smaller. She's just not the smaller kind. [01:22:47] Speaker F: He just sort of shakes his head a little bit and rubs at the back of his neck. She's. I. I wish Tov had been here. He's never gonna fucking believe me. [01:22:59] Speaker A: He's really not. [01:23:01] Speaker C: Nope. [01:23:02] Speaker F: Nope. [01:23:03] Speaker B: Not at all. [01:23:05] Speaker D: Let's be honest, that's far from the weirdest thing that you have seen. And probably that he has seen. [01:23:14] Speaker F: I think we might have different definition. What's weird? [01:23:18] Speaker C: Trans dimensional entities, definitely. Sight to behold, for sure. [01:23:23] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean. I mean, like, look at the. And I assume that it's now, like, kind of, like, starting to kind of fall apart. But, I mean, you saw the flowers and the trees and. Oh, there's definitely going to be some sort of environmental thing that happens because of that, because those vines over there weren't here the last time we were here, which was a week ago. [01:23:50] Speaker F: All right, well, perhaps be careful where you. Summoner. [01:23:55] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, the last time. I mean, the first time we did it was in a parking lot of a restaurant that was kind of abandoned. But we're not gonna talk about that, so I think that we should go. [01:24:06] Speaker A: It was a dark time. [01:24:07] Speaker B: That was a real dark time. [01:24:09] Speaker D: Well, yeah, it was the middle of the night. [01:24:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:24:16] Speaker F: All right. Patty offers Isabelle one arm and Arthur the other. [01:24:22] Speaker C: Oh, thanks, Patty. [01:24:27] Speaker F: And I'm assuming everybody heads back up to the house? Yeah, yeah. All right, very cool. Everybody heads back up to the house. Does anybody want to do anything before bed? Any calls that need to be made? Isabelle? [01:24:48] Speaker A: Yeah, I think. I think since the information is fresh in her mind, she is going to call Alison. And mostly it's, you know. [01:25:03] Speaker F: Um. All right. The phone rings a few times and Allison answers. Hey, how are your weird, unemployed friends? [01:25:13] Speaker A: Still weird and unemployed. [01:25:17] Speaker F: As always. [01:25:19] Speaker A: As always, yeah. [01:25:21] Speaker F: What can I do for you? [01:25:23] Speaker A: Um, calling partially to check in since, you know, all of everything, you know, the last few days ago, that chaos lets you know that, you know, doing fine. And I wanted to ask if you'd come across something before. [01:25:47] Speaker F: Sure. [01:25:50] Speaker A: It was about. I don't remember how many days in character it was anymore that I saw this. [01:25:56] Speaker F: There's a few days, at least. [01:25:57] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:25:58] Speaker F: Almost a week. [01:25:59] Speaker A: Yeah, about a week ago, I was. When I was back in San Diego, I came across something I had never seen before. There was a person who I believe now was a cliffhanger, like a ghoul, and something had happened to them, and it was like their blood was curdling in their veins. They had these sort of black veins on their neck. They're very pale, and they were dying. Have you encountered this before? [01:26:45] Speaker F: Before I answer that, where did you encounter a ghoul that was dying. [01:26:53] Speaker A: San Diego. [01:26:55] Speaker F: Okay, more specific, dear. [01:27:01] Speaker A: Well, mention the part of the city that I was in. [01:27:09] Speaker F: And you knew that this person was a ghoul. How? [01:27:14] Speaker A: I looked at their blood. [01:27:17] Speaker F: Huh. Isabel, will you please make me a him? Manipulation and subterfuge role, please? [01:27:38] Speaker A: Not a great pool for me. [01:27:40] Speaker F: I'm aware. [01:27:45] Speaker A: Um, uh, let's just send a willpower, just in case. No, that's two successes. [01:27:59] Speaker F: Okay. Isabelle. [01:28:11] Speaker A: Yes? [01:28:13] Speaker F: I don't know what has put the thought into your head that you need to lie to me, but I'm a little confused as to what exactly I've done to merit that. [01:28:38] Speaker A: Hey, um, I been looking into some kindred activity, and there was. There was a. There was a kindred that I. I met and I was hoping to get. I'd made a deal with him for information. [01:29:20] Speaker F: And were you, by chance, trading blood to this kindred? No, she wouldn't say kindred. [01:29:27] Speaker A: She'd say vampire or blank body or whatever. Yes, I had given him some of my own blood, but in a completely medically safe way. [01:29:42] Speaker F: Well, that explains the marks. And at least it's not drugs, which is what I was originally concerned about. Though I'm not sure if giving your blood to vampires is necessarily better than heroin, Isabelle. [01:30:12] Speaker A: I don't have a good comeback for that one. I. [01:30:17] Speaker F: Well, I can say that I hate your boyfriends a little bit less now because I was convinced that it was their fault that you were getting into that shit. Now that I know that you're not into that shit and it was just. You were drawing blood. I'm just gonna say you're being really stupid. [01:30:31] Speaker A: You're allowed to say that. Yes. It was his school that was sick, and he asked me to take a look because he knew I was a doctor. [01:30:47] Speaker F: Okay, I don't blame you for helping the ghoul, because technically, there's still people, and we took an oath. Do no harm. But for the love of Pete, why would you be making deals with blank. But I can get you kindred. Vampire blood. You don't need to make deals with these assholes. We hunt them. [01:31:27] Speaker A: I know. It's. I'm trying to just understand more about them. [01:31:46] Speaker F: Okay. Okay. All right. I'm sorry I yelled. You are an adult, and you are entitled to make stupid fucking decisions. As for your question. [01:32:11] Speaker A: Yep. [01:32:13] Speaker F: Yes, I have seen that sort of thing. It has come through my lab. I'm one of the people who helped develop it. [01:32:22] Speaker B: Oh. [01:32:26] Speaker F: Yeah, I don't know exactly where they got the stuff, but some of our field teams brought back some poison and other things, and we broke it down and managed to synthesize something very similar. It's not exactly the same, but it's close. [01:32:47] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, it was. [01:32:51] Speaker F: I mostly just. What do you call it? I gave a medical perspective of what it would do in a. In a vampire body. [01:33:07] Speaker A: Yeah, I've seen what it does. [01:33:10] Speaker F: You've seen what it did in a human body, which is not where it was ever intended to be used. At least not what I was told. Well, but if they were protecting the one being hunted, it may have been a moment of desperation. [01:33:36] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I imagine it can only do something similar. [01:33:44] Speaker F: It does something similar. Here's the thing. You've seen enough, um. You've seen enough of the way their bodies operate to know that their blood is kind of a little bit coagulated to begin with. And it gets really thick, and it doesn't move as much through their veins. The idea was to lock it up so it couldn't move at all, and then they'd be still alive and thus able to be taken for study. Um, because when they just go to ash, it's really hard to study them. [01:34:17] Speaker A: Uh huh. Yeah, I, um. I managed to save the ghoul's life. [01:34:35] Speaker F: Well, I'm glad. Like I said, it was never intended to be used on humans. [01:34:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:34:46] Speaker F: Stop making deals with vampires, okay? You're not gonna stop. [01:35:00] Speaker A: I will keep it under. I'll think about it. I. [01:35:11] Speaker F: You're a terrible liar. [01:35:14] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:35:14] Speaker F: Listen. [01:35:15] Speaker A: Yeah, I know I am. [01:35:16] Speaker F: Don't get yourself killed, please. [01:35:21] Speaker A: I'm. [01:35:23] Speaker F: I know that you think you're doing all of this for the right reasons. I just. I have already lost one of my daughters. I don't want to lose both. [01:35:35] Speaker A: Yeah. I, um. Well, if, uh. If everything goes to play on my. I won't be in the fields for too much longer, so. Oh, I made a. The we as a group. The person you said was digging around. [01:36:02] Speaker F: Oh, slightly less unemployed, weird friends. Awesome. [01:36:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:36:09] Speaker F: We enjoy positive advances in our career fields. [01:36:14] Speaker A: Yeah. Bishop Thomas, I think. [01:36:18] Speaker F: Yep, I've spoken to him. [01:36:21] Speaker A: Yeah, he offered all of us, if we do this job for him. Sort of bring a sheep back to his flock, per se. Promise to get me in at the department of Health lab. [01:36:50] Speaker F: All right, well, hopefully that goes well, and you and your friends can get a real job, and that'll be awesome. They're probably still going to be weird, but, you know, weird and employed is important. [01:37:11] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. [01:37:19] Speaker F: Um. [01:37:19] Speaker A: You. You be safe, too. [01:37:24] Speaker F: Listen, honey, I work in a lab, and I show up after everything is dead. I'm fine. [01:37:31] Speaker A: Still. [01:37:34] Speaker F: I am more concerned with you and trusting yourself to vampire deals and your weird, unemployed friends. [01:37:44] Speaker A: I, um. I have. I have one of my boys watching my back, and. [01:37:51] Speaker F: And why aren't they both there? [01:37:53] Speaker A: The other one couldn't get off work. [01:38:02] Speaker F: That's fair. [01:38:03] Speaker A: Oh, one of them is here, and. [01:38:05] Speaker F: One of you should be employed, I suppose. [01:38:08] Speaker A: Mew. I mean, they're both employed. Just. They couldn't both get off work. But he knows what's going on, and he's made a promise to keep me focused. [01:38:27] Speaker F: Okay, well, that's good. Did you need that? Did you make stupid decisions when you're not focused? [01:38:35] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. [01:38:38] Speaker F: Okay. Go. Be safe. Return to your weird, unemployed friends, and, um. [01:38:46] Speaker A: Yep. [01:38:47] Speaker F: Stop making deals with, uh, things that would suck your blood. Okay. [01:38:54] Speaker A: Okay. [01:38:56] Speaker F: Tell your weird, unemployed friends I said hi. [01:38:59] Speaker A: I will. [01:39:01] Speaker F: And Patty, of course I will. [01:39:05] Speaker A: I'll let you know when I'm back in San Diego. [01:39:09] Speaker F: Well, good. Talk to you later. [01:39:13] Speaker A: Yes, me too. [01:39:15] Speaker F: And she hangs up. [01:39:18] Speaker A: I think Isabelle takes a second. It just sort of, like, rubs her forehead, just being like, hmm, that's. [01:39:24] Speaker F: Patty sort of looks over at you. How did it go? How did it go? [01:39:30] Speaker A: I mean, you know I'm a horrible liar. [01:39:35] Speaker F: Yeah. It's a wonder you kept it a secret from her as long as you did. [01:39:42] Speaker A: I think it really helped that I very much avoided that topic of conversation and the first time I had to talk about it. Yeah. No, well, also, but she is responsible for this, so that's lovely. [01:40:01] Speaker F: Wait, what? [01:40:04] Speaker A: She helped develop whatever poison that was. [01:40:11] Speaker F: Well, fantastic. [01:40:14] Speaker A: Mm hmm. [01:40:15] Speaker F: What could possibly go wrong? [01:40:18] Speaker C: You did think it came from the second inquisition, right? And she works for the government side of the second inquisition. [01:40:25] Speaker F: She does, yeah. [01:40:28] Speaker A: I was just kind of hoping she maybe only heard about it and wasn't involved in that way. [01:40:40] Speaker F: She's one of the most brilliant people, you know. [01:40:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:40:44] Speaker F: And she specializes in vampires and. Mm hmm. I mean, she's not a scientist in the way that some of the others are, but I suppose I could see her. [01:40:58] Speaker A: She understands how a body works. [01:41:01] Speaker F: I. [01:41:03] Speaker C: You know, professional opinions are needed on particular matters. Right. [01:41:08] Speaker A: Yeah, I just. It's. What it does to a person is nasty. And I would have hoped that something like that she would. At least she took an oath. I would have hoped that would still have mattered to her. [01:41:28] Speaker F: She took an oath to take care of people. Yeah, the second inquisition don't see vampires and other supernaturals as people. [01:41:37] Speaker A: Is that. But if it's being used on people. [01:41:44] Speaker C: Well, it's being used on vampires and maybe accidentally used on ghouls. Or maybe this particular ghoul was a test to see if it would work with ma vitae that's in their system. That's what you called it, right? Vitae? [01:42:00] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:42:01] Speaker D: If was a test, then that makes it better. How? [01:42:08] Speaker C: Oh, no, it doesn't. She just trying to help Isabelle, maybe not be incredibly mad at her friend. [01:42:15] Speaker F: I mean, I think it's worth remembering that she really doesn't have any control over what it gets used for out in the field. Yeah, she might have been told one thing that it was being developed for, and then they used it for something else. Could have been that the ghoul just got in between. [01:42:34] Speaker C: Mm hmm. [01:42:35] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, that's. [01:42:37] Speaker B: We'll use as a human shield. [01:42:41] Speaker F: Possibly. [01:42:42] Speaker C: Could have. [01:42:42] Speaker A: Possibility. Jace wasn't there when it happened. He told me it wasn't there when it happened. Oh, I don't know. [01:42:50] Speaker B: I'll never know. [01:42:53] Speaker A: Theoretically, I could know. I could call Jace right now, but I'm not gonna. [01:42:59] Speaker C: I mean, it could have also been a mistake that they were following, that the ghoul just happened to hit all the marks to make them think that he was a vampire. They hit the wrong guy. [01:43:13] Speaker A: It is a lot. I don't know. [01:43:18] Speaker F: Well, it is what it is. It's been a long day. [01:43:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:43:24] Speaker F: I say we order some pizza and have a quiet evening in. [01:43:31] Speaker A: Sounds like a good idea. [01:43:33] Speaker F: No more work talk for the night. [01:43:35] Speaker A: I am 100% on board for that. [01:43:44] Speaker C: I'm feeling a need to sleep, so. [01:43:50] Speaker F: Good. All right. Okay. You all head back up to the house. Isabel gets Arthur inside, checks his stitches, changes his bandages, that sort of thing, and then sends him off to bed. I mean, obviously there's pizza and probably a little bit of, you know, everybody else after the pizza happens, uh, kind of congregates in the rV. Um, a movie is put on. People chill out while Arthur is sleeping up at the house. Um, piper, you are, despite the fact that you have been running on, just the sheer dread associated with going to sleep for you, um, since that nightmare, um, the second you are sitting down in front of that screen to watch the movie with everybody else, you are desperate to close your eyes. You are so tired. And there's still a little bit of concern and worry about falling asleep, but it is significantly lighter than it was. Eventually, everybody shuffles off to bed. Piper, I don't really care. You could pass out on the fucking couch in the rv and not even. And then not even make it to your bed. Like, you could be out before the movie is over. You have not great dreams, but not scary dreams. They're just sort of weird and very dreamlike. They're very, like, I had weird food really late at night kind of weird. You know what I mean? Not scary, just odd. And you, for the first time since you guys were at that apartment, regain one willpower. Yo. [01:46:00] Speaker D: I just doubled the amount of willpower I have. [01:46:03] Speaker F: I know. You can thank Rosanna's fae friend. I did roll. I was hoping I'd roll better than that, but nope, I got one over the threshold of what I needed. So you all head to bed. Rosanna, are you going up to stay at the house? Are you staying in the rv? Are you taking quiet? What's the plan? [01:46:30] Speaker B: I'm taking quiet. Um, how, how is the weather tonight? [01:46:37] Speaker F: I mean, it's Louisiana, so it's muggy and hot and feels like it's gonna rain. [01:46:47] Speaker B: Excellent. She's gonna just wrap an arm around him and just feel like a camping out tonight. [01:47:03] Speaker F: It's definitely gonna rain. [01:47:10] Speaker B: Doesn't matter to me. Does it matter to you? [01:47:16] Speaker F: Normally, no. But I think with everything that is supposed to happen tomorrow, it might be best to sleep in a proper bed. [01:47:27] Speaker B: No fun. It's okay. [01:47:31] Speaker F: Listen, just because your friend can make flowers grow does not mean that you belong outside in a torrential downpour in Louisiana with the mosquitoes the size of birds. Okay. As somebody who has walked this fence line in the middle of the night, it's awful. I don't want you getting eaten by, by the birds. So. [01:47:55] Speaker B: It'S okay. [01:47:56] Speaker A: We. [01:47:57] Speaker B: Let's. Let's go back into the. Into the house. [01:48:00] Speaker F: Maybe when we're not in a swamp, we'll go. We'll go camping. [01:48:05] Speaker B: Good, because I want to be out. I'm feeling better connected with nature. But, um, until then, we have pizza. How you feeling about dessert? [01:48:29] Speaker F: He just sort of chuckles and kind of takes you by the shoulders and turns you towards the stairs and then swats you really hard on the ass. [01:48:44] Speaker B: Yeah, you could go harder. And then she's gonna start running. [01:48:50] Speaker F: Everybody got to sleep, and Rosanna and Isabel both went to bed with their boys. Arthur settled into bed, and eventually Cadielynn joins him probably a few hours later, because Arthur went to bed early. And Katie Lynn has responsibilities, unlike her husband. [01:49:12] Speaker C: Yeah, she's taking care of babies. Apparently. [01:49:16] Speaker F: She'S taking care of everybody. To be real, Katie Lynn is hyper competent. [01:49:24] Speaker C: She's the real speaker of the church right now. Let's be real. [01:49:29] Speaker F: Just right now. Jesus. Okay, you all wake up the next day. Does anybody have anything that they want to do during the day, or can we skip ahead? [01:49:45] Speaker A: I don't think there's nothing I want to do during the day. [01:49:51] Speaker F: Piper? [01:49:51] Speaker D: I'm good. [01:49:52] Speaker F: Rosanna? No? Okay, cool. Um, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. It's late evening, Isabel. When you get a text message from the pizzeria asking for a location for the meetup. [01:50:27] Speaker A: Yeah, I would give. I mean, I guess I'm gonna ask the rest of the cell where we want to meet up. Do we just want them to come to us, or do we want to meet them somewhere? [01:50:44] Speaker C: I'd rather not have him in the compound, if that's okay. Not trying to be hard here, but. [01:50:59] Speaker F: Quiet. Pipes up. Just gonna point it out. You've only got me and Patty. We go too far away. We can't provide nearly as much security as we did last time. [01:51:10] Speaker A: Yeah, there. There is. There is that. [01:51:15] Speaker C: I don't know. Okay, well, so as not to be incredibly difficult in the situation, we could just meet outside the compound. [01:51:26] Speaker A: Just, like, is there a place outside where people are not gonna be. You don't have to worry about, like, any of the people seeing us. [01:51:43] Speaker C: I mean, I don't quite remember, but last I checked, the compound isn't right, like, in a populated area. [01:51:50] Speaker F: It's kind of outside. It's not in a highly populated area. The problem is that it is still Louisiana. So the compound is kind of strategically placed because there is a lot of swampland around it. So it's more finding a place where y'all aren't likely to end up up to your knees in swamp water and potentially having to deal with stakes and gators. So I'm trying to think there are areas on compound land that are away from the populace on the compound that aren't completely swampy, like the place where you went and did the summoning for Rosanna's friend. It's far enough away that if all hell breaks loose, people are very. Are unlikely to stumble across it or get hurt, but is close enough that if y'all need to, like, rush somebody home because Arthur's stitches pop or something like that, you're close enough that that can be done relatively simply. The flip side, the flaw is they do have to pass through the gates of the compound to get onto the property to get there because the compound is fenced in. [01:52:59] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:53:01] Speaker F: I mean, unfortunately, the layout here, Arthur, is a lot less, uh, easy to work with than the one in California, which is mostly just open. Open drywall. Um, otherwise, you could be a few miles away, but you run the risk of. You don't really have any backup that far out. [01:53:32] Speaker C: Maybe. Maybe I can see if Katie Lynn can organize something on the far end of the compound or something for everyone to go to, like a little gathering picnic or something so that. And then meet Vincent near the front gate on the inside. Like, to. I'm just trying to keep. [01:54:00] Speaker A: I just. [01:54:00] Speaker C: It just. Arthur is incredibly uncomfortable with the idea that a vampire might be super close to people he really cares about. [01:54:09] Speaker F: I get that. I'm just pointing out that there aren't any easy answers here. [01:54:13] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, we could have them enter the compound and lead them to where we did the ritual last night. That was far enough away from people that we didn't have to worry too much. [01:54:23] Speaker F: Mm hmm. [01:54:25] Speaker B: That's what I was gonna suggest. Yeah. The Woodlands might be the best place for us. [01:54:30] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:54:32] Speaker B: And if need be, I can go forward. It's a little bit harder to hear me in the woods than a normal person, so if I need to sneak away and, you know, she would tremere in the head. [01:54:55] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, then I'm gonna relay that because I don't want to keep them waiting for too long. [01:55:01] Speaker C: All right. [01:55:02] Speaker A: Okay, I'm gonna relay the plan. [01:55:04] Speaker F: I will say, for the sake of ease, Cadielynn does agree to come up with an excuse to keep people around in the main eating hall a little bit longer than usual. It's not for long. It'll basically give you that extra, like, 20 minutes you need to get them onto the compound and past most of the people while everybody's inside. [01:55:30] Speaker C: Maybe just, like, some kind of little impromptu thing with the babies or the prayers or something. [01:55:40] Speaker F: Yeah, she just assures you she'll come up with something, and you get the kind of side eye emoji that she's not entirely sure she approves of what's happening, but she's not going to argue either, because y'all are hard up against it. [01:56:00] Speaker C: Okay. [01:56:00] Speaker F: Okay, you guys let Vincent know. Vincent sends a text message back acknowledging that he got your message and that they'll be there in less than an hour. Turns out it's less than half an hour because about 20 minutes later, a car pulls up. One moment. Do do do, Vincent, you and your car and your ghoul companions and things pull in in front of the gates of a compound that you have never been to before. But a cursory Google search on the part of one of your ghouls shows that it is some sort of weird church compound that people talk a lot of shit about online. [01:57:18] Speaker E: Would I have the wherewithal to try to connect this to the speaker, since I interacted with him before? [01:57:24] Speaker F: Yeah, you're smart enough. You see Church of the rising star and you go, ah, I know that name. Okay, now, you're a little unsure why the hunters are calling you here, of all places, but you do remember one of them was wearing a priest collar the last time you saw them. So maybe he's part of the same. [01:57:45] Speaker E: Church and asked me to call him preacher. [01:57:51] Speaker F: Okay. [01:57:53] Speaker C: That he did. [01:57:57] Speaker F: You all see a black suv pull up the back. Driver side window rolls down, and you see Vincent's face. [01:58:15] Speaker A: Hey. [01:58:18] Speaker E: Good evening. Interesting choice to have this meeting. Did you get the speaker's permission? Interesting. Very well. Where shall we park? [01:58:44] Speaker A: Is the area we went to, like, an area where they can. [01:58:49] Speaker F: Yeah, they could just park alongside of the side of the road in front of the speaker's house. That's fine. [01:58:54] Speaker A: Yeah, point out and just, you know, sort of relay what the plan is, that we're gonna go off to this area to do all of this away from people. [01:59:05] Speaker E: Very well. And I will just motion for Celine to go ahead and park us. [01:59:13] Speaker F: Okay, you guys park. One of the ghouls stays with the car while everybody else climbs out. Kind of like last time. Vincent's got a handful of ghouls around him. Not all the exact same people that you've seen, but most of them are the same people. You do notice that there's, um. They're a little bit more heavily armed this time. Um, you know, they're all, like, open, carrying, at the very least, handguns. Um, but you also know that they're dealing with mages who are angry at them, so guns are probably, you know, bare minimum. Uh, fine. [01:59:59] Speaker D: We also have guns. [02:00:00] Speaker F: They're not acting at all aggressive. It's just that they, you know, and they've made it a point not to hide them. Um, so they're not trying to be sneaky. Um, okay, Roseanne, I assume you were going to lead the way since you were the most sure footed in the. In the woods, so to speak. [02:00:21] Speaker B: Uh, yes, please, uh, follow me. [02:00:27] Speaker F: Uh, for what it's worth, prior to Vincent's car showing up, quiet. Disappeared. He is. He is off being terrifying, as usual. [02:00:36] Speaker B: Wonderful. [02:00:37] Speaker A: Of course. [02:00:38] Speaker B: Love that frame. [02:00:40] Speaker C: Exactly what I want him to do. [02:00:43] Speaker F: Quiet is the group sleep paralysis demon. He just disappears and people die. [02:00:48] Speaker E: They have an eldritch being on their side, and they call me a monster. [02:00:53] Speaker F: Yes, Eldritch being that's an interesting term for sniper. I mean. But you guys. Oh, the spider drone is also joining. Great. [02:01:10] Speaker C: Yep. [02:01:11] Speaker D: She is coming with us. [02:01:13] Speaker F: Awesome. That'll be interesting to see her walk across this very uneven ground and around trees. I look forward to that. [02:01:24] Speaker D: I mean, the uneven ground should be less of an issue, given the way her legs work. [02:01:28] Speaker F: That's fair. And you know what? Piper is good enough at this. It's not like I'm gonna make you roll. I just think it's really funny to think of a spider drone, like, stumbling over rocks and roots and trying to navigate trees and branches every now and. [02:01:47] Speaker C: Again, just like a video. Boston. Yeah, the Boston. An Emma grocery tweak. [02:01:56] Speaker F: It's pretty big, Piper. Heavy size. That has to walk over and help it roll over again. But you guys make your way out into the darkness and into the shadows. [02:02:12] Speaker A: Oh, I think Isabelle doesn't think about it and activates eyes of the beast just to see better in the darkness. [02:02:20] Speaker F: Vincent, could you make me a perception awareness role, please? [02:02:23] Speaker E: I absolutely can. [02:02:25] Speaker D: Wits awareness. [02:02:26] Speaker F: Wits awareness. God damn it. I run too many systems. I'm sorry. [02:02:31] Speaker E: Could I utilize heightened senses as well? [02:02:34] Speaker F: Absolutely. [02:02:35] Speaker E: Excellent. [02:02:50] Speaker C: I just. Now. As we were. [02:02:52] Speaker F: Hey. Jesus. [02:02:53] Speaker A: Jesus Christ. [02:02:55] Speaker F: For once in his life, Saul didn't roll like himself and rolled a ten. The success is critical. [02:03:01] Speaker B: What the. [02:03:03] Speaker A: Nothing I can hide. [02:03:05] Speaker F: Ah, I see. Yeah. Vincent. Isabelle's eyes are bright. Like, reddish orange and glowing. You've seen that before? Familiar? [02:03:20] Speaker E: At a gangrel? [02:03:21] Speaker F: Have you? [02:03:26] Speaker A: I may have made acquaintance of one recently. [02:03:30] Speaker E: They tend to be decent people. Keep them close, and then, just to offset it a little bit, he will smile and then blink his eyes in the. They will be pitch black as he activates oblivion sight. To see in the dark. [02:03:46] Speaker F: Arthur gets progressively more uncomfortable. [02:03:49] Speaker C: Yeah, I was about to mention that. I just now realized Arthur probably would have tried to empower his thing before the meeting. [02:03:55] Speaker F: But you can do that. You can roll. [02:03:56] Speaker C: Now, maybe at this point, when people's eyes are changing, he's going to go. [02:04:00] Speaker F: All right. [02:04:01] Speaker C: Just going to prepare myself and see what happens. [02:04:05] Speaker F: Do. You're in power. [02:04:06] Speaker C: Make a roll. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, I did it. [02:04:12] Speaker F: Hey, mister. There are supernatural things around you, Arthur. [02:04:17] Speaker C: Yeah, no. The glowing, sure. But this gives me extra dice now in case something goes south real fast. [02:04:22] Speaker E: I actually wanted to bring something up because Vincent has unholy will. Would that affect Arthur's empowerment? Or does that only affect true faith itself? [02:04:35] Speaker F: That. Hmm. Do you have the text for that? [02:04:40] Speaker E: Uh, let me pull it back up. [02:04:43] Speaker F: Sorry, I was. I hadn't thought of that. I'll be honest with you. It's been a hot minute since I've looked at Vincent sheet. Okay. [02:04:52] Speaker B: It's been a hot minute since anyone's paid attention to Vincent. [02:04:55] Speaker E: Yeah, that's true. [02:04:56] Speaker F: No, I've paid a lot of attention to visit Vincent. I just haven't looked at his mechanics lately. [02:05:04] Speaker D: Can I. Can I also. Can I roll to activate the ward on my thwart the unnatural? [02:05:09] Speaker F: Absolutely. [02:05:10] Speaker D: Just so I can protect the others. [02:05:12] Speaker A: If necessary, I'm gonna give Gozer a pat on the head. [02:05:17] Speaker F: Yeah, Gozer is growly, but stay is very glued to Isabelle's side. [02:05:25] Speaker B: Gonna fucking give everybody the power of bisexualism and finger gun. [02:05:32] Speaker A: Too late. Fuck it. [02:05:36] Speaker F: Does it work, termite, or did you need three? [02:05:39] Speaker D: This one doesn't actually have a set difficulty. [02:05:43] Speaker F: Oh. So. Okay, cool. [02:05:45] Speaker D: I can never remember if the default difficulty in fifth edition is two or three. [02:05:51] Speaker F: I think it actually may be that I have to roll against it or something like that. [02:05:55] Speaker C: Yeah, it says it's a resistance test. [02:05:57] Speaker F: Yeah, it's a resistance test. Okay, so we know in the future that you rolled two also. [02:06:03] Speaker E: I just checked. [02:06:04] Speaker F: So this is just. This is just. [02:06:06] Speaker D: This is just to see how big the ward is. Not for any actual use of it. [02:06:13] Speaker F: Okay? Okay. [02:06:14] Speaker C: Sorry. [02:06:16] Speaker E: It does not affect his role. It affects my roles. For when I have to resist. Powers akin to true faith is that I will take less damage from Napoleon. [02:06:28] Speaker F: So, yes, in that case, if he decides to try and off you, you have a much better chance of surviving it than other kindred do. [02:06:37] Speaker C: Very good. Cool. [02:06:40] Speaker F: Awesome. Okay, cool. Now that we've worked out all of the mechanical doodads, let's get back to the story. All right, you guys get out to this clearing. Vincent. And, I mean, everybody notices this. But given Vincent's oblivion sight and Isabelle's ability to see in the dark, you guys both see that the foliage is much thicker here than you would anticipate for an ideal meeting spot. Isabel, there is more stuff that has grown here than there was yesterday. It's not bad. It's not like poison ivy or anything like that. It's just like, there's a lot more moss on the ground. There's a willow here that has gotten a little bit thicker, a little bit more healthy. But, you know, this area is becoming a little bit crowded with all of the things growing. It'll work, but it is not as comfortable as it might have been yesterday. [02:07:53] Speaker C: I can see now why people in the past might have made offerings to those creatures. Because this would be really great for our little farm we got going on. [02:08:02] Speaker B: I mean, I can make something work if you. [02:08:09] Speaker C: Nah, nah, nah, nah. We've got. We had something to. We got something to work on here, Vincent. [02:08:14] Speaker F: You hear all of the whispering, by the way. You don't know what they're talking about, but there's some sort of funky magic going on. Life magic that you can. From what you can put together from all the whispering. And Rosanna seems very excited about it. Okay. [02:08:31] Speaker C: Arthur where not disappointed by it. [02:08:35] Speaker F: Arthur, who you have only ever seen incredibly cagey and standoffish, suddenly doesn't seem as bothered as he should be. [02:08:45] Speaker E: Care to share with the rest of the class, preacher? [02:08:50] Speaker C: No, just, uh. Just talking about the potential of greater growth in the farm. [02:08:59] Speaker B: Yeah, I've got a bit of a green thumb, if you couldn't tell. [02:09:05] Speaker E: I see. [02:09:07] Speaker F: Okay. You all are here. Vincent, make me a wits and a cult roll, please. [02:09:17] Speaker E: Okay. [02:09:18] Speaker F: And you can add heightened senses to this. [02:09:21] Speaker E: Okie dokie. Same rules last time. [02:09:35] Speaker F: Wow. That's still really good. Fine. [02:09:39] Speaker D: It's a one, not a ten. [02:09:41] Speaker B: You know what? It's because he's not playing in one of my games. [02:09:46] Speaker F: It's because he's playing in Spc. Exactly. So that is seven successes and a critical you immediately clock that there is more than one curse in this little group of hodgepodge humans. Isabelle is still obviously carrying your curse, but it looks less oppressive than it did. Looks like she is starting to. If she didn't get therapy, she is definitely starting to kind of come to grips with her trauma. So it's a little less overpowering for her than it was last time you saw her. Piper, on the other hand, has some freaky deaky shit going on, and it is all over her in ways that none of your curses have ever been able to accomplish. It looks like it has settled into her blood. It looks like it is in her aura. Since you're an auspex user, it is laced throughout her. On top of the fact that she's kind of a black hole. Like, you can tell that if you were to try and weave magic around her, it would be difficult to pull off. Not necessarily impossible, but it would be a genuine struggle for you, especially if it was just you alone to try and do anything. And you're. You're pretty decently powerful. [02:11:31] Speaker E: You will just keep stumbling into all kinds of curses. [02:11:35] Speaker A: It's like our trademark. [02:11:37] Speaker D: At this point, I would like to point out that the last one was your fault. [02:11:42] Speaker E: Well, it wasn't meant for you, so really, that was Isabelle's fault. [02:11:46] Speaker A: That's fair. [02:11:52] Speaker E: I don't think I've seen a curse like this. It's not something I could do. [02:11:55] Speaker F: You've also never met Piper before. Piper wasn't visible last time. [02:12:00] Speaker D: She was not visible last time. [02:12:02] Speaker F: So if she was around, you didn't know. She seems to be new, as far as you could tell. [02:12:08] Speaker E: And what should I call you, miss? Or should I call you anything at all? [02:12:12] Speaker D: Uh, Piper's final. [02:12:14] Speaker E: Piper. Very well. So this is a very thorough curse. It settled into every aspect of you. Not just the blood, like I had, but I could weave easily. I might need more assistance than just myself when it comes to trying to figure out something to do with this. Do you all have a particular goal in mind? Suppression. Finding the cause of it. [02:12:47] Speaker D: Well, we know the cause. [02:12:49] Speaker B: Yeah, but in a way, yeah, kind of finding the cause. [02:12:53] Speaker F: Cause. [02:12:53] Speaker B: We gotta find the cause. [02:12:56] Speaker A: Yeah, we gotta. Technically, we need curse. [02:13:00] Speaker D: We need to find the thing chasing the cars, right? [02:13:03] Speaker C: We were going. We're here to create a lure to get the solution easier. [02:13:13] Speaker F: I would like everybody to roll me wits and awareness. Vincent, you do not need to roll. You've already rolled a ten. I'm not gonna make you roll again. [02:13:21] Speaker E: Sounds good. [02:13:25] Speaker D: Right? [02:13:27] Speaker C: It's awareness. What's awareness? What's awareness? [02:13:30] Speaker A: Yep. That's wrong. [02:13:33] Speaker B: Dice bot. [02:13:34] Speaker A: Yep. [02:13:40] Speaker F: Two. Three, two. [02:13:43] Speaker A: Come on, give me the correct dice bot. [02:13:45] Speaker B: Can I re. I'm gonna reroll some of those dice. [02:13:49] Speaker A: That is four successes with a crate. [02:13:53] Speaker F: Okay. Rosanna is so caught up in looking at all of the pretty new growth and trying to figure out what caused it. And if she can duplicate it on her own, or if she definitely needs her friend that she doesn't see anything. Arthur is hyper focused on the fact that there is a fucking vampire here again in front of us, and he's not allowed to kill them. Leave it. Yep. On the other hand, Isabelle and Piper both hear the snapping of a twig not too far away. And then a quiet. Shit. [02:14:37] Speaker D: Ah, fuck. [02:14:40] Speaker A: Are you expecting guests? [02:14:42] Speaker F: Um. And it is around that time that light kind of bursts into being behind most of the group. Oh, also, obviously, Vincent, you also heard all of that. And as those who noticed it turn at the sound of the voice, you all realize that Ophelia is standing there, and there is flame in one of her hands and a staff in the other. And she looks ready for war, but also a combination of hurt and pissed off at what's in front of her. Are you fucking kidding me? [02:15:52] Speaker A: Uh, hi. [02:15:57] Speaker E: Friend of yours? [02:15:59] Speaker F: Oh, uh, Vincent, you know exactly who this is. This mage, um, torched. This mage torched multiple meeting places of the linnaean society. A couple of people have died. Um, most of them ghouls. [02:16:21] Speaker E: He is just slowly reaching into, uh, like, behind himself to a hidden. [02:16:26] Speaker F: I wouldn't if I were you. [02:16:29] Speaker E: Oh, so you can be armed and I don't. [02:16:32] Speaker A: I'm guarding. [02:16:32] Speaker F: You are surrounded by people with guns. [02:16:35] Speaker A: Between Vincent and Ophelia. [02:16:39] Speaker C: Arthur's gonna step back and just be like, I don't know, maybe let them. [02:16:47] Speaker B: Okay, Jake, I'm gonna slink into the. Sorry. That one that caught him threw me off. I'm gonna. I'm gonna just slowly shuffle into the. [02:17:00] Speaker F: Don't even think about it. You and I both know you can't fucking hide from me, so don't even try. What the. This? You tell me about the enemy. I go after the enemy and then I find you working with them. I've been tracking this motherfucker for two weeks. Do you have any idea how many people have died because of those assholes? [02:17:30] Speaker E: To magefire? [02:17:34] Speaker F: Don't even start with me. You and I both know the Linnaeus society offs anybody who gets in their way or knows too much that isn't supposed to get embraced. I'm not stupid. I found the bodies. [02:17:50] Speaker A: Um, we asked for Vincent's help because we need to deal with the curse on our friend. It's getting worse and we don't have a lot of time left. [02:18:02] Speaker D: I would prefer to not go completely fucking insane. [02:18:06] Speaker A: Yes. [02:18:08] Speaker F: And you thought that working with them was gonna help? [02:18:13] Speaker A: I don't know. You apparently fucking ghosted us. [02:18:15] Speaker D: Nothing. [02:18:16] Speaker F: I ain't ghost anybody. I was hunting. I was out looking for the people I said I was looking for. And now I know why they were suddenly so fucking elusive. And she's looking at Isabelle. Gonna guess that was your doing. [02:18:30] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:18:40] Speaker F: Rosanna. Don't look away from me. Don't even pull this I'm gonna look anywhere but at you bullshit. Spent the last year helping you figure out your powers. Teaching you who you are and where you come from. Putting myself in harm's way because I was telling you things that non mages are not supposed to know. And. And this. This is what I get for my trouble? [02:19:29] Speaker C: To be fair, Arthur will step in front of Rosanna. She legitimately thought that you were in hiding and unable to be contacted. And she also, because of the information you gave her, she also didn't know. [02:19:43] Speaker D: About any of this until yesterday. [02:19:46] Speaker A: Correct. [02:19:47] Speaker F: And didn't think to update me? [02:19:51] Speaker B: Not to contact you? [02:19:53] Speaker F: I said I wasn't going to be around. [02:20:05] Speaker A: You know what? This is just one gigantic supernatural pissing match. [02:20:10] Speaker C: And it sounds like there was some miscommunication for sure. [02:20:18] Speaker A: Right now, I want to help my friend. I want to get rid of this cursing, my friend. [02:20:24] Speaker C: I'm with Isabelle on this one. [02:20:29] Speaker A: And literally, you're just here for supernatural dick measuring. [02:20:35] Speaker F: No, I'm here to deal with the threat that my order has been hunting for, I don't know, a thousand years, give or take. [02:20:46] Speaker A: You can wait a night. [02:20:48] Speaker D: Hey, Vincent, how old are you? [02:20:51] Speaker E: I'm a grand total of one year in 2000. [02:20:55] Speaker F: It doesn't mean you're not a threat. [02:20:58] Speaker E: It also doesn't mean that if you. [02:20:59] Speaker F: Had any idea the horrors your fucks. That you fucks have unleashed on the world, you would know to keep your mouth shut. [02:21:07] Speaker D: So because people before him did bad things, now it's his fault and he has to die for it? [02:21:14] Speaker F: Aren't you guys hunters? [02:21:16] Speaker E: Says the one hunting. [02:21:18] Speaker D: We hunt. We hunt the things that actively go out and hurt people. So far, he's at least been useful. And considering we didn't have many other, many other people to go to for this curse. Since you were off hunting him. [02:21:39] Speaker C: We. [02:21:40] Speaker D: Used what we had at hand. [02:21:40] Speaker C: Listen, we got up against a wall and we need to solve this problem. So we called the only other person we knew who could help us with this particular measure. Actually, we tried other avenues and that did not work out. In fact, I got hurt in the process. So if you would like to be pissed off, I can understand because I am incredibly angry a lot of the time. But right now, you're not going to go after Rosanna and attack her and make her feel bad. You can do that in private. And you're not going to kill this guy here on my property, where people are in danger. [02:22:23] Speaker F: I think we've already established that. You don't get to tell me what I do and do not get to do, preacher. You've got a little bit of power, but you're a very tiny fish in a very big ocean. [02:22:35] Speaker C: I understand that. [02:22:36] Speaker F: That being said, you all helped somebody that I cared about. And I said I would help. And when you didn't call me back, I assumed you didn't need me for it anymore. But I made a promise. And I keep my fucking promises. [02:23:04] Speaker C: Okay? [02:23:06] Speaker F: Oh, by the way, you can come out of hiding. And she turns her head to the left in the opposite direction of where she was. And a familiar face steps out of the shadows. Rosanna. You know who that is? I mean, all of you have seen him before, but Rosanna's the only one who's seen him up close. [02:23:44] Speaker C: Well, hey there, Rosie. [02:23:48] Speaker D: That explains how they knew that, uh, the restaurant was unoccupied. [02:23:53] Speaker C: Uh. Fuck. [02:23:56] Speaker A: Huh. [02:23:59] Speaker F: Oh. Do you know each other? I just knew he was tracking me from the road. [02:24:06] Speaker B: What are you doing here? [02:24:09] Speaker C: Keeping an eye out. [02:24:19] Speaker E: Sorry to bring you into this, sir. [02:24:22] Speaker C: It is what it is, Vincent. We deal with what we have to. Sir. [02:24:29] Speaker B: What are. What in the fuck are you. [02:24:36] Speaker F: He's just like him. [02:24:38] Speaker B: What? [02:24:39] Speaker C: What. [02:24:49] Speaker B: What are you? Some fucking. That are the business trips that you went on. Killing people? [02:25:09] Speaker F: What? [02:25:11] Speaker B: You. [02:25:11] Speaker D: Can I roll sense? The unnatural. [02:25:13] Speaker F: You absolutely can. [02:25:16] Speaker C: My arm's just glowing. [02:25:18] Speaker F: Just glow? There's lots of glowing light everywhere. [02:25:23] Speaker C: Let me see. [02:25:23] Speaker A: In the dark, your arm is like. [02:25:26] Speaker F: Sting, but yellow instead of blue. [02:25:28] Speaker C: Congratulations. You now have a glow stick for an arm. Have a ravey party on these woods now. [02:25:38] Speaker A: Hey, if it'll break up the tension. [02:25:40] Speaker C: That'S the gold light up on my face. [02:25:43] Speaker F: Do you need to hit a certain. Okay. Yeah. Two vampires of mage. [02:25:50] Speaker D: I only. I only know the vampires. [02:25:54] Speaker F: You know that there are two? Yep. [02:26:01] Speaker C: Those business trips were indeed business trips. [02:26:11] Speaker B: But you. You came out in the fucking sun. The daytime. [02:26:18] Speaker F: No, he met you after. After dusk. [02:26:22] Speaker C: It was shortly after dusk. [02:26:24] Speaker A: Yeah, I remembers. [02:26:31] Speaker B: You. You drank. You drank tea and you were. [02:26:44] Speaker C: I did indeed. [02:26:45] Speaker B: And it was quite tasty, I think. I think I. [02:26:49] Speaker C: Obviously, he's a mage, too, so who knows what magical abilities he possesses? [02:26:55] Speaker F: Just stuff that some of them can do. They don't have to be magical for it. [02:27:00] Speaker C: Oh, okay. Well, there's that. [02:27:06] Speaker F: So let me get this straight. You two knew each other? [02:27:11] Speaker C: I've been in contact with her, yes. Pen pals only. [02:27:20] Speaker F: Sizing her up to be the next member of your little pyramid. [02:27:29] Speaker C: You call it a pyramid? I call it an option for opportunities. [02:27:38] Speaker D: You're just describing a pyramid. [02:27:41] Speaker C: Yeah. At least you'll actually get some benefit from it. [02:28:02] Speaker B: I just. [02:28:08] Speaker C: Yeah, no, thanks. [02:28:12] Speaker E: We weren't asking you, preacher. [02:28:14] Speaker C: I know, but, uh. No. And here was under the influence that the modern age had men not taking decisions for the women nowadays. Yeah, maybe I'm a little old fashioned, but, uh, I'm gonna stand here between you and her and tell you no, thanks. I listen to her for when it comes to that. [02:28:59] Speaker F: All right. We're gonna give Rosanna a minute to process, because even I wasn't anticipating that particular move. I just assumed you were stalking me. All right? I made a promise. And you all helped somebody that I cared about, get home to where he belonged. So out of appreciation for that and respect for what my friend built, I will help you fashion your lore. And I would have done it had somebody told me that you needed the help. Still, I just assumed when nobody contacted me that I was off the hook for that particular promise. But apparently not going to. Guess it was your reluctance to ask somebody different. And she looks at Arthur for help that had them not contacting me immediately. Huh. She doesn't sound mad. She just kind of sounds like she's figured out who has the hang ups. [02:30:20] Speaker C: Nope. I had nothing to do with it. [02:30:22] Speaker D: Actually, I think it was when we were getting ready to contact you. That's when you told Rosanna that you were going underground. [02:30:30] Speaker C: Correct. [02:30:31] Speaker F: But you guys went another route first and got. [02:30:35] Speaker C: We tried to put leather to the pavement, as they were. We could do it ourselves. That was the solution. And that didn't work. [02:30:51] Speaker F: I'm going to guess that you. And she looks at. She nods at Vincent, feel at least a little bit beholden. [02:30:59] Speaker E: Yes. I've hated them before, and they've done right by me. [02:31:06] Speaker F: Yeah, okay, I know what the curse is. Making that lore on my own would have been difficult and less than ideal. Probably complicated in fashioning the net, so to speak. But against my better judgment, if you two think you can keep up with a little high ritual magic, we might be able to make something that works a little bit better and gets them what they need. And then we can go back to our respective corners and continue trying to kill each other. [02:31:54] Speaker C: I think I can give it the old college try. [02:31:57] Speaker A: This compound, neutral ground. You can fight each other once you've left here. [02:32:03] Speaker E: I'd much rather just go back to our daily lives. But someone has a grudge. [02:32:09] Speaker A: I understand that. [02:32:13] Speaker F: You can consider the entire order as having a grudge. [02:32:20] Speaker E: And I'm sure we're the biggest threat to you. [02:32:24] Speaker F: We created you, which makes us your problem. Our problem makes you our problem. Out of character. That was BP stumbling over her words, because that was weirdly hard to say. All right, Piper, I'm gonna need you to spend a few minutes clearing your mind. Try to empty it of everything. You can. Accept what the curse feels like. I know it's unpleasant to think about. I know your instinct is to try and block it out, but the more in tune with it you are, the easier it's gonna be for us to zero in on it. [02:33:11] Speaker D: All right? [02:33:15] Speaker F: Do you need to be restrained? Is it that bad? [02:33:21] Speaker D: It might. Just to be safe. [02:33:26] Speaker F: Rosanna. [02:33:27] Speaker A: All right. [02:33:29] Speaker F: I'm gonna need your help with this part. You're more in touch with growing things lately that I am, given your particular talents. [02:33:41] Speaker D: Oh, and somebody should take this. Piper takes like, a little controller and kind of tosses it to probably Isabelle. [02:33:52] Speaker F: Don't entrust the technology to Arthur. [02:33:58] Speaker A: I have one more dot in technology than Arthur does. [02:34:06] Speaker F: How quick do you and your buddy. And she'll cut a knot at Patty. Think you can run up to the houses and run back? [02:34:16] Speaker A: Probably fairly quickly. [02:34:18] Speaker F: I'm going to need some things, but I am pretty sure these are all things you can find in most kitchens. And some of it you can definitely find in a church. And she will hand you a list that looks a little bit. She pulls a pad of paper and a pen out of her, like, pocket and jots down a bunch of stuff and then hands it to you. A lot of it is pretty common stuff. It's stuff like salt and candles, things like that. Some of it is a little bit more obscure. Certain types of flowers and plants, but they're all kind of. They're all, you're pretty sure are all things that you have seen in Katie. In Katie Lynn's garden or in like, the flower beds around some of the houses. [02:35:00] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:35:09] Speaker F: She makes it a point as she is moving around and preparing things to not step too close to the vampires and kind of constantly has an eye on them out of the corner of her eye. After a bit, she kind of reaches a handout for Rosanna. Come on. Need your help. Okay. [02:35:29] Speaker B: And she'll take. She'll take the hand and her eyes as she steps a little bit closer to Ophelia, they land on peter. She still looks very confused and maybe like, a little bit like. [02:35:49] Speaker F: Hurt. Ophelia squeezes your hands. Don't look at him, look at me. It's just like we've practiced, okay? I'm gonna feed power into you. You're gonna channel it for me, okay? All right. [02:36:10] Speaker B: Okay. [02:36:11] Speaker F: Deep breaths. You got this. We've done this a million times. All we're doing is making some vines that are nice and strong, like chain. [02:36:19] Speaker B: Yes, ma'am. [02:36:23] Speaker F: And she steps close and whispers to you and whispers under her breath. You watch as she pushes up the sleeves of her own shirt to reveal tattoos that are just all over the place. Esoteric in nature. Vincent and Peter, with your occult, with your rather high occult rankings, you both notice everything from seals of Solomon to about three or four different types of runes from a number of different origins. She's got symbols for the major elements. It's all kinds of stuff. These are working tattoos. Tattoos. They're tools for a mage. And she kind of passes her fingers along them as she is chanting. Her chanting runs from Greek to Latin, Gaelic and back. It is rhythmic and intense. It starts out kind of gentle and like she's drawing Rosanna into the cadence. And as Rosanna's body kind of starts to sway just slightly with the cadence, and Rosanna starts to feel the power course through her, it gets more and more intense. Piper, as you are standing there, vines begin to snake up out of the grass and out of the moss and wrap themselves around your ankles and move up your legs. Are you going to continue to allow them to, or are you going to fight them? Nope. [02:38:15] Speaker D: She is going to let them. [02:38:16] Speaker F: Okay. They go up your legs. They lock into place. They feel as hard and heavy as chains. And separate vines branch off of those and go up and around your wrist at the same time. You couldn't go anywhere if you wanted to, not without somebody going at these with probably, like an axe or something. Something pretty hefty would have to cut through these. They don't hurt, but they are certainly not going to let you move much. Rosanna, you feel that power kind of pass through you and down into the ground. And it is not unlike how you have felt when she has had you help her in her aunt's garden, growing flowers and mushrooms and things like that. It feels good. Just headier and a little bit more focused and concentrated than usual. Usually she's bringing small things. She's helping you bring small things to life. This is something substantial, and there is a pretty big amount of power to it. You're not sure that she's ever channeled quite this much through you outside of when y'all were sending Loki home. And after a moment, she steps back, and you're a little light on your feet, but you're okay. And she holds onto your. She reaches up to take your elbows until she's sure that you're steady. I'm all right. [02:39:59] Speaker B: I promise. [02:39:59] Speaker F: I promise. Okay. [02:40:02] Speaker B: My God. [02:40:03] Speaker F: Go stand with Arthur before he tries to kill somebody because he's paranoid. He's worried about you. Go stand with him. This is about the time that Isabelle and Patty come back at a pretty brisk jog. At one point, Isabelle, even with your eyes of the beast, you are not the most athletic person in the world. And Patty sort of stopped and bent down a little bit so that you could jump on his back and just hoofed you like a rough sack or a rucksack. But you guys get there, she sets out things and begins to kind of direct Peter and Vincent on the parts that they need to play in setting up the physical parts of the ritual. And again, it's one of those things. She does not want to touch you. She does not get any closer to you than she has to. She sets things down, points to it, and then tells you what to do with it. While she's moving about, doing her own parts, you notice that she tends to handle the things that require what you assume is probably more specific and intimate knowledge of certain esoteric subjects. She knows exactly what different glyphs and runes and things are supposed to be, are supposed to look like. So she handles a lot of that. But she has, you handle setting up the circles, setting up candles, but not lighting them because vampires. [02:41:44] Speaker C: How considerate. [02:41:47] Speaker F: Well, she doesn't want anybody fear frenzying in the grove because she asked them to light a candle. Yeah. [02:41:53] Speaker C: Trying to keep the peace here after all. [02:41:56] Speaker F: Um, and she, she is, she is explaining to Peter and Vincent in terms that Rosanna kind of vaguely will understand, given her training. But the rest of you are going to be completely fucking clueless as to what most of these, most of the references and subjects that come up are. Um, you might have heard some of the words, but you do not understand how they all fit together. It is a puzzle that you are missing a guide for. And once it is done and everything is set up, she does this thing again, reaches over and touches Rosanna. Rosanna, you feel another pulse of that energy through you and Piper. Those vines that are holding you kind of become a little bit more like stiff. And they literally lift you bodily off of your feet and move you into the center of the circle that she and Peter and Vincent have been setting up. The vines are still there. They just maneuver you into place rather than letting you go because she doesn't know exactly what your mental state is and she doesn't want to risk you. You going off on your friends. Piper? [02:43:25] Speaker C: Yeah. [02:43:26] Speaker F: I would like you to roll me resolve and composure. [02:43:35] Speaker A: Okay. [02:43:39] Speaker D: I can do that. I can do that. [02:43:45] Speaker F: Four. Very good. I would like you to tell me. So you have managed to do what you were asked to do. It wasn't easy. Had you rolled above five, it would have been a really simple process for you to empty everything except the curse from your mind. But after a bit, you kind of muscle everything out of the way and you let go of the impulse to distract yourself with anything else. I would like you to tell me what Piper's inner thoughts and feelings and perspectives are in this moment with everything but the curse and how it makes her feel emptied from her mind. [02:44:42] Speaker D: With just the curse. She kind of looks at Vincent and. [02:44:51] Speaker A: Peter. [02:44:56] Speaker D: And all that's going through her head is, I can study them. I can learn how they work. That'll give me what I need. Then I'll be able to be able to fix everything. I just need to study them. Shouldn't be that hard, right? Just a little bit. And it's just kind of that going on and on. [02:45:27] Speaker F: I love that. Okay, I need Peter and Vincent to both roll me intelligence and occult, three times. I am rolling behind the screen for Ophelia. [02:45:43] Speaker C: Would any blood sorcery dots come into play as well? [02:45:46] Speaker F: Add your blood sorcery rankings. [02:45:49] Speaker E: Alrighty, I'm also going to surge. [02:45:53] Speaker A: Just opens a little bit. [02:45:55] Speaker F: Go for it. Roll your rouse. Check, please. Hungrier? [02:46:03] Speaker E: It's fine. [02:46:04] Speaker F: Your beast. That familiar feminine voice. Kind of. There's so many tasty morsels here. We could eat right now. Look, they're just begging for it. That one's tied up. [02:46:27] Speaker E: We could, but we won't. [02:46:32] Speaker C: I will also rouse to ensure that we have good success. [02:46:35] Speaker F: Okay. Jesus, Peter. Your beast's voice is male. It is someone that you haven't seen in a very, very long time. He made your early years as a kindred fucking miserable because you were embraced before the pyramid fell apart. And when blood bonds were still a part of everything, your sire was not a nice man. Get off your ass and study. If you have to eat, then eat. And then get back to what you're supposed to be doing. God, how lazy can you be? [02:47:20] Speaker C: In good time. [02:47:24] Speaker F: Perfect. Oh, Jesus, Saul. Okay, six. Six out of nine. Holy fuck. Okay, I need you both to roll two more times. Seven. [02:47:47] Speaker C: Make sure I actually get the right hunger this time. [02:47:49] Speaker F: Yeah. [02:47:49] Speaker D: Keep in mind, Sal, your hunger did go up. [02:47:52] Speaker E: Yeah, well, if I remember, the. After a surge, the hunger, like, is incorporating rolls after the surge, roll. [02:47:59] Speaker F: No, it does go up. It's fine. So far it hasn't been a deal. It hasn't really impacted anything. [02:48:06] Speaker E: Fair enough. But, yeah, I also went ahead and unrolled those crits to avoid a messy crit. That would be bad. [02:48:14] Speaker F: I appreciate that. Let's see. Saul has rolled a six, a seven. See? A six and a seven and a five. Okay, six, seven, five. All right, kids. Rolled a nine, a six and a six. All right, y'all are. Y'all rolled exceptionally well. And what makes it even better is that Ophelia's most important role was. Which was the role to guide this ritual and to help blend the different types of magic together was very good because her other roles were less good. They're still pretty good, but less good. But, you know, made sure she's rolling aorte. She has a much smaller dipole than they do for the actual magic part, but her occult and esoterica roles were fucking fantastic, so it's good. Okay, here's how this goes. Peter and Vincent and Ophelia. Vincent and Peter stand at east and west of the circle. Ophelia has Rosanna take, um, south, even though she's not really actively channeling right now. Um, somebody has to be there to call that corner. Um, and Ophelia stands at the north, and she guides the ritual. She speaks in very clear, um, not booming, but sharp and easily heard tones. Even as the wind begins to pick up around you guys, you notice as she begins to chant that those unlit candles begin to light themselves. And you can tell that that's coming from her, because her fingers kind of twitch with it as she does it. It's almost like an afterthought. They seem to light at just the right time. And despite the fact that they are candles and there is all this wind whipping around, the flames do not flicker. She moves her hands in what almost looks like she is making knots with rope. With thick rope. Peter and Vincent were both given string that she tied into a circle, and they are doing the same thing. But with the string, it's clear that she gave them the thing that could physically allow them to see the movements that they were making, because she wasn't sure just how familiar they would be. But she knows the movements by heart. She might even be seeing things that nobody else here is seeing, just because of how in touch with the breed of magic that's going on right now, she is. And Piper, you feel the urge and the desire to act on the curse become more and more overwhelming and heady, to the point where you are thrashing against your bonds. And we'll just say that it's a good thing that you're not a marshal, because you'd be putting them to the test. You'd be putting them to the test. That said, Peter and Vincent, as the spell is happening and you guys are channeling magic, you can feel and hear piper's blood in her veins. It isn't tempting in that it makes you want to feed. You were just hyper aware of it and fixated on it, because your magic specifically taps into her tether to the physical. But as you are doing that, you hear in your heads that internal monologue. They're right there. All it would take is a piece, and then I could study them and I could put it in the book and everything would be better, and I'd be a better hunter, and nobody would ever make me feel afraid again. And it's constant. It just keeps going and going and going. And the longer it goes and the more she thrashes, the more almost feral and angry that internal monologues from her is. But also desperate. It is something she needs to act on, she needs to do. Ophelia's brow is broken out in sweat. Isabel and Arthur, because you guys aren't actively a part of the ritual, you're not having to call a corner and be a conduit like Rosanna is. You guys notice after a few minutes that the sweat on Ophelia's face goes from sweat to, like, blood. It is tinged pink. She is pushing herself that hard and channeling magic that does not vibe naturally with what she does. You guys hear the creaking of the trees around you, the snapping of distant branches. You hear Piper whimper for a moment, and then a scream rips itself from her throat. As Ophelia's cadence gets faster, her voice gets louder, until she is shouting to be heard over the wind. Rosanna, being a conduit, you're not really actively doing anything. Your job is to keep the circuit from falling apart. You are there to be a stabilizing force. You find yourself sinking your own awareness and your own instincts down into the ground to grip the earth like the roots of a tree. Because you feel like there is so much power going on that you could very well fall over if you didn't have something to hold onto. And then all of a sudden, there is a loud crack as a huge branch splits off of a tree nearby, and it falls. And at the same moment that the wind stops dead, Ophelia is again coated in that bloody sweat. She is trembling from head to toe. Her hands are shaking. The candles begin to wink out. Piper, you go limp against the bonds. You're awake. You are exhausted. You have expended every iota of energy that you had. You don't lose willpower or anything like that. You're very ep. This is like doing like a five hour workout without a break. That's what it felt like to you. Vincent and Peter, you guys are both at hunger. Three by the time this is over. But you are in one piece. The magic didn't rip you apart. You're just hungry and your beasts are hungry. And there's a moment where Ophelia kind of sways a little bit on her feet before she reaches out and, like, just braces a hand. I'm gonna say, on Isabel is probably the closest to her because Arthur is near Rosanna. She doesn't move from that spot that she's standing in, but she just sort of reaches out and finds Isabelle's shoulder to steady herself on. [02:57:17] Speaker A: Isabelle will support her. [02:57:21] Speaker F: And then she takes a deep breath. She goes, okay, that was the easy part. One more thing. One more thing. Piper, I'm gonna need you to do something. Neither of us is gonna be a fan, but I want you to know that I forgive you. [02:57:56] Speaker D: I don't like the sound of that. [02:58:04] Speaker F: She steps very carefully over the salt lines of the circle. She is dainty and delicate to not mess anything up in the ritual space. And she reaches behind her to the small of her back. Her back, for the first time, is to Peter and Vincent, which might show just how tired she is, that she didn't think about the fact that she was putting her back to her enemy. And she slides an athame from a sheath at the small of her back. A wave of her fingers makes one of the vines let go of Piper. Piper's arm. And she presses the athame into Piper's hand. I can't do it for you. And then she holds out one of her hands. I'd really prefer if you just cut me and not take a finger. But I'll understand if you can't control it. [02:59:22] Speaker D: How much control do I have right now? [02:59:25] Speaker F: Make me a resolve and composure check. [02:59:30] Speaker C: Yeah. No, this doesn't seem right. But, you know, just gonna sit here. [02:59:34] Speaker A: And let it happen? [02:59:35] Speaker F: Not much. [02:59:36] Speaker D: That's only two. [02:59:38] Speaker F: Okay. You have enough control to not take a digit, but you're probably gonna cut deeper than you have to. [02:59:49] Speaker A: Isabelle is ready to move. [02:59:54] Speaker F: Piper moves without realizing that she is moving at first. Her hand takes the atheme, and she plunges the tip of it into the center of Ophelia's palm, and it goes straight through. And all anybody hears from Ophelia is, fuck Piper. G. Okay. No, it's fine, it's fine. I forgive you. It's fine, it's fine, it's fine. Okay, now you gotta pull piper, just. [03:00:23] Speaker D: Like, kind of staring. [03:00:26] Speaker F: Now you gotta pull it out. And when Piper doesn't immediately move, she kind of take with her free hand, grabs Piper's wrist, and, like, with all of the strength that she can muster, forces Piper to pull her hand back, which takes the athame with her. Now, think about the book, Piper. Make me another resolve and composure check. If you want to spend your last willpower on this. If it's low, you can. [03:00:59] Speaker D: Yeah, this. This would be my last point of willpower, so. [03:01:02] Speaker F: I know. [03:01:03] Speaker E: Hmm. [03:01:07] Speaker F: Hmm. Six. Much better. Okay, cool. [03:01:16] Speaker A: Willpower. Well sped. [03:01:18] Speaker F: Yes. Definitely well spent. You manage to not immediately try to plunge the athamae back into her, which gives her space to step back and out of the circle. She collides with Peter's chest for a moment. [03:01:33] Speaker C: Easy, easy. Back at you. [03:01:37] Speaker F: Is already looking vaguely faint. And then there is a crash of lightning. No thunder, just a massive crack like lightning. And the whole. The whole clearing lights up for just a moment. And when the light dissipates, there are two books laying at Piper's feet. One dark or one black, one white. Both of them with that weird kind of, like, emboss. Embossment on them. Grab them before they run. Don't look away. [03:02:25] Speaker C: Okay. Arthur Reagan knows that he has to read the book to get cursed, but he's hoping he doesn't get cursed. [03:02:30] Speaker F: He does not have to read the curse. Well, he doesn't have to read the book. He just has to grab it so it doesn't run. [03:02:35] Speaker D: Right? [03:02:35] Speaker A: Right. [03:02:36] Speaker C: So he will leap forward to grab them since he's free and he's not doing anything. [03:02:42] Speaker F: Rosanna, you are also no longer channeling. So if you want to grab one of them, you also can help. [03:02:46] Speaker B: Yeah, I'll go and grab the white. [03:02:49] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm gonna grab the mage and attempt the bandage up her hand. [03:02:55] Speaker C: Arthur picks up the workbook. [03:02:58] Speaker B: Just don't read it. I swear to God, if you read it, I'm gonna. [03:03:02] Speaker F: We're gonna. [03:03:03] Speaker B: We're gonna throw hands right here. [03:03:05] Speaker A: We're gonna have words. [03:03:06] Speaker C: No, no. I have no desire to read this book. [03:03:19] Speaker F: She points to the black book. Um, I would say I'd take it, but here's the reality. The second I blink, it's just gonna run. I would heavily suggest you carry that a few yards away and set it down and turn your back and just let it go. The white one is what you need. The black one. Being here will only cause piper problems. [03:03:57] Speaker C: Okay, I'll take care of this. [03:04:03] Speaker F: Patty looks torn, like he's not sure if he should stay and protect the girls or go with you back. [03:04:10] Speaker C: The girls stay. [03:04:12] Speaker D: Can piper see the titles of the books? Yes, just to make sure that they're getting the right. [03:04:20] Speaker F: Yes. He is taking away the one that cursed you. [03:04:23] Speaker D: I figured I just needed to double check. [03:04:26] Speaker A: Just so they didn't do, like, a. [03:04:27] Speaker F: Title swap on us, you know, they can't do that. It's just a thing. [03:04:40] Speaker C: Arthur will walk into the woods is far enough away so that he's not too far, but far enough that nobody can, like, look at him because he needs this to just disappear. And if anyone's like, oh, I wonder what he's doing with that book over there. It might stay, right? [03:04:56] Speaker F: Gotcha. [03:04:57] Speaker C: Yeah. And then he's like, and just launch it. [03:05:04] Speaker F: There's the book, Piper. And she kind of waves her hands. The vines begin to unwrap from around your other arm. She leaves them around your wrist, your ankles, just in case. I don't know what the next step is. I just know that that's how you fix it. The answer is in there. [03:05:31] Speaker C: Would I possibly. [03:05:32] Speaker D: I imagine Piper. No, Piper kind of, like, falls asleep the as she's, like, just being held up by her legs and kind of holds a hand out for the book. [03:05:51] Speaker F: Yeah, there you are. [03:05:53] Speaker B: And Rosanna's keeping her eyes on it. And she's still gonna keep a hand on it until she knows that it's secure in Piper's hands. [03:06:03] Speaker F: Don't try to read it, Rosanna. Only Piper should do that. I don't know what happens if somebody who isn't cursed tries to read it. [03:06:11] Speaker B: I just. You blink once and the book is gone. [03:06:16] Speaker F: So I get it. [03:06:21] Speaker B: And then once Piper has it and is looking at it, then she'll let go and she's going to actually step back towards Peter. [03:06:35] Speaker F: Okay. Piper? [03:06:40] Speaker D: Yeah. [03:06:42] Speaker F: Are you going to open the book? [03:06:45] Speaker C: Yes. [03:06:49] Speaker F: Cool. You open the book. The pages seem to flip on their own past. Pages that have already been filled to a page that has only got the first few lines filled in. What it tells you on those first few lines is, if you are suffering from the curse of my twin, you must make an offering. I will require a digit from the left hand of another person. Basically, it is saying that somebody other than you has to sacrifice a finger from their left hand. And before one of my SPCs tries to volunteer, potentially, I won't work for you guys. You guys are vampires. It'll just go to dust the second you cut it off. [03:08:20] Speaker D: Also, Piper would realize that's probably a bad idea. [03:08:25] Speaker F: Probably? Probably bad? To hurt the already hungry vampires. [03:08:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [03:08:30] Speaker D: Piper keeps staring at the book. [03:08:35] Speaker A: I. [03:08:36] Speaker D: One of you needs to sacrifice a finger from your left hand. [03:08:48] Speaker A: And that will un burs you. [03:08:54] Speaker D: That's what Luke says. [03:08:58] Speaker C: Is Arthur back? At this point. [03:09:02] Speaker F: Yeah. We could say Arthur's come back by now because Piper took a few minutes to just sort of stare at the book before she actually said anything. We could say that Piper comes up just in time to hear that the book is demanding a cost to lift the curse. [03:09:31] Speaker C: Well, this book only came into procession because the speaker had it. And you were only there to read it because I brought you here. So. And Arthur will start reaching out his left hand. Just leave the ring finger, if you could. [03:10:05] Speaker A: Hey, I'm the doctor here, and we're gonna do this in a very safe way that's not going to injure you too much. [03:10:15] Speaker B: I don't think that it's a good idea for you to. You're already trying to heal. [03:10:31] Speaker C: Yeah, but this would not have happened if Piper hadn't come to the compound with me. [03:10:45] Speaker B: Yeah, but it's my fault. We found the book. I'll do it. I don't think that there's a rule about needing all ten fingers to cast magic. So unless that was an unspoken rule that we didn't realize. [03:11:08] Speaker F: You don't. I know mages who don't even have hands. We won't talk about how they ended up that way. But regardless of who it is, it has to be willing. And, Piper, the book also says that not only do they have to willingly excise the digit, they also have to burn it. Like a sacrifice. [03:11:40] Speaker A: All right. [03:11:40] Speaker D: Yeah. She will relay that once you remove the finger, you'll have to burn it. [03:11:52] Speaker C: Sure. Why the hell not? To be fair, that's a relatively tame request from a book, actually. [03:12:03] Speaker D: All right, let's not. Let's not discuss. Let's not discuss the book. Just fucking do it. [03:12:09] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. Okay. Please. [03:12:19] Speaker F: Uh, Isabelle, um, given that you are the doctor, um, Ophelia will pick up the atheme and hand it to you. I assume you have something to sterilize with. Yes. [03:12:36] Speaker A: Yes, I do. I was gonna offer, but it makes more sense that I do the cutting and loose the finger. I can make sure that it's done safely. You are not gonna have to. And the healing will be difficult, but make it the easiest I can. [03:13:01] Speaker F: Sir. Make me an intelligence and medicine role, please. Isabel. [03:13:11] Speaker A: Would my pathology help? [03:13:14] Speaker F: Uh, yes. [03:13:26] Speaker A: I am going to spend a willpower to reroll some dice. [03:13:31] Speaker C: Arthur's gonna place his hand on top of Rosanna's. He's gonna say, I understand, but it is my fault. [03:13:41] Speaker F: All right, six, you are easily able to cleanse the athamae. You are pretty sure that there's not gonna be any issues, and, uh, Rosanna's hand is. Is placed flat on, we'll say, the stump of a tree nearby, um, with a little bit of that. That pad stuff that doctors always carry, the gauze pads or whatever underneath of it. And, uh, which finger are you taking? [03:14:18] Speaker A: I think it makes most sense for it to be. I think Isabelle would know which one she could take without, like, you know, impacting the use of the hands too much. [03:14:32] Speaker C: One point. Arthur sand is in the way currently. While you were rolling, he reached out and put his hand over Rosanna's. [03:14:37] Speaker F: Oh, I thought it was on her wrist. [03:14:39] Speaker C: No. [03:14:41] Speaker F: Hmm. [03:14:50] Speaker C: So, Isabelle, will I be unconscious after this? Will it hurt that much? [03:15:03] Speaker A: Well, in your condition, there's a good chance, yes. Look, I. And then I'm gonna have to explain to Katie Lynn what just happened. [03:15:23] Speaker C: Um, okay, then. [03:15:32] Speaker B: For the. You don't need to. [03:15:39] Speaker F: Well, for what it's worth, adding to the weird shit I've had to Google while running a game, the index finger is the finger you can most stand to lose, according to hand surgeons. [03:15:52] Speaker E: Yep. Brain just goes and. [03:15:53] Speaker A: Yeah, that's the finger that'll be going. I mean, it makes sense, like, it feels like the pinky is for, like, balance and grip. [03:16:00] Speaker F: Yep. The pinky is. Is quintessential in a strong grip. And your brain kind of automatically bypasses a missing index finger and goes straight to the middle finger. Yeah. You roll well enough that it is a clean. Arthur will have cleanly out of the way. Obviously, you have moved your hand. It comes off cleanly. There is a fair bit of blood, but you, being trained the way that you are, are able to staunch the bleeding the best you can. Ophelia's hands kind of shake, but she reaches out, takes the digit, hands it to Piper, drop it into the fire, and then she reaches towards the center of the summoning circle as the vines fully release Piper's legs and allow her to kind of move off to the side a little bit. And a really, really intensely bright and hot, like, everybody can feel it on their face, kind of hot fire kind of leaps into existence in that small space. She keeps it small enough because she doesn't want to risk the vampires freaking out. The vampires are smart enough to take several big steps back. And Piper, you can toss the finger in. [03:17:40] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [03:17:41] Speaker D: She doesn't even look up from the book. Like, she is making sure to not look away from this fucking thing. [03:17:48] Speaker F: Okay. You toss the. Toss the finger into the fire. Yep. The book. You see, you see the words. Thank you for another piece for the collection. The book slams itself shut in your hands, and you kind of instinctively start a little bit and blow and it's gone. But that impulse is gone too. It is like a clamp that was on your brain has suddenly been released. The morbid thoughts are gone. The last thing you want to do is cut into anybody. All you want to do is sleep. And there's just a wave and a rush of relief. [03:18:46] Speaker D: Honestly, I think Piper just kind of falls to the ground. Like, she's obviously, like, not passed out, but her body just kind of collapses. [03:19:04] Speaker C: Arthur is going to be holding whatever pressure he needs to hold on Rosanna's hand. [03:19:09] Speaker F: Pretty sure Isabelle is handling that. [03:19:12] Speaker A: Yeah, Isabelle is wrapping it up, you know, doing all the proper things. It has been sterilized, is being wrapped with proper gauze and everything. And Roseanne is being slipped some pain medication. [03:19:28] Speaker C: Arthur's holding her. Regardless. [03:19:43] Speaker F: Ophelia forces herself to her feet. She is cradling her hurt hand, reaches out to grab the staff that she leaned up against one of the trees. [03:20:03] Speaker B: I feel like I'm gonna throw up. [03:20:06] Speaker A: That's a very natural feeling. [03:20:11] Speaker F: Sorry. [03:20:11] Speaker B: My fucking God, it fucking hurt. [03:20:20] Speaker F: I'm gonna leave you to doctor. I think out of everybody that is not busy right now, I'm probably the only one in any shape to walk your friends out of the compound. Promise there won't be any violence. [03:20:44] Speaker A: Sort of do the, you know, look at all of them. Just, like, watching all of you. [03:20:50] Speaker C: Um, I appreciate that. [03:20:55] Speaker F: Oh, well, I'm not doing it for you. [03:20:58] Speaker B: From the ground. [03:20:59] Speaker D: Piper's just. [03:21:01] Speaker A: Sorry about your hands. [03:21:05] Speaker F: Uh, it's fine. My aunt will patch me up. She always does. And if not her. I know. I know a lovely reverend who's always happy to help. [03:21:18] Speaker A: I would have always. I would have, like, at least, like, made it so she's not actively bleeding? [03:21:23] Speaker F: Oh, yeah, no, it just hurts like hell. [03:21:25] Speaker A: Oh, of course. [03:21:26] Speaker F: And given that she has to be on her guard around vampire, she did not accept any pain. Oh. [03:21:31] Speaker A: I mean, at least sort of wrapped it up so it's not actively bleeding. [03:21:34] Speaker F: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I assumed as much that she is. She is well bandaged. I didn't make you roll for that. That's the. That's pretty straightforward emergency medicine. You take care of. Take care of Rosanna. She will walk over. Rosanna, she kind of brushes your hair from your forehead a little bit and presses a kiss to your forehead. I'm sorry, honey. [03:22:01] Speaker B: I'm sorry. [03:22:04] Speaker F: That's fine. We'll work out our communication issues later. You go feel better? Yeah. I wish I could tell you that I could find somebody to regrow that, but I'm not sure if that wouldn't just make the curse come back. So. [03:22:20] Speaker E: If it helps, I can dull the pain for a while. [03:22:25] Speaker A: Aesthetics have come a real long way. [03:22:28] Speaker E: That, too. [03:22:30] Speaker F: Hey, he made werewolf scars. Beautiful finger. Easy. Easy as pie. Okay, a gentleman. [03:22:54] Speaker E: Vincent will look to Rosanna. Would you like me to remove the pain? And he will move to Rosanna, and then just, like, gently place a hand on her shoulder and use anesthetic touch. [03:23:11] Speaker F: Does that have a rouse? Check with it. [03:23:13] Speaker E: It does not. [03:23:14] Speaker F: Oh, well, then do you have to roll anything, or does it just work? [03:23:19] Speaker E: What's an obeah? [03:23:21] Speaker F: All right, make the roll. [03:23:23] Speaker E: All right. [03:23:27] Speaker F: Is there a specific difficulty, or is it just. You get so many hours for so many successes. [03:23:32] Speaker E: Uh, it's just if it, uh, it will happen for basically the rest of the scene. Unless I'm trying to put them to sleep, in which case they will sleep for 10 hours. [03:23:44] Speaker F: Well, maybe putting her to sleep wouldn't be a bad idea. [03:23:46] Speaker E: Yep, that's what I was going for. [03:23:48] Speaker D: Uh, we don't have anybody that can carry her out of. [03:23:53] Speaker F: Well, I guess you do. Quiet. He has no idea what has happened yet because all he sees is people. Is that enough? [03:24:05] Speaker E: That is enough. It's just as success. Does it. [03:24:08] Speaker F: Okay, Rosanna, the pain fades. You immediately get very woozy and just sort of like, put your head on Arthur's shoulder in your half asleep, like. [03:24:18] Speaker C: Almost instantly, Arthur's going to snap his head toward Vincent and say, what did you just do? [03:24:28] Speaker E: I dulled the pain and put her to sleep so she wouldn't have to worry about it. [03:24:37] Speaker A: Magical anesthetician. [03:24:39] Speaker E: You'll wake up in about 10 hours feeling better. [03:24:44] Speaker C: You understand that if she doesn't, I will find you. [03:24:47] Speaker E: Uh huh. [03:24:49] Speaker F: You have to get in line. [03:24:51] Speaker C: You are not in any place right now to try and threaten us. We were only trying to help. [03:24:57] Speaker D: Can we stop throwing threats around, please? [03:25:01] Speaker F: Come on, boys, let's go. [03:25:04] Speaker C: I have one last thing to give to miss Rosie. But then, yes, I will follow. He reaches into a pocket and pulls out a business card before just gently setting it next to the hand, simply looks to Arthur. Then you're a good man. It's a shame you're so pigheaded sometimes. I can see what she sees in you. [03:25:42] Speaker F: He will. [03:25:43] Speaker E: Piper, turn around and walk away. And Vincent will follow along after. [03:25:54] Speaker F: All. Right? Ophelia follows them. She walks behind them so that she can keep them both in eye shop. She is back to staff in her injured hand and a fireball hovering above her other hand. You assume she'll probably put it out by the time she gets close to the houses, but she's not taking any chances in the middle of nowhere with a couple of vampires. And they walk off. For the sake of speed, we will say that you guys call quiet, who shows up in a fucking hurry, sees the state that Rosanna is in and looks like he wants to pummel somebody, but isn't sure who he's supposed to pummel. And for a minute, it looks like he might go for Arthur. Until Isabelle sort of, like, immediately steps in and is just like, no, no, no. It wasn't him. Technically, it was me. [03:27:00] Speaker A: It was me. [03:27:03] Speaker F: You know? Patty steps over and scoops up Piper because Piper is fucking exhausted and her legs don't want to hold her up right now. [03:27:15] Speaker D: Yeah. [03:27:17] Speaker F: And quiet scoops up Rosanna, and you all walk back to the compound. The car is gone. Any sign of the vampires or Ophelia have long since passed. By the time you guys get there, everybody goes up to the big house. You guys have enough spare rooms. And with the amount of injury and exhaustion, it's just not worth trying to force people to sleep in the rv. Plus, Isabel wants everybody in one spot where she can kind of keep track of all of the injuries and whatnot. [03:27:51] Speaker C: Manages. [03:27:53] Speaker F: Yes. [03:27:55] Speaker A: Viper's probably getting some sort of iv drip just in case. Cause I'm like, I don't fucking know what happened to you. [03:28:03] Speaker F: Yeah. For Piper, it mostly seems just exhaustion and trauma. She's physically exhausted and probably a little bit in shock. [03:28:16] Speaker A: A little bit? [03:28:18] Speaker F: A little bit. As you guys are getting settled in. And I'm sure Arthur is thanking his lucky stars that his wife is not currently at the house right now. There is a gentle knock on the front door. Arthur, as you downstairs, while Isabella's getting Rosanna and Piper into bed. [03:28:50] Speaker C: Who is it now? The answer is the door will open the door in a way so that he can see who it is before they just, like, they'd have to slam the door open to get past him. [03:29:03] Speaker F: Essentially, it is Ophelia. She does not slam the door. [03:29:08] Speaker C: Okay. Oh, hey. [03:29:13] Speaker F: Hi. I'm not gonna stay. [03:29:18] Speaker C: Okay. Do you wanna come in? [03:29:27] Speaker F: No, I don't think I should. I have a couple of things for you guys that I didn't feel comfortable handing over in front of the enemy, if you understand. [03:29:42] Speaker C: I get that. [03:29:45] Speaker F: Um, I was working on these while I was out hunting. They're not as done as I had wanted them to be. But I think given y'all's propensity for running towards the people with fangs, it might behoove you to have them anyway. And Arthur, she holds out four necklaces. They are simple, rawhide leather, but with silver, round pendants on them. What is your roll? Me? Intelligence and academics. And add your specialty for biblical knowledge. [03:30:41] Speaker C: Hey. [03:30:41] Speaker F: Okay, this doesn't happen often. [03:30:45] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm like, I'm gonna go ahead and use some willpower on this one, see what happens. Oh, I hit the wrong one. There we go. [03:31:09] Speaker F: Hey. [03:31:10] Speaker C: All right. [03:31:11] Speaker F: What'd you get? [03:31:11] Speaker C: Six successes. [03:31:12] Speaker F: That's very good. These are all one of the seals of Solomon. They tingle when you touch them. And your bracelet lights up a little bit. They are obviously magical. That creature. They're protective. [03:31:31] Speaker C: Yeah, I recognize the seals. [03:31:37] Speaker F: It was, they were supposed to be protective measure given everything that's going on between the tremere in my order and your ties, especially Rosanna's tie to me, makes you potential targets. But now I see that you kind of made, you guys made yourselves targets all on your own. [03:32:03] Speaker A: So, yeah. [03:32:08] Speaker F: It won't stop them from biting you, but it'll make you a little less appetizing and a little bit better able to survive if they do. [03:32:18] Speaker E: Okay. [03:32:23] Speaker C: He, um. I'm sorry for all that went down. [03:32:29] Speaker F: Oh, well, y'all aren't exactly known for your communication. [03:32:36] Speaker C: Yeah, I, um, I just found out yesterday about what happened, and I was not very happy because you were offering the opportunity to, you know, deal with them, and we apparently ruined it. And it sounds like some of your people got killed. [03:33:02] Speaker F: One of mine, several of theirs. All in all, I've got the better numbers. But, uh, you know, they don't die so easy compared to the rest of us. [03:33:16] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, I get that. [03:33:20] Speaker F: It's fine. We just have to be more prepared than they are. And, hey, we have the sunlight on our side. [03:33:29] Speaker C: That's a good point. [03:33:37] Speaker F: Um, anyway, take care of this place. Take care of our girl, please. [03:33:46] Speaker C: Yeah. Hey, uh, thank you for taking care of her all this time. [03:33:58] Speaker F: Oh, well, there was a part of me that was hoping one day she'd wake up, but she's still a little bit asleeper. And I don't know that that's ever going to change. Best I can do is equip her the best I can and hope that one day her blood lets go of the secret. I know it won't make you happy, but she'll be better able to protect herself if she's fully what she's supposed to be. [03:34:39] Speaker C: I guess so. [03:34:44] Speaker F: I am. Anyway, I'm gonna go and try not to pass out from, you know, pain and blood loss. And in the morning I'll start bright eyed and bushy tailed hunting vampires again. Well, at the very least I'm gonna force them to never use the Lanaya society as a front anymore, because nobody will ever trust it again. [03:35:21] Speaker C: I do, in fact, very sincerely wish you luck in that endeavor. [03:35:30] Speaker F: Goodnight, pastor. [03:35:34] Speaker C: Goodnight, mage. [03:35:37] Speaker F: She steps back, glances around her, walks towards a. Walks past a streetlight that you guys have into the very, very deep shadows next to one of the other houses. And you can't see her anymore. [03:35:58] Speaker C: Yeah, no, don't like that. [03:36:00] Speaker F: Closes the door and that is where we're going to call it for the evening.