The Whisky Jays and Dr. Cruz continue to search the basement underneath the Tower of Glass for a missing person. But the doctor's stolen friend isn't the only person trapped down here...
The Whisky Jays and Dr. Cruz continue to search the basement underneath the Tower of Glass for a missing person. But the doctor's stolen friend isn't the only person trapped down here...
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Transcribed by Michelle Kelly.
## Intro
Rhi: Welcome back to Imperial City. As always, thank you so much for joining us. This is the second episode featuring our special guest Dusty! They were an absolute delight to have, and if you enjoyed them here, you should definitely go check out the many other shows they’re on, including Goblets and Gays and Bring Your Own Mech.
If you’re enjoying the show, please consider leaving us a review, posting about us on social media, buying some merch, sponsoring an episode or jumbotron message, or backing us on Patreon! There are so many ways to support not just this show, but all present and future shows on Clever Corvids. We’ve got some big plans for this year, and we’ll need your help to make them a reality.
Next, Aki’s going to tell us about this month’s featured charity.
Aki: Hey, it’s Aki, and our chosen charity of the month is Gays and Lesbians in a Transgender Society, or better known as GLITS. For more information, check out glitsinc.org. That’s g-l-i-t-s-i-n-c dot o-r-g. Thanks!
Rhi: Now then. Let’s get started, shall we?
## Story continues [00.01.35]
Rhi: You deliver this punch, but as you said, metal limbs, you kind of clatter on the floor a little more than you intended. And the door behind you opens up again and two more hollows come out.
Josie (as Echo): They are hollows. There’s nothing in there.
Rhi: So, with that knowledge… Val, you wanna do anything?
Kim: Yeah. Let me see if I can find Soto.
Rhi: Okay.
Kim: What’s the best way I can go about this? Should I roll just like, a Survey about this? Or…
Rhi: Yeah. Survey would make sense.
Kim: Alright. I will push myself for that.
Rhi: Okay. This is gonna be risky… reduced.
Kim: [shakes and rolls dice] Jesus. My dice are not in it to win it tonight. I got a 2.
Rhi: Okay. So, Val, I think you kind of break off from the, you know, feeling like, ‘Okay, there’s enough people down there that can probably handle this. We need to find Soto and get outta here’.
Kim: Exactly, yeah.
Rhi: Yeah, you break off and head down the other hall to start opening doors and seeing what you can see. The first door that you open up looks like some kind of like storeroom. There’s just a bunch of random pieces of equipment. You’re not sure what all of them are for. But nobody’s in here. You close that door and you open up the next and you were moving so quickly that you didn’t notice the warning symbol posted up next to the door, indicating that, uh, the warning symbol and the face mask next to the door. So, you just whip this door open and step inside cause it’s kinda dark, so you’re trying to find a light. And you just get a full, big, deep breath of… something. Whatever’s in the air in this room.
Kim: Uh oh.
Rhi: Let’s find out. Let’s find out together.
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: I don’t like this. [laughs]
Rhi: What has she… turned into an aerosol? Um… oh, that’s fun.
Kim: It doesn’t have to be fun.
Rhi: It’s very fun.
Kim: It could just be air.
Rhi: so, you inhale something, you’re not sure what it is exactly. But you get this very, like, metallic taste in your mouth and your vision seems to actually clear a little bit. Like, you can see in here better even though it’s dark.
Kim: Uh oh.
Rhi: And you blink a few times and realize that you are, without focusing on it, you are partially seeing into the ghost field a little bit. You’ve bene drugged with Quicksilver, which for the moment is going to give you a bonus, one extra die every time you make an Attune roll, but when this wears off you’re gonna take level 2 harm.
Josie: Eesh.
Kim: Oofa doofa. Okay. [laughs] I mean, that’s fun.
Rhi: Yeah. You can see in this room now that you are kinda seeing into the ghost field, that there are a lot of ghost jars in here and some, like, circles? Like runic circles on the floor. And there appear to be like, spirits bound within them. One of the ghosts attempts to lunge at you but is unable to move past the bounds of this circle. You found the ghost room. So, you’ve been, uh, drugged and you haven’t found your guy. [laughs] Alright, circling back around. So, you have one unconscious hollow, two more coming into the hall, and a room full of ghosts and poison air.
Dusty: I have a question.
Rhi: Yes.
Dusty: Just for kind of like world stuff.
Rhi: Yeah, absolutely.
Dusty: So, a hollow has no soul.
Rhi: Yes.
Dusty: If that’s what I’m understanding. So, can something else take that place? Say if I Command a ghost to go into one of the other hollows?
Rhi: Oh, absolutely.
Josie: [giggles]
Rhi: Hang on, let me— I gotta look up something real quick. You might be creating a vampire.
[outburst of laughter]
Rhi: Gimme a second! [laughs]
Kim: Oh no!
Rhi: Flip, flip, flip.
Kim: Oh, how exciting.
Rhi: [laughs] Frantically flipping through the book.
Josie: [sing-song] Vampire friend!
Kim: Let’s go! Please.
Rhi: Find the spooky section… [laughs]
Kim: Please! Please! I love this setting’s vampires.
Rhi: “The Unquiet Dead.” Okay. So there are many types— okay, so a hollow is a living body without a spirit. A vampire, a dead body animated and sustained by a spirit. So I— you wouldn’t be creating a vampire unless you kill one of these hollows. I think basically all you would be doing is giving a ghost a new body? [laughs]
Dusty: Okay.
Rhi: So yeah, you can absolutely do that.
Dusty: I think— yeah, I wanna use the ability Compel.
Rhi: Uh huh?
Dusty: Cause I think once seeing these I would like Marquez to stand up and they’re gonna take off their tiny shades.
Rhi: Ooh…
Dusty: And you see their eyes are— they have two glass eyes.
Rhi: Ah!
Josie: Oh.
Dusty: And they are currently deep, dark purple.
Minna: [gasps]
Aki: You do not— I’m so sorry, I’m interrupting you. But I’m just gonna say, you do not understand what you’re probably doing to Kim right now.
[laughter]
Aki: I’m sorry, ‘I’m almost done, Sandman!’
[laughter]
Kim: Listen!
Aki: [crosstalk] – a lot of stuff that Kim does simply so that we can share memes.
Josie: No wonder Kim’s distracted tonight.
Kim: [wheeze-laughs]
Rhi: Anyway, Dusty. Continue. You take off the glasses, glass eyes, purple…
Dusty: So the eyes are these deep, dark purple and they kind of like start muttering something. And basically what I want to attempt to do is just grab a ghost out of the air and throw it at the body.
Rhi: Okay.
Dusty: Telling them to help us.
Rhi: I love this so much. Yes. So, this is gonna be Attune for sure. It’ll be risky, standard by default. However, you have… if you use— if you mark your fine spirit mask as equipment, that will improve the effect. Actually, your eyes could be functioning as the spirit mask.
Dusty: Sure. Let’s do that. I will say, I rolled a 5 and two 6s.
Aki: [laughs]
Josie: Critical!
Rhi: So that’s a critical success. [laughs]
Aki: Gengar!
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: So yeah, it goes perfectly. You reach into the ghost field, pull on a ghost. One answers immediately and lunges into this waiting body. So one of the hollows that was kind of stomping forwards towards Echo and Darling just kind of like, stops and stumbles a little bit and then like, is looking around, blinks, flexes hands. And then I think, because you got a critical, is going to immediately spin around, grab the other hollow and like, pin it to the wall. And then will look back over their shoulder at you and look at Marquez and say:
Rhi (as Ghost): Get Gabriel into this one.
Rhi: Apparently there’s another ghost around here named Gabriel that this person would like to be put into this body. [laughs]
Dusty (as Marquez): Okay… okay, one moment, por favor.
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie (as Echo): Dr Cruz, I am glad you are on our side.
Dusty (as Marquez): I’m glad I’m just alive.
Dusty: Yeah, I think they’re trying to focus and like…
Dusty (as Marquez): Hey Gabriel, you’re wanted.
Rhi: Gimme another Attune roll.
Dusty: Okay.
Rhi: I’m gonna give you… you’re gonna be controlled for this, because the major threats have been dealt with right now.
Dusty: Okay. That is just a 4.
Rhi: Okay. So you do it but there’s a minor consequence. So I’m just gonna add one more tick on our Dr Landa Arrives clock. So it’s gonna be at 3 out of 12. Yeah, you reach out and [laughs] yeah, call upon this other spirit. And because you have a name to go with it, Gabriel responds immediately and just – shoop – jumps into this body. And… let’s see, what is the first ghost’s name? If anybody wants to throw out suggestions while I’m going to a name generator, feel free.
Aki: Stephan.
Rhi: Stephan! I like Stephan.
Aki: With a P-H.
Kim: Oh, Stephan.
Rhi: Of course, yes. So they— Gabriel kind of stops and like, initially starts fighting off the other now newly-possessed hollow and they’re like:
Rhi (as Stephan): Gabriel, stop, stop. It’s me, it’s Stephan.
Rhi: And then they kind of both stop and are looking at each other and then just throw arms around each other in a big hug. They’re just hugging.
Kim: Aw.
Aki (as Darling): This is such a nice little side plot, but…
Dusty (as Marquez): I normally don’t do matchmaker, but we have time now. We should—
Dusty: As Marquez puts their glasses back on.
Aki (as Darling): Very neat trick. Excellent. Lovely to have you to the team. Somebody go get our Val, who’s on the ground, I think.
Rhi: Val’s not on the ground. Val is um, seeing a lot right now. And have—
Kim: Val sees all. Brown bear, brown bear. [laughs]
Rhi: Val can see a lot and is, you know, has mercury in their lungs. So that’s gonna be a problem pretty quick. But at the moment… [laughs]
Aki (as Darling): They’re a chain smoker, they can’t have mercury in their lungs now.
[loud laughter]
Rhi: Damn. You’re right though.
Kim: Oh my God, they are. [laughs] It’s fine. This is fine.
Dusty: So, how much of my stash would you say I’d be able to have on me of those healing things before having to make new ones?
Rhi: Um…
Dusty: Like, maybe one or two vials, maybe?
Rhi: However much— I mean, you can also just kind of— you can have one of those, or you can also just treat this— you can have medical equipment on this the same way that you, like, treated Arlene.
Dusty: Okay. I would say, like, they go to the other side and you see that there is three of those vials, but Marquez definitely needs to keep one for Soto.
Rhi: Yeah.
Dusty: They’re gonna walk over to Val and just like, just pull out the— again, it’s like dark green with the deep purple specks. Which, the purple is the same color as their eyes, by the way.
Rhi: Uh huh, cool.
Dusty: Is like:
Dusty (as Marquez): If you feel worse, just drink this. Just ignore the voices, that’s all.
Kim (as Val): Uh, [coughs] what voices? I’m totally fine. [wheezes]
Dusty (as Marquez): No, you’re not. It’s okay though.
[laughter]
Kim (as Val): I’m great.
Josie (as Echo): Val, take the thing and be okay, please.
Kim (as Val): I— I’ll take the thing when I need to take the thing, alright?
Josie (as Echo): Okay.
Rhi: Alright. So, if you all wanna start searching now that you’ve kind of eliminated the active threats that you knew about.
Josie: Can I talk to Stephan and Gabriel, actually?
Rhi: Yeah. I think let’s do some kind of, maybe a group roll for everybody else to get that search going and then while they’re all looking, you can talk to them.
Josie (as Echo): Sure.
Rhi: So, do you wanna do this as a group roll?
Aki: Yeah, I don’t think there’s anything… unless there’s like, super expensive shit that is totally easily stealable.
Rhi: There might be.
Aki: Because then I don’t mind, yeah, I don’t mind like, I know we’re supposed to look for a person but I don’t mind making a few extra dollars on the side. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. No, absolutely. I think that will kinda depend on how the roll goes as everybody fans out to start searching. So, uh, yeah. So who wants to lead this search roll?
Aki: I have— I can only take about five more stress, I think.
Kim: I have the stress to spare, if Val is in any condition to lead anything right now.
Rhi: Yeah, you— the bad effects haven’t hit you yet.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: So, they will soon. I’ll let you know. But you can—
Kim: What are we rolling? Survey?
Rhi: Yeah. Survey would make the most sense here.
Kim: A group Survey?
Rhi: Yeah. So everybody— so it’s gonna be Darling, Marquez, Val and Arlene all roll Survey. Just call out your numbers.
[dice rolling]
Kim: [frustrated] Oh my God!
Rhi: Yeah?
Kim: Rolled a 1.
Rhi: Oof.
Kim: What the fuck is going on with my dice tonight?
Dusty: I rolled a 1 too.
Rhi: Alright.
Aki: Oh no…
Josie: Oh no! [laughs]
Aki: Well thank your fucking fuck I rolled two 6s.
Rhi: Jesus Christ.
Minna: I rolled 5.
Rhi: Okay.
Aki: Why couldn’t I get the two 6s for the sumo slam?
Rhi: [laughs] I think what happens here— so Val, you’re gonna take two points of stress.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: And that level 2 harm is kicking in. [laughs]
Kim: Oh yeah.
Rhi: I think what happens is you’re like, “Alright, let’s go find the guy!” and then all of a sudden, like, you— the kind of extra sight that you had, the feeling of connection with the ghost field disappears and that metallic taste comes back and it’s like, in your mouth, you can feel it kind of clinging to the inside of your throat. You start coughing and like, put a hand on the wall. And I think that Marquez, the one from that is Marquez coming over and being like, “Okay, that thing that I gave you? Now is the time.” [laughs] So you two aren’t really able to help with the searching because Val is coughing a lot and Marquez is making sure that they are okay.
But Darling and Arlene, you continue down the hall opening up doors. And towards the end of the hall, Darling, you open up a door and there is a person in here. It’s like a jail cell kind of setup. So there’s like an open space and then there’s bars floor to ceiling and then there’s a small room with a bed and other sort of things. And I think you can tell the— there’s like, runes and stuff carved into the bars, that this is not just a locked— you know, this is not just a locked cell, but it is warded. And you can see a figure laying on the bed. But that’s kind of about it. Something looks off about the figure, but you’re not really able to tell exactly what.
Aki: Yes. Um, after I take a look-see-look and I see a whole person that looks a little off, and then I will kind of peer— not really peer, I’m still gonna be— I feel like I should— I will still be close by just in case. So, I call out a little bit, um, and just go:
Aki (as Darling): Wow, that’s a whole person in here! I think your friend is a little fucked up.
Rhi: [laughs]
Dusty: They’re just like:
Dusty: Well, that’s what I thought. I’ll be right there.
Rhi: Yeah. So Marquez, you head down the hallway. Val, I think you’re still kind of leaning on the wall a little bit. And you had downed the vial that Marquez gave you.
Kim: Mm hmm.
Rhi: And you— you can breathe easier, so the level 2 harm is now down to level 1.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: You still have a little bit of a cough, you’re still, like— if you have to do a full sprint, it’s probably gonna go bad for you. But—
Kim: Yeah… don’t ask me to climb a flight of stairs right now.
Rhi: Yeah. But you know, you’re feeling better. But you can hear, um— well actually, you know what Dusty? I’m gonna have you describe what Val is hearing.
Dusty: Uh, I think it’s really like, so I imagine these vials, you take it and so you start to feel better, but then just kind of like, you get like an amplified hearing of just like, all the ghosts around you muttering. And like, it’s not necessarily muttering about you, just muttering in general, but like, you have a very astute awareness of them being all around you.
Kim: Mm hmm. Yeah.
Rhi: So that’s what Val’s dealing with. [laughs]
Kim: It’s all good. It’s fine. It’s fine.
Rhi: And we’ll continue moving down the hall over to Echo, who is heading over to Stephan and Gabriel, I believe?
Josie: Echo just comes up like:
Josie (as Echo): Hello. Welcome to having a body again. I will save you a lot of trouble and say that you do still need some life force, but your body will likely take care of it if you take care of it.
Rhi: Uh, I think that like, when you start talking they like, step back from their hug and you can see that they’re both crying.
Kim: Aww.
Rhi: And Gabriel, uh, will nod and just be like:
Rhi (as Gabriel): Yeah, um, it hasn’t… it hasn’t been that long. I think we’ll probably pick it up again pretty fast.
Josie (as Echo): Well that is good. Did you go here?
Rhi (as Gabriel): Yeah. Yeah, we both did. We were, uh…
Josie (as Echo): I’m going to take a guess and say that Professor Landa picked you out for exceptional ability and gave you an exciting opportunity.
Rhi: I think that Gabriel kinda studies you for a second and you can see a little bit of like a ghostly green flare in his eyes. And then he just looks really sad and goes:
Rhi (as Gabriel): You got the same pitch, huh?
Josie (as Echo): Yeah.
Rhi (as Gabriel): I’m sorry.
Josie (as Echo): I am a bit different from how you all have ended up, but you get the chance to get out of this school before it is… later.
Rhi (as Gabriel): Yeah— oh yeah, yeah, we need to— shit. We need to go. Can we—
Josie (as Echo): The rot goes all the way up.
Rhi (as Gabriel): [sighs] Okay. I think. We might need to— maybe we’ll just leave town? I think we might need to leave town.
Josie (as Echo): That is wise.
Rhi (as Gabriel): We’ll figure something out.
Josie (as Echo): You will likely need papers and money though. I recommend— look for Maurice.
Rhi (as Gabriel): Okay.
Josie (as Echo): You will need new papers.
Rhi (as Gabriel): Yeah, um, okay. Thanks.
Josie (as Echo): Don’t thank me. Thank Dr Cruz.
Rhi: I think that they kinda look down the hall as Marquez is like, going into the room at the end of the hall and like:
Rhi (as Gabriel): Um, could you thank him for us? I think we need to go.
Josie (as Echo): Yes, get out of here.
Rhi (as Gabriel): Okay.
Rhi: And yeah, Gabriel will kind of take Stephan’s hand and they just run off down the hall. And you hear them heading up the stairs. Good luck, ghost boyfriends!
Josie: Yay!
Rhi: [laughs]
Aki: Those bitches gay. Good for them.
Josie: Good for them.
Aki: Good for them.
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Marquez. You enter the room that Darling has called you over to and you see the same thing that she did, this sort of cell that’s set up. There’s wards on the bars. And as you get up close to the bars, you can see inside. And lying on the cot in there, you recognize it is Soto. And when the ghosts had told you, they said “he’s halfway to our side,” you assumed that meant that like, he was dying. He was, you know, injured or ill or something was happening that was killing him. The ghosts were actually being a little more literal than you had previously thought, and as you’re looking in, you can see that parts of his body – an arm, part of a leg, his torso, part of his face – are ghost. They’re phased into the ghost field. They are incorporeal.
Dusty: Oh.
Rhi: Which is, um, how to put this? Fucked up.
Dusty: Yeah.
Rhi: So you need to, one, get past these bars, and two, figure out how to treat this.
Dusty: Yeah. I think Marquez is going to— the observance is like:
Dusty (as Marquez): Ay cabron, I mean you’ve looked worse than this, so we’ll get you out of it. How the hell do I…
Dusty: Gonna look at Darling like:
Dusty (as Marquez): You have any idea how to get past this ward thing?
Dusty: Is it just a ward or if we touch it do we like, blow up or some shit?
Rhi: If you— looking at the runes, it looks like it’s meant to prevent ghosts from passing through. Like, if you touch the bars, it’s probably not gonna hurt you. But it is locked. You’ve got Arlene on hand and Arlene picked a lock earlier, though.
Dusty: Um, this is a Dustin question. One of the special items I have for my thing is Ghost Lock.
Rhi: Oh you have— oh, Ghost Key?
Dusty: Ghost Key, yes.
Rhi: Yes!
Dusty: Which I looked up, this was a thing for ghost doors. But this is like, ghost door adjacent, right?
Rhi: Yeah, yeah. It— a lot of the items in the— a lot of the gear in the Blades book is, the descriptions are deliberately vague. So like, what is a ghost key? Well, it opens a ghost door. What is a ghost door? [shrugging noise]
Kim: [shrugging noise]
Rhi: So yeah. Um, [laughs] I would definitely allow you to use a ghost key to attempt to open this door. I think you are gonna need to make some kind of a roll, because there is a possibility that this could go wrong. Probably Attune.
Dusty: I wanna say, like, it’s a ghost lock. You know?
Rhi: Yeah.
Dusty: I just slip into the spectral tumblers and stuff and just unlock it.
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie: What about the spectral twitters?
Rhi: Thank you. I— that’s where my brain—
Minna: [laughs]
Dusty: I do not speak of it. We do not go there.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: [laughs] Ghost twitter is terrible.
[laughter]
Kim: Can’t be any worse that ghost reddit.
Rhi: Yeah, no, that’s true.
Josie: I mean, you can curate your experience a little more on ghost reddit.
Aki: You’re all acting like—
Kim: I think it depends on the ghost subreddit that you subscribe to.
Aki: Y’all are acting like ghost 4chan doesn’t exist.
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: Oh no!
Minna: [groans]
Dusty: It’s called Hell.
Minna: I was trying so hard not to say that!
Josie: Ugh.
Rhi: Yeah, Dusty is correct; that’s just Hell.
[laughter]
Rhi: So yes, you can attempt this. I’m gonna say risky greater, because you’ve got this ghost key.
Dusty: I got… the highest I got was two 4s.
Rhi: 4. Okay. So, uh, you do it but there’s a consequence. I think that— so, you get it open, but you— this ghost key interacts with the, um, the wards in an unexpected way and you can see that they, like, they flare up in a way that means they’ve sent some kind of signal. So, I am adding three ticks to the clock for Dr Landa Arrives. It’s now at 6 out of 12. But you’ve got the door open.
Dusty: Yeah, I think what this looks like after sitting there with Darling for a second, like:
Dusty (as Marquez): Oh, wait, I think I got something in there.
Dusty: And then they’re like, oh, like a chain that was underneath their shirt and they have just like a couple things on there, you see like a regular key, you see this old, like, antique slightly glowing key which is the ghost key, you see a couple rings on there. So yeah, they’re gonna go there and do that and, like, I put it in, unlock it and then they kind of like feel that and then they’re gonna look at Darling like:
Dusty (as Marquez): Well. We may have less time now. So keep an eye out. I’m gonna make sure they’re alive. Ish. Dead or alive. Not dead.
Aki (as Darling): Mm hmm. Make sure to see if they can walk or not. Cause if not— I mean, I can, I can carry them? Depending on… no, I’ve had a good day actually. I can carry them.
Rhi: [laughs] Alright. So, uh, yeah, Marquez, you can go in and I think as you get close, you know, your footsteps on the concrete floor, Soto kind of like startles awake and is looking around very frantically. You know, one eye in the ghost field, one eye physical. And looks at you and is just like:
Rhi (as Soto): Aw… she didn’t get you too, did she?
Dusty (as Marquez): No, no, no. I’m not a little punk like you.
Rhi (as Soto): [sighs with relief]
Dusty (as Marquez): What the fuck happened?
Rhi (as Soto): I was looking into some new brews we could carry, got in touch with this Landa woman. She was doing some experiments on a thing that would let people phase in and out of the ghost field. She said she wanted my help testing it. I don’t think she has the formula quite right yet.
Dusty (as Marquez): Mostly it’s someone with loud money and an official looking building, that’s your problem.
Rhi (as Soto): To be fair, I didn’t come down here willingly. But yeah, I probably should have vetted her a little more.
Dusty (as Marquez): Well, let’s see what we can fucking do.
Rhi: Yeah. So, you can try giving them the thing that you have, your last vial of treatment, to see if that helps.
Dusty: Yeah, I think Marquez would try that at least at first, just to figure out, well, I mean, you do look fucked up, so take this for now.
Rhi: Yeah, and I think Soto starts to reach for it, realizes that it’s a ghost hand and it won’t do much, so reaches for it with his off hand and uh, without hesitation I think, will down it. Fortunately, his entire mouth is still within the physical realm. And give me… either Attune or a Tinker roll, depending on what, you know, is this more— would you say, scientifically developed or occult developed? Whichever one you think would be the more appropriate thing here.
Dusty: Yeah, no, I think this is definitely a 100% occult thing.
Rhi: Okay. That’s what I figured.
Dusty: Marquez, again, is gonna take off their glasses and they’re gonna like, kind of like get almost into a trance moment where they do start to mutter again, but instead of like, the deep purple, it’s now changing to this, like, very dark blue, to now more of a turquoise. Like, it’s slowly transitioning and they’re trying to figure out what to do. And I will roll Attune, see how good that is.
Rhi: This eye thing is the coolest fucking detail on this character. I love it so much.
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: It’s the cooliest.
Dusty: I’m all about the aesthetic.
Rhi: It’s top tier.
Kim: I’m totally normal.
Dusty: [laughs] Um, I got—
Kim: I’m fine.
Dusty: Two 5s.
Rhi: Okay, so 5. The vial that you gave Soto is working, but it’s slow. And you know, you can see kind of his, his limbs and his face are starting to solidify again. But it takes a while. Like, you just kind of have to wait around while this is happening. So I’m gonna tick up the clock another 2. So we’re at 8 out of 12. But, you know, after about 15 minutes, I think by this point the rest of the group has gathered. Echo has seen Stephan and Gabriel off, Val you’ve kind of— the ghostly whispers have disappeared and you’re feeling steadier on your feet, so everybody’s kind of clustered at the door, waiting. And eventually Soto is looking pretty much solid and will shakily get to his feet and be like:
Rhi (as Soto): Oh, okay. You know, I uh, I wasn’t expecting you to come after me, Marquez.
Dusty (as Marquez): Me neither. I’m not paying rent on that building, so.
Rhi: [laughs]
Rhi (as Soto): Right. [sighs] Should have known it was pragmatics with you more than sentiment.
Dusty (as Marquez): Always pragmatics.
Rhi (as Soto): Gets me the hell outta here, so I’m good with whatever. Who are your friends?
Rhi: He kind of gives sort of a shaky wave to all of you standing outside. [laughs]
Dusty (as Marquez): Uh, they’re new clients.
Rhi (as Soto): Oh. Great. Should we get the hell outta here?
Dusty (as Marquez): Yeah.
Rhi (as Soto): Alright.
Rhi: And I— it just occurred to me that Darling, since you got a critical on your Survey roll and you had expressed an interest in…
Aki: Dollar bills.
Rhi: Finding some stuff, some stuff to swipe, yes. I think that, um, while you’re waiting you just kind of poke around and open up some other doors and you find… I think it’s you find a, like, a container that has a lot of different, um, like high-end occult reagents in it. Different ingredients and spooky occult stuff that you’re pretty sure you can get like, talk to the right people, you can get like two coin for this. And it’s a, you know, seems like Soto can walk, this is a box you can just sorta tuck under an arm like a big briefcase.
Aki: I look at it, I go:
Aki (as Darling): Ooh.
Aki: And then I pick it up and I tuck it under.
Rhi: Alright.
Aki: Or, hear me out.
Rhi: Yes. Yes.
Aki: I take like, I dunno, I grab like, I dunno, bits of fabric or leather or something like that, right? And I form a makeshift backpack for Pearl.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Uh huh?
Aki: And Pearl can carry it.
Rhi: I will allow you to mark something on your load that you brought something for Pearl that you can strap this onto the tiger.
Aki: Yeah. I guess I’ll put it under burglary gear.
Rhi: Yeah. [laughs] So yeah, you grab this and yeah, you all can start making your way out. Soto’s a little slow but is, you know, walking okay. And you head back out, up the stairs, and I think the last—
Josie: Real quick?
Rhi: Yes.
Josie: As we’re leaving, I think Echo wants to take out something to write with, and write on the inside of the door something. Cause I was thinking about ways to maybe sabotage this place.
Aki: Oh.
Josie: But I think the best solution to that is to just leave the door open as we leave.
Rhi: Ah.
Josie: And I want to leave Dr Landa a little message.
Kim: Oh.
Rhi: Yes, what would you like to— what would you like to write? You can absolutely do this. I support it whole-heartedly.
Josie: I’m gonna write on the door, “I’m back. Don’t lose your head.”
Rhi: [laughs] Are you going to sign it with anything or just—
Josie: Nope. I’m gonna trust that she knows who left it.
Rhi: Right, so yeah, you can definitely have a marker or something on you to write that, leave the door standing open. I think we’re just gonna need a roll for all of you to exit the campus without getting caught or—
Josie: Either group Sway or group Prowl?
Rhi: [laughs] Yeah, just once again annoying family moving through campus would be Sway. Prowl would be more just trying to sneak.
Josie: We’re going out for one last dinner. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. Whatever you all wanna do.
Kim: Um, I could probably lead a Sway.
Rhi: Okay, so everybody roll Sway.
[dice shakes and rolls]
Aki: Sorry, that was bad. [laughs]
Rhi: If you don’t have any dots in Sway, you roll 2d6 and take the lower.
Josie: I got a 4.
Rhi: So we got a 4.
Minna: 3.
Kim: I got a 4, 3.
Rhi: Two 3s.
Aki: 2.
Dusty: Um, I got on my lower roll, cause I don’t have anything in Sway, I rolled two 1s.
Rhi: Alright.
Aki: Damn.
Kim: So how much stress is that?
Rhi: 4.
Kim: One, two, three… oh!
Josie: I got a 4 in there.
Kim: Oh I am so close to trauma-ing out.
Josie: [laughs]
Aki: Oh my gosh! [laughs]
Rhi: Who got a 4?
Josie: I did.
Rhi: Okay, so I think that the consequence is going to be I’m gonna add one more point, one extra tick on my Spirit Wardens Track Down Echo clock that I have running in the background.
Josie: Oh. Okay! [laughs]
Rhi: Cause you— you make it off, it’s— it takes you all a little bit longer because you are kind of like, you’re trying to be big, distracting family again, but like, Soto is clearly not doing great, so you’re kind of having to cover for him. You’re all a little on edge and you’re trying to be— you’re trying to avoid directly interacting with people, so you have to take kind of a longer tour through campus. And I think that your note for the good doctor is going to end up eventually tipping off the wrong people.
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: In addition to Dr Landa, so I’m gonna just—
Josie: But hopefully, she scales back or moves or something now that she knows it’s been found.
Rhi: Mm hmm. Yep. So, you are able to exit campus and are— [laughs] are you gonna give Marquez and Soto a ride back?
Aki: Yes.
Josie: Mm hmm.
Aki: And they have to have the tiger sit on them.
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: Yep.
Josie: Pearl’s like, ‘Someone’s in distress. I’m going to purr at them.’
Rhi: Yes. So I think it’s like, it’s four people jammed into the back and tiger laying across all of you. So it is real cozy back there.
Aki: And I get to sit shotgun, because if I don’t, it’ll be really bad.
Rhi: Yeah. [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: You’re too tall for that nonsense. [laughs] But yeah, you all pile into Val’s car and drive back to Corvus Row to drop Marquez and Soto off at the shop. I’m not sure where Marquez lives, but I think Soto has an apartment above the shop, so that’s where he’s going to stagger up to, to sleep off being half a ghost for a week or two. And with that, it is time for downtime.
Josie: Hooray!
Rhi: So, we move into our downtime scenes. I think that, uh, most of them are going to be taking place immediately after, as I think most of the group is following Dr Cruz back into his clinic for various degrees of patching up. So, uh, Arlene gets some additional treatment for her bullet wound and we’re gonna start with Val and Marquez, cause Val, uh, you’ve got some injuries that need treating.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: That I think you’ve probably been neglecting for a bit.
Kim: Eh. [laughs]
Rhi: So yeah, what is… what does this look like with the two of you as Marquez is patching you up?
Kim: I don’t know. What do you give someone who’s been mercury poisoned?
Rhi: [laughs]
Dusty: Uh, well. Marquez is gonna like, get like a, um, a flashlight? That’s a thing, y’all invented the flashlight or something, right?
Rhi: Yeah. Mm hmm, yeah. Flashlights are available at this time.
Dusty: Okay, so yeah, you’re getting a flashlight pointed at both your eyes so they can see. They’re going to like:
Dusty (as Marquez): Um, well. Okay. I’m going to give you two things.
Dusty: They’re first gonna hand them a bucket. And then—
Kim: [laughs]
Dusty: Then they’re gonna hand them a small vial like:
Dusty (as Marquez): Okay. Drink this. Stay near the bucket. It’ll get rid of all that mercury or venus or whatever the hell they call it.
Kim (as Val): Am I supposed to throw up in this bucket?
Dusty (as Marquez): I’d prefer you don’t throw up on my floor.
Rhi: [laughs]
Dusty (as Marquez): Bucket, sink, the office next door, whatever.
Kim (as Val): Lovely.
Dusty (as Marquez): Mm hmm. You have anything else going on? The other one was shot, so I don’t know if you’ve been shot, too.
Kim (as Val): No. No, I uh, you know… just the one thing. Yep.
Dusty (as Marquez): Well, okay. Then it’s just take that. If you need any more of the vials, I’ll have some more in a couple days, so you can just take that.
Dusty: And I think as Marquez is turning around they will wash their hands, like, you notice again that chain because this is after him putting it away. You do see, like, the key and then the rings on there. The rings are very plain silver and golden rings.
Kim: Hmm.
Rhi: Pretty… pretty obviously wedding rings. Is that the implication here?
Dusty: Yes.
Josie: Aww.
Kim: Oh no!
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: [whines]
Aki: Shit!
Rhi: So, uh, Val, you gonna take the medicine and deal with the consequences?
Kim: I’ll take the medicine, yep.
Rhi: Alright. So I think that this next conversation is happening out in the hall [laughs] to avoid having the sound of Val retching in the background. Marquez can step outside, give Val some privacy while they’re dealing with mercury poisoning. And Darling? I assume you’re lurking out here?
Aki: Yes. Probably like, just a general wait, but like also, nothing like I’m… I don’t know. It’s very laid back. Not really any urgency, so it’s sort of like I wait for, um, Marquez to come to me.
Dusty: Yeah. I think like maybe after this they’ll see you hanging around and like:
Dusty (as Marquez): So, like, what’s your tiger’s name?
Aki (as Darling): Oh, her name is Pearl. Pearl, say hi.
Aki: That’s a whole— it’s– Pearl is not an adult tiger, but she’s still big— she’s a teenager, right? So she’s still big. [laughs]
Dusty: [sings to tune of Teenage Dirtbag] Just a teenage tiger…
Aki and Rhi: [laugh]
Rhi: And for full visuals, Pearl is a light grey with dark grey stripes tiger.
Aki: Yes. Very— there’s a bit of a wispiness about her as well.
Dusty: Yeah? That’s really cool.
Dusty (as Marquez): I’m glad they’re helping you. I don’t know what to say, I’ve never seen a fucking spectral tiger.
Rhi: [laughs] The— the fucking spectral tiger headbutts your knee affectionately. Seems to be wanting pets.
Aki (as Darling): The full proper term was umbral tiger, but at the same time— like... it’s kinda funny that we were dealing with ghosts, because the most ghosts that I deal with is this one. And she is not a ghost, she’s just, you know, she can walk through walls. [clears throat] Actually, um, would you happen to be free right now?
Dusty (as Marquez): Um…
Dusty: They’re gonna like, I don’t know, take out the pocket watch, just like:
Dusty (as Marquez): Well, the medicine I gave your friend is gonna take another, like, three minutes or so to activate, so yeah.
Aki (as Darling): Wonderful. Um… would you happen to have, or any way to get a specific type of medicine for me? It’s… it’s Tycherosi of origin but, uh, well. I don’t talk to doctors much.
Dusty (as Marquez): I know. It’s like the whole thing, you needed me. The ghost gave me the chisme, I know. Um, I have my networks, so I can maybe get you something. But it depends what you’re looking for.
Aki (as Darling): Uh, yes. See, uh, well… I don’t remember its name, per se. I mostly remember what it does, its smell, which probably makes this a lot harder. Um… basically, uh, it smells very strong. A bit herbal but mostly like when you take a whiff of it, it burns your eyes a little bit. And when you use it, it opens up the sinuses like all hell. And obviously don’t put it in your eyes, or anything else it pretty much works on, I remem— oh, that shits work perfectly and I’m fairly certain it can do something with bullet wounds.
Dusty (as Marquez): Huh. Well, I could make something like that. I would just need to, like— there’s some stuff that I can’t get easily in the city, so I would need, like, you know, some funds to pay someone to get it.
Aki (as Darling): Oh yes, of course.
Dusty (as Marquez): But I can probably get enough to make a couple batches. It would just take time at this point.
Aki (as Darling): Ah yes, it’d be lovely. And yes, I have some savings. But I would like it very much if that is something you can do.
Dusty (as Marquez): Yeah. Yeah, no, I could do it. Just give me a little bit of time. I mean, you know where to find me. I know where to find you. So.
Rhi: Alright. And I think from there, as Marquez opens up the door again to go check on Val, um, and I think Arlene is just kind of hanging out in one of the chairs in the hallway and Darling will probably join her. Uh, we fade out and go over to the one member of the party who can’t really make use of a doctor’s services. Where do we find Echo?
Josie: I think we find Echo in the garage. Uh, the main sitting space table has been taken over with books and leaflets and some big maps, because I think to figure out the Relic of Glutton stuff that eventually that was pointing her at Devil’s Tooth, so she kind of had to learn how to read nautical maps for this. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: Um, and I think she’s like, solving some sort of equation to like, narrow down its location based on like, the correspondence and what she’s— what little she’s been able to read in books.
Rhi: Yeah. And if I recall correctly, you have reached out to, um… what was her name? Your one— your favored contact.
Josie: Oh, yeah. Alondra.
Rhi: Alondra. So, I think that you, um, in the midst of all these papers is a letter that you got from Alondra with you’re trying to like, figure out the location, because Alondra has given you another piece of information that’s kind of now motivating you to be like, ‘I gotta figure this out’.
Josie: Mm hmm.
Rhi: So, I know part of this object, but Josie, give me a crafted item that might be used in some kind of ritual.
Josie: I think it’s a set of jawbones. Like, it’s the jaw bones and then like the upper jaw, but it’s separated off from the rest of the skull. And I think those are set around the rim of a bowl to pour stuff in, for ritual purposes.
Rhi: Okay. That’s very— that lines up perfectly with part of the idea I had, cause I think that the bowl, the rest of it?
Josie: Uh huh?
Rhi: So it’s these two big jawbones around the rim of the bowl, and the bowl itself, from what Alondra is telling you, is made of like, bones and scales and teeth from other leviathans that have been fused together and then it’s topped with these jawbones.
Josie: Oh shit.
Rhi: And that’s what The Vulture is after. And the last thing in Alondra’s letter is that, um, she says, you know, from her divinations The Vulture is very close to finding the location of this. If you want to get it first, you need to move now. Good luck.
Josie: I think Echo looks over at the letter and sighs.
Josie (as Echo): I guess we need to.
Rhi: Yep. And I think that as we kind of zoom out, looking down at this map with your markings on it and you’ve got— you have several lines that all intersect over the prison on Devil’s Tooth island. And that’s where we’re gonna end!
Josie: Yay!
Kim: Oh boy.
Minna: [screaming]
Rhi: [sings comedy stinger] Dusty, thank you so much for being here and joining us.
Minna: Yes, this was great!
Dusty: Thank you so much for having me.
## Outro [00.50.33]
Thanks for joining us! The Whisky Jays will return in two weeks. The City That Never Dies is a Clever Corvids production. Visit our website at clevercorvids.net, our Twitter @clever_corvids, and our Tumblr at tumblr.com/clevercorvids.
Dr. Marquez Cruz was played by Dusty. Dusty is a queer Latine performer on many other RPG podcasts, including Goblets and Gays and Bring Your Own Mech. Follow them on Twitter at dustehill.
The City That Never Dies is GM’d and edited by Rhi. She loves dice and daydreaming about RPG characters. Check out her business Skill Check for copyediting and accessibility consulting for the RPG community at rpgskillcheck.net.
Arlene Graeme is played by Minna Reilly. Minna is a lover of collaborative and audio-based storytelling. You can hear her elsewhere in Demon: Love and Hellfire. You can also find her on Twitter @mynaminnarr, where she is almost certainly talking about fanfiction.
Darling Tsering is played by Aki. Aki is a queer, 1st generation Asian-Canadian game designer, tabletop performer, and all around content creator. Find her on Twitter @akinomii_art for more TTRPG Content.
Echo is played by Josie. Josie is a lesbian and a literal actual dragon. You can hear her GMing another Clever Corvids show, Demon: Love and Hellfire. You can find her on Twitter @dragongirljosie, the Love and Hellfire Twitter @Love_Hellfire, and check out her art at josie-art.com.
Valerie Sullivan is played by Kim. Kim is a bisexual illustrator and performer. Find him on Twitter and Tumblr @kimdianajones.
Our opening and closing theme music is from Something by Kai Engel and is used under a Creative Commons license. Blades in the Dark is the creation of John Harper and is published by Evil Hat Productions.
If you’d like to dedicate a personal message to a friend, family member, gaming group, or other special Clever Corvids fan in your life, you can do so right here! Visit clevercorvids.net and click on Jumbotron Messages under the Support Us menu to buy your very own message. As always, thanks to all our Patreon backers, whose ongoing support makes this show possible.
## Blooper [00.53.19]
Aki: What the fuck did I miss? I was gone for five minutes.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah, Val found the ghost room and inhaled aerosolized mercury.
Kim: It’s fine.
Josie: The ghost room part isn’t unusual, it’s the aerosolized mercury.
Rhi: Yeah, that’s the weird part. Um…