Echo knows the location of the relic that her nemesis, The Vulture, is hunting down. The only problem? It's locked up somewhere in a prison on a volcano run by a cult that worships a maybe-real maybe-dead leviathan living under said volcano. What could possibly go wrong?
Echo knows the location of the relic that her nemesis, The Vulture, is hunting down. The only problem? It's locked up somewhere in a prison on a volcano run by a cult that worships a maybe-real maybe-dead leviathan living under said volcano.
What could possibly go wrong?
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Rad folks/orgs to follow this Black History Month!
Lexi - @blackgirlmage
Dare - @dare2dreamrpg
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Transcribed by Raina Harper.
## Intro
Rhi: Welcome back to Imperial City. As always, thank you so much for joining us. You know the opening show requests by now: leave us a review, buy some merch, or support us on Patreon! Patrons can hear our exclusive Noirlandia two-parter, in which Josie, Minna, and I solved a murder mystery set in Imperial City. It was a ton of fun to play! For just a dollar a month, you can listen to that, in addition to all sorts of other cool exclusives.
Next, Aki is 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: Tomorrow is the start of Black History Month. We’ll be boosting events in the TTRPG space all month long, but you should also follow these awesome Black creators so you can support what they’re making this month and all year long. Check out Lexi at blackgirlmage, Dare at dare2dreamrpg, Amihan at therosecleric, Austin at sailorsctaustin, Noir at TheNoirEnigma, as well as orgs like Huetopia and Apochromatic Unlimited. Links to all these awesome folks can be found in the show notes!
Now then. Let’s get started, shall we?
## Story Continues [00.02.00]
Rhi: The island of Devil’s Tooth sits in the waters beyond Imperial City. It is a dormant volcano—black slopes sloping gently up to a caldera that has been quiet and still for centuries. But, the island itself is not abandoned.
Jutting out of the side of the volcano is a series of large sharp square buildings, the Devil’s Tooth Prison, where prisoners who are too dangerous or politically inconvenient to be sent to the work camps go. Among the people of Imperial City, especially its criminal class, it is a known fact that no one ever comes back from Devil’s Tooth.
We fade in on the garage where Echo has just finished explaining to everyone that y’all need to go to Devil’s Tooth.
Minna: Ha!
Rhi: The Vulture is hunting for a relic that is held by a cult that occupies the island. Echo knows what the relic is and knows that it’s somewhere in the prison complex. It’s unclear what the Vulture wants with it, but certainly nothing good.
Josie: Can you remind me what the relic is?
Rhi: Yes I can. It is a large bowl made of fused leviathan bone and teeth and claws, and it is rimmed with open jawbones of some massive creature.
Josie: Right.
Josie (as Echo): So, I understand if you all do not want to do this, but either way, I need a boat.
Kim (as Val): Well, on that I might be able to help, but uh… I don't know. This seems pretty risky.
Josie (as Echo): Yes. It would be one thing just to steal something, but we are breaking into and out of a prison, potentially.
Kim (as Val): I mean… I don’t even really know anyone who’s cracked it. I don't know anyone who’s come out. I don't know… A lot of question marks here on this one.
Josie (as Echo): Yes.
Aki (as Darling): I mean, I’m no bitch, I’ll do it.
Kim (as Val): Hey! I’m not chickening out here, I’m just trying to figure out logistics.
Josie (as Echo): To be fair, I do not think Darling has tried yet, so perhaps it is breakable. It just hasn’t found the right person.
Aki (as Darling): Exactly. Impassible is just another form of passible.
Josie (as Echo): I… do not think that’s how that works, but I understand.
Aki (as Darling): That is exactly how it works. I don’t tolerate this quitter attitude.
Kim (as Val): Listen. All I’m saying is that we really need to have a solid plan if we’re gonna figure this out.
Josie (as Echo): Yes. We might need to take some time to get what we need.
Kim (as Val): How much time do you think we have?
Josie (as Echo): I don't know, but I feel like I would know if she had acquired it already.
Kim (as Val): Hmm…
Josie (as Echo): But, she has been at it for several months now, so I can’t imagine her plans will wait too much longer.
Kim (as Val): Just how dangerous is this doodad anyway?
Josie (as Echo): Um… not sure, but I’m gonna hazard a guess at eating an island bad.
Aki (as Darling): Eating an island?
Josie (as Echo): Well, it’s made out of teeth and jawbones, and it’s called the Relic of Glutton, and it’s made out of leviathan parts, so I imagine it might be able to eat what a leviathan can. I don't know, I’m just spit-balling here.
Kim (as Val): Ugh… great.
Aki (as Darling): Is your relic alive?
Josie (as Echo): No idea.
Aki (as Darling): Oh, I see. There is a certain level of intrigue now.
Minna (as Arlene): Animal, vegetable or mineral?
Rhi: Leviathans are none of the above.
[laughter]
Minna: This was entirely a 20 Questions joke.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie (as Echo): It does confuse me because I’m not sure what she would want with such a blatantly bad thing, she tends to work more subtly, but…
Minna (as Arlene): Well, you could set it on something that you want eaten.
Josie (as Echo): Yes, or maybe I’m completely wrong about what it does.
Kim (as Val): [sighs] Won’t know until we try it out, right?
Josie (as Echo): I highly recommend against using it.
Kim (as Val): Yeah, it’s probably for the best.
Josie: The dichotomy of Kim’s characters.
[giggling]
Rhi: Somewhere in Duskwall, Blaire just sat bolt upright.
Minna: “I’m going to press the button.”
Josie: “I need to start the world-ending artifact. I need to do it.”
Kim: Oh, she’s gonna have to be pinned down.
Rhi: “I can sense it!”
Kim: [in Blaire’s voice] “I need it! I need it!”
Rhi: So, Echo is correct in that your first hurdle is you need a way onto the island. I can tell you a little of what is common knowledge aside from it’s essentially the high-security prison that nobody comes back from.
The only official access to the island is a ferry that heads out from the docks. It goes out a couple times a week to carry supplies and sometimes prisoners, new prisoners, and it’s run by the prison so it’s heavily guarded. There’s not really a lot of staff turnover. You know, not impossible to sneak onto, but difficult. Or, you could try to get your own boat and sneak on that way.
Or, the other thing that you know is that it is outside of the Imperial City lightning barrier. It has its own lightning barrier, but there is a gap across open ocean where you are outside of the lightning barrier, and there is a—
Kim: Oh…
Aki: And what does—? Oh, sorry, go ahead.
Rhi: Yeah. That means… The lightning barriers are what keeps the ghosts and various monstrosities of the Deathlands from overrunning the population of any given city in the Empire, or at least in Akoros. So, people do it, the Breakers make travels across the Deathlands, it’s not impossible, but it is very high-risk. There is a reason that the Breakers can make really good money carrying stuff through the Deathlands. It’s because nobody else is crazy enough to do that.
Kim: Hmm.
Rhi: Also, nobody else has horses that can fight ghosts. That’s a definite advantage that they have.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: So that’s kind of the starting knowledge that you have. You’re gonna need some kind of boat access and you’re gonna have to contend with the fact that, for part of this trip, you’re gonna be completely exposed to whatever is out in the Void Sea. So, on that note, y’all wanna start gathering information?
Kim: Yeah.
Josie: It is entirely possible we may need to spend time acquiring what we need to go there.
Rhi: I will say, Josie, I know it was a couple sessions ago, you had that acquire asset banked.
Josie: Oh yeah!
Rhi: Yeah. You never used it…
Josie: Whoops.
Rhi: …so it’s still out there. You can use it if you’d like. Otherwise, if folks would like to do other acquire asset rolls, you’ll either have to spend crew rep or coin to gain access to downtime activities outside of downtime, essentially. Or you can just do regular gathering of info.
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Josie: I want to get us a boat.
Rhi: Alright. [laughs]
Kim: Yep. First order of business.
Rhi: Yeah, you’re gonna use that acquire asset?
Josie: Uh-huh.
Rhi: Alright. The acquire asset, you’re gonna roll the crew’s tier. You’re a Tier 1 gang, so this will just be a 1d6 roll.
Josie: I got a 1.
Kim: Oh…
Rhi: Oof. Okay. That would get you a Tier 0 boat. You can spend coin to improve the level of your boat.
Josie: Uh-huh…
Rhi: But right now, basically what you’re able to find is essentially a rowboat.
Josie: Yeah, that’s not gonna cut it.
Rhi: No. It’s big enough that you’d all fit… but it’s a rowboat. [laughs]
Josie: What would 2 coin get us?
Rhi: Okay, so if you wanna spend 2 coin, that will push it up to a Tier 2 boat. That bumps you up two tier levels. If you’re willing to throw some money around, pay some bribes, that sort of thing, you can get what is basically… Oh! Actually, you’re probably paying off the Queen’s Guard to borrow a boat from them.
Josie: Oh! Okay.
Rhi: They do some overseas smuggling and they’ve got what are essentially speedboats that they will use to dip in and out of the bay. This is Tier 2, so it’s a speedboat, it’s already prepped for this kind of exiting the lightning barrier trip, so it’s got some stuff on it that will kind of help pierce through the lightning barrier without just frying everybody onboard, and some wards against spirits. You’re kind of warned that this isn’t gonna hold off everything, you need to be vigilant, but it will deflect your garden variety ghosts.
Josie: Uh-huh.
Rhi: I think that in addition to the coin, Echo is enough of a known quantity with the Queen’s Guard now because of your vice, your obligation vice—or your faith vice, rather. They know you, which is kind of the only reason that they’re willing to loan you this boat, but they’re also like, if you come back without this boat, we’re gonna have problems. [laughs]
Josie: Uh-huh. Do we know how long of a ride it is out to Devil’s Tooth?
Rhi: It’s not a very long journey. It’s about an hour, if that.
Josie: Oh, okay.
Rhi: Yeah. It’s not super far, but—
Josie: Okay, so you can like see it from the coastline.
Rhi: Mm-hmm. Yeah. It’s fairly close. It’s just that, of that hour, 50 minutes of it are spent on unprotected water.
Josie: Right.
Rhi: Which most people avoid at all costs.
Josie: Yeah. In that case, I think this boat is sufficient, so I’m good with that.
Rhi: Yeah, it’s not a multiday journey or anything. I’m basing a lot of this on a dormant volcanic island that I visited in New Zealand. It’s like a 25 minute ferry ride outside of Auckland. So long story short, you have a boat.
Josie (as Echo): Thank you, Tamara. The good news is, if I’m making it back, the boat’s making it back.
Rhi (as Tamara): That’s usually how it works.
Josie (as Echo): Yes.
Rhi (as Tamara): I don’t know of anybody who’s successfully made that swim.
Josie (as Echo): I mean, there’s a first time for everything, I suppose.
Rhi (as Tamara): … Bring back the boat.
Josie (as Echo): Yes, I will bring back the boat. Sorry, I was just joking.
Rhi: [laughs] I think she knows you were joking but is also just like… don’t, don’t try and swim back. Just don’t. Alright, so you all have a boat. This is great. It’s a pretty well-fitted boat at that. What other sorts of prep would you all like to do?
Aki: Oh, I know exactly what I wanna do. Hehehe.
Rhi: Uh-oh.
Aki: I want to get us gear.
Kim: Ah.
Rhi: Okay. What gear are you thinking?
Aki: I have a tiny list, so I’m gonna list it off of what I think is the most important to the least. Okay?
Rhi: Okay.
Aki: Outfits.
Rhi: Mm-hmm. Disguises, you mean?
Aki: Yeah. Sure. [laughs] But yes, something to help us either blend in with the environment or something that, if we know what a guard uniform looks like, then that would also make sense.
Rhi: Okay.
Aki: You know what I mean? The outfits are like… There’s quite a variety of what we could pick from, but also not really.
Rhi: Camouflage of some kind.
Aki: Yes.
Rhi: Okay, that makes sense.
Aki: I would also like to find a… How am I gonna say this? You know, I’m just gonna say it very basically. I’d like to find a shotgun with ghost bullets.
Rhi: Let me look at your character sheet. You can probably have that without having to acquire it.
Minna: I feel like… Don’t you just have that?
Rhi: Yeah, you have electroplasmic ammunition, and I will allow you for a large weapon can be a shotgun.
Aki: Oh, delicious.
Rhi: Yeah, you can just have that. You don’t have to go hunting for it.
Aki: Oh! Okay, nice-nice-nice. This one is more of a question than me really going to look for it, I guess. Can we see ghosts just fine or would we need something for this? Because it’s night. I’m assuming that already hinders one’s eyes. If there was any form of night vision. There’s magic, but it’s also 1920s, so I don't know what 1920s magic is gonna get me.
Rhi: Yeah. Anyone can attune to the ghost field. The Attune skill can be used by anyone. Whispers are a little better at it. They have abilities that support looking into it and manipulating it, but anyone can just kind of focus and look into the ghost field. So, any of you could see ghosts, you just have to concentrate a little.
Aki: Concentrate a lot on my end. I have nothing in Attune.
Rhi: I usually… unless there are extenuating circumstances where doing so would provoke some kind of threat or risk… just looking into the ghost field, I usually don’t call for a roll. To me, it feels like you’re just unfocusing your eyes a little.
I treat attuning to the ghost field and just looking into it as something that’s fairly low-effort. Like, if you’re trying to do that while you’re dangling from your fingertips off the roof of a skyscraper, yeah, I’ll probably ask for a roll because there’s a lot of risk all of a sudden, but just looking into the ghost field, I usually just let people do it for free.
Aki: Oh, okay. Yeah. Just really look into it. Because I gotta see what I’m shooting to a degree. Right?
Rhi: Mm-hmm! Yeah.
Aki: It’s also, like, small boat in the middle of the night, probably. I don’t wanna miss.
Rhi: Yeah.
Aki: Okay. This is my other question. How the fuck am I gonna bring Pearl on this?
Rhi: Well, it’s a large enough boat. It’s a speedboat. It’s large enough that you can all fit with Pearl. If you’re trying to go in posing as guards, that will be a bit of a challenge, but if you’re just sneaking onto the island and into the prison, the presence or not of a giant tiger is not really gonna sway things one way or another. Pearl also does have the ability to phase through things, so even though she can’t do it on command, she can still narratively just kind of enter a scene whenever.
Aki: That’s true. That’s true. Okay, yeah, so I guess just outfits (laughs).
Rhi: Okay. Yeah! No, those are all very good questions and good thoughts. Just, fortunately, most of it is stuff you already have access to.
Aki: Yeah, I didn’t know that. I thought I would have to go buy more guns.
Rhi: Nope. A large weapon covers all manner of crimes. [laughs] So, in this case, this is also gonna be acquire asset, so you’ll need to either spend 1 coin or spend 1 point of rep from the crew sheet. I will say, you all are full up on rep and you’ll get more rep this score, so spending rep isn’t really gonna hurt you.
Aki: I was gonna say, I would like to spend rep, because… we can make it back. Look at what we’re doing. We gotta try really hard to not make anything back.
Rhi: Yeah. Here’s the thing. If you all manage to pull this off, you get into and back out of Devil’s Tooth with some kind of proof that you did so… that is something that, to the best of your knowledge, no other criminal organization has been able to pull off. That’s gonna be huge. Unfortunately, it may lead to more jobs where people are like ‘hey, can you get in here again? You did it once.’
Josie: [giggles]
Rhi: But regardless, it’s impressive. That is something that’s gonna get you a lot of rep if you pull this off. So yeah, you can definitely spend 1 rep. Then, go ahead and roll a d6.
Aki: That would be a 4.
Rhi: Okay. That will get you Tier 1 camo which I think in this case is gonna be stuff that is gonna blend in with the environment. You’re not able to get something that resembles the guard uniforms, but you’re able to basically get a nice collection of stuff in various shades of black and dark gray that will blend into the… What’s it called? …basalt, I don't know how you pronounce it, slopes of the volcano.
That’s mostly what you’re gonna be trying to blend in with, this black volcanic rock, so you get just a lot of black clothing and stuff to cover up hair and faces, things that might be more visible. So, you’ve got environmental camo.
Aki: The first thing I do is put Val in it.
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim: Oh really?
Aki: Yes. Hot pants! Hot pants! Hot pants!
[laughter]
Rhi: No! That’s the opposite of camo. You have to cover up.
Aki: Shush, shush, no, no…
Kim: It’s invisible pants.
Aki: Yeah, this is… this is fantasy. Let me make my believe, damn it.
[laughter]
Kim: I don’t think they’re very flattering on them.
Rhi: I don't know, I feel like Val has the confidence to make it work.
Kim: It’s camp.
Minna: I feel like you’ve just suggested that Val has no ass.
Kim: Val has… Hmm. Well, actually, I never thought about it. Now I have to look at the character art because I don't remember if I gave Val an ass or not. Knowing me, I thought I would.
Rhi: Yeah. I believe that Val can make it work if they believe in themselves.
Kim: Yeah.
Minna: And they do.
Kim: They do. Absolutely. Yeah, no, they’d find a way to pull it off.
Rhi: So, you all have a boat and you’ve got disguises. Val and Arlene, is there anything that you all would like to do in terms of supplies or info gathering?
Kim: Yeah. I had an idea for Gather Info. I would like to go around the criminal underworld. Maybe Val does their circuit on the Gambler’s Gloom or whatever. I would like to ask around about people’s experience with Devil’s Tooth and see if anybody has ever attempted it, if anybody has successfully escaped, if anybody has ever broken in… you know, just goss around.
Rhi: Got it. Yeah. Go ahead and give me a roll.
Kim: Okay. It seems like a Consort to me.
Rhi: Yes, I would agree.
Kim: And we have a +1 to Gather Info. Let’s do this.
Rhi: You sure do.
Kim: Alright, that’s a 6.
Rhi: Look at you, remembering rules.
Minna: [giggles]
Rhi: Nice! Okay.
Kim: Right? Aren’t you so proud of me?
Rhi: With a 6, let me think… So yeah, you’re chatting up folks at the Gambler’s Gloom. After a little while, one of the staff, one of the dealers comes over and leans on the bar next to you.
Rhi (as dealer): I heard you were asking about Devil’s Tooth.
Kim (as Val): Indeed.
Rhi (as dealer): You planning on making an attempt at cracking it?
Kim (as Val): Can neither confirm nor deny.
Rhi (as dealer): Heh. Well, if it’s of any interest, I made a similar attempt before my untimely demise.
Kim (as Val): Oh did you?
Rhi: Recalling that pretty much all of the staff at the Gambler’s Gloom are possessor ghosts.
[laughter]
Kim: Right. Yup.
Rhi (as dealer): Yeah… I tis why I’m here.
Kim (as Val): Ah.
Rhi (as dealer): It didn’t end well, but I do know a bit.
Rhi: What they are able to tell you… it doesn’t inspire confidence. This person went in with their crew to try a rescue. Basically, one member of their crew got sent to Devil’s Tooth and they mounted a rescue mission. None of them made it out.
Kim: Hmm. Bummer.
Rhi: Yeah. But, what you learn is that the place has a lot of guards, as you would expect with a prison, and a lot of spark-craft security. Basically no wards or occult security outside of the lightning barrier. Which is weird, you would expect that a prison would have more, however this prison is run by a cult.
Kim: Hmm.
Rhi: What they’re able to tell you is that the Cult of He Who Devours, also known as the Glutton, has basically completely taken over the prison. They pay off the right people in Imperial City to avoid inspections or questions, so they have run of the place. The prisoners are kept pretty isolated from each other so that they can’t organize and rebel, and a lot of the prisoners are used for their, you know, rituals and sacrifices to their god.
Kim: Ouch.
Rhi: Yeah, which is why no one ever comes back.
Kim: [seethes] Yeah…
Rhi: Basically, they tell you what happened to them and their crew is that some of them got caught and presumably imprisoned. A few of them were making a run back to their boat and just got shot. The guards overwhelmed them. They tripped some alarms and everything went sideways. They’re oddly just sort of calm about it. Sometimes a job breaks bad, and you know, if you trip the alarms in a rich person’s house that you’re trying to rob, that’s one thing, but you trip the alarms in a place like that, and… well, that’s pretty much the end of it.
Kim: Yeah. Since—
Rhi: You can also ask follow-up questions since you got a 6.
Kim: I was just going to. Yeah, since I rolled a 6.
Rhi: Yes, hit me.
Kim: Does this possessor ghost remember the layout of this place well enough that, if I were to take a napkin and a pen and draw it out as they dictated, I would be able to figure out a layout?
Rhi: Oh… Hmm. Yeah, on a 6, yeah. They can give you… it’s not a floor-by-floor, room-by-room breakout, but they can kind of tell you. because it’s a multi-building complex. They can tell you what each building is. “The warden’s office is in this building. There are security stations here, here, and here.” They can kind of give you high-level info.
I’m not gonna go into details because we’ll just establish it as we go, but basically… Let me write this down. I’m gonna give you +1 effect for navigating through the prison.
Kim: Dope. Okay, great.
Rhi: So, yeah. Basically this ghost is like, as the conversation is wrapping up…
Rhi (as dealer): I’m guessing that you wouldn’t be doing this unless it was something real important.
Kim (as Val): [exhales] You got me.
Rhi (as dealer): Just… I don’t recommend it.
Kim (as Val): I wouldn’t be doing this if it didn’t mean something to someone close to me, so here we are.
Rhi (as dealer): Ah. Well, good luck.
Kim (as Val): Yeah, I’ll need it.
Rhi (as dealer): If you make it out alive, your next drink’s on me, and if you don’t… we’re always looking for new staff.
Kim (as Val): [chuckles] Yeah, I’ll bet.
Rhi: Alright. That’s actually a good chunk of info for you there.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: Arlene? Anything you’d like to do to try and prep for this?
Minna: Boy oh boy, how do we even prep for this? [laughs] Do we know where the thing we’re looking for is at all?
Josie: Not a clue.
Rhi: Not specifically. In the prison is as precise as Echo was able to get it.
Minna: In the prison. I wonder if we can try and figure out at least where secure areas or where the cult lives in the prison.
Rhi: From what Val has learned, the cult has the entire prison under their control. Another angle you could take is investigating, like trying to get a little more info on the cult itself, because the cult is not… They probably have the most power on Devil’s Tooth, but there are members of that cult in the city.
Minna: Oh, I’d love to figure that out. I don't know who I would approach. Let me see if I have contacts.
Rhi: Yeah. Also, don’t forget the crew contacts as well.
Minna: I was just gonna check there because I don't think my contacts work particularly well. We do have a Surge occultist who might be familiar with other culty people.
Rhi: Yeah. That’s the last of our Kickstarter-submitted crew contacts, Autumn.
Minna: Do we know literally anything about Autumn yet?
Rhi: I am pulling up my notes to find that stuff. [laughs] Hang on.
Minna: Thank you.
Rhi: Autumn, Autumn, Autumn… So yeah, I think what you know about Autumn is that she is, yeah, an occultist, a Whisper, but one who interacts with the ghost field and the electroplasm that powers the city in a weird way. It’s sort of a new type of occultist that is straddling the line between a lot of the developing technology and the arcane.
Minna: A hacker.
Rhi: I mean, my notes here do say electro-hacker, yes.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: So, Autumn was submitted by Kickstarter backer Vi. Sorry it took so long to introduce her. Autumn is in her mid-teens, like 16 or 17, and estranged from her noble family, probably because of all the occult stuff she’s into. She’s blind. A little naïve, but always manages to get out of whatever weirdness she’s landed herself in.
Minna: What I’m hearing is that this person is shaped like a friend for Arlene.
Rhi: Uh-huh! So yeah, you wanna chat with Autumn?
Minna: Yes please.
Rhi: Alright. In the past, when you’ve met with Autumn, it’s usually been at one of the city’s parks. She likes walking through there while talking. She is waiting for you under a street lamp when you arrive. She turns to you at the sound of your approach.
Minna (as Arlene): Hey!
Rhi (as Autumn): Oh, hey Arlene.
Minna (as Arlene): Hi Autumn. How’s it going?
Rhi (as Autumn): Oh, pretty good. I’ve been in some very interesting experiments with radio recently.
Minna (as Arlene): Oh?
Rhi (as Autumn): Yeah. The way that radio waves travel, it intersects with the ghost field, and sometimes you can hear things through radios that aren’t what the signal was tuned to. I’m trying to figure out if I can build a radio that I can tune to the ghost field on purpose. Most of the time it’s an accident.
Minna (as Arlene): That would be neat.
Rhi (as Autumn): Mm-hmm. It’s very much a work in progress. So far I’ve just ended up with a few possessed radios.
Minna (as Arlene): [laughs] Oh boy, I’m sure that’s fun. At least they can’t move much?
Rhi (as Autumn): Eh, you’d think that. I have a few broken radios too.
Minna (as Arlene): Hmm.
Rhi (as Autumn): Anyway! What can I do for you?
Minna (as Arlene): So… what do you know about weird cults? There’s an actual exact real cult I mean. I don’t mean just generally.
Rhi (as Autumn): Yeah. I know a fair bit, but if you can be more specific?
Minna (as Arlene): So, they’re real into this guy called He Who Devours.
Rhi: Give me a roll and let’s see what Autumn knows.
Minna: I’m assuming that’s a Consort.
Rhi: Uh-huh.
Minna: That’s a 6.
Rhi: Okay. Let me open up my world building notes. Where do those live? Here we go. What do I have about this group already? I don’t think it’s a lot… It’s three lines! [laughs] Time to wing it. Okay, so Autumn makes a face, wrinkles up her nose.
Rhi (as Autumn): Ew. What are you doing with those guys?
Minna (as Arlene): I know.
Rhi (as Autumn): Okay, so yeah… if you’re talking weird, they’re real weird. The base of it is they think that there is a dead leviathan underneath the island and they think it’s still hungry, so they feed it… with sacrifices.
Minna (as Arlene): Hmm. So, if they had a weird jaw thing that mostly wanted to eat, do you think they would worship it or use it?
Rhi (as Autumn): Use it. It would definitely be—
Rhi: [laughs] Autumn keeps making faces, like ‘oh, these questions are getting more and more specific, oh no. I don’t like whatever it is you’re planning.’ [laughs] But regardless, she’s like:
Rhi (as Autumn): That sounds like something that they would use, probably as part of sacrifices. There’s some smaller groups of them here in the city still. My understanding is they don’t do a lot of human sacrifices here in the city, because it’s hard to get away with it, but I’ve heard some weird shit happens out on Devil’s Tooth. Real weird.
Minna (as Arlene): Yeah, about that…
Rhi (as Autumn): Oh no…
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi (as Autumn): Oh man…
Minna (as Arlene): So, where do you think they keep it?
Rhi (as Autumn): [exhales]
Minna (as Arlene): Just if you had to guess.
Rhi (as Autumn): You guys are real cool, trying to go to Devil’s Tooth… ugh. Okay.
Minna (as Arlene): The less time we have to spend looking, the more likely we are to come back and be cool here.
Rhi (as Autumn): Yeah… I know. [exhales] From what I’ve heard, and again, this is all kind of rumor and hearsay and stuff that I’ve picked up through the electrical system, the group on Devil’s Tooth, they’ve got a volcano. It’s dormant, but it’s still a volcano that they think their god is underneath. So, my understanding is that a lot of the sacrifices happen around the caldera.
Minna (as Arlene): Yeah…
Rhi (as Autumn): I don’t think they keep… They wouldn’t keep it up there and leave it out, but probably somewhere close to there. It’s probably held onto by somebody who’s important. You’re not just gonna leave a powerful ritual object in the hands of some random prison guards, you’re gonna keep that protected with somebody who’s in charge.
Minna (as Arlene): [sighs] Find the boss’s office closest to the caldera. Got it.
Rhi (as Autumn): [strained] You know that sounds like a really bad idea, right?
Minna (as Arlene): Yeah, no, I know.
Rhi (as Autumn): [uneasy] Okay.
Minna (as Arlene): It’s gonna be fine! Don’t worry about it.
Rhi (as Autumn): I’m very worried about it.
Minna (as Arlene): You’re not going, so you’re gonna be fine.
Rhi (as Autumn): That is only a little bit reassuring, but thanks? Good luck?
Minna: I think Arlene just kind of pats Autumn’s shoulder.
[laughter]
Rhi: Autumn’s just making a face like “oh no!” You’re cool, and I like hanging out with you, and you are definitely gonna die!
Kim: Aww.
[laughter]
Minna: I like Autumn a lot.
Rhi: That’s the vibe.
Minna: Autumn is the only person who knows exactly how bad this is or is reacting appropriately.
Rhi: Uh-huh. I mean, the ghost at the Gambler’s Gloom I think was also reacting with pretty reasonable “oh no, no-no-no.” But I think, Arlene, if you kind of share what you learned with Val and compare your notes with the rough map of the prison, the warden’s office is on the top floor of the building that’s highest up on the volcano.
Minna: [exhales] Warden’s office. Got it.
Rhi: Yeah, that seems probable. You’d probably have the warden also be the person in charge of your cult. That’s the best way to avoid any kind of complex political squabbles for power.
Minna: Uh-huh…
Rhi: You know where to look!
Josie: Hurray.
Minna: We do know where to look. [laughs]
Rhi: So yeah, is there anything else you all wanna do to prep?
Kim: Not that I can think of.
Rhi: Alright. Yeah, what are you all thinking for load-out here?
Josie: I’m going heavy.
Kim: Yeah, I think I’m leaning heavy.
Aki: I am also going heavy.
Minna: Yeah, because we’re not infiltrating in a way that we have to be subtle.
Rhi: No. No.
Minna: I’m heavy.
Aki: I’m pretty sure if they catch us, they catch us. You know?
Several: Yeah.
Aki: It’s one of those things. We might as well just bring everything.
Minna: There’s no way to play that off.
Kim: Yep.
Rhi: So everyone’s going heavy?
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: Cool.
Aki: Could just be that dick. “Would you believe me that I was here for visiting hours?”
Rhi: [laughs] Loaded, carrying so many guns. Alright, so let’s figure out the engagement roll. One for luck, and boy howdy are you gonna need it. Is this operation particularly bold or daring?
Kim: Yes.
Rhi: Yeah. Is it overly complex or contingent on many factors? I don’t think so. This to me feels like a reasonably straightforward plan. You’ve got a boat, you know basically where you need to get to, you’ve got a way of sneaking around. I don’t think it’s super complicated. Does the plan’s detail expose a vulnerability of the target or hit them where they’re weakest? No.
Minna: [laughs] Not remotely.
Rhi: No. Is the target strongest against this approach or do they have particular defenses or special preparations? I’m gonna say yes. It is a prison. It’s very well-defended. Friends or contacts have provided aid and insight. Enemies or rivals interfering in the operation? Give me just a second… I don’t think that I’ve rolled—Where’s the market? That clock hasn’t filled, so nobody’s interfering. Other elements you want to consider? This is a higher-tier organization.
I am gonna give you one back though because of the very good intel that you have. You have a map. You know where you need to look. You’re not gonna be wandering around the entire prison complex hoping. You have a very precise target. So, that comes out to a 2d6 engagement roll. Here we go… Phew! You all are lucky as hell.
Kim: Oh? What did we get?
Rhi: I got a 1 and a 6.
Kim: Phew.
Josie: Yay!
Kim: Sheesh.
Aki: Hehehe.
Josie: Aki has blessed us.
Rhi: Aki has blessed you this day. So, you all will be in a controlled position when the action starts.
## Score
Rhi: You all gather your gear, your information, and load up into the boat that you’ve borrowed from the Queen’s Guard, and you set out from Imperial City. The ride across outside of the lightning barrier, as nervous as you all are about it, is pretty uneventful. The wards on the boat fend off the curious spirits that drift in your direction, and the dark shapes that you see moving through the lights under the water don’t seem to have much interest in you as you pass by.
So, after a fairly brief journey, just a little under an hour, you find yourselves approaching Devil’s Tooth. Most of the island is empty and not ringed by the lightning barrier. It would be a waste of money to extend the lightning barrier around the whole island. It’s just the prison complex that’s encircled. So, the first hurdle that you all will need to clear is finding a place to dock on the island and deciding if you want to dock outside the lightning barrier or try to get in it.
Kim: My vote is to get into it.
Josie: Yeah, let’s try and get into it.
Rhi: I assume Val is… driving the boat? What do you say when it’s a speedboat?
Kim: Piloting? No. God…
Rhi: Piloting the boat?
Aki: No, you drive the boat. Vroom-vroom.
Josie: Yeah.
Kim: “Get out me boat.”
Aki: That entire meme is the only thing I think about when I think of Val and Echo. “Get out me car.”
Kim: [giggles] Vroom-vroom. Oh my god, it is them. Anyways. Sailing a boat? I don't know. Even if it’s a powerboat, I think it’s still sailing.
Rhi: Anyway. Val, you’re at the helm, so this is gonna be your roll. It’s a vehicle so it’s Finesse.
Kim: Okay. Let me roll that.
Rhi: Because of the engagement roll, this is gonna be controlled… hmm. I’m gonna give you controlled-standard.
Kim: I love to hear it.
Rhi: There’s no reason to make this reduced at this point. You’ve got a good vehicle.
Kim: That’s a 6.
Rhi: Alright, solid start. So yeah, Val, you just glide up to the lightning barrier. The ship has various antennae and other bits of metal jutting off of it that, as the boat reaches the lightning barrier, these catch the lightning and create a hole for you to pass through. I’m imagining that you cut the engine and just sort of drift the last bit up to the shoreline. And yeah, you are able to dock the boat without any difficulty.
You all can pile out, and looking up you can see… if you look down along the beach, you can see where the official dock is where the ferry that transports prisoners and brings in supplies would dock. Above you, it’s a fairly gentle slope up, but it’s still a reasonably tall volcano. It’s the volcano itself and then the various prison buildings jutting out of the side.
I think you can also see that there’s towers with big spotlights sweeping across the buildings. You can see movement of guards patrolling in various places. You roughly know where you need to go. There’s a large building at the highest point of the prison complex that, based on the information you got, you’re pretty sure that’s where the warden’s office is.
Josie (as Echo): So, who wants to climb a volcano?
Kim (as Val): Uh…
Kim: That’s just it. Val just sighs.
Rhi: Heh. Whoever wants to take the lead on the volcano climbing…
Kim: Who’s our best climber? I feel like it would be Arlene.
Minna: Yeah, I think this is Arlene’s thing.
Rhi: Mm-hmm. You could more mechanically take the lead as well if you all wanted to make this a group action as you stealthily ascend.
Kim: I think that makes sense.
Minna: Sure. I also have light climbing gear. Would that help us? Would that maybe give us better effect or something?
Rhi: The volcano itself is walkable. It’s not a really steep mountain where you’d have to climb.
Minna: Oh. Okay. Then I can just find different spots to step.
Rhi: Mm-hmm. It’s a pretty gentle slope. You might need the climbing gear once you get up to the buildings, though. They’re big blocky concrete things without a lot of windows, so you may have to do some climbing once you get to those. But, in terms of getting up the volcano, you can walk it, it’s just you need to do it in a sneaky sort of way.
So yeah, this is gonna be… hmm, risky… Well, I guess here’s my question. Are you all planning on just heading straight up towards the caldera and then you’re gonna cut over or are you kind of angling in towards the prison as you move? What’s your approach here?
Kim: Hmm.
Josie: I feel like the long way around so we don’t get spotted early.
Minna: Yeah. Let’s be careful.
Kim: That seems smartest.
Rhi: Okay. That will make this roll risky-standard.
Kim: What are we rolling?
Josie: Prowl, probably.
Rhi: Prowl~
Kim: Right. Okay.
Rhi: Yes, and Arlene is leading the way.
Josie: I got a 2.
Kim: I got a 5.
Minna: I have 5 as well.
Rhi: Okay. Arlene, you take 1 point of stress and the result is gonna be a 5. Arlene, tell me about what the moment is where you help Echo in some way?
Minna: I think Arlene finds good spots and points them out to people but hangs off to the side a bit while they go up, and Echo starts to slip having placed a foot just a little bit wrong, and Arlene reaches out a hand to help.
Josie: She grabs the hand and pulls herself up.
Josie (as Echo): This is a heck of a time to discover I’m still not used to being this heavy.
Minna (as Arlene): We’ll get you there.
Josie (as Echo): Thank you.
Rhi: Aww~
Aki: That’s gay.
Kim: So cute.
Aki: I realized that Darling climbing just makes her look like a lizard.
[laughter]
Minna: Is she climbing in lizard fashion?
Aki: Yes. It makes sense. Look at how her legs bend. She has to climb like a lizard.
Kim: Yeah…
Rhi: Yeah.
Aki: So, she climbs like a lizard. Scuttle, scuttle, scuttle.
Rhi: Excellent.
Minna: [delighted] I can’t believe we’ve hit Dracula memes.
Rhi: I will also say, since you did get a 5 on that roll, there is a consequence. That consequence is a clock.
Kim: No.
Rhi: The clock is Guards Alerted, at 2 out of 8. I think there’s a point where some loose rocks… As you all climb up over a certain point, some loose rocks tumble down and you all can see one of the spotlights swivel around and sweep the area where you were. It doesn’t catch you, but the guards are starting to be a little higher alert, a little more vigilant.
You make it up towards the top of the volcano. I don't think you necessarily have to get all the way up to the rim of the caldera, but you’re pretty high up. Even within the bounds of the lightning barrier, it’s kind of an incredible view, because you can look back towards Imperial City and see the whole skyline lit up over the bay—this line of glittering light cutting through the surrounding darkness.
It’s both a very beautiful sight but it also seems sort of cruel that this is the main view that the prisoners have of the city that they’re all from, sitting there just out of reach.
So, you all can continue on towards the, sort of… it’s both the central administrative building and the highest security holding cells, that’s the building that you all are aiming for. So, security in that area is gonna be pretty intense.
Josie: Okay.
Rhi: So, however you want to approach it.
Josie: What are our entrances?
Kim: I would know that, wouldn’t I?
Rhi: You just had sort of the overall layout of the place. You didn’t have specific entrance points. But, you can definitely roll—somebody can roll to examine the building now to see what your options are like.
Kim: Okay. Yeah, I’d like to do that.
Rhi: Okay.
Kim: Would this be…?
Rhi: I would say Study or Survey. Either one would work here.
Kim: Heh… hmm. Do I push myself this early in the score? Nah, this is inconsequential. Let me just roll it.
Josie: Do we want to do a group Survey or something? Since we’re all there. With Val leading.
Rhi: You could also do a group Survey.
Kim: That works for me. I can lead it.
Aki: I… Okay, if you want to, sure.
Rhi: Okay, that makes sense. So yeah, do another group roll. This is gonna be risky-standard again.
Kim: Alright, let’s go.
Aki: Six.
Minna: Six.
Josie: Five.
Kim: Four.
Rhi: Okay! The result is a 6, and no stress is taken. Good job.
Kim: Awesome.
Rhi: You all kind of… I’m imagining that classic scene where you’re all laying down flat on some kind of ridge and peering down at the building. Let’s see here. There’s the main entrance, the front door, which all of you pretty immediately dismiss as an option because it is very heavily guarded. There is a full guard station sitting outside of it. There’s a lot of bright lights. You can see people moving around out there. Sneaking in would not be an option there.
There’s not very many windows in this building, and the ones that exist are pretty narrow slits, but you can see… I think there is a roof access that you’re able to spot. There’s some kind of door on the roof. It looks like they have some… you’re not quite sure what it is, some kind of machinery or maybe it looks like there’s a water tank up there, just some various equipment on the roof that they would need to get access to from time to time. So, it looks like there’s a door up there.
Let’s see, you got a 6. You can see, Darling, with your scope on your rifle, you’re able to spot that there are a couple guards up there, but it’s not nearly the heavy security of the front door.
Kim: So we’re going that way, yeah?
Minna: Yeah.
Josie: Yeah, looks like it.
Rhi: [laughing] Unless you wanna turn this into an Assault score.
Minna: No thank you.
Kim: No~
Josie: No.
Aki: I mean, we could pull it off, I think.
Kim: Eh…
Aki: We should not, but could we…? Yes. But should we? No. But we could.
[giggling]
Rhi: You just want it known for the record, you could do it.
Aki: Exactly.
Josie: Yeah, you can take them.
Aki: I think that’s exactly what you hear. You hear Darling mumble, like…
Aki (as Darling): Oh, I can take them.
Aki: …and then quickly go…
Aki (as Darling): Okay, let’s go the other way then.
Rhi: Yeah.
Aki (as Darling): For your sake, not my sake.
Kim (as Val): I’m just looking to try and make this easier for all of us.
Rhi: Alright. I think I’m gonna need a couple rolls here, one to reach the building and then another to actually get onto the roof, because at this point you’re gonna be closing in on the prison itself and there’s gonna be a lot more guards, a lot more security around.
Josie: I assume it’s Prowl both times?
Rhi: If you want. There’s also, you know, you do not… Sneaking is good, but if folks have other ideas for other ways they’d like to approach it, you can do that.
Kim: No, I think Prowl works.
Rhi: Okay. The first roll for the approach to the building is gonna be risky-reduced. You all wanna just do a group roll again?
Josie: Yeah. What about if I mark off burglary gear? Can that be just like a piece of cloth or a tarp or something that’s kind of brownish dirt colored that we can kind of put over ourselves?
Rhi: Let me take a look and see what burglary gear says.
Josie: So we can stay low to the ground.
Aki: I did get us camo clothing.
Kim: Oh yeah.
Rhi: Yeah. I think the camo clothing combined with… I’d allow that for burglary gear.
Minna: That feels in line with our strategy.
Rhi: Mm-hmm! Yeah. Go ahead and mark that, and I will push you up to standard effect for having a nice big disguise that, if you hear something or see something, you all can just freeze and be a rock.
[laughter]
Kim: Very Metal Gear.
Minna: That’s such a funny visual image.
Josie: Does Darling wanna lead it or should I lead it?
Aki: I have 1 stress, so I don’t mind leading it.
Josie: Okay.
Rhi: Okay. Alright, so go ahead and roll Prowl, risky-standard.
Josie: I got a 3.
Minna: It’s a 3. I rolled three 3s.
Josie: Oh no!
Kim: Oof, I rolled a 2.
Aki: Well, at least I got a 6. I hate you bitches.
[laughter]
Josie: Sorry. I’m so sorry.
Kim: I’m sorry! We’re just having a skill issue.
Aki: It’s literally just everybody’s struggling and then Darling just starts picking y’all up and putting you on her back like a mama, I don't know, sloth or something. I don't know.
Rhi: A possum is what I’m picturing.
Aki: A monkey! You know, all of those things.
Josie: Echo is big and metal and heavy so has a hard time moving underneath the tarp without bumping into people a bunch.
Rhi: Yeah.
Minna: I feel like the vibe in my head, like when I imagined us all failing… you know those dragon things that get carried in parades? Except everyone doing very badly and going in different directions.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: Mm-hmm.
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: Just the world’s worst three-legged race is probably a better analogy.
Rhi: But, Darling manages to wrangle you all and you get up to the side of the building without being spotted, although it is definitely close at a few points.
Aki: How much stress do I take again? It was 3?
Rhi: Three.
Aki: Yeah, I was like… 3?
Rhi: Yeah. Yep, 3 points of stress. So yeah, you’re now at the building. Because of the way it’s built into the slope, you’re basically on the shortest side, but it’s still four stories up that you have to cover. This is where the climbing gear would come into play.
Minna: [sweetly] Hello. I have climbing gear.
Josie: Hi.
Rhi: Alright. What I think you could do here is, again, you could either do a group action or Arlene could do a setup action and scale the building and tie off a rope for everyone else to use, so Arlene, if you do well on this roll, you’ll give everybody else improved effect.
Josie: I think it’s only fair that I lead a group roll and have a chance to get a bunch of stress.
[laughter]
Minna: That’s fair.
Rhi: Alright, so y’all wanna just group Prowl it again?
Kim: Yup.
Rhi: Okay. This is gonna be risky-reduced.
Minna: [laughs] Do you want a picture?
Rhi: Did you get a critical?
Minna: Yes.
Kim: Oh fuck.
Aki: Nice. I have one die to roll. I’ve just been rolling 6s on the one die.
Rhi: God…
Kim: I rolled a 2. I am so sorry.
Rhi: I’ve set this whole place up as supposed to be very scary and hard to break into, and you all are just skipping through the tulips.
Minna: Okay, but Rhi, you know how this goes.
Rhi: I do.
Minna: We’re gonna start rolling so many 3s in the last half.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: We always get in super easily and then things go to shit.
Rhi: Yeah… Alright. I think I want montage. I’m imagining that each of you has your own rope that you’re climbing up. We’ll start with Arlene as getting the critical. What does it look like as you’re skillfully climbing this rope? Or up this building, however you’re doing it.
Minna: I feel like it’s kind of like finding little tiny crannies to get her fingers and toes into, and then she manages to put spikes or whatever to help the others get up.
Rhi: Yeah.
Minna: Maybe it’s just that she manages to get up with impossible hand and foot holds and then she has a rope. I feel like that makes more sense.
Josie: Echo actually has an easy time of it because she can just lock her limbs in place and doesn’t have any wavering or normal slippage, so it’s just sort of a robotic motion. She’s got the rope and she walks up the side, like thud, thud, thud.
Rhi: Nice. What does it look like for Darling? How is Darling making her way up the side?
Aki: Lizard.
Rhi: Lizard still?
Aki: Yes. Some would call it a zigzag. Others would call it a scuttle upwards. Either way, if Darling were to climb horizontally, she would look like a crab.
Rhi: That’s a little horrifying and I love it.
Aki: Oh yeah. With all the 6s I’ve been rolling, I do think she’s going up fast, so if anything, the minute a guard sees, they’re gonna have the shock of a lifetime.
Rhi: [laughs] Val… How is Val doing with that 2?
Kim: Listen. Val’s just old. I feel like that’s the answer to most things.
Rhi: Old and a lifetime of cigarettes.
Kim: Yeah, and binge drinking and good food. They’re lovely, but they’re also not the most athletically inclined or built, so…
Aki: Oh my God, and we’re going up a mountain. This is not the second-hand smoke Val would want.
Rhi: Fortunately, it’s a dormant volcano, so there’s no smoke or lava actively doing anything.
Aki: True, true, true.
Rhi: Yeah… I’m imagining Echo and Arlene hoisting Val over at the end.
Kim: They’re gonna need a little help.
Josie: I have an idea for that, actually.
Rhi: Oh yeah?
Kim: Oh?
Josie: Echo’s walking up, basically sticking out almost horizontal.
Josie (as Echo): Here, Val, just rest on the front of me. I will pull you up like an elevator.
[laughter]
Kim (as Val): Nah, I got this.
Josie (as Echo): A very slow-walking elevator. Are you sure?
Kim (as Val): Yeah. Yeah, I got it.
Josie (as Echo): Okay. Please do not fall.
Kim (as Val): [grunts, strained] I’m not gonna fall.
Josie: Echo has gently placed a hand on Val’s back just to make sure.
Aki: “No! No, it’s not—I’m not gonna… [grunts] I’m not gonna fall!”
[giggling]
Rhi: Val makes it up to the top eventually and has to—
Kim: I’m sorry. I’m just dying at the mental image.
Rhi: It’s really good is the thing.
Kim: We get to the top and it’s that one meme of SpongeBob out of breath.
Rhi: You get up to the top and Val has to take a breather, but there are a couple guards up here. You all were quiet enough, even with Val being out of breath, that they haven’t been alerted to your presence since you got a critical on this. But, they are between you and the door. So, what do you wanna do?
Josie: I feel like our… We have two guards and two assassins. I feel like the answer is simple.
Rhi: [laughs] Go get ‘em.
Minna: Yeah, let’s go for it.
Rhi: Alright.
Minna: If Echo said that out loud, Arlene will lock eyes with Darling and then go. Are we from hiding? Attacking from hiding?
Rhi: Yes. You’re gonna be moving from… yeah. They do not know you’re here.
Minna: [smiling] I get +1d!
Rhi: Excellent.
Josie: Yeah!
Rhi: Why don’t you—I assume you’re each grabbing one.
Minna: Yeah, I figure.
Rhi: Yeah, go ahead and, Arlene, go ahead and roll yours.
Minna: Skirmish?
Rhi: Yeah! Let me see here. Position. What tier are these guys? They’re a higher tier than you. Risky-reduced. Unless you’re using any special gear.
Minna: The reduced is on attacking?
Rhi: Mm-hmm. Since you’re doing an ambush, you could use… you know, anything that makes you stealthier would also help here.
Minna: Fine shadow cloak?
Rhi: That would do it.
Minna: I’m in my little suit.
Rhi: Yep, if you mark that…
Minna: I think what happens is that she sheds her camouflage layer and just melts into the shadows.
Rhi: Yeah. Very cool. So you’ll be at risky-standard.
Minna: And I rolled a 5.
Rhi: Okay. Let’s see what Darling’s is and then I can describe how this goes. Darling, you’re gonna be… What is your plan of attack? Are you going in close-quarters, I assume?
Aki: Yes. I guess Skirmish makes the most sense. Unless I could argue I have a pistol with a silencer, very spy femme like.
Rhi: Um… mark unusual weapon for that. Probably not that unusual, but it’s not part of your standard load-out, so you’ll have to mark some kind of gear for it. But yeah, you could have a silenced pistol. It’s gonna be risky-reduced.
Aki: Okay, so it’s one, two… okay, cool-cool-cool. I still have load-out for three more. But I can use Hunt, and that’s what matters.
Rhi: Yes. What did you get?
Aki: Two 5s. Surprisingly so.
Rhi: Okay, so we got a 4 and a 5. Right? One of you got a 5?
Aki: Mm-hmm.
Minna: Yes.
Rhi: Okay. Both of you do it but there’s a consequence, and Darling is at reduced effect. I think what this looks like is you both split, you melt into the shadows and come up behind each of your respective guards. Arlene, what weapon are you using here? And are you going for a kill or are you going for an incapacitate knockout?
Minna: Eh, incapacitate knockout because if Spirit Wardens get alerted it gets messy.
Rhi: To be fair… Well, here’s the thing. You’re not in Imperial City.
Minna: Ah! Then a very quick quiet kill. [laughs]
Rhi: Okay. You all know for a fact that a spooky-ass cult runs this place. They probably don’t want the Spirit Wardens coming out here. Okay, so I think we see Arlene grabs the one guard and just yanks him back and there’s a nonspecific gurgling sound as I assume a stabbing occurs.
Minna: Yes. I’m picturing a throat slitting for some reason.
Rhi: Yeah, that gets the job done. The sound is enough to alert the other guard who jolts forward and thus Darling’s, what would have been a nice clean kill-shot, instead turns into a graze across this guy’s back as he moves. He stumbles forward and cries out, and we’re pushing that Guards Alerted clock up. Between those two 5s, it’s going up to 6 out of 8.
Minna: Reminder, you can roll to resist any consequence in this game.
Rhi: Yes. Darling, if you would like to resist that consequence, you can do so.
Aki: But is it my consequence?
Rhi: I mean… partly yours, partly Arlene’s. Both of you have consequences.
Minna: I mean, I can roll… Wait. What was my consequence?
Rhi: Yours was that your dude made enough of a noise to alert the other dude who is now shouting in pain and alarm which is going to tick up the clock. Both of them have made noises, essentially. If you would like them to not make noises, you’ll both need to roll to resist.
Minna: I’ll roll to resist.
Rhi: Okay.
Aki: Yeah, I guess I’ll roll.
Minna: It’s a Prowess roll?
Rhi: Yeah, Prowess in both cases, since you’re both doing physical actions.
Minna: Okay, 0 stress.
Aki: My highest is a 6.
Rhi: Okay, so you take no stress.
Minna: You also take no stress.
Rhi: Neither of you take any stress, and you both manage to avoid further—
Minna: [giggling] Can we just—?
Rhi: Yeah?
Minna: I just feel like what happens is that we both go to attack our dudes and they both get a shot, and at the same moment there’s kind of a split screen. You see Arlene covering her guy’s mouth and Darling launching herself at the other one to silence him.
Aki: Yeah.
Rhi: Mm-hmm. You both manage to avoid… you know, you keep both of them quiet. However, because Darling was also at reduced effect, your guy is not dead and is fighting back. You’re grappling with this guy and also having to try to keep him quiet which is sort of limiting your options, because you have to keep one hand over his mouth. So Echo, if you would like to spring into action here.
Josie: Neither of them got taken out? They’re just silenced?
Rhi: One of them is dead. One of them, the one that Darling was going after, is still alive. They managed to keep the clock from getting ticked up.
Josie: Can I just use arm sword to finish them off, just really quickly? Shink.
Rhi: Yeah. Make that roll. I’m gonna give you… we’ll go risky-standard on this since Darling is wrestling him.
Josie: Five.
Rhi: Okay. You do it but there’s a consequence. Um… what should the consequence be?
Josie: We did just kill two guys. There’s no Spirit Wardens, so maybe ghost trouble later?
Rhi: Yeah. Hmm… I think I’m gonna go with… I’m gonna tick up the clock again, because these two were supposed to check in and they’re not gonna check in at their correct time because they are dead. But, you’re at 4 out of 8 rather than 6 out of 8, so still better than the previous option. So, you got two dead guards. You can search both of them quickly and find the keys for this door up here, that’s reasonable, and let yourself into the prison.
## Outro [01.15.34]
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.
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.
## Bloopers [01.17.58]
Rhi: It was very cool and very eerie because at one point I ended up by myself in a temperate rainforest path and it was dead silent. There were no birds, there were no bugs, it was just me and the trees. I was certain there was gonna be a news report that said dumbass American woman wanders off into the trees and gets herself killed.
Josie: [uncomfortable chuckle]
Rhi: That didn’t happen, but for a few minutes I was like… yep, I decided not to go on the path with everybody else who got off the ferry, and now I’m gonna die.
Kim: Hmm.
Rhi: But you know, I obviously didn’t, and it was a beautiful time. I had a great time. You guys are not gonna have as good a time on this volcanic island. I can tell you that.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: The one I went to, no prison. Also, no cult… that I was aware of.
Minna: [laughs]