## Intro
Rhi: Welcome back to Imperial City. As always, thank you so much for joining us–and as always, if you’re enjoying the show, please consider leaving us a review, buying some merch, or backing us on Patreon! Patreon support is what keeps this show going, and helps us start new shows like Love & Hellfire! Which you should definitely listen to if you haven’t yet.
We continue to have a referral code for Start Playing! If you follow the link in the show notes and sign up for an account, you’ll get $10 to spend on games run by professional GMs in just about every RPG system you can imagine. Including, of course, Blades in the Dark! Go check out startplaying.games today!
Next, I’m going to tell you about this month’s featured charity.
Our featured charity this month is Take Back the Court. This action fund was formed in the last several years to campaign for an expansion of the Supreme Court. The Court is packed with far-right judges, many of whom committed perjury during their confirmation hearings, who were appointed by GOP presidents–all of whom lost the popular vote and the most recent of which is being investigated for national security breaches. The Court’s gutting of basic rights like the right to abortion, Miranda rights, and many others are doing immense damage to our nation. Take Back the Court is fighting to add more justices to the Supreme Court in order to better represent the population of the United States and counteract the dangers posed by the current far-right court. Visit takebackthecourt.today to donate, and/or contact your representatives to tell them you support expanding the Court, as well as impeaching Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett for perjury.
This episode is once again sponsored by the amazing podcast A Knight of Shreds and Patches. This far-future story follows the adventures of the Patina, a wandering mercenary band, as they journey through a strange-yet-familiar world of wild tech, mobile cities, machine gods, and humans finding ways to thrive after the collapse of our civilization. If you like found families, hopepunk, and loads of queer characters, this is a show to check out. Visit akosap.com to start listening, and follow their Twitter at akosap_podcast.
Take some time this week to take care of yourself. The world is very scary and stressful right now, and it has been for a really long time. We’re all exhausted. So to stay in the fight, you have to take care of yourself. Enjoy a mug of tea, treat yourself to a nice meal, spend some time with friends, trade social media doomscrolling for a favorite book, movie, fanfic, or cute animal pictures. Whatever you can do to show yourself a little kindness. You deserve it.
Now then. Let’s get started, shall we?
## Story continues [00.03.30]
Rhi: The clock is at 4 out of 12, you’ve made it out of Tourmaline Park. You’ve blown up a Bluecoat car. Good job.
Aki: Thank you.
Rhi: You do have many other Bluecoat cars chasing you, uh… [laughs] They seem to be displeased about what you’ve done for some reason.
Minna: [laughs] Can’t imagine why.
Rhi: Yeah. Uh…so, you’ve basically at this point moved into Belltower. So, who would like to do a thing? You don’t have anybody directly in front of you, but you do have a lot of vehicles in hot pursuit.
Josie: Uh, I want to pull out a gadget.
Rhi: Tell me of your gadget.
Kim: [hums Inspector Gadget theme song]
Josie: [joins in humming]
Rhi: God dammit, Kim.
Minna and Josie: [laugh]
Josie: So, I think the gadget this time is pretty simple. It’s kind of just like a little metal ball. Perhaps it was a bearing at some point that I’ve hollowed out.
Rhi: Uh huh?
Josie: And I just took— I just put ectoplasm in it and have a little, kind of a little fuse coming out. But it’s more like a thing you push to just spark it a little bit. So, I’m just gonna chuck that at a sign.
Rhi: Ah, yes.
Josie: So it splits and ectoplasm goes everywhere and it short-circuits all the sign and stuff and showers sparks and gives us cover.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: They still know what road we went down, but creating some distance.
Rhi: Yeah, yeah cause they’re gonna, ideally like they’ll swerve out of the way because there’s sparks and a big theatre sign maybe fell.
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: Okay, depending on how the roll— okay, I like it. Um, yeah, so… give me some sort of roll for this.
Josie: Uh, can I argue Tinker?
Rhi: Tinker would have been to make the thing.
Josie: Uh huh.
Rhi: To throw it at the sign is gonna be something different.
Josie: Okay. I’m gonna push myself for Wreck then.
Rhi: Okay, yes. Wreck makes sense.
Josie: Uh… [rolls dice] 4.
Rhi: Okay. So— oh, I didn’t set position and effect for you.
Josie: Whoops.
Rhi: Yeah. I think this is back to risky, for sure. And I think this woulda just been risky, standard. So, on a 4 you do it but there’s a consequence. So I’m gonna mark the clock up another tick. So, you’re gonna be at 5 out of 12.
Josie: Okay.
Rhi: So that’s the you do it part. So, you throw this thing, you spark it, you throw it. It hits a sign. What, um, what play or show [laughs] is on this sign?
Josie: Hmm…
Rhi: [laughs] What, for maximum irony?
Josie: Fucking um… what’s another term for a trainline besides Express?
Kim: Railway?
Rhi: Uh…
Kim: Uh… Junction.
Josie: Junction. It’s Twilight Junction. As opposed to Starlight Express.
Minna: Oh my God.
Rhi: Josie!
[laughter]
Kim: Oh fucking hell.
Rhi: Oh my God. And so, this— there’s this giant flare of electricity and electroplasm and sparks and crackling light and screaming as this sign basically blows up. And, uh, I think the complication here is that The Drake is gonna take some damage.
Josie: [yelps]
Kim: No… what kinda damage?
Josie: Do you wanna roll to defend The Drake?
Kim: I could— Rhi, can I resist?
Rhi: Well, it’s, it would be— Echo would be the one rolling to resist the consequence. Now I will say because one of The Drake’s things is that it’s sturdy, so it keeps driving even when broken.
Kim: No, I know. It’s more so of like, a wounded ego thing.
Rhi: Yeah. [laughs] Oh, it’ll have reduced effect. So The Drake is gonna be operating at reduced effect.
Kim: That’s not terrible.
Rhi: I think what happens is that a bunch of the sparks and crackling electricity kind of hit the engine and some smoke starts seeping out from under the hood. But Echo would have to be the one to roll to resist.
Josie: Um, yeah, I’ll roll to resist.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: I think my resistance is just kind of standing up and using the flare of my trench coat to catch as many sparks as possible.
Rhi: Okay. So I’m gonna say that’s gonna be Prowess them.
Josie: Yeah.
Kim: Sick.
Josie: 4.
Rhi: Okay. So, you’ll take two stress but the Drake— you manage to protect the car. The Drake is safe. And you continue through Belltower. You’ve, you know, that slowed down the pursuit but hasn’t shaken them entirely. Arlene?
Minna: Hi there.
Rhi: Hi. Do you have thoughts on what you might like to do?
Minna: [laughs] I don’t know what the best way for me to help right now is.
Rhi: I mean, you were talking about explosives earlier.
Minna: Yes, I can absolutely throw explosives at things or try to plant explosives on things. I’m good at that. Er, how are we looking?
Rhi: You are at 5 out of 12 in terms of the other crew reaching the train station. So a little under halfway.
Minna: I kind wanna like, as we pass some lampposts, maybe try to like, slap some explosive on those so that when the cops pass we can detonate them.
Rhi: Ooh, okay.
Josie: Nice.
Rhi: Yeah. So I think you would need to mark… we’ll just say demolition tools.
Minna: That works. Is this gonna be— what is this gonna be?
Rhi: Hmm…
Minna: Is it a Finesse? Is it a Prowl?
Rhi: I think Finesse.
Minna: Okay.
Rhi: And this is gonna be risky… I think it’s gonna be reduced because you’re having to try to slap explosives onto a small target from a moving vehicle. So it’s gonna— that’s, yeah, that’s where you’re gonna start, is risky reduced.
Minna: What does a Devil’s Bargain look like?
Rhi: Ooh. Um… another— there’s… another gang in the area is going to get involved in this because they don’t appreciate all the noise that you’re making and they would like you to stop now, please. So they’re gonna be trying to shut you down as well.
Minna: [laughs] That’s kind of fun, honestly.
Josie: Yeah.
Minna: Noise complaint. [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah, but they’re not calling the cops on the noise complaint, they’re enforcing it themselves. With guns.
Minna: I mean, how do y’all feel about accepting that? I feel positively about accepting that.
Kim: That feels—
Josie: I like it.
Kim: Honestly, it’s fun.
Aki: Oh, yeah. You— give me more reasons.
Rhi: [laughs]
Minna: So Devil’s Bargain for an extra die and I’m gonna push myself for standard effect.
Rhi: You can’t— yeah, you can’t push yourself and take a Devil’s Bargain. You can do one or the other. You can get help.
Minna: One or the other.
Rhi: You can get an assist, if somebody would like to aid you.
Minna: Does somebody wanna hold onto my ankles? [laughs]
Josie: Sure.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: Alright.
Josie: I have sturdy hands.
Minna: Probably more holding onto the back of my coat while I try and balance.
Rhi: Yeah. So, Echo, take a point of stress and we are going to have another… [sighs] another group of criminals entering the scene—
Minna: That’s a 6!
Rhi: Oh my God.
Kim: Jeez.
Aki: [cackles]
Rhi: Okay, so… [laughs] you— that’s gonna give you three ticks on the clock, which is great. That’s gonna get you to 8 out of 12. So, I think what this looks like is you all are speeding through Belltower, you know, weaving past all of these very fancy businesses. This high— high-speed police chase, sirens blaring, you know, there’s people screaming on the sidewalks and kind of just as you’re making sort of the transition into Portmarch, Arlene leans out of the window with Echo holding onto the back of her jacket and slaps these explosives onto a lamppost. And again, in very similar fashion to Darling, there’s a big ol’ fireball and a cop car goes flying. And you’re now at 8 out of 10 for the— your—
Josie: 8 out of 12.
Rhi: 8 out of 12, sorry. Thank you. You’re now at 8 out of 12 for your compatriots making it to the train station. Um, but as you come screeching into Portmarch with, you know, on an explosion behind you, Bluecoat sirens wailing, probably you know, loudspeakers ordering you to stop immediately, they’re probably trying to soot out your tires at this point too, some other cars kind of start peeling in from side streets. And these are all pretty uniformly black armored cars. You know, they’re not cop cars. They are… let me take a look at Josie’s car document so I can actually specify what they are.
Josie: Yeah! World building!
Rhi: They are gonna be something specifically… okay, so these are gonna be armored Potters which are basically luxury cars.
Josie: Mm hmm.
Rhi: And putting armor on them, I think, deeply upsets collectors of these cars because God, why would you do that. [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: The Tellers, who are the gang that as we’ve kind of previously discussed, kinda have their hooks into Portmarch, they have a lot of money. So even if they’re going to put a bunch of heavy plating on their cars, they’re still gonna buy the most expensive ones. So, they are now also chasing you because they don’t want you here. Because you’re blowing shit up and bringing cops into their territory and they don’t appreciate either of these things. So, they’re now chasing you with tommy guns.
Minna (as Arlene): Sorry…!
Kim: Brilliant.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: [laughs] So, uh, yeah, feel free to react to this however you’d like.
Kim (as Val): The hell did you two kids do back there?!
Josie (as Echo): I guess they don’t appreciate the explosives and the signs falling. I don’t know why.
Aki: As we’re driving, since I’m still technically standing, I’m just gonna take, like, I don’t know, the side of my gun and just bonk a sign to forever tilt it.
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie: Spite.
Rhi: Boink!
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: I do really love the idea of just like, there’s just tommy gun [imitates quick fire] fire and then Arlene, “Sorry…!”
[laughter]
Rhi: So yeah, who wants to try and do something to deal with the situation?
Kim: Can I pull off some fancy driving again to try and get us in some safer roads?
Rhi: Sure, sure. Absolutely.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: It’ll be a Finesse I think. Hmm. Have we escalated to desperate? Because you’re being pursued by two different groups now.
Kim: Hm.
Rhi: Yes, yes. You’re in a desperate situation.
Kim: Okay. I’ll mark XP.
Rhi: Um, so this gonna be desperate…. Desperate, standard.
Kim: Okay. I will push myself for an extra die as well.
Rhi: Alright.
Kim: Alright, hear we go. [rolls dice] Okay, 6.
Rhi: Jesus.
Kim: Well, I rolled— the duality of dice. I rolled a 6, 5 and a 1. So.
Rhi: Alright. So tell me what this looks like, cause this is gonna get you up to 11 out of 12, so this is basically gonna be Val, you are weaving through Portmarch. So, what does this look like as Val is doing this fancy driving?
Kim: This is some real Dom Toretto shit, gang.
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim: It’s about family. [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: And driving cars real, real good. The tires are just absolutely screeching, the car kind of like lilting back and forth due to inertia as Val is dodging all of these explosion and debris and falling infrastructure all around them.
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim: And I think they like, pull in very impressively into a tight alleyway that just conveniently happens to be empty enough to have a car pile through, but it’s extremely tight and it’s the thing where for like, if you were driving normally you would go about it very slowly, but Val clocks that shortcut and immediately just [tire screeching sound] just absolutely decimates this hard, hard right-left turn.
Rhi: Yep. So you basically are, you’re rapidly approaching the docks, which is where your fake exit point was. Because you were trying to sell to your pursuers that you had stolen this very expensive whisky and were escaping to the docks. You know from kind of the count that you’ve had in your heads that Sage’s crew is probably getting to the train station about now and they’re getting close to the train. So you just need to keep everybody on you for like, a little bit more and wait for those fireworks. So, you’re at 11 out of 12, you just need to get one more tick on this clock.
Kim: [chants] Can we do it?
Rhi: And then you can start figuring out how to get yourself out of this pickle.
Josie: I have an idea for a flashback?
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: So, I think to help with the illusion a bit, we loaded some stuff into our trunk.
Rhi: Yes?
Josie: But I think what’s actually in that box is like, essentially an ecto-smoke machine.
Rhi: Okay…
Josie: That Echo setup. It’s just like water with some, like, electrified needles in it, right? To like, give off a bunch of steam.
Rhi: Mm! Okay, okay.
Josie: But I think what Echo’s gonna try to do is outstretch her hands and try to Attune into it using her own ectoplasm and set it off like she’s doing a big sort spell thing. So the result will just be a smoke screen, but I want it to be spooky-looking.
Rhi: Ooh, okay yeah.
Josie: So that they’ll break off pursuit.
Rhi: I’m down for it. Let’s give it a shot. Definitely gonna be Attune. I think you’re still… you’re still desperate because you are still being chased by multiple groups of people who are all shooting at you quite a lot.
Josie: Okay.
Rhi: And I think it’s gonna be…
Josie: And I don’t need to do a flashback for it?
Rhi: I’m not gonna have you make a roll for it, I am gonna say that’s a one stress flashback, just for the time that you would have spent putting it together. That’s something that Echo could have built reasonably enough. So you don’t need to roll but the— just take the stress. So, desperate… desperate, standard, we’re gonna say.
Josie: I’m gonna push myself for another die.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: Mark off arcane implements, I think. [rolls dice] I got a 3?
Kim: Oh, honey.
Rhi: Oh… okay. So, this goes very badly. So, something— somewhere in all of this fancy driving and all of the explosions and whatnot, things got jostled in the device. Things moved around. And whatever kind of the, like, electroplasmic charges that you had in there to sort of, you know, generate the electricity, when you reach out into the ghost field to activate them, they respond way too much. It explodes.
Josie: Oh no!
Rhi: So, who is in the back seat?
Minna: Um, I feel like Arlene is.
Rhi: Yeah and I know… I’m pretty sure Daring is, because Darling was standing up in the back.
Aki: Yeah.
Rhi: To do the shooting. So, I think Darling— I’m gonna distribute it this way, Darling, Arlene and the car are all taking two points of— or taking level 2 harm, basically.
Kim: No…
Minna: Ooh…
Rhi: As this thing blows up.
Minna: Let me resist that…
Rhi: Yeah.
Kim: Oh God.
Josie: I would resist the consequence, but I only have one drain box left, so…
Rhi: Oh yeah. [laughs] So, nope.
Aki: I don’t know— mm… to resist would cost more stress, right?
Rhi: Uh huh.
Josie: Unless you get a critical, in which case you clear stress. [laughs]
Rhi: Okay, so—
Aki: I don’t know if I wanna resist.
Rhi: Arlene, that’s gonna cost you four stress to knock that down to level 1.
Minna: Yeah. What’s the harm look like?
Rhi: I think just sort of, uh, Battered is what I’m gonna call it. Because basically like, you know, the trunk just exploded.
Minna: Yeah.
Rhi: So you kind of— there’s bruising, there’s some cuts from some shrapnel. There’s some burns, you just kind of have a smorgasbord of injuries. The car is still functional, but basically, let me see here… it’s impaired, everything’s at a minus one die for any rolls involving the car.
Kim: Oh boy.
Aki: What does level 2 harm look like? Cause I got…
Rhi: You’re gonna be at minus one die on a lot of physical rolls.
Aki: Hmm, that’s true. That’s true. I’ll resist, I’ll resist it.
Rhi: You do also— I will mention, you can have armor.
Aki: I could have armor, you’re correct.
Rhi: Yes. Which you can just mark having armor and that will automatically— it’s two pints of load and that will automatically drop it down to level 1.
Aki: Yeah, I’m okay with— I’m okay with saying Darling showed up with Black Widow armor. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah.
Kim: Oh my God, yes. She would look so sick in that.
Rhi: Yeah. So if you’ve got the load to spare, armor is probably the better choice. So the trunk blows up. [laughs] And both the cops and the Tellers just assume that the other one is responsible for it.
Minna: No. We did that to ourselves.
Rhi: Um, alright. So… [laughs]
Aki: I swear to God if we don’t get a doctor I’ll beat everyone up.
Rhi: [laughs]
Aki: Um, we still need to reach the train station?
Rhi: Well yeah, you still gotta fill in one more tick, so…
Aki: Could I shoot out tires to cause a like, I don’t know, a big ruckus?
Rhi: You can try.
Aki: Awesome. I will continue with the big baby and do that. So it’s Wreck again?
Rhi: Yeah.
Aki: I’m good, I… ooh, do I wanna push myself this one time?
Rhi: It’s gonna be desperate. You’re still rolling desperate.
Aki: Still rolling desperate? Okay yeah, might as well. I’m like, I’m hurt, I’m bruised, might as well be stressed too. But the trunk just blew up.
Rhi: Mm hmm.
Kim: I would call that mildly stressful.
Rhi: [laughs]
Aki: Yeah, exactly. My child was in the back seat with me. Both of my children are, because you know, baby. And—[laughs]
Kim: Alright listeners, take a guess as to which child Darling was, uh, referring to first.
[laughter]
Aki: Okay, 6. [gleeful laugh] Sometimes I get different things. This time I did. This time I rolled a 6 first again and then I rolled 2 for the bad one.
Rhi: Jesus Christ. Alright, you twist around and over the shattered remains of the trunk, open fire on whoever is following you. There’s several cars back there and like, there’s some smoke pouring out of the back. You can’t quite see who’s behind you but you open fire and a car flips over, another car drives into that one, there’s a pile-up, and you see kind of as this happens, you can see fireworks starting to go off over by Robelston. You’ve now— your friends, your comrades have made it to the train station.
Aki: Um, is it a free action to yell:
Aki (as Darling): Don’t fuck with The Brigantines!
Aki: [laughs] And then leave?
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: Oh, that is so funny.
Rhi: Yes, it is a free action to do that. We’ll see how— if that goes anywhere. Now, here’s the thing. You’re not out of the woods yet. You still have to escape. You still have to escape from the situation in which you find yourself. Given the circumstances, I’m gonna— let’s see. I am going to set this at… I’m gonna make it an 8-tick clock, but you’re already gonna have one tick filled.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: Because of the 6 that Darling just got. So now, yeah, now you have to escape. You did blow up some cars just there, there was a crash, but there’s a lot of Bluecoats following you, there’s a lot of Tellers chasing you. You’ve made a lot of people very angry this night and now you have to get away from them.
Josie: I don’t think Echo’s gonna be much help for a second, because she’s a little stunned that she just hurt everybody.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: Val isn’t physically hurt, but hurting the car hurts Val. [laughs]
Rhi: Aw.
Josie: I think she’s leaning back into the back seat like:
Josie (as Echo): I am so sorry. It was just supposed to be a smoke machine. I… let me see if I have bandages.
Rhi: Aww…
Kim: Baby.
Aki (as Darling): Bandages later, please. We’re not bleeding out yet.
Josie (as Echo): But you are bleeding some.
Aki (as Darling): Ah, that’s okay.
Minna (as Arlene): Guarantee we’ve had worse.
Aki (as Darling): Yeah.
Josie (as Echo): I suppose so.
Rhi: Alright. So, yeah, who has ideas for escape rolls?
Minna: I don’t know why my brain is not helping me tonight. [laughs] Uh, let me think. So we’re escaping… we had the route planned out, right? Are we on the planned route?
Rhi: You’re on the planned route for the first half. You didn’t really have an escape route planned. This is the time where I would recommend, like, flashbacks would be good here, for the escape part.
Minna: Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking. I’m thinking of doing a flashback, I just need to think what I wanna try and flashback and do.
Kim: I think I have an idea. Instead of doing a Finesse roll, could it be as part of a flashback that we set up some kind of… not necessarily a prop, but we set something up like a crate of grain or some kind of like water tank or something that I can shoot that would, you know, basically flood the path and slow down any pursuers?
Rhi: Yeah, or you could have like, planned out a path through the docks that would take you past such a thing.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: Yeah, yeah. I think that planning out a route that would take you past would be easier, that would be like a one stress flashback, I think.
Kim: Okay. I will do that, then.
Rhi: Yeah. So yeah, to make a shot to… yeah, to kind of slow people down with something behind you. Ooh, if you even wanted to get— I would actually say if you could, uh, if you wanted to combo this maybe with something for Arlene, if you do something that’s flammable…
Kim: Ooh, I like that.
Rhi: [laughs]
Minna: Oh, oh pull a classic Myra?
Kim: Do you know what I think it is?
Rhi: I mean, listen.
Kim: Do you think it’s like a news stand?
Rhi: Uh, I don’t think that’s gonna flow out in a way. I liked the grain idea.
Kim: Yeah. Yeah, maybe we tampered with some grain and you know, poured gasoline on it or something along those lines.
Rhi: I mean, just flour…
Kim: That’s true.
Minna: Flour under pressure will explode if you torch it.
Rhi: Yeah, or just grain, grain is flammable. Like…
Kim: Okay, let’s go with that then. Do I have to make a roll about it?
Rhi: Yes, you would need to make a roll to shoot out whatever thing you’re shooting.
Kim: Perfect. Um, I’m going to push myself to give me an extra die for that Hunt roll.
Rhi: Yeah. This is gonna be… we’re still in our fun, spicy desperate zone.
Kim: That is A-OK with me though. I will deal with whatever happens.
Rhi: I think just desperate, standard.
Kim: Okay. [shakes and rolls dice] [sighs] Shit.
Rhi: Yeah, what’d you get?
Kim: 3.
Rhi: Oof. I think you… lose the opportunity.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: I think that like, you’re trying to steer and like, get the gun and you just can’t do it because the Drake is just so, like, the back tires are so fucked up that you just can’t. Like, you see the like, grain cannister coming up and you just cannot get the shot lined up in time and you just fly past it.
Kim: Oh, it’s so rickety. Damn. Yeah. I think Val fumbles for a bit and she’s like:
Kim (as Val): I missed the shot! Sorry.
Josie (as Echo): It’s okay.
Minna: Well if, uh, if Val missed the shot, that doesn’t mean Arlene can’t try it.
Rhi: Yeah.
Minna: So I think Arlene’s gonna make her own attempt.
Rhi: Yeah.
Minna: Hang on a second, let me figure out… um, oh boy, what is it? What am I rolling?
Rhi: Probably Hunt. Still gonna be desperate.
Minna: Boy, that’s a bad idea. [laughs]
Rhi: [laughs]
Minna: Um…
Rhi: I’m open to other, like, if you wanna make other ide— pitches, though.
Minna: Let me look.
Josie: So she’s not taking the shot?
Minna: I’m trying to think of a way around it, or I guess I could take stress. I just only have three boxes left. But I think I’m gonna do that. [nervous laugh] Because I have no dice in Hunt. It’s a 4!
Rhi: Okay, a 4. So, you do it but there’s a consequence. Yeah, you fire and shoot this grain cannister, uh, and I think the grain, like, spills out across the road behind you. And the consequence is I think one of the gunners in one of the Tellers cars just shoots you.
Minna: Wait, I can also be wearing Black Widow armor.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Yes.
Minna: I have the stuff to spare.
Rhi: Which you should, because since this was desperate it’s gonna be level 3 harm.
Minna: [cringes] Yes, I am wearing… I am wearing armor.
Rhi: [laughs]
Minna: So that’s level 2 harm.
Rhi: Yeah.
Minna: I’m not gonna try and resist that because, yeah, I don’t have enough stress to spare. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah, so I think you just got a bullet to the shoulder. Um, and yeah, if Echo or somebody else wanna try and light up the grain behind ya? This would probably be a good instance for like an Echo gadget.
Josie: Er… oh yeah, I guess the slot on my sheet says ‘gadgets’ not ‘gadget’.
Rhi: Yeah. You’ve got more than one.
Josie: Echo’s a little wary about exploding things at the moment, um…
Rhi: Valid and fair.
Josie: But honestly, I think she just pulls out a lighter that she can lock into the on position and chucks it. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. It doesn’t have to get complicated. [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: And I think I’m gonna treat Minna’s thing as a setup action for you too, so it’ll be risky.
Josie: Okay…
Rhi: We’ll call it risky, standard.
Josie: Okay. What roll is this?
Rhi: Finesse?
Josie: I’ll take Finesse.
Rhi: Finesse feels correct.
Josie: [rolls dice]
Rhi: Finesse or Wreck.
Josie: I got a 6.
Rhi: Okay! Fwoom! [laughs]
Josie: Took a few tries, but… [laughs] we did do an arson.
Kim: We sure did.
Rhi: Big ol’ fireball as all of this grain just wooshes up. And you all are able to get a good amount of distance as you drive away down the docks. So your escape clock is at 5 out of 8. You’re very close. I think at this point the Tellers have given up. Like, you’re outside their territory, um, at least one of their cars has been destroyed, probably more than one. They’re gonna cut their loses and get outta here. Like, they’re done. [laughs] So, they’re breaking off at this point. The Bluecoats, not giving up. You’ve blown up a lot of their vehicle and their people, so they’re a little cranky about it. But you are close to shaking them. So, just need a few more ticks on this clock and you will be home free.
Aki: Hello. [giggles]
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim: Is it me you’re looking for?
Aki: Yeah.
Josie: [laughs]
Aki: So, I would like to flashback, if that’s okay, and…
Rhi: Yeah, yeah, tell me about your flashback.
Aki: And in doing so, um, I got an idea at— Darling got an idea while at horse racing. And um, in which it’s like, you know…
Rhi: I’m so afraid right now.
Minna: [laughs]
Aki: Horse racing? Sorry, goat racing. Either way, racing, you know? In which, you know…
Minna: Uh huh?
Aki: It’s like the same track sometimes but when the animals get neck and neck you can’t really tell who’s gonna win, you just gotta hope for the best and stuff. So what I’m trying to—[laughs]
Rhi: Yeah?
Aki: I’m sorry. [laughs] The fear in your voice.
Rhi: [laughs]
Aki: So what I’m trying to say is… [laughs] I actually don’t know how to say this, one second. Um… this made more sense in my head and now I’m not sure how to say it. Um… sort of set up a trap— could involve explosives that I had prior. It could. Which I don’t mind. Or something else, though I would assume you would tell me if it made more sense. What I’m trying to say is, can we just get— I would like to set up something, or I would have liked to have set up something where the Bluecoats run into the Bluecoats. Hence like a circle.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Oh… I see.
Aki: I realized I’m not sure how to say this. [laughs] At all. But it makes perfect sense in my head. [laughs]
Josie: Can we just like, figure eight a couple blocks so that we run the people following us into the ones following behind?
Aki: Oh, a flashlight! [laughs] If I had the Bluecoats flashlight and just pointed it at one area.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: You’re getting back into Kestrel Heights and you could use your— like, this is your home turf. You could use the knowledge of the neighborhood to weave around and kind of, yeah, steer them. I’m just trying to think of how… what kind of— maybe, um, I think maybe again this would be like, maybe the flashback is that Darling scouted this part of the route and so is like, giving direction to Val for like, “Turn here, turn here, turn here. Go straight really fast!” [laughs] And then there’s ideally a collision behind you.
Aki: Mm hmm, mm hmm.
Rhi: I think that’s what that would be. Okay, so this is gonna be a one stress flashback for you. What is the roll here gonna be? Gosh.
Aki: May I suggest Command? Because I’m not driving, but I’m telling— I’m backseat driving.
Rhi: Yeah… yeah [laughs] you are, yeah. I’m fine with Command.
Aki: Are you fine with me— wait, is this desperate?
Rhi: No. You’re up to risky, you’re up to risky.
Aki: I just wanted to see if I could mark [laughs] XP into the thing again.
Rhi: Yeah no, you’re back up to risky. You wanna push yourself, Devil’s Bargain, get an assist from anybody?
Aki: What does a Devil’s Bargain look like?
Rhi: Um…
Aki: I’m very stressed right now.
Rhi: Yeah… everybody’s very stressed, I think. I think the Devil’s Bargain is gonna be that there is going to… there’s definitely gonna be Bluecoat ghosts coming out of this whole thing, and that’s gonna cause problems for you all.
Kim: Welp.
Rhi: You all as a crew are gonna have vengeful Bluecoat ghosts.
Aki: Do we want cop ghosts?
Josie: I mean…
Kim: [sighs] Do we want cop ghosts?
Josie: I don’t want it…
Aki: I’m okay with just rolling my one dice.
Josie: Yeah, let’s trust your luck. [laughs]
Kim: Yeah, let’s go for it.
Josie: [nervous laugh] Aki is the ultimate lucky player.
Aki: Yes, I am.
Josie: Maybe this’ll work out. [laughs]
Aki: Yes, I am.
Kim: At least for tonight.
Rhi: Yeah, you’ve been just on fire.
Aki: Do I have to tell you the number or can you assume?
Rhi: You got a 6, didn’t you?
Aki: 6 again, on the first—
Josie: I can’t believe that fucking worked. [laughs]
Rhi: Honestly, like, that’s the thing Josie. I was genuinely thrilled when you blew up the thing in the trunk. [laughs]
Josie: Uh huh.
Rhi: Because it was like, oh, oh thank God. Something’s gone wrong.
Josie and Aki: [laugh]
Rhi: So yeah, the two remaining Bluecoat cars that are pursuing you, like, split up in an effort to flank you and Darling is just like, leans over, over Val’s shoulder and yeah, tell me what this looks like, Aki. Like, how is Darling doing this navigation?
Aki: I am leaning over holding onto the seat so like, half of my bod is out and the other half is awkwardly in the car, you know? So it’s not the best way to lean. But I’m also like seven-foot frame, rats on my back, you know?
Kim: [laughs]
Aki: And it just—[laughs] and it’s just uncomfortable all around. And I’ll tell, um, I give generic directions and I think at some point Val would realize that I’m just making yo-yo line kind of, like yeah, figure eights constantly, but in such a way where the two cars will just bonk into each other. However, when I feel that the time is right for the bonking, I will look at Val, who should not be looking back at me and just go:
Aki (as Darling): Now you need to do something that I don’t know if you can do.
Kim (as Val): And that is?
Aki: [simultaneously] Be straight.
Minna: [laughs]
Aki (as Darling): Drive straight. Straightforward.
Kim (as Val): Driving is the only thing I do straight when I have to, alright?
[laughter]
Aki (as Darling): Are you sure? Your hands are a nt wavery.
Kim (as Val): I don’t need backseat driving, stop. You’re distracting me.
Kim: And they wave a hand to like, ssh, you know. [laughs]
Aki: [laughs]
Rhi: And the Drake, battered, still smoking a little bit, but driving strong, shoots forward. And behind it, the pair of Bluecoat cars just bam, slam into each other. Big crash. And you all are able to drive safely off into the night. Good job.
Kim: We did it!
Rhi: [laughs] you did it!
Minna: We sure did. Holy shit.
Josie: Yay!
Rhi: Yeah.
Aki: [laughs] And Rhi takes one stress.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah, Rhi has taken several points of stress, to be honest. Need to go lie down.
Minna: [laughs]
Aki: I will say I took lots of self-imposed stress to get me stuff.
Rhi: Yeah, every— I mean…
Minna: Yeah, we’re all very stressed.
Rhi: Yeah, you guys took a beating [laughs] this session. Okay, so. Payoff. As promised, you get six coin.
Josie: One each, two in the vault?
Rhi: Yeah.
Aki: Yep.
Rhi: You guys have a good chunk of coin in the vault, you got six in the vault.
Kim: Sorry, that was one each, two in the vault? Perfect.
Rhi: Rep. Um, let’s see. Two rep per score— well, you only have two slots of rep available so you’ll just get two rep. Heat.
Aki: I did yell The Brigantines. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. Um, that’s gonna take it down a smidgeon but like… yeah, you guys are up at wanted level 2 now.
Minna: That’s fair.
Rhi: Yeah, you’re now are wanted level 2, heat one. You ended up taking like eight heat.
Kim: Oof.
Rhi: So, you manage to drag yourself back to the garage eventually. The Drake is very battered and so are most of you. You patch yourselves up for the time being, head home to get some rest. You know, the next day, head over to the Nightcaps headquarters. Bailey isn’t there to greet you. She seems to be out, you know, you’re guessing she’s out doing other work. So you head back to Benny’s office on your own and he’s very happy to see all of you. Kind of disregarding how bad all of you look, is just like:
Rhi (as Benny): Oh, Sage did a great job, knew they would, and so did all of you. And here, here is the money.
Rhi: And he will, you know, slide a small case of cash across the desk to you.
Rhi (as Benny): Great work as always. Probably should lay low for a little bit. The Bluecoats, ah, are very unhappy with all of this. Might… I might need to look into something to get them off your case a bit. But for right now, take a break. You’ve earned it.
Kim (as Val): [very deep and raspy] Well if you hadn’t—
Kim: Whoa, sorry. Hang on. [clears throat]
Minna: [laughs]
Aki: What the fuck?
Minna: Hello Batman.
[laughter]
Josie: [Batman impression] Where’s the detonator?
Aki: All of this vile abuse has finally got them.
Josie: [Batman impression] Swear to me!
Aki: [laughs]
Kim: [Batman impression so loud and deep it distorts the sound] Where is she?
[laughter]
Kim: Ah fuck. I am not on voice tonight. Alright.
Rhi: It’s okay.
Kim (as Val): If you insist.
Rhi (as Benny): Yeah, yeah. Take it easy for a bit, Bailey’ll let you know when I’ve got something else for ya.
Rhi: He kinda shoos you out of his office.
Kim (as Val): I don’t like that he’s giving us vacation.
Josie (as Echo): I think we could use it, though.
Kim (as Val): Yeah, maybe.
Aki (as Darling): Especially you Val, jeez.
Kim (as Val): What are you—
Aki (as Darling): Remember when you fell out of a train?
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim (as Val): [sighs] Yeah.
Aki (as Darling): And it was just you that fell out of the train and yet my back hurts.
Kim (as Val): [sighs] I really didn’t need a reminder, because I can still feel it in my shoulders, but… yeah. I do remember when I fell out of the train.
Rhi: [laughs] So I think that this bickering continues as you all head back to the car and begin the drive back to the garage.
Aki: It’s just parental units going at it.
Rhi: Yep. Bickering like an old married couple.
Kim: Old married couple, yep.
Aki: [laughs]
Josie: [laughs] The whole way back, Echo is just kind of holding her cut of the profits in her hand and essentially zoning out. She would do this when she was alive as well, but since she’s kind of expressionless and robotic right now, it kind of just looks like she goes still looking straight ahead. Like she turned off or something. But she’s just thinking really hard all the way back to the garage, and she seems distracted as everyone settles in there.
Kim (as Val): Hey doll? Awfully quiet over there. Something on your mind?
Josie (as Echo): Yes. Our… resolution was to get really rich. So that we could defend ourselves from people who would stop us from achieving our goals, right?
Kim (as Val): Yeah?
Aki (as Darling): Something like it.
Josie (as Echo): I don’t think we’re gonna do that under Benny.
Kim (as Val): [sighs] No, we are not.
Josie (as Echo): Yeah. As far as crime lords go, I think he’s pretty okay. But we busted our asses for subsistence money. I don’t think we’re gonna run out of food or ectoplasm any time soon, but ever since we got out, we have kind of been spinning our wheels. And I don’t know what to do about that.
Kim (as Val): Well, if we’re gonna break away from Benny, we have to be really strategic about it. I don’t think he’d take very kindly to us, you know, walking away and then, you know, screwing him over and becoming competitors. I think that’d put some real bad blood between us and it’d be another headache for us to deal with.
Josie (as Echo): Maybe we could pressure him into retiring? He has made some questionable business decisions lately.
Kim (as Val): [sighs] Well, if we do that, it has to be subtle.
Minna (as Arlene): I mean, do we care about if it’s retiring or… cause I mean, we can do subtle getting rid of, but I’ve never done subtle—
Aki (as Darling): We— we— we could. The issue is Benny is rather seasoned, to a degree— I’m not saying we can’t take him, I mean, yeah, I’m not saying that. What I am saying though is that, um, Benny is seasoned. This is a bit— it’s a family-run business. I would rather not get involved the family on that deep of a connection.
Josie (as Echo): Yes.
Kim (as Val): We screw him, we basically screw the entire family, so that just kind… you know.
Josie (as Echo): What if we got the family on our side?
Aki (as Darling): That… now that I like. Bailey has already expressed, ah, discomfort with her uncle’s… uncle’s? Grandfather, thank you. Her grandfather’s opinions. So, I mean, that’s good.
Aki: Out of character, have I ever— has Darling ever mentioned Trix? Teaching Trix how to fight? I don’t know if I’ve done that out of character yet.
Rhi: Not on air, but I don’t— like, I’ll leave it up to you, like, not every single moment of the character’s lives is on— is recorded. So like, it’s up to you if Darling has mentioned it to the others, you know, outside of the episodes.
Aki: Yeah. I genuinely don’t think so.
Rhi: Yeah.
Aki: Truthfully, she’s only started to open up more, at least— to everyone actually. So I don’t think— I think she just has not mentioned it at all. To which she would think a little bit and go:
Aki (as Darling): Oh. Oh, I don’t know if this poses a complication or not, but I do train their youngest.
Josie (as Echo): How do you mean?
Aki (as Darling): Uh, it was just self-defense classes. And now I’m kind of just a hiree tutor for fighting against.
Josie (as Echo): Hmm. Then maybe we either put Bailey or ourselves in charge? Or we at least need to take people with us when we leave so it’s not just the four of us on our own.
Minna (as Arlene): I like Bailey. She seems like she has ideas.
Josie (as Echo): Then maybe we should ask her about those ideas.
Kim (as Val): She definitely seems like our easiest in.
Josie (as Echo): And this way we can benefit from her rise without putting us in the spotlight.
Aki (as Darling): Oh, rather manipulative of you all. Ooh!
Kim (as Val): We’re just— I don’t know— I object to the word manipulative. We are just pressing on some building blocks that are already laid out for us there.
Josie (as Echo): This is a pragmatic concern.
Aki (as Darling): That is— these are all manipulation tactics, my children. I know it best.
Josie (as Echo): Then I suppose I’m getting the hang of this whole crime thing.
Aki (as Darling): Very much, indeed. Though I will say don’t get ahead of yourselves. That includes me too. I’m talking about us as a unit, to not think too far ahead in this case. They’re still people at the end of the day, and people will do weird, irrational tings. Like running away from super assassins, oh God.
Josie (as Echo): I think that was a fairly rational choice.
Aki (as Darling): I’m talking about when we push her. We can push and push and push, and if you push too far you’re going to make one powerful enemy. Or worse, one powerful liability.
Josie (as Echo): I suppose so. You all are better at the talking part of all this, but I will do what I can and try to better than exploding things in your faces.
Kim (as Val): Doll, that was an accident. You didn’t mean to. If I hadn’t swerved the car you— it probably wouldn’t have happened.
Josie (as Echo): Mm. I don’t know. It is always a risk with these devices, but I do need to make sure I am up to snuff. You three are experienced in this regard, I’ve been doing this for just under a year.
Aki (as Darling): Well, we’re experienced in very different things, my dear. And you are the most experienced with these trinkets of yours. So I would not sell yourself short. You need experience, you need time to grow.
Kim (as Val): We all started somewhere. Just don’t beat yourself up over it, okay?
Josie (as Echo): Okay.
Aki (as Darling): If you do though, do it quietly.
Rhi: [laughs loudly]
Kim (as Val): Dar, she’s not beating herself up over this.
Aki (as Darling): No, I don’t want her to. I’m trying to pull one’s tail! Do you not know what that means over here?
Josie: [laughs] Echo rolls up her sleeve and slaps her bare hand against her plating so it’s a really loud clack noise. It’s like:
Josie (as Echo): I am doing it loudly.
Kim (as Val): Stop it!
[laughter]
Kim: Val is doing that one Jamie Lee Curtis meme where she’s holding up a finger and like, does a very stern face.
[laughter]
Rhi: Yeah. So I think on that, on a lighter note of teasing and laughing and making some plans for the future, we will leave the Whisky Jays and the episode.
Kim: Yay.
All: Yay!
## Outro [00.56.54]
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 and follow us on Twitter @clever_corvids for the latest on this and other shows.
The City That Never Dies is GM’d and edited by Rhi. 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. Find her on Twitter @mynaminnarr.
Darling Tsering is played by Aki. Find her on Twitter @akinomii_art for more TTRPG Content.
Echo is played by Josie. Find her on Twitter @dragongirljosie, and check out her art at josie-art.com.
Valerie Sullivan is played by Kim. Find her on Twitter @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.
Rhi: 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 [00.58.47]
Josie: Ah! [laughs]
Aki: I just—
Kim: Oh wait, I don’t take stress?
Rhi: No, because Aki apparently didn’t need the extra die, because Aki got a fucking 6 on the first roll.
Kim: Jesus.
Rhi: Because I don’t think she’s rolled anything except 6s and criticals—
Minna: [laughs]
Aki: No, I rolled a 2 for one of them. But it had a 6 as well. [laughs]
Rhi: That. Doesn’t. COUNT!
Kim: Sorry, does that mean I don’t take the stress at all, I shouldn’t mark that on my sheet?
Rhi: Yes. You don’t— you don’t take— don’t take the stress.
Aki: [laughs]
Kim: Jesus Christ.
Rhi: Normally I wouldn’t do this, but apparently Aki already rolled before that was decided. So like… Jesus Christ.
Aki: [laughs]