Transcribed by Raina Harper.
## Intro
Welcome back to Imperial City. As always, thank you for joining us. If you’re celebrating holidays right now, I hope they’re safe and comfortable and full of love. If you’re not celebrating, I hope your week is wonderful.
Given the latest tomfoolery on Twitter, please remember you can follow us on Tumblr as well! We’re at clevercorvids.tumblr.com. Please join us there if you’ve got an account! And please consider leaving us a review if you can as the year winds down, it’ll make us all very happy.
Next, I’d like to tell you about this month’s featured charities. Trans people are facing continued assaults on their rights and their lives from right-wing bigots in government and on the streets. In the UK, trans youth may be forced into conversion therapy; in the U.S., armed neo-Nazis are assaulting bars and civic infrastructure in an effort to prevent queer people from existing in public. All of us, especially cisgender people, have to fight back against this violence.
Search for local trans rights orgs to make an impact in your community, or check out the TransCrowdFund hashtag on Twitter to donate directly to trans folks in need. You can also support larger, national orgs like Stonewall UK or the Stonewall Community Foundation in the US. Organizations fighting on the legal front are important, but it’s also just as important to make sure that trans people have money to eat, pay the rent, and sleep somewhere safe and warm. Many, many trans and queer people are in pure survival mode, and have been for a long time. We have to do what we can to step up and make sure that they can flourish, thrive, and live.
Thanks so much for sticking with us throughout this year. We’ll see you in 2023.
Now then. Let’s get started, shall we?
## Story Continues [HH:MM:SS]**
Rhi: We open up in the Black Rabbit club. It is winding down for the night, but it’s still a little bit before close. We pan across the various patrons. There’s a piano player on the stage right now. We find Val sitting at a table towards the back talking with a middle-aged Akorosian man in a very nice suit, more expensive than what anybody else in this club is wearing. As we come over to this table, he will smile and nod.
Rhi (as man): Well, sounds like we have a deal then.
Kim (as Val): Sounds like.
Rhi (as man): Alright. Feel free to reach out and contact me if you have any other questions when you talk to the rest of your crew or if you need anything from me, but it sounds like you are well-equipped to handle this.
Kim (as Val): That we are. We’ll be in touch.
Rhi (as man): Alright.
Rhi: He will reach across the table, shake your hand, stand and head for the exit. Val, it’s early enough that the two of you had ordered drinks during your conversation, so you don’t want to let good whiskey go to waste.
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: So, you’re sitting there, finishing up your drink… and you hear a voice from behind you say:
Rhi (as voice): Well Val, it’s been quite a while.
Kim: Val’s going to turn around and see who it was that spoke.
Rhi: It’s a voice you recognize, a voice you haven’t heard for several years at this point. As you turn, you see a woman standing behind you. She’s in her late 50s, probably, medium tan skin. Her dark brown hair is cropped at chin-length and is streaked with gray.
Kim: [suppresses giggling]
Rhi: She’s got an eyebrow scar…
Kim: [lets a grunt slip and laughs]
Rhi: …and dark glasses, dark sunglasses on her face. Also wearing a suit, but this is a little, you know… no tie. She’s got enough buttons unbuttoned for it to be a nice deep V.
Kim: [flustered] Uh…
Aki: [laughs] That breath.
Josie: Is this the person? Is this the person you were specifically crafting for us?
Rhi: Uh-huh.
Kim: [laughs]
Rhi: Uh-huh.
Kim: Oh no.
Rhi: Uh-huh.
Kim: Oh no…
Josie: Hold on a second. Just, um…
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: [breathes] Okay. Okay, cool.
Kim: Uh-huh!
Rhi: Yeah. Yep. [laughs] Normally when I put together a character that is an attack on everyone it’s on accident, but this time I deliberately sat down and crafted her.
[laughter]
Kim: [breathing heavily] I am, like… Out of character, I’m legitimately flustered right now.
Rhi: I can tell.
[giggling]
Aki: Y’all motherfuckers are out of BREATH! That’s what you are.
Rhi: Yep. [giggles] So… yeah. This is Paz Cardoza, somebody you haven’t seen for at least ten years, not since she broke up with you.
Kim: [laughs] Uh-huh?
Rhi: Yep.
Kim: Oh… How messy do we think it was?
Rhi: That’s entirely up to you.
Kim: Let’s just do the scene and we’ll see where it goes. The characters will tell us.
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah.
Kim: Yeah, Val takes in the sight, glances Paz up and down.
Kim (as Val): Paz… Wow. Hi. You look well.
Rhi (as Paz): Thanks. So do you.
Rhi: They’re gonna circle around the table and sit down in the chair that your client just vacated.
Rhi (as Paz): So, I’ve been looking into some of your work recently.
Kim (as Val): Oh, with the club?
Rhi (as Paz): No, Val, not with the club. Your other work, the smuggling, the string of explosions across the city a few months ago.
Kim (as Val): Yeah, I heard about that, but what makes you think that was me?
Rhi (as Paz): [sighs] The playing stupid look was never cute on you, Val.
Kim (as Val): Now you’re one to talk.
Josie: Wow.
[laughter]
Kim: This is good!
Rhi: Yeah. I’m… This was not my plan. Kim brought this to me like an hour ago and I was like “oh my God, yes. Perfect!”
Rhi (as Paz): Well, you are free to deny it all that you like, but I know what you and your crew get up to, and I’m giving you a chance to drop it.
Kim (as Val): Heh. You? You’re giving—Well, thank you for your good graces, your highness, but the way that I hear things around these days, you can’t really do anything to me unless you have something real solid.
Rhi (as Paz): And I’m giving you a chance to drop it before I get something real solid.
Kim (as Val): So what, is this a game of chicken now?
Rhi (as Paz): Hmm, cat and mouse seems a little more appropriate. Anyway. I’ve made my offer. Just keep it in mind as you’re going about your business.
Rhi: She will pick up the glass that your client left behind and toss back what’s left, set it down and get to her feet.
Kim (as Val): You know, he didn’t close his tab.
Rhi (as Paz): I assumed you were picking it up.
Rhi: Lower their glasses just a smidge, just enough that you can see them wink at you, and then put them back up.
Rhi (as Paz): See you around, Val.
Rhi: And start to walk away.
Kim: Great. [chuckles]
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie: “By the way, I’m coming for you. Bye.”
Rhi: [laughs] “I just wanted to give you a heads up.”
Kim: Well then, a game it shall be.
Rhi: “I’m going to destroy your life.” So Val, after that, you’ve gotta tell the rest of your crew about the job that you’ve arranged.
Kim: Yeah. I guess I’m heading back to the garage.
Rhi: Yeah. I think that you probably had contacted Darling to let her know to meet you there, because with Arlene still recovering at home… Darling hasn’t been going out a lot. Is that a fair assumption, Aki?
Aki: Very fair assumption. Y’all be like, “work,” and I’ll be like, good luck with that.
Rhi: Yeah. I think that Arlene is… It’s been a couple weeks since your last job and the shooting. Arlene is doing better. She still needs a lot of rest. Leona has still been hanging around a lot. You know that Leona—Darling, you may have overheard a conversation that Leona skipped out on a trip out of town to stay here with Arlene. She’s missing work for this.
But, Arlene is doing better. She still needs a lot of rest, but she’s able to walk around. She’s no longer bedridden, no longer hovering at death’s door after being shot in the chest.
Kim: Poor baby.
Rhi: So, you know, still definitely not good to go out on jobs.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: So, I think when Val called and was like ‘we need you on this one,’ Arlene probably nudged you out the door.
Aki: Mm-hmm. Okay, the most Darling has done going out –wise is going to… First of all, looking for probably Tycherosi-specific medicine stores. Getting all of that local shit. The strong-smelling remedies that will 100% work a majority of the time. They beat the shit out of your ailment so that way you’re good.
[laughter]
Kim: Vicks VapoRub.
Aki: Exactly. Tiger bomb, all of that stuff. It’s the only reason why Arling’s up—Arlene? Arling? Oh my God, I did it this time.
[laughter]
Aki: That’s the only reason why Arlene is up. Okay? We tiger bomb the shit. Vicks VapoRub on the feet. Everything. Everything.
Rhi: Yeah, I think Arlene was like “Darling, you have to stop hovering. You’re driving me insane. Go, go do a job. Val has something for you to do. Shoo.” So, you got kicked out of the house by your own child.
Aki: I got kicked out of my own house by my child who does not live here.
Rhi: Yeah, yeah.
Kim: That’s humiliating.
Rhi: Yep. [laughs] But, it means that Darling and Echo are both at the garage when you get there, Val. What do we think the two of you are up to when Val gets back?
Aki (as Darling): So what’s so cool about these tires?
Kim: Pfft.
Rhi: [squeaks, fighting laughter]
Aki (as Darling): Get me into this fandom shit.
Josie (as Echo): Well, the Cool Tires is just the name. It’s really the whole car. But it is pretty amazing, the mileage they get out of these tiny tires. I’m not sure what material it’s made of. It can’t just be scrapped real tire, can it? That can’t be healthy.
Aki (as Darling): I have absolutely no idea. I mean, we could always just find a couple, like ones that we don’t particularly care about and just take it apart and find out what the hell is going on with these toys.
Josie: Echo blinks and then immediately pulls one out and starts taking it apart.
Rhi: [laughs]
Aki (as Darling): You’re telling me you never bothered? You, the mechanic type.
Josie (as Echo): I didn’t have enough to have spares to take apart, but now I have enough that I can start combining them.
Aki (as Darling): Exactly. See, you… Why focus on just the regular shit? You can make your own original. Like an OC, an OC Cool Tire.
Rhi: Oh my God…
Josie (as Echo): An original car?
Aki (as Darling): Yes, exactly.
Kim: Ha!
Josie (as Echo): Just don’t steal it.
Kim: Oh my God.
Rhi: God…
Aki (as Darling): There’s a trademark.
Rhi: [laughs] Jesus Christ. So Val, this is the scene that you come into, Echo and Darling on the couch hunched over the coffee table with a few disassembled Cool Tires spread out in front of them and Echo probably doing some very precise work.
Josie: She has created something analogous to a monster truck out of Cool Tires.
Rhi: Excellent. Wonderful.
Kim: Val’s gonna come in and not even miss a beat. They see the both of you.
Kim (as Val): Thanks for coming. I know this is kinda short-notice.
Josie (as Echo): I live here.
Kim (as Val): Well yeah, no, I was more so talking to Darling. How’s Arlene?
Aki (as Darling): Oh, she’s doing much, much better. She can walk around now, but I believe she would like some alone time.
Kim (as Val): Well that’s good. Right, well… I got a little bit of good news, bad news situation going on right now. Which one you wanna know first?
Aki (as Darling): Give us the bad news first.
Josie (as Echo): Yes. That helps with anxiety.
Kim (as Val): [exhales] Alright. Well, uh… Bad news is we may or may not have a P.I. on our tails now.
Josie (as Echo): Oh.
Aki (as Darling): How much money did you lose?
Kim (as Val): No, it’s not that. It’s not me, it’s not my paper trail, it’s all the Jays.
Aki (as Darling): Okay.
Kim (as Val): The name is Paz Cardoza.
Josie (as Echo): Okay… How did they get onto us?
Kim (as Val): She’s probably just been fixated on me in particular. But, the point of the matter is, the good news—
Josie (as Echo): Hold on.
Rhi: [giggles]
Aki (as Darling): Fixated?
Josie (as Echo): You pried my backstory out of me. You don’t get to just brush over that part.
Kim (as Val): [stammers] Paz isn’t backstory, alright? If you wanna know, we dated a couple years ago, ended messy—
Aki (as Darling): Ooh~!
Kim (as Val): Why does that surprise you?
Aki (as Darling): Ooh, no, no. It’s just sudden.
Josie (as Echo): It’s juicy.
Aki (as Darling): Yes. I didn’t take you for like, you know, a cop lover.
Kim (as Val): It’s not… No. No! That’s not what that is. It was a super-casual thing and it ended a long time ago, but I guess she’s still holding a grudge because, you know, the whole P.I. thing now.
Aki (as Darling): What did you do?
Kim (as Val): I didn’t do anything, and that’s not the point of this conversation. I’m just letting you know, we’ve got a copper on our asses now and we have to be extra careful.
Josie (as Echo): That’s all we need.
Kim (as Val): I haven’t even gotten to the good news part yet. The good news is, the way that she operates, she can’t have anything over our heads unless she has some really, really solid evidence that points at us. So, we could probably still get away with a lot.
Josie (as Echo): Okay. I mean, we can proceed with caution now, and we did just get rid of most things solid on us when we broke into the Bluecoat station.
Aki (as Darling): Oh yes, you did do that, didn’t you?
Kim (as Val): That might be why she’s after us, she’s trying to set up a new file.
Josie (as Echo): I see.
Aki (as Darling): Well, how much baggage do we have?
Kim (as Val): I don’t have any baggage.
Aki (as Darling): You dated a cop and the cop is after us.
Kim (as Val): She wasn’t a cop when we dated!
Josie (as Echo): Val, I think all of us Whisky Jays are absolutely overloaded with baggage of various sorts.
Kim (as Val): Uh-huh?
Aki (as Darling): We should have a little sharing group, you know? Where we just talk about all of our baggage.
Kim (as Val): [sighs] Do you wanna hear about the next score or not?
Josie (as Echo): Yes please.
Aki (as Darling): I kinda want the baggage first. That’s okay, continue.
Kim (as Val): We can hold hands and let go of all of our baggage together when we don’t actually have a job to do. Capeesh?
Aki (as Darling): Capoosh.
Kim (as Val): That’s what I like to hear. Now, I met with a Mr. Oscar Lanvic. He deals with ginger, Tycherosi spice. He supplies it into the city in the, you know, not-so-legal way. What happened is that his supplier got busted and he’s looking for a new hookup, and he’s leaving it to us to try and get us that new supplier.
Josie (as Echo): Oh. That is good news.
Kim (as Val): Yeah. He’s looking at Robelston Imports over in, you know, Robelston. He wants us to go over there, talk to the owner, and see if we can broker a deal. The good news is, if this goes well, we might be able to take an ongoing cut of this endeavor.
Josie (as Echo): I see. I am not the best at business negotiations.
Kim (as Val): Eh, I’m decent.
Josie (as Echo): And then Darling can be intimidating.
Aki (as Darling): Well, maybe a little bit. Usually I kind of just use my appearance as the main thing, but if we’re dealing with another Tycherosi, I don’t think… you know.
Josie (as Echo): Well, yes, but you can also be other kinds of intimidating.
Aki (as Darling): That’s true. I do carry a lot of guns.
Kim (as Val): Where do you hold them all? You don’t really carry a purse or anything. You know what? No. We’re getting beside the point.
Aki (as Darling): [grinning] I was about to give you the very, very long detailed description of how I carry guns.
Kim (as Val): End of story, it’s 4 coin right now, but if we can get a deal out of these guys and it ends up running along pretty smoothly, it will be some good steady ongoing revenue for our enterprise. I think it’s a good deal.
Josie (as Echo): Yes, it doesn’t sound too hard.
Kim (as Val): Nah, we just gotta find the owners and talk to them. How hard can it be?
Aki (as Darling): Oh, well… hmm. We don’t really do talking.
Kim (as Val): Well, we’re gonna do talking if we want this to work.
Josie (as Echo): Val can do talking.
Aki (as Darling): Exactly! Exactly.
Kim (as Val): Yeah. So, just leave most of the talking to me, and you and Echo can do some kind of good cop, bad cop kind of thing… as needed.
Aki (as Darling): [giggling] Can I be your ex? No, I’m gonna stop. I’m sorry.
Kim (as Val): Wow. That was low. That was real low.
Rhi: So yeah, you head over to the shop, Robelston Imports. It’s near the train tracks. As you’re driving up, one of the trains goes rattling overhead as it heads down towards the train station. It’s a fairly small shopfront but excellent use of the available space; lots of shelves, everything is laid out really neatly.
It looks like it’s just kind of a collection of various imports from Tycheros. It’s not like it’s just food or just art. There’s food, there’s art, there’s clothes, there’s jewelry, there’s all kinds of stuff that would be imported from Tycheros.
You can see towards the back of the shop there’s a counter with a cash register and there’s a man standing back there talking with another customer. It looks like they’re finishing up a deal. From this far away you can tell there’s, like… something a little odd with his hair.
Kim: Is it feathers or something?
Rhi: Not feathers. Feathers you’d be able to tell.
Kim: I’ll at least go to whoever’s working the front and “ask to speak to your manager.” [silly voice]
Rhi: Yeah. You get back, making your way through the store, to the back right as this other customer wraps up and heads out, As you get back there, you can see he’s Tycherosi, younger than Darling, you’re guessing. He looks like he’s probably in his mid- to late 30s. What you can see is his hair is pulled back into a very thick ponytail, but it’s all sort of these long porcupine-like quills…
Kim: Yo! That’s cool.
Josie: Ooh.
Rhi: …that he’s got wrangled back. And his eyes are yellow.
Kim: That’s awesome.
Rhi: That reflective animal type thing.
Kim: Yes.
Rhi: But you know, he smiles when you all come up.
Rhi (as clerk): Welcome! Welcome. What can I do for you?
Kim (as Val): Hi. We’re here to speak with the owner. Oscar Lanvic sent us.
Rhi (as clerk): Oh, you’re in luck. That’s me. I’m Bartholomew Wan. You said Oscar sent you?
Kim (as Val): He did. Are you familiar with the name?
Rhi (as Bartholomew): [measured] We’ve talked a couple times. Uh…
Rhi: He stands up a little straighter and looks around the shop. As he does that, his eyes land on Darling. His eyes widen a little bit.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): Oh! It’s not too often I see someone with the—
Rhi: And he does the, you know, traces out the lines of your horns in the air above his head.
Aki (as Darling): Ah! Yes. I see you noticed.
Aki: I will, like a hello, like a wave, but the tail will come up a little bit too.
Aki (as Darling): Your eyes do not deceive you.
Rhi: I think when he sees your tail, which has been poorly docked and clearly not allowed to grow as it’s normally supposed to, it’s a brief thing but his expression falls a little bit. It’s a bit of a pained wince for a moment.
Kim: [uneasy sound]
Rhi: But then he goes back into business mode and starts coming out from around the counter.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): Well, let me flip the sign around and we can have a more private chat.
Rhi: He’ll go up to the front and just flip the sign to say “closed” and come back. He just hops up and sits on the counter.
Kim: Oh, so he’s bisexual.
[laughter]
Rhi: Probably.
Aki: Good.
Josie: Yeah, this is us.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): So, I assume this is about the ginger supply?
Kim (as Val): It is, in fact.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): Yeah. Oscar came around a week or two ago asking about it. I don’t think he had a very clear sense of how things are imported into the city and all of the steps that are involved. It’s not like I can just sort of magically get the stuff tax-free, which is probably why he reached out to all of you, I’m assuming…
Kim (as Val): Well, he didn’t say as much, but…
Rhi (as Bartholomew): I’m not opposed to the idea. I don’t love that the Empire is taking such a huge chunk of my income in these tariffs that of course they don’t put on anything grown here in Akoros. You all have skill and background in transport?
Kim (as Val): We do. We’re very reputable transporters. We’ve had many recent successes as of late, actually.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): Oscar seems to have decent taste in people.
Rhi: And he kind of gestures at his shop.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): So, the issue is… I’m not opposed to working with him, and you, I just can’t because of the other gang that kinda has a lock on this area.
Kim (as Val): The other gang? What would those be?
Rhi (as Bartholomew): The Tellers.
Josie (as Echo): Oh dear.
Kim (as Val): Ah.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): They’ve got a big protection racket on a lot of the businesses out here. I don’t love paying to them either, but I also don’t love having a bunch of my inventory busted up.
Kim (as Val): Well, what if we told you that we could do something about the Tellers?
Rhi (as Bartholomew): If you can get them to back off from breathing down my neck, that would be great, and then I would be considerably more open to additional business arrangements. But, they don’t like people taking jobs outside of their purview. If we’re going to be doing anything illegal, it should be through them. They’re not smugglers, so they wouldn’t be much help in this situation.
Kim (as Val): Exactly. We are smugglers. For the record, I didn’t come here to ask if this is something that they would “like.” I’m sure that they could be reasoned with, but you know, if push comes to shove…
Rhi (as Bartholomew): Uh, well… you’re probably the experts on that more than I am. I’ve just been paying them money every month. So, I’ll leave it to you to figure it out. But yeah, we can talk more details once that’s clear.
Kim (as Val): I think that’s more than reasonable.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): Yeah. Until they’ve been convinced to back off of the protection thing, I’m kinda stuck.
Kim (as Val): Well, let’s see if we can make you unstuck, and then we’ll talk.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): That would be great. Yeah, sounds good.
Josie (as Echo): We have gotten the better of them before.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): Oh. That’s good to know. They don’t take pushback very well though, I will say. My example about inventory getting smashed up wasn’t hypothetical.
Kim (as Val): Hmm.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): So, just be careful I guess.
Kim (as Val): Same to you. We know how to watch our backs.
Rhi: He’ll slide down off the counter. I think as he’s heading back up to the front of the shop to flip the sign around again, he’ll stop by Darling and just say, quietly:
Rhi (as Bartholomew): If there’s anything here that you want, I do a half-off first time discount for folks from back home.
Aki (as Darling): Well shit, now I want stuff.
[laughter]
Aki (as Darling): I was gonna come back later, but okay.
Josie (as Echo): Darling, do you need to go shopping?
Aki (as Darling): No, no, no. I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t…
Kim (as Val): Shop around, Dar.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): The offer is good for… it’s just only the first time. I can’t afford to do those kind of discounts forever. But, if you wanna come back later, most of this will still be here. I did have somebody who was very interested in that sculpture, though.
Aki (as Darling): I should not ask because I do not want to get into a bidding war. What sculpture?
Rhi: I think it’s just like a Tycherosi person with… They’ve got horns as well, but they are much longer and sort of curled back more than Darling’s do. If you go over and look at it, they have you can see the rectangle pupils that are kind of goat-like carved in or pained onto the statue. I think they are posed standing and looking at some kind of large tome.
Aki (as Darling): Nice. I don’t think I should have a goat man statue in my home. I think my tiger would get jealous.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): Ooh.
Rhi: Did you bring Pearl in?
Aki: I don’t think I brought Pearl in out of the whole it’s a…
Rhi: It’s a small shop?
Aki: It’s a small shop. Right. Pearl’s on a leash tied outside.
Kim: No~ She can be in the car.
Aki: She could be in the car.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): Ooh, a tiger?
Aki (as Darling): Yes! Yes, I have a tiger.
Rhi: He looks outside the— [chuckles] Looking through the window.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): Did you bring the tiger?
Aki (as Darling): Of course I did! She’s in the car. That one, right there.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): Oh! Oh, okay, tiger. Yeah. Huh.
Josie: Does Pearl get jealous?
Rhi: What all of you see as you look out the front windows of the shop is Pearl is sitting in the back seat with her front paws and her head resting on the edge of the door just staring at the shop with the biggest saddest eyes.
Kim: Aww.
Rhi: She hates being left behind.
Aki (as Darling): She’s a big mopey baby, but like, in a good way.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): She looks adorable, and I do appreciate you not bringing her in here. I feel like even if she was being careful stuff would get knocked over.
Aki (as Darling): Yes, she’s gotten so big, and I only just found out that she will get bigger.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): Oh boy.
Aki (as Darling): Yes. She’s still a baby.
Josie (as Echo): She’s going to get bigger?
Aki (as Darling): Yes. She’s a baby.
Kim (as Val): How much bigger?
Aki (as Darling): Like a lot bigger. Apparently she’s achieved, like… she’s about two thirds of the size she should be.
Josie (as Echo): Oh. I did not know she was literally a baby. I just thought we call her a baby because she is cute.
Aki (as Darling): Yeah, I’ve only had her for about two years.
Josie (as Echo): Oh.
Aki (as Darling): Yes. They just grow quite fast, and very big.
Josie (as Echo): For some reason, I had the feeling Pearl was older than me.
Kim (as Val): In cat years, maybe.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): Alright. Well, good luck with the Tellers. Feel free to come back whenever. And, good luck keeping the tiger fed.
[chuckling]
Kim (as Val): Good luck with your business.
Aki: God, that must be a struggle to actually keep her fed.
Rhi: Mm-hmm! [laughs] I feel like this guy’s just like… ah, that’s a lot of meat you have to go through in a week.
Aki: And she’s a cat! She’s so picky! She doesn’t like specific meats.
Josie: You’re gonna just have to start throwing whole animals at her.
Rhi: Yeah, you all can head out. I think Darling sees—or Pearl rather, sees you all looking out through the window and starts getting up. I think you probably have her leash attached to something in the car so she’s not jumping out, but she’s just like “ooh, ooh, people see me, hi, hi, hi. Come out?” Standing up with her paws on the door, her tail lashing.
Aki (as Darling): Oh no-no-no, we better go. She will start pawing at the windows.
Josie (as Echo): Calm down, Pearl. Geez.
Kim (as Val): Hold your horses, you big baby.
Rhi: Pearl is mollified by all of you coming out and giving her attention. So yeah, you need to convince another gang to stop shaking down this shop for protection money.
Josie: Yeah.
Kim: I feel like we can probably do that.
Rhi: So, you’ve met with Bartholomew, you all hop back into the Drake. Pearl sprawls across Darling as if to pin her down and make sure that she never leaves again! And yeah, you can all start your cross-city drive slash planning session as you head back for the garage.
Josie (as Echo): So, there’s the friendly way and the violent way.
Kim (as Val): Uh-huh.
Aki (as Darling): There’s also the blackmail way, though that one is, you know… it’s a bit more to do.
Kim (as Val): The blackmail way?
Aki (as Darling): Yeah. Okay, it’s not like you both specifically haven’t had experience breaking into Bluecoat shops and whatnot. We can just, you know, perform a little breaking and entering, either there or wherever the hideouts are for these ruffians, and find some shit on them, and then just threaten to go to the Bluecoats with it. We technically have a rather peculiar smoking hot ex of Val’s, apparently.
Kim (as Val): You don’t even know what they look like!
Aki (as Darling): [smiling] I don’t need to know what they look like. I trust that you have semi-decent taste.
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim (as Val): Only—Wow. Dar, you know, that really cuts.
Aki (as Darling): I know. I know. I’m in a mood, but it’s a very fun mood.
Kim (as Val): [deep breath]
Josie (as Echo): Val can pull tens, definitely.
Aki (as Darling): That is a weird thing to say about your parental unit.
Kim (as Val): It’s a weird thing to say about a ten themself. … Of course I pull tens.
[laughter]
Rhi: “They’re a ten, but…”
Josie (as Echo): So, is Val actually my parent now? I thought that was just a mentorship thing we had going on.
Aki (as Darling): I don’t know. I don’t make these.
Kim (as Val): Doll, I know you have your old family. We don’t… eh. We don’t have to get into all that if we don’t want to right now. Do we have a plan or not?
Aki (as Darling): I’m assuming we don’t want to go in guns blazing.
Kim (as Val): No, I’d rather talk things out first if we can.
Aki (as Darling): Okay. We already know that they dislike us, so we would be entering like a bear’s cave with food strapped to our bellies.
Kim (as Val): Figuratively speaking.
Aki (as Darling): So, if we were to dig up some dirt and then hold it over them, make them think that we have perhaps the Bluecoats in our pockets, that might be kind of fun.
Josie (as Echo): I do like that plan. We could also fabricate something to get Val’s ex off our tail and maybe lead them to driving out the Tellers.
Kim (as Val): Well, she’s very thorough, so we’d have to be thorough ourselves. It honestly sounds risky, but I kinda like it. I think this is our best shot.
## Gather Info
Rhi: So, there’s definitely gonna need to be some gathering of info here.
Josie: Mm-hmm. We should probably know at least what the Tellers are up to.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: Yeah. Start with some preliminary “what do we know about this other gang?” I’ll tell you for free, before you start getting into any gathering of info, just the general knowledge that you have about the Tellers as criminals who work in this city.
The Tellers primarily focus on financial crime: extortion, fraud, racketeering, money laundering. Money laundering and protection rackets are their big, big things. But you know, they dabble in any kind of financial crime. Their base of operations is in Portmarch, because that’s also the city’s main financial district, but the fact that they’re running a protection racket in Robelston is not surprising.
They have these kind of things, these operations set up all over the city. Fronts for money laundering, protection rackets, other sorts of things, they’ve got stuff kind of scattered all over Imperial City. I think that is the main information that you would know about them.
Aki: I do have a private eye contact.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: Oh, you do? Interesting.
Aki: I do. Yes.
Kim: That’s fortuitous.
Aki: My private eye’s name is Harriet.
Rhi: Yeah. Do you wanna chat with Harriet, see what info she’s got?
Aki: Yes. I think I will. That might be our best bet, just so that way we’re also anonymous.
Rhi: Yeah, send somebody else to poke around. Or, it’s possible, depending on how the roll goes, that she’s already done some investigating into them and might have info available already.
Aki: True.
Rhi: So how do you know a private eye, Darling?
Aki: I think we frequent the same salon.
Rhi: Okay. You met in a social setting.
Aki: Yes.
Rhi: Yeah, I like it. She’s not your favored contact, so you don’t have to have as deep a relationship, but somebody you can chat with. Cool.
Aki: Yeah.
Rhi: Yeah, I think this would be Consort. Oh, don’t forget, you do get a bonus die on all your Gather Info rolls.
Aki: Oh! In terms of appearance, by the way, I think Harriet kind of looks like… I believe her name was Grayson from Arcane. Think this rough but professional-looking older woman, brown skin. Her hair is graying, and she has a very deep husky voice.
Rhi: Ooh. Okay.
Aki: It’s still got command in it. You know what I mean? She’s probably retired, but “retired” with quotations.
Rhi: Yeah.
Aki: A 5.
Rhi: Okay. Standard amount of information. You chat with Harriet and… is there anything in specific you’re trying to figure out, or just, like, what do you know about the Tellers?
Aki: Hmm. I think any… Quite literally, I think Darling would just be like:
Aki (as Darling): You wouldn’t happen to know anything not-so-favorable about the Tellers, do you? I’m looking for quite literally anything. I’ve got some beef.
Rhi (as Harriet): Heh. Not favorable? Sure. You want that alphabetically or chronologically?
Rhi: Harriet can tell you, aside from the obvious stuff—that they extort people for money—they have had some internal shakeups lately. The former head of the gang was killed under… I mean, he was murdered, by probably people within the gang. There was a coup. The new head of the gang, Tamsin Bray, Tamsin used to be just a gunner enforcer who has sort of murdered their way up the ranks, and murdered their way right into control of the gang.
That has led to some less-than-favorable decisions being made. Harriet tells you that the gang as a whole has been engaging in a lot more violence lately. They haven’t been doing as good of a job. If you’re gonna run these kind of crimes, financial crimes, you need to kind of keep it quiet. [chuckles] They’ve been making a lot of noise lately.
They have paid off the Bluecoats. They have a lot of money to throw around. However, their crimes have been getting so overt that the Bluecoats are like, we can’t cover this up for you anymore.
Aki: What’s probably the thing, the crime they would care about the most being public? Publicized.
Rhi: I don’t think that she can give a specific incident, but the main reason that the Tellers are allowed—like, that the Bluecoats let the Tellers keep operating the way that they are, is because they prey on lower income brackets, middle class and lower. If they start touching the people with money and power in the city, now they’ve crossed lines.
So, if you can find evidence that they have targeted some people who are out of bounds, people who have money, that would be something that the Bluecoats would have to react to. Whether they target these people with their standard financial crimes or with violence, either one would be something that, if it went public, the Bluecoats would have to address it.
Aki: Could I ask her maybe where she got this information from? Maybe we can go see if there’s a paper trail.
Rhi: I think with a 5 she doesn’t have a specific source for you to follow up on. It’s just she’s heard from different sources, different clients, and she’s kind of cobbled together this gossip.
Aki: Mm-hmm. I don’t think I have any more questions, really.
Rhi: Okay. I will also point out, forgery is an option.
Aki: Forgery is an option. That’s what I was thinking. Forgery is what we might want to do.
Rhi: You can skip the whole finding real evidence and just invent your own that’s tailor-made to ruin them.
Aki: Yeah.
Rhi: I would let you do that as part of a setup. Yeah, if folks have ideas in a forgery direction or if you wanna keep seeing if you can find something legit, either one works.
Kim: I could see if Severin has something legit on them, maybe.
Rhi: Whomst?
Kim: The retired Bluecoat that I’m buddies with.
Rhi: Jarvis.
Kim: Jarvis. Why did I think Severin?
Rhi: Because that was…
Josie: That’s last campaign.
Rhi: Yeah, that was in The magpies.
Kim: Oh shit. Alright. Sorry about that. Meat computer is soup.
Rhi: I think we’re all kind of in that spot tonight.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: Yeah! Jarvis would be a good source, because the Tellers have been operating for ages.
Kim: Right. Yeah.
Rhi: So, he probably has some intel from dealing with them even before.
Kim: May I roll Consort?
Rhi: Yeah!
Kim: Okay, 6.
Rhi: Okay! Cool. So, you meet up with your good friend Jarvis whomst you can ask all kinds of weirdly specific questions without getting any pushback. If you ask about, like… Are you asking a similar sort of question? Do you have any dirt on the Tellers?
Kim: It probably starts that way. Yeah.
Rhi: Okay. You ask that, and as the conversation keeps going, what comes out is he says that there was a big expensive cover-up from right before he retired, so four or five years ago.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: One of the Tellers’ enforcers’ gunners had killed—it was an attack on a business that wasn’t paying up, and in the attack several innocent bystanders were killed.
Kim: Oh shit.
Rhi: And among the innocent bystanders were a few members of the Kesserin family. That family has a lot of money. They have a lot of investments in the growing financial industry. The Tellers paid the Bluecoats a ton of money to bury the investigation so that they wouldn’t look too hard into it.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: But, what Jarvis says is that the rumor always was that the attack was never about the restaurant, it was about this family, to try and weaken their position. It was some people who were up-and-coming in the business, who had ideas about improving security on their finances and stuff like that, and they were the ones that got ‘got.’
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: So, that got buried, but the family is still around. So, if it came out, it would probably cause some problems.
Aki: Didn’t we have a forger contact or was that Arlene’s?
Rhi: Um… Arlene knows a forger. But like, forgery is based on skills that I think Echo’s got. I think Finesse and Tinker are things that you could use. Now, you have some info where you can build a forgery that has—you’re not just making shit up whole-cloth. You can build some truth into it.
Josie: Sure.
Rhi: Alright.
Josie: What is forgery usually?
Rhi: I think in the past we’ve done it as Finesse, but that was when it was hand written. This would be a lot of typed stuff.
Josie: Right.
Rhi: So, I think Tinker would also be applicable.
Josie: I see.
Kim: Would Echo need an entire printing press or could she get away with just using a typewriter?
Rhi: Probably could get away with a typewriter. That’s what the Bluecoats would be using to write up reports.
Kim: Yeah. It’s not outrageous to say that one of us has a typewriter for her to use.
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: Oh yeah. Or being able to acquire one.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: So yeah. I would say, I would definitely allow a Tinker roll to see how well you do of putting stuff together.
Josie: Sure.
Rhi: I’m gonna, just with the other rolls that people have done, you’ll have improved effect on this.
Josie: I got a 4.
Rhi: Okay. Since I’m still treating this as a setup sort of thing, you do it with improved effect… I think what you come up with is blackmail that you’re pretty sure is gonna be good enough to convince the Tellers. If you ever had to turn this in, like, make good on your threat and take this to the Bluecoats, it probably wouldn’t fly. But you don’t necessarily need to make good on your threat, you just need them to believe.
Josie: Correct.
Rhi: You’re pretty sure that this will hold up. You incorporate details, probably go dig around in some newspaper archives to find some other stuff about the killing, get all these reports together that look like they were stolen from a Bluecoat archive. That’s the other thing, the Tellers know that the Bluecoats have info, they had to pay them to get rid of it, so it’s very believable that you could have gotten your grubby little mitts on it.
So, you’ve got forged documents. You wanna go have a chat with some gangsters?
Kim: I guess so.
Josie: Sure.
Rhi: Now, here’s my other question. You could just meet with them at their base, or you could try to set up the meeting at The Sovereign.
Josie: If we have the option of The Sovereign, yes, we should 100% do that. We should not—
Aki: Yes! Let’s go! Bye! Beep-beep. No, we doing this one now.
Rhi: [laughs] So, I think this conversation at The Sovereign is gonna be the score, so a pretty short score, but that’s okay. I think what I’ll need to arrange this at The Sovereign is somebody to make a roll to set that up, to get The Sovereign to agree to host this.
Kim: I’m okay with that. Would that be a Consort?
Rhi: Yeah, probably Consort.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: I’m kinda treating this as a setup action.
Kim: Five.
Rhi: Okay. Basically, you can have this neutral territory to do the talk, to have this conversation, but any agreements that come out of this are your business. We’re not enforcing any contracts. This just doesn’t… To them, this doesn’t rise to the level of something that they need to enforce.
Kim: Yeah, that tracks.
Rhi: So yeah, again, you’re building a house of cards, and as long as no one ever touches it, it’ll be fine, but if anyone ever pokes at it, you don’t have a lot holding it up.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: Which is fun for me in the future. So, let’s talk about the plan and the engagement. This is a Social score, you’re talking to people. What do you all wanna bring in, in terms of load-out?
Josie: I mean, what is loud as far as The Sovereign is concerned? [laughs]
Rhi: Weapons are not allowed, but you have a lot of other gear that you could potentially bring in.
Josie: I think I’m gonna go light.
Rhi: Makes sense.
Aki: I am also gonna go light, especially if they’re theoretically taking our weapons, like our “weapons” weapons, at the door.
Rhi: Yeah.
Aki: Though, I want to say that I packed normal—no, even heavy, specifically, so that way we can have one of those scenes where it’s like, “okay, one second,” and I have to unload all my weapons into a bin.
[laughter]
Rhi: Thunk, thunk, thunk. Yep. How about Val?
Kim: I’m going to be contrarian and say normal, just in case.
Rhi: Okay.
Aki: Wait. Do I have to also—Do I have to leave Pearl behind, too?
Rhi: I think last time you came to The Sovereign the ruling on Pearl was keep her on a leash, and if she attacks anyone, all of you will be removed.
Aki: Because I was about to be like, as much as I would like to pick her up and put her also in a bin, because you know, fits in sits—
[laughter]
Aki: I no longer have the strength to lift up a 200+ pound tiger.
Josie: We could get a little red wagon and have her hop up into it so you can pull her around.
[giggling]
Aki: Yeah!
Rhi: That’s such a good mental image.
Josie: I’m just imagining the squeaky wheel as she rolls in on it.
Rhi: mm-hmm. ‘Squeak, squeak, squeak.’ “Is that a fucking tiger?”
Aki: She gets a whole lounge chair to herself.
Rhi: The Tellers show up for the meeting and there’s nowhere to sit.
Aki: “I’m sorry, she got very antsy.”
Rhi: So, engagement roll. Is this operation particularly bold or daring?
Kim: I would say somewhat, just because they don’t like us.
Rhi: And they’re a much bigger, like, they’re a much higher tier than you. You’re aiming two tiers up. So, that is gonna come out to a 2d6 engagement roll. Alright, that is a 4.
## Score
Rhi: So, you send a message to the Tellers to let them know that you’d like to meet and talk. They agree to send a couple representatives. I think the fact that you say you’re meeting—that you want to meet at The Sovereign lends it a little more weight than it would otherwise. A lot of times they just wouldn’t give you all the time of day. But, meetings at The Sovereign, hard to reject.
You show up at The Sovereign and, because you are there for an official meeting, you’re greeted as you’re taking off all whatever weapons you brought at the front door. You’re greeted by the owner of The Sovereign, Alicia Marren. Alicia is a tall dark-skinned trans woman. Her hair is mostly silvered at this point, she keeps it pulled back, and she’s wearing… I think just a very business sort of dress. Long sleeves and a knee-length skirt, and a shoulder holster over it. She is the only person other than the guards who gets to carry a weapon. So, she has a revolver very clearly at her side.
Josie, are you making gay noises over there?
Josie: Yeah~
Rhi: [laughs] She’ll come up and will greet all of you.
Rhi (as Alicia): Well, I think this is the first time that we’ve had an official meeting with all of you here. You all know the rules and everything?
Kim (as Val): We do.
Rhi (as Alicia): Alright.
Rhi: She squints past Val at Darling who I think is still unloading weapons and has a tiger at her feet.
Aki: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. The leash is in my pocket because I have to put the leash in my pocket in order to get all the weapons off.
Rhi: Yeah. She looks back at you.
Rhi (as Alicia): Do you come in here expecting trouble?
Aki (as Darling): Hmm? Oh, no-no-no, I just like being… prepared.
Aki: I say, as I pull a rifle comically out of somewhere.
Rhi: [laughs]
Rhi (as Alicia): Alright. Well, you can have all those back when you’re done.
Rhi: The weapon check guy gives you little slips for all of your weapons, in their bins. She’ll show you to the… It’s not a private room, per se, but it’s one of those booth tables that’s set bac kin the wall that has a curtain you can pull across, so it’s definitely more private than just at a table out in the bar proper. She’ll walk you over there. As you’re going past, she’ll look at Pearl again.
Rhi (as Alicia): Does she like pets, or am I gonna lose a hand?
Aki (as Darling): Oh, she likes pets. The nice lady would like to pet you, okay dear?
Aki: I’m saying this to Pearl.
Rhi: [laughs] I imagine following up with a mental image of “don’t screw this up for us.”
[laughter]
Aki: Pretty much. Whatcha got there? “A smoothie.”
Rhi: So yeah, Alicia will give pearl a couple pats.
Rhi (as Alicia): Just make sure you keep her restrained. Wouldn’t want to throw you out on your first visit.
Aki (as Darling): Second, actually. This place is so nice. I might come more often?.
Rhi (as Alicia): Well, that is one of the many services that we provide here.
Aki: [giggles] Sorry, that’s funny.
[laughter]
Rhi: That felt like a real nice setup for me. I couldn’t resist.
Aki: It was.
Rhi: The woman runs a brothel. What do you want from me?
Aki: No, you’re absolutely correct. Absolutely correct.
Rhi (as Alicia): Anyway, I’ll let you all get to your business and we’ll bring over your counterparts from the Tellers when they get here.
Rhi: You all get settled in at your booth, and a few minutes later, true to her word, Alicia will come over with a couple folks from the Tellers who I think as I’ve said before dress like people from Al Capone’s version of the Chicago Outfit, so suits, hats. It’s a man and a woman who will slide into the booth after you and Alicia will give you all a nod.
Rhi (as Alicia): No killing each other. Have a nice time.
Rhi: Slides the curtain across.
Kim: [chuckles]
Rhi: The two people that you’re meeting with, the names that you were given are Thistle and Thorn, obviously not their real names. The woman immediately leans forward.
Rhi (as Tellers woman): Okay, so what is this about? We usually have much better things to do than waste our time with a bunch of smalltime smugglers, so let’s get this over with.
Kim (as Val): This is about Robelston.
Rhi (as Tellers woman): What about it?
Kim (as Val): We need you to stop making trouble over there.
Rhi (as Tellers woman): [chuckles sarcastically] Uh-huh, and why would we do that?
Kim (as Val): Because we’re trying to claim that as our space now, and…
Kim: Is it just a paper, or do we have it in like a folder or something?
Rhi: It’s a folder. Echo put in some work on this to write up several documents.
Kim: Yeah.
Josie: I think, without handing it over, Echo pulls out the folder and just kinda flips it open like you’re showing a book to someone so they can see what’s in it.
Rhi: But you’re not giving it to them?
Josie: I am not giving it to them, no.
Rhi: Good! Good. Very smart. I’m gonna need a roll of some fashion to start persuading them.
Kim: I could see Command or Sway maybe.
Rhi: Mm-hmm! Either one of those I think would work.
Josie: I feel like this is Command because we’re kind of blunt forcing it socially here.
Kim: We really are.
Josie: Like, do this or else.
Rhi: Yeah.
Kim: If that’s the case, I’m gonna push myself for it.
Rhi: Okay. You could also—
Josie: Can I assist?
Kim: Please. Yeah.
Rhi: Yeah, I was definitely gonna say, I feel like Echo doing an assist here makes a lot of sense.
Josie: I think she pulls out the folder and also she’s just been kind of staring at them the whole time with the stillness she has, just sort of like… no, we’re actually intimidating, please.
Kim: Unblinking.
Rhi: Yeah. ‘I’m gonna be real creepy at you.’ I think this is gonna be risky-greater because of all the setup you did to prep. There is gonna be a little bit of a clock you’ll have to fill.
Kim: Hmm… okay, it’s a 5 though.
Rhi: Okay. So, you do it at greater effect, but there’s a consequence.
Kim: I don’t know how much this makes sense, but I might have an idea for a consequence.
Rhi: I’d love to hear it.
Kim: Paz got here first?
Rhi: Got here as in The Sovereign or talked to the Tellers first?
Kim: Maybe talked to the Tellers first.
Rhi: Ooh, you know what, I kinda like that, that you had a P.I. that you were talking to and they had their own.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: Like, somehow they got tipped off that you all were sniffing around.
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: Yeah, I like that actually. So yeah, the clock that I’m going with is a 6-tick clock to basically convince them that they need to do what you want, and it is a clock that can be reduced depending on if there’s bad rolls. Right now you’re at 2 out of 6. Because you got a 5, you’ve persuaded them a little bit that you do have this blackmail material. They both lean forward to squint at it and the woman frowns and elbows her partner here. As he reaches into his coat, she says:
Rhi (as Tellers woman): Well, that’s fascinating. We have some interesting information of our own.
Rhi: He pulls out—it’s not a full folder, but it is a couple of… I think it’s just photographs that show you all loading crates and stuff into the Skovlan boat from when you all did some smuggling to move weapons for Skovlan.
Kim: Ah, yes.
Rhi: If I recall correctly, Darling wasn’t in that one…? But you know, there’s pictures of Echo and Val and Arlene, and I think that these photographs have, in a white or other bright color marker, has circled the three of you and then labeled some of the Queen’s Guard Skovlan folks with their criminal affiliations and what they’ve done.
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: They just set those pictures down, again, so that you all can see them, but he’s keeping his fingers on them so you can’t just take them.
Kim: Hmm… a stalemate. What else could we do here?
Josie (as Echo): Perhaps a trade instead?
Kim: We could compromise.
Josie (as Echo): We trade what we have on each other and the Robelston place for something else of value?
Rhi (as Tellers woman): We’re not giving you all of our Robelston operations. Is there something in particular you’re interested in?
Kim (as Val): Well, if you could at least stop shaking down Robelston Imports, it would be a start.
Rhi: Give me a roll again.
Kim: Is this Consort? Because this feels like a compromise.
Aki: If it’s a compromise, it’s not like we’re really… We have mutual threats right now, so it does sound like we’re just talking it out.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: Yeah.
Kim: Okay. What position is this Consort roll?
Rhi: Still risky and you’re down to standard here.
Kim: Okay… Five.
Rhi: Five, okay. Yeah, so that’s gonna put you at 4 out of 6.
Kim: Alright.
Rhi: And I think they look at each other. The guy will take the pictures back and slide them back into the inside pocket of his jacket. They lean into each other to have a quiet whispered conversation. People are welcome to try and eavesdrop if you’d like.
Aki: Me. Yes. This is my jam. Could I do Survey?
Rhi: Sure. It’s gonna be a little less—Study I think would be the ideal roll here, you can do Survey, but it’s gonna be a little less effective. I think with Survey you’re gonna be at risky-reduced.
Aki: That’s fine. I could push myself as well. I actually have no stress right now.
Rhi: Oh, yeah, you could.
Aki: Yeah, I’d like to push myself. Maybe it’s Pearl and I paying attention at the same time because we have a mind link.
Rhi: Yeah!
Aki: Pushing myself is 2 stress, right?
Rhi: Mm-hmm. You’re pushing yourself for improved effect?
Aki: Yes.
Rhi: Okay, awesome, so you’re up to standard. Nice.
Aki: And that’s a 6. [sweetly] You want a picture?
Rhi: No, no, I don’t need a picture. I’m just… I don’t know why I ask you to roll sometimes.
[laughter]
Aki: If it helps, one of them was a 1 and the other is a 6.
Rhi: No, it doesn’t help. [chuckles]
Aki: [giggles] I wanted you to feel a little bit better.
Kim: It’s at least not a crit.
Rhi: So… yeah, you and Pearl listening in on this conversation. You can basically catch that they are basically trying to figure out, “yeah, we’ll agree to this, get as much money as we can, and then we’ll just pop them the first time they go over there to make their pickup,” because they’re assuming that you wanna just take over and get the protection money out of this one shop. So, they’re just like whatever, they’re really small-time, we’ll just set up people to kill you off next time you go over there and we’ll have made a profit.
Aki: Okay. Now! Now it’s my turn.
Rhi: [laughs] Oh no.
Aki: Hearing all of this, Darling will smile and lean in a little bit.
Aki (as Darling): Oh no, we’re not in it for the protection money. That’s something you weak shits are more interested in. We are more good with the smuggling and making people go away. So, of course a little port area is perfect for us. It would do you so, so very well if you were to give it to us kindly. We would leave you alone.
Rhi: Give me a roll.
Aki: The tiger is also there, nice and aggressive. Well not aggressive, she’s just making very small noises to let y’all know she’s still here and totally blocking the door.
Rhi: [laughs]
Aki: Command?
Rhi: Yeah. You’re being threatening.
Aki: Yeah, I’m being very threatening.
Rhi: Risky… Risky-standard, I think.
Aki: What does a Devil’s Bargain look like?
Rhi: I’m gonna add an extra tick on the clock for the flower market. The Tellers have some connections there, and something about your movements is gonna get back to them, to the market.
Aki: Hmm. Are we all okay with more assassin bullshit?
Kim: Oh, always.
Josie: I like assassin bullshit.
Rhi: [chuckles]
Aki: Assassin me up.
Rhi: Alright, take your Devil’s Bargain.
Aki: That’s just another extra die, right?
Rhi: Mm-hmm.
Aki: Six!
Rhi: Jesus Christ in heaven.
Aki: [giggles] I got one 5 today.
Rhi: So, I think what happens is you make this threat and the woman starts to… like, kind of bristles at that and opens her mouth to reply. Then, the man’s eyes widen a little bit and he grabs her arm and leans in and whispers something to her again. She pauses and looks at you, and nods, and then says:
Rhi (as Tellers woman): Fine. It’s just one business. You give us 4 coin and your papers, you get these photographs and the shop, and we’ll all just let each other be. Deal?
Kim: Val is gonna glance between the two of you.
Josie: Echo will nod.
Aki: I’ve got 2 coin on me right now. I’m okay.
Kim: I’ve got 3.
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie: I’ve got 2.
Rhi: Okay, yeah, so everybody can chip in. If you want, you can kind of transfer it out of the vault, or you can just pay this out of your own pockets. It’s up to you.
Josie: I’m just paying out of pocket.
Kim: Yeah, I kinda like it for the scene if we all just pay up now.
Rhi: Okay. You all pull out the money.
Kim: How are we splitting this? I can chip in 2.
Aki: Yeah, I’m good with 1, 1, 2.
Kim: Yeah, that works for me.
Aki: Actually, wait a minute. Wait.
Kim: Hmm?
Aki: Do I consider Echo a baby…?
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie: That’s up to you.
Aki: I’m gonna roll for it. I’m gonna roll for it.
Kim: [singing] I’m a buff baby that can shake like a man!
Aki: You call it. You want odd or even?
Josie: I want odd.
Aki: Okay. Five, you’re a baby, I’m paying for you.
Josie: Aww.
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim: Alright, so we’re going halvsies on this, I like that.
Aki: Mm-hmm. Echo takes out their allowance. I go “no!”
Josie: I’m a baby robot.
Aki: Baby. I would never make a baby pay.
Rhi: God, I’m just imagining that any time Darling and Arlene go out for dinner, it just becomes increasingly convoluted schemes for each of you trying to pay.
Aki: I will combat you. The best way to put it is, Asian people love to fight each other on who—like East Asian people, Chinese people specifically like to fight each other… No, I shouldn’t just say that. There’s a lot of Asians. A lot of cultures like to fight each other on the bill, but it’s usually Asians.
Kim: Yeah.
Aki: I have seen almost a fist fight in the middle of dim sum before, okay? They stand up and they go “how dare you speak to me like that? I’m gonna fucking pay.”
Rhi: The money is on the table. Echo is still reaching for hers and Darling just slams hers down and just stares at Echo like ‘don’t you dare.’
Josie: Echo just gently puts her arm back down. No expression, but you can tell she’s like [uneasy] ‘okay… okay, sure, thank you.’
Rhi: Then, you slide the money across with the extremely real, definitely very, very real evidence. They slide the photographs over. The woman will reach out to shake.
Rhi (as Tellers woman): Fine. The Imports, all yours.
Rhi: She’ll shake whoever reaches out.
Kim: I will, yeah.
Rhi: Alright. Shakes Val’s hand, and then the two of them grab the evidence and the money and will head out. Now that the photos are close enough for you to see, Val, you can recognize the handwriting marking them up is that of Paz.
Kim: Hmm.
Rhi: In fact, if you flip them over, written on the back is a note that says “told you I was keeping an eye out,” and it’s just signed Paz.
Josie: [giggles]
Rhi: Yeah, Darling and Echo can both see this. You’re all smooshed in here pretty close.
Aki: I give Echo a look, like a shit-eating grin look. “This is it. This is it.” You know?
Josie: Echo attempts to return it but has robot face.
Kim (as Val): I told you she was thorough.
Aki (as Darling): So thorough. What did you do~?
Kim (as Val): That’s beside the point. Let’s just get home.
Rhi: [giggles] Yep. So, you all can head out with your new supplier now available to work with you.
Kim: Yay.
Josie: Yay!
## Downtime
Rhi: So, as we’re going into downtime, we’re gonna start with Val who is making a drive across town back to Robelston Imports. The shop looks about the same as the last time you were here. I think you have to wait a little bit to talk to Bartholomew because there’s a few other customers browsing, so you just sort of have to hang out and wait for them to leave. But, once they do leave, he’ll give you a wave and come around and flip the sign around so they’re closed again.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): Well, how did things go? I hope the fact that there’s only one of you here isn’t a bad sign.
Kim (as Val): No. No. Nah. The others are fine. I come bearing good news, actually. The Tellers aren’t gonna be giving you anymore trouble.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): Wow…! I’m curious about what you did, but I also feel like it’s probably for the best if I don’t know.
Kim (as Val): It was a compromise more than anything, but one that I felt was fair.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): Alright. Well hey, I’m glad to get that coin back every month. So, let me, uh… I’m feeling a little optimistic.
Rhi: He’ll reach under and pull out from under the counter—you hear him unlock something and he pulls out a pretty small crate. Maybe two shoe boxes sized.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: He’ll open it up, and inside are a bunch of glass jars. Some of them are filled with a golden orange, like really golden powder, and some of them are filled with a similarly colored paste.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): So… we got powdered ginger and ginger paste. This should keep Oscar happy for quite a bit until my next shipment comes in. Once I know when it’s coming in, we’ll talk and I’ll tell you where things will be coming in and you all can figure out how you’re gonna do the pickup and transfer over here without anybody finding out. But yeah, you can take this.
Rhi: Even with these being closed, all the jars and things, you can still smell the ginger.
Kim: Oh, absolutely.
Rhi: Which is something that Val has probably not smelled before.
Kim: Probably not, no.
Rhi: Yeah, because that’s something that’s very pricy, and Val probably hasn’t had enough money to ever really indulge in this. He closes up the crate and thinks for a second.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): Hang on.
Rhi: He goes off into the shelves and comes back with another jar of the paste and a paper satchel of tea.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): On the house. The tea is for your friend. I didn’t catch her name, but the Tycherosi you’re with.
Kim (as Val): Oh! Darling. Yeah, no, she’ll be so thankful. I’ll make sure she gets this. Absolutely.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): Yeah. The ginger, feel free to share that around with everyone. Little bits. Little bits. It’s strong stuff, so don’t just throw in huge spoonfuls unless you… If you end up really liking it, feel free to throw in as much as you like, but start off with little bits.
Kim (as Val): Yeah, no, I believe you. I can smell it from here.
Rhi (as Bartholomew): Haha. Alright, well… looking forward to working with you.
Kim (as Val): You as well.
Rhi: He’ll slide all of your stuff over and walk you to the door. I think as Val is loading everything into the passenger seat, we fade out from that and fade into… Where do we find Echo? Do you think this is happening at the garage or Darling’s house?
Josie: I think it might be at Darling’s house. No doubt Darling rushed back as soon as she had permission to. [laughs]
Aki: Yeah, when we were done, we were done. At the most, I went and picked up some street food and came back home.
Josie: Mm-hmm. I think Echo stopped by to visit her, so this might be in Darling’s living room or something.
Aki: Yeah. I would put on tea for you. Well, actually, I would go to do that, make enough for more people, and then realize I don’t know if you can drink it or not.
Josie (as Echo): Well, I cannot drink it, but very hot tea can be useful for cleaning out joints.
Aki (as Darling): That’s one way to use it. Yes, feel free.
Josie (as Echo): Thank you.
Aki (as Darling): If you’d like more privacy, I do have another room though.
Rhi: Right now, Darling, you went in and checked in on Arlene, and she’s sleeping right now. Shortly after you got back, Leona ducked out to go get a fresh change of clothes and check in with work and all that stuff, So, it’s just the two of you here right now.
Josie (as Echo): Sorry if I was distracted on the score today. I have been thinking about something.
Aki (as Darling): Oh? Actually, would you like to talk about it then?
Josie (as Echo): Yes. I need to ask you something.
Aki (as Darling): Yes? What is it?
Josie (as Echo): I have been thinking since ‘what happened’ happened. That was all very scary, and Arlene got hurt, but also what you did to defend her was really impressive in a way. I knew you were a trained assassin, but I am literally built to be able to kill things, and that was far and above what I can do, at least so far. So, you probably have it covered, but I was wondering if you would teach me some of your ways?
Aki (as Darling): You want… You want me to teach you how to fight the way I do? Or how to kill the way I do?
Josie (as Echo): The second one.
Aki (as Darling): I see…
Josie (as Echo): I need to do some dangerous things on my own, but also, Arlene is also a really good fighter, but she still got hurt, and you did that for her. I am… I don’t want to say more disposable, I don’t want to die a second time, but I can take a bit more punishment and I am already technically dead. So, if something happens, it’s not that big a deal. I don’t know if I can go back to my old life anyway.
What I am saying is… use me to get your revenge or protect Arlene or something. I do want to help regardless, but point is, if I can get out there and in the way, Arlene might not end up like this again.
Aki (as Darling): I will teach you, free of charge of course, but there are a couple things you need to know and you need to understand. One, I was raised in a way that was similar except I was expendable at a young age, and I didn’t need to die to be expendable. You should stop seeing yourself like that, because you’ll never get anything done if you think, you know, one failure, a big failure and it’s over with.
So yes, I don’t mind teaching you how to kill, especially the way I do, you just need to understand that it’s going to be… rough, very rough. Eventually you’ll probably stop feeling certain things the same way. I know I do.
Josie (as Echo): I already feel some things differently than how I used to. Not having actual nerves will do that, I think.
Aki (as Darling): I’m talking about… Well, actually, you probably would know. So, yes, I’ll teach you… though I don’t think Val will approve of my methods.
Josie (as Echo): Thank you, and I don’t think Val will either, but I would like them not to get shot by assassins as well.
Aki (as Darling): Yes, I would also like them to not get shot or thrown out of trains. That is an old fart right there. One more thing, I also don’t plan on “using” anyone here, including you. I also have beef with your… Vulture?
Josie (as Echo): Yes.
Aki (as Darling): Yes. My beef sort of only 100% stems from your treatment. I don’t quite like that. We need less of that living in this world. I don’t like scum.
Josie (as Echo): I agree. She took everything.
Aki (as Darling): I want you to take everything from her.
Josie (as Echo): Thank you. I want to too.
Aki (as Darling): Oh, we’re going to have so much fun with this. And that’s a little fucked up.
Josie (as Echo): Yes, but I think we both knew that we were each already a little bit fucked up. Might as well use it to our advantage.
Aki: High-key, I think with that, Darling’s just gonna give you a ‘cheers’ with the cup, with the teacup.
Josie: Echo will… I don’t think she poured a cup, so I think she will cheers with the kettle.
[laughter]
Rhi: Yeah. I think we pull out through the window, the two of you sitting there and making plans for what’s gonna come next.
## Outro [HH:MM:SS]**
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 at 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 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.
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.
## Bloopers [HH:SS:MM]**
Josie (as Echo): Just as long as this isn’t getting us invested in cryptocurrency.
Kim (as Val): What…? You know, I don’t know how much of that’s getting cut—
Josie: You can cut that out. [giggles]
Kim (as Val): —so I don’t know how referential my humor should be right now.
Rhi: This is all just going into the blooper reel, or the stinger.