Transcribed by Raina Harper.
## Intro
Rhi: Welcome back to Imperial City. As always, thank you so much for joining us, and thank you for your support, be it leaving us a review, talking about the show on social media, buying our merch, sponsoring an episode, or backing us on Patreon. It’s all deeply appreciated. We’ve got lots of announcements today, so let’s get into it!
First, on June 4th and 5th, Clever Corvids Productions is hosting a charity stream on our YouTube channel for reproductive rights! We’ve partnered with awesome friends from across the RPG space for two days of one-shots and video games, all raising funds for Fund Texas Choice. Check out the show notes for the full schedules, as well as a link to our YouTube page so you can follow us and be notified as soon as we go live.
Second, the first two episodes of our Court of Blades mini-series are live now! Go check them out–they’re a wonderful introduction to the game and a great adventure.
Third, we’ve got new merch in the store! Go check it out if you haven’t already–there’s some great designs by our very own Kim on shirts, mugs, and even a hat.
Fourth! (I told you there were a lot of announcements.) Last episode, I mentioned that we’d gone through all our Kickstarter jumbotron announcements. We’re now making them available to everyone to purchase! You can put your very own personal message to your friends, gaming group, and/or partners at the end of an episode of The City That Never Dies. Each message will cost $75. But, due to my personal pun allergy, we have decided to institute a pun tax. Every pun that you make me read will add an extra $5 to the cost of the message. The more puns you put in, the more you make me personally suffer, and the more you get to support the show. Everyone wins. Except me.
Fifth, and finally, in just one week, our new show Demon: Love and Hellfire will launch. Be sure to follow @Love_Hellfire on Twitter so you’ll be updated as soon as the first episodes are live. This is going to be an amazing story, and I’m so excited for you all to hear it.
Next, Aki’s going to tell us about this month’s featured charity.
Aki: Hey, it’s Aki, and our chosen charity of the month is Red Canary Song, a grassroots collective of Asian and migrant sex workers organizing trans-nationally. Red Canary Song centers base-building with migrant workers through a labor rights framework and mutual aid. We believe that full decriminalization is necessary for labor organizing and anti-trafficking. As May is Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, what better way to promote the cause than one that affects my people directly? Get involved now by visiting redcanarysong.net. That is redcanarysong.net. Thanks.
Rhi: If you’re in the United States, continue to advocate to your elected officials, via whatever means you think will be most effective, for reproductive rights, gun control, and all the other measures of a safe, functional society that many of them seem to find unimportant. This is not a time for politeness or civility. It is a time for fury, and accountability, and demands to be heard.
Now then. Let’s get started, shall we?
## Score Continues [00.04.17]
Aki (as Darling): Well as I live and breathe. Lavender, what are you doing in this shithole?
Rhi: Lavender, hearing this, is going to duck into her own cover before replying.
Rhi (as Lavender): Darjeeling, so this is where you ran to, hmm?
Aki (as Darling): Yes. Well, one must muck around with the mudlings before disappearing outright.
Josie: Meanwhile, Echo mutters to herself down below.
Josie (as Echo): Mudlings?
Rhi (as Lavender): Oh, no, this is where you intended to disappear to, isn’t it? Which one did you bring?
Minna: [squirms]
Aki (as Darling): What are you suggesting? I bring a lot of things.
Rhi (as Lavender): Well, I know you’ve got that cat with you, but uh… there were some disappearances. Was it Lady Grey? Hibiscus?
Aki (as Darling): Hmm… no, none of the sort. Just me, and well, Pearl.
Aki: When I say Pearl, can I please attempt an ambush where Pearl gets this bitch? Thank you.
Rhi: Mm-hmm!
Josie: Yeah!
[laughter]
Kim: So good.
Minna: Pearl as a command.
Aki: In terms of the roll, would this be a Hunt?
Rhi: Yeah, you’re doing—Hunt or Prowl. You’re doing an ambush. It’s gonna be risky-reduced still. Lavender is still pretty aware of her surroundings. You haven’t said anything to really throw her off her game.
Aki: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. If I roll with Prowl and then ask what a Devil’s Bargain looks like, could I do that?
Rhi: Oh, absolutely.
Aki: What would it look like?
Rhi: You are going to take level 1 harm, Grief, because of Hibiscus.
[sounds of distress]
Aki: That is narratively sound for me. I’m okay with that.
Rhi: [laughs] So yeah, go ahead and make your roll.
Aki: [gasps] Six!
[laughter]
Rhi: Ugh… alright. So it’s reduced. Let me think.
[laughing continues]
Rhi: So, when you say Pearl… Pearl, who had been creeping around low to the ground around this cover, leaps over and just lands square on Lavender. I think the reduced is that there’s a clatter and a splash as Lavender’s rifle goes into one of the fish ponds. Then, there’s kind of a thunking smacking sound and Pearl snarls and you see Lavender who has apparently punched or kicked or somehow gotten Pearl to back off, breaks out of cover and goes running for a different spot, and you can see reaching under her coat and pulls out a pair of pistols. So let’s go to Val.
Kim: Yo.
Rhi: You hear another gunshot. [laughs]
Kim (as Val): Fuckin’… What the hell is going on out there?
Rhi: None of the gunshots seem to be aimed at you.
Kim: Well obviously. [laughs]
Rhi: [laughs] That’s the one thing you got going for you right now. If you’d like to do another roll for continuing down the river…
Kim: Yup. I’m gonna roll another Finesse.
Rhi: Yeah. At this point you’re gonna be at risky-standard because you’re kind of out of the immediate threat range of our assassin here.
Kim: And I think we’re late enough in the score that I’m comfortable spending another 2 stress to gain another die.
Rhi: To push yourself? Yeah. Go for it.
Kim: Yeah, because I tend to overindulge. I may as well just get way up there in stress.
Rhi: [laughs] yeah! That’s the spirit.
Kim: What’s a trauma anyway? Oh no… that’s double 2s.
Rhi: [beaming] Oh no~! Okay…
Kim: I did that just for you, Rhi.
Rhi: Yeah. I appreciate it, thank you.
Kim: [grumble] You’re welcome.
Rhi: I think that you’re rowing fast down the river and I think looking back over your shoulder as you go, to see what the hell is happening back there, and then the canoe hits something.
Kim: Oh no.
Rhi: There’s something in the water, you’re not sure what, maybe something collapsed, but you’ve basically plowed into something that has scraped along the bottom of the canoe and water is starting to come in. You must abandon ship. This is no longer useful.
Kim: [grunts]
Rhi: You and Sola are gonna have to pile out of the canoe, get onto shore, and keep moving on foot.
Kim: That’s fine.
Rhi: Our clock of reaching the bay, or reaching the docks, is at 4 out of 10. Echo and Arlene, I think it’s kind of you. There’s four people on this team and one tiger and you’ve split into three groups.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: I think we’ve cycled back around to the two of you, and you two are close enough to have heard that entire exchange.
Josie (as Echo): Do you know them?
Minna: Arlene just kinda shakes her head.
Minna (as Arlene): No, but I can guess.
Josie (as Echo): Will Darling get mad if we shoot her?
Minna (as Arlene): No.
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie (as Echo): Okay then.
[laughter]
Josie: I want to try and see through the ghost field so that I can see Lavender through our own cloud cover.
Rhi: Ooh~!
Kim: That’s sick.
Minna: Yeah!
Josie: And ideally take a shot at them with a pistol.
Rhi: Okay!
Minna: Love the ghost field as thermal vision. [giggles]
Josie: Mm-hmm!
Rhi: Yeah, but this thermal vision can attract ghosts.
Josie: Yes it can.
Rhi: I think you can look into the ghost field without it necessarily having to be a roll, but I think that, because you’re using that to make this shot, the consequences could involve ghosts rather than just you getting shot. It could involve spooky shit comes to bother you.
Josie: Gotcha.
Rhi: But you don’t necessarily have to make an Attune roll. You can make a shooting roll.
Josie: Okay. In that case, I’m gonna push myself so that I have a die… and yeah, I’m gonna go for it.
Rhi: Okay. You gonna have a pistol?
Josie: Yes. I marked it off.
Rhi: Okay, so this is gonna be risky-reduced.
Josie: Well, this is karma. I got a 1.
Rhi: Ooh.
Minna: [seethes]
Kim: Oh honey.
Josie: Sorry!
Rhi: The dice have turned.
Minna: What did I tell you?
Rhi: Okay, so things go badly. You look into the ghost field, you see where Lavender is behind a support pillar in the cave, and as she comes out to try and take a shot you fire, and it misses, chips off of the stone. She ducks back into cover, and I think… How do hulls…?
Kim: What are you doing to my kiddo?
Aki: That’s a ‘hull’ lot of work you’re doing there.
Rhi: I can’t find the frickin’ page! Here we go.
Kim: So don’t do anything to my baby.
Rhi: No, I found it, it’s fine.
Kim: [whine-squirms]
[others giggle]
Rhi: So Echo, you don’t get, like… a ghost doesn’t show up, but you feel kind of from the core of your metallic hull being where the crystal that animates you and that holds your spirit sits, you feel this tug through the ghost field and this familiar compulsion to fulfill your function. It doesn’t take over entirely, it can’t, because you freed yourself, but it’s this weird almost flashback to that time. I think you are going to take level 2 harm as just something about this connection to the ghost field slams you back for a few moments into that time of being a hull, those earlier days.
Josie: Oh no.
Rhi: And you’re just very shaken up by it.
Josie: Can I roll to resist?
Rhi: Yes you can. I believe this would be Resolve.
Josie: I don’t roll those very often.
Rhi: I’m just out here punching everybody in the backstory.
Josie: I got a 5.
Rhi: Okay. So, you can drop it down to level 1 harm for 1 point of stress.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: So, you’re just… you’re a little rattled but you’re kinda powering through it.
Josie: Yep, although both my level 1 slots are filled now, so I’m on less effect for some things. I think what it is for her is she points the pistol and shoots but going into the ghost field to look through reminds her of being forced and commanded to shoot people and hurt people.
Minna: Oh…
Josie: The ghost field is kind of like Terminator vision for her.
Rhi: Mmm.
Kim: Oh geez.
Josie: So after she fires this shot she kinda, like… again, she doesn’t really have facial expressions, so she, to Arlene’s vision, just freezes for a good long while with her eyes glowing in the ghost field. If she could, she would be shaking, just remembering having to do that.
Minna: [big uneasy exhale] So, from my perspective, Echo has missed her shot and just frozen?
Josie: Yep.
Minna: Alright. It’s still pretty foggy?
Rhi: I think the smoke is starting to dissipate, still giving a little bit of cover, but you know where Echo shot so you can guess that Lavender is somewhere around there if you wanna try to close in.
Minna: At this point, I think closing in might be better, but I think first she’s gonna tug on Echo’s arm.
Minna (as Arlene): [softly] Echo?
Josie (as Echo): Um… yes? Are you okay?
Minna (as Arlene): I’m fine. Are you okay?
Josie (as Echo): I don’t know. Let’s take them out.
Minna (as Arlene): Okay. Yeah, um… be careful? This person is very dangerous, probably.
Josie (as Echo): Okay. We are too.
Minna (as Arlene): We are.
Minna: Arlene kinda wants to stick close to Echo.
Josie: Aww.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: Well, she knows that she’s not anywhere near as well-trained as Lavender is, and I think she also had a moment of “is Echo okay,” so together maybe they’ll be able to take on Lavender.
Rhi: Yeah~
Minna: I think it would be kind of like sneaking through cover if possible.
Rhi: Okay, to try and sneak around to get a shot?
Minna: Yeah.
Rhi: I’ll let you do Prowl to try and get an ambush shot in.
Minna: Okay. I can just roll that.
Rhi: Yeah. This will be risky-reduced still.
Minna: I got a 5.
Rhi: Okay. You do it but there’s a consequence. Um…
Minna: Ooh!
Rhi: Yeah? If you have ideas.
Minna: So far, my hood is on.
Rhi: Ah, it has fallen off.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: The jig is up. I like it. Okay, so that’ll be our complication.
Minna: [singing] The jig is up. [hums] They finally found me.
[laughter]
Minna: Sorry.
Rhi: You take the shot and I think the shot goes along Lavender’s arm. You can see some ripped fabric and almost padding visible. It doesn’t seem like it necessarily hit her physical body. It seems like maybe this heavy coat is also… it’s a place to hide guns and it’s protection. [laughs]
Minna: Mm-hmm!
Josie: Yeah!
Minna: Smart!
Rhi: Yeah. So, you’ve nicked her, but the shot goes across her arm, your hood falls back, and she’s looked out, and I think she locks eyes with you for a second. She just… I think you can see her eyes narrow, and then she ducks back into cover, but she knows you’re not her target.
Minna: Hmm…
Rhi: Darling.
Aki: Am I aware that Arlene’s hood has fallen off?
Rhi: I think the three of you are still close enough that you can see this. You’ve been able to hear and see the gunshots that are happening.
Aki: I just mutter a “shit” under my breath and simply go:
Aki (as Darling): You know, Lavender, you can just turn tail and give up on this, and maybe I’ll let you leave alive.
Rhi (as Lavender): That’s not how we do things, and you know it.
Aki (as Darling): Hmm… yes. I would hate to send you back in pieces, though.
Aki: I’mma try and persuade, I think. [laughs]
Rhi: Oh man! Just trying to straight-up menace her into backing down.
Aki: Yes.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: It’s probably a Command, right?
Rhi: I think it’s a Command, yeah. I gotta think about it. It’s gonna continue to be risky, but I have to think about the effect level. My question here is are you better than her.
Aki: Hmm, hmm, hmm. I personally wanna push myself, like take on stress to get another die, mostly for the roll, but also this narratively could be a couple things on Darling’s mind right now. There’s actually a lot of things going on right now.
Rhi: Oh yeah, no, Darling’s going through it. Everyone’s kinda going through it right now.
Aki: It’s also the implications of her seeing Arlene without the hood, and also the other implications of, well, if I kill her right now, she’s gonna get replaced and they’ll know. Right? It’s becoming way more… The situation has gotten very out of hand is the best way to put it.
Rhi: Yeah. I think it’s gonna be risky-standard. I think that she knows your skills enough to take you at least somewhat seriously. Yes, you can push yourself to get an extra die.
Aki: Thank you.
Rhi: Mm-hmm.
Aki: What a good fucking die. [giggles] You want a picture?
Rhi: You get a 6?
Aki: I got a 6, yeah.
Rhi: Okay. I gotta think through how this goes, because you do it… so you’re gonna convince her to back off. I think also you took her rifle.
Aki: Yeah, her rifle is submerged. She only has, like…
Rhi: The eels have the rifle now!
[laughter]
Kim: Not the eels!
Aki: Exactly, and she only has two pistols I think. She’s shot a couple times and she’s sort of backed in the corner.
Rhi: No… yeah. I think there’s a long pause after you say that, and then she just says:
Rhi (as Lavender): I’ll be telling them that you’re both here.
Rhi: And then I think another, like… a smoke bomb of her own goes down and you hear footsteps running away.
Aki: Damn it. I was gonna ask, what would… I was gonna offer her to buy her silence.
Rhi: She wouldn’t.
Aki: I know, but it was still an offer.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: She needs to ninja escape.
Rhi: Mm-hmm! Listen, I’ve given you a nemesis.
Josie: Hurray!
Aki: You have. [giggles]
Rhi: So, she has elected to back off, probably Darling, you’re guessing because you and Arlene are juicier targets as far as the market is concerned.
Josie: Darling is juicy.
[laughter]
Several: Eyy~
Rhi: So, at this point the shooting has stopped. Val and Sola have had to bail out of the canoe which is now sinking sadly to the bottom of the river. Do you all wanna regroup? Because at this point the threat has been removed as far as you can tell, but Lavender could be like “actually, never mind.”
Minna: [silly] But at what cost?
Rhi: Yeah, at what cost. You can all reconvene and start heading down the river together if you would like.
Aki: I think after waiting for a bit, you know, just double-checking and stuff, then yes, Darling would, but Darling would have Pearl specifically keep an eye out.
Rhi: Yeah, I imagine everybody is on pretty high alert. Are you all gonna have any kind of conversation while you’re escorting Sola or is this just a, like, “we’ll talk about this when we are alone,” or what’s the plan here?
Kim: We should probably talk about this when we’re alone.
Aki: I do wanna say Darling’s probably… the best way I can describe it is military mode.
Kim: Oh geez.
Aki: She’s in the zone right now. Talking to her is probably not the best option.
Minna: I think Arlene is vaguely mirroring Darling in terms of, like, “oh, this is serious, it’s time to be in serious mode.”
Josie: Echo goes to ask them a question, sees how they’re acting and thinks better of it, and then goes over by Val.
Rhi: The clock is over. The four of you are able to quickly escort Sola on foot down the river. You make it to the docks and, you know, still very on-edge, looking around, but Sola is able to… There’s a passenger ship leaving for Iruvia in like an hour.
Josie: We buy her a ticket under a fake name.
Rhi: [grins] Well no, I think what happens is she rummages into her bag and opens up this folio and rifles through it.
Josie: [laughing] Oh right, she’s a forger. She doesn’t need our help for that.
Rhi (as Sola): Uh… no, that’s Skovlan, Dagger Isles… ah, here we are! Iruvia.
Rhi: She already has tickets.
[laughter]
Kim: Good for her.
Rhi: Listen, she’s had time to kill down in the mushroom tunnels.
Kim: Oh yeah.
Rhi: She pulls out her forged tickets and then looks at the four of you.
Rhi (as Sola): Thank you all, a lot. Good luck with whatever… all is going on here. It seems like a lot. But, thanks.
Kim (as Val): Yeah. You take care of yourself, alright?
Rhi: She nods and will hustle over to the ship, present her papers to the ticket taker who just glances at them, nods, tears something off, hands them back, and she will board the ship. You have completed the job, but my God, at what cost?
Josie: [laughs] Uh-huh. Trauma. Trauma is the cost.
Minna: Not just trauma, exposure.
Josie: Oh right.
Aki: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep, yep, yep.
Minna: Exposure to future assassin attempts.
Aki: [giggles]
## Downtime
Rhi: So, let’s go into our downtime scenes. I think we are starting with Echo and Val.
Josie: I think when we see Echo she’s holding in her hand a small bell on a blue ribbon and just looking at it while what happened today replays in her mind. Then, she kind of reaches under her tanktop a little bit. We see where all her porcelain panels meet. There’s a click like something opening, and when her hand emerges the bell is gone, so apparently she stores this bell in herself somewhere. Then she calls out:
Josie (as Echo): Val, are you here?
Kim (as Val): Uh, yeah… Yeah, what’s up?
Josie (as Echo): Weird question. Can I have a hug?
Kim (as Val): Oh, of course, doll. Come here.
Kim: They’re gonna make their way over to you.
Josie: Echo will stand and go into a very stiff sort of hug.
Kim: Aw.
Josie: Her porcelain is surprisingly soft and smooth. It feels like it could be skin, but when you push on it there’s no give, right? So like, she kind of feels like a person but really stiff and sturdy.
Kim: Right. Yeah.
Kim (as Val): You know you don’t gotta ask.
Josie (as Echo): Okay.
Kim (as Val): What’s going on with you?
Josie (as Echo): I was just remembering some things today from… before.
Kim (as Val): Oh.
Josie (as Echo): I froze up.
Kim: Is there a place for Val to sit down nearby?
Josie: Yeah.
Kim: Where are we? Yeah, Val’s gonna take a seat and just…
Josie: Let’s plop on the big couch.
Kim: Yeah. [laughs] Look at you and just, you know, say:
Kim (as Val): Do you wanna talk about it?
Josie (as Echo): I don’t know. I just needed something, but now even hugs feel different.
Kim (as Val): I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do about that, but no… I don’t think I can.
Josie (as Echo): You did it anyway, and that does help a lot.
Kim (as Val): Whatever it is you need, you know I’m here, and… [huffs] whenever you do wanna talk about it, you know where to find me, alright?
Josie (as Echo): Okay. Thank you, Val.
Kim (as Val): Yeah. You gonna be alright, doll?
Josie (as Echo): I don’t know, but I will keep surviving for a while yet.
Kim: I think they kind of nod somberly at that.
Josie (as Echo): Are you okay?
Kim (as Val): Me? Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. I’m more worried about you.
Josie (as Echo): Just checking, because I don’t want to be an emotional burden on you or anything.
Kim (as Val): Oh, for—No. You’re not a burden. You’ll never be a burden to me, Echo. Alright? Get that out of your head right now.
Josie (as Echo): Okay.
Josie: She makes a miming gesture like she’s faking opening a panel on her head and taking the thought out and putting it down on the table. [laughs]
Rhi: [giggles]
Kim (as Val): Very good. That’s what I like to see.
Josie (as Echo): Believe it or not, I did not used to be such a sad sack.
Kim (as Val): Eh, it’s kind of true for all of us.
Josie (as Echo): Yeah, I suppose. We should probably talk to the other two.
Kim (as Val): Yeah… Something went down, gods know what.
Kim: And they’re gonna stand up.
Rhi: Where, uh… The two of you are at the garage. Where have Darling and Arlene ended up? Did you two also go back to the garage and you’re just back in the office? Did you go back to Darling’s house?
Aki: I want to say, since we were all together doing the mission, we kinda just went back but maybe differently, because Darling would have been up on the rooves, a little paranoid now, checking things.
Rhi: Aww. Yeah.
Aki: Yeah.
Minna: We could be on the roof still.
Rhi: Yeah! Maybe this conversation just happens on the roof.
Aki: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: I like that. What do you guys think?
Josie: Sure, why not.
Kim: Fantastic.
Rhi: So, you climb up the spiral stairs to the garage and then I’m imagining that there’s like a ladder that leads up to the roof. What are Darling and Arlene doing up on the roof? What do Val and Echo see when they get up here?
Aki: On Darling’s part, you would definitely just see her scoping out the place, quietly, like she’s a part of the background now, how still she’s being. She’s got her scope, she’s got her rifle, and she’s just looking.
Minna: And I think Arlene is just crouched beside her. She is not doing the same thing. She’s just kind of here when Darling needs her.
Josie (as Echo): Can… Can we all talk?
Aki (as Darling): Yes. Do you want to talk out here or do you want to talk in there?
Josie (as Echo): Is it okay to talk out here? About what happened, who we met.
Aki (as Darling): How much detail do you want versus how much can you handle right now?
Josie (as Echo): I just wanna know anything. I know I don’t have any right to ask, but I don’t know anything about you two, really, and if she’s gonna show up again, we should know, probably.
Kim (as Val): Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Slow down. I’m in the dark here. Did you run into somebody that you know, Dar?
Aki (as Darling): Yes. To be completely fair, eh… it was so much safer for you, for everyone, to not know a damn thing.
Josie (as Echo): Wow, it’s weird hearing that from the outside.
Aki (as Darling): It is, isn’t it? Ah…
Aki: You get a small smile out of that, just small, at the irony.
Minna (as Arlene): So, I can tell from how you were talking sort of what she is, but I don’t know details. I never met her, did I?
Aki (as Darling): No… No. I kept… We usually keep the young ones out of business, usually, until you’re much older or capable.
Minna (as Arlene): You mean until we’re ready?
Aki (as Darling): Yes. Well, we left before that was determined for you, so no, you don’t know her. I would prefer it if no one knew her, but we no longer have that. So, for context…
Aki: I think now I’ll turn, Darling will actually turn to look at you guys while she’s talking to kind of give you that much, um… I guess respect is really the only word I can think of that makes sense right now. She will go:
Aki (as Darling): For context, my previous career path, occupation, was training little assassins, and the assassin today does the exact same thing I do, just a different branch.
Minna (as Arlene): Oh…
Josie (as Echo): Oh.
Aki (as Darling): So, it’s one thing if a student is sent after, it’s another thing when it is my rank, which she was. Well, this is about to get a lot more interesting. That’s for sure.
Kim (as Val): Well, I appreciate you being honest with us. I know that wasn’t easy for you. Um… how many assassins are we talking here?
Minna (as Arlene): I mean, potentially a lot more depending on how mad they are that we left.
Aki (as Darling): So much more.
Josie (as Echo): That’s scary.
Aki (as Darling): Very.
Minna (as Arlene): I mean, at least she doesn’t know which one I am, it sounds like.
Aki (as Darling): I’m not sure. I think she can make a rough guess.
Minna (as Arlene): Fifty-fifty.
Aki (as Darling): Yes.
Josie (as Echo): Why did you two leave?
Minna (as Arlene): Eh… I don’t know if that’s a good—if it…
Josie (as Echo): Okay. You don’t have to.
Minna (as Arlene): I mean, it’s probably not a good time, right?
Minna: She’s kind of looking at Darling in concern.
Aki (as Darling): I just got tired of burying babies.
Josie (as Echo): Oh…
Kim (as Val): Dar, I had no idea. I’m so sorry.
Aki: She’s gonna take a big breath of composition.
Aki (as Darling): Are we done? I think we’re done. You have enough information to know that we are grand royally fucked.
Kim (as Val): I think the more important question at hand here is what is it gonna take to get these guys off our backs?
Minna (as Arlene): Um…
Aki (as Darling): Gods, that’s the issue.
Minna (as Arlene): I don’t think that happens.
Aki (as Darling): Yes.
Minna: [laughs]
Aki (as Darling): I have never heard of—Actually, I’ll have to get back to you on that. Maybe I can do some snooping and see if there ever was someone who could leave and stay gone. Let’s see what happens. I, as of now, am incredibly unsure, but it would do me a very, very good… I don’t know how to even finish this sentence, but just stay hidden and stay low. I don’t know, change your hair if you have to.
Josie (as Echo): Um… okay.
Aki (as Darling): Keep your guards up is what I definitely will say. You’re not dealing with little gang members and overpowered thugs. No, you’re dealing with a whole system here. We are a very careful system. People don’t know when we go missing for a reason.
Kim (as Val): Fucking hell.
Josie (as Echo): So, given all of that, which is terrifying and bad… what is our future as a group? Because right now we’re small-time smugglers and this is a lot for us to deal with.
Minna (as Arlene): Wait. Do you want us to go?
Josie (as Echo): I didn’t say that. That would probably be the smart thing, but I don’t know if there’s another gang that would accept me being what I am. You two are great about that, and Val too, but I also have something I need to do and work up towards. I have someone I need to kill.
Kim (as Val): I’m sorry, what?!
Minna (as Arlene): You have someone you need to kill?
Josie (as Echo): Yeah.
Minna (as Arlene): But I mean, we can help with that.
Aki (as Darling): We’re very good at that.
Josie (as Echo): That’s what I was thinking.
Aki (as Darling): This has become the greatest exchange over the Hot Wheels.
Minna: [laughs]
Aki (as Darling): The Cool Tires. Yes, I immediately remembered what it was called afterwards.
Josie (as Echo): So, if we just keep doing what we’re doing, that sounds like I don’t get closer to my goal and, at the very least, you two and probably me and Val get taken out by a ‘whatever’ of assassins. So what do we do about that?
Kim (as Val): Well, what Dar said I agree with. We should lay low as much as possible for now, figure out our next moves. As far as I’m concerned, we’re a team. I got your backs if you got mine. I’m still in this until it gets too hot for me to handle, but as far as I’m concerned we’re not gonna stay small-time if I got anything to say about it.
Josie (as Echo): Yeah, you don’t… Being out of the spotlight doesn’t suit you.
Kim (as Val): [chuckles] No it does not.
Aki (as Darling): This is such a horrible idea. I wonder how big and scary we could get.
Minna (as Arlene): We should get so big and scary they can’t take us out without making a mess.
Josie (as Echo): The best defense is a good offense.
Aki (as Darling): That’s true. That’s true… I’m developing an in with the Barsottis, so maybe we could make this lucrative.
Josie (as Echo): Okay. Well money is good. That’s a good place to start.
Kim (as Val): Money is very good. I think that is also a very good place to start, especially since we didn’t get paid tonight.
Aki (as Darling): We didn’t, but we have the informants, and I think… I wonder if we can use them to look into the little assassins. We have codes in our different sections. I ran a teashop, and the one that we met today, she would have run a flower shop. So…
Josie (as Echo): Wait. Are the two of you still using your assassin codenames? Is that why you’re named after tea?
Minna (as Arlene): Yeah… I guess that’s not really subtle, is it?
Aki (as Darling): No, and the best way to put it is it’s not like we chose the names we have. You grew up with them, and then the best, the smartest thing I thought of was what is an easy name for locals, and the answer was Darling. [gritted smile] Oh gods.
Minna (as Arlene): I think Darling is a good name.
Aki (as Darling): I really like this name. It’s so much easier to say.
Josie (as Echo): It suits you.
Kim (as Val): If you want us to keep calling you Darling, we’ll keep calling you Darling.
Aki (as Darling): It’s much better than calling me Darjeeling.
Minna (as Arlene): Yeah. I guess maybe we put Darjeeling and Lady Grey aside, right?
Aki (as Darling): For now at least. It’s a little hard.
Minna (as Arlene): Do you think they’ll give them to someone else?
Aki (as Darling): Probably, but they have to get rid of us first.
Minna (as Arlene): Well then, we’ll just have to make sure they can’t.
Josie (as Echo): Okay. So, step one in not getting killed by assassins and going on to live… get filthy rich.
Aki & Minna (as Darling & Arlene): [giggles]
Kim (as Val): Sounds like as good a plan as any to me.
Minna (as Arlene): So, what are steps .1, .2, etcetera, etcetera? You know what, we can figure that out tomorrow.
Aki (as Darling): We will definitely figure that out tomorrow. Tomorrow is a bones day.
[laughter]
Aki (as Darling): I heard that 12-year-old say something about “no bones, mom, bones.”
Kim (as Val): He was going off about bones. I assumed it was because of the wings he was eating, but uh, maybe not.
Josie (as Echo): I can’t do a no bones day… or is every day a no bones day for me?
Minna (as Arlene): I think every day is a no bones day. If you don’t have any bones, then it’s not a bones day.
Josie (as Echo): Huh… Okay then. That’s an easier time for me.
Kim (as Val): You get a free pass every single day because you’re a hull?
Josie (as Echo): I mean, it kinda sucks being a hull, so I think I deserve it.
Kim (as Val): Yeah, that’s fair, I’ll grant you that. I’m just saying, I would kill to have no bones every single day, or have a no bones day every single—You know what I meant! You know what, let’s go downstairs, everybody. It’s cold up here.
[laughter]
Josie: Echo rolls one of her Cool Tires down the roof into the gutter and then retrieves it.
Rhi: [smiles] So, you all head downstairs, the mood a little bit lighter with a plan in place. Eventually they head off to return to their homes, except Echo who heads back to her room in the garage. Darling will make sure that Arlene gets home safe, and Arlene, I think you get inside your apartment, you sit down, and then there’s a knock at your door.
Minna: Oh. She pushes herself back up and she looks out the peephole and then she just heaves this sigh of relief and flings open the door.
Rhi: Leona is standing there, has her hat off tucked under her arm.
Rhi (as Leona): Hey. I got here as soon as I could. Everything okay?
Minna: I think she just kinda grabs Leona’s lapels or whatever and pulls her inside, closes the door, and just kinda tucks her face into her shoulder.
Rhi: Yeah. Leona will, like, one arm around you, one arm setting the hat down on a side table, then brings the other arm around.
Rhi (as Leona): Okay. So… not okay?
Minna (as Arlene): No… I need you to not ask any questions. I just need to… I just need to get it out. Also, maybe, could you help me with my leg? I think the bleeding’s done. It’s just…
Rhi (as Leona): Oh. Okay, yeah, yeah-no, get—here.
Rhi: She will steer you over to sit on a couch and will look at your leg.
Rhi (as Leona): Okay. You sit right here. Let me grab some bandages and stuff and… yeah. We’ll get you patched up.
Rhi: She tucks a lock of hair behind your ear and then—
Minna: I think, honestly, the second Leona does that, like… the dam breaks and she just kinda starts sobbing.
Rhi: Aww. Okay, so yeah. I think Leona had started to stand and is like “okay, nope, more urgent issue.”
Minna: Yeah. Then she probably sinks down and Arlene wraps her arms around her and just kinda cries it out. There’s fear, and there’s relief, and there’s a little bit of the grief too. It’s just a lot of emotions happened and she needs to get rid of them.
Rhi: Yeah. Leona will just hold her and rock back and forth a little bit and, as requested, is not asking questions. She’ll just wait until you’ve gotten all of the crying out.
Minna: I think she finally pulls back and scrubs at her eyes.
Minna (as Arlene): Thank you.
Rhi (as Leona): Yeah… I know you said not to ask any questions, but I do want to ask one. Do you need me to shoot anybody?
Minna (as Arlene): [giggles] I think I can take care of any shooting myself. Thanks.
Rhi (as Leona): Okay. I figured I’d offer. Should it come up…
Minna (as Arlene): I’ll keep it in mind.
Rhi: She will lean over and kiss Arlene’s forehead and then is gonna stand up and go get some bandages, get you a glass of water.
Minna: Arlene, for the record, would absolutely never let Leona go up against one of the assassins. She would do anything to stop that happening.
Josie: Aww.
Rhi: Yeah. She’s gonna offer.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: So yeah, she will come back and give you a glass of water and a handkerchief and then set about cleaning up the bullet wound on your leg. I think she’s gonna start telling you about some silly thing that happened with some of the kids of people who are in the gang learning to ride horses, just something very light and goofy to try and cheer Arlene up and make her laugh.
Minna: Yeah. I think she just kinda soaks it up.
Rhi: Yeah. And from there, we will go over to Darling.
Aki: You would see we’re at Darling’s house. Darling is specifically in her room dressed very down in some, I don’t know, silk robe type of thing, but she doesn’t look glamorous. She looks like she got into a bath and then hopped out and then just put something on, so she’s still very, very damp.
You see her pull into the bedroom vanity from one of the drawers out and she has this letter with the seal broken so she can open it again and read it. This is like the only thing she has, actually, relating to Hibiscus, because Darling is a very good assassin – she’s very thorough, so anything she does get she gets rid of later so that it can’t be used to track her or anything like that. So this is the only thing she has left of Hibiscus, and it’s specifically the market telling her that they killed her kid.
Minna: Ugh!
Aki: She gets so, like… She was bottling everything up. She opens the bottle for like a half-second and then she grabs her whole vanity and just chucks it across the room, breaking whatever’s on that side.
Rhi: Oof.
Aki: I’m gonna have to spend a coin to fix all of this, but that’s how she handles her stress.
Rhi: I think that we hear the shattering of glass as the mirror and whatever bottles were on there all break, and then we pull out from the darkened bedroom window of Darling’s house, leaving her alone with her letter.
## Outro [00.43.19]
Rhi: 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.
No jumbotron message this episode! As I said in the intro, if you’d like your message here, visit clevercorvids.net and click on Jumbotron Message under the Support Us menu to submit yours! As always, thanks to all our Patreon backers, whose ongoing support makes this show possible.
## Bloopers [00.45.16]
Rhi: But, the reduced part of it is that there’s kind of a—oh, I hate that.
[laughter]
Minna: Sorry!
Josie: I did not like fractal hands.
Minna: In the peanut gallery, our GIFs of raccoon hand-clapping escalated.
Rhi: No-no-no, Minna, you’re fine! Kim’s is what is upsetting me deeply.
Kim: [laughs]
Minna: No, I’m saying that we started with raccoon hands and we got to a hand with more hands on the end of every finger.
Rhi: Yeah…
Kim: [sighs in delight]
Josie: No… too quickly. That was too fast.
[giggling]