## Intro
Welcome back to Imperial City. A very short intro on this one, since this episode is being released the same day as Episode 1! Remember to leave a review if you like the show, and check out ways to support us in the show notes. Enjoy the episode, and if you’re able, please consider donating to Refugee One.
Now then. Let’s get started, shall we?
## Story continues [00:00:44]
Rhi: Darling, you spot this up ahead, and I am going to start a clock for you all catching up to them.
Aki: Well, I will simply point. I’m sitting in the back, so I guess I’ll move forward a little bit so that I’m in between the two shotgun seats and I’ll point over and be like:
Aki (as Darling): The goats…They have fucking goats.
Josie: [laughs]
Kim (as Val): You’d really think they would have been able to afford an actual getaway car, but no.
Minna (as Arlene): I mean, they can probably go some places that we can’t. Goats are good at climbing.
Aki (as Darling): But can the carriage go up as well?
Kim (as Val): Eh, probably.
Josie (as Echo): Do we know where they are going?
Rhi: Gatwell said that they were heading for their…The Brigantines, as some context, are a primarily Dagger Isles gang. They work with some of the privateers and pirates from the Dagger Isles to smuggle goods in and out of Imperial City, so they have…Probably the reason they don’t have a car is because they’ve chosen instead to invest in speedboats.
Kim: Ah.
Rhi: [laughs] So they have a number of boats, a lot of them are speedboats, and they have places where they can slip through the lightning barrier and get out to the Void Sea proper, outside of the bay. Their business model is they will smuggle goods out of the city, transport them onto a bigger ship of privateers or pirates, trade for goods that they want to bring into the city, and then come back.
So, most likely they’re gonna just take this away from the city entirely, your beer, that you need to keep your jobs. So yeah, they’re heading down to the waterfront is basically what you’re guessing.
Kim & Josie: Alright.
Rhi: How do you all want to proceed?
Josie (as Echo): I can try to get out ahead of them.
Aki (as Darling): I was about to say, if we can surround them then this will be a lot more fun.
Kim (as Val): Works for me.
Rhi: Alright. Josie, what are you thinking?
Josie: I think Echo can run at least as fast as a goat if she pushes herself.
Rhi: Okay. Oh, yeah-yeah-yeah.
Josie: So I think Echo is just gonna, way-too-casually for what this stunt is, hop the door of the car, roll onto the sidewalk and start running after them.
Rhi: So yeah, uh…
Josie: I’m thinking she maybe dodges between some buildings and tries to get around the block so she can go places vehicles can’t.
Rhi: Okay. Give me a roll. This is gonna be risky, greater effect, since you’re doing a special thing to run super-fast.
Josie: Mm-hmm. I think I’m gonna push myself as well.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: It sounds like some sort of Prowess thing.
Rhi: I think probably Prowl, because that’s kind of the athletics, moving about sort of thing, but I am open to others.
Josie: Would Finesse make any sense? Because I’m dodging and weaving and trying to be efficient about this.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: And I’m not especially being secretive, I’m just outright bolting.
Rhi: Yeah, I’ll allow Finesse.
Josie: Sweet. Well, okay, it’s a 3. Great start. [giggles]
Rhi: Okay… Oh no. Okay, so here’s what I’m picturing, and tell me if this works for you. Echo, you zip forward, you’re weaving through buildings, and you circle around and you come out, and what I’m thinking is you run out and your plan is to come out in front of the goats, to startle them to stop them, but you mistime it a little bit and you basically… the goats don’t have a chance to stop and you basically just get run over.
Josie: Oh God. [laughs]
Rhi: They just hit you.
Josie: But I did catch up.
Rhi: Yes, you did catch up. You’re not getting fully plowed over as if you got hit by an actual horse and carriage. I think they hit you and you kind of go stumbling and get knocked aside and go sprawling onto the street. So, you have caught up with them but have been knocked down.
Josie: Is there a harm associated?
Rhi: Yes. I think it’s gonna be level 1 harm. You just get dinged up.
Josie: Can I resist this consequence?
Rhi: Yes you can. You can resist any consequence as long as you’ve got stress.
Josie: Resisting stops it from happening or does it reduce it?
Rhi: It kind of depends on what it is. In this case it would reduce it.
Josie: Because what I’m resisting is prone. Like, I don’t think I can avoid getting knocked aside, but I don’t want to be knocked prone.
Rhi: Yeah, I’ll allow you to catch yourself so you’re still on your feet. Maybe you plow into a wall instead.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: Oof.
Josie: [pained laugh] It’s another 3. Yay.
Rhi: Yeah, so you’ll take 3 stress.
Josie: God damn! Holy shit.
Kim: Oh no.
Josie: Then I would like to reduce the harm with my armor.
Rhi: Okay. So yeah, no harm. I think what ends up happening is you get run into by these goats, you go stumbling, and you manage to, instead of falling prone, catch yourself on the wall of a building opposite of where you ran out. So you’re still on your feet but you kind of have stumbled all the way across the street.
Josie: Mm-hmm. Echo, as though she didn’t just get plowed into by goats, is like:
Josie (as Echo): Those are some good goats. We should take those goats.
Rhi: [laughs] I like these goats. Yeah, let’s hop back to the folks in the car. I imagine you’re probably a couple blocks behind when Echo jumps out. So, Echo jumps out of the car and takes off running at very high speeds. What are the rest of you doing?
Kim: I’m gonna drive closer to it, because the easier time that we have getting our car closer to the actual cargo, you know, the less time loading up and getting the trunk all settled.
Rhi: Yeah. Go ahead and this will probably be Finesse for driving. I think this will be risky…yeah, risky, standard.
Kim: Okay. That’s another 6, believe it or not.
Rhi: Okay. So yeah, I’m gonna say we’re gonna tick that clock of Catch Up to 3 out of 6. You are closing the distance. The Brigantines on the wagon have realized that they are being chased. They kinda thought Echo was just some weird person who wasn’t paying attention, but now they see a car barreling down the street after them and they’re like “ah shit.”
You can see people moving around on the wagon readying weapons. Val, you just gun it and are giving chase. I think you’re not able to go quite as fast as you would like to normally because this is, like, these are cobbled streets down here. It’s not the nice smooth pavement that you get up in the higher levels of the city. So you’re just having to deal with that, but you’re making good time.
Arlene or Darling, would either of you like to do anything?
Aki: I do want to ask: Do we know if, the beer, is it in glass bottles?
Rhi: Yeah…It’s probably well-packed, like there’s probably a lot of nice padding, but yeah, glass bottles. So you do want to be a little delicate in disabling this vehicle if that is a plan.
Aki: That’s also the issue. It’s really any vehicle, getting shot at would definitely have issues, but the issue is I’m also shooting a vehicle that is carrying our cargo that’s in glass bottles.
Rhi: Yeah. I will say, it’s a thing where it’s a possible consequence, and any consequence can be resisted. So, if you shoot at the thing and I tell you your roll gives a consequence and I’m like oh yeah, that’s gonna destroy one of the boxes of booze, you can resist it and say nope, I will spend the stress and the booze is fine.
Aki: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Rhi: You can always—any consequence I give you, you can reject.
Aki: Okay. Then I think what I’m gonna do, and this is just because I love Pearl…
Rhi: Mm-hmm.
Aki: When we get close enough for pounceable levels, I will simply point at the goat and say:
Aki (as Darling): You may eat it.
Rhi: [laughs] Echo, “I’d like to adopt the goat.” Pearl, “dinner time!”
Josie: [laughs]
Aki: Well, my baby’s big and that is a lot of goat.
Rhi: It is a lot of goat. Okay. You’re at 3 out of 6. What I’m imagining when we get to 6 out of 6 is you pull up alongside them. So I think that Pearl could probably jump out and attempt to run down a goat at this point. Good God, what is this roll gonna be?! [laughs]
Josie: I mean…I might suggest Hunt or Command.
Rhi: Yeah. You could roll either Command or, since Pearl is a cohort, you could roll her quality Level which at this point would just be 1d6. You have 1 dot in Command as well, right?
Aki: Yeah, it’s about the same.
Rhi: Okay, so yeah, same either way. You can also—Don’t forget, everyone has the option to push themselves, take a Devil’s Bargain. I would argue that there is a possibility that Echo could assist here if you would like to figure out a way.
Josie: I think maybe me running into the goats kinda has them weaving for a second, because it still startles them even though they take off ahead, right?
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: So it might let Pearl catch up sooner? That could be an assist.
Rhi: Yeah, for sure. So, if you wanna mark a point of stress there, and then Aki, you can add an extra die to your roll.
Aki: Thank you. Then this will become a 5.
Rhi: Okay! So, you do it but there’s a consequence. Hmm… Posing this as a question to the group. Are we okay with me shooting at Pearl?
Kim: [gasps]
Josie: I…That’s up to Aki.
Rhi: Yeah. Mostly I’m checking is anyone uncomfortable with harm to animal friend, and if people are not—or, if people don’t want that, I will find a different consequence, but that’s the first thing that came to my mind is that somebody’s gonna be like “uhh, tiger.”
Kim: So long as Pearl is non-killable I’m okay with that. [chuckles]
Rhi: Aki? You have the most vote here.
Aki: Mm-hmm. I am fine with it also as long as Pearl is not killable. I’m okay with wounding Pearl as long as I can fix her up again with how I would assume we could fix ourselves, to a degree.
Rhi: Yes.
Aki: So I’m fine with those things. It makes sense. Pearl’s a giant fucking tiger. But as long as Pearl isn’t killable, because-because-because…I need to be prepared for animal— [laughs] for stuff like that. Yeah.
Rhi: Yeah-yeah-yeah, no-no-no. Yeah, that’s why I wanted to check before I rolled forward with that.
Minna: Yeah, I’m good with the does the dog die on this rating being no.
Kim: Yeah…
Rhi: Yes. Okay. Also onboard with that. I don’t particularly want to kill the big tiger friend, I just wanted to make sure if wounding the big tiger friend is acceptable. Okay. On our next break I’ll actually write that down in our lines and veils. Pearl death is a line.
Okay, so Pearl is going to sprint down the road and jump on one of the goats and one of the people on the wagon is just gonna take a shot at her. I’m gonna say she’s effectively gonna take level 1 harm, so she will have reduced effect. The bullet grazes across her back and she lets out an angry snarl yowl as this gunshot cracks out. So yeah, everybody, somebody just shot at Pearl.
Aki: And then a sign pops out, “Everyone will remember this.”
[laughter]
Rhi: Arlene, you haven’t acted yet. Do you want to do something here?
Minna: How close are we to this goat-drawn wagon at this point?
Rhi: You know what, I’m gonna say you did…I’m gonna tick the clock up to 4 out of 6, so you are I’m gonna say a car’s length behind. Around that. You’re getting close.
Minna: Okay. I think Arlene’s actually gonna prepare for that by climbing out of the window onto the roof, I think, unless the roof is down.
Kim: I was imagining the roof was down.
Minna: So I think it’s more that she’s like…Oh, so Echo’s seat is empty, right, in the front?
Rhi & Josie: Mm-hmm.
Minna: Yeah, so she’s gonna climb up into that seat and be ready to basically vault over the windshield if she needs to.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: So she’s probably standing in the car preparing herself for this with her hand clutched to the top of the windshield.
Rhi: Yeah, just kind of surfing there. Alright.
Kim (as Val): What’s the plan, girlie? What are you doing?
Minna (as Arlene): When we get close enough I’m gonna get up there and stop the cart.
Kim (as Val): Alright, be careful. I’ll make it as steady as I can for you.
Rhi: Alright. Who wants to act next?
Josie: Um…someone go before me, because I’m devising a thing.
Rhi: Yeah. I’m almost thinking it might make sense to have Kim go next, to have you just gun it and try and get up close enough for Arlene to make that jump.
Kim: Yeah, I can roll another Finesse and make that happen. If I just want to get the car closer and keep it steady?
Rhi: Mm-hmm. Don’t forget you can push yourself, you could take a Devil’s Bargain.
Kim: Yeah, I think I will take 2 stress to push myself, because I only have 1 dot in Finesse still, right now. Alright, so what’s the rating on this?
Rhi: Risky-standard.
Kim: Okie-dokie. Dang, a 1 and a 6. [chuckles]
Rhi: Phew. Alright, good thing you pushed yourself.
Kim: Yeah, seriously.
Rhi: I’m gonna say you have caught up. That thing is filled. You’re basically driving alongside them now. Let’s have Arlene make this jump and then we’ll go from there.
Minna: Yay.
Rhi: Five people on this wagon including the driver. The driver is just trying to get these goats to go faster. Pearl had wounded one of them but fell back when shooting happened, so they’re trying to keep running but it’s slow-going. They’re slowing down, rather. There’s four other people on there, clearly preparing to fight you all off. So, Arlene?
Minna: Yes. She is going to gather herself, and as soon as they’re close enough and she doesn’t think it’s going to impede Val’s sight, she vaults over onto the hood and then leaps from there to the wagon.
Rhi: Yes! Alright, give me a roll. Tell me—I assume this is Prowl.
Minna: Prowl. What does a Devil’s Bargain look like, out of curiosity?
Josie: Ooh.
Rhi: Ooh, let me think. Aww, first one of the new show.
Josie: Yeah~
Kim: Aw~
Rhi: Let’s see here…I think that one of them is just gonna be able to get a free hit in on you. Like, you’re gonna take…it’s gonna be risky. I’m gonna say you’re gonna take level 1 harm as soon as you jump over. You jump over, you land, and somebody’s just gonna punch you.
Minna: Hmm. The thing is that I’m already risking massive bodily harm.
Rhi: It’s true.
Minna: So I’m not gonna give them a free hit. I’m gonna say no thank you.
Rhi: Alright, that’s fair.
Minna: Actually, would Val be willing to assist?
Kim: Yeah, absolutely I can help assist.
Minna: If you have the stress to spare.
Kim: For sure.
Minna: Because I think that fits very well with the “I’ll keep it steady for you.”
Rhi: Yeah!
Minna: It’s not that I don’t have the stress, it’s just that I kinda wanna save it for when I’m on a wagon surrounded by five people who want to kill me.
Kim: Yeah, for real.
Rhi: Yeah. Absolutely. That makes sense. You’re being strategic.
Minna: I’m so squishy still. So yes, let me roll those three dice. Oh my God!
Rhi: Oof.
Minna: Oh my God. I’m not gonna use this dice bot anymore. I forgot this is why we stopped.
Aki: I keep telling y’all, don’t use dice bots, and nobody listens.
Kim: Yeah.
Minna: Some dice bots are fine…
Rhi: So that is a 3.
Kim: How much stress do I take? One, two?
Minna: One.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: Things go badly. Yeah, I think what happens is, right as you jump, the car hits a pothole.
Kim: Oh no.
Rhi: This wasn’t desperate, so you’re not just gonna fall to the street and get run over by numerous vehicles, but I think it’s a, like…Arlene, you hit the side and rather than landing in a cool pose on the wagon you catch the side in the solar plexus and then kind of slide and you’re just hanging onto the side of this wagon.
Minna: Yeah~
Kim: Oh geez.
Rhi: [laughs] As we’re racing down the street. I think, Darling, this would be a great time for you to act. Your tiger’s been shot and your…
Aki: My pseudo-child has been hurt.
Rhi: Your baby. One of your childrens is…
Aki: At this point, the tiger was shot, and Darling was gonna choose violence, and then the baby got hurt, and now Darling is violence.
[laughter and clapping]
Aki: We’re like right beside, yeah?
Rhi: Yeah. Val, you’re basically neck-and-neck down this road now.
Kim: Yeah.
Aki: I think you hear Darling just go…
Aki (as Darling): Nasty motherfuckers.
Aki: …and I pull out the fine pair of pistols and I just shoot at the person right in front of me.
Rhi: [excited] Yes!
Aki: So like, to the side, just whoever.
Rhi: Yes.
Kim: So good.
Aki: In for a kill, yes, because I’m going for the face immediately.
Rhi: [impressed, surprised] Okay!
Kim: Good!
Rhi: Alright. You’ve got your fine pistols, so this will be risky, greater effect.
Aki: This, I guess, because I’m using the pistols, becomes Hunt?
Rhi: Correct.
Aki: Amazing.
Rhi: You can push yourself. You can get a Devil’s Bargain. You can see if anybody will assist.
Aki: What would a Devil’s Bargain in this case look like? Because I’m just curious now.
Rhi: I think it’s gonna be that Pearl hasn’t been able to keep up with the running and is just gonna fall back and find a place to hide and wait for you to come back and get her, but she’s gonna be out of the scene. She will not be able to assist you because she’s just hanging back.
Aki: I think I’m okay with that. Yeah, as long as she’s safely hanging back.
Rhi: Yeah. You’ve been training her well. She’s gonna find an alley to just hunker down in. You can still communicate with her telepathically, so you’ll be able to find her. Okay, so that means, if you’re accepting that, then you get another die on this roll.
Aki: Awesome.
Rhi: I think that’ll be a 3d6.
Aki: It does. Yeah, and I got a 6.
Rhi: Nice. Okay. On a 6, um…you do a murder.
Josie: [laughs] Yay.
Rhi: You just draw out both pistols and shoot this man in the face, and I think he’s just gonna go tumbling off the other side of the wagon.
Josie: The death bell rings.
Rhi: Which means I have to start another clock. Let’s see, this is the docks…Let me look at the city map real quick to figure out how far. They’re up in the bell tower…So, we’re starting another clock of The Spirit Wardens Arrive.
Josie: Yay!
Minna: Uh-huh.
Rhi: Zero out of 6. [laughs] I feel like this city is big enough that you might not really be able to hear the death bell clanging, but it is ringing.
Josie: Question.
Rhi: Yeah?
Josie: Is the dead person still in the carriage?
Rhi: No, fell off.
Josie: Fell off.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: Okay. This is a little grim, but I think Echo wants to catch the body as it falls and then chuck it at the drivers.
Kim: Ha!
Minna: Yes! Yes!
Josie: Because we’re moving, if it’s falling out of the car it’s gonna kind of, quote-unquote, “fall past the car” as we’re moving, so I just wanna grab it and chuck it.
Kim: That’s actually so good.
Rhi: Yeah… Yeah. Hit a motherfucker with another motherfucker.
Josie: Yeah, exactly.
Minna: [cackles]
Josie: And if I can knock him out of the car, great.
Rhi: Yeah…Yeah. I’ll allow it.
Josie: Also, I have no idea what fucking action this is.
Rhi: Yeah…
Minna: Skirmish?
Rhi: Let me contemplate this for a moment…
Josie: I could see Skirmish.
Rhi: Yeah, I guess Skirmish. Let me look at the descriptions.
Minna: Maybe Wreck?
Rhi: Yeah, I was gonna say, it could be Wreck. It just doesn’t, I mean like…Skirmish feels a little too contained and controlled for hurling a body.
Kim: Yeah…
Josie: [laughs] So Wreck then.
Rhi: Well, I’m looking. The description for Skirmish says you might brawl or wrestle with someone.
Minna: I feel like it depends how chaotic this is. It’s up to you.
Rhi: Yeah, I would allow Skirmish or Wreck.
Josie: I will take Skirmish because that’s the one I have a die in.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: Because I can see it being fairly controlled from Echo.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: So, I think how this looks, or it is attempted to look, is both of these vehicles come speeding by where she was knocked aside and she just grabs onto our car as it’s coming past with the intent to just swing over the trunk and back into the seat.
Rhi: Uh-huh.
Josie: But as she does that this guy is falling off the wagon, right onto her, so she grabs him as she’s doing that and just transitions into a chuck.
Rhi: Yeah, alright. Let me real quick think through the position and effect here.
Josie: By the way, what does a Devil’s Bargain look like?
Rhi: It’s gonna be risky, reduced. Let me think about a Devil’s Bargain. I think this maneuver is just gonna add 1 additional heat to however much heat you end up getting at the end of the score.
Josie: Eh, sure.
Aki: Is there a way to—
Rhi: Because it’s clear something—
Aki: Is there a way to aid…?
Rhi: Yeah. You could take a point of stress to assist if you can explain how you are assisting.
Aki: Okay. Maybe I see this. I see and I can infer what Echo is about to do, and the other guy is getting ready to, I don’t know, floor it or reach for something in his pocket. I just pull out the other pistol and I shoot him in the leg, like in the thigh.
Rhi: I think that you can do like a warning shot. I don’t think you’ll be able to hit him.
Aki: Warning shot works too. Just something to maybe make him a little frazzled.
Rhi: Yeah, so it’ll be harder for him to avoid the incoming corpse.
Aki: Yep.
Kim: Give him the old frazzle-dazzle.
Rhi: [giggles]
Josie: I think I will take that Devil’s Bargain, eat the reduced effect, and just get an extra die to make sure I get a successful roll this session. [laughs]
Rhi: Okay. You’re taking the Devil’s Bargain and the assist.
Josie: Uh-huh. Oh—
Rhi: And then the reduced—Yeah, you can have both.
Josie: Oh, okay! Yeah. I’ll take an extra die and normal effect.
Rhi: Okay, sounds good.
Josie: 5.
Rhi: 5. Okay. [laughs] So…
Josie: I got really scared because it looked like a 3 until I leaned in closer.
Rhi: You chuck this corpse at the driver, and I think it just takes him off the seat, like he gets hit with this body and they both hit the street. The goats no longer being driven on, the wagon is gonna come to a stop. The consequence is I’m gonna tick up the Spirit Wardens clock to 2 out of 6. They are inbound to investigate the body.
Minna: [giggling] That was just thrown.
Rhi: Yeah, that was just weaponized.
Aki: Well then, can someone jump in and just drive this thing? That way we can just keep going.
Minna: I would like to try and clamber up.
Rhi: There are still three dudes on the wagon. It’s just not moving as much.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: Yeah, we can start with Arlene. I think that as this is slowing down, between the body being thrown and the wagon slowing down you can pull yourself up without it having to be a roll at this point, I’m gonna say.
Minna: Okay.
Rhi: What do you want to do once you’re there?
Minna: I now have blades.
Rhi: Okay. Congratulations.
Minna: I think they’re very long knives.
Rhi: Yeah.
Minna: She is going to attack the nearest person.
Rhi: Alright. This is gonna be risky, standard. Unless, are your knives fancy? Are they “fine” or are they just regular?
Minna: They’re regular. I don’t have any fine weapons.
Rhi: Okay, so just risky, standard.
Minna: Alright. Hmm…I’m gonna push myself.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: 6!
Rhi: Alright.
Kim: Woohoo.
Rhi: Are you aiming to kill or just to get out of the way ?
Minna: I just want them to get out of the way. I don’t care about killing right now. That’s not my actual goal.
Rhi: I think you can jump in and do a few skilled stabbings and incapacitate this person. They will not be a threat. They might just get stabbed, drop their gun, roll off the wagon, limp away, be like “eh, no, no thank you.”
Kim: “I’m gonna go home and rethink my life.”
Rhi: [laughs] yeah. I mean seriously, it’s like “I just saw somebody hurl one of my colleagues’ corpse as a weapon. I may be in the wrong line of work.” There are two people left who are looking less than confident. Somebody might be able to just talk them into giving up and going away, but there will need to be a roll to get them to stand down. Or you could just keep stabbing them.
Kim: What is my—? Oh, I don’t have anything in Command. Dang it.
Josie: You could make Sway work.
Rhi: Yeah, you could Sway or you could Command.
Kim: I’m good at Sway.
Rhi: Yeah, if you wanna give that a shot.
Kim: Okay. In that case… you know what, I’m just gonna roll it and see what happens, if that’s cool.
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah.
Kim: Alright.
Rhi: Yeah, so this is gonna be risky, greater effect at this point because you have them outnumbered and they’ve just…this night didn’t go the way they were planning. It’s not gonna take a lot of effort to convince them to back off at this point.
Kim: Right. I’m gonna give this a roll. A 5.
Rhi: Okay. You do it but there’s a consequence.
Kim: Is the car still moving?
Rhi: I feel like, at this point, since the goats are no longer being driven on they’ve kind of slowed to a stop, so you can kind of idle the car up next to them.
Kim: Yeah… Yeah, I think Val is going to bring the car to a screeching halt, you know, just something that looks extra badass and cool, and they’re gonna stand up behind the driver’s seat and raise their revolver.
Kim (as Val): Listen. We don’t want to hurt you, we just want our payday back, but if you’re not willing to cooperate we won’t hesitate.
Kim: And the revolver just clicks. [laughs]
Rhi: The two of them look at each other, they look at you, they look at each other, they look back towards the corpse that got hurled…and then just hop off the wagon and walk away. [laughs]
Josie: Echo waves stiffly at them.
Kim (as Val): That was easier than I thought.
Rhi: Actually, I think they’ll hop off and one of them starts to jog off and one of them stops.
Rhi (as Brigantine): Can I take the goats?
Kim (as Val): Oh. Yeah, no, take your goats. That’s fine.
Rhi (as Brigantine): Okay. I’m just…
Rhi: Sets the gun down on the ground.
Rhi (as Brigantine): I just wanna get them out of here, and just…yeah.
Rhi: He’s just gonna go and unhook the goats and lead them away.
Kim (as Val): Totally understand. We also care for our pets here.
Rhi: Even though we did try to feed one of your pets to one of ours. I mean, we get it. [laughs]
Minna: I think Arlene’s gonna kind of, as an aside to Pearl, go:
Minna (as Arlene): Aww, Pearlie-girlie, there goes your snack.
Rhi: Pearl looks very sad and is just licking her wound.
Josie: Aw!
Minna: [whimpers] Aww~
Aki: I use all of my Tycherosi strength to pick up my cat and then to pick up Arlene.
[laughter and emotional sounds]
Kim: Oh God.
Aki: I don’t think I can do that, but I’m gonna try, and put them in the car with me.
Kim: Holy shit.
Rhi: [laughs]
Aki: I’m having a bad day.
Rhi: You can pick up one at a time. You cannot pick up both.
Josie: Darling is like “I must take care of both my children at once.”
Aki: Well then, I guess I do Arlene first and then I do the cat, because the cat will be immediately thrown on top of both of us.
Rhi: [laughs]
Minna (as Arlene): [smiling] Darling, I’m fine.
Aki (as Darling): You’re fine now because I shot the other one.
Minna (as Arlene): Well yeah, that’s why we’re a team, right?
Aki: I’m petting your head.
Minna (as Arlene): By the way, nice shot, Darjeeling.
Aki (as Darling): Oh, when do I ever miss? Unless it’s on purpose.
Minna (as Arlene): Never. [giggles] Well, that doesn’t count as missing, that just means shooting what you meant to shoot, which is no one.
Josie (as Echo): If I nailed someone with a corpse, does that count?
[chuckling]
Kim (as Val): Yeah, you know Echo, you earned your gold star for the day. The corpse move was…
Minna (as Arlene): Yeah, that was also a great shot.
Kim (as Val): …real creative.
Josie: Echo raises her arms in like a hurray gesture but it’s really stiff and silent.
[laughter]
Kim: Oh my God.
Rhi: So, you can get the beer off of the wagon. Amazingly, none of it broke, all the bottles are intact. You load it into the trunk and you can drive off to the warehouse and deliver it safely to the Nightcaps. With that, we are gonna move into downtime.
Kim: Woohoo.
Josie: Woo!
Rhi: In terms of rep, they are a higher tier. Brigantines are a Tier 2. You’re a Tier 0. Okay, so you all are gonna get 4 rep which is—I think you’re at…One, two—yeah, so you need 12 rep total in order to, well, 12 rep and some money in order to advance. But this is a good start. Then coin. You’re gonna get 4 coin because you’re getting paid by the Nightcaps.
Kim: Okay, so basically 1 for each of us?
Rhi: Yeah, 1 coin for each of you. Then we have heat. Heat is how much attention from the powers that be your crew has attracted.
Minna: So much.
Rhi: Your crew takes heat according to the nature of the operation. Do we think loud and chaotic is an accurate description of this?
Kim: Yes.
Minna: It was a car chase, so yes.
Josie: Uh-huh.
Rhi: It was a car chase. There was shooting.
Minna: There was a body thrown.
Rhi: Yeah. Add +2 heat, so you’re gonna take 6 heat—7 heat because of that…
Josie: Jesus. [laughs]
Minna: Fuck me.
Kim: Spicy. God damn.
Rhi: Four, five, six…
Josie: Ah, just like old times.
Kim: Right?
Minna: For the record, doesn’t it take like 9 to get up a warning level?
Josie: Yes.
Rhi: Yeah. So you’re almost at a wanted level.
Minna: We need to reduce heat.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: [laughs]
Minna: We cannot get to wanted level 1 so quickly.
Kim: We could send someone to jail.
Rhi: [smiles] Uh-huh. So, heat, if you fill up your heat tracker, your wanted level goes up. The higher your wanted level the more the Bluecoats are gonna be breathing down your neck to arrest you.
Josie: It’s like stars in Grand Theft Auto.
Rhi: Yes. So, let’s go into our downtime scenes. We can see what everyone gets up to after the chaos of the score. Let’s start with Darling. What is Darling doing with her downtime?
Aki: So…yes. Darling will be paying a visit to Benny and offering her tutelage services in teaching one of his other grandkids, if he has any, self-defense.
Rhi: Yeah. There’s some negotiating back and forth. I think Benny will agree to forgive 2 coin worth of this debt in exchange for Darling providing some self-defense training to one of his younger grandkids. Her name is Beatrice. She’s 16. He says that she’s very rebellious, keeps wandering off into the city by herself, and just giving her mother a terrible amount of gray hair, and if she’s gonna be doing that at least she can be safe about it. So, how does this training look? Where do you do this? Where do you meet up with her?
Aki: Well, I think since she is such an important client it would be wherever they are comfortable having her. So, if it’s like they have their own house or whatever, Darling will go there.
Rhi: Yeah. I think that it’s one of Benny’s daughters and her wife have a house in Corvus Row. I think that Beatrice is the oldest. They have a basement area that has enough space for this sort of training kind of thing, so you can head down there. The ceilings are just high enough for you to fit. It’s a little cramped.
Gosh, let’s see. So, Beatrice is Akorosi, light skin. She also has curly dark hair but she has put some…we’re gonna say green, she’s dyed some green streaks into it. Has on a lot of makeup that more enthusiasm than skill was involved in the application. She’s just trying to look cool.
Kim: This kid definitely listens to Olivia Rodrigo.
Rhi: [laughs] She tells you very firmly—like, one of her mom’s introduces her, “okay, this is Beatrice,” and she’s like:
Rhi (as Beatrice): [with attitude] It’s Trix.
Aki (as Darling): Oh, Trix is it? We’re going to get along quite well.
Rhi: Trix kind of like clearly had been…She didn’t really volunteer for this, it was sort of a “you’re doing this” thing, and was looking down and sulking, then when you talk she looks up at you and her eyes go real big because you are the coolest person this kid has ever laid eyes on.
[laughter]
Rhi (as Beatrice): Oh…hi.
Aki: I will very politely shoo her mothers away.
Aki (as Darling): Oh, I’ve got it now.
Aki: The minute they leave Darling will have her hands together, look over at Trix, and go:
Aki (as Darling): So, would you like to learn how to pummel a man to the ground with your bare hands?
Rhi (as Beatrice): Yeah~
Aki (as Darling): Well, that’s essentially what I’m here for.
Rhi (as Beatrice): Okay…cool!
Aki: I think it’ll mostly be Darling talking to her, asking her what she’s comfortable with, if she’s ever worked out ever in her life, and then making her understand that we’re doing basics first and then we’ll get super into it.
Rhi: Yeah. I think once she realizes that, A, you’re the coolest person she’s ever seen, and B, you’re treating her like…she feels like you’re treating her like an equal, she is 100% in. [laughs] She’s very onboard.
Aki: Awesome.
Rhi: Alright. Let’s do Val’s scene next.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: What does Val do during downtime?
Kim: Val frequents a casino known as The Gambler’s Gloom. I think after the score they head over there to try out their luck and see if they can turn their 1 coin into 2 or 4 or 10 as they sometimes can. What are they playing…? I think they’re at the roulette table.
Rhi: Alright.
Kim (as Val): Alright, 26!
Rhi: The wheel spins with a satisfying click. The other players are watching and it comes slowly to a stop. It lands in 23.
Rhi (as dealer): Who had 23?
Kim (as Val): Agh! [pounds their fist]
Rhi: A well-dressed woman across the table is like…
Rhi (as woman): Yes! That was me! Ha-ha!
Kim (as Val): For gods’ sake.
Rhi: …and starts sweeping in all of her chips. High-fives the person next to her. The dealer looks at the winnings and then looks over at Val.
Rhi (as dealer): Mx. Sullivan, I believe you, um, may owe the house a bit more than you put down.
Kim (as Val): I know, I know…
Kim: Am I on first name basis with this dealer?
Rhi: Sure! I think you’re in here often enough.
Kim: Toby. Their name is Toby now.
Rhi: Okay.
Kim (as Val): Listen. I know, Toby, I know. I’m a little short on cash right now, I botched a job earlier in the week, but give me a few days. I’ll be back and I’ll have it for you.
Rhi (as Toby): You’d better, because we won’t be able to let you place any further bets until you’ve paid everything off.
Kim (as Val): No-no, no, I understand. I know when to walk away from the table. Just uh, you know, give me some time. You know I’m good for it. I’ve never not been good for it. Right? Eh? I always pay you back.
Rhi (as Toby): You do…and we are appreciative, but I think you are probably done for the evening.
Kim (as Val): I sure am, and it’s been a pleasure, sweet cheeks.
Kim: Val I think just stands up from the table—
Rhi: [laughing] The dealer makes a face at being called sweet cheeks. Not offended, but just kind of like, what…?
Josie: [laughs] “Do I look like a sweet cheeks? I guess?”
Rhi (as Toby): If you don’t pay in cash…or, if you don’t have the cash, there are other ways to pay.
Kim (as Val): Toby.
Kim: Val gestures to themselves.
Kim (as Val): Look at me. I know I’m pretty good-looking, but you don’t want to possess a body like this; all rickety in the joints, the arthritis…You got some other good candidates around these parts.
Rhi: [laughing] He gestures at himself or perhaps more accurately the body he’s possessing.
Rhi (as Toby): True, but I’ve never been a singer before. That might be fun.
Kim (as Val): [chuckles] You got me there. Got me there. But trust me, bad knees, you don’t want this. Also, it gets really hot underneath those lights. I don’t think you would like it. Anyways, I’m gonna head out. Good talking to you. I’ll be back in like three days tops, I promise you.
Rhi (as Toby): See you around, Mx. Sullivan.
Kim: [laughs and claps] I get so much joy from Mx. Sullivan. I’m sorry. I played myself.
Rhi: Alright, Arlene. What are you up to?
Minna: Arlene has heard that somebody is back in town that she is excited to see. I don’t think I’d say she’s “dressed up” necessarily, but she is looking cute on purpose. She has taken some pains with her outfit. I don’t know what it looks like, but she’s probably made sure that it looks normal and not like an experiment. Where are they based again?
Rhi: They are based in…Let me scroll down here. In Bayrise. Their headquarters is called Salma. It’s a Severosi restaurant that has…they’ve stolen a bunch of radiant energy stuff and they have an underground garden of Severosi fruits and vegetables and other stuff so they can make Severosi food for the local immigrant community over there.
Minna: Oh, that’s fun.
Rhi: And it’s also the headquarters of their gang. [laughs]
Minna: So Arlene takes whatever public transport across the city to Bayrise. She’s kinda clutching a little—Oh, never mind. I was gonna say a little bouquet of flowers she picked along the way, but that’s not how that works in this setting though.
Kim: Aww.
Rhi: Nope.
Minna: Maybe she…Oh gosh.
Josie: She gets a snack, maybe.
Kim: Or some shiny rocks.
Josie: Ooh.
Rhi: [giggles]
Minna: Maybe she found some seashells at some point.
Rhi: Yeah!
Minna: So, Arlene sees a very familiar shape in the paddocks and she kinda smiles and walks up to the fence and climbs up onto the top bar to sit there with her feet braced. Inside the paddock there is a very sturdy but not terribly huge gray horse, dapple gray horse, and riding it is a woman. I think she has…Actually, let me let you take over the description, Rhi.
Rhi: Yeah. Riding this horse is a tall Severosi woman. She has dark skin with vitiligo on her face and her hands. She has long dark hair in dreadlocks that’s kind of pulled, you know, it’s held in a tail at the base of her neck. She is wearing a long duster sort of jacket, button-up shirt, knee-high boots, slacks, and is just kind of riding her horse in wide circles around the paddock to do a little exercise. When she spots Arlene she grins really big and trots over.
Minna (as Arlene): Leona!
Rhi (as Leona): Hey you!
Rhi: I think she is going to just ride up alongside so she can lean over without dismounting and give you a kiss.
Kim: Aw.
Minna: Yeah. I think Arlene puts a hand on the back of her head and holds on for a second longer.
Minna (as Arlene): Hey~ It’s really good to see you.
Rhi (as Leona): Yeah! Good to see you. Sorry I was away for so long. The job got complicated.
Minna (as Arlene): I understand. It’s work.
Rhi (as Leona): Mm-hmm. How are you? How have things been? You doing okay?
Minna (as Arlene): Yeah, I’m fine!
Rhi (as Leona): Good. I need to give Silvermist some time to work out her energy, but if you want to come along for the ride, we can do that for a bit before heading for dinner. I’m pretty sure I can talk the cook into expanding my free meal ticket into covering one more.
Minna (as Arlene): I would like that very much. Is now a good time?
Rhi (as Leona): Of course!
Rhi: She’ll hold out a hand.
Minna: Yeah. She takes the hand and puts a foot delicately on the stirrup and boosts herself up behind Leona. Wraps an arm around her waist.
Rhi: Leona helps her up, yeah. She takes the reins in one hand and kind of puts her other hand over yours so you’ve got the fingers interlaced, and then yeah, just go off for this nice little ride.
Minna: They’re very sweet. [giggles]
Rhi: Next to the Severosi gang headquarters. It’s very cute.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: Let’s wrap up with Echo.
Josie: I think Echo has gone to a park, probably in Kestrel Heights. It’s kind of on the slope so if you go high up enough in the park you can see across the bay. Kestrel Heights is in the southeast and the city loops around the bay to the north, and the other side of it is kind of raised up over the water, and that’s sort of the direction Arlene went too.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: So, Echo’s gone late at night to the top portion of the park so she can see out across the bay to the other side of the city, and sits down on a bench, and with one finger in the dirt in front of her kind of makes a jagged line in the dirt. She’s doing it reverently but also casually a little bit like it’s a familiar thing to her. It’s a small little thing. She places a small nut on top of the line and pulls out a small vial of ectoplasm. She says, seemingly to no one, because it’s just kind of quiet night breeze:
Josie (as Echo): I guess this is the best I have.
Josie: Then she makes a miming motion that’s like…It’s the motion you would make if you were cutting your palm and dripping blood onto something, but she doesn’t have a knife and doesn’t actually cut. It means more for the ritual implication of it.
Rhi: Ah, got it.
Josie: So she just kind of mimes that with her hands and it’s a little awkward. Then she, as though it is spilt blood, pours the ectoplasm across the small little nut and the symbol, and I think a squirrel comes and eats it and looks up at her, maybe a little more knowing than a squirrel should be, and goes away. Echo just says:
Josie (as Echo): Please just keep watch, because I can’t be there.
Rhi: I think that there’s just another breeze that blows through and ruffles Echo’s hair and clothes, but that’s the only other reply.
## Outro [00.48.15]
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 clever corvids dot net and follow us on Twitter at clever underscore 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 rpg skill check dot 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 (aki-no-me underscore 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.
This episode’s jumbotron is from Kickstarter backer Andrea, and it’s for Molly, Evan, Maëlle, and Laura. Andrea says: From your GM to the Cat Bastards, here’s to almost two years of paranormal knitting, ghost crime, and accidental demon worship! Thank you for Blades-ing with me, and I can’t wait to see what Mynah Bird, Teeth, Dandy, and Mimi do next.
That sounds like an awesome group, and I hope you have many exciting crimes in store. Thanks so much for your support Andrea. And of course, thanks to all our Patrons for their continued support of the show.
## Bloopers [00:50:22]
Rhi: And yeah, the…I’m realizing I don’t know how roulette works.
Kim: I don’t know roulette either.
Rhi: That’s the one with the little…the ball?
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: [weakly] Someone help me. [laughs]
Minna: I don’t know either.
Rhi: Google!
Minna: I know how faro works. That’s it. [laughs]