Transcribed by Raina Harper.
## Intro
Rhi: Welcome back to Imperial City. As always, thank you so much for joining us. If you can, take some time to support the show with a review, a Tweet, some fanart–anything to spread the show to new listeners. You can also support us by buying some merch at our store, sponsoring an episode or a jumbotron message, or even backing us on Patreon.
Next, I’m going to tell you about this month’s featured charity.
Our featured charity this month is Take Back the Court. This action fund was formed in the last several years to campaign for an expansion of the Supreme Court. The Court is packed with far-right judges, many of whom committed perjury during their confirmation hearings, who were appointed by GOP presidents–all of whom lost the popular vote and the most recent of which is being investigated for national security breaches. The Court’s gutting of basic rights like the right to abortion, Miranda rights, and many others are doing immense damage to our nation. Take Back the Court is fighting to add more justices to the Supreme Court in order to better represent the population of the United States and counteract the dangers posed by the current far-right court. Visit takebackthecourt.today to donate, and/or contact your representatives to tell them you support expanding the Court, as well as impeaching Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett.
In light of the recent news in the United States, in which Republican governors are kidnapping migrants and dumping them in Democratic cities far away from support services as a cheap political stunt, I also recommend connecting with your local immigrant and refugee support organizations. They exist everywhere and have been doing fantastic work. You can also contact your elected officials to express your support for immigrants, and if you live in Texas or Florida, your absolute disgust that your tax money is being used to kidnap and abandon people across state lines. As with all attacks on marginalized people in our country, we need to fight back and make it clear that these attacks are unacceptable.
Now then. Let’s get started, shall we?
## Story Continues [00.02.23]
Rhi: So, Arlene. It’s a fairly typical morning for you, if Arlene has a typical morning.
Minna: I feel like she’s one of those people who does not keep to a schedule now that she doesn’t have to. She’s that college student who’s like, I’m just gonna sleep until noon some days and wake up at eight some days and it has no rhyme or rhythm.
Rhi: Yeah. Some days I will sleep in very late, other days I will wake up to see the shards of the sun rising in the sky before they disappear back into darkness.
Minna: I forgot that’s how that worked. [laughs]
Rhi: Yep! You can go see sunrise, it’s just…
Minna: Very short.
Josie: Not much.
Rhi: …different. [laughs] But, at whatever point, Arlene gets up on this particular day and is getting ready to head out. She notices that a note has been slipped under her front door.
Minna: She will pick it up and hold it at arm’s length while flicking it open carefully.
Rhi: [laughs] Darling has taught you well. It’s very fine paper. You quickly recognize as you flick it open carefully that it is indeed Darling’s handwriting. You probably, I assume, relax a bit and bring it close enough to read.
Minna: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: It’s a very short note. It just says “gone flower picking, back in a few days. Watch your back.”
Josie: Oh no.
Minna: Oh!
Rhi: And it’s signed “D and Pearl,” and both the D and the P are both very big and swoopy and elaborate.
Minna: Yeah, I think she’s gonna just nod to herself, put the note away, and be like… hmm. Do we have anything scheduled? Are we scheduled to meet up at the garage?
Rhi: I think you have been contacted by Bailey, the three of you—probably four of you, but I think Darling is blowing this one off, for reasons. [laughs] Bailey had asked to meet up with all of you, probably at the garage, that’s probably easiest, about a new job. Yeah, I imagine Arlene is the only one who really has to head over there.
Minna: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: Yeah. Let’s actually… I kinda wanna follow Arlene’s journey over there. What does Arlene’s trip to the garage look like when she is watching her back as having been warned by Darling?
Minna: Ooh. I was gonna say I had one idea and then I remembered that she’s watching her back and that’s probably different. Although, I feel like you almost would want to be more in public, because…
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah.
Minna: Yeah, so she’s gonna take the subway. She heads down to the closest metro stop, heads down underground, and this is the stop that is closest to her apartment so she is there with some frequency. She reaches the… I assume there’s some kind of operator.
Rhi: There would be turnstiles that you have to… I imagine at this point you would put in coins to get through the turnstiles.
Minna: Maybe you have to give the coin to the operator person to get through.
Rhi: Yeah.
Minna: So, I get there and this person is just like… “it’s you.” [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah.
Minna: I don’t know if you wanna play that or not.
Rhi: Yeah. What does Fennec look like?
Minna: That’s a good question. I kind of picture them as, like… not colorless but kind of all one color, like tannish skin, mousey hair, brown eyes.
Rhi: Yeah, just sort of monochrome.
Minna: Yes. [laughs] They are a sepia-tinted photograph of a person.
Rhi: [laughs] Yeah. They look up and see Arlene coming. For a moment we flash into the anime eye-zoom thing.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: Both of your eyes close in on each other as you lock eyes, except Arlene I don’t think is upset. It’s just Fennec who’s like “you!”
Minna: Arlene does that grin of “I know you hate me and I’m not going to pay attention to that,” and does a little grin and pulls out a coin.
Minna (as Arlene): [cheerful] Hi Fennec. How’s it going?
Rhi (as Fennec): [irritated] Fine.
Rhi: Holds out a hand for the coin.
Minna: Puts it in their hand.
Rhi: Checks it very carefully. Basically, they’re doing everything short of biting it to make sure that it’s legit and then will drop it into the coin slot.
[laughter]
Rhi (as Fennec): [forced] have a nice day.
Minna (as Arlene): [smiling] Have a lovely day! Bye~
Minna: She waves as she waltzes off.
Rhi: So, what exactly did Arlene do?
Minna: [laughs] I think we’re gonna do a flashback montage.
Rhi: Yes. Yes. Give me a montage of what Arlene has done to earn the ire of this subway employee.
Minna: So there’s at least three shots of her just jumping a turnstile in various ridiculous outfits—one of them is the Black Widow armor—while somebody is pursuing her. One of them is definitely her taking Pearl onto the subway, which they were not happy about. Let me think. What’s some other terrible chaotic things?
Rhi: She absolutely at some point rode on the roof of the train into the station and jumped off.
Minna: Yes! Absolutely! Jumped off and was like “hey Fennec” on her way home.
[laughter]
Minna: She has carried very questionable shit onto and off of the subway which Fennec has not avowed. Not that Fennec could be like “that’s definitely questionable,” I don’t think they’re empowered to search her, but they’re like… squints, “I don’t think you should be taking that on the subway.”
Rhi: Yeah. “I’m like 90% sure there is a rifle in that case… but I do not have the authority to stop you.”
Minna: And like, some of it is not like a rifle situation, some of it is just like, “that’s going to make a mess if anything happens, and it also smells weird.”
Rhi: Yeah.
Minna: I don’t know why, but yeah. I think it’s a mix of this is definitely a sketchy person and this person is causing chaos in my life and I do not believe in chaos.
Rhi: Mm-hmm. Fennec just wants to run an orderly subway station, and ever since Arlene moved in, that entire goal has been thrown into jeopardy.
Minna: Also, Arlene has given them flowers or cookies at various points, like just slid it through the turnstile with the coin, and they were also not about that.
Rhi: No! That’s a bribe.
[laughter]
Minna: Anyway.
Rhi: How could you?!
Minna: So that’s Fennec.
Rhi: They are above such things. They have to fill out paperwork if they’re given gifts!
Minna: So yeah, that happens.
Rhi: Yeah. Even on days when Arlene does nothing wrong, Fennec is just like, “you…”
Josie: I’m glad we got this snapshot into Arlene’s life.
Minna: For me, it was the worst day of my life, for you, it was Thursday.
Rhi: Yup!
Kim: Hmm… yup.
[laughter]
Rhi: Fennec definitely has a log book where they record all of these incidents.
Minna: Yeah. They’re hoping to get enough that they can get her banned from the subway system, but it has not happened.
Rhi: Well no, here’s the thing. Nobody takes it seriously. They’re like, there is no way somebody boarded the train with a goddamn tiger. I know your job is boring, but stop making stuff up. And Fennec is like [desperate whimpering and stammering].
[laughter]
Minna: Those people are all around in Arlene’s neighborhood. They would know about the tiger.
Rhi: Mm-hmm!
Minna: The tiger is a local celebrity.
Rhi: Right! But that’s the thing. Everybody likes Darling and Arlene and Pearl, so nobody’s gonna rat them out. If anybody bothered to do an investigation, everyone would be like “tiger, what tiger? We haven’t ever seen a tiger.”
Josie: She’s a normal housecat.
Rhi: Yeah.
Minna: Exactly.
Rhi: Darling has a tabby? A very sweet tabby cat. Maybe a little on the large side.
Minna: [delighted] Oh my god.
Rhi: Ah… anyway.
Minna: So Arlene boards the subway and stays in crowded cars, sticks close to people. She probably exits at a different stop than normal, but on a busy street. So, she makes her way to the garage.
Rhi: Yeah. I think Bailey is already there chatting with Echo and Val, not about work just yet. She doesn’t want to have to repeat herself once Arlene arrives. Probably about the latest Thunder Goats game. If I recall correctly, Val is at least a passing fan. I don’t know if Echo pays any attention.
Kim: Yeah. You know what the thing is? I can’t recall if they are like a Chicago Cubs kind of situation where they just—
Rhi: Yes. That’s what we decided.
Kim: Yes! Okay.
Rhi: They’re terrible. They’ve never won. They suck.
[laughter]
Kim: You know what it is when they’re talking about it? Val, maybe after a show, being some level of intoxicated, made a very bad bet…
Rhi: Oh no!
Kim: …for the Thunder Goats, and is now bitching about how badly they lost the most recent game.
Rhi (as Bailey): Why…? Why on earth would you bet on them, Val? Nobody ever—They never win. They NEVER win.
Kim (as Val): But imagine if they did! Imagine if they did. I would have been set for life.
Rhi (as Bailey): [long sigh]
Josie (as Echo): Obviously you can’t forgo a chance like that. That is totally how math works.
Minna: [laughs]
Kim (as Val): Yeah! Thank you. Thank you. That’s exactly what I’m saying. Yeah.
Rhi: Bailey just gives Echo a look like “why are you encouraging them?”
Josie: Echo just shrugs and goes back to what she’s doing which looks like hammering what looks like an aluminum gutter slightly into the wall. She’s just lightly tapping, but occasionally she will put her Cool Tires into it and roll it down. She’s setting up a little ramp on one of the walls to run Cool Tires down.
[laughter]
Kim: Oh my god, the ramp again.
Rhi: Yes! That’s excellent. So, that’s the scene that you find when you come in, Arlene, Bailey and Val talking about the game and Echo setting up a Cool Tires track.
Minna: I think she looks at it but she’s also a little like, ooh, Bailey’s here, hmm… okay, we’re gonna be normal. So she just drifts over to the Cool tires track and looks at it.
Josie (as Echo): Oh, hello.
Minna (as Arlene): Hi.
Kim (as Val): What’s going on, girlie?
Minna (as Arlene): Not much. Just letting you know, Darling couldn’t make it today.
Kim (as Val): Oh. Did she say why?
Minna (as Arlene): No big deal, just indisposed today.
Rhi: Eh…
Kim: I think Val squints but is gonna let it go.
Rhi: I feel like that excuse has been used enough before that Bailey is not gonna question it. [laughs]
Kim: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Rhi: Bailey will roll her eyes but won’t question it.
Rhi (as Bailey): Well, alright. If it’s just the three of you, I guess that’ll work. So…
Rhi: She straightens up a little. I think that she had taken off her suit jacket while she was hanging out. She brushes off her hands and is clearly shifting into business mode.
Rhi (as Bailey): So, probably unsurprisingly, after the last score there’s a fair bit of scrutiny from the Bluecoats on all of us.
Josie (as Echo): We did cause many explosions.
Rhi (as Bailey): You did. You did. I wanna be clear, no criticism here, you did as requested. In retrospect, maybe we could have put a few more guidelines in place about how you conducted your distractions. But you know, a learning experience for everybody. Anyway. The Bluecoats are paying a lot more attention to us than granddad would like, so we have come up with a plan to shift their attention elsewhere.
Kim (as Val): Alright, let’s hear it.
Rhi: She will pick up a small box that she had brought in with her and just sat next to her on the floor when she came in.
Rhi (as Bailey): We have some evidence for some fairly high-profile killings that the Bluecoats will be much more interested in that should thoroughly distract them away from whatever we might be up to. We just need you to get this evidence in front of them, by which I mean into the Corvis Row command station.
Josie (as Echo): I imagine they are not simply waiting to take it at the front desk.
Rhi (as Bailey): No. No. There were some Ministry of Preservation investigators who were killed a few weeks ago. The Bluecoats have been investigating that. They would very much like to know who did it, and this…
Rhi: She pats the box.
Rhi (as Bailey): …will point them right at the Tellers. It should get them off our case and have them pointed somewhere else.
Josie (as Echo): The Tellers will very much not like us after today.
Rhi (as Bailey): Only if they put it together that we’re the ones who put the evidence in there.
Josie (as Echo): True.
Kim (as Val): Easy-peasy.
Rhi (as Bailey): Which… yeah, hopefully is not the case. So, we’ve got a few pieces of evidence in here that need to be placed in a few different areas in the station. Basically, there’s a few different investigators who are working on the case. These things just sort of need to “turn up” in their areas so that they can find them and each of them will independently have a break in the case and then they’ll compare notes, and… oh look at how brilliant our boys in blue are, yada-yada-yada.
Rhi: She makes a jerk-off motion with her hand.
[chuckling]
Rhi: So, she’ll open up the box and will hold up… First she’s got a sealed folder that’s clearly stuffed with papers. There’s no papers visible, but it’s clearly a pretty thick folder.
Rhi (as Bailey): This needs to get into the file room.
Rhi: She indicates—points at a name on it.
Rhi (as Bailey): Needs to be filed alphabetically.
Rhi: Then goes in and holds up a very fancy-looking, clearly custom job revolver that has some damage to the barrel.
Rhi (as Bailey): This needs to go into the weapons lockup.
Rhi: And then she picks up, very delicately with a forefinger and a thumb, a black leather glove that is pretty thoroughly caked in blood.
Kim: Oh jeez.
Rhi: It’s dry blood, but it’s quite bloody.
Rhi (as Bailey): This just needs to get into the evidence lockup.
Rhi: She sets it back in the box.
Kim (as Val): Do I even want to ask?
Rhi (as Bailey): I mean, that’s up to you, how much you wanna know about things.
Josie (as Echo): I think us knowing less is probably for the best.
Rhi (as Bailey): Yeah.
Minna (as Arlene): [uneasy hum]
Josie (as Echo): Alright. Well, this will not be an easy task, but if it keeps the whole gang safe…
Rhi (as Bailey): And it’ll ideally pull the Bluecoats’ attention off of everybody in the gang including all of you, which I know that you all in specific pulled rather a lot of attention last time.
Kim (as Val): To our credit, to be fair, that was kind of part of the MO.
Rhi (as Bailey): Yes. Yes, again, not a criticism. I’m not criticizing how you handled it. You did what was asked, but now we need to… ugh. Honestly, even if it hadn’t been for that job, we might be asking you to do this anyway. We’ve been sort of dealing with the Bluecoats breathing down our necks more and more lately. Things just have kinda come to a head. So, here we are.
Kim (as Val): I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page. Yeah?
Rhi (as Bailey): Yeah.
Kim (as Val): Alright.
Josie: Echo finishes hammering in the bottom zigzag of the track that is now sticking out of the wall and hands one of the Cool Tires to Bailey.
Josie (as Echo): Want to try it?
Rhi (as Bailey): Oh. Uh… sure.
Rhi: She’ll put the car in the top. Give me just a Tinker roll. This will just be a fortune roll.
Josie: Oh, okay… Critical. [laughs]
Kim: Damn. Alright, so we know who Aki’s replacement is for today’s episode.
Josie: No-no-no, I can do well on the off rolls. This means I’ll do really badly on rolls that mean a damn.
Kim: Shh! Shh. Don’t jinx it.
Minna: [to her cat] Ooh, hi. … [laughs in the background while Rhi talks]
Rhi: The Cool tires car zips down through the track. I think there’s a ramp at the end. It flies out, soars through the air, and lands perfectly on your workbench, rolls along the workbench and comes to a perfect stop right at the edge without falling on the floor.
Josie: Echo just claps her little gloved hands together.
Josie (as Echo): Yay.
Rhi (as Bailey): Nicely done.
Josie (as Echo): Thank you.
Rhi: So yeah, Bailey will grab her jacket and be like:
Rhi (as Bailey): Yeah. There’s not… I mean, there’s not a super-tight time limit on this, but also don’t take forever.
Kim (as Val): Yeah, no, we’ll get this done real speedy-like, yeah?
Rhi (as Bailey): Sounds good.
Rhi: She’ll give you a wave and head on upstairs. So, your job…
Kim: Should we choose to accept it.
Rhi: You don’t have a choice.
[laughter]
Kim: Listen, I’m just… Let me have the bit, Rhi.
Josie: The good news is the message will not self-destruct. We will cause the explosion.
Rhi: Explosions are kind of the opposite of what you want to do this time.
Kim: Yeah.
Josie: That doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
Minna: [squirms] … Raja, please stop.
Rhi: Eh, fair enough. So yeah, you basically have three pieces of evidence that you need to get into three separate spots within the command station. The way that I’m picturing this is there’s the little individual precinct stations that are the smaller ones scattered around. The command station is sort of the main central one for the district. So, this is gonna be big.
Josie (as Echo): Do you think we have enough money to simply bribe these items into their proper locations? Find three Bluecoats who work there and pay them to do it.
Kim: Out of character, do we? I’m actually not entirely sure. I know we’ve got a lot in the vault. Don’t we?
Rhi: You have 6 coin in the vault.
Kim: Yeah, that’s not bad.
Minna (as Arlene): I have a coin in my pocket.
Josie (as Echo): I have 5 coin on my own.
Rhi: Good God.
Kim: What?!
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim (as Val): What? What?! Since when?!
Minna (as Arlene): How are you Holding 5 coin?
Kim (as Val): Where the hell did you get 5 coin?!
Josie (as Echo): I have been saving. My needs are few.
Minna: I have coin in my stash, but you can only hold 4 coin at once, can’t you?
Josie: Well, no. She has 2 coin on her and 3 coin in her stash.
Minna: Oh, I see. So I would have 3 coin.
Josie: Yeah. I’m just saying, that’s how much she has total.
Kim (as Val): Fuckin’ A, Echo. You’ve been holding out on us.
Josie (as Echo): I don’t need to spend money on groceries.
Rhi: Or gambling.
Josie (as Echo): Or gambling.
Rhi: [cackles]
Kim: They’re gonna point at her.
Kim (as Val): Watch it.
Josie (as Echo): I steal much of the stuff I use to tinker around with.
Kim (as Val): As you should. I’m just saying, maybe share the wealth a little bit every once in a while for those of us who do need to eat.
Minna (as Arlene): We share out the wealth pretty equally. I don’t think that you should make Echo give up her savings.
Josie (as Echo): Val, are you… are you broke enough to not afford food at the moment?
Kim (as Val): No—Mmm. No, nah.
Kim: [laughing] Val, currently speaking with only 1 coin in their pocket.
Minna: Aww. Arlene had not considered that.
Josie (as Echo): Because if you do need money to eat, I can share for that. I am not hoarding.
Kim (as Val): No, no, no. No. I can eat. Thank you very much. It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.
Josie (as Echo): Okay.
Josie: But she kinda keeps looking at Val, like… she would be giving a side-eye “are you sure” thing, but she can’t do that, so it’s just a stare.
[laughter]
Kim: That’s adorable.
Kim (as Val): What? Why are you still looking at me? I told you.
Josie (as Echo): It is just my face.
Kim (as Val): Well… [stammers] make your face look at something else.
Josie: She looks at Arlene. Just picking someone at random.
Rhi: So, okay, yeah. If you wanted to just approach this as a social thing, you could try to track down some Bluecoats to bribe and get them to carry the stuff in for you.
Josie: Yeah. That’s probably the simplest.
Kim: It’s worth a shot.
Minna: Yeah.
Josie: And even if we can only bribe one or two, that’s one less thing to do if we have to break in.
Minna: Very true.
Rhi: You’d start with trying to find targets for bribery, because to the best of my knowledge… Well, Val knows a Bluecoat, or a retired Bluecoat, right?
Kim: I sure do. Yeah.
Minna: Maybe there’s like… I mean, we were just talking about the Thunder Goats. Maybe there’s a Thunder Goats game that they all go to together.
Kim: Oh, that’s cute.
Rhi: I’m also… Let me see here. I’m looking at who else you have in your crew contacts, folks you maybe haven’t talked to. Some other crew contacts you have include Archie, a safe cracker.
Minna: Ooh! That could be helpful on this.
Rhi: You also have Autumn, a Surge occultist. So yeah, you have some potential contacts you could talk to, to try and find some targets. But… yeah. If you all wanna go with “let’s just throw money at the problem…”
Kim: Yeah. Why not?
Rhi: Would you all be getting…? Yeah, you’d be getting paid for this. I forgot to mention when Bailey was in, but you would be getting, uh…
Minna: If we wanted to do “throw money at the problem” but still infiltrate the station, we could find somebody to bribe to let us in.
Rhi: You will be getting paid 4 coin for this job.
Josie: Okay.
Rhi: Since this is benefitting the whole gang. You’re not just doing this for the sole benefit of the Whisky Jays. I forgot to mention that when Bailey was here, but you’re gonna get paid 4 coin for this. So, you know, if you wanna just break even, you can consider 4 coin as maybe your spending cap. If you wanna spend more than that, you obviously can. However you wanna go about it. Yeah, I would say definitely getting into the Gather Info phase of things would make sense at this juncture.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Minna: Mm-hmm!
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: So, however you wanna start that.
## Gather Info
Kim: Where do I even start with gathering info? Do I talk to my old Bluecoat buddy?
Rhi: That, I feel like, would make the most sense.
Minna: Yeah.
Kim: Alright. Can I just make a Consort roll out of it?
Rhi: Yeah! This is Jarvis. Refresh my memory. Is Jarvis a retired Bluecoat?
Kim: I believe so. Let me check my sheet. Yes, he’s retired.
Rhi: Okay.
Kim: Alright, so it’s Consort, and I get a minus—plus one die. Not minus one die. That would be stupid.
Rhi: Yes indeed.
Kim: That would be dumb. That would be silly. … Okay, that’s a 6.
Rhi: Okay, great, so you get exceptional details. What specifically are you asking Jarvis here?
Kim: I don’t know!
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim: Help me out, game master. What is it that would be helpful for me to know that an ex-Bluecoat would know, about what we’re doing? Who at the station would be most likely to accept this bribe?
Rhi: More or less… That’s the thing. Jarvis, from what I remember of your history, Jarvis is not exactly an upstanding law-abiding sort.
Kim: No.
Rhi: I think you could frame it as, hey, if I had some evidence that I needed to get in through alternate channels, what would be the best way to approach that?
Kim: Right.
Rhi: The catch here is that Jarvis, being a retired Bluecoat, can’t give you specific names.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: He can give you, like, in general, these are the types of people to talk to. He can’t be like, oh yeah, Bobby has a gambling problem, if you offer him money, he will definitely accept. He doesn’t have that kind of insider information anymore.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: I think he can tell you that you want to avoid—if you’re offering… How would be phrase it? Hire officers for extra services… pay bribes.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: Generally, you don’t wanna go for the newer cops because they’re fresh out of the academy and still have the spark of the rule of law in their eye. So, you wanna go for folks who have been there for a couple years, and generally aiming for cops over administrative staff. You don’t wanna go for people who are on desk duty, because the desk duty folks are generally comfortable enough that… they’ve got cushy enough jobs that they don’t really need the money.
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: So, you’re looking for beat cops who have been on the job for a couple years, are gonna probably be your best targets, if you’re looking to bribe people to get stuff in. Now, he also says that the problem here is that you don’t know, like… once you hand them the money and the evidence, you have no idea how reliable this is gonna be. They could just take your money and throw your shit in the garbage as soon as you’re out of sight. They’re not gonna be trustworthy is basically what he says.
Kim: Exactly.
Rhi: Just because you’ve given them your money does not mean you have bought any kind of loyalty or reliability. You have just given them your money. That’s all you’ve done. Some of them will see it through, some of them won’t, and it’s gonna be hard to tell which is which.
Kim: Yeah…
Rhi: That might even vary. Depending on the day, the cop that you talk to one day who maybe on that first day that you talked to when you make the deal, by the day that you actually do the hand-off might have just had a shitty day and doesn’t feel like making the drop-off, and so just tosses your folder full of evidence in the garbage.
Kim: Yep, and that’s if we’re lucky.
Rhi: Right. Yeah. Or, you know, maybe they feel like… maybe they need to make their quota so they just take your money, pocket it, and then arrest you for bribing an officer of the law.
Kim: That’s what I’m worried about. Yeah.
Rhi: There’s a fair amount of risk involved in terms of bribing a cop, with whether or not they’ll actually make good on their end of the bargain.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: So, doable. You can find people who are bribable, but whether or not it will actually get you the end result that you want… uncertain. So, that’s basically Jarvis’s advice on bribing cops.
Kim: Mm-hmm… Alright.
Rhi: He says it’s a lot easier when you’re bribing them to “not” do things.
Kim: Than to actually get them to do something.
Rhi: They like not doing things. Yeah. That’s why protection money is a lot easier, because then they’re just not doing stuff.
Kim: Oh. I wonder if there’s a way then to spin this to make it seem like they’re not doing anything. Do you know what I mean? Is that even… Am I thinking about this the right way or am I being silly?
Josie: I don’t know what you mean.
Rhi: Yeah, I’m not sure what you mean.
Kim: Like, we find a cop to bribe, and instead of making it seem like “hey, do this thing for us,” we frame it in a way that makes it seem like, you know, don’t do anything and look the other way. If that would make them more likely to accept the bribe.
Josie: Oh…
Kim: If they’ve got it in their mind that they don’t have to do anything but secretly they are doing something that’s beneficial for us.
Josie: Or like, don’t lock something or whatever.
Kim: Yeah, something like that.
Minna: Just as a way in.
Rhi: Yeah. If you’re going with that as an angle of getting yourselves in, that’s definitely—like, if that’s a follow-up question you ask Jarvis, he’s like oh yeah, that would definitely work, a ‘don’t notice people’ or yeah, ‘don’t secure this area,’ that you’d have a much… yeah. Any time that a cop can do less work and get paid extra for it, absolutely.
Kim: Yeah. Okay. So, potential strategy.
Rhi: Yeah, potential strategy for getting into the station, if you can find somebody to slip some cash and have them not do something. Yeah, that’s a good approach.
Kim: Okay, good to know.
Minna: Can I suggest that we bring the safe cracker with us?
Rhi: Oh~ You would have to… I mean, you’d have to talk to him. Let me pull up my notes on Archie. Alright, so Arlene, do you wanna go try and chat with Archie?
Minna: Sure.
Rhi: Yeah. Archie is a safe cracker, around Arlene’s age, in his late teens.
Minna: Aww. I wanna be buddies now. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah! Yeah… I’m trying to think. I’ll kind of give a description of him and then you all can maybe tell me how you all met. But yeah, he’s in his late teens. He looks like he probably has Dagger Isles heritage. He’s got tan skin, slicked back dark hair, blue eyes. He is very lanky, has a prosthetic right leg that is right above the knee, and his general occupation is safe cracker, burglar, person who can get stuff. Yeah, how do you think that you all met Archie?
Josie: Is he also in the gang?
Rhi: He could be, yeah. He definitely could be a member of the Nightcaps.
Josie: So I think we probably worked with him before, then.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: In the vein of how our scores go, I like the idea that we just brought him a vault.
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie: All beat up, dropped a vault in front of him, like “help please.”
Rhi: “We, uh… We ripped this safe out of a wall. Can you do something with it?” He was just like, sure! This is a nice change of pace. Normally I have to be a lot more quiet.
[chuckling]
Rhi: Yeah, I can definitely see… Archie and Arlene are very much kindred spirits of the, just like…
Minna: Can he also just be a little bit weird?
Rhi: Yeah! Yeah. Of the climbing on shit, getting into shit that maybe you shouldn’t…
Minna: Yes! We’ve definitely had hangouts on rooves and shit.
Rhi: Yeah. That’s what I was gonna say. I feel like wherever you two meet up is some—you do not meet up in a café or a park, you meet up somewhere weird. I’m picturing inside a billboard.
Minna: That’s really cute. I was gonna suggest the top of a small suspension bridge, but I like the billboard.
Rhi: [laughs] I think Archie just has hideouts all over the city, or at least all over the district, and in a billboard is one of them.
Kim: That’s so cool.
Rhi: So yeah, you climb up there and he just has a lantern. I feel like it has very treehouse vibes. He has some blankets and cushions and snacks and books and comic books.
Minna: Yes.
Rhi (as Archie): Hey Arlene. How’s it going?
Minna (as Arlene): Good!
Minna: I think she has a bag slung over her shoulder, and she pulls out some warm street food that she knows Archie likes.
Rhi (as Archie): Ooh~ Kebabs.
Rhi: He makes grabby-hands at them.
Minna: [giggles] Hands a few to him. So, I think she settles in and they probably do a little bit of chatting.
Minna (as Arlene): So, I have a job for you, maybe, if you’d be interested.
Rhi (as Archie): Uh-huh?
Minna (as Arlene): This is not the highest-earning job. We’re getting the pay from Bailey. But, it could be a fun one.
Rhi (as Archie): Okay?
Minna (as Arlene): We are going to break into a Bluecoat station to leave evidence.
Rhi (as Archie): Ooh… I’ve broken “out” of a few before, but I haven’t ever broken “in.”
Minna (as Arlene): Yeah. I thought it might be a nice change of pace. I know you like those. You know anything about the safes that they use?
Rhi: Give me a roll and we will see what Archie knows.
Minna: What is the roll, Consort?
Rhi: Oh yeah. This is friendly chat. I’m actually gonna give you improved effect on this since you’ve established Archie as a friend.
Minna: I like him already. [giggles]
Rhi: Yeah, I do too.
Minna: No! It’s a 1.
Rhi: Well, since it’s improved effect, that’s gonna bump it up to standard.
Minna: Oh nice.
Rhi (as Archie): Eh, I haven’t… I mean, usually when I’m dealing with Bluecoat stations, I’m more focused on breaking out of the jail cells than nicking anything from their vaults, so I don’t have a ton of experience with those. They pretty much use… They’ve got a standardized set of stuff, though. They get it all from the same factories and everything, so I could probably find out pretty easy. I’m very familiar with all of the locks involved with the rest of their security.
Minna (as Arlene): That’s a good place to start.
Rhi (as Archie): Yeah… Hmm.
Rhi: He’s sitting there looking contemplative. He taps his fingers on his chin.
Rhi (as Archie): How much is this paying?
Minna (as Arlene): I can offer you 1 coin.
Rhi (as Archie): Oof…
Minna (as Arlene): If there’s a way I can sweeten the deal, I can do that. I mean, 1 coin from the crew’s thing, so if you need more, I can—
Rhi (as Archie): No. I mean, that sounds pretty typical for a job from Benny.
Minna (as Arlene): Yeah.
Rhi (as Archie): I mean… being able to say that I broke into a Bluecoat station would be…
Minna (as Arlene): [grinning] Bragging rights.
Kim: Good resume builder.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: That’s more or less what he’s thinking here. “That would be some pretty good street cred.”
Rhi (as Archie): I would just need to lift something to prove that I did it, but that would be easy enough.
Minna (as Arlene): Yeah. I’m not gonna argue about that.
Rhi (as Archie): Eh, what the hell. Why not? I’m in.
Minna (as Arlene): [giggles] Very good. I will let you know when we have more details ready. In the meantime, tell me about that comic you’ve been following.
Rhi (as Archie): Ooh! Yeah. Okay. A new issue came out—
Rhi: And he rummages around his nest of books and things and he’ll hand it over to you. Yeah, you guys can just hang out in his little… treehouse up here, in this bulletin board.
Minna: No, I love.
Rhi: Or billboard, rather.
Minna: We know what you meant.
Rhi: In this big billboard. So yeah, Archie is gonna tag along and help you on this score. You will have a safe cracker who is familiar with the security of a Bluecoat station helping you out. So, that will be a big boost.
Josie: So, in addition to our safe cracker, I have a locksmith as a contact.
Rhi: Oh-ho~
Josie: We could either get kind of redundant there or I could go to Alondra, my diviner, again.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: I’m not sure which to do.
Rhi: What were you thinking with Alondra?
Josie: You know, getting a general read on how this is gonna go and what to look out for. You know, get a reading for my very near future.
Rhi: Yeah, I think that can be good. I like that.
Josie: Yeah. I’m gonna do that.
Rhi: Okay. Yeah. Go to visit Alondra who does occult readings via… we said through clocks and stuff, right? That was what you said?
Josie: Yeah. Her apartment is covered in clocks and strange arcane devices that probably make things hell for her neighbors, but we like it, and there’s a little table with a doily in the middle.
Rhi: Yes. Yeah. How many details do you give Alondra about the situation?
Josie (as Echo): Well, me and my friends are undergoing a dangerous task to deliver some items. It will involve going places we’re not supposed to and making sure three items meet their three proper places.
Rhi (as Alondra): Alright…
Rhi: This is less of a Gather Information and almost more of a fortune roll.
Josie: Okay.
Rhi: I’m trying to think of… I think I’m just gonna make a fortune roll for Alondra here to see what information she can give you.
Josie: Sure.
Rhi: She listens to you describe the situation and takes out a few different devices. She ticks some of them into different places and aligns them, squints at you a little bit and then ticks them a few more places, and then presses a few buttons all at once and there’s several long minutes—not minutes, but several long moments where the air is just filled with this soft ticking and clicking as these devices do their work. And yeah, I’m just gonna make a fortune roll and see what she can figure out. I’m just gonna roll 2d6 and see what she can see.
Kim: What do your elf eyes see?
Rhi: Okay, well I got a pair of 5s. She is basically gonna get standard information for you. The ticking of these devices winds down. She squints at some things and jots down some notes, and seems to be taking some measurements and doing some calculations for a little bit. Then, let’s see… I’m trying to think of what would be… It’s hard to give you direct predictions because this is a roleplaying game.
Josie: Yeah?
Rhi: [grinning] So I’m trying to think of what would be some useful information I can give you here.
Josie: Maybe it’s like… you give us, I don’t know, a 6, a 4, and a 1, and we need to use those rolls during the score but we don’t need to roll them, we just choose when we’re using one. Or we could get some number of rerolls to match what is said here or something.
Rhi: I was gonna have her give you some information that would lead you to a name of somebody that you could bribe.
Josie: Oh, okay.
Rhi: I do kinda like the idea of getting some rerolls, though. That’s kinda cool. Or having some preloaded numbers… So, I think that from the calculations that she does, she’s able to give you… She tells you to look for a name. The first name starts with a V. The second name starts with “Even” and is nine letters long.
Josie: Alright…
Minna: I’m trying to think of a name starting with “Even” that’s nine letters long and my brain went “eventually~,” which I think fits.
Rhi: [laughs] Then yeah, I’m just gonna roll. At some point she basically kinda tells you, the predictions she gives, you’re going to have some difficulties but also something is gonna go really well for you. What that shakes out to mean is you have a 6 and you have a 3 that you have to use both of those at some point before the score ends.
Kim: Okay.
Josie: Okay.
Minna: Maybe we have to use the 3 before we can activate the 6?
Rhi: No. No. You can use them in whatever order, but you have to use them both.
Josie: Okay, and also the two names, or…?
Rhi: The names are just… that’s information that she’s able to give you. You can do with that as you like. If you don’t wanna bribe anybody, that’s fine. That’s just kind of something she’s able to divine. “This is a name that seems like it might be useful to you. here’s as much information as I can figure out about the name.” But she’s able to look into your future and tell you something is gonna go really well for you and something is gonna go really poorly for you which translates to you have a 6 and a 3 and you have to use them both before the score ends.
Josie: Okay.
Rhi: And you can just tell me at some point that you wanna use those rolls in place of… You can use those rolls in place of actually making a roll and we’ll just mark them off, but they have to be used before the end of the score, so don’t just hoard them forever.
Kim: Yeah, no, I think we can make that happen.
Rhi: Is there other information you wanna gather? You wanna try and track down this mystery name that you have part of so you can bribe somebody?
Minna: Sure?
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: Alright. You could just do—I would allow a group Gather Info of just, like, you know that this person is somebody that will help you get into the station, so you could just kind of do a group asking around type thing about it. I would allow that. A group gathering of info.
Minna: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: So you all just sort of fan out.
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Josie: Sure.
Rhi: Alright.
Minna: What is this roll? Consort? Sway?
Rhi: Consort, Sway… maybe even Survey. You all just have to roll the same thing. Whatever makes the most sense.
Minna: My Consort and Sway are both one die and my Survey is two. I don’t know about you guys.
Josie: My Survey is one.
Rhi: Okay. Who wants to lead this? Because it is still a group action, somebody will have to take the lead.
Josie: I have a bunch of stress.
Kim: I can lead. I have 1 stress.
Rhi: Okay. So yeah, you all just sort of fan out around Corvis Row and chat with people, to varying degrees of success, I imagine.
Kim: Two.
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie: I rolled a 6.
Minna: I rolled a 4.
Rhi: Nice. Okay. Val, you’ll take 1 point of stress, but the result is a 6.
Kim: Cool.
Rhi: Echo, since this is Survey, I think that you are taking more of an eavesdropping approach because Echo is not the best at small talk.
Josie: Uh-huh. [chuckles]
Rhi: As we have established. So I think you’re just lurking around areas where, you know… you’re hanging around cop bars basically, or eavesdropping on cops who are on patrol. You eventually hear them talking. You hear a couple officers mention the name of another officer who just came back from leave. He was on leave without pay. His name is Ventaro Evensteps.
Kim: That’s a sick ass name.
Josie: I see.
Rhi: They’re talking about how he is stuck on door duty, that they’re not letting him back out on the street yet, after the incident. They’re being vague about why he was on leave without pay, but you can take a few guesses.
Josie: [strained] Yeah.
Rhi: So yeah. Also, when you hear this name, something just sort of pings in your being—not in the mechanical parts of you but in the occult spiritual parts of you. It feels like a puzzle piece snapping into place. “Yep, that’s the missing piece. That’s correct.”
Josie: Yep. Yeah, I got that.
Rhi: Yeah, you’re like “ah, okay, that’s the guy.” With that name, you’re able to do a little more digging. Because you got a 6, you’re able to figure out who this guy is and where he works, when his shifts are, and how to get him money. I guess that’s the question. What do you want to bribe this guy? How much money do you want to give him, one, and what do you want him to do or not do?
Josie: I think we need to offer him… I do not think we can offer more than 2 coin, but we could offer 2 coin. I think we need to get him to leave an entrance to the station unlocked.
Rhi: Yeah, 2 coin is a weekly income for a small business, so a briefcase full of cash. [laughs] Which, this guy would probably appreciate at this point.
Minna: I think we should do it.
Kim: That sounds like a good place to start as any. I’m okay with that.
Rhi: Yeah. I’m gonna say, just based on rolls and things, that I’m not gonna make you roll for this bribe, just because I want this to go smoothly. He will gladly accept your bribe because it means that he can take your money and fuck off to the break room for most of his shift, so he does that. You have a guaranteed entrance point and theoretically a guaranteed exit point.
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: Whether that exit point will remain unsecured by the time you’re done…
Minna: [shrugging sound]
Rhi: …that’ll depend on how things go while you’re in there. But, in theory, you’ve got a clean way in and a clean way out. I assume that the money came out of the crew vault?
Minna: Yeah, that makes sense.
Rhi: I will mark that on the sheet. Alright, you all ready to get into this, do the engagement roll?
Kim: Yeah, I think so.
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: Alright. So, I’m guessing this is Stealth, a Stealth plan?
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: Seems like a Stealth plan. Sounds like y’all are sneaking. Alright, so you get one for luck. Is this operation particularly bold or daring?
Kim: Yes.
Minna: Yeah, we’re breaking into a Bluecoat station. I think that’s always…
Rhi: Yep. Is this overly complex? I don’t think so. I think you actually got a pretty straightforward plan. Expose a vulnerability of the target? I would say you have created a vulnerability. You’ve got a friend or contact who’s coming with you, so that’s definitely helpful. This is a higher-tier target, so that’s gonna take one off. This is gonna be a 3d6 engagement roll, so that’s pretty good. … You got a 6!
Kim: Yay~
Rhi: You’re gonna be starting in a controlled position.
Kim: When was the last time that happened?
Rhi: It’s been a bit. I feel like that, given how you’re getting in, I feel like that makes sense.
## Score
Rhi: So, you all do your research, you do your prep, you contact Archie to let him know the day of the break-in. He meets up with all of you and is very excited.
Kim: Good for him.
Rhi: A lot of excited bouncing. I feel like he and Arlene are both just…
Minna: [giggles]
Rhi: …very excited about this whole thing. Yeah, you head over to the Bluecoat station and make your way over to the side entrance. This particular station… like I said, this is sort of the district station for Corvis Row, so it is quite large; multiple stories, probably takes up a good chunk of a city block.
This is where there’s gonna be police training happening. This is where a lot of the detectives that are assigned to a lot of the cases are. There’s longer-term holding cells here. There’s just… it’s a lot bigger than the smaller little precinct stations that are scattered around the rest of the district.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: So it’s a big old building. You all make your way over to the side door that Evensteps told you would be left open, and sure enough, not only is it unlocked but he has propped it open with a brick.
Kim: Oh.
Rhi: Very thoughtful.
Kim: Convenient.
Rhi: So yeah, you can just open the door and slip inside. You’ve got your box of evidence, of your three items, and I think your first hurdle here is figuring out where you need to go.
## Outro [HH:MM:SS]
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.
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 [01.01.10]
Rhi: Three, two, one… sync!
Kim: Sync.
Josie: Sleep.
Minna: Sync.
Rhi: … Josie, did you say sleep or slink?
Josie: Sleep. This hypnotic induction brought to you by Josie.
[laughter]
Minna: This needs to be the blooper.
Rhi: It probably will be, or it will go into the blooper reel. I have a lot of sync-related bits in the blooper reel.
Minna: I just want a sync compilation. That’s gonna be my meditation tape. I just find it so soothing.
Rhi: [laughs]