Transcribed by Raina Harper.
## Intro
Rhi: Welcome back to Imperial City. As always, thank you so much for joining us. We’re nearly done with our first season–next episode is the season finale! Thank you all for coming with us on this adventure. It’s been so much fun to tell these stories, and we can’t wait to share more with you next season. If you’re enjoying the show, please leave us a review, buy some merch, sponsor an episode or a Jumbotron message, or back us on Patreon!
Next, Kim is going to tell us about this month’s featured charity.
Kim: The Sunrise Movement is a nationwide, youth-led organization that advocates for climate justice. Through phone banking, protesting, and educating, they aim to urge people to treat climate change solutions as a priority. They are avid champions for the Green New Deal, fighting against facism, and pressuring leaders at the local and federal level to endorse climate justice legislation. Volunteer hubs are also made accessible by holding both in-person and virtual organizing activities, and there is no pressure made in regards to how much or how little of your time you can commit to the cause. If you are under the age of 35 and would like to join, visit sunrisemovement.org/take-action/, and if you are over the age limit, check out their sister organization, Arm in Arm For Climate. To donate, visit sunrisemovement.org/donate/.
Rhi: I’d also like to encourage you to donate to charities raising funds to help flood victims in Pakistan and Afghanistan, which are facing catastrophic crises after floods swept through both countries. These disasters will only keep happening if we don’t pressure our leaders to take strong, decisive action on climate change, but at the same time, we need to do what we can to help people suffering now. Look for reputable local charities in those areas and give what you can.
Now then. Let’s get started, shall we?
## Score Continues [00.02.21]
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. You’ve got the evidence lockup, the file room, and the weapons lockup are the three rooms that you need to get to.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: You’re not really sure where those are. Archie is also not really sure where those rooms are because, as Archie said, most of the time when he’s been breaking out of Bluecoat stations his focus has been getting out of the jail cell and then out of the building.
Minna: [giggles]
Kim: Right.
Minna: I feel like I should do a quick scout to try and find these places.
Rhi: Yeah. If you wanna do some kind of roll to see if you can figure out where places are, go for it. You’re gonna be starting… you’re in a controlled position. You came in late at night, so there’s not as many people in the building. It’s not totally empty, the building is never gonna be totally empty, but it’s more empty than it would be if you were here during the day.
Minna: Do we also find a nice closet where everyone else can wait while I do a quick survey?
Rhi: [laughs] Yeah. I think that makes sense for coming in on a controlled position. You find a nice, spacious broom closet that everybody can duck into just inside the door.
Minna (as Arlene): Okay. I’m gonna go take a look and see if I can figure out where these places are.
Kim (as Val): Alright. Be careful.
Rhi: This is gonna be… I’m just gonna say controlled-standard.
Minna: That’s a 5?
Rhi: I assume you rolled Prowl here.
Minna: Oh! I didn’t roll Prowl. I don’t know why.
Rhi: What did you roll?
Minna: I rolled Survey for some reason.
Rhi: That still makes sense.
Minna: Okay. Even if I add another die, it’s still a 5.
Rhi: Okay. You can either withdraw and try a different approach or do it with a minor consequence. Which would you like?
Minna: I like the idea of with draw and try a different approach. I thought I was gonna just take a quick walk around and it would be fine because it seemed pretty empty, but like… ooh, there was a sound, so I kinda draw into a doorway and now I’m gonna try to Prowl.
Rhi: Okay. Yeah. You just kinda start walking around, glancing into doorways, and yeah, I think it’s basically that you hear a few people having a conversation from an open room up ahead of you and you’re just like “ooh, okay, I actually can’t just openly wander the halls.”
Minna: So that roll is a 6.
Rhi: That was a Prowl?
Minna: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: With a 6, on a controlled… and that would have been standard again… I think what happens is you creep up to the room where you hear the voices from and you listen for a second and you realize that this is probably the break room because you recognize Ventaro’s voice as one of the people talking. So, you just, boop, zip past the open door real quick, nobody inside notices you, and I think you end up finding… at an intersection of hallways, there’s just signs pointing.
Minna: Yeah.
Rhi: File room. Lockup. [laughs]
Minna: Like in any complex government building.
Rhi: Yeah. It’s the very basic of like, “oh… okay.” What you find is the evidence lockup and weapons lockup are both on this floor, on this ground floor. The file room is upstairs. There’s an arrow pointing towards the stairs for file room.
Minna: Okay. I think she’s gonna slip back to the closet.
Rhi: Which, with a 6, you can do easily enough.
Minna: [smiling] So, yeah, she slips back in and she’s like:
Minna (as Arlene): Okay. I found out where they are. In between here and there, there is the break room, so we’ll have to be careful as we get past there. The door is open, there’s a lot of people in there, but it shouldn’t be too challenging. They’re distracted in there. The evidence room and the weapon lockup are both on this floor. The files are upstairs. I don’t know which one you wanna start with.
Josie (as Echo): I am inclined to say the files because that will probably be the easiest. If we try and fail at the weapon lockup, that could be very bad.
Minna (as Arlene): Okay. I think we should do that.
Rhi: Archie nods and points at Echo in agreement.
[laughter]
Rhi (as Archie): Plus, that way we’ll already be back down here when we’re heading our way out. So yeah, file room first sounds good.
Josie (as Echo): Do we all wish to go up together or shall one of us go to do that while the other two handle the others? Other three, rather.
Minna (as Arlene): Oh.
Kim (as Val): Oh… Should we split up? I don’t know about that.
Rhi (as Archie): I mean… it would make things faster.
Kim (as Val): It would.
Josie (as Echo): I could probably handle the file room. I imagine the locks will not be so severe there. Then Archie can go with you two.
Minna (as Arlene): That works for me.
Kim (as Val): Alright, but if you run into any trouble, you find us, okay?
Minna (as Arlene): If you run into any trouble, jump out the window.
Josie (as Echo): Yes, I can do that.
Rhi: I think the first thing is gonna be getting the whole group past the break room here, which…
Minna: Group Prowl? I can lead it.
Rhi: …is probably a good old classic group Prowl.
Kim: Love those.
Josie: Yeah!
Minna: I think I should lead it.
Josie: Okay!
Kim: Okay. Go you.
Rhi: I’m trying to think of how to account for Archie being here. I’m just gonna do a…
Minna: Maybe roll a fortune roll, yeah?
Rhi: Yeah, I’m just gonna do a fortune roll for him. I don’t want to just discount him entirely because you could end up having to cover for him, so yeah, I’ll just do a fortune roll. This is gonna continue to be controlled-standard.
Kim: I rolled a 5.
Rhi: Well, is it gonna be standard…? It’s gonna be controlled-reduced because you’re a larger group.
Minna: Can I push myself?
Rhi: Yes you can.
Minna: I’m gonna push myself for improved effect.
Rhi: Ooh! Archie got a 6. Atta boy.
Kim: Alright!
Minna: Yay, Archie! We’ve only had him for like half an episode and I love him so much.
Rhi: [laughs] Alright, we’ve got a 5 from Val, a 6 from Archie…
Josie: I also got a 6.
Minna: [laughs] I rolled three dice and I got a 2, so I’m taking 1 point of stress.
Rhi & Josie: Oh no!
Minna: But we got a 6 overall.
Kim: Arlene~
Rhi: Yeah, so Arlene takes 1 stress.
Minna: She’s so busy paying attention and making sure the others get through that she almost fucks up.
Rhi: Yeah. I think since Echo and Archie got the sixes, Josie, what do you think those two do to help cover Arlene?
Josie: I have my big black trench coat on, so I think I just literally drape it over Arlene so she’s less visible.
Kim: Oh, that’s adorable.
Rhi: Yeah. [giggles]
Minna: I get yoinked.
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: Yeah, “woop!” So, you all successfully make it past the break room. You get to this hallway intersection with all the signs. I think the stairs are pretty much right there, so Echo, you can head up the stairs towards the file room, and everybody else can head down the hall that points towards the two lockup areas. That was how things were getting split, right?
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: Alright. Let’s follow Echo to start.
Josie: Okay.
Rhi: Echo, you climb up the stairs. This is the kind of back stairs. If you come in through the front of this building, there’s a big grand marble staircase that would lead up to the second floor, but you’re coming in a back side stair up to the second floor. You get up there and it’s just sort of hallways and offices. And… no, there would still be a sign pointing you to where the file room is, so I’m not gonna make you roll again to find it. I think the roll here is gonna be successfully sneaking to the file room.
Josie: Okie-dokie.
Rhi: You’re still in a controlled position. You’re back to controlled-standard because you are one person sneaking. You’re not a whole group.
Josie: So, it’s a controlled position and standard effect…
Rhi: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Josie: I think this is a roll I want to use our preloaded 3 on.
Rhi: Oh, okay.
Kim: Interesting.
Josie: Because if it’s controlled…
Rhi: Controlled. Nope, that makes sense. That is a very smart play. Okay… so, you get a 3. You falter. You can either press on by seizing a risky opportunity or withdraw and try a different approach. What would you have rolled here?
Josie: I probably would have rolled Prowl.
Rhi: Okay, that makes sense. You can either roll Prowl again at risky or roll something else, still at controlled.
Josie: I’m gonna roll Prowl again at risky.
Rhi: I think what happens is you get up to the second floor, you look around, you find the sign that’s like “file room,” arrow pointing this way, and you start heading that direction. You’re halfway down the hall when a door opens and a couple people come out, and you just have to dive into a nearby open door. You’re just waiting there as these people are just, like…
Josie: Well, I think what happened is I felt that tickle in the space where my brain would be that someone was coming and preemptively ducked off to the side.
Rhi: Ooh. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Josie (as Echo): It’s just two. I can probably still go for it.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: Alright. I got a 4.
Rhi: Okay. So, you do it but there’s a consequence. I think what it is… you get to the file room door. You wait, you hear these two people slip past, you get to the file room door, and it is a way more intense door than you were expecting.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: This is the complication. Rather than it being something where you can just get through it with a single roll, it’s gonna be a… I’m gonna say this is gonna be a 6-tick clock.
Josie: Jeez, okay. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: Might as well get started, I suppose. I got a 6.
Rhi: Got a 6. Let’s see. This would have been risky… You’ve got fine tinkering tools, right?
Josie: Yeah, I do.
Rhi: Okay. If you mark those, this would have given you greater effect, so I think that’ll get you 3 out of 6 if you get a 6.
Josie: Okie-dokie.
Rhi: So yeah, you just look at this door and are like… [deep breath] okay, fine. [laughs] Apparently they take their documents very seriously here. And you just get to work. So, Echo is hard at work picking the lock on this file room door and I think we do the camera panning down through the floor to the hallway where the other three of you are making your way to the… I think evidence lockup is the first one that you get to. This also has a pretty impressive door upon it. I’m guessing you all are putting Archie in charge of the lock picking here?
Kim: Yeah.
Minna: Sure.
Kim: Why not? We have him. We may as well use him.
Rhi: Yeah. No, I mean hey, this is why you brought him.
Kim: Yeah, no, that’s what I’m saying.
Rhi: He will… I think he kneels down and rolls up his pant leg, and in his prosthetic he has compartments. He pops open a compartment and that’s where he keeps his lock picks.
Kim: Ohh, how very Long John Silver of him.
Rhi: He opens that up, pulls them out, closes it, and then he’s just like:
Rhi (as Archie): Okie-dokie… this is actually a little more intense than what they use on the jail cells, which I’m not sure how I feel about that.
Rhi: Again, I’m just gonna have him do a fortune roll, so we’ll see how this goes. Phew, okay, one of the dice went kind of far back so the first one I saw was a 3, but fortunately the other one is a 4. He starts working at it and then stops and is just sort of frozen there.
Rhi (as Archie): Um, so… the good news is that I heard the security system click before I activated it.
Minna: Oh no. [laughs]
Rhi (as Archie): The bad news is, if I move… I’ll activate it.
[distressed sounds and laughter]
Kim (as Val): So don’t move?
Rhi (as Archie): Oh, I’m not, but that’s only gonna be a solution for so long.
Minna (as Arlene): How… How do we deactivate it?
Rhi (as Archie): Uh, let’s see… Um.
Rhi: He’s looking up.
Rhi (as Archie): There’s… okay. Do you see the wires coming up out the top of the door?
Minna (as Arlene): Yes.
Rhi (as Archie): Yeah. You’re gonna need to follow those to the, uh… the breaker box.
Minna (as Arlene): Flip the breaker?
Rhi (as Archie): Yeah.
Minna (as Arlene): Okay, I can do that. Just hang tight. Don’t move.
Rhi (as Archie): Yep, that’s the plan.
Minna (as Arlene): You’re gonna be okay, Archie. Just trust me.
Rhi (as Archie): Yep.
Minna (as Arlene): Cool.
Minna: She’s gonna go following that wire. Is that a Prowl?
Rhi: Yes, to sneak along and do that.
Minna: Six.
Rhi: Okay. [laughs] You zip down this hallway and you’re able to very quickly find the breaker—
Minna: I don’t need to roll anything?
Rhi: Huh?
Minna: I don’t need to roll anything to actually turn it off?
Rhi: Um…
Minna: It might be kind of fun if I had to. Ramp up the tension.
Rhi: Yeah, I think so. I think you do. Yeah, it’s gonna be risky-standard to figure it out.
Minna: Okay. Tinker maybe?
Rhi: I would allow Tinker. I would allow Study, Survey, Wreck if you really wanted to.
Minna: No, not Wreck.
Kim: Eh, I would advise against Wreck.
[giggling]
Rhi: Yeah, Wreck is…
Minna: Tinker and Survey are the same for me, so I’ll just roll that 2d6. That’s a 4.
Rhi: Okay. You get the right one eventually. I think you shut off a couple of wrong breakers first.
Minna: [concerned hum]
Rhi: So, I’m gonna start another clock, Bluecoats Arrive to Investigate Blackout, 0 out of 4.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: It’s not like a permanent blackout. You flip something, you realize that it’s the wrong thing and you immediately flip it back on, but somewhere else in the station the lights just flicked on and off.
Minna: Yeah…
Rhi: So they’re gonna come to see what’s up. Eventually they’re gonna get here. So, you now have a ticking clock for they’re going to arrive.
Minna: I think she zips back off to where Archie is, where Archie and Val are.
Minna (as Arlene): The good news is you’re fine, you can move.
Rhi (as Archie): Okay. Phew!
Kim (as Val): And the bad news?
Minna (as Arlene): The bad news is that I might have caused some very brief blackouts elsewhere in the building, so they might wonder about that.
Kim (as Val): Ah, for the love of… [seethes]
Minna (as Arlene): Look. Archie’s fine. We can get in here fine. It’ll be okay.
Kim (as Val): Alright, yeah, no, we’ll deal with it as it comes. Alright, whatever.
Rhi (as Archie): Either of you any good at picking locks? Maybe we wanna try and get into weapons lockup… with a quickness.
Kim (as Val): I’m shit at this kind of stuff, frankly.
Minna (as Arlene): I know a little bit. Val, why don’t you be lookout and you can stall anybody if they come along?
Josie: Don’t forget, we have a preloaded 6 to use if we want.
Minna: Ah, that’s true.
Kim: Oh yeah, we sure do.
Josie: So if things get desperate, you know.
Rhi: Yeah. So, I’m gonna have Archie work on this door again. Oh, Archie got a critical.
Minna: Hey! Good Archie.
Kim: Damn, Archie! Let’s go. Let’s fucking go.
Rhi: So yeah, now that… Well, I think it is because you just completely turned off the security system here, he doesn’t have to be quite as careful so he’s just like “bop-bop-bop, whoosh,” pops it open, hauls the door open, and he will just trot inside to stash that particular piece of evidence. I think he’s probably going to take his particular piece of proof that he did this job while he’s in there.
Minna: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: [laughs] So he’s taking care of planting the bloody glove evidence while Val is going to keep a lookout?
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: Arlene is heading down to the weapons lockup to start working on that door. Let’s go back up to Echo real quick.
Josie: Hi.
Rhi: Hello. Echo, just for fun, I’m gonna say that the lights went out over you for a second.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: You’re just sitting there working and there’s just a brief flicker of “wuv-wub.” The lights go off and then come back up.
Josie: Echo stops for a second… then shrugs and keeps working. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. Go ahead and give me another roll. It’s gonna continue to be risky-greater for you up here.
Josie: I’m gonna push myself, because I just kinda wanna make sure I get a 6 here, but I don’t think it’s worth using the preloaded one on.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: Critical!
Rhi: Critical? Alright! So yeah, again… By this point you’ve gotten a good feel for the lock, and yeah, you just pop it open. You’re able to walk in.
Josie: I think there’s a surprisingly weighty thunk as the deadbolt slides back. “What do they have in this door?”
Rhi: [laughs] But yeah, you haul it open. It’s a pretty heavy door, but Echo is a strong hull.
Kim: Strong independent hull.
Josie: Yeah~
Rhi: You’re able to haul the door open and you can head in and slide this sealed file into its proper alphabetical place. Fortunately, because you got a critical, this file room is immaculately organized. Whoever maintains this place, flawless organization. It’s very easy for you to find the right spot, slide the file in, get back out, close everything up—
Josie: Eh…
Rhi: Oh, yes?
Josie: So, it is meticulously organized, and it occurred to me that there’s a couple things I might want to grab while I’m here.
Minna: Ooh~
Rhi: Oh! Okay, yes, I will allow that since you got a critical. I think you got in here faster than you expected, so you can take a little time to take stuff.
Kim: Imagine us having the presence of mind to actually steal things when we’re out on jobs. Well done, Josie.
Josie: Yeah!
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie: This isn’t the head Bluecoat HQ for the whole city, right?
Rhi: No, it’s for Corvis Row.
Josie: Okay, it’s just for Corvis Row.
Rhi: Tell me what you’re looking for and we’ll see if it’s here.
Josie: At least one of these is very unlikely, but I want to take some files on two people. One is Benny Barsotti.
Kim: [gulp]
Rhi: Oh, absolutely.
Josie: The other is the Vulture.
Rhi: Okay. There is almost a whole shelf dedicated to the Barsottis.
Josie: Mm-hmm. I don’t wanna take everything, because that would be suspicious, but I want to take anything incriminating. You know what I mean?
Rhi: Yeah. You can… You wanna grab stuff on Benny in particular?
Josie: Yes, because I mean, we are potentially unseating or breaking free of him, so I want blackmail material.
Kim: Ooh.
Rhi: Ah~
Kim: Nefarious. I like it.
Josie: I’m not doing him a favor here.
Rhi: Very smart. Okay. So, let me think… I’m gonna give you a choice here. There is so much stuff here on the Barsottis and on Benny, because Benny’s been operating in this area for a long time, that to find stuff on him is gonna take a little bit of time.
Josie: Sure.
Rhi: You can either find, like… you can get some really good juicy blackmail stuff and not have time to look for anything on the Vulture, that’s Option A, or you can grab a couple things on Benny, quickly, maybe they’re good, maybe they’re not, you’re just grabbing them swiftly, and you’ll also have time to look for stuff on the Vulture.
Josie: Yeah… The Vulture is super mysterious and stuff, right?
Rhi: Yes.
Josie: I somehow doubt the Corvis Row center actually has all that much that would be meaningful. I think Echo’s gonna look towards the V section for a minute, but she’s gonna go for the juicy blackmail material because that’s what’s actually likely to be here.
Rhi: Okay. Write down on your character sheet that Echo is in possession of… we’re just gonna say four pieces of blackmail on Benny Barsotti.
Josie: Yes.
Rhi: The details of which we can determine when it becomes relevant. [laughs]
Josie: Cool.
Rhi: That’s very good thinking.
Josie: And now I’m done.
Rhi: Yes. So, you tuck those files into your coat, you head out, you close up the door after you and start creeping your way back downstairs. Back downstairs, meanwhile, Arlene, you’re trying to pick a lock.
Minna: Okay. I’m going to Tinker here.
Rhi: Yes. You’ve got some kind of lock picks, right?
Minna: Yeah, so I mark off fine lock picks.
Rhi: That will give you greater effect on this, so you’ll be at risky-greater.
Minna: Beautiful. I have rolled a 5.
Rhi: Okay. You do it with greater effect but there’s a consequence. I think the consequence is I’m just gonna tick up our Bluecoats Arrive to Investigate clock.
Kim: [silly whining sound]
Rhi: You have a clock to clear to get through this lock as well. So greater effect, and you effectively… [mumbles] You’re gonna be—How do numbers work?
Kim: Fuck if I know.
Rhi: I should have given you a 4 out of 6, Josie, when you got a 6, but it ended up not being…
Josie: Hey, it works.
Rhi: Yeah. You got a critical so it ended up shaking out. Arlene, you are at 3 out of 6 on opening the weapons lockup, and we are at 2 out of 4 on Bluecoats Arrive to Investigate. Val, where have you posted up for keeping a lookout? Are you back at the end of the hall?
Kim: I don’t think I’m far.
Rhi: Val, you can hear approaching voices and footsteps as people are coming. You can hear:
Rhi (as Bluecoat): They just built this place like four years ago, and I don’t know how much money they spent on it, but they can’t get the wiring right.
Rhi: Basically a couple people complaining about the blackouts.
Kim: Stormtrooper talk.
Rhi: Yeah. [laughs] Essentially. You know that there’s Bluecoats on their way. You could, if you wanted to, go to intercept them early. You don’t have to wait for that clock to fill. But, they are incoming. Echo, you’re on your way down the stairs…
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: Val, do you want to go and intercept or do you wanna wait?
Kim: I’m gonna wait. I don’t wanna do anything too soon and blow our cover unnecessarily.
Rhi: Yeah, because right now you haven’t been spotted.
Kim: Exactly. I’m holding onto that for as long as I can.
Rhi: Yeah. Okay, so… yeah, in that case, Arlene, if you wanna make another roll to try and get this weapons lockup open…
Minna: Yeah. Can I make the same roll?
Rhi: Yeah.
Minna: That’s a 6.
Rhi: Damn. Alright.
Minna: [sighs in relief] She concentrates more and listens, tries to feel the tumblers, and it just clicks.
Minna (as Arlene): [hushed] Yes! Okay.
Rhi: I think right as you go “yes,” Archie right behind you goes:
Rhi (as Archie): Ooh, nice!
Kim (as Val): Well done, girlie.
Kim: They’re gonna hold up a hand for Arlene to high-five.
Minna: She reaches back and slaps five without even looking and slips into the room.
Rhi: You can plant the last piece of evidence in there. Echo, you can come down the stairs, rejoin the others. Now, the only thing left to do is slip back out.
Josie: Have we used the 6 already?
Rhi: You haven’t.
Josie: I think this is where we use it, right?
Kim: Yeah, for sure.
Rhi: I think this would need to be a group… something.
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Josie: Mm-hmm, and I’ll just make my roll a 6.
Rhi: But somebody—we’ll still need to do the roll properly to see if somebody takes stress.
Kim: Yeah. I can lead again.
Rhi: Okay. Great.
Josie: Sure.
Kim: Survey? Study? What are we doing here?
Rhi: Group Prowl. I think it would probably be a group Prowl just to slide back out. This is gonna be risky, I think just risky-standard.
Kim: Eh, I rolled a 4.
Rhi: Okay, that’s fine.
Kim: No it’s not. Stop lying.
Rhi: Doesn’t— … We have a guaranteed 6 in play here and you don’t take stress on a 4.
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: [huffs] Fine.
Rhi: I’ll roll for Archie. Ooh, unfortunately Archie didn’t do great. Archie got a 3.
Minna: Oh buddy.
Kim: God damn it, Archie.
Minna: That’s a 6.
Rhi: Okay. Echo is getting an auto-6 for using that other one from the fortunetelling previously. I think that Archie’s just distracted by fiddling with… I think he just stole a few Bluecoat badges. He’s just fiddling with them and is just distracted and falls behind a little bit.
Josie: Echo, getting the sense that someone’s coming again, just reaches back and grabs Archie by the scruff and pulls him around the corner right before two Bluecoats come around or something.
Rhi: Yeah, I think it’s the Bluecoats who are coming to investigate the breaker box.
Josie: Just, yoink.
Minna: Mm-hmm!
Rhi: Yeah, “woop!”
Minna: I like that both the kids have now been yoinked.
[laughter]
Rhi (as Archie): Oh, thanks.
Rhi: Tucks them into his pocket. But yeah, you’re able to slip back down the hallway, back out the door. You knock the brick that was left there aside. You slip away into the night in what I think is the cleanest score I’ve ever witnessed.
Minna: Right?
Josie: Uh-huh.
Kim: Especially for us.
Josie: I mean… I was expecting more obstacles, not gonna lie.
Kim: Yeah, same.
Rhi: You rolled really well. You all rolled really, really well.
Josie: Okay then.
Rhi: I couldn’t put anything in front of you.
[laughter]
Rhi: You guys just kept rolling really well.
Josie: Clearly you have to be a meaner GM to us.
Kim: No. No, no, no, no, no. She doesn’t have to be.
Josie: [giggles]
## Downtime
Rhi: The Whiskey Jays and Archie depart the Bluecoat station just as quietly and easily as they arrived with about the same number of things in hand, having grabbed more than a few items while they were there. The appropriate evidence has been left where it needed to go. You make your way back through Corvis Row, part ways with Archie who insists on giving you all high-fives before he heads off.
Minna: [giggles]
Rhi: Then, yeah, you all I think can probably hop one of the late-night buses across town. You didn’t wanna bring the Drake. That would go against this whole being incognito thing. Yeah, you can just ride the bus quietly across town back to Kestrel Heights and back to the garage after, compared to how your last score went, a shockingly quiet and calm and easy score.
Josie: I think Echo pulls a bundle of folders out of her coat and flops them on the table.
Josie (as Echo): This is the real haul tonight.
Minna (as Arlene): Oh?
Kim (as Val): What did you pick up?
Josie (as Echo): Well, I figured that the Corvis Row station especially would have a great deal of information on Benny.
Minna (as Arlene): Oh…
Josie (as Echo): Looking through it, I figure our plan can be… he either goes into retirement or heads out to Devil’s Tooth. Of course, I don’t want that second option, so the choice will be up to him. Or we can use it in some other way, but we need leverage and now we have it.
Kim (as Val): Good thinking, doll.
Kim: They’re gonna slap Echo on the shoulder.
Josie: [laughs] it’s through the coat so it’s muffled a bit, but there’s the sound of hand hitting plastic or something.
Kim: Thunk.
[laughter]
Minna (as Arlene): That was some good thinking, Echo.
Josie (as Echo): Thank you. If we had more time, I would have liked to get more things on more people in there.
Minna (as Arlene): No, I mean, you took the opportunity.
Josie: She nods.
Josie (as Echo): But I think we should hold off on the actual planning of the task until Darling is back.
Minna (as Arlene): Yeah. I don’t know how long that’s gonna be. It might be a little bit complicated.
Josie (as Echo): Do you know what she’s doing?
Minna (as Arlene): She didn’t say directly, but I think it’s pretty clear that she’s going against members of our old organization.
Josie (as Echo): Oh.
Kim (as Val): Without telling us?
Minna (as Arlene): I mean, she told me.
Kim (as Val): She should have told all of us.
Minna (as Arlene): She can handle it. She knows how to handle herself. We just gonna be careful. I mean, she told me to be careful. You guys are probably safe.
Kim (as Val): Shit. Alright, well… at what point do we start going out looking for her when we stop hearing from her?
Josie (as Echo): I mean, it has only been a day or two, and this is Darling we are talking about. But I am worried that she is going against a whole group of Arlenes and Darlings.
Minna (as Arlene): I wouldn’t say she’s going against a group of them at once. She said “flower picking” which suggests to me that she’s gonna, you know, get them alone if she does anything.
Josie (as Echo): I see.
Minna (as Arlene): I think… [light exhale] I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s Darling. She survived way worse than that.
Josie (as Echo): That is true. In truth, we should worry about whoever she is hunting.
Minna (as Arlene): Exactly.
Kim: Val’s pinching the bridge of their nose.
Kim (as Val): I’m just trying to figure out when we mount a rescue mission when we stop hearing from her.
Minna (as Arlene): I would wait at least a month.
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim (as Val): A month?
Josie (as Echo): I see.
Minna (as Arlene): I mean… Yeah. She’s not gonna be sending messages during it, probably. That’s why she sent me the message to start with, so I wouldn’t worry.
Josie (as Echo): If you say so.
Kim: I think Val is just going to wordlessly wander over to wherever it is that we keep the booze in the garage and just start pouring themself a drink.
Rhi: [chuckles]
Minna (as Arlene): I don’t know why it’s bothering Val so much. I guess Val isn’t used to it, but like, this is pretty… this is old hat.
Josie (as Echo): Yeah, I suppose so.
Minna (as Arlene): There’s a lot of time that she wasn’t there because she had to do stuff. Yeah, she’s just on a job.
Josie (as Echo): It is still strange to me to imagine the two of you as assassins. Killing people, that I can imagine, but being stealthy about it is still a new image to me.
Minna (as Arlene): I was kind of in training still, so I still have stuff to learn, but Darling can be… she can be really scary in a really overt way or she can be really scary in a way that isn’t… that people don’t see coming. At least that’s what I hear. I didn’t get to see much of it before we left.
Josie (as Echo): She can be rather terrifying.
## Tea Break
Rhi: We leave the Whiskey Jays and pan across the darkened city. Where do we find Darling and Pearl as they are watching their quarry? Hunting their quarry?
Aki: I think hunting is a very good term to use. They’re probably somewhere… hmm, maybe somewhere high up, just for that vantage point. Darling has scopes, so it’s easier for her to keep everything in track at once.
Rhi: Yeah. I think that Darling is up on top of an apartment building, not super, super high, probably six stories, so up on the roof looking down towards a movie theater, one that is kind of near Arlene’s apartment. As you are watching, you see a pair of people exit the theater. It’s people you have been watching and following and hunting for a couple days now.
One of them is a tall slender figure, hair is dark and short and very fine underneath their hat. You know that this is Rowan. They are somebody that you knew of before you left the market. They are not really in a leadership position, but they’re pretty high-up in terms of rank and skill. They’re very reserved, very quiet, known for being good with poisons.
They are accompanied by somebody that you haven’t met before, this is somebody new to you, but you have learned that her name given to her by the market is Asphodel.
She looks like she’s Arlene’s age, maybe a year or two older, and she… kind of in contrast to Rowan, where Rowan seems to be very contained and reserved, Asphodel seems to be very excited, is chattering away as they’re coming out of the theater, and again… your information is a little fuzzy just because you have been out of the official organization for a while. She is either close to finishing her training or she’s just out of training, a little bit ahead of where Arlene was when you left.
From what you’ve picked up, she is pretty good with guns, she’s kind of the ranged expert of this duo whereas Rowan is better at close-quarters things, and the two of them have been tasked with tracking down you and Arlene after your encounter with Lavender, now that the market knows that the two of you are alive and here in the city.
Aki: Where am I in terms of ranks?
Rhi: You would have outranked Rowan a little bit because you held a higher position by virtue of being somebody who was training assassins. I feel like the market had a lot of layers of hierarchy and a lot of it was kept secret. The higher up you got, the more you knew about it. But you know, there was still a lot of things. They kept a lot of it very opaque because they didn’t want, you know, if somebody got caught, they didn’t want somebody to be like “oh yeah, let me tell you all about how our organization operates.”
Aki: Oh yeah, yeah, def, def. I mostly wanted to know just because Darling wouldn’t jump into a battle she cannot win by herself. You know?
Rhi: Mm-hmm. You are confident that, like… Asphodel, you could absolutely take her. This is somebody… yeah, no problem that you could take her. Pearl could take her. Rowan, if you stay at range from Rowan, you could absolutely beat them. Close quarters, even match, maybe they have the upper hand. Basically, you’re equally skilled but in different areas is kind of where it shakes out with the two of you.
Aki: Yeah. That’s what I sort of assumed.
Rhi: You are gonna be trying to stay very far away from Rowan. Rowan is gonna be trying to get all up in your business, is how that’s gonna go.
Aki: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay, so watching them exit a movie theater. Okay… I think I’ve been watching them long enough to have understood maybe where they’re headed, so I could plan something.
Rhi: Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. Tell me where they’re going. What have you planned?
Aki: I think wherever they chose to stay, you know, stay hidden and whatnot, it’s definitely in an area that is scarcely patrolled by any Bluecoats. So, lower end. It’s easier for them to blend in. They are both very capable people, so they don’t gotta worry about things like muggings or anything like that. They just need somewhere where eyes won’t be on them even if they commit a few crimes.
Rhi: Right.
Aki: So, now that I’ve understood where they’re going, somewhere along the line I have set a small trap or diversion or something, just to catch their attention, to lead them down an alleyway Batman style. [laughs]
Rhi: Okay.
Aki: I can remain… Actually, I will not remain on the top. I will use myself as bait, to lead them into the alley.
Rhi: Ooh, okay.
Aki: Pearl can remain up-top, somewhere like a fire escape or something. So, the minute they enter and they’re further in where they think they have the upper hand, Pearl can pounce on the smaller one, on Asphodel, and keep her pinned. Because I think Rowan being pinned is just a minor inconvenience if Rowan is good close-combat.
Rhi: Yes.
Aki: Whereas Asphodel being pinned is a lot more dangerous.
Rhi: Mm-hmm. There’s a chance that Rowan could have poisoned knives on them, and that’s not something you wanna risk with Pearl.
Aki: Mm-hmm. Whereas Asphodel is with guns, so she would be further behind. Pearl pouncing on her not only keeps her in check but closes them in, in the alleyway.
Rhi: The distraction is… you had just paid off some Bluecoats to be in an area where the Bluecoats normally are not. I think they had been renting an apartment in the border area between Kestrel Heights and the docks. There’s a lot of Bluecoats around. They’ve got their cars out, sirens are on, they’re just sort of patrolling and stopping people. Rowan just very casually veers off down a side alley.
I think we see this from their point of view, from Rowan’s point of view. They’re walking quickly. They’re glancing around. They have a hand inside their jacket resting on the hilt of a knife, a throwing knife, Asphodel’s shoes clicking on the pavement behind them. Then, there’s suddenly a soft “oof” and they spin around as Asphodel is tackled to the pavement by a very large tiger. Rowan whips around with a pair of blades in hand, and Darling, what do you do?
Aki: I will very… not very loudly—I think it’s loud enough like in a movie where I cock my pistol, because I have a fine pair of them, and that’s enough for them to get the attention.
Rhi: Yeah.
Aki: I do wanna say, I think I am a safe distance where it’s like my bullet will reach you before you can reach me or Pearl. You can still throw your knife, but like… I’m faster.
Rhi: Yeah, bullet is gonna go faster than knife.
Aki: Yeah. [laughs]
Rhi: They whip around and lock eyes with you.
Rhi (as Rowan): Darjeeling.
Aki (as Darling): Rowan, yes? That is your little codename?
Rhi (as Rowan): It is.
Aki (as Darling): It’s so nice to officially acquaint again. I hear you are looking for me.
Rhi (as Rowan): Yes… we were.
Aki (as Darling): Now I’m going to ask you a few questions before we decide what happens next, and you will answer them as amicably and with enough candor to knock out an elephant. Yes?
Rhi (as Rowan): Mm-hmm.
Aki (as Darling): Good. How many of you are here?
Rhi (as Rowan): Looking for you actively or in the city?
Aki (as Darling): Give me both.
Rhi (as Rowan): Hmm. Looking for you actively, just the two of us. In the city, I don’t know an exact number, at least a dozen.
Aki (as Darling): I see. Are they all from “your” shop?
Rhi (as Rowan): To the best of my knowledge.
Rhi: Rowan is standing at a… giving you as thin a profile as possible, so they’re standing side-angle to you. They’re not facing you square-on. They kind of keep glancing from you towards Asphodel and Pearl, trying to keep an eye on that situation as well, to make sure that Pearl is not removing any vital pieces.
Aki: When I notice maybe an eye glance or something I’ll just go:
Aki (as Darling): Oh, you don’t need to worry about that little one. Pearl is very well-trained, and I don’t want to make a mess just yet, as alone a mess of a baby. She’s not “yours” is she? You’re not a trainer.
Rhi (as Rowan): No.
Aki (as Darling): Oh, good. I would hate to have a bit of a mess this early. You better start giving me better information. I know you’re holding back.
Rhi (as Rowan): You know that our employers don’t share much.
Aki (as Darling): Then what have they shared with you that you know of me right now? What exactly are you here for? I understand my leaving was not to their liking, but what else?
Rhi (as Rowan): You left. You took one of the trainees with you. You took a fair bit of market property. I think it’s mostly, my understanding is, they are concerned about making sure information doesn’t get out. Our whole operation depends on secrecy.
Aki (as Darling): Hmm, yes, yes it does. I figured it would be one of those intel-related issues. Is that all?
Rhi: What was the name of the person who ran the tea market? The highest ranked person at the tea market, what was their name?
Aki: Out of character, I don’t know. [laughs]
Rhi: Well, I’m asking you to make it up. [laughs]
Aki: Make it up? Make it up? Okay. I’m trying to think of all the teas that we haven’t used yet.
Rhi: We’ve had a hibiscus. We’ve had lady grey. We’ve had Darjeeling.
Aki: Have we had like a rose tea or a rosemary or something?
Rhi: I don’t think so.
Aki: We could use something like that, or jasmine, or… [laughs] I googled teas. “Green tea is the best followed by jasmine in terms of health.”
Rhi: [chuckles]
Aki: We haven’t done peppermint. We haven’t done oolong. We haven’t done stuff like pu-erh and stuff. We actually got a lot.
Rhi: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I kinda like Peppermint.
Aki: Peppermint is cute.
Rhi: Because it’s a very cute name for an extremely terrifying person. [laughs]
Aki: Oh yeah, exactly.
Rhi: Yeah. Rowan is still standing here in this very awkward pose, sideways to you, knives held out at their sides.
Rhi (as Rowan): Peppermint wants you made an example of.
Aki (as Darling): Ah… There it is. Well, tell me, Rowan. Do you want to live?
Rhi (as Rowan): That would be preferable.
Aki (as Darling): And I assume your little one over there would like to live. Sorry for leaving you out, dear. Asphodel I believe is what your name is.
Rhi (as Asphodel): [nervously] Um, yeah… I’d like that.
Aki (as Darling): Mm-hmm. So young. Well, here’s what we can do. I’m not one for shooting first and asking questions—I lie, I am that kind, but I would prefer a much more hygienic compromise. You can either choose to leave… You can tell your superiors whatever you’d like. Maybe you found me. Maybe you didn’t find me. Maybe you’re certain that I am here alone and have fled. Pick a country, have fun with it. Or, why don’t you both leave as well?
Rhi (as Rowan): Some of us, Darjeeling, understand loyalty.
Aki (as Darling): Oh… how brainwashed you are. I understood loyalty perfectly. It was actually all fine and dandy until when it came to their side of the bargain. They broke my trust. I have let them break a lot of things in me. This one, though… the straw that broke the camel’s back, I believe is the saying. When they’re done with you, and they will be done with you, where do you think you’re going to end up?
Rhi (as Rowan): I went into this knowing this wasn’t a job that one retires from. Now, I’m not leaving the market, but I do want to leave this alley with both of us alive, so I’m willing to say that your trail heads to Iruvia. I’ve never been to Kethrys. Have you, Asphodel?
Rhi (as Asphodel): [shakily] No… Never been. Uh… never been to Iruvia at all, actually.
Rhi (as Rowan): Great. Sounds like a wonderful time to go and spend a few months searching for Darjeeling and Lady Grey there.
Rhi: They kinda arch an eyebrow at you like “we good? Is that acceptable?” [laughs]
Aki: I’ll give them just the most… if a smile could kill, one of those.
Aki (as Darling): Yes, that works with me perfectly. Remember, if you break this, all I have to do is make you and the little one unusable to the market, and they will get rid of you for me. Are we clear?
Rhi (as Rowan): Quite.
Aki (as Darling): You can walk out first. I will release the little one once you’re further out of range, for you, and plenty for me.
Rhi: They slide the daggers back into their jacket, straighten it out a little bit, and… still moving sideways, keeping their back to the wall so you don’t get a clear shot at them, will walk back out the way that they came, which means going past Pearl and Asphodel.
Asphodel, to her credit, doesn’t say anything, doesn’t protest, but you can see… You’re too far away to really see her eyes, but you can see her head move a little bit as she is tracking Rowan as they move to the mouth of the alley.
They basically get right to where the shadows stop at the mouth of the alley, so if they moved any further forward they’d be visible on the street, so they stop right there and are waiting at the last point where they’re hidden from view from the rest of the city.
Aki: Before I let Asphodel go, I’ll kind of get into… I don’t know, eye-line view of her so she can see me to the best of her ability.
Rhi: Yeah. I’m just picturing, she’s still sprawled on her back with Pearl on top of her, and you just walk over and stand next to Pearl, looking down at her.
Aki: Yeah. I’ll look at her, maybe fix her hair just a little bit.
Aki (as Darling): That goes for you too, little one. Though, if you do choose to stray, and straying is a lot more fun… it’s a lot more healthy, you know where to find me. Or rather, I’ll come find you. Until then, don’t be a hero. I really would hate to ruin such a young face.
Aki: Then I’ll let Pearl get up from her, or get up off of her, and stand back a little bit so she can get up.
Rhi: She will scramble to her feet and brush herself off and similarly will move down the alley in such a way that she doesn’t turn her back to you, joins Rowan there, and then yeah, the two of them exchange a look and look back at you. Rowan will gesture for Asphodel to go out first and then they head back out onto the street where you hope that they are going to be packing their bags for a trip to Iruvia.
Aki: Don’t I know where they live? Or where they’re staying.
Rhi: Yeah. You know where they’re staying.
Aki: I think I’m paranoid enough to wait a bit and then go up to maybe a building across the street, once again the roof, and check and make sure. Sort of peek into their windows or something like that. Just check to make sure I see them packing at the very least.
Rhi: Yeah. I think you see it’s a two-bedroom apartment on an upper floor of a shabby unit. I think what you see is, when you sweep your scope across the windows, the curtains on most of the windows are closed so you don’t get to see in through most of them, but at one point a couple of the curtains crack and you can see Rowan glancing out with a scope of their own.
You see the glint. There’s a glint as it sweeps across, and then they lower it, and you can see through your own scope the exasperated look as they seem to have spotted you spying on them.
Aki: I give them a little wave. I think it’s very clear that I also have a very nice gun ready. “I know exactly where your head actually is when you sleep.” That kind of, like, where it’s pointed.
Rhi: Yeah. Rowan will reach down below the window and holds up a leather bag that’s clearly packed and makes a rude gesture at you with the other hand and closes the curtains.
Aki: Pearl gets head pats. [giggles]
Rhi: So, it appears that they are packing to leave and Darling has run these two off, for now. They’ll probably be back eventually. The market certainly isn’t going to give up. But, it’ll be a little bit before they send out the next batch. So, you’ve bought yourself and Arlene a little bit of breathing room.
## Outro [01.02.21]
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 [01.04.14]
Josie: It’s Pride Month. We can’t be in the closet.
[laughter]
Kim: Oh no~
Rhi: We gotta get you guys out of there!
Josie: Just kidding. We support everyone who’s in the closet. We love you.
Rhi: Yeah.
Kim: “Michael! Michael, let me out of here! Michael!”