Transcript by Raina Harper.
## Intro
Rhi: Welcome back to Imperial City. As always, thank you so much for joining us. If you haven’t yet, please consider leaving us a review on iTunes or a rating on Spotify! It’ll help new listeners get into the show, and it also makes us very happy. You can also show your support by backing our Patreon and getting a rad Clever Corvids t-shirt or sticker from our merch store!
At the end of January, the Blades in the Dark discord will be hosting a free, virtual con celebrating all things Forged in the Dark. While we can’t announce anything official yet, there are some plans in the works for a special Clever Corvids appearance. More details next episode!
Next, Josie is going to tell us about this month’s featured charity.
Josie: A Better ABK is a workers’ alliance, providing power and support to the employees of Activision-Blizzard, many of whom are currently on strike protesting the abusive, sexist, bigoted culture of the video game giant. The board of directors has doubled down on supporting CEO Bobby Kotick’s abusive and harmful leadership, and several workers at Raven Software were lied to about promotion opportunities, and then promptly fired.
The ABK Strike Fund seeks to support these workers in their struggle for workplace justice. Find them on Twitter at A Better ABK and on GoFundMe under ABK Strike Fund. I personally know people struggling in this terrible environment, and I’d very much appreciate anything you can spare to the strike fund this month. Thank you.
Rhi: Please continue to do what you can to take care of yourself and others as we head into yet another COVID surge. Get your vaccines and boosters, keep wearing masks, isolate if you feel sick, and demand that our governments take responsibility for keeping all of us safe. Living with COVID should mean free testing, free masks, financial support for those unable to work, and strategies to protect and support the disabled people who have been treated abhorrently by political leaders and society at large, especially during the pandemic. Personal responsibility will never solve a society-wide crisis like this one, and we have to keep demanding that our elected officials do better by all of us.
Now then. Let’s get started, shall we?
## Story continues [00:02:47]
Rhi: So, we open up on Imperial City. It’s a dark, drizzly sort of day—not raining fully, but just enough precipitation to be uncomfortable, makes everything damp and cold. Everyone who has to be out on the street is bustling around with collars flipped up and umbrellas. For most people, if you don’t have to be out on the street, you’re not.
We find the Whisky Jays outside of a small teashop and café in Kestrel Heights. The four of you, plus Pearl, are talking to Bailey Barsotti who, as with everyone else, has on a coat, her collar’s flipped up, she’s holding an umbrella. She is explaining why she asked you all to meet her here on this terrible day.
Rhi (as Bailey): [exhales] So, like my note said, we’re looking into another acquisition. It’s, uh, this place.
Rhi: Points at the café. Which, you know, this is not Benny’s usual sort of acquisition. Normally it’s alcohol and alcohol-related businesses, so this is a little weird.
Josie (as Echo): Have a hankering for coffee?
Rhi (as Bailey): Well, it’s not so much the tea that he’s interested in as the owner’s, um… back room offerings? She does some interesting stuff with ghost essences. Uh…
Kim (as Val): Oh!
Rhi (as Bailey): Yeah. I don’t know all the details, but apparently the stuff that she makes sells for a lot, and she can do some stuff with ghost essence and liquor, and… very expensive. The end product goes for a lot of money. So, granddad wants to bring her into the fold. But, before she’s willing to join up, she apparently needs us to do something for her, so…
Rhi: She just kind of trails off and gestures at the four of you.
Kim (as Val): That’s where we come in.
Rhi (as Bailey): You know. It sounds like she needs something acquired, which is why I’m sending you all in rather than just some of our bruisers. So, go in, see what she needs, let us know if there’s anything that we can do to help facilitate this job. But you know, it’s important to make sure this goes smoothly. Granddad really wants this particular acquisition.
Kim (as Val): Well, just leave it to us.
Rhi (as Bailey): [exhaling] That’s the plan.
Rhi: She will give you a salute and head off down the street, leaving you all in front of Mirabelle’s Brews. It’s a very charming-looking little teashop. There’s some soft lights inside, lacy curtains on the windows, there’s a cat sleeping in the window on a little cushion. Looks very warm and homey inside, a nice contrast to the lousy weather that you’re all standing in.
Josie: Aw.
Rhi: So yeah, do y’all want to head inside?
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: Alright.
Josie: Echo is usually quiet and looks awkward because her face, but, if I’m quiet during this scene, Echo is deliberately being quiet.
Rhi: Yeah. Trying to shrink back despite being seven feet tall?
Josie: Sort of. She’s just kind of behind everyone and not saying anything.
Rhi: Gotcha. What were you gonna say, Aki?
Aki: Yeah. How big does this teashop look exactly?
Rhi: You can see through the window that there’s probably four or five little tables scattered around. There’s some couches and armchairs. It’s big enough that you’ll all be able to fit in there comfortably without it being cramped.
Aki: Including the very large Pearl? I feed her well. She got a tummy.
Rhi: [laughs] Yeah. Pearl is probably gonna have to be a little careful maneuvering so as not to knock into a table or a chair, but there’s room.
Aki: But the level of how much I do not trust a cat to be in a stuffy room and not knock shit over…
Minna: [laughs]
Aki: I think what Darling will do, she’ll turn to Pearl, grab Pearl’s face, give it a nice big smooch and go:
Aki (as Darling): You’ll have to wait out here, dear.
Rhi: Pearl looks so sad.
Aki (as Darling): I know, I know, it’s not like the other teashops, but we can’t afford breaking things just yet. Okay? Alright? Mama’s sorry. Mama’s— [baby talk, smooching sounds]
Aki: And more kisses.
[laughter]
Rhi: Yeah, Pearl will… Pearl is well-trained. Pearl has been told to stay outside so Pearl will do so, but looks very—
Josie: Aw.
Kim (as Val): Will you at least keep her out of the rain?
Rhi: There’s a little awning that she can stand under.
Aki: I was about to say, we’re gonna put an umbrella, a bunch of umbrellas just for her.
[laughter]
Kim: With a cushion.
Rhi: There’s a little awning over the window that she can stand under to be out of the rain.
Kim: A tiny little heat lamp.
Rhi: [laughs] So, you all head inside, sans tiger. There’s a little bell above the door that chimes when you come in. There’s just one person at one of the tables right now sipping tea and nibbling on some kind of baked good, it looks like. They glance up when you come in, but you know, they just seem like a customer. They look up at you, are just kinda like ‘okay, people,’ and then go back to reading their book.
At the counter in the back there’s a middle-aged Iruvian woman standing. She has dark tan skin, long straight dark hair that is done up in an elaborate braided sort of thing. She has probably about half a dozen piercings in each ear, a few facial piercings, lots of tattoos that you can see. There’s a few coming out from under the ends of her sleeves onto her hands. You can see a couple around the collarbone, you know, the collar of her dress. It looks like she has a lot of tattoos happening.
She looks up when you all come in and smiles.
Rhi (as woman): [cheerful, friendly] Come in! Come in. Let’s get you out of the cold. What can I do for you?
Kim (as Val): We’re here for Barsotti. He sent us to arrange something with you.
Rhi (as woman): Yes! Yes, of course. Ah, Mr. Barsotti’s special order. Um, why don’t you follow me into the back and I will get that packaged up for you?
Rhi: She comes out from behind the counter and leads you to… there’s like a velvet curtain hanging over an archway, and that leads into a little hall. It’s cramped in here with all five of you, including the owner, because she basically like—you come through this little velvet thing and then there’s immediately a door that she has to unlock.
Josie: Echo’s gonna lean down to Val’s ear and say:
Josie (as Echo): I’m going to take a seat and keep an eye out.
Kim (as Val): Alright, sounds good.
Josie: So Echo’s gonna kind of awkwardly, due to her size, sit in a café chair and not go into the back room.
Rhi: Okay. Yeah. You settle in. Even though it feels a little awkward, like the chair was not made with someone of your height in mind, it’s cozy in here. There’s a fire in the hearth.
Josie: Yay.
Rhi: Yeah, it’s nice. You’re not relaxed, but you’re at least hyper-vigilant in a comfortable space. [laughs]
Josie: Yay. [laughs]
Rhi: And yeah. She leads the rest of you into this back room which kind of looks a little bit like an alchemist’s lab. There’s a lot of beakers and vials and various reagents and things in jars. There’s just kind of a weird chemical kind of smell. There’s several glowing jars of electroplasm and a handful of spirit jars containing trapped ghosts. Once you’re all in, she will wait for the three of you to walk in and then will close the door.
Rhi (as Mira): Alright. So, you’re the ones Benny sent to help me with my little problem?
Kim (as Val): That’s right.
Rhi (as Mira): So… I, in addition to serving fine tea, dabble in essence infusions. I started off working with tea, but I’ve devised a method for infusing ghost essence into liquor as well, and the results are quite something. [chuckles] If we pull this off, I may throw in a bottle for all of you to try. However, in order for me to accomplish this process, I need some very specialized materials and my former supplier has recently gone out of business.
Kim (as Val): What are you looking for?
Rhi (as Mira): Well, these specialized materials aren’t really sold commonly. It’s not like you could go into any apothecary and pick them up. My supplier, former supplier, his entire inventory was seized by the Spirit Wardens. Poor man went and got himself possessed. [sighs] It’s a hazard of the job, but you know, if he’d taken the correct precautions I wouldn’t be in this mess.
Anyway. There’s one other apothecary in the city that has the reagents I need. Fortunately, for each batch I only need a small amount, so if you can acquire the reagents from this other apothecary, that will see me through for several months, maybe even up to a year.
Kim (as Val): Huh. Impressive. So, just give us the name and what part of town.
Rhi (as Mira): It’s the Four Arches Apothecary, in the Four Arches intersection.
Rhi: You all would know that Four Arches is literally an intersection of streets but it’s at the intersection of the Belltower, Portmarch, Veldaire and Amaryl districts. So, you know, those are four very high-end wealthy districts, and this intersection is kind of one of the ritziest places in the city. Four Arches is a single building that was built around this intersection, so you have one building that has these big arches over the street.
Josie: Oh, that’s sick.
Rhi: So vehicles and stuff can pass through. But otherwise it’s just this single structure. It’s mixed use. There are some residential, some businesses, but it’s all incredibly expensive. So yeah, it’s not surprising given the apparent rarity of these materials that she needs that it would be somewhere like that, but that’s gonna be kind of a tough place to get into.
Kim: Okay, but not impossible.
Rhi: Not impossible. No, nothing’s impossible.
Rhi (as Mira): And here are the particular items that I need.
Rhi: She will go over to a desk that has some papers on it and she pulls out a list that maybe Echo would know what some of this stuff is, but you know, this is really, really deep alchemical stuff. I don’t know if anybody in this group has an alchemist’s education.
Josie: Not really.
Kim: Nope.
Rhi: So yeah, basically you’re just kind of looking at it like—it’s like if a chemist or a chemical engineer gave you a shopping list. “Uh… okay, you need salt, and a bunch of other stuff I don’t understand. Great. I’ll see what I can do.”
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: She will give Val the list since Val has been doing the talking.
Rhi (as Mira): As much of each as you can get. I suppose you’re sort of the experts in this of how you want to do this, if he should know that there was a break-in or not. I don’t really know how all of the… My area of crime doesn’t involve a lot of breaking and entering.
Kim (as Val): Understandably. It’s fine. We’ll take care of it.
Aki (as Darling): Did you have a time limit?
Rhi (as Mira): I mean, the sooner the better. I obviously wouldn’t want to rush you on this, but I know that your employer was quite eager to have me join his operation, but I’m not willing to do that until I have my supply lines set up. So… you know, I suppose it’s more of how much of his patience you want to try more than mine.
Aki (as Darling): Hmm, that’s true. Ah, but I’m feeling a little cheeky. That, and I want to do this nicely. We’re going into a not-so-suitable… no, friendly? Maybe. Neighborhood. I don’t know.
Rhi (as Mira): For what it’s worth, I did try to do this on the up-and-up. I went over there to make purchases, but well, the amount he was asking for wouldn’t have been worth it economically for me to even continue this side business. So, if he’s not going to set reasonable prices, I’m just going to have to take matters into my own hands.
Kim (as Val): As you should.
Rhi (as Mira): Yes. In terms of the timeline, I wouldn’t want to rush you. I understand that, you know, this is not an easy ask, so from my perspective, take as much time as you need. From Mr. Barsotti’s perspective, I imagine he might like you to move along a bit more quickly.
Kim (as Val): Well, we’ll do our best to accommodate that.
Rhi (as Mira): Wonderful. Can I offer you any tea while you’re here?
Minna: I think Arlene says:
Minna (as Arlene): I’ll take some!
Aki (as Darling): Actually, yes, but without the spirits.
Rhi (as Mira): Ah, of course.
Rhi: She will lead you all back up front. Echo, while you’ve been sitting there, you have been able to observe the tiger standing out in the rain and the reactions of passersby to said tiger.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Lots of people just crossing the street to walk on the other side. One small child who sees the opportunity to pet a tiger and is incredibly upset when his parent picks him up and carries him away.
Josie: I bet Pearl is sad that she didn’t get pets.
Rhi: Yes. By the time the other three come back out, Pearl is standing up on her hind legs with her paws pressed against the window and her nose pressed against the window to stare in.
Kim: Oh, baby~
Minna: Aww~
Rhi: The cat who is sitting in the window is awake now and looking at Pearl and seems thoroughly unimpressed.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Just like, “eh, sucks to be you. You’re outside.”
Minna: Mutual cat hostility.
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah.
Josie: Echo would look amused if she could and has taken to idly playing with a doily to the tune of something that’s only in her head.
Rhi: [laughs] But anyway. The three of you come out. The owner, whose name is Mira, will get tea for those who are interested. Her options are she’ll either let you—you can pick out what you like or she offers that, you know, she can make you something that feels like it will… what she thinks will be the thing you need right now.
Minna (as Arlene): Yeah-no, read my vibes, give me whatever tea you want.
Aki (as Darling): Yes, vibe check me, ma’am.
[laughter]
Rhi: Yes, so yeah, she puts together some mugs of tea for the two of you. They both taste similar. Both of them have an earthy, smoky sort of flavor to it, but I think Arlene’s is a lot sweeter. There’s a lot more honey in it. Darling’s has just a hint of a bitter taste at the back of the throat when you take a sip. It’s very good tea. She will… I’m just gonna hand-wave and say that to-go cups are a thing that exist so she can send you on your way with tea in paper cups if you would like to head back out.
Aki: I would, yes.
Rhi: You get back to the street and are immediately headbutted by a tiger.
Minna: Aw, baby girl.
Aki: Yes, I give her so much…
Josie: Baby…
Aki: So much attention. So much love. I don’t care if she’s wet.
Aki (as Darling): Oh, you’re soaked. I’m so sorry, dear. It’s just so cramped in there and I was scared you were going to eat her cat.
Rhi: The cat has gone back to sleep now that the tiger is no longer looming.
Josie: In truth, it looked like the cat wanted to eat her.
Aki: Heeheehee, cats.
## Gather Info [HH:MM:SS]**
Rhi: So yeah! Do y’all want to start gathering info? You know where you need to go and what you need to get. What do you all want to do?
Josie: I want to learn more about the materials on the list. I’m not an alchemist, but like, I have some mystical knowledge. I want to figure out if any of this is gonna be stored super securely and if it’s really rare or contraband or anything like that.
Rhi: Okay. Yeah, yeah, stuff that… yeah, that makes sense. Like, does it have to be kept at a certain temperature or whatever. Let’s start there. How do you wanna go about investigating that?
Josie: Um… hmm. I think this might just be a library thing.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: Because I don’t see why any of this would be forbidden information, but if I don’t find anything, maybe that’s a hint.
Rhi: Yeah. You’re just gonna do a Study?
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: Alright.
Josie: I wonder if I have means of accessing the university library.
Rhi: Which university? [chuckles]
Josie: Uh… Let me look at my backstory real quick. It was…
Rhi: While I look up my faction list to get a list of all the universities.
Josie: Oh, it was the Tower of Glass.
Rhi: Ohh. Um…
Josie: So probably not. That’s kind of the most secure place.
Rhi: Probably not.
Josie: Yeah, okay.
Rhi: You could try to hit up the—I mean, there is the Alchemical Institute.
Josie: That’s true.
Rhi: Which is the focus on alchemy and medicine, so you could try and get into the library.
Josie: Do we have any contacts at the Alchemical Institute?
Rhi: I don’t know. Folks can look at your personal contact lists. I don’t know that any of your regular contacts… I will say, Arlene knows a forger, so you could just get a student pass forged.
Minna: [giggles]
Josie: I mean, that would be funny. Yes.
Rhi: Yeah. Okay. So yeah, you and Arlene can go and get—it’s gonna cost somebody 1 coin to get that.
Josie: I’ll pay for it.
Rhi: Okay. But yeah. You can just kinda put that in your character sheet, notes or inventory. That’ll be good until they take it away from you.
Josie: Yeah!
Rhi: [laughs] When they realize it’s a forgery. If somebody ever has reason to examine it very closely, it won’t hold up, but just for handing it to the bored person at the front desk who glances at it and then waves you in, yeah, they’re not gonna notice. So yeah, congratulations, you’ve acquired one forged student ID for the Institute. Not to be confused with the Institution.
Josie: Right.
Rhi: Because I’m a monster. I did this to myself. Yeah, so go ahead and give me a Study roll. I’m actually gonna say that because you spent the time and effort to get—well, the time, effort and money to get into specifically the Alchemical Institute’s library, you’re gonna have improved effect on this.
Josie: Okay.
Rhi: So all of your results are gonna be bumped up by 1.
Josie: I got a 6.
Rhi: Okay. You get really, really good information. I don’t have specific items in mind, but generally what you get is you find out what each of these things is for. It’s a thing where none of them are contraband or illegal on their own, but they are components in stuff that could be illegal.
Josie: Mm-hmm. [laughs]
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: It’s like when you go to the pharmacy and you have to get certain stuff from behind the counter because it’s like if we sell this just out in the open, people will buy it and use it to make meth or whatever. It’s that kind of thing. Basically, if you have all of these items together, you are clearly doing something illegal with them.
Josie: Gotcha.
Rhi: So that’s one thing. The other thing is that most of these components have to be kept… They’re stored in very specifically warded storage because they attract ghosts.
Josie: Okie-dokie.
Rhi: Spirits find them enticing or interesting, so if they are just out in the open, it can be dangerous. If it’s in very small amounts, it’s not a problem, but for the amount that you all are stealing…
Josie: Okay, so we should be prepared to break into a warded storeroom.
Rhi: Yeah. There’s gonna be a fair amount of—You’re gonna guess that just based on the location there’s gonna be regular security but there’s also going to be occult security.
Josie: Okie-dokie. That’s good to know.
Rhi: Yeah. Okay! So, who else wants to look into things?
Kim: I’m trying to think if there’s anything I can do to get to know the apothecary owners better. Maybe not like a face-to-face conversation, but maybe I can talk to some people around the block or some former customers, get to know what their whole thing is about just as people.
Rhi: Yeah. Do remember, you’ve all got your different contacts that you can lean on as well, if there’s anybody who seems like they might be a good fit. Finding former customers would be a little tricky.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: But maybe, you know, other people who work in the area. That’s a possibility.
Kim: You know, I’m looking at my character sheet and one of my contacts, Jarvis, the retired Bluecoat—Do you think maybe there might be some kind of police record on this place? [chuckles]
Rhi: Oh, interesting. You know? Worth a shot. It’ll depend on your roll.
Kim: I’m thinking Consort for this. Is that okay?
Rhi: Yeah. Oh yeah.
Kim: Cool.
Rhi: Yeah, this is a friend. So yeah, go ahead and make a roll.
Kim: Okay, a 6.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. Okay, so um… while I am trying to figure out a name for our alchemist here, tell me about Jarvis. How do you know this person? What’s the relationship?
Kim: Jarvis is probably a regular at Val’s club that I’ve already forgotten the name of.
Rhi: Black Rabbit.
Kim: Thank you the Black Rabbit. What if it was something like… Val was getting into something sketchy or they were just in over their head regarding some kind of debt and attracting some dangerous people, and Jarvis was doing a case on the person that Val owed to?
Rhi: Hmm…
Kim: So then, what ended up happening is that… I don’t know, maybe Jarvis resolved that for Val. [laughs] In Val’s favor.
Rhi: Yeah, like the person who was going to be breaking Val’s kneecaps or whatever for money got arrested before that could happen.
Kim: Exactly. Yeah. It’s not even necessarily something like Val tipped them off, because first of all, with what money? [laughs]
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim: Yeah, no, it’s just the way things shook out. Val figured out “oh Jesus, I was actually gonna be sleeping with the fishes next week? Thank you. How about you come over to my show?”
Rhi: Yeah. Okay, yeah, that’s cool. I like that.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: So yeah, you got a 6. You meet up with Jarvis. What I’m picturing, and you can tell me if you like this, is you meet at the speakeasy before it’s officially open, so it’s just the two of you sitting at a table in this empty club while the staff are slowly starting to get set up for the night.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: Yeah. You ask about this apothecary and he makes a face and leans back in his chair.
Rhi (as Jarvis): Ugh. Yeah, that place has been a pretty steady source of work for some of the younger Bluecoats who don’t mind taking on an extra job when they’re off shift. He’s always looking for more security. The guy who owns it is, uh… God, he’s got some pretentious ass name. Uh… Lukas Blackburne III.
Kim (as Val): Oh… The third? There were two others before this guy?
Rhi (as Jarvis): I mean, presumably his father and his grandfather. That’s how that usually works.
Kim (as Val): Well no, I know, I just think it’s funny that they decided to keep going. ‘This name just sticks, we’re gonna keep going with it.’
Rhi (as Jarvis): Yeah, yeah… Apparently so. I guess if you just keep doing that you don’t have to get creative with a name. But anyway, yeah, he hires a lot of on-site security for his place, which is a little weird because you know, Four Arches, they’ve got their own security. It’s not like he really needs extras. But yeah, he’ll hire off-duty Bluecoats on contract to keep an eye on his place, particularly when the store is closed.
Kim (as Val): Huh, so deep pockets.
Rhi (as Jarvis): Oh yeah. I mean, if you own a place in Four Arches, yeah, loaded.
Kim (as Val): Hmm. Alright. Well, anything else I should know about this guy?
Rhi (as Jarvis): Nothing that I can really think of. Just… yeah, very secure sort of operation.
Kim (as Val): Alright. Well, does he strike you as the paranoid type?
Rhi (as Jarvis): Yeah.
Kim (as Val): Okay.
Rhi (as Jarvis): I mean, he hires extra security on top of—Like, he’s spending this extra money. He doesn’t have to.
Kim (as Val): No-no-no, yeah.
Rhi (as Jarvis): Most of the businesses there don’t. So yeah, definitely paranoid.
Kim (as Val): Alright. Well, that settles that. Thanks Jarvis.
Rhi: He kinda gives you a look. It’s slowly dawned on him that he’s like… ‘I probably should be more concerned about the fact that you’re asking after this high-end business’s security, but I’m retired so fuck it.’
Kim (as Val): That’s the attitude I like to hear.
[laughter]
Rhi: Yeah, so he’s just like:
Rhi (as Jarvis): Yeah, no problem. I’m sticking around for the show. So, if you think of any other questions, I’ll be here.
Kim (as Val): Can I get you a drink?
Rhi (as Jarvis): Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Kim (as Val): Alright.
Kim: They’re gonna walk over to the minibar. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. You get him a drink and then probably have to go and start getting ready for your show.
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: Darling? Arlene? Anything that you two want to investigate?
Aki: Hmm. I very… Just low-key a stakeout?
Rhi: Yeah!
Minna: I was gonna say, I kinda wanna case it as well.
Aki: Yeah. We just do what we’re good at, what we’re used to doing. You know?
Minna: Mm-hmm!
Aki: Stalking people from across the street.
[laughter]
Minna: Exactly.
Josie: Pretending to be customers.
Rhi: Great. Love it.
Minna: Checking to see all the entrances and windows and stuff.
Aki: Exactly. We study this supposedly warded building and, um… Building? More like shop location Yeah.
Rhi: Yeah.
Aki: While also keeping dry. That is of the utmost—That’s more important than this entire goddamn episode at this point. I wish to stay dry. I realized that Darling probably is unhappy with the current rain situation because she cannot wear hoods, hats…
Rhi: Yeah~
Aki: She just has a large umbrella that makes doorways difficult.
[laughter]
Minna: I feel like Arlene has a black raincoat on, but she does not have a hood or an umbrella. She is just letting her hair get wet, and Darling is like “why?”
Aki (as Darling): Why? You’ll catch a cold.
[laughter]
Aki (as Darling): You will literally catch your death out in this weather.
Minna (as Arlene): I don’t think that’s how colds work.
Aki (as Darling): That’s exactly how they work! First you sneeze a little, then you have a fever, and oh look, you’re dead.
[laughter]
Minna (as Arlene): I’ve been in worse conditions than this and you know it.
Aki (as Darling): Medicine has advanced but not that well.
Rhi: Oh my god. So, the way this building is set up is that, like… I’m honestly picturing that it’s kind of like a mall, essentially. It’s a few stories. It’s a big loop because it just goes around this intersection, but it’s really high-end. Very fancy. Marble floors. There’s stained glass windows decorating the places. Really high-end shops of clothing and jewelry. There’s probably some very nice restaurants in here. Stuff like that. So, you could definitely just go in and wander around, but if you’re not dressed the part, you’re going to draw attention.
Aki: Well obviously, now you’ve mentioned a… [stammers]
Minna: [laughs]
Aki: How dare you? How actually dare you?
[laughter]
Aki: I am so dressed for the part.
Minna: [smiling] Does Darling dress Arlene up or is Arlene outside?
Aki: No, you’re getting dressed up. Unfortunately, one of my vices is luxury and the other is obligation, which means that you have forced me to take my two kids, one being a cat and the other being Arlene, on a shopping trip that no one asked for. So, this is what’s happening.
Minna: [giggling] You’re definitely getting xp for your vices.
Rhi: Let me… Yes. Let me do a quick check here. Yeah, okay. I’m looking at how much money goes… You’re gonna need to spend 2 coin.
Aki: I got it. [giggles]
Rhi: Do you have any stress left right now, Aki?
Aki: I did have some stress. I had 3 stress.
Rhi: I think you’re gonna—Let me do a quick roll here. You’re gonna clear a point of stress, because doing this luxury clothes shopping expedition… you indulging your vice a little bit. You’re spending money a little. Do you need all of the stuff that you’re buying for yourself and Arlene and Pearl? Probably not.
Aki: Good lord, no.
Rhi: But it’s nice. You like it. It makes you happy in this moment.
Aki: So happy. So broke.
Rhi: So yeah, you’re gonna clear another point of stress just from this shopping montage. So, you’re able to get dressed up appropriately for the place.
Aki: My umbrella, when closed, becomes a walking stick that I do not need, but it’s there to embellish my presence.
Rhi: Love it. Love it.
Aki: I’m picturing, since it’s raining, it’s a little cold out, so furs and stuff.
Rhi: [delighted] Oh my God.
Aki: If I had the ability to wear hats, the hat would have also been furred, but I do not have that ability, unfortunately. So instead, it’s an oversized long coat to match my umbral tiger, because we are matching. We are so matching.
Rhi: Incredible.
Aki: Actually, I think… I don’t know if I would be that kind of parent to force Arlene to match with me.
Minna: [laughs]
Aki: I’m thinking about it. We’d be adorable.
Minna: I think Arlene’s just letting her call the shots, mostly because Darling will insist anyway and she knows she will, is the argument, but also because Darling knows better in this situation.
Aki: We’re matching. Yeah.
Rhi: Yeah. [laughs]
Minna: Oh God.
Aki: You will have less furs than me, because I’m longer. Right? So, I need to add on some weight or else I’ll look like a goddamn, like a fucking… you know those wacky inflatable things?
Josie: Arm flailing tube—
[laughter]
Kim: Oh my God, yes.
Minna: Arlene does have a hat which makes her look slightly taller.
Aki: Yes, exactly. You get little nice appropriate-sized heeled shoes on and stuff. So yeah, you will have less furs, but like, it’s still a good coat. It’s still a really good coat. Maybe you are borrowing this coat and it’s a little oversized, but that’s okay. You know why? Belts! Belts exist.
[laughter]
Minna: Also, I feel like just big ass coats are a thing in this time period.
Rhi: Yeah! Yeah.
Aki: It hides all of our weapons.
Rhi: So, usually you don’t do group rolls for gathering info, so I’ll have each of you make separate rolls, but you are there together. What kind of stuff are each of you looking for as you are scoping the place out?
Minna: I think I’ll be doing a Survey.
Rhi: Okay. I know you mentioned checking windows, doors, exits, just sort of getting the lay of the land.
Minna: Mm-hmm.
Aki: Could I specifically—and this is me trying to bullshit my way into getting Hunt—could I specifically look for security-related things towards the shop? Like, hidden cameras, or a dog.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Okay. Yeah, so hidden cameras we wouldn’t have at this point, but things that are specifically set up to protect the shop?
Aki: Yeah.
Rhi: Yeah. Definitely. So…
Minna: [snickers, giggles]
Kim: Oh no~
Aki: Oh~
Rhi: Arlene, oh no. Arlene is getting a general feel for the place and Darling is looking for specifically what is protecting the target.
Minna: [quietly, smiling] No she’s not.
Rhi: Well, you get some information. Arlene got a 1. I’m trying to think of how this goes… I think that part of the reason that you’re struggling, Arlene, is that this place is kind of designed to keep people in, not in a malicious way but in an IKEA way.
Minna: Uh-huh?
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: You go into an IKEA and you have to walk through the whole store and see all of the merchandise before you’re allowed to leave, and this is a similar sort of thing. It’s not quite that strict of you have to walk a particular path, but there’s not a lot of exits and the entire layout of this building is funneling people towards spending their money, so it’s very easy to find your way to different shops and restaurants and places to sit down in between visiting different locations, but actually getting to the exits is like…
There’s the main entrance to this building that’s this big grand entrance with this chandelier and ten-foot tall doors and marble floors and pillars and stuff, but outside of that, there are other exits that are public exits, but they’re hard to find and they’re just a little tricky to get to. So, you don’t feel as confident in your having this building mapped out in your head in terms of the exits just because of the way it’s designed. It’s meant to be a little bit difficult to leave.
Then, Darling, you got a 5.
Aki: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: You’re seeing what is on this apothecary itself. The apothecary is on the second floor of the building, and it’s kind of like… Basically this building is an open square. Right? You’ve got the building, makes a square going around this intersection. This apothecary is like halfway down one of the sides of the square. Not exactly a prime location. There’s not really anywhere for people to sit and look into this place and be like “oh, this would be fun to check out.” A place where most people are just gonna walk by.
There’s security guard posts at the end of each hall, so each corner, essentially, of this square, there’s a security guard post, so this is equidistant from two guard posts. You do see that there’s a couple security guards stationed outside of the shop itself, like on either side of the door. You can see around the door and the windows looking into the shop that there is some extra wiring for spark-craft security. You can’t, like… Out here you don’t really see any indication of occult security, but you’re guessing that is probably more inside in wherever this guy keeps all of his stuff locked up.
So, that’s kind of the security on the place specifically.
Aki: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm…
Rhi: Anything else that y’all wanna check out? Investigate?
Aki: Would it be possible to go into the apothecary during the shopping trip? Like, acting like customers.
Rhi: For sure.
Aki: Will they let my tiger in?
Rhi: Um, yeah, because they think you’re here to spend a lot of money and they don’t want to upset you. As long as you—If you have Pearl on a leash, they’ll tolerate it.
Aki: Pearl totally has a leash on. It’s a nice little pink one.
Josie: Aw.
Rhi: [giggles]
Kim: Aww.
Rhi: Yeah, so you can go inside. The security guards don’t stop you or search you or anything, but they’re noting your entrance. You can tell that they’re both carrying guns.
Josie: I wonder how much of the stuff we can get unsuspiciously with you two buying it and then we can get the harder stuff.
[chuckling]
Aki: I spent all of my money on clothes.
Rhi: Yeah.
Kim: Oops.
[laughter]
Aki: I actively spent everything, by the way. I don’t have anything else because I split my money up between myself and debt.
Rhi: That’s incredible.
Minna: Remember how we thought we were gonna make money this game?
Aki: We will.
Minna: I have 2 coin.
Rhi: Yeah…
Kim: It’s still early.
Rhi: Yeah, you could.
Minna: So, if we need someone to buy things, I do have some on me.
Rhi: I will say, I’m assuming this is taking place over the course of a few days. If Echo had filled you all in on this stuff, the quantities that Mira needs is not the kind of thing that you could…
Minna: Ah.
Rhi: You would have to come back here like—
Minna: It would look suspicious if we bought that much.
Rhi: It would look very suspicious. Yeah. You’d have to keep coming back to buy small doses, and eventually they would be like “hey, the two off-duty Bluecoats stationed outside would like a word.”
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: But, you can definitely go in and see what the store looks like, talk to the guy.
Aki: Yeah, that’s what I was thinking of doing.
Rhi: It is… In some ways it has almost the opposite feel of Mira’s teashop. It’s very dark in here; there’s no exterior windows and the lights on the walls just don’t do enough to illuminate the place. It has that chemical, almost sort of an unpleasant burned smell in the air here. There are some places to sit, but it’s wooden furniture with cushions and things put on it. It would be comfortable for the duration of the conversation, but it’s not a place where people are meant to linger.
It’s fairly small. The front of the shop is pretty small. There’s just sort of this little seating area and then this long counter that clearly has a room behind it. There’s a door that you presume probably leads off into his laboratory and workshop and stuff. There’s nothing on the counter. Behind the counter is a big shelf that has just kind of display ingredients; dried bundles of various plants and mushrooms and liquids and powders in different jars.
I think that when you come in he’s actually talking to another customer. The two of them are at the counter. He has a small paper bag that he’s passing to this person. When you come in, he glances up and is like:
Rhi (as Blackburne): Oh, um, hello. I’ll be with you in just a few moments. If you’d like to have a seat.
Minna (as Arlene): Mm-hmm. Thank you for seeing us.
Rhi: He gives you a nod, finishes up with his customer, collects the money, and then will come over, smoothing out his shirt. His clothes are all really, really nice, but it’s clear that he bought this stuff without having, one, a good sense of his own fit and he didn’t consult with a tailor, because everything is just a little bit off in terms of sizing. He’s got big round glasses. He will take a seat.
Rhi (as Blackburne): Thank you for coming. I don’t recall seeing you in here before. I apologize if I’ve forgotten. I’m Lucas Blackburne III. This is obviously my establishment. What sort of alchemicals are you in the market for?
Aki (as Darling): Ah, yes, that question. Well, to be entirely honest, we are both new to the area. Freshly moved in. So, we were simply scoping out the place if you would. Well, we’re not exactly sure what you sell per se. We’re used to several shops having very specific items and making a whole day trip of it.
Rhi: When you say scoping it out, there is a little bit of an eyebrow twitch. His eyes dart towards the guards at the door, but then he looks back at you.
Aki: [nervous giggle]
Rhi (as Blackburne): Oh, well, that must have been a very difficult and tiresome arrangement, but here I carry all of the alchemicals that anyone could need.
Rhi: He’ll start rattling off common tonics and elixirs for if you have a cold, if you have chronic headaches, what is basically the alchemical equivalent of HRT, just different things that people commonly would be visiting an alchemist for. He’ll also mention some less common things that he specializes in. He says that most of his clients come back to him every month to get the various prescriptions and things that they need to treat life’s ailments and make life easier and more pleasant.
He’s still a little nervous and twitchy, but it’s clear this is kind of a practiced sales routine as he’s going through all this.
Minna: I think Arlene is looking increasingly bored by this list.
Rhi: Yeah. None of the stuff that he mentions connects to any of the stuff that Mira asked you to pick up, but that’s not too surprising because 99% of people don’t need to buy the stuff on your list.
Aki: I think as I’m letting this man prattle on, just subtly, hands behind my back, hopefully facing to where Arlene is faced, I’m just giving the gesture to please look around. That kind of thing, you know? We’re gonna be in here and I’m hoping for, I don’t know, making this as easy as possible and to keep him distracted and talking.
Aki (as Darling): Oh, so this is like… a pharmacy? I thought this was an apothecary. What’s the difference?
Aki: And I, you know, straighten up a bit like I’m interested.
Rhi (as Blackburne): Oh, you see, the difference is that a pharmacy only sells very common compounds and they also don’t create anything on-site. They just sell pre-created tonics and things. However, here, I keep all of my ingredients and reagents and I can create things that are custom-designed to your specific needs—
Rhi: Blah, blah, blah. So Arlene, if you would like to make another gather info roll to slip off and poke around a little bit…
Minna: Yes please.
Rhi: Yeah, go for it. What are you rolling?
Minna: Uh, good question. I think…
Rhi: You could do Prowl here because you’re trying to be sneaky.
Minna: Yeah, I think let’s do a Prowl.
Rhi: Yeah. Are you trying to get into any non-customer areas or are you just trying to see what you can see from the front of the shop?
Minna: I’m trying to see what I can see. If I roll particularly well, maybe I’m gonna do a non-customer area, but…
Rhi: Okay. That works. Yeah.
Minna: …mostly I just want to not be seen as suspicious.
Rhi: Yeah. Okay.
Minna: Six.
Rhi: Got a 6. Nice. Okay. So, what are you looking for? What kind of details are you trying to find?
Minna: I think I want to find where the back room is, like, places where that kind of stuff might be stored.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: And, if I can, I would also like to see is there a clear route to an exit from there, that kind of thing.
Rhi: Okay. So, there’s really just—you can tell where the back room is quite easily because there’s just the one door behind the counter. When he came out to talk to you, the counter has that little bit that flips up so he can come out from behind it. He didn’t flip that back down. So you just, you know, while Darling is keeping him occupied with a discussion of the difference between why an apothecary is the superior business, you can just kinda slide on behind the counter and walk over to the door and take a look.
There’s a pretty heavy duty lock on this door, and you can see there’s some wires running up along the doorframe that tell you that the lock is wired to some kind of security system, probably an alarm. I don’t think you spend a lot of time behind the counter, because if the owner or either of the two security guards turn around and see you, this whole thing’s, um… So, you slip back out pretty quickly, but you’ve got a good idea of what the security between you and the back of his shop is.
Then, you kinda take that and piece it together with what you were able to get of the layout of the building when you were scouting it out earlier today, and there is a side exit down at one of the corners of the building. Unfortunately, close to a security guard station, but it’s sort of like it comes out into a side street, so if you could get out that door to, say, a waiting car, you could get out very quickly. So I think that’s what you’re able to get on a 6.
Minna: Cool.
Rhi: Any other info you two wanna get while you’re in the shop?
Aki: Hmm. Well, since I’m inside, I could probably look around while Mister the Third is talking.
Rhi: [laughs]
Aki: Maybe just double-checking the—I believe it was a wire system? In terms of the security.
Rhi: Yeah, if you wanna try and get a better sense of what it is.
Aki: Ooh. What roll would that be?
Rhi: I would say either Study or I would allow Tinker here if you have it.
Aki: What about Survey?
Rhi: You could do Survey, but it won’t get you as detailed of information. You probably, on a Survey, are not gonna get much more than Arlene did in looking at stuff.
Aki: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. This is mostly because I’ve got nothing in Study. I’m pretty sure that’s…
Rhi: Yeah. You also have the opportunity—the option of once the score starts, if there’s something you’re like “oh yeah, I wanted to check this earlier,” you can just do a flashback.
Aki: That is true. That is true. Okay. Then I think I’m pretty good once I’ve maybe noticed that Arlene is back in place… Yeah?
Rhi: Yeah. [laughs]
Aki (as Darling): Okay. Well, that was such an enlightening conversation. It’s good to know that there’s something like this around here. I’ll definitely stop by to deal with Restless Tail Syndrome.
Josie: [giggles]
Rhi (as Blackburne): Oh yes, yes, that’s… I have a couple other Tycherosi who come in and complain of all sorts of unique ailments, but I’m sure that we can come up with a solution for you.
Aki (as Darling): Ah yes, today’s one of the better days. I’m not thrashing about.
Aki: I say as I purposely make my tail just smack the counter a little bit.
Aki (as Darling): Oh no, look, there it is. I have a ticket out now. I wouldn’t want to ruin your shop.
[laughter]
Rhi: The two of you head out. This guy’s a little bemused and disappointed that he didn’t get a sale, but you know, he’ll get over it. So yeah, the four of you can reconvene. What are you thinking in terms of how you want to approach this?
Kim: It feels like a Stealth score to me.
Minna: Yeah.
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: You just wanna sneak in?
Kim: Yeah.
Josie: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, there’s a lot of security, but I think just busting into the place is how we do it.
Rhi: Yeah. Sneaking in. Alright.
Josie: The big thing I’m worried about is bringing all the security for the rest of the building down on us.
## Outro [HH:MM:SS]**
Thanks for joining us! The Whisky Jays will return in two weeks. The City That Never Dies is a Clever Corvids production. Visit our website at clever corvids dot net and follow us on Twitter at clever underscore corvids for the latest on this and other shows.
The City That Never Dies is GM’d and edited by Rhi. Check out her business Skill Check for copyediting and accessibility consulting for the RPG community at rpg skill check dot net.
Arlene Graeme is played by Minna Reilly. Find her on Twitter @mynaminnarr.
Darling Tsering is played by Aki. Find her on Twitter @akinomii_art for more TTRPG Content.
Echo is played by Josie. Find her on Twitter @dragongirljosie, and check out her art at josie-art.com.
Valerie Sullivan is played by Kim. Find her on Twitter @kimdianajones.
Our opening and closing theme music is from Something by Kai Engel and is used under a Creative Commons license. Blades in the Dark is the creation of John Harper and is published by Evil Hat Productions.
This episode’s jumbotron message comes from Kickstarter backer Gavin Moore.
Gavin wants to thank The Magpies, particularly Josie and Rhi, for making his game table more inclusive and positive.
He also wants to laud and appreciate his co-author and partner, Aine for her insight and patience.
Lastly, he salutes the Children of Midnight playtesters (Dean, Lydia, Keith, Madeline and Nick) for always staying combobulated when dealing with Bumble Woodbud, negotiating with the Fae Queens of the Ailumana, sabotaging the Grail Hunting Club or liberating a captive child from Corpus Templi Solaris.
Thanks so much Gavin! And as always, thanks to all our Patreon backers, whose ongoing support makes what we do possible.
## Bloopers [00:58:40]
Kim: What would you do if there was a tiger right in front of you?
Aki: [singing] In the arms of an angel.
[laughter]
Minna: [smiling] No.
Rhi: What was in my head for this is there’s some video floating around of a wildlife refuge that has a tiger…
Kim: [laughs] Oh no.
Rhi: …and there’s this housecat—like, they’re on opposite sides of a fence, but there’s this housecat that is ready to fucking throw down with this tiger.
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: Of course.
Rhi: And the tiger’s just like, hello small thing, and the cat’s like, [fiercely] ‘I will kill you!”