Transcribed by Michelle Kelly.
[mysterious, menacing music plays]
Josie: Darkness. Never-ending darkness. And then a howling-like wind, and crashing-like waves, follow by a soft crackle of fire. Hell itself fractures, just the slightest opening in its eternal black walls, and powers not seen since the dawn of time creep back into the world on a fell wind. Demons. The Fallen. Those cast into the void by an eternal, unchanging almighty for the crime of rebellion. These souls ride the wind like thunder clouds over an angry sea, and deeper they plunge, down into a world they were banished from. Down into a world they helped make. Down to—
[music cuts suddenly]
Josie: Miami, Florida!
[cheery beach party music plays]
[laughter]
Josie: In the early 1900s, the city grew so fast each year that it was said to be like magic. And they may have been more right than they know. But we’ll get to that. The sun rises over the towers of Miami Beach, bringing the sparkling Biscayne Bay to life and warmth to the sand on the coast. But we follow these rays of light over the gleaming hotels and downtown business buildings past Miami Beach onto the shore, where immediately that urban development drops off and it is very flat [laughs] in all directions. We follow the light over the colorful rooftops of Little Havana and to three peculiar individuals who have come to inhabit this city. Kris?
Kris: Hello.
Josie: Introduce yourself, your name and pronouns and then give me a brief description of what Remy looks like.
[music transitions to chilled vibe]
Kris: Sure. So, I’m Kris. I use any pronouns. And I’ll be playing Remy, who uses they/them pronouns. They have medium, although probably darker brown skin than they’ve had in a while, because that sunlight, that melanin, huh? It be hitting.
Josie: [laughs]
Kris: Um, they’re like, 5’9? 5’8, 5’9. They’ve got their hair in braids and those braids are pulled up in a bun, because you don’t want that hair sitting on your neck in this heat, absolutely not. She’s wearing like, kind of beat-up old t-shirt, jeans, sitting kinda like low in this booth that I assume we’re like— or at this table, you now, just like a little bit slouched with a sort of like, ‘Now how did I end up here?’ kind of expression on their face.
Josie: [laughs] And that’s what I was about to ask. How did Remy end up here? Wat’s their morning routine like?
Kris: Oh boy. I think it depends on what, like, they— they’re gig economy all over, so it kinda, I think, depends on like, what else they’ve got planned that day. But they knew that this meeting was today and was now, and so I guess planned around it.
Josie: Speaking of this meeting, Remy has been summoned to a small café in Little Havana named La Casita by the arcane demon summoning ritual known as r/DemonsOfMiami
Minna: [wheezing laugh]
Fabby: Correct.
Kris: Uh huh?
[music fades out]
Josie: [laughs] And Remy and a couple of their friends have taken to meeting there, because it is a place also run by a fellow demon. But speaking of those friends, Minna? What does Julia look like? And what’s her morning routine? Also, introduce your name and pronouns, why not.
Minna: I’m Minna, she/her, and I’ve just realized I have no fucking idea what Julia looks like. [laughs]
[laughter]
Minna: It’s one thing I did not plan!
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: Oh boy.
Josie: Well, you don’t need to get too descriptive, just general basics.
[chill rock music fades in]
Minna: I mean, the vibe is that she’s like, probably a fairly unassuming white woman who is, like, kind of suntanned in that way that looks a little bit red, just from working outside. Just kinda hair up in like, kind of a sloppy ponytail. Very, like, doesn’t necessarily care about fashion that much. Just practical clothing.
Josie: Gotcha, gotcha. And what’s her morning routine like on the way to La Casita?
Minna: Well, yeah, cause probably it’s a planned-out thing, so she probably doesn’t have anything, like, else, like super important to be doing. So she probably takes it slow. I think she probably lives alone. What time is the meeting, sorry?
Josie: What time works for your characters? When do you think you all are out of bed on like, a Saturday? To go meet up?
Fabby: Well, that’s the question. Are we meeting to eat breakfast here, or is this more like an afternoon coffee type of thing?
Kim: Is it the kind of place where like, regardless of time of day you can get a meal that is effectively a breakfast and be like, ‘Oh, it’s 4pm? Here’s a breakfast. It’s 9am? Here’s a breakfast.’
Minna: [laughs]
Josie: [laughs] Yeah, exactly.
Fabby: They do a really good menudo like around— yeah. Only on Sundays though, so—
Minna: I think we’re on a Saturday, though.
Fabby: Yeah, we can’t get— well no, it’s only on the weekends. So you can get menudo if you want. I like the idea that it’s 2pm. Or maybe— yeah, about 2pm? And it’s like a late, late lunch, uh, type thing. But also, spoilers, Luz will be waking up soon.
Minna: [laughs]
Fabby: Like, right before getting there.
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: So I think like, Julia’s already had like a whole morning, you know? Like, this is the middle of her day. [laughs] You know, done whatever errands and cleaning need doing on the Saturday morning so she can go relax at the café.
Josie: God. We’re establishing a spectrum here.
Minna: Yeah. I realize all my characters are like this, but—[laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: Maybe it’s the fantasy of having your shit together.
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: I do not.
Josie: RPGs allow us peek into a world far beyond our own.
Fabby: Mm hmm. Power fantasies.
Josie: One thing, Julia, that happens on the way to La Casita is your group chat with a bunch of your friends, which includes Jen, your musician… friend? We’ll leave it at friend for now.
Minna: Yeah.
Josie: She is pretty upset, because she was supposed to have a gig tomorrow, but apparently the place closed down, just absolutely suddenly, leaving her and her band in the lurch. And it’s a fairly local venue, not too far from La Casita. And you’ve been seeing her there for a while and it just— she is pissed and is unsure what to do, because it’s apparently just closed now.
Minna: There was no warning, no signs that there was anything wrong, like there sometimes is when there’s a place that closes? Just happened out of the blue?
Josie: Yep. Just happened out of the blue. And indeed, you can walk past it, which is— it’s a fairly unassuming façade from the front— on your way to La Casita. It clearly used to be a different sort of building. Maybe a cannery of some sort? But it’s not anymore and hasn’t been in a long time. Remy, an important thing you notice on your way to La Casita is there is— you know the stickers they put on the windows of buildings when a new real estate company has acquired it and is in the middle of remodeling it?
Kris: Mm hmm.
Josie: They have that. And the company is the same one that owns your apartment buildings.
Kris I’m sure that’s fine.
Josie: Yeah, totally. It’s called Lyons Real Estate, with a Y instead of an I. But it does use a lion as the logo.
Kris: Mm hmm.
Josie: But before we hop over to that, Fabby? Introduce yourself and Luz for us please.
[music transitions to chill synth tune]
Fabby: Yeah. I am playing Luz Fernandez. Oh, I guess I should say my name. Hi! I am Fabby Garza and I am playing Luz Fernandez. She is a Mexican-American trans woman, uh, her parents were Mexican, they moved here when she was very little. She was born over there but she basically grew up here all her life. She has light brown skin, long messy black hair that she usually has in like, a tangled ponytail and a baseball cap. That’s usually her out and about, or just something like that, or just like hair up in a bun while she’s painting. She’s an artist, she lives near La Casita I want to imagine, in a little like studio that’s like her art studio and she also has like a little bed there, where she lives. She spends most of her time there when she’s not, like last night, going out to art shows, staying up way too late, drinking, talking to people, schmoozing, and then coming home. I think she got home around 5 or 6 in the morning, went to sleep, woke up fifteen minutes ago, changed clothes, put on a baseball hat of— I don’t know real Miami, but I’m gonna say that there’s a local minor league— I’m worldbuilding over here.
Josie: [laughs]
Fabby: A local minor league baseball team.
Josie: Okay.
Fabby: Called… The Diablos.
Minna: [laughs]
Fabby: Here in— maybe it’s a small city near Miami, or maybe it’s just Miami. And she has a cap of them which is, uh, I think it’s the world Diablo with like devil horns on the side. Red, of course. I think it’s like red and black are the colors of the team.
Kris: Solid.
Josie: Gotcha.
Fabby: She puts on very quickly a tank top that’s not too— it is marked with paint, but it doesn’t smell bad so she’s like, ‘This is good enough’, puts on a pair of shorts and like, some chanklas, and she’s off to go get coffee and also breakfast and lunch.
Josie: So, I have to ask.
Fabby: Mm hmm?
Josie: Does Luz actually follow the team, or is this for the aesthetic?
[music ends]
Fabby: Oh, I think she— she has an uncle— nah, not an uncle. She has a cousin. She has a cousin that played with the team for a bit. She likes it for the aesthetic, but she’s watched a couple games.
Josie: Okay, okay.
Fabby: Yeah. Her cousin Gabe. Boom. Name.
Kris: Worldbuilding.
Fabby: Yeah!
Josie: Sorry, just taking some worldbuilding notes.
Fabby: Yeah, I’m just throwing it all out there.
Josie: Hey, I’m worldbuilding here.
Fabby: I’m worldbuilding over here.
Josie: Wrong city, but—[laughs] So, you arrive to La Casita, which is, true to the name, a small one-story house. It’s kind if a nice, charming place. Squished by two larger commercial buildings on either side, just squished in there by gentrification and urban development. But it’s been converted into a small café and there’s rarely that many people in there, but there’s always someone in there.
[cool Cuban-style music plays]
Josie: Whether it’s you or someone else. You settle into your usual spot, because my understanding is you all have been meeting up for a little bit now, and the proprietor, named Naz, is a Cuban woman with her hair tied back. She’s pretty heavyset and always wears a blue vest and small little bowtie. She’s kind of got that sort of butch aesthetic going on. And you have decided to meet here because you know that she is also called Nazriel, a Fallen Angel you know from ancient times. She seems a lot more chill now and more content with running the café. And she drops the food off to you.
Josie (as Nas): So, this is a regular thing with you three now, huh?
Fabby (as Luz): Well, of course. I need to see you every week. How else am I gonna make it to the next week?
Fabby: And she like, winks at Nas.
Josie: [laughs] Nas gives a look like, ‘Oh, you’.
Minna: [laughs]
Fabby: She takes her coffee and sips heavily.
Josie (as Nas): Although I suppose that means I’m probably gonna be expecting more, right?
Fabby (as Luz): It depends if the subreddit gets more hits. So far, it’s basically just us four.
Josie (as Nas): Yeah, I suppose. I don’t really do reddit though, so I’m not paying attention.
Fabby (as Luz): I set you up an account and everything.
Josie (as Nas): I… yeah. Thank you for that. I have it.
Fabby (as Luz): Give me your phone. Give me your phone.
Josie (as Nas): What more is there to do?
Fabby (as Luz): Give me your phone!
Josie: She hands her phone over. [laughs]
Fabby: And she really quickly is gonna make some posts, basically just promoting La Casita, both in like, I don’t use reddit, so I don’t know, but she’s gonna make posts of like, ‘Oh, supernatural vibes in this small local place in Miami, demon emoji, demon emoji’ to try to get more people in here. And it’s also, that post links to the Demons of Miami subreddit.
Josie: [laughs] Perfect. Also, despite the fact that the subreddit is clearly marked with ‘No RP posts’, there’s definitely a thread that’s started.
Fabby: Yeah. I need to go and delete that. They always do that.
[music fades out]
Josie: Yeah. I mean, it’s almost like people don’t take a subreddit talking about demons seriously.
Fabby: It really shows you what little, like, what little tolerance people have sometimes, really. Bigoted, anti-demon.
Josie: Yeah, for real. [laughs]
[music fades back in]
Josie: Nas kind of rolls her eyes as Luz is doing that on her phone.
Josie (as Nas): How about you two? Can I get you anything more?
Minna (as Julia): Sure. Another tea please.
Minna: Also when says that, she definitely means iced tea. I don’t know why I said it like tea. [laughs]
Josie (as Nas): Sure thing, hon.
Josie: [laughs]
Kris (as Remy): Just more water, thanks. I’m still working through this.
Kris: Whatever food Remy’s got, they’re like, halfway through their plate of it.
Josie (as Nas): Sure. You doin’ alright, Remy?
Kris (as Remy): Late night. It’s fine.
Kris: It’s just like, you know, when you’re still half-asleep and you’re blinking a lot to be like, ‘Come on eyes, stay open dammit’.
Josie: [laughs]
Kris: Like, half falling asleep into this food.
Josie: Nas looks at the clock, shrugs, and goes to get you what you want. Julia, have you responded to the group chat at all?
Minna: Yeah, I think at some point if there was a break in conversation she might have like, scrolled through but like, kept and eye on it, but like hadn’t had a chance to respond. And now she kinda like, pokes her head into the chat like,
Minna (as Julia via text): Wow, that sucks, do we know why?
Josie (as Jen via text): No, and they won’t tell me anything. Am I gonna have to fuck someone up?
Minna (as Julia via text): I’m right by there right now, do you want me to stop by after this thing?
Josie (as Jen via text): Yeah, sure. I’m gonna drop by too. Thanks, Julia.
Minna: Thumbs up emoji.
Josie: While these are being sent, Luz, you turn back to— what is Luz drinking? Coffee?
Fabby: Uh, yes. She is drinking a sickeningly sweet coffee, three creams, four sugars.
Kris: Go off.
Josie: Oh Jesus.
Kris: Go off.
Josie: [laughs]
Fabby: And she’s, uh, eating some of that menudo— that’s um, if you don’t know, it’s a Mexican hominy and tripe soup, it’s really red and it’s very good, one, for hangovers, two, for you know, in the morning, waking you up.
Josie: Yeah, totally. This is a totally normal amount of things to wake you up with.
Fabby: Yeah!
Minna: [laughs]
Josie: [laughs] Sugar with coffee and cream.
Fabby: Yeah!
Josie: Kris says.
Minna (as Julia): [laughs]
Josie: As you go to take a sip of your coffee, the swirling pattern in it— because there’s a lot of cream in there— kinda just catches your attention and a memory— or is it a memory? Is it a vision? Is it something abstract? You don’t know. Bubbles to the surface.
[Cuban music cuts out. Mysterious, etheric music fades in]
Josie: You see an ancient coastline. Something from an era that you can’t quite remember. From when you were Penumbra. The woebegone stray, the painter of horizons at sea. You made what you’re seeing. There’s a beautiful, colorful sunset and a figure on the beach that you know to be, even from behind, Lucifer. And they’re radiant in a way that you can’t really describe, because they never really have a shape. But they are almost conducting. And indeed, you hear music coming from somewhere. And this is a bit more flamboyant than you remember them.
Fabby: Hmm.
Josie: And then suddenly it, like the sound of a hammer hitting concrete, the vision cracks.
[music ends]
Josie: You see this visually. It cracks and the music cuts out. And suddenly you’re back, looking at your coffee. To the other two, Luz definitely just zoned out for a second.
Kris: Yeah. Remy’s definite like, putting out a— like, if Luz is just holding this coffee, Remy’s definitely just putting out a hand, just to steady her, like
Kris (as Remy): Everything okay there, luz?
Fabby (as Luz): I… it happened again. I saw them. The Morning Star. Imagined them? Saw them? Remembered them? I can’t tell… They were at the coastline, at sea. There was music. I… it was blinding. I don’t… why can’t I control this? Why can’t I remember this?
Kris (as Remy): [sucks in breath] I’m not the one to talk to about memories. I’m not gonna…
Fabby (as Luz): Mm.
Kris (as Remy): I’m sorry about that.
Fabby (as Luz): It’s fine. I’m sure it’ll come back in time.
Fabby: She like, rubs her eyes.
Fabby (as Luz): I’m sure it will come back in time. Um…
Fabby: She like, looks a little bit hard at the coffee again, just hoping it happens. And then when nothing happens, like, takes a sip.
Josie: [laughs]
Minna (as Julia): Are the flashes coming any more frequently?
Fabby (as Luz): [sighs] Not like this? I, like, more than before. And this was definitely more than before. Yeah. I don’t know. Maybe it means something?
Fabby: She like, her face lights up.
Fabby (as Luz): Maybe they’re here? Like, here in Miami? I don’t know.
Kris (as Remy): You have been pushing the reddit thread pretty hard.
Josie: [laughs]
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah… I mean, like, Lucifer. Maybe they’re around. Maybe that’s why I’m seeing them? Remembering them?
Fabby: She like, looks away out— like, I imagine, like, a small window that looks at the street.
Fabby (as Luz): I don’t know. Maybe I should just finish my coffee. I’m sure… I’m sure it’ll be fine. That’ why we have these, right? That’s why we come here? So that we can remember and connect?
Kris (as Remy): Yeah. Weekly updates and recent demonry. Yeah.
Minna (as Julia): [laughs]
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah. So it’s probably helping.
Fabby: She says, with a hopeful smile.
Fabby (as Luz): That we’re here? It has to mean something that they’re becoming more frequent and stronger. And also, I had one with you two here, so I don’t know. That feels like progress to me.
Kris (as Remy): Hey, baby steps. We’ll take it. And at the very least, this is very good soup.
[chilled music strikes back up]
Fabby (as Luz): It is. It is. If you haven’t had the pozole, that’s the other good one they have here. Would recommend.
Kris (as Remy): The pozole? Okay.
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah!
Minna (as Julia): Everything you make is great, Nas.
Fabby (as Luz): You know!
Josie: Nas throws out a wink from behind the counter.
Fabby (as Luz): Nas makes it, like, extra spicy for me. It’s great.
Josie (as Nas): I can still go hotter, if you want.
Fabby (as Luz): I mean, how many waters are you gonna give me? If you’re gonna refill my— keep refilling my water, then you can make it as spicy as you want. You know I can only handle so much before I start— I already go through like, three, so.
Josie (as Nas): I’m not gonna charge you for fuckin’ water. [laughs]
Fabby: She like, laughs and keeps eating.
Josie (as Nas): I might need to order something special.
Josie: If people want to maybe piece some things about the vision or anything else going on in their lives, now might be a good time for the first roll of the game.
Kris: Wah…
Fabby: Yeah!
Josie: Yay.
Fabby: I would love to. I have an idea, I would love to.
Josie: Sure. So, for the listeners at home, instead of the traditional action ratings in Blades in the Dark, like Skirmish and Wreck and Attune and stuff like that, each demon has five Names that they use in different contexts that kinda describe who they are. And each different kind of Name is an action rating that can be rolled in certain circumstances. For example, piecing things together, investigating sort of Name is the demon’s True Name. This is the thing they are at the core of their being. It’s kind of dangerous to share it with others. But we will share it with you, the listener. Just don’t abuse it.
Minna: [laughs]
Josie: So Luz, what is your True Name?
Fabby: Luz’s True Name is The Feeling of Being Submerged in a Calm Ocean. And she has one dot in it.
Josie: Beautiful. So that means you just roll one die and tell me what the result is.
Fabby: Cool.
Josie: This will be a controlled, standard effect roll. For those people keeping track of the rules. You can also spend two Faith to gain an additional die. People can spend one Faith to help you by giving you an additional die. You can also make a Devil’s Bargain, which is much more literal than in other Blades in the Dark games. How a Devil’s Bargain work is you essentially ask for one, or I can offer you one, and it’s essentially a consequence that will happen whether you succeed or fail. The Devil’s Bargain here is you will remember something painful or traumatic or—
Fabby: Okay, hell yeah.
Josie: Something you maybe didn’t wanna remember.
Fabby: Hell yeah, then yeah, I’ll take that.
Minna: Ooh, that’s a great one.
Fabby: I’ll take that.
Josie: Go for it.
Fabby: Ooh, well that’s a 1 and a 2.
Kris: No…
Josie: A 1 and a 2.
Fabby: Starting great.
Kris: Welp.
Josie: [laughs] What is Luz’s thought process whenever she tries to resurface a memory? Does she just try to wait for it as it comes or does she really try at it?
Fabby: I think she kinda just lets them happen. Sometimes she like, focuses on something. I think subconsciously, she focuses— she doesn’t know this, but like, whenever it kinda works is when she focuses on water or oceans.
[gentle sound of waves]
Fabby: Whenever she focuses on like, still or calm water, that’s when it works the best. But she still— she doesn’t know her own True Name, I would say, at this point. So, she’s kinda guessing.
Josie: Gotcha. Yeah. So you’re going to that feeling, but you don’t even fully know yourself how can you decipher what this truly means. You do get the sense that it’s— the memory didn’t go down exactly like this, if it even is a memory. What does come to the surface is kind of a similar vision of you and Lucifer are in a room that is— how to describe the architecture here? It’s very organic looking. It’s not made of organic material, it’s just very fluid with lots of tubes. It’s kind of like an H. R. Giger style building, except it’s all golds and whites and it looks like the top half of a pipe organ. And this is the Tower of Babel, where you once resided with Lucifer. And they turn to you, but before you can even see their face, the walls around you shatter and there’s horrible rays of light coming down through the clouds. And they disappear. And there’s this feeling of intense loss. This was the last time you saw them.
Fabby: I think she starts crying. Like, IRL Luz starts crying.
Josie: Oh no!
Kris: Aw.
Josie: Oh no. Poor baby.
Fabby: Like, I don’t think full-on sobbing, but like, tears are falling down her face.
Minna: [whines]
Kris: Remy’s gonna grab some napkins and just, dab dab.
Fabby (as Luz): I— just—
Kris (as Remy): What hap— is…?
Fabby (as Luz): I’m sorry, I had another one.
Kris (as Remy): That was fast.
Kris (as Remy): Yeah…
Kris (as Remy): Two in one day? Is that a record?
Fabby (as Luz): Yes. I think I forced it? I… mm. I was trying to see if I could remember more, and then I remembered something completely different.
Fabby: I don’t think she says any more unless she’s asked. She’s just like,
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah. I remembered something else.
Fabby: And she like, wipes her face.
Minna: I think Julia just looks like, slightly troubled and is like,
Minna (as Julia): Ah. Yes. One of the many terrible things to remember.
Minna: [laughs]
Kris (as Remy): Yeah. Uh huh.
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah… I’m sure it’ll be fine.
Josie: Nas quietly slips you another coffee and pats your shoulder. [laughs]
Fabby: I think she does a very quick kiss on Nas’s hand on her shoulder before she goes back to drinking coffee.
Josie: Nas’s hand squeezes the shoulder a little bit. She kind of clams up. It’s sort of like, she’s used to flirting but can’t take it, you know what I mean? [laughs] Before she goes back to the counter. Another mechanical interjection, because this is an entirely new mechanic I made up, is every demon has two Torments, which are kind of like Traumas?
Fabby: Mm hmm.
Josie: But they’re more like triggers for that. And when you encounter a Torment, it can give you a Torment Point, which blocks out some of your Faith. Cause it kind of represents your strength of being and your soul. And you have the Torment of feeling abandoned.
Fabby: I sure do.
Josie: So that means you will gain a Torment Point, unless you want to resist this consequence.
Fabby: How will I resist it?
Josie: Do, you roll one of your Names, depending on what sort of consequence it is. And you will— it costs you some amount of Faith, depending on your result. I have specific things written down for each Names. I know my own system. Don’t judge me.
Kris: [laughs]
Josie: I think it’s— I think it’s your… yeah, it’s gonna be your True Name again.
Fabby: Okay. Yeah, I think I am gonna resist it, and my logic for resisting it is that she’s trying to look at the bright side of things, of like, yes, she, in this memory she was abandoned, but she was with them. She was with Lucifer. So maybe there’s more to that, maybe she can see a little before that next time. So that’s what I’m going with.
Josie: Okay.
Fabby: That’s a 6!
Kris: Heyyy!
Josie: 6, okay.
Kris: Nailed it.
Josie: That doesn’t cost you any Faith to resist.
[bouncy music fades in]
Fabby: Yeah. She’s just looking at the bright side of like, I was right there with them. I was with them the moment they were taken away. That has to mean something.
Josie: That is some impressive silver lining.
Fabby: [laughs]
Josie: But no less to be expected of someone of the Luciferan faction.
Kris: Incredible.
Josie: And that’s something you share with Nas, by the way.
Fabby: Oh, hell yeah.
Josie: Julia.
Minna: Yes.
Josie: You get another flurry of texts saying,
Josie (as Jen via text): They wouldn’t even let me in. I punched out a guy and got taken off.
Fabby: [laughs]
[music transitions to low and sinister]
Minna: I quickly text back,
Minna (as Julia via text): Please do not get arrested about this.
Minna: [laughs]
Josie: She just responds,
Josie (as Jen via text): Eh.
Kris: And I think Remy, like, you know, when Luz kinda clammed up about, like, you know, crying over whatever memory she’d just had and wanting to, you know, maybe give Luz a second to like, calm down or center herself or whatever and sees Julia texting again is like,
Kris (as Remy): So… what’s new in your life, Julia? How are things? Demonly or otherwise.
Minna (as Julia): Uh—
Kris: Just trying to like, shift the topic.
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: Demon-wise, a club I like is apparently shutting down with no warning right before a show tonight which I was expecting to go to, and everyone’s pissed off and confused.
Kris (as Remy): Oh. That doesn’t— that doesn’t sound normal.
[music returns to cheerful and bouncy]
Kris (as Remy): Like, they have shows booked and are just like, ‘Nope. Bye.’?
Minna (as Julia): Mm hmm.
Kris (as Remy): Is that a thing? That people are doing?
Minna (as Julia): I apparently just— people just found out that they were shut down. Nas, have you heard anything about this? It’s right down the street from here.
Josie (as Nas): I haven’t heard anything, but I saw the signs.
Fabby (as Luz): Do you mean like, the metaphorical signs or the physical signs?
Kris: Yeah. [laughs]
Josie (as Nas): No, the physical signs.
Fabby (as Luz): What did the physical signs say?
Josie (as Nas): I’m getting really sick of seeing those Lyons Real Estate signs around, you know? They’re everywhere.
Fabby (as Luz): Oh, those.
Minna (as Julia): Oh God, they’ve got bought out?
Kris (as Remy): Oh.
Josie (as Nas): I guess.
Kris (as Remy): I’m pretty sure they own my apartment building.
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah, same.
Kris (as Remy): Damn.
Josie: Adding that to the notes. [laughs]
Kris (as Remy): Are there not laws against—[sighs] There probably aren’t. That’s a… that’s a bummer.
Fabby (as Luz): Yep.
Kris (as Remy): Nobody they can talk to about it? I don’t even know who you would talk to about…
Minna (as Julia): I don’t either. I think they’re out of luck on opening there tonight. But it’s really frustrating. That was a great place to play and there’s not… there’s not a lot of those left, honestly.
Josie: There is maybe one person you would know to ask, Julia.
Minna: Oh. Yeah? [laughs]
Kris: [laughs]
Josie: [laughs] It’s a matter of whether you want to.
Minna: Uh… [laughs] Yeah, I think she’s like… is he like, involved in the— do I know if he’s like, involved with that particular company at all?
Josie: Not off hand. It’s possible, though. Because Wes, your old family friend, wants to be Mayor of Miami.
Minna: Not mayor, he just wants to be on city council. He’s starting small. [laughs]
Josie: Oh, okay. City council. Starting small, got it. [laughs]
Minna: [laughs] Or at least smaller than mayor.
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: Yeah, I think she’ll be like,
Minna (as Julia): Well, I mean, I can ask people about it. I don’t know what it’ll do, but I can try.
Kris (as Remy): Hey, the thing closed down really suddenly. Maybe you can get them to open it back up really suddenly? I don’t know if that’s how this works, but it’s worth a shot.
Fabby (as Luz): You could see if it’s, like, I dunno, a historic building or something?
Kris (as Remy): Oh, that’s a good call.
Fabby (as Luz): You might be able to at least delay things.
Minna: Do I know anything about this building? Like, I guess you said it was a former cannery or something.
Josie: Yeah. A long time ago it was like a cannery. And it went through a few different things it was before being converted into a small punk venue. The other buildings of the cannery are gone now, and this is mostly what’s left of it.
Minna: Mm hmm. So, I think— God, does she even has his number or is she gonna have to like, get somebody to give it to her? [laughs]
Kris: Her parents to get it? [laughs] We just see a poster for them that’s like, ‘Call our offices at—’ blah.
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: [sighs] So I think she’s gonna— I think she’s not gonna dial her dad, I think she’s gonna dial, like, one of her siblings. Because surely one of them knows somebody.
Josie: Sure. You text one of your siblings and they redirect you to another one.
Minna: [giggles]
Josie: And then they need to ask Mom, so they do that. But eventually, Wes’s number gets back to you. In the meantime, Nas calls out,
Josie (as Nas): Look at the three of you plottin’. This is nostalgic.
[chill music plays]
Minna (as Julia): [laughs]
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah? We used to do this a lot?
Josie (as Nas): Yeah. I mean, not all day every day, but back during… you know.
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah. The times.
Kris (as Remy): There sure were times.
Fabby: I think this actually, like, cheers Luz up and is like,
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah. That’s honestly, that’s kinda great. Yeah. Let me know if you need anything. I might have some contacts in the art world, in case, you know, you need some pressure. They’re— most of the people with power are kinda shitty and also doing the gentrification thing, but also I might be able to convince them to keep the place open ‘for the arts’.
Fabby: You know, that’s air quotes.
Josie: [laughs] Nas says,
Josie (as Nas): If they come for this place I’m just gonna blow them away. Fuck my cover.
Kris: [laughs]
Josie: She is a Scourge, aka has power over wind.
Minna: Hmm.
Fabby (as Luz): You know. I’m sure— I’m sure we’ll do something before that happens.
Josie (as Nas) I’m just glad that Orea isn’t hiding over in their little hideaway this time.
Josie: Orea referring to Remy by Demon Name.
Kris (as Remy): Listen, everybody needs some space to themselves. And my space was just very far away. [laughs]
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah, but now we’re all together. We’ll handle whatever happens, right? Like, weird companies, gentrification, what can’t four demons do, right?
Kris (as Remy): Capitalism, do your worst.
Minna (as Julia): [laughs]
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah!
Josie (as Nas): Damn right.
Minna (as Julia): When you put it that way.
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah, like, one of us— I mean, not us, but one of us, must have created that one, right?
Kris (as Remy): Oh. Oh, man. That’s a— that sucks. [laughs]
Minna (as Julia): Oh.
Kris: Thinking about it for the first time, like, yeah probably. Somebody created capitalism. Damn.
[laughter]
Fabby (as Luz): I’m just saying, if one of us created it, one of us can tear it down.
Kris (as Remy): Yeah, I’ll drink to that.
Josie: [sing-song] Making a note here.
Fabby: [laughs]
Kris: [laughs] ‘Figure out who made capitalism’.
Minna: The number of terrible angels we’ve come up with. [laughs]
Fabby: The Angel of Capitalism.
Minna: What was the other one? There was another terrible angel we came up with.
Kris: Angel of Murder. Weren’t we like, ‘Well someone had to invent murder’?
Josie: Yeah, you invented an angel who gave murder to Cain and Abel.
Kris: Great.
Josie: [laughs] Hope you don’t run into them.
Fabby: I’m sure it’s fine. They become a cop.
[music transitions to relaxing rock guitar]
Josie: So, Julia, are you going ahead?
Minna: Yeah, I think she like,
Minna (as Julia): Do you guys mind if I call…?
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah, yeah.
Kris (as Remy): No, go for it.
Fabby (as Luz): Take care of… message me? You have my number, right? Message me if you need anything.
Minna (as Julia): Yeah, I mean, I— I don’t have to be done if we’re not done, done. I just wanna get the call out there.
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah, no, go ahead and take care of that stuff. See if your friend’s okay.
Kris (as Remy): Yeah, I still have soup. I’m not going anywhere for a bit.
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah, me neither.
Minna (as Julia): Alright. I’ll just be outside, I’ll come back.
Fabby (as Luz): We’ll be here.
Minna: So, I think she steps outside, presses call.
Minna (as Julia): [groans with dread]
Josie: It rings a couple times, then you hear,
Josie (as Wes): Julia Summers! It’s been a while.
[upbeat music plays]
Minna (as Julia): Wes. Hi. How’s it going?
Josie (as Wes): To what do I owe the pleasure?
Minna (as Julia): What do you know about Lyon Real Estate?
Josie (as Wes): Oh. I wasn’t expecting this to be a business call.
Minna (as Julia): [sarcastic] Ha ha ha.
Josie (as Wes): [giggles smugly] I’ve worked with them before. Why do you ask?
Minna (as Julia): They’re poking around in Little Havana right now.
Josie (as Wes): I mean, it’s kind of a hot market right now. I’m not surprised.
Minna (as Julia): Yeah, but like, why is this stuff going through so fast? I’m hearing, like, no warning, stuff is closing down.
Josie: I think it’s time for you to roll your Human Name.
Minna: Yeah, which honestly isn’t my—[laughs] one of my good rolls. I’m rolling two and taking the lower, I think.
Josie: Although you know he’s a demon, right?
Minna: I do know he’s a demon, but I don’t know if I’m pulling on the demon or—
Josie: Sure. Let’s go with Human Name, then.
Minna: So, what does a Devil’s Bargain look like? [laughs]
Josie: A Devil’s Bargain.
Minna: Do I have to catch up with him in person at some point? [laughs]
Josie: That’s where I was gonna go. He’s gonna—he’s gonna have you meet him for a business lunch at some point in the future.
Minna: Oh boy. [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: Well, it’s not the worst thing to ever happen, but sure. [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Kris: When you’ve seen the downfall of the world, like, what’s one lunch with this guy?
Minna: Oh my God. I still rolled a 2.
Kris: No…
Josie: [laughs] This is an auspicious start to game. [laughs]
Fabby: Hell yeah.
Minna: [wheezing laugh]
Fabby: We’re doing great.
Minna: I mean, I rolled a single die, even after a Devil’s Bargain.
Josie (as Wes): Listen, I can maybe make some calls, but I’m not super privy to their— to what they’re up to off hand, just as a general sort, you know. But I can look into it and, I don’t know, next Wednesday we could figure it out over lunch?
Minna (as Julia): Wednesday lunch… let me look at my calendar. Yeah.
Fabby: Looks at wall. [laughs]
[laughter]
Minna: She doesn’t have an actual calendar.
Josie: I was about to say.
Kris: Something like, just looks straight at the ground, like, so tired.
Minna: It’s the middle of a work day, she probably has like, actually to think about it. But yeah, she’s like,
Minna (as Julia): Yeah. Fine. Uh, I can’t do more than hour.
Josie (as Wes): Alright. I’ll make it quick then. I guess I’ll have to rehearse catching up to do it that quickly.
Minna (as Julia): You’ll have to rehearse?
Josie (as Wes): Julia, I was just making a joke. It’s fine.
Minna (as Julia): Mm.
Josie: [laughs] Just the hatred in your tone.
Minna: [laughs] It’s not even hatred, it’s just like, I don’t know, I don’t know what’s— what— what— what is happening. [laughs]
Josie: [laughs] So, you get that set up with him. Are the other two of you talking about anything inside while this is going down?
[chilled music plays]
Kris: Remy might just be making small talk. You know, trying to finish this soup. Just like, you know, ‘So how’s art been? I can see you’ve been busy.’ Is pointing out paint on Luz’s shirt. [laughs]
Fabby (as Luz): Oh yeah, you know. Doing what I can, doing some pieces. I had a show last night.
Kris (as Remy): Oh, that’s good.
Fabby (as Luz): Then after the show there was the after party, and that ran for a while. Uh, it’s been nice. It wasn’t like a me show, it was a show— several, like, you know, local artists and I had a couple pieces there.
Kris (as Remy): Mm hmm, mm hmm.
Fabby (as Luz): Eh. It pays the bills. At least good enough, you know? It keeps a roof over my head.
Kris (as Remy): Yeah. People keep telling me that’s important.
Fabby (as Luz): Listen. I hate gentrification, but also, these bougie assholes pay well for art, so…
Kris (as Remy): [laughs]
Fabby (as Luz): You take what you can get.
Josie (as Nas): Might as well milk ‘em.
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah. I agree.
Kris (as Remy): Yeah, redistribute that wealth. [laughs]
Fabby (as Luz): That’s what I’m doing right now.
Fabby: And she puts like, a 20 for a tip on the table.
Josie (as Nas): You are such a sweetheart.
Fabby (as Luz): Oh, you know, you know give the best service in town.
Josie (as Nas): I’m gonna take that phrasing the polite way.
Josie and Kris: [laugh]
Fabby (as Luz): I meant it the polite…
Fabby: She blushes a little bit.
Fabby (as Luz): The polite way. I… mm.
Fabby: Drinks coffee. [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Kris (as Remy): [laughs] She’s right though, Nas. You know, aside from us, like, meeting here for wat we meet here for, this is a really nice spot you’ve got.
Josie (as Nas): Yeah, I’m pretty proud of it. I’m glad people enjoy it, too. I got really worried when the places next to me got bought out.
Josie: Julia. As soon as you’re off the phone, you saw you got another text in the group chat.
Minna: Mm hmm.
Josie: Jen is like, she’s gonna break into the place tonight and take some shit. Because fuck ‘em.
[synth music plays]
Minna: I think Julia, like, looks at the phone for a minute and she’s like— cause they’re not that— they’re like, they’re not that close, necessarily. Like, they’re friends, but not like one— they haven’t done a lot of one on one, so she’s like…
Fabby: They haven’t done a lot of breaking and entering together.
Minna: Yeah, this isn’t a person that she feels comfortable being like, ‘Mm… mm… maybe don’t?’ [laughs] But, I mean, not that she is like, has any issues with it morally. She’s just like, ‘Oh, that’s not going to end well.’ But I think she goes, she’s just like, ‘Okay, maybe we can… maybe I can figure Lyon out before then’ to herself and she’s like…
Minna (as Julia via text): Jen, I’m looking into some stuff.
Josie (as Jen via text): Okay. What stuff?
Minna (as Julia via text): Eh, no movement on the building necessarily, but maybe we can find another venue?
Josie (as Jen via text): Yeah. Show must go on, right?
Minna (as Julia via text): If you want that.
Josie: Give me another Human Name roll.
Minna: Oh. I actually got a 4.
Kris: [encouragingly] Hey!
Josie: Hey!
Josie (as Jen via text): I guess I can probably set up a house show if I need to. But fuck those guys, I’m not gonna wait too long.
Minna (as Julia via text): Yeah, we’ll figure something out for tonight.
Josie: How are you feeling about that, Julia?
[music ends]
Minna: [sighs] So, it’s not so much like tonight’s show, it’s like the fact that this place was like, reliably a good spot to go to. Like, this is probably where she met Jen and… like, that’s just, I mean, it’s a community spot that is probably not going to remain a community spot.
Josie: Yeah. And that’s really unfortunate.
Minna: So, she is also pissed.
Josie: Mm hmm.
Minna: She comes back in.
Minna (as Julia): Hey, anybody know a good spot for a last-minute show?
Fabby (as Luz): Uh…
Josie (as Nas): I mean, I don’t have a stage or nothing, so…
Kris: Just looks at Luz, like—
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah, I know a couple places. How… how legal and also how big are we think— listen. There’s like, a really good cemetery that no one goes to check, but technically we don’t have a permit there? I’ve done some photo shoots with a photographer friend of mine there. Um, but also…
Fabby: She like, uh, snaps her fingers thinking,
Fabby (as Luz): … there’s like, there’s um… what’s it called? There’s a, like, storehouse that is… we couple probably— probably has enough people in there. I don’t know what permits we would need, but it should be fine.
Minna (as Julia): I think the only thing they really care about is having enough power.
Fabby (as Luz): Oh yeah… that place should be good. Here.
Fabby: And she like, just quickly texts you— do I need to do a roll to know which places would be good? Or do I just make one up? What would you prefer?
Josie: Uh, go ahead. Go ahead, make one up.
Fabby: Yeah, I think she’s like,
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah, there’s this— it’s a little far away from here, it’s like, in the… you know, in the commercial district. It’s like a warehouse. But it’s up and running. It’s not abandoned or anything. We’ve rented it before to do like, to do— to store big art pieces or do, um, to do like, more involved art. The word for it— do modern art. Different like, uh, more interactive pieces we’ve set there. Here.
Fabby: And she like, gets you the number of…
Fabby (as Luz): You should be able to reach them there. Or I can call them, since I know them, if you want?
Minna (as Julia): That would be really helpful.
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah, I’ll let you know. I’ll let you know what they say.
Josie: Now might be a good time to make a roll about it.
Fabby: Yeah.
Josie: And since you’re kind of pulling that, each character has several Influences, which represent skills or spheres of influence they have. And you can invoke them to gain plus one die on a roll. So, this is probably rolling your Human Name.
Fabby: Yeah, rolling my Human Name and um, either Painting or Queer Community, probably? What do you think?
Josie: Painting sounds like what it was for this.
Fabby: Yeah.
Josie: Like, your art community stuff.
Fabby: Yeah, I’ve done art stuff there. Yeah, so that’s three dices, then.
Kris: Ooh.
Fabby: Two for Human Name, one— yeah, I was gonna use Faith. Oh, so I can use Faith to increase the effect, right?
Josie: You sure can. It always costs two.
Fabby: Okay.
Josie: And I would say that this is a controlled but reduced effect roll, because it’s so short notice.
Fabby: Yeah. I want to increase the effect.
Josie: Okay. Controlled, standard.
Fabby: Cool. And I’m gonna roll three dice. That’s a 1. That’s a 2. That’s a 4.
Kris: [relieved exhale]
Josie: Phew.
Kris: [laughs] Yo, these dice.
Fabby: Yeah, I’m rolling one dice individually. That feels like it ramps up the drama.
Josie: Yeah, you 100% get that set up and Jen has a place to play tonight. You do have to shell out to make that happen a bit. Next time money is relevant, it’s gonna penalize you. That’s the consequence.
Fabby: Yeah, that’s fine. Last minute. I’m sure I can— I just had a show yesterday, I’m sure I can make it up.
Josie: Yeah. Just like, make a note of that somewhere.
Fabby: Yeah.
Josie: ‘Spent a bunch’.
Fabby: [laughs] Yeah. I think she’s gonna— no, she’s not gonna do it, but she considers bringing some pieces to sell there and then she’s like, ‘This crowd ain’t gonna afford this, never mind.’
Kris: [laughs]
Minna: Yeah, so I think she forwards this to the— or like, types this into the group chat. Gotta get the word out.
Josie: While all that planning is going on, Nas had dropped off the iced tea for Julia. And while the two of them are having that conversation, she addresses Remy.
[gentle music plays]
Josie (as Nas): So, what faction are you rolling with nowadays?
Kris (as Remy): I’m… waiting to see what calls out to me.
Josie: She gives you that look like, ‘Really?’
Kris (as Remy): Listen. This person…
Kris: You know, sort of just like, gestures to self, like, this body I now inhabit,
Kris (as Remy): Also has some… weird compunctions about getting too deep into something too fast and like, well…
Josie (as Nas): But I’m sure they must have also believed in something.
Kris (as Remy): Yeah, but enough of those beliefs get shattered in your face enough times and you start to question them. You know. It’s— I—[sighs] Just, moving flow, you know? This all feels so… new again. It’s all a little weird.
Josie (as Nas): Yeah, I mean, I can’t disagree with you there.
Kris (as Remy): [laughs]
Josie (as Nas): But it’s only gonna get worse if you just let yourself flounder.
Kris (as Remy): It’s not like I can’t do anything unless I’m part of a club.
Josie (as Nas): True.
Kris (as Remy): It’s not like I don’t have friends. Unless you wanna break some very unpleasant news to me right now.
Josie (as Nas): [laughs] No.
Kris (as Remy): Look Nas, I’m not— I promise, I’m not just gonna disappear again. I—
Josie (as Nas): Yeah, I was about to say. You have before.
Kris (as Remy): Yeah, I know I have a track record. But uh…
Josie (as Nas): Where were you, anyway?
Kris (as Remy): [groans] [laughs]
Josie (as Nas): The rest of us were all locked up.
Kris (as Remy): You know, if I had a… if I had an answer, I would try to tell you. I really don’t know.
Josie: She looks a little irritated at that, but doesn’t say anything. [laughs]
[music increases in intensity]
Kris: Yeah, it’s like a— it’s like a thing of like, it’s not just— at least from Remy’s point of view, this is not just a like, ‘I don’t want to tell you and I’m being cheeky about it,’ it’s a little bit they don’t know. Like, they were just like so out of it for so long, they’re like, I could not tell you where I went. I was just like, in a constant fog. I might have been that fog. So… I— like, they just don’t have a concrete idea of where were you. Everywhere? Nowhere? Shrug.
Josie: [laughs]
Kris: And they don’t— they don’t really want to dig into remembering that because those memories feel like they would be upsetting.
[music returns to gentle]
Kris: So, just trying to like… I think, you know, sees that Nas is like, frustrated at that answer and puts a, you know, puts a hand on them and is like,
Kris (as Remy): Look. I’m not being— I’m not trying to be stubborn about this, and I mean it when I say I’m not just gonna dip again. I… I just… I’m still getting [sighs] used to being here. And I just need a little more time to settle things before I start getting back into the past. But I am here.
Kris: And is trying to like, reassure Nas of like, look I’m not just gonna disappear again. But I can’t quite talk about it yet.
Josie: She rolls her eyes a bit playfully.
Josie (as Nas): Alright. I believe you that you’re not trying to be stubborn. I’m just worried because not all of us have fallen by the right way in the meantime. And I could tell that someone of your house woke up not too long ago.
Kris (as Remy): Hmm.
Josie (as Nas): But I haven’t seen hide nor hair of them, so… pick something to believe in and don’t fall off the road, okay?
Kris (as Remy): I’ll do my best. Do you know— like, someone woke up here?
Josie (as Nas): Not too far from here. I can’t tell exactly where, I don’t have the Lore for that. But I th… it was definitely someone of your house.
Kris (as Remy): Okay. That’s… that’s good to know. Maybe I’ll try to visit. [dry laugh]
Josie (as Nas): Okay.
Kris (as Remy): Thanks, Nas.
Josie: She’ll pat your shoulder.
[violin music gradually builds and slowly fades out]
Josie: Luz and Julia have just gotten done redirecting Jen’s show into a last-minute warehouse performance. Partly to make sure she gets to perform and partly to stop her from getting arrested. And Remy and Nas just got done having a conversation. What do you all wanna do?
Minna: So, I think Julia, like, you know, they finish paying up and they’re leaving, she’s like,
Minna (as Julia): Well, I am going to go check out the venue.
Fabby (as Luz): Ooh, like right now?
Minna (as Julia): What else am I supposed to do right now?
Fabby (as Luz): No, yeah. Sounds good.
Fabby (as Luz): She gets up and starts stretching and kinda invites herself without saying anything.
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: [laughs]
Fabby (as Luz): Sounds like a plan. Uh, Nas, thank you so much for the food and everything.
Fabby: And she leaves, like, the money on the table.
Josie: She gives a wave and a wink.
Fabby (as Luz): I’ll make sure to come and stop by before next week. Before next meeting. But if not, I’ll see you in seven days, cutie.
[playful music plays]
Fabby: She says with a smile, like, not in a flirty way, like oh, yeah, cutie. And she starts getting up to go.
Josie (as Nas): You come in my house and I’m feeling so attacked right now.
Minna: [laughs]
Fabby (as Luz): Oh, you love it.
Josie (as Nas): Get out of here, you’re a menace.
Fabby (as Luz): I am!
Fabby: She says, walking out the door.
[music ends]
Josie: So, were you planning on going right now, or waiting til dark?
Minna: I feel like we should wait til dark. [laughs]
Kris: Yeah, that makes sense.
Fabby (as Luz): I guess we could always just meet there once it’s dark.
Kris (as Remy): Yeah, uh, I gotta go make a, go make a delivery. And also, if we’re waiting until dark, uh, I can make a call. See if I can find anything else out about this building. I mean, it’s my rental company so I think they owe me answers. Legally I’m pretty sure that’s how that works.
Fabby (as Luz): I don’t know if that how it works, but I wish you the best.
Kris (as Remy): I appreciate it.
Fabby: She looks around, sees if she wants to go back to her place or not. She’s like,
Fabby (as Luz): Honestly. I might just drop by my uncle who lives near here and hang out for a bit before meeting you all later, then.
Kris (as Remy): Sounds like a plan. I’ll let you both know if I find anything.
Josie: So, our three demons split up until nightfall. And let’s follow Remy. Remy, what are you doing?
Kris: I think Remy does have to go and, like, Uber something. Like, while paying up, Remy was like, ‘Oh, I have a ride, I have to go pick someone up.’ So like, goes and drives for Uber for like, a bit. And then I think they want to try to go to, like, a physical office of the… Lyons? Lyon Real Estate. Lyon Developers, whatever the company name is. Like, if they have a physical office, I think Remy might try to go there and like, talk to a person in person.
Josie: Yeah. Lyons Real Estate. There is an office and then there’s also the landlord office in your apartment building.
Kris: Would the landlord office in my apartment building know what is up with this other place in like, probably a different neighborhood? That feels less likely. But I do probably know my landlord better. So I’m like, uh, let’s get into this building. Let’s go to the landlord office in my building. Cause I presumably know whoever works there.
Josie: Yeah, totally. It’s back at your apartment complex. What sort of place is it?
Kris: I am very much just picturing, like, here is a rectangle, we have filled the rectangle with a bunch of walls and some of those walls make up apartment units. And then we put, like, thirty more of that rectangle on top of that first one.
Minna: [laughs]
Kris: And this is where you live.
Josie: Perfect. Depressing. [laughs]
Kris: A real plain, [laughs] It’s a real plain— it was a built a while ago. It’s not in like, the— it’s not fancy. It’s nobody’s fancy. But it’s— it is a roof over a head, and that is a thing that a person needs.
Josie: Totally. And on the ground floor, those walls are slightly different than the floors above, but not much. This is all very prefab. And you’re heading towards the landlord office when Jade emerges from it. Jade Alexander, your neighbor. And it looks like she’s been just sort of crying, a little bit.
Kris: Oh jeez.
Josie: She doesn’t really let it out much, but she looks very upset.
[bassy music plays]
Josie: Also what does Jade look like?
Kris: I picture Jade like, she’s black, she has like, dark brown skin. It’s just… real small. Real petite. Is little. And has like, a lot of curly hair, very round face, is again, usually smiling, so when she’s not smiling it’s noticeable.
Josie: She starts a bit as Remy appears. Mostly out of surprise, although there always is that little bit— because a little before the start of this story, she got a hint as to what Remy is when Remy helped out her child during a blackout.
Kris: I actually had a slight change to what happened there. Like, still a blackout and still Jade’s son. They all was like, having a bad time about it, but I think this time— because I changed up my Lore dots. So I now have one in Celestials and one in Fundament, so I think instead of like, glowing, Remy just started like singing a song to try to like, calm him down from this panic and like, lead him out of that fear. Which I think worked on Isaiah. But because Jade was not super afraid, Jade just got like, these wild visions that were just like invoked by this song of like, here’s a song, like, I don’t know, some kind of travelling song that Remy as Orea would like, sing when they were just being a demon wandering all over the place. And Jade was like, ‘Hey, what did any of that mean?’
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: [giggles]
Josie: That’s sick. I love this change. Let’s roll with it. So, you can kind of see that there’s always a little bit of that flashes in front of her eyes when she looks at you. It’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Kris: Yeah.
Josie: But it was a very impactful thing. And she says,
Josie (as Jade): Oh, uh… hey, Remy. Are you looking for an extension too?
Kris (as Remy): A… an extension on what?
Josie (as Jade): Rent. There’s… there was some fuckup with some paycheck and I just need a couple extra days.
Kris (as Remy): Oh. Um. Well, I— I wasn’t, unless they’ve increased it. But, I mean, I guess I can ask about— are you— do you need a hand? I— I don’t have a ton, but I can probably help, at least for now.
Josie (as Jade): No, listen, don’t worry about it. Y— you… you do enough anyway. It’s fine. Just… I don’t know. Don’t expect much in there.
Kris (as Remy): If I expected much, I probably wouldn’t live here.
Josie (as Jade): [laughs]
Kris (as Remy): [laughs] You sure I don’t need to get mad at somebody for you, though?
Josie (as Jade): I don’t think you need to. It would make me feel better though.
Kris (as Remy): [laughs] Alright, I’ll see what I can do.
Josie (as Jade): Just don’t go all…
Josie: She waves her fingers a little bit and tries to indicate, like, wings or whatever.
Josie (as Jade): Just don’t go all…
Kris (as Remy): No promises. Depends on what they say. But, yeah, I got some questions too. You good otherwise?
Josie: She looked a little bit scared at that.
Kris: [laughs]
Josie: Says,
Josie (as Jade): No, I gotta go get back up. Isaiah’s Spongebob’s almost over.
Kris (as Remy): Oh yeah, say hello to my best friend for me. Thank you.
Josie (as Jade): No problem.
Josie: And she’ll head back upstairs. And I take it you head into the landlord’s office?
Kris: I sure would like to. I’m gonna walk in. I think Remy keeps a… one of those like, light blazers don’t need to dry clean or iron, like, it doesn’t wrinkle easy. So they just kinda like shake it out and put it on so that they look slightly more, ‘I am a professional adult person and not just wearing a beat-up t-shirt that was probably also my pajamas, don’t worry about it.’
Josie: [laughs]
Kris: Walks into this office like, better posture, very like, ‘I need things from someone and that’s gonna be you today, unfortunately,’ kind of expression on their face. And walk right up to whoever is working in there.
Josie: What are you trying to find out and what’s your approach?
Kris: Uh, I think Remy is trying to find out— yeah, that’s why I wasn’t sure how well it would work coming from here, but I was hoping that like, well, if I know you and you have access to the system, made you can look, but is trying to find out, like, what is the deal with that other building. Like, why is it being— why was it bought, why was it bought and closed up so fast, like, what were the circumstances around its, like, acquisition or whatever? That’s a business word. Probably the approach here is like, yeah, trying to seem friendly and personable in a, like, ‘You kinda wanna tell me this,’ kinda way. Like, you know, you don’t like working for this place either. You work here cause it’s your job. It’s not like— I don’t know how passionate you are about real estate development, but is probably betting, like, I don’t know that you have a particular stake in this company and this business other than it provides you with a paycheck, so why not tell me? Let’s be friends, tell me.
Josie: Sure.
Kris: So, I wanted to ask about using Lores. Do you have to roll a different Name to use a Lore? Or when you use Lore effects?
Josie: Yes. You do. There’s actually two different Names for Lores. There’s your Fallen Epithet, which is your great and terrible name after you fell. And that’s when you try to use Lores in a hostile or destructive or morally dubious manner. And then there’s your Angelic Epithet, which describes the angel you were before. And that’s when you wanna use Lores to like, create, or heal, or support. Or do something that’s not aggressive or invasive.
Kris: Mm hmm. So, I have two dots in the Lore of Celestials, which is described as, at two you can inspire hope or dread in people and enhance or hinder their abilities and stuff like that. So, I was wondering if I could sort of like put on a slight— like, there’s a weird effect to Remy’s voice that is just like, ‘Yeah, you are the most compelling— you are my pal.’ Like, it’s not like I’m changing your memories to where you think we’ve been friends our whole lives, but it is sort of just like, yeah, I don’t know, there’s just something about you, like I can just— you have good vibes. I can trust that. Yeah.’
Josie: Sure. In that case, I would say that’s your Angelic Epithet.
Kris: Huzzah. Yes, Remy’s Angelic Epithet is The Possessed Incandescent. So, it is just like, Remy— like, I think it is really just like, Remy puts on this jacket and sorta like, rolls their shoulders and then walks into the room and literally just like lights up the room with their presence. It’s just like, they smile and like, before even like, you know, clearing their throat to get this person’s attention or whatever, this person turns like, cause it’s like, ‘Oh my god, somebody’s here.’
Josie: [laughs] Perfect.
Kris: Okay, so Angelic Epithet. That’s one die. What would a Devil’s Bargain here be?
Josie: A Devil’s Bargain would be someone higher up in the company will know you came around asking.
Kris: Oh, that’s fun. I’ll take that.
Josie: Okey dokey.
Kris: This was risky, standard… I’ll take that as a die, cause I have fears.
Josie: [laughs]
Kris: I’m a nervous person. Hey, there’s two 5s.
Josie: Two 5s. That’s pretty good. Regardless of whether you’ve been nice to the landlord before, you come in and you’re aglow. Once upon a time, you were The Possessed incandescent. You gave humanity, in times of old, the ability to take flight with them. You’re of what are now called devils but used to be called Namaru, the First House, the order of Angels closer to God. So, light and presence and leadership and command is literally what you are made of. And you charm this guy.
[low, chilled music plays]
You’ve seen him around a few times before. Who’s in the office changes out pretty frequently, it’s not always the landlord himself. But right now, he’s an older, balding white gentleman in a button-up, looking honestly more professional than the place he inhabits needs to look. He’s kind of a pretentious asshole who thinks he’s a really good landlord. But yeah, you chat with him a bit and he’s charmed by the fact that, oh, somebody’s showing me proper respect. Cause he’s that sort of person.
Kris: I’m also meeting him with this blazer. We’re gonna complain about the thermostat, it’s— yeah. [laughs]
Josie: [laughs] You kind of work your way around him and find out that Lyons Real Estate had sent a bunch of notices to their properties about potential renovations regarding the foundation. But as far as he knows, there wasn’t any, like, codes or anything updated that would necessitate that. And they seemed more anal than usual in collecting their take of the revenue. Perhaps somewhat implying that it was looser before, which typically means they’re funding some sort of project. Potentially related to the building foundations?
Kris: Mm hmm.
Josie: So, this all kind of implies that they’re probably going to be doing that to the music venue as well. They got really anal collecting the revenue, apparently bought out the venue and are planning to renovate at the venue. But it’s weird, like, why are they buying up new properties when they’re renovating the old ones? It’s all very weird and it gives the impression that they wanted to get under the venue for some reason.
Kris: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that’s very strange. You know, there’s some jokes about, ‘Oh, I don’t need to be worried about structural instability because this is not earthquake country, ha ha ha, anyway.’
Josie: Yeah. [laughs]
Kris (as Remy): Yeah, um, but alright. Thank you very much, you know? For answering my questions, assuaging those concerns. You have a, you have a great day.
Kris: A handshake.
Josie: He gives a very firm, formal handshake. He’s very much the sort of person who makes a big point of teaching his kids the proper way to shake.
Kris: Uh huh.
Josie: [laughs] Let’s jump over to Luz. What’s Luz doing with the rest of the day?
Fabby: I think uh, she’s gonna go to visit her aunt and uncle who live near here in Little Havana.
Josie: Oh, yay. Just spending some time with them?
Fabby: Yeah, until it’s— she doesn’t feel like going back into her studio slash apartment, so she’s gonna go hang out with them, maybe play chess, maybe have like— an early dinner, before heading over to, to the breaking and entering with the demons. With the demon squad. Hashtag demon squad goals.
Josie: Perfect. And they’re happy to see you. And—
Fabby: Yeah, I think I visit them like, once a week at least. Whenever I get the chance.
[upbeat music plays]
Josie: Sure. Yeah, that makes sense. Have you spent any Faith yet?
Fabby: Yes. I spent two Faith.
Josie: Go ahead and gain one back. Because you’re just taking time to do something enriching and you play a couple games of chess with your uncle.
Fabby: Yeah.
Josie: I think he beats you the first time, you beat him the second.
Fabby (as Luz): Aw Theo, you know you let me that second time.
Josie (as Theo): Well yeah, obviously. I let you win that second time.
Fabby (as Luz): You can’t do that! I need you— I need to earn these wins.
Josie (as Theo): You’re right, I need to cultivate your skills. I just have a big heart like that, Luz. [laughs]
Fabby (as Luz): Uh huh, uh huh. Set up the board. I’ll do white this time.
Josie: [laughs] So you have that little bit of a moment. And let’s jump over to Julia. Uh, what’s Julia doing with her time?
Minna: I think it’s a lot of like, helping to spread the word about the new venue. Just to kinda get that set up. Like, she doesn’t know that she’s gonna be able to make it now, but like, at least they can salvage this show. And in that case it’ll keep Jen busy while they’re doing this.
Josie: [laughs] Give me a Human Name roll. And this seems like the perfect one to invoke your Indie Music Influence.
Minna: Yeah, I wanna gonna say. How do I invoke the Influence again?
Josie: You just say you’re invoking it and you gain an extra die.
Minna: That’s awesome, because I have no dice in Human Name. 4.
Josie: 4. So yeah, you kinda get the word out. You’re able to print off some makeshift posters and hit up a couple of the other scenes, spread it around, post online a little bit. You don’t know how effective it’s gonna be until you get there, but you do it and you get a lot done.
Minna: Yay.
Josie: And we’ll see how that shakes out later.
[slow rock music plays and fades out]
##Midroll [01.08.12]
Josie: Hi everyone. Welcome to the first Demon: Love and Hellfire midroll. I don’t know if I’m gonna keep doing these. I wanted to put this little bit in to say welcome to the show and if by now you’re a little confused, like, ‘”What the Hell’s a demon? What’s this past they keep talking about? What is House?” Don’t worry. The same day this goes up we’ll also be releasing a sort of Meet the Characters episode where the concepts of Demon: The Fallen get a little more explained and the players go over what their characters are about. I wanted to jump right into the action for episode one rather than bogging people down, and I do think it’s more fun if you finish this episode first and then fill in the gaps, but hey, I can’t tell you what to do. Also, this episode is longer than future episodes will be, for the most part. I didn’t wanna break it in two and leave people hanging on the very first episode, and it takes a little bit to ramp up to the action. Future episodes will probably be about half as long as this, so if you’re looking at the timecode like, ‘Whoa, this is gonna be a really long podcast’, no, it’s gonna be about the same length as City That Never Dies, but this first episode is an extra bonus length.
As far as mechanics go, it functions very similarly to Blades in the Dark, so if you know that game, you’ll know roughly what’s going on here. But I’ve obviously hacked it to represent the feel the Demon: The Fallen a lot better. The biggest changes will be explained in-episode, which is more mechanics talk than we normally do on Clever Corvids, but I don’t want people to be lost in that regard. Basically, this ruleset came about after I played Demon: The Fallen and I really loved the atmosphere and the premise and everything, but the old World of Darkness ruleset pissed me off so much I locked myself in my room for a weekend and came out with most of this hack. I will be posting links to it for free on the website eventually. The system is somewhat sparse, as I only really spelled out what I changed, and it’s mostly just to facilitate this story. I don’t have any intention of publishing this thing or anything like that, but if you wanna use it for your own games, absolutely go ahead. I kinda love Demon in that way that you can only love World of Darkness games even though they’re kind of… eh, and need a little work. [laughs]
We’re in it for the long haul with Love and Hellfire. I’ve got things planned out to be about three 20-something episode seasons, and we’ve got the first season covered financially. I’m kind of treating the format like a TV show, but for further seasons we might need to fundraise to keep things going, so if you wanna help support that, subscribe to the Clever Corvids Patreon, and keep a lookout for a Kickstarter a little ways into Season One. I might keep doing midrolls, might not. I could put sponsorships and featured charities here, I don’t know. Either way, stick around to the end of each episode for show notes and credits, and bloopers at the very, very end. Also near the end there will sometimes be stingers cutting away to various other characters, and the players don’t know about those yet, it’ll be a surprise.
Just in case you didn’t know, this podcast is hosted by Clever Corvids productions, which also has another ongoing show, The City That Never Dies, which is Blades in the Dark in a roaring 20s type setting. Minna and I are on that one with Aki, Kim and Rhi. And also check out our completed podcast, The Magpies. Please rate and share all these podcasts with your friends. Every bit of sharing helps. And check out our website at CleverCorvids.net for character portraits and supplemental stuff like the ruleset, or maps for City That Never Dies, stuff like that. I’ll admit this is the first podcast I’m running, so all of this is experimental to me and things might change. But I also have a couple other projects coming down the pipe once this show gets off the ground, so I hope you enjoy.
I’m doing the featured charity this month, so that makes it convenient. And this month’s featured charity is Fund Texas Choice. Fund Texas Choice is a non-profit organization dedicated to getting travel and funds for that travel to Texans seeking abortions, even going so far as to help them travel out of state. If you’re listening to this, we just did a whole big livestream to raise money for Fund Texas Choice, but that doesn’t mean you can’t donate. And especially in the coming times, fuck SCOTUS, lots of people in lots of places are gonna need this help. Everyone who can get abortions is entitled to them for any reason. And fuck anyone who tells you otherwise. And we at Clever Corvids believe strongly in affordable healthcare for all, of any sort.
Now, let’s get back to the episode.
##Story continues [01.13.00]
[chilled rock music fades up]
Josie: Is there anything you wanna prep with before tonight?
Kris: I think Remy probably texts uh, uh, Julia and Luz like,
Kris (as Remy via text): I don’t know if shovels are a thing anyone has access to, but it seems like Lyons is trying to get underneath buildings, or at least access to the foundations of those buildings, so… I don’t really know how we do that. There’s not a lot of basements in Miami so… shrug emoji, but something to keep in mind.
Minna: Sorry, what were you trying to do?
Kris: Let everyone know that Lyons seems to be wanting to get to the foundations or underneath buildings, so if anybody has shovels, maybe bring one. I don’t know. [laughs]
Minna: I definitely have— I almost certainly have access to multiple shovels. [laughs]
Kris: Oh right! Landscaper! Oh, I forgot! Oh, that’s fantastic. Excellent, good, perfect.
Minna: [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: So yeah, she’ll bring stuff along with her when they meet up.
Kris: Incredible.
Josie: Perfect. So, I think let’s go to tonight.
[suspenseful electronic music plays]
Josie: We have a typical colorful Miami sunset, and downtown and Miami beach in the distance light up, and some of the neighborhoods of the city come alive at night with lots of neon and pastels. Little Havana doesn’t really die at night either, but it’s a little calmer, especially on this side of where the venue is, where it would normally be a lot more active, but isn’t tonight. It’s actually a little bit eerie, Julia, because you’ve been here so many times before and are used to having at least one scene of nightlife here, but now it’s just not much.
Minna (as Julia): There’s usually more energy here at night. Especially on a Saturday.
Josie: Definitely. And the three of you meet up near the building. And distinctly, you can hear a thumping from inside if you’re anywhere near the door. It’s like— it doesn’t sound like glass shattering, but it is kind of a shrill cracking noise. Indeed, Luz, you recognize it as the cracking noise from your vision.
Fabby: Oh, no.
Josie: When it cracked. It’s this shrill thud, thud-shatter, thud-shatter. It’s faint, because you’re outside the building, but its hefty. Which indicates they’re doing some sort of construction in there, maybe? Why are they doing it this late at night? What the hell?
Fabby: Mm.
Josie: So, what’s the three of y’all’s plan?
Minna (as Julia): Does anybody know how to quietly break into a building?
Josie: [laughs]
Minna (as Julia): I mean, I have ideas, but if anybody has experience.
Kris: Do we know if there are any other ways in, other than this main door?
Josie: Yeah. There’s a visible back entrance with one of those slide-up doors. I don’t know what they’re called, but those metal slide-up doors. That was probably used for loading in the cannery days, but is probably now used to get equipment in and out.
Kris: I mean, does anybody have an issue with breaking it, or is it that we’re trying to be sneaky?
Minna: I don’t really have an issue with breaking it.
Fabby: Yeah, me neither.
Minna: If we can’t think of any other ways to break it, I could probably use plants to break it.
Kris: Ooh. That does sound dope.
Minna: Is it locked? Like, if I check, will it be locked?
Josie: Yes, it is indeed locked. Probably locked from the inside.
Kris: I mean, I have a way in that is, I mean, potentially just like the Lore of Fundament I think lets you… yeah, enhance your physical capabilities. It’s just like, I will be very strong for a minute and just—
Minna: Oh. Yeah, Hulk out.
Kris: Break open the door, try to crack the lock, that’s—[laughs] that’s cool.
[bassy music plays]
Josie: Sure.
Kris: Yeah. I’ll literally break and enter.
Josie: Yeah. That’s gonna be your Fallen Epithet, cause you’re using your Lores to be fuck something up. What is you Fallen Epithet, by the way?
Kris: Remy’s Fallen Epithet is The Wandering Lighthouse. I may or may not have led some people into some places they didn’t necessarily want to be. It’s fine.
Josie: Everything’s fine.
Kris: Everything’s fine.
Josie: [laughs] So, give me that roll.
Kris: Okay. So it says in order to use a Lore effect you spend one Faith?
Josie: Yes.
Kris: Okay. So I should have done that— I should have done that for the thing before too then, yeah?
Josie: Mm hmm.
Kris: Okay. Alright, so I’m at two now. Two Faith spent. And then I roll one die. Okay…
Josie: This is definitely risky. Risky, standard.
Kris: Okey doke. One dice. [rolls] That’s a 2! It’s bad.
Josie: [laughs] Yeah, that’s unfortunate.
Kris: It’s not good, certainly.
Josie: How does Remy fail at this? Do you think it’s more you’re out of practice and not used to calling upon the energy of the Fundament?
Kris: Yeah, it— it could just be then that like, Remy is not used to— increases strength but then like, not quite enough. So it just like, instead of like pulling up the door, just rips off this handle and it’s like, ‘Well.’
Josie: Yeah. The body you’re inhabiting is not a celestial warrior of ages old, so it takes a little bit to sync up.
Kris: Mm hmm. It’s only got two arms, like, what am I supposed to do with this?
Josie: Yeah. You feel like you could do it, but things just don’t quite sync up because you haven’t been doing a lot of— you haven’t been calling on the Fundamental Lore of the universe lately.
Kris: The lesson here is we need to do more breaking and entering, as practice.
Josie: 100%. Be gay, do crimes.
Kris: Mm hmm. Yeah. Might just rip off the handle and then just kinda like, holding it, looks at the others like:
Kris (as Remy): Anybody got a plan B?
Minna (as Julia): I can try and strongarm it with the plants.
Fabby: Hey, I assume you would tell me, Josie, but is there any illusions here?
Kris: Ooh.
Josie: Are there any illusions here. Right.
Fabby: I have Eye of the Morning Star. I can recognize all illusions as false.
Kris: Yo!
Fabby: I don’t see through them, but I can know that they’re illusions.
Josie: There’s no visual illusions in front of you. You do get the sense that peoples perceptions were altered here recently. You get the sense someone used a Lore in that vein here recently.
Kris: Ooh.
Fabby: Okay. I let everyone else know that there’s— there was some illusions cast here recently, can’t be more specific. And this move also lets me get one dice on rolls to locate hidden creatures or track down specific people. I assume it wouldn’t let me— give me a die in like, finding an entrance here or something?
Josie: Not so much. You would need to know who you were tracking down, or there would have to be people hidden near you.
Fabby: Have we tried knocking the door down yet?
Minna: I can try that, yes,
Kris: Hell yeah.
[tuneful guitar music strikes up]
Minna: So I am going to be attempting to use Lore of the Wild here, right?
Josie: Yep. That’s the plant one. You have two in Wild.
Minna: Which is perfect, because it’s the number two one that I have to use. Animate plants to do your bidding.
Josie: Perfect.
Kris: Sick.
Josie: And you also have the Armageddon ability as a Ravener.
Minna: Which means my effect will be increased.
Kris: [laughs excitedly]
Josie: Definitely. So, it’s gonna be risky, increased effect. And it’s gonna be using your Fallen Epithet, because you’re being destructive with your Lores. What is your Fallen Epithet, by the way?
Minna: My Fallen Epithet is Green Riot, fittingly.
Kris: Good.
Josie: That’s so fucking sick.
Minna: So, rolling with my Fallen Epithet, that’s still only one die…
Kris: We can help, right?
Josie: You sure can. If you can describe how.
Kris: I may have made things worse by pulling off the door handle [laughs] otherwise I could help with trying to loosen it. Can I loosen the lid on the jar?
Josie: Sure, why not. Spend a Faith to give Julia another die.
Kris: Huzzah. Spent.
Minna: That’s a 6.
Kris: Yo!
Josie: Nice.
Kris: Very good time for a 6.
[music transitions to low and suspenseful]
Josie: What does this look like, Julia? How do you summon plants in the midst of Miami to rip this back door open?
Minna: Well, I would suggest that the plants that I summon are the ones that are currently sticking out of the cracks in the pavement.
Kris: Yes!
Minna: [laughs] Then they make— they grow and grow and make more cracks, including underneath the door.
Josie: Excellent. The pavement starts cracking. You feel the slight shaking of the ground as you reconnect to those wild places in the world that you were made to protect. And they come to your aid and slowly weave their way out of the cracks and wrap around the bottom of the steel door, which begins to crinkle a little bit as more and more just squeezes and twists it.
[music swells with electric guitar riff]
Josie: And eventually starts rising up. And it gets about halfway, which is more than enough for a person to get in, before they slowly, almost like snakes, slither back into the new cracks in the pavement, which are now kind of choked and overflowing with this.
Minna: [laughs]
Josie: And you got a 6, which means the sound of pavement cracking isn’t unusual to the people inside, because that’s what they’re doing. So, I think you are basically able to do this without drawing attention.
[music ends]
Josie: And this door does open to a small backstage area. There’s a couple very— not dirty, but old couches that have been here since forever, and there’s posters and graffiti on the walls that have probably been here since the 80s. That sort of thing. And all sorts of patches and band logos from various eras. And it’s dark in here. And abandoned. You’re used to being back here with your friends and Jen and it being light and warm and still buzzing in the afterglow of a show, and weed smoke gathering up around the ceiling. But there’s a hallway that leads out into the rest of the venue as well.
Minna: Mm hmm. Think I’m gonna light the flashlight on my phone and take that hallway. [laughs] She does that like, duck under the doorway to get in there and then, yeah.
[intense, mysterious electronic music fades up]
Josie: And as you get in, the cracking sound gets louder and louder. And you can hear several voices talking, two of them kinda sound like they’re just shooting the shit, and one says:
Josie (as Voice): You know, you could fuckin’ help, you know. You’ve got arms under that fuckin’ suit.
Josie: And you hear just a:
Josie (as Second Voice): Eh.
Josie: In response. The three of you can see down the dark hallway and into the main venue room, which doesn’t have a lot in it. It has a small sound both in the back, the walls are marked and tagged and graffitied and muraled to hell. It’s all very colorful and again is just years and years of indie and punk history cast up on the walls. What few coverings the floor had have been rolled back to exposed concrete, and it’s mostly just flat and open up to the small stage, because people mosh.
In the center of the floor, it has just been cracked open. There’s a sort of thirty-something, vaguely muscular white guy with a sledgehammer. He doesn’t look like an official construction worker. Up to his waist in a pit that has just been broken into the concrete. Apparently they’ve been at this a long time, probably all day, because it’s a decently wide hole, if not super deep. But this is not a professional job in the least. And he’s cracking away at it, working to expose something with the sledgehammer. There’s also two similar men. One’s a lot younger and one’s about the same age. The younger one has a baseball cap on, but the younger one clearly has a pistol at his hip, and the older one has a padded vest and rifle in his hand. They don’t look super vigilant, but they’re super weird to be here.
And the final figure in the back, sort of sitting sideways across the sound booth, just not a care in the world, absent-mindedly scrolling through their phone, is a very thin, young-looking white guy. He’s in a well-pressed suit that honestly looks slightly big on him. Not that he looks like a kid, just like, he wears it loose. The best way I can describe how he looks is ‘Gaslight, gatekeep, twinkboss.’
Minna: [laughs]
Josie: I guess? And he’s apparently the one who said, “Eh,” in response to the hammer guy’s complaint that he’s not getting help. You all were able to enter silently. What do you do?
Kris (as Remy): Hmm. Wasn’t exactly expecting any of this, but it does look like they’re trying to get under the floor, so that scans. Whatever they’re trying to do. Do either of you recognize any of these people?
Fabby: Do I?
Josie: I mean, if you want to try—
Fabby: Human Name?
Josie: Depends on how you wanna do it.
Fabby: I guess Human Name, because that would be me if I know this from art stuff, if I know them from the queer community, if I know them from the neighborhood…
Josie: Roll Human Name. Those influences do not apply on this.
Fabby: Yeah. That’s valid. My Human Name is two… oh, a 5 and a 6.
Kris: Hey!
Josie: Perfect. You don’t recognize any of them specifically.
Fabby: Okay.
Josie: But the three guys not in a suit are… they’re gun nuts, basically. These are like, ex-security guards and ex-cops who are here because they have guns and willing to take pay and willing to do shit that is far from legal. They don’t seem especially special, like, they have some training, but they’re not like— they don’t seem ex-military, they’re not fit or disciplined enough for that. But that’s who these three guys are. So what’s going on here is definitely super duper illegal and probably not good. The guy in the suit— you got a 6. You’ve seen him on Lyons Real Estate stuff before. Signs posted around town when a new building happens. Sometimes it’s like, ‘Here’s the agent doing this property’, you know, that sort of thing.
Minna: [laughs] We’ve seen his face on a bench by a bus stop.
Josie: [laughs] Definitely, yeah, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. So, we’ve got an employee of Lyons Real Estate and three gun nuts in the room.
Fabby: Mm hmm. I relay this information, like, hey, these are like— not even private security, but just people with guns that will like, do jobs for people and then that dude is from the posters. The real estate stuff.
[music ends]
Fabby (as Luz): I have no idea what’s happening here.
Kris (as Remy): Yeah, if he’s from Lyons, it’s not like we can call their offices and say, ‘Hey, did you know that one of your guys is breaking the floor open in a place?’ I sure would like them to stop though.
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah. I wish I could, like, read his mind or figure out why they’re doing this.
Josie: There’s a thought.
Fabby: Uh, me furiously looking at what my longings and storms do.
Kris: Yeah. [laughs]
Josie: It’s okay, take your time. [laughs]
Minna: Lores, Lores, Lores.
Kris: I could try to scare people into telling us what they’re doing, but…
Fabby: I could do something with Lore of Longing, I think… I have two in Lore of Longing, and that gives me enhance or dampen emotions, physical sensations, cause others to look at you like a friend or someone that belongs here—
Kris: Oh, that’s so good.
Fabby: Or you can similarly cause revulsion or cause yourself to move unnoticed by others.
Kris: Ooh.
Josie: I think as you all are pondering what to do, the guy in the hole has gotten a little bit deeper and says:
[electronic music resumes]
Josie (as Hammer Guy): Hey boss, is this it?
Josie: And the guy in the suit kinda stretches his neck so he can look into the pit, and he gets a big smile on his face.
Kris: I don’t like that. People in suits aren’t allowed to smile. This is not good.
Fabby: Who can I even become? What would my excuse be to be someone that belongs here that makes sense?
Josie: You can come up with an excuse.
Fabby: Yeah.
Josie: But you could also not have anything in particular and just not draw attention to the fact that you’re not usually here.
Fabby: Does this like, apply to me, or can I like, make them all disgusted at what they’re looking at?
Kris: [excited laugh]
Fabby: Cause revulsion that way?
Josie: I kinda like that. If you wanna do that, I’ll let you roll for it.
Fabby: Yeah. So, this is a— do I want to get more info or— I guess we can do both, right?
Kris: If you wanna get the info, I can try to get them away from there, cause I’ve got a thing that can inspire dread in people. I can scare them away.
Fabby: Okay. Then Josie, what do I do so I can be someone that they look at like a friend or belongs here?
Josie: You spend a Faith. I think this will be your Angelic Epithet, cause you’re not doing anything hostile, you’re being a friend.
Fabby: Yeah. So, first and foremost, I’m gonna push myself to make that a one dice. What would a Devil’s Bargain look like?
Josie: If you go out there, you’re gonna get wrapped up in conversation or hostility, depending on how the roll goes, and won’t be able to get back here.
Fabby: Yeah, that’s fine. We can always meet somewhere else.
Kris: Sure.
Fabby: Okay, so two dice. That’s a 3.
Kris: [groans]
Josie: [sucks air through teeth] So. You try to tug on the threads of Longing that are your domain as a Defiler, a former angel of the Fifth House. But these are people very outside your experience and you’re not sure what they would want, what would get into their head. So, you just kind of reach and grab what you find, and once you get a little ways out there it’s clear that it didn’t work, because the two guys with guns point them both at you, immediately.
[music stops abruptly]
Fabby (as Luz): Hi… I was told to come in and discuss a mural?
Kris: [laughs]
Josie: Nice recovery. I will say you are in a desperate situation.
Fabby: Uh huh.
[funky music strikes up]
Josie: So this roll is gonna be desperate, reduced effect for this bluff. But if you want to, you can roll your Human Name about it. [laughs]
Fabby: Yeah, and can I push myself again?
Josie: You sure can.
Fabby: Then I will improve my effect.
Josie: So, it’s desperate, standard.
Fabby: Can I get a third die because of Painting? I’m like covered in paint, I look like a painter, I probably have like, paint on the back of my ears.
Josie: You know what? Fuckin’ sure.
Kris: [laughs]
Josie: Get another one.
Fabby: Yeah!
Josie: And since it’s a desperate action, mark XP in your Name XP track.
Fabby: Here we go, three dice. That’s a 4.
Josie: 4. At standard effect. So you do it, but there’s a consequence. And I think it’s they buy it, but that doesn’t give you an out. But you’re not gonna get shot. [laughs] They immediately point guns at you and one of them almost reflexively goes to say, ‘Get on the ground,’ but the guy in the suit waves him off and says:
Josie (as Suit Guy): I’m sorry, who the hell are you?
Fabby (as Luz): Hi, um, I’m Luz Fernandez. I’m a local artist. I had a show, I have shows all the time, I had a show yesterday at ‘gallery name here’…
Kris: [snorts]
Fabby (as Luz): The owner had contacted me a couple months ago to come in today— well, to make a mural and I was gonna come in today, look at the wall and discuss in more detail. But I hadn’t heard anything from them? So I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll just come in anyways’. So… I assume I’m missing something? Something happened here?
Josie: He runs his palm past his temple in exasperation, because this is just not what he expected at all tonight, and says:
Josie (as Suit Guy): I’m sorry, do you make a habit of breaking through locked doors to get a mural done? Like, wh…
Fabby (as Luz): The door wasn’t locked.
Josie (as Suit Guy): Oh my God. Oh my God, idiots are all around me.
Kris: [laughs]
Fabby: She just waves her noodley arms like,
Minna: [laughs]
Fabby (as Luz): No, I just, I opened the door and… and here we are. Are you all remodeling?
Fabby: She says, looking at them in the hole.
Josie: He had pressed his hands to his face when he was like, ‘Idiots all around me’. But he takes a peek through them and you can feel the activation of a Lore of some sort.
Fabby: Hmm.
Josie: Do you want to resist it?
Fabby: Uh, yeah. Especially if I don’t know what it is.
Josie: Roll your Angelic Epithet, Miss Painter of Horizons at Sea.
Fabby: Oof… that’s a zero. What happens if I run out of Faith?
Josie: Nothing, you just can’t spend Faith anymore. [laughs]
Fabby: Okay, okay, it’s not a ‘you pass out’. Sure. I will push myself again.
Josie: For a resistance roll, you don’t actually push yourself or anything like that. You just roll and then your roll determines how much stress you take.
Fabby: Okay. So roll two, take the lowest. That’s a 4. So, I lose the two that I had just marked, right?
Josie: Yes. You lose the two that you just marked. So, you can tell he was trying to use some sort of Lore to peer into your heart. But the heart is kind of your deal, so you’re able to dodge around that. What are the other two of you doing?
Kris: Remy is trying to covertly, like, while Luz has been drawing everyone’s attention to her, Remy is like, getting good pictures of these people’s faces, because they’re pretty handy with a camera.
Josie: Sure. I’m gonna ask for a Human Name roll. You will get the pictures regardless. It’s a matter of remaining unnoticed.
Kris: Sure. Uh, can I get an extra die for my Photography influence?
Josie: You sure can.
Kris: Baller. So that gives me two dice. [shakes dice] What’s my position and effect here?
Josie: Risky, standard.
Kris: There’s a 6.
Josie: Yeah, 100%. You are ducked in the shadows of the hallway. Remy knows their way around a camera. They used to be a child star. You know your way around several generations of camera in fact, including phones.
Kris: Yeah. And I think the fact that like, Luz came from where we are means that when people are facing Luz, they are facing Julia and Remy, so like, they’re getting good angle of these people’s faces, for the purposes of knowing who they are.
Josie: Yeah, absolutely. You have these people on record.
Kris: Luz obviously felt like, ‘this person’s trying to do a Lores at me,’ do either of us get that vibe too, or is just like…?
Josie: I don’t know how to answer that. I gave it to Luz because it was being used on her. If you wanna have the thought of checking to see if this guy is supernatural, you can do that.
Kris: Luz did say that someone had been using like, illusion stuff, right? Hey, the Lore of the Celestials has— the first one says identify the creature types of those around you and detect the presence of others. Can we— can Remy try to like, identify this per— like, you know, face, name, you’re on bus stop posters or whatever but like, there’s something more there. Can they try to identify fully who this is?
Josie: You sure can. Although I do wanna give Minna a chance to act first.
Kris: Yeah, totally.
Minna: Well I think her first instinct is to start filming on her phone. And I think she’s gonna try and like, sneak closer, I guess?
Kris: Ooh. Would Julia know like, I don’t know, somewhere else in this venue from where she can get like a good vantage point?
Minna: Ooh. I wonder if there’s catwalks. Like, for the lights?
Kris: Ooh. oh, that’s dope.
Minna: Like, you know how theatres have that?
Josie: Yeah. You know what? It’s cooler if there is.
Kris: [laughs]
Josie: So I think there’s a catwalk around the upper, uh— there’s no actual second floor, it’s just two stories high, with the catwalk around the upper rim from the cannery day. The venue hangs lights off it. If you wanna try and get up there unseen, that’s perfect. That sounds like a Human Name plus Indie Music Influence.
Minna: So that’s a one die, but we’ll see how it goes.
Josie: And this is gonna be risky, greater.
Minna: Ooh, that’s a 2.
[sinister electronic music begins]
Kris: Aw…
Josie: [sucks in breath] Okay. So, I think there’s a side door not too far from you. And if you can just get there, you can get up there and get to the catwalk. But there’s just a little bit where you’re in the light. You get to the door and they don’t even seem to notice you right off the bat. But it’s shut and you don’t open it quite as quietly as you would have hoped, which draws the attention of the people in the room. The younger pistol guy wheels on you and says:
Josie (as Pistol Guy): Drop it.
Josie: You’re not holding anything, so he was just— he’s just on edge.
Kris: [snorts softly] God.
Josie: The guy in the suit talking to Luz says,
Josie (as Suit Guy): And I suppose you’re gonna tell me that that’s your… what? Art assistant?
Fabby (as Luz): No, I have no idea who that is.
Josie: [laughs]
Josie (as Suit Guy): Uh huh. Yeah. Both you, get these two against the wall. I need to take a good look at them before we do anything.
Fabby: I think she’s just gonna—
Fabby (as Luz): I— you do not need to touch me. I don’t know what’s happening here. I’ll look at the wall, sure. That’s what I came here to do, but— no one has explained to me what’s going on.
Josie (as Suit Guy): Good. Someone’s doing what I fuckin’ say tonight.
Josie: No one handles you as you go over to the wall.
Fabby: Cool.
Josie: Julia, the guy with the pistol is like, slowly inching closer to you.
Kris: I wanna try to identify them and then just like, you know. The Celestials Lore is about like, presence and, you know, that sort of like ‘be not afraid’ vibe. So I wanna just like, if possible, try to shut— like, stop them by saying a thing and calling out their boss guy in particular because, I mean, he’s clearly calling the shots. But I just dunno what to call him and I want it to be scary and intimidating for reasons that these gun nuts don’t fully understand.
Josie: Sure. Since you’re doing the intimidating tack, roll your Fallen Epithet.
Kris: Fallen Epithet. Wandering Lighthouse. I’m gonna spend a Faith to use the Celestial thing of like, inspiring dread in people. That’s one die. What’s a Devil’s Bargain look like here?
Josie: You are going to know him.
Kris: [groans]
Josie: And that’s gonna suck.
Kris: That’s awful.
Josie: [laughs]
Kris: [laughs] I’m gonna take—[laughs] Okay. Come on… there’s a 4.
[gentle, eerie music plays]
Josie: You are of the First House. In the days of serving the almighty, you commanded all the lesser angels. So you know their names. There was a time when every Namaru knew the names of every angel. So, you look past the vessel he’s wearing. You recognize an old friend of yours, of the same house as you. The vessel he’s wearing is named Ethan Lyons. But his Demonic Name is Pahalia, the Twister of Names. Pahalia was essentially a celestial record keeper. They organized the houses of angels, and you two worked closely in the times before. Even after the fall, when you were more on your own, they spent time with you in your isolated fortress, making sure everyone was there and taken care of and all the humans and fallen were kept track of in that day. You were the light that drew people in. He made sure the walls were safe.
Kris: Remy sees that, jumps or like— runs, out of wherever they’re hidden.
Kris (as Remy): [echoing, otherworldly] Pahalia!
Kris: Right, like says it— it just echoes through this room that’s pretty big and empty, right? So it just bounces off all the walls, it’s real loud. And then it’s like a second later, that memory hits of like, ‘Oh no, I know who that is. Oh, that’s bad.’ Like, the bad feeling of, ‘oh, this is not gonna go well,’ hits after. [laughs]
Josie: So, you did succeed, but there is a consequence.
Kris: Mm hmm?
Josie: The Devil’s Bargain was this guy was an old friend, but you immediately empty the space, your voice booming with all the authority of the First House, which scares the crap out of the humans in the room. And I think the guy with the pistol just reflexively fires.
Kris: Oh jeez.
Josie: So I don’t think the consequence is actually to you. I think it’s to Julia. Do you wanna resist this? Because this is gonna be level 2 harm.
Minna: Yeah. I wanna resist this. Because I think she was ready to fucking go.
Josie: This is a physical consequence, so you will resist it with your Fallen Epithet, the Green Riot.
Minna: That’s a 5, so I’ll only take one— or I’ll only subtract one Faith, right?
Josie: Mm hmm. And it gets reduced down to level 1 harm, say something like Grazed as the bullet scrapes your bicep and impacts on the wall behind you.
Minna: Mm hmm.
Josie: And this was all reflexive. The guy with the rifle is now against the wall, not too far from where Luz is, actually, rifle pointed at you. But he hasn’t fired. Pahalia looks startled for a moment and then smiles, a little softer this time.
Josie (as Pahalia): Orea. So you’re the one who’s bene sneaking around.
Kris (as Remy): Big words coming from you. What is this? And… take your— tell your whatever here to stop it with the guns. What are you doing?
Josie (as Pahalia): Not even… [chuckles] Not even any time to catch up, huh?
Kris (as Remy): Priorities.
Minna: I think Julia kind of snares and like, brandishes her shovel at the guy who tried to shoot her.
Josie: [laughs]
Fabby: Luz, like, slowly— I think she had her hands up. Slowly moves to be behind, uh…
Kris: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, Luz can— Remy can get between this fool and Luz.
Minna: [laughs]
Josie (as Pahalia): Priorities, priorities. As you can probably tell, that is my priority right now. Can be yours too, though.
Josie: He points down into the pit. Sledgehammer guy has dropped it and is in the middle of scrambling over the ledge of the hole. You can see that the concrete floor of the building has just been pounded right through into dirt. Exposed is like, a thick tree root. Julia, you can recognize that this tree root does not look healthy. This looks long-dead and kinda petrified. But embedded in it is like— it looks like a shard of glass, about half the size of your forearm.
Kris: Whoa.
[music turns triumphant]
Josie: It’s reflecting things in it, and it’s half-embedded in this root. And there’s kind of sap coming out from where it’s jabbed in, like blood from a wound. And the reflections in this piece of glass look familiar, like they’re from the old days. And Luz can see that reflected in it is the Tower of Babel from a distance, which that same twisting, organic architecture.
Kris: Ooh…
Josie: Pahalia continues:
Josie (as Pahalia): I need this to remake what we had.
Fabby: I think Luz just says:
Fabby (as Luz): Babel.
Josie: He points at Luz and nods and says:
Josie (as Pahalia): Yeah, pretty much.
Kris: [laughs] Yeah Remy just like, is startled and she’s like:
Kris (as Remy): Oh, that was… you said that so fast.
Fabby (as Luz): I was under someone important to the whole Tower of Babel thing and we haven’t seen them in a very long time.
Josie (as Pahalia): I mean, sure, but I’m done waiting for Lucifer to show up. Aren’t you? I know the generals are still around.
Fabby (as Luz): No.
Josie: The generals he’s referring to were the five Legions of demons that have now become the Factions. And Lucifer led the Crimson Legion, which I think most of you were a part of? Including Remy for a time.
Fabby: Yes.
Josie: But there were others.
Kris: So, I think Remy sort of like, looks over at Julia and sorta like, does the head nod of like, ‘You should come here because this tree doesn’t look like it’s having a good time, and I know you’re good with plants.’
Minna: Yeah, I think she’s gonna make a ‘I’m watching you’ gesture with the shovel at the guys with the guns. [laughs] And then like, step forward and kneel down by the tree root.
Minna (as Julia): Well, this is a shitty thing to do to a tree.
Josie (as Pahalia): Yeah. Kind of unfortunate. But hey. We found… we found a shard. We can build something form this. By the way, I take it these are your two friends right? Fuck, what were their names? I know one was Penumbra and you’re…
Minna: So I think she gives a smile that does not reach her eyes even a little bit, barely reaches her cheeks.
Minna (as Julia): Aigron.
Josie (as Pahalia): Okay, so I guess you got some scary people with you. That’s fine.
Minna: She rolls her eyes and like— I think she’s gonna try and like, force the shard out of the root.
Kris: Yeah.
Josie: Sure. I think you can shove it out just fine. Are you picking it up or just knocking it out?
Minna: Does this root go to anything? Like, what is it— where did it come from?
Josie: That’s a good question. It seems to lead under the building somewhere.
[music ends]
Minna: Like, it’s— is it a living root?
Josie: Looks pretty dead. Like I said, it’s almost calcified a little bit.
Minna: Mm hmm. I think she might, like, try and investigate it if she can.
Josie: Sure.
Minna: She is keeping hold of the shard, though. [laughs]
Josie: He winces a bit as you grab the shard.
Josie (as Pahalia): Hey, listen, I gotta take that back to my boss. We can build it together, but—
Minna (as Julia): I have absolutely no interest in resurrecting Babel.
Josie (as Pahalia): Yeah, I suppose you wouldn’t, would you?
Minna: I think she doesn’t even dignify that with a response. [laughs]
Fabby: I think Luz says in the background:
Fabby (as Luz): For what it’s worth, I would be open to it. But only if They were doing it. But since They arne’t here, no.
Josie: He turns back to Remy and says:
Josie (as Pahalia): Orea, really? The first time we see each other in millennia and… this?
Kris: Remy just kind of shrugs because I don’t know that they, like, have a really good memory of what happened before. So they’re just like:
Kris (as Remy): Eh… yeah, I guess… who’s this boss of yours? Don’t— please don’t tell me that Lyons Real Estate the company is trying to rebuild The Tower?
Josie (as Pahalia): It’s my company. So I use what I got.
Fabby (as Luz): Makes sense.
Josie (as Pahalia): But no, this isn’t—[laughs] I’m not doing a cosmic real estate scheme, Orae. I will admit you kinda caught me at a bad time, but I need to get this back to Abaddon.
[bell tolls over ominous music]
Minna: That means something dire, doesn’t it?
Josie: It does indeed mean something dire. Luz definitely wouldn’t remember this.
Fabby: Mm hmm.
Minna: Julia remembers a lot.
Josie: Luz isn’t gonna remember without a roll. Julia will remember. Remy, you can remember bits and pieces of this. The name is definitely familiar to you. Abaddon was the general of the Ebon Legion, which are now the Raveners, which is the Faction Julia is a part of.
Minna: [yelps]
Josie: Back in the day, they were the most aggressive Legion, and they didn’t care so much about humans. They were more about their freedom, their control. They were about killing God and them being free and that’s what mattered. Nowadays, the Raveners* are kind of— there’s a lot of shit built up in the world that needs to be torn down. Some of them are like, ‘Maybe we just need to start the fuck over with a new world.’ Julia has her own thoughts on the matter, there.
Minna: I feel like Julia’s kind of a fringe Ravener [laughs]
Josie: [laughs] Abaddon was the general, the archduke of that Legion.
Minna (as Julia): So you’re telling me you’re tearing down human buildings in service to this greater…
[music stops abruptly]
Josie (as Pahalia): I mean, I suppose. I’ve been— I’ve just been looking for this. And I’ve known it’s been buried a little while.
Fabby (as Luz): So that’s the plan? Find the shard, rebuild The Tower? In Miami?
Minna: How— how does the— how does the shard work?
Josie: Ah. This is a new concept to all of you.
Fabby: Luz is like, ‘Yeah sure. Shard, yeah, Demon shit? Yeah. Sure.’
Kris: [laughs]
Fabby: Yeah, this makes sense.
Josie: ‘I totally know what that is.’ [laughs]
Fabby: Yeah, totally know. Babel.
Minna: I think Julia’s looking at it critically, like:
Minna (as Julia): So, how are you gonna use this to rebuild a Tower?
Josie (as Pahalia): Well, we gotta find them all first.
Minna (as Julia): Oh, it’s collect them all and put them together?
Josie (as Pahalia): Yeah. Something like that.
[ominous music resumes]
Kris (as Remy): What happens if you leave here empty-handed?
Josie (as Pahalia): I’m not gonna leave here empty-handed, is the thing.
Kris (as Remy): Well I don’t know, she’s got the— she’s got the thing right now.
Josie (as Pahalia): Yeah, right now. But uh…
Fabby (as Luz): It is three demons against one and a bunch of humans.
Fabby: She says, like, she’s basically a human too, but she’s good at opposing. She’s like yeah, sure.
Josie: Speaking of the humans, the guy with the hammer has straight-up left, unless you deign to stop him.
Fabby: No, I don’t care.
Josie: Because he didn’t have a gun. The two guys with guns have kind of shuffled to the back of the room near each other. It seems like they know each other. They’re definitely saying to each other shit like, ‘What the fuck is going on?’
Kris: [laughs]
Josie: ‘Do we run or just mow them down?’
Minna: I think Julia raises her voice.
Josie: Roll me your Fallen Name. Or your Demon Name, rather.
Kris: Can I help with that?
Josie: You sure can.
Kris: Yeah, I think Orea is just gonna throw some like, extra loud menace on that.
Minna: That’s a 4.
Josie: You call out and Remy calls upon the power of the devils to amplify your voice and give it that slight tinge.
Minna (as Julia): [demonic] I would advise leaving if you wanna leave here in one piece.
Josie: They break and run out the back.
[music ends]
Josie: But you got a 4, so there’s a consequence here. I think the consequence is the shard suddenly gets searingly hot in your hand and you’re gonna drop it unless your resist this consequence.
Minna: Shit! Fuck.
Minna: I think she’s fine dropping it for now.
Josie: Okay. So, you suddenly feel this searing heat in your hand from the shard, and it seems undamaged, but the edge is glowing as it hits the ground. Pahalia has, without even lifting his arm really, has just sort of gestured with two of his fingers. And he is also a devil like Remy, so he also has power over fire.
Kris: Bah.
Fabby: I want to pull out a water bottle.
[upbeat music plays]
Josie: Okay.
Fabby: Open it— so I want to control the water using Storms. Yeah, I think I’m gonna do this sneakily. Open the water bottle and then, like, kinda pour it? But control it so it can go around the floor, wrap itself around one of— maybe like, under his feet, and then turn into ice.
Josie: Sure. Roll me your Fallen Epithet. This will be risky, standard.
Fabby: I’m just gonna use my last two Faith so I can have one dice. That’s a 5.
Kris: Hey.
Josie: Nice. So, I think the consequence here is this uses up all the water in your water bottle to do this.
Fabby: I’m good with that.
Josie: Your Fallen Epithet is The Woebegone Stray, so you’ve spent a lot of time on the fringe after the fall, and a lot of time with your memory suppressed, so you’re used to stealthy, minor use of something. The water slithers on the ground. As soon as the shard hits the floor, Ethan/Pahalia realizes that one of his feet is stuck. He seems disappointed.
Josie (as Pahalia): So, I guess that means we’re doing this.
Fabby (as Luz): I was— I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Fabby: She smiles.
[music ends]
Fabby (as Luz): We can just end it here. I’m sure you’ll have no trouble getting out of that and uh, we can take the shard and everyone goes their separate ways. Right?
Fabby: She like, turns a little bit too quickly to the other two, like, not saying it but basically like, ‘This is what we’re doing right? Right? Is this what we’re doing?’
Kris: Luz is fine with Tower of Babel but wants Lucifer there. Julia is like, ‘No Tower of Babel, please’. Just none. Remy is like, eh, the last time there was a Tower of Babel I ran away.
Kris (as Remy): So, I think it’s more votes for not doing whatever you’re doing than doing what you’re doing. So…
Minna: Also, this guy has pissed me off. [laughs]
Kris (as Remy): Yeah, also, like, you went about this in a really annoying way, unfortunately. Just on a personal level, you’re kind of a dick.
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah.
Minna: [laughs]
Fabby (as Luz): You don’t seem to respect or care about Lucifer so I— you’re not winning me over.
Josie: He shrugs like:
Josie (as Pahalia): Eh, Luciferans. What can you do.
Fabby (as Luz): Be stuck to the ground.
Kris (as Remy): Yeah, I think while he’s stuck because, yeah, he can do— they can do the fire stuff, then that might not last very long I think, so while they’re stuck, Remy’s gonna go over and pick up the shard. And if it burns then they’re just gonna take that. They don’t have the flame stuff. That’s just gonna be a thing. And she’s gonna be like:
Kris (as Remy): Well, you said there’s other pieces for you to collect. So, looks like you’re gonna busy with other things. This is really your biggest priority right now?
Josie (as Pahalia): Yeah, kinda. See, the thing about Abaddon is he kinda likes it a lot better when we succeed.
[heavy guitar music plays]
Josie: With that, I think he’s going to assume his apocalyptic form.
Kris: Ah!
Josie: So, an apocalyptic form is how you look as a demon. I think I have it down in the rules as consuming Faith, but I think I want it to be it’s you take a point of Torment to assume it. And his, the human visage just kind of melts away. And he’s mostly the same height and body type, but Pahalia kinda just looks like a marble statue but with no features for the face. All over him are inscribed names upon names upon names of demons and angels and other things in ancient tongues that can’t really work in the world anymore. They are just covered and covered and covered in this. With two marble wings behind him. He says, apparently from nowhere, it’s like, echoing from the marble:
Josie (as Pahalia): [demonic] Last chance. Come on. Let me take it back to Abaddon, you can come with, we can work this out. But I finally found it and I can’t let you take it.
Minna (as Julia): Are you gonna keep doing this? They’re all here.
Josie (as Pahalia): Most of them.
Kris (as Remy): Of all places, why?
Kris: Right? Remy is just like, why?
Josie: [laughs]
Kris: She’s so confused but like, I think now Remy’s looking at Julia and Luz like, I don’t know, what do you all wanna do? This thing is still just like, burning their hand, but they’re just like, eh.
Josie: Yeah. Take level 1 harm, Burnt.
Kris: Yeah, I will do that.
Minna (as Julia): You know. I don’t think I’m very inclined to play nice with you.
Josie (as Pahalia): That’s a shame. I really do like doing things the easy way.
Minna (as Julia): I can tell.
Josie (as Pahalia): Fine then.
Josie: And he’s going to look Julia right in the eyes and say:
Josie (as Pahalia): Make them drop it.
Josie: He points at Remy. And he’s using Lore of Celestials to command you. You can resist this consequence if you like.
Minna: I would love to. [laughs]
Josie: With your Angelic Epithet.
[music stops]
Minna: Oh, I have nothing in that. [laughs] That’s a 1. [laughs] I will spend five Faith on that.
Josie: Yep. So, you feel the force of the First House slam into you. And I imagine that’s not pleasant, because part of the reason for the rebellion was, ‘No more of that, please’.
Minna: I think the second she throws off that influence she will also erupt into her apocalyptic form. [laughs]
Josie: Excellent. Take a Torment. And what does your apocalyptic form look like?
[heavy rock music resumes]
Minna: So, Julia goes from like, someone— a somewhat standard, you know, human, to about twice her current height. Kind of— I think the way I described it before was a heron Cerberus. [laughs] With glimmering strings going in a thousand directions and none of the heads face directly towards you. It’s not clear how this all fits together. There are wings just kind of interspersed. How does this fit together, it doesn’t make sense to look at, but it sure as hell is intimidating.
Josie: Yeah, Jesus Christ, that’s terrifying. [laughs]
Minna: Yeah, it looks like— it looks like if you glued three great blue herons together.
Kris: Ugh.
Minna: But like, seven feet tall and also, um, Escher-like. [laughs]
Josie: Mm hmm. What do you wanna do with that?
Minna: Make him back the fuck down. [laughs] We are two birds fluffing up our feathers at each other.
Josie: Demon Name, please.
Minna: What does a Devil’s Bargain look like?
Josie: His fear response, he’ll immediately lash out with fire. You’ll take level 2 harm, Burned.
Minna: Worth it. [laughs] That’s a 4.
Josie: He clearly has a lot of confidence in his position as a devil. He’s not expecting you to be as utterly horrifying as you are. His marble form immediately flinches back and sweeps out with an arm, which drags fire behind it, which singe at your, I imagine, many varied and ever-changing number of wings, it sounds like?
Minna: [laughs]
Kris: [laughs]
Josie: [laughs] So, your essence is singed, but that doesn’t reduce your glory in any respect.
Minna: All three heron faces hiss. [laughs]
Josie: Mm… yeah, don’t like that.
Minna: [laughs loudly]
Josie: So, I think other people are gonna have increased effect at him. I think the consequence, which I think you can see through many heads, is the younger dude with the pistol. He’s kinda peeking back around in the hallway he fled down. He seems to think that there’s— there’s something he needs to do here.
Kris: Oh no.
Josie: He’s immediately regretting that decision. [laughs] Based on what he sees. But he’s there.
Kris: Remy’s trying to make sure Luz is okay, like:
Kris (as Remy): Luz, are— are you good? How are you doing?
Kris: Cause this is a lot like— you know, Luz is sort of just like, ‘I know that there’s demons and stuff,’ but Remy doesn’t know how much Luz has like, seen this or knows about this. So it’s like, ‘How are you feeling? You ok?’ Checking in.
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah. Yeah. Yeah! No, I’m good. I’m good. I just— so I haven’t done that before? I used wa— I turned wat— I moved water and turned it into— yeah. I’m good. Uh… what do we do now?
Fabby: She sounds a little bit frazzled, like:
Fabby (as Luz): Do I punch someone? Should I punch someone? I don’t have another water bottle… um…
Kris (as Remy): Yeah, no. I don’t know if— I think these two have enough fists for— more than I would like to have. Okay, uh…
Minna: [laughs]
Fabby (as Luz): Okay…
Kris (as Remy): Okay. So I think—
Fabby (as Luz): Should we leave? What do we do at this point?
Kris (as Remy): I don’t know if it’s safe to leave them like this. That doesn’t feel good and I don’t want…
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah…
Kris (as Remy): … everyone getting hurt. Okay. Okay. No, no, no, we need to stop this.
Kris: So I think Remy is just going to like, hold out the shard that they still have in their hand and call out, like, you know:
Kris (as Remy): Pahalia. Stop now. Look, we’ll talk about this or something, but both of you calm the fuck down.
[bassy electronic music plays]
Kris: And the House of Fundament allows you to manipulate traits of matter, like adhesiveness or hardness. And Remy just sort of— I would like to have them try to like, adjust the hardness of this shard of the Tower so that it’s very brittle and just like, clamp their hand in on it and it starts to like— there’s like a straining noise of it might crack.
Josie: Sure…
Kris: Like, ‘I will break this and then you’ll have nothing.’
Josie: Give me your Fallen Epithet roll. This is gonna be just risky, standard, I think.
Kris: I’m gonna…I’m gonna push myself, because this is a lot and it’s also hurting my hand. Huh, there is a 4. [stressed] I’ll take it.
Josie: [laughs] Sure thing. Your consequence is that as you squeeze it, some of the visions in it seep into you.
Kris: uh oh. Great.
[ominous music fades in]
Josie: Take level 1 harm, Addled of Frightened or something like that to indicate like, mental harm. And you see the fall of Babel and the angels who didn’t betray God descending from the heavens towards that final victory, that ended up with all your friends imprisoned and you wandering the Earth for millennia. So it just fuckin’ sucks to be reminded of that, I think.
Kris: Hey, one of my Torments is letting everyone down, letting people down.
Josie: Yeah.
Kris: Oh no…
Josie: That’s a Torment point for you, unless you wanna resist it.
Kris: Uh yeah, I might resist that. Just cause, you know, that’s gonna send them into a depressive funk again.
Josie: You resist Torment with your True Name.
Kris: Ah, the one Name I have no dice in.
Josie: [laughs]
Kris: That’s a 2. So I’m just gonna lose all the Faith I have left.
Josie: Fortunately, he clearly had more confidence in the situation than was warranted. Because one of his legs is pinned, his fire didn’t do much to the horrible heron beast in front of him…
Minna: [laughs]
Josie: His friend of similar if not higher authority than him is yelling at him and he’s terrified of that thing, he doesn’t have the shard anymore. This engraved marble being melts back into Ethan Lyons and he just kind of falls to his knees and says:
[soft piano music plays]
Josie (as Ethan): Fucking fine. Take it. Just wanted to rebuild.
Kris: I think Remy looks at the… bird? Thing? Just waiting for like:
Kris (as Remy): Are we gonna get Julia back? Hi. Like, he’s stood down. You’re clear.
Fabby: Do I need to try to use Longing to calm bird-Julia down?
Minna: I think that she would just change back.
Josie: So, everyone has resumed their normal forms. Remy has the shard. He’s dejected on his knees in front of you. What do you all do?
Kris: I think, cause Remy’s not really sure what to do with the shard, but also like, yeah, this was a friend and wants to like, go over and be like, ‘I’m sorry but also are you okay but also stop trying to rebuild the Tower maybe but also I don’t know.’ I think just looks at the others, right? This feels like [laughs] This feels like a ‘God, what do we do now?’ end of a TV episode moment.
Fabby: Yeah.
Kris: We’re all just kinda looking at each other like, ‘Now what?’
Fabby: I think Luz is gonna walk up to him and he’ll probably notice this, but she’s gonna try— not to be like, ‘I’m your friend’, but definitely like dampening them and so they’re less broken-hearted.
Josie: Aww.
Fabby: Kind of to try to calm them down a little bit so they’re in less pain.
Josie: Sure. Roll your Angelic Epithet.
Fabby: A 5!
Kris: Hey!
Josie: Yeah, so he seems to calm down somewhat. Kinda kicks at the ice on his foot a little bit so he can sit down fully. He still seems sad, but he looks up at you, Luz, and says:
Josie (as Ethan): Listen, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to— I was really not expecting to run into any other of us tonight.
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah. Here.
Fabby: She gives him, like, her business card that she has like, painter, artist.
Fabby (as Luz): If you wanna just talk, you know? Things are hard for all of us. I would love if I could get to know more of us. You know?
Josie (as Ethan): Eh… yeah. Yeah, sure. I…
Fabby (as Luz): Don’t feel pressure. But if you want to, that’s there.
Josie (as Ethan): Yeah, ok.
[piano music ends]
Josie: I think the consequence of that roll is the guy with the pistol, who has peeked back in, realizing his mistake and is gone again. But he definitely saw the blatantly supernatural shit going down.
Fabby: Yeah, it’s fine. There’s a masquerade. We’re good.
[funky music strikes up]
Josie and Minna: [laugh]
Kris: He’s just one guy. Literally just one guy.
Fabby: He’s just one guy! It’s one— literally one Florida man. We’re good.
Kris: [laughs]
Fabby: Who’s gonna believe him? Local Florida Man Says Demons Fought at a Nightclub. Who’s gonna believe him?
Josie: I kinda wanna end on that.
Minna: [laughs]
Josie: Is there any more people wanna do?
Fabby: I’m good.
Kris: Florida Man Sees Bird Battle Statue.
[music plays and slowly fades out]
##Stinger [02.05.34]
Josie: Meanwhile…
A young figure stumbles up a nondescript street, towards a low white box of a building that people call a church. He makes his way inside like he knows the place, and finds his pastor giving the worship hall a final once over before turning in for the night. The blond man’s blue button-up is capped with a clerical collar that nearly pops off when he sees the sorry state the young man is in.
“Derek! What the–?”
“Father John you gotta help me, Uncle Ted’s scared shitless, my boss is a fucking psycho and they were all talking crazy-ass bullshit and there was this thing–”
“Derek, calm down,” he rests a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Deep breaths, kiddo.” Inhale, exhale. “Now… what’s going on?”
Derek is clearly afraid his own pastor will send him to a mental institution as he explains the story, but Father John accepts everything he says with a compassionate smile.
“What you saw was real, Derek. Is it really so surprising? Given the kinds of… people we let run roughshod over society these days? Here.”
“A card? There’s nothing written on it.”
“It will tell you where to go when it’s time. All things return to God’s plan in the end, Derek, so look on the bright side. Through this you’ll be able to be as close to Him as I am. Now go home, kid. You clearly need the rest. You’ll be safe now that I know.”
The young man, still confused, fumbles his way out of the auditorium.
Father John turns to the altar, a sleek modern affair clearly there to show off his own affluence rather than be a bonafide tool of worship.
“They didn’t get the Shard of Babel.”
[bells toll and dramatic music builds]
“I know– I know you’re angry. Please, I beg your forgiveness. I know where another one is. All things return to your plan in the end.”
[music fades]
##Credits [02.07.40]
Josie: Demon: Love and Hellfire is a Clever Corvids production. Find the show on Twitter @Love_Hellfire and follow @Clever_Corvids on Twitter for updates on the network and City That Never Dies. We also have a website, CleverCorvids.net.
Don’t forget to support the Clever Corvids Patreon. It supports all our shows, and you get some extra goodies each month if you do. I have a few more shows planned, so if we can get enough patrons to afford them, we can keep expanding our network.
Luz, aka Penumbra, is played by Fabby Garza. Fabby is a Mexican-American queer trans woman and you can find her voice in other Actual Play podcasts such as Eidolon Playtest, Moon Harbor Heroes, and Don’t Cast, Don’t Tell. You can find her and all of her work @Fabby_Garza on Twitter.
Remy, aka Orea, is played by Kris Allison. Kris is black, ace and tired. You can also hear them having anti-capitalist gay space adventures in the podcast Breathing Space: Fading Frontier. You can also find them on Twitter @knalliso, where they frequently retweet other people and sometimes draw swords.
Julia, aka Aigron, is played by Minna Reilly. Minna is an aro-ace Florida woman who doesn’t do anything wild enough to end up in a headline. You can, however, hear her elsewhere on Clever Corvids in The City That Never Dies. You can also find her on Twitter @mynaminnarr, where she is almost certainly talking about fanfiction.
The GM is Josie S. Josie is a literal, actual dragon and thirsty trans lesbian. Hear her elsewhere on Clever Corvids in The City That Never Dies, or guesting on a bunch of other podcasts like Moon Harbor. You can find her on Twitter @DragonGirlJosie, where she is extremely gay all the time.
All music on the show is from Pixabay, used under their license, unless otherwise noted. Pixabay’s license grants the irrevocable, worldwide, non-exclusive and royalty free right to use, download, copy, modify or adapt their content for commercial or non-commercial purposes. Attribution of the artists is not required, but we have a page on our website, CleverCorvids.net, to credit the artists anyway.
Thank you for listening!
##Blooper [02.09.53]
Josie: Don’t feel you need to explain, uh, too many concepts when that happens or, like, go into too much detail. We will do that separately on our own. Because I have idea for things to do this session.
Fabby: Hell yeah. That’s great. I do not understand concepts in general, so that’s really good for me.
Kris: [laughs]
Josie: Well… well, good. I’ll walk you through the concept of concepts later.
Minna: [laughs]
Fabby: Hell yeah.
Kris: Concept… inception… con— nope.
Fabby: Concept— no, no!
Josie: [laughs]
Kris: Maybe not.
Fabby: [laughs] That was a good run, everyone. Thank you.
Minna: [laughs]
Kris: [laughs] Good game, bye.
Fabby: Luz like, slowly— I think she had her hands up— slowly moves to be behind… uh… uh… oh my God, I’m blanking. What’s your character’s name, uh, Kim?
Kris: Hmm?
Josie: [laughs] Missed on the name both times.
Fabby: Great. Good job, Fabby. Kris!
Josie: [laughs]
Kris: Oh, uh, uh, Remy.
Fabby: I combined Minna and Kris.
Minna: Remy, Kris’s character?
Fabby: I’m very good at, um…
Josie: [laughs]
Kris: Uh yeah, yeah, yeah. Luz can, can— Remy can get between—
Fabby: Remy.
Kris: —this fool and Luz.
Fabby: I wanted to say Rani. I’m very tired. Behind Remy.
Minna: [laughs]