Transcribed by Michelle Kelly.
[ominous wind blows]
[theme music, a chilled rock song, plays]
Josie: Welcome back to Miami. You are approaching a corner around which lies the Guiding Hand Church, and you can see the red-blue, red-blue of police lights around the corner.
Kris: Oh…
Josie: Do you go on past?
Kris: Ooh. Uh… I think Remy might pull over or try to park somewhere nearby, and we approach on foot?
Minna: Yeah….
Kris: Or, well— I think— okay, maybe then I’ll just like, sort of like, pulls over and parks somewhere and turns to the rest of the car and is like:
Kris (as Remy): Should we… do we just head east from here or should we find out what the hell just happened— what happened there? Dammit.
Fabby: Can I use Eye of the Morning Star for two things here?
Josie: Sure…
Fabby: Well, it has a second part. First, illusions. I wanna see if there’s any illusions here.
Josie: Mm hmm.
Fabby: And then secondly, it gives me +1 dice on locate hidden creatures or track down specific people. I wanna try to track our missing contact.
Kris: Hell yes.
Josie: Okay. Uh, describe to me— well, one. There are no illusions here.
Fabby: Okay, cool.
Josie: Secondly, how are you tracking him down? Are you all moving on past the place or are you sticking around to figure out what happened here first?
Fabby: So, my idea would be that her eyes are suddenly on fire and she very quickly looks in her purse for a pair of— for black, uh, sunglasses. Like, maybe to cover the flames that are coming out of her eyes. And so— the ability’s called Eyes of the Morning Star. In my head, these are like, magic, divine eyes. And so, she can maybe see whatever trail, if he left a trial, or like a sense or something. Or if he’s hidden somewhere, maybe a part of the house lights up or something.
Josie: … Sure.
Fabby: She’s definitely leaning on the supernatural instead of like, reasoning and detective skills.
Josie: Right.
Fabby: Which she has none. [laughs]
Josie: [laughs] So, I’m going to say this is risky, standard effect. Since you’re pulling on one of your supernatural abilities. I would say… you’re not rally using a Lore here, so this is gonna be your True Name with plus one die. Risky, standard.
Fabby: Ooh. Okay. That’s two die, risky standard. What would be my Devil’s Bargain if I asked for one?
Josie: Your Devil’s Bargain is you will definitely be seen while tracking by some of the people around the corner. Not necessarily stopped, but you will definitely be seen.
Fabby: I’m not gonna take it. I wanna keep the 2d6.
Josie: Okay dokey.
Fabby: That’s… great dice there. Thank you for clearing up—
Josie: Oh, thanks.
Fabby: d26, I did great.
Josie: [laughs]
Fabby: Never mind. Let me do that again.
Josie: You can do it, Fabby. I believe in you.
Fabby: I’m smart and… uh, 2d6…
Minna: I like that you can give her an improbable die roll and she’ll do it.
Fabby: Hey! That’s a 4.
Josie: [laughs] So you got a 4. You succeed, but there is a consequence. As someone who was among the leadership of the rebellion, able to identify sort of the trail of where people like you had been— stop me if you wanna fluff it instead, but I kind of imagine like it’s when someone moves through water, they leave that ripple trail behind them. But as your eyes are filled with this energy, you kinda just see that in the air.
Fabby: Uh huh.
Josie: And you can identify that it’s Ethan, Pahalia’s. The trail emerges from a car across the street, which he does not seem to have taken. It’s still sitting there. Weaves around the corner, and you’ve able to just peek around the corner, and it leads into the church and definitely comes out of it somewhere else down the street. Like, out from between two buildings. I think the consequence is you have the trail, but you don’t know what happened between here and the church. You know he definitely went there and then appeared somewhere else.
Fabby: Yeah. I relay to them, like:
Fabby (as Luz): Okay. He, um, the car. He went to the car and then he went to the church and he came out over there…
Fabby: And she points.
Fabby (as Luz): But where he is now and what he did in the church, I have no idea. But I guess he went that way.
Fabby: She points to where he came out of.
Josie: And that way is indeed east.
Kris (as Remy): Look, I’m curious about what happened in that building too, but I wanna make sure he’s fine first. Is it okay if we— do you think you can keep following whatever trail you’ve got on him?
Fabby (as Luz): I can try. If Josie, the GM, lets me.
Fabby: [laughs]
Josie: You absolutely can. You succeeded.
Fabby: [laughs] So yeah, how about we get closer to that area and then I try again?
Josie: Sure. I don’t think you need to roll to track again.
Fabby: Okay.
Josie: Are all of you going as one, or are you just sending Luz?
Fabby: I feel like we’re going, but we’re trying to make ourselves not be obvious? If that makes sense. I feel that’s the play.
Kris: Yeah. I think Remy at least would be like— if we. If we— if this is about moving fast and not losing that trail, then it might be easier for all of us to go, or at least for me to drive Luz there.
Fabby: Yeah.
Kris: But does Julia wanna come with or does Julia wanna do something here? I just don’t wanna be like, “Peace, bye!”
Minna: No, I think we should all go after…
Fabby: Okay. In that case, yeah, we should all stay in the car.
Kris: Okay. Let’s drive. Also, can I pitch something for what the trail looks like to Luz?
Josie: Yeah, sure.
Kim: Because Ethan had a lot of— Pahalia had a lot of like, fire stuff, so what if the trail as far as Luz can see it is kind of like heat convection on the air?
Fabby and Minna: Ooh…
Josie: That’s kind of like waves, too. That’s awesome.
Kim: But yeah. So yeah, Remy can just drive and follow Luz’s directions.
Josie: As you do, I want you all to give me a risky, standard Human Name roll.
Kris: Oh.
Josie: So that you can— so that you can do this without, like— because there’s police around there, somewhat of a scene is being gathered. This is if you want to avoid being noticed and not look like you’re looking for someone.
Minna: Do we have access to the group action situation that Blades has?
Kris: Ooh.
Josie: Yes, you can. Someone can lead a group action about it.
Minna: Does everybody else know how to do that?
Kris: I know how to do it, but would we have to take stress, like, spend Faith the way you would have to take stress for a group action?
Josie: Yes.
Fabby: Uh… I have two Faith.
Kris: Yeah, ditto. So then, that should be… well—
Minna: I have four.
Kris: Oh dip.
Minna: Uh, that could wipe out my Faith pretty easily.
Josie: Yeah. [laughs]
Kris: Oof.
Josie: Cause Julia’s not good at Human Name.
Fabby: You just lose per person who fails, right? I’ll be fine. Even if one of you fail, that’s okay if I run out of Faith. I think I should do it, since I have two Human Name.
Kris: Okay.
Minna: Yeah. That makes sense narratively. Julia’s gonna let down the side, I’m afraid. She has none.
Josie: And it makes sense for Luz to be leading since she’s got the magic eyes.
Fabby: Yeah. And I think also she’s like… she’s telling you where to go, but she’s telling you about a friend. And all she’s telling you is true, except like, she’s going on the story, makes it about a friend, and then says:
Fabby (as Luz): And then yeah, and so RIGHT there…
Fabby: Make a turn right.
Kris: [laughs]
Fabby (as Luz): Oh, and then, no and then I told her, “Stop. Bitch, STOP.”
Kris: [laughs]
Fabby: And yeah.
Josie: [laughs]
Kris: Very good.
Minna: [laughs] That’s a failure.
Kris: It’s a full roll… hey, that’s a 6!
Fabby: That’s 5.
Josie: Okay.
Minna: So, one Faith and the overall result is a 6.
Kris and Fabby: Hell yeah.
Kris: I think Remy is really good at looking like an Uber driver. [laughs]
Minna: [laughs]
Fabby: Yeah! Do you look like, bored? Does this just look like a weird artsy lady, uh, artsy millennial telling this story to like a bored, tired Uber driver?
Kris: The two of us just like fall into character of just like, over-excited passenger and driver who cannot wait for you to get out of their car.
Fabby: [laughs]
Minna: GPs is taking you to the wrong spot, so you’re having to get directions.
Kris: Uh huh. [laughs]
Josie: You turn on your little, like, Lyft light on the windshield.
Fabby: Yeah!
Kris: Absolutely. [laughs]
Josie: [laughs] So, you all play that part pretty easily, because you all are familiar with that, and since you got a 6 I’ll even say as you drive by the street, you get a look at— a decent look at the front of the church. There’s a couple cop cars there. A bunch of the windows in the front of the church are shot out.
Kris: Oh.
Josie: Father John, who you recognize from the pictures, along with the lanky guy from the venue who got away…
Kris: [gasps]
Josie: …neither of them bearing weapons – notably, last time you saw him, he was armed — are talking to the police. And there is a bit of a scene gathering now, because as far as people know someone shot up a church. But that’s the image you see. And you’re able to kind of loop around the block and find Ethan’s heat trail. He, after a certain point, apparently just gives up on stealth and starts bolting. So, it’s easy to follow.
Fabby: [laughs]
Josie: It leads out to the nearby Oleta River State Park, which is defined by a large river and sort of the low trees on the side. And it apparently leads into the trees and off the trails. No one’s out there and in there this time of night. I actually don’t know if that park closes or not, but it probably would be. But it leads into the trees there. But you’ll probably have to search on foot, because taking the car in would not be a good idea.
Kris: Okay. I will park in what I— where I assume there is a parking lot. I guess we’ll head in.
Kris (as Remy): Just, you know, be careful about shouting. I just, I don’t know if anyone else is looking for him, so I don’t know that we wanna alert anyone to his being here. And also, given that he just ran here it seems, we don’t wanna spook him further. Move quietly, move kindly, sound good to everyone?
Minna (as Julia): Mm hmm.
Fabby: Luz, taking your ‘quietly’ to heart, just nods.
Josie: Do y’all try anything special, or just kind of continue following Luz into the trees? I ask because Julia is plant focused, mostly.
Kris: Yeah, I’m good to go into the trees. I’m good to follow Luz until… I don’t know, she can’t lead us anymore.
Fabby: Yeah.
Kris: But like, as far as I’m aware, she’s our best lead.
Josie: In that case, Fabby, I’m going to have you roll a True Name check with Eye of the Morning Star to keep following.
Fabby: That’s a 5.
Kris: Noice.
Fabby: All 4 and 5s today. Yeah.
Kris: Look at us.
Fabby: Ignore that 1.
Kris: [laughs]
Josie: So you’re gonna find him, with a consequence. He eventually realizes that he might be leaving a trail and maybe used a Lore or something to try and disperse it. But the thing about that is he’s not exactly a wilderness survival person.
Kris: [laughs]
Josie: So it’s very easy to tell when— to just kinda switch to following where he blundered through the bushes, right? Like, he’s— he doesn’t have any experience with that. And there’s a few drops of blood on some leaves on the way there.
Kris: Hmm.
Josie: You find him and he’s kind of hiding under a fallen log stump. He’s kind of hiding in the little alcove under that, near the edge of the river. He has a hand over a wound in his side. He’s apparently been shot but is still conscious. The consequence is that back a little ways, the way y’all came from, although they don’t seem to have found a trail yet, you see flashlights. It could be a police search party, it could just be someone in the park at night. Its too far away to tell at the moment.
Kris: So first of all, can we check on him? Like, just:
Kris (as Remy): Ethan… are you… are you okay?
Kris: Like, getting closer slowly.
Kris (as Remy): What happened?
Fabby (as Luz): It’s us.
Josie (as Ethan): Ugh… okay. Thank God for Reddit, I guess. [pained grunt]
Fabby: You know, someone was bound to say it.
Kris: [laughs]
Josie: This podcast sponsored by Reddit. [laughs]
Fabby: No, I mean, pay me. Reddit, pay us.
Josie: [laughs]
Fabby: I’ll sell out so quickly.
Kris: [laughs] Love to advertise a product I do not use and do not know how to use.
Minna: [laughs] Mood.
Josie: [laughs] He says:
Josie (as Ethan): You know that Twitter meme about leopards eating faces? I think I get it now.
Josie: [laughs]
Fabby: Oh sweetie…
Minna: I don’t know that Twitter meme.
Kris: I— Kris understands it, Remy’s just blinking at him like, “What did you just— what? Who? What? [laughs]
Fabby: Luz understands it and is like:
Fabby (as Luz): Oh, sweetie. Okay, so the church. There was a church. The church did this. Did they find out you’re a demon? Or are they also demons?
Josie (as Ethan): I… I followed Abaddon’s voice back there and they weren’t happy.
Kris (as Remy): Is Abaddon there?
Josie (as Ethan): I don’t know. I feel like— it didn’t feel like we do. He felt wrong.
Fabby (as Luz): Mm. That’s not good.
Kris: Hey, can I… can I… so, I set my load for this… mission? As medium, cause I’m like, Remy’s got their whole car with them, they’ve got a bunch of stuff in there. Can I say that Remy brought like, a first aid kit or something and can try to deal with that? With Ethan’s wound?
Josie: Sure.
Kris: Noice.
Josie: Yeah. Go for it. I don’t know, it’s a first aid kit. I don’t think I’m gonna make you roll for that. Demons are a little more resilient anyway, so he will bounce back unless he’s finished off.
Kris: Yeah, I’m hoping so long as I don’t have to like, extract a bullet from his side. You know.
Josie: Yeah. That will probably need to happen at some point, but now’s not the best place to do that. [laughs]
Kris: Yeah. Right now it’s jus about stopping blood loss.
Fabby: Yeah, just stop the bleeding. As long as we eventually get him to a doctor, he’ll be fine.
Kris: Yeah. We’ve gotta get him out of here without whoever the heck has the flashlights first.
Fabby: Another shot. [laughs]
Kris: Yeah.
Josie: Yeah. So, you get him bandaged up around his torso. He nods.
Josie (as Ethan): Thanks. I didn’t think… it’d be a weird way for one of us to go out to just be under a log in Miami, right?
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah… honestly, I think some of us have died in weirder circumstances, if what I hear on the deep web is right.
Fabby: By the deep web, she means reddit.
Josie: [laughs loudly]
Kris: [laughs]
Kris (as Remy): Look, do you— there’s flashlights somewhere out there in the park. I think they might have followed us trying to find you. Do you know if they would have sent people after you?
Josie (as Ethan): Yeah… whoever that priest guy is, is apparently working with Abaddon.
Kris (as Remy): [sighs] Everything is more questions. Okay. Okay.
Fabby: Yeah…
Josie (as Ethan): I’m not sure why one of the generals would be operating out of a church, but… hey, you know, weird things have happened, I suppose.
Kris (as Remy): [sighs] I’ve definitely taken up weirder fortresses.
Fabby (as Luz): A lot of us were angels at one point, so… all of us? I can never tell.
Kris (as Remy): Alright, we should start by getting Ethan out of here.
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah.
Kris (as Remy): We can get back to La Casita and figure something out from there.
Fabby (as Luz): We can try to stop this, and if worse comes to worst, I can go out there and distract them, pretend I’m their friend. Do that thing I did the other day.
[theme music plays]
##Mid-roll [00.17.34]
Josie: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the mid-roll. This month’s really easy on us. No real announcements, just remember to check out our other show, The City That Never Dies, which is a 1920s-inspired Blades in the Dark campaign. And here’s Fabby with this month’s featured charity.
Fabby: Hey everyone, it’s Fabby to talk to you about charity. The Thrive Youth Center is a San Antonio center and shelter for LGTBQ+ youth 18-24 experiencing homelessness in San Antionio, Texas. They provide emergency shelter, housing support and case management. I lived in San Antonio for a decade. It was the city that I came out in as a trans woman. It’s not the most trans-friendly city in the world. Knowing that queer homeless youth have a place to stay is something—they have something to fall back on— is super important to me. You can donate by going to ThriveYouthCenter.com/Donate. That’s T-H-R-I-V-E-Y-O-U-T-H-C-E-N-T-E-R.com/Donate.
[theme music plays]
##Story continues [00.19.12]
Josie: Two questions. One, what is Julia thinking during all of this? And two, how are you all getting out of here unnoticed? Because there’s a few approaches you could take there.
Minna: We’re among a bunch of trees, I’m sure that I could help secure an easier exit.
Fabby: Hell yeah.
Kris: Ah, sick.
Josie: Yeah. Describe what that looks like.
Minna: The thing it that it seems to be somewhat dense, right? That he’s having trouble maneuvering it?
Josie: Yeah.
Minna: I could even like, find the denser spots that you wouldn’t expect people to come out of and get us through there safely, like kind of get the trees to let us by.
Josie: Sure. Yeah. And that’s within Lore of the Wild, dot number two. This would be an Angelic Epithet sort of roll, because you’re using your Lores not to do something destructive or harmful. I’ll say it’s risky, greater because this is kind of your element.
Minna: What does a Devil’s Bargain look like?
Josie: Some other supernatural entity in the word notices your power over the plants.
Minna: Okay, that’s sick. I’ll go for it.
Josie: [laughs]
Kris: Can I also help?
Josie: You sure can. Describe how you’re helping and spend a Faith about it.
Kris: Um, I mean, can I carry Ethan so that way we don’t move quite as slowly and he’s not tripping over stuff?
Josie: Sure. Spend a Faith to give Minna another die.
Minna: Hey, that’s a 6.
Kris: Heyyy.
Josie: Nice. So, you move through the trees and Julia, do you wanna fluff how your Lore looks or do you want me to do it?
Minna: Um… I mean, I kind of always just picture it as like, trees moving in ways they should not. [laughs]
Josie: Sure. Yeah. So, it takes a moment to notice, but as Julia focuses and reaches out, the trees kind of mold around you a bit. The forest does, rather. It’s kind of like… these are not very straight up trees, they’re all bendy trunks anyway, but one that curves towards you slowly curves out away from you. And kind of creates a shield blocking you from view, so only a little bit of the flashlights get in. So, it’s just kind of like this bubble moving through the forest without actually disrupting anything around it. Julia, you can feel— it’s the same sort of feeling you get in natural spaces that are heavily polluted. It doesn’t like, look super polluted, but it is very cultivated, but you can feel beneath your feet just like a vein of slimy energy. And you also feel, and this feels very different, the feeling of being watched from somewhere above. But neither of these things seem to take action against you. And you’re able to make it out of the woods back to Remy’s car and get Ethan into the back seat there. What do you all do?
Kris: Head back to La Casita, avoiding going near the church again.
Fabby: Yeah, and I think uh, I think if it’s okay, unless you want to try something, Minna, I think Luz is gonna like stay in the back and try to both seem like a normal passenger but also take care of him and be checking on him. Keeping him down. Think she probably puts his head in her lap or something, like:
Fabby (as Luz): It’s okay, it’s okay.
Fabby: And like, I know she doesn’t have any Flesh, so I’m not doing this mechanically, but I think she’s like, she’s trying to at least accelerate the healing. Not in a mechanical way, just in that she’s trying. She’s like, “I know I’ve read— I can do this, so I’m just gonna try to help.”
Josie: Yeah. He accepts this. He’s mostly resting at this point with his eyes shut. But he seems stable. Especially with a little more attention. Y’all are able to take a more roundabout way back to La Casita which Naz has closed up but left the back door open so you all can come in.
Josie (as Naz): Oh good, you all made it. I take it this is… who left the message? Here, let’s get him situated.
Kris (as Remy): Naz, Ethan Lyons. Ethan, Naz.
Fabby (as Luz): Let’s set him up first.
Josie: Yeah, you get him set up and they make brief introductions and she squints her eyes like:
Josie (as Naz): Oh, is that Pahalia?
Kris: Remy just nods.
Josie (as Naz): Oh. Well, you do have a knack for getting yourself into trouble, huh?
Josie: And he just like, murmurs, like, a friendly fuck you. [laughs]
Fabby: I think after we sit him down, Luz immediately goes to hug Naz.
Josie: Aww.
Fabby: Is like:
Fabby (as Luz): Sorry, it was scary and… I don’t know, it just made me worry about… sorry.
Fabby: And she like, hugs you again. Hugs her again.
Josie: [laughs] She seems surprised to receive a hug all of a sudden, but hugs back and pats your head a couple times.
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah, sorry. It reminded me of… just because we’re demons doesn’t mean we can’t get hurt.
Josie (as Naz): Yeah, I suppose that’s true. Although, I don’t know if we just die or if we go back… there, if it happens.
Fabby (as Luz): I am not in any rush to find out.
Josie (as Naz): Me either. What the hell happened out there?
Kris (as Remy): That was what I was gonna ask. We didn’t really have time to get into the details out there. You good to catch us up on what happened before we get you to a… hospital? Hospital seems good.
Josie (as Ethan): Yeah. Yeah, I can uh… well. After you all took the shard and told me to go work something out with Abaddon, I found where his voice was coming from, and it’s that church. I was talking with that Father John guy and I could definitely feel Abaddon there.
Fabby (as Luz): Hmm.
Josie (as Ethan): But I don’t think he knew it was Abaddon. Kept referring to him by all these oblique epithets that I didn’t fucking get. Uh… they were uh… not happy that I didn’t get the shard. And they had fucking Derek and a couple other guys there waiting and they tried to take me out. Fortunately, they were just humans with a little bit extra, but… fuck.
Josie: He kinda puts his hand on his wound. And you can take it that Derek is the lanky guy that was familiar.
Fabby (as Luz): You’ll be fine.
Kris (as Remy): Mm hmm.
Josie (as Ethan): I just feel like a fuckin’ idiot for getting suckered in with them so easily.
Kris (as Remy): Don’t feel too bad about it, a lot of people… do a lot of wild things for hope. I mean, we kinda all know that.
Josie (as Ethan): [softly] Yeah.
Fabby (as Luz): I am kinda more worried about this church. What kind of reach do they have? And what do the demon ties even mean? Is Abaddon controlling, assessing?
Josie (as Ethan): I mean, I think he’s granting them a little bit of power? I think he’s made some pacts.
Fabby (as Luz): Hmm.
Josie (as Ethan): All I know is that they’re really stinkin’ rich.
Kris (as Remy): And if they’re about to get someone on City Council, that’s only gonna increase what they can do.
Josie (as Ethan): Yeah. That would be pretty bad, I’m thinking. Apparently I— this was before I woke up to all this, but apparently my company has secured, you know, real estate for ‘em before and that’s why, I guess, they knew me.
Kris (as Remy): So then yeah, someone there had to have known that you, you know, you are you. Otherwise, why send you to go and dig up the floor of a concert hall or music venue, whatever, to unearth a shard of The Tower?
Josie (as Ethan): Yeah.
Kris (as Remy): Seems like a weird thing to send a normal guy to do.
Minna (as Julia): Mm hmm.
Josie (as Ethan): Yeah, I mean when Abaddon first contacted me after I first woke up, they knew it was me. But I don’t know what he wants with the shards after all, but I don’t think it can be good.
Kris (as Remy): Right.
Fabby: I think Luz is nodding very deeply, and I don’t think she’s gonna say anything, but Luz is planning something and Fabby knows of a long-term project she’s gonna want to do eventually.
Josie: Ooh.
Kris: Ooh.
Kris (as Remy): Look, if there’s anything more to this conversation, maybe it’s best we had that after you get some stitches. Or at the very least, less shot.
Josie (as Naz): You want me to take him to the hospital? I don’t know if you all were seen or not, but it might be better to not make all the connections.
Kris (as Remy): That’s a very good point.
Fabby (as Luz): We weren’t. If you think you can do it by yourself… if not, one of us can accompany you. I can accompany you.
Josie: She just hefts him up bridal style.
Kris: [laughs]
Josie (as Naz): I think I got it.
Minna: [laughs loudly]
Fabby (as Luz): Okay then. You have my number in case anything happens.
Josie (as Naz): Yeah. That’ll be very useful when we’re not in a desperate situation.
Josie: She winks. Starts getting ready.
Fabby: I think for the first time, Luz blushes at her.
Minna: [amused]
Fabby (as Luz): You know what I meant.
Josie: [laughs] so, what’s the plan with you three?
Kris: I mean, I would love to go back to this church and go and find out who the hell is there.
Minna: All I know is I’m worried about it.
Kris: Yup. [laughs]
Fabby: Yeah, I guess. I have a plan, but I think I’m gonna wait to downtime to do it, so.
Kris: I mean, now that we know where the church is, like, maybe we can just go park, wait until the cop cars are gone and then try to head in.
Fabby: We’re demons, we can do something and hide and then just wait til, yeah, the cops are gone.
Kris: If I had more Faith I would just be like, “I mean, I can probably just talk our way in.” [laughs]
Fabby: The thing that we’re alluding to, it’s not a big secret, I think Luz is gonna start a long-term project to protest the candidacy of this church guy.
Kris: [gaps] Petition, petition!
Fabby: Like, of course not because of… she’s not gonna say it’s because of the demon stuff, but she’s gonna get a lot of her art friends and stuff to protest, like, separation of church of state stuff and stuff like that.
Josie: Okey dokey.
Kris: Excellent.
Fabby: Yeah, that feels to me like more of a long-term project thing.
Josie: Yeah. So, y’all load back into Remy’s car and I think since you did it before, you’re able to position yourselves so that you can kinda see down the street that the church is on. Already, there’s only one cop car left. And the crowd has been kind of made to disperse. Some tarps and yellow tape have been put over the shot-out windows. If you wait for a while, eventually Father John comes out with a couple of the cops, and he seems really buddy-buddy with them. The situation is probably getting resolved faster and with more diligence because he’s a white priest in Miami. And they seem to shoot the shit for a while outside before the cops finally leave. They seem to get some sort of confirmation on the radio. And when the cop cars leave, they don’t seem to do so with an urgent hurry, so that’s a relief. Father John heads back inside the church. It’s like, a little after midnight at this point, I think.
Fabby: Do we want to go in as a group? Should I go in? I can make myself invisible.
Kris: Damn, that’s so cool.
Fabby: And— or not invisible, but like, I can move myself unnoticed by others. Basically the same thing, unless they have cameras.
Fabby (as Luz): I could wear a mask. Do we have masks?
Fabby: She’s saying out loud.
Fabby (as Luz): Do you have pantyhose or…?
Kris (as Remy): That might make you look more skethcy, honestly.
Josie: [laughs] I mean, face masks are probably still—
Minna: In Florida? Sorry. [laughs] I’m— this is a very bitter joke, I apologize.
Josie: I mean, sure. Fair enough.
Minna: [laughs]
Josie: You know what? We— we should probably address that on air. How I was thinking is I don’t want to just ignore it. COVID happened in this world, but in general there was a better response and now it’s not necessarily a daily concern for people.
Fabby: Yeah. I think there would be a face mask in the glove compartment, especially if you’re riding, cause— or had the like, you had to be— yeah, so I’m just like:
Fabby (as Luz): Okay, yeah, I’ll just grab one of these.
Fabby: And I think she’s gonna— I think she has, like, a baseball cap in her purse and she’s gonna put her hair up to hide it inside the baseball cap so that she looks at least slightly different. And yeah, she’s like:
Fabby (as Luz): Okay, I can text you if anything happens. If you haven’t heard from me in five minutes, come in.
Kris (as Remy): Okay. Move safe.
Fabby (as Luz): Yeah. Will do.
Josie: Hopefully this goes better for you at the start than it did last time.
Minna: [laughs] Hmm.
Fabby: Yeah, it’ll be fine.
Josie: I believe this is Lore of Longing.
Fabby: It is.
Josie: You’re using it non-aggressively, so this is… I do a lot of thinking to just arrive at risky, standard again. [laughs] Risky, standard.
Fabby: Uh, what would a Devil’s Bargain look like here?
Josie: Even if you succeed and seem like you belong, you’re gonna get roped into something that won’t let you leave the building within five minutes. Not necessarily trapped, but—
Fabby: Yeah. Also, I’m— for the record, I’m trying not to seem like I belong, I’m trying to move myself unnoticed by others.
Josie: Oh… okay.
Fabby: Which is the last bit of the second level of the Lore of Longing.
Josie: In that case, you’ll like, end up in a situation where you can’t move without being noticed.
Fabby: How much does it cost me? Two Faith to try to bump it up, right? To push myself.
Josie: Uh, yeah. And you can’t use push yourself and Devil’s Bargain at once.
Fabby: Yeah. And I only have one Faith.
Josie: Yeah.
Fabby: You know, I’m just gonna do the… no Devil’s Bargain, I’m just gonna do and hope I get two 6s.
Kris: [laughs]
Josie: Okay, sure. [laughs]
Fabby: Yeah. It’ll be great. What could go wrong here? Oh God. That’s a 1 and a 3!
Kris: Oh, man.
Josie: Aw.
Kris: Dang. Dang.
Josie: Fabby, I’m so sorry.
Fabby: [despairing] It’s okay!
Kris: I think it’s like, like, Luz heads over that way and Remy’s just sort of like in the driver’s seat, you know, hand around the headrests looking in that direction and not even looking at Julia just says:
Kris (as Remy): You ever agree to something and then immediately regret it?
Josie: [laughs] Yeah. So Luz walks in and pushes on their emotions to just casually push the gaze of the people that are in there. Speaking of the people that are in there, you go through an entry hall at first and into a main auditorium which despite not having a pointed ceiling on the outside, has the beams that kind of create the illusion of a church ceiling. And there’s a lot of audio equipment set up on a stage in the back. And it’s a lot of chairs and comfortable pews and it’s all carpeted. So it’s not like a cathedral in here, it’s more like a— a little bit more like a televangelist sort of church. But smaller scale than that.
Father John is kind of leaning against the stage with his hands on the lip of it. Derek and another taller and wider guy, both of whom have— are in the midst of strapping their guns back on, because they disarmed for that whole event. You push on their emotions and they don’t seem to notice you at first, but you get a little ways in and you feel something, Luz. You feel just this because you’re a master of emotions, you feel just like malice and hate just kind of slowly creeping up through the floor. You don’t see anything, but it kind of gathers most around Father John. And as you push on them, that sort of miasma of negative emotion kind of— it doesn’t push back, but you pushing kind of disrupts it, like sweeping your hand through smoke or steam or something. And that seems to get their attention.
Kris: [groans]
Josie: And Father John sort of turns to look at you and says:
Josie (as Father John): Just when I thought we were done for the night.
Fabby: She’s just gonna text, like, “H-E-L-P.”
##Credits [00.37.46]
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 a 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!