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C2 Ep. 39 Shifting Tales Chapter Two
264 Plays4 years ago
Things heat up with Detective Spade and Reynard…but how will the rest of the party respond to Reynard’s secret being exposed?
This episode is brought to you by the generous donations of our amazing Show Sponsors: Laura Pickrahn, Darrin Katzska, Irene Viorritto, Ryan Royce, Darrell DeLaney, Jessica Smith, Charles Compton, Danielle Bramhall-Smith, Nastasia Raulerson, The Kamm Family, David Scrams, Elizabeth Clark, Andy Dossett, Rebekah Gowman, deviouspoptart, Eðvarð Arnór Sigurðsson, Michael Clark, Eric Witman, and Shelby Johnson.
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Transcript
Introduction and Acknowledgments
00:00:00
Speaker
The following episode is brought to you by the generous donations of Laura Pickron, Darryl Delaney, Darren Katska, Deavius Poptart, Irene Villarito, Ryan Royce, Andy Dossett, Danielle Bramhall-Smith, Elizabeth Clark, Eric Whitman, Jessica Smith, Charles Compton, Natasha Rallerson, Richard Cree, The Cam Family, David Scrams, Dustin Troop, Edvarth Arnoff, Michael Clark,
00:00:25
Speaker
Rebecca Gowman, and Shelby Johnson, as well as all of our generous patrons.
Eris's Cold Open in Eberron Renewed
00:01:17
Speaker
Hello, and welcome to another cold open of Eberron Renewed. I am Eric. And I'm Phillip. And yeah, we are joined again to do a cold open on Aeris. So we're just going to hop into it. And any preface that you want to give to this, Phillip, or you just want to jump on in? I think I'm too good to just go. I guess this is probably happening
00:01:47
Speaker
Sometime before the bargassed battle, before the meat packing battle. Sometime after the, sometime after the meeting with the, with Russ, General Russ. Okay, so that few days in between the two? Yeah. Okay, perfect. Okay. Then away we go. Okay.
00:02:14
Speaker
So it would be after everyone's gone home at the four sails.
Eris's Dilemmas and Concerns
00:02:20
Speaker
Aeris waits for Ulfin to leave and then goes up to her attic room. She gets out Tasha's bird chassis.
00:02:35
Speaker
and begins packing some things. Tasha is not in the bird. Tasha is mostly, I think Eris has worked out that Tasha prefers outdoors, and so she generally leaves Tasha in the skiff. But even though Tasha's not there, Eris begins talking to the bird as she's packing things.
00:03:02
Speaker
It just, it don't make any sense. We're working for, are we working for Boromar? Are we working for Dinnith? And is that any better? Boromar obviously wants us dead. Viggo's, you know, starving to death to die. It's pretty obvious that they burned down Milo's bar and killed Kylie since she was a snitch. So, it doesn't, it don't make any sense. And then the Landheads know who we are.
00:03:28
Speaker
and it's it's too much it's too much we're gonna get ourselves killed and I can't I can't get the others to see it Tasha I just they're just stuck and I don't know I don't know what to do about it and she slings her
00:03:46
Speaker
her bag which has the Fletcher in it over her shoulder and picks up the the bird chassis and goes out her window into the skiff which is moored up by her window and closes the window behind her and takes off across and up the town through the
Eris's Secretive Visit to Morgrave University
00:04:14
Speaker
Not into the upper city exactly, but up from Lower Minthes into... Remind me, Eric, is it the middle, the middle section or the upper section? I believe it's middle. Okay, up into the middle. More grave university. Yeah, into the middle, that's where more grave university is. And she parks in an alley four-o-ways,
00:04:43
Speaker
Uh, and just watches to see lights go out. Uh, and waits for, for traffic to go dead. I mean, I assume the sales is open quite late, so I assume this is very late at night. Uh, and then finally pilots, Tasha across, uh, and hitches her to a, uh, a, like a, an ever bright lantern sconce. Um,
00:05:12
Speaker
in, above a tower, puts Tasha into the bird chassis and clambers down off of the ship, activates her boots so that she can climb down the wall and slides through a window probably a couple hundred feet above the nearest platform so it's not one that bothers much with locks and bars.
00:05:40
Speaker
and into the workshop and then she climbs up into the all the apparatus and rigging that's up above where she has stashed in the rafters of the room a hammock which she stretches between a pair of rafters and climbs into and she just sort of she pulls off the
00:06:07
Speaker
the scarf, the yellow scarf that she wears, and just sort of wraps it around her hands and presses it up very close to her
Olive Confronts Eris's Secrecy
00:06:16
Speaker
face. She sets Tasha on one of the rafters and then pulls her coat tight and curls up in the hammock and passes out. Okay. So, Eris, you are awoken
00:06:39
Speaker
to the sound of your own name, in fact. Eris's eyes kind of open and Eris is not, Eris is pretty quickly aware of her surroundings when she's asleep. She's not like in the sort of thing about wake up and where am I? She's not a deep sleeper.
00:07:05
Speaker
And so she, but she's startled awake, she realizes where she is, she realizes that the light is too much for it to be the time that it should be, and she sits up way too fast in a hammock. And it just sort of twists around and she drops with one of her boots tangled up in the hammock webbing and is now dangling upside down from her rafters.
00:07:32
Speaker
And you see as you're dangling, you then see lowering from the rafters who was previously up near you. You see strapped into a harness that has a couple of extended warforged arms, mechanical arms kind of things that had lifted her up into the rafters.
00:07:56
Speaker
lower down, still holding on, but making her even with you. But she kind of flips around so that in the harness she can then flip upside down to meet you eye to eye. What are you doing? Olive says to you with her hair now kind of hanging freely upside down. I'm sorry. You don't need to apologize, just what?
00:08:25
Speaker
I hadn't heard from you for so long, and now you're sleeping in the rafters and... You found out what I do, and I didn't think you wanted it. I didn't think you wanted a criminal hanging around, and then now when I say that, I realize that
00:08:50
Speaker
That's probably not the best explanation because now I'm hanging around. Literally, yes. Oh. How do you stay upside down for very long like this? It takes practice. And then one of the arms from her harness comes up and under you and lifts you back up over to a rafter to where you can grab on.
00:09:19
Speaker
Eris pulls herself up and sits on the rafter and begins disentangling her boot. It's fairly obvious that this is not the first night from the sort of nest that has begun to appear in the rafters. There are a handful of things that Eris has got sick of lugging back and forth, and so has just been tucking into odd corners.
00:09:48
Speaker
And so it was probably, I mean, it was probably inevitable that she was going to get caught. I didn't feel, it wasn't safe at my place and I couldn't get, I couldn't get anyone to understand that.
Olive's Offer of Safety and Cooperation
00:10:11
Speaker
And the people I work for aren't safe.
00:10:17
Speaker
I don't, I don't, I don't really know. I don't really know anyone else who's not a criminal. And so I, I just, I didn't mean to be trouble. I didn't want to be troubled to you. I just didn't know where to go. I,
00:10:44
Speaker
I'm more upset that you didn't think that you could just come to me when you needed something like this. Because I, of course, you can stay here, Aris. Of course, that's fine. You have a real job and you're with the house and I just, I didn't want
00:11:14
Speaker
I have a problem. The things the things we do. They've they've started started to get on other people. I didn't want I don't want to get any on you by by hanging around especially after we you know, the stuff with Norse and after you helped me
00:11:42
Speaker
Yeah, but I mean that's that's kind of what we that's kind of what we're for is we're We're not the person who sends us on the job where we're deniable and So I didn't want I didn't want it to come back Didn't want me to get traced back to you and get you in trouble and
00:12:13
Speaker
I can understand that. I understand that impulse heiress, and I appreciate you wanting to protect me.
Eris Reveals Tasha's Secrets
00:12:20
Speaker
But at the same time, like you said, I'm attached to the house, which offers me a certain level of protection that is nice to have. And real quick, I'm sorry. Side note, I know we're having the moment here. Is that a bird?
00:12:43
Speaker
Yes. A mechanical what? What is it? It's it's just it's just a mechanical. It's a mechanical bird. That's yes. It's a it's a bird. I made it. I made it just kind of a toy. Eris, the time that I've known you
00:13:11
Speaker
And I think I've gotten a decent read on who you are. And I feel like you're not the type of person to make a toy just for the sake of making a toy. I think it's the kind of thing that a person like me without the right
00:13:41
Speaker
birthmark gets in trouble for me and a friend captures an air elemental to sort of juice up our skiff
00:14:10
Speaker
And I didn't like her being stuck in the, in the skiff all the time. So we built a, I wanted to build something for her to travel in and it's an air elemental. And so I thought bird. And, uh, that's Tasha. Tasha.
00:14:36
Speaker
So you captured an elemental, you bound an elemental, and then you implemented that elemental into an aircraft to power it, that you yourself can pilot, and then additionally created a chassis that that aerial mental could exist in, in a more mechanical sense with some level of autonomy. Yeah, I mean, you just have to move the dragon shard.
00:15:03
Speaker
And she reaches over and Tasha hops onto Eris's hand and she pulls it back. And I mean, it's just sitting in the chest and she flips open a little switch because she's forgotten that she really shouldn't be showing people this because someone who understands is interested in the bird. And you can see the glowing purple Kyber shard inside.
00:15:27
Speaker
And Olive is just kind of smiling and beaming, looking at Tasha in bird form and says, sorry, I was just listing out in delight all of the different houses that would just be flummoxed and perturbed that you've built this thing and how wonderful that is, that without any guidance or assistance you managed to do that.
00:15:55
Speaker
And I this isn't like a breakthrough worthy of them coming down on you. You don't need to worry about that. But just they would they would definitely be perturbed, which makes me happy. Yeah, it's pretty good, right? Yeah, it's great. I mean, also not to like
00:16:17
Speaker
You haven't mentioned, like, the chassis with the arms that can lift me up and, like, move you with, like, I mean... Nice. I've been busy while you've been gone, also. I'm just, uh, you know. Yeah, I... I've been trying really hard not to poke around. And so I've just kind of... I just kind of come after it's dark and then just go... come up here. Um... That's fine, Aris. I...
Collaboration Offer from Olive
00:16:47
Speaker
I can get some accommodations up here that maybe might be a little bit more comfortable than a hammock and some rafters, and we'll provide you a little bit more concealment. I've slept in worse. It's not so bad. You don't have to sleep.
00:17:04
Speaker
Aris, you can, you could sit here as long as you'd like. And if you want to stick around a bit in the mornings or come a little bit earlier in the evenings and resume our, our lessons, I, I would like that. I could use an extra set of hands, capable hands, the assistants at the university aren't. You have, you have extra, it looks like you built them. Well, I had to cause you weren't coming around anymore.
00:17:36
Speaker
Yeah. And she chuckles. Now, Eris, I have assistants and students from the university that come and try to help, but I would rather you be the one helping me. I like that. I'd like that too. I just I don't want you to be
00:18:08
Speaker
I don't want you to be in trouble with the house or with the university or any other people that wouldn't want me to hang around here. Well, I don't care much about the house or the university to be fair in their opinion. I have enough autonomy here to run my lab the way I see fit.
00:18:38
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, or I guess that's all I can say about it. So, um, we shouldn't let anybody know that you're sleeping here. That's against code and regulation, but you hanging around doing experiments. No worries. We can, we can go back to the way things were.
00:19:01
Speaker
Plus, I have all this stuff that you guys got me from Milhatch Industries that I have yet to talk to anybody about because I can't say, hey, look at all this stuff that I had people steal. So it'd be nice to talk to somebody about that. Yeah, we ran into him again. And he's seems to be fine. But that thing he put himself in was definitely not fine.
00:19:23
Speaker
Yeah. There's a, there's a lot of, right. I've, I've seen him cause he still gives Monday the, you know, and he seems, he seems okay, but not the same, I guess. So it'll be interesting. But, um, yeah, his, uh, his son actually transferred here from, um, from wrecking mark. Yeah.
00:19:49
Speaker
Wants to, wants to go into Artifice like his dad. I am not like his dad. His dad seems to be into Artifice in a sort of messed up way. Well, he's not aware of, Harbin doesn't know. Um, so all that, but, right. Right. Um, but Nordson's real mad about it, but Harbin seems happier. Well, that's good. Yeah. So.
00:20:18
Speaker
Um, yeah, come back. We can work together and, uh, and work on some stuff. Sound good. Yeah. Yeah. That would be, that would be really good. Okay. Well, um, my first class is in about a half an hour, so should probably get you packed up and yeah. Yeah. I'll clear out. Sounds good. Thanks. Of course. Iris.
00:20:48
Speaker
I, I understand your impulses, like I said, but I'm, I'm not one to judge. And if you need anything, you need help with anything, my door is always open to you. And if you, if you want to include them, your friends, they, you all did a lot for me and yeah.
00:21:21
Speaker
All right. And with that, Olive lowers herself down with her mechanical arms and unstraps from them, leaves them kind of hanging from a mount attached to the rafters.
Main Episode Transition with Eric
00:21:37
Speaker
Really worried this is going towards Olive being in some sort of accident and turning into Dr. Octavius. Yeah, Eris will
00:21:51
Speaker
Eris will pack up her things and gather up Tasha and go back out the window and up onto the skiv. Okay. Head up. All right. Well, we hope you all enjoyed that little cold open. And now we are going to jump back into the episode proper and find out what in the world is going on with the shifter stuff. So, yeah. Well, I thoroughly enjoyed the cold open.
00:22:23
Speaker
Thank you all and enjoy the episode. Bye guys. Hello and welcome to Eberron or Newton actual play podcast set in the Eberron campaign setting. I'm your game master, Eric. I'm Phillip. I'm Trevor. I'm Randy. I'm Jeff. And welcome to another episode. Gentlemen, what happened last time?
00:22:41
Speaker
We became investigators. We got a opportunity. I don't, it doesn't feel like a promotion. Like it came with a raise, but that's because we rolled for it. I don't know if opportunity is the right word.
00:22:58
Speaker
We were told that we're going to be getting some different types of jobs now, and this very first one is to investigate a string of disappearances. And wouldn't you know, on the ride with us this time is Sana's estranged, sorry, Cath's estranged half brother. Yes. Yes. Because apparently, we got a rule now, where we need one of those
00:23:25
Speaker
Only this time he wasn't mysterious and estranged. It was just estranged. He's not mysterious. It was knowingly estranged. Yeah. He was briefly mysterious. Yeah. Anyway. This is fun. And his name's like Farooq or something. Faroo-de-lock. Faroo. Faroo-de-lock. Farooq was a wrestler that I liked in the 90s. We went to... Go ahead. Go ahead, Philip. Absolutely take a rest of it. Shifters have been disappearing from
00:23:55
Speaker
the ravens who run the illegal gambling operations that don't take place in casinos that the Boromars manage, which have been operating in a shifter neighborhood, which is why these ones are shifters. One has recently turned up dead, and so there's some kind of escalation that seems. Faroo thinks it's a demon.
00:24:22
Speaker
Uh, on the other hand, you know, for is a gatekeeper deals with extra extra planer problems. And so maybe this is an, if you're, if you're a hammer, everything looks like a situation.
00:24:36
Speaker
You know, it could also be absolutely nothing out of the ordinary because after all these people are part of a criminal organization and maybe occasionally getting murdered comes with the territory and So we go to see a detective that we are told those It's on the case. Let's find the Maltese Falcon. There's also on the take and He is named
00:25:01
Speaker
With apologies to the estate of Daschle Hammett, he is Detective Spade. Trevor, what do you want to tell us about Detective Spade? That, that Raynard knows them? There you go. Yep. I guess that is all that came out. We're all anticipating Eric's Humphrey Bogart impression.
00:25:29
Speaker
Okay, yeah, let's just pick up right where we left off. You see Detective Spade. His feet have just come slamming down off the table after saying to you all as a collective, Dranier, what are you doing here? Which, what that means is anybody's guess.
Introduction of Detective Spade
00:25:50
Speaker
And he kind of stands up and it's not difficult for you all to see that he is fixed on Reynard.
00:26:00
Speaker
kind of anticipating some kind of response. We don't just kind of looks over one shoulder and it's going. Who are you talking to? You. No, no, no, no, no. Ray not. Oh, oh, I.
00:26:26
Speaker
Over the years, dear cousin, I may have given you too much credit that if you were to go into hiding, you might take on an alias more complicated than your name backwards. I guess if I ever need to go on the lam, my name will be Lisab. To be fair, I thought of the name
00:26:47
Speaker
The end of the night at the bar, okay? I was citing my check and I spelled my name backwards. Isn't that why you do everything? This was in the past. And was your name easier to say backwards and forwards?
00:27:07
Speaker
Yeah, it's much easier. I'm gonna still call you Reynard. Like I've known other people named Reynard. Come, whoever you are logged, and he kind of tries to get around you to shut the door behind you all, realizing that this conversation is not in the norm. So. Wait, your cousin's a cop. Okay, to be fair, did not know he was a cop now. Okay.
00:27:37
Speaker
Listen, and he shuts the door. I... Dranyou, you haven't answered my question. Why are you in my office? How did you find out that I was here? Are you back with the family? Surely not. Not after what you did. Now I'm confused if I should refer to myself as Dranyou or Rainard.
00:28:01
Speaker
Personal pronouns are fine. Yeah. Me, my. Well, he pulls out a little necklace and just kind of sighs, twisted a few times in his hands and all the gray in the eyes and the hair turns to like a warm chocolate brown and the hair grows out to be more of a, an actual Elvish, typical Elvish length.
00:28:33
Speaker
And he says, yes Basil, you got one thing correct. I like you with the shorter hair, to be fair. But maybe that's just because it reminds me less of who you used to be. Anyway, I'm trying to figure out
00:28:56
Speaker
I know that, I mean, we've had our last campaign in Eberron, and it was just magic as all hell. Is this something that would take us aback or just something that we'd be surprised by, like, did not know it was happening? Like, I know that's- It wouldn't be anything, like, shocking. It would just, other than the personal aspect of it. Yeah. Right, right, right, right, right. The act itself isn't gonna cause Hob to lose sleep. Yeah. But who did it, right? Okay.
00:29:29
Speaker
And you all can take a seat. Who are your friends or you all can introduce yourself since my dear cousin seems to be wanting to be rather obtuse about why you all have walked into my office. There's no reason to get acute. Well, if, okay. I couldn't resist it, I'm sorry.
00:30:02
Speaker
Yes, I guess you could say this is... We're a team of sorts. We're co-workers. Are we? Because I didn't know any of this about you. Yeah, it's a very particular sort, isn't it, dry and near? Alright, look. Same person, different hair. Moving on. Is it? I mean... Are you also a cop? No. Oh, I'm... Are you really a cop? Me?
00:30:32
Speaker
He kind of looks at the door. Oh, heavens no. My name is Basil de Pielin. And I am undercover on behalf of my house. So what do you all want? What? Wait, you're undercover as a cop? Yes.
00:30:59
Speaker
What? Why would you ask? Why would you ask me to undercover? Let's.
00:31:08
Speaker
Hmm. This isn't the first fake cop we've met this month is the wild thing. Right. But that's not exactly cops. Right. I mean. Right. Sure. Sure. Anyway. And they're not fake. They're just. I'm assuming you all are here to see detective Spade. So what can I. Yeah. Where is detective Spade? Is he dead? Is he tied up in the closet? Is he. Do you have some sort of necklace you need to turn a few times and then you become detective Spade?
00:31:36
Speaker
Pointed looking, Reynard. We're just gonna Hermione Granger the whole situation, okay? Detective Spade is a noted and well-regarded detective who recently transferred from Ondare and needed a new job in his new place of residence, Sean, and he is a well-respected member of this community and this precinct. So what can I do for you as Detective Spade?
00:32:07
Speaker
What, your cousin's in the... Your cousin's in a dragon-marked house, and you didn't mention this? To be fair, I don't like him. Okay, listen... One of our mates was kidnapped!
Basil's Undercover Identity Revealed
00:32:20
Speaker
And you didn't think this kind of connection might be... You didn't think that might be at least helpful?
00:32:26
Speaker
I promise you, this is not someone you will want to be working with. I don't really want to be working with you, but here we are. Dranyo, if he would have come calling to his house contacts, would have been quickly dealt with and not in a positive way. Also true.
00:32:51
Speaker
After what you did just... I think at this point, Hob just goes, listen, there's a dead shifter that works for us and we need to talk to you about it. Oh! Oh, Degg, yes. Brutal. Brutal scene. Horrible. Animalistic. Many would say.
00:33:13
Speaker
Typical shift on shift of crime, I would imagine. Oh man. Oh, Jeff didn't like it. But there wasn't... I told you, you're not gonna like this guy. There wasn't anything too remarkable at the crime scene, not my eye anyway.
00:33:35
Speaker
having established you're not actually a detective that's not really i'm not a doctor but if you want to take you want me to take a look at it i can
00:33:49
Speaker
No, I have all of my notes and the first on the scene team's assessment before the scene could have been contaminated. And those, the first on the scene, those were actual cops? Yes. Can we talk to them?
00:34:10
Speaker
Uh, they're out and about, um, I don't even know where we're mobile. I could get you their notes though. And, uh, everything that they gave us, um, is, it's a start. Yeah. Um, and Basil after a beat, Reynard, he makes eye contact with you and kind of smirks and says, be more than happy to hand everything I have over to you. And.
00:34:41
Speaker
have kind of an open communication should anything else come in regarding this crime. But... I'm feeling a yin to this yang. I was feeling more of an if, but we'll go with but. I assume that you've kept your skills rather sharp, Drania, in your time in the underworld. Oh, better than ever. Hub looks at his feet.
00:35:12
Speaker
Unaware he had skills, but pretty sure they're not sharp. I'm one of the most successful people in this. What are your real skills? Me? Yeah, what you actually do. I assume you've been pretending to be, you know, a thief and a bard. Oh, he is a thief. I can attest to that. Let's just say I know how to get the job done.
00:35:41
Speaker
What's the job that you know how to get done? Any job. I know how to get- I know how to get the job done if the job is building something. Right. Through what methods might one complete a job that you could get done? I have many skills. What are they? Identify one. Name something.
00:36:01
Speaker
Hey Trevor, why don't you flip to your character sheet and name off some stuff that's yellow next to. I'm playing arrogant right now. That is not my character sheet. I know. I know. I know. Eris slings the Fletcher off her back, shoves it into Raynard's hand and says, tell me how it works. That's not my job. So check that one off the list of everything.
00:36:27
Speaker
You said you're a team. I ate this day. I feel a lot of tension in this room. Well, not a good one. He looks at Milo and says, do you feel tension? Milo's mouth is still a gate from seeing Raynard's hair grow long and...
00:36:46
Speaker
I'm pretty much just too long for the ride, it seems. Can we have your notes? Hobbes going to do something real quick because he really is one does want to know the answer and two is genuinely upset with the way Rainard is acting right now. When he, the one thing he should see is to give us a real straight answer right now. And he's not, I understand Trevor knows that. So Hobbes going to do something he hasn't done yet.
00:37:12
Speaker
He's going to grab Reynard by the collar and lift him up with one hand and say, you will tell us what he's about to ask you to do because it's going to affect us. Stop being aloof and answer this question.
Hob Demands Answers from Reynard
00:37:26
Speaker
What is he about to ask you to do? Oh my. Fracking aloof. And I'll roll if I need to. I'll roll against Trevor.
00:37:39
Speaker
um what is uh because i like to think i'm being intimidating yeah yeah rainard what is your what's your discipline i don't even know probably not a lot it doesn't strike us oh i have one green so don't you worry so intimidation against one purple and if you remember my intimidation uses my brawl check which is two yellow and two green
00:38:05
Speaker
I don't think I'm doing so well in this one. It's nearly impossible, but I've been known to do the impossible when it comes to bad rolls. Do I roll something or do I see? You're about to take a whole bunch of strain. Oh, yeah, I know. No, he's going to roll. Sorry, I'm getting the points reset. OK. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. Here we go. Let's see if Raynard tells me the truth. To success. Unbelievable. Wow. So yes, Raynard.
00:38:34
Speaker
Hobb has sufficiently intimidated you into kind of dropping some of the act. Well, I would imagine, based off of our history, he's going to have someone a little more successful to maybe acquire something he needs for him. Listen.
00:39:00
Speaker
We don't need to measure successes at this point, Drania. That ship is sailed for you. The reason that I'm undercover here as Detective Spade is the house wants me to find there's a lost heirloom performance that we only recently discovered the existence of.
00:39:22
Speaker
that is apparently locked in some rainy bust that I'm trying to track down. And it passed through this district, so I'm trying to ingratiate myself the precinct to figure out where it might be. So if you all can take this shift of business off my desk, so I can focus on the more important reasons why I'm here, once I have that information,
00:39:50
Speaker
about the wear of it all and where this priceless bust is. Drania, you and your acquaintances will help me in exchange for the notes of my full assistance in the Shifter incident. Sorry, doesn't the Bormar Clan pay you for your notes in full assistance?
00:40:16
Speaker
that the old idea of being on the take yeah lissa explicitly said on the take oh i mean yeah i mean oh i mean yes they they do pay the fake detective for information about the whereabouts of the city watch and making sure that uh this precinct isn't on bore mars tale too much but
00:40:38
Speaker
I think this is above and beyond territory. It's not above and beyond, you haven't done anything. You've got someone else's notes. Yeah, you're going to hand us pieces of paper that are easily accessible to you. If that is above and beyond, how did you get here? That is a great question. Oh wait, I'm sorry, I just remembered your last name.
00:41:05
Speaker
Very well. If you don't need the notes, then you can go. This is where the door humbles himself, and it's so very unhelpful that she turns around and walks out of the door. Good to see you, Drenia. We were sent here.
00:41:34
Speaker
by Satan himself. We can return and say the detective he's been paying has been uncooperative and not even a real detective. Or you can give us the notes and we can decide if they're good enough to give you the time to solve your rainy bust problem.
00:42:06
Speaker
Still let that hurt a yes. It's your opportunity to say yes right now. I'm still feeling really intimidating just so you know. Yeah, we'll go ahead and do a roll for it. So Basil is normally
00:42:36
Speaker
Um, a red and a purple. I'm going to go ahead and flip a story point to upgrade.
00:42:45
Speaker
I just was the reason I want to justify it's besides just Hobbes being big and looks angry I mean, I'm legitimately telling him we will go tell the The head of a dragon marked house that he's been paying a person who's been lying to him or Mars not dragon mark I'm sorry not drag mark, but at the head of a powerful crime family That somebody's been taking money under false pretenses from him and then won't help us when asked. Mm-hmm. It feels like
00:43:14
Speaker
They could like a thing. All right. What am I rolling?
Basil's Deal for Crime Notes
00:43:18
Speaker
Your intimidation against two red. Okay, that's gonna be a little tougher. Um, okay, we have all the story points. Do you guys have a problem with me flipping one to raise the odds of it? Okay. Okay. Two success and three advantage. Yeah. So
00:43:41
Speaker
Basil takes a beat at your words, Hob, and thinks for a moment and kind of nods and pulls open a desk drawer and pulls out a Manila folder. Says, very well, here are the notes. But, and he looks at Raynard as he slides them onto his desk.
00:44:09
Speaker
Good to see you, Dranya. Good to know what areas of the city you run around. Some people have missed you dearly in the family. There's your notes. You can go. Milo picks up the notes. Are we just going? Rainard, do you have anything you want to say in response to that? I don't know if you do.
00:44:39
Speaker
Raynard does not like this person, okay? So you're not gonna say anything? Nope, I think Raynard just stands up, turns the necklace again a few times in his hands. Okay. Turns back to Graynard. Anybody else gonna say anything? I mean, Detective Spade has dismissed you all.
00:45:10
Speaker
He of false authority has dismissed us. Yeah. I mean, Eris has already left, but Milo has picked up the notes. Rainard, it sounds like, is leaving Hobb. If Milo picked up the notes, I guess Hobb will just, if it's cool, Hobb's going to walk to the door and open it and let everybody else walk out first and then walk out at the end with a quick glance back.
00:45:42
Speaker
Detective Spade smirks at you as you leave. Of course he does. I go crush his skull. I might not get you 50 gold coins after you do it. Do you still feel quite hottie? No, you know, I'm not going to wait until the end of the session to do this. Just go and make a note, Raynard, to add plus 20 to your obligation. OK. Oh, wow. Here's the thing.
00:46:13
Speaker
It makes sense because I'm clearly avoiding whatever's going on. Yeah, no joke. And you will continue to avoid until it is no longer avoidable. Hob. Hob. Hob was not lying when he said we'll see if this is worth helping you with your thing. And yeah, I mean, that way if if you all decide then that will have an effect on
00:46:33
Speaker
Reynard's obligation, but yeah. So just based on the way that interaction went. Yeah. I mean, ultimately that's going to be up to Reynard. Yeah. Hobbs. Okay. But we promised your cousin. So, um, are you all, where are you all headed? I'm assuming you're not going to stop at the hallway to check out the notes. Heiress is out the door. Heiress has left the building. Heiress is not hanging out in a police station. Yeah. Sure. Hopefully she didn't go far. Did she go away or can we see her when we get out the door? You can see her when you get out the door. Okay.
00:47:03
Speaker
Trevor, what's Reynard's melee defense? Great question. It's because I almost said earlier now I would never roll to attack one of you guys but I will roll to intimidate you if I have to because I put weight in social skills and I'm gonna use it because I get wrapped up in role-playing against Eric and forget that I can tell him to make me roll sometimes. I have a one in melee defense. Cool, so one one setback die.
00:47:31
Speaker
One success. Eris punches Raynard as soon as you're out the door. Nice. You take four wounds. Don't forget your soak. Man, that's half of Milo's life right there. Yeah, reduce it and subtract your soak. And I think Hob chuckles a little and he goes, what better her than me there, man? No offense, Eris. What we at now? Free dragon-mocked houses?
00:48:01
Speaker
I mean, I still, I still think you're at council one too high. We got, we got Dinnith. It's you're going to go. I, I've got Dinnith. No. And now he is. Yeah, that one threw me. He didn't really say that. That's not how he would react at all.
00:48:29
Speaker
Raynard. Everyone still thrilled about this city? You've got to start telling us. Not right this second. I don't need your confessional. We've got things to do. But you're going to start opening up. The fact that you've been hiding that you are on the outs with your dragon marked family for the entire time we've known each other is
00:48:59
Speaker
Borderline unforgivable. And perhaps crosses that line. Let's not pretend we don't all have secrets and sordid pasts. None of my sordid past is coming after me. Well, not since I've known you. That's different though. The things that have happened since I've known you, that's... What are you gonna do? Fate's weird. That sounds like a sentence that could end in yet. No, it genuinely won't.
00:49:32
Speaker
If I carry all of mine with me, so it ain't tracing. Far as I know, only person who might want me back is dead. Everything else I carry up here. She pulls the hair back and shows the wolf tattoo. And the only person I want back is dead.
Eris's Personal Struggles Resurface
00:49:55
Speaker
I'm sorry.
00:49:58
Speaker
That was the appropriate response. I apologize. No, it wasn't appropriate response. It was supposed to be, it was supposed to be fine. Okay. Eris would not like that. Well, this is awfully awkward. I say let's for now, let's just get on with the job. Crime scene. Yes. I'll peruse the notes as we head that way. Um,
00:50:30
Speaker
As, as you all presumably start to walk off, uh, Faroo walking, he was just standing there awkwardly watching all of this. Can you imagine? It's like being invited to a family dinner where everyone is fighting. Um,
00:50:56
Speaker
Faroo says quietly to Eris, if you have grown tired of this city, I can attest that the demon waists are much nicer than my experience thus far. I think Hob might chuckle a little at that too. There's no sense of humor in his voice. Right, off we go. And Kath is also just still stewing. And is even more annoyed the more Faroo talks.
00:51:24
Speaker
Okay, so you all heading to the crime scene are able to get there easily enough. You got good directions on where it was. So are you reading the notes on the way or are the notes just staying in the folder? Okay, Milo, as you flip over the notes, you see that the accounts of the city watchmen who first came onto the scene
00:51:51
Speaker
Kind of parrot what Basil said about it being a really brutal, almost animalistic crime scene. A lot of blood everywhere. Body was pretty devastatingly mutilated. Seemed to be not a precise killing. They were torn apart.
00:52:22
Speaker
medical examination that happened on the body indicates that, best they can tell, claws did a lot of the damage. Also some bite marks. But they also note that something caused the body to
00:52:49
Speaker
seize up prior to death, like the joints were locked, like some kind of electrocution, they would say, like lightning or something like that would have caused the body to contort and seize up at some point during the attack. Does the autopsy indicate whether the paralysis occurred before the bites and claws? Are there defensive wounds?
00:53:19
Speaker
No, so there's enough damage on all parts like the back and front of the body to indicate that the victim was running. It was not any attempts at defense were clearly futile and at best an attempt to get away, not inflict damage.
00:53:39
Speaker
I feel like I know this, but I'm gonna ask anyway. Shifters aren't like lycanthropes in that they all... It's not like there's some vaguely bearish shifters and some vaguely wolfish shifters. It's human and animal-less. They're kind of... There's different types. Like swiftstriders, there's typically more feline. Okay. I was just thinking biting and claw marks probably have some sort of...
00:54:03
Speaker
They look like humanoid size and shifter could be could be behind it. It's not like this is obviously and my second question is Was anything missing? from the body Did anything feed on it? Oh No, nothing. There was nothing Missing in the sense that nothing was consumed like there wasn't a chunk out of the body missing from a bite or anything or an organ or anything Yeah, no nothing like that
00:54:31
Speaker
Um, Milo, are you reading this thing that loud? Yes. Then people are deeply unsettled as they walk near you on the street. That's probably normal. What's Faroo's reaction to this information? Um,
00:54:50
Speaker
Give me a perception check. Oh, he's not responding to any of this? No, he's very intently listening. So once the notes have been fully read,
Faroo's Insights on Demons
00:55:09
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, he doesn't, he doesn't really chime in in a sense of like, well, that doesn't sound like a demon kind of thing. Um, I guess I'll be moving on because I was wrong back to the wastes. Yeah. I mean, the best you can tell just on, on surface, he is still walking with you and listening intently to what you all have to say. And so therefore he is still interested in whatever's going on. So Erez looks over at Faroo. Okay. Well,
00:55:39
Speaker
Demons kill people. Demons tear people apart. Do demons electrocute people? I've never witnessed one do that in particular, but magic items can.
00:55:58
Speaker
Like, there's plenty of implements that could electrocute somebody, if needed. Listen, I don't deal much with demons. When we go to the crime scene, there's gonna be some... Do you deal sort of with demons? I was trying to couch it a bit. Don't we all deal with our own demons? I hate it here.
00:56:19
Speaker
Well, let's go somewhere else. We are, we're coming to the crime scene anyway. No, I guess I'm asking, do you have some sort of ability to sense a residue of a presence? Is that gonna? There will be certain potential signs of, potentially, like I said, the one thing that
00:56:45
Speaker
you are quick to learn when dealing with demons. And if you all do move the demon waste, this will be good to know. He put the offer out there and nobody said no. That's not in the cards. Things trying to kill me are not what I look for in residence. At least these things don't try to stab you in the back. Well, sometimes. If this is a demon, it obviously did.
00:57:11
Speaker
Habalvo said something that Jeff realized he would be very upset if he heard it said about Oklahoma. And so he just decided not to say it. No, Fru says, demons typically, especially in settings like this, operate in a manner that they typically try to keep from being noticed.
00:57:37
Speaker
in an apparent fashion. So my best guess based on the information that we have at this point is that the shifters that have been disappearing were kidnapped in some capacity or captured. And this was another attempt gone wrong based on what I've heard. So that's the best insight I can give. And once again, Demon would not be above killing somebody.
00:58:06
Speaker
if their attempt to capture them goes awry. And certainly if they had revealed themselves and their true nature to this individual, they certainly wouldn't want them to go anywhere to spread that information. So I don't know if the victim noticed something that caused them to run, but that's my best guess. All right. Probably still a demon.
00:58:38
Speaker
Um, so yeah. Um, you all arrive at the crime scene. Um, Cath hangs back. Um, while you all go into the alley, uh, that, that Lisa told you it was located at. Um, so yeah, what you initially notice, it is an alleyway, um, lots of debris and, um, trash and things like that.
00:59:08
Speaker
Um, about, but that's just, that's just sharn baby. Um, but you do see a large, um, still semi wet. This did only happen yesterday. And there was, as you can see now, a lot of blood. Um, and there has been no attempt to clean it up. Um, so there is a very, very large, um, pile or pile puddle of blood. Um,
00:59:35
Speaker
that there is some smearing around the edges where you are not certain if it's like the investigators that came to collect the body perhaps stepped in it and kind of smeared stuff around. The one apparent thing that you can see that seems of note is that going further back into the alley, you do see some large
01:00:02
Speaker
footprints, foot markings that are walking away and they do have kind of claw points at the front of them and so whatever did this was barefoot when it did it. You all can propose checks to do whatever you like at this point but that's all you can see from the outset of this area. Are these demon tracks?
01:00:30
Speaker
I mean large for a humanoid right not like large Yeah, yeah, just just big big feet Demons come in all shapes and sizes and many of them can appear something they are not so Perhaps Robert you said they try to be hidden and this thing walked away with clawed feet well
01:00:57
Speaker
Based on what we can see, it looks like it may have assumed a more menacing form for the attack. Possibly. But then it left with it still. Yes, it did. I'd like to get a closer look at that footprint. Okay. So let's see, go ahead and you can give me
01:01:25
Speaker
trying to think of what would be. Is it just perception? Or skullduggery? Yeah, I mean, it's like deduction. Like, it's like. Yeah, street bias. Knowledge adventuring. Quick, Randy's listing off things that I have now. Start throwing out some suggestions, Randy, that you might have a yellow in. Knowledge. Astro cartography. Knowledge lore.
01:01:54
Speaker
Well, it's nature. Artifice. Honestly, nature doesn't sound bad. It's a footprint. There's no yellow on that one, but. Do you have medicine? I would take a medicine check. Oh, yes. Yes, medicine for sure. OK, so give me a three purple difficulty medicine check. OK. And you could spend a story point to upgrade it if you want to ensure that. Yeah, let's
Milo's Magical Footprint Discovery
01:02:20
Speaker
do that. It might help. OK.
01:02:25
Speaker
There you go. And that gives me what? Turn one of your greens into a yellow. So remove one green and add one yellow. One success. You rolled seven dice and you got one success. Okay, so the thing that you notice checking out the footprints, Milo. First and foremost, they do not seem mammalian in nature. They seem much more
01:02:54
Speaker
um I'm trying to think of the right word reptilian insectoid reptilian reptilian draconic like some like something with scales and claws on its feet avian um not not avian because it looks like a giant chicken yeah it's the baba yaga yes dancing that has been here um that's that's the big thing that you notice is that this the
01:03:25
Speaker
Unless there's a brand new type of shifter out on the street that you've never heard of, Milo, these ain't shifter tracks. Yeah, for some reason there aren't weir lizards. Yeah. So that's what you notice from your check.
01:03:44
Speaker
Real quick, while Milo's checking all this stuff out, I just want to do a quick check-in. Raynard, how slash what are you doing? You just got punched in the face and then walked across to the city with that group. So what's Raynard up to? I mean, if Aeris punched Raynard really hard, it probably was more like in the sternum. I presume Raynard to be somewhat tall. It was only two wounds. It wasn't that bad. Just because she didn't let the blade come out of her glove. That's fair.
01:04:15
Speaker
But yeah, what's Reynard doing slash how's Reynard doing while Milo goes to check out the footprints? Reynard's just doing what he always does. Hanging out in the back, quietly waiting to save the day like he always does. I'm starting to think Trevor believes that.
01:04:34
Speaker
I don't even need to go re-listen. Hob, if I may say, where Hob's head's at. Hob knows one thing about alleys. You can't have an alley without some buildings. So Hob would like to know what's in those buildings surrounding this alley.
01:04:50
Speaker
That's the one thing you know about alleys So This is a residential area so there there are some market stalls out on the street and
01:05:10
Speaker
including a Dragon Above, Dragon Below setup. But the two buildings are residential that you are in. Okay. Hob is not throwing out the idea of knocking on the door of one of these residential buildings. I'm assuming they're like multi-unit, not like houses. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Apartments. Okay. But he's definitely gonna head over, and he doesn't need to do it right now if other stuff needs to get resolved. But he's definitely gonna head over to that Dragon Above, Dragon Below stall. Okay.
01:05:40
Speaker
OK. Eris? Anything you want to check out in the alley? Is? Eris has nothing in medicine. I'm trying to think what. I mean, you could do perception just to kind of gain a sense of. It would be exactly the same role.
01:06:13
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, obviously all the blood on the ground is shifter blood since we don't have any evidence of successful defense. At the moment, I don't know. So move on to someone else. I can continue to look at this. Are the prints like considered medium size, like a medium sized creature?
01:06:37
Speaker
Oh, in terms of, so in Genesis, we do silhouette sizes. You all are silhouette one. I'm a zero, I thank you very much. So these footprints, you would actually guess would be a very large silhouette one, if not silhouette two being. So a big entity.
01:07:07
Speaker
So, Milo, is there any further investigation you want to do in the alley? Um...
01:07:15
Speaker
I mean, I would assume Milo would go look at the walls, see if there are any scratch marks on the walls, like from a swipe, or I don't know. I mean, just generally case the area. Checking out the area. That will be a perception check to purple. One success. One another success. OK, so as you're kind of making your way back down the alley, looking at the walls, looking at the area,
01:07:43
Speaker
You actually can find something that kind of sticks out to you amongst the trash and just general garbage that is in this alley, either intentionally or gets caught up in here. You find a bundle, like a tied up bundle of letters that would seem like an odd thing to be here.
01:08:12
Speaker
And as you look at them, another thing that strikes you, they're not addressed to the same person. They're addressed to different people based on the address, people that live in these buildings. So, yeah. Interesting. He was a mail carrier.
01:08:41
Speaker
Well, Milo shares his findings with the group. Okay. Explains that it's obviously not a mammal, more reptilian-like, and very big. And I also found a bundle of letters that seem out of place. They got any blood on them? Does the bundle have blood on it? No, the bundle does not have blood on it.
01:09:07
Speaker
You found it nearer to the street in the alleyway than the puddle of blood. Well, the reptile thing kind of rules out that shifter-on-shifter moron, and it's... I'm going to take another run at that. Well, the lizard thing certainly puts a damper on the shifter-on-shifter nonsense. Yeah?
01:09:36
Speaker
Um, can I use, can I use the utility spell to detect magic? Sure. What difficulty would you like to be? Um,
01:09:53
Speaker
Actually, utility spells don't have, utility spells always have a simple difficulty, which is zero. I think usually they have a simple difficulty. I mean, I'm fine with you just detecting magic. That is fine. So... Here you go.
Eris Connects Crime to Mill Hatch Industries
01:10:14
Speaker
So, yeah, you successfully detect all of the magics. That's three success, one advantage, and a triumph is what Eris rolled.
01:10:22
Speaker
on the utility spell. So, yeah, you look around and you, there's nothing obviously magical about the blood or anything like that. You do see, and this is also taking the advantage into account as something else additionally that you notice because of the advantage. So you do see the footprints
01:10:49
Speaker
Um, have some residual magic about them. Um, you would guess from, so can I get from what I have? Can I, can I get the idea of whether this is magical because the creature that left them is magical or magical in the sense of perhaps they were, they're an illusion. Um, so it's, uh, it's more that.
01:11:18
Speaker
the creature itself was magical or under the influence of some kind of magic. And because of the successful check and the advantage, sorry, go ahead. Oh, go ahead. Get to the end.
01:11:34
Speaker
Finish your sentence. I will let you finish your sentence. Give me the flowers. Um, so you notice, you kind of see the faint footprints beyond where the blood was left behind. And after like three or four paces back into the alley, um, you see the footprints get smaller. Do they get more normal, more, more human shaped? Yep.
01:12:00
Speaker
They got five toes on each foot, a heel. So what we have is something... Are they still barefoot? Yes. So we've got something... If not, they're in those awful toe shoes because he definitely just said they have five toes. Those Vibram finger shoes. Running in those one time and it was awful. He had to go spelunking after this. So the impression that I'm getting is the killer
01:12:30
Speaker
turned into a dragon man, killed the shifter, and then turned back into a humanoid, I guess. I can't say human for sure.
01:12:48
Speaker
Um, and then do you all have anything for the triumph? I do. Um, related to the situation, basically it would allow you to bypass a couple of checks, essentially. Um, I generally like that. If I just know more, that seems. I wasn't sure if there was something wild that you all wanted to do with it. So.
01:13:07
Speaker
Um, like Basil shows up and apologizes. Um, the human feet continue to get smaller into chicken feet. And then we see this chicken that's covered in blood and we have solved it. The human feet lead back to Basil. Um, so.
01:13:26
Speaker
what you find in addition as you're kind of looking around Eris you also spot something that's in the pile of garbage that has some some magical similar magical residue coming off of it a residual magic and it is a white coat that you see a long white coat that
01:13:51
Speaker
Is like like a like a lab coat. Yeah. That's like torn at certain spots, has spots of blood on it. But it's definitely torn up pretty severely. And do you pick it up to investigate it? Like you see it in this pile. That's that's what I will give you. If you got Eris. Fishes out a stick out of the pile and.
01:14:16
Speaker
and put it in a giant ziplock. Now she just lifts it up and deposits it on the ground.
01:14:23
Speaker
So dramatically, as you throw it on the ground, the music swells and you see a patch on the front of it that reads Mill Hatch Industries. I was going to say, you cannot tell me Hobb would not have noticed if Norsen Mill Hatch got lizard feet, reptilian feet, when he hulked out that time. You did not notice that about... Okay. He didn't... Norsen Mill Hatch didn't change, other than just like, yeah, his muscles were bigger, but not... I know, we kept making too many jokes about hulking out and I thought he changed more significantly than he did.
01:14:52
Speaker
You can also tell that there is something in one of the front pockets of the coat. I fished that out too. You find some papers in the pocket. There's not a name on them, but rather these are clearance papers of some kind that identify whoever the owner of this jacket was as an Arcanist and head of development for Mill Hatch L.D.
01:15:20
Speaker
mill hatch LD, like, like limited, no, like a company name. No, no. Like, um, it's, it's a different designation. It's like, um, mill hatch L dot D dot. Okay. So Arcanist jacket, uh, Arcanist for mill hatch LD. Was there any more to that? I was behind on writing.
01:15:44
Speaker
If the head of head of development is, is the title of whoever owned this, but that stands for lycanthropy department. I am going to lose my mind. The LD, the initials of any neighborhood in Sean. No, I mean.
01:16:01
Speaker
Possibly Eberron nerds. That's not the intention. That's not what Eris thinks. Eris does not go, Oh, this is from lower. Lower Dura. I was going to say lower Dura and I was going to be the nerd once. I was about to come up with, I wasn't going to come. Well then nevermind. Yes. Add lower Dura to the top of your potential locations list. Davenport. Um,
01:16:29
Speaker
So yeah, that's what you find with your triumph. Head of research and development, right? Head of development. Development. And Arcanist is the best term that I could come up with to replace the term scientist. Sure.
01:16:51
Speaker
Eris drops it on the ground, pokes at it a little bit with the stick until it's spread out and she reads this and looks at the papers and then just starts swearing fluently in Goblin. If Hobb hears that, he asks what she found because he's picked up a few of the words at this point. He can't not have. Does Hobb not speak Goblin? I'll need to double check. I know I chose two and Orcish was one. I don't think Goblin was the other, but it might have been.
01:17:20
Speaker
Anyway, um, Eris gestures to the coat and, um, tosses Hob the, the ID papers. And Hob understands the gravity of the situation and why she feels that way now. And even throws out, he throws out his own goblin curse and solidarity. Um,
01:17:46
Speaker
So Milo, do you want to make any further check with the letters that you have or do you have any anything that you want to do about that? Yeah, Milo's definitely while they're doing this, he's kind of thumbing through the letters. See if anything sticks out. Anything looks odd and misplaced. They are arranged in in an order that you would guess like
01:18:12
Speaker
a sequential order of addresses, like one after the other on postman might, right? Like it looks like it looks like we've actually got a mailbag as somebody who is delivering mail would have would have bundled them together, perhaps by
Discussion of Mail Carrier's Involvement
01:18:29
Speaker
building. Let me ask this does the mail.
01:18:32
Speaker
So are they, are they bundle? Does this look official? Like was one of, did we find the bag of an actual postman? You just found a, like, like a bundle. Like if, if they had like reached into their bag to grab a bundle of letters, like for a building that they were going to have to go into. And that is what you found is, is a single bundle for like one building. Yep.
01:18:54
Speaker
Is it one of the buildings that's helping make this alley? Yes. Okay. Just to clarify, work with me here, work this through with me, gang. It makes no sense at all to think one of these guys is a male carrier, right? One of them is fairly obviously this Arcanist and we know that Degg was a, right? Was it was this free hustlers? Maybe it's a list of addresses of potential victims.
01:19:22
Speaker
I think he scooped a mail carrier and he ran away. Dropped his package and ran away. We need to find the mail carrier for this route. Oh, you think he took a mail carrier as well? Like a mail carrier stumbled upon the murder and the lizard man grabbed a mail carrier.
01:19:40
Speaker
I wasn't. I think that that's just as valid as what I think, which is a male carrier stumbled upon a grizzly crime, dropped his things and ran real fast. Oh, just to add some clarification that you all would know, looking at this in real space, the footprints leading out of the blood puddle go away from where Milo found
01:20:01
Speaker
the bundle of letters. The footprints go deeper into the alley. The bundle of letters was found right near the opening of the alley from the street. So yeah, we need to check who the postman on this route is. And the easiest way to do that would be to ask one of these people who their postman is. It would be. Hobb doesn't do a lot of cold calls because Milo's just going to go deliver the letters.
01:20:23
Speaker
I was going to say Aeris. Milo's going to moonlight as a postman. I was going to say, it's honestly like the very bottom of Aeris's list of things to try is involve people. Yeah. So Milo, are you going to? Do it, Milo. Milo's just walking away, raining or sleet.
01:20:46
Speaker
So the building, if you're facing the alleyway, it's the building on the right that these addresses are, or these letters are addressed for. Well, Milo's gonna, is anybody coming with Milo? Kath is walking with you if it seems like you're getting farther away from Faroo. If we look like we're about to start going in different directions, but staying reasonably together, Hob's going to go to that stall, so Hob will not be going with Milo.
01:21:14
Speaker
He'll be staying with an earshot of Milo if Milo needs a hob. Reynard'll go. Okay. So he might not run as quickly at that point.
01:21:25
Speaker
So yeah, Myla, it sounds like you have a couple of people going with you into the building. Before you do that, though, Hobb did want to check in with the Dragon Above, Dragon Below stall. So let's go and do that real quick. So you see that there is a female beast hide shifter manning the stall. And as you approach, she eyes you and says, fancy a game?
01:21:50
Speaker
I'm actually not today we're here when she's got a box in her hand that she's spinning and with a ball in the other one. I'm very intrigued by what this game you know what. There's a part of me that thinks I was gonna play around her quick to ingratiate himself cuz now I need you to flesh out this game you come up with. So he says sure any slaps of copper. On the table and waits to see if he needs to bring its friends along with it.
01:22:16
Speaker
Okay, first round that'll do. So have you ever played dragon above dragon below before? I have not. So she with her thumb very deftly flips the front lid of the box open and you see half of the box is painted very beautifully with a starry sky and the other half of the box is painted very menacingly, lots of red jagged lines, things like that.
01:22:41
Speaker
And in her other hand is a small little wooden ball. And there's a divider in the box with a not insignificant big hole in the center divider. And so she says, symbol game. I just spin this box, drop the ball in, and you guess whether you're going to end up with the dragon above or the dragon below. Winner takes the money.
01:23:09
Speaker
realizes he's just signed on for a game of Witch Hand, and is okay with that. And he says, okay, okay, great. So she spins the box in one hand, and it's on a little mini platform that allows it to keep spinning. She drops the ball in, slams the lid shut, and the box slowly comes to a stop in her hand, and she says, so? Cibris or Kyber? Eris, did you come over here, or are you still looking at stuff?
Hob's Gambling Game with Locals
01:23:40
Speaker
Uh, Eris is still looking to stuff. Okay. He says, uh, you know, um, Kyber Kyber. And so she flips the, uh, the lid open dramatically and the ball is sitting amongst the starry side of Sybaris and she tough luck. And she goes to grab the copper and says, I mean, I could take that. Or if you want, we could play another round. I mean, it's a 50 50 chance.
01:24:09
Speaker
I do want to note for the listener that it's a 50-50 chance that Eric brute-forced. He did not do anything to decide if Hob won or lost that copper piece. When he did do something, he decided. It's almost as if this isn't a game of chance. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I don't think Hob's gonna play any longer, and he's certainly not going to. Oh, come on. It's one copper. Just put down another copper. If you win, you get triple your money back.
01:24:38
Speaker
You know, I really shouldn't have wasted time the first time. We're actually here from Lissa. And she kind of looks side to side when you bring up Lissa's name. And she closes the box quickly. Honestly, I just wanted to see what the game was. It looks quite interesting.
01:25:00
Speaker
We're here to figure out what's going on with Degg and some of your other... Would coworkers be? Do they really know each other or do they associate? Associate, okay. With Degg and your other associates that have gone missing. Yeah. What do you want to know? Listen, I assume, have you been set up here for the last several nights?
01:25:25
Speaker
Um, I, I've been here, uh, since this morning. I mean, Doug died yesterday, so somebody had to come in the slot. So here I go. Okay. So this was, this was his, this was his station. Okay. We, we rotate, but, uh, I mean, this was one of Doug's regular spots. Gotcha. Um, well, have you talked to any police or any detectives or anything like that? Have they come to talk to you about a statement? No. Right. They're not taking this very seriously, are they? No.
01:25:56
Speaker
Now, I don't know if you were friends with any of these people, and if you were, maybe this will give you some comfort, but I'm taking this seriously. As usual as I should say, I'm actually, I think I might be good at it too, so there's where the comfort part comes in. I have to assume that there's talk.
01:26:17
Speaker
among you, your associates, other people in this area about what's been happening and theories. Is there anything that you particularly think sounds plausible? I mean, any point, cause I think it's a demon. A fruit who is just standing nearby kind of looks and it's not a demon. And you don't know that woman thinks that it's not. And it's possible neither of them are correct.
01:26:48
Speaker
I, you know, people talk, but most of us just figure that Degg took the wrong guy's money. You know, it's not an easy gig when you make the wrong person angry. So you think it's unrelated to the disappearances? I mean, it might be related, it might not be. Degg wasn't the most
01:27:17
Speaker
intimidating person. And so if somebody wanted to make him disappear, I can't imagine why they wouldn't just make him disappear. It's not like dead could put up much of a fight. So boy, I heard all of that, but I was very distracted by whatever's going on inside of Phillips brain right now. Sorry, I apologize.
01:27:36
Speaker
No, no, no, no, no, it's fine. I like that it happened because that means you've got something to go with provided you can make it work for Eris. Listen, I'll be moving on shortly. I don't want to take up your space here.
01:27:54
Speaker
Was there anything in common with everyone who's disappeared? Were they looking to get out? Do you guys talk? Would you know that? Are they weak? Are they strong? Were they all in the same area? Did they all work the same place? I mean, you know, shifters that are strong, fast, capable, they get better gigs than working a street stall. I mean, um, just like,
01:28:20
Speaker
anybody who has marketable skills would go do that marketable skill. We're good with our hands, but that's about it. What kind of shifter was Degg? Swift Strider. She is a beast hide. The only thing they have in common is that they're shifters.
01:28:43
Speaker
They don't have a whole lot of prospects. So, uh, I think he does say he, uh, he's, uh, I'm sorry if this is indelicate. I hope you don't mind. I don't know another way to ask this. Everyone else who's disappeared, where they all shift Striders. I have an accent. Uh, no, it, um, no long tooth beast hides. Doesn't seem to be at least in my eye, any real pattern to it, but.
01:29:13
Speaker
Quick, you said Lissa sent you? Well, it wouldn't so much say she sent us, more like we were sent to her to help. And we followed some leads that she gave us that led us here. And she kind of, but you work for the Klan? We occasionally do jobs for them. We are here under the Klan's employee this time right now, yes.
01:29:43
Speaker
And she kind of chuckles and smirks and lightly shakes her head like she finds something amusing. I mean, Hob wants to say, oh, OK, so because we also contract for the clan, you have a problem with that, but he wouldn't. You don't you don't get a sense of.
01:30:02
Speaker
They don't have anything to do with us. Yeah, she's not dismissing you. It's just, yeah. I think if he sees that, he might say, oh, so you don't have the highest opinion of the clan either, do you? There's just a certain irony to Lissa heading up the investigation of a murder. Well, I do want to dig down into that, but I want to assure you she's not heading up anything.
01:30:31
Speaker
She was our point of contact down here. Our group. And I look at our group and that we don't look great. Faroo is intently staring at some shifters who are shopping. Great. And he's new. He says, what?
01:30:56
Speaker
What's up with Lisa, though? Look, I just met her. I got no, I got no feelings one way or the other. I'm more of a, I'm more of a Pierlands guy when we're talking about who we stand, who we stand in the clan.
01:31:11
Speaker
Well, and she kind of looks, gives a quick look around. You know that her dad, Rorik, died recently.
Suspicion on Lissa's Leadership
01:31:24
Speaker
I had heard, yes. That's why she's in her position. That's why she's in her position. Are you insinuating that she put herself in that position in a roundabout way? Just saying. Took a tumble from a tower, like that just seems...
01:31:40
Speaker
a bit more suspicious than the investigation gave it. Yeah, I'll tell you what, if tumbles from towers are just seen as things that happened and not heavily investigated, I would assume there's a lot more murders in this city, or it would be a lot more murders in this city. And, I mean, honestly, Lissa isn't most people within the Ravens. She's not our first pick to head up the organization, but
01:32:08
Speaker
Her second command is a lot more capable if you ask me. Do you want to know the darndest thing? Do you know who we answer to? Viggo! Viggo! Is she like full body? We are absolutely wearing the same hat right now. Well do you have a decent second command at least?
01:32:30
Speaker
I don't know that we do. No, it's his little henchmen. Sometimes I fear it might be me or that one over there, and I point to Aerys. I'm like, it's not good. It's his slimy little henchmen. Actually, he probably points to Milo before Aerys. Milo's in a building delivering mail right now. Good point. Yeah, he doesn't really have a second as much as he has a fixer. Well, at least we have good old Del Hob, but
01:32:58
Speaker
So are you saying if I want to get a better idea, if we want to get a better idea of perhaps how things really are with you guys, we should talk to Del. I mean, if you just want a better sense of our general day-to-day and well-being and actually what's going on within the Ravens, then sure. But Liz is the one with the power. She's the leader, as it were. I've yet to find myself particularly interested in the machinations of the power of the Boromar clan.
01:33:28
Speaker
Uh, I'm more interested in bringing justice for, for, uh, for Degg and the others right now. That's fair. Then that's not normal. I am not an altruistic person, but this one got under McCraw.
Hob's Determination for Justice
01:33:42
Speaker
No, I, I think just most of the shifters in this district have, uh, understood that, you know, it could happen. Hopefully won't, but I hope that you figure out what's going on.
01:33:59
Speaker
All right. Um, okay. Cut to inside the building and he goes, I had to keep talking until I got something out of her and I lost a copper. What are you guys doing?
Milo's Encounter with the Shifter
01:34:11
Speaker
Um,
01:34:13
Speaker
So Milo, Raynard, Kath are in the building. So all of the doors are pretty clearly labeled, Milo, based on the letters. So you can easily walk up to a door and knock on it to deliver the letter. Or there are mail slots that you could slide them in through as well. But depending on whether or not you want to talk to the people that these letters get delivered to. Yeah, Milo's going to knock on the first door for the first letter. OK, 1A.
01:34:42
Speaker
If anybody answers. Yeah, a shifter, in fact, answers. It's an older shifter, kind of graying mutton chops coming down around his face, very weathered lines. And he kind of eyes you and says, Who are you? Well, I'm here to deliver your mail. Because your
01:35:11
Speaker
normal male person is unavailable. Why you make that sound so ominous? Well, because I'm just curious as to who your regular male deliverer is. Why? Randy, what's your mailman's name? Why you want to know?
01:35:42
Speaker
Well, because he's lost his mail and I wish to return it to him, but I thought I would deliver one piece to find out who he is, so I may take him his bag. Why, you just take it to the office where all the letters come from. Right. Well, thank you very much for your time. And Bella takes his matter and puts it back in the bag.
01:36:11
Speaker
Rainard steps up and says, sir, I'm not going to lie to you. I'm.
01:36:20
Speaker
I'm the new supervisor for this division of the postal service, and your typical postman has not been showing up to work, and I just would like to make sure you haven't seen anything, you know, any suspicious actions, maybe when you saw him last. Have you seen the corpse outside?
The Shifter Raises Suspicions About the Mailman
01:36:45
Speaker
We didn't see the corpse we saw at the after last. Oh, he cleaned it up. That's good.
01:36:51
Speaker
Was that your mailman? I don't know. I didn't go take a close look at the body. Why would I? It's gross. But you asked me if I've seen anything suspicious. We don't have a relationship with your postman, so it's. It was suspicious, so. OK, Raynard, give me give me a deception check with
01:37:19
Speaker
Two purple difficulty, but add a black dye just for the remarkable job that Milo did setting you up for this conversation. Can I spin a story point? Yes, you can. What does that change it to? That would change one of your greens to a yellow. I set out to be a silent character in social interactions, and you guys forced me to be the only one that can read the room.
01:37:48
Speaker
here we go yep go for it zero success four advantage four advances um okay so yeah he kind of eyes you and goes listen i the the lettuce come through the slot and i pick him up out of the basket that i put near the slot so i didn't have to pick him up off the floor and i he's got human hands that's all i can tell you or maybe elf hands he puts his hand all the way through
01:38:21
Speaker
Like I said, we're not very interested in the actual relationship you had with your postman, but... I didn't. You asked
Neighbor's Account of Mailman's Odd Behavior
01:38:31
Speaker
me if I see anything suspicious. There was a corpse outside. It's all I got. Did you recognize the hands? You want to dive down well, send Milo and Raynard.
01:38:48
Speaker
Um, and he just begins to try and shut the door in your face for advantage. He doesn't call the watch. Uh, what would you all like to do with that? I mean, you could, you could continue this interaction if you really want to. Can, can four advantage just almost a triumph, right? Yeah. Could maybe like a neighbor poke their head out of the door down the hall and be like, Hey, I saw something.
01:39:16
Speaker
And the mailman is so-and-so. Or just give us the mailman's name. Yeah, sure, sure. You're asking about old. Jimmy. As the older shifter closes his door. Milo slips his letter through his mail slot.
01:39:35
Speaker
You hear through the door, thank you. Not a human hand, I just. You all hear a door dramatically open and like a head poke through the door and it's like. We found this floor's busy body. An older shifter woman with curlers in her hair and she's like. I was hoping for a rear window situation. And she goes, Oi, you looking for the mailman?
01:40:07
Speaker
Yes, we are. What's wrong with Gordon? That is a great question. He hasn't been showing up to work. We were wondering. Why not? You make this interaction quick, Trevor. Come over there. Milo, why not? I saw him yesterday.
01:40:32
Speaker
Oh, you saw him yesterday? Yeah, he was running. I asked him why he didn't bring my mail to me. Do you know what he was running from? No. Which way was he? Was it a leisurely run or was it like a running away? Yeah, it was real rude. Do you have my letter? You got a lot in your hand, I can see.
01:41:05
Speaker
Let me see, I do believe we have your letter. What's your name? My name is Olam. Olam? That's a weird name. You... Everybody kept giving him crap for giving his real name, so... It's that he went with the backwards. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm Bo. You say you saw him running?
01:41:34
Speaker
Was anybody following him? No. It was real weird. But he didn't say hi, and he didn't tell me why he didn't bring me my letter. Rude. Gordon's not normally rude. Which direction was he running? Past the building. Away from the alley, past the building. A lot of alleys. The one next to the... Which side of the building? You talk about where they found that body. He was running away from that direction.
01:42:06
Speaker
But he could have killed him, if that's what you're asking. Did you see anything else about this body? Anyone else? I've talked to the City Watch about that stall in front of the building. I don't like it. I don't like it there.
01:42:33
Speaker
but doesn't seem like it's going anywhere anytime soon, so.
Conclusion and Social Media Plugs
01:42:39
Speaker
Well, here's your mail. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Would our other friend like to speak up and say anything to help us? Kath is still moody. She is brooding. So, no. And she like looks at the letters and looks back at Milo and is like, I was expecting a letter from Karen. Where's my letter?
01:43:03
Speaker
I thought I just gave her her letter. She looked at the letters you gave her and one's missing, apparently. Oh. Oh, well, sorry, ma'am. It's not here today, maybe tomorrow. Do you think Gordon stole it? Do you think that's why he was running from me? He stole my letter? It quite possibly could be. I'll keep an eye out for Gordon. I'll call the city watch then. And she shows, shuts the door. End of episode.
01:43:35
Speaker
Thank you all so much for listening. If you want to be part of the discussion surrounding this episode, head on over to our Discord. The link to it can be found on all of our socials, as well as our website, TheGeekPantheon.com. We also have a Facebook group, TheGeekPantheon, and a Twitter and Instagram at TheGeekPantheon.
01:43:51
Speaker
If you enjoy our particular brand of nonsense, then you can consider supporting the show over on patreon.com slash The Geek Pantheon. We have a lot of tiers over there with a variety of rewards that we think people enjoy.
01:44:09
Speaker
Um, we also have a YouTube channel, youtube.com slash the geek pantheon, where I put up lots of tabletop gaming videos. And we also have another actual play over there, uh, that Philip is the game master for called Kyber shards. You should go check it out because it's a lot of fun and I like playing on it. So anyway, I think that's everything. So thank you all so much for listening. Once again, I've been Eric. I'm Philip. I'm Trevor. I'm Randy.
01:44:37
Speaker
Jeff. We'll see you next time. Hopefully we ended this one weird. Bye.