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C2 Ep. 165 Slaughterman's Legacy Chapter Eight
776 Plays1 year ago
The One Where Reynard Goes to the Bathroom.
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Transcript
Introduction and Acknowledgments
00:00:00
Speaker
The following episode is brought to you by Darren Kaczka, Deavius Poptart, Elizabeth Clark, Irene Villarito, Laura Pickron, Nathan Stuller, Charles Compton, Natasha Rallerson, David Scrams, Edvard Arnoff, Jerry Thunes, Mark Stanley, Rebecca Gaoeman, and Shelby Johnson, as well as all of our generous patrons.
00:00:30
Speaker
D Quarantine Radio, your game is roll.
00:01:10
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Eberron Renewed, an actual play podcast set in the Eberron campaign setting. I'm your game master, Eric. And if you missed last episode, probably go back and watch that before you listen
The Cold Trail and New Leads
00:01:20
Speaker
to this one. But we recorded this series of episodes in one big, long uncut mess because we were having just too much of a good time. And so this is my recorded intro. After the fact, we're going to jump in where we left off and I hope you enjoy the episode.
00:01:35
Speaker
okay milo do you have a check that you'd like to make to try and milo will try to perceive again three purple one failure one threat milo you're looking around assisting with this and it's just it's become clear that the trail's going cold like you saw that name badge but the claw marks have ceased
00:01:59
Speaker
to appear any kind of trail that you all have had has evaporated. You could go to the place that you saw Kat stash her clothes that one time you could go to Kat's apartment. But in terms of following a direct line, Milo Eris, you both just get the sense that you're just going to be flailing in the dark at this point. And Olive says, what? Where do I need to go? What do you think? We know she kept a hostage at the apartment.
00:02:29
Speaker
Yes, so I direct her towards the apartment. OK. And Olive turns the disguise gift in the direction of Lower Memphis Plateau.
Communication and Familial Tensions
00:02:40
Speaker
OK, sorry, there's no way Eris wouldn't have and I know it's going to screw all sorts of things up, but at some point as we turn, Eris would activate her communicator and call Hobb because I know it's going to make things wonky, but she would. And so she would call Hobb and say,
00:02:57
Speaker
Jim Katz just took a couple of people, just stole a couple of people from this gala. I didn't know what's, I don't know where she is. We're going to her apartment. That's serious. Yeah. What put in the conversation? Are we just rolling into the, yeah, we'll just say, yeah, we'll say the timelines are synced up. So we just told him his mom was Calvert was ready to kill his mom. He's just, yeah, it appears there's a lot of serious going on around here these days.
00:03:26
Speaker
We can't really put a pin in this right now, Eris, but I don't, hang on, Raynard. Raynard, you also have a communicator, so all that information is also- Right. Have you got this, bud? Oh. Can I ask a question really quickly? We have no reason to believe that Kath is grabbing, innocence is the wrong word, like T-S, innocence, but she's not grabbing random people. It's still very much people connected to, okay.
00:03:55
Speaker
Not that makes it better or worse. I just wanted to remember. Yeah, she's just trying. She's trying to get to TARDIS for Tyler's. So she's like snatching people that can help her in that effort. OK, so my question stands. Oh, I. If you all want to pick this up later or I can come, I'm good for scrap. This is it's a scrap, sure, but it's like a familial.
00:04:22
Speaker
But this would not be a good first outing for you, I think. In my experience, nothing helps break up familial strife than an objective outside opinion. Oh, we're not, I don't think we're dealing with opinions today, have they, Rainard? Let's go. Okay, to summarize, I either kill your mother or kill my father. No, we don't kill his mother at all. Let me back up. Your father thinks your options are
00:04:50
Speaker
kill his mother or you die, we think your options are, don't kill his mother and potentially kill your own father. Us killing your mom's not on the table, Eldurin. I want to make that clear. No, I don't want to for sure. We're not going to for sure. No, we're not going to for sure. There you go. So I guess I'm going to kill my dad. You just hear a tiny voice from that half leg at the table next to you go, bummer.
Warnings and House Politics
00:05:17
Speaker
My man gets it. He knows it's a weird place. Nasty produce is short and whatnot. Okay. Can I ask why we're talking right now? I still am confused as to why... Don't get me wrong. Loved the steak. Very enjoying the novelty as he picks up the little warforged figurine. But were you just... Why did you want to talk to me? I don't know if you could ask anything of me or inquired after anything, so...
00:05:45
Speaker
Things have changed since our initial plan. Let's just say nothing has gone the way we thought it would. Listen, I can go back to the Ebony Vale and just... I don't think you want to. Why not? Because there is a cursed warforged that I somehow brought back to life when something happened. I don't know what happened. I tried to help my friend. It didn't work out. This friend? And Eldrin points at Hob. Yeah man, this friend right here. So here's what's up.
00:06:12
Speaker
Every once in a while a really bad thing happens to us. And they compound. We don't seem to resolve hardly any of them. Sounds like your- For sure. I believe you. It sounds like your friend on the other end of that communicator was going through something similar right now. It's wild, man. It's wild.
00:06:29
Speaker
Yes, nothing goes correctly. Don't go to the ebony veil tonight. There's very much a rampaging. I'm warforged. They know the terms right warforged juggernaut is an in world term. Yes. Yeah. There's a and he was a juggernaut correct? Yeah, there's a rampaging juggernaut. As we were when we intercepted you. That's what we were walking away from. Go there tonight.
00:06:54
Speaker
Those are my friends though. That's how I feel dreadful that I didn't try to help them or- Oh, they were doing great. No, they were doing great. They were great. They looked like they had it under control. I'm going to go and let you all deal with your stuff and I'm going to at least go check on my friends from a distance. I can go unseen unless you all need anything else from me. Have him tell his mother. You should talk to your mother.
00:07:25
Speaker
Look, I'm going to shoot you extremely straight because the circumstances have been so crazy, Elder, and we were checking you out, bud. We need to know if you were on Calvair's side before we did anything else. It's clear that you're not, and I'm glad we've had this meeting. Does that make sense? Yeah. No, Calvair had gotten to you. That's why this happened.
00:07:42
Speaker
hate house politics. Yeah, no, you're yeah, I'm not involved in any of that. I could talk to your mother later if you don't want to. Yeah, I think that you should at least let me start the conversation based on how well you handled this one and then you can come in and back clean up. Yeah, bad mess up. Yes. All right, let her know I'm not going to kill her.
00:08:06
Speaker
The more that you repeat it, though, the less true it seems. Should I roll for it? Please don't. Look at the dice log and choose not to. So many reds. So many reds in this game. I'm sorry we have to end so abruptly. I know this was extremely strange.
00:08:24
Speaker
I'm not sure why it was so strange, but it was really strange. There was that night in Fairhaven, so not the strangest dinner I've had, but... We've all had a night in Fairhaven, haven't we? Yes. Metaphorically. Metaphorically. He probably has. Anyway, we need to go potentially save some lives, and it sounds like perhaps you might need to as well, but in a different place.
Following Kath's Trail
00:08:46
Speaker
I don't know, actually, I don't know that the Ray would cause a problem once he realized we weren't there.
00:08:52
Speaker
You know, I find it very interesting that your friend called you to seem seemingly in great duress and you've spent a lot of time wrapping up this conversation. I don't want to have to be doing it, but it appears that I do. And he gets up and he goes out of the freaking consistent bird. Didn't even touch his cheesy rice. That's off the table now.
00:09:12
Speaker
And he thinks, OK, is my motorcycle here? Where did we ever elucidate that? Yes. You all you made Elder and Rainard both ride in the sidecar. Oh, that's right. Oh, boy. No. Elder got to ride on the main seat. Elder and looks at you. Your friend seems stressed.
00:09:29
Speaker
Yes, and I should probably go with him. It's not going to make that situation better, but I should. And I just want to leave you with, if any of your friends say anything about me being attracted to you, you take that however you will. Hob grabs Reynard's collar and begins to drag him towards the spear. Okay, bye. I'll roll for it if you need me to.
00:09:56
Speaker
I'm quite brawny. I need Reynard to give me a charm check based on that last little bit. Watch this explode. Watch three triumphs. Against what? This is just a two purple difficulty. Okay. Here we go. I got an advantage. I failed with one advantage. Awesome.
00:10:21
Speaker
You're so good at this. You didn't roll charm. Oh, I didn't. I just won. Roll what? Roll one more yellow. No, I just thought. Here we go. I'm just going to redo it. OK. We have rolled the dice six times. We have rolled. Still is not great, but I got to try seven, seven times. I did not succeed, but I have three advantage of one triumph. OK. Which of our other nemeses are you going to summon with this trial?
00:10:50
Speaker
I'd like a cause of distraction, please. The lizard burst. It's going to be campaign one. Eldrin looks at you quizzically as Hob grabs you by the collar to drag you out. Three advantage and a triumph. Obviously, this can be applicable to the other. Since you all have wrapped up this situation, you can apply it to what's going on. But yeah. Yeah. So how F'd up are they that I can't just say?
00:11:16
Speaker
We've lost the trail. OK. And we are heading towards Kath's apartment where we last. Well, where we know. The cast at one point was holding hostages. I was going to say either like she's there or a hostage is there, but I didn't know if your series of unfortunate events would prevent me from doing that. I don't think that the narrative has declared either of those things to be not true yet. Yeah.
00:11:45
Speaker
Okay, which is more reasonable. I guess if Cath is there, there would be at least two hostages with her. I don't want to play anymore. I mean, can I just say that she's at her apartment? That, sure, for a triumph. Yeah. Cath took the hostages back to her place, which is where you all are headed. Three advantage. Oh, we get there speedy quick.
00:12:11
Speaker
You all are headed straight there. So you're going to get there as quickly as you conceivably could. Which is where she was going to be anyway. I think he's given us that. Okay. I get the food to go. Three advantage. Yeah.
00:12:28
Speaker
Rainard is eating in the sidecar as you race to Castle Farman. You've even order food. You just got your wine to go. He's eating Hobbs dinner while I race to rescue. Randy, did you have an idea for the advantage? I thought I heard you say something. No, I did not. I'll just pass a boost. How about that?
00:12:52
Speaker
Okay. Or an upgrade. Yeah. Yeah. Pass an upgrade. Okay. Okay. So you all begin to make haste to Kath's apartment and in lower Memphis plateau headed straight there and Milo, give me perception checks as you speed towards Kath's apartment. And this is going to be a two purple difficulty.
00:13:15
Speaker
But whoever, I guess whoever has the low, you all can decide. You have an upgrade between the two of you that is passed. So whoever has the worst score can take it. Whoever has the better score if you want a shot at a triumph or something can take it either way. Not mine. I have four greens and two blues. I have one yellow and two greens. So if you want to take it. Sure. Okay. Got it. Here we go.
00:13:41
Speaker
Hey, I have two success, one advantage, three success, one threat. I see three advantage on your check. Did I say one? I meant three. Yeah. Okay. You all can both tell that on the way to Cath's apartment, you are being tailed. Nobody, they're not rushing up on you. It clears to be a very passive kind of just seeing where you all are headed with the Milo take point of strain with threat.
00:14:11
Speaker
Got a lot going on. Three advantage, Eris. What do they look like, Eric? I can tell you. Paint me a word picture. Three advantage, you recognize this guy's gift as being at least formerly belonging to Satan Boromar. Oh, man. What skin? They are trying to be inconspicuous. They're not coming right upon you. So you could try to lose them. But that is, yeah, you did spot that you were being tailed.
00:14:37
Speaker
Oh, so Eris looks back and says, frack. Eris is the communicator and says, Chiv, we'll be entailed by a Boromar skiff. We're going to try and lose him, but you might arrive before us. Uh, yeah, we were actually pretty close already. Do you? We don't need to peel off. You're going to be good. No, get to Cass. I don't know what's going on, but apparently Boromar trying to follow. And then she grabs the throttle from Olive and banks a hard left. Right. Be safe.
00:15:08
Speaker
Take them out if you can. I don't know what to, we're going to go to gas. I have no idea how to handle any of the things that are happening to us. Give me a piloting check for piloting Tasha. It would, to try and lose this person, let's make it, I'm going to flip a story point to make it one red, one purple. Okay. I am going to spend historic bond and upgrade to the agility. I don't get any boost for that.
00:15:39
Speaker
All right. Hey, success and a triumph. OK, so I was trying to lose them. You have lost them. I'm open to suggestions on the triumph, otherwise I'm going to do something bad to the people in the other skill with it.
00:15:59
Speaker
If you've, I like it, I get it, but we lost them and things are- No, I get it. I understand the reasons to use it for something else, which is why I'm putting it out there as I will accept a better suggestion. I don't want to set more conditions on what's going on at Katz because every time we do that, Eric still finds a way to get around him if he wants to because he's smart.
00:16:21
Speaker
What? I honor all of your thing. You never don't honor what we say, but you've always got something we would never think of in your back pocket if you need it. Yeah, no, I'm with you. I'm not setting more terms on that. I think we've got. What if in the act of losing them, you're able to identify them? OK. Now, that's something. At least we know who's it could just be. So yeah, sorry.
00:16:48
Speaker
Don't use the triumphant that I was trying to infer without outright saying, obviously his daughter would have gotten his car. Like it was a Lyra trying to follow you after spotting you all at the party. Oh, OK. So I figured then what I was going to do was for like MOOCs. I don't want to. I guess her car explodes. Happy triumph. I was just going to run them into traffic, but yeah.
Confrontation at Kath's Apartment
00:17:16
Speaker
using it to antagonize her doesn't seem, I guess there's a ceiling on antagonism, so it's probably already there. Can you target an upgrade with the triumph? Yeah. Because we could just upgrade the first check to chill Cath out. That's true. Yeah, OK. I will target an upgrade towards our first attempt to do hostage negotiation with our friend Cath. Because it will be Mr. Charm doing it, right, Raynard?
00:17:47
Speaker
Ready and loaded. Wait, locked and loaded. No, ready. It could be both. It can be ready and loaded. Locked and willing. I'm doing it. You had no dinner and a bunch of wine. You probably are ready and loaded. Fair. Okay. So yeah, you all will have an upgrade when the time comes to talk to Kath. Yeah.
00:18:09
Speaker
Hob, Reynard, you get there first, you pull up to their small apartment building in Lower Memphis, and you all head up to the door. Are you all just walking in, knocking? What's the plan? To their dwelling? We are probably knocking. We're walking into the building. They live in an apartment, correct? Yeah. I can't imagine we just, Reynard, did we just walk in? If we
00:18:36
Speaker
Knowing what we know, are we gonna let her try it? Are we gonna have a- I don't think I'm... I'm trying to think if Hob would be concerned about Cath attacking them if they came in. Knock and then walk in. You know, what if we holler, hey Cath, it's us, we're gonna come in, and then try to just try the door. Door is locked. Yeah, I assumed it's much. Knock it down, big buddy. Listen, man, can we hear anything?
00:19:06
Speaker
Give me a perception check. Well, how many reds is the difficulty before I decide how bad I want to know? It's just going to be too purple. All right, Raynard, let's both make it. I am. Good. And I succeeded with an advantage. I figured. Raynard, you can hear shuffling in muffled vocalization like something's getting moved. Oh, she has company. It may not be a good time.
00:19:36
Speaker
I try knocking again. You hear a voice say, just one second, I'll be right there. And it's Kat's voice? Yep. If I give her a second to see if she thinks we don't know what's going on and she's trying to hide things and let us in and be normal, that might actually be the best way for this to happen.
00:19:55
Speaker
because they don't have communicators. I can't remember. They don't know that Eris let us know what happened. That'd be very funny. I say Jay meeting the rest of our, the other three that aren't the four of us, but I know. She, Sana, or Cap specifically. Specifically.
00:20:10
Speaker
Yeah, after a couple of beats, the door opens and Kath steps out in the hallway and shuts the door behind her. He's like, hey, what's up? I was just headed out. Oh, you are. And she locks the door behind her. Does she look ready to head out? She no, she looks. Raynard's assessment was accurate. Yeah, just got done working out. Going to go for a run. What's up?
00:20:37
Speaker
Oh, do you mind if I use the restroom? It's got done working out and workouts. No, you're not. I'm on my way out. What's up? You did not just finish a workout. I know we joke and call it a workout sometimes when we're hurting people, but you got to let us in. Come on. Let's go back in and let's have a talk. We can talk here. Unless you want to try a charm check.
00:21:04
Speaker
I don't want to try a charm check. I've had a lot of alcohol and I need to use the restroom. It's been a very stressful evening. Can I come inside, please? Give me a charm check. And you have an upgrade. Yeah, I guess that's as good as any time you use the upgrade. So wait, an upgrade? Add a green, right?
00:21:29
Speaker
Yes. On your particular charm. Yes. Okay. And the difficulty against her vigilance is she seems vigilant. She is vigilant. I think she should have some kind of setback for being stressed out. So the difficulty is too red and a purple. Um,
00:21:52
Speaker
And I am going to, yes, I will give you a boost because yeah, she is frazzled. You all are here. She doesn't know why you're here, but based on Hobbs words, she's concerned about why you're here. And yeah, that's that. All right. Here we go. Oh, I did it good. Well, okay. Yes. Yes. Tell the people to successes, two threats and one triumph. Nice.
00:22:21
Speaker
You can use the bathroom. Huzzah. Okay, so you see Kath's eyes kind of dart between the two of you and she, there's some interior calculations going on. She's fine. Come in. And she opens the door. Thank you. Hurry up and
00:22:42
Speaker
I haven't been here before. Like inside, where's the restroom? Just it's a small apartment, Rainard. It's that door right there. And she points to like, there's a small hallway with literally three doors, two bedrooms and a bathroom. Thank you. Two threats. I'm going to pass a setback die for any kind of snooping that might be about to a triumph.
00:23:12
Speaker
Everything comes out okay. Right? Yeah. No, man, there's so many things I could do. Yeah. I don't know. True. Do we need to use it for this situation? No, not necessarily. You could continue to pass an upgrade if you want. You could. I just really don't want. I don't want. Eldering.
00:23:35
Speaker
yeah i still want to talk to my dad and since my dad was headed to that bar that he's going back to i just don't want that to happen yeah you you did well yeah if you want to say that your triumph is that you left a good enough impression on elder into where he won't go to your dad i would accept that or how about that he goes ahead and takes out your dad
00:23:58
Speaker
No, that's not acceptable. My dad's married, Randy. And Ruth's a lovely woman. I was going to use it for something like in this situation, but I feel like now that we're here and you're on the way, we're probably okay. That's extremely unlikely. Yeah. Any other ideas for using it for this, for Kath's situation?
00:24:21
Speaker
It's already been stated you're going to have to make checks to do your snooping. So we can't just say something was actually left out in plain sight. I don't necessarily want to do that anyway. Yeah. And it's probably not a good idea for him to talk to your dad. I wouldn't think whether he would or not anyway. All right. So no other ideas?
00:24:41
Speaker
I'm happy with yours, driver. OK, that's what's happening. OK, cool. All right. Probably in the next minute or so, Aeris, Milo, and Olive's going to wait in the car will arrive. But, Hob, is there anything while Raynard dips off to the bathroom that you want to say? Like, Cass just awkwardly leaning on the counter in her kitchen. And I have no idea what happened with
00:25:08
Speaker
all of all the part of me sauna with all of that either it was not really to me i know they're on the way they didn't tell me that okay so i am standing outside of the door reynard is inside of the door i have kath right here and no oh kath walked into her apartment like she walked reynard inside yeah yeah she's leaning up against the counter in her kitchen
00:25:30
Speaker
And I'm in there as well. I walked in as well. I had assumed so. Yeah, I thought she let Raynard in and we stayed outside, although that absolutely makes no sense. You're right. I guess what I'm trying to do is keep her engaged and facing away from the hallway that Raynard is going down so that she's looking at me and not with who door he goes in.
00:25:47
Speaker
Okay, so I'm like, Hey, listen, so I think I start telling her I'm going to start telling her about Calveir the Fiarlan plan to take over the clan and we just got back from this meeting. I'm going to tell her
00:26:01
Speaker
the story of what we've just been going through. Keep her engaged. It's an interesting story. And I'm gonna frame it as though I'm buttering her up to get in the fray with us if it has to happen and such things. Keep it in cash. This is interesting, because you're not lying to her. You're trying to stay, I guess it could be charm or deception. I will accept either, because you're not lying, but you are seeking to deceive in a way.
00:26:30
Speaker
And better at deception. You're right. It doesn't feel like deception though. But I'll accept it for the check. Okay. How hard? Too red and purple. It's against her vigilance. Yeah. You can have a boost though because she is frazzled. Okay. Boy, if only there was a way to do coercion without actively threatening a
00:26:52
Speaker
So come on this job or I'll beat you up. A currently frazzled, generally unstable person who could give me a pretty good fight. All right, here we go. Wow. That is one success period. Huh. OK, so yeah, Kath is engaged with your story. Milo, Olive pulls Tasha up to the building. Just go in and take care of her. So I want to. Park Tasha.
00:27:22
Speaker
under Kath's window. Okay. Now we're all going out the window, baby. Let's go in through the window. I'm comfortable with that. Milo would try to stop Eris from doing that, but Eris thinks we're sneaking in because Kath is, I don't know, in there murdering someone or something. So yeah, Eris is parking the parking Tasha under Kath's under the window to their apartment, assuming their apartment has a window.
00:27:52
Speaker
And is I'm imagining Hobb talking with Kath and just sees Eris's head like, Oh, gosh, you're up over the windowsill through the pain and Hobbs. So we finally met this guy named Elder and it's her son and we get him all the way over the consistent bird. There's Hobb talking to Kath in a very seemingly casual manner. She's leaning against the kitchen counter, watching him talk.
00:28:21
Speaker
What do you see? Do we get in there? I turn my communicator off quickly. Okay. Are they speaker phones? No. Okay. Cause I was going along with you when you said that elder and heard what we were talking about. Okay. Nevermind. Yes.
00:28:40
Speaker
I'm using the restroom right now. That's gross, but whatever. Hobb seems to be having a really normal conversation with Kath. What is going on? Just how put out radar. Yes, we're in her apartment and he's distracting her while I use the restroom. Do you really go to the restroom? Yes.
00:29:05
Speaker
To be fair, he did roll charm, not deception. I should, I don't know. Do you think I should check the restroom? Are there hostages in the restroom? No, but there could be clues. Sure. Why haven't you already? I had to use the restroom. I'll look, hold on. So right now it starts to look in cabinets and things for anything that might be suspicious. Okay.
00:29:34
Speaker
What do I need to roll? Give me a two purple perception check, but I'm going to flip story point, make it one red, one purple. Of course. So one red, one purple. Here we go, baby. One success, one threat. All right. Oh, sorry. Roll a just a single black die because you're supposed to have a setback die for snooping. That's right. Oh, that's right. Oh, yeah. OK. Two threats instead of one threat. Great. OK.
00:30:05
Speaker
I'm just going to keep the stupid setback rolling with those two threats. Okay. You know what I just realized? He doesn't have two threat on that original check you gave the setback on. Cause he succeeded a charm with me right there. That should have been a wash on threatened advantage. So I guess I just have one success. Or is it too late for that? Cause I totally understand. I didn't catch it. Yeah. It's been a minute. Yeah. Yeah. I just was saying it cause I was mad at myself.
00:30:30
Speaker
Reynard, you're stupid around looking for clues related to the hostage.
Investigating Kath's Plans
00:30:36
Speaker
What are you looking for, I guess, is a good question. Yeah, just anything like, I don't know, like a bloody rag or a knife or I don't know, anything that. OK, yeah, stuff like that gun. Anything out of place. Yeah, you find hostage. No, do not find a hospital cabinet.
00:30:53
Speaker
Yeah, you find underneath as you pull open one of the drawers, you see just some hand towels and stuff, but they're like they're not folded neatly. They're just kind of shoved in there. And as you look under it, you find bloody ones that have clearly been like shoved up under and patted down and that are fresh. That's so unsanitary. Why, Kat? Why? Because people started knocking at her door while she was wiping blood off her face.
00:31:20
Speaker
Way to go, Reynard. You confirmed what we already know while you were taking a leak. Aeris? What? I have found some new bloody rags that's wet. It's fresh. Right, we already know she has hostages. Yeah, they're... someone's bleeding.
00:31:41
Speaker
Yeah, the hostages. Okay. Do you know where the hostages are? Well, I know they're not in the bathroom, so that narrows a town. Awesome. Milo, are you just chilling in Tasha right now? What should I do? Do we need to get out and go through the door or go through the window or what? I really don't think you should go through the window. She seems very stressed. Eris turns to Milo.
00:32:07
Speaker
Let's go through the door. I feel if we go through the window to make things worse. Let's go through the door Then she could go out the window You're the only one that does that I'm not there What if I stay in Tasha outside the window? No, you're gonna be much better at talking to down than I am Eris drives Tasha back around. I really need to wash my hands. I
00:32:32
Speaker
Wash your hands. Thank you. I've also been here and then and then perhaps just waiting in the bathroom for instructions. We were talking.
00:32:40
Speaker
Find the hostages. Become invisible and find the hostages. Hobb is hearing this while he's trying to carry on a conversation, and he has never stuttered so much in his life, or spoken through gritted teeth, or wanted to scream non-sequiturists. Couldn't even pee in peace, and here I am. That's right. Not when there are hostages in the apartment with you. Become invisible and find the hostages.
00:33:09
Speaker
and just walk through the door that's already closed. Figure out you're supposed to be a spy. Let's shut him up. You did this professionally. Yeah, I did never have to be invisible. That should make it easier. Yes. An invisible person coming in and out of a door. Rainard, are you going to try to sneak into another room?
00:33:34
Speaker
I don't know if I, that's not gonna make any sense. The door's gonna open, she's gonna turn around and see me. She's distracted by Hob talking to her. That was the whole reason Hob started telling the story. You'll make a stealth check. Remember, because I was like, hey, I wanna make sure I keep her looking my direction. Fine, let me go when- I'm imagining the slight echo of Eris's increasingly incredulous voice is starting to come down the hallway as we walk into the building. Let me go invisible.
00:34:01
Speaker
And I guess I'll try and sneak out the bathroom. Okay. I love this for you.
00:34:08
Speaker
Where are you trying to sneak to? Kath's bedroom door or Sana's bedroom door? I don't know which one is which, so I guess I'm just going to open the next door. The next door? Okay. Yeah. So basically, so to go into the bathroom, you turned right. There are three doors when you're walking down the hall, one to the left, one straight ahead, and one to the right. You went into the bathroom. And you can already eliminate one, so your odds of picking the right one have gone up.
00:34:35
Speaker
So you can go straight or turn right. Are your two options? I guess I would pick the one that was least visible to anyone. She isn't even looking at the hallway. Great. So I'm going to go just straight across the hall from where I am. Okay. Do I clock the door opening closing so I know where he is?
00:34:57
Speaker
Yeah, you'd be able to see this. So give me a stealth check with two boosts because you're invisible and the difficulty and also an additional two boosts from Hobbs distraction. So for Bruce total, you still make sound. So it's still against cat's vigilance. So it's going to be two red, one purple. Okay. And then I have the black and the black for snooping. Yep. I guess it doesn't really, I'll just roll.
00:35:27
Speaker
We have story points if you need one, bud. Yeah, but I'm like, we're all there. It's going to go fine. Sure. Okay. Nope. Lots of evidence of that. It's not going to go away. Oh my gosh. It didn't go. Oh my gosh. It didn't go. Tell the people how unfine it went. I got three failures and two advantages. It could have gone a lot worse, but still. Yeah. That's very true.
00:35:55
Speaker
With the two advantage, Raynard, I'll let you get into the other room. Close the door too hard. Yeah. Yeah. Like you basically walk into the other room and you just. Something where you're trying to sneak, you're trying to close the door quietly and then the AC kicks on and it creates a draft and it pulls it closed. Yeah. Yeah. Hob, you see the door open. Door closed very quietly to the bathroom. The second later door open quietly and then you hear just three out of four is a good that's a good.
00:36:27
Speaker
That's what we call a C there. But the fourth one was worth 90 points out of 100. That was the essay portion. Let me ask Chris and Milo. Let me ask you all this. Are you all going to knock? Are you just going to walk in because you know that Hob is there? What's your all's plan for entrance? What does Milo think the plan for entrance should be? Eris is still there.
00:36:48
Speaker
Milo gets in front of Eris, goes up, knocks on the door. It's Milo and Eris, we're coming in. Kath looks at Hobbes. Are you all throwing a party? What's going on? And then the door shuts behind Kath and she turns and looks. And then the door comes in.
00:37:06
Speaker
Kath begins to walk down the hallway towards the door that just shut. Rainard, you are in a bedroom. Based on the aesthetic, you get the sense that this is Kath's bedroom. So give me a perception check to try and see if you can find anything, but you are going to have two black on the check because you're
00:37:32
Speaker
you got a tight timeline, like you gotta look quick and you know it. And I'm gonna flip a story point to upgrade it. So it is one red, two purple. And Milo whispers into the communicator that Kath is coming down the hall. Okay, then I'm gonna flip a story point and make this green and yellow. Okay. Here we go. Can I? Oh, that's just one failure.
00:38:01
Speaker
Oh, so what were you going to say, Philip? Can I? Oh, man, I don't know if there's any way to do this. Is there a way that I can in a fit of desperation while her back is turned attempt to cause the door to lock using artifice magic?
00:38:28
Speaker
The door to her bedroom or the front door to the apartment? The door to her bedroom.
00:38:33
Speaker
Like right before she offers it. I'll certainly let you make a check in that regard. That's not a spell on the list. Yes, it's basically it be because you can obviously lock something. Yeah. With. Is it a weird. Artifice of utility. You're adding range to it effectively. Yeah. So I know you can't usually adjust utility, but is it like a utility spell with.
00:39:02
Speaker
some wonky modifiers. What spells did we have on the Artifice list remind me? It was basically everything but attack, heal, and mask. I think because I could conjure, I can curse, I can dispel, I can boost. I think those are the ones. Okay. Augment, not boost.
00:39:28
Speaker
Here augment. I'm augmenting the door in some weird way or cursing the door in some weird way. You're paralyzing the door is how I would like from a distance. Okay. So short distance, a short distance curse with the paralyzed modifier is a formidable check. That's nice. Five purple. Five.
00:39:48
Speaker
What's between hard and formidable? What do they call it? Daunting. Daunting. OK. And yeah, I'll get you all story point backwards. I'm nice like that. Of course you will. One red or purple. Boy, I roll a lot of dice on this already, but. You could flip a story point and get it right back if you want.
00:40:08
Speaker
We've got almost all the story points, so I will spend a story point. And yeah, there's no reason not to just go ahead and take it back as a human. So I will do that. All right. And there aren't any boosts laying out here. OK. Here we go. Oh, take my strain.
00:40:28
Speaker
Yeah, Eris seeing her going for the door, Eris just reaches out with the gauntlet and tries to just fuse the hinges on the door to success, to success. OK. So Kat gets to the door and it's like jammed and she's like, what? What the hell's and Raynard, you hear Kath on the other side trying to open the door and does it work? And it's like, what's the matter?
00:40:56
Speaker
I heard this door shut. What? Why are you all here just popping by unannounced? A new chip is here. Playing by out. That is exactly how I said that, because I was about to say we were a party. Oh, wait, no. Did she know I she never saw you guys there?
00:41:21
Speaker
I guess she was there as far as I know she was there for 30 seconds. She was very focused while she was in that room. Sure. I was waiting till you guys got there to see if you told the truth. And now you have it. And Hobb has no idea what to do now because everyone's lying for no reason. OK, you could tell the truth. I'm going to now. Captain turn around party clothes. Right.
00:41:45
Speaker
Cath turns around and opens the bathroom door and sees that Raynard's not in there. And so she, okay, what is going on? Where are you? Cath, this is what's going on.
Negotiation and Conflict
00:42:02
Speaker
I thought that I would take and go with Eris and Sana to a party at Morgrave university this evening. Okay.
00:42:15
Speaker
And we went to this party. And Sana was having a wonderful time until all of a sudden, I believe you know the rest. And we're here to- We're looking for the people you kidnapped from the party. Yes, we're- Bill is tearing his Hercule Poirot. So therefore we saw you take two people and we're here to basically
00:42:45
Speaker
Have you let them go? Well, just don't kill them. It's really all of us. We were trying, we were hoping to stop you from doing something that's going to push you further down this path of wanton violence as opposed to wantful violence like we typically do together. That's not right. Stract the last part. He doesn't say the last part.
00:43:12
Speaker
I'm, Hob is here because he sees Kath losing her mind and is trying to help her not do that as quickly and effectively. And so he wants to keep her from killing the two people she stole tonight. That's why Hob's here. And Hob relays that in some way. I should have simply walked in and asked where the bodies, where the people were. God, I hope they're not bodies. Where the people were. I don't know why I did. It's been a very weird night. Where are the people you kidnapped, Kath? Please tell me you haven't already killed them.
00:43:41
Speaker
I'm going to need some kind of check from all of that just happened from somebody. I have really good coercion. That's it. I don't have terrible charm because Eris has a high reasonable presence score. Oh, yeah. I can't imagine why.
00:43:59
Speaker
Right. Harris has Harris has one yellow to green. I have to yell. I have to yellow and a green and chalk. You're a bit. So it's either coercion from Hobb or I didn't do any charm. I don't feel like this is coercion. I feel like we're trying. This everybody charmed, everybody, everything everybody said was persuasive instead of. So who's making the check? Sounds like Milo. Yes, Milo. OK.
00:44:29
Speaker
So Milo, you're making the check. The difficulty is going to be one red, two purple, except I'm going to go ahead and flip a story point, make it two red and a purple and add a setback die because it's been weird. Reynard's missing now. Her bedroom door is locked. Yeah. I guess give me one back so I can make my greenie a yellow. Okay. Three yellows against two reds, a purple and a black.
00:44:55
Speaker
Do it. Do any of the, I don't know if it would, but do any of these things we said offer a boost? And we think back through everything that was said. Hobbs was definitely the friendliest thing. Yeah. Hob almost said you're becoming a zealot on the level with your brother. He didn't say that one yet. He's saving it. No, probably not. There was a lot of assuming that she's already killed and there was a lot of stuff going on. So just what you've got is what you got.
00:45:26
Speaker
All right. Okay. What am I trying to charm her into doing? Giving up the people? We've asked where the hostages are. That was the, you have asked. And also we are doing this check to see her general demeanor on being cornered like this in this way. Okay. Is there going to be any more opportunity to charm her after this? Depends on how this role goes. Some of that will depend on how this goes. Okay.
00:45:52
Speaker
If you've got stuff to throw at it, throw it. Hey, Oh, one failure, one threat and a triumph. Okay. Awesome. The threat. Take a point of strain Milo. Okay. All three of you before you decide what to do with the triumph.
00:46:15
Speaker
Or whoever would like to, I guess rather, you will have the opportunity to make a perception check on Kath to see how she is responding to feeling cornered in this way. The difficulty is going to be a two purple difficulty. Okay. I will try that. Okay. I'm fine with that. You have the best perception for sure. Three success, two advantage.
00:46:40
Speaker
If anybody else wants to make that check, also you're more than welcome to do so because like in this context, there will be no time to communicate the information that you are receiving is what I'm trying to say.
00:46:50
Speaker
So if you want to be on the, in the know, you need to make the check. Sorry, Rainard. You're in another room. Gotcha. Did I really like the fact that Eris's goggles help with this check gives me the like hilarious image of some sort of readout about cat about body language and facial expression and heart rate monitor. What was it to two purple? Yeah. Okay. Milo, you're not sure.
00:47:16
Speaker
Hob, Aerys, so you all have six advantage between all of your perception checks, but Aerys, Hob, you can tell Kaft is about to bolt. Like she's eyeing the window that Aerys was looking up through. You gave me the idea, Philip. Philip made an incredulous hand gesture. A very mean addition. Decasion! Am I between her and the window?
00:47:41
Speaker
She'll need to move past you all, but it'll be like, she is nimble, she is, like I said, you all are noticing her eyes moving to the window and her body shifting that direction. I need to know what you all wanna do with the triumph and the six advantage before she tries to get out. I'd love to be wider than the window and be between her and it, that's why I was asking. We could use the triumph to say that Olive moved Tasha back around the window. Back around.
00:48:11
Speaker
You could use the triumph to impose an upgrade on the difficulty to say that hob is in the way of her getting to the windows. She tries to make a check. Yeah. That is representative in in that. I think that sounds good. That's fair. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not mad at that. OK. Well, I have a chance.
00:48:29
Speaker
Will I have a chance to tell her if she tries to bolt, I'm gonna try to keep her here? Because I feel like that sounds coercive-y, and that might change her mind a little bit. She already decided. Yeah, she is. You all are seeing her body weight shifting to bolt. Six advantage. We hear... She trips and falls. Raynard finds a hostage in her closet. Six advantage is a lot.
00:48:59
Speaker
You want to have Reinhardt find something you can but Six advantage by one of us in action No is okay to say yeah the face. I don't want to I don't want it's okay to say but we're not gonna love it I just want Trevor to ask for a distraction again. It's the lizard or the carrion
00:49:22
Speaker
I have a significant clue that Raynard can find in the bedroom if you want to spend the advantage on that. Just without a check and be able to find it. If you'd rather spend it in some way to try and impede cat, that's fine. But if the concern is more largely directed at the hostages, then that would be a fast track in that direction. Oh, my concern has grown large enough to encompass all of it, Eric. I kind of like Raynard finding something.
00:49:52
Speaker
I'm happy with that. If we're having such a hard time to figure out how to use it on Cath's escape, let's use it on something we know will be beneficial at least. Yeah, the only thing I can do to help with Cath is an action, so if we can't get an action.
00:50:05
Speaker
I can do four advantage for the thing and two advantage to impose a setback on her check. So you have an upgrade and a setback for her attempt to leave with, cause Eris and Milo are also there. So Raynard, you're frantically going through Kath's stuff. And in the bottom of her closet, you find two documents.
00:50:29
Speaker
you find documentation that Kath has in the past month purchased the apartment directly below her and Sana's apartment in the building.
00:50:43
Speaker
And you also find blueprints basically of a trap door underneath the sink in the kitchen that like it's a ladder that leads down to the apartment below. OK. OK, I'm now going to roll a check for sauna or calf to beat feet, and then you all can do with that what you will. Hobbs got a grab. Eris is trying to shift the paralysis spell.
00:51:13
Speaker
Oh, and here we go. Okay. So it's going to be an athletics check from Kath. So this is going to be a hard check. I was just treating it as like a standardized difficulty level check. This would be hard to try and run to a window and leap out of it. There's an upgrade and a setback on it. So would you all like to flip a story point to add another upgrade?
00:51:41
Speaker
What's the pool right now? The current pool is four yellow, one red, two purple, one black. I if we if we use the triumph to narratively say it's going to be difficult for her because I'm in her way, my skills will not come into this at all. Like the fact that I have four yellow and brawl and brawn will have done the check. The triumph was that you all imposed an upgrade on her check because Hob was nearby.
00:52:12
Speaker
was mechanically what was used for that triumph. Cause once again, Hob, you notice that she was about to do this, but like she's in motion. So you don't have the chance to like move, like it's representative of you, like reaching out as she runs by to try and impede her. Then yes, flip a story point because she's going to succeed and get past me with this, with that pool.
00:52:36
Speaker
I've seen much better pools that have gone far awry. Okay. Four yellow, two red, one purple, one black. Did. No. Okay. Here we go. Zero success, two advantage and a triumph.
00:52:55
Speaker
Which is a triumph for me. Right. Kath moves to bolt to the window and she failed. So how does Hob impede her movement? I think.
00:53:11
Speaker
Hob is not slow. He is large. I do not want him to grab her because she's fight or flight right now and it'll switch to fight real quick if he tries to grab her. I just want to get in the way enough that she can't get to the window. If she can't get to the window, maybe her lizard brain goes to her only other point of egress.
00:53:34
Speaker
which is the ladder under the sea. Or the front door of her apartment. We're all over the place, though. She wants to get to the front door. She has to go through Eris and Milo. That's right. Who have guns and wands. No, I just don't. Importantly, narratively, I don't want to have reached out and tried to grab her or grapple her. I want you to get in the way. And if she goes for another exit, because she goes for another exit, that was more of a joke. But that's what it is. Importantly, I don't want to look like I'm attacking her.
00:54:05
Speaker
OK, yeah, she bounces off your chest as you sidestep into her. Eris, were you trying to transfer the paralysis to the window or to you, Kath? Yeah, but I obviously failed to do that because I rolled because my setback die was a blank. OK, so yeah, she bounces off of you and she shoves your chest, Hobb, and says, what's your problem? And two essentially two threat and the despair from your perspective.
00:54:31
Speaker
So the threat. It shows up. The the threat is going to be. We'll pass a setback to the next check made. The despair is. He's thinking for so long. Yeah, worries me. Don't let us distract you. Gone into his mind palace. Mind dungeon. OK, Raynard. No, no.
00:55:03
Speaker
Give me a perception check. It's going to be a three red. Oh, good. And a setback because of the two threat. Three red and a black. Wait, something's in the room. So three red and a black now be three red and a black. Yep. OK, here we go. It's the Ram. Oh, no. Four failures and two advantages. But how else did we think it was going to go?
00:55:29
Speaker
Okay, Reynard, you are not aware of anything that's happening. Everything's fine. How would you like to spend your two advantage? Hoo boy.
00:55:40
Speaker
Pass a boost if you want. Let's do that. Let's do that. We're targeting a boost. Pass two boost. Pass two boost. So, Reynard, you are looking at the two documents, looking back and forth at them, and like third person camera perspective, looking right at Reynard, looking at these two documents, and you see a figure rise up just off of Reynard's shoulder.
00:56:01
Speaker
as they walk up behind him, and the figure is in a very light body armor-esque look similar to Kath's, but the design is like a mage-bred ghost tiger, like white with black stripes, and the hand reaches- Why do people keep copying my designs? We told Asa to follow us. Cool.
00:56:29
Speaker
Reynard, you feel a hand wrap around the front of your throat.
00:56:36
Speaker
as they spin you around and slam you in, throw you into Kath's closet and you hear a muffled like masked voice say, are you helping her?
Conclusion and Support Information
00:56:49
Speaker
End of episode. Thank you all so much for listening. Once again, we recorded these all in one big batch. So it'll just be me for the outro. If you want to be part of the conversation surrounding this episode, you can head on over to our Discord, the link to which is on all of our socials, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok.
00:57:02
Speaker
We also have a YouTube channel, youtube.com, slash the Geek Pantheon, if you want to watch some tabletop role-playing game videos by me. We also have a Patreon, patreon.com, slash the Geek Pantheon. If you want to financially support the shows in any way you are able to do so, you can do so there, or you can buy some merch over at thegeekpantheon.com. Thank you all so much for listening, and we'll see you next time.