Episode Transcript
[00:00:43] Speaker A: Waking up dreaming dark so long I cannot find meaning hold my hand let me stay by your side through this never ending night I can feel it now it holds me all the these demons always roam me in this red light because me he is reaching out consuming.
[00:01:29] Speaker B: Welcome to Goblets and Gays. Hi, I'm Aubrey, your gm. I'll tell some of my players to introduce themselves, who they are, who they're playing and we'll get on rolling into things.
[00:01:38] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Maki. My pronouns are she, her and I play Gravewing, the Nagaji sylph vigilante monk slash air kineticist who also uses she her pronouns and she is the party mom slash strategist of the rebellion.
[00:01:56] Speaker D: Hello, hello, I'm Alyssa. My pronouns are they, them and I play Laith Idrisi iv, the matricidal dampier, dandy, rogue and spymaster who uses she any pronouns.
[00:02:09] Speaker E: Hello, I am Dusty, I use they he pronouns and I'm playing Yurido, just Yurido. Still, they are our nephilim cursed boy of a problem.
They are going to be the party in this rebellion's firebrand and they also use they he pronouns.
[00:02:29] Speaker F: Hello, I am Faris, I use she her pronouns and I am playing Alouette Valer, a totally normal nephilim thaumaturge bard having a very normal and good time learning all about her way more cursed family. She also uses she her pronouns and is the anathema partisan.
[00:02:47] Speaker G: Hello, I am Sparlock, and both me and my character use he him pronouns.
I'm going by Alistair Whiskerfield, wizard detective extraordinaire, heir to the fine distinguished family of wizard mice, Ratzerts, Esoki, Arcanists. I swear I was always aware of it. I keep my whiskers to the ground to uncover the truth of the powers that be who subjugate us, by which I mean I'm our recruiter and hello.
[00:03:19] Speaker C: To round off the group. I am Tick, I have he, she, they pronouns and today I'll be playing Nile, a flesh warp sorcerer who is just a totally ordinary cook and quartermaster for the group and definitely not a cannibal. Parentheses He's a cannibal, but it's a dietary restriction, so don't be too mean to him.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: So who would like to tell me what happened last time?
[00:03:40] Speaker F: It's me, the backup person last time on this game that we play for you and ourselves, what are the ramifications of our big choice that Aubrey forced us into, of our trolley problem that Aubrey forced upon us, of our Minrathous vs Treviso problem that Aubrey forced upon us.
So a lot of people died because we went after Nadia. Half the Bloody Blades dead. Just straight up dead. The High Priest gave a whole speech about how the ghoul epidemic is over and probably claimed credit. I don't remember. Even though that was us. And then said that people are going to go home. And then he announced the creation of his blade. I'm sure that's a copyright infringement, the Bloody Blades, but we will let that slide because they're half dead and they. This blade is dedicated to rooting out and destroying dissidents. And then the Bloody Blades tried to interrupt the execution.
Didn't. Didn't do that. Also, pretty much half of them died. So that was fun. We came back from our merry little trip to the woods and, and, and helped. We helped. We dove into the. The injured and the wounded and dealt with that according to our strengths.
Lathe talked to Nadia and that was a complicated conversation.
It was a fight. They had a fight.
But like it's fine. I guess they'll figure it out with time, probably.
Grave Wing checked in on Lorelai, who got injured in the fight. And Lorelai also lets her know, hey, your brother bloodline sort of, kind of definitely is part of the High Priest new Blade division and is out to kill people.
So that's fine.
[00:05:45] Speaker C: And.
[00:05:50] Speaker F: What else happened? Oh, let's see here. Grave Wing went to visit a shrine of the Star. Mother had a little conversation.
Nile told Schism to stop trying to eat people because they're in bad place. There was a lot of drinking of whiskey. There was talking to actual Whiskey Jack, not the drink, about a kidnapped student from Ravenswood named Daria Argent who is probably related to the Clockwork hall situation considering she got kidnapped by a Scriabin. And the Scriabins are the ones causing problems in the Clockwork Halls. Anyway, that's a problem for another day. Also, the Midnights have information for Gravewing about her brother in law. So a lot of brother stuff happening for her. She tells everybody about bloodline and that's like the majority. That's like all the important stuff that happened. I can't remember anything else, but we were gonna go talk to the Midnights. It's daytime. Probably it's daytime at night. Because every time it's daytime at night.
[00:06:51] Speaker B: And yeah, the occasional times that you remember. Oh yeah, there's no sun.
[00:06:55] Speaker F: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's daytime at night.
[00:06:59] Speaker B: So you all leave Salvation Row. And as you're leaving Salvation Row, you watch as the mood around here is dour.
You know, you see people who are sort of shoring up their windows. You know, some people are like, not necessarily they're leaving, but something is going to happen and they don't. They want to try and stay out of it as much as possible.
You know, usually even for like a district on this side of the river, there was life in Salvation Row.
Everything seems a little muted this morning.
And you all leave the district and cross the bridge into Silver Court and deduct the Silver peace.
And eventually you all come to the Midnight's estate.
You know, it's nice, but not overly opulent. It kind of blends in to the background of Silver Court.
And I imagine Grave Wing lets everyone in.
[00:08:18] Speaker C: Yeah, I have. I have a key. Well, I never take the key with me. I always hide the key where it's supposed to be hidden, like in our little place. So, yeah, we'll. We'll go grab it. Let us in.
[00:08:34] Speaker B: But yes, you find your key and you let yourself in. It's early in the morning, probably around the time most people would be having breakfast.
[00:08:48] Speaker C: I'm just gonna call out then. Hello.
People are home, I hope.
[00:08:58] Speaker B: Yeah. You. You all instantly hear to graveling and Leif. This was a familiar sound because it happened last time of a door slamming. And then this teenage girl coming into view at the top of the stairs with her wild gray hair and, you know, and like looking down at you and she's like, you're back. And you brought more people.
[00:09:26] Speaker C: Lots more people.
[00:09:29] Speaker B: Hi, we're. Are you hungry? There's breakfast.
[00:09:35] Speaker C: Yeah, I could eat.
[00:09:41] Speaker B: Great, Great.
This way.
And you're all led up the stairs into the sort of dining area and you see, well, you've already met Proxy.
And then you meet the two Midnights. And then you see all of GR Wings kids as well.
This room is getting a little crowded, but everyone seems to be excited nonetheless.
All of the kids are excited to see you again.
[00:10:19] Speaker C: Yep. All my kids get their huggies.
The baby gets just straight up lifted. Because it's a baby.
[00:10:28] Speaker B: It's a baby.
[00:10:29] Speaker C: Yeah. What's this gonna do? Fight me?
Not yet.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: Like, give it a few years.
[00:10:37] Speaker C: I will introduce my kids to my party and let y'all soak up how young they are.
[00:10:49] Speaker B: They're all very young.
[00:10:53] Speaker C: Not. Not including Proxima, though Proxima does get included with the kids most of time because she's like the oldest. We have a 15 year old that's Dashi. He's. Boy, he's quite tall for his age.
We have Hazel she is 12 to 13. Somewhere in between that, like, general tweenish age range. And then you have hero who is one.
That's rock baby.
[00:11:30] Speaker B: Rock baby.
[00:11:33] Speaker C: I'll also introduce. Well, I'm gonna let Lorelai introduce herself the way she'd like to be introduced, because I. I don't. I want to push nothing yet. Not. Not. Not today. Not. Not today. But yeah.
[00:11:47] Speaker B: Yeah. And Lorelei will introduce herself with her actual name. She wanted to introduce herself as the mother of the body blades, you know, say, Lorelai Dabria. It's a pleasure to meet all of you.
And the name is not a surprise to any of the midnights here.
And you are all sat down for a.
A breakfast of.
You know, it's good but simple stuff. There's coffee and tea and eggs and bread and jam.
And you. After everyone has sort of started to eat and gotten a little bit more comfortable, they will look over at you.
Valeris will look over at you and say, I promised you I would look into things. And I have.
In three weeks, the Lark family are holding their annual gala.
I have reason to believe that Tristan is being held in his own home. His old home.
[00:13:03] Speaker C: Oh, damn. Okay, that's not traumatizing enough. Okay, okay, okay. Three weeks.
[00:13:13] Speaker B: Three weeks.
[00:13:15] Speaker C: Do you know anything about the gala? I.
It's not still masquerade ball, is it?
[00:13:21] Speaker B: Oh, it is definitely still the masquerade ball. The. The Lark's star may have faded in the last few years, but they still have a lot of pull.
The masquerade ball. And anyone. All of the. The big players will be invited.
[00:13:43] Speaker F: But.
[00:13:43] Speaker B: It'S your best chance to get in the house.
We, of course, got an invitation, so we can get you in as part of our retinue.
At least.
[00:13:56] Speaker F: There.
There is a chance that I could also get an invitation. Not you want one directed at me, but my siblings are likely to have. At least one of them is likely to get one.
[00:14:13] Speaker B: Yeah, it is. It is. Options. There are ways to get in, but if not, we can always bring you in as part of our retinue if needed.
[00:14:24] Speaker E: I could probably get people in as well, if you wanted to spread the grow around.
[00:14:33] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, it is a good idea. Be aware, though, that moving throughout the Lark Mansion will be tricky. It itself, The Larks are known for their inventions, and they never fell in with the Clockwork Union. They preferred to stay independent.
[00:14:55] Speaker F: Would I have ever been there at any point in the past?
[00:14:59] Speaker B: Honestly, probably you would have been there.
And the walls are known to shift and rearrange themselves depending on what configuration they desire.
[00:15:14] Speaker F: Oh, yes. I once got lost in that house for eight hours.
[00:15:20] Speaker B: It is not hard to do.
[00:15:23] Speaker F: No, I noticed they did not make a toss.
[00:15:28] Speaker C: That's sad.
I.
I look at the babies that I just cursed in front of. I didn't say anything.
[00:15:39] Speaker B: Hazel's like, covering the baby's ears.
[00:15:44] Speaker C: That can't be his first words.
That cannot.
I cannot. I. I would never be allowed back in this. This house.
This regular, fine house.
[00:16:01] Speaker B: Totally normal house.
[00:16:04] Speaker C: Normal. Normal. No adjective or exploitative. Deeded house.
If the servant quarters are still the same, I might know how to navigate it because.
[00:16:22] Speaker B: Yeah, you've. You've spent quite a bit of time in that house. Grave, right?
[00:16:25] Speaker C: I spent the first, like, decade of my life in that house. Yeah.
[00:16:32] Speaker F: Yeah.
[00:16:33] Speaker B: Well, we're unsure of what they actually plan to do with him, but he's somewhere in that house.
[00:16:45] Speaker C: He's. He pissed them off.
He pissed them off very often and. I don't know, it's not every day.
Some. What are they? Nobility. They're still nobility, right?
[00:17:05] Speaker B: Yes, they are. Their inventions still net them quite a bit of money.
[00:17:11] Speaker C: It's not every day nobility loses an heir. Look at all the lore you guys are getting. Aren't you glad you came on this trip?
Then? I'm gonna look at the. Look at the baby. Be like. Aren't you glad? Aren't you? Yeah. Gravely. Completely. Like. Like. Like three octaves higher. Fully. Baby voices the babies.
Like, studies. Who cares about studies? We're gonna baby voice the babies for, like, as long as it works.
[00:17:43] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:17:43] Speaker F: Did you.
This is out of character asking. Did you say that the. The Lark heir was dead, or did you say the Lark heir was just gone? Are you implying it's your brother in law, or are you implying brother in law?
[00:17:55] Speaker C: Implying it's my brother in law?
[00:17:56] Speaker F: Yeah.
Then I will ask that in character to clarify. The L is your brother in law.
[00:18:08] Speaker C: Who I used to work for in my youth.
Yeah, that. See, Look.
Never imagined that I had a lot of issues, but kind of helps when he, like, completely disowns them and takes himself out of that family. His name is Kato now. So that's what we're going with?
No son of lurks.
[00:18:44] Speaker B: Yeah, there is.
You have players will turn to all of you and say the main part of the family is. You've got Solomon Lark, the patriarch of the household, Philippa, his wife, and the other two, two remaining children, Marisol and Orson, both younger than Tristan is by a little bit.
[00:19:11] Speaker F: I'm sorry, what did you say? The.
I Heard orphan, and that can't be right.
[00:19:18] Speaker B: Orson.
[00:19:18] Speaker F: Orson.
[00:19:19] Speaker D: Okay, would you name your least favorite child orphan?
[00:19:23] Speaker F: There's just a prophecy waiting to happen.
That's how you get. That's how you get patricide and matricide.
[00:19:33] Speaker C: Orson. I don't know, but I definitely think Marisol is, what, five years younger than him?
[00:19:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:41] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:46] Speaker B: Yes. Well, the.
The masquerade ball. Best chance to get in.
I'm unsure of what.
I'm unsure of exactly who will be there generally. You can also probably expect that there's a good chance that the high priest will be there as well.
So any. Anything that needs to be done needs to be done very carefully and very quietly.
[00:20:18] Speaker C: Did you hear about what happened in Salvation Row?
[00:20:23] Speaker B: Alice will nod and say, unfortunately, we did.
And she'll look at Lorelei and just think, we're so sorry for your loss.
And Lorelai will nod and say, they were fighters, fought to the end.
We may lose a little bit of ground in the row, but we'll come.
[00:20:47] Speaker C: That's.
That's not all.
So they have a.
Their own little group, their own little blade.
And I look at my son, and I'm like. And just. There's, like, no easy way to sugarcoat it. So I just kind of have to rip the band aid off and say, toshiro is in it.
[00:21:22] Speaker B: Errors. There's definitely a change that comes over his face when you say that, and he's just like, why. Why would he do that?
[00:21:30] Speaker C: I don't know.
[00:21:33] Speaker B: What, do you.
Do you think there's any chance to pull him back at this point?
[00:21:45] Speaker C: I. I really don't know about that.
I'd like to, but he's really.
[00:21:54] Speaker F: He's.
[00:21:56] Speaker C: He's really testing my patience still. I.
I'm not sure how to. I don't know how to feel about him right now. And I'm definitely not policing you on how you can. How you want to feel about it. The only thing I am going to tell you is you really need to stay here for a little while longer than I thought would be needed. All of you. I'm, like, looking at, like, my. My little batch of. Of kitties here. The baby does not understand, but he's included. But. Yeah.
[00:22:48] Speaker B: Yeah, but there is.
There is some slight grumbling from.
From Tadashi and Proxima, but, you know, they don't fight you on it.
[00:23:05] Speaker C: I'm. I'm gonna excuse the grumbling. I. I think that's.
I'm not gonna police them, how they should feel about. About this information, but I The back of my mind, I know that there are older teens, so they're gonna do things. Really stupid things. And I really, really hope that they're smarter.
Anyways, I.
I did task Whiskey for looking into my sister, but if he's involved, I think he has her.
It only makes sense.
[00:23:49] Speaker B: And.
Well, nod and say it does make sense.
Probably some deluded attempt to get her to switch sides.
The whole be a family again thing.
[00:24:09] Speaker C: Very fun.
[00:24:14] Speaker B: Yeah, it's.
It's certainly very complicated.
[00:24:23] Speaker C: So what have the Larks been up to recently? I guess.
[00:24:30] Speaker B: Well, this is certainly a big thing of recent sort of beyond the. Everything at the Harvest Ball.
After that, they kind of pulled inward for a little bit, claiming just illness in the family. This is kind of their big, you know, opening the estate back up, you know, showing everything is fine, everyone is fine. There's no one who's sick.
Yeah, well, it was. It was less of we knew. I know that Solomon was at the Harvest Ball, but wasn't sure about the rest of the family. Was a cousin that was there. But.
[00:25:14] Speaker C: We'Re. I'm going look at the nobles adjacent. So that includes parties and midnights. Kind of in this case. Were any of you.
Besides you.
[00:25:27] Speaker F: Laith.
[00:25:27] Speaker C: Were any of you at the Harvest Ball?
[00:25:35] Speaker F: No, we do not.
An invitation is yours.
[00:25:40] Speaker B: It was also around the same time you. You were both chasing a bogeyman.
[00:25:44] Speaker F: Yeah, because we did have a party invite, obviously.
[00:25:47] Speaker B: Obviously.
[00:25:48] Speaker F: If we had one, we'd have been there.
Well, I would have been there.
[00:25:54] Speaker E: Yuri's. Yuri says I'm pretty sure I was getting knocked out by a bogey.
Bogey Mine.
[00:26:05] Speaker C: Rough.
[00:26:07] Speaker E: Yeah. I mean that's how you met. Unfortunately.
[00:26:10] Speaker C: Damn. Okay, there really isn't much to go off by. I need to know what they've been doing.
What they might be doing.
[00:26:20] Speaker B: Yeah, we have. We have three weeks to come up with a plan.
It's plenty of time in the inquire.
[00:26:28] Speaker F: I don't know if they'll know anything, but they are more integrated in society than I am. So if they answer me, then they might end Last time one of them.
[00:26:38] Speaker B: Did so can always hope.
And I can continue to dig around and see what I can come up with as well.
[00:26:49] Speaker C: We're gonna need it that the walls are red for a reason.
Yeah, well, full disclosure, I don't like.
I am incredibly uncomfortable with him being there last time.
From what he told me last time they spoke, he told them to off.
He told them to leave.
He told them to leave. Very unpolitely covers the baby's ears again. Thank you. Told him to leave from his life.
Oh, my God.
And stole a lot of shit.
So we got our shop stuff, the children stuff. A lot of stuff.
I'm not in mom mode right now. My brain's not there.
This baby's first word's gonna be a curse. Oh, my God.
If we're going through three different crises at the same time.
[00:28:14] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
And Laurel, I lean forward and say don't have much, but any.
Any resources that I do have, I'm still willing to offer.
They'll mostly just be me and my skills.
[00:28:38] Speaker C: That's more than enough for me.
[00:28:42] Speaker B: I'll give you a crooked smile.
Well, certainly sounds like we have our work cut out for us for the. Over the next few weeks. I say what we meet back here next week, go over what we've learned you as needed. If things do come down to it, this house is safe. You can, if you need to, take shelter here. If you're stuck on the side of the side of the city when the curfew hits, you can seek shelter here mechanically. It can be a safe house.
[00:29:20] Speaker F: Huh.
[00:29:23] Speaker C: We're going to have to also discuss potentially winter. It's going to get really rough for me and them during the winter, but we can tap.
[00:29:37] Speaker B: They're welcome to stay as long as. As long as you need.
[00:29:41] Speaker C: Yeah. No, but the issue is that it. We kind of, you know, we like pot up is the best way to put it during the colder times. I mean, your. Your house is much warmer than most places.
Issue is I gotta keep an eye on the baby.
[00:30:02] Speaker B: Of course. But hopefully we have good news about your partners by then.
[00:30:11] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:30:15] Speaker B: Well, you finish up breakfast. Is there any last things you want to do while you are at the midnight estate before you all break off? You all will finish breakfast, enjoy the food, and then find yourselves back on the streets of Silver Court. What is the plan from here?
[00:30:37] Speaker G: Does anybody have a wayfinder?
[00:30:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:46] Speaker G: If we're gonna. We may even want to have two.
Just while we're thinking about magic, moving walls, building.
[00:30:59] Speaker C: That's a good. That's a really good call.
[00:31:01] Speaker F: That's why you are the detective.
[00:31:03] Speaker E: Oh, in character voice. I could probably check in with Steinhardt to see if they have those communication devices ready.
[00:31:11] Speaker F: Oh, yes, I forgot about those.
[00:31:13] Speaker E: Yeah. I should also check in with mother and family. See, I put in a request to get our stuff out of the jail. I don't know if that worked, but always check.
[00:31:28] Speaker F: I need to also run home and make sure papa has the finances in order before tax Season begins.
[00:31:37] Speaker C: Do you think it's beneficial for both of you to become more public in high society?
[00:31:49] Speaker E: You know, it's a good way to get information.
[00:31:52] Speaker C: Unfortunately, it's only YouTube can, can do it because I, I point to lathe, but I want to pretend that lithe is like right behind me or something so I can lift my hand up and like kind of cup their chin and be like. And unfortunately, this convicted felon over here.
[00:32:12] Speaker B: Won'T.
[00:32:12] Speaker C: Won't be much help. Well, in that regard, they're.
[00:32:16] Speaker E: They are disowned.
But that doesn't mean that the people will.
Yeah, noble families, you know how they are. But of course they're going to want to chat with Faith. Just not an official manner.
[00:32:33] Speaker F: They want the gossip frequently seen around town anyway, so I don't know. I don't know if that will be up there or not.
[00:32:45] Speaker E: I could.
[00:32:48] Speaker F: Well, no, I'm. It's fine.
[00:32:52] Speaker E: I, I. Yuri. Yuri is about to say something and the names of about 20 people flash before their eyes. And just there's some places that maybe I could have better luck than others getting information, but I could try places.
[00:33:15] Speaker B: Some people, some locations.
[00:33:19] Speaker F: I can definitely inquire about my siblings, though no promises that they will enter, but Paloma did, so that gives me hope that perhaps there will be future correspondence.
Worst case, could maybe drop in and visit them. But I've never actually been invited, so I don't know if I would be received.
[00:33:41] Speaker C: What the wrong with your siblings?
[00:33:43] Speaker F: I mean, they are like much older than I am. They're like. The oldest one is in her.
[00:33:50] Speaker C: This is, this is how I.
[00:33:51] Speaker F: This is how I know late fortunes, I think.
[00:33:54] Speaker C: This is. This is how I know that all, all you people do is waste money. Because what's the point of having all these etiquette classes if you can't extend it to your family? I don't. Jesus. What even is your age gap? This is.
[00:34:08] Speaker F: Oh, I was not planned. So it is extensive age gap, in fact. So they don't really know me because they were well, well flown from the coop by the time I was waddling around.
[00:34:26] Speaker C: No, babies are mistakes. They are all miracles in the eyes of the star mother. Bump, bump.
[00:34:34] Speaker F: Well, the star mother has a great sense of humor sometimes.
I'm sure that some of the younger.
[00:34:40] Speaker D: Nobles will enjoy the cache of speaking with a convicted felon that was on some of their peers. So I can ask around that way.
[00:34:50] Speaker C: I'm sorry. I'm picturing you with a book club.
[00:34:54] Speaker B: Play for the book club.
[00:34:56] Speaker C: Yeah, play for the book club.
[00:34:57] Speaker E: 100% already had the book club going on.
[00:35:00] Speaker F: It's like I found one.
Were you in the book club lates. Before. Before.
[00:35:10] Speaker D: I was in our book comment.
[00:35:14] Speaker F: Before that. Like. Never mind. It doesn't matter. That's not important.
[00:35:19] Speaker C: Were you in a book club?
[00:35:20] Speaker F: How the witch do I have you? No. That's why I wanted to know if you were and. And like, left me out of.
[00:35:32] Speaker C: Sounds like you both should start a book club for the youth.
[00:35:36] Speaker F: Oh.
[00:35:40] Speaker B: The youth.
[00:35:41] Speaker C: The youth.
[00:35:42] Speaker B: Well, it sounds like Alouette is going home. Yuri is making bad decisions. Leith is fighting gossip. Okay, hang on.
[00:35:51] Speaker E: We're going to Steinheart's first. So that's a good decision.
[00:35:54] Speaker B: That is a good decision followed by bad decisions.
[00:35:57] Speaker G: Maybe.
[00:36:01] Speaker B: Gravering and Alistair, what are you. What are you up to?
[00:36:07] Speaker G: I don't know why I should do. What do you think? Graveling? I'm 50. 50 between investigating, seeing if we can find some old employees or servants that used to work there and might know a bit about their architecture and security.
I also really need to get to the Wizard Tower.
[00:36:33] Speaker C: Where is the Wizard Tower located?
[00:36:37] Speaker B: It is. You would. You'd have to go back into Starlight Bastion.
[00:36:41] Speaker C: That's what I thought.
[00:36:42] Speaker G: I. As I recall. Is it open yet? It should be.
[00:36:47] Speaker B: It will be soon. It is not open yet. You do have a way into Starlight Bastion. That is not the official way.
[00:36:54] Speaker C: If you want to wait for the official way. So that way we're not like, sneaking around while they're presumably cleaning up. We can do the previous servant thing.
Yeah, and then. And then when that. When that way does open up officially, we can at least go in essentially.
[00:37:14] Speaker B: By the end of this week.
[00:37:16] Speaker C: By the end of this. Okay, so it's the next week thing. We can do it next week.
[00:37:19] Speaker G: Sounds good.
[00:37:20] Speaker D: Going in before it's officially open might be better though, right? Because everyone thinks that it's still locked.
[00:37:26] Speaker C: So the thing is, they are supposedly cleaning up. So if we are going in at like, you know, like we're sneaking in, we have a higher chance of running into whatever form of security they've now placed.
Okay. Yeah. So it's like, we could. We could do it. It's not like we don't. It's just there's. There's different risks between a gigantic group of people going in legally versus two people going in illegally to an area that used to have a lot of zombies. I don't know what form of cleaning up they're doing.
[00:38:02] Speaker F: Do we think that their cleanup might take them into Talus Manor. In which case, is there anything of ourselves that we need to remove from there?
[00:38:14] Speaker B: Left a lot of blood in there.
[00:38:16] Speaker C: I wasn't just me. And also, the blood was there before we got there.
[00:38:22] Speaker B: I met you all. Left a lot of your own blood in there.
[00:38:25] Speaker F: And the.
[00:38:25] Speaker C: Why the you name drop me?
[00:38:31] Speaker G: It's not like they're gonna use that blood to try to track us. They. How can they tell whose blood it is?
[00:38:37] Speaker C: You know, there was literally a whole. I was gonna say there was a whole. There were rooms full of blood. Blood on blood on blood. Like, at that point, I'm like, there's no way you're gonna get a whole.
[00:38:49] Speaker E: Other mixed person knowing exactly how to track someone via their blood.
[00:38:55] Speaker C: While it was mixed with other blood.
[00:38:58] Speaker E: Like I said, Yuri was staying quiet. But also, there's a lot of blood. It'll be fine.
[00:39:05] Speaker F: We didn't. Okay if. As long as we did not leave anything behind.
[00:39:11] Speaker C: I don't think we left anything behind that isn't in a safe house that you didn't. Nothing belonged to us that we took or left technically.
[00:39:20] Speaker E: So I think there's just broken weapons that we found over there.
[00:39:24] Speaker F: Where did we leave the Hester Hooder?
Is it with the bloody blades?
[00:39:32] Speaker B: It is somewhere.
[00:39:35] Speaker F: Someone's taking care of that poor thing, right?
[00:39:37] Speaker B: Someone is. Okay. I think.
[00:39:39] Speaker C: I think technically the only place that has a stable for the Hester Hunter is the Wolf. Wolves.
[00:39:45] Speaker B: Wilson Crab. But you also. You also have, like, people who. Who work for the rebellion who take care of it. Like Connex and Lena. Go back to the mansion.
[00:39:54] Speaker C: Can the. Can the.
Does the. Do the Midnights have a little stable for Hester who. There's enough. Can we just bring the Hester Hunter here?
[00:40:04] Speaker B: You could. Yeah. You like? It's one of the things you want to do. You can definitely do that.
[00:40:11] Speaker C: Okay, so I guess it really is just. What do you want to do? Because if you want to. If you want to stop by the. The tower, we can do that and pick up the Hester Hunter on the way and bring. Bring it back. Or we can do asking around the thing. We have three weeks, so I'm personally fine with helping Alistair do whatever he wants.
[00:40:33] Speaker B: I mean, we've been putting off the Wizard Tower for a bit, so, you know.
[00:40:37] Speaker G: Oh, yeah.
I think getting the servants is gonna be the first priority since it'll be open to the public next week.
Lost track of time I thought was coming up sooner.
[00:40:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Hi.
So you all and Lorelai can go with.
With you into Starlight Bastion. Just for extra backup, just in case.
So you all split off and get ready to go do whatever you're doing. So, Leith, you want to just dig up rumors, spread rumors, do your dandy thing.
[00:41:18] Speaker D: That is exactly what I would like to do. I think I'm more interested in digging up rumors at this point in time.
[00:41:26] Speaker B: Well, let's make that roll and we'll figure out what kind of rumors you're looking for.
Just specifically on the Lark family and the house.
[00:41:34] Speaker D: Yeah, anything. Yeah, or anything about, like, past parties that they've thrown. Is this a gossip lore or a society?
[00:41:46] Speaker B: It will be. Let's do. We'll just do gossip lore.
[00:41:49] Speaker D: Okay, that is a 21.
[00:41:53] Speaker B: 21. Okay, you. You get the.
The house's sink is like, sectioned into three different parts that all can move and rearrange dependently. Usually when the parties are kept. They're kept in sort of like the main part, the center part, and that is usually kept in formation to hold the parties. Big, big open rooms, things like that.
Some of the other parts will have the bedrooms and the library studies, weird random rooms that rich people have.
So generally, when a party's happened, essentially, they. They, for the most part, cut off access to the other two parts of the house just so nobody goes wandering too much.
And.
But in that main room, there is. In the main building, there is. There is like a.
There's a control room, essentially, where you can open up the other two wings and rearrange things as necessary. It will be guarded and usually has a technician in it, but it is. It is probably your best bet to open up wings.
[00:43:13] Speaker D: And I mean, it logically follows that they would not be keeping Tristan in the main part of the house while the party is going on.
[00:43:20] Speaker B: Yes, it logically follows that. Okay. And so the.
The Lark family has recently entered into business arrangements with the Scriabins to bring some of the Scriabins inventions to life, essentially.
[00:43:42] Speaker D: Now, when you say to life, Aubrey, what does that mean exactly?
[00:43:48] Speaker B: The Scarabens have designed these many of these things, some of which they have the technology ability to build. Whatever they don't have the ability to build, they're outsourcing to the Larks because the screens initially music, but have moved into industry and other things.
Those are the. The rumors that you pick up regarding the Larks.
Oh, is there anything else you wanted to do? Just gather rumors?
Are you're just going around doing this as yourself? Leith.
[00:44:30] Speaker F: You also have the talisman.
Yeah. I don't think you had activated it until. I think the intention was to activate it before we crossed the bridge.
[00:44:42] Speaker B: Good to know.
Well, you do that, and you spend the rest of your morning gathering information on the lark.
And we'll jump over to you, Alouette, as you head back to your familiar home.
[00:45:01] Speaker F: Yep. Will let herself in and then drop the disguise and then check in with dear old dad to see if, I guess, one, has he started preparations for feast day, because that's coming up and you gotta get an early start on them.
And then two, I need. I need all the recent tax documents. I need to get our finances in order.
No one else does that around here.
[00:45:37] Speaker B: So as you're wandering around the house, your dad's not here.
[00:45:43] Speaker F: Oh, that's odd.
And I'm not here, so he's not gonna have left me a note.
Hey, Dad's not here. Can I have a rifle through his office?
[00:45:56] Speaker B: Yes, you can.
[00:46:00] Speaker F: I want to find the tax documents, but mostly I. Last time, first time, I picked up a book here at one point, and the book was very concerning, and I would like to find out if there's more information.
[00:46:16] Speaker B: Juniper's been holding on that book for a little bit. You might want to go pick that up at some point.
[00:46:19] Speaker F: Hey. Hey. She has an open invite to come to the tavern and hang out and get a drink and dance. And if she hasn't picked up on that, I'll go visit her, I guess.
[00:46:30] Speaker B: But if there's anything. We need to find a new tavern, though.
[00:46:33] Speaker F: Yeah, that's fair.
[00:46:38] Speaker B: You do the skip perception roll.
[00:46:41] Speaker A: Hey.
[00:46:42] Speaker F: Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.
That's gonna be a 30.
[00:46:49] Speaker B: A 30.
You are rifling through his desk, and you come across a letter, and you recognize it instantly because the name is your father's on the front, but it's in your mother's handwriting.
[00:47:11] Speaker F: Lou, who, I think every time she goes home, makes sure she is in proper silver court attire and always puts a jacket on over her anathema wear and a skirt over the hoop skirt and stuff.
And this is also to cover up any plumage that may erupt. Plumage just erupts. It just like. I think it breaks through some of the fabric in certain places, like where it's really tight and especially, like, bursts out like a crown around her head.
And what does the letter say?
[00:47:45] Speaker B: The letter says, it starts, my love, things are getting worse.
I'm losing more and more time as this curse takes hold of me.
I am coming to the end of my rope as to what to do.
I have reached out to an old friend and he's tracking as much information about this as he can, but he's not able to work fast enough.
Tallis is doing his best to keep things stable for now, but I think this might be the last time I can write to you.
I'm so sorry.
I wish we could figure it out.
Please keep an eye on Alouette and make sure. Sure that she actually gets out there and sees the world.
Don't let her stay locked up. Forever yours. Forever. Eloquence.
[00:49:03] Speaker F: Huh.
Well then.
Interesting. That's. Sure. Sure. Interesting.
Huh?
Yeah. I think.
I think Lou is like on the fringe of full on transformation. She's like a hair away from being fully in hybrid mode right now.
I don't think she fully registers that because she is just. She's seeing red in a lot of ways.
M.
Fascinating. Terrifying.
What else is in this? There's. There's. Come on. Secrets. I need a secret door.
An answer. I need. I need more.
[00:49:53] Speaker B: Anymore. Okay. Give me another presumption check.
[00:49:57] Speaker F: Okay.
You're the most beautiful day I had.
Yeah. Yeah. And you know it. 25.
[00:50:06] Speaker B: 25.
As you are.
As you're doing this and continuing to. You're fully just tearing this office apart at this point.
[00:50:17] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:50:17] Speaker F: I'm gonna ransack it. I don't care about not leaving a trail.
[00:50:20] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. You're. You're doing this. And you come across as you're just pulling down books from the bookshelf, you come across what appears to be a hand bound journal hidden in sort of a space carved out behind like essentially where behind a bunch of books would sit. It's just behind essentially what is. Are a bunch of encyclopedias.
[00:50:51] Speaker F: What's it. What's in it?
[00:50:54] Speaker B: You instantly recognize the handwriting. This is your mother's journal.
And as you open it and as you open it and start to see that a feather falls from clasped between the pages.
[00:51:11] Speaker F: What color?
[00:51:14] Speaker B: You've seen this color before.
[00:51:17] Speaker F: What color is it, Aubrey?
[00:51:19] Speaker B: It is a very, very, very dark blue.
Almost black.
The same color as that beast in Talis's basement.
[00:51:38] Speaker F: Yeah.
Yeah.
Lou fully loses it.
I think she grows several more inches. There's a lot of bone snapping as her legs rearrange themselves to be more avian.
Her horns grow quite a bit longer. Talons burst from her gloves.
The feathers are just everywhere. Just like rips open the front of her shirt. It's very dungeon and delicious and dungeon style. Yeah. You know what I mean?
And she's just going to just attack the office. Like tooth and. And claw. Attack the office.
[00:52:31] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, that is.
This paper and books and everything is not really going to give you much resistance.
[00:52:47] Speaker F: And I think once it's.
I think once there's nothing left to smash, she's gonna find like a. Like a big old cloak and just sort of awkwardly try to get it over her transformation because this is not going away, and it's going to be line it for the starlight bastion.
[00:53:16] Speaker B: Okay.
So here is the fun thing with that. You're going to have to cross the very guarded bridge.
[00:53:27] Speaker F: No.
Can I swim? Can I just swim?
[00:53:32] Speaker B: You could, yeah. You could jump in the water and swim. It may attract some attention, depending on how well you roll.
[00:53:40] Speaker F: Attract some tension. If I try to go through the checkpoint.
[00:53:45] Speaker B: Yep, yep.
You. You're going to do that. And I was going to ask if theoretically your. Your hyper transformation had wings.
[00:53:59] Speaker F: Theoretically, yeah. They're like.
They're like raptor wings. So, like, we're not flying with them, but we sure got like, they're like arms, but we got big old pinion feathers on them.
[00:54:10] Speaker B: Cool.
Good to know.
[00:54:13] Speaker F: There's a solid level of like, velociraptor esque to her current form. It's just slightly more upright than a velociraptor is. So less.
[00:54:24] Speaker B: Yeah. Rather than being hunched over, you're standing up.
[00:54:27] Speaker F: Yeah, yeah, yeah. If they were taller, a little more. I know they're already bipedal, but if they were a little bit more bipedal.
[00:54:34] Speaker B: They were, you know, that, not that.
[00:54:37] Speaker F: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm going through my stuff, and I think. I think that the best I can do is just try to get through the river as fast as possible. That or bulldoze through the.
[00:54:53] Speaker B: The.
[00:54:54] Speaker F: The checkpoint. And I don't think that's gonna work either.
[00:54:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:54:57] Speaker F: Because I can only do my illusory disguise once per day.
[00:55:01] Speaker B: That's good to know. I mean, yet again, Silver Court, Salvation Row are pretty close to each other. Especially you. You can go further down and essentially jump and swim across. It is.
You know, it's a river in a very populated city.
[00:55:21] Speaker F: Yeah.
[00:55:22] Speaker B: You're going to want to burn this outfit later.
[00:55:25] Speaker F: Yeah. There's not much of a lot, to be frank.
[00:55:28] Speaker B: It's fair. Fair.
[00:55:29] Speaker F: It's mostly feathers. The feathers are mostly the outfit right now.
[00:55:34] Speaker B: Yeah, you're going to do that. And do you care how many people see you?
You can either get there quickly and a lot of people are going to see you, or you can roll stealth. It'll take you a while to get there, but it's less likely People are going to see you.
Let me.
[00:56:00] Speaker F: I'm gonna roll for that.
No, no, that's a natural one. So she's not concerned about self here. This is pure emotional frenzy. There's not good choices being made here because she's not in a good state of mind. And also, there's in the past when the. The bird beast has flickered to the surface a little bit. She doesn't usually remember it, so this is the first time that she's been even completely conscious during that. So that's.
That's also new.
[00:56:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:56:36] Speaker F: But it does mean it's a difficult.
She does have a lot of control right now.
[00:56:45] Speaker B: So, yeah, it's. There are going to be reports of a strange beast spotted heading through Salvation Row, Coffin Walk, and into the bastion.
You can.
You. You can.
You can find a way in that's. Unfortunately, I don't think you have the wherewithal to take the secret way in.
But there's a lot of places where the fences are damaged and are worn, and you can just, with your bird like strength, rip things off of it.
And the great thing about the last couple of weeks is that your Rebellion people have deployed the cure throughout the Starlight Bastion. So any ghouls that are left on this, they're heavily underground, are dead.
And if you want to give me just one more stealth roll, this is less of, like, how quiet are you being? And this is how many guards might notice you.
[00:58:03] Speaker F: Yep. One second.
Okay.
Hey, it's okay. You got a one. Before it made sense.
Let's not screw my friends over. Okay? Thanks.
That's a dirty 20.
[00:58:20] Speaker B: Dirty 20. Okay.
But, yeah, you make your way to a very familiar mansion. Talis Mansion.
And you head down to the laboratory.
Beeline, I'm sure you. I actually, your sense of smell is probably stronger in this form than it is in your regular form. I don't know how. Well, birds smell.
[00:58:49] Speaker F: I mean, decently. Right. You might be able to pick up a turtle and drop it 600ft and then find where you dropped it again.
[00:58:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:58:57] Speaker F: So you can eat the turtles that you cracked open on the shell and the rocks. Fun fact.
Certain cultures love turtles. Okay.
[00:59:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
So, yeah, you. You do this, and you're heading down into the laboratory and the smell of rot and death. It's been about three weeks since, but when you exit into this laboratory, the first thing you notice is she's not there anymore.
[00:59:36] Speaker F: I think Lou is going to just, like, claw at the spot that the body was and then just start scout scavenging through the place. Not really of a strong enough not mind to be like, yes, I am looking for clues. It's more of a just. I just. I just. I need to find it. Where did it go?
[01:00:04] Speaker B: You can certainly find a lot of feathers. And you're scavenging, you're looking. And I will come back to whatever you find later.
[01:00:56] Speaker A: Dreaming dark? For long? I cannot find meaning? Hold my hand? Let me stay by your side? Through this never ending night?
I can feel it now? Oh, it holds me? All these demons out? They surround me? In this red light it calls me? He is reaching out?
Consuming?
Where's my love? Won't break this heart?
But.
