Its time to get ready for the big swap. Bizy taking over a very important political position. Best if we have this go well..
Knights of the Night
604 - BitD Oh Wait Oh My God It Is My Fault
And now, please enjoy Episode 604, titled—oh wait, oh my god, it's my fault. Actual play begins immediately. Hello, welcome to Night's the Night Actual Play podcast. I'm your host, GM John, running machinations, our blades in the dark campaign for KOTN. And with me on my left is... How it's playing Burning Briar, or Hadrian's Briar to my friends. I'm a runaway, eruvian demon heir who takes the spawn of a spectral flame hiding amongst some ramble bushes. I'm currently inhabiting the body of an accuracy man of healthy build and noble stock fitted with a long coat, scholarly clothes, glasses, and said thorny Briar bursting out of his mouth and ears. This lasts, and most strange addition is a furnace installed in the belly that burns with the spectral flame to keep me alive. So that's something you can cover up with a jacket, or is that a fire hazard? I don't know how your spectral flame burns. Do you look like Iron Man? I might look like Iron Man a little bit, but I think it's lower down to the belly. I would have to look up the chakras and decide which one I want to spoil, because geez, I am ruining this man's chakras. That's fair. Stress? I have two stress and a level two harm due to an unstable binding to this body. Hello folks, I'm Jim Plains, Stephen Bing, also known as Busy. He's a socializing, enterprising, handsome young noble, trying to revitalize the finances of the known Bing coal mining family. Stephen keeps very busy trying to find creative ways of making money from both the good and bad fortune of others. He's very traumatized at the moment. He's got all but two of his stress boxes being stressed out. He's almost traumatized, hoping to get rid of some of that before we jump in today. Is that what we're doing? We are not jumping right into the score. There was talk about other gather information we do beforehand. We gather information on our target for Vrol, but during free play we have an opportunity to revisit some downtime actions at a cost. Gotcha. I am Tom, and I'm playing Esther Rowland, who is known as Ghost to her crew. She is a former blue coat, and the reason she's known as Ghost is because of her pale skin eyes and hair. Her main addition to this group is to keep everybody safe. She has recently learned how to fight actual ghosts and spirits, and she's also recently been getting involved with Cortlin, who is the leader of The Lost. She's intrigued by her, but it's not the safest relationship necessarily. Right now, she's dealing with four stress. Hello, I'm Michael, playing Gordon, a young, then good-natured scolvish lurk. Gordo specializes in infiltration, which allows him to bypass most security measures. He currently has three attacks. Okay, one last we left. I believe we were tailing our target from the unseen, your mission to gain patronage from them. They were interested in assuming the identity of a member of the Spirit Wardens, a very high-level crew. Basically, Spirit Cups, the mortal emperor has approved the Spirit Wardens to deal with the dead and the restless dead in the city, and their organization is mysterious as the Spirit Wardens all wear masks, so those that are members are unknown to the public. They might be members of other groups, and moonlight as Spirit Wardens, but the Spirit Warden you are hunting in particular is Warden DeGelos into the six towers out of Brightstone. He has a couple of areas on his patrol route, and you're hoping to assume his identity by putting him on ice. It's important for the mission that he not be dead, or at least not detectably dead. I believe Tesla had plans as to that, and be a mole in their organization on the behalf of the unseen. So with that, we found that DeGelos has relations with the gondoliers and dimmer sisters in six towers. The traditionally enemies of the Spirit Wardens, but he's got an understanding that they keep the spirits under control, and they aren't. They're doing more harm than good, but also he's on their take. So, a bit of traitorous behavior in the eyes of the greater organization, but still something you'll have to assume when you take his role on. And now, characters, we have time for our characters before they engage in the score to take him out. What are you folks up to? I think we wanted to gather some more information, maybe do some character stuff. Right before I delve into this new role, I want to make sure all my businesses and side hustles are in a good place to step away from them that are being taken care of by people I can trust. So that would relieving stress by what indulging my vice and jumping into my, Okay. Having people take over your duties is difficult. It is easier to do so by either leveraging people with the power of your crew, spending a reputation, or spending a coin to pay them off. Yeah. And I was going to go the money route. All right. So you're considering bringing them in on part of the cut of these enterprises. Right. Because I could see, I see myself being taken, having less and less time to deal with my side hustles. So I'd like them to be more self-sufficient and just maybe I'm getting as much as I used to because of the number of side hustles I got. I'm still bringing in about the same amount that I was taking before. So hopefully make a transfer. Right. But it costs money to make money. So he's going to spend a coin. All right. Can we put a name to the person you delegate this to? I'd like this to be a reoccurring character. Oh, yeah, I could pick my brother, but it'd be nice to have somebody new. You can pick your brother. I will allow it. It will be entangling yourself with another gang, however, because your brother has his own interests. So it's up to you. Otherwise. Like I said, I like to get more people on my list of people that I work with. So I'm trying to think of somebody that we could just bring in that we've seen before, but don't know if it necessarily needs to be. Is there someone on your like friends list that you could tap? If not, that's fine. The neutral people on my on my list is a drug dealer, a tavern owner, and a prostitute. Tavern owner sees a lot of people, but so does the prostitute. It's up to you. But I was thinking of that the one dude ghost. I think ghost was talking to you a lot. Yeah, he's like an ex thug who got a little bit maimed and tries to play it low key these days. I could see him doing some desk work though. He may not be the best suited to it. Mercy. Yeah. Yes, the guy. Okay. Well, he's got a lot of context for strong arming people, and maybe your work will take a bit of that flavor for now. That's the only person I get to think of that could try to think of someone who's a little bit like being or they're just a social and a. We are allowed to organize someone whole cloth. This could be a guild worker who's looking to climb up into nobility ranks. Get recognized with the Lord governor brought into the nobility, but mercy is fine as well. The whole thing of my character is trying to revitalize the finances of the being coal mining group. So just somebody in the family, another person in the family, just trying to bring them into the enterprise and. Okay. Then this will be like the clerk for the coal mine that's in charge of keeping number straight, has a head for making sure contacts are reliable and keeping the ledgers in order. Yeah, it sounds doable. Edgel Malkovich. Does that sound doable? Sure. All right. Edgel is respectable, well-dressed, up-and-comer, learned economics at Charter Hall at a low-level managing treasuries and whatnot, but reliable enough for the business of the coal mine. He has big aims, which is why you pull them out from the logistics side of things into a higher position because he was managing very well, the best among them, and your old lady was retiring. So it's time for Edgel to shine. So Edgel takes up this mantle for you, says you'll be indisposed for a while. Yeah, for an undetermined amount of time, try to keep things moving and going. And I understand this is a little further than the coal mines and fields I've usually operated. You've got this. You've worked with a lot of the outside vendors and contacts before. It's not too different. Yeah, I'll try to keep any emergencies from arising. In the meantime, aside from your brother, how can I contact you in an emergency? It's often difficult to find Baso in a pinch. I would have to give him somebody in our group for, probably. Yeah, good. He's the skulk, kind of like someone. There you go. Social and... Our skulk leader? Sure. All right. Then I'll keep in contact with this cricket and make sure nothing untoward happens with your investments. Cool. All right, give it a roll. If you take a peek on your character sheet, it will be the lowest of your resistance skills. It's the category with the fewest single dots in it. You have a better way of describing that. Like my prowess. My prowess is only got two in prowess that you're talking about. Let me take a peek, see. Or my insight, I got one dice and study, but I got three all together. Yes, it would be prowess. So you'd be having one dice to reduce your stress and give that a roll. I'm doing a indulge vice, number dice one. Make a number of dice two for this new character you're relying on, and I'll make sure to add them to your list. And stress, the stress and cruelly blank and I just hit roll, right? Yep. All right. So you've cleared four stress from your character sheet. I don't think that's over indulgence. It says failure, but ignore that. That's because you put zero stress in there. If you go below the amount of stress you have, that's when you over indulge, and we'll figure out what that looks like on a case by case basis. I got a little bit of room. I got three still. Okay. So that's busy scene. Does anyone else have any gather information about DeGelos before we engage on our score against him? Oh, dang. Weren't me and Ghost about to meet up with the dimmer sisters because we got caught while trying to gather information on DeGelos last time? I believe you were planting seeds with the help of Ghost that you would be able to peer through on his patrol route. And yes, there was some pruning done on the dimmer sisters estate as he frequents the area and they've captured one of your seeds and are coercing you to visit it. Correct. And I set out to do so with Ghost's help because bodyguard/prettygoodsocial/combatant. I don't know the correct word. She has a lot of commands. She's formidable. Yeah. That's my specialty. So I guess we should do that before we kick off. Everybody getting together to do the actual infiltration. Seems reasonable. Okay. So do we want to be subtle about a ghost? Do we want to trompe on in in the most exaggerated fashion, try and make a showy impact? What do you suggest? All right. The dimmer sisters have spotted our attempts to gather information on the board and wondering if you think we should meet up with them? When do we meet up with them? If we should enter in a very swaggerous manner, if we're trying to be subtle about, I don't know, I got a name for ourselves or whatever. Being contrite, we're walking in with great panache. What's our social attitude here? How do we approach the dimmer sisters? I'm unaware of their social standing within the environment you live in. They are the premier spirit traders, and no one has ever seen the sisters themselves. Usually they have henchmen out and about. The cruise reputation is daring. If you want to match that or come as supplicants, it's up to you. I like dying. Daring motherfucker. Are you coming with an ace in your pocket? Well, we'll do a flashback about that. I suppose. I couldn't think of an ace. I don't know what I'll be up against. You may be able to consume your own seeds. Oh my, remove their leverage, but we'll see. Sure. Okay. In that case, I undo my long coat to expose my big burning furnace as I swagger in appropriately. Be involved and fresh. You approach the estate where you can feel the portion of you, more or less being needled and prodded in your daring. So I think you're walking on in. A spectral presence lays a cold hand on your shoulder ghost as you pull the door open. It is unlocked. The estate is rather large, has a lot of grounds to it, largely petrified trees, and moon blossoms, one of the few alchemical treated plants that can bloom in the wild on your moonlight. I poke at their plants appreciatively and non-destructively. On your way in? Yeah, I suppose. Yeah. A spectral gardener says, "Who are we expecting?" I believe you're expecting friends. At least someone who would like to talk. I'd certainly prefer to be friends. I do an extravagant hand-waverry bow, one arm out, one arm at a waist, legs crossed, which is actually part of a curtsy, but he's kind of androgynous, so play it both ways. It's a very deep bow. Yeah, I get that. As he introduces himself as burning briar, the man who perhaps solid one of your gardens to your upset tonight. I did notice such a bloom. I will bring this to the attention of the mistress. You folks can walk on in as it has a lingering cold in the air of a threat of its own as ghosts can manifest rather quickly, especially if they're channeled as this one seems to be. I have a question. In universe, our spectral things that live in the ghost field always ghosts. I know they can't be demons because we're not supposed to touch the afterlife, and I'm pretty fucking special. But could there be some other thing in the ghost field, like, I don't know, the spirit of a house, the spirit of a field, something? At times, there are definitely echoes of environments that people have invested a lot of themselves in, and this garden is one of those as the gardener attests to. However, there are stranger things. Arcane horrors are creatures that exist beyond the pale of this universe, but can persist in the ghost field. They are very rare in the city. They are much more commonplace outside of the electric barrier. I did learn something and was right in my guess, but the thing I thought it might be is not that it's more dangerous and more rare. They wield those? You don't know yet. I talk shop with the gardener for a little bit. We talk about various threatening things. I talk about exploiting unnatural powers to try to get gardens growing, and they talk about working with the moon, which is an aspect I haven't touched upon yet, as we wait for, I don't know, the dimmer sisters to finish their poking at home. Yes, the gardener pulls you into an anti-chamber where it manifests enough to be able to pull a bell on a pulley that rings elsewhere. Presumably this is a spirit bell, something that can summon spirits or that spirits can interact with, something you've run into in the past, but usually the purview of whispers. And Rosin Torkin, the person who has a deal with DeGelos, comes out, hands drenched in a phosphorescent ink. But glowy? Yeah, it's glowy. Shaking them dry on a now luminescent rag, she barefoot in her own house walks over and says, and guests, who is this? The gardener introduces you as friends and she says, it's good, you ring the right bell. And she does a bit of a sniff in the air and says, ah, you must be the progenitor of the blossoms. Indeed, project of mine, I didn't think would be upsetting somebody else's actual gardens, but I suppose I did plant them a little willy-nilly for all that. I hope I didn't upset your preparations. Well, it's my job to keep security here. There are a lot of spirit vendors who would eke into our turf. You introduce yourself as allies, so I presume that's not what you're here about, but I will not have surveillance of my own territory, as you understand. I'm trying to clear it out as we speak. Understood? Perhaps to avoid such a thing, we might come to a deal with you yourself, because it's not you we were trying to spy on. Much of this district is under our purview. I'm coming up with a pesticide at the moment or an herbicide, rather, that should be able to handle you. But if you'd rather cut a deal about it, I would be glad to hear it. I mean, I could take the things out of my own accord, or you could continue your work. I was thinking perhaps to render the spying unnecessary. We could arrange for you to tell us what we need to know in a continuing manner, or perhaps I could do security for you, but I really don't think you'd be into that. You guys got your own thing going on. You have it much under control? Yeah, I think if you would want to tap into our spy network, it would probably cost you. Totally reasonable. What kind of cost? Continuing coin cost, or favors? I think it would be as required. If you came to us with something, we would name a price. I think that's a very reasonable way to run things. And although I wish to immediately offer such negotiations, I've just realized that I would probably need to converse with other people who control the budget. So not your friend here. So not your friend here, Madam, your name? Well, I am typically called ghost, and I'm here to help, but it is my attempt to keep people safe. You see some flash of teeth and a smile at the name. Very original. And I do know that you control a certain amount of area, and I thought it would be beneficial for us to find out about what it is. We certainly don't want to step into your path or obstruct you in any ways, but we would also think it would be beneficial to become bigger for us. If you can benefit us, that's certainly in the books. Sure. Operating on our turf does have its own cost, but if your mission is elsewhere, I can provide details about what it is you're seeking. Okay. Before we move on, I'd like to ask the GM, we oversaw a meeting between her and Douglas, where they found him to be a fairly reasonable person to negotiate with. It was tense for a minute, but yes, he did cut them a deal where they were able to operate in the district. Okay. So I'm not sure they're going to be totally into him being frankly replaced, nor indeed how much they'd be willing to tell us about him. If you continue the benefits he has with less oversight, it would probably be easier for them. Okay. So we discussed this beforehand. Ghost, do you think we're willing to go all out on telling them the plan, or do you think they're just as willing to sell us upstream before we even get it off the ground? I think we can sell it in a potentially different way. How's that pointing out the fact that I used to be involved with the blue coats. In fact, I still have influence over them. So we might be able to do as a group. The blue coats aren't the ones who are pushing in on their territory though. True. And that's I'm wrong, but just whatever government arm is usually when things get spooky, they call in the spirit wardens, but there are times they don't have the advantage of that. Right. But the reason that the dimmer sisters are concerned with the spirit wardens is because they're basically pushing the same turf. They are handling spiritual matters here. Right. The reason he was able to say it's fine matters are handled, but because they are handled, he just needs to make it look like he's doing it. Whereas what blue coats or something else? Sorry, go ahead. But my point is that it might be possible to convey the fact that I was in the blue coats. I learned many things about the controlling aspects of this city and that I still have influence among people that we might be able to be beneficial in reducing the impact that the spirit wardens might have on them. And that is true by what we're doing, but that's a different way of conveying it. A degree of separation where you say it's my contact with the spirit wardens. Right. Something else get this rather than telling her the truth of the plan. Right. That's a smart idea, Ghost. Thanks for the suggestion. Flashback over. All right. That's zero stress. That's not a big deal. I know we didn't get anything ahead of time. I just wanted to make it clear we wouldn't have had this conversation in front of the gardener or the... Absolutely. Yeah. Lady who was actually a member of the dimmer sisters gang. So now that I know what I can give away, I will say, well, I guess I could offer it to Ghost if she wants to take the lead since it's your expertise. Yes. I could also deliver it. I have consort, which kind of seems like we're playing more of that than Command. Oh, definitely. You might be able to express it better than I could. I also have sway, but they're both a point. Like, this isn't a wonderful thing I'm great at. It's just, I think I'm slightly better at you. Right now she seems to be meeting you as equals, which is more on the consort level than... I thought so, but if it was uninterested in it would definitely be sway. Ghost's addition will give you an additional dice if she's willing to spend a stress about it. Yeah, because I mean, why not get to six so that I can't but sway when I rest next time. I don't mind. Yeah. You're being literal. Okay. Then I'm going to roll two dice of consort on controlled position. I mean, technically this could be risky. I don't see it that way. I don't think she does either. No. At the moment it's controlled. She certainly has the means to hurt you in the back room. Yeah. But she hasn't. She's conversing as equals. All right, cool, cool. Effect is standard because I'm not really suggesting anything that's much better than what they have now. As far as she can tell, I would say. Yeah. Okay. Two dice rolling, consort, and then I'll try to... Ooh, failure. Three and a one. You falter, press on by seizing risky opportunity or withdraw and try a different approach. Okay. So I could see a couple of ways this could go wrong. Yeah. Go ahead. First of all, not everybody likes to hear. My friend here was a member of the Bluecoats once. Second of all, I could see accidentally revealing... Nah, it's not really related, but I was going to say the extent of how hard my spy network had spread through the neighborhood, which might upset her further, but it's not really related to what we were talking about at the moment. I don't see how I got back there. Okay. Then I'll head on, if you wish. She does a twist of her hand and tugs on a fog tendril. If you are attuning, she is pulling at a thyric cord and you can hear a click of locks behind you on the door you just traveled through. Ghost is holding up both of her hands, saying perhaps that wasn't explained correctly. Would you care to get a little more detailed, I say, looking over? Perhaps. I think I need to show you what is at stake here before you go on. Show your way, Madam. Is it possible that Breyer could be role, but now it's more risky as he's trying to explain this a little better? That was what I was conveying here. Right. I figured she was actually going to show me the stakes before I read. She is also going to do it, which is possible here. At that point, I might push on to get a additional dice from a devil's bargain of some sort. I'll be thinking of it as she describes what the fucking stakes are, I guess. She leads you through to a arcane experimentation chamber. She has a number of looking glasses up, mirrors that are reflecting scenes not here. In the white blue light, there is a reflection of several of your seeds, flames, perceptions out in the world. She's been spying on your spy network. Mine doesn't even work this good. He says his fingers are they're steepled, but they're also collapsing in a wave pattern. He's excited visually. You were compromised. I mean, yeah, what does that mean? There is a member of a cult of forgotten gods, a certain Malatasta. Who I've caught in glimpses of through gestures to a dark mirror, as she finds ways to prod and poke same as I am into this. I would rather not be seen by her. And so largely, I've been keeping covered here. And she lowers a curtain over that mirror. Also, the reconciled seem interested in your affairs, and she gestures over at another mirror, where it's a bordello of sorts, where there is clientele drinking, smoking, having cigars, and conversing with, this is a first person view. So this is another mirror, but it's someone is holding your candle more or less, a candle of your flame, and peering into it. You've got an eye on, well, if our whisper was here, she would recognize Nerex's traditional form, the body she tends to inhabit, and Nerex is one of our foes. And I think since you're being spied upon, we have a mutual enemy here. But the more you plant your seeds, the more they get into our business. I know they have the means to see through this, and she lowers another curtain over this mirror. I have taken wards here, but I'm not certain of their strength relative to what the reconciled can muster. I would like to have you as an ally, but as many hooks as you have in the bluecoats, there are eldritch powers at play, and I don't know that you have the strength to handle them. It seems you're unaware of a lot of it. I wish my face didn't convey quite so much naked interest at what I'd learned, but yeah, I guess I was a little ignorant. Nerex, for clarity's sake, is the flesh woman? She is a reconciled, and she is currently in her standard vessel, more or less, is what you've gathered from this, that she has a resting home, and this is her normal source of spirit energy. In that case, I take it back. I thought you were referring to Zetara, his name. She has not revealed Zetara to you. Should have on my sheet, but don't, because she's not actually my friend. In which case, I would have been surprised that, A, they were enemies because I don't know what the fuck Zetara is doing that would piss anyone off, and B, that she was plotting against me. I thought she was trying to teach me a thing or two about how fucking in danger I was, in which case, I take it back. I knew about both of those. I say confidently. I have a plan for the Lady of Thorns, and the reconciled we pissed off very recently, and it's not my fault. Oh, wait, oh my god, it is my fault. You don't say that out loud? I mean, I could, but I wouldn't get a fake point for it, so I won't. So, wrong game. No, I'm well, we're going to just try to experience it at the end, and that's part of it. But it's not here right now. So, yeah. The reconciled are a problem for everyone, is how I would take that. Like, I agree that we've pissed them off, and it's a heavy enemy to make, especially in the supernatural domain of this city. But we were going to do that, eventually. He looks over at Ghost. Our modus operandi, our reason for how we crew. I understand Latin. It doesn't exist in this world, but I understand it. I mean, we named ourselves to Vealarasa, somebody better. I do want you to understand that I know it's frightened you, that I mentioned blue coats. The most important part of that was x blue coats, and there is a reason for that. I understand. And I hope you understand that. I just want you to realize how in danger you are before you reveal such things. There are people looking into the situation, and they can leverage such information. I understand, but as we stated, we consider your group to be friends, and we wanted to share the true information to you. We were going to run afoul of the reconciled scenario later. It was the end of that sentence I left in. Okay, I appreciate that as a fellow adversary of theirs. They stand against our principles, and though they sponsored us for a mission before we learned of their principles, well, we learned pretty quickly and acted against them almost as quickly. So, well, I would understand your caution in working together with us. If you can improve your security, there is something in it for the both of us. Oh, fuck yeah, magical collaboration is my jam. And we can offer you some connects, not only with the blue coats, but also in the greater legal reachings of the spare ones due to Ghost's previous network. So, maybe we can work together. I'm going to roll again, kind of try to get a devil's bargain here, where maybe I make a promise that has nothing to do with my crew's further involvement. Like, if we don't agree to work with you, I will still do you a favorite personally to learn a thing or two about shoring up my defenses. Because it's cool. It is that you can use it, and you're my butt, you winks. I don't like the fact that both lyrics and the cult of the Lady of Florence is peeping in on my network that I was only recently able to access myself. As a devil's bargain, I propose, alternatively, Spirit Warden's knocking at the door. There are ways you can get out of this. It's just to up the empty. Well, I'm actually kind of rocketed on a couple of favors owed to my friends already. And while I do like to make new friends by offering new favors, I don't know. What do you think, Ghost, between dealing with Feliz's presence and just owing a spooky favor, which is my jam in general? Do you get to choose that? I mean, I offered one and he offered another. I'll accept either. If he said no, I was just the first one, then we would be in a different place. Right, I was just asking the GM. But he stayed still except either. So what do you think would be the choice? Because it's your role that you have to do. No, it isn't. I'm going to throw it all in your lap. As the Spirit Warden's knock on the door, and I say witness, as my friend Ghost talks us out of this, with her vaunted contacts within these Spirit Wards. And I give you a sweet thumbs up and take that Devil's bargain. Are you telling me to roll? No, I'm still rolling to convince the Demar Sisters. I'm just telling you. I think that you will have a separate role to convince these Spirit Wardens to back off. But I just think you'd be better at it. Yeah, I could give a command to them. I think by risking yourself, you're going to add an additional dice here, even without spending a stress about it. Okay. This is now a risky situation. Yes. Yeah, it moves up. And Dad doesn't actually have to pay any stress. Correct. Just doesn't have to, no. So add an additional dice for Ghost's aid in risking herself. Am I right? Okay. Wait, wait, wait. Devil's bargain and aid are mutually exclusive now. You're not wrong. Okay, let's make it a controlled position. Back down. I don't, it doesn't. Devil's bargain also cost you a stress or two. No, that's the advantage of complicating your life, is that you don't have to pay any stress about it mechanically. It adds to the story. It doesn't add to your stress. So push the effect or push the risk down. Risk down. Okay. If we want to roll her first, we can affect whether... Okay. So I peer through one of the glasses and I say, "Spirit wardens are coming to your door." I bet that my good friend Ghost here can convince them to leave without any troubles to show you how good we are at connection. Therefore, reducing the risk, we got them before they knocked on the door. But it's still the same, Devil's bargain. They're coming up and we know about it ahead of time. So it's controlled and she's a little bit impressed by how, on top of being your own network, your own surveillance network I am. All right. Ghost. Let's go with you. I don't suppose I get any modification for this, but do I get any modification and adding any dice to... Um... I am using command basically. I think it's risky, but you have greater effect because you're in the stronghold of a particularly difficult gang and... Right. Six Towers has a lower blue coat presence or spirit warden presence than it would if it were a more controlled district. Right. So it's a great effect. I do go to the door, open it, step out, and tell them... Our gardener friend unlatches the Ghost latch for you. Okay. I fully forgot we were locked in. Are you able to assist in any way, Brian? I am... You can roll command here if that makes a difference. I am definitely rolling command. I am, but I mean, the more dice the better, but... I could play up the ghostly effects of the zone. I'm not sure how much that would help to intimidate the spirit wardens. Well, basically, if you're spending a stress, it adds a dice. I know that mechanically it would work. I'm just wondering if this is the best choice. Okay. Anyway, I go for it though. A ghost flame rides out on an eerie cold wind around you as the door opens, and then a ghostly light follows you as you shut the door around the cracks. It looks like you just stepped out of the most haunted Boudoir imaginable. This is all to help command, which is intimidate, basically, but also just right out of authority. So I step forward and say, "Excuse me, is there a reason you need to be here?" We've received word of a demon infestation in the area. This is a step higher than perhaps your looks at the establishment. Your group is used to. We've dealt with demons before and would like to practice our expertise here. So you're insulting and hurting people by practicing. Perhaps you should go and deal with another area. I would insist that you should leave. My hand kind of drops to my sword at my waist. There comes to rest on their pummel. They say, "Look, the immortal emperor is far from here. We are his word in law. He cannot command these demons, and I don't think you're up to the task yourself unless you consider yourself an heir." You do understand he's far from here, and you're not. And I am here, and I'm telling there's nothing for you to look at while you're here. It would be dangerous of you to annoy and antagonize the people that are here. So perhaps you can just spend some time going away and telling them that everything's okay here. Thus it would be- If behind him who is safely two or three back says dimmer sisters need to stay in their lane. And you need to stay out of it. All right, give us a roll. Oh my god! Three dice, and I rolled a two, a two, and a three. That's rough, buddy. Oh, big time. That was rough, buddy. Yeah, they pull a blade, and you recognize some of the craft work you've been doing on Spirit Fighting in their movements. It's not as though they're manifesting it against you, but they're certainly in the know. I think they bludgeon you. It's a level two wound head trauma. Yes, well, first of all, I try to disarm both of them, and I probably get injured in doing that. Well, that's what comes to a resistance role. Fortunately for you, this is a physical category of- Resolve- Resolve- Resolve, no, sorry, yeah, it is prowess. It's prowess. I have literally five dice. You are taking how many dots you have won in, so- Which is all five. And a bonus for one of your special abilities is a- Bodyguard? Does that apply? You are definitely defending people. I was just wondering if somebody needs to be in the same zone or something. If you click on the word prowess, you'll be rolling prowess. You do not have any additional die? No. It is four because you have a dot in all four abilities, not five. One, two, three, you're right, I'm sorry. I don't know why I thought there was four- Well, there is an extra die. Resisting a consequence lowers it by one. You will have a level one harm, but this is kind of free play. If you came here in armor, I'd understand. Right. I rolled a two, a two, a four, a four. You take two stress is what a four means. You subtract from the six. Two additional stress. Yes. Resisting can be rough. So it takes me up to seven. Uh-huh. And you're welcome to spend some coin or something to de-stress before the mission begins, but this lowers it to a level one consequence unless you've got armor on you. Well, I mean, if I have items, I can definitely have armor. That is something that is my character's choice, weapon and armor. Shouldn't you have added one bonus dice for your ability? Bodyguard. My body guess is when you're protecting a teammate, add plus one die. Okay. And I don't know that I'm doing that. And it's to my resistance roll. Which is what you just did. Go ahead and roll another die because you stepped into this as the result of a teammate's action. Okay, so... Simple roll on the left. From Dolan. Number one. Give it a go. And roll. Yeah, it's a three. Well, it was with a shot. Yep. All right. I think it will be another stress for the armor. I'm sorry. Just as a flashback to have equipped it. So we're putting one click on the armor for future, like this armor slightly damage. And the next... It will be ready by the time you do your score. But go ahead and equip it. You've got a weapon of some sort and your armor. A weapon, I think, is normal. Armor is a bit of a foresight that is the reason for the extra stress. Well, virtually every adventure we've done in the past, I've done a fine, heavy weapon. I agree. That's fine. So I also have armor. But that doesn't change the stress I have, right? One additional for the flashback of the quipping armor, if you could. But does that prevent me taking damage? Yep. Zero damage. I guess I'm up to eight stress. Like I said, you can indulge before we go into the score. It'll just cost you. It'll cost me the one coin you have. Now, what are they there for? My futures? Who needs to invest in the future? Yeah, not if you die in the past, indeed. Now, they're there for emergency such as this. I suppose so. I think it's with that the spirits in the area stir up and begin swarming this group. Oh, the fuck did I roll a crit success off this? You feel the ground like colden under your hands? Mr. GM, I don't mean to argue, but my prowess was successful. Yeah, because I roll a four. I think you get back to your feet. You have trouble pulling yourself off the ground as it freezes. But you charge at these folk with your weapon drawn and the ghosts that manifest behind you cause them to begin running. Right. In the opposite direction and away from this place. So the four and five are a success, but with a consequence just to remind the listeners. And that's what it is. All right. Cool. There you go. They run away and you've. Semi impressed. The new. I think when you come back in, she expects you to be near to death. Facing the spirit wardens outnumbered, but you're not. And that's why her defenses are there. She's not really upset about you. Having aid from them, but yes, then we get to the crit role that Breyer did. And if you want to add words to that, Breyer. I never even told people what I rolled before we had ghosts go out and confront the spirit wardens. Hadrian rolled to see exactly what I keep calling him Hadrian. His name is Hadrian's Breyer. Like his name is very specifically not Hadrian. It is now regardless. Hadrian's buyer rolled. And sort to convince the demo sisters representative. We've been dealing with his name. Keep slipping my mind like a sieve to ally with us based on ghosts ability to deal with said spirit wardens. And I rolled until 636 for critical success. So despite the initial failure chasing off an entire crowd by themselves about taking any damage is enough to help out Hadrian's Breyer with his convincing. He says, "Some of those spirit wardens weren't spooked at all. They were simply on her payroll. It takes a crowd to turn around and run. And when three of five soldiers do so, even if it isn't that scary, suddenly it's terrifying." Also, she can take a beating from five people at once. I've seen her do it. And truthfully, I didn't take a beating. I took stress and a little armor damage. I'm just saying, if you had lost that fight, you still wouldn't have lost that fight. You would true her going again. Now, wouldn't you ghost? There's a hand that manifests covering a mouth whispering into her ear. And she reapprases ghost and says, "You certainly have the allies to back up your ambitions." No, but I semi-smile a bit. I think our relationship with the spirit wardens could solidify your tenuous alliance with, well, you know I was spying. Beggalo. And see you to a comfortable, unbothered position within your niche and perhaps expanded beyond it, if you so dare and so wish. I am impressed with how you treat the local spirits. I am sickened by the waste of the spirit wardens. And you, I'm not going to call it symbiotic. That has the wrong connotations, but your language fails me. I find your relationship with the ghosts promising. He gives you the closest thing he can to a beauty of smile, which might be endearing to a witch and would be terrifying to a regular person. Around your thorns and bleeding lips. Yeah, she nods, says that there are those that don't deserve to be in our service. There are better means for them, and we make a business of such. But that's a holistic approach. Certainly burning them is much more of a waste. So we can agree with you on that. Can't say that I haven't done so myself in the throes of passion, but I've recognized it as a waste. I'm trying to find ways around my disposition he offers towards the ghost flame. It is a curse and a blessing. When we all have our appetites, I won't begrudge yours. Thank you. He is pleased. That being said, don't indulge it in my territory. Oh hell no, this is your mess. That was never our intention. Correct. No, my plans didn't need ghosts to feed, but still I'm sorry to upset your gardens, and I hope you can either suborn them or burn them. And I hope you can teach me some tricks obviously. I can't imagine the decoloses in your pay or your reputation precedes you. However, we've been paying him a pretty penny. If you can mitigate this, it would be appreciated. When we are sure we can, I think we'll contact you again, and he offers his hand. I think our relationship can grow from there, and she reaches out and shakes it. He's a little giddy, he does some hot feet where he can't seem to stand still, but he doesn't let go overhand, and then he turns to a host, and he says, "Please, could you escort me home? I'm lost to shit." Not a problem. And he loops his arm in hers, and bows again, actually, stops, turns around, and does so properly. Your hosting was a pleasure. He tries to find the right language in an endearing way, hopefully. We can be more hospitable when we're better friends, but, yes, I'm glad you found it acceptable. Oh, the conversation with your gardener was a treat. I hope to be back someday. As long as your appetites don't overtake you, I'm sure he'll be glad for the company. This is rare that he talks to someone who knows plants as well as you must. Indeed. He does the steeple finger ruffling thing, and then loops his arm back in ghosts and takes the out that he tried to provide himself earlier. And the spirit manifests briefly to Dafot's hat at you. And he bows to that spirit as well, though, less so because, I don't know, certain stuff. I don't know. It's still respectful because he had fun. It was a pleasure meeting you all in actual reality instead of a far distance. She waves a hand at the Briar. Is it's all right if I dispose of this essence? If we are to continue our relationship, I would appreciate the insight of those who have tapped your network, but I understand the compromise nature and would rather it be gone. It's up to you how you handle it, but I just would not like this in my house longer than I need it to be here. Then I will remove all from your domain and trust that we can get back in your good graces and get the information we wanted anyway. I think she scuffs the chalk circle, hands you the withering bloom, and says, "If he would take it with you then." Of course. And I think he just chucks it right into the furnace because... Reclamation. And also, he had that open the entire time in his swagger state, so it's just a thing that she can glimpse to learn a bit more of the mystery that she probably was interested in learning that he's just deprived of. I go about cleaning out my seeds of a small scene that Ghost doesn't need to join me for because we just agreed to that and I'm a man of my word or a bush of my word, and we can go do a heist thing. Yeah, let's figure out this engagement role. I think you're probably stalking this guy to find a good location to ambush him. I imagine Gordon's heading that. Yeah, I have something to say about that. In my efforts to find the best path there along rooftops or whatever alternate methods I can come up with, I came across this garden scene from the roof that was for this city, it was beautiful. So I had a thought that maybe I would share that with my interest later on. Yeah, you can absolutely maybe even take some seeds with here. Yeah, I was planning on being it. I don't know how we're going to do this exactly, but if I'm working as a backup or a loan or just keeping an eye on things, this is the route. I have that route mapped up if we need it. Yeah, there might be a communication method that you signal for people with when it's time to strike, but I think we'll start the score with that next. You are shadowing him in his travels, searching for a place to crab degellos when he's the most vulnerable and isolated and picked up a couple seeds along the path. Busy, how are you preparing for your role? Aside from what I was talking about before, which was studying him as much as I can, trying to learn the mannerisms and how you've learned is that shortly after this patrol, he is to report back and debrief with his superiors, and he's almost on par with them, so it's rather perfunctory. He spends the least time in debriefing as anyone else you've witnessed gone through. That should make it easier for you to bluster your way through without too much scrutiny, but it is behind walls that you can't get quite into, so there will be some fakery you need to pull off. I've actually met with this guy before. I think we've seen him on a couple of occasions, but I'm just functions, because he's rather higher up. I believe I phrased him as the highest up you can be while still beating a patrol path. While wearing a similar covering on my face, I am practicing the sound and tone of his voice, so I can convey that as well without suspicion. Then let me take a peek at our engagement rules, and we can figure out how close we are. All right, there is one dice for the devil's own luck. That is what you start with. Is your opponent higher-tier than you? Let's start with the additives rather than subtracts. Are you higher-tier than the target? No. Are you taking advantage of a weakness, a vulnerability? Hit them where their weakest. Take one plus one die. I think your trailing here counts for that, so two so far. You have any friends, contacts, can provide aid or insight on his operation. You do, plus one, three so far. Any other elements you might want to consider? I think striking him in one of the least populous districts, which is just fortune and happenstance that he patrols them, but it is an advantage. So, an additional die for that, four total. Then comes the subtractions. Are they strong against this particular approach? They do have passphrases and things that you will have to puzzle out busy, but I think I'm going to leave that for the actual infiltration aspect of the mission, rather than the engagement role. Contacts or enemies or rivals interfering with the operation? The dimmer sisters have stepped back. They are not rivals at the moment. The reconciled might want to fuck with you, but they also want to see the spirit ones taken down a peg, so I don't think they're interfering here today, so we'll skip over that. Any other elements you might want to consider? I think the knowledge of the arcane might fuck with, not the engagement role, more to do with, okay. So, I'm going to say it's four dice, because they have preparations against arcane procedures taken against their members, but that'll be when Tesla makes a role, and that's not what the engagement role is about. It's about stalking them, and they are understaffed for a city this big, and DeGolos has seen to it that he has only just what he needs on this mission so that he can conduct deals with the populace that he would otherwise not be able to, that would reach the higher-ups and get him in trouble. So, you're hitting him in an area where he wants privacy, and that is biting him in the ass right now. So, let's roll those four dice. We've got a four, a two, a four, and a six, so you're in a controlled position when the action starts. That means you have the drop on him, you have the advantage. So, good news for y'all. Indeed. And I did want to offer space for ghosts to indulge a vice with her coin before actually doing that, so then we can do XP. Sound good? Okay. I will definitely spend a coin because eight stress before we start is a really bad choice. Not a great position. So, that is what particular role I apologize. You are taking the lowest category of resistance you have, so that would be which category do you have the least of one dots in? Inside and resolve are both two. It would be one of those. Go ahead and just click that category. We'll ignore the fact that it comes up as a resistance role and just use it for... Right. Oh, Jesus Christ. I can... No, Dad, that's a good thing. You've rolled a five. Oh, right. Yeah, six is bad. It's terrible. I rolled a one, and so... Yeah. Well, I rolled a one and a one. I read the suffers five stress and thought you rolled a five for some reason, so... No, I did not. I'd like to introduce you to numbers five and six. Tonight, I don't know what those numbers are apparently, but that only removes one stress. Yeah, it sounds like you might be getting a trauma soon. Indeed, I am on the border. On the bright side, more experience for you down the line, so... Indeed. The trauma isn't all bad. It's just for them and you have to retire your character. Right. I don't have any trauma yet, but I'm about to. It's getting close. All right. With that, I think we'll do the cruise XP for Assassin. Execute a successful accident disappearance murder ransom. No, not yet. Contend with challenges above your current station. Absolutely. At least one. At least one. Both do your cruise reputation or develop a new one. I think that's an additional one. Well, stepping back, did we do twice that we've dealt with two different threats, the dimmer sisters and those rear wardens? Yeah. They're both higher than us, right? They are. Yeah. I think I'll allow that. So we're at three total so far. Okay. Express goals drives inner conflict or essential nature of the crew. I believe in vouching safe that you have talked some of your goals to the dimmer sisters, and I think that qualifies. You've definitely exposed yourself and your interests to their scrutiny. So we've got a level up for the assassins. I'm going to type that in chat so we can decide before we engage to it again. And then Gordon, you've definitely got some seeds for your love. You've helped with the engagement role here and being a sneak thief. Do you have other ideas? Just about my love interest was mapping out a place to take her so she can see this herself. Oh, yeah. Yeah. In addition to the seeds, but you're also concentrating on the job and seeing where would be the best place to initially be and then maybe avenues depending on the direction it took. Should there be a pursuit involved? I think with the success of the role here today, you've the previous session, you were stalking him and I think now it's paid off so we can see another one for that. And yes, so a total of three sound good? Sounds great. I believe Esther is next. Yes. I definitely didn't enroll any desperate actions, but you address a challenge with violence or coercion. Yeah. I would definitely say yes. At least once. And in addition, you express your belief in drives, heritage or background. You, at least one, maybe that's why you offer that you're a blue coat previous workouts often. So at least one, right? Yeah. So two total. And the last is struggle with an issue of your vice or traumas. And I would say no. So next, I'm wondering if rolling a one on your indulge vice. But I don't think we fleshed it out so much. So we can just gloss over and say two is good. Yep. Busy, you've indulged your vice. You're definitely involved in your family's business and they're sleazy friends is for one. They're not sleazy. They're family. And same thing. Didn't do the desperate action addressing a challenge with deception or influence. Excited from my indulging my advice with my influence, expressing beliefs, drives, heritage, or background. My background in my vice is the one thing that I think we'll get you stressed and struggling with issues of our traumas. I don't have any vices or traumas. I want to reward introducing a new character to complicate your life because that's something we should have in this game of machinations is a lot of gears turning people that can fuck shit up when you're not looking. Yeah. So we can give you two for that. Two for one for the Bing bookie. Yep. And Briar, if you could follow up. Absolutely. You just challenge with technical skill or mayhem. I probably lessened the difficulty of the situation with the dimmer sisters just by talking to the gardener in a positive way. But also, I think mayhem was when I helped out ghosts by influencing the ghost field to line up with the intimidation. But then I just remember they fucking failed that role in the. Yeah, she did. I'm wondering in the future if I should include people who aid in harm. It's difficult to imagine how that would happen for you. But I think it's important to think about in the future. If you could leave that in just as a note for new listeners to the series looking to learn. But other than that, yes, I think you're hitting twice there. And then maybe once more for your background of your demonhood came into conflict here today. Yeah, you expressed beliefs drives heritage or background is the point he's referring to which everybody shares. And they came up in that the spirit wardens came to town specifically because it's an extremely virulent demon possession problem. Oh my god, look at it. It's just walking around with the demon in its mouth. It might be the only people who clocked you as such. But yeah, they're doing it. You struggled with issues from your vice or trauma. Not so much. Yeah, no, I didn't do any blood drinking or spirit drinking. And my instability didn't really come into play all that much. If I had gotten really giddy and did some experimentation with the fucking gardener to the detriment of everybody but us, it would have been fun. But I didn't think about that till later. So three is just fine with me. No desperate actions. I would have mentioned that forgot to read it though. All right, I pick up a point of resolve with two XP and then I dump the other one somewhere else I'll think about later. All right. Thanks for listening and thanks to our players for being here. I've been your host, John, leader of the machinations campaign of Blades in the Dark. Hope to see you again. Good job. Thank you for listening to Knights of the Night Actual PlayPod Guess. If you'd like to send us a question, comment or feedback, you can reach us in a number of ways, including Twitter @KOTN_podcast or by emailing us at feedback@KOTN_podcast.com. And don't forget the iTunes reviews. We also have a Facebook page which can be found at facebook.com/KOTN.podcast. While on Facebook, you can join like-minded folks at our fan page at facebook.com/groups/KOTN_fan. And lastly, there's our blog @KOTN_podcast.com, where there's an Amazon link on the right-hand side. For those of you who'd like a more study way to help us pay the bills or if you live outside the US, you can help by donating to our Patreon page at patreon.com/KOTN. And please, remember to join us next week for more mystery and adventure. Now, by the way, Mike said power or something or lightning took out his internet somehow. Okay, sour. Yeah, it makes sense. Oh, likely story. So, plausible, plausible. Ermine. Sorry. We have 14-hour work day, okay. You're back then, Jim? Yeah, it just kind of like started timing out and I was waiting for the connection to drop and it actually never did, but I could tell it was like timing out and thinking about it and it got a little choppy for a minute and it's fine now. Okay. All right. With a B? Diagelos. Diagelos with a D-E-G. Correct. I'm sorry. I'm not very good at this language, Madam. That's okay. Other possible titles for this episode were available for voting and the nights of the night fans page on Facebook. The other options were walking in with great banash. They're not sleazy. They're family. The same thing. If you so dare and so wish, who needs to invest in the future? You are so daring. I think you are walking on the end and cost money to make money.