We get a peek into what that Warden has been going through, as his friends attempt to orginize a rescue mission.Actual play starts 17:54
Knights of the Night
Kotn Actual Play Podcast - 174 DFRPG - Mind Games
(upbeat music) - Hello, and welcome to Knights of the Night actual play podcast. This Dresden Valve story, Rituals, was written and run by a jam town. And now, please enjoy episode 174, vital mind games. Actual play begins 17 minutes, 54 seconds. (upbeat music) All right, we're gonna go through the feedback. Well, I've got to get in here to get ready for that. So I'm just not gonna be here for the feedback. But first thing we have is a iTunes review from Well Mustachio. Titled, I don't listen to actual plays, but I listen to this one. It's a five star rating, and he says, or he or she, I assume. (laughing) Yikes, well mustachio. We're assuming it's a, I'm gonna go on Ollie and stretch. Yes, the sound quality in the editing of KOTN is the best of any actual play out there. No chewing, no heavy breathing, or 10 minutes of money, Python riffs. We don't have to try harder. That's the only one we've done. That would be awesome. That's why it gets cut out. Oh, that's just great. That ended the version one day. The games themselves are entertaining listening. Tom and Scott, we've great stories and their players fill them with great characters. Urban Fantasy is where these guys shine, with great storylines in the world of darkness and dreads and files. They've played a couple of others, but they don't really seem to fit the group. I like their dungeon world game better than they did. And if I had anything negative to say, it would be that there are sometimes a little deer with their characters. - Oh, why? - A little deer. - Yeah, I guess. - A little precious. - Maybe we're a little bit too scared to let him die. - Yeah, that's just what I thought it was saying. It occasionally stymies the action in decision and planning. I have to admit that I've yelled at my iPod a couple of times. However, the Knights have always rallied in, pulled it together, loving the dressing files, keep 'em coming. - Something like just open the door. (laughing) - Actually, it's GMI of yelled at. Or just, it was just listening to the latest podcast of us arguing about how and if we're gonna be going into someone's mind, and are we beating a dead horse here? Can we please stop discussing this? - Yeah, we might be doing a dead horse. - Thank you. Well, moustache out for the review. Appreciate it. - We'll tell 'em we got a night tune review. It's very nice. - That sounded great. Thanks for the review. - In Google Plus, we had a comment on 173, which is the latest episode right prior to this one. It was called The Lost Warden. The comment was from Michael Cole, who said it's a shame. This is all that had to be NPC'd in this episode. But I'm really enjoying the new series, and I'm wondering if the false friend is your Birdo's demon. - NPC is a non-player character, and since you unfortunately had some events in your life, it made it impossible for you to show up, and we had to kind of convert you to a non-player character. - You just got the black stare and drinking coffee. - No, I actually filled in for you. I didn't do the voice. (laughing) You're safe there. - But when they ask questions of Zelda, I answered them, and I don't know how you would answer them, so I think the best thing could. I don't know if you've been listening to the episodes, but the one just prior to that was 172, and that was your big episode where you came on strong, and you all of it's Scott, and then many of the fans like that. London. - Put London in this place. - We did have some comments on Facebook. One on episode 173 as well was from Mr. Merck T, who said, "Praise be for the early crafting "in the release of the episode to the editor and the knights." - It was early. - It was actually early because the episode had been slipping farther back into the week as I released them, and one I released to Friday or Saturday, and then 173 came back out on Tuesday that normal time we would release them, so it came out much quicker, and so he was happy with that. But he said, "Also, as for the prophesied efforts," and he's mentioning Zelda's reading of what's going on in "The Warden's Mine," I think the greatest effort so far was coming to a mutual agreement between the characters concerning their plans. So far, the prophesied is 100% accurate, so we'll see if it continues to be accurate. - Was that our fight? - Well, it was a discussion of what all the things meant. The false friend and the... - Yeah, we were discussing whether or not it wasn't until the second day in a row that we did that, that I ended up shouting and getting angry. - No, it was at the end of the episode. It was at the end of one. - Okay. - It was funny listening to London explain why Roberto shouldn't be in the party 'cause he might do something rash. - Yeah. - None of that stuff has been released in the future. - Yeah, yeah. - I was laughing too when I was listening to it and hearing him say, "Yeah, is he the right person?" - Is he really the right person? He's been known to do rash things. Is he really the right person? - He's military. He'll be fine. - Yeah, I'll be fine. - And we'll be one by every time, crazy. - J.C. McDonald also commented and said, "I enjoyed any episode where Roberto "can alienate himself further from the group. "All the better so that his only friend is a certain demon. "He's the only one who really understands Roberto." - Right? - Not bad, that's right. - Luke Green commented and said, "As to Rachel, I laughed so much "when she told off London last episode. "In London's Ryan Fucking Nelson is getting to be "much like Cecil's Steven Calzberry "from Welcome to Night Vale. "Welcome to Night Vale. "Did anybody listen to that? "I'll listen to the first few episodes." - I've heard of... - I have no idea what that is. - It's a podcast. - Yeah. - That's supposed to be quite good. - I like it. - Not quite the same thing, but I do like it. - Is it more of a radio drama? - It's kind of like weekly news in a fictional town that's actually wacky and supernatural. - Kind of twins. - That's the impression I got to twin peaks-ish. - Yeah. - It's more upfront with its wackiness, but yeah. - It was a little exclusive. - A show that came out. I think it was about a small time a guy came there. It was in England, it was in England-based. - I know what you're talking about. - Yeah, a camera in the name of a bra church? - No. It was like happy-something or pleasant-something. - Yeah. - It was like a town or... And it only ran for a couple episodes, but there was something weird, and there was a guy in his shop, and yeah, but... - I liked it, but... - I liked it too. I was upset when it went under. - It got canceled. - Yeah. - Ari also posted and said, "Hey, guess what? "Yes, tomorrow I have a one plus hour drive ahead of me, "and guess what? "I have two episodes behind on Rituals. "It's a match made in heaven. "So Ari is our driver who's always listening "to us while he's on the road." - That's not the only one. - No, no, no, I don't think he's an... He just has to travel around a lot. Before 173 came out, I said that 173 might be coming out tomorrow, I posted that on Monday, to which Jason said, "Madness," and Adam said, and Danji said, "Indeed." And Paul bad said, "Good for episode 173. "Take pride in who you are." (laughing) - So, that was clever. - Yes, I liked it. You go, Paul. Moving backwards in time a little bit, Facebook episode 172, which was, it is in the cards, was the title. - Crafting. - That's a job. Said, "I honestly really like "the first role playing from Rachel. "I have no idea who these guys are, "and they've just started running after God knows what. "Guess I'll just have some more coffee." - Mm-hmm. - It takes a unique perspective. My body came in, it's just... It made me laugh too when I've re-heard it, and she's like, "Yeah, I just can't be here." - I have no reason to mention that. I'm not wearing anywhere to do anything. - Well, I didn't do that. - That's right. You didn't have a reason to. - Yeah. - Continues, that was well in character, a funny moment right there. Yeah, I got a bit behind too, and I'm just finishing this week's episode. Just to clarify, and also, mostly because I don't know much about the Dresden Files RPG, the demon overpowering the character, was that a case of it just being too powerful in terms of stats and ability, or was it the case of the players being stricken by bad luck or misuse of abilities? In either case, I like the way the demon was banished. 420, do you even praise it? The sun that is. - Yeah. - But praise the sun. - Yeah. - It actually costs about an unfortunate, I believe. - The demon is a powerful, powerful beast, and it is statistically got some very mean punches. - But the idea was that the thing that we met in the alley was basically supposed to kick our asses, and what do you do when you go up against something that's-- - Right. - I think there was any bad luck involved in it. - No, it was intentionally overpowered. In the past, you guys have gone up against demons, well not demons, but again, it's enemies in Dresden, and you've just slaughtered them. And I wanted to throw something out there that was way over your head, and would require preparation and study, and going to Roberto's-- - And it was interesting. - Trying to, as a father, and finding out information before you could take an honor, you can come close. - And it was interesting, listening again to Roberto's reaction to getting hit. I'm just going to take the damage, 'cause 12 damage, 12 damage, he's like, really? - The first one was Maxwell, where he said, "I'm just going to take a hit to see how bad this guy is." And I said it was plus seven or something on his claws, and he's like, "Okay, maybe I'll dodge. "Maybe I'll make a mess." And Roberto did take it, and he, you had to spread it out over like a ton of consequences. - Oh, they went away. 'Cause I have recovery, but yeah. - But at first, you were like, "You didn't think I was going to hit you that hard." - No, I only took one hit, fortunately. - No long run, it wasn't too bad. Richard Watts also stated, "First off, "I think the idea to take a break right as Roberto "is bolting through the door was a great idea." It's actually, it was just happened to be that time of night, that it was pretty late, so we decided to stop then. This episode and the last flowed very well as a pair. I got a bit behind. I can imagine that the suspense just amped up the fun for those who had to wait a week. This is one of those episodes that just plays like a movie in my head. Everyone got to do a little something. We got to see what the characters, old and new, were made of in a stressful situation. From Roberto's mad dash towards danger to rep his nonchalant stroll to behind the bar. London and Zelda's back and forth was great. Great fun and an excellent job by the new players. I also really enjoyed Tom's use of the tarot cards as a plot device. It added a ton of flavor while remaining vague enough that it didn't actually spoil the story. Still managing to give the players a clue. Really looking forward to seeing all the threads brought together. Thanks for another great episode. - Thank you. - So I don't know that the tarot cards were really my idea. I think there were more yours Rachel, but as a tool I think they worked perfectly. We found not to give anything away, but we found a number of times in the game where she's drawn a card and it was - It's always very applicable to that particular moment. - It's scary. - It would not be the best card, but it was always - It was very accurate. - Magical first time. - You're just full of magic. - Back on Facebook I posted a couple of weeks ago. We took a week off for Easter, so this is feedback for a couple of weeks. But that my house had electrical problems and that was why the episode was particularly late. - Understood. - Yeah, half the house as well out of electricity. And still, I'll be fixed tomorrow hopefully. Jason Carter said, man that sucks. First of all, I think I speak for most of the fans when I say we all understand and sympathize. Now having said that, no, I want my crack. I did get the episode out, Jason. Sky-wise said, glad everyone's okay. Thank you, Sky. So my, it could have been much worse. The house could have burnt down. - It was not a good morning. I was at work and I got a call from. What happened? We have, the house has got two boxes, one that has switches that trip and one that has old-fashioned fuses. And the fuse never blew. It melted in the box. And yeah, and it took out the living room and one of the bedrooms as far as electricity went. But luckily Thomas was home. - They spent half the kitchen. - Smelled it. - Don't exaggerate. - Well, he was in his bedroom and everything went out. And he called me and said, how do I fix this? And I was like, well go down and check the box and they found the fuse melted and the thing. - Bob couldn't do his job, so he came up. - Bob and Thomas found out what was going on. - Just kept things up around in real quick. - We did. We giant, very heavy duty electric cords going to the other part. 'Cause we want to spread, you know, see if we can melt the load and see if we can melt the other half of the house down. But everything turned out okay, so thank you all for. Adam and Don, she said, no worries. Happy Easter. I hope you guys don't trip over the extension course I assume. Mr. Murphy says that sounds like smart ass advice, but maybe you guys should go get a vice editor for the podcast. I've tried to explain this before. If I don't edit the podcast, doesn't get edited, it doesn't get edited, it won't exist. It doesn't, nobody else is really interested in spending that much time. And I can't blame them. There have been times in the past when Mike had more time and he did Assistant Edit for me. He did one week, I did the other. - That's when we were just doing it straight up edit. We weren't adding special effects and music and sounds. - But your life has gotten busier and it's more difficult for you, so. - Sure, let's go with that. - Or Mike doesn't care for me as much as he used to and doesn't want to help my mental stress. - I'm helping it along. - Oh, you're definitely helping my mental stress, Mike. Chris Naples said, jeez, when I read the first part of your post, not realizing it was a real life incident. - I had memories of, I got this, I got this and Tony popped into my mind. That was from a previous episode in which Jim died and the explosion of a house wasn't done. - Has anyone ever been shocked? Probably like a bad outlet or something? - No, but John's computer, which is in the bedroom, one of the bedrooms that went out, has fried on what, at least three occasions? Even to come. - It started replacing that thing. - In fourth grade, I was being surprised part of the EV-12. - I had a supercar. (laughing) - And I went to go pull a-- - Well, you know what, I went to go pull a plug from the overhead projector and it was an old, bad cord. - E. - And I woke up four rows back in the desks. And I don't remember. - Two things. Scott, that happened when we were working at the olden mill and I said, "So you did something?" And he just got back back and landed on his ass. And I was installing a different 220 line on a dryer and it shut off the power to our apartment 'cause I was part of a two house. This was in the basement. And apparently, our power went off the lady, when we used a washing and dryer, it went off the lady in the lower part of the house's power. - So you thought it was off? - So I thought it was off because it was our washing and dryer and I crossed, my screwdriver slipped and it crossed the line and it blew a chunk out of the screwdriver. - We still have the screwdriver. - Yes, we do, it's melted. Never touched me, but the screwdriver went bah, something tripped in the other room and I went, oh, so that was still alive. - I did exactly the same thing in the bathroom. - God. - Yeah, that is now your house. And it was a solid steel craftsman screwdriver which blew the end right off of it and it dribbled. It bounced, I watched the steel bounce, melted steel bounce down the sink and the whole-- - Look at that, Jesus. - And the ceramic. - I took a 20 dryer in my mouth. I was reaching behind it to fix some cables and something must not have been grounded right. And I just bought my whole arm and just starting to go-- - No. - Luckily, the rest of me was working okay enough but pulled me off of it. - Yeah, I remember watching the show once where that was happening to someone and one guy's like, "Everyone, grab him." - No, no, no, no, that's exactly the wrong answer. - Sometimes, when I walk fast on carpet and touch metal, I get shocked. - You get this? - That's nice to me. - That's a great sense of yours. - There's everyone's electricity stories. Well, if you survive it, you learn a valuable lesson and you've never been duplicated. - So there's all of our electricity. - Yeah, there's all electricity. - I've got more. - Yeah, I've got to splice the sink 'cause I forgot, I stopped in the middle of his email. - I've got more than if I was an extension guard and nails and a hot dog, but let's move up. - No, the more you know. - Thanks goodness it wasn't anything like that. I hope it gets fixed soon, so life at your house can return to normal. Our living room is on an extension cord, as is the kitchen. The wife tried to use the microwave and it blew out one of these. It's in the house with dark again. It was like, "Can you figure out "that's when I was doing the printing?" - Yeah. Other than that, we had a few comments on the pictures of the tarot cards that we put up on Facebook. Roy from the Rusek Amers said, "Love the tarot cards, nice." And Skye Weiss said, "Ah, the classic Rider weight deck." I had one of those when I was a kid. And I did two, which is why I chose them because they were familiar to me. They're also, I don't know this for a fact, but I think they're the most common deck that people use. And if our listeners were wanting to play along or they were getting a vision in your head when you say the hanging man or then they're probably getting this image 'cause it's the most popular one. But that's it for the feedback. Please remember, KOTN, podcast.com. There's the Amazon link. We are still getting action there and we love when that happens. I would like to do a quick reminder of the QCC. At this point, there's probably about two weeks left. They're more than halfway through their Kickstarter. They're more than halfway to their goal. But that just means they need to keep up the pace. And I think they tapped everybody that has gone to the previous conventions that live in the Buffalo area. So I want so many people that live farther away. But still, in Ohio, we're only an hour or two away. I think Michael was talking about actually maybe joining me. So there'll be at least two of the nights that go. How long will it be there? Thursday nights, Friday, Saturday type of convention. It's a lot of board games. What did you do? There's also they have for each night, though. They have games on demand, which you could play. There's role-playing games that you could just request and someone will run it for you. And one of the guys, the guy that's actually running is Mark. But his co-host is Chris. And Chris and I met Chris at KOTN, the Cobb. When I was chatting with him just recently, he said, "You know, some night after the games "and the conventions kind of settle down. "If you want to sit down and play a fake game, "I'll gladly run it for you guys and anybody else." So anybody that wants to come along and play with Chris and some of the nights, go sign up for the QCC Kickstarter. And with that, we'll get on to the adventure. Bullshit. Now, hey, Jim Butcher. We're gonna start our Dresden File Stories ritual. I'm your GM Tom. We have a few players missing tonight. Jim isn't here. He had some surgery, so we wish Jim well. Yes. We were covering very well. And hopefully that'll continue. Rachel had some family issues, but she's not available as well. And we send out our thoughts in the low, which is for Rachel as well. Hopefully she'll be back next week. And the players here tonight, starting on my right arm. And Michael playing Repa Piers, an theogenic, organic alchemist. John playing Roberto Martinez, a people's guardian and power by the fallen angel. I'm Scott playing One in Deals, a moral seer to the supernatural powers. I'm Mike playing Alan Montgomery, the only warden in a favorite. I'm Bob playing Steven Tillman, a reporter and photographer who will do anything you need to sort of. Thomas playing Maxwell Edison, undercover homelands care day over here. Okay, and as always, since we're starting a new session, everyone can change their skill points, move around a stunt, rename an aspect. We're not gonna refresh the fade points so everybody has what they had last time. And I think Repa, Michael's character Repa had a change on his aspects. Is that not true? Yes, I didn't call it the old one wise, but I had it been there, done that for all, 'cause he's in his 60s and veteran and scholar and, yeah, he's been around. So in my understanding, he's removed his aspect of my Irish grandmother's silver Celtic career. Yeah, I guess. I've removed that a while ago, that's. Yeah, so maybe I had an old version. Yeah. I had an acquisition and use of Schedule 1 substance that started mainly, do not harm any human and secret ties to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. That is correct, yes. Maybe you changed Irish one to something else and change it again. Well, regardless, that'll, but I'm not sure what aspect it's replacing, but we have the new aspect now, so I've been there, done that. And as we start, where we left off, we have the warden in a trance of some sort, his eyes keep rolling up and his head, then they dash back down and dart around, looking at different areas, and then they roll back up and his head. So I'm not conscious. No. So business as usual, as far as the guys that are here looking at you, you are not conscious. There had been some discussion about Repa leading Roberto into-- Magical journey. A magical journey into the warden's mind, or trying to locate the warden's mind? No, not his mind. No, certainly not his mind. Never. That was the break of the laws. No, I could go there. Looking around the immediate area of the-- Even though-- Well, the same-- As I understand it, I'm the only one who has to abide by those laws. No, you enforce those laws. No, he's not-- No, no, no, but he doesn't-- Ag and Breyer is magical. Right. Well-- You know what I mean? I fucking-- If somebody's fucking around with somebody's mind, they must be-- No, I wasn't sure. First of all, I'm not sure if everyone-- Except for maybe the parent-head people, and one would probably know, would be aware. I don't know if the FBI guy would even know about the laws. Sure fucking note. I wrote a book about it. Are we talking about it? No, that's right. We didn't know but enough. We didn't know but enough. OK, I'm sorry. I'm-- I'm joined. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, sir. Your job, as word, is to enforce the law, and you are to prevent people-- No, no, I understand that. I'm saying I don't-- Oh, you're saying their argument on we can't do this because it breaks the laws, is they wouldn't know about laws. Yeah. I would. I'd do it. But then it's been covered. And maybe Reppa would-- Reppa-- Yes, a little bit. Stephen and Reppa do magic, but they don't necessarily know that what they're doing is magic. Well, that's what I mean, I mean. I was the one who brought it up last night. It actually didn't play. OK. Saying, you can't do that, it's going to break the third law. But I apologize. And then he'll have to kill you when you get out. I don't remember. I don't want you guys to die. Reppa is familiar for. He has Laura's three, so he's got-- OK, so he does know-- Well, he probably knows enough that-- It depends, because you could know, for instance, Zelda, who's not here, knows she has lore and knows it. But it's kind of only in the sense that she knows about their traditional upbringing in the use of tarot and that magic. She doesn't know of wizards, necessarily, and all of their laws and bylaws. So it really kind of depends. Bob's character, Stephen, knows that he does something unusual. Does he buy into the full magic thing? Well, he's about to see some, so he might. And again, does he know all the bylaws and rules and regulations that's up to Bob? So each character might have read about it, but right. You're always researching magic, so you might have heard about it. But I can't do anything like that. That would actually break any laws and measures that I know. So anyway, the rep is doing something that he considers, like, astral travel. It's world-walking, right? Yes, which is why I understand where the mind thing came in at all, and he doesn't understand why the mind is. That's a valid point, Ralph, that your character may be walking into an astral plane, rather than the warden's mind or know that you're walking into the warden's mind. So, yeah, that was one of his concerns, because it was talk about going in and seeing what he was thinking or what he was feeling, and I got nervous and said, wait, wait, wait. And now that's just to bring the warden up to speed. Right, kind of how the conversation evolved at that point. He can't really be up to speed, because he's in the corner. So Bob's character, Steven, Steven, takes a picture using his old-fashioned civil war camera, and you take it into your van and you develop it. You have a little photo lab in there. We already made the joke about the van. - How long does it normally take you to develop the film? - I'ma go with approximately an hour. - Okay. - Maybe a little over an hour. - And he took that around the beginning of the conversation. - Well, you know, it was kind of somewhere in the middle. He started to set it up and it broke the conversation, because London was like, what the fuck? And then Steven took the picture, and then he went off to his-- - So you just want to ask the conversation. - You know, someone knocks on the van and he's like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, 15 more minutes, and it's really another half an hour. - Grandpa is rather dubious as to the value of this, but he understands the importance of reconnaissance, so we're gonna wait for that. - Right, I agree with that. A wholeheartedly. What my question was was, how long will it take you to prepare to enter the ephemeral realm to do your reconnaissance? Not how long will the reconnaissance take, how long will it take you to actually enter that state? - Until the drugs come in. - Pretty much. If you're looking for an answer, the way I see it is that you would have to prepare a certain type of drug to take you to the place you want to go, whether that is finding the right ingredients to fine tune it, and then there would be ingestion of the drugs that would take the two of you where you want to go? - Yeah, I don't understand the game terms. So I was thinking of using MDA, which is a euphoric and pathogen. - Are you got a little index cardinal kind of-- - It's closely related to MDMA, which is ecstasy. - You're going to take that for the samples? - Sure. - Did you say you could charge our fans out of it? It's all throughout the world? - It's slightly more psychedelic than ecstasy. - I mean, it increases empathy, so I'm hoping I'll be able to link with them in that way. And normally you take it orally, but that takes an hour and a half. And I don't want to wait that long, so-- - You're up there for that? - Now I'm going to smoke it. There's a method that you can go through and get to walking. - So, and may I ask how Roberto is supposed to join you? - I imagine it's kind of like the sweat lodge where they had Native Americans would go in there and into a rum all by themselves, and they would have the rum permeated with the smoke, and they would both travel together together. - I can't stand having the smell of smoke on my clothing, so I definitely will not be part of that sweat lodge. - I have a chain smoker, so you probably don't want to be around me. - Edmund's got a rum that they can use that it's smaller than private. - That's maybe another issue, because doing world walking creates this rift. First of all, you've got to find a place that's likely to work. - That's near the warden, if you're trying to. - Technically. - I mean, you move the warden into the room. - Yeah, I'd have to have the warden, and neither one of them has to take the medication to get there, technically, but-- - Just to pay on it, they have to be in a close proximity. - Now, my question then would be, there was this idea that you were gonna follow the path back in the spiritual realm, or the ephemeral realm, and we were gonna follow your path in the physical realm. I thought-- - Yes, back into my blood. - Right now, how, so I'm supposed to try to track his blood as your journey. - The idea was-- - Is that idea? - Remember how you tracked the legs? - Yes, magical essence, and actually drop of blood. Well, I gave you mine, and now my spiritual essence is going to wherever this guy's doing his mojo. You're gonna track the spirit of-- - I'm going to lose the tracking of the leg. Just so we're all-- - He's got one device, and it's-- - Right, it's single threaded, it's binary, it's following one thing at a time. - What's the time frame on your end of it as far as tracking? - It's pointing pretty clearly. I mean, we could be to the leg, I mean, to redo it. - Oh, to redo it. - To redo it. I think it was several hours, was it not? So, it was probably about a six hour. I think I started somewhere around midnight or thereafter, and you said when the sun was rising, I was completed with the ritual. So we're talking inward from four to six hours. It's not as if it's an exhausting process, but it's not as if I can't do it again to trace the leg and the blood. - Yeah, actually, what I'm gonna say is that for you to do it a second time is gonna be much more difficult. And the reason being that you had a very small amount of material to work with originally. It was blood taken from the stalk and that small little ring around the tourniquet area. - So, you can have as much as mine as you want. - Well, that's fine. It's gonna present a challenge though. I personally feel as if the welfare of the warden is the most expedient thing that we need to handle at this point. - What I'm gonna say is that everything has a price and that you're gonna have to give up on the leg and it's gonna cost you dearly to redo it. It's gonna be much more difficult because of the components that you have available to you to track the leg. But this is your friend, the warden. - Well, as much as one you can have friendships, yes. - Right, I'm an employer. - That too. - Okay, but again, there's a certain small amount of fun that London's starting to feel. So, I think I'll accept the fate point because I think that in this particular case, both for London's own safety. Because I think he thinks that going after the leg at this point is obviously dangerous and he would want to have the person with magic and the huge sword with him. So, I think there's a personal safety, a personal self-preservation that's in there for London. And I also think there's some small amount of, I don't like to use the term affection, but there certainly is a small amount of, maybe mutual respect he has for the warden's abilities. And I think he would want, he doesn't like to see him in the States. - By giving you the fate point of change, you may be giving up on the leg, the ability to have the leg at all. - Right, well, London, if anything, has complete confidence in his ability with even, in the blood, whether it's justified or not, but he feels that in his past it has been justified. His self-confidence is never an issue. So, yeah, he says, I'll take the fate point and I will lose the trace. It will be difficult to find, again, maybe impossible. - You might not get paid from the warden, you paid you from actually... - But no, that's why we want him awake. Not that I say that, but we need to do a ritual, but I'll have to be in a separate location. I have to go back to my home to do the ritual to follow the blood of Roberto's. This is something we can whip together in five minutes. - Do we even know that this is gonna be possible? - To be honest, I was following your lead. It seemed to be that you were indicating that you would follow it in the spiritual realm and we would follow it in the physical realm. - Well, Zelda seems to think it is possible, but she doesn't really know your powers, but she's saying from what she's reading in the cards, not only is it possible, but this is what the way things should be. But when Zelda reads the cards, she kind of forces things to be the way she sees things to be. - Could I create a-- - Could I create a-- - Trust her? - Sorry. - No, not necessarily, but you know, he also don't happen to know. - Could I create a small, like a temporary circle to do the blood trace here at a minus of some sort, you know, like more difficulty? Well, then I explained that, that it would work best if I was in my home, working with my own tools. - Wait, start my blood? - Probably do something, just throw some together kind of ad hoc here, if you will. - And you could also rush it, but it might be more costly to you. - But it seems that Zelda was indicating that time was a mess and I would hate for the warden to not be able to pay, I mean, to be able to suffer any further. - Am I allowed to speak in my condition or offer a-- - Your character? - No, no, no, my character's not speaking. I would say something that probably London and maybe Maxwell would remember, and that is that my sword, the warden sword has a powerful tower spell power. - No one would know how to use it. - No, but they would know to give it to me, or to maybe lay it upon me, or have put in the comp-- - Oh god, yes, so there's no-- - So my point is, if we're looking for maybe a less complicated way to bring me back into it, or out of this attack, is to take the sword from the car, where I believe it currently is, and at least lay it upon your touch, meaning-- - Stab you with it. - And no, that would be bad, but then let the sword do its counter spell. It has a natural or a built-in counter spell of fantastic. - I think it kind of has to be steered by its wielder. I don't know that you can do it without-- - Well, I'm just trying 'em off. - What we're gonna say is you do, like one of you may think of that, you go to the car, you get the sword, you lay it on him, and nothing evident. Seems to have it. - Okay. - Plus, as far as he's adding his pocket, you know what's going in there. - Your device is key. You need that to make it work. - The ritual, no, but the actual tracking, once the ritual is complete, yes. - It's okay, no way around. - Does he actually need it? Probably not. - He thinks he does. - He thinks he does, so yes, he absolutely needs it. - That's how I manage it. - Oh, I wish he hadn't told me that. - Wow. - He says he absolutely needs it in you. - Yeah, I get it. Yeah, whatever, whatever. - Sure you do. - So, should I go ahead and do that real quick so he can get moving? - We'll start with that, but before we do that, we'll just go to Bob. And we'll say, Steven finishes that while you're working on the ritual, while Rappa's working on preparing the room and the drugs and everything. - Yeah, I'll just create a circle. - Yeah, we need to decide where to do this, 'cause we can move the warden. I mean, my house is close. I've done this before there. I hate to reopen something that might cause problems later here or there, so we need a spot, I guess. - I don't know if we get it. - Edmund's place is a restaurant above and below. Hello, he's got meeting rooms. He's got private rooms. He's got things set up. It's not completely finished. Like, there's still wires hanging for a wall-type thing. But is there a small room in there where you can absolutely be assured that you have privacy? That's kind of the whole point. - I'm kind of concerned about future issues of the never-never leaking over into this world. - So if you're creating a rift here, it's a weakness that will always exist. - That's the possibility. - Not exactly something you want in your neutral plan. - You know, as long as Edmund's not here today. - If he doesn't have any vocal objection, I'd say we can move on. - I guess I can play for Edmund and say that he decides that needs moss. This is something that is very important in speed of the utmost. So he can designate one room that he believes can be dealt with in the future if it becomes a weak point, that it can be sheltered, it can be locked off. - It's filled with concrete. - Perhaps it's filled with concrete. - It's filled with concrete if necessary. And it actually might be beneficial. - You guys. - It's a place to have this. - Perhaps it's a front door for an afternoon. - I thought that that might be a possibility that he'd see this loss. - He might be down for that. - So I'm gonna say that Edmund does see it as a plus and he picks a particular room in which he can hide it off. - I like filled with concrete. - What about Steven's photo? - Steven's photo. So on the picture of the warden is you have him, he's actually laying in a cot. And from him, you see a silver line. You've seen it before and it represents an attachment to a soul that's off wandering in the astral plane. So his soul is no longer in his body or his spirit or his essence. - No, but he's home. - And it's pulled off and it goes off into the distance. And in the distance you see what appears to be something like a maze. And there is a creature that is wandering it, guarding it as if he's trapped in the maze. And then there's something in the center of the maze that seems villainous. - Only he could follow the silver thread. - And you can describe this to the other players if you want. And when you describe the minotaur type thing, it sounds familiar to you guys. - I actually totally never said that. - Yeah, minotaur. - Well, you mentioned minotaur Roberto, but I mean, he describes the guardian of the thing. It seems to Roberto Maxwell and the other characters who were in the alley that you're describing the creature that you thought out there. - It's a spider-like bird. - Yeah, I mean, you're describing it as this big, hulking bull-like creature, but they're saying, you know, he sure wasn't like an ape. And you know, well, it did have furriness and you really could have been a spider. And it was kind of fuzzy. - Right, I mean, it's, like I said, they see absolutely nothing when they look at it. - But I hear all this and I'm like, how subjective are these photos? - They're pretty subjective. - I could say, I was sure it isn't a big purple dinosaur, and he says, you know, actually, he's changed my body. - It would be, yes. - Does he see that in the photo, or do we see that? - No, what you see is, you remember back in the, I don't know, whatever, airway. You got that 3D picture of the people. - Is he stare at it, you can get it to pop out in 3Ds? - That's all you see. You just see fucking static. You see nothing on this picture. - Got it. - He sees an actual picture. He sees it in depth. - Right. - It's like a vintage photo. It's like, none again. It's like a, it looks like a static-y, - Right. - It's a crap picture, but Steven sees a whole story there. - Do you people put this shit on your wall? - I take vintage photos if you want. - No. - Only 10 bucks. - That's quite right. I just wanted to see Cheetah Lana remember this occasion? - No. - Believe me. - You remember that time? - Last period appropriate attire. - Do I have to wear? - No, I mean, you know, if you're gonna take vintage photos, you can see people up in, I don't play dress up. - Let me get my top hat. - So you're seeing, can you say it in your words of what you're-- - I think what Lana is having a problem with is the fact that he can't see it and he has to trust you. - I can't just see it with trust issues. - 'Cause it's a fucking 3D image of applause. - I understand that. He's the only one-- - He's the only person you can actually stand in the photo. - Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. - He interprets it. Nobody else sees anything. - So could be a scam. - Right, he's not gonna shit on it. - Okay. - Okay, no, what do you see? - I see the warden, he's laying on a cot. There's a silver line that's maybe a connection to a soul going off. - Like a thread or something going off? - Yeah, like a silver thread going off. Going from his head, his heart is what? His body, his soul. - Okay. - And it's going off to this maze. It's started by a creature that maybe looks like a minotaur. It's a very large creature. I can't really tell. - It's just a large-- - He's saying a hulking large creature with like-- - I don't give a shit about the creature. It's like shit about the maze. - Hey, the legs. - We talk about a maze of city streets. He talked about a maze with high foliage, like an English garden maze. Are we talking about a labyrinth underground? What kind of maze are you seeing? - It's a good point. - You're actually seeing all of those things. - Your first envisionment was it was old, crumbling Greek walls. And he describes it as a maze of city streets and it kind of shifts a little bit. And you're like, that actually makes more sense. And he kind of envisioned it more like a maze of streets. Like it's a physical location in the city. - Can I kind of determine what that location is? - That'll be our job when we go in. - But still be nice to know what part of city we're talking about. - Yeah, you can get a reading as far as, like not an actual physical location, but you get the impression of it's this area near here. It's maybe two or three streets away. It's pretty damn close. - Jesus. - I have that danger sense, maybe I can tie that in. Maybe you'd feel for the location and based off of what I'm seeing from the photo, I can kind of tie that in. - I'd like to know what the direction is because I'm seeing my father's compass acting in a strange manner. It's not pointing to where the leg was earlier today. It was pointing somewhere that was much closer. It was, like you said, jitter more, the closer we were. - All right. - So my question here is, maybe I could not have to redo a blood. I can just follow. - I want for you a role. - Or, first of all, empathy. - Dear God, I'm sorry, but you were trying to relate and listen to him and he's describing something and you have to understand what he's saying. - If I have to roll, it's like minus two with what I'm using. - Why? - Chris Andrews tears is like, it's a minus two to convince people. - Because people convince me, so I don't know. - Yes. - If I roll that or-- - I mean, it's a fine idea, but it's not in, he's trying to explain to you the location that he sees, that's not mystical perception. - You have to be able to relate to him and read him and understand what he's saying. - I don't even like him. - I can do that. - Exactly. - Tell me what you're saying. - You are not the person to do this. - I'm a professional. - Well, you can try, I mean, you were the one attempting it, but you can say-- - No, I need to succeed. - Now you would need some fire. - I trust. - I rolled a minus three. I thought he'd eat him. He's nuts. - No, it's like smoke. - He figures out. - He figures out that. - They've got greasy smokers, filtered shit on him. - Did you have smokers coffee? - Did you have them talking about what? And you're talking to him for a little while and you think you know what they're talking about and they suddenly take a right turn and you're like, what the fuck have we been talking about for the last five minutes? - Most of the game. - That's the relationship you're having with him. - Wait, he's trying to describe to you the location of it and you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then he says something and you're like, what? Fuck you. That doesn't even make any sense. - That doesn't make any sense. - Which direction did the demon go off into and? - He went up a fucking wall. - And then we lost over there. - Also east to west north south. - I don't know, I thought he just went (imitating sound) - He did, but in the general direction he had it, like when he got to the top of the buildings and he had it off was south for years. - If this is that demon that's chasing him through his stupor, then our journey to him will lead your team to-- - Yes, but London is saying he's hoping not to have to lose the-- - Under the impression that something is overridden my reading of the, yeah, my reading or trace of the severed limb. It happened when the demon appeared and I'm wondering if this cord that smokers anonymous over here is-- - Steven, it's-- - Steven, you guys don't even believe me. - I get magic. I mean, I just don't necessarily get what you're saying, but I definitely understand magic that other people have these abilities. - You might think he's a charlatan. I mean, you know what magic you've said. - That was, would you roll a one? - No, it was negative, I rolled a negative three and I have an apathy of average, so I rolled a negative two, which is terrible. - And another one, I have a minus two. - I have a minus two trying to give you this four. - Right, my thought though was that that particular role was to follow his directions, not to say that he was believable or not. - It had far reaches. - He's trying to describe something, you're not following him. - Regardless of whether it's minus two or not, you either don't really fucking fail or really, really, really totally fucking fail. - Right. - I would come down to Repa asking a simple question, which is the creature that was driven off, it went south, Steven's like, well, yes, seems to be like south of here from the picture he's saying. So, I mean, that much, at least. - And I see the-- - I would do a location if I saw it. - The compass? - And the compass and the leg is pointing south as well. - So you should take Steven with it and have the other pointed out. - It seems to me that your device is having problems tracking the leg. It seems like it's already focused in on more than one item. Maybe you just need-- - Perhaps. I mean, I'm not trying to dismiss your theory, although I think it's wrong. - I don't know if you should dismiss this. - It's not, I'm sorry. But it was working perfectly fine when I did the ritual this morning. It was only when the demon appeared. - Where are you when you-- - We don't have to try to figure this out. - Oh, sorry. - But we do actually have time to figure it out. No, you were in a hurry, just an hour ago, and it's been a fucking hour, and we haven't moved. - It's been a half an hour since you did the picture. But what you are noticing is that the wording does seem to be in a bit of distress. - The rapid item-- - Do you know what to see at the supernatural? Are you not good enough to reestablish this leg? - Are you? - Nice. - What? - 'Cause I'm compelling one of your aspects. - All right, what aspect are you going to do that? - Yeah, you totally can. - I said you're not good enough to reestablish this leg. (laughing) - Please, I need some big points. Did you just spend your last paper? - Yeah, I did. - So, you said, I'm sorry, can you repeat your-- - I said, are you not good enough to reestablish the leg? We're in a bit of a hurry here. If we need to track this thing, we need to do it now. - That's like all of your aspects. - It's getting farther away every second, I fucking speak to you. Are you sure of that? How are you sure of that? - I'm done speaking to you. - No, I'm asking how you're sure of that, and I am very interested in helping the warden, but I also don't want to lose my connection to the severed limb. - You want a separate compass? - No, I want to see, it looks to me as if when the demon appeared, it overrode the readings on my compass. I think I can follow the compass without having to do another ritual with your blood. - Got to resolve this first. Roberto, you're trying to compel London's aspect of what? - That he's an emerald seer, and I didn't see anything that I'm a hyper-confident douchebag, but he is. So, I've learned-- - I just took-- - Oh, I'm right, I'm a douchebag! - I've got a douchebag written right there. - Okay. - This is how we wanted his aspect. - So, and doing that and compelling him, you're trying to get him to do what? Prove that he can do this? - Yes, let's say, fuck you, yeah, I can do this, let's go and-- - Prove that was the language. - I need to know what that means. Do you mean prove that I can just discard by one and follow your blood, or I can follow what's on my compass now? 'Cause I-- - No, I'm trying to compel you so that you can ditch that, but pick it up later, 'cause you have the skill to re-establish that link, even if it's faded over to you. - Okay, so you want me to do another ritual? - Yeah, I'm like, you can't pull it off, you said you could. - Okay, now, you have the right to say no, I don't want to do this, I don't want to accept the compel, but you've got to give him a second fate point back. - So, I get his way-- - I get his way on white. - No. - It's actually quicker to-- - He is compelling you and saying, you say you can do this shit, let's do it. - That's a valid compel. - I'm questioning your part. - As if I were paying you, you can reject it. - But there's no role I can make in this, I automatically compelled. - That's what you wrote an aspect that said-- - Oh no, I'm not a part of-- - No, I'm starting to understand the rule. - You wrote an aspect and you said, this is part of my character. People can compel me to do things I don't want to do by saying, this is what you said you want. - Right, John. - It just seems strange that I couldn't say, it's quicker to do, to follow the compass. Now, I not do the ritual, we're gonna role play it, the way it should be role played. I'm not, I'm just speaking better gaming now. It seems strange that I wouldn't just say, I'm gonna ask you, you want me to go fast? Fast is following what it's saying now. - That's what I was saying. - Right, so I'm actually coming around to the idea that he's saying south, he's saying south, this thing's saying south, and it started acting strange as soon as the demon showed up. I'm always just following, I think it'll revert back to the lag once we find the demon is what London's thinking. But it doesn't seem like I'm really saying that right now. And if it's not, then okay, I'll play by the rules. - I mean, John's trying to compel you, I mean, if you say fundamentally, John's trying to compel you to move faster and stop all this debating. - Right, I think that's the goal. - That's his goal, right? - Yeah, most of the time. - But he said he wanted me to do the ritual, so I don't want to ruin what he said because maybe he should get two fake points. One back from me, because I'm not following what he said. He can't change it now, he said he wanted me to do the damn ritual. - It's up to John to determine what his fundamental compel was, whether it is to do what he says. - But he says, he knows what I just said that it's faster, I don't think that's fair. - He can't argue logically if I compel his pride because he'd be forced to an emotional reaction. - Right, if your point is you're trying to compel his pride, then that's his pride. If your point is you're trying to compel him into action, it doesn't really fit any of his aspects. That's more your aspect. - Yeah, it is. I just thought that by saying, you can't re-establish this link, let's just go right now. That I don't know, we had a logic argument. - So, the fundamental thing is, if John is trying to compel you by spearing on your pride, and you're saying, no, that doesn't make sense, the logical answer is to do this. You're rejecting his complaint. - Yeah, I say he gets two. So, you would have to give him his back, and an additional one to ignore the fact that he's trying to trigger you and say, "Aren't you good enough to do this?" You're saying, "It's not about my pride." And looking into what Roberto, what John is actually saying is, he's trying to compel London's pride. - Okay. - And London is actually right. - And London says-- - Ignoring that compel. - Right, London says, "When's the last time you did a ritual and read a compass dumbass, what I'm saying is I can follow it quicker by don't do the ritual, try to keep up for gaming purposes. I gave John his compel fake point back and gave him one other for not following the compulsion." - Roberto just says, "Oh, so it's pointing in the same direction, so it must be the same thing." Whatever the fuck, I'm gonna get started on this ritual, and you can decide what you guys are gonna do. - Sounds good. - We go off to start our-- - You just-- - You do some drugs, lose and argue me. - I'll move some shit down in my notebook, both of you. - Right. - But, it was talking about him. - If this guy Steven is really talking about the same creature you just fought-- - Yeah. - You're a little bit concerned if you-- - Yeah, I don't wanna go fight that. - If you, Maxwell, London and Steven are the guys going to fight that physically in this plane, while Roberto and rep are in another universe. - Well, you can't forget-- - I'm just saying-- - You want some mad combat skills of Zelda that we have as well. - Well, Zelda-- - No, exactly. London is very dubious about this plan from the fucking start. - The only thing that Zelda used to drive this thing away was sunlight, and she put a little bit of a holy spin on it. And the assumption is, if this is truly a demon-- - Is this the same Minotaur that he's describing? - Yeah. - That's what Maxwell's concern is. It sounds to him like that's okay. - Symbolically a minute, I'm fine. You know, I got paid to find the leg, for fuck's sake. I get paid to fight a demon. - I think if you want to fight a demon-- - Well, the Francis has that's the appeal. - What are we doing with the Warden's body? Well, we all do separate things. - I thought we were watching him in the sweat lodge. - He's got a cut in a room with us. - Right, yeah. - Okay. - At this point, the chef comes down. - Tabush? - Tabush. - Yes. - Says that the police are here because of the rockets that happen outside, and they insist on talking to the owner, Edmund. - That's right. - Since Edmund is Jim, Jim's not here, we're going to have the police tie up Edmund, and that might also allow him to watch the Warden's body. - That's his body. - Yes, not time-wise. So that Edmund is taken out, which, 'cause unfortunately, Edmund is a warrior type, and he would be very handy to go on his mission. - Sure. - Damn it. - But the police are insisting on questioning him, and that also allows him to watch over the Warden's body. - How good is he at lying? - Better than I am. - It's not our concern. - Right. - Go ahead. - I had mentioned earlier about ammunition. I have a nine millimeter pistol, and I talked about getting a hollow point, and putting, like, holy water or whatever in it. - Yes, you did. - I have to run home to get my drugs. - Right. - And I come back with a gun loaded, with appropriate... - All right, good. - And with a gun. - All right, I'm okay. - Well, if he's running, how far away are you? - Oh, where's he gonna be in another one? - Yes. - What's up? - Repa, where do you live? How far away are you? - It's minutes, I'm gonna say. - Okay, I was gonna suggest that Roberto knows of someone with spiritual power, a brother or father of some sort, and maybe he could go see if he might be able to aid us, 'cause this is a demon you guys are talking about, and I don't think we should go into it half-assed. - In one hand, the wardens out. - Well, one of the things that we can potentially do is, well, I mean, we can talk about the brother and what he could provide as well, but Jim's character, Edmund, is also working on creating weapons to fight super natural. Does he have something to fight demons? - Maybe. - That's impressive. - Right. - Right. - So, we could say that the brother is the easier way you can provide holy water in which you can soak the bolts in and which you'll potentially do more damage. If we use guns. - I can shoot-- - Do you have a gun, Steven? - I do. I can't use it very well. What's going on? - They say it's a revolver. - Maxwell's got his silver hammer. - Oh, yeah. I used to be way better in guns. - Same here. I've got, of course, an ankle bolster. - For a little, yeah. - For a little bomb. - Whatever's a small automatic gun. - 22, like a 22. - 22. - Wrap us preparing the room and his drugs. So, the rest of you, all four of you, are going off to visit with the brother who will then bless and soak bolts in holy water or whatever else to give you an edge against the steven. - And then we come back within, hopefully, half hour or so. - And this one little thing is going to start up. - It is the four of you, London, Roberto, just because he knows the guy in the interview, and the other two, Steven and Maxwell. - Gotcha. - He's glad to help you fight the good fight. And if you ask him something like soaking bullets in holy water and giving a blessing to a gun. - Sure. - I mean, he's not putting himself in danger. He's not dangerous in the community. He fully trusts you to be handling a situation that needs to be handled, 'cause he's dealt with you before. He wants to know if there's anything else he can do. He can't go with you, unfortunately, at this time. But he has in the past. - Have you ever dealt with demons of the sort before? - He's done exorcisms, but nothing that did a full possession and then changed the body of the person it was possessing. This sounds like a very powerful demon. - Is that about the sort of exorcism you could handle? If we were able to-- - Again, if I had time right now, I mean-- - I'm not asking you to do it right now. I'm just wondering if we managed to subdue it at some point if we could bring it to you to fix it. - I would certainly help. - Well, if that comes up, I'm not sure how well we'll fare against it. - I would hope that I'm powerful enough in my beliefs, but I don't think I've ever dealt with something as powerful as that. - Shall we get out with it? - We saw. - We know the plan. - You guys got your stuff, you're going back. We're gonna actually take a look at what the warden's up to. - Yay. - You're sitting at the table with these guys and you're having lunch and you're discussing what's going on in the rituals. - In the past. - Yeah, we're doing a little slight-- - This isn't what's happening in your brain. - Okay, flashback. - I got it. - When suddenly you're not at the table, it's just like a cut and you're slammed into another world. You're in a misty space. There doesn't seem to be any structure to it. There's no-- - No up, no down. - No up, no down. You're just kind of floating out in the middle of nowhere. - Do I sense my magic about me? - Am I able to feel that I have my power? - Let's do a more role. - For you to understand your surroundings and what has changed if anything in this new stage you're in. - All right. Negative one to my role, so it was superb, now it's good. - Okay. - You get the sense that you still have access to your magic, that it still does exist in this plane, but that you are somewhere else. You're not on Earth anymore. - All right, and I still wear my clothes or my, particularly my rings, my gloves, my other-- - In thinking of that, you look down and-- - Yeah. - Okay. - You still are. You do not have your sword with you. - Okay. - But you didn't expect to have your sword with you, you knew it was in your car. - Do I hear anything or a smile here? - So you listen for a while. - You think you hear like a deep chuckle or a deep laugh. Just very soft thing, far away. - Can I tell if it's masculine, feminine? - Being deep, it sounds more masculine. - That's good. - Okay. - Can I move in a direction or am I-- - You start floating, just like kind of floating. - You seem to be floating, but you take a step or two forward or you try to-- - Or I try to will myself forward or to move in a direction. - As you move your legs in a way that you normally would walk suddenly, you're on the ground. But you take just like a step or two and then suddenly there's a wall right in front of you. - Stonewall, plaster wall. - No, it looks like-- - Okay, what am I walking on? - That's finished on, but kind of ancient. - Am I walking on like earth or grass or a floor? Flagstones? - It seems dark. - Okay. I'm clear than that where I was. So I don't know of a portal that would let me shift this quickly, right? - No, I mean, you didn't see a portal. - Right. - You just went from, you were seated at a table with your friends and then you were standing in the middle of nothing. - I guess what I'm trying to build to. I'm trying to build it. If I can get a sense of where I'm at, whether I'm in the never, never, or if I'm in my mind or-- - I think you would have to gather more information before you get it. - Yeah, the site might give you some more information to this area. - That's a good point. That is a good idea. Yeah, I opened my wizard site. - You do open your site. I mean, that's just something you can do. - Okay. - But what happens is entirely different than what you expect. - Right. - Because you've opened your site before and you know how it works. But what happens instead is you immediately are in the middle of a soul gaze. Because where you are is in effect in someone else's mind. - Yeah. - So what you're seeing is their mind and what they're seeing is your mind. - So all is revealed, huh? So who are your soul gaze? - I don't know. - And well, what you get as a soul gaze starts because it only starts for a fraction of a second and then something else occurs. And what you see is a jigsaw puzzle of a person. They look vaguely familiar to you and it's starting to coalesce on what and who you're seeing when there is just immense epic hatred that pounds on your mind. - That sounds like a high intensity. - And it is a mental attack. - Which is a trendy attack. - Well, while we're at it, they've got a fraction of a second to see your personality and your soul. What is it that they see in that fraction of a second? And it doesn't have to be a deep. It's just surface that they're spotting just outside of what you are on your man, just the first layer of what is Allen. - They see a young man glowing with power, but he is uncertain and afraid. He deals with this fear by clinging to the rules and to the training he's received. - There are cracks, fine little cracks, spidering all through his armor and his sword that he, well, he doesn't have a sword. His being, his magic of his glow. - All right, so, they just got a glimpse. So that's a good glimpse. But how would you describe that glimpse as someone who is trying to look strong and powerful, but there's cracks in his arm? - Or though that they sure are the, what hasn't broken him, has made him stronger, but the reason why he is by the book and follows rules and is all about that is that he's broken them before and he doesn't want to do that again and he's going to do everything he can to do it the right way and train. - Okay, and to re-describe what you saw, it was an individual who was a patchwork man and he's trying to push pieces and hold them in place. It's a mixed match of pieces, but some of them are much stronger than others, like there's an arm with huge muscles and then a weak atrophy arm and he's trying to hold up the strong one on and then it stops and then there's just ultimate hatred. - If I guess, can I get a, my fear is that it's Donovan or that has a resemblance to Donovan and I would even invoke one of my aspects haunted by guilt or a ghost aspect. - Let's see if you survived the first attack. - All right. (laughs) Good place. - May not be an issue. - Yeah, good point. - You might be dead. I would, I'd like to buy some life insurance, please. Turb. - Minus one in the wrong. (laughs) - So it's only superb. - Oh, it's not so bad. - It is a mental attack and your mental defense would be, I believe, discipline? - Yeah. - Whoo hoo, see you guys. - So it's a superb mental attack. So it's pure hatred that just assaults your mind and tries to shred it. - Can I retaliate with? - Oh, look at that, bitches. - Oh, if a plus two and my discipline is great and goes up plus two to what, fantastic? - Yep, plus six. - Only one better, which is good. It stops the damage from occurring, but it's not good enough to give you a little bit of spin. - Sure. - It's just barely good enough to hold back this vile hatred. - If it is naturally just good enough, it was one better, so. - Right, so it is then your turn and you can continue with this soul gaze to try to gather more information, like who it is that's putting themselves together, or you could break it off. By continuing it, you're allowing yourself to be mentally assaulted further. - I can ask the question, who are you? Speak your name. Whenever you deal with supernatural entities, you always can kinda like ask you three times. I can tell you, who are you? - Shall you ask, all you get is laughter and just. - I will try to hold it open. - I'm your worst nightmare type thing. - You're right. - It's worth this place for his life. - Mitigating purposes, he's at a plus six. Start here, plus four, start. I can do all of this. - So how much do you want to hold it open? - That's a good point. - 'Cause you would know that. - Well, there's valuable information to be gained. - Yeah. - I'm just saying, I want a good point. - And how much mental power do you have? How many mental stress can you take before you start taking count? - Well, does even the effort count as a response? - No, it wasn't a spell that you were doing. So I'm just saying, normally you start with two stress in all categories. - And also what mental stress is. - And your available mental stress would go up. - Mental stress is determined by conviction. - What? Well, it's your conviction. - So your conviction problem. - So that means you have four. - And you have an additional mild mental consequence. - I know it is a disadvantage, I mean. - I will point out that in a mental realm, your mental health is gonna be pretty important to survive. - Yeah. - And then I will shut down the contact and protect my psyche. - You initiated this all gauge by doing the site. So we're gonna say you have to shut it down the same way. - That would be... - It's the same that you successfully defended against this mental attack. That gives you the right to close the site if you want to. - Okay. - Is the same thing as the site in this case. - So I turn it off the heavy. - And that just triggers a deep laughter and coward. Are you gonna run now? - You run, little man, run. You can roll to determine that voice if you recognize it or not, because it slipped a little bit into a higher octave. And it wasn't exactly the deep, threatening thing that it was fire. It was almost like a thought of character. - Would that be investigation or empathy or? - I don't know. - But I think I'm investigating four. - Contacts? - A/B contacts. - Could be any and all of those. - A learner? - I would really like it to be investigation. - Who's got that at it? - Or lore? - I think after this encounter, you can investigate it, but right now you're in a bit of hurry. - Yeah. - 'Cause investigation takes some time. - Yeah, it definitely does. So I'd say our learner's for contact would be. And in this case. - Well, I'll tell you what, one's your choice, which one you want to use. I've heard this voice before, or I recognize this voice. Either one would work for that. It's kind of different in the sense that it's more who they think they are while they're here. Same as you. It's almost like the matrix, your body image is what's being projected here. - So it may not be them, but it is what they think they are. - Okay. - And you require a great. - All right. So I will use alertness, which I have at plus three. And it's a wash, plus three. - That's good. - I don't have a. - Great. So it's so close. - Almost recognize that voice, but yet, you don't. And you do have five points you can span two? - Three roll or two? - Yeah, I will. - Eight point. - I have eight. - I've got two. - Yes, two. - I got two now. - So you want to spend eight, eight point? - Just, well, if I spend a eight point, can I just say that I just add plus two? - Well, you succeed. - Yeah. - Under what aspect, please? - Extract the worst hope for the best. React to surprising events or sudden changes in circumstances. - Okay. - Throwing into a... - A terrible habit. - A mental role is a good place for that. So I just add... - So you add two to the role you succeed in recognizing the voice. And it is not your mentor, which I guess is both good and bad. - As Roberto gassed earlier. - Fine. - Fucking Nelson. The voice is that Ryan fucking Nelson. - That nearly is cool as I know. - He's a nerd. He broke his arm in the last case. (laughing) - I see, he's excellent. - He calls us to wait outside a house for one hour arguing about whether we should fucking go through the door or not. - Anyways, he's fucked up in the door, he had been gone. - Let's think about this for a minute. - Please. - You mentioned something. - What? - We kicked open the door and he was gone. - No, no, no. The very first thing you said was... - He broke his arm in the last case. - It's not relevant. - It could be relevant. I'm just saying the picture. - I was just gonna ask, how's the arm? - Wasn't necessarily relevant. - Hey, yeah. - When I saw the vision, it was of him trying to hold an arm undo his... And it was larger and bigger and... - Oh, yeah. - Patchwork man. - He tries to fuck a famous. - Shit, don't work on humans. - So you can put it above your really right hand. - I've changed weight classes, little man. I'm not the one lost here. - You're looking at a wall and as you're trying to look, there's other walls, there's openings. You're in the middle of the maze. You realize that. - Okay. - But as you're standing there and verbally arguing with Ryan fucking Nelson, sorry, I don't mean to do this to you. - But... - By you, I mean Mike, not your character. - You're so... - You're here skittering. - Oh, I totally did. I didn't even do that to him. - You designed a demon. - I did. - Oh, it's a wolf spider. - Oh, it seems to be coming from multiple directions. - Many spiders, it's so nice. - All right, I assume there's only two paths, one ahead of me, one behind me, right? I'm in the maze. - Actually, there's three. - Oh, so I'm gonna... - It's like you're staring at a wall, but there's one in the right, one in the left, and one behind you. - All three have... - You hear noises coming. They actually seem to be coming from all over, like on the other side of the wall. In front of you as well. - Okay, does this maze have a ceiling, or is it like a high wall? - Right, it seems to be about 20 foot tall walls. Above it, you just see blackness, but there's still a bit of smoking, swirlingness up there. - I could use my air power to flow myself up and try to jedi leap up and pull myself up on top of the maze. Or I have the ability to try to open a gate like back to the normal world, right? - What we're gonna say is that the high differential between this and the real world is substantial. - So that we're not gonna have you play for two straight weeks while the rest of us are, right? - Your character is in the middle of, he's trying to come up with a solution of what he's gonna do next, and then we'll go back to the other group. - So if you're caught up with us now, do you have a sword now? 'Cause we gave it a sword. - No, because I think I'm trapped in my head, or I'm trapped in someone else's head. - Oh, bull, shit. - Yeah, but does your magic work in here? - It appears that I can sense it. I'm trying to decide if I can use it now. I was gonna try to make a portal to get back to a portal. - That's a ritual, my opinion. - It would probably be pretty complicated anymore. Around here, unless you can find a place that was weak. - Well, that would be an aspect in helping him. - I guess the idea I had was like, do I have a sense or see my own chord going off in the distance? If that's the case, then I'm one and one. - I'd probably be able to see what it's like, but. It might just soul gaze again. - Yeah, that's true. When I had my soul gaze open, did I see the golden chord? If I'm aware of it, my point is then it's like, well, there's a direction to go, because. - Right, no, no, I understand that. Not really, because you were gazing into his soul, not into the reality, what existed. So you were seeing what he thought of himself, and he was seeing what you thought of yourself. I mean, you were trying to attempt the sight, but since you were apparently in his mind, it worked differently than you expected. - All right, well, it looks like to create a portal coming back to the mundane world is a ritual. I don't know if I have the time. - I don't believe you do, because you will be under attack shortly. So do I see that it's coming down? - Probably be best for you to come up with a quick defense that you can start holding these off. - I have a road spell called Loraka, which is Spirit Armor, and I'll run away from the wall. - Okay. The road spell obviously goes off instantly. You armor yourself up. How many points of armor do you put on? - So what level is your discipline? - Wait, this one's four. - Or this would be a two armor. - And you take a mental stress, because any spell at least takes one. - So you armor up and you start running, you run into one spider as you run past it. - Yeah. - The spider. - The fake roll was one, plus the spider's ability of attack, which is three. So you get a total of four. - Is it bigger than average? - Oh yeah. - It's not a tiny little spider. - What's the nastiest fucking singular spider I've ever met? - So. - So this is a great attack on you in which you will take four damage unless you-- - The voice. - The voice, which would be athletics. - Athletics? Well, what's the-- - That. - You have armor too, so you can take it. - Oh, sorry, there is plus two there. So it's not to the-- - My athletics are fair. And I'm a plus one, woo. - Okay, so you've got a good defense, you take a little nip, your armor. - Well, I think my armor normally is a certain thing and then I had two to that, right? - Well, regardless, I mean two is more than one and that's all you needed to absorb that. You do notice what appears to be poison, which doesn't affect you because it was blocked, but the bite was-- - Great, they got poison. - Evidently poison, but you run past it and again, you hear the chuckling run, little man, run, who's the powerful one now? - It's right, I'm talking now, so apparently. - Yeah. - So we go back to everyone else, we have the four of you returning London, Roberto, Maxwell, and Stephen, with your holy weapon. - Mark in a really smoky room, is it done? - You go off in a run with Repa, the other four, which includes Zelda, London, Stephen, and Maxwell, are getting ready to trace. - Yeah, you're going with the trace of the leg and then Stephen's gonna guide you as-- - Yeah, I'm gonna follow the compass. I'm gonna believe in my compass, my father's compass, and I'm gonna also, obviously, be guided by Stephen's ability to show us to the maze or through the maze. - Right, you trust me, Silla. - I'm gonna interpret. - As long as they're in congruence. If my compass and Stephen become out of congruence, then we'll go follow your compass. - Yeah. - Repa is doing a ripped sense, and in which he's checking out Edmond's facilities and looking at each of the rooms that would be appropriate for this ritual, looking for the one that has the thinnest veil to alternate realities, you may use either an investigation or lore to find such an opening. - I'm using lore, which is good, so that's plus three. And it's a wash, so. - You end up with a good searching, and you do find a room that you believe has a thinner veil into the most. - So we have a world, and that's where you set up. - You move the cotton there. - Yeah, you and Roberto. - I envision both of you going in this little smoking journey, but you do it yourself, and you. - Well, I do it in the wrong. I blow some towards the warden, and just the act of Roberto being in the room, I think you'd get a slight buzz enough to get some empathy going, and if he wants, he can invite, and just a small pipe to get none. - What we'll do is we'll start you guys on a journey, hopefully, as although we'll be about this next time, but we will finish the ritual with Repa, opening the gateway, and Roberto and him traveling into that. - So as most rituals, it's just a matter of doing the paperwork. - Are you bringing anything with you into this alternate universe to help combat this situation? - Well, Roberto has this hammer, if that's gonna work. He just carries that around. - Okay, do the ritual. You open the gateway. You and Roberto step in there. You know that the warden's already in there, so there's nothing for him to follow you in. When you do step in, what you see is kind of a shadowy version of this world that you're currently in, but the walls become smoke. The silver thread comes from the warden and heads off to the south. On the warden, you can see what appears to be his sword laying on him that you guys tried to use to sever the connection. - Yeah, that's a wrap up. - You can actually pick up the smoke version of it, which becomes realistic in your world, and you hand it to Repa to carry as you go off looking for the warden. It's a warden sword. It's his spiritual equivalent of it in this universe. - Your spiritual equivalent of by nine millimeter, the whole point. - If that's what you wanted to take, - Absolutely. - That's what I brought back on with me, from home, so. - You do indeed, as does Roberto have his hammer, and now you have the warden sword, and you're looking for the warden to give it to him, so you can use it. - And fucking low. - No nukes, we're gonna wrap it there. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Thanks for listening to the Knights of the Night at Action Play podcast. Visit kotnpodcast.com for more information on this and other adventures, where you will find character stats, photos, storytelling, props, and even a forum for comments and suggestions. Or you could email us directly at feedback at kotnpodcast.com. Or contact us via Twitter, or leave a message on Facebook. All music for this podcast was created and performed by Zen Audio Smith. If you'd like custom professional music created for your podcasts or business, please visit ZenAudioSmith.com and please join us next episode for more mystery and adventure. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - So what we're gonna do, Scott, is we did the feedback and we're gonna splice you in, so we want you to say things like, - Bullshit. - I hate you and butcher. - That was great. - Those are good, but it was horrible. - That was wonderful feedback. Thank you for something like that, you know. - Thank you for the review. - Thank you for the review. - That sounded great. Thanks for the review. - That's good. That was the one. That was, you know, it'll fit just perfectly, but we'll get enthusiasm, we'll be all about it. - That sounded really wonderful. Hey, I'm tired, man. - You're gonna be slap happy for this. - That's a mighty fine piece of tuna. - That sounded great. Thanks for the feedback. - Say you did some laughter in the background. - We're also saying to the last episode, as we're introducing ourselves, it sounds like we were all in a coma. - Well, I'm Scott. - Yeah, he was playing with us. - Just saying. - We're gonna get sarcastic, Scott. - I'm gonna totally go in full London mode. - No, wait, you have to give it a story about where you were electrocuted, and what was the whole story. - I was electrocuted. - I know, I said you heard that. - Yeah, you flew all the way to the room. - I did fly. - Well, not all the way across the room, but it was up against the wall. - That was at the old mill. - Yeah, the old mill farmers market almost met my maker. - I think I speak for most of the fans when I say we all understand and sympathize with the cook. When I say we all understand and simple. - Yeah, put that back in. - That's gotta go. - Better, better, better, better. (beep) - I'm gonna stop playing with those. - It's a white fan, there's no windows, it's just a panel. - And I have a bunch of candy. - That's for him. - And a puppy. - Sniffs out magic. - I'm sorry, does that imply children? - I'm not brookie, any laws of magic. (laughing) - I'm just a pedophile. - Okay, that's a little illegal. - Can't kill me for that. - Totally can. - All right, I just can't kill you with magic, that's all. (laughing) - It's got to be here. - It's got to be here. - It's fuckin' sore though. It sort of looks just fine. - Never, never. - You think I wanna look? - It was beyond a legendary. - It was awesome. - Awesome. - Awesome. - Yeah, it's down the scale of what you did was you took a picture up the warden. - Yeah, you did. - You did. - Okay. - Oh, honestly. - And you created a Facebook page for him 'cause he doesn't use the internet. - And we just make fun of him on him the whole time. - He can't know. (laughing) - He can't use the internet. - He might have ways. - I was a teller. - That's how we get there. - That's how we get there. - Okay, sorry. - So, what's that? - No, Harry. - I'm not a jigsaw. - So, I'm the picture. - Sorry. - That's right. - Oh. - I'm the picture. - Oh my God, I know. - It'll be done, man. - I'm sure. - I'm done. (beeping) - The silver cord, is there a githiyaki there? The silver sword? - Yeah. - You're sleeping. - Oh, sorry. (laughing) - That's a collage. - Old school players will know what that is. - Sure will. - We're gonna actually take a look at - What the warden's up there? - Yay. - Yay. - Farm them. - Shh. - Hating. - What were you playing? - Hating. - It's a farm. - Okay. - It is a farm bill. - But Shannon got me hooked on it, so we have a farm together. - That's so cute. - That is cute. - Cause that follows my role. (laughing) - Every thing in middle squares. - Oh. - They're not going to trap her. - Okay. - Well, looks like so as we're using their left arm, a little too much, if you know what I mean. - You really got a masturbation joke stuck in the middle of this. - Mind me. - I've got to worry about it. (laughing) - Well, in that case, use the other hand please. (laughing) (laughing) - It's because he's like, oh my god. - Five minutes. - I left back at you. - Yeah, there he is. - And we thought you were in trouble. (laughing) - I'm still in trouble. - No, yeah. - You're kicking off in your mind. (laughing) - Oh. - Oh. - Stop. Don't ever do that again. - Okay. - Good thing it's a podcast. - Yes. - Have you read the amber series? - Yes. I like that one a lot. Although I really kind of got, kind of kooky at the end with them. And he did that at bring cancer soon. - Oh, it's all the... - It's pointless. (laughing) - I love your guy. - It's not like, not the character. - With his son, Marlon, that... - Yeah, yeah, I can't get it. - It's good. - I always thought, I had the whole anthology at home. - Huh? - Did you ever watch a Ragnarok movie? - No, never. Thank you.