We finish off the characters and start the adventure, with the Warden returning to action at the scene of a murder. A Murder that has an interesting component...
Knights of the Night
KotN Actual Play Podcast - 167 DFRPG The Warden's Return
[INTRO MUSIC] Hello, and welcome to Night of the Night Natural Play podcast. This Dresden Files adventure, Rituals, was written and run by a giant town. [INTRO MUSIC] And now, please enjoy episode 167, The Warden's Return. Actual play starts 18 minutes, 58 seconds. [INTRO MUSIC] OK, before we get into Dresden episode in which we do a little bit of character remaking, and then we get into natural scene. We'll do our feedback. We have from Facebook, episode 166, the remaking of the world, which was our first Dresden one. Sam from Denan, I'm slotting your name, and I know I apologize, Sam, but let me know how you say it. Said, "Hooray, it's that day of the week. And this time, I'm no longer lagging behind, either. The opening music hit me like a grenade, it stunned me." That's for Rachel's actually here today. She's joining us in the Dresden Files. We have different music for each type of game we play. And the music was created by Joe, for us. He actually was on one of our episodes. He's a relative of ours. And he actually does a lot of music composition. Yeah, we tell him what the general story is, and then he makes unique music for each of them. So every time we switch systems, the listeners will be like, "Damn, I gave me chills to hear that Dresden music turned out in the world of darkness." Almost the last time we heard the Dresden music. Oh, probably two years ago. A lot of listeners went back and re-listened to it. So I made a mistake for them. I think Rachel's actually doing that because she wants to get caught up on the first story we played as well. Good. So glad you enjoyed it, Sam. And you'll be hearing it for a while now, because we have a-- Appreciate the feedback too. Hopefully we hear more from Sam in the future. Adam and Dongee wrote in and said, "Hell's Bells. Friday night has been saved. And I've got some inspiration for my own game. My group just killed a troll by punching a grenade into his guts. And a half angel Nefilum just killed a cult leader NPC I had. No long lasting plans for now. Now they have the blood of Jason Warham's blood geist on their hands. I'm not really sure, Adam. Sorry about that. Geist is one of the World Darkness subplats that you play basically someone who's come back from the dead. Sounds like Adam's having a fun time. And Richard Watts also wrote in on episode 166. And Richard said, "Really exciting to see the return to the Dresden RPG. Delivery left off on a heck of a power note. And I think I've been hearing, reading, that about 20 people said they were going to go back and re-listen to the storyline, myself included. As always, I'm really interested to see how the characters develop and how the introduction of Ruppa changes the dynamics. Well, we have more than just Ruppa. We have three of us. We have three new players. I'm also wondering what's going to happen with the baby Janis, because of the magical Chimera baby. Just can't hang out there forever, which is true. It will eventually come back into play. It'll just not, not likely this storyline. A couple of questions. How was the character creation for the new updated character as opposed to creating them the first time around? So we'll stop there and let the new players answer. We have Rachel. Well, you don't know how many of you compare it to, but how did you feel the creation of the character worked out? I mean, did you have the ability to do whatever you wanted? Yeah, basically. I've always been really interested, fascinated in ideas. My character specifically Zeta Zabo, she's an American gypsy. And she uses tarot cards to kind of divine and also construct the future. I've always really been interested in Romanian and Hungarian lore. So I basically just create a character that had to do with all of my favorite aspects of Hungarian lore and specifically tarot cards. But there's a lot of room for creativity, though. It was really easy and really fun. I like the fact that you can come up with virtually any idea. And if there isn't something that's very specific to it, you just make it up and wing it and make it similar or something close. And it's kind of cool that you can use like actual history and truth to kind of create a fantasy character. One of the listeners mentioned that and they were like, you guys seem to enjoy the modern era. And I think that's why, is because we live in this world. And it's so easy to take what we know about Cleveland and just kind of twist it a little bit to make it much more so than creating an entirely new world, which is a lot more work. And Michael, you're up on it? Yeah, I don't have much to add to that. It's pretty much the same story of what I was interested in doing drugs, but never had the guts. And so you can put your time there? I can be a druggie. How does it compare to you with Newman era and Dungeon World, the other ones that you play? It's a little bit more complicated getting in, but it's a lot for greater flexibility and it had a lot of help. So process went smoothly. I absolutely love the fate aspect of that. You have something that defines your character that is really nothing more than a sentence. But yet it has a very important component in the game, a mechanic said. Having lessons to the previous Dresden episodes, I'm looking forward to actually getting into the fate system. So we have another question by Richard, in which he says, how is updating this city compared to creating it? Do you think it affected the field of the Dresden vs. Cleveland? If so, was it a good change? I didn't think that it was that big of a difference. I mean, well, if you remember back-- What I'm saying, the difference was is that it wasn't mind-neminally exhausting and-- Yeah, I mean, I didn't believe from my eyes this time when we did the city. The first creation was tough. I mean, it just was exhausting. This was much easier, because we already had a base to go from. So we really can't say that it would have been easier-- And we've been starting from scratch, because we weren't starting from scratch. We were just tweaking what we already had. That first time through, it was really interesting listening and it was complex. And you could tell there was a lot behind it, so I can imagine. It was a creative process that just-- I honestly left exhausted a few of those. I mean, it took me exhausted. It really was. It was. You wouldn't think, but it was exhausting. So yeah, much easier this time around, but probably because of the fact that we were tweaking, as opposed to creating from scratch. And we'd done it before, so-- Yeah, it was easier to do it. Yeah, and we knew what the effects would have. So that's a valid question. His last question was, was it difficult to adjust to the fake core roles, and do you think? It improved aspects of the game to do so. Sorry for the lack of text. Thanks for the episode and looking forward to another great story. I think we could better answer that once we're done. Once we actually play, because-- Because I don't know, it's basically playing with the same character she-- Right, I mean, we're just getting started into the actual meat of the story. The biggest difference so far is just trimming down the aspects from seven to five. I find it ludicrous that you could have seven truly important aspects that define your character. I think five is more than enough. And some people have trouble getting five. Right, I get where you're coming from, but I don't think seven is ludicrous. I think that-- Well, you've never seen the fake. I was just going there. I think from the GM standpoint, trying to manage seven different aspects for each character is ludicrous. But from a character standpoint, at least when you know your character well or you kind of get into a skin, or her skin is case maybe, I think that seven is not an unbelievable number to find. No, but you've got to multiply seven by the number of characters you have to change. We should have eight now, which is full attendance. Right, so 56 aspects. There'll be a test after this. Yeah, that's just a lot of asking. Yeah, it is, you have to keep juggle. It's probably the nicest thing, the nicest change from in the system. That's why I love it, yeah. But there are other things that we'll see as we go along, for instance, when you succeed with spin, it's handled slightly different. We can run across once or twice apart. And then if you match exactly, instead of just saying that it succeeds, which is what Dresden used to do, now it succeeds with the minor complication. Which is true. Yeah, I like that better. Yes. So Romulus Powell posted as well, and he had a conversation with Mike going back and forth. I don't know if anybody knows this. Mike thinks he has the coolest name in the world. Yes, he does. And Romulus Powell. Romulus said, I was thinking about Scott and his use of the presence skill. If you guys think it might be getting overused, you could use an option from the strands of fate, having a skill modify a skill. An example would be if London is setting up a maneuver on constants by chatting about good wine and certain flowers, actually, I think they were. Orchids, they have flowers, they're orchids. And that was Abigail on that constant. It was, yeah, the flower lover. Tom declares a rapport role of good and Scott argues that he is using the London's charm and personality. Tom agrees that this would apply and makes a modification. Tom would then compare his presence to the original skill of rapport. And since it's a tire, he would give a free plus one to the rapport role. Right, so. He'd take the lower of the two skills of the one you felt was more apropos. Yeah, I think that part. It could be influenced then by the fact that he does have a-- It's perfectly mine because your presence would come into play, but it's still rapport that's the important thing. So you get to modify that. And I think it's not a bad suggestion, but before we go down that road, I think we need to actually play the system right because it was our first time playing Dresden last time and we didn't know that we were really abusing it so we were done. So I think that even I'm self-regulating London at this point is in his use of presence. So if it still becomes an issue, then I think we look at some optional rules like that. No, but it's good to point out because even in the last time we played, we had listeners pointing out that we weren't using declarations as much as we should. It's a powerful tool and being new to the system, most of the players didn't know it existed. So it's nice to be reminded of the rules every once in a while. And I'm not sure if that's strictly a fake thing. No, I think it was-- He said strands of fate or something. I'm sorry, I was going to-- I meant to say that I didn't know if it's only strands of fate or-- That might actually be in Dresden, but I know it's definitely in fate core. Yeah, it definitely took me two thirds of the way through that last gaming run we did with Dresden to really get a good feel for how aspects work and the fact that we can throw stuff out there whenever we felt like it. Yeah, it's a powerful tool and we're not used to the players having that much power. Yeah. It's different. Mike did respond and said, "Rimulous pal, "just might be one of the coolest names "I've heard in a long time." I think I found my next character's moniker. Dare I ask if you have a twin brother named Remus? Mike, a.k.a. Alan Montgomery, Michael Clay. Romulus said, "No brother." But I secretly think my name was a burn on my mother. You can figure out why if you know the myth after adding any of these things. And Mike said, "Ouch, I remember the myth. "That's quite a setup if it is a burn." So anybody want to explain to you some of our listeners who might not know the myth? Well, all I could think of, and I don't know if I'm barking up the right tree here, no pun intended, is that Remus and Romulus were the two brothers who found it Rome and they were suckled by Lupa, who was the shiwof who raised them from pup. So, I don't want to-- - So Ron, let's say that your mom was a bitch. - You got it? - Mm-hmm. - Yeah. - Or she, she muckled like a shiwof, or-- - Yeah, I don't want to go there 'cause I don't know where Robbie was his mom, but anyway-- - That's fine woman. - In a good way. - Yeah. - On Google+, we had a lot of activity. Michael Barrett said, "Awesome, I've been going through "the backlog of the podcast as fast as I can, "and it's been great, but I'm definitely more of a fan "of the faith system. "I may skip the rest of chagrin to start this up." - All right, wouldn't blame him. - You can do whatever you like, but I would suggest skipping chagrin. - Scipping chagrin. - 'Cause you're in the flow. Chagrin, it's a marvelous story. - It does end very strong, and it's a great story. - And we come out weekly, so the most complaints we've had by our listener is, could you come out more often so that they have something listening? - He's gonna switch it over. He's gonna be, he's gonna end up caught up really quick. - Right, right. - So, yeah, finish chagrin if you're gonna listen to one of us. - It's nothing to him, but yeah. - Jason Carter just said, "Squee." - Squeeze? - Yes, "squee." He was very happy that we had our journey to it. - That's never turning to it. - Yeah, you never, you never have "squee." - I never have "squee." (laughing) - I mean, I might "squee" and not know it. - Would London "squee?" - London, not "squee." (laughing) - This is the sound of it, too. No, it's not. - Greg Hutton, on Google+ said, "I like the idea of using wealth stress. "Something I think I'll bring into my own game "should one of my players ask to be shown the money. "It would probably be a good idea "to add an additional and minor consequence "for Jim's character, giving that his resources are superb, "which is a valid point. "Similar to how conviction, endurance, and presence work. "So the higher you have of those, "you get to have extra stress that you can take. "Your character having a very high wealth "should have more stress in you." - I should know, it's only used for that stress track. I have a couple of them, but they're only for physical. - So consequence is specific to a wealth. - Did we say there is a wealth track or is it an option? - It is an option, it hasn't come into play yet in the story, but it may, and if it does, then we will include it. Your character will have a stress track that is wealth-specific, and it will have consequences that are also wealth-specific. - Will it clear after a-- - There's a different mechanic. It does require a different process. Because your stress is clear after just the end of a scene, the wealth works a little different. It's gotta be the next pay cycle type of thing. - Is that actually called wealth, or is that resources? I'm confused with that. - Resources is a skill, but it would affect your wealth stress. So you're dealing with a different kind of, like you have social combat, this would be financial combat if it ever comes to that, where someone is causing or something is stressing. - I'm not sure what that would happen. - Well, it could be, for instance, the last game we played in which London was being put under financial pressure by people that were tying up his money. - We didn't have a friend as an avenue, but-- - We didn't have that available at the time as a suggestion, but-- - So that's regardless of your resource level. I mean, it doesn't only affect high resources. - No. - It could be a level depending on their circumstances. - But they're the ones that might be trying to do things that are very financially stressful. You know, I don't necessarily wanna have Roberto roll to buy a cheeseburger at McDonald's, you know, because that would be his level of stress. - Stick with the dollar menu. - That's right, it's much easier. - And just in Facebook, General Andrew D'Entremont stated that I found you guys, while looking for new manera podcast, you are definitely the best actual play podcast I've heard. The crisp speech, bereft of ohms and likes and awkward pauses makes for an enjoyable listen. I am definitely going to go back and listen through the Dresden episodes once I've made it through new manera. So welcome aboard Andrew, who found us? - Well, I did. - On Twitter, we had a lot of action going on there as well, like fish said, you guys seem much more interested in modern day settings. Medieval fantasy is not your thing, I guess. Interesting episode. - And if you only knew us for the last 25 to 30 years. - Yeah, I would say, of the last 30 years, 25 of them were playing strictly fantasy. - Right, we like it, we kind of tried it recently, but there's no good gaming system right now to jump into it again. - That's all right. - I mean, for a whole campaign, we, well, we couldn't say there's none. There's a lot of good systems about their savage worlds and some other systems I'd like to try, but, or maybe even D&D 5.0 when it comes out, but. - Just as a shout out. - D&D next. - What's that? - They're calling it next. - D&D next. - The totally normal one that come out with the sequel. - Which is next, next, next, next, next, next, next. - Next, next, next, next, next, next, next, next. - Next, next, next, next, next, next. - Next, next, next, next, next, next, next. - Yeah, we might eventually get back to a nice medieval story, but I think we just a little played out for after 25 years and wanted to try some modern settings. Rusek Amers are doing Torchbearer, which we do own. Right, I was part of that Kickstarter. I'm not gonna ruin their review of it, so anybody interested in Torchbearer, I would suggest maybe getting the Rusek Amers a listen. It's always a good podcast to listen to. Vail DeGoss said, "Looking forward to the new release. "I'll keep you up to date on my church RPG group. "They created themselves last week. "The outtakes at the end of this episode "make me laugh almost as hard as most of the episode." Ready for the beginning now that the city is done. Dan Scales said, "That intro. "Could it be?" Yes, the Drowsen Files is back on the KOTM podcast. Make sure you check it out. He then sent out a second tweet that said, "I love the reminiscing over events from delivery. "You fleece me. "You owe me a favor. "Remember?" Oh, I remember. So that was you and like, I believe. Ibn Ruse listened to Shagrin by KOTN Podcast, and if you have any interest in RPGs, you gotta give them a shot. As good as actual play gets. Mad Mjolnir said, "Thanks to the KOTN Podcast guy "who maintains the Flipboard magazine." I saw this, and it's A, free, and B, it's definitely a one-shot material. And it was a link to dungeonslayer.com. - That's Michael. - That is Michael. - He does most of it. - He threw an article in there about some. - Now whenever I'm in the doctor's office with the kids or trying to kill time, I just fire up your phone and get caught on stuff. - I recently found one like just a few days ago that had a new generic character generator. That was really awesome. - I'm not sure. - We're all doing well. - Can you tell that to Mike? - Yeah. - You threw it in the Flipboard? - Yes. - Okay, so Mike has subscribed to that, so a lot of them are reminding me to take a look. Tandi, also from the Dice Heroes, said, "KOTN Podcast, without the D20 Hate, "it makes me wonder if you guys have ever tried a D100 game. "I personally prefer a D20 over Fudge." Well, Tandi, you're wrong. (laughing) - Sorry, Tandi, but you're incorrect. - No, that's perfectly valid, but before we even bothered to answer it, Mad Mulener answered and said, "They've played Rollmaster once by the sounds of us, "and it scared them as much as it scared "most of the Dice Heroes." (laughing) And Tandi replied with, "Not sure about Rollmaster, "but I'm a big fan of anima." So. - It's the same thing that we've talked about for the last six weeks. - So we won't discuss it again. Thank you for the suggestion. - No spell, curve. - We're gonna let it go. - So thanks everybody for the feedback. Again, a reminder, kotnpodcast.com is our blog site, and there you can find the Amazon link. Still getting used by a number of listeners and I appreciate everyone who's using it. - Thank them for that. - Helps pay for the podcast. - Caution, nothing. - And I'll just remind everyone, we do use a podcast service that costs a bit each month, so it's great that you guys can help pay it. And the benefit that you get from it is that there are every single episode that we have ever created out there from the beginning three years ago to now, and it will continue to be our entire library available as long as we continue to pay the monthly bills for them. So, commercial free. - So, Amazon.com. - So again, podcast.com is online, we appreciate it, and with that, we will actually get onto the episode. All right, this is Tom, I'm your GM. We are revisiting the Dresden Fowels universe. We'll go around the table and introduce ourselves. Some of the players are new, starting with the person on my runny. I'm Michael, I'll be playing a new character who appears, and his high concept is going to be an ethnogenic organic alchemist. - I could explain that to you, okay. - Let's do that, have a look at that. - An ethnogen is a psychoactive substance used in religious, shamanic, or spiritual context. - Shroom. - Yeah, so beautiful. - So, he's using these ethnogens to initiate some very normal styles. - Gotcha. - Consciousness. - All right, so we will continue. - I am Jim playing Edmund Shodowski, who is a rich businessman and a black court-powered senior. - I'm Scott, playing London Deals, a moral seer to the supernatural powers. - I'd like playing Ellen Montgomery, the only woody for you. - Bob, and I don't have any character. - You're a no character. - I'm Thomas, I'm playing Maxwell Edison, the undercover homeland security operative. I change shops. I'm John, and I'm playing Roberto Martinez. He's a people's guardian, powered by a fallen angel. I have a new trouble too. - You do, what's your new trouble? - Yeah, everything is black and white. - Okay, we're taking up the campaign three months after the last time we played. There's been a few changes in town. One of the key changes is the fact that Constance is no longer a force in town. Her whereabouts are unknown last you saw she was being swept into the bay by her sister Constance, who has returned after being gone two of the three months. During that time, other changes have occurred in town. The small child that you rescued is thought by virtually everyone to be dead. - Except us. - Except for you and certain key members of the White Council. Its current whereabouts are unknown even to you. As we left, the party was a bit split. - I'm going to understand. - It was a huge crevasse. - A rift. - There has been some changes with some of the characters and also with the roles as we're playing them. We're dropping down to five aspects for each character because some of them seem to be a little bit unwieldy and the current fate core system is going with five and I kind of like that better. We may add some additional changes from the fate core system as well. For instance, when you succeed with higher than three, you get an added bonus and we'll be adding some of that mechanics into the game. For instance, if you're setting up a maneuver to help somebody, you get one free execution of that maneuver. If you succeed three or higher, you get two free. So that's stuff like that is new. In addition to if you equal exactly the same number as you're attempting, you succeed, but with a minor complication, which that is a little bit different as well. - So does the new fate system or the updated one for the five aspects do they have a redefine them? Like this is your historical aspect or? - They didn't do it in the Dresden system at all yet. They're coming out eventually with an accelerated Dresden, which will be a really simplified version. I'd love to see that and I'm looking forward to that, but we are personally doing this dropping down to five. The suggestion they're making in the fate core is very similar to the way that Dresden had it anyways. - Okay. - With all that in mind, we'll quickly address the changes that have been happening with the characters. First of all, the Ruppa is a new character. He is working for the clinic. - Former employee of the clinic. - Former employee. - Is that common knowledge, at least what I was doing there is not common knowledge? - So while you were working, you were kind of a contractor and it wasn't known widely by anybody outside. The immediate must know it within the clinic. - Yes. - Okay. You having a relationship with John's character? - A couple of different ways. - Both veterans, meaning former military. A much older than he is, but we met at a VFW function. What was the other thing? - As my job for Dale Williams, which I'm not sure if we want to get into right now. - Well, we'll cover it really briefly. Dale Williams was the guy that was at the final fight and he was one of the few people to survive that. - He worked for Constance for the clinic. - And he was kind of left in charge when she disappeared, in a public sense. But he was also damaged, so he was in the hospital. Your character visited him in the hospital and kind of threatened him into hiring you to protect him from the black court vampires that were still around. Explaining to him how dangerous his current predicament was that Abigail would be looking for him, that the black court vampires would be looking for him and that he needed protection from you. And you use that situation to kill off some of the remaining black court vampires. - Is that correct? - Yeah, and I don't know how many of them. In the last adventure, took the souls from the babies and put them into these vampires. They had some wizards doing magic to do that. - Yes. - Dale Williams was in on that and they had people doing research to discover the way to do this. - Or to do more efficiently and to modify and change, sure. - And in your researching those trails. - Yeah, I think they were being hunted down. Do you remember that? - Yeah, they would have been by Abigail. - Abigail certainly has an interest in them. - Most definitely, yes. - And I want her not to find out how to do that. Otherwise, more people will die. - And that was your second connection with Repa? Is that he might have been involved in that and you're trying to shield him. - I have a list of names on it. - He's on it. - I have a list of names from Dale Williams and he's on it, Repa. - Okay. And you've since removed any record of those lists other than the one you have. So you feel currently Repa is safe. - Maxwell, your character has changed his job a little. Was that brought to active change or is that you actually got a promotion? - Yeah, I believe I made the transfer to the apartment of Homeland Security. - Sort of Northern border. They have ships coming in from... - Yes, the pretty soon, the port authority is going to be opened up to international shipments, specifically, I think coming from Belgium if it's... Anyway, there's going to be a lot of ship traffic coming in from across the Atlantic, so. - They need additional agents. I got a new handler. - And that would be Roger Matusik. And so they still haven't got a new picture for that. - Okay, so we have Roger Matusik, who's your immediate supervisor. You're still under cover, but you've been transferred more to keep. - And I, on any supernatural things being brought in under the cover of this new... - The connection with the network. - Still writing case files on all the supernatural things I meet and sending them back to him and just gathering information in general for what they want to do about all this stuff. - And you're still working for... - Yeah, Edmund has kind of upped his business game. He's changed it. He's no longer just a detective firm. He's also got a security firm. - And a restaurant. - And a restaurant. And he needed someone to take care of the private investigation business. - And so you put him in charge of the... - Sure. - Well, I'm that investigator, at least. That's how I explain increasing my investigation skill. - Yeah. - And that's my current cover. Head investigator for... - Hey, he's amazing. - Yeah, so we could appear first in the phone book. I'm gonna change this anymore. - As soon as I'm important enough to do so, but that's our name. - I took a stunt in empathy to allow me to remove mental and social stress consequences. I decided that I've become a trained psychologist in my off time, which is really impressive the more you look at my character. - 'Cause you have three jobs already? - Because he has at least two jobs. - One of them undercover, one of them... Hey, yeah, well, you were a busy man. - Yeah, I might change it, but I like it right now 'cause he has a high empathy skill and I thought that fits. - Edmund changed? - Edmund just a little bit. He's expanding his business operations. He wants to be more than just a detective agency owner. And he was already kind of experimenting with different devices and things. - Yeah, his role for keeping... - You can keep some of the other versions under control. - Yeah, well, just any of the bad guys in the area, the different non-humans that could... He's trying to find ways to protect regular folks against them coming up with different devices and things and just as trying out, trying to do with... - Do you sell those with a private for your business only? - Well, we're a security firm. So you can hire us, purchase our services or equipment. - So you're not an arms dealer? - Not an arms dealer. When we're a security, then we use our stuff internal 'cause if we let the stuff get out, then other people can reproduce it in any way. - They don't need to hire you. - That, and he wants to re-open the according to neutral grounds in Cleveland. So he wants to open up a restaurant and have it be according to neutral grounds. - And that restaurant is in Ohio City near West Side Market. - We're West Side Market across the street. - Yeah, there's a little square there and it's right off the square there. But it hasn't been finalized yet. There's a lot of red tape to go through, both in opening the restaurant in the area and getting the council members who sign off on what's according ground sign off on it. - It would have to be signed off by all members of the court. - That's a fucking deal with the white council. It would be dealing with the white court, the black court. - Of the court. - The white court. - The non-white court. - I'm probably having London help me out with that since he's one of the more people that has really gifted at like talking people in the crowd. - And he's well connected. - There is that. - Speaking of London. - Yeah, I think London didn't go through any major changes because he's perfect the way he is. - You certainly think so. - I want to know what your business is like now that you're not, that you have one. I mean, you didn't have a place you could stay in the world. - Right, well, I had a place I could stay and just couldn't have the time. - Feel it was safe, right? - For the record, Jim has actually re-changed some of his skills around so his resources are a much higher level than they were before. - Right, as our mind, because they've recovered from the loss of revenue they had and the very fine gift that the new warden was squeezed out of when you-- - It wasn't as distorted as what I was. - That's a better word. - I think it was an excellent business arrangement. And so, long story short, the changes that are happening with London right now are internal and he certainly isn't letting anyone in on that. But from a meta gaming standpoint, he's struggling with the fact that he actually needed help to solve his problem because he's London and he doesn't like to admit that he needs help. And yet, he needed help throughout that entire series of events, certainly held his own in his own mind, but needed help. And then at the very end, his life was actually saved by Roberto, who he's really struggling with right now because, well, first off, he lost his ability to keep Roberto under his thumb because Roberto was an employee, now he's not, so there's that kind of low-grade animosity. There's a fact that London had the perfect in his mind ending that left everyone happy and everyone that mattered because Roberto in his mind doesn't at this point matter, to be honest. - Oh, it was an employee. - From London, exactly. The powers that be in Cleveland were all satisfied with the conclusion and Roberto fucked it up. So there is that underlying sense of anger and resentment, but then he has to clash that with the fact that he would very likely, he can't even talk himself out of the fact, couldn't dodge a fireball that had his name on it if it wasn't for Roberto. So he's really kind of struggling with some internal ideas that he's had his entire life of my own man, I have my own business, I don't need anyone else's help. I help people find things, people don't help me. So he's kind of going through an internal crisis right now. He started his business back up out of his brownstone in Cleveland Heights, so he still has his beautiful lodgings and he still is ever much into the society scene of Cleveland, both standard, mundane and supernatural. His mother's fallen ill and he's starting to get some-- - Medical bills? - Not medical bills, no, some emotional baggage that he had compartmentalized for the longest time, but that's something I think for another story, I have this one 'cause last story was a lot about London and I don't want this one to be. I've got something to keep in mind if he does make it around for future stories, is he's got a mom who's the only surviving member of his family, who's ill. And he's had some contract work from Edmund who wants him to help smooth the way over for the starting of a possible restaurant or coffee house or something, some neutral grounds, which London is definitely trying to get that name to be the name of the restaurant as opposed to a amazing because he has to roll his eyes and suppress a sneer whenever he hears it. - That'd be sad. - Right. So he's trying to help him with that and so there's some interaction still with the supernatural and of course people come to him for small little favors. Business hasn't picked back up to a huge degree because he was out of action for a while. People didn't know if he was persona non grata since he had made enemies with the big wig in town. Now she's out of the equation, but is it okay to get back with London? So his resources only went up to three because he hasn't fully recovered from it but he's stable enough now to be able to buy whatever he wants and be able to purchase whatever piece of art he wants for the most part or be able to at least haggle and deal with it or steal it if need be. And he probably has about three or four people working under him much like Roberto did, casing places, doing the menial work before he gets heavily involved with recovering an item. - Yeah, he'll make me a list of names in case it becomes important. But in addition you have Abigail is still in town or she's back in town after being gone for a few months and your relationship with her is pretty tenuous. You haven't extended any olive branch or made an aggressive move to hook up back with her again 'cause you're unsure. She does seem to be keeping a very low profile on that. - Right, social. - There was a random orchid of the London variety. It was called the London Rose and he had one of those delivered with no name on it whatsoever knowing that she would know what it was called. - Your name was still on it. - Oh, no, no, yeah, exactly. Well, that's a point, it was subtle. So that was my small olive branch was that an orchid was delivered to her. It was a rather expensive variety with no note attached at all, just the varietal name of the London Rose. And so that was his one small attempt and he hasn't heard anything back from her yet, so he's keeping his distance. - All right, that leaves. Hold on, I have a list of wizards who are pretty much want dead because they've been sucking souls out of babies. - But I can't find them. They don't work at the clinic anymore and they're not around. If Dale Williams wants me to pick one up, I'll knock them off rather than pick them up and say it was an accident. - But, what? - Just to clarify. - I know he could find things for me. - They would be considered sorcerers, not wizards. - I don't really know the distinction. - He would totally tell you. - I would like to help you make the distinction because I should actually come to you with a list, but I don't know that. - Whatever the case. - It may, Dale Williams says here's a list of the wizards. I call them wizards. - Or does he say sorcerers? - I don't know that Dale Williams would know the difference. He doesn't have a ton of training and he enters the world. - He's got some dumb ass name for him, which we all just roll our eyes at. - That's been digitators, right? - I haven't come to London with a list, even. - But you foresee that in the future? - If we could come to terms, yeah. - I don't think I could afford to hire on this to think. - Right, there probably have been occasions where I've been working for Edmond in his office, just getting information, exchanging paperwork, just talking, reminiscing over old times. And one thing I forgot to mention when I was talking about London is, London obviously is the quintessential heterosexual. And I kind of want, because she's so different from him, that Jim Secretary, who he screwed in, why he was watching the baby, but wasn't really watching the baby. - London screwed, to be clear. - Yes, London screwed, the Secretary whose name was Sean should, he doesn't remember. - He doesn't remember. - Fuck the lady, what was it? - She would not remember. - London would not remember her name, but for some reason that could again be a story later on in your arc, doesn't have to be this storyline. She's stuck with them and it's so unlike him to care about anyone. I mean, anyone. So, this girl, this random secretary. - I had her as my executive secretary. You trying to say you're stealing her away? - No, no, no, no. That, when I come to visit you, he just casts us aside with glance occasionally. Maybe brings her a small box of chocolates for what had occurred in the past, but he doesn't know why he's even doing it. She's a fucking secretary. That's ridiculous. So, he's fighting with himself inside and he's not sharing it with anyone. She doesn't know, it's just, you know, hey, I stopped by and here's a, I stopped by a chocolatier for my mom and here's a box. - She has, her status changed within your company. - Yes, she's my Miss Money penny. I mean, she's, no, does, every, she's his girlfriend. - The right hand man, my girlfriend. - She manages the business with me. - Bob, you want to play Shana? You could be. Okay, never mind. - No. - You could work for Jimin. - I'm sorry, my thought there was just that, I might have seen Rachel Roberto. We could have run into each other and there's probably just like a kirk nod, like acknowledging from my end. I don't know what he does, but from my end maybe a kirk nod saying, I don't know if I feel like talking to you, but I kind of appreciate what you did. So maybe you've been able to approach me yet, John, about it, 'cause you don't feel the moment's right. But wouldn't you like to? I don't know. I don't want to speak to your character, but I'm just throwing it out there that I'm not ignoring you completely. I'm just- - He saw how you cheated my cut of his house money. - That wasn't, he was probably gonna get this. - That was white. - I know, he has his house. - Council money. - I need to pay you as well. - It was for him to hire someone to do something that would be me. - Whatever the case, I haven't. - Well, I mean, he knows you personally, so he should cut you the percentage. You can take Nick, knock off 3%. - I don't know how much money he holds. - Or so, right. - After I bump it up 10% from being a dick, yes. I'll shave it out 3 more percent. But, I'm just trying to say is that London's not ignored. You're not pursuing it now, and got it. It's more like a cold war tension between you and all. - Yes, we would then go on. Well, first of all, I want to address. You have removed the aspect of owing money to Latvia, but we should address the fact that that money was actually owed because of your father and his relationship and his gambling problem. That has been removed not only as an aspect of yours because, you know, we've received some of them, but the fact that it has also been in the three months resolved. The debt is no longer, they're no longer pressuring you to pay it. You're not even sure why. - Okay, well, I have a new aspect of it. - That did occur. - But I owe it to some. - That's to some mysterious powerful person. - Remember, they sold you debt. - That's not what you're aware of. - Okay. - They just stop it pressuring you. So it's not an aspect because they're not really coming to you and saying, "Where's the money?" Nor are they explaining why they're not saying, "Where's the money?" It is something that has just stopped and you're not sure why. - It's the A.A. Amazing debt collector. - Yes, it owns you. - Well, it's a good debt to own. If you get into that business, you should definitely look and buy it. So last of the old characters returning would, of course, be the Warden of Cleveland, Allen Montgomery. And how has he changed? - Well, he's changed a lot. He kind of came into Cleveland, a little brash and cocky and supremely confident in his ability, but he was always kind of a subordinate, a first officer to the captain, so to speak. And he got in here and I ended up changing a lot of my skills as a result of what happened last time. I ended up coming to prove the innocence of my friend and mentor. Unfortunately, I revealed his guilt and I tried everything I could to find an alternative, but ultimately I had to kill him according to the law because that was kind of my thing and that kind of-- - That was one of your aspects, though, is your character. - Right. - Buy the book. - But that's had a profound effect. So instead of kind of the tower of power that I was before, kind of a narrow column-- - Of skill points. - Of skill points, I've become more of a lower pyramid. A lot of my skills, I dropped my lure down a whole factor because I thought I knew a lot more than I did and now the reality is that maybe my confidence has blown that this is far worse. Cleveland is a far off land. It is not what I-- - It ain't Jamaica. - Right. - Is that where you were? - It was just previous. What a posting. - I thought it was awesome. - It was Bahamas or Jamaica. - I don't remember. - It was tropical. - Yeah, it wasn't-- - It wasn't Cleveland. - It wasn't-- - And even my weapons skill 'cause, you know, the sword, my warden sword that I used to slay my friend and mentor, I am no longer the superb swordsman I was before that. I kind of have a hitch now. - Did you actually slay him or did she fry him with a fireball? - I thought she fried him and got the death curse. - I still had to-- - You caused his death-- - I proclaimed death-- - Right. - Absolutely. - And then the whole events, it kind of rocked-- I was used to having the idea of, kind of like maybe the USA and foreign territory where you kind of walk in, you got big balls, you're gonna lay down the law and you expect people to respect your badge of office and the authority that is behind you only to find that this time isn't interested at all in that shit and not impressed and, you know, they've killed the warden's before and that has caused me to maybe take a whole different approach. So I have fallen back. I've been trying to, instead of being in an attack in an offensive posture, I'm kind of becoming more of a defensive and realizing that, you know, really I'm kind of surrounded in all sides and I have got the next word to die. - Well, I don't want to be the next word to die but the approach that I thought I was going to use last time did not yield positive results and I feel that once I look back on it that I generated more enemies than allies. - It's a little lighter touch. - I'm different. I'm going to try to maybe approach it as I have to kind of build a, consolidate, I have to build a, can I help build a team? - Power base. - A power base. I mean, I don't really have anyone yet I feel confident that I can trust. There's people here I can buy. Technically you owe me a favor so. - It's good for that. - Yeah. - You have people you've bought. - Well, I hope so but it's going to be a different approach. I just can't take my sword to problems and I've got to build up a team in a group so we can focus on some of these problems in the city. - And with that in mind, you've not seen Megan, the daughter of Donovan has not been around for the three months. - I think right about it. - One question, Krispy Bruce, who is still around, who has been restored and he's working for University Hospital. He is unaware of where Megan is and concerned as well. - He's been providing me with information 'cause he trusts me 'cause I let him out when he was a vampire. - By the way, in case anyone didn't know this but due to a lot of budget cuts and the Affordable Healthcare Act, a lot of jobs were lost in the Cleveland Clinic. 750 people have been laid off. - You're talking real life here. - In real life. So if you wanted to work in that despair or the aftermath factor that-- - 'Cause that's what Cleveland needs is a little more despair. - It is, you have your major employer-- - I believe. - In the clinic in the healthcare system. 'Cause that's too real. - No, sure, that's fine. - I'm going back to Mike. You're saying you're trying to set up a power base in the past three months you have been dealing with your immediate superior. Sarah Powell, Trinidad, she's who you report to. She has never been to Cleveland. You go visit her. - Or do I just communicate with him? - Most of the time you just communicate but when you have to go, you're the one that goes if it's a face-to-face meeting. What is your relationship with her? - Well, because of the nature of the way I am, I'm a good soldier by the book. I would imagine that I would be pretty positive, although I don't think she's happy with my performance since I've come to Cleveland. Because-- - Well, there's a dead ward. - Well, right. - And he wasn't dead when you got here. - No, but I did find him, but perhaps what I revealed in my actions, even though I would authorize to take them, you gave someone a proclaimed a death sentence on them and then you didn't really execute it immediately. You used it for another scam and I'm sure saddling them with a fey baby didn't endear. - So it's her problem with your performance is not-- - I'm saying it. - I need improvement if that was my rating. - That's your rating? - Let's see. - You should improve it. (laughing) - So, her problem though with yours was not the fact that you killed him. It's that you actually used his death. - I think that would be a fair problem. - Yeah, that was kind of slimy. - Well, Cleveland's a weird place, man. And choose up with the bros on him. - Needs awesome. - I was going for a combination shot. - Was it-- - Did you just do that? - Yeah. - And I would also be interested, very interested in doing research and exploring magic, defensive magic against, I don't know, Hellfire. - I don't know if this thing-- - I'm coming to knock your door down, I don't even know where you live. - In addition to your immediate supervisor, you've also struck up a friendship with brother Francisco. - Does that mean? - Oh, there he is. - Brother Francisco works out of St. Ignatius, he's a local-- - That's me. - He was at a street level. - Is that your relationship with him? - Yeah. - Okay, so it's not like building a power base. This would be Roberto reaching out to the neighborhoods and he's struck up a relationship with a new face in town and it's brother Francisco. - Francisco hears a lot about what's going on in the neighborhood and he can give us some leads and what's causing trouble supernaturally in the area. - Just to clarify, when you say neighborhood, what is your story area or do you just refer to Cleveland as your neighborhood? - Ignatius is Ohio City. - Well, that's what I mean. - Yeah, kind of where we're based. At least the story's been focused. And lastly, a new member of the Warden Allen's restructuring and power base is a police lieutenant by the name of Ron Logan, who puts a call on to you saying that you really need to come meet me here. - How about the cop once, meet a big egg? - No, no. This is some of that you started having a touch base with and trying to get in with the police department. It's a police lieutenant, Ron Logan, and he's calling you from the scene of a murder. And he wants you to visit because this is your kind of stuff. Roughly at the same time, does shame have a replacement? - That's your new executive secretary. - There is no replacement chain. - There is no replacement chain. - I didn't say that. - That's the detective agency? - Yeah, Shayna was keeping you, because this was like a pet project of yours, keeping you up to date on a murderer that was performing ritualistic murders in the neighborhood. And there's been another report of such a murder. And it is the same address that Warden Allen is being sent to. - She's letting you know that this is hot off the process. There's been another ritualistic murder. And this is in the Ohio City neighborhood. - Will the cops be calling the detective agency to come in and take a look at it too? - She has our leads in the police department, so she's letting you know, but you haven't been officially contacted, no. - Kenilworth, that's a pretty common street, big street in Ohio City. - But this is something that's going on in the city, and this is like a new occurrence of it? - Yes, if you remember in the last adventure, she informed you of a few of these murders. This is the most recent one, and she wanted to let you know about it. She happened to have a contact in the police department, and this is like, we got another one, it's happening right now. - Maybe it's close to last night. - Maybe it's close to last night. - Well, it would be very close to your new restaurant. Lieutenant Logan called you because he said this is something you absolutely have to see. - Is Ron and I, are we on decent rooms, or is it, okay, good. - Definitely decent terms, he's, you're trying to lay groundwork to get a network, and this is the guy you've got in the police department right now. - Any details over the phone? - No, he just says that this is something you have to see. You mentioned certain things, and I think you got to see this. - Okay, is the scene fresh? - Yeah. - Will I have time on it, or do we have a time box here? - Quicker is better. - I'm on the way, my plus schedule. - And do you own a car? - Well, I don't know, I may have had a pun in order to pay this over here, but. - No. - You got a very good roll, I don't know. - What? - They were off for you. - Yes, I have an investigation. - I have a reasonable four-wheel drive vehicle. - Okay. - That's exactly what it's called. - Like a used, a used, a reasonable, an older model, four to four. - That's what he didn't expect. - What is this? - I don't know. - 'Cause I got some. - So you drive down there, and this team has got the police tape around, and it's cordoned off, and. - What time of year? - Four. - And Shelley, just heading into winter, let's say, mid-November. - It's definitely accessorized with a sweater rather, and a scarf. And probably some matching gloves. - That's the one. - So says the one. - He has a catalog coming out soon. - When you arrive at the police tape, they don't want to let you in, but Lieutenant Logan is kind of watching from the door, and he yells out to the police to let you in, and you are escorted into the front door of the building. - As I approach the building, - It's. - Am I able to get any scent, like use my wizard senses to even feel like magic, - Magic. - Or digital magic. - So we'll just have you do a laurel as you're coming up, you're kind of opening your senses a bit to see. It's a duplex, recently remodeled within, say, the last five years. Very well to do. I mean, how city you can go from one extreme to the other. - Oh my gosh. - Very short area. - It's really bizarre. - Within half block. - It doesn't explore. - It doesn't explore. - The side and then dimensions. - This is definitely the nicer area of Ohio City. - All right. - I have a, - Aspects are, it's busy. - There's a lot of police officers going around. - I was thinking about a crime scene. - On a crime scene. - Yeah, the crime scene is just, people are buzzing all around, there's a lot of crowded and cluttered. - Crowded, cluttered, busy. All my lore, my investigate and my alertness are all good. I will attempt to open my wizard senses and see if I detect any auras or any residue of what might have happened in here that would make the lieutenant Logan call me in. - Yes. Well, this is as you're walking up, as opposed to not actually in the place for instance. (tapping) - Oh my gosh. (laughing) - All four negative four. - Negative four. - Negative four. So I am a negative, I mean there's, why don't you use a one to regrow? - Okay, sorry. - We don't hurt yourself. - You should have done this at the very beginning. Everybody gets fake points equal to their refresh 'cause they're starting the game anew. Quick go around the table. How many, 10.2 got here? - Five for Roberto. - Five. - Five and then we're Maxwell. - Nine. - Eight. - It starts at nine or 10. - Eight, nine. - Why do I feel like I don't have any? I have to have three. - 'Cause you got your own power. - Two financial power. - Wow, six. - You start at nine and then each thing that takes a track down, right? - I remember correctly, I've got a whopping total of one. - Yeah. - You spend here in your own? - I will spend a few single fake points. - My single fake points over here. (tapping) - All right. - I can. - That's better. - Oh, it's a wash. So my lure is good. Your lure is good, your o is even that keeps you at good and it is what you needed was truly just mediocre. So you succeeded that with style three higher because this place is reeking of magic. You're outside, but from the interior of the house, past the threshold is just bad mojo. And one thing that unfortunately is probably the reason that Lieutenant Logan called you is hell fire. - Yeah. All right. - Damn, you were preparing defense. - I had an idea because I didn't want to be too blatant. I was going to, whether I haven't done already or if it's something I can begin to build, it's like the equivalent of a lightning rod, but like as some type of stone or gem that is a defense, it will draw, I'm going to get hit with, I don't know, I'm just saying if I do, hell fire throwing at me for some reason. - Crazy. - Basically like throw this stone or rock and it will, like a lightning rod, it will go to that instead of me. - Not looking too powerful. - I think that is a very wise precaution. - How do you have to turn it to a certain kind of magic? - Hell fire. - It's what he was saying. - I know he wants to, but does he have to as a role or might he be trying to be clear and definitive? - Would it be cold and limited so I'm not having this? - I think the limiting would make it easier to create the item if you specialize it in a certain type of magic? Yes, it would be easier to create. - It could be cool or wizardly to make a piece of jewelry or an item you're wearing that either deflects it or absorbs it. - I'd like to throw it at that. - Or if it is, it is absorbing it, but the point is I don't want to draw it to me. - I think like a heat-seeking missile, follow this. - Right. - That's what you want. - Well, I didn't want something that was too powerful like we just like deflect it or absorb it and nullify it. I thought, there's rules for how powerful we can make it. We'll look at them like-- - Well, okay. - But we could say in the three months you've been working on that 'cause that makes perfect sense considering what has happened previously. - Just for caution. - Of course. So, as I-- - How low can greet you at the door? - I smell fire and brimstone and sulfur, which is indicative of the hell of fire, which my magical senses have brought to me. So, already I'm like, this is a bad thing. - You got it? - Yeah, he's like, Alan, come this way. And he's taking you into a bedroom off of the main living room. He asks a couple of the police officers there. There's some taking samples and outlining stuff. And he asks them to leave for a moment so that you and he are alone at the scene of the crime. When you walked into this house, there was definitely a threshold. You felt it. If the owner is the house and the family or whoever lived here has been killed or dead, would the threshold still exist or would it be broken? - It takes a while to wear it down. - Okay, fair enough. - I would think, as you know, the breaking of dawn each day, it does wear down. It wasn't the strongest of thresholds and you believe it has been weakened so that the owner was probably the murder victim. And there's definitely on the floor a giant ritual site. You've got a pentagram and there's blood and there's just scenes of that. But there also seems to be, you're not the best investigator, but it's pretty evident that there was a struggle here. And there are scorch marks on the wall and there was definitely hell fires thrown here. - Do I recognize the pentagram or the ritual? I mean, is there anything I can say, either lore or? - It's gonna require a lore role. I mean, there's nothing, you don't see this and instantly know, oh, this is-- - No, no, yeah, but I'm like, okay, is it built, for example, if I see a circle, is it built to contain a summoning or is it like used to create a portal or is it used to create something that was happening? Like they're going to exert influence to someone outside of the home. But again, if that's too broad, then I'm okay with rolling the lore. - Right, there, the first blush without a role is there was some attempt to contain. - All right, the pentagram was more contained. - So it appears like a summoning portal. - Could be some sort of. - Okay, I will, again, use my lore, please. Okay, all right. And I get it up to superb. - Wow. - With a plus two to the punch. - What you're getting from your experience as well as your kinda, you're not full blown opening your site to this because that is a potentially dangerous thing to do, but I'm not using my senses. - But you're getting a general read of the area plus your knowledge in the past in magic. This is telling you that the ritual that was done here, they were definitely attempting to concentrate and encapsulate whatever was in the center of the circle. It wasn't that they were trying to open it to another dimension. The components that are scattered about the floor and whatnot don't seem to be that type of components. This was something you really haven't seen before, but you do recognize some of the components and you're gonna need to research it more. - Yeah, of course. - But from your first impression, it seemed that they were trying to not only contain within the circle, whatever was there, but there seemed to be some almost distilling. - Refine it. Can we be showing up just to see what's going on in the inner city and in your area? They give Maxwell a call to come down here or something. - Yeah, normally if you're not in a scene and you wanna show up, you can say, "I wanna make myself there and pay me a fake point." In this case, I'm not gonna require that because you were actually notified by your secretary that this is going on and then where it was and she got the leads. So yeah, there's no problem with you showing up. - I'm not gonna go ahead and ask Kim if he can come get it once over. - I asked Run to tell me like, "What did you guys get a call?" Or tell me about, "Well, this is duplex. "We have neighbors next door." And they complained about a lot of noise going on and it sounded like a struggle of some sort. When we showed up, I've already taken the body out, but was there only one body? - Yeah. Yeah, there was and he was missing a lower part of his left leg if there was blood everywhere. - I mean, he's missing a leg and you-- - No, he had found the leg? - Fresh cut. We have not found the leg. This wasn't like he was an amputee who didn't have a leg. This was something that occurred during the struggle. - Not really sure, but you know. As I've told you before that these rituals, every one of them's got a different body part missing. - The same body part? - No. - Different. We've got about four different cases. There's an eye, there's an arm, there's a leg. Are the victims all the same race or the same gender? - No. - Same age? - No, there doesn't seem to be any connection. And when we're finding them on all different types-- - Where did you take the bodies into the morgue? - This one went to the morgue, yeah. - You guys see it later? - Pardon? - Can I see the body later? - Yeah, I am sure I'm gonna arrange that. About this time, Edmond and Maxwell show up, but there's police. - They're porting off the house and they're not really keen on letting you in. Police, business, police, moving along. - We're not exactly on the case. - I know that. - We were just saying we're concerned business owners in the area wondering what's going on, just trying to get a lay of the land and look for somebody that we may know who could maybe give us more information on what's going on. - I'm sure you'll see it on the news. He doesn't seem all that impressed with you guys. - Sorry that you might wanna try some-- - I was gonna use my report still to see if I can get him to talk a little bit more about the land. - What's your report? - My report is great. - Go for it. You are way more likable than me. - Just saying as a parent agent to the Department of Homeland Security, you may have authority-- - Yeah, of course it is. - But then he would question all of them. - What's the purpose? - Fantastic. - No? - The plus two on my fudge? - You were four to be in great. - Yep, that is. - And now you have Fantastic Six. This guy has a little power up. Two and, wow, yeah, he's mediocre. So yeah, he's not putting up much of our resistance. So you're just, how are you dealing with this? I mean, you succeed in schmoozing him if that's what you're attempting. - I'm just telling him that, you know, this is concerning, you know, I'm just opening up a restaurant across the street, you know? You guys might stop by food, you know, we just want to make sure that there's nothing weird going on in the neighborhood of my thing and nothing's dangerous is going on. If you're just trying to get an idea of, you know-- - This one's been in one's association. - Yeah. - He kind of leans towards you and he's like, man, have you been watching the news? This is another one of those, I mean, this is a nice neighborhood. You wouldn't think that this was happening, but this is another one of those fucking ritualistic things, you know, where they'd like killing people and stuff? - You're a great caliber. - Yeah, he's terrible. He's totally telling you anything you want 'cause you killed him on the roll. So he's like, yeah, I mean, I haven't, I saw the body weather taking out, but I'm usually a younger guy, you know, like 25 or 30? - They got a name on that guy, yeah? - Yeah, yeah, it was, it was-- - Here's the Sandra. (laughing) - We're standing right next to her. - It was a Philip Cook, that young lawyer. - Yeah, you've seen him on TV, right? He does those really cheesy commercials and stuff. - Most of his. - Yeah, him. - He'll do his room and how a guy. - But I guess, no, no, that wasn't it. That was his roommate, you know, he makes those hair quotes with his fingers. That was his roommate, was the lawyer guy. We just took him down to question him and stuff 'cause he's the one that found the body. - Okay, that's the roommate, so the living guy is Philip Cook. - The living guy is Philip Cook, yeah. - He wasn't here when you guys got here? - I mean, he wasn't here when I got here, but I heard that he got taken down to the station and questioned it. - Do we see Alan? - I don't know, Alan, who's there? - How long are you spending in the room, are you? - Well, I don't think I want to spend too long. - It is pretty gross, I also want to make sure that whatever the ritual might be used for, is there something I can do to kind of, is it safe or to neutralize it or break the circle, like scuff my foot around it? Because I don't want leaving it around and also I don't want it to deeply investigated by the normals. - Got you. So you want to scuff the circle to break it? - Well, before I do so, I want to make sure I'm not going to-- - Oh, I know. - I'm going to use the integers on a bomb here. - Your laurel is pretty good. - Okay. - Did you know that there's nothing still being contained in there? - Okay. - But you ask your friend Ron to give you just a moment and you take maybe a sample of the circle and then from the scorch marks on the wall too, as well, just so you got something to go by that you can analyze a little bit. - Does my lord, let me know like any of the materials that were used to create the circle, like blood or salt or items. Do I don't want to put you on this button? Just describe it, but I'm making a note of that. - Right. - I don't want to use it. - I don't want to use it. - I have a Polaroid. We have a Polaroid. I can use an iPhone. A Polaroid wants to work. - Yeah. I like he's like, can give you a minute or two, but we really got a lot of back in here. - Okay. - And you can do a little scraping of the circle itself to take some sample of what it was made of and also you are concerned about the hell fire. So you take a sample of the wall there, so maybe you can somehow. - I don't suppose there's like a last shadow of, you know, some hell fire against the wall, like. - Unfortunately no. - Okay. - Could I as a single person do this, simulate or do this circle or would I think I needed more than one person? - You're unaware of how much time was involved. So you think that, yeah, I mean, I guess, possibly, you could try to open up a little bit more and do. - It's a small, it's a small house, right? Small duplex house? - Yeah. - Two bedroom, one bedroom? - One bedroom, there was the second bedroom, but it seems to be being used as an office type thing, which is where this is. This isn't the bedroom. Things were moved over to the side of the wall to make room for it. So there's a desk pushed up against the wall and it looks like a bookcase that's also. - Okay. - There is a bedroom with a giant queen-sized bed, but I also asked Ron, you mentioned multiple victims, different body parts from each victim. Has it been occurring around town? Or can you tell me where these are? - Is it the greater Cleveland area in the greater highway? - It's definitely in the greater Cleveland area, but it's not a house city. It's all over the place. I mean, we've seen it happen out in Parma Heights. We've seen one over on the east side. - As far as Parma Heights. So outside of the circle. - Yeah. - Can I make a declaration and say that, oh, tie me and Maxwell into the story, or is that one of the previous rituals that happened, one of the family members of the person who was deceased in that ritual. Hiring us to try to figure out what's going on. - That sounds like a fake point. - Sure. - Yeah. - Yeah, for a fake point. - So we are on the job. We were just sitting here for no reason here. - Thanks. - Now let me in. - It's good you're on the job. - Yeah, I mean, please don't have to let you in because you're investigating it. You're not a policeman. - No, they don't. - As far as they know, you're not a policeman. - Like P.I.'s investigating at all. Usually, that's like the default police response. - Okay, so you take a few moments to do a little bit of research in the room and grab what you can as far as samples and you take a few Polaroids and Ryan comes back and I got a lot of back in. They got to do their work. And in use, he's escorting you out and when you get onto the porch of the area, you see these guys outside talking to the police officer, these guys being Maxwell and- - They're right, you got your taser? - Actually, you like these two. - Oh, okay, that's right. - That's right, you're a bit of like- - Bill Bridges, Mike, Bill, Bill Bridges, Alan, Bill Bridges. - You might like Edmond, but I'm the guy who left the vampire out in there. - Yeah, I'm not sure how much that's unbearable. - I make bad choices. (laughing) - It's my trouble. - We all made bad choices. So I see them. - All right, can I add that to Edwin? What time is it, nighttime or daytime? - It's just early evening, it's dusk. - Oh, really, I assume it was in the morning. - Yeah, me too. - Okay, that's my law. - So I say, pull it to Ed and hello to next. - So, Ryan, ask what you have passed the police tape where you meet up with them and you stop to talk to them. He also tells you that he'll let you know when the body's available in the morgue if you wanna take a look. - Okay, yeah, I'll meet you down. - We wish hospital they'd take him too. - Closest hospital there would be metro? - Yeah, totally. - Yeah, totally the clue. - Good. - Future ground. - How about this? My plan is that, I'd say, Ryan, I'll meet you over there. Let me talk to these guys. And what I'd like to do is, depending on how it goes, is, hey, guys, nice to see you, how was your summer? So, how about you come with me and you'll unspect, work for me. - Ron has to get back, but he tells you, don't forget, sometimes you forget when you find stuff out, let me know. - I got you. - You want it? - But I know something for sure, I'll let you know. - All right. - Same here. - The big egg is right around the corner, isn't it? Wait, that's another universe, sorry. - It's still a restaurant, Cleveland. Big egg. - You guys head over to a local diner? - Well, do we need to-- - We'll talk about the big egg and it's you three. - Or it could be the Kenilworth Tavern, which is soon going to be called the-- - The Underground. - Is it open? Is it officially open or are you remodeling? - The Underground is, it's just recently opened, but it's still not a quarter-ground yet. - Is this also Iowa City? - Yes, yeah, it's actually on Kenilworth. - That's where my home is, so I can actually be in the restaurant. - Well, I ask, I ask it. I go, we haven't put the new sign up yet, but it is-- - Maybe there's still room for some still going, like underneath, you're still working on that, but the top restaurant has opened up or something like that. - Okay, if you're inserting yourself into a scene. - Hey, I'm seeing you. You really have seven hour work. - You're inserting yourself into a scene. - Oh, is that on work? - Yeah, that's how it works. - Who's this, Moop? - Go eat somewhere. - He's one of the patrons who's sitting in the establishment enjoying, well, it must be evening, so dinner. - Well, yeah, you need to add a wink thing with people here. - He has a link to Roberto, 'cause you're both army buddies. - The last one where the phase aspect is secretized is the clinic. - So that would be most likely Roberto. That would make sense. - So the second one, it would be what? - Do no harm to humans, which is based on my killing spree when I was a sniper in the Marines. - Is there a front seat here, Mr. Prank? - Do no harm to humans. - I don't see a story there that it really would tie any of these guys in with them, unfortunately. - Did you commit a war crime, or were you just had active missions? - Oh, you missed us! (laughing) - It was Vietnam, everyone did war crimes. - Just got some issues. - It was Vietnam, everyone I did. - Come home from war now, when they give you a break. Back then, they call you a baby killer. - We're gonna march, we'll kill the baby. (laughing) - It's not at the point. - Maybe they should've found us. (laughing) - That's a dosage, whatever you're taking. - And Jim, can you think of any relationship you might have with Repa? - Using the chemicals. - Yeah. - It cleans the chemical that's in coffee, which is a lot of the food I have, and it's pretty asking what's different ways to inject the caffeine in the-- - It could be the chemists, that's a regular. - You can see the food, so it-- - Whoever is in the food, you can get caffeine reaction, but don't get the, so much of the chef's lunch. - Yeah, whoever the main chef has to have a contact in the field of chemists, basically. - Do drugs in your habit for me? - Contact. - What do you know about him? - He has a caffeine's way out there. - What do you know about him? - Was it like a macrobiotic, macrobiotic chef? - Yeah. - It's really experimental, yeah. - It's really huge right now, so at least in London, I lost, and that's what he gave him the idea for. - I could see him-- - I could see him in London. - I guess the chemical-- - What about a need for a medical marijuana? - Well, it's not uncommon if he's running a restaurant that you're a regular, you're a supplier, and-- - Oh, I got an idea. - Do you have a room for a new aspect? - I got an idea too, but my underground restaurant, which is gonna be catering to the non-human sort of people in the regular Cleveland area. Some of the food they eat is illegal substances. - Okay. - I'm looking for a contact who can get me some illegal contraband to put into the food that the fairies like to eat, and whoever monsters. - I'm not a dealer, I like the cereal, but I can spare you. - Well, fairies. - Yeah, I'll become up with recipes. - I was thinking Revo might have a relationship with-- - He had London in that if he had something he, it's very hard to get a hold of. London can pinpoint those things like a needle that's going to direction. - Oh, my, here's a meal that the Fae eat. Can you tell me what's in it and reproduce it? - Well, he would reproduce it, but he could-- - He'll tell you what's in it. - What's in it, and here's how you, here's the website you go to, or what you need ingredient-wise, and then your chef purchases that. - Yeah, let's see. - Organic chemistry side of me, yeah. - Yeah. - My chef is Ed Turbusch. - Ed Turbusch. - Ed Turbusch. - Ed, they're Ed. - Ed is a fantastic chef. In fact, you know him from back in the day, you and him, perhaps. - Enjoy eating, yeah, clearly. When you started talking about comparing meals for non-humans, the first person he thought of was his chemist's buddy. So he introduced you to Repa. So you now have a link between you and Repa as far as, it's a working relationship that you are. So he is often in your tavern, and you kind of cut him a really good deal on prices if not sometimes, you know, free coffee or whatever. So, not coffee 'cause he doesn't like coffee, but so that's how we work you into the same. You're there, you guys show up, you wanna do a quick scene of a call tonight 'cause it's getting kinda late. Okay, so you explained to them what you know of the situation and explain what they know. - I know what it looks like is someone is committing some pretty foul rituals around town. Several people have died or have been killed, and pretty gruesomely, they seem to be missing body parts. And they were the same body part on each victim. - Initially, when the lieutenant came to you, he explained these rituals, but the first one you stopped at, and it was like, it almost seemed like people playing games with the rituals. - Oh, you were extremely busy. So you're like, okay, teenagers, right. - Doing, right, yeah. - You weren't really sure, it seemed really happy. So you're like, you had all their very, very important things going on in Cleveland at the time, 'cause this was long ago when you first arrived. This is the first one that he'd brought you down again, and the reason being that it involved hellfire, scorching hearts, and the smell of brimstone, all these things that you had given him as the keys that you were looking for. This was the one where he said, well, okay, you gotta come down for this one. - And this ritual that we just saw is the first time we've seen those criteria met. - That he's informed you of. - Okay. - You've only been to one of the other ritual sites, and it was one of the very first ones, and like I said, it looked-- - It was the novice level. - Is there how many? - This one actually looked more serious. - It seemed to have kind of mentioned about how many there have been so far. - He mentioned, and you have investigated, 'cause you-- - I'm looking for-- - Definitely the one you investigated. This is the fourth one, fifth one? - What's the victim's name? - Fifth one in three months. This one was Darnell Norton, fifth one in three months. Over a span of one occurred during the middle of the delivery storyline, and that was the one that was brought to Ann's attention. - I tell Ed that you've got some, the investigative resources, but can you tell me your look up about Darnell Norton? He's the victim here. I know that he had a roommate here named Philip Cook, who wrote a-- - You're in quotes. - No, it's a nangle deck. - I don't judge, but I do, but-- (laughing) - Oh, he officially-- - Actually, that's your truth. (laughing) - Actually, I am kind of a-- - You can't say that. - Yeah. - So, you can maybe investigate him, see-- - How long has he been here? - Maybe, what's he been doing in town, where his job was-- - And the Darnell guy? - Yeah, so we'll try to start filling a pattern here because, and eventually we're gonna maybe wanna talk to Mr. Philip Cook. If he's a roommate, I mean, what did he see? Was he a witness, and this took some skill some time, so I'm sure he's seen something, and who knows? He may, in fact, even be in danger, so this may be an opportunity to extend some protection, and also get some answers. What do you think, next? - We've got murders that seem to happen with no particular schedule. I mean, like, monthly or anything. Five have happened in three months or so. All are connected by-- - Are true, all the stick trappings-- - They're all similar to this one. - The victim loses a body part, presumably. They have a collection of some sort, so they're either crazy or magic, and you would know better. - I still need to collect some information from Logan about that, too. I mean, I'm not sure if it matters what body parts were taken, but-- - Yeah, we need to examine the body, talk to Phil, who was up at the station if he can. - Yeah, it seemed like escalation. They were getting better, more skilled, and more dangerous over time. - I know that you were, you guys were involved with looking at Tara Spencer, and she was murdered, same type of situation. Your corpse was mutilated by the removal of an eye. - It's not easy. - That's not easy. You can't just hold a person down and do that. You would need sedation, or at least a couple people to help. - Okay, so that's the moon day we can get started. - Did you mention the hellfire? - I did not. - Okay, then I'm not gonna talk about it. 'Cause I'm gonna run a few tests, and there's still a few things that, but I'll tell you what, you maybe we can do a little business here, maybe get the band back together. - Well, kind of like fluid-mactoring rumors, you know. - Some of them don't. - They all were fighting, but they also did their best music. - Some tell me we're gonna need London's help finding things. - I know as if you gave that guy enough money that he can probably help us, but you don't doubt it. - And this last one happened in Roberto's neighborhood. He keeps an eye on its neighborhood, so you might know what's going on about it. - Roberto keeps an eye on the neighborhood. - We might wanna check on him if we can communicate. - I have no idea where he hangs out. - I know how to get all the London. - This conversation is happening in the restaurant, right? - It is happening in the restaurant. - I'm hearing this. - I don't know that you've invited him yet, 'cause you don't know there's any chemical analysis and needs to be done. And Mike has a- - I'm trying to build towards inviting these two guys to come with me to the more, to investigate Darnell's body. - I will remind you that you have a sort of cantrip more or less that's a mumble spell that you used last time. - Oh yeah, my cone of silence. - Go ahead and consider that one of my road spells? - I think that would be a great thing. - Okay. - I'm giving you that option to- - That's a good one. - Say that you used it because when you're talking about things that you might not necessarily want to be public knowledge, vibacy's always important. - Yeah, and if you got some stuff that London might be able to track, but if you wanna know what it is ahead of time, I know some guys who know something about chemistry that works here for me. - Only chemistry would be a mumble spell for you. - Yeah. - Which one are you an alcabist? - What's the name source? - That's a fancy word. - No one here's what that is. - Oh yeah, either. - The name is the hard part. - That that hostile guy with the enough of the teeth over there that has been blaring at me? - No, that's Mike. - He has a ponytail. - I'm always happy. What are you talking about? - No, that's my chef. I'm talking about with the guy who's standing next to him. - Like this, you can kiss my food order. (laughing) All right, so I go over to meet this uh... - Repa, Repa, Repa, Repa, Repa, Repa, Repa, Repa, Repa. - Can you spell it? - P-P-P-A, Repa, Repa, Repa. It's short for our P-A, which is red pill advocate. And if you remember the red pill is the one that shows you the real world from like the matrix. - So it's not a real name. - Alice's little trip. - He explains this to anyone who asks. - Yeah. - All the time. - The blue one, you know, it just goes on like it was before. - When he reaches his pocket and goes here, you want one of the red ones? - No, no, no, no, no, no, no. - We're right at a fire site theater. We've been shooting reds and yellows all day. - Okay, so Repa, my name's Alan. How are you? - Fine, you. - All right. - What do you make of this? - What are you giving him samples of both? - Now I'm assuming you only took two samples, one being of the circle and the other of the scorched marked. - Right. - Hellfire. - I'm not going to share the Hellfire one yet. I'm going to share the... - The circle. - Whatever was in the circle. The sand or the salt or the... Whatever was used to make the circle. - All right, chop it up. - Wardens make it their business to know the magical users in the area, the humans particularly. - Right. - So he would be of interest to you if you didn't know existed before. - Well that's why I'm trying to be kind of like the beat cop. - Okay. - You may not know about the White Council at all the wizards have an organization. - Have you heard, what are they called? - You're not really a practitioner. Are you? - Are you? - Look at your phone system. - He's kind of new to it though. - A hedge would call him hedge wizards. - His wizards would just be... - He's a hedge alcanist. - Okay. - And that's something you could look at. You might taste it or, but you would want to take that lap. - I have an old last set up in my home, which is not far from here. - Is it an RV? - No, does Rembrandt of Whiam? - I probably asked. - Does Rembrandt know who he is? - I think so. - He's a lawn town and it has been for three months, so. - Even if I'm just getting into that, this stuff, I would probably know that way. - Okay, there is in town, in most towns, but in Cleveland, definitely. - What's called the Paranet, which is a low-powered users group. Are you involved in any way or something? - Wait, that group? - Yes. - People are talking magic users. - Right, yes. - I may want it to be, but I don't think I would do this one. - Okay. - Keep your nose clean, we're good. - We've got the four of you. You've discussed the situation. Now, give assignments when we'll call an EV. - Well, I'll tell you what. Repo, why don't you go to your lab so that you can make of this item. I really don't want to tell you too much because I'm kind of interested in seeing what you come up with, I don't want to give you any bias. - You don't let them know I was using a ritual and then it was a circle learning. - No, this is also going to be kind of like maybe a little bit of a task. - It might be dangerous and kill you. - Oh, if you know so, but then... (laughing) - Well, I saw information, right? - Yeah, and Max, why don't you come with me and we can go look at this body and maybe we can see something that the officers might have missed. - Is that it? - I like checking out dead bodies. - All right, so you guys leave there. It's not evolving London yet. - Oh, well, and we made me need to call London and see if he's in town or around for a meeting. - Well, put him on a... - Who's that? - Good, come on. You, you call boss. - Yeah, I'd also ask Ed to do a little background check and a recent investigation on Darnell, Norton, and maybe some of these murders have been happened. - Well, you're asking him to go with you and you're also asking him to do other things, what do you want? - Well, that's, I'll keep it on your list, but let's start off talking about it. - Go ahead and look at the body. - I'll do the background check. You call London. - I mean, you can call Shane and have her get some people started on it and then check for it. - More delegation, I call Shane. - And then check with her later. And I'll give London's people a call, let them know that we're probably in it. - We'll get some soon. - Also, wouldn't, didn't your secretary slip with London when she had his number? - Oh, I don't know if she'd actually slip, that's a rumor. - Was that a favor? - You'd take one inch, 10 hours, no. - I thought I'd cause that. - No, no, there was a baby there. I put the baby out of the house. - I said the disturbance of the forest. - I don't think you did that unless you pay a-- - I paid a fake point. I did. - You did. - I absolutely paid the fake point. - All right, so with you guys heading off towards the morgue, the three of you, and Ruppa heading off to his lab, we'll call it there for the night. - All right. - And I will continue next week. (upbeat music) - Thanks for listening to the Knights of the Night At Actual 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) - Bless you. - Good time. - Yeah, you held it nicely. - There are times. - Well done. - You growled there. - No, that was Bailey. - Yeah. (laughing) - I didn't start buzzing. - You were the dog. - It was a dog. - And Occam. - Occam. - Occam. (laughing) - He then later, Twitter the second time and said, "I love tweeted." - He said. - He said, "Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter." - He then tweeted a second. - Twitch. - What the fuck? - Tweet Tom. - Jesus. He then sent out a second Twitter. He then sent out a second Twitter and said, "I love Twitter." - Tweet. - Oh, okay. - Hey, Twitter. Nobody uses it anymore. Why are we even using it? - I understand, but-- - Tweet. - Okay. - Honestly, he's an old man. If he doesn't know how to say it, just auto-boating. - I'm an old man. I am an old man, but my son's not supposed to call me that. He then sent out a second. (laughing) - Gone. (laughing) - Tweet. (laughing) - Damn it, I'm sorry. - That's smooth. - He then sent out? - He's here. - Yes, but he is. (laughing) - He then. (laughing) - It took me three weeks to learn how to pronounce it. - We're gonna have a good deal. - We're gonna have a good deal. - Mike isn't even here. - I know, no shit. - When you do that. - He then sent out a second tweet. - Yes. - If you have any interest in RPGs, you gotta give them a shot. - Yeah, I'm not sure. - Mad, you don't like me. (laughing) - I'm not sure. - You mad at me. - Mad at him. - Mad at him. - I was thinking more aligns of, like those are like cheesy names for things. - I hadn't noticed. (laughing) - Maybe that's what his name was before he purchased it. It's a pre-existing building. It's called the kindle word tavern. He's gonna change it into something amazing. - And since he wants to-- - The commodity. - It can accorded ground place. Even though this has kind of been done with our pre-adventure. - Well that's more of a coffee house. - Yeah, 'cause I was looking at names online real quick. - Sure. - I came up, there was one called "Sufficient Grounds Cafe", "Sufficient Grounds", and "Hire Grounds". And I thought I could make it like the underground restaurant and have it like, like a chairs type of place where we go down the stairs to go back and forth. - In that case, I like higher grounds. 'Cause that's the actual restaurant. And then in a-- - Correct. - Underneath higher grounds is where the real action is. - Well, the higher grounds would be the restaurant and the underground will be where I served the-- - I've got it. - The non-human folks. It'll be a non-human side of a restaurant where we-- - A lot of times restaurants open up with kind of themes of ingredients they use. And this particular restaurant, it's not just a coffee house. It uses coffee in most of it's dishes. - So that's why it's called grounds. Because it's a coffee themed restaurant that uses fusions of coffee flavors in its dishes. - It's like a restaurant and cafe type of deal. - Sure. - There's a tea shop like that in the mall now. - It's really. - Yeah. - Tivana? - Whatever. - Yeah. - Tivana is-- - Tivana but tea. - All right. - Could be. - Close in place. - Pretty cheesy. - Yeah. - So cheesy was nacho business. That's pretty cheesy. - It was. It's not cheap. - Wow. (laughing) - So the main restaurant, it's called the hot ground in the no restaurant. It was in the underground. - Gotcha. What names? - This is our hair salon. That was literally called Curl Up and Die. - Nice. With the DIY. - Or that really shitty one. Luthrin. (laughing) - What's up? - I have 25th in Detroit. You know, learned by-- - That's not all. - That's really close. - Don't know. - Yeah, Luthrin. - Luthrin, yeah. That place is a hell hole. - Yeah, it is. - You just sprayed yourself in the air, Chew. - Yeah, trying to scare. - Yeah. - Anyways, you know what I'm talking about? - Or no? - I do. - Yeah, I just passed a West side market on the-- - Yeah, it's right before it got to the western side. - I only thought-- - I think Luthrin's over there. - Oh, no. Luthrin's-- - It's a hell hole. - It's-- - Why are we going there? - Oh, no, I'm just saying. It's the closest. Yeah, it's what that closest hospital was. They could be Metro. - Yeah, I'm not gonna-- - I'm not gonna be Metro. - I'm not gonna be Metro. And it's more-- I mean, they might take bodies there as-- - Yeah, I think it was an emergency that it's going to be-- - Yeah, maybe they could, but this one, they go to Metro. - He's one of the paychecks of Patriot, God. What the fuck am I talking about? You enjoy losing a jonx. - Don't have a joy. - Non-hebitiform. - Well, yes, I do. - I made you a character, too. - You can't-- - You're rusted for saying, right? - Got a lot of-- - It's swinging in character. - Oh, okay. - Penge it on? - I actually don't. - I wrote that for the last story. That's good. - Thank you. I'm trying to be a son of reference. - Very keen-eye. Besides-- (laughter) I wish you'd go straight to the toilet this time. (laughter) - I'm improving. (laughter) - If you got some-- - He needs a hair for tracking, Bob. He decides to go for a few pairs. - He passes the hair brush and goes for the pews on a toilet. (laughter) - Hey, go ahead and the last-- - Oh, pews. - There's a hat rack. - There's a hat rack. - There's a bathroom. There's a hair brush. Let me check it out. - What do you think this is? - Yeah. I whip it out. (laughter) - Excuse me. - What are you-- - Excuse me. - What are you doing?