Adventure - DeliveryScene name: The Other RockefellerThe Crew meets with Abigail Rockefeller and find out she is just as formidable as her sister Constance.
Knights of the Night
KOTN Actual Play Podcast 92: "Delivery - The Other Rockefeller"
(upbeat music) - Hello, and welcome to Night to the Night Act for the actual Play podcast. This Dresden File Story delivery was written in rock by your GM Tom. And now, please enjoy episode 92, titled, "The Other Rockefeller." (upbeat music) - All right, form of get started, we've got a little bit of feedback. We had some messages on Twitter. K.L.T.N. is for Python yet. I had a meal and they're said, K.L.T.N. podcast. I listened to the episodes one through 67 in the last six weeks, and they have hung out for every episode since. You guys should do a convention game. And we've actually had a number of people asking us for going to John Kahn. The answer is no. None of us are going to John Kahn. It doesn't fit into our schedule this year. And we don't typically go anyway, so. - Why isn't John Kahn in Wisconsin? - He used to be in Wisconsin. - It's in Indianapolis. - In Indianapolis. - It started one ago. - But you really have to plan like almost a full year to get hotel rooms. It's insane, so I'll stop the whole damn city. - And to be honest, that's a pretty interesting idea. I mean, it'd be fun to run a convention game. - Well, like I said, last week, we went to the Discon Dice convention, and that was an absolute blast, but the two guys that went with me, which are John and Thomas, which are Maxwell and Roberto in the game, neither of them get into playing with strangers. They're uncomfortable with the idea of, you know, role-playing in it. So it's not something they want to do. Let's go to a convention. I don't have a problem with that, but I did have some people kept asking me if I wanted to run a game and I'm a little layer of that. I'm not exactly sure. Yeah, there's no editing here. I can't edit to make me sound brilliant. But Mad Mulener had a second tweet in which he said, "It would be interesting to see you guys play something "that isn't a dark mystery to see how much "you can hit it out of the park." 'Cause, I mean, our two, our world of darkness, and our just and are both dark mystery. Right. I think we should play it more dark than others. Perenonia. I actually have a Perenonia mod. What is that? You don't remember Perenonia? I've never played Perenonia. Wow. I've actually played that once. It's fun. Perenonia's a Perenonia mod. I based and you have a number of clones and everyone, you've been living in an underground bunker for a while, so everybody's mutated. But according to the computer that runs it all, mutants are communist and they should die 'cause it's an old-style computer. And secrets are bad, so they should die. So everybody, of course, has a secret. And, you know, it just, it's-- With the world where everybody is, everybody's supposed to act normal, but everybody isn't normal. And when you point out somebody isn't normal, then you get to kill 'em. And the computer is actually in slow. In the computer, the world is running by computer, which is insane and detrimental to the world. That sounds really interesting. I've never played it. The hard part of it, it's just staying alive and seeing if you can keep all your own-- And if you don't, it's not a problem. 'Cause you just come back as a clone. You have so many clones before. So it's pretty interesting. Yeah, it's pretty well. It's like an older type game? Oh, yeah, it's old-style. I think I'm-- Steve Jackson gets it. Ah, yeah, I mean, I remember playing that probably in the early to mid-80s. I think, late 80s at the very beginning-- I don't know, no was mid-80s for sure. It was not late 80s. It was walking around my invisible shield before my tabletop did. She's a glass. Right. And trying to block bullets with it. (laughing) Thank you, computer. Yeah, you have another. That's the way. Yeah, so we should try. Well, we eventually will. They'll see other systems pop up. We're not married to these systems, it's just a phase we're in right now. And I'm still trying to get Fiasco to the table. And one night when some people call him, it's best with like three or four players, and there's no GM. And there's actually a paranoia mod where you could run a paranoia game. But it's hard to solve. Our last Twitter was from Blinky Behemoth, who said last tweet was from Blinky Behemoth, who said, "KOTN podcast." Your podcast is like a very, very good TV show, but once in a while, people were all nice, blue guys. (laughing) It's a nice observation. Yeah, I think he's just saying. Well, they were quite put in that fashion, so I kind of liked it. In addition to that, we have some email feedback from our feedback@totnpodcast.com email account. This is from Jason Thompson, who says, "Hey guys, I love your show." And I've listened avidly since you started the neutral grounds, and I've listened to all of the dress and file stuff. I tried briefly to listen to your world of darkness stuff, and I got lost. And I have the first two episodes. The actual first one was pretty rough. He goes on, "I have a question and a comment and a quest." The question for Scott with London, have you ever considered using your divination magic for anything beyond Dresden's tracking spell? There are several other types of spells that fall within the scope of divination. Direct, scrying, forecasting, prophecy, telepathy, psychometry, and various other kinds of sensory magic. And eloquent best, telepathy is legitimate, so what? - I don't know. That seems like mind manipulation. - I'm not sure that your character is-- - You're just reading it, you're not influencing it. - I mean, aren't you a-- - Binder of things. - Who's a daddler? - Aren't you just a focused practitioner? - Yeah, I'm a focused practitioner, and I have a relic, which is what allows me to do the spells, yes? - No, that's just you. The relic allowed you to make illusions. - Ah, sorry, the ceilings and the other things. - The ceilings and the veils, that's what I was looking for. - A focused practitioner is, well, it has varying definitions, but one of the things they could be is someone who's so good at one particular aspect of magic that they're able to reach beyond what it normally does. - Might not be what he is. - Right, maybe London can do more, he just doesn't know it. - Yes, or two, I didn't feel as if, well, first time in the system. - Right. - So I didn't really feel like, oh, as far as pushing the spells and the powers the way I could, and second, it seemed to be what was needed for this particular story, so I kind of stuck with it, 'cause it really fit his character as I created him in the concept, but certainly we'll be doing more and expanding more if it's possible within the system going into future stories. - Okay. - He goes on, the comment is on road spells. They've come up a few times, and the point of them is that the wizard's casting is so practiced that there's no chance of outright failure, backlash, or fallout. This spell goes off as though you had rolled a zero on the fudge dice, which I think is how we played it, or we tried to play it. We knew that, but we appreciate the comment because... - Maybe once we did. - I think in the beginning, we may not have no idea. - Right, I mean, there might be an extra language. - We didn't know that, yeah, so thank you. The request is that when you get back into your shit luck story, that you might have an episode that is a recap, and give a bit of background to the world. I myself was well versed in the Old World of Darkness stuff, but gave up in 2004 when they changed everything. - Previously on shit luck. - Exactly, right. Well, those are my thoughts, looking forward to many more episodes, Jason. - And yeah, and certainly a recap is in order. You know, I think that story was a long story, 16 chapters, which are 16 sessions, so there was a lot of information packed into those sessions. - I think it's gonna beat you. - I think it already has. - Which is amazing to me. - Are we coming up in our 100th episode? - We are indeed coming up in the 100th episode. - I've asked the fans last week to send in questions, not only on the end of the season and that whole thing, but since it's our 100th, feel free to ask us any questions and we'll gladly answer them. - The 100th be a feedback episode. - We should do a video response, so we'll do a cool one. - You really want to do a video response, Mike? - I do, sure. - I want everyone to know what Michael Clay looks like. - Good enough. You're gonna hold up your little picture in black? (laughing) - There's all these, like, right in this way. - They already know they've gone to the website. - Yeah, that's true. - And that's something to be said too, is maybe, I think it got lost in some of the purges of the databases, but we would have weekly recaps of what occurred, and that might be a lot of work. - Yeah, we do that. - To download or to view a Word doc each week to see where the story's at. - Well, it's not a bad idea, though. I mean, we're coming, we have a lot of new fans. I mean, a lot. We doubled at least when we added Dresden. And so, a lot of those people, if they want to stay and listen to us, they're gonna have no clue. Unless, of course, many of them, some of them dig back. - What if we try to put together a little primer, but just, we can do that. - We can do that sheet document to have some highlights and some of them. - Who's gonna take him no? - The previous one. - That's not bad. - Yeah. - All right, our other, and thank you, Jason. We appreciate you. - Oh, that was wonderful. - It was a good name in the end. Our other email was from Colter Guthrie, which is titled, "Open the fucking door." He put all kinds of symbols. I'm filling in the fucking stuff. I have been listening to you guys since you started your Dresden Files game, and I love it. So, great job. Well, I have been waiting for the Dresden Files episode. I started listening to the shit luck games, and I've heard about your playing styles in some of the Dresden File episodes, and how your games are pretty analytical and slow at times. And I saw that in some of the Dresden Files games. Holy crap. I sat there waiting for the siren group to open the door to some building for what I thought was a whole 30-minute episode. And now I realize what you guys were talking about before. Even though I'm yelling at my iPod for you to open the fucking door already, I still love the world of darkness games, so keep up the good work and looking forward to hearing more. - What's the time about when we went to assault the bee? - Probably when you're gonna assault the bee place. - And the sad part is that he was waiting for half hour and we discussed it for hours. - It was probably edited. (laughing) - It was probably an hour and a half. - And to be fair, too, to the new system, long-time GM or storyteller, it was just that we were going in the backyard of the game. 'Cause when we were going into the bee place, we were moving fast. I mean, comparative. - It could be a bad chance. - Yeah, it was in the game. - No, I don't think it was in the alone. - When I first heard him saying about opening the fucking door, I thought he was talking about the last Dresden episode we were-- - Well, you're sitting outside the door and already going. - Right. (laughing) - Right. - Maybe that's with myself, I think. - No, you were arguing that it was a waste of time, thereby wasting time. - Right. - Mm-hmm. - Real quick, what I was saying to him was that, even though I'm a long-time storyteller in GM, really the first full-blown world of darkness under the story that we had, I think pacing is something that we've improved upon, both in Dresden and now, hopefully, when we're starting sugar in here, you'll see some better pacing with the storyteller politely pushing the characters to maybe move a little bit quicker. - Yeah. - We ended his email with, I was also wondering, what world of darkness books you have and are using for the game, and I'm looking into maybe starting up a game after listening to you guys, and we'd like some input on what I need. - All of them. - Well, since we're running the Hunter, you know, obviously that's-- - We have the Blue Book, which is the base book. - Right. - We have the World of Darkness base book, we have the Hunter the Vigil, and-- - You were amazing. - As you said, Scott went out and bought most of the Splat book, so it's like the vampire version of Hunter and the-- - Yeah. - The werewolf and the serial killer one. - Serial killer one. - Yeah, sure. - And then we have also-- - Which find spirits? - Spirits. - Spirits. - Which is the werewolf. - And the, oh, the witches. Which finder and then the vampires is Night Stalker. - Right. - So we have that. I've also bought some other World of Darkness base books, like a book of spirits or relic warriors and things along those lines that I like to add a little bit of flavor, but to start up, you need nothing more than the Blue Book and Hunter the Vigil to run a Hunter campaign anyways. - Yeah. - If you're on a tight budget, keep to those. - Yeah. - And lastly, we have a couple of Facebook comments. - The first from Ari. - Ah. - We haven't heard from Ari now. - No, Ari. Good to hear from him. - Ari was commenting on episode 89, which was Knock Knock. That was the one that you were just mentioning, John. We were standing outside the door arguing for a long extended period. - And didn't fucking open it. - We opened the door. - We didn't open the door. - I know. - Every, yes, every game we have a-- - Despite the time we have a-- - We opened that door. - We have opened the fucking door episode. Ari says, wow. In all the episodes, this one takes the stand. The entry to the safe house was gripping. Literally, I was leaning forward as a situation progressed. And I was driving. And to boot, you had another very, all two familiar topic of secrets. That's the one where we started. We had feedback and we discussed secrets and how they should be dealt with, which is always a problem. So he says, the thing our party has dealt with a plenty. We use the method of stepping to my office. And for me personally, it's hard to play right if I know a secret of the character, but my character doesn't. And the reveal is so much juicier that way. - Hey, all the characters have them at some point. Some people do have problems with playing their character correctly if they know the secret. - Yeah, I mean, I think that it's a better reveal when people don't know. I can easily role play it. I don't have any problem with it. And I still find enjoyment when the reveal comes. It's still fun and still interesting. But if I didn't know it was coming, and I got slammed upside the head sideways because I didn't see it coming, I just gotta say that's probably cool. - Well, it's rather difficult because you have your aspects. - Right. - And if your aspect is I'm being controlled by a demon. - Yeah. Kind of hard to have that without. - It's what I thought you want to play. Because if you want to play it in a way that isn't quite as cooperative as we like playing it, you might have the characters not know each other's aspects. - Right. - Can I use aspect number three? - GM, no, no, no, shit, what you could do. - I mean, yeah, I don't know. I think either scenario is coming from. I think being surprised by someone's actions can have a lot of fun. I can see where he's saying it's kind of fun to have that unveiling, like holy crap. You were the one that was behind all those machinations. Kind of neat, but at the same time I can role play it and it doesn't have quite the same oomph, but it still is enjoyable. - I think it kind of depends on the secret. - That too. - No, we didn't finish ours and I'm sorry, are we not up to you there? But he says that the downside to this way of keeping it might be that the secret is not given more good stuff to play, which is kind of like other characters can't play off your secret. - Right. - If they don't know it. - Right. - And if they do know it they can kind of tweak it a little bit, but maybe it also might be hidden for too long and continues. Take more from the GM and the players to work for the rightful dramatic show and tell. So it's the same thing we were arguing, which it's better if we know about it because then we can have it feed in and make it more tense and just the right moment for it to be exposed. And he finishes with what else? Oh yeah, keep me hanging on the edge of my seats guys. So thank you already, we appreciate that feedback. Tom Rocket. - Bob, you're a fan. - Cheers. - Yes. - Tom Rocket said, "Great episode guys." And this is in reference to episode 91 enemy at the gate where you guys went through to the never, never. And the guys were waiting for you there. And we joked that it could be called Sledvana, but I really didn't want to name an episode Sledta. - Do we keep at least the joke in there? - 'Cause all the jokes definitely there. - Yeah, we have one at the end. - Female listeners. - And Rocket said, "Great episode guys. "Love the necklace side plot to secure the orchid. "Great interplay between the characters in London "who seems to be on his own side." - Hmm, yes, he does. - Which is definitely true. I actually talked to him. I actually spoke with Rocket on Facebook and chat. I had a really cool chat. He had a lot of really good ideas and I wish he would have submitted his feedback 'cause chat was really good. - I can't remember why he hates me so much, I hate it. - I could you were a sarcastic dick. - Two, sometimes. - Oh, 'cause you didn't mention like during the day. - Yeah, you would like be going off on your sarcasium during the evenings episodes and Rocket would be like totally ragging on you for being so sarcastic to the other players 'cause you were like, just always kind of like downplay others. And she was a little, you know, a little acerbic to start off with. He kind of mellowed a bit as the story went on. - Well, he definitely did not wanna be there. - Yes, he was gonna be from the clerks. - I'm supposed to be here today. (laughs) - This isn't, this isn't right. He must love London then, if he so. - Oh my gosh, I'm surprised he's not horinging London. - What, you don't like the Tsarist or anything out there? - Horinging. - Aserbic? - Find a hilarious thing. - I recognize him, so I don't know. - They were usable work. - Context is all I need. - So that's all we have from Facebook. Nothing new on the page. Keep using the Amazon link. - Feel free to go over and post on iTunes. It always helps us out guys. - What's the voting? - The vote, I don't know. I haven't checked on my online. - Is it in the link? - You pulled in the third place solidly. - Really? - You took Maxwell on, just swapped him on the nose and took third place. And then I took a lead from back in the first place from Roberto, which-- - It was a one point lead. - He's at a while and he knows that he was up by point. - Well, I was too-- - He had come. - It was a solid point. - He had come on, so far back. - At one point he didn't. - He was-- - I'm just letting you get all these different words. - Because there's-- - You must have, because there's a ton of votes have come in. - Well, there you go. - I'm sweet. - Roberto not only caught up but passed. - Yes, Roberto. - He's solidly in first with 22 votes and one day of featuring the latest episode. Why would that be? - I don't think we can ever predict that. I don't think we really can't predict it. - Alan got an additional vote, so he's up by two, 13. He's beating Maxwell with 11. - All those votes were the same subnet. - It's got to where-- (laughing) - And did-- Is there a buddy, Shwalski, Shatowski, Shatowski? - Oh my god, he was your teammate. - Well, Shatowski. - Shatowski, that was cool. - Yeah, he has four percent of the vote. - That's-- - Four percent of the three that he had last week. - I remember having two, so he got another vote somewhere. - Jim, that's a 50% increase. - Mm-hmm. - Sorry, buddy. - He had to look at the-- - We have to have an episode where you feature prominently and that always helps. - Yeah, maybe we'll lead off next game with him. - It'll be the main character featuring prominently. - All right, and with that, we will go on to the adventure. - So let's get started with this week's adventure delivery. I'm your GM, Tom, and starting on my left, the players are. - John, playing Roberto Martinez, Gary Neflivan, empowered by a fallen angel. - Thomas, playing Maxwell Edison, undercover FBI agent. - Mike, playing Ellen Montgomery, the new warden in town. Scott, playing London deals, a moral seer to the supernatural. And we are a short gym this week because he's celebrating his wedding anniversary, so. - You're right, congratulations, Jim. - He needed to be here. - It's kind of a bummer. - It is kind of a bummer. - Got married, but-- - Well, it's easier to sell him out if he's not here. - Sure enough. - Everybody get your fake points? - Absolutely. - Feel free to adjust around the skill points. So, last time, we left. You guys were discussing at-- - Where were you at, John? - We were at XO, which is a premier steakhouse in the warehouse district of downtown Cleveland. And actually, I think that she had just shown it up. - What? - We're gonna be doing a lot of talks today. - Would it be, why don't you need to change my empathy to five in exchange for my athletics since I probably wanted it? - If you plan to change me back at a later time? - Yeah, that's pretty much. - Okay. - What do you have to get? - The whole point, and I said this before-- - Good. - Was that this particular aspect of the game should be used to fine tune your character more into how you see him, not to the weekly advantageousness. - I did that with driving lunch? - Yes, I know. - You were loud. - I scowled it to you, though. - Let's set the aspects for the restaurant at XO. - London Exuding Confidence is definitely an aspect. - I would say quite sophistication. - We got background music of. - I would say probably maybe some classical music in the background 'cause it's one of the premier restaurants. - Low lighting? - Oh yeah. - Not crowded at all. As opposed to Tommy's where he barely can move, this is wide open. - So I would say quite sophistication. I would say low lighting. - Who's all at this meeting? - All of you. - Oh, snap again. - And the only thing that's been done for-- - Not here is-- - The child's come up. - And it's a Thursday night, is that what it is? I wanna say it's Thursday night. - Yeah, sure. - On December 2nd, if it's a weekday night in the warehouse district, it's probably not Pat in December. - Right, in dealing with Jim, let's just say he got a call from work. So he's not at this particular meeting at this meeting. - Okay. - And that leads you guys alone to meet with Abigail. - Who? - Give a alertness roll. - I rolled plus one, making my alertness great. - I rolled plus two on my fudge, which makes my alertness fair. - Yeah, makes yours great, plus two. - Nice. - And I have a plus three on my fudge, which makes my alertness go from good to fantastic. - Oh, plus one on the fudge, and I have a good alertness, so I rolled a great total. - Okay, Ellen definitely notices when she arrives at the entrance, like two steps behind her or two other men, but as she spots you and walks towards you table, she glances backwards and they go off and sit at another nearby table. - But they're watching us. - It appears. - You're the only one that rolled high enough to notice that. The rest of you noticed her coming in. - Right. Under my breath, I'll kind of mention that she has protection sitting at the bar at two o'clock. - Right. - And I stand up, in case the barbarian's around me, you know, I kind of-- - Do not stand up with this. - Stand up, put out my hand. Washante, nice to see you. - All right, stand up and buy as her owner is good. - Yes, and I make introductions, making it set with a flourish, of course. - Stand up and buy 'em. - It's the nice thing to do with you, lady. - And I say, I'll straight kick my ass. - Abigail, I'd like to introduce you to the current warden in Cleveland, Ohio, Allen Montgomery. - I have not heard there was a new warden in town. - I have taken over duties from Bill Dunn. - Who seeks to-- - I hope everything's okay with Bill. - No, your sister's clothes are all finished, right? - Yeah, I think it's okay. - One of the reasons why we invited you to this fight-- - As you said to me, I assumed that it was just you and I, and now I find out it is much more. - Yes, and it's, I realize that it may seem in a typical negotiation-- - Like a negotiation. - That we brought people along who, you know, to have the numbers, but certainly isn't the case. And if you'd like to invite your two friends to the table, you're more than welcome to. These gentlemen have an introduced Maxwell Edison, and I introduce Roberto Martinez. Roberto being someone who works for me, and Maxwell, someone who works with a detective agency in town. I introduce him, get them a full introduction. - Right. - And I tell her that it's only because they have a vested interest in this conversation that they're here. They're not here for support or to give us the number. So if you'd like your gentleman to join us for dinner, it's on-- - Are you wondering if there's some reason I need to bring more-- - Absolutely not, I just want you to be as comfortable as possible during this dinner arrangement. - You do have a history with this lady. - Yes. - You know, she is a fiery bitch. She can argue way better than her sister did. As far as she's very forceful personality. - Right. - So-- - I think it's quick nap before we get started. - She's going to be on a gale, I need a nap. And I need to get some faith points back. - What's your conversations? - She's just a spitfire. - Yeah, sure. - And she is very aggressive in her inner, just you had a relationship with her, you know this. - Sure. - While the conversation's happening, we all have turns to go and social order and whatnot. - Right. - And I could lay down some maneuvers. - Yes, support the living shit out of me during this conversation. Anybody who wants to, anybody who can. - If we never sign her on, all the consequences and damage you take during this social conflict, get converted into faith points that we can then use to pull off magnificent illusions. - Yes. - On dolls. - Yeah, exactly. - So I ask her if the Chateau Lamont, if that particular is still her wine of choice for the evening, or would she like something else from the cellar? - I believe that she's nice. - All right, so that I give a quick wave over to the Matra D and I order several bottles of wine, one of them being shipped on a Lamont. And do some appetizers that I know that she's enjoyed in the past and start with some small talk about what's been happening. I don't want to just jump right into it. It's like a seduction in a way. - Do you have rapport? - I have a little bit of rapport. I use more of my presence and just my fondness to get through things, but I do have a bit of rapport. - I think I'm going to the last time we play it as well, but that's a pretty good thing to have for your character. - Yes, and I will eventually bump it up. I kind of knocked it down to a low level for several reasons, but for a, from a player standpoint, I had it low because London's used to like winning it more than really like empathizing with people. So I think he's learning empathy. It doesn't really show, I don't think, you know, in his disposition, but he actually is learning that he needs people when things go wrong. And so from that aspect, I hope to raise the rapport in the future. - Right, actions like these, so you're laying down the table so that, you know, a few things in a nicer way are kind of, they could be maneuvers using. - Could be the, yeah, the purview of that particular skill. So I lay down just some commonalities in Cleveland, just talking about the casino being built downtown and just things that are current event type situation. - It's like December, so it's far from being done in our world. - Oh my gosh, yes. - But is that from the Ronaldi family? - Yes. - It would have to be. - Okay, absolutely. - And I'm not sharing it right now, as far as downtown, they're looking at downtown, but they're also looking at the east side where they're current, this'll down headquarters is. - So they're, can I provide the station that would be? - That would be terrible downtown is such a much better place. - Yes, of course, we know. So I lay the groundwork, lay the wine, the appetizers. Like I said, I do a good job, hopefully of just making small talk. And then I start to ease my way into the current situation. I start describing what's occurred. - Okay. - The disappearance of Mr. Donovan, who we eventually traced to your sister. - Let's get an empathy roll from everyone. Just determine how we're gonna deal with. - Average. - I don't empathize. - Almost this. - Do I need to bother? - If you wish to. - If they're gonna be, you can be hell way. - Yes, you will, okay. All I can do is lay down intimidation, which doesn't seem a much smart idea. - Yeah. - You're a good thing too, 'cause I ain't goin' any time soon. - He wrote minus three on his stuff. - Yours was average. - I don't have an empathy. - What is minus three? It's beyond terrible. - Don't look up. - Well, I think, you know what, Roberto, you're so focused on the two logs in the corner and making sure you protect us. - Look at my social conflict. - You're like initiative. - Yeah, you're totally focused on the physical. - I made up a new one, minus three is suck ass. - Look up. - It has suck ass. - I think you go with suck ass. - Yeah, suck ass. - No suck ass. - Alan? - I had zero on the fudge, so my empathy is fair. - Positive one on the fudge, my empathy is already great, so it comes out to superb. - Yours was superb, and that is actually better than hers. - Next one. - I really know what to say first. - No, no, don't say anything. - Yeah. - Are you trying to make this a maneuver? - No, I'm not trying to make it a maneuver. - Okay. - I'm just explaining the situation as to why we're all sitting at this table right now. With the noticeable exception of the ghouls, because I don't want to reveal an entire kingdom of ghouls from your command. - Yeah, that are under a command. So I just want to let her know why we're here. We're here because-- - That's refrigerated. - We're here because Constance has forced our hand. She believes that this child has the ability to aid her in her research and tip the scales in her favor as opposed to yours, and now I start to work on a maneuver and start to work socially on gaining her acceptance. - Right. - Which listens to it for a while, and then hits you hard with intimidation. Coming back with London, you brought me here on a false pretech. And now you're starting to give me some sob story. Involving my sister as if I want to be involved with her and some kind of problem that you have to deal with. This is not our usual way of dealing. - Okay, what you got? What you got, what you got, what you got? - She's got a superb intimidation as she comes back with you hitting me hard with a kind of, what the fuck? - Is there any one thing about the power? - If there's one thing London doesn't do is buckle easily under pressure. I rolled +2 on my fudge, which gave me a legendary response to her. - I'm using presence 'cause I'm not easily intimidated. - I was gonna help out, but I'm gonna sit back and watch the master work. - Yeah, it is actually your turn after her, and you're like taking it back at how aggressively she came at him. - Right. - But London's giving me an indication like, "I got this." And he doesn't seem at all flustered. - No, but what I will say for the table is London's kind of acting as my agent, and I'm the one who kind of asked him to talk to her. So that anger directed at him is probably my fault. So you like to use a maneuver in some way too? - If in what he needs it, 'cause right now he's got a flow going. I don't want to interfere with his flow, but if it comes up where he's like, "She's getting to a place of her head." - It is your turn. Do you speak, or do you wait? Well, London, like I said, doesn't seem flustered by what she just said. - I'm stepping wide while she's yelling at me. - Right, but is this a situation where it's like, well, London is only doing what I have asked him to do on behalf of-- - That's a perfectly valid thing? Is that what you're doing? - Yes. - What, I would like to say, I'm sorry. - What skill do you want to use to do that? - I could do this though, could I not? Like under the table, just a little-- - Yeah, you could hold a hand out and stop it. - All right, then I will simply arch my eyebrow and listen to this with a bemused, but serious expression. - Yeah, you start with that, and he's-- - That's a bit of someone. - Under the table, giving you a-- - Right. - Right, signal. - He gives me the signal. - Right. - And then you-- - It is your turn to actually London. - Yes, and I say, "All right, might be your abigail." You were fully aware that I intended to ask for your help in this little escapade that you so aptly described, and so falsely as well. You knew you said that we needed to meet in person for any type of help that we might be able to procure, but more importantly, this is not something that affects me all that much. I've already been forgiven by your sister, and have no longer under her ill will or onus. So why I brought you here is simply because I know how hard you've strived to get to a point where your research, if we shall say, would bear some fruit, and your sister is mere hours away from undermining 100 years of work. So while I appreciate your candor, I also think that you're actually misrepresenting our previous conversation just a bit, and I would never call you here to waste your time. You're right, I don't deal like that. And that's my, just a, I just, I don't even fight back. I just-- - Right, that was your-- - That was my answer to-- - Defense, yeah. - To show her that you weren't at all ruffled by the attack. - And then, on my turn, if that works. - Sure, I mean, you succeeded in defense, so you are not ruffled and you conveyed to her that you're not ruffled. - Would you not say that your sister accomplishing her life's long goal of her medical research would be something that you would like to sit down and discuss if someone was privy to that knowledge? - Wouldn't you agree, Abigail? And that's my rebuttal. - Wow. - Wow. How is that possible? - There's a dice, it's actually-- - Somebody needs to get a cell phone and take that picture of that for-- - Actually pointing straight up, as opposed to, don't change anything. - Yes, I'll just step back so I'm not in the picture. It'd actually be a plus just to be a plus, but I will re-roll the dice. Get a flyer. I just fell over to a plus. I was in re-roll, they went, "But I didn't get a fell over." I rolled a plus two on my very interesting fudge roll, and that is really massively interesting 'cause that wasn't on it, that was-- - Yeah, there's no-- - There's no scene. - There's no scene, right. - Think my tail? - No, it's-- - No, but there is a scene, but it's over here. This is the scene. - That is funny. - So a plus two, I started off at Fantastic with my prize and hoped it would bring me up the legendary, getting hurt to acquiesce that my reason for bringing your hair was valid and was important. - Okay, so her defense she won't take it? - Perhaps she will use discipline to not show you how interested she is in this-- - Emotional control. It sounds like it should be right up at a length. - Yee. Minus one on the fudge for a superb discipline. - Okay, so that's a plus three. - Yeah, not a good one, so she takes three. - She's merely human. (laughing) - Not like the best human can be free in the social conflict. - She rolled a superb, is that right? So she is fantastic as well with her discipline. - Yes. - Damn. - She rolled a master. - She is fantastic. - It will be-- - She is indeed a spellcaster. - It will be difficult. - Yes, I mean, obviously we are friends this London, and I would appreciate-- - Now your friends. - Now we're friends, that's all I really wanted to establish. - And I would appreciate your notifying me of my sister's deals and manipulations, and if something were coming to fruition. - Fourition? - Yes. - Fourition. - See, you can make up words. - Yeah, I can, and I-- - You gotta go with it. - So I do certainly appreciate that, and I am mildly interested in, shall we say, getting on the right side of the new warden in town. - So that's just her talking. - That was a response to my, that wasn't her own. - No, that wasn't her own. And in fact, Roberto and Max will have a chance to do something before she gets in it. - I'd politely acknowledge for comment, raise my glass and somebody. - Nothing? - No. - That's fine. - I just want to get you to ask anything up. - Not yet. - Say not. - Yeah. - Not yet. - Okay, so where did she come back with? - She just acquiesces. - No, she's just gonna be with me. - This is really good information, thank you London. - I appreciate it. - This is a great idea. - Okay, it's worth my time. What do you got? - Imagine you're almost like a movie producer. - All right, kid, you got you five minutes. - What do you got? - What do you got? - What do you got? - What do you got? - What do you got? - It's a cigar. - What kind of bullshit is this? - You. - Now, I'm quite sure you know the research I've been doing at University Hospital. And we are getting results. Unfortunately, not exactly the positive results we bought. And it's come to our attention that what Constance is doing could possibly be used in conjunction with what we are doing. Now, let us discuss what you want from me and I will discuss what I want from you. - Well, I don't think I disagree with that. We don't have to fight a battle there, do we? Or do we have to? - Because we need to get-- - Unless she was trying to get you. - No, she's not particularly trying to force you to do anything. - I think we actually have some common grounds. There's some points that we won't have to fight about. And I think I actually agree with her. We need to do something for her. She's not trying to force you to do anything or damage you in any way. - Right. This appears to be an opportunity. - Yes, it does seem to be one. Hopefully, I won't fuck it up. - So yes, I think we should just cut to the chase. The appetizers were fantastic. And the main course would be here shortly. So let's get to the point. Let's get to the meat of the matter, if you will. Yes. - Should I delay my turn so that we can hear what she has to say and then maybe I can set up something for you to combat? - Absolutely. I will do that next time. - You can do it now. - Okay. - 'Cause we're kind of just talking free-vriving right now. I don't need it right now, but yeah, I'll do that. - See. And here's where I'm at. I can negotiate and fight with her tooth and nails to give her a flippin' orchid, instead of anything else that she really wants. And I might even be able to win. But if I offer her Jim's blood, I don't even know if I'm gonna have to fight with her. - So, what are you supposed to do as a maneuver user? - I almost think that I'm gonna... Now that I've seen her, like her layout at the table, and that she's actually... Let's play that a little farther, because what you might want is not necessarily Jim. - Well, she thinks she wants the child right now, but she doesn't. She doesn't know that, but she doesn't. - No, she doesn't. - What? - She doesn't. - She doesn't want the child, or she doesn't know that. - She doesn't know what the child's tooth looks. - Well, I did lay the groundwork. - How much have you told her about the child? - I told her that the child is what her sister is looking for, and she believes that the child is a unique alchemy that she can tap into to solve her problems. I don't go too far with... 'Cause I don't wanna tell her... I mean, I want to give her enough, but not too much. - So, what she wants to explain to you is that she's aware of the situation with her sister, and that her sister's constants might be coming to her final solution. - Because of the child that I'm bringing to her knowledge. - Yes, Dennis. - She's saying that her sister's research could help her out. - Yes. - And I don't think she meant it as together. I think she meant it as... - Well, here's the thing she explains to you. She has been achieving success in removing the vampiric nature from black court vampires, but the end result is that the person dies because they don't have a soul in which to continue to live. So she's saying that the original research, not the use of the baby, might be enough for her to be able to succeed in her actions. - Her sister's research? - Yes. - It would be totally enough. - You don't use a black court dead part with the soul of a child, then remove the black court power, and you have a living person return to life. - Right. Yeah, I'm not arguing, but they're not working together from my perspective. - Exactly. So, perhaps you can find that information for me, provide me with, yeah, Mike's making a nice face across the field. - So, here's where we're at. We have an oath. We were bound by your sister with an oath. - Oh, whoa, he, I'm bound by an oath. - Well, to some extent, I haven't bound to it as well. - Well, I'm not. - Right. - Just so you know. - So I described in a very brief overview, the oath that we were forced to take when we uncovered the whereabouts of the former warden of Cleveland, Mr. Donovan. And I assume that she changes her stare from London to Allen, that perhaps London doesn't know the severity of this oath, but I'm sure you do. - Very much so. The gold Donovan compromise, and stuff's had to be taken to fulfill the duties of the warden here in Cleveland. - Honest fan in Cleveland, how am I interested? - I've only been here a short while now. I'm gonna explain it, it's the hard time to get myself. So. - Thanks for listening to the Knights of the Night 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 form 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 podcast or business, please visit Zenaudiosmith.com and please join us next episode for more mystery and adventure. (upbeat music) - Wow, wow, how is that possible? - There's a dice, it's actually-- - Somebody needs to get a cell phone to take that picture of that for-- - Actually pointing straight up as opposed to that, it don't change anything. - Yes. Honest fan included, I'm very interested. I've only been here a short while, man.