Tensions run high as the group comes back together. Now with a possible “friendly?” vampire on the loose, will the team be able to come up with a plan that won’t end with all their deaths?
Actual Play starts at 3:33
Knights of the Night
KOTN Actual Play Podcast 84: "Delivery - One Quiet Night"
(upbeat music) - Hello, and welcome to Night to the Night Actual Play podcast. This Dresden Fowl Story delivery was written and run by our GM Tom. And now, please enjoy episode 84, titled One Quiet Night. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Okay, before we get started, we just have one little bit of fun back. And that's from the Facebook account, Jim. I'm gonna let you read this. - Taylor McClure says, "So after several months, "I've just got through listening "to your entire body of work so far, "both the world of darkness and Dresden campaigns. "Keep it up." - Oh, you think? - Listen, Taylor. A lot of listening. - That's it. - It's some 80 hours of-- - Yeah, just that's embarrassing. - Dedicated to listening. - But, you know, I didn't notice. He didn't say you were-- - It was good about it. - He didn't say you're like, "What?" - He just said, "Keep it up." - Keep it up. - I assume that he wants-- - If he wants through both of them, he had at least like one of them. - It wasn't, no, please. No, please stop, guys. Really. - Okay, so you're sleeping. - I've done that on certain podcasts, yes. - And, of course, before we get into the adventure, if you could, visit kotnpodcast.com. Right-hand side, very first thing, is the RPG podcast listener survey. Take you five minutes to take it. Check us off as someone you listen to. Below that is references to the Justin Files books on Amazon and the link right below it. If you could click through that link, if you're gonna buy something on Amazon, we get a little bit of credit that helps pay for the podcast. And, last but not least, who was your favorite delivery character, Paul? We had some 40 votes at this point. - That's enough. - We had in Holton's study at 13. Roberto, with 10. Maxwell made a bit of a drive with eight. - Yeah, eight. - This was after, yeah. He stole the black boy vampire, and you guys chased him down, and you wanted to kill him in a car. He wanted to run him down in the car. - Yeah, so is that you think people that are changing their vote based on what they listen? - You think they actually changed? - You have sex in Jim history. So, the word "nastics." - Not the basement, have you lost votes? I mean-- - I thought I've had like eight, I think my high was eight, 'cause I think I was tied with somebody for a while maybe. - But you and John were tied, so you and Alberto were tied. - I thought-- - But I don't know what number that was. - Yeah, the number eight, six in my head, but not that I was watching the stass, and, you know, kinda crying in my soup every time I'm trying to sleep. - I mean, even your favorite fan said, you know, he couldn't vote for you. - I know, well, what was that? - Rocket or, was that Murky or whatever? - It was Murky, you can't believe it. - I'm sure it wasn't the most annoying player. - Even when you do nine things, you get votes. (laughing) 'Cause London's winning. (laughing) - There's some validity to that. - Yes, indeed. But with that, we thank everybody for those that are using the Amazon link and those that have done the survey, and obviously those that have voted. And let's get on with the adventure. - This is our Justin File Story delivery. I'm your GM Tom, and starting on my left is John, playing Roberto Martinez, Guardian of Cleveland, and powered by a fallen angel. - Thomas, playing Maxwell Edison, and undercover FBI agent. - Mike, playing Alan Montgomery, the new Warden in town. - Scott, playing London Deals, a moral seer to the supernatural. - Jim, playing Edmund Shadowski, prior investigator and new world black court fan. - I think the baby should go to child services. - I'm willing to pencil that in as an option. - Let's stick a pin in it. - Why do we need to do anything more? Don't you want to solve this and move on to more pressing issues? - Well, I'm finding that there's a ton of stuff that's all wrapped up in all of this. But until I clarify who has the legitimate, honorable claim on the custody of the child. - They are not honorable. They're not legitimate. - Are they? - No, they're not. - I think you're talking in the school here. - No, I don't think I am. I work for a lot of faith, magicians, and vampires. - Okay, well I'm saying, I think-- - And handing a baby that has special powers back to a faith father, we didn't care about it in the first place. - You're facts, not in evidence. You do not know that. - That's gotta be almost as crazy as handing the baby over to Constance. - It's a bad idea. - Do we go? - No, it's an unknown. I'm all the same as we need. - Do we have a known? - Oh my God. - What is the problem with a known? Hand her off where no one could ever find her. What is wrong with that idea? Why are you fighting that idea? - I'm not fighting that idea. - Yes, you are. - I said it was a peasant that I considered as an option. - That's gotta fight in the idea. That's acknowledging it, that the idea has merit, but can we continue on to some other aspects of this story? - Which is, find a faith father. The one-- - Or this identify who it is. - You don't have children, London, I'm guessing? - No, I do not. - Okay, so-- - No, look at that, 100. - Well, far as I know. - I'm just saying that this child might have a legitimate father that is not the rapist that somebody assumed. We don't know what the situation was there. - And let's figure out. - That's fun, it's right now. - It doesn't work better. - It doesn't work that way. - Do we have to track down a faith now? - To calm your, I don't know, longing, to reunite a baby with-- - You're getting beyond your man. - It's just a father. - No, are you saying that you don't want to-- - Are you saying that you don't want to track down the father? - I'm saying that you've already agreed to do it. - Right, I understand that. - I'm saying I don't see it as hard and necessary. - So, are you going back against your word? - No, I'm saying why do you-- - I don't know why we're talking about it. - You are against us as it's a complication. No, I'm against it that it's the worst idea. I've ever heard of before in my life. - I mean, you should have agreed not to do it an hour ago. - This child could be the prince of a failed part. If we give it away or hide it, give it to children's services, who knows what type of long range-- - Long, kind of bad shit though. - Who knows what could be the result? - I see it as being the least likely of any bad things happening. - But, I think, highly out of such power, we kind of have to know where it's from. - I think he's arguing the very first step is to tap his ghost. - And that's what I'm trying to get to that point. I'm going to have a little sense, a little commune with the ghost, try to get some of those answers. And if it's bad news, all right, that option, which I'm also trying to get extra firepower for the Constance Challenge, then, yeah, that's too dangerous of a thing. I'm also trying to tap that second, the bounds of my own. So, that's the issue one. Hey, I've already got your word that you're going to do. - Correct. - So, I don't necessarily-- - I'm just trying to get into this, not necessary. - I acknowledge, but I want to move on. - Okay. - Okay, we move on. - Second, I think in all the excitement of what we just went through, we've forgotten that there is another sister. Or at least, I shall say, I've forgotten that there's another sister who, now that I recall, I'm starting to think a little bit clearer after I've had this trot them off, is that Constance was the more, the more blackboard vampires go, the darker, the more sinister side. Abigail Rockefeller was working on a cure for something for that. - I don't think Abigail is, this child is an vampire, just saying. I wouldn't trust him with any of the sisters if it were necessary. - I don't know if he's going there. - Maybe you're trying to enlist Abigail against Constance? - I was saying that I think we should, well, no, actually, I wasn't directing me to enlist Abigail against Constance. I was going to try to enlist Abigail to resolve Megan. 'Cause if the issue is Megan to cure her of her situation, I'd like to know what type of research methodology that Abigail's involved in. - That would be the only, how do you think that you could save Megan if we're not gonna be using Janice to save her? - I would like to pursue that, and I'd like to explore what that means. - I'd like to just as a reminder, Abigail is, she is Rockefeller, and she is the head of the University Hospital. And her shoes seem to be-- - To eradicate Vampirism. - She wasn't secured, but her mother's got it for something that's really better worth it or eradicate. - So, I'm thinking that there's an opportunity that here, you know, Megan was recently turned, she's got this condition, Constance is promising things, but I'm not confident that she's gonna, she's trying to, fuck this as hard as we're trying to fuck her in a way. - Right. - So I want to explore that, but I, what's your best case scenario? - The end game. - Could you give me your best case scenario? - And I'm not that big of that being argumentative. - I know. - I want to hear it. - What I would like to see is recover the child from the undertown in a way that doesn't get them chasing after us too much or whatever. - Right. - So he was covered with child. - We contacted, or at least determined, the provenance of Janis, and whether the father is someone that we can appeal to or not. - Yes, yes, yes, all right. - Then we get to the handoff, what happens? - And we've also contacted, hopefully Abigail, before then, to clear the way for dealing with Megan, because Megan is a loose cannon now, even more so, because now, Crispy Bruce is on his way to find her-- - Yes, yes, yes, yes. - We're all trying to find her. - And we get it there. - Oh, well, well, well, well. - There's predecessors that you have to be established. - You know, there's predecessors that we either have to talk about it. - How does the best case scenario come out at the end? Or in the room, what happens? - And Megan doesn't have a fear. - None of our own work against our own ends, we show up to the thing-- - Yes, you don't have any fire. - No, no, no, no, no, we have brought her before Constance. - Yes. - The father comes, takes Janis back to the never-never. We've fulfilled our part of the bargain. Bill, unfortunately, under the doom of Dennis, please, he ducked his death curse, and we get out before it gets too crazy. - Constance ain't gonna sit here, while the handoff goes to some guy coming out of a giant green portal. - Well, and that singer isn't a risk, and if you don't wanna be a part of it, I understand. - Well, no, this baby could die. What I understand, what I'm suggesting, perhaps, is Abigail and Constance are fierce competitors. Perhaps it would behoove us. We can't get out from under the Constance thumb anyway. That description you just gave, he doesn't get us off the hook. - It does. - We fulfill that from Constance's point of view. - I mean, the whole thing is coming after you. There's no question about that. She's coming after you. - Wait, I'm crazy. - You're the one who agreed to give her the baby into her hand. - You're the one who pissed her off a lot. - I did. - She's gonna come at you first, and then she's gonna come after me. - The point is, your best-case scenario doesn't solve a problem. - Then come up with an alternative. - I'm trying to. Do you think it might be, again, I'm not trying to be argumentative, I'm trying to help. Do you think it might be in our best interest to contact Abigail? - Yes, that's right. - I'm trying to enlist her as a protector of both the child and us during the handoff, which never will have. - Well, I agree that we need to explore her as... - I like what you were coming up with, but I think you need to go further, and we need to place Abigail between us and Constance. - I think you can have a little bit of everything in this pie. - I think the more people we involve, the more it gets screw up. - And I'm not sure why we're going for everybody. - There's no... - Well, there's no one. - Because he has the answer in no offense, of course, Alan. - I hear. - I'm not trying to be difficult, but Alan's best case scenario still has me and him dying at the end of it, in problem with you as well. - That's fun. - Not as a good character, but just in general, if you have a third party observer to the entire trade-off, and we're the ones walking in, ready to back out of it, the kind of thing I got. Abigail can't be just on her side. - Well, she could, but then she wouldn't have it. - I don't think that's... - Well, I don't know. She's an unknown quantity right now. - Oh, she is, Father. And I just think, all I'm saying is that... - To be fair, I didn't think of using Abigail to directly confront Constance. I saw Abigail as a behind the... - I think she'd already chance to live. - Well, I saw Abigail more as trying to run interference against the Megan interference that we're now being had. - I know offense. I don't know if I'm concerned with my own life, than Megan's. - No, she's a veteran. - She's a veteran, which that's gonna interfere with what we're doing. - Potentially, yes. I understand that factor. - All right, I'm just saying, I think Abigail has, you know, these are what's used as a possible counterweight to contact us. - And if we have to come inside now. - No, no, but if we can use Abigail also as a way to help heal or cure Megan, this is also hopefully a way to go to resolving some of the issues that Maxwell and Edmund have brought. - Are these also all here? - They do, right? - Drink them out. - I'm putting my head on the table. - Okay, I wanna ask a quick question as Jim, what do you guys think could be accomplished with a dust curse? - You had time to talk to Big Bill, and you planned something. We have to retrofit that. What is that something? What is the big curse Bill's gonna lay down when you take him out? - The only thing I could think of is that Bill's big curse would weaken her enough that someone can hit her and either take her out or at least put her out of her. - If she's as big a bet as playful as that going down. - Right, right. - I'm not quite sure. - That's what I said, if, no. - What about if the curse is weakened? - She could not interfere with us. - Right, I'm going for a stalemate affair. - Hey, a stalemate is a victory. - The stalemate means she can't come back after us after the deal doesn't go down. - That's what, I don't want it to be an explosion. I don't want it to be like it's gonna lie alone and you know. I don't know how to say other than it's gonna be some kind of stalemate that somehow she can't cop-lock her. - That's all we got. - I was hoping I was well dead. - Cripple, her magic. - But she can still send some agents of undead against us. - Because we can't hold up against us. - But if she's not the magic, could she? - You know, she's brought in a friend. I think we can take her down. - If I had a big buffet and her, her. - I mean, I guess that could be, that could be an option for the death curse. - I'm not seeing her going down. - Is this your option? - This is something that I don't know. I just, I see it more as a stalemate attempt. - No, I'm not offering anything. I'm just saying that that's a big component you guys have to address is what can that death curse accomplish? - Oh, you can turn this under. - Yeah. - Just, she's totally death. - And you don't want to remember anything that happened for the whole story. - Oh, even better. I like this better. - Abigail, I like her memory with it. - Is a majorly caster. She has major magic power. She is not a vampire. Constance is both of those. She is both more than her. - No. - We've got, I think two options. We've got the curse that possibly make her not be able to retaliate directly or indirectly against us. And we have Abigail that may be able to use as a protector, a shield against Constance's vengeance. - Yeah, don't, don't Black Court vampires have that? - And she could help something with that. And we also like to explore the situation of the father. Right? Because yes, keeping families together is important. - Don't raise families. - Doesn't define a character. - Don't Black Court vampires, the big ones have to go into sleep mode where we want some hibernation or whatever they have. - You hope we're gonna talk. - Yeah. - Just slap her in the token. - Yeah. - Maybe the death curse can snap her into a long term. - Hopefully. - That's not a bad idea, I don't know. - That's not a bad idea though. - I mean, she's a stasis right there. - I do, I do. - That's fine. - He's big head. - Big head. - Big head. - Big head, shadowski. - For a little bit, I just want to see what my character is kind of based off of what it looks like and supposed to be related to. Let's look up Big Chuck and Little John or Big Chuck and Little Hand out. - Well actually. - There's tons of skits out of you. - There's a picture of him on the edge of your character. - Yeah, there's tons of skits of, that they didn't open up on YouTube to get a ton of it out there. - Anyways, refocus? - Refocus. So we, the first quarter business. - Okay. - The baby day. - One quick aside, I'm assuming, I'm assuming that Allen did the mumble spell that he likes to do for the table because of all the things you discussed. - I didn't say it. - Yeah. - So Mark up the stress there, buddy. - Who would I have it? - I'm just going to call it a silent veil or a muffle veil. - Oh gosh, oh she's good. - I know, but it's a veil, right? Or a shield or a block or a. - I think it's a, it's. - It's a aspect or a tag or a block. - Whatever you want. - It's going to work until you say. - Maneuver. - Air Maneuver to silence the table. - Can we all agree with the quorum here that we are going to go find the-- - Maxwell gets up, runs out of the room. - Father. - I'll do that, that's why I shoot him. (laughing) - I know, but can we all agree that finding the father is at least a-- - You have a blood sample. - You know, I'm going to ask you to find the father. I can do that. - Right. - You just need to know where to go. - Why don't we need to find-- - Well, I'm not necessarily trying to physically locate him. I wanted to try to psychically communicate with him. - Personally, I think they're smelly and noisy, but I think rescuing the baby first should be our first priority. - At least. - We don't have to hand them over, but it's with a ghoul for my own. - Well, I tell you what. - There's a lot of different things going on. - How do you like to have a big powerful fate daddy 20 with us to rescue the baby? - Well, then we might not even get it to the agreement table. - Oh, there you go. - So, it's a-- - See, it's a great delicate balance, which makes it even better when it's something to come up with. - It might be smelly and stinky, you're really noisy, but it's actually a very good parking chip for us. And that's how I look at it. - Oh yeah, I agree that maybe the child will first-- - The first thing is, what would you say? - I need to commune with Sarah. - Get some information before I attempt any communication with the father. - Right. - So, that's that. I also-- - The best time to talk to Go, sir, obviously at night, with my little nails, so the night is coming. - As long as you can tell me where I need to go, I can go after the baby myself. - Actually, you guys are the last ones to have contact with Crispy Bruce. - And his smack comes across the table and it's magical. - I think the last thing that he was knowing is that we wanted to talk to her. - Yeah, he was leading you to go meet with her, right? - Yeah. - Are you guys or is he leading you? - He was leading us to the place where she used to hang out and he's pretty sure she wouldn't be there. - Pretty sure she would or would not? - He would say you'd be easier to find her at night when she's about and active and we never got that far and then he went in there and said, "Oh, they're gonna kill you, you better run." - If you're gonna track him down, the further I am, the more likely it is to talk to you. - The further away, or actually, by all accounts, it seems like he'd be terrified if he wouldn't start tripping like a bird if he were trying to swim. - He'd fly away like a bat. - That's funny. - How are you gonna handle that? - I'm not going there. I'm gonna get the baby. - We're not ready to go down. - I am. - You're gonna do it all the time. - Just tell me where to go. - Yeah, yeah. - You don't think I can handle who? - Can you handle who? - It's probably the handle of who before. - It's not just you walk down there, you walk down a river. It's not like you just walk down in the under dark. - I do think all five of us should go together. - Right. - To go with-- - These are the most dangerous. - The underdark is a dangerous place. - It's not you just walk down an empty hallway, you see you go there and say you're taking a baby. - Okay. - It's just-- - I think you can't go ahead. - There are some nasty-- - I mean, you don't listen to me-- - Watch some of these down there. - The strongest things will be way-- - What do you want about? - I don't remember-- - Your maintenance is too up. John's been a good listener. His vibrato has been relatively-- - A task. - If we're going to get the baby-- - I think what he's actually-- - I feel involved in the rules. - That's true, that's true, that's true. - I apologize. - Freaking off to the vampire without asking me in my place of business. - Hey, this isn't a vampire. - I'm not gonna offer a baby. - Unless it's a vampire baby. - Or is it a weird hybrid from-- - Yeah, you're gonna wait until I get back to my office and then you're gonna kill it there. - We're gonna rip off a baby time until I tear your window. - It'll scare the other-- - I personally think the chest piece is the most important piece on the board that we need right now and-- - I think maybe our first priority. - Exactly. - And before anybody else gets there, we should get there. - I thought from morning, maybe. Just to explain evil things usually we hear in the morning. - It's correct how magic works. - Is there a line on the first of you? - Commuting. - Right. - Tonight. - And then we go and get the baby before morning. - After morning, it's good night to sleep. - I was gonna say, for based on my lore of my time, is there a good time to go into, like one of the off hours of the end of time? - Well, obviously-- - Well, I mean, it is obvious if I wanted to clarify. - Yes, you are absolutely correct. I don't even think you need to lower all the know that. Things that go up in the night, do it much less in the daytime. - In the night, but right. - You look at the clock on the wall. - It's a little bit after six. You guys have been sitting at the stable discussions for a long time. - I'm correctly a big tip because we've been sitting here for a long time. - No, because I have a specific clock appointment with the realtor. - Oh my God. - Yeah. - Isn't that? - I don't think so, but it probably does. - Just 'cause we're realtor. - Why? - 'Cause the GM is still pushing this on you. - No, I'm just reminding him. - No, but it was kind of a place. I wanted to have his house in order to have a base of operations and a secluded place that was a little more secure than the hotel. - 'Cause if I'm going to be casting spells in magic, I didn't necessarily want to do it. - My name's already on the phone. - I'm terribly sorry. - My client is not gonna be able to make it to his appointment this evening. He will be reaching out to you to reschedule, again, our sincere apologies, and please, while the snope there was any recompense needed for your inconvenience. - Is there a particular time we can meet 'cause she's a realtor in the process of selling a house in once, and they'll down an actual day here? - I'm sure, but we just, unfortunately, don't have that available at this point. - 'Cause there's been a lot of people looking at the house. I'm just saying, you know, I don't want to get away. - Very shortly. - Thank you so much. - You have a good evening. - The house has been on the frickin' market for the month, so there's no one. - No one's moving it. - You're free. - You're off the hub. Go ahead, commune with your Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost. - Okay, we still need to do an approach I have to get. - But again, I think that that's probably and it gets out of you. It's like, oh, that's amazing. - You got to get a list and prioritize. - Well, that's what I think it's, I've been trying to do that. - I'm tired, and I have a sleep with the evening. - I agree, I think, and I need to recharge our batteries. - I think we all need a good night of rest. - You get to go back to your house, London. It's been so long of rounds down. - You're well-listed. - Thank you very much. - Yes. - Call it, get my fan restarted. - I don't know, let's assume you did that when you first sat down, 'cause it takes a while, 'cause they gotta go through paperwork. Are you sure? Have you been going to fight the police? - So. - Is your problem with website markets? - You seem to be earning charge. - It's close to the entrances to the undercity. So we came back at that point. - Is there any attention? - Absolutely. - Sorry. - Is there any tangible benefit to starting a dawn? Like, soon the sun rises. - The rising of the dawn usually deteriorates magic that has been done over a longer period. So most spells are, if they're gonna be recast, that would be like the changing of the guard moment. - Would that interfere with us casting or using any magic as we go into it? - No. - All right. - I agree that tonight, I'll commute tomorrow, on your town, tomorrow afternoon, Abigail, around evening, realtor, and potentially Meghan. - Well at least see what we can affect about Meghan. And then at some point later that evening or the next day, we'll let her in any other one feet. - That is purely as on Maxwell. - And that's on you. - That's on Maxwell. - That happens. Our four objectives are Abigail, baby daddy, Meghan, and Janice, in some order. - Not that one. - At us. - Abigail, baby daddy. - And commute with the spirit. - Well, it's a small thing. They'll do that this evening. So I don't think we'll use to be added. - 'Cause that affects the baby daddy situation. - Yes. - If we have the leverage, it'll help. - I call the office, make sure that Roberto, it's no longer allowed in my office building anymore. - Mm-hmm. - And I see he's accompanied by you. - Yeah. - Okay, and kill your secretaries. - And I write a reprimand up for Maxwell, put it in his file. - 'Cause Lord, some people hold me grudges. - You know? - You gotta run your business. You gotta have loose cannons. - Yeah. - Miranda is your secretary. She's still working because she was waiting here for you. - Or is she dead? - She's very dedicated. She brings you up to speed on some of the cases that are going on that you asked to be brought up to date. One of them is, she scans the news and they said that one, the one with the piano theater fire, they have an updated poster. Doesn't look like Roberto. - Doesn't look like that. - Doesn't look less like Roberto. - It's not a very good drawing of him. But she also says that there's another case, one that you were interested in and it's ritualistic type murder that she heard about. And this is about the third or fourth one that had been in the last two months that you just told her enough. There's any more let you know and she's letting you know. And you really don't have a lead on what's causing it or not, but you like to keep your finger and all those kind of things. - I ask Shana, she knows that these ritualistic murders have anything to do with babies being killed. - Shana, and for you, no. They don't have any babies involved in the murders. But like the previous ones, there seems to be the trappings of rituals like their circles and there seems to be things done to the bodies after they're dead. So that's fallen into the same pattern. - What's the pattern that going on here? - The bodies are sacrificed and then additional magic is done to them afterwards, manipulation and such. So it leads you to think that necromancy is involved and that's caught your attention because that's a big no, no. - When did this last murder happen? - This last murder was found by the police just today and it's not been broadcast on TV or anything. You've got people that got fingers in it. - Was there a time and area? - But the time of the death seems to be like three days ago. - Okay. - I will retire to the brownstone. Roberto will be in tow. The first night of the brownstone, I do trust Constance's oath that I can't imagine her attacking, but not quite feeling comfortable enough to spend a night in the old homestead without Roberto watching Diard for the evening. So feet of mind, Roberto. So we all in the same accord, we're all doing the same thing. We're all agreeing to follow the same path. - No, he's going to stick it out in the middle of the night and do it some. - Well, yeah, I was making sure I was going to follow him. - Yeah, that's fine. I mean, we have to have no problem with that. - Just kidding. - We're not going to run counter against each other. We're not going to, we're all on the same page now, please. - I was this night, driving down to the FBI, driving the phone I was going to use to communicate with Bruce. - And the other equipment that you mentioned before. - I was working before. - And then, I guess I contact Bruce, so we're going to do that tonight. - Oh, good. When you get to the FBI stash that you have, you pull out your phone and there's some messages on there. Some of them are older, 'cause you haven't checked in in a few days. And one of them is from your contact within the FBI, just touching base wants to make sure everything's good. You got everything you need, any information you want to file, stuff like that. The other is from tonight, and it's from your other phone, and it's a message from Bruce, saying that he's checked two of the places that he normally gets together, or they use as hidey holes and hasn't found her yet, but he'll still keep looking. And that was about a half an hour ago, and it's currently about 7.30. So it's now dark and he's wondering different spots that they haven't done. It's November, so it gets dark early. - I call Bruce though. - Actually, this is November 30th. Tomorrow will be December 1st, just for the record. - I'm gonna spring into this not winter at all. I call Bruce up, and I ask him for the next spot that he's going to, and I'll meet him there. - Okay. He gives you a place on the east side near-- - You're taking my own car. - You're taking the 105th and Detroit area. Takes a bit for you to drive over there. You find the house, and it's kind of empty. - I'll step out of the car, and I'll case the house really. - Okay. - Give me a roll. - He's investigation. - It's great. - Don't you just sit in the car for a long time? - I don't take that. - Yeah, I could stick, but she's probably, I mean, she has no reason to come out. She wants to recovery. So she's either you, someone, or she's sleeping. I don't know how these vampires work. - So I'll check that out, so I'll make a record. - Oh, that's good. - I roll the seven. That's epic. - Epic. - Investigation. - Investigation of the area. - It's actually the area that the windows are boarded up. It's a two story. - One of those big old buildings in the east side, there doesn't appear to be anybody in either of the houses on either side of it, and you don't see any movement in the house, or a surrounding area. It doesn't look like anybody's watching it. - Can I extend the roll too in the house or something? - Sure. - You do get into the house without too much trouble. You just go over to one of the windows, rip the boards off and there's climate, and the house is empty. There's no Bruce, there's no Megan. But while you're in there, your phone goes up. - Yeah, it's from my phone. - It is Bruce, Cliff. - Yeah. - I found her. - In the house, she went from just about here. - Yeah. - Yeah, I went somewhere else. I already checked that one. She's not there. - Thanks. - Thanks. - Yeah. She wants to know what you want. I wanna talk about tournament, see what we can do to help each other. Maybe save some lives. - Well, maybe you should just talk to her. - Yeah, it's the phone over to her. - Hey, Megan. - Hello. - Who is this? - Max. - Max, tell me why I shouldn't kill you the next time I see you seeing as you fucked up Michael. - Oh shit. - What? - That wasn't me. I was trying to talk peaceful, like I just want some information. We had no idea what was going on. It was a bird that fucked him up. (laughing) And we've agreed that these two should never meet again. - Listen, I'm not, I mean, when we first met and you shot at us with a shotgun, it shouldn't you. And your warden friend, Alan, who I thought I knew a little better than that, jumped to conclusions, tried to cut us down. - He's under left stress. - We just left you alone. We left. We didn't want to fight. And when we met you again, we didn't want to fight you either there. But yet, you guys fucked up Michael's face, tore out one of his eyes. - You're generalizing. - I did not-- - I'm sorry, I am looking at him. There's no generalization here. He's missing a fucking eye. And his face looks like he stuck it in a waffle iron. - You're saying you guys, that was not me at all. They are not here. This is me individually. - You hear some murmuring in the background, like, who you know as Bruce is talking to. - I want to talk to you personally, I agree to-- - You're talking to me. - Well, yeah, I want to talk face to face. - And how will my face end up? - I can come on arm if you want me to. I just want to talk to you. I want to try to maybe further both our goals, get some knowledge passed around and-- - I'm much more comfortable talking like this. I don't know why we would have to be face to face. I can talk to you just as well. And you can't hurt us right now. Giving away our location to this group of mad men. Maybe, okay, maybe you are the same one in the group and you don't jump to conclusions and kill people and snap their necks and poke out their eyes. - Damn, we're approved. - What happened to know you hang out with people that do things like that? So give our location to you? I don't think so. What is it you want, Maxwell? I know what I want. I want to save my dad. - Yeah. - I want you to live. I want everyone who deserves it to be able to live. - I've already accepted my fate. If I can get what that bitch wants and get my dad out of there alive, then I'm fine with going where I need to go. - Okay. - What Alan is trying to do is to get your dad out of there. - I should hope so. He owes my dad enough. He owes goals beyond that. - And you're not gonna come clean with her? - What? - He's going to kill him? - No. (laughing) - You don't have to side with Alan on that decision. Why would you? - Because what am I gonna do? I'm gonna try to convince her to help us and I'm gonna say, but we're totally gonna kill your dad the second he gets out of there. - There's no reason to be able to her at this point. - We want to-- - Except to make yourself seem more trustworthy than you're starting with her. - But he doesn't want to do unrepairable damage to the plan we get again. - We are uncomfortable. - Thank you. - You're a free your father. - We need help to do that. We can't do it by ourselves. - Essentially. - Yes. - Free of the mortal coil. (laughing) - We'd like any help we can get. And, well, I've seen you fight. - You've got your number and I've got your phone. So, anytime you want to talk, I'm willing to listen, but I'm sure the hell I'm eating anywhere with your mad crew. - I'm expecting to meet with them. - What's mine if you met me? - I don't really have anything to convince you. - I mean, I don't see why you shouldn't help us at this point, but, well, okay, help that for sure. - Help me, I don't see any reason. - Help you do what? - Free your father. - That's fine. Tell me where the baby is. I'll get it, I'll turn it in, and I get my father free. - That I can't do. I open this discussion by saying I want to save everyone. I can possibly say if you want me to hand you a baby so you can sacrifice it, that's not what I want. - I don't want to sacrifice it. I want to get my dad free. - I know what you want to do, but I also know what that will in turn do to the baby. That baby will die. I'm not handing over that baby if I don't know. And I would like your help to prevent that from happening. - Save your father, save a baby who hasn't done anything. Save the world, save your dad. - I can't, I can't. - You try to keep it correct. (laughing) - I'm gonna roll. - All right, I won't try to convince her. - If you've got a plan to get my father out of there, safe and sound, and the baby alive, I'm fine with that. I'll go along with that. I don't want to kill the baby anymore than you do, but it's a baby that's barely a few days old, has no mother, has no father, and truthfully, to choose between dad and my father, I'll choose my father. - I'd love to be able to save both. That would be great. But I don't see how that can happen. - Okay, I clearly underestimate Constance. Isn't there any way we can distract such a foe long enough to pull their asses both out of there? Do you think that's impossible? - She's more powerful than I am, just on a vampiric level, and she's got magic. Alan, maybe he could take her on a magic level, but she's a vampire that can cream me. And even a group of losers like you, no offense, Michael, but you took him out. - I think we are a weak pale imitation of a true blackboard vampire, and she is a whole blackboard vampire. So you'd rather we go through our plan without your interference. You don't want to out. 'Cause what you're saying to me is that you don't want to at all. - My only plan right now is to get the baby and get my dad out of there, and trade one life for another. - With the forces of all of this ridiculous motley crew of fucking maniacs behind me, and you guys, you don't think we'd stand a chance against classes. You don't think we could grab the baby and escape without losing anyone of value, that meaning you, me, or Michael? - And your father. - And your father, yeah, shit. (laughs) - I got to have a better plan than we're gonna go in and kick her butt. I need more details than that. I need something that I think can work. - I'm not a tactician. I don't know how I can get him to see at this point. I'll call you again if I can think of something more. But can at least be said that if we come up with a plan worthy, that you'd be willing to help us? - Sure. - Okay. - Wait, Michael wants to say something to you. - Michael. - Why don't you tell us your name? - Michael, why not? - You never really asked. And I'm sorry, I told you I would lead you to her, but I can't do that. And if you want me to come back and turn myself in, I'll do that. - I'll just kill you. - I'm not gonna ask you to come back. - I've made a promise and I don't like to break it, but I will. - I've been stepping next, left and right. They don't like to break promises and they just want to save their parents. - Then, when the time comes, I'd like your help convincing Megan. I don't know how I'm gonna plan. I can possibly get out of these frees. - At this point, running around, like chickens with their heads got off, we're scrambling to do the only things we know we can. If we come up with a better plan, I'd like your help to convince Megan. - She sounds like she's willing to go along with something if it makes sense. Although she's not gonna stop looking for the kid though. - Did you hear where the kid was? - He tells you no. - If you want to see, do you tell if he's lying or not? - Uh, oh, only good. - Actually, he rolled minus two. His lie would have been poor. So you can tell he's not lying when he says he has no idea what a baby is, but we're not gonna stop looking for it. And that's one thing you notice too, that both her and Michael both refer to the baby as it. Rather than us, she. - All right. - It's easier that way. - Yeah, it would be. - I think I've got a no less flicks than any teens. - I have your phone. You have your number. - Okay. - We'll keep the phone nearby if you want to get ahold of us, but I'm gonna drive back and sleep through this, man. - Drive back where? - Home. - You're home? - All right. - And then everyone else is sleeping. You've got a Roberto guarding over London and Edmund is in his home. - Yes. - He's sleeping. - Allen, it's in his hotel room. - There he says. - Preparing for a commune with a ghost in his head. - All right. - You don't need anybody there to keep an eye on you, do you? - No. - It's what you get. - Yeah, it happens to be a specialty and I don't think I want to hear it from him. - But we don't have to do that for him. (upbeat music) - He will stop him. (upbeat music) - 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'll find character stats, photos, storytelling, perhaps 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 podcast or business, please visit ZenaudioSmith.com and please join us next episode for more mystery and adventure. (upbeat music) - I'm freaking off to the vampire without asking me in my place of business. - Hey, this isn't a vampire, I'm not gonna offer baby. (laughs) - Unless it's a vampire baby. Damn it, we're approved. - But Alan's best case scenario still has me and him dying at the end of the day.