The group scatters in different directions looking for understanding of the clues they’ve collected so far. London and Allan attempt to track down the missing Warden. Roberto and Maxwell head off to handle Roberto’s… problem. While Edmund starts investigating and making a few calls..actual play starts at 10:11
Knights of the Night
KOTN Actual Play Podcast 74: "Delivery - Capeesh"
(upbeat music) - Hello, and welcome to "Knights of the Night" actual play podcast. This Dresden File Story delivery was written and run by your GM town. And now, please enjoy episode 74 titled, "Kabish." (upbeat music) (upbeat music) All right, before we get started, and then the next segment, next part of our episode, we have a little bit of feedback from our kotnpodcast.com website. This is our actual blog in which people posted some comments, two of them. The first one was on episode 72 ghostly visions. This comment was from Baryon. He said, "Hi guys, since you were talking about "trying out different systems "and about fantasy role playing and such, "I'd like to suggest a favorite RPG of mine, "Burning Wheel." It's somewhere between a classic old school fantasy game, although without the tired class and level mechanics, and the world of darkness, Dresden File's RPG storytelling. P.S., I really liked the podcast, and since the Dresden File game started, I'm actually able to tell the voices apart. No offense, but I still have very little idea who did what in the Hunter campaign, even after repeated listening. Even if I still can't tell each character by their voice alone, which is kind of strange and humorous, because during the Hunter campaign, we had Bob and Ryan, which are nephews, as opposed to John Thomas, which are my sons, and my voice and John's son. Do you want to let someone know? - Yeah, that's fine. - So I can call you a guy now. You can call me dead if you want. And of course, Scott and I are brothers, so a lot of us are related, and it's amazing that anybody could pick out the difference, because on the phone, sometimes my wife can't tell the difference. - And Hunter had Greg, who's not the distinctive voice. - He does. I'm by the way, but he said he couldn't tell some of who was going to ask you, Mike. - Oh yeah, it's what you mean. - Greg, you know, yourself, Bob and Ryan. - Right. - And Bob's voice, Bob played shoe, and his voice is rather distinctive. So I would have thought the opposite, that people would have more trouble with the Dresden File story, because some of our voices are similar. - Right. - And I'm sure there are people out there that do have trouble. They're just not anyone in theory on it. - Not people named theory on it, you know. - And we've not tried the burning wheel, but I have a burning wheel. I own it, I don't have the new one. There's, I think it was gold edition that just came out recently. And I read a lot of the roles, and it is, I like it. I like the concept of it. - It is incredibly nitty gritty. - It is. It's crunchy, and it's got a lot of-- - I think it was the first either, but I read it today, and it is really crunchy. - It's got a lot of bookkeeping. - Let's say you do something to go up in that particular skill of what you're doing. You have to succeed so many times at such a level. You have to fail so many times. Yeah, and the player keeps track of all this, and once you do, then you're allowed to advance. Which makes sense. I mean, if you think about it, in D&D, you go up a level, and all of a sudden you get better at horseback riding when you did absolutely no horseback riding in the adventure. - Right, does it make any sense, right? - Doesn't make any sense. This system is much more realistic and it makes sense, but it's a lot more bookkeeping and granular. - We don't even keep track of ammo counters. - No, we don't usually. - But that's not to say that it wouldn't work, because there's always ways that you can play a game. That particular mechanic I think you get used to doing once you do it, and it would have characters growing in a little realistic way, and you can also play the other mechanics in the game in different ways. You get the type of game you want to play, so it's not a bad suggestion. - Not a girl. - But we also have fans kind of asking when we're going to the world of darkness, and I think that's probably where we're gonna go to next after we get home with Drosna. I mean, that's pretty much better. We're definitely aching to get back behind the screen and put the second story into effect of this arc. - Which is funny, because I was speaking to Merk Team on Facebook, just via chat. And anybody who wants to, if you're on Facebook, you can like the Knights of the Night, and that usually ends up with me trying to add you as a friend, Tom. And if I'm there, feel free to send me any questions. And we got into a lengthy conversation of World of Darkness and what he likes about that as opposed to Drosna. And he's listening, he still enjoys the show. He likes World of Darkness more than, just because he likes the darker flavor. - That's a good way to say it, because everyone likes different flavors. And World of Darkness is definitely a little more of a darker flavor. - See, part of the thing of Drosna is, I don't think you guys are ever in a situation where you think it's totally helpless and you're gonna die. That you are vastly out powered by the enemy. - Got pretty close to one of Troll and two Wizards came in and one was a powerful vampire. I mean, they thought they probably would have died. - Hasn't been released yet. But, no, it's a perfectly valid point. But I'm saying a lot of times in World of Darkness, it's just the overall feeling is we are so in over our head. - All the time. - It is different flavor. I think it just, you feel your mortality a little bit more, maybe in World of Darkness. - It's hard to kill someone in Drosna. - Yep, right. It really is. If you've got a few fate points in your back pocket, you're probably not gonna die. And even if you didn't, it could probably get away before someone was able to give you all the consequences you need to die. - Conceivingly. - Yeah. Whereas World of Darkness, you lose all your health and you go unconscious. You're helpless. Someone can walk up and slit your throat. I mean, it's that easy to die. So, yeah, I think it's mechanically different, certainly. - And then, atmosphere overall. - Atmospheric, a little bit darker as well. So I'd have to agree with the, you know, the flavors darker and if people like that, they're gonna like World of Darkness. If they like a lighter flavor, then they're gonna like the-- - I had written generally as a GM, you're a darker GM as well. - I would say the influence by both group and GM. - Yeah, I think I like to tell a little different of a story, but it's, obviously, it's not too dark for people, but we didn't get too many complaints that that particular story was too dark. - No, plus I think both of the systems have different mechanics that fit well with both of the GMs. I as a GM tend to wing more and do less planning and that is almost crucial in dressing 'cause you can't. - Right, you can't plan. - With as much power as the players have to go in any direction that they truly want to, they require as a GM that doesn't really plan for our head and Scott tends to plan on his stories a little farther. It still gives you the option to go any way you wanna go, but he likes it all planned out. - I build a framework and then let the players work within that and if they burst out that I just build another framework around that, it's how I GM and let them, I try to let them decide the story, but I always have a little bit more information in my back pocket than your dad does, probably. - I'm a winger. - The second part is the episode 73, which is a comment from Indigo. Hey, the story is really starting to unveil. I love it. And oh, would you tell Bob, in parentheses, "Choo, his biggest fan is awaiting his return." And we definitely will pass that on to Bob. Bob, as we've mentioned previously, had a baby girl. Also his wife was working nights, which was really screwing up his schedule as far as socially, but his wife is on days, the baby's getting bigger. And Bob's talking about returning. - Yeah, we hope to have him for the World of Darkness, the second adventure, second story, that we're gonna be telling. All indications are that Bob will be returning. I had an email exchange with him just last week talking about that, so I'm excited to have you back. - One last comment that was from our RPGcrosstalk.webs.com forum. Also, it was talking about episode 73 of the delivery series called Preparation. And this was from PAIP, I'll let Scott read it because it refers mostly to his character, London. - You don't wanna do this one with Mike here? - I did think about it, but Mike's not here today, so. - All right, great, this is from PAIP, great stuff. I can't wait for the next one. Not least, to get the image of London dressed in a monogrammed bathrobe, a big fluffy towel wrapped around his hair, perched on the edge of the sofa delicately stepping champagne, while a big, tough warden feels ever more uncomfortable. And now I'm seeing the whole male grooming products line seared by London deals, put a little magic in your life. And in case you're thinking, I'm just an un-reconstructed Scott teaser, I too am looking forward to his next World Darkness story supported by your mad subliminal sound effect skills. That would be for time. Not that you guys should try to hurry to finish this story. As a fan of the Dresden books, I wasn't sure how this system would appeal, but you've taken this in a really intriguing direction and I'll stay till the end. - Best P-A-I-P. - Yeah. - Thank you so much for the feedback. We fully appreciate that. - I did tell Mike about this. Unfortunately, Mike wasn't able to make it tonight. He's in the episode. - Right. - But this is, you know, pre-recorded. And he's not here tonight. And he actually had a comment about the music I used in the background when you guys were in the hotel room preparing to track his mentor, William Donovan. You said that you put on some classical music and I was looking for something that was low key and in the background. - Right. - So I chose... It's a very peaceful and quiet song that is often used in weddings. Like Mike thought it was... - Rather added fuel to the vibe that was going on in there. - Now, the only one that's got... - The only one that's got a... - I just want to say, the only one who had the whole morotic vibe. - Was Mike. - Was Mike. - I know. - He actually mentioned something... - Just in my care about... - Oh, we're going to pass by the shower scene. I'm not sure if I let that in or not, but... - Right. - Really, Mike? - You know, just because my guy likes exquisite things and has taste does not mean that, you know, he was interested in showering with the warden. But yeah, for what it's worth though, it was a funny scene and it was a lot of fun playing it. - Very. - And we too look forward to the return of the World of Darkness storylines. So, coming up. - And with that, we will go on to the adventure. - I'm Tom, I'm running a dress and files game. The name of the peeler scenario is "Belivery". The player is starting on my left arm. - Thomas is playing a Maxwell Edison, the undercover FBI agent. - John playing Roberto Martinez. Guardian of Cleveland. Brought by Fallen Angel. - Scott playing London Deals. A moral seer to the supernatural. - I am Jim playing Edmund Shodowski. Private investigator and New World Black workman. - I'm Mike playing Alan Montgomery. A warden come back to clean up the city of Cleveland. - We're talking... - Epic. - Epic. - Epic. Wow. - Is that normally? - No. - Okay, that is... - I think it's... - And he... - Wherever he is. - It's hard to find him. - Either he or someone else, or... - Where am I? - I can't find him. - And making it incredibly... - You don't rule to be complexly. - Is he aware... - Oh. - The charge will not offer charge. - The charge will not offer charge. - It's difficult. - You have London aware of that. Like, can he detect when it's being... When somebody is being concealed from him? - You're right. - Before we focus on him. - Since he has his power to find things... And he has a reasonable expectation of being able to find things, because he has a history of it. And he can't find things. - When he starts... He starts researching the spell, and this is a pretty straightforward spell. Find someone, right? - Right. - He starts to dump power into it, and it's just sucking energy like mad, and it's like searching and not, and he can't lock in... - He can't help him build some juice in his battery. - I don't need any juice. - I'm fine. - And it comes down to... - I found harder things than that. - You've committed to do this, but it's much more difficult than you thought it would be. - Right. - The difficulty is... - Right. - How do you increase his lore to reach that? - Yes. - There's a number of different ways you can do it. - Okay. - 'Cause I'm gonna tell him after this, go ahead. - Let's discuss that so that he can do it and determine how he's gonna do it. There's a number of different ways that you can increase... - You gotta be three-hier than you are to be ready to cast this. You're... - What am I about? - Right. - And you need to reach Epic. - Right. - This is the preparation phase. You don't roll for that. - No. - There are ways you can't increase it, but they're like story-wise and... - Okay. - So, one of them would be a focus item? - Well, definitely. - If you have it for... - He hasn't made one yet. - I haven't made one, but I can make one up. - Well, he won't be slapped in your character, you mean? - When you pick rituals, you earn a focus item. It's something your character uses in his magic to make him be able to cast more complex spells, to be able to let him control it better, to be able to put more power into it. One of those things. - Since you've only got divination, you can only make it for divination. If you had more skills, you would have to focus on what it does. - Right now you're doing complexity. - Lower. - Lower. - And then you can see it's a... - So, I can get it right. - Five. - You need to get it to epic. - Well, I can get it to five with the focus item, and I'm allowed to have, because I have one divination. - You want... - I've... - You just... - Fine with that. That is the essence of your character. - Sure. - Perhaps you have a old compass or five or some kind of thing that you've tried. - Something involving direction, I would imagine. - Yeah. You would use something like an old compass, and you would align his hair on the needle of the... - The compass. - With my father's compass, it has a broken face on it. It doesn't have any glass at all, and it allows me to be able to place things on it. - Right. - And then you tie that in. - And this does not get destroyed when the spell gets. - No, it doesn't. - It's your item, so it gives you the plus one. And it points towards whatever it is you're searching, and you search to narrow it down. - Sure. - And then, is that the only way I have? Besides the fake points to race? - You can invoke your aspects, use fake points to do that. - Fake points. - Right. - And it adds two shifts to the depth. - The declaration, in which you have a mini scene where you do something like that shower, if you did, might take time from the game, but it gives you a plus one. - Okay. - If you give you a plus two towards getting ready, so you've already done that, maybe you're done. - You can accept or inflict consequences. You can kill a chicken as a blood right, because you'll bleed yourself. - Excuse me. - I will eat some sushi. Does that count? - It's not cooked. - Did you kill the fish yourself? - I think it has to be alive at the time. - I see. - You've seen you participate in doing a session and choose to skip in favor of preparing a spell game one shift. - So how many shifts do you need? - After the compass. And if you say that I spend time really focusing on, yeah, I would say your entire ritual of preparing yourself would be sufficient to that plus two. - It would be a declaration, then the US role is disciplined to control himself to come down to that level where he's ready to cast out his pose to control his emotions. - Okay. Okay. What does my discipline have to be? - Myself. - Great. It was superb. - Okay. - You call him man? - Quickness. - Oh, I do. I don't pick ruffles. - I was able to get there through my own machinations. - Right. - All right. - He's throwing discipline to cast his spell. - Yeah. You say I'm putting three power in. - And if you go over that, you have to take more damage. - Why would I ever want to put more power into him? - If you were really worried. - To contain his boss. - Yeah. - I'm not really in a hurry, because that doesn't sound like your magic anymore. - Right. - He's gonna do it. - What if you roll your distance? - You want to control that three, and if you roll below three, you would suffer some more mental damage. - Okay. So, I roll discipline to do the spell, and I can't go over what my conviction is. - All right. - I think I understand. Do you want me to roll an hour or wait? I'm saying each roll, though, could be an hour. - Okay. - So, if you're taking in a small sip, it's going to take you in an extended amount of time to achieve the... - Sure. I actually want to spend some time, because of the fact that there's other things going on, and I probably don't want to formulate a plan for this evening. So if it takes two or three hours to just listen to some classical music, drink some wine, and pump some magic in here, I'm fine. - I also put the privacy card outside the door on the phone. - Or put this on hold, because that whole process gets you up and set. Now you're going to start to slowly put power into it. If anything comes along, it requires you guys to bug out, or that might change radically. - It'll change off. - It'll change the by conviction. - We go to Edmunds. Because walking across his office, heading towards the conference room, they have Mr. Robert - I filed an expense report with Shaina, and she was saying that there was a problem with me when I went out with a client anyway, so he starts going out and unwinding it. - He broke off. - Is that about playing with Shaina? - I'll talk to you later. - Are you going on to the conference room? - Yes, I am. - Okay. So you walk in, and at the table is sitting, the gentleman you actually knew who he was. London did, but he's obviously the big boss, and the gentleman behind him is standing two subordinates who look just like muscle. I mean, they're just big beefy guys. Well, tailored suits, but they don't look all that intelligent. And when you walk into the room, Mr. Mahoney stands up and says, "Hey, Mr. Shadowski, I presume?" He offers his hand to say, "Mr. Mahoney, Mr. Mahoney, how can I help you?" - You can read your poem when you're talking about it. - I've got a lot of reports from people around town that you're the man as far as investigations go. And we're wondering, perhaps you can take on a job for us. - That's what we do. - All right. - Can I help you? - Well, we're looking for an individual, and we're hoping you could find a form. - Everybody's looking for somebody in these days. - True enough. - True enough. - You start discussing fees with you? - Mm-hmm. - How are you going to try that? - Well, fees all depend upon who you're looking for, and how hard they are to find, and how much we have to go on when we start. - Well, unfortunately, it seems as individual as disappeared in. We'd like to know if you can find them. We're looking for Mr. Geeles. - Mr. Geeles. - London deals? - I believe you've had some association with him in the past. - Oh, I've heard of him. - Well, you've heard of him. - Oh, you've heard of him. - Do I know him? - There's two roles I kind of want to make. - You're going to deceive this man? - Yeah. - One is empathy, reading people type of thing. - Okay. - Can I get a read as to BSing to me, and he knows I'm with him, and he wants to see, like, that my hand, or is he actually really looking for the guy and wants to know? - So you may do an empathy against his... - Well, I'm not going to tell you what it is, because it might be deceived. It might be disciplined, and it could be, uh, report. His report is, like, closing down, and giving a first impression type thing, so it could be any of those things. - Oh, what the heck am I doing? - Empathy. - Empathy. - Oh, shit. - Ah, fuck the damn one. - Hmm. You missed me already, don't you, boss? - It's fair. Did I get any read on the schedule? - No. He seems to have, like, a closed book. Very stoic, very unemotional, he's got one hell of a poker face. - Well, better than fair, anyway. - He is returning the favor. - Do I really defend from sort? - Well, I know, I don't know who wanted to do this at all. - Which would be my social... - He's just looking for a reaction when he says the name. - Mm-hmm. - You can determine how you want to defend against that. Again, rapport is closing down, like setting forth a poker face and not letting them read you. - Which is what I would use, if I could. - Or chitchets. - Or round it or, you know. - Right. - That's fine, definitely. - Okay. - Come on, Jeff. I'm happy to see him. - His attack, as it were, is good. - I got bumped down again. - My defense is great. - All right, so you're both just facing off against each other and neither giving away any clues. - Yeah, I basically say we could look into it and see what we could find. And who and how would we let who know we find out where he is and is there, you know. Again, trying to see if like, is there a reason why you're looking for him? Is there anything I need to worry about? Is he trouble? Is he law? Am I going to shoot me if I find him? Is he missing? Is he your employee? You know, what? Trying to get up to read this to what he would say. - Okay. - You ask those questions, but you're trying to clean additional information. The answer he gives you back is that his boss had hired London for some information and he has disappeared and we just want to make sure he's okay. So, he has a defense up. You can try to poke through it. - What's my rapport? - Okay. - What might this? (laughing) - I am just not holding these lights anymore. - Minus two, which would bump it down to good. - Okay. - Actually, it's better than Israel. His defense was only fair. So, what you get is the answer that he gives you, but in addition to that, you glean that that isn't the real answer. They want to know his whereabouts and it seems because they want him. It's much more than just a concern. - Yeah. - So, he starts to deal with you as price. I don't know if you're going to go try to gouge him a little bit because he is a representative of the Cleveland Clinic, which has a ton of money. But your prices are pretty substantial anyways when you get up. - You have different tiers and you could charge your upper tier, lower tier. You've got like a baseline price and then so much per day and then expenses. - How did you pause for pause? - You got there. - I would say that it's kind of an integer that's kind of common knowledge. This guy is hard to find. And so I would have to bump it up a tier. - Okay. - It's not just your average every day, Joe. - He's going to argue that everybody knows London. It should be something that would be relatively easy. At least for someone who claims to have this much skill as you. - So, not a very successful role at trying to convince you to lower the price. - No, am I doing cat and mouse? The C, which I don't even think I have, or am I still doing a poor? - It could be discipline, you know, that you're sticking to your price or I guess I could see rapport where you're... - Yes, sir. - Just a question. Would there be like an aspect in this case of home field advantage? I mean, he is in his office. - Oh yeah. - I mean, you've got all the tricks you've dealt with. - I think you'd have to tap that, though, first. - Right. So it's available to you, which is, you know, back to the window with the sun behind you shining in their eyes, hovering over, looking impressive. Any of those things, let's call it home field advantage. You would be able to tap that for a point if you thought it was necessary. - I don't think it's necessary, though. I mean, as far as wanting to gouge to clinic for money, I don't know how that's going to help me out. - Right. - I mean, you're setting a legitimate price. And you're going top tier because, well, I don't know why. It's your choice. I mean, maybe you don't want this at all. - Mm-hmm. - And it's a tough client to hunt. - Yes. - Like, I don't think I don't want to find them. You're rich. Just give me all your money. - I know I'm not trying to jump into this moment here with Jim. I'm just trying to clarify. There's the normals of Cleveland, and then there's the underbelly of the financial crowd. If this guy from Cleveland Clinic, which is a above-board major institution in Cleveland, is talking about London and going to Edmund here who are connected to that underbelly. Is that, like, an assumption that-- - Well, you didn't know him because you missed the contact role. But it is known that the Cleveland is in the know that the leader-- - Okay. - This is a personal assistant of Constance Rockefeller. - Okay. - Constance Rockefeller is definitely in the know and in the circle. - And you would think anybody who reports directly to her should be. - Is also in that. - Right, right. I just wanted to make sure that-- - I think I'm going to bump the skill to a lower skill because it makes more sense, which would be empathy. Which would be reading people and social initiative, social decline. Just seeing how he feels and trying to document to-- - Just accepting the price for what it is. - Yeah. - I'm not writing the problem that I see more today. - You were-- - Wow. You're just not having a luck, huh? - No. - There's not a fair. - Maybe there's a little magic here. - Sorry. - That's average. - Yeah, you're right, you know. - So he convinces you to drop it down once here. - Yeah, you are a non-profit organization. - Yeah. I mean, corporate discount, you know? - We have our health care-- - This could be. This could be the start of a long-term relationship, I think. If I could come back with a good price, just take it out of here. - So the meeting wraps up unless you've got anything else you want to try to get from him. - I can't take anything off top of my head. - You could find all those people we want to kill. - So him and his men start to get up and walk out, and he's just about out the door when he stops and he turns and says, "Oh, right. Mr. Schrodowski. We heard that in the past. You've had some dealings with both Bill Donovan and his younger friend, Alan Montgomery. And we've also heard rumors that Mr. Montgomery might be in town. If he could happen across him, you can tell him that we're looking to sit up the meeting with him as well. - If you happen to happen across him. - Okay. - And with that, he exits the building. - So, you go to fissile down in Roberto's vehicle, and you pull up to the casino. This is where you've dealt with the bosses before. - I won't. - The casino's in its full glory. The neighborhood rabbit is utter crap. The houses are broken down and they're able to see the disgusting dirty. But the casinos themselves are all shiny and bright lights, even in the middle of the day. You walk into the building. It is crowded. A lot of noise. A lot of lights. - Has aspects. - And you head off to the office area where there are two rather large gentlemen standing in the way. One that you've dealt with before. His name is Jimmy. - Okay. - And he's like, "Ah, we heard what we were expecting you today, Roberto. You got your payment or what?" - Is it Max? - Yes. - Are you expecting me to say something? - No, I was saying something. - All right. Yeah, I brought it. I think I'll have to start a chamber in the back of the truck. I don't know what you do. Cause I'm in trouble, do you? - He's jagged on you? - Mm-hmm. - I did not leave. - And then he'll do pull up the money. I had to give extra money to him. - And count it off, but he gave me 500. - Yeah, you got about 400 action. - Okay. - So you need my wallet back. - Boss has got you wallet. - We wanted to talk to you anyways. - So you get them 5,000 or 5,000, 400? - I won't tell you the boss. - Well, so you're telling Timmy that he don't get the money? - Yeah, and you see the boss. Gonna see him anyway. You don't know where the money goes. He gives you the guns. - He said that a little bit. - I didn't say that. - Wow. - Well, he's asking for the money. You're telling him what? No, I'm giving it to the boss? - He needs to see me anyway, yeah. - He kind of just stares you down for a bit. - Just an intimidation contest? - This is an intimidation contest. - This is an intimidation a little bit. - I think you need to pay me. - His intimidation was great. - And I disciplined against this? - Yeah. - Like who the hell? - That's not such a good role. - There's his P that way. - I got these rolling in there. - This is a good thing. - The voice breaks a bit. - Well, I got a good discipline. - I ain't afraid of you, Jimmy. - I got a great discipline. I didn't think this would happen. - The voice broke a little more than I thought it would. - I might as well, you know. - So that would be a fair. - Mm. - It's okay. - I got you back. - You could turn into a pile of pulp in any different time. - A big point in it. - One. - If you throw a pay point, you could break even and you just stare each other down for a while before you think. - Okay. - I have the depth of the Reynolds in him and not this guy. - Okay. - More on him. - I should use the trouble. - All right. - Fine. Step in and see the ball. - Bye. - So you're ushered into the boss or Mr. Reynolds in as he's known. And again, there's a big human standing in the background and he's sitting at the desk. - Is that true then? - Yeah. - He did not check way for weapons. - They don't let you go, man. - Yeah. - You start walking forward and the guy puts up his hand and pushes you backwards. - Legal counsel. - Yeah. - We usually kill legal counsel and step back. - Legal counsel is a good name, man. - Legal counsel is a good name, man. - What else have we got? (laughter) - Everybody do this. - This is not what I asked for. - You didn't even tell me what you asked for. - I was going to call him. - Nevermind. - He tried to step forward and Jimmy and the other guy are kind of putting us back. - I'm not going to force him through. - I can't show him. - Over the head. - For the reason. - Probably interesting. - Hold on. - It's in a hallway. You're in a building. - I'm going to try to intimidate the guy right back to make him look like I threw that work. - Sure. - Yeah, I could report it up. - I have really good presence. - No. - I've got a decent. - Go ahead. - Intimiditions. - Okay. - Yeah. - Might as well. - Fair. - Yeah, actually his defense is fair as well. - Once again, you just have to stay around. - I'm going to try my presence. Does he count as civilian? - Where are you going to say it's more criminal than anyone who would be willing to listen to someone with an authoritative guy? - He's got to give him some love. - He's definitely criminal. - Sure. - What effect does that have? - Well, I have this stunt where if I'm talking to someone that I need to get out of their way. - Oh, to be in a while. - So I'm all like, hell out of my way. - Yeah, he's not a really impressive cop. - Yeah. - And he's all about getting a counselor. - Yeah, every presence of one is probably going to work out very well. - Dude, just pain the man. - I'm sure we should, that's the only thing. - Go fail it. - He needs to ask to wait. - I'll say, yeah. - I don't want to fail the man at the beginning. - No, I mean, go pay your debt. - So, you walk in. - I'll be out of here in a few soon. - Yeah. - Not bad. - He's out in the hallway. - One silencer goes in your head. - Okay. - Keep on here, I think. - Well, I guess I'll drive him back alone. (laughter) - You're a little close. - Followed by his bodies. - Leave the keys with me. (laughter) - That's the only video we need to get back this way. - So, you step into the office and Mr. Ronaldo is sitting behind a big, big, big cherry wood desk. Dark furniture everywhere. - For that to go. - Smoke it a cigar. He's got two big thugs sitting over next to the little bar of alcohol. - Oh, yeah. You've got to have a girl on his lap. (laughter) - Or at least maybe sitting in some kind of cherry or really important being all bored and attracted. - Roberto. - Roberto. - My friend. When we make a deal, you have to stick to the deal. You can't pay whatever you decide to pay. If this nonsense continues, you might not like the interest that is added to your account. You might start needing you to do us some favors. Do you understand? - A peach. - A peach. - A peach. - You've got to take a peach. (laughter) - I suppose you have to-- - You absolutely have to. What's the matter here? - This just sounds like dinner and Sunday night is right in my house. - So when next month comes along and the payments do, we're not going to have to chase you down. Right? - Right. I'm not going to try intimidating again. I know that I failed. - You couldn't even intimidate his bodyguard. - Dude, don't let him stain that. - Your jeans are-- - Yeah. - Decent score. - You couldn't intimidate-- - Your element. - Yeah. - You're in their home territory. - Mm. - That's a-- - Sure. - We don't have to chase you down this month. - And my wallet can get better. - I mean, I gotta pay you. - It's got my driver's license. - And pictures. - And my mom and dad. - He looks over at one of the thugs and it's one of the guys that you dealt with the other night. - Oh, like I-- - He throws it over-- - He fished himself. - He hits you in the chest with a-- - No. - Get down on my face. - All right. - Man, I was so useful. - Yes, you were. Well done. - Yeah. - You guys still wear half the words. - No, they don't call you back. You got to the car unless you want to do something else. - Did you mention where their hotel was? - Where his hotel was? - I think Andy from once. - Where Allen's hotel was? - I remember visiting his. - We talked about him staying at the key. - I'm sorry, I'm just-- - I'm just curious. - Did Renaldi acknowledge that the dead was now paid? - It was not the full dead. - Oh, I-- - That was the last thing I thought of this. - Okay. - How much was the monthly payment? - Five thousand. - Couldn't be out of a monthly payment. - I believe it was a $50,000 for somewhere in Iowa. - This is a week. - No. - This one. - Oh, good. - I'm good for one now. - Plus, some pixie does sound so I can bust him in this thing. I'm gonna be paying $50. - Yeah. - 30 warden. Bad warden. - Anything else after that, you leave the casino and-- - Yeah. - Head off to-- - I don't need to-- - The gamble way gets-- - I'm gonna have myself. - You got that 400, you gamble. - You got that 400, you gamble. - You got that 400, you gamble. - You got it to 20,000. - No. - You just feel the lure of the tables. - Gambling's got a skill in this game. - Probably your money was pretty-- - What's wrong with your people? - No. - I'm double down. - Come on, come on. - I'm just trying to help you with the picture problem. You need money. I have a solution. Call a casino. - I'm probably hanging out in the office until I get a call from these guys saying we got something. - Okay. - You're seeing Edmund is done. You're seeing Roberto and Maxwell is done. You head off to the key, you're waiting in your office, Edmund, until you get a call. You mentioned something last week that I think you forgot about this week. The sheet is right in front of you. You made some comments about it. - I want to point it out, but I was wondering, you know, you've got some time to kill, so you think about it. - I don't know. Yeah, I don't think so. - Kind of the other one. - He was talking about that thing being a wall. I remember talking about the face. - What the heck is that? So-called thing, airplanes, I wonder where it is behind it. - We did talk about the wall being something like a maze. - What's in the wall? - It was a spectacle. - No, 'cause it's a thing. - Yeah, I know. - Thing underneath it. - I'm not sure what it is. And then Sarah Lemon with the lemon in there, and then we're trying to figure out what this dog face thing was, or whatever, in the background. I don't know what else we were talking about. - Your face up here next to the Sydney name? - That's just a good half of a pair of glasses. - It's a big dust to me. - You also mentioned something about one of the faces. Something about the face, I thought. - You guys are trying to say, "Is this look like this?" - Right, she looked like that with her profile. - Yeah, I said, "Dude, it's just a nose." - It's fine for you guys to go back over it and see if anything charges your memory. - Sure, yeah. - And you're sitting in your office after dealing with all the daily trials and tribulations of running a big office. You just finished your meeting and you got a couple hours to kill, and you're looking at your copy of the thing. The number pops back in your mind. - There you go. - Ryan Nelson. - Yeah, Ryan Nelson. - Oh, he was the... - We have a pair of net. - There you go. - I don't know yet, something with a pair of net net, but I knew that the video, I thought it was a pair of net. - So, she was a part of a pair of net. - Yeah. - So, you have the option to make that call right now or you can wait until you get back to everybody and just, you know, suggest it again. - Did you remember saying anything else, or... - I don't know if I did. - I didn't see it. I had a pair of net, like, what did it do for a living? Does he work at the West Side Market? - No. - No, I don't remember. You didn't know him that well. You do remember the name and the name... - Yeah. - Ryan Nelson, regional leader of the pair of net. - Ryan. - Ryan was not at the house, but Ryan helped Sarah find Glee Love. - Yeah, that's what she did. - I know she had something to do with it. - He helped. - That was the... - You were the first one to find her. - Oh, I mean, I definitely got a call. - If Nelson's still a lot, wasn't he in the room when all that shit went down? - No, he wasn't there. - No, he wasn't there. - You might have something of it, though. - No, but... - There's no contact we have. - I really wanted to call him, and if I spoke to him, Steve, I could find out where the midlife is to talk to her. - Okay. So, you're sitting in your office. You've got a little bit of time to kill you. You pick up your phone and you dial his. It rings four times, and then it rolls over to voicemail. Please leave a message, and I'll get back to you in a second. - Yeah, I'll leave a message. I tell him I need to talk to him. It's very important. It couldn't be a matter of life in debt. Please call me as soon as you can. - Back to London. Each roll taking an hour. The first hour you want to pump how much magic into it. - Oh, good amount. - That's nice, but how much? - A good amount it is. - Oh my, this one? Is that correct? - Yes. - Great. - All right, so first hour passes. At that time, Roberto and Maxwell show up at the hotel. You get a call from the lobby, from James, saying that you have Gus. - Okay. - Oh, they knew the room number. - I don't. - Oh, yeah, I tell them. Does my phone even work right now? - Yeah. - All right. It's outside the circle. You've got a week. I saw this big enough, and you guys are smart enough to make sure it wasn't inside the circle. So he tells them the room number, and they have... - When they call up to say they're on the way up, I want to be by the door and check me out. - Or in the second round, first round. - Starting the second hour when your secretary tells you that you have a call. - He says it's Mr. Nelson. - Cool. - What's my turn? - Okay. - I think Matt. - You can go ahead and make your roll, London. - That was three from superb. - Legendary. - Wow. - That's some serious over a rollage. - Yeah, I would think that you... I mean, how many hours do you need three? - What? - You can tell me. - I just... - What do you mean? - I have a good temp, it was three towers. You need three and... - Oh, two minutes. - Two and change. A legendary roll on the second hour is enough to make up for that. - So your compass does spin. It's getting a threatably weak signal. It spins a bit and then locks in and then spins again and then kind of goes back. Like it's having a hard time locking into the signal, but any time that it stops, it's random spinning. It's pointing eastward. - And I can hold this while we... - Yes. - You can take it outside the circle. You release the magic circle. It's surrounding it and your compass now imbued with the ability to do that. It will last until the setting of the sun in the beginning of the new day. - I explained to the three compatriots there that I have a signal. It's a bit weak, but I've got one. He's well-flocked. I suggest if we want to find him, we do it soon. - And which direction is he in? - We need to head east. - Is there anything in Bill's history, east of Cleveland that I would trigger in memory or about? - His office would be more north. - Yeah, if the office is north. - This is definitely east, which you're talking the culture of Cleveland. - The holy side. - Yeah, okay. - The clinic is one of them. The university circle is another. - The Coventry. - Coventry. - That crazy place. - Okay. - Lakeside Cemetery. Little Italy. - From Brazil. - From Brazil. - From Pennsylvania. - So back to Edward. - You pick up the font and there's... - Man, man, that's just a shit-out. - This guy's voice is just a mess. And I'm not going to talk that way the entire time. - What? - It's breaking. It's shaking. It sounds horrible. What's going on? - I felt my need to speak to him in person immediately. I'm looking for somebody. I'm telling him I think there's a child in trouble. And I think you can help me find him. - It's not safe out there right now. - No, it's not. - It's not. - It's bad. - I'm just remembering all this parent guy. - I don't think I want anybody to know where I am. - Try the crowd. - I hate telling him that it's really important that I try to get ahold of Lila Morris and I don't need to know where you're at. I just really need to try to contact her. - Do you know anybody who's a good medium? - Yeah. I do. - 'Cause that's what you need. - Can you tell me how this happened? - I don't want to be on the phone anymore. This isn't good. I'm going to lose this phone. - I asked him before he goes to jail. - I was chasing him. You know, chasing him wise or anything I can do to help trying to get some more information out of him. Is that a role that try to keep him on the phone to find out? - Yeah, most definitely. - I'm chasing him. - He is really. - Rockful. - Skittish. He is squatting on. - Come on. - Okay. - Why don't we help you out? - We better. - I'm having a bad day rolling today. - Wow. You need to do so. - Um, I bumped it down to good. - Actually, his defense was only fair. So you did succeed on keeping him on the phone a bit longer. And we're going to make this a social combat in which he has now. The difference was only one, so he's taking one point of social damage. - He's succumbing to your wishes. - That's the goal in mine. - Yeah. - He does all those damage. He will now be able to talk to him. - Oh, wow. - Get information from him. - Tell whatever's haunting him actually killed him. - Mm-hmm. - So what was your question again? - I'm sorry. - I'm wanting to know why he's scared and who he's hiding from and what caused him to be, let me help him in that state. - He best help. - You know, that's the thing. He's like, why are you this? I'd like to help you out. There's anything that can help you out. Let me know what happened and why you're scared. - It's the whole, it's the whole Sarah thing. It's, she's just, it's, it's out of control. It's insane. They're just, they're taking out anybody and everybody. - Yeah. - Everything I'm trying to get off, I asked him is, does he know why Sarah was looking for Lila as a midwife and why she didn't just go to a hospital? - Okay. So that would be the next round of the concept. - Oh, he is. - It was better. - Yeah. Better dice than that. - Yeah. It's, uh, epic. - Whoa. Yeah, that's considerably better. - Yeah, that, his defense was fair. I mean, you just crushed him, uh, with your. - I'm an investigator. - I can help you. - I can help you find the baby and I think that's, you know, trying to get into what you need to help you. - Yeah, he's, he's concerned about the baby. He thinks that Janice is still alive, but he doesn't think that anybody can protect. They seem to be taken out and killing anybody who gets in their way. And they, they kill Sarah's regular doctor and they, they seem to be trying to force her to go to the clinic and she didn't want to. She knew the baby had powers and that's why she wanted a midwife that had talent and that's why he had to help her find. But then, by doing so, he killed Lila. It's his own fault as much as anything. And he just barely escaped from him last time and he doesn't want to deal with him again. So, you took him out. You could make a suggestion, force him to meet with you, or you can force a couple questions from him now, but he's saying he's dumping this phone as soon as this conversation over, but he just can't seem to hang out because you keep drawing him back into the conversation. Is there any way, or any role that I can do, or he's still like new to help him hide himself once? This is on top, because I know people and I know it's by everybody. I know someone who can help hide you or keep you hidden so you don't get picked off. That way, if I need to find him again, I would know where he's at in a way. If you give me a good contact role, unless you could think of something else, maybe an investigation, but then it would be a little higher to know somebody that can help. Kind of like witness protection, but hope in the know. Contacts would be good. Yeah, I mean, I have investigation as superb, so if I could do that instead of contacts, it would be better. But the role would be much higher than good, because contacts just knowing someone is more to the point. I would say good for your contacts, superb for your investigation. I would want to roll on an investigation, man. Feel free. Which can't pull it out, so it would be superb. Okay, so you are aware of somewhere that you can hide him and you think it would be well protected. And try to explain it to him, but you're like, "Listen, I'm not going to describe to you over the phone. You're not going to wander in there without my help." What is it you want to do? You want to get together with him? Yeah, if I could take him to the place, that way I can talk to him some more. And then actually put him where I need to go. Right, but you don't want to describe the safe house over all of that stuff, so you want to meet him where? Honestly, I mean, on a character island. Where there's Coward City, it's a public place that has a big fountain that's easily defined. And lots of, you know, relatively secure public squares. We have a lot of places, restaurants, more on the witnesses, the last look is going to happen. But more likely is to be spotted there. Because there's so much such a heavy supernatural element. Your offices? Yeah. I don't know if you're going well, but I can dark it in. I mean, to meet him there before you take him to the safe house. I mean, I've got a bunch of employees, it's a public building. I'll take him at the Playhouse Square. It's technical gardens, but I suppose it's pretty. Playhouse Square? You're setting up an appointment to meet him when? That's the hard part, because I don't wait and still wait for a call back when these guys let me know what's going on. Yeah, you don't really know except for what you do. I would say immediately, just in case anybody is eavesdropping. It gives them less time to try to formulate the problem. Okay, he says Playhouse Square, Hannah Theatre. I could be there in ten minutes. Oh, I'll be there in ten minutes also. Alright, you hang it up, then your phone rings. Your secretary tells you you have a call. Ah, jeez. It is Alan. I picked it up. Alan will continue this conversation on my cell and I click and... I talk to him as I'm going out to my car and my phone. Okay. And I fill you in and you fill me in? Yeah, I'm just digging. No, no, no, I want to be careful. I don't want to say names here. We have a lead, where can I meet you? I got a lead also, and I'm going to be busy with them before the next hour. Tell you what, well, I'm one block away from you when you pick me up in your way, before you're going, and we'll all together. Ah, that's what we'll do. Okay. So, we'll end it there for tonight. Thanks for listening to 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, start telling props, and even a form for comments and suggestions. Or you could email us directly at feedback@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. He was great. He was like, "Who the hell?" Like, "Who the hell, dude?" That's not such a good role. There's, he just peeped up. I got these rolling in there. This is a bit, thanks. The voice breaks a bit. Well, I got a good discipline. I ain't afraid of you, Jimmy. One silencer goes in your head. Okay, he won't hear a thing. Well, I guess I'll drive him back alone. You're a little close, followed by other colleagues. Peeped? Peeped? You gotta take a peek. Are you supposed to have to take a peek? You absolutely have to. What's the matter here? This just sounds like dinner and Sunday nights are on my house, so it's okay.