So many pieces to the puzzle, how do they all fit together? Do they all fit together?? And who should the crew be looking for first? Do they go after the missing Warden or is their new target the missing newborn? Will the ghost that haunts Allan allow him to do anything but search for her baby?Actual Play starts at 5:45
Knights of the Night
KOTN Actual Play Podcast 73: "Delivery - Preparation"
(upbeat music) - Hello, and welcome to Knights of the Night actual play podcast. This Justin Fowl story delivery was written and run by your GM Tom. And now please enjoy episode 73 titled Preparation. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Before we get into the role playing part of the night, we have a little bit of feedback. Only one this time, and it's from our feedback at kotnpodcast.com. Mike, if you would. This comes to us from Theron Merkty. Hey, all team Cleveland. First and foremost, great praise goes to Tom, sorry, Mike and Scott, for the awesome, terrific use of sound effects in the podcast. The timing and choosing of the effects brings out the mood of the episode 10 fold, especially the build flashback sounds. It reminds me of listening to a professional radio play, but praise also goes to the players for playing out their characters the way they do. Yes, you especially might. The episode left me hungry for more. Hope I don't chew my mp3 player before the next episode. Secondly, on the round table discussion, if you are willing to try something of fantasy that I recommend Warhammer Second Edition, it's good enough for the mystery stories as well as political entries. It's not an epic RPG, so the characters have all the fun possibilities to die, not only from the sword. Still watching out for your to come episodes, your true fae full listener, Theron Merkty. I follow up with what Theron says, because I just happen to be listening to all the episodes this week, at least the latest ones. And I hadn't been listening to the episodes, so I was really surprised and not surprised. I really enjoyed the production value of the sound effects and the music and the kind of the muted background, but the spell casting in the battle and all the other stuff are the sounds of the ghost talking to me. They really added something to the show, and even though I lived the reality, I was here playing the game, but then going back and listening to it was an even better experience, 'cause it's all nice and produced, so it was fun. - Yes, thank you. But it's amazing how we're a year and a half into this podcast, and I'm still learning things how to do it better that I've done in the past. - I never stops. - No, which is good, which is good. - I bet you read code better now than you did three years ago. - I'm lazier now. - I'll slap that shit together and move on. But in certain episodes, I try to punch it up a little bit because there's not as much action. In that entire last two episodes, it was exploring a house and finding clues and discussing clues, and in general, that's not as exciting as a battle, so I want to try to add something else, but muting the music even more than it has been in the past, still getting, just trying to find that right spot as far as the bed of music, how loud it should be to cover over the thumps and the noises and the crunches on the table. But yet, not interfere or become annoying to the listeners, so it's always-- - I'm looking forward to seeing what your production values do to my World of Darkness story. - Two. - I'm not gonna work as hard on your own. - I know, we pretty much just ran with that story, and I played the music while the game was going on, and it'd be interesting to see, I'm gonna try to tone that down a little bit and then let you do your magic with production and see how that turns out as well. So I'm excited from my perspective to see all the lessons you've learned with Dresden carry over to the next story in the World of Darkness, and I wanted to thank Theron for being such a dedicated listener. I mean, he's been listening for a long time, and a lot of feedback, so don't chew your MP3 player and keep listening, 'cause we enjoy having your comments. You always bring some interesting takes to the table, so we appreciate that, and we'll have to look at a Warhammer as well, since he mentioned it. - I've heard of it before, I don't know that much about it, I haven't really looked at the system itself, but yeah. I mean, especially since recently we discussed looking at fantasy again, you know, and to have a tool set that is more generous with the political intrigue and the mystery and stuff that really seem to enjoy a little bit more than straight out combat. Although we enjoy our fair share of combat. - Right, there's some reason I was always turned off based on the cover, the tattooed Mohawk dwarf in battle armor with an axe, that was also a rifle. But that's all, I would ever think Warhammer that I just remember seeing that. - Yeah, one last thing about his point, you know, and that particular episode, the last one was really Mike Centric, he had a lot of spot like there, and you try to share that around, and we do have some in the can in which some of the other players should step forward, and I think you guys are all doing a great job with the Dresden tools and the game itself. - Right. - Been running along pretty well, now that we're kind of getting the hang of it. - Right, so that's moving, and it wasn't beginning for sure. - And with that, we will continue on with the adventure. - I'm Tom, I'm running a Dresden Files game. The name of the scenario is "Belivery", the players starting on my left are. - Thomas, playing a Maxwell Edison, the undercover FBI agent. - John playing Roberto Martinez, Guardian of Cleveland, powered by fallen agent. - Scott playing London deals. A moral seer to the supernatural. - I'm Jim playing Edmund Shadowski, private investigator and new world black court man. - I'm Mike playing Alan Montgomery, a warden comeback to clean up the city of Cleveland. - Since we're starting for the evening, everybody has a minor milestone, in which they can adjust any of their skills, or change an aspect. - I need one. - Anybody want to make changes? In addition to that, we'll get the... - To help Mike take points out. - I need a new aspect. - You do have to pick up? - No. - No, it was command, I guess. - You mentioned a good aspect for my character. Are you only allowed to have a certain number of aspects at a given time, or? - Yes, each of the such stuff. If you're changing one of your aspects, I mean you're changing one that you currently have. - So they don't... - And you're placing it. - They don't accrue. Because he actually, he mentioned a good one that would apply to my character now, for story purposes and for moving forward. It's like nothing else has changed with my aspects, so I wouldn't, I just add on an extra aspect. Or is that a, that's just a mechanic thing that we just can't. - Aren't there any of the ones you currently have that don't apply so much? I thought that was a case. You can't add new ones, you've got to change in some way. - Okay. - I mean if it's a mechanic thing and for balance purposes, I'm okay with it. - Seven is the limit, two of them are, you're trouble and you're a high concept. - Just replace it with the new one. - What is the new one? Haunted by a ghost. - Haunted by a ghost. - I'd tell you her name in it, but I don't remember her name. - Her name was Sarah. - Sarah Lemons, you'd know. - Haunted by the ghost. - You have a ghost, stop it. - Well, you could offer her a sanctuary so she could travel around and watch us rescue her. - I think she just wants to stop you to make sure you daughter her child. - I think it's tough. - Right, and I'm not trying to look for a benefit. I mean it was an aspect that was kind of like, - It could be used negatively. - Yeah. - You want to go with tight to the ghost Sarah Lemons or obligated to the ghost Sarah Lemons or haunted by the ghost Sarah Lemons. Haunted not, I don't like the word haunted, but somehow beholden's close. - What do they call it? - Spirit Guide, you know, something along that line. - But you're the earthly contact to the ghost of Sarah. - The median? - Yeah, I don't know. - Throw out ideas. - I guess my point is that if I absorbed her memories or the purpose of knowledge, I'd probably also absorb her emotional commitment to saving her daughter and so I will find myself - Yeah. - A combination or a compel, almost like a compulsion. - Hah, a compulsion to- - I think you'd go with compelled by the ghost. - Compelled by the ghost of Sarah Lemons. - No, that leads me to the thing that actually witnessed and I'm not shared with anyone else if I remember because we agreed that in details, I absorbed a lot of information and I did not articulate it and it was something that we probably left open because maybe memories will be spurred based on what happens in the game. You don't need to answer that right now, but there's something about the scene that you described that I saw that had me concerned about because I think Donovan, William Donovan, and four others, one of the people- - Three others. - Or three others. This person, and they all appear to be human, not they, not wizards. They didn't use magic. The only person that was using magic was William Donovan. You said that William Donovan retaliated against these guys when they killed Sarah or killed her husband. - I'm not exactly sure if that's the words I use, but that- - Well, is the impression you got, yes. - Right, well, and maybe I'm wrong and maybe I'm confused by the images I saw, which you'd actually play into what I hope is not. This is not true. - I'm sure you're running it through a filter. - Right, my point is, did I see him physically assault and attack these guys, or did I see him use magic to assault or take, because I think he said magic. And if that's the case, then I witnessed a breaking of one of the laws, which is really, I don't know how I'm gonna spend my way to ignore that, but did you witness him murdering with magic? - That's what I'm trying to, or did you witness him, attack them with magic. 'Cause that's not the distinction you're making. That's what matters, because they're human. - They appear to be human based on the conversation from what we had talked about before. That's what, remember when I left, I was like trying to think of some implications and over the week, I meant to talk to you about that and I never got around to it, but- - It seems to be a very important issue. Did I proceed- - The very important distinction. - Yes, did I proceed him physically attacking or did I perceive him magically attacking, because it will have impact. - Well, you've got two different problems here. One is you're going through the filter of Sarah, what she saw, and only what she saw, 'cause no one else was there. So did she see and pass to you the image of- - Which will lead to be true. - Attacking one of these guys, yes, definitely. With magic, yes, definitely. Was the guy killed by magic? In the scene that you saw, you're unclear. And I think that comes into the second part of the filter, you don't necessarily want to be clear. You want to assume that William didn't do that. Am I right or wrong? - You're right, but unfortunately my trouble is I can't play these type of games and I have to follow the book. I have to go by the rules, so. - Looking around this house and all the obvious magical damage done to the house. - Right. - Someone was throwing around magic to kill around here. - That's the other thing I wanted to kind of, while we're still in this house, and maybe we can start up and we can talk about it, but is there offensive and defensive? You know, when you go to a crime scene and there's been gunplay, you can see where, okay, there's bullet holes going this way and there's bullet holes going that way, so there was an exchange of fire. You kind of forensically figure out a little bit what happened. - All right, I will give you a fake point for your character because this is something that you feel is very important and you want to focus and spend time on determining how these people die, what it was that ended up killing them. What is the purpose or reason of their death? That is not probably the highest priority for anybody else in this room. - Right. - They don't care. - I think also what he's asking is, can he make a lore role to deduce how the battle played out magically? - Would you have to do magic to figure that out, though? Or would it just be a lore role? - It depends on what he wants to do. If he's trying to go if you share his memories that were bestowed upon him, that's a different thing than actually looking at the physical, but that's more investigation than lore. - Is there anything you wanted? - I mean, it's possibly a combination of the two skills. If lore is higher than investigation, you get a plus one to investigation. - Jim, what's your investigation for Superman? - I do have divination, so I could use magic to try to recreate this if Mike's investigation of the scene doesn't give me the answer he's looking for. I've got a lot of magic to do, and I've been kind of neat up doing these small spells to keep us concealed, so I prefer a kind of a rest. - That and to use the magic for something big, like if you want to trace Mr. Donovan or the child, that's his name. - We have slipped right into game mode, which I don't have a problem with. You unchanged an aspect, which you've done already, Mike? - Yes. - You mentioned-- - I pass. I want a brand new skill based on experienced points, like earning a new skill, which would be my resources as I get further in the story, being able to get access to that again. But it doesn't make sense right now to do so, so I'm fine. - I'm good. - You're good? - I want to be better at investigation, but even if I was, I wouldn't be as good as Jim. So I will learn. - All right, so let's go back into the game. We have Mike just stepping outside of the circle as he broke the spell. - You guys saw nothing that made any sense whatsoever. He seemed to be doing something inside there. He seemed to be talking to someone. - It sounded like we might have gotten a loose idea of some of the stuff that was going on, but-- - Or was he wordlessly talking to him? Were you talking out loud? - I was talking. I was probably talking out loud. - Okay. - You saw him as part of the conversation, Mike. - They already knew that I had detected or we had seen the ghost. - Yeah, you didn't explain it. - Right during that. - 'Cause you were making me a sister with the rules. - Correct. - And then you were assisting him, so you thought it was some conversation going back. - So you were definitely explaining more or less, but you didn't give him all the details of what she said and what he saw and what was going on. - So I'll come out of it. I will kind of keep some of the information I witnessed what I think I saw, but I'm not sure I believe what I saw because of eyewitnesses are actually very unreliable. - Absolutely. - You know best. - In this situation, what I would like to appeal to Maxwell and his investigative abilities and other people here is to ascertain, you know, what happened in this place. This is a crime scene and can we reconstruct quickly because I don't want to spend too much time here using our Sherlock Holmes abilities to investigate this place? Can we determine how many spellcasters were hurling magic back and forth here and maybe get a picture of what we were seeing? - I think I want to grab a scene of the crime anyway. It just seems so relevant to my character. - Are you talking about adding a stunt or a power? - Stuff. - Okay. - You didn't do anything so you can use that as your minor milestone adjustment. It doesn't affect your current, but you're refreshed for the next time you rest. We'll go down by the front. You're looking out the front window, Maxwell, and you see across the street in the wooded area that is the park, very big, black, dog-like creature, kind of walking in the woods and he seems to be Clancy over in this direction. - So that is-- - Yes, very. And at the same time, roughly, Edmund's phone vibrates in his pocket. - And I answered my phone. - Your phone is Shayna Randall, your secretary. And she tells you, I'm sorry, Mr. Shilowski. I know you told me not to bother you, but we've got somebody in the office that's insisting that they need to talk to you. - Oh, geez. - He's saying that he's a client and he wants to hire the firm, but he won't talk to anybody but you. - And he has a name. - Yes, he does have a name. It is a Mr. Mahoney, Robert Mahoney, which you can remake a contact on if you wish to determine whether or not you're heard of this person. - I probably have to not. - You would need-- - It was a name. - You were going to go, though. - You're going to be a mediocre. - No, you don't. - You're going to hang your belts? - Pretty mediocre. - He's insisting on waiting to get there. - Well, he's like making a fuss and he says he knows you're in the office and he wants to see you. You know, one of those guys. - So I'll push him off on Maxwell, but apparently he's out of the office too right now. - We'll go to him. - I spotted a dog. I think we're pretty good. - He has a role for that. - Not even at the role, it was-- - Yeah. - I tell her to hold on. I put her on mute. - Oh. - Do you guys ever heard? - Yeah. - I'm just wanting to see me right now. - I don't know why. - Sipper and-- - Wow. - Robert Mahoney, do you want to call anybody though? - Yeah, you've definitely heard of him. He's like a higher up, but nonetheless, a stooge for the clinic. He works for Constance Rockefeller, and he's kind of like her big guy. - So I fill him in. - There's a big dog outside. - He's staring at us. - She's staring at the house or staring at you, staring at the window at the house. - As you watch it, it goes deeper in the woods and it kind of disappears. - No, it's gone. - There's someone else who's here. - How big was it to talk big enough that I noticed that it was big? - Robert Mahoney is kind of like her go-to guy, you know, like her main work executive assistant. - Yeah. - Yeah. - I click back over to my secretary, Navskar. If she can maybe talk him into setting up a appointment like later in the day or in the evening or in the evening. - Which time should I set that for? - 11 o'clock. - I'll do my best, sir. If he's just since sitting here until 11, that's his problem. - Yes. - Thank you, sir. Sorry to disturb you. - The person I think we need to be. - Not out quite yet. - I understand. - Someone knows. - Yeah, here. - Someone knows. - Well, this is going to do big eye contact with the dog where you're just saying that there is one of the dogs that we fought last night. - Better look up him. - Be well, someone awareness and then-- - Close enough. - Someone. - If you want to roll a-- - Awareness is passive, I think, you're going with investigation or scrutinizing. So, wow. - Yikes. - I would think you just-- - An average. - I was going to say fair. - I got an average. - It was not fair, it was below fair. So, yeah, you know, maybe roughly the same size, roughly the same shape, but you can't say for sure. - Whatever that was, I'd like to get out of here quickly. If we have something we still need to do before we leave, let's do it next. - We may not have another chance of getting through this home and I'd like to get at least some take advantage of your skills and ability to case the scene. - If everyone but the Wizard scatters, they'll think we're wrong. I mean, if we exit and go our separate ways and even if we leave-- - You don't need to convince me. - We walk in-- - I don't care. - I don't care. - We walk in here on our avail. People see people walking. - And we have one car as far as West from Cleveland as we do. - I thought we were-- - Tell us a little too soon, please. - Or is this for your personal knowledge? Or do you think it's going to help the case because we have what we need to trace down Mr. Donovan and we have what we need to trace the baby. What possible good can we glean from spending 15 minutes here and risk being attacked by Hellhounds? - Who threw the first punch? Are we trying to temporary your emotions or are we trying to solve a mystery? - We're trying to solve the several mysteries and this is an opportunity that I'm afraid will not come again, which is why I would like to at least get a cursory casing of the scene of the crime and gather whatever this we can before we have to leave the turn. - I pull out my gun and say then let's get with it before we get attacked. (laughing) - I thought you was really good on me. - Let's go fish. (laughing) - Okay, a couple things I want to remind you, you have paperwork that you got from the thing which had some leads in it. We haven't played for a week, so just to get you on a track on what you were thinking before you came here. Here might have, this location might have given you no ideas and leads. The other thing was to remind you that your cars are parked through the woods where the dog is. - Right. - On the other side of the street. - I have the seeming, I can get us there. - That's right. - The veil, not the seeming. - This would be recasting that though because obviously you left drop when talking in here. - Right. - Do you need to maintain your seeming for your personal issues or? - That's big. - 'Cause I don't think we're gonna have a opportunity to veil everyone if we have to make a run for the car. - He's calling you right back. - So is this for your personal issues that you want? - No, I'm not sure. - I know, but it's. - And is that for pro? - I'll protect you. - No, I'm just saying London, let's move. - Okay, click. - Max, do your magic. - What they would be doing is they'd be investigating this scene with, if they're Laura, it's higher than their investigation. And they get to add one to this investigation because magic was used here. Both of those things kind of apply. - May I roll to apply Laura, my knowledge of magic to him to help. - And I would like to apply my level of magic to Mr. Shatowski. - My investigation. - All right. - 'Cause I fucked up. - Stunned. - What? - And give us plus one to investigate crime scenes and minus one time increment. - Right. - So he's really-- - We wanted to go without an area. - We'll quit. - I would request. - What's your level of investigation? - Yes. - Great for crime scenes. - All right. - Then-- - Okay. - So if the three of you are assisting him, you each have to tell me how you're assisting him and it has to be distinctly different. - He's quick. I'd like to leave. - What's what him do, what he needs to do. - I'd advise. - I'd agree. - Every one's needs are met. - I would have no problem with one or more of you creating a maneuver. And that would not take the same amount of time that investigating would take. You would simply be telling him things, trying to help him. This is how-- - Check that. - Check that. Don't forget that. And he could help with lore by saying what type of magic or what you have in here. - I also happen to specialize in evocation and combat magic, so that will be my angle that I've delivered. - I would say you would need at least a good understanding of how the magic was used here to get an idea. You are trying to help him strictly with investigation. I would say it would actually be great. You would need a great investigation to give him a modifier plus two of four. - I have a great-- - Great. - It's better than good. So you give him a aspect of magic battle knowledge. - I give him a fantastic. - Pretty good. So you give him your-- - His forensic expertise. - No, he's by a forensic scientist. - His forensic-- - What are you? - Crime scene analysis. - I'm willing. - To fully understand this scene, every detail of what happened, I would want a superb understanding of this. - I guess superb by myself. - Wow. - And then plus four from them is-- - That's just beyond-- - That's not a level for that. That's just above the average-- - All the things revealed. - Yes, and it does it quickly. It's quite impressive. - So you start describing to them the different things that happened. And there was definitely a lot of magic that was being slung around. A lot of it dealing with fire and some sports marks from lightning. Both of them are trademarks of Phil William. And most of them also relate to where the body outlines are on the floor. The amount of bloodstings on the ground you know, it really suggests the use of a cutting weapon where you've got a lot more. There's no splatter marks. The surprisingly lacking amount of blood, except for in the bedroom where you believe Sarah was shot in, splatter marks on the wall and bleeding marks on the floor. And Vince Glenn and the husband were shot in the kitchen and there was a massive amount of blood there from the bleeding as well. - The other three spots within the house did not show a lot of blood from cuts or shots. - To clarify what Max revealed, was there an offensive and defensive exchange of magic or is the magic seemed to be only against others? - According to his description, strictly an offensive attack of magic. And it seemed to be like there was a lot centered in the kitchen where one of the bodies was in there. There's a lot of offensive magic in the living room where another body was and then in the hallway where the third body was. - And she had a blood splatter indicated and like not going through her eyes. - The three bodies that had to do with the areas where magic didn't seem to be any blood splatters are very little of it. - I confirmed exactly what you didn't want to hear. - Kind of not. - That's not true. - I need the facts. I mean, just because I don't like facts doesn't mean I don't need them. - Max did it relatively quickly. So very little time has passed. There's no-- - Puddle in. - Yeah, I'll make by the side door to-- - Puddle in. - Puddle in. - No motion. Well, he can't be watched in the front window, but you don't notice any motion on the sides or back windows. So everyone huddles together. - I produce my silver sword. - You have your gun out, London. You have your sword out, Alan. - Gun for Maxwell. - I got it. - Oh, I don't think I have a gun. - Flexing all day. - I do-- - I tested eight epic. - Wow, very nice. So those sniffing doggies can-- - Sniffle them. - Can sniff all day long if they want. - You covered all of their sizes in this particular veil. - Yes, I did. - And I laid us out the side door down the driveway across Lake Avenue, I think was the one you said it was, it was a Detroit. - No. - It was a steeple off. - A steeple off. - Everybody help together. - I can't remember the name of the street. - It was Wolf. - It was Wolf. - Oddly enough, or not. - It is Wolf Road. - And then I try to get to where-- - I'm not getting any one. I'm walking out to the car that I'm getting into. Everyone else can make a dash of their other vehicle so they can get the rest. At that point, I'll drop the veil. - Do you have a seaming up on yourself for you? - You know. - I thought that was a maintained seaming. Otherwise, I don't have to catch a seaming prior. - I'm trying to drop it. - You would think you would be able to change yourself for a day if you wanted to in order of, but I don't know this system well enough, 'cause I only have four spots for mental conviction, and every seaming could be different. That would be disadvantage, but that's the way it is. - No, I would say something on this line is anytime you want to rust and clear out your mental, you're gonna need to let it go and then recast when you begin. - Fair enough. - So if you're walking around town constantly under a seaming, you're one down to start on any particular scene. - Right. - Okay. - Let's up. - Monday Boo, where we met before, say no names. - Right. - Okay. - Who's in your car? - I'm running with-- - I'm running with Edmond, but I'm running-- - Edmond, Allen, and Maxwell. - Yes. - And myself and Roberto. - You're done with you, Edmond. - And you guys are in a car being London and Roberto. Who's driving? - Roberto. - Right down where you're meeting. (laughing) - 'Cause you're not talking. You're leaving the parking lot. And let's approach you just-- - I can't remember you. - You're in the same car. - I'll be over here. - There's a Starbucks right at the point. - Well, now they know where you're going. - They know where the whole point of the paper. - Was that where you guys were going? - I didn't want to say a lot of where we were going, so I said let's meet where we met. - And where was that you were thinking of? - I'm thinking of a cave to visit. - And last night. - So, the point being is we're driving out together in the same direction 'cause their way was the highway. - That was the last time you were back. - You were back, right? - No. - The last time you were together, you met at a Starbucks right down this morning. - This morning. - For you came. - There's a little strip mall. - I'm driving you going now or later or what the hell was that? - I don't ever meet that. (laughing) I'm sorry, I thought I was capable of it. 'Cause I'm your right, Edmond. - Hey, David was last night. - Maybe they could have a role, as Roberto puts on his blinker to pour into Starbucks. They go, "Oh, this morning we met there." Follow London. So, we end up back at Starbucks. - I think I mentioned it before. If you wish, you could put over a cone of silence or a cone of mumbles, which is-- - As an aspect. - As an aspect on the table. So, anybody trying to listen in would have to-- - When you turn into Charlie Brown's parents, right? You make them, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." So, if you wanna cast a spell, that's how we're gonna deal with that particular spell, rather than-- - Can I also throw in an extra little shift of power to make it sensitive, so I will know if someone's trying to tap into it. - I guess, crying sensor? - I would say that that might require some time in your hotel room with-- - Okay. - Megaling, because it's just-- - I know, I need to-- - I need to put on a plan. - Let's do it this way. I would like a-- - I'm all about wizards having-- - Preparation. - Preparation. - But, if you wanna make a great laurel to think of this ahead of time, declaration-based, like your magical knowledge, you would have thought of this before to incorporate this spell, you would have pre-made this thing. - Yeah, this is kind of a SOP for working out in the field going forward in the morning, so-- - So, depending, your award, you've been awarded for a number of years, would you have thought of this before? Give me a great laurel. - Perhaps it was a trick that Bill had taught me, perhaps not, so unfortunately, in this case, I'm only a good-- - I wonder if-- - Since you are a prodigy of Bill, you can tap that aspect for a plus two, which means it will work automatically, but you'd be spending a fake point. - Yeah, it seems like a cheap thing. - Oh, just a confidentiality of our conversation, yeah. - No, it's not that, he can do that. - Oh. - It's he wanted to put a hook into it to know when it's been triggered. - And that's-- - That's important, I'll be far spying on this. - No, good call. - Mm-hmm. - Call me, don't spend that precious fake point. Spend the damn fake point. - Why can't you need to cast a spell, and you would need-- - At least a good. - All right, you've got it. - You've got it, you've controlled it. - The next step, you have a meeting at 11 a.m. - Yeah, with a few people. - Right. - You're actually revealing a bit to see how much we've stepped on toes and see what kind of reaction you get if it's polite, whether it's forceful, whether it's over the top. We'll know exactly how many toes we've happened to stumble upon. - Oh, yes. - Yes. - I have a meeting. Gotta pay my dinner. - What time do you have that? - Ooh. - I'm gonna-- - We don't want to replay it last night, so what was that? - Morning. - Sometime in the morning? - Yeah. - Okay, so we'll be short here. You could drop me back off, and I'll take care of myself for this afternoon. - Do you got a meeting this morning? - Yes, if he wishes to remain ambulatory, he needs to have a meeting this morning. - Morning, I think then. - Warden, what's the next step as far as my divination goes? Do we need to find the child? Do we need to find William Donovan? Do we need to find someone else that I am unaware of right now? What would be your suggestion for the next step since this is your core ballgame? - The vampire duo. - My divination is at your disposal. - I may need to tap you for two divinations. I just have to decide which one is. - You're footing the bill, so you've hired me for your disposal, and I'm happy to cast divinations all day long. Truth be told, I could do one divination now, and you're after a short of what I can go ahead and cast the second one. So which one would you find to be the most important right now? - It's set up here with these Sophie choices. So is there something here like I am equally compelled now to pick one or the other? - I think they're linked, so I think one will help with the other, but do you want to challenge me or penalize me with-- - No, you stay in the house longer to find out the answer of what your mentor was doing, and is he really-- - The strike is clear. - Bill. - Is he really a law-breaker? - Well, I haven't told them about that part. - The choice is clear for Mr. Tedoski. - If there's a child that is in danger, we need to find her first. I don't see why there is even a discussion all the way out. - I suspect that they are linked. Bill would have been-- - And they knew Bill was actually in the act of defending the child, so you find one, he's probably the next logical person who will know what happened to this girl named Janice. - Janice. - Janice, Janice, Janice. Sorry, that's right, Janice. - Janice. - The two headed simple, god. - Janice, have you seen her? - Nope. - Then you don't have a picture over you. That's one spell, easy. - We need to pick her hair, though. - We have a sample of her hair from her pillow, right? - Yes, so, right. - I don't think the decision is quite as dry as you think, Mr. Shudau's. Yeah, I don't minimize your input, and I certainly think it's a good option, but I can also see where Mr. Donovan can lead us to the child as well, and perhaps lead us to more information to re-acquire the child more safely. I'm not sure which way to go, but I'm in your pay, so. - Go for Bill. - Thomas is saying that the delivery of the baby is the title of the show. - Oh. - I'm sure it'll have a few other meetings, by the end. - But that's the first-- - So we need to depart because my right-hand man here needs to get a meeting and so do you. - And there's a rule that goes around the block, but-- - Nothing to do with. - This is in a personal note, talking before about preparation. At some point, I realized I'm going to need some kind of spell to capture and sort of a carbonite of some kind, a warden, especially a tough warden. So I'm-- - He's in the veteran ward. - Right. That's gonna take time, it's gonna take magic, it's gonna take research and working. So whatever process I have to start preparing, so I want to prepare early in the chapter. So when I plop on a little handkerchief of sunshine and throw at the vampire or something. - Yes, I don't want that. - I want to be prepared for it. - You gotta tell me when you're gonna do that. I mean, if you have-- - And he's going back to rest to do his spell. - No, I do want-- - He's doing one now. - I can do it later. - I'm not gonna do one here, obviously, in the middle of Starbucks. - No, but one of my safe houses, I can do the spell. If you'd like to accompany me, you're more than welcome to. I will then need to convilize for a bit before I can cast the second spell. He won't pay you. - So actually, you know what, we can do it at your hotel. That's fine, if you prefer. - Do you require some protection at hotel? We'll probably have a threshold enough to protect him while he does his ear thing, though, right? - He's currently stationed in a seedy hotel, so there's a way-- - No, there's a little bit of damage. - I don't know that you're-- - I would say making the company of Warden would be protection enough for me. - Well, so, our mutual services cancel each other out. - You're helping me, I hope you. - I like this arrangement. - I believe we had a handshake agreement. - I gotta keep real quick, did you need more money to approach your-- - Yeah, I tried to, but you're just-- - I'm not getting it. - It's not a game, that is in game. - No, I wanted to understand-- - Oh, 'cause he's been with me the entire day, did he get that 100 from somewhere where he needed a boss? - I would assume he would talk about it. - I would assume, based on my four or conviction, not sure which one, maybe even contacts, when I spoke with the Warden yesterday and said my usual rate, it's half up front and half that completion, so I would expect him to have come with the amount of resources necessary to pay me at least half of the going rate. - I don't think he's paid you yet. - That's what I'm saying, so I'll just tap 'em on the side and grab my, so I can basically help Roberto out with that last 100 he needs. - Do you need backup? - No. - I can shoot you. - The last thing I need is to make more bodies. - Well, I can also talk to people. - Pretty good at that. - I can talk to 'em and if that doesn't work, I could be crap out of 'em. - But you have an appointment-- - I've tried both. - With clinic things easier. - And I think that's some invaluable information from the beginning there. So I'll take the 5,000 now and the following 5,000 at the completion of it. - You can just walk over $5,000 right down in front of you. - Check that much. - Yes, sir. - Oh, crap. - I'm pretty sure I'm not carrying cash like that. Also, I don't think we have ever clarified my physical resources as a Warden. - You got some, I don't know. - I do have some, but I'm willing to spend a faith point to determine what my levels are. - If I have, do you have a level in resources? - Resources. (laughs) - When you belong to an organization, you have the possibility of tapping in an organization's resources. And if there's something in here, I would say they would have to have part resources. - But I'm willing to-- - At least. - You're talking about-- - Oh yeah. - We're talking about how I'm flipping white balance. - Now how much of that you're going to use? - It gives you. - But that's what I mean. I'm willing to spend a faith point to smooth and make sure it's a robust amount of smooth. - Because I also realized, too, being new back to the scene, that I also need to have my flash roll to establish my credibility, my street cred here. I can't be coming in as the Popper Warden. I gotta come in here as the Badass Warden where I need to kick some ass, baby. - When you were talking about trading your character, one of the things you mentioned is you were sent to Cleveland because you were kind of exiled, you were red-shirted. You also were given the excuse that this is your mentor. - Now, that doesn't mean you stayed with that concept with your character. - The Ace Quarterback that they're sending in because they need to find out what's going on. Or are you the red shirt who's been hiding in the Bahamas with the easy assignment and to kind of get tired of you sending in what? - The expense accounts and now they want to like, - These Pina Coladas are not going to drink themselves. - That's right. Send his ass to Cleveland. So your character, you get to decide how are you assigned to the city of Cleveland? - I'm the Warden who took down the Bahama Banshee. - Okay. - That's what he was talking about. - I don't remember that one. - Okay. - That story, you're all involved. - There's a lot of the zombies down in the Bahamas. - Absolutely. - Not anymore. - Not anymore. - That's right. - You used to. - While their resources would be superb, I would accept this and maybe this will appeal to you. I might think I'm the shit, but maybe I'm sent in and I may have been told I have resources or I think I have resources, but then I become the man in Cleveland who's, what the hell is this guy doing? And this will lead to trouble down the line. - I'm willing to accept that too. - But going into this place, the Consulates all has superb or above resources. They're gonna allow you access to one below, like great. So give me a roll of great plus your fate dice. - Just to straight up. - Yes. (laughing) - How does that grade be clones epic? - Wow. - Okay. - That's nice. - What kind of budget? - Representative. - I would say that you requested something like what? - $25,000. - $25,000? - They give it to you. - They give you $25,000 million. - You could ask for a million at the point, but. - But. (laughing) - They're not gonna give you $10,000. - But you have the backing and they're giving you the resources. Bill Donovan was in Cleveland for a very long time. He lasted longest of any of the wardens in recent history. They wanna know what happened to him. They're fully behind you. They give you a little bank roll, $25,000 in cash. Let us know if you need anything else. - Right, and the gold card. - No, the black card. - The, oh, okay. - Yeah, not the gold card. - But you've got their full resources behind, sweet. - Okay, so I'll take my retainer up front, please. - Dan. - I give him his $4,000. - So, then I slip you 500 to make sure that you have enough to take care of your issues. - Awesome. - Study paycheck. - Let's just make sure it doesn't happen. - Great. - You guys cut off in different directions? - Well, I actually get to the car with these two. - Okay. - And if you don't mind, Maxwell, are you up for backing up Roberto? - I will talk and not shoot. - Excellent. - So, those two get into Roberto's vehicle. I get into Mr. Shadowski's vehicle. Can you drop us off at the renaissance that we're at? - Yeah, it's a key. - Fantastic. Accommodations meeting of my requirement. - Yeah. - I'm dropping people off in one of my meeting, I guess. - Okay. - Okay, so we have three separate. - Closest, two, four, eight, eight, eight, eight. - Yeah. - So, we'd have to get out. - So, the first one you'd probably hit would be a key downtown, it would be $10,000. - Well, actually, it's not far from there. So, you're dropping them off and you're both walking from the parking lot and probably get to your rendezvous at the front desk is James on duty there. And you check, you don't have any messages, which is your good day and you head up to your room. So, you guys are there. You go up to your, you have an entire floor of the building. You got a very big organization. Shaina informs you that he did refuse to leave. So, she set him up in a conference room and even to meet him in there where she can let him wait a few more minutes and then bring him to your office. - That'd be pretty funny. - Oh, I stopped in my office, check messages. - So, you got a student for a little bit longer? - Uh-huh. - I'm gonna let go in. - Yeah, there's nothing else pressing going on before he had to meet this guy who's conveyed in my pen. - So, you do have a few messages from your underlings and they have some questions and you spend a few minutes calling them back and then telling them how to proceed in certain cases, making roughly 10 or 15 minutes here. Making the guy wait. You guys take a little longer being Maxwell and Roberto to drive across the whole town to the east side. - You guys get to your room first. And you guys being Alan and London, what are you? - I'm gonna let him have the front suite. I don't have a big suite, but that's the best I has area for him to do what he has to do. I'm going to check the window, take up a position by the door. I'm going to observe and watch him, but I'm also going to the scaling guard. - Got that sheet in your hand. You kind of looking at it and you're thinking about it. You are setting up in the room. You want to set up a circle so you can do a spindle. - So I'm going to start with it. - Probably we have some classical music on the satellite TV. We'll set up shop. I have everything laid out. For divination, I need a circle. - I would imagine that he would always do a circle, build the spell up and then release the spell to go do its thing by breaking the circle. So there's usually always a circle. - As opposed to evocation. Evocation is a, boom. I think this is a longer set. - Thaumathery is a longer slower. And what you need for that is concentration above all else. So creating some kind of circle to protect you from outside forces in addition to just centering your mind. - Yeah, let's be clear. - Probably a procedure where you just call them yourself. - Right. - Go from the books, Harry Wits it there and go through a whole ritual. I'm getting ready to clean himself. Take a quick shower and go through like the whole ritual. - A cleansing, settling, I'm focused. - Oh, shower is fine. - I mean, turning out the scaffold oils and different COA heads. - I would send it to Shampoos. - Things I would definitely enjoy. - It's a nice feeling though. - Yes. - I don't use mortons to be clear. I've got some nice kosher sea salt that I put around in a nice circle. This is not your garden variety umbrella lady on it. - In fact, it's not sea salt. It is salt from the salt mines in Lake Erie, which is connected to this area that will impsize your detection. - Excellent, it's my homemade batch of salt because again, there's no mortons in this sense. - Pantry. - I'm not gonna make you roll on it. Just a declaration and it works. - I've basically done my preparation as far as that. - That's gonna be a lengthy process. We're gonna go back to, the bathrobes here are just outstanding. - Well, we're just gonna score the shower seat completely. - If you in London, you wanna know how you go in the other room. - I'm saying. - That the preparation takes much longer than Edmond's interview will take, so we're gonna go back to Edmond. But before we leave the thaumaturgy, we wanna determine the complexity of the spell. So what is it exactly you're trying to do? - I am trying to get the exact location of William Donovan at this moment right here right now. And four components you're using, the hair. Found in hair, brush, or hat. - Thank you. - Also, I think we have a page from his planner with his handwriting, and I don't think it hurts too much to have his protege in the same room with me as I conduct the spell. Emotionally, there is a strong desire to track and find him. - And plus, there's a bond between you two. - Does the spell destroy your opponents? - Yes, absolutely. - We'd probably have a photocopy machine before we are. - Well, we have two copies already, so I think we do. - Well, the GM gave you two copies, but the assumption is you make copies of it knowing that you would have to destroy it. - Also, while we're wizards, so wouldn't we have the ability to kind of memorize it, and can I have perfect recall of it, or is it a special talent in this game? - I don't know. - What's the question? - I would say you'd have to wicker and cite it before you could memorize it, so it's permanently heavy. - When you use the site on a piece of paper, you say it right. - Go follow it. - Where are you holding this paper up in London? - I don't think, automatically, because you're a wizard, you have a dedicated memory. You're going to remember every Google and scratch and smudge on the page. - Well, I'm okay with exerting effort to do it as part of it, but I would imagine that having a very good memory would be kind of key to being a good magician. - Okay, and to be perfectly clear, before you started all this, you dropped all paintings, all veils. - Yes, all veils. - You spent a time separating it, and you did all of your mental stress facts so that you're ready to go. - I would offer to help you, but in this case, I think I need to focus on-- - You know what you can do? - Right, okay. - Lunch. - I think we should order some nice lobster bisque. - I'm not your servant. - I don't know. - I just mean, can we order room service? I don't cast well on an empty stomach, sir. - And since it's his realm, it's being charged. - Just to be clear. - And so-- - We're going to out-cheap each other. - We can, guys. - Who has the zinger resource right now? - Does some. - Kobe Steak. - I'm done lobster bisque, some nice red wine. - Dude, I just paid you five grade, and now you're asking for lunch, too? - Can't do it. - Spencer Morgan. - It's the morning. You went lobster bisque, you can have a club sale. - Wait, is that morning anymore? - After I showered and did all this work? - Yeah, you're kind of a blessing, isn't it? - It's about lunch time. - Yeah, it's lunch time to have to eat. - Oysters in champagne? - Of course. - Okay. - Okay. - I'm so nervous. - I'm really concerned about you two together in this hotel room. So your preparation for this, the difficulty. - Yes. - Fucking epic, epic, epic, wow, great. (upbeat music) - Thanks for listening to the Knights of the Night At Actual Play podcast. Visit kotnpodcast.com for more information on this and other adventures, where you will find character stats, photos, start telling props, and even a forum for comments and suggestions, or you could email us directly at feedback at kotnpodcast.com, or contact us via Twitter, or leave a message on Facebook. All music for this podcast was created and performed by Zen Audio Smith. If you'd like custom professional music created for your podcast or business, please visit ZenaudioSmith.com and please join us next episode for more mystery and adventure. (upbeat music) - The bathrobes here are just outstanding. - Well, we're just gonna score the shower scene completely. - If you and London you wanna ask me now, you go in the other room, just say it. - On a site. - Talking to some of the parents at the Cub Scouts, one of the ladies husbands works in the Cleveland salt mines. - Oh, fantastic. - And I'm like, oh, that would be cool. You should talk to your husband about setting up a tour for the kids. 'Cause that would be just, hell, I would wanna go, you know? - Right. - Let's see what the salt mines are. It looked like and they're all about. And she says, you know, I talked to him about that. We can't. You need security clearance because, and I'm like, well, why? - That's the top security. - That's wild. - There's zombies underneath, I mean, a vampire. But she said that there are ships from other nations that come in and dock there to pick up salt. They sell internationally from the Cleveland salt mines and therefore it's like considered-- - International waters, kind of thing. - More or less, yeah. - And I was like, I didn't know that. That's interesting, isn't it? - That's why I also use salt mines and salt chambers to store a lot of nasty stuff sometimes because it's guaranteed to be-- - The only one Cub's got is running around down there. - Right. - What's this nuclear waste signal on? - I'm not saying it's nuclear waste, but-- - I saw this thing in Half-Life 2. What does it mean? - Yeah. - All right.