[Music] Hello and welcome to Night of the Night to actual play podcast. This world of darkness storyline, shitlock, was written and run by our storyteller Scott. [Music] And now, please enjoy chapter 8, scene 3, title, shelter from the storm. [Music] Okay, so that takes us to chapter 8. And the world of darkness story, shitlock. I'm a playing character of Jay, cutting the leader of the group. I'm Jim, I'm playing sister, Katie O'Connell, she's good at fixing cars and raising dogs and being a nun. And her pit bull, yeah. I'm Greg, I play Dr. Lucius Miles, he's good at being a doctor. I'm Mike, I play Michael Clay. My name is Bob, I play Special Agent Chew Park, investigator with the FBI. Alright, so you guys get to the hospital. We'll do Lucius and Chew here real quick, so go ahead and dial it number if you'd like. No, he can't use mobile phones for this. Oh, he's using a payphone. Wait, I do not want to use a payphone, that's in the hospital. Well, then you're going to have to walk around to see if I went up down 25th Street. Dude, there is payphones in 25th Street. I hear a hard define, my friend. What? She gave me a number, a cell phone number. I want to know what this number is. I don't want to call it from your hospital. I don't want to call it from my phone again. Uh, payphone, payphone, payphone. Or you know what, by the liquor store, would you put one of those up to your ear? Yeah. Okay, so are you stopping at a payphone, Dr. Lucius? Yeah, I'm stopping by the liquor store. Just like that, which is probably the only place in town that still has a payphone. It still has a payphone. Alright. Okay, and what happens? I call that number. Your payphone explodes, hardly like that. The lab wouldn't give up. Payphones include when just exploded. She knows exactly which one. This is Tammy's song. How can I help you? Tammy's song. I hang on. We didn't press that giggle on that angle. Do you have Prince Albert McCann? She knows my voice, alright? It's like me a song. I just rolled down the window on the passenger side. What kind of investigator are you? You just hung up on her, didn't you? Okay, so you end up at the hospital and you end up in Ethan's room. Hello. Ethan is conscious. He looks pretty beat up. I checked the chart, like all doctors do. We still don't have a picture of Benjamin. We can show him and say, was this the guy? Oh, yeah, that's right. I'm assuming that you just put him in some, you know, some whites of a resident or whatever doctor just to get him up there. Ask some questions. How are you feeling today? Am I doing your job, really? I thought you were an investigation. You want me to take his blood pressure? I've been over. See, she's got a sense of humor. You guys say he's crabby all the time. What do you know, a sense of humor? So, you know, his chart looks fine, by the way, Doctor Miles. Obviously, we asked how he's doing. You're dressed up like a doctor. Either I'm really effed up or you got a really good second job. Am I dressed up like a doctor? Yeah, you are. Because we swapped Ethan's room. He's in room 633, but really, we're up in room 933. Okay. Yeah, it's laundry day. Sorry. Hey. Do you remember anything? Dude, what happened? I don't know, but I know that I should say thanks to Doctor Lucius. They told me that you saved my life. Well, he is a great guy. I do that. I do that. But, you know, I remember having a couple beers and I don't remember driving the car through the window. What's the last thing you remember? I remember sitting at the bar waiting for Michelle. Jesus Christ, she takes her hour to get ready. And she's supposed to be up there like an hour ago. And I was having some beers. I was talking with Marty and then this old guy sat down next to me. I saw a weird old guy with really big ears. Have he lives a nasal high voice? Yeah. Thank you. Continue. I'll handle this. So, yeah, this old guy sat next to me and we talked for a little bit. And then all I remember was I think Michelle was pretty close to going to be there. So, I just got to get up and go to the bathroom. I remember he reached out and grabbed me like he wanted to tell me something before I left. And that's the last thing I remember. That's the last thing? Was it painful at all? Did he attack you in any way? He was old and frail, but I think he grabbed me. When he grabbed me his grip was pretty strong. I remember being surprised. Yeah, I was surprised that it was strong. That's weird. Like for such a little guy. What were you guys talking about? Did he grab you like that? I just shoot in the breeze, you know. Just talking. You know Ohio City, West Side Market, Great Lakes Brew. What's my favorite? You know, just bullshit. Just talking to the guy. Did he say anything about Henry at all? Henry. Henry. You know Henry Jacobs shows up at the bar. He's a regular. He starts to nod slowly. Oh, yeah. Henry, why would he know Henry? I don't know. It's weird. No, I don't know. He didn't say anything about Henry. Well, that's what I remember anyways. Tell you the truth. When he grabbed my arm, it's kind of the last thing I remember. I take a look at his arm where the four bruises on his arm that looked like a woman or a small child put them there. Yes. And I check those bruises. They're more pronounced actually. As times passes, you know how bruises get deeper before they get less. So they're definitely more pronounced. They're there. See, is this about where he grabbed you? He looks at his arm and you can see him kind of trying to put himself back into the place. Yeah. Yeah, that's where he grabbed me. Wow, shit. I take a look at his blood work, does anything strike me as strain? Any sort of hoosages or? No. There's nothing strikes you as odd with his blood work. I listen to his hardness looks. I thought you saw this. No, really? No. It's a normal beating heart. He does tell you though, he's like, you know what was weird when he grabbed me? I think it sounded like he was speaking a foreign language. It was weird. The syllables were weird. It was definitely foreign. You didn't pick up on anything, any words? I just know it wasn't English. Choose. Pick some Korean to him. See if it is Korean. It's not Korean. It's not Korean. Sorry. Sorry about that. I just assumed. Yeah. You know what happens when you assume? This is so loud. So that's the last thing you remember him grabbing your arm and saying where she did. Yeah, seeing some weird shit. And I just woke up. How do you feel now? Well, I feel like I probably am pretty fucked up. Yeah. They told me that. But how's your hat? I mean, you thinking clearly? I think I am. I feel like I'm all right. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm screwed. I crashed my parents' Porsche. I tried to kill some guy. I'm probably going to jail. I mean, my life is half in roomed. No, it would be cool, man. I know this is a good lawyer. It is, man. I give you my card. And when you do get with your lawyer, just have me recall. I'll write a report for you. You don't remember any of this. No, but what if it... I mean, I was in the bar drinking. I mean, seriously, my life is over. Well, you know that kitchen at that place was never very clean. And there's all sorts of stuff, like sounding all tricky places, all that stuff. When you eat, when you ate all those wings, it made you sick. When you got behind the car, you didn't know what you were doing. Are you able to test for that? Sure. Is that your MD or your JD talk? You think that? So, there's always... Listen, you're young. So, what happened? Not this B story. Come on. He had some wings. I didn't have any wings. Was he a little pink? Two of them. Boys, me? Fuck them. Food, boys, me. You think that... You think that... He got behind the car. He lost control. Don't you remember? He lost control of the vehicle. Or maybe that old man slipped him a Mickey or something. Even better. Yes. Well, though, because we can pick that up in the blood work. We'll get the eggs to see. Well, we'll just have to work on the blood work. I don't think he's sexy. Isn't it roofing? Roofing. Roofing off. Yeah, roofing off. Maybe it's some... The new story. When you fell asleep, behind the wheel, because this old guy flipped you something. He had to slip me something. Absolutely. So, me, I can drink? Right. Well, no. I drink all the time. Wait a second. I could drunk all the time. I'm drunk. I don't know. No, you're pretty much drunk, yeah. Well, don't you understand? When you came in here, your blood alcohol level was zero. You're fine. Now, start the story again. This guy slipped you some PCP or something, and then showed up on the test. Nope. There it is. We'll have to work on that. You feeling better? Yeah, a little, I guess. All right. Well, we'll take care of you. We'll work on it with your... This wasn't your fault. You've never seen this old man before. He's just a complete stranger. It came up to you. Yeah, complete stranger. It was pretty bad for the dinner crowd. And so, he asked me to sit next to me, because I was saving the seat for Michelle. And I figured how long could the old guy sit there, you know what I mean? And plus, I know Michelle takes forever to get ready. So, I said, yeah, sure. Why not? I just didn't think there'd be any harm come from it. Did he tell you his name? Yeah, it says his name. Did that ever come up? Yeah, it was, it definitely was Benjamin. Benjamin? Ha! Last name? That'll help. No, he just, he said high of Benjamin. Damn it. High of Benjamin. Hmm. Weird dude. Did he look weird? Yeah, he's bald and had big ears. Big nose. It's an old shrivel dude. Did he talk about anything unusual? Nah, just Ohio City. What was he drinking? Uh, cranberry juice, I think. Yeah, we've got that from the bartender. Do you recall Henry Jacobs being at the bar at all? No, I didn't see Henry. You haven't seen Henry in a couple days, actually. Huh. Well, I can't believe this Benjamin did this to you. Alright, is it interview done? Or do you have anything more you want to do with that? I mean, storytelling. Yeah, that's pretty much it. Alright, end of, end of scene going to you guys now. It's getting close to 10 o'clock where you had an appointment with your contact at the contract, ever. Yes. Oh, right now it's just Jay and Mike's health. I wanted to go. Oh, I'm sorry, and the sister. Oh, is this during sister Katie? Yeah, and you do that, we'd go to the library. Out front of the Cleveland Public Library on Superior Avenue, right? Impressive edifice. Beautiful. Marble, obviously large and stately. Done in the neoclassic back in the 1930s. You're quite impressed with the design. Out front is Niccolo Alexandros, your contact. Nico. Nico? Probably in his late 50s, early 60s. Boshi Grey Eyebrows. Pepper main of hair. A gregarious Grecian. He greets you fondly with a good clasp on the back. Reminded that Riccolo commercial. Breathe the my friend. I pace the friend. I pace the friend. So he greets you. Oh, yeah, I introduce Jay. And sister, very important. The rest of Michael shakes your hand. Did we get any clothes out of our apartment? Well, did you actually have something to change? I think we cleaned up a little bit. Yeah, we're thinking we still look pretty haggard. A little bit haggard. Some of you boys look a little haggard. Not the best. He says, "Oh, so your new friends you hang out with." He wants to know what you're doing now because you were whisked away from the Cleveland display at the Art Museum. Well, what's this you have going on now? I just, I need a little time in the libraries. Nico, just let us get in there and I'll owe you a big one. Okay. He leads you into the library. Pass some metal detectors up to the front desk where, yes. That causes a problem for probably all of us. Stop. On the other side of the metal detectors. You know, before we approach the metal detectors, I tug on his sleeve. I go, Nico, can we go through the acquisitions entrance or somewhere? Oh, I understand my friends. So he flashes his badge. He gets you into his side entrance. He leads to the front counter and the reception desk and he asks to be taken to the special collections. Which Cleveland Public Library actually specializes in folklore. That is a true delight. Third floor of the main building. Right. In World of Darkness, it's the basement. Okay. But yes, it is the third floor of the main building in real life. But anyway. Just to add a point, I do have certain degree of status. The age's kind of door room is just a point for now. Right. And I also wanted to make sure that Nico is, or Nico, that I call him Nico. Right. Of course, because you're close. He's trustworthy age's kind of door room. He's not somebody I should be suspicious of. He's been a friend of the mentor to you probably for 20 plus years. Okay. Actually, he's the one who brought you into the organization, the conspiracy. And not for a long time. You were working with him for over 10 years before he even wrote the subject with you. So. Oh, this way. But play is probably in his late 40s. And Nico, again, you know, late 50s, early 60s. So 15 years older than you somewhere in that ballpark. Yeah. 12, 15, something like that. It's not the years. It's the mileage. So everyone can go ahead and make a perception check, please, of the three of you who are in, you know, just of the three that are in the library. Hey. Awesome. Finally, four successes on five days. You've got it on the board. Look at that. Uh, three. All right. Four, three and. Absolutely nothing. All right. Well, you know what? It kind of makes perfect sense that way. Okay. You two noticed that standing just past the front desk where the metal detectors are are two uniformed security guards. And for some reason, you just kind of double back basically because of last night and the trouble you had with uniformed security guards. You had double tape and then you look over towards the entrance to the stairs leading to the basement where the special flexion is housed and you see a security guard as well standing there with arms folded there and just nothing in particular jumps out of you. It's just after what happened last night with the security guards from, you believe, vitamin B, all of a sudden that blue uniform with the black pants sets you off a little bit and makes you feel a little bit uncomfortable. They're not police officers but security. Right. I asked Nico and I'm using the big academic speak. He's a big word. He's a common folk. What? Yeah, basically. Yeah. He's using some of the lingo and jargon that maybe we use on digs or from our history. Mm-hmm. And kind of ask what's with all the security or the- Is something unusual going on? Unusual going on here. No, this is common, my friend. This is common. This is- there's ten million volumes. Priceless art. Priceless special collection. You must see. There must be some protection. You don't worry, my friend. It is okay. Okay. [Laughter] Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck. I am packing. Right. I have my film. It's not a sniper rifle. No, no, no. It's not correct. Just a pistol. I think it's a lock. Hold on a finger. It is. I've reached to my pocket. Mm-hmm. Check my phone. Say, excuse me, Nico. I just- I need to take this. Just one moment. Oh, okay. All right. Off to the side. All right. What I do then is I finish- I should be going ahead. [Laughter] I finish the phone call, and then I will- That's the industry, right? That's Nico. We're old buddies. Old buddies would never turn on me. Right. Do you worry that old buddies? This is your mentor. It is my mentor. That's why the betrayal is going to hurt so much more. [Laughter] I'm here. [Laughter] I text to shoe, saying, "Call in ten minutes, and if I don't respond with- Orange. With a code word or a hand. Orange. Orange. Then you say word with the chin. [Laughter] I don't even- [Laughter] She lives at the end. She doesn't have to say word. Say, "Saysk with alien." What? Then come rescue us. Okay. If we're in the hospital, I probably wouldn't get that. That's an assumption. Actually- I don't know that. I don't know. His phone's off. Yeah. Right. I don't know. Don't get it eventually. No, actually, I'd price seven on. I'd be on a vibrate because everyone uses their phones anyways. Plus, you don't really listen to rules all that well. My end of my point is that it's done and it's a little- Right. Just a little something. Okay. So what does it say? Are you ready to go see the election? I'm ready to go. Well, I just only need his access to the archives for a short time. I don't know. I don't even- Of course. Of course. It's a beautiful collection here. I cannot wait to see it. Let me tell you. So he leads you into the basement. Here he comes. And to the full floor section, in the basement is in the large area, not well lit course. So we come into the elevators, past the security- I should get stairs. The stairs. We go after the stairs. Oh, that's the secret yard. Excuse me. Marble stairs. Yes. Do the guards fall in step behind us? Oh, no. Okay. But someone does lead you down there from the library. Someone that works there, leads you. As a key card opens up the door leading into the special collections. Special collections is a very large area. Not well lit, but well enough that you can study by and do it. What I'm saying is there's no natural light coming in, but there are fluorescence. There's a desk down there with an information desk with someone sitting behind it. There's one guard down there as well in that area. It's a security-uniform security guard down there. And there's a couple people down there working at various parts with special collections, because it's not just folklore. Sure. They also have some other things, I believe. Checkers and chests, they have an extensive collection on chairs and chests. Are they all wearing these special edges? No, these are some regular people where they're just doing stuff. So these are just typical scholars and researchers, not necessarily part of any conspiracy. Okay. And so Niko, he leads you to the area of folklore, which happens to be like four stacks of just 30, 40 foot long. It's pretty impressive. And he says, "Do you know anything about what we will be looking for today?" Well, yeah, and I... Niko, are you going to show? I will show you Niko. Just, you know, it takes some time. So, you know, we need privacy, Niko. You know, you know, this is business, and we have to take proper precautions, sir. Just like you showed me, just like you taught me. So, the first part, Niko, is I show him the idol. His eyes light up when he gets to see the idol. He's very excited about it. Oh, Niko. Throw me the whip. I'll throw you the idol. A good find. A good find. While they're doing this, I break out my phone. Am I getting any bars down here in the basement of a large slavage marble building? With their second drink? He got like one bar. Okay. And then, no bars. And then one bar. Take the library and get a white bar. The white bar. The library and the bar does, yes. But the special collections area that you're upscotted in right now, sealed away and... All the time in the world. So, he looks at it and says, "What do you think? What are your thoughts?" I think it's a... Where do we start? Bees. Mmm. So, go ahead and make a role to decipher where you think that this... Where to start with this particular idol. Okay. Do you remember? Professor. Oh, I'm tired. I had to do with harvesting during the harvest. When he whips off the title... There's a real religious item. Right. I remember and maybe mentions the words bees. Do I see any reaction to from anybody, a guard, anybody else? Anybody go away? Go ahead and make a perception check. Everybody in the room of focus is done. Because I'm chasing you. Okay. I think I'm just kind of keeping eyes on everybody in the area. Please. Done a lot. I am a relic analyst. Mmm-hmm. So, I also have investigative skills for solving relics and enigmas. And I have them called with a specialty in relics. So, what dice do you want me to roll? A cult plus intelligence. Can I throw in my merits for relic analyst as well? What is that underneath? It says relic analyst and then it has two dots. Yeah. Is it give you two extra dice or three dice or what does it give you? I thought it was like a named merit that you looked up in the book. I did. I don't know. You just don't know what it is? I just don't know. For right now we'll add two dots. Maybe we can look it up next time. Okay. I sure choose visions of involved with ritual, harvest, time, bounty and that kind of thing. Right? And Jay's pointed out that the name Plantard was involved in acquiring this too. So, there's some history there. You the willpower? And yeah, I want to throw in some more power. Jay said selfless power. I spent one to get three. Before you roll. Before you roll. Can I use my academic to assist them? Sure. You can give your viewpoints of the Sister Seeker a church to learn in from some other place. Church to learn. Go ahead and make a roll. Academic plus intelligence minus three values because of no. Earlier you were all about showing earlier, you know, last dinner dagger. I suffer. I suffer. Thank you. Dinner even. And intelligence minus three equals no dice. Okay. You could roll one. Oh, Lana. Ooh. All right. Two zeros. Oh. Three. Good answer. All right. All right. You tell Nico. You tell Nico. You're thinking dark ages, France, south of France. And he clasped you on the shoulder and says, ah, that is good. That is good. I think, I think maybe third century, fourth century, south of France. That's where I think we start my friend. How would you get different sponsors? Are we talking about the subdivisions? I think, well, you think that it may even predate that. Clovis, the first, which was a French king, was the first of the line. And he was fifth century. So you think that this might be slightly before that? And we'll, because it's getting wet, we probably should wrap up. We'll do the actual deep research on it and all the good stuff. We'll save that for the beginning of next week and go from there. But yeah, he thinks out the France, he thinks Clovis the first is a little bit late. He thinks it's maybe in the third century. But you can start looking in the folklore for that area to try to get some information on your idol. Okay. And that wraps up the eighth chapter of our story. Good luck, because it was such a strange night. There wasn't a lot of new stuff that you learned. It was kind of a rehashing of a lot. I think we'll save the going around the table and doing the extra points and what that. Let you guys get out of here at a decent time tonight. Let me jump in here quickly and let you know that the remaining five minutes of the podcast is the players discussing what they think is going on with the story. You won't miss any of the actual stories, so feel free to skip it if you wish. And thanks again for downloading the Knights of the Night podcast. I think we did figure out that flight with me or the bad guys. We're at least certainly more hostile towards us. Oh, they definitely know about us. Hey, time up, time up, time up. Let's go ahead and do it. I'll start again. Okay, what did you learn new about the storyline tonight? Bob. I learned that vitamin B knows that I've been trying to contact a sales person. And I'm not sure how they could have put that together. You were rerouting your phone numbers. Yes. You're using a fake number and stuff. I think I can think of it as I mentioned, Henry Jacobs. And that I was trying to work a sale through him. And he would be able to identify me. And if they're able to communicate like a hive does, then maybe that, you know, they all have that information. And that's how they were able to come to that conclusion. Tom, you want all the parts, right? Yeah, parts. Don't take them with you. And that's much else that I'm in. So vitamin B knows who you are that surprised you. It surprised me that they knew it was me who was trying to set the interview. And they seemed very well organized. You know, that's the way how a hive works. So I just have to take that into consideration next time and go about things in a different way next time. Okay, Jim. I learned the degree of what they know. I saw that his contact, which was that sales person, the sales person at the company knew a lot about what was going on. That Henry was tackled. The only people who knew Henry was tackled was... Henry. Henry in the bees that were in them. She knew about the assault. She knew the details of the assault. Kind of obvious, not what the bees know what the person knows. Okay, Greg? Well, I echo a lot of the previous comments. And vitamin B is for some reason or another of the bad guys who just used that term. Sure, they're the ones that would attack us in the house. We confirmed also what we suspected was that Benjamin was the one who had something to do with Ethan going after Henry. I think we always suspected that. I don't know that we particularly had any solid proof of that, but definitely his description of what Benjamin did to him, managed with his injuries, as with what happened in the early after. It proves that this is some sort of pathogenic response and not necessarily paranormal. Fair enough, Tom? I can't believe you're still going for that angle. I got nothing. They pretty much covered everything. I mean, we didn't learn a whole lot, but we definitely got confirmation of not only that they were the bad guys, but they were rubbing it in our houses, which was actually kind of silly of them. They could have had us come in and got two of us easily. Well, we were setting up for them. Yeah, I'm just saying, though, all they had to do was get from a meeting and we were dead. We had no idea that they were. Well, I had aware of what was going on. Okay, because we knew that the new interview coming up was going to be us. And they blew that. Michael? Well, same thing. I was shocked and surprised by the taunting malicious nature, which makes me think that they're really more... If we didn't know who the enemy was, I'm willing much more towards vitamin B now, but it's not a fan of Benjamin's tactics either. Also, I get the sense that we are either not taking any steps to conceal our actions or that we are really exposed and vulnerable to observation or surveillance. And I don't know if it's just the bees. Hopefully we're in the presence of determining whether the idol is a key or a curse or something that's not good. Also, I'm a little bit concerned that there's a lot more going on in Ohio City and Cleveland that I seem to be aware of. And so, this is the way field will work is, and I just don't want to react into security guards or... Yeah, that one. Or is there something else going on that, you know... I just feel like, is this unusual paranoia or is there... There's all these hints of bigger things moving and we just can't seem to get a good view of what exactly is happening. So, we can't even figure it out. It's like three blood men in an elephant trying to figure out what it is. All right. Not bad. I'd be sure to stop this one time to do that. Thanks for listening to nights of the night at actual play podcast. Visit kotnpodcast.com for more information on this and other adventures. Where you will find character stats, photos, storytelling, props, and even a 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. [Music]
