Welcome to Momento Talis, where the dice aside
and moments are made. I'm Liv, your lightkeeper,
your friend, your adversary, and everyone in
between as Game Master. And these are my friends.
I'm Israel and I'm playing Manny Quinteros, a
magician bartender. Hi everyone, I'm Samantha.
I'm playing Maude Florali, who is a medium and
also an embalmer at her family funeral home.
What's up? I'm Rachel, and I play Arden Barlow,
an investigative journalist. And this is The
Circle, a fragmented glass. We're playing Candela
Obscura, a game made by Darrington Press. If
you'd also like to join the investigation, you
can buy the game at darringtonpress .com. Now
let's roll some dice. Previously, our intrepid
investigators moved to a new city of Cascadia
within the Brindleborn Mountains. They took a
train to get there, and while on the ride they
got hijacked by a couple scarlet runners. Maud
choked out a guy. Manny punched this guy to death.
Arden barely survived. Sorry Arden. You guys
found your new chapter house You learn that there
are people being taken under the tunnels of Cascadia
and are disappearing and you guys have a couple
days just to Relax before you have to go into
the tunnels to figure out what's going on. So
without further ado I'm turning over to you guys
whoever wants to go first to Say what you've
been doing in the past couple days Manny's been
spending a lot of time both in the bar and in
the chapter house, getting things set up, helping
Maeve lift heavy things and move things hither
and thither, as well as getting to know bar,
the patrons, the people in the area, and a lot
of walks. There will be times when Manny will
just kind of poof and begin roaming through the
city itself, checking out neighborhoods, old
and new establishments, and things of that nature.
uh, re -familiarizing himself with the city itself.
I think after Maude's last conversation with
Arden at the bar, talking about this mystery
flower shop that she's not sure is gonna be okay
after Arden briefly mentioned it, Maude's going
to take time to kind of walk around the neighborhood
looking for this flower shop that Arden is referring
to, seeing if there's any trouble to be found
over there. okay and you find this flower shop
it's called daisies of the wind and it's you
know this cute little flower shop there's bouquets
everywhere there's this old lady behind the counter
she's putting together some bouquets she sees
you come in oh hello good morning how are you
morning it's quite a day isn't it it is it is
um i'm new in town i was wondering how the floral
business is on this end of Newfair? Well, you
know, the floral business, people like flowers.
And it's, you know, they brighten up rooms. So
I would say they're going pretty well. I've sold
several bouquets today. Wow. I think Maud is
going to see if there are any bouquets that she
can buy for herself for the bar that would fit
nicely with the theme and the wallpaper that
they've got going on over there. There's definitely
some bouquets that would fit it. Some nice red
roses that will accent the red walls. Or a little
bit of blue. I don't know flowers I'm coming
up with on the spot. Hydrangeas. There's all
different kinds of... flowers that you could
put together and she's happy to help you put
together a nice bouquet. Awesome. Um, I'm sorry,
um, what was your name? Dorothy. Oh, Dorothy,
I love you. Alright, Dorothy, well, um, my name
is Maude. Like I said, I'm new in town and might
be... interested in working here if you'd have
me. Of course! I'm actually looking for someone
to work the shop. My hands are old and arthritic.
I need - I need help! Oh my god, okay. Sounds
good, Dorothy. I have some floral training, but
not for - the living, so I would be happy to
take any notes that you might have for me. I'm
happy to teach you, but we also have a lot of
customers from the mortuary, so we might need
your expertise anyway. All right. Sounds sounds
perfectly suited. I'm so excited to work with
you. And she'll, you know, she'll wave and like
go back to whatever she was doing. That was the
most normal conversation I've ever heard in my
life. She will, I think that evening or whenever
she gets the chance, she'll go back to the bar,
show many of the flowers she got for them, and
ask him where the best place for displaying them
would be. Well, remind me of the bar owner's
name. It's Duncan. I was gonna say Phil, so I'm
glad I asked. Well, these are nice. I'm gonna,
you know what, on the far end of the bar there
near the window, on that right side right there
go ahead and put them right there i think they'd
look great thank you manny um and she'll go ahead
and do that and fuss with them and play with
the petals so they're a little more open um to
maybe see if uh it'll attract customers from
the outside but that's not what people going
to bars are there for um arden will have spent
this time trying to familiarize herself with
her environment She's someone who's never really
had too much trouble adapting to unfamiliar places
or situations, but she's always got her guard
up. So she spent a lot of time going on walks,
more so to familiarize herself with her surroundings
than for relaxation purposes. But yeah, kind
of scoping out the area and jotting down notes
in her journal every now and then. And she's
someone who would typically want to keep herself
busy with work. But I'll say at this time, she
has been spending a lot of her free time at home
building up her workstation. So getting all the
supplies that she needs for writing, stocking
up on non -crappy coffee, making sure everything
is organized and clean and suitable for her to
focus. She finds a lot of comfort in being able
to just write. So she is writing things, she's
sketching, she's reading through old clippings
of newspapers to try to start piecing together
this mystery of the people disappearing in the
tunnels. And I'll say there's like a coffee shop
nearby your apartment. Oh, perfect. On that note,
how much time has gone by since that first night
in the bar? So the owner said Friday, we established
it was Monday. when you guys got in, so it's
only been like four, fourish days. So if there's
anything else you want to do in that time, feel
free to let our audience know. GM, have I? He
was just a guy. It wasn't like he had anything
that, you know, stood out. The obituary and the
Brindeborg. Brindleborn Gazette mentioned, you
know, he has a family and, you know, obviously
they miss him, but there wasn't anything standing
out about him. Are we able to find a picture
of him or any of the other victims? Yeah, we'll
say in his obituary, there's a little picture
of this guy and he's clean, shaven, blonde hair,
just an average... Looking dude. I want to say
that in this time Manny would have taken it upon
himself to explore the tunnels by himself at
some point if not the first day like the third
or fourth before the Friday either exploring
the entrances like on the dockside and on the
side of town or Or actually going in I have a
feeling he would he would take the time to do
so just to get a sense of what's actually going
on and and awareness of what they'd be walking
into as a group. You see from the docks, there's
a spot where the tunnels sort of, you know, start,
and that's typically where all the ships kind
of dock, like, if they're bringing in supplies.
Ship workers pointed out the entrance, like,
yeah, that's where we normally line up the cargo,
and someone comes and takes it away. Okay, yeah,
I think he'd cautiously explore a little bit
of ways, checking out, you know... bits and pieces,
but knowing that deliveries are continuing to
run through here, that it's relatively safe,
knowing that there is a danger, but also being
conscious of that life is still going on, so
that he feels relatively comfortable on his own
peeking and poking throughout the area. Okay.
Yeah, we'll have you run into maybe another worker
from another tavern who's you know, he's he's
going through the tunnels Yeah, he's a little
scared but you know, that's uh He's got work
to do he's gotta pay his bills and you know,
he's heard a lot of stories about people disappearing
But he's gotta do it. All right. All right, and
I'll just as I'm doing this the day we go to
leave I'm gonna make sure I make everybody aware
of that. I was doing this let Ardyn respond to
him as she would, because I have a feeling they
would have something to say about me doing something
like that on my own. Um, come Friday, Manny will,
uh, if nobody has anything else they would like
to do throughout the week, Manny is up in the
bar, wiping things down, getting it ready for
the rest of the day, before we get ready to go
and do our thing. If no one else is doing anything,
we can start Friday evening. Excursion? Excursion,
yes. It's also a rainy day this Friday. The clouds
are covering. It's always rainy in Cascadia and
never seems to have any direct sunlight except
on rare occasions. And you're all meeting in
this, you know, tavern. I assume you guys are
drinking anything warm or... just getting ready
for the adventure ahead. But as you look towards
the dark maw that is the tunnels, what are you
guys going to do? I'm so sorry. I'm just looking
back my notes. I want to cross reference for
continuity. Of course. So I have my notes that
as of last session, it was a Tuesday with a note
that the next expected shipment was supposed
to be Friday early morning at the end of the
same week. Okay, then I fucked up on that and
yeah, we can we can call it It's a Friday early
morning. Perfect. So Manny will be closing down
to the bar About what time is it in the morning?
Let's say it's like 5 a .m. That's how you get
to know a person ask them what they think early
in the morning really is Five of the mornings
early I think mod is strolling in with with like
a little whatever the Victorian era of a to -go
cup of a little chamomile tea from a nearby cafe
and she just has that in her hand. She has her
go bag for her adventures with her buddies and
she's ready. That's all she's got. Arden will
have hastily chugged some coffee before getting
her bearings and going to meet her friends at
the tunnels. By the time she arrives, she's looking
quite a mess. She doesn't look like she's been
sleeping all that well. Her hair's a bit messy.
She's a bit frustrated by how cold it is this
particular morning, which normally wouldn't bother
her, but she just, she's not having it today.
As Manny watches you all come in, notes Maud
with her tea, and you empty -handed, pushes down
the bar. after freshly pouring more coffee as
he pours himself some and pours you some more,
knowing full well you've already had one. Manny,
you're my best friend, and I'm gonna chug the
coffee. And it is not scalding hot. It is warm
and ready to go. You'll notice that Maeve is
not around. She has, like, you'd think she'd
be in the chapter house doing something, but
you can't find her. I mean, you got a goal and
you know what you're going to do, so you don't
feel too concerned that you haven't seen her.
You guys ready to do this? Should we wait for
Maeve? Do we know if she's going to be joining
us for this? I'll be honest, I haven't seen much
of her over the last couple of days. I think
she's adjusting, difficultly, to being, for lack
of a better way to say it, home. Yeah, that makes
two of us. So I don't think we'll be seeing her.
Let me finish my coffee and get my Coke. Arden
is going to slump down over the bar while he's
finishing his coffee. Manny gathers his things
and as he's, you know, getting ready to hold
the door, lets it be known. So I may have already
walked the tunnels a bit and... Kind of gotten
my bearings upon hearing this Arden snaps back
up right from her slumped position at the bar
Whips her head to look at Manny. I I'm sorry.
I don't think I heard you did what I mean, so
I Figured it'd be okay. We've got other deliveries
that are still working and still going I didn't
like Explore the whole city's worth of tunnels,
but I figured some of these pathways are still
being used and I followed around along with a
couple of delivery guys from other bars. I figured
you'd get mad either way. Manny, that is the
exact same mindset that all these other people
have had and guess what happened to them? They
got snatched. That's why we're in this position
in the first place. What were you thinking? I
just wanted to know what we were walking into
and what better way than to do it than to walk
in. So you walk in alone? I'm never alone. You
know this. You're infuriating. I swear to God,
one of these days, if you don't get yourself
killed, I'm gonna kill you. Yeah, that's fair.
I'll be sure to put beautiful flowers on you
when that time comes, Manny. And Maud means this
in the most sincere, genuine, like, compliment
possible. Maud, I wouldn't expect anything else.
Yellow's my color. I know. Manny squints and
says, like, just looks at Maud, kinda squints
at her. Shall we lead the way mister? I already
explored the tunnels many puts his hand over
his heart real quick. Oh and follow along Now
many I'm gonna make you do a focus role. See
if you remember some of the ways All right, I
have one in focus and I will do Yeah, you're
You're struggling today. Whether it was just
a long, you know, shift at the the tavern, you
or the coffee just really hasn't hit yet. Maybe
it was a weak blend. Who knows? But you're you're
kind of baffled. You're, you know, Arden's like,
which way? And you're like, ah, you know, you're
puzzling enough. So I know the. And then I went,
oh, we're screwed. We're going to go this way.
Uh huh. This way, we're gonna go this way. Yeah,
no. I swear I drew a map. Manny, ah. And Arden
is... She's done. She's got her scarf wrapped
tightly around her neck. She's got her collar
popped. She is essentially barely awake right
now. She's frustrated. She's had coffee and...
It should be helping, but the caffeine instead
of waking her up is just making her brain go
a thousand miles per hour. And so she's too active
for someone who's not fully awake and ready to
take on the day. And she's just irritated. So
tell me again, tell me again, Manny, why you
thought it was a good idea to come down alone.
I mean, at the very least, at the very least,
we could, you know. rely on you to be a navigator
but clearly it amounted to nothing is what i'm
getting from this well i didn't die so that means
we most likely won't is basically what i was
going for oh you didn't die well thank fucking
god for that i would say so aren't starts grumbling
and like starts pacing in a circle manny checks
his things for the pocket that he forgets he
has and puts all the things that he doesn't want
to lose in it and pulls out the notes that he
made about, like, lefts and rights. It's not
a map, so to say, more as it is, like, literally,
like, arrows with checks next to them, based
on what entrance he came in. But, one thing,
because I got a two, the thing about these notes
is I didn't distinguish which entrance was the
left and the right, so I could be very much -
and - and I didn't, like, go from here, this
is left and right, like - whether I was facing
like north or south so it could literally be
completely backwards mixed up and upside down
so the notes were just they're kind of okay but
I was like they're thorough but there's no point
of reference for where we're actually at in our
immediate area is there anything worth taking
note of I'll set the scene a little bit so the
the tunnels they're cobbled walls that you know
come into an arch pipes line some of the you
know part of the roof or you know the arch area
pipes go in all different directions you assume
probably to the docks or you know who knows it's
damp and there's green lanterns with some sort
of whatever it's burning is creating this green
light that basically you know line the the walls
so yeah it's nothing nothing's really standing
out to you, but you know what, let's do a survey
roll. You got it, Chief. Roll better than me.
I think I'm gonna be okay. Survey is my best
stat. Uh, that's a four. Okay, um, you see just
in the, you know, the soot, or I should say silt,
and, you know, whatever is, you know... a little
bit of sand, whatever's on the ground. You see
it looks like a track from a cart going down
one way of the tunnel. Hey, what about that?
And I'm gonna draw the group's attention towards
the tracks. The dirt on the floor? No, no, these
look like tracks from a cart. I'm assuming a
delivery cart. Hard to tell which way... they
came from or much else, but this might lead to
something. Well, yeah, most of the delivery people
either had push or pull carts that I was hanging
out with when I was down here. So that's one
entrance. So let's follow this one that way.
And with the green lanterns, how? What's the
visibility like is how well lit is this place?
It's. It's not very well lit. The green lanterns
kind of give off a soft glow, just enough for
you to be able to barely make out the next lantern
in the series. So it's sort of like, you know,
if you go to one lantern, you can kind of see
the next one, and then you just keep falling.
And I'd say there's probably about maybe a hundred
feet between each lantern. So I guess we will
slowly start making our way following the tracks.
And as you guys are walking... you know it's
it's damp i'm sure mod is unhappy how how's mob
feel about this mod doesn't like the way that
her shoes are like sticking to the floor every
time she takes a step she brought her best shoes
for the move um kind of left her like trashy
ones behind at her house so she's uh not super
happy with the the sound and i feel like she's
also maybe getting a little bit creeped out about
the green lanterns and just not being able to
really see where she's going. So yeah, she's
definitely getting kind of anxious about where
this is headed. And Ma, as you're going, you
know, maybe you're a little bit behind the group.
You hear whispers in the dark and you swear,
you swear you heard the voice of your brother.
But hard to tell. Hard to know. I think she's
gonna whip around in that direction as fast as
possible. Darkness. I'll say that now having
something to have caught her attention and something
to actively focus on, Arden is definitely a little
bit more awake and alert now. Do I notice that
Maude has kind of hung back a little bit or has
become distracted? I don't know. Maude, how do
you respond to that? I think she starts running
in the direction that they came from. Which would
be... which direction, Gia? The way... like,
the opposite. The opposite. So probably back
towards the tavern. Yeah. Okay, well if she's
running, I assume we can hear the... unpleasant
squelching. You can hear her, like, little tacky
shoes, yeah. You hear the sound of splashing,
the cobblestones, you know, all against her little
tacky shoes. Mod? Hey! And Arden's going to turn
around and... I mean, how far has she gotten
by now? She's not fast. She is not fast. She's
like a little lady, yeah. She's doing like the
Scooby -Doo run, but not moving very fast, yeah.
Hey, Manny! And Arden's going to start following
and hastily pursuing Mon. Manny just like turns
around quickly and just like... Where's she going?
And follows quickly. Jeeves? Jeeves? Maud, you
okay? What was that? Jeeves? Arden exchanges
a glance with Manny, not quite understanding
or processing what Maud has said, and she kind
of nudges Manny and shrugs. Maud, is... That's
someone you know, I think so I think someone's
here In the tunnel with us I think mod is going
to use Okay, I don't want to do it cuz I'll take
a brain and I know that this is not an enemy
so I'll save it But, GM, if I could make a sense
roll, if that's alright by you, to just see if
I can kind of passively, uh, see. Yeah, yeah,
feel free to. And what are you trying to sense?
Uh, just if the presence is still there, or if
it was real, or, um, maybe if it - yeah, if she,
like, really even heard it at all. As a tapping
jam if I may Arden's gonna take a few steps forward
just a little ways past where mod currently is
and kind of squints and Looks into the darkness
before them to see if she can locate this person
that mod Believes is in the tunnels with them
Okay. Um, you know, I'm gonna have you survey
role for me. I Got a five knot on my gilded But
that's okay, I'll take it. Okay. Mon, you feel...
It's like... It's like a whisper of a... essence.
Like the faint smell of perfume of someone who
has been there but has left. That is what you...
what you sense. Does she notice it getting stronger
if she moves in like... She's doing like pacers
at this point where she's like running in one
direction, seeing if she can sense... something
of a larger quantity in, like, either direction
of the tunnel? It feels like everywhere she's
going, it's there. That faint smell, perfume
of someone who was once there. And the smell
is familiar to you. And I rolled a five on the
Gilded for the survey roll. Ardyn doesn't seek
anything. You just see Maud pacing back and forth.
Oh, Jesus, it's too early for this. And she's
gonna kind of catch Mod in the midst of her fitness
gram pacer test, and she's going to kind of just
grab her firmly by the shoulders and gently kind
of shake her. I don't know if Arden isn't aware
if she is or isn't in a trance, but either way,
she kind of instinctively shakes her a bit. Hey,
Mod, focus up here. Hey, you good? What's going
on? I think he's here. Who's here? I think he
came back for me. My little brother. He's coming
home. Coming home? From where? I don't know.
It sounds like he's lost. I think he's... I think
he's in here. I didn't see anyone in here. Many?
I haven't seen or felt anything. Maud, are you
sure? Like... I don't know. I think... I can
hear him. I can feel him here in a way. I can
smell him in a weird way. I think he's here.
I think he's in this tunnel. We just have to
keep going. I just don't know what direction.
Okay, let's keep going forward through the tunnels.
And if you see, hear, or smell anything, you
let me know. Okay, sounds good. Like walk through
the tunnels she's like Jean boy, where are you?
God that's cursed with that. She's gonna use
her sleeve to kind of like wipe her like drenched
forehead Um, just try to like calm herself down
her hand is like shaking she doesn't know like
if it's like her imagining things or Or if it's
just the tunnel freaking her out or what? But
she'll go ahead and follow you to again And I'll
say, the feeling of Jaune, it's comforting. It's
not like you shouldn't be worried. It's comforting.
Let's go find my little brother, please. I'm
ready to go now. Alright, let's take it slow,
yeah? Manny will turn and lead the way, cautiously
glancing over his shoulder, just about every
time he passes a green lantern. And as you guys
walk deeper and deeper into the tunnels, you
can feel the weight of the city above you. There's
life. There is the daily grind of the city as
it's waking up for its morning. But you're here
in this dark, damp tunnel. And you're not sure
how far it's going to go. And as you walk, you
really, really don't know how long it's been.
Has it been minutes? Hours? It can't have been
days. We've known. But it feels like it just
keeps going. It's okay, guys. If we keep going,
we'll find Narnia. The entrance near the dock
should be soon. I don't remember walking this
long, but I think I might have been walking faster.
Yeah, let's go this way. You guys eventually
come across an abandoned cart. You find the cart
that sound like Godric was pulling when he got
snatched. Duncan didn't know exactly where it
was. Obviously, he doesn't know where people
got snatched. But you can assume from your notes
and everything you've learned in the past couple
days. This is probably Godric or maybe another
lost soul, but definitely. And the cart is...
It's not, like, overturned or anything. It's
where, like, it's like someone put it down and
never came back for it. And the vegetables and
fruit that were in it kind of look a little moldy
at this point. Um, I'll say with all of Manny's
confusion when we first entered the tunnels,
as soon as we as a group decided on a direction
to go, Arden... Has been making some kind of
like a crude blueprint of sorts just as they're
walking no specific like indication of specifically
what direction they're facing but just kind of
You know drawing a line left if they've made
a left turn kind of thing and she kind of Marks
this spot along their path as the abandoned cart
I'm gonna step closer to the cart Do I see anything
inside or on the floor around the cart? Um, yeah,
I make you do a survey roll for that While Arden
is inspecting the cart Manny is going to be doing
a left and right back and forth down the tunnel
Are there any at least in this area around the
cart? Is it just a straight tunnel or has there
is there any forks or corners or? Other areas
of entrance on this part of the tunnel. As far
as you can tell, it's a pretty straight tunnel.
Granted, you can only see 100 feet in either
direction. So, you know, you never know what's
100 feet ahead. So, I got two 1s and one 6. So
I'ma take the 6. Alright! One of these days,
you're just gonna choose a 1. So, uh, yeah, as
you're looking around the car, you see, you know,
it looks like it was sat down. Some of the vegetables
maybe were jostled and you notice some of like
the dirt or whatever silt is around on the ground
of this, you know, tunnel. I keep saying tunnel.
I'm trying to think of another word. It looks
like there may have been a struggle. In fact,
maybe, maybe that's blood you see on the stones.
It's hard to tell, but it's dark. It's not water.
And is the blood on the cart or in the dirt?
It's in the dirt. It's on the cobblestones. No,
there's no blood on the cart. It looks like it's
been left there. Got something here, guys. And
I'm gonna kneel down and very carefully kind
of brush aside the dirt around that area just
to kind of flatten it out a little bit more to
try to get a better look at what I assume is
blood. try to determine if that's actually what
it is. Yeah, and with that light, you definitely
see the red. It's a dark red. It's been sitting
there for a bit, probably a couple days. With
the presence of blood and the signs of a struggle
in the dirt, is there any traceable tracks or
direction that looks like someone may have been
pulled or dragged? Or is there a trail of blood?
Does the blood go anywhere? I'll say with that
six, you're able to spot another couple of drops
of blood a little bit farther down. Like, it's
going towards the direction you were going. So
this doesn't look good. Missing peoples generally
aren't, you know, a fun event. This is probably
the worst case scenario, but I go where you go.
Mott, are you okay to keep going? I think she's
still looking around and kind of behind. Her
mind is kind of like half in the scene, but she's
trying to pay attention. She's really trying.
I'll take the lead and cautiously and warily
start following the trail of blood, or at least
going to the next spot. Manny ushers mod past
him and takes up the rear. And you guys are,
you know, moving through the tunnels and it feels
darker now that you've seen the blood. Like,
you know, definitely the blood has changed the
atmosphere of what you thought maybe you were
finding, you know, someone who was just got lost
or, you know, now it definitely solidifies you
that there was a struggle. Manny's head is much
more on a swivel looking behind. Checking you
know darker corners of where the lights a little
darker to make sure there's not like you know
a doorway through like a Something you know curtains
or something hiding in that dark where anybody
could potentially jump out at us I'm gonna have
you do a survey roll Unless you want to do a
sense roll either one and if you're gonna give
me the option. I'm gonna make a sense roll, okay?
No, it's pretty uh, it's pretty low stakes. So
I'm just gonna like try to get a feel to see
as since I'm doing a sense roll if I feel Anything
awkward or weird or malicious Nathan I got double
twos Double twos. No, no, you're the only thing
you feel is the friends Beside you I keep it
to myself and does it seem like at this next
spot? I've noticed the blood does it seem like
there is another spot of blood in distance or
does it seem like the trail kind of ends here?
It's hard to tell You know, the blood is definitely
getting lighter in terms of like volume not like
lighter as in it's fresher So, you know you're
You think there's probably another spot probably
You're just gonna have to walk into that darkness
How high is the ceiling of this tunnel? I'd say
it's about the height of, like, your average
doorway. So, six feet. It's kind of cramped.
Again, you - when you stand there long enough,
and if you're just, like, kind of imagining it,
you can feel the weight of the city above you.
It felt brighter... yesterday. I'm gonna be real.
And as you say that, Manny, a light goes out.
Uh, turn on the - I flicked my lighter up. and
the darkness around you. You can see the next
lantern. That one's still bright, but you can
see the next lantern far away in the distance,
and the little darkness around you is, you know,
orangey, yellow. You can pretty much just see
your hand, but your friends around you, you can't
see them. For this, real quick, I'm gonna make
a self -roll. I'm gonna call this... I'm gonna
call this Sway. Then based on my role tell you
how I respond in the moment Okay, so I got a
three and so Manny is going to Anybody walks
up on us right now. I'm a fuck you up You do
not want it and the darkness is still Hard mod
you okay? Yeah, I think so I just Arden, Maud
is, because Maud was in the middle, she's like
on your, she's like kind of perched on your back
like a little backpack right now. She's scared
shitless. Arden kind of just reaches back and
tries, but fails to be very comforting. She just
kind of awkwardly pats what she thinks is Maud's
shoulder? And just... We're good. It's okay.
We'll be okay She doesn't sound very convinced
Let's just let's keep moving. Let's get to the
next light. Yeah, wherever that is I put out
my my lighter and I point ahead the dude the
one ahead is still lit we're gonna go that way
and Again, if there's anybody in a corner right
now, I will fucking kill you Yeah, and that echoes.
That echoes all around you. Maude, you hear whispers
again, and the rest of you just hear the echoes.
I think she's gonna take a step back from Arden,
looking into the darkness, contemplating if she
wants to run towards what might be her brother,
and just doesn't. She's so scared right now.
There's like nothing that can separate her from
this group right now. She's so scared. I'll say
for you, Mod, as you contemplate that, you feel
like there's a hand grabbing your hand. Not in
a creepy way, but as like a comforting way, like
a little hand of your younger brother just grasping
your hand, saying it'll be okay. Can I see if
anyone's there? Uh, yeah, if you want to do another
sense roll, you can. Okay, um, like physically,
is anyone there? You can't see anything. But
you feel, yeah. And it's like you feel someone,
and like you know it inside of you, that's your
brother. So it's not, it doesn't scare you the
same way that, you know, random hand grabbing
you would. I was really worried. I was like,
Liv, you're evil for this. You're so evil for
this. Oh, just wait. Okay. I think she's gonna,
she's gonna squeeze his hand back in comfort.
and some tears slip out of her eyes, but, um,
she doesn't even care if the, um, if her co -workers
can see her or not. They're just, they're just
falling on the floor. That went from terrifying
to sweet in, like, so fast! Oh, may I try to
usher us towards the light, trying to keep both
of them as close to, like, my physical presence
as possible. that way i can respond to anything
if anything does come near them and at the next
light you see another another trail of blood
but this time you've noticed a little bit farther
ahead and kind of like halfway in the darkness
you see a corner and on that corner is a blood
stain it looks like a hand upon seeing this arden
is going to pull out her journal. In her hand,
she's put her pen away since she hasn't really
been writing as they've just been following this
trail. So she reaches into the inner pocket of
her coat, pulls her pen back out. She's gonna
twist the top, the clicky part. She's gonna twist
it in a specific way, click it down, and the
top is gonna pop up and start emanating a light.
And she's gonna try to detect bleed. It's like
the faintest amount of bleed. How do you think
the pen shows you when it when it gets a peen?
Let's say that the light that's think of it kind
of like if there's like an LED rod that just
popped up a little bit and the light that Comes
from that kind of beams in one specific Direction,
which would be on the opposite side of the pen
clip and it would be shooting outwards into kind
of a cone shape of light and It would have a
similar effect to like a black light So it would
respond to the bleed in such a way that any bleed
that is present would not necessarily have like
a specific color, but it would change color from
what you would see without the light. Okay. Then
I'll say it picks up footprints. The faintest
of footprints following where the blood is going.
I feel like this isn't a question I should have
to ask, but because of the game we're playing,
I have to ask it. Are these footprints on the
floor? Yes. Yes, they are. Okay. And I'm gonna
ask it, are they footprints or shoe prints? Shoe
prints. Whoever was walking, whoever left this
trail, they were wearing not mod shoes, but shoes
of some sort. Is there a clear enough indentation
in the dirt that we could possibly see like the
ridges on the soles of the shoes? No, because
it's so faint. Because of the bleed itself being
very faint, I would say you're not able to get
that much definition. If we can see that. It's,
you know, it's like a man's shoe. You can see
the heel. It might be a boot. Arden's going to
make a quick sketch of what she sees of this
print into her notebook. At this point, Manny
is going to have gone closer and look around
the corner. He's going to expect the blood print.
And then just as he looks, it's quick. It's never...
a steady, like, I'm studying Arden - that's Arden's
thing. Arden studies. I look quick, I make a
judgment, and then I move and I look around more.
You don't see anything that st - stands out to
you. You know, you see the blood, you know those
footprints with Arden's help, but besides that,
it's just another tunnel. It's dark. It's really
dark. The lanterns are not there. Okay, that's
supposed to be my question. I was like, there's
no green going down this path. Yeah, it's just
darkness. There's the green path that continues
to go towards the dock, and then there's this
offshoot. Mm -hmm. So, anybody bring a lantern?
No, but I'm sure the tunnel wouldn't mind if
we pilfered one just this once. Would that be
possible, GM? Yeah, I'll say that's possible.
They're kind of like on hooks, so it's like a
lantern just on a hook. Manny will grab the nearest
one, and this time... I know I just said he doesn't
inspect things, but he's been really curious
about this green lantern since coming in here
the first time and just never took the time to
actually like look at it. He's like, is it burning
oil? Is it? What is this freaking green? Is it
a rock and it just close? What is happening here?
Yeah, it seems to be as you, you know, you hold
it up and you're kind of looking at it. There's,
you know, there's a compartment where it looks
like that's where the oil is. There's a wick
that is on fire and the fire itself is that green.
So it's something within the oil is making the
flame green. Maybe someone just wanted to be
fancy. Maybe it was just, you know, what they
have. But that's as far as you can figure it
out without like cracking that thing open. That's
enough for Manny. That's about that satisfies
his curiosity. So we have a choice. We can proceed
down dark and dangerous or proceed down green
and potentially dangerous. How you feeling, ladies?
Arden's going to somewhat uncomfortably roll
up her sleeves just a little bit. Not to the
elbow, but just kind of push them up from her
wrist and rub her hands together, wipe her sweaty
palms on her pants, and look around. Look at
the lantern. Look back out into the darkness.
I mean, do we really have a choice but to keep
going forward now? I mean, there's always a choice.
We can just keep on going. We can return the
cart to Duncan. Like, we figured out something
happened. How... Do we always gotta run into
the dark? I just don't know what any of this
tells us. I mean, we - could go back to Duncan
and report that we found the cart, we found some
blood, we found some footprints, but we're still
not much closer to finding out what actually
happened here. Before we start moving again,
Arden's going to check in with Maud, who she's
noticed has been a bit tense. Gonna put a hand
on her back. Hey, are you okay? You don't have
to do this if you don't want to. I think Maude
is gonna look over at Arden. Don't know how well
they can see each other in the light, but maybe
for just a moment she sees her little brother
in Arden's eyes, just young and curious and full
of adventure. And I think she's gonna return
the hand on the shoulder, still holding on to...
Jean's little hand with her other one, whether
he be there for realsies or not, and say, I mean,
once we solve this mystery we get to go home
faster, right? Yeah, yeah, that's a good point.
And the hand that you feel kind of gives you
a little reassuring squeeze, like, yeah, you
got this. I think she's ready now. She's feeling
a little bit better. I think she'll go ahead
and take a step out, unless Manny's already stepped
out into the darkness first. The minute you guys
start moving I lead the way as you guys move
through the tunnels It's it's like oppressively
dark like even the lantern itself when it felt
like you could see a hundred feet It feels now
more like 50 But as you're going through the
darkness It starts to lighten a little bit. There's
there's a little bit more light coming through
and Eventually, it gets brighter and brighter
and you're in another Tunnel but this one's bigger
much bigger and in front of you is a ship in
this tunnel like there is water in You know this
huge cavern basically and there's docks and there
is a ship Dock there and it looks like a naval
ship but on the side of the ship you notice is
a symbol of the unabridged Manny's posture, as
you guys all make note of the symbol on the ship,
Manny's posture changes immediately. He'd seem
confident in keeping you guys okay and making
sure you guys were okay, as well as unsure, just
as like what you guys were getting into, but
in this moment that unsureity disappears and
Manny stands up and he becomes much more... present
I guess would be like he's always aware but his
presence you feel him stiffen GM for mod who
has had no experience with an abridged yet would
you mind describing uh the symbol for me yeah
I was actually just about to ask both you know,
you and Arden, if you might've seen it before,
but it's basically it's a circle and there's
another circle and it kind of looks like an eye.
Like it's a, there's a half circle with some
lines on the side and then another circle in
the middle. I can, okay, I can hold up and show
you guys. That's what it looks like. Our audience
will have to learn on their own. Is it bad that
my initial thought was pokeball? It kind of looks
like a pokeball a little bit. And this ship,
it looks like it once belonged to the the Halen
Navy but it's it's not like they scrubbed off
the Halen symbol and put the unbridged symbol
which is kind of weird that it's like so like
obvious and definitely the ship has seen the
seas because there's you know barnacles and things
like that and if you look around you You assume
the cavern eventually leads to the river that
cuts through Cascadia. Arden's going to very
quickly sketch the ship and the symbol to the
best of her ability. The light dims and then
gets darker as you realize Manny's walked away
from you towards the ship. That's so terrifying.
Okay, we gotta approach this carefully. Manny!
Manny! Manny, get back here! Arden's going to
tuck her notebook away. Grab mod if for any reason
for emotional support because she's Again, it's
early. She's just barely focused and she's gonna
pursue Manny Mod is like trotting like also holding
your hand very tightly and like kind of trotting
along Behind you. Yeah, if you're trying to keep
pace with Manny, this would be at a brisk walk
and Him being slightly taller than you guys like
you guys are having to move a bit quicker to
try to keep up with him He has forgotten that
he is walking with you two and has just walked
off. Manny is currently looking for any gangplanks,
any ramps, any tie downs, ropes, anything to
find a way onto the boat. Yeah, and there's a
gangplank. And as you get closer, you can hear
voices coming from within the ship. Just Manny
or all of us. You're following Manny, right?
So as you get closer, you can hear the sound
of voices. Okay, so, okay. And at the sound of
the voices, that's when Manny, he puts a hand
up, remembering where he is, to say stop. He
puts his hand up. He turns around and puts a
finger to his lips, taps his ear, and then points
up the gangplank. And at this point, before we
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before participating. So, we return to the naval
ship at these secret docks. It's still dark inside
this cavern and as you stand there you can hear
voices and there seems to be light coming from
the ship in the various portholes. There's not
too many portholes, obviously it's a naval ship,
but you get the sense that it's definitely occupied.
So Manny has just Silently indicated for us to
be to be as silent as we possibly can so I'll
say I don't want to speak to the group if we're
not gonna be moving this group. I'll say Arden
is taking Manny's cue and she's going to kind
of Not exactly crouch, but get herself a little
bit lower to the ground bent knees arms out for
for balance and also just in Preparedness for
anything that may come and try to surprise them
Manny sets the lantern down at the end of the
gangplank and signals for Maude and Arden to
push back a little bit away from the boat towards
the tunnel remembering that they're actually
there with him and As they get closer towards
the tunnel and away from the boat asks have you
guys? Have you guys ever heard of the the unabridged?
No Only in passing. I've seen a few reports here
and there that make mention of them, but I personally
haven't had any encounters. Why? Well, most people
think they're a myth, and they exist. The Unabridged
are... It's something that... I've been chasing
for a long time and Someone do you Arden? Do
you remember? Do you remember her? I've talked
a lot about her Manny goes a little distant Do
you remember Serena? Arden's gonna take a moment
and Try very hard in this moment to actually
snap her mind awake so she can try to dig back
and try to recall the times that Manny has made
mention of this person. I think so. Arden would
know Serena as a former partner and love interest
of Manny's. Every story he's told you was how
they basically went on crazy adventures, essentially.
Never giving any real specifics, but just that,
like, every moment with her was like being in
a book. and he also had told you about how with
no again no real detail you just remember like
vague stories of how she unceremoniously left
him and how vacant he felt afterwards and one
of the reasons why the bar and the drink is so
friendly and familiar to him Yeah, what does
she have to do with this one of the things we
were we were chasing after was more information
on the Unabridged, and she ended up, I guess...
She used me, in a way? I... Anyways, uh, this
could have something to do with her, and I'm
sorry, I'm sorry I walked off, but there's people
on that boat, and they may... We got to figure
out if they did anything with with with our little
guy there Duncan's employee Sorry, forget I said
anything we need to we need to figure this out
Manny yeah, what does it mean to be part of the
unabridged the unabridged are Essentially Immortal
they they don't age not like not like we do not
like normal people age It's As Manny describes
it to you, he trails off, like really, you've
never seen him so far away. I mean, I understand
how that must feel to be chasing that knowledge.
It is a scary thing. Manny just stares at the
boat, like not quite knowing where to go from
here. Do we seem to know... generally where the
voices are coming from the boat. As you stand
there and you're having this quick little chat,
you can hear the voices. It kind of sounds like
there's a big area in the boat that there's people
in. Echoes everywhere. Something tells me it
wouldn't be a good idea to get too close. I think
dealing with immortals right now might be a little
above what we're capable of, especially without
Maeve. I mean, they can still die. They can be
hurt. Mandy shakes that off a little bit. From
what I remember finding out, the way they do
or become, it's magic. And it's not... It's not
friendly at all. A lot of people die in the process,
and I don't know how Serena did it, but she did,
and this organization is... They're generally
not always good people. I don't know what to
do. Um, Arden, I... Is this enough? Do we go
back now? I don't think any of us here has a
death wish, at least I hope not, but... I don't
know. This seems like it could be potentially
huge, and I mean that in the sense of we don't
know what these people, or whatever they are,
are doing here. You know, if they have any involvement
in the case we're working, it's dangerous to
be here, but would it possibly be more dangerous
to leave without knowing exactly what's going
on? Arden's going to look down into the hallway.
Does it seem, from where we're standing, does
it seem like the hallway would lead us closer
to where the voices are coming from? Yeah, most
likely. But I mean, there's other doors. You
can see some doors that lead probably elsewhere
around the boat. It's your choice. Are there
any other exits to the cavern? Is it like the
waterway where the vessel would exit in addition
to the tunnel we just came from? Or is it possible
to see more entry and exit ways? Yeah, it's just
from what you can see, you can see the tunnel
where you came from and then the waterway. That's
it. How close is the closest door to us? If you're
like, are you still on the edge of the gangplank?
Yeah, no No, no, I pushed us back towards the
tunnel that we came from Further back a little
bit. Okay, so if you like walked up the gang
plate and like in the first like couple feet
There's a door to your left Are there any other
doors along the walls in this cavern or did it
like the tunnel go in? Open up Because what I'm
imagining is like the rivers in front of us with
the boat or the the waterway is in front of us
with the boat and then there's like Like a pathway
to the left and right where I would get up going
or is it more? Kind of as we go into the cavern
one more time. Can you kind of repaint that picture?
Yeah, yeah, so it's you know, it's this cavern
there's the waterway it looks like it was a natural
kind of Lake that led to the river and as far
as you can tell as you move along the dock Has
been made for this boat. You don't see any other
exits It seems to be strictly this tunnel and
the waterway. Okay, so we're more it's more like
we're on a dock inside a cavern Then then it
is like a continuation of a giant like sewer
like tunnel Yeah, yeah. If we want to do this,
Arden, I'm... I'll go. I'm willing to follow
through, ask questions. We can do this. I just...
I need... I need you to tell me to go, and you
know I'll go. Arden considers this and kind of
looks down at the ground between them. Yeah,
I know you will. But I hope you also know I would
never want to make you do anything that you might
not want to and This seems like something that
might be a little too close to home. I I Don't
know. Where are you on this buddy? I think I'm
more scared to find out Things I don't know I
want to find out then I am actually any harm
coming to me I just If if this helps us get the
job done, I just need that little bit extra and
You know, I'll go I'll get the job done But if
if if it's up to me, I don't I don't know I don't
know if I want to walk down that path and man
He kind of smiles despite himself but I know
When we're on a job, we always get it together.
We always get it done and When I know I'm weak,
you've always been there for me. So if this is
just another one of those times, then I just
need a little bit of extra Ardyn, and then I'll
go get it done. He looks up. This time, his eyes
turn up to you. Just that stupid smile he gives
you when he's... He knows he's already made the
choice, but he's scared to bring you along for
the ride. ARDYN's going to reach out for Manny's
hand and... She's gonna give it a tight squeeze
looking directly in the eye. You know, I'm with
you to the end. Before we get into that, I just
want to say Manny, you take a brain. because
the memories memories done okay yep that's fair
i did it to myself arnar it was so good and that's
why i have to give you a brain the reaction it
was so good um as you you shout that a couple
of People come running to the front and they're
armed. They have guns. They're men, they're women,
they're all wearing these dark cloaks. Not cloaks,
coats. And yeah, they look like they've, you
know, they've spent time at sea. And they all
come running to the front of the boat where you're
at. And they say, who are you? What are you doing
here? Manny pulls out his gun. finger off the
trigger and holds it up and says I'm just uh
we're here looking for some people and uh I just
want to know if maybe you've seen anybody some
of our shipments have gone missing and I found
a cart uh that belongs to my employer and yeah
yeah if you got any answers for us that I can
you know take back to my boss I'd really appreciate
any help you could provide I was honestly really
surprised to find this whole thing here but you
know Uh, what do you got? No need for trouble.
And from within the depths of the ship, you hear
a woman's voice say, take him, bring him to the
brig. Do I recognize that voice? You do. Yeah,
I let him take me. I put up zero fight. Okay,
Arden, Mod, what are you guys doing? Is it too
late to do a hide roll? Yeah, let's do a - I'll
give you a chance to do a hide roll. Yeah, I
was to say I was pretty big on that so like their
attention was wholly on me I would say so I will
add a drive to it if you want. Yeah, I'm at disadvantage.
So I'll be great Yeah, yeah take that. I think
if I fail you get it back. Wait for for hide.
Yes a hide rule I'll say so what I'm picturing
is is Manny kind of went ahead. You took the
lead on that so Mod and I are still Closer proximity
than we are to you. I would like to also assist
and give a drive Okay, cool. Thank you Okay,
okay, and how you gonna do that? Are you like
grabbing her and being like look over here? You
know, what's how you assisting? I'm also scoping
the area to see if there's anywhere that possibly
she can duck behind I'm I'm feeling less at risk
in this moment, but knowing that she was already
kind of In the tunnels afraid wanting to look
out for her first That's a six and a four thank
you squad Nice Yeah, you you find a like outcropping
of like I forget which one select my select height
slag mites You're able to hunker down behind
them and it obscures you from view Arden, are
you joining her? Would it be possible for me
to kind of get into a position that I can at
least see in what direction they're taking him?
So not honestly like trying to hide so I'm out
of sight, but trying to get a better vantage
point. I mean, I'm trying to think like the walls
are pretty, pretty smooth, you know, it's a underground
lake. So there really isn't too much, you know,
places to get like a vantage point. um your best
bet would probably be behind another so still
like mites i will do that then okay and manny
these these these people are going to grab you
they're going to take your gun away and they're
going to bring you into the belly of the beast
yeah i did not expect this on uh on episode two
just say The guard that has you, just checking,
making sure. And they lead you to a large area
that looks like, you know, the brig on most ships
are pretty small. They're not expecting to have
a lot of prisoners. However, this ship, there's
a lot of prisoners. There's people that have
been, like, look like they've been there for
days. There's, you know, there's a lot of people
in this rig area, and they lead you to one of
the cells, empty cells. Is everyone now, I assume
they've all now, like, gone from that main area
by the gangplank? I'll say there's one guy left
just kind of looking around in the dark. He picks
up the lantern that Manny put down. He's looking
around. He's checking to see if there's anyone
around there. And he's going to do a quick sweep
around. Where Mod and I are, would he sweep that
area or is he mainly staying on the ship? He's
mainly staying close to the ship, so he's not
going to see you guys if you're behind some stalagmites.
But he's just doing a general sweep. I am...
I regret everything. Okay, I have two options
here that I'm trying to decide between. Stealth
route seems slightly less risky. Okay, as he's
kind of patrolling the area, in the time that
it seems like we're just out of each other's
view, I'm going to look across the way to where
Maud is hiding, and then I'm just to check in
briefly with her, and then I'm going to attempt
to stealthily but hurriedly make my way up onto
the ship. All right, I'm going to have you do
a hide roll for me, please. I'm praying for me.
Maud, are you doing anything at this time? I
think because we're trying to run undetected
and past this person, I think her instinct says
to just follow Arden. Cause it's too late to
get outside help at this point. Um, so I think
the best option is just strengthen numbers. Um,
and sticking with people that you know, um, not
taking risks with people that you don't. So if
I can have Arden roll for me, I can contribute
a drive and then it'll go for both of us if that's
okay. Yeah, I'll allow that. If you want to also
like move with the, with Arden, she's mostly
doing the work. You're just following. Yeah.
Okay. I'm not sure how I would help her. I think
Maud can try to... We'll say you're keeping a
lookout. You're watching him while she's trying
to find a way in. Okay. Sounds good. So I just
want to make sure I am rolling this correctly.
So without the drive, I would be rolling a disadvantage
with her drive. How am I rolling this? Just one?
Just a normal drive? Or normal roll, sorry? Yeah.
Oh, goody. Okay. Oh, God. Okay, here goes. And
then, GM, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think
when you lend a drive, if the roll is a failure,
then I think... If it fails, you get it back.
Okay, just making sure. If they use that roll,
if like it succeeds and it's like a six and they
use it, you don't get it back. And that's spent.
Don't forget you guys have nerves and resistances.
I rolled a five. Hell yeah. So yeah, that guy,
he passes. Maud's keeping a lookout. Like, she
has her hand on the small of your back as you
guys are moving. And this guy, like, maybe he
sees something, but that's the darkness. Probably.
And you guys slip on board of the ship. Would
we have any idea at all? Probably not, but would
we have any? No? Okay, I thought not. You don't
know the ship? From where we are on the ship
now, immediately just doing a quick s - look
around uh what what do we see you see a hallway
you see doors it looks like you can hear more
voices further down the hallway it's kind of
very claustrophobic if you think of like a submarine
how like the doors are you know hard to get a
lay of the land i'll say okay i'm gonna start
heading down the hallway mod are you following
her down the hallway oh absolutely yeah okay
just making sure didn't go back to Yeah, so you
go down the hallway and you see a door that is
labeled the brick. You see other doors, like
the galley, the helm. There's a sign that points
towards the helm, engine room, things like that.
Man, you guys having a party or something? You
hear muffled in the distance. There's a lot of
people here. You guys having a party? What's
going on? There's a... Serena! Not usually how
you have me rest, but, you know, if this is what
you're into now, I mean... And that's the last,
like, the last thing you hear. Muffled talk.
Manny is in no way being quiet. Because he knows
you guys are somewhere. As you guys know that
Manny could do, he's just rattling off at the
mouth. And if any of you have ever been in a
steel ship, sound echoes in ships. So this is
definitely echoing around you. You can hear Manny
somewhere. Do I see any... Any kind of directory
on the wall? I know it's not exactly a cruise
ship, but... Any kind of indication of escape
routes, maybe? Yeah, there's a sign that has
a couple of basic directions. There's the crew
quarters, there's the captain's quarters, there's
the brig, there's the galley, there's... wreck
hall or whatever. It's a pretty decked out ship.
Okay, I am currently unarmed but sensing the
potential for danger, so I'm going to try and
move as quickly as I can. I'm going to duck into
the galley and see if there's anything I could
potentially arm myself with. Okay, as you duck
into the galley, there's a chef there, but he
is currently distracted with what he's doing,
you know? You're able to - I'll say you're able
to be stealthily enough to enter it without alerting
him, and there's knives and things that you can
easily grab. I shall grab a knife, and I am still
wearing the holster that I stole from the guy
on the train, so... I'm going to, which is not
meant for a knife, but it'll do, I'm going to
tuck the knife safely into the holster. Mod,
what are you doing? I think while Arden is doing
that, she's gonna go ahead and prepare some of
her ribbon, and she's also looking at the escape
routes, so she's mentally kind of remembering
those for later if they need to make a quick
escape. Okay, yeah, and you see like an exit
sign? I mean, it's not lit because electricity's
not really a thing, but there's signs that say,
exit, or like, you know, in case of emergency,
jump out of the ship here, I don't know. Yeah,
so as you're preparing, you hear the footsteps
of the guy that was doing his sweep come back
onto the ship. Is Arden back yet? I'll say that
I, yeah, I ducked in, I grabbed the knife and
just dipped. I'm trying to move as quickly as
I can. Okay, I'm gonna have you actually do a
move roll for that just to see if you can do
that quietly. Okay. What stakes roll would you
say this is? Pretty high. Okay, that being the
case, cool under pressure, I'm going to burn
a cunning drive. Okay. I rolled a four and a
five. I'm gonna take the five. Not that it makes
a difference, but I'm gonna take the five. Yeah,
you're able to grab a knife. The chef does call
something, like he thinks he hears like a crew
member. He's like, yeah, yeah, I'm getting done.
As you, you know, quickly make your way out with
a knife. But as you were able to do that, the
crew member that was sweeping, he rounds the
corner and he sees both of you. He goes, hey,
Manny, you're in the cell. And you know, there's
lights, there's lanterns. And you see a bunch
of people around you in cells. Some of them are
asleep. Some of them don't look so good. Some
of them are like banging their cage, trying to
hopefully find a way out. So, Serena, are you
going to come say hi or are you just going to
leave me with the guy with the hands? And as
you say that, you hear footsteps getting closer
and closer. And you see a average height woman,
dark hair, cutting a bob. She's wearing this
nice little, like, captain's uniform with the
underbridge symbol, like, over the breast. And
she's, you know, she says, hello, Manuel. It's
been a while. You look older. And you don't look
any different. The swagger Manny had earlier,
the bravado is gone. Mm -hmm. You're going to
take another brain. She gives you a look over
and she starts, she does a little pace in front
of yourself. It's really interesting, don't you
think? That you're always running towards me?
Who would have thought that you somehow ended
up in this town the same time I'm here? Isn't
that interesting? Yeah, I mean... What can I
say? I can't let it go. Yeah. Yeah, I thought
so. I mean, look at those shoes. She looks at
her boots. They're for the mission. It's always
about the mission, isn't it? It is. You see these
people around you? They're for the mission too.
So who's next? I see you have your affiliation
locked in. So who are these people for? Experiments,
Manny. You know, I wasn't expecting to see you.
But I'll give you a choice. You could come with
me. But I've been hearing some things from my
crew. You might have a couple other people that
you've been working with. And you could come
with me. But I'm gonna have to kill them. Manuel?
There are things that I can't reveal. Always
your secrets. Always. And she'll wander away.
As the scene transitions away from Manny, you
see him reaching into his shoes to pull out a
lockpicking kit. Awesome. Alright, you two. What
you doing? Okay, so this patrol guy is just during
the corner and he sees us. And he's shouting,
hey! Who are you? You're not supposed to be here.
Who are you? He's not taking it. He brings up
his gun and he is aiming it at you. Like, get
down. Get down, miss. Fine. And, um, Arden's
gonna put her arms in the air and slowly lower
her down into a crouch, not removing her gaze
from the sky. Okay. And as you do that, he calls
over her shoulder. I need back up! And he moves
towards you to try to grab your hands. How close
is he away from us at this point? He's now gonna
be standing right over Arden. And I assume you're
there as well. I'm near by. Yeah, yeah. Okay.
okay as soon as i see the gun in my friend's
face i'm pulling my pruning shears from my bag
okay so that is about a foot of heavy metal used
for precisely cutting flower stems but mod not
gonna fuck around with this one so if it's all
right i would love to make a strike yeah yeah
i'm happy if you tell me what you want to make
feel free to, you know, let me know. I will only
correct you if I don't feel it fits, but definitely
that fits. Okay. Um, actually would a control
roll be more fitting if I'm targeting a certain
part of his body? Up to you. It's okay. Probably.
Yeah. I would, I would say control. So if you're
trying to aim, you know, precisely, are you trying
to go for like the jugular or? Yeah, I'm probably
like an artery. Add another one to a body count.
uh okay that's a four all right yeah you you're
able to like you get him and he like he stumbles
a little bit he's not you know he's not dead
but he's grabbing his his neck as blood is starting
to well up from what how like the cut you left
him and it's dripping through his fingers as
he's like help i'm gonna need some help here
i grabbed the knife from the holster and i kind
of Take this moment that he's already wounded
and bleeding out. It's not necessary. He's gonna
die soon, but just for the sake of shutting him
up I'm gonna go for the heart. Okay. All right.
Give me a We'll do a strike role for this one
Yeah, I don't I don't feel like there's much
difference with control and strike in this moment.
So yeah, that's a five All right. Yeah, you get
him in the heart and he's still like He's not
quite there yet, but yeah, he started to gurgle.
You hear blood, you know, as he's trying to...
He's like... And he's making noise as he's going
down. And you hear footsteps pounding, coming
closer. Now we're going to turn back to Manny.
Hold on, I'm so sorry. Can I quickly do a pat
down of this guy as he's going down? Yeah. Is
there anything on his person that I can grab?
There's a gun. I want this gun. Yeah, there's
a gun. Please give me the gun, please Yeah, you
can have the gun. He's he's wearing a nice woollen
coat if you want that He has a little like sailor's
hat. I just want a little accent. He has a knife.
It's a bigger knife It's like a like a hunting
knife and then yeah his gun. Okay, I'm gonna
resheat the knife that I used to stab him Put
it back in the holster. I'm going to take the
hunting knife and just keep it in my hand with
my free hand I'm gonna grab his gun Pass it to
Mon. Thank you. All right, girl, get up off the
floor. You're getting dusty. We got to go. All
right. Manny. Yes. What are you going to do?
Serena has walked away. She has left you. Oh,
yeah. The minute she turned around, I started
trying to pick the lock. All right. Is that a...
That's a roll, isn't it? That's a... You want
to do control? Or can I suave door? Let's do
control. Because that's hand -eye coordination.
I have disadvantage, but yet rolled double fours.
All right. Yeah, you're able to get the lock
and as you pick it and the door swings open,
as you're making your way out, you hear other
prisoners go, hey, hey, what about us? Hey, come
save us. Yeah, give me a second and I'm gonna
walk away. OK, back to the girls. What are you
doing now? I think we're bolting. You know, there's
people coming our way. Okay. At least, okay,
Arden's going to very recklessly just beeline
for the brig. Bust those doors open. And they
- And you see Manny standing there. Hey! You
guys are okay! I've preemptively held the knife
in stabbing position and I see Manny and just
- Oh, shh! Manny, you're okay! At least you didn't
punch me in the face this time. Yes. Now that
you guys are okay, let's get these people out
of here. He points to the - People saying there's
a lot of them but then points like out towards
the door behind you but not a lot of them being
super specific and says like Distractions get
them to safety. Maybe our guys in here. Who knows?
I'm having a time. Oh wait, we know what he looks
like from the obituary. Do we see him in there?
If we're in there Yeah, he's, like, slumped.
You recognize his face. He has, like, a little
bit more of a beard now, because he hasn't shaven
in a couple days. He looks very, like, just in
a shitty situation. I'm so sorry that I'm attracted
to literally every single one of your NPCs, because
it's, like, it's, like, disgusting, scroungly,
like, mid -looking white guy, and then, like,
the most beautiful pirate woman you've ever seen.
So, thank you for that. You're welcome. Manny
is gonna look around for something, keys, doors,
switches, anything to see if he can get these
gates open. Alright, let's do a survey roll for
that. Arden's gonna tell Maud, watch her six,
and she's going to... Quick question about these
cells. These locks, are they like built into
the doors? Are they padlocked? They're like built
into the doors. Okay, I'm gonna see if there's
any way that I can start getting these open while
Manny's doing his thing. Okay, so back to Manny
because he rolled a five. Yeah, you see, like,
he's on a hook, like, of course they just leave
it on the hook. Ricky mistake. Typical. And so
Arden, you're working on like a lock when Manny
comes behind you and just unlocks the door. I
got that. Can you just get... So Manny seems
more light right now. And it's literally like
Arden knows, you know, this is all mask. He is
he is disassociating. And this is him just getting
through this moment. And he's just trying to
diffuse and make it a little bit lighter of a
moment because crazy. As Manny goes around unlocking
all the cells, I'm going to start trying to rouse
any prisoners that may have been sleeping or
otherwise just not very in the moment and trying
to get them up and say, okay, come on, come on,
we got to go. Got a small window here. This is
the time. As you two do that mod, you definitely
hear the footsteps getting closer of more people
are coming. They found the body of the guy you
took out. They're like, someone's on board! We
have a stowaway! And they are coming. Do I remember
from the brief directory that we looked at earlier,
is there any kind of exit or window in the brig
that we could escape from? Or would we have to
go back out the door that we came? You'd have
to go back out the door you came. They wouldn't
leave an exit conveniently by the brig. What
is our pillow situation looking like? You have
a gun. Let her cook. Let her cook. I'm so happy.
You said pillows? Yeah, I'm mostly just wondering
if there are feathers in the pillows. Oh, they
didn't even get pillows. I'm sorry. There's no
pillows because they're prisoners. So they have
straw? Do they have beds? Like little cots? Uh,
they have blankets. Okay, never mind then. I
think we'll just get ready to barge out of the
door. Does it sound like people are right on
the other side of it? Or not quite yet? Not right
on the other side, but they're definitely getting
closer. Okay. Alright, I think we should go soon
then. Uh, we start ushering the prisoners out.
And Manny, as you were getting the last door
unlocked... behind you you hear manuel what are
you doing it's serena like behind me not right
behind you but like she's on the other end okay
uh ending the party it's time for us to leave
i'm gonna have you do a move roll because she's
gonna shoot at you better not be with my own
gun yeah it is with your own gun life is cruel
this is so hot Alright, so I rolled a five. Let's
go and the three. Oh, no. No, sorry, but I'm
at disadvantage. So it's the three Yeah, you're
taking you're taking to body you get hit in the
shoulder and it's it hurts and she is You're
you're that arm useless And you hear her reloading.
Where am I in this situation? You're pushing
people out the door, so probably towards the
door, I would assume? And then she's in the opposite
direction. Yeah. So the assumption is essentially
that she never left the brig, she just went to
an area that we were not aware of. Yeah, yeah.
Okay. I'm gonna hear the gunshot, flip around,
see Manny go down. How far away from us is she?
She's where you can see the end of the brig is,
so probably 200 feet away. I'm not... Okay. I'm
not necessarily aiming... for any specific part
of her, just aiming in her general direction
in the hopes that even if I miss her, it'll be
enough to kind of like create a split second
where she's kind of a little disoriented or,
you know, I'm gonna chuck the hunting knife.
Alright, yeah, let's do a control roll for that.
This is hand -eye coordination. And I'll let
you know, if you roll a one, she is unfazed.
Two or three, you don't hit her, but she's like,
eh, you know. I'm deciding if I want to burn
a drive on this. Yeah, I'll burn a drive. And
just for clarification, these are all pretty
high -stakes rolls. Arden, are you buying me
right now? I think so. I'll say, like, Manny
was facing off with her, and then you and I were
in the same general area trying to get these
prisoners out. Okay. Uh, is it okay if I use
an ability, or did you already roll? I did roll,
but... Okay, never mind then. I'll let you do
your thing. You didn't announce it yet, so you
can use an ability. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I haven't
said how I rolled, though. Yeah. So you can use
an ability because I don't know what you rolled.
It would give you an extra dice if that is helpful.
Oh, OK. But since... But you can roll another
dice if you want to. GM's allowing it? Yeah,
I'm allowing it. I think Maud is seeing Manny
down, seeing his arm go limp, seeing that Arden
is going to be the one to do something about
it first. She's going to use her ability Great
Wards. So that ability states that I can inscribe
and maintain a warding symbol on one person at
a time. They take plus one dice on move rolls
against Phenomena. I'm gonna say that Serena
is a Phenomena in this instance. And the material
that they need to hold to bind it, she's gonna
fashion a really crude boutonniere of Azalea
flowers for extra protection. She's gonna pin
that to your lapel as quickly as possible. That's
so cute, I love that. That was clutch. The dice
that I rolled were four, but with the extra dice
from Maud, I rolled a six. There we go! Yes!
And you hit her in the shoulder, like it digs
into her shoulder. She's not down, but she is
like, she's in pain. She, you know, bends over,
she's gripping the knife in her shoulder, and
she is not focusing on any of you right now as
she tries to pull it out. The second I see the
knife make contact with her, I'm going to grab
one of the prisoner's blankets, rush over to
Manny, press it firmly against his wound, and
I'm going to start trying to get him to his feet.
I'll help you with that. As you guys get me up
and she's starting to pull the knife out, I made
some new friends. Arden Serena Serena Arden and
at that man He's gonna reach up with his free
hand and grab one of the buttons on his collar
of his shirt And he's gonna pull it out and he's
gonna throw it at the ground I'll see you soon
and as soon as it hits the ground a puff of smoke
pops up a little smoke bomb Ladies let's go And
this smoke bomb, it fills the brig. There's smoke.
You hear her coughing. And she's, you know, through
the cough, she's like, get them. Sorry, I didn't
get that. At this point, the prisoners have been
freed. They're distracting the rest of the guards.
You have a moment. So you are moving. You get
off the ship. You run back into the tunnel. There's
people following you. You see most of the prisoners.
There's some guards, but they stop. once you
know once everyone's into the tunnel so they're
not following us into the tunnel no they say
what's the point is godric with us did he is
he one of the people who escaped yeah yeah okay
you got most people we'll say like 80 percent
of those prisoners got out 20 we either struck
down by guards in the attempt to escape or they
were just too weak arden if i've never told you
this You're my favorite person in the world.
I know man. I know I'm gonna pull out my notebook
and Refer to the little blueprint that I've been
working on as we were moving through the tunnels
and try to find our way back to where we first
entered All right, and you're you're able to
it's it's not too difficult now you're going
this way because once you exit the the tunnel
that led you to the big underground lake you're
able to find your way back to the tunnels you'd
originally been in and you make your way to the
tavern with we'll say about like 50 people with
you. 50 people? That's so many. Wow. Yeah, they've
been they've been taking people over time. Drinks
on me. And he's going to make his way behind
the bar and start wrapping his shoulder immediately
and just throw some whiskey on it and just starts
binding it. And Duncan's behind the bar. He's
like, what? What? What happened? What? Who are
these people? Godric? You're alive! Yeah, we
made some friends. Just a long story. He grabs
whatever drink that was near Duncan and downs
it, and then continues addressing the hole in
his shoulder. Manny, please. Alcohol is a blood
thinner. This is not the time. Maud is going
to try to create a little bit of extra pressure,
sweeping away a little driplets of alcohol that
he's like just kind of splashed on there. And
remembering that yellow is his color, goes ahead
and wraps a pale yellow thick ribbon around the
injury on his arm in hopes that that'll deter
him from pouring libations all over his injury.
As you do that, you hear the sounds of quiet
footsteps in the cane, and Maeve is by your side.
I see the trip to the tunnels was productive.
I'll need a debriefing. Well, you missed out
on all the fun. And Arden is truthfully very
overwhelmed and distracted by what's going on
around her, so she doesn't exactly greet Maeve
beyond. that statement and is kind of at the
counter trying to help Duncan with serving water,
warm liquids, refreshments to these prisoners.
And we'll say at this point, we'll move a little
bit in time where the prisoners have been taken
care of. They have found their way to where they
need to be. And you three, plus Duncan and Maeve,
are left in the tavern in the quiet. of the late
afternoon in Cascadia. Oh my gosh, yeah, that
was all at like 5 a .m. Yeah. All in a good day's
work. Holy. I may fool, uh, as you guys were,
sorry, uh, I may fool as, you know, you guys
are gathered around her, the, you know. her desk
in the hidden room, the speakeasy room. You see
she has notes and she leans forward. So there
seems to be a story. Mind telling me? We ran
into the unabridged. We followed our way through
the tunnels and found the abandoned cart. We
found Godric's abandoned cart and... Saw that
there are some prints in the dirt around it that
indicated a struggles and there were Bloods there's
blood spattered around so we followed that trail
and it led us into this cavern where this giant
naval ship and I don't know there was there was
there's a lot that happened and Arden kind of
is flipping frantically through her notebook
trying to refer back to all the notes that she
had jotted down amidst the darkness and the confusion
and the early morning grogginess. Clear anything
out. I'll need your notes for directions to where
you were. Yeah. Yeah, of course and uh Arden's
going to Tear out a couple pages slide them across
the table. She takes them and she'll you know,
she makes a note I suspect they won't be coming
back now that you found them. You guys did good
work You saved a bunch of people. I know days
like these aren't always easy in Candela And
as soon as you said, you know, she was there,
Maeve gives you a Kirk nod. She doesn't let anything
reveal in her face, or at least half her face
that can reveal things, and lets you go. And
if there's anything else, we can end our story
here. Thank you all for playing. Thank you for
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