You're listening to Twisted Tropes. Familiar
settings, wild new tales. Now, on with the story.
Scandals and Scavengers. A post-apocalyptic
Regency romance. Episode 11: Relatives and Revelations,
or, Tense Acquaintances. Last time on Scandals
and Scavengers, our protagonists attended the
Carnival of Progress. As Samuel and Edgewater
promenaded, Mary checked in on Ruby's mental
health, but she was pulled away by Carlton Carson,
who wanted to talk about how strangely Connor
and Edison have been acting. It wasn't long,
though, before Connor put a stop to their conversation
and forbid Carlton from ever speaking with Mary
again. As Connor was walking away, Mary read
his thoughts, just like her mother. In the meantime,
Reuben showed up at Ruby's side and they discussed
living outside of society's rules, just as the
group came upon the heart of the carnival. Alistair
presented his theory for harnessing the power
of magical phenomena to power Cymac crystals.
A new beast of burden, the Iridox debuted, and
an entire pavilion of flora and fauna from New
Winchester, Samuel's homelands, was on display.
Lefroy and Fiona met up and Beardia flashed the
letter that Salt sent her, giving him a nod of
acknowledgement. But the peace of the scene didn't
last long, as Oscar and Zoe were not far behind.
Just then, a trio of dangerous octaguars escaped
from the new Winchester Pavilion and started
hunting the attendees. Our protagonists leaped
into action, with Samuel, Edgewater, and Salt
leading the charge. Ruby screamed in terror and,
almost involuntarily, cast spell after spell at
the creatures. Strangely, Oscar stood in front
of one of the beasts and it slinked back, reacting
to something unseen. Noting this, Mary created
the illusion of a second Oscar with luscious
eyelashes, but the octaguars were unimpressed.
Beadere tore into the fray, but as one of the
beasts lunged towards Fiona, it was Lefroy who
stepped in its way, nearly getting ripped in
half as a result. Eventually, our heroes took
down the beasts, but were left far from unscathed.
They headed to their respective homes to treat
their wounds, but on the way, Edgewater spotted
Elena Razorstorm and Horatio Wolf in conversation
under the trees. Her concerns were put to rest,
however, when she spotted Nigella nearby acting
as their chaperone. Now, let's check in on our
injured champions the morning after the Carnival
of Progress! It is the morning following the
Carnival of Progress. There is a note for Mr.
Salt that is delivered towards the end of the
morning hours. Okay. And it is from Ms. Sweetly
on behalf of Ms. Fiona. Okay. It's happening.
Yes. Mr. Salt, Ms. Fiona would like to pay a
visit to inquire about the health of her little
hero, Mr. Lefroy, and see to the injuries he
sustained protecting her yesterday. If it would
be acceptable, she would like to come calling
this afternoon. She's made some treats that she
would like to bring to possibly raise his spirits
as he recovers. If this is acceptable, please
send word with the footman. He'll take in, it
comes in, I think he's kind of been shuffling
drinks and snacks into Lefroy's bedroom all day.
I think he's taking a rest and kind of taking
a morning easing. So like with a tray with like
a glass of some bubbly water and little sandwiches,
he'll leave the note on there. And Mr. Lefroy, you
have a, I guess we have a note. I'd be happy
to respond to this if you would like to and give
it to him to read over. He reads it and instantly
hops out of bed. Mr. Salt, we have to get dressed.
We have to go get, oh. Take it easy. Take it
easy. We will get dressed. We have some time
before she'll arrive. I still need to send the
response, little lord. Oh, yeah. I think I should
find maybe a fashionable sling or something for
my arm. I think a sling would be great. And if
you still have anything red, we might stick to
that. Why would we? Oh, yeah. If I pull the wrong
way, it still kind of spurts. I might need to
see to that, but don't worry. Rest will take
care of it. Excellent. And let's see if we can...
Let's arrange the sitting room so it's comfortable.
I will get right on it, sir. Thank you, Mr. Salt.
Of course. Get some rest, my boy, and I'll let
you know when they arrive. And I kind of walk
down. I'll go get that set up. And I'll write
a note addressed to Miss Sweetly, letting her
know that Mr. Lefroy would be very excited to
have Miss Blightwind visit, give her a time to arrive,
you know, kind of early. calling hours and I'll
also include a card in there and say by the way
i don't know if you've had the chance to meet
Lord Drake but he asked me to send this out to
some of the different houses and i'll include
the servants invitations to to the masquerade
ball. Okay. I'll send three over to her as well.
Excellent, excellent. So that will happen during
calling hours. Mary. Yes? Breakfast comes up. So,
I heard about the excitement over at the pavilion
the other day. Crazy, crazy stuff. Honestly,
so many tentacles. You wouldn't believe. Tentacles
are never a good sign. Not a good sign. Terrible.
I don't know how they got out. I don't know what
happened, but it was pretty spicy. Not for us
to worry about. What? What in the hee-haw, holy
heck, are we looking at? What's the invitation?
What is going on? Trudy, I have absolutely no
idea what to expect from this party, but you're
going to be just... exactly the level of excitement
that this Ton has been looking for. You have
no idea. I'm going to get wasted. You're going
to get wasted. I know. I know you, Trudy. I know
you're going to show up wasted. Oh, no, that'd
be impolite. Oh, yeah, that's true. You're going
to get wasted three quarters of the way through
the event. Absolutely. Because you're a lady.
So this invitation's for you. You can pick two
other people that you would like to come. I will
say... I think that Lord Drake is inviting folks
to try and shake things up a little bit. Not
against it. But I would say invite folks that
know that that might be coming. Okay. If you
know what I mean. I think so. Good party guests,
but not afraid to rumble. Yeah. Ready to rumble,
but not trying to really start the rumble. If
you know what I mean. They don't make no shit,
there won't be no shit. Exactly. I'm going to
write that in my notebook of Trudy wisdoms. God,
you're so wise. House staff does not fuck around
in this place. Yeah. So, Trudy, do you think
you'll bring a date? There are some folks that
run in my circle that are easy on the eyes. Okay.
A couple options. That's good. You got to get
your little friend Gus checked out. He's going
through this stuff like crazy. Oh, yeah, he is
just insatiable. Thank you. I'm going to start
vetting possible bows. Ooh. You also should start
looking, you know. Oh, God, Trudy. What? I don't
know. Why not? Because when you go with someone,
then you have to hang out the whole time. Well,
maybe you find someone who hates people as much
as you do. Mary looks out the window and is like,
oh, other people also hate people? Yeah. Huh.
You can be alone and away from people, but you
can also be alone and away from people with somebody
else. Oh, my God. Trudy, you are full of surprises.
As long as you don't hate the other person, then
that's fine. Wow. You really rocked me this morning,
Trudy. I still got some surprises. You really
do. See, this is why I'm glad I invited you.
You get it. Absolutely. Yeah. We're not telling
anybody else in the house about this, are we?
No. I wish I had a fancy way of saying it, but
if the Sparks find out about this, we're all
fucked. They probably will be none too happy
about this whole situation. Oh, no. I'm assuming
they're getting invited. I mean, probably. Probably,
because it would be really rude to not invite
them, but if there is like... You got to avoid
them at this party. If they find out that y 'all
are... Oh, my God. I will avoid them until I
spill the drink on their shoes. Oh, yeah. Well,
that... Listen. I'm going to cast Enhance Ability
on Trudy. You freaking get it, girl. This is
for convincing your various bows to all go with
you in a kind of harem situation. Reverse harem,
whatever you got going on. Ooh la la. Ooh la
la, indeed. You go get them Trudy. All right.
You feed your little friend and I'll see you
around lunch. All right. I'll see you then. And
you have yet another one of Nicodemus' magic
fake bottom boxes. All right. Is it... hydro
notes inside or is there a? No there's um there
is uh the the seed for Gus and there is the balance
of the uh the Gadwallow cash okay and uh make
me a perception check. That would be uh 18.
Fantastic. There is... There's no note on the stack
of hydra notes but on the underside of the false
bottom which is just kind of blank wood, there's
something scratched in it In kind of a frantic,
scratchy text. Okay. All it says is, One lives.
One lives with you. One lives no more. Three
used me. The second protected me. The first ended
me. Beware. Can you say that one more time? So
I can mull it over? No, no, no. It's written
down. You don't get it a second time. What? What?
It disappears from the wood. I'm out of here.
It's like one of those self-destruct tapes.
The text says, One lives. One lives with you.
One lives no more. Three used me. The second
protected me. The first ended me. Beware. I will
say, Gus, we're really in it now. I'm going to
look at Gus and say, do you talk, by the way?
Are you magic, too? No? Okay. Just checking.
I'm going to send a note to Nicodemus saying
I'll stop by the office sometime today. You good?
Question mark? So cryptic. God damn it. And I'm
also going to send a letter to Samuel. And I
want to spend... I'll say two wealth points on
behalf of the staff and other people who are
going to be attending to offset the costs of
that. So I'll send some Hydra notes over and
say I would love to call on you at some point
today. Do you like riddles? Because I do not.
Okay, so those two missives are sent out. Oh,
also, do I have time to sneak into my benefactor's
office today? Ooh, when do you want to try it?
Just when everyone's not there so I can't get
caught. So that would probably want to wait until
promenade. Okay, cool. I'll do it then. Okay.
At Edgewater's home, the Clarence estate, you
are awoken to a crashing sound. What on earth?
It is coming from... Alistair's room. Of course
it is. I'll march on over there. I can't believe
this. He has all the boxes from his presentation,
and he is tossing things as he is rifling through
the boxes. Alistair, what are you doing? All
of my important presentation notes are gone.
They're missing. I don't... Where in the heck...
I thought I had everything filed in here, and
it's going to take me ages to recreate all that.
Oh, no. Oh, darn it! I must say, your presentation
yesterday was quite impressive. But now... Are
you feeling all right? I just want to give credit
where credit's due. You did a good job, and I'm
going to tell you you did so. But you are missing
your notes. Where... Who might have taken them?
Nobody wants to take my notes. It's all technical
fiddle-faddle. Yes, you know quite a few people
who are into technical fiddle-faddle. That would
be impugning the nature of my colleagues, and
I don't particularly want to start doing that
if I have just simply misplaced them, and I'm
very frustrated with myself. You think you just
misplaced them? No, I'm smarter than that, but
I... Well? There's no... I am going to double
-check three or twelve times before I start making
accusations. I don't know... I didn't ask you.
You were just going to tell me, not... accusing
people out in the... Honestly, I don't know.
There aren't a whole lot of people who like playing
with the Cymac crystals. There are a lot of folks
that prefer just doing like... There aren't?
What? Well, in terms of knowing the technical
mumbo-jumbo about how to actually charge them
up and how to actually harness the charge once
they're charged. Well, wouldn't that be everything
that Uncle Sparks does? Yeah, but if he needed
to know something, he could just ask me. Right.
So who is Uncle Sparks' rival? Oh, heck, now
you're getting into matters of business that
I'm just not interested in, but... All right,
I'll dig into that direction. Perhaps check with
Father. He might know. He's got his head glued
on one thing right now, and that is Gladstone.
And have you heard anything about the proposal?
Oh, heck, he's actually doing that? You didn't
hear it from me. Yes, he is. That's what I've
been told, anyway. And I saw Nigelly yesterday
at the promenade, and she was so delightfully
chaperoning her sister and smiling at me so friendly.
Well, that must be a nice change. Nice? What
do you mean, nice change? Drips, I don't mean
to, like, ruffle your feathers or nothing, but
you tend to rub people the wrong way sometimes.
Sometimes you can be a little too helpful. How
can anyone be too helpful? Like, the younger
people at the academy that sometimes I work with,
they don't like it when I just correct them and
correct them and correct them and tell them they're
doing it wrong. Why not? Because then they never
get a chance to learn if they don't get a consequence.
Oh, they like getting consequences? Sometimes
it's better than just being browbeaten that you're
wrong. What about whips? You know, this conversation
seems to be taking a very... Very strange turn,
and I am exceedingly uncomfortable with it. Yeah,
I think I'm going to go. Yeah, and, uh, Drips?
Yeah? You're gonna want to be careful. With what?
As soon as Gladstone's off the market, you know
where Dad's gonna be looking next. Oh, I'm not
worried about that at all. You say so. He's,
uh, he's gotta fixin' to uh, hook you up with
that, uh, that Major fella. What? Yeah, the big
tall guy. Major Corny? Yeah, that's the one.
Don't worry. That's not going to happen. You
say so. I do say so. Alright, now I gotta get
back to double-checking before I start, you
know, getting all investigative. Alright, good
luck. Luck's got nothing to do with it. It's
a process. Sure, sure, sure. Uh, where's Mr.
Mortimer? Have you seen him today? Oh, sorry.
Mr. Grimlock. Uh, downstairs, I think. Thank
you. And she'll go down to see Mr. Grimlock.
Yes, Miss Clarence? Mr. Grimlock. What can I
do for you? It's something I would like... Well,
I'm not doing it for you, but Lord Drake, you
know of him? Oh, yes. Yes. He would like to invite...
you and two other servants from this household
to a masquerade ball that he is throwing, and
these are the invitations. I do ask that you
take Clarabelle with you as one of the invitees,
but you are free to choose whichever other servant
you would like on top of that. And also, if you
feel uncomfortable attending, you can send someone
else in your place. Understood, madam. I do enjoy
a good festivity. I love it. Well, I will see
you there. Oh, wait. I won't know it's you because
you'll be wearing a mask. Cintillating, madam.
This is absolutely one of Trudy's lovers. Absolutely.
No doubt. Oh, my God. So much. I love it. All
right. Fantastic. We will move from the Clarence
house, unless there's anything else you'd like
to... jump into immediately. All right. Let's
head over to the Drake Manor. Oh, I'm sorry.
Edgewater would also give Mr. Grimlock four wealth
to give to those servants to get whatever they
need to go to the party. Okay. We're going to
cut over to the Drake Manor. And you are waking
up. Little sore, but your cuts are healing up
nicely. Sir, an invitation has come for you.
An invitation? Ah, yes. An early supper at the
Cartographer's Club. Ah, yes. Nathaniel. Excellent.
Thank you, Lucas. Are my things packed? I will
be needing to leave probably first thing tomorrow
morning. Yes, everything has been taken care
of. Thank you so much. You are sure of this
course of action? I've always taken chances,
so sure? No. Prepared,? Yes. Very good, sir. There
is a bit of a smile. You don't know exactly what
to read from it, but there is approval. Well,
sir, we will make sure that everything is set.
Staffing considerations for the party, have you
thought any more about that? I think... Should
everything have gone to plan, there shouldn't
be any need to worry about that. We will trust
you as always, Your Lordship. Speaking of that,
I'm expecting a bit of drama at the ball. While
I do appreciate your loyalty to both my late
husband and myself, please allow me to take the
lead. I wouldn't want to see anything happen
to you all. Sir, what kind of... I will leave
it to your discretion, sir. If it is simply social
drama, of course we know our place and we will
stand back. If it is a drama of a more physical
nature, rest assured that though we are old,
around these parts one does not get old without
getting a little bit of experience to back it
up. Preach. Immediately he's just like, yes,
certain Mr. Salt has taught me that recently.
Ah, the guardian of the... Little bubbly halfling
boy. He put quite a show on in the promenade
the other day. Oh, there has been some idle chatter
here and there about what happened. Well, in
any case, we will make sure everything is set
to the specifications that you gave us and we'll
be ready to get on the road first thing in the
morning. And then last thing, Evan. For an outfit
for myself, I'm assuming that's not part of the
party cost. Do I need to spend... As the host,
it is. It is. Okay, excellent. Then, with the
remaining four wealth I have now, using one of
my philanthropy skills, I would like to make
three donations. One to the labor department.
I will tell Lucas, please make these in my name,
specifically stating that these should go to
those who are having trouble making ends meet.
One to the Cartographers and with a kind message
about my brother-in-law and I hope their continued
success in exploring new and wild lands and new
opportunities. And then one finally to the academia,
whoever was interested, whatever Alistair is
a part of in harnessing Cymac crystals and saying,
the advancements you're seeking sound like a
great opportunity and should my lands, which
are full of those crystals, be of any use, I
could donate not just funds, but material for
experimentation. Very well played, sir. I will
get these arranged expeditiously for you. And
I think for gameplay-wise, that's a negative
six to any attempts to start or spread rumors
about me. That it is. Making himself bulletproof.
All right, cool. So you've got your invitation
to dinner, an early dinner with your brother
-in-law. The Rhinelander domicile, Rhinelander
Hall, is busy this morning. You are seeing a
flood of complaints coming in. One of the shop
foremen at the carriage house is coming in. There
are a bunch of carriages that are suddenly in
need of repair. And they are asking for authorization
for overtime to have enough craftsmen to do these
repairs. They are overwhelmed. I'm going to put
an immediate call out to my father's business
partner. I'm forgetting his name at the moment.
Oh, Mr. Roble? Yes, I want to call him. I'm going
to send out an immediate letter that says, some
concerns have come up with the business. It is
in the best interest that you bring your paperwork
back to Rhinelander Hall as soon as possible.
I expect to see you before the afternoon begins.
Yeah. Oh. Yeah. I'm going to go. And I'm going
to spend my four wealth that I got today to approve
the overtime. Okay, cool. And if there's extra,
everybody will get a little bit of a bonus for
working. Fantastic. It does not take long for
Mr. Roble to arrive. Great. Ah, you wanted to
see me, Ms. Rhinelander? Yes, I did. And I did
want to see the paperwork. We should go into
the... To the study. And your father, he is...
Still in a coma. It's so not funny, but it is
every time. I sort of expected that, actually,
to be quite honest. Well, it's probably a good
thing that you possibly consider making your
takeover of the business somewhat more official.
Things can be worked... through paperwork to,
while you would not entirely take over the title,
you would be taking over the day-to-day operational
responsibilities from him. All right. Do you
know anything of why he would be in this coma?
Oh, no, no, no. I am a businessman, not a doctor.
I wouldn't begin to know. I wouldn't begin to
think how that could have occurred. Great. If
you hear anything, I think it would be in the
best interest of this business and for your reputation
that you let me know if you hear anything. Ah,
fantastic. I see you have a bit of a business
backbone after all. Yeah, let me read the paperwork,
please. Fantastic. Here we go. And he places
the paperwork back out in front of you, and there's
a lot of scrutiny in his gaze as he watches you
react to the paperwork. And I now have Eyes of
the Runekeeper, so I should be able to read this.
Eyes of the Runekeeper allows you to read any
written language. Yeah. It does not translate what
is on this page. Although it does seem to translate
its intent. All right. You see glyphs in flickering
flame roll across the page. So you're very interested
in making a deal? I have a question for you.
Did my father sign this paperwork before I did?
Like another version of it? Yes, he did. Can
I make an insight check on that? Kick his ass.
Kick his ass. Use your flamethrower. No, he's
resistant to fire. That's a nine. He seems to
be telling the truth. And what exactly is this
going to get the business? The terms are spelled
out right there. You can read the terms, can't
you? You know what? Oh. Oh. Ah. Never mind. Never
mind. And he starts collecting the papers. Can't
breach an exclusivity contract. Very bad for
business. All right. Well, before you leave,
may I ask who you particularly deal with? Anyone
who wants a deal. And is it you directly? More
or less. I have my shareholders to appease, as
any businessman. All right. Well, I appreciate
your help in growing the business, but I think
we will be operating under some new management.
Oh. Good luck with that. Thank you. If your father
hadn't broken his end, things would still be
doing well. Good to know. I am gonna flash my
mask on and just say to him, don't come around
these parts, you hear? Hmm. An interesting parlor
trick. Is it...? Oh, no. That's... Well played.
Well, you shan't be hearing from me again. I
do hope you have a good number of mechanics because,
well, the unassailable reputation of Rhinelander
Carriages is going to be put to the test. I guess
so. Do have a good day, the both of you. And
he withdraws. I think with that... I am going
to hear everything, take it in, and I'm going
to use what I know to my advantage. And if you're
going to allow me one thing, I have a Rakehell
ability where I can pause a rumor about myself.
And I want to see if I can pause the rumor of
where the business is at some point over the
next few days. I want to try and slow it, if
that makes sense, with my Rakehell ability. There
isn't an existent... that anyone has interacted
with in any meaningful way or that has been generated
to pause. So you could, I would say you can try
to get out ahead of this and try to lock it in.
Now, the heart of this Rakehell ability is that
you take ownership of it and you're like, yep,
that's me. That's my fault. So you can't make
it any worse because I'm telling you the truth
because I am saying this is all true. So how
are you going to go about... Specifically, what are
you trying to spin the narrative towards by taking
responsibility for it? I think by taking responsibility,
I'm going to say with my father's sickness and
with my stepping in to lead in the business,
we have uncovered some problems in the making
of some of our transportation vehicles. However,
we acknowledge that and we'll be paying overtime
for our workers to make sure that we can not
only fix but innovate the way that we travel.
And I will put out a call to any academics who
may want to partner to help improve transportation
for Neo Britannia. Interesting. Alistair's coming
up in the world, guys. I'm going to give my brother
a job. They should beware the thirds. I'm
going to say this will be a persuasion check.
It's a great line, and I need to know how you
are disseminating this. Because you can say this
to the servants all you want, but how are you
getting this out in front of the people? I have
nine wealth banked. Can I spend two wealth to
put out some sort of notice of some sort out
to the people? Yes, you could commission a flyer,
basically. Cool. That is going to be a 19 persuasion.
Whoa. Okay. That is a very good roll, and that
was definitely getting out ahead of something
that could have been much worse later on. And
I think Ruby just is feeling like some things
have shifted, and she's kind of tired of playing
catch-up. So she's going to spend the rest of
the day out in the yard practicing her magic,
and that's all she's going to spend the rest
of her time doing. Okay. Oh, Gladstone is missing
when calling hours come around. Oh. Of course.
I assume he's with Nigella. At Calling Hours,
though, Edgewater is going to go over to Ruby's
place because they were going to practice Ruby's
magic. Okay. All right, so lots of magic practice
happening. For Calling Hours, you wanted to meet
with Nicodemus? If I haven't heard back, can
I go to see... You get a note back, had a rough
night, another episode. Yeah. All right, I'm
going to send him a quick note back that I'll
be over later. And I'll go over to Lord Drake's
first. Okay. I thought I was coming to your place.
Oh, okay. We meet halfway there. There's a coffee
shop here. There's a patisserie. Yeah, a patisserie.
Whatever you put in your note. Kind of Warbucks?
Yeah, I think I'll just say that I will, because
I can't really accept visitors where I live.
Totally fine. Unless you want to have Trudy sneak
you in, you know. Yeah, I'll come over to your
place. Yeah, I did tell you it's a safe place.
Ah, Ms. Smith, right on time. Mr. Lucas. I have
cheese out for Gus. Ah, God bless. I'll hand
Gus over, you know, so they can snuggle. Oh,
ah, you, oh. Right in the beard. Aw, he likes
you. He likes you. Aw. Okay. Okay. This isn't
weird at all. Yeah. Anyway, sitting room, shall
we? Thank you. Yes. Oh, ah. Oh, Gus, Gus, Gus.
No biting. No biting. I'm going to hand him back. Okay,
thank you. And I don't think Ms. Clarence is
coming, but I, you know. Our door is always open.
You're a good egg, and thank you. Why, thank
you. Lord Drake. Thank you, Lucas. You can
take the afternoon off. No more guests. And I
don't think Mary stands on ceremony. Understood,
sir. Gus does, but he'll be the chaperone. Yeah,
Gus is chaperone. What can I do for you, Mary?
I'm going to be honest with you. I think many
people in this town are at a tipping point. I
need to know what you have going on here because
I have some things that I feel like I need to
get off my chest to someone other than Gus. A
trade of information then? Yeah. I think so.
Fair enough. I'm going to hand over the etched
wood that I received. Oh, sorry, there's seed
on that still. Let me clean that off. Hand it
over to Gus. Yeah, Gus. Here you go, Gus. I have
a side hustle, and my assistant sends me payment
in these boxes, and this was written on it today.
So, Evan, Matt's instinct is saying three things,
and instantly thinks of third son. Does Samuel
put that together and figure out what the side
hustle is? You put whatever you want together,
man. Just checking. I don't want to stretch.
Yeah, I think that Mary's going to say, I need
you to be so chill about this. So chill. Don't
freak out. You have to promise me you're not
going to freak out. She's going to change her
appearance into Belladonna. I'm not going to
kiss you. I was going to say that night I told
my brother-in-law some warning would have been
appreciated. Yeah. I did tell you to not freak
out. So thanks for not freaking out. If you tell
anyone about this, I'm going to freak out. Yes.
I told you you could confide in me. So thank
you for sharing that. That shows a lot of trust.
Trust is a strong word for it, but I'm learning.
I'm going to change back into Mary Smith. I'll
be honest. As your note mentioned, I'm not exactly
one to solve riddles. That's not exactly my skill
set. Could I make an intelligence check here
to try to parse out what this meaning could be?
Yeah, you'll make a check and I'll try to give
you something to slightly decrypt it. Can I give
a help action or anything while we're trying
to figure it out together? Yeah, if you're going
to kind of clue him in on whatever you think
you know. Yeah, I think I'll say that the thing
I said about the third sons was a true channeling
of some kind. And that I know that someone within
my household would likely be involved in something
dangerous. Although I don't know what. So maybe
you're the one that it lives with? Yes. 19, I
think I have flat intelligence. Yeah, flat. Expand
on what you just said about you're the... I have
a rough note here, but I think there was one
line that says one lives with you. So I was wondering
if that was directed at Mary Smith specifically
and perhaps Lord Sparks. This message was sent
to one recipient and one recipient only. So everything
is relative to Mary. It is poorly constructed,
but there is an order in the construction that
is kind of tickling at the base of your brain
where you're like, the bad construction means
something. Does somebody have it written down
more neatly than my little chicken scratch here?
It says, one lives, one lives with you, one lives
no more. And what was the order of the second
pair? The third? It says, three used me. Second
protected me. The first eluded -- ended me. Oh,
so that's constructually odd. Three used me.
Yeah, three. Second, first. Not third. Right.
And I do have three siblings in my home. And
I've ignored them because I hate them. They suck.
Ms. Sparks. Oh, sorry. This is over. Never mind.
Take it back. No, I'm just kidding. Ms. Smith,
I think I'm going to need you to tell me as much
as you know, and I promise I'll return the favor
in kind, but have you heard anything else? Anything
to do with Lord Sparks? I think he is being blackmailed,
and I think it has to do with who my parents
are. Blackmailed for what? Do you have any kind
of inkling? I think it's me and how I came to
be in his household, at least in part. Do you
know your parents? No. From what Trudy tells
me, I was brought on at about two years old.
Charity case. Do you know who's blackmailing
the Lord Sparks? Connor Clayton. He was Connor
Clayton. God damn it. You're not wrong. That's
true. But now he's Connor Carson. Connor Carson.
Connor Carson. The way I'm putting this together,
and I might be mistaken here, I think whoever...
I think your mother came to an ill end, but I
think the murderer is no longer among us. I think
Lord Sparks, traitor to their cause, protected
you by taking you in, which is why he's being
blackmailed now. He went against their organization.
And the one who still lives, Lord Clayton, is
still on the loose. That's how I put it together.
Again, this is not my expertise. My skills are...
Being in the background, hearing things, spreading
rumors, amassing a lot of cash. That's way up
there. And this is information that I have not
had until quite recently. And I, other than Trudy
and Gus, I'm not quite sure who to trust, but
I'm starting to get sick of sneaking around.
I understand. But like I said, I will return
the favor. I don't know if this is in any way
connected. However, I am sure there's going to
be an attempt on my honor at the ball by Lieutenant
Desmond. And if not him, then definitely Edgewater.
She made that very clear. Yeah. I'm going to
say that. Just kidding. She would never. She
wouldn't. I plan to have that blow up spectacularly
in his face with the help of Mr. Salt. I was
already planning. on having a duel challenge
that day. Should you need to throw another one
in the mix, I'd be happy to fight alongside you.
One-to-one combat isn't my style. I won't lie
to you. I have found out from staff of the Crown,
there can be entire factions that battle in the
Honor Dome. The Honor Dome is very sick. Who's to say our
faction is not of the people. I know. I know
a few that might join. I think I'm starting to
put together a few myself. Could you reach out
to your cousin? Yeah. Okay. She's not exactly
my cousin, but yeah, I can do that. Best friend?
Oh, boy. Yeah, I'll reach out to your fiancé.
Okay. Whatever. How did you find out the other
thing I was doing at the ball? Oh, shit. First
Mary's like, what are you talking about? Oh,
my God. Oh, my God. She's going to love that.
My God. Oh, boy. I swear to God, I'm not even
going to tell Trudy that. Who's Trudy? Oh, God.
You haven't even met Trudy yet. Oh, my God. I
forgot. You just got here like five days ago.
Trudy's the best, most wise person you'll ever
meet. And she'll absolutely fight in the honor
dome with us if it comes to it. You know what?
For a long time, Edgewater and I have been tense
acquaintances. You may have noticed some tension.
I think she has more to offer than she's been
allowed to. I think that rings true for quite
a few people here in this city. I think it's
about time we had our day. Revolution! This is
taking a turn. Anything else you all would like
to cover as you are fermenting rebellion? Just
a light fermenting of rebellion. I think I'll
just say before I leave, I may not be ready to
reveal myself to everyone yet, but for those
that you think are worthy of trust, I will consider
it. Also, we got to figure out what's going on
with Ruby because she's not doing well. And I
think she's actually straight up haunted. That,
yes, that is an entire other matter. As to what
you told me, that does not leave me. That's up
to you to reveal. Thank you. I'll take my leave.
All right. Fantastic. We're going to snap back
to the Seltzer residence. Real. change of stakes
going on. We got a socialist rebellion. I think
Ruby's about to fist fight the devil. And I just
want this kid to have a good date. Yeah. You
have the highest stakes. Let's get this teen
a girlfriend. 18. 18. 18. He's 18. So, Beadere
and young Ms. Fiona arrive promptly at the specified
time. And Lafroy wants to show off some of his
science experiments. Okay. Because he spends
a lot of time training with you, but he also
is interested in the family business of making
bubbly water and all the possibilities that that
entails. I'm so excited. He has basically been
experimenting and carbonating a number of different
beverages. Awesome. Some wonderfully, some carbonated
milk, maybe not. He's explaining things, and
Fiona seems genuinely interested. And Beadere
is sort of hanging back with you, sort of by
the door of his little work area study. When
we visited the Blightwinds and did the tour of
the garden, did... we see anything like any similar
gear or interest in like...? Oh absolutely. Okay huh...
They're such little nerds. Yeah it all goes well
above my head and for a man of his stature and
mine that's not a small feat. She spends
so much time just puttering in that garden and
talking about, oh, if you take the seeds of this
flower and combine them with the petals of this
flower, you can get a special drug that can cure
this, that, or the other. And honestly, it's
just, they all look the fucking same to me. And
the rancid, rancid smells. The purple one or
the stinky green one, I don't... I don't care.
And he'll kind of point over an experiment he
knows is about to go wrong because Lefroy's tried
it over and over again. He goes, how often does
she wind up sticky? And it like explodes out
of a bottle. Oh, sorry, sorry. I forgot that
was still cooking. No, don't worry. I'll clean
that up. I will clean that up. Ms. Fiona, please
step to the side. We do not want to get your
slippers sticky on the remnants of that. So sorry.
So sorry. As they kind of go about it, I'm trying
to remember from the fight, Sweetly got hit like
a couple times, right? I know she was fine, but
she like took a couple hits, right? He'll kind
of ask her, how are you doing after the carnival?
Oh, if you think one mean kitty is going to put
me down, that's... Yeah, that's ridiculous. That's
crazy. And he kind of grabs his arm that got
like slashed down the side. He's like, yeah,
that'd be nothing, probably. I will say that
it was probably good that the Lord Drake and
Miss Clarence and yourself saw to it that the
other two were dispatched. I am talented with
one-on-one fights. When we have multiple combatants,
it gets a little hairier for me. Well, I should
thank you for getting to the two of them so quickly.
I don't know if I could have made it over there
with so many on me. So thank you for watching
out for the Boy. Yeah. He surprised me. He does
that. Good that he didn't try to actually use
those fists he raised. That could have gone very
badly. We'll never know how it would have gone.
He could have surprised us even more. He's got
a good head on his shoulders. He does. That,
I don't know where he gets it from. Hopefully
his parents, but certainly that wasn't me. Well,
at least we can be realistic about some things.
Ah. So, uh, what do you make of this, uh, ball
that's happening a few days hence? I don't know
if you've had a chance to meet Lord Drake yet.
Meet? Not really. I mean, yes, there is, I guess,
some social term for, uh, beat the ever-loving hell
out of a rampaging wild animal together, but
I'm honestly not sure off the top of my head
what that is. Yeah, he's earnest. But he's unconventional.
I'm excited to see what he has, but guessing
towards his plan... He's a troublemaker. He's
an enthusiast. An enthusiastic troublemaker.
I wouldn't speak out of turn for a lord such
as him. Especially not after seeing him with
that branch. I actually like the idea. I think
people are too trouble averse around here. I
think trouble has had more agency these days
than the folks around. Yes, it has. Seriously,
that fucking Oscar. Just stand in there, posturing.
It was odd. How many of him did you see? Just
the one of him. And whatever his cologne was,
was rancid. Well, you know, boys that age, they
don't always know. It's a tough guessing game
out there. It's really a minimalist job, and
that's none of their strong suit. He guessed
wrong. He guessed wrong. Can I roll nature? Does
it click or... Yeah, you can roll. I would say
you popped it together. You said it during the...
Yeah, the clone. The other one. I swear there
was another Oscar there. Oh, I saw the sword
go through, right? He may have been illusory,
but it certainly looked like the boy. Didn't
smell, and it did take a swipe at that one. Hmm.
Strange coincidence. Very strange coincidence.
Do you believe in those? No. This party may be
much more exciting than I thought. I think we
may have more to do than stand behind the buffet
table. Oh, you think I'm standing off to the
sidelines when I get to be in a masked ball?
Sadly mistaken. Well, after they finish geeking
out about whatever it is they're talking about
now, for the love of everything, I guess we'll
take our leave. And I guess I won't see you until
the ball. I'm sure I'll see you there, of course,
if you need either me or my... If you can find
me. Oh, my God. So hot. I'll be looking. I'm
sure you will. I swear to God. So I was thinking
that it might be a super thing if there were
like maybe like we can make like a bubbly medicine
and make it better to like more more tasty to
drink people drink the medicine because then
people might want to drink it and wouldn't forget
to have it. But I don't know if anyone would
have like a bubbly sort of medicinal tonic or
something. I don't know if that would sell, but
I think it might be a thing. A spoonful of sugar
might help, my lord. Oh, that would actually
stabilize the reaction and maybe it wouldn't
explode. Mr. Salt, you're a smart guy. Funny
the things you pick up on this job. And Fiona
seems enraptured. And we will cut over to the
Rhinelander estate, Rhinelander Hall. And then
this guy came in and, I imagine we're outside
in the backyard firing some Eldritch Blasts.
Great shot. And then he came in and he was trying
to have me sign a contract and I think you know
how people are saying I'm haunted. I think my
daddy was maybe haunted with something else maybe.
I don't know. I'm going to be fully honest. I
didn't fully understand it. Who was this man?
He said he was his business partner. I didn't
fully understand a lot of things he said. Also,
I was just trying to exude Mary Smith's energy
and I feel like I got there. That's so smart.
But I feel like for the first time I like wasn't,
I admitted I didn't fully understand what was
going on, but I was just trying to like fake
it until I made it. You know what I mean? Of
course. Yes. That totally makes sense to me.
So I don't know if it worked or not, but everything
is falling apart in the business and I need to
basically rebuild it from the ground up. But
it was genius sending out the flyers. Was it?
I think so. It's kind of pointing out a weakness.
But you've gotten ahead of it. And you've said,
we found the weakness, not other gossiping people
in the society. We found the weakness, and we
are fixing it. Nothing to worry about. Also,
we're going to make them even better than before.
Oh, right, yeah. Do you think that Alistair could
be helpful to you in that? I mean, he's got that
battery thing, sort of. Oh! Like, using the...
arcane solar flares thing? I don't really pay
attention to much of what he says... To power the
batteries. Yeah. I mean a battery powered transportation
vehicle sounds pretty weird but I you know maybe
it could work. True, true. But no, but I think you
know it's undiscovered territory I think we should
yeah I think so as my first or my second enactment...
No, not an enactment... Rule? Change to the business.
I'm going to partner with... I should probably
ask Alistair first, right? Yeah, maybe. All right.
Yeah, I'll have a conversation with him first.
But then I'll make a public announcement. I can
be very persuasive. You can practice the public
announcement now. That's fine. Oh, yeah. Just
that I think we'll work together and we'll work
towards building a mode of transportation that
is going to work for everybody and just make...
Us get there faster. I'll workshop it. Yeah.
Wow, being a boss of a business is hard. You're
right. Well, I think you can do it anyway. All
right. I appreciate you, Edgewater. Of course.
You've hit the target about 15 times in a row
right now. Oh, I'm getting better at this. Thank
you. Really good. If you can do this, I think
business will be no problem. Yeah. I will say,
I do get a sense that because I had this, I couldn't
sign the contract with whatever he wanted, with
that guy. So, okay, all right. So this man brings
a contract. He says that he's had your father
sign a similar contract. Yeah. And your father
broke their deal. Of some sort. How? Yeah, I
don't fully understand it, and I don't think
I ever will, and I... I feel like if I asked
more questions, I wouldn't necessarily get them.
So I don't know if my dad will ever wake up from
the coma, but I did get fiery glyphs. I was able
to read fiery glyphs off the page. So maybe that
man went into his room and had a conversation
with him and put fiery glyphs on his pillow.
Do you suppose that he is a demon from the Tearing?
Oh, my God. My daddy was partnering with the
demons? I guess that would make sense. I don't
mean to interrupt, but the butler let me in.
Hello. Oh, Mr. Weller. Hello there. Miss Clarence.
Speaking of who? Miss Rhinelander. I didn't mean
to interrupt your conversation, but well, I just
thought I might stop by and he holds up a wicker
basket. Oh. You're out in the garden. I think
it might be my turn to be chaperone. All right.
I'll just take a few paces back over here. Enjoy
yourselves. There's plenty to share, Miss Clarence.
Sure, I'll take a little bit of that. And he
spreads out a blanket and a little picnic and
a lot of wine. Great. And I will enjoy and sit
down and chat with him. And I'm just going to
ask him, how are you feeling about the ball?
Seems like it could be an exciting change of
pace. All right. Everybody masked, maybe letting
her hair down a little. Yeah. Do you know anything
about what happened yesterday with the beasts?
Oh, Lord, that whole thing seemed like a bad
idea from the jump. Like displaying the beasts?
We don't really... We like to think that we know
because, you know, we went in and annexed, but
we don't really know about how those kind of
creatures will react in captivity. We don't know
how to deal with them if they were to get out.
It seemed like an unwise risk to take. And who
decided to take that risk? Oh, I don't know.
Some egghead in the Arcanum. I don't know. All
right. Do you know who let them go? You think
someone let them go on purpose? I guess so. I
mean, if they were in captivity, how could they
get out of... I guess I don't know. Maybe I just
assumed that. That would be a fairly dark thought.
It would. Why don't you ask around? Just see
if anybody else knows. Definitely know a few
people who don't mind talking with the right
motivation. And I will say, I'm looking forward
to the ball. I do think it will be a fun night.
But I would appreciate anybody, if you do talk
to anybody or hear anything, just let me know
before then, alright? Will do. I'll get you as
much information as you want. Though I might
want an answer to a question of my own. Alright,
and what would that be? Haven't thought of it
yet. Alright, you let me know when you do. Will
do. Oh, go ahead, sorry. Oh, just was going to
pass you some more of this cake. Oh, thank you.
I do love cake. Cheers, Edgewater! Cheers! Pouring
very heavily wine for both of you. Oh, I'm still...
I'll go in and get my glass and go back. And
I'll whip my chain sword around. Practicing over
here, not paying attention. Whip my chain sword
around. Whip my chain sword around. Whip my chain
sword around. It is a pleasant sort of picnic
dinner. He proposes a... A couple of hands of
cards. Just gotta be more careful, man. Oh,
I take out the nice deck of cards. Fantastic.
Oh, God. Gonna play. Aren't these nice, Edgewater?
She runs back over there. Oh, lovely. Where did
you get them? Lord Weller, or Mr. Weller. Mr.
Weather, then. I know some... Ruben, please.
Oh, no. I know some... Sorry, I'm trying to be
better with all the decorum with Edgewater here,
and I'm bad at it. Understood. No, you are wonderful.
Oh, thank you. I've run across some artists in
my time, and some of them need work every now
and again, so I like to commission pretty things.
That's a bit condescending and also quite nice.
Can you honestly say that the artwork that's
on the back of these isn't pretty? Oh, no, it's
gorgeous. Let's play some cards. Yeah, and so
you play cards just after sundown, and then he
takes his leave. I'll go look into that matter
we were discussing. Thank you. I appreciate it.
Have a good night, Ruben. You as well, Ms. Rhinelander.
Ms. Clarence. Mr. Weller. He kind of shakes
his head a little and half smiles and then walks
out. That was a lovely little picnic. Yeah, it was. Thank
you for being here. Of course. He's gonna see
if he knows anybody about what happened with
the beasts. Oh. I don't know. In terms of what?
I don't know. What if somebody did it on purpose?
Let them out of the cages? Of course! That makes
perfect sense. How else would they have gotten
out? Well, I mean... I just thought it was weird
that they didn't get out before then. But, you
know, what do I know? I don't know anything about
them. Weird that they didn't get out? What do
you mean? Like, if they were in the cages until
they got there. Right. If they could have broken
out themselves, why wouldn't they have done it
sooner? Yeah. Yes. Of course. Isn't he hot? All
right. No, I'm sorry. I should be better. Wasn't
he attractive? That is so much better. He is
a distinguished gentleman. Yes. Very good. It
is time for tea. And with this incredibly awkward
foray, unless there is anything else that needs
to be done this evening. Can I ask a clarifying
question? Yes. In proper society, would a butler
ever let a guest announce themselves? No. Yeah.
Why did that motherfucker get to walk right in?
He just wandered right on in. It's a good question.
You know what good questions deserve? Good answers.
Are you going to have them? No. Oh, damn it.
I was going to check in on Nick if I could tonight.
Ah. I can also wait till tomorrow. No, he's sleeping
in the hammock in the office. Okay. He pretty
much lives here. Hey. You're not going to flip
me over, are you? No. Sorry, it was a kind of
impulsive thought last time. Fantastic. Are you
okay? I've been better. Do you have any ghosts
in you? No, I had a... I got a little drunk.
Yeah. Not going to lie. Sure. Honestly, whole
fucking Gadwallow thing, it shook me. Yeah, it
was weirdly spookier than the actual spirit situation
at the... Yeah, I just, yeah. And I might have
gotten a little in my cups. And then I had another
episode last night. And I woke up and he lifts
his hand and one of his fingers, like the nail
is like bloody. Like he literally just scratched
with his finger into the wood. Oh, I see, I see,
I see. Yeah, I woke up with that. I'm not entirely
sure what I did. So I think I know. I'll show
him the the piece of wood. Oh, fuck me. Yeah.
So I got this this morning. As you can imagine,
spooky. Not that I blame you. I know it was the
ghosts. Yeah, I wasn't expecting you to blame
me. No, no, no. I wasn't either. Yeah, so we're
on the same page. So we're good. I feel like
we didn't even need to bring that up. So we're
good. All right, let's move on. So that's some
fucking scary shit. So I gotta be honest with
you, Nick. I told one person but it's only because...
You told one person what? Just about me. Not
about you. Just about me. And I think it's gonna
be good. And he said he wouldn't say anything.
Just to clarify, you, a professional spiritual
charlatan, are telling me, your special effects
assistant charlatan, that because someone says
they're telling the truth, you can implicitly
trust them. That is... not what I said. Nick.
And because I know that you heard me and that's
not what I said. I believe you said, well, he
said he wouldn't tell anyone. Yes. But I am an
excellent judge of character. And I think he
was telling the truth. And also, he tells me
stuff sometimes. So, you know, tit for tat, you
know, situation. You know, Nick, right? Hey,
buddy? Exactly. Yep. Wow. All right. Well, fantastic.
Also, I can get you an invite to a very exclusive
party coming up. Will there be booze? Yes. Fantastic,
I'm there. Don't worry. Ruby will be there, and
she always has a bunch of flasks in her tiny
pockets. Back it up. Back it up. Yeah, the creepy
doll girl. Yeah, yeah. Oh, wait. What kind of
party is this? It's a masquerade ball, so it's
like barely any spooky vibes at all. And I don't
think that you would. Do you understand what
the word masquerade means? Just checking. Mask
drinking party fun time? Actually fairly accurate. Yeah.
You got it. Yeah. But we're not we're not doing
seance stuff. Great. So this will just be like
we can relax. Nothing weird will happen. It might
get a little duelly. But we don't have to...
Yeah, that's a whole other part of this. What
have you gotten us into? I haven't gotten us
into anything, okay? You were the one that was
all like, oh, ghosts, what kind of creepy shit
can I send to Mary first thing in the morning?
You know? What kind of creepy riddle? That feels
like you're blaming me. I'm not. I didn't say
that. That was very accusatory. I'm freaked out.
You know how I get when I'm freaked out. I get
accusatory. Insufferable? I get a little prickly. Okay. I don't
blame you. You're a jewel. Sorry, that sounded
condescending. Let me take that back. I value
you and your contributions and even the fact
that you do spooky ghost stuff. Apology accepted.
All right. Thank you. Okay. What's the play?
Oh, God. I think, number one, head on a swivel.
The ghosts, I think, maybe are looking out for
us a smidge. I don't get what's happening, so
I can't say that for sure. But this is twice
now that they've been like, hey, watch out. You
know? So head on a swivel. Keep your ear to the
ground. Keep your back to the wall. Those are
three very contradictory instructions. Stay flat
on the ground. Yeah. Just constant paranoia,
you know, but in a productive way. Right. Business
as usual. Yeah, business as usual. Do you need
any money? Because I have a bunch saved up. I'm
trying to find a way to be helpful because I
don't know what to do in this situation. I sleep
in a hammock in your office. I've also been saving
my half. Oh, okay. Okay. That's very responsible.
Good for you. I don't know what I'm saving my
money for, but I'm sure it's going to be something
stupid by the end of this. So I'll just write
you a copy of this. I don't, you know, if you
hear anything that sounds like any of this weird,
whatever, you know, one lives, one lives with
you. Do you know anything about anyone who lives
with me? I don't exactly socialize with anyone
in the household other than Trudy. Oh, right.
Oh, yeah. Because you drop off the. Yeah. What's
your read on Trudy, by the way? You know, if
I had met her 60 years ago. Yeah. Ida. Yeah. That's
what I think, too. We're totally on the same
page there. Yeah. She's so wise. She's so wise.
She's a firecracker. She's absolutely nuts. I
love her. She's going to be crazy at that party,
by the way. Oh, she's going to be? Oh, she's
going to be there, yeah. Fuck yeah, I'm going
to be there. Yeah. She said she's bringing a
bunch of boyfriends, so. Good for her. Yeah,
I don't know. We'll see who that is. All right.
I'm glad you're alive. And the ghosts haven't,
I don't know. Why? Why did, you were doing so
well and then you said that. I just, I don't
know what the kind of standards are here. I don't
know what we're operating within. You just started
doing this, what, two days ago? It's happened
a few times before that, but just not while we
were working. Yeah. Anyway. Anyway. I'll ask
you more invasive questions about this later.
Okay. I look forward to it. You go back to
sleep. Sleep tight. All right. Good night. Well,
I'll try to rustle up something for this party.
All right. Bye. Good night. All right. Do you
want to do the break in now? I'm down to snoop.
So you're going to wait for Promenade while they're
all out? I'll probably ask Trudy, go down to
where Trudy works in the kitchens or wherever
she's kind of posted up at the moment and say,
Trudy, my sweet, crazy, beautiful friend. I need
your help. All right. What's gone wrong? Nothing's
wrong at the moment. Fantastic. I just need you to do a quick little
lookout moment. What now? Just keep an eye on
the front door and kind of do like a bird call
if someone is coming in. Like a caw-caw, you
know. Caw-caw! Yeah, one of those. Are you sure
you don't want me to do something a little bit
like, oh, Saint's alive! It's good to see you!
That's a really good idea, Trudy. I feel like
it's more organic. It just works in the moment
a bit better. I was trying to overcomplicate
it, yeah. No, I honor the impulse. Yeah, okay.
Well, if you have to do a bird, I'll know what
that means, but otherwise we'll do a normal,
oh, hey, welcome back, kind of an alert. All
right. What am I looking out for? The family
coming back. I just need some privacy. Okay?
You know how everyone in this house is a little
shady? I have noticed that, yes. Allegedly. Yes.
Allegedly. I'm just... Gonna snoop. Oh, snoop
away. Yeah, I'm just snooping. Yeah, you know.
I'm just gonna snoop. It's like one of our favorite
pastimes. It really is. What would I do without
you, Trudy? All right, yeah. Let me know if Lord
Sparks or any Marguerites or any of those. I
will raise a ruckus. Creepy children or whoever
comes in. You can count on me. I always do. Ain't
that the truth. I'm gonna spend one wealth point
just to give her some money to get new clothes
for the party. and just whatever kind of stuff.
Oh, I'll get gussied up. Yeah, get full
gussy, you know? All right, and I'm going to do
a detect magic before I enter the room, see if
there's any magical traps or any detection or
anything like that. There aren't. There don't
seem to be any magical traps, glyphs, alarms,
anything like that. This seems to be all very
mundane. I'm going to because I'm a deeply paranoid
person. I'm going to change my appearance to
be... Not Trudy because I would never do her dirty
like that, but someone else on the staff who
would be in here cleaning or someone who would
have business being in like dusting or whatever.
Okey-doke. Yeah. Bertha. Yep. And I'm just going
to look at the books and I want to see... I'm assuming
that what I'll see there is like payments, this
kind of like monthly payment, hush money, whatever
it is. But I also want to see if there's any
information about the children in the family
or about Marguerite. Okay, that is a very wide
net to cast. Make me an investigation check.
I want every secret that you have in this room,
Evan. 14. Okay, from the ledgers, you can gather
that Edison Sparks is running this house so close
to exact zero. Marguerite spends exorbitantly.
The three kids get a ridiculous amount, especially
compared to what you get, of just sort of blow
it money. He's made some bad investments. He's
got this. lingering quarterly payment to Connor
that is draining. It's a little more than you
thought. And it's been going on for a long time.
Does it seem like it's been going on since I
came here? Yeah. It's going to take you a little
while to get that far back in the ledgers. But
it goes way back. It is way back. On a 14, you
also find kind of just like shuffling through
boxes of old ledgers. you find a couple things
that are a little odd. There are a couple dusty
magic books that are sort of like theories on
the reawakened magic since the tearing. And you
know Edison himself is not a practitioner. He
pays people who have a gift with the magic of
artifice. These are dog-eared and have annotations
and little like flags. And there's a lot of attention
being paid between the difference between demons
and what they call the infernal realms and the
bright spirits or the fae. And there are a lot
of little notes involved with that. You also
find a, it's weird, it's kind of like a wooden,
it's almost like an enlarged poker chip. And
it's got like an intricately engraved sort of
design on it. It's varnished. It seems to be
kind of well worn. And the inscription is for
the Shadow Fox Den. Is there any like design
or anything on it? Yeah, it looks like there's
kind of like a little stylized fox around a wine
glass. Is that where you were? Maybe you are
too trusting. I just went somewhere. Do the books,
is it, it's on the, it's on theory. It's not
necessarily on like spell casting or like practical
magic necessarily? No, there's, there's nothing
like, this isn't like a how to. There's, there's
a lot of the theoretical in here though. Okay.
Give me an insight. Okay. 23. If there's one
thing you know about this society, people don't
necessarily become what they wanted to be. They
became what they had to be. Edison clearly doesn't
have a gift for magic, but he does control a
firm that deals in magic. This may have been
from a time when he had a little bit more freedom,
when he wasn't locked into having to be responsible.
And maybe he was exploring things academically.
Maybe too much so. Interesting. So these, my
assumption is that these are his old books? Yes.
Okay. The handwriting in terms of the notes also
backs up that fact. Okay. I'm guessing there
are no, it would be a stretch... It would be crazy
if there were any references to me in any of
these books, ledgers, other than my, like, allowance.
No. Okay. No deep dark secret about who I am
and where I come from? No, weirdly enough, he
doesn't keep that kind of thing written down.
It's not on a sticky note on his laptop? Yeah,
no. I thought I would ask. Password, Mary's mother
is... Damn it. I will put everything back where
I found it and leave no trace of my presence.
I will vanish. Vanish into the night. Vanish
like the darkness. Give me one more investigation
check. I think there's one more thing you might
be able to find in here. Oh, God. It's four.
Yeah, I know. Maybe it's like a really good four.
No. No, unfortunately. Well, maybe I'll try again
later. Oh, how is Promenade? How is everyone?
Can I get anyone refreshments? Invisibility,
immediately. Like a ghost. All right. Sneaking
right out. Sneak out. I know I was already disguised
as someone else, but I got nervous as soon as
I heard Trudy give the signal. All right. So,
however, we do have one last thing to take care
of, and that is the dinner invitation at the
Cartographers Club with Lord Nathaniel and his
brother-in-law, Samuel. I will arrive precisely
on time that the invite said to be there. All
right. Are we looking hot barbarian van art or
are we going more sort of understated? You know,
it's good formal lord wear, but just dressed
down. I'm expecting a casual dinner with my brother
-in-law and we're going to catch up. Excellent.
The Cartographers Club feels like a place that
used to be for learning or for gathering. We
would recognize it as the shell that remains
of a public library. The shelves have all become
display cases for various maps. There are some
old maps that have been rediscovered and there
are sort of notes involving where they think
you might land in this area. There is a sort
of cracked and slightly bent classic old globe.
Artifice has been used on it to make it continuously
slowly spin in the center of the entrance hall.
And there are a handful of sort of grizzled looking
individuals that all kind of have the same general
vibe as Nathaniel. You haven't seen them at any
function, so you don't think that they're in
the peerage proper, but maybe they're more academics.
Got it. And there is just past the main sort
of display area a dining room. That has been
set up. And Nathaniel rises as he sees you enter.
You're being guided by one of the staff. Oh,
Samuel. Hey, please sit down. Sit down. A little
bit of my coaching still coming through. Lord
Drake. I mean, unfortunate circumstances aside,
we are family. So I think we can probably dispense
with the formalities over dinner. Okay. Sounds
very pleasant. Thank you, Nathaniel. So. I got
an invitation in the mail the other day. Yes.
That feels like a very big swing there, sir.
Yes. And I guess I'm paying you back in kind
for the lack of warning you gave me. Okay. All
right. Cool. Point made. That was not my intention.
I will be able to give you a bit of a heads up,
and I'm assuming this is happening as dinner's
kind of progressing, but I will... through the
night just there are two main things i wish to
say to you first i want to apologize. I had this
idea of who you were and fueled entirely by your
absence both in my husband's mind and then after
his unfortunate end... I had uh heard a few things
from my household staff that had gotten back
to them that you were uh not thrilled with the
fact that I hadn't come to see you. And that's
understandable. And that was entirely assumptions
on my end, and I think a bit of, honestly, anger
at having lost a deep love and then losing a
family I never even had to begin with. It was
a lot to deal with in the moment. And honestly...
Dealing with your society was another unexpected
obstacle I had to hurdle so soon after his passing.
I mean, I could blame you if I hadn't let things
get to a certain point with Henry. So the fault
is entirely mine. That you wouldn't know, because
I didn't let Henry really get to know me after
we had a little, um... We, uh, we exchanged words.
And they were heated, and... I regret them. As
for your opinion of the society and the Ton,
I mean, I would caution you, sir, not to disparage
a society that I clearly so respect and love
that I spend all my time here. I wouldn't dream
of it. In fact, I'm starting to find I feel a
bit of a adaptation happening within me, and this
is an easier adjustment than I thought it was
going to be initially. Oh, so you're saying that
coming into an area that is swarming with predators
is actually not so new to you? Who would have
guessed? I think you, out of anyone, would appreciate
what else is a prey supposed to do when backed
into a corner than fight like hell? Dear brother
-in-law, there are many words one might use
to describe you. Prey, I don't believe, would
be one of them. Well, that's the predator mistaking
me. for something I am not. And that leads me
back to the ball. This is going to be a grand
event for many reasons. And I believe I specifically
will be the target of some harsh accusations,
specifically around your brother's passing. Okay.
As much as I can assure you with words, I hope
you understand the love I felt for your brother,
and how every day I wish he was still here with
me. So I hope when those things are said, don't
run away like you did with Henry. We will find
a way to talk through it. Well, not knowing what's
going to be said, I'm not going to make any promises.
But I made a very large mistake with my brother,
and I lost him. I'm not going to make the same
mistake with my new brother. I think just like
a little grunt of appreciation, and Samuel really
has no other words for tonight and just wants
to kind of enjoy that sentiment. Oh, it also
sort of crossed my desk that you had made a bit
of a donation to keep the doors open around here
and keep things working. Have you had a chance
to look around and sort of see what we do? No,
but I mean, it's people like you who discovered
people like me. So I felt the least I could do
was pay back the organization that eventually
led to me being here. But I would love a tour.
Funny enough, I actually, in a sort of roundabout
way, I think drove Henry straight to you. No,
seriously, it was always our intention when we
were growing up and we didn't really understand
how things worked that we were going to. sort
of go out together and sort of see what the rest
of the world was like past our little bubble
but things happened and we lost our parents and
uh well i had responsibilities that i had to
look out for and get things organized and um
Henry didn't see that i was ever going to be
able to go out on adventures with him and he
saw that as something of a betrayal. So he joined
the army and was out on adventures the entire
time. I got things sort of like self-sufficient
so I wasn't really needed and I began exploring.
I headed southeast and he went in exactly the
opposite direction out to the northwest where
he found you. So in a weird way him wanting to
be as far away from me as possible sort of made
you two possible. You finish up dinner and he
takes you around the Cartographers Club. And
they have quite a few interesting things, both
a new arcane technology that's sort of in progress.
And they have sort of patchwork maps that they're
putting together to sort of figure out exactly
where they are on the continent and what other
areas they haven't properly explored and what
resources might be there, sort of cross-referencing
them with old documents. Oh, and have you seen
these? There is a desk with a pair of Cymac crystal
handles and a microphone that is sticking out
of it. Sometimes when we're out on expedition
and someone needs to get something to us and
they don't know where we are, this is a way you
can actually send a message to someone over
like super long distances. It's incredibly handy
if you have to like you know send out a distress
call or report back something that a standard
like messenger couldn't do. That's revolutionary.
How fast does that drain the Cymac crystals? I
know that's something some of the academics are
looking into is to extend the life of. Actually
it's not terrible like basically one fairly
talented caster can recharge it for the day. Amazing.
So it's very handy if you have to get word out
to someone or you need to like call him back
up so anyway... After my recent donation you'd be
willing to put those on loan with me? Well i mean
it's sort of like a big desk apparatus so... But
if you need do you need to send out a message
to someone... again I'm making some political moves
here and I was just thinking could really have
a flair of dramatics. Oh I mean you're a benefactor
now so if like if you want to send something
out now go for it. The the trick is sort
of really concentrating and like knowing who
the recipient's going to be and they're responsible
for like writing it down because it just like
flashes into their head real quick and then it's
gone but um and like try to keep it like you
gotta keep it short you only got like maybe 20
words tops, depending on how you choose your
words. Understood. Evan, real quick, out of character.
I know I had sent some initial communications
on what would be needed, and I got word back
that it would be met to a point. Yeah, if you
want clarification, you could ask. Yeah, if you
don't mind. Could I quickly? Oh, absolutely.
And after you send it, don't let go because there's
kind of like a bounce back feature. So like a
quick response. You're going to want to put the
little ear pieces in there for that. Understood.
Thank you. I'll accept his assistance hooking
me up to the Sending Machine. TM copyright, not
quite. And I'll focus, I don't know if I really
had like a right-hand man back where I came
from or if I knew somebody who was typically
like would be in charge. I mean, you did negotiate
on behalf of your chief who would have to be
okay with any large movement of resources. Perfect.
Yeah. So I will focus on him as I send out a
message. Sammy here. Checking on the arrangements.
If possible, send whatever you're able to spare.
Let's give them a show to remember. There's a
brief pause and you get a response. Assistance
has been dispatched. This is a courageous move.
Hopefully, it helps maintain harmony. In addition...
to staff Wayfinders assisting. Now, the Wayfinders
are those who are gifted in a different form
of magic than the purely elemental that you're
used to. The Wayfinders are those that facilitate
travel. And one Wayfinder is very useful for
moving a group of people and making sure that
they... blend in and can arrive to their destination
safely. The fact that he said Wayfinders have
been dispatched, that indicates a substantial
investment by the chief and the population in
general. Make an insight check. Absolutely. Eleven.
He used a word. Harmony. When you left, people
were acclimating. to the arrival of the Neo Britannians.
And it was a process, but it was definitely moving
in the right direction. And the fact that he
has phrased it as being a harmony now, it sounds
like they're actually doing an okay job. So he
doesn't want to jeopardize that. And you think
that may be why you're getting a big boost. Understood.
With that, I think that's enough said. and I'll
extract myself from the machine. Thank you, Nathaniel.
That is an amazing piece of technology. Well,
I guess there are some things we can't really
change. Have a good night. You as well. And with
that, we will close up shop on the nighttime.
Thank you all for listening, and we will catch
you on the next one. Bye. What are Samuel's true
intentions with this ball? What does the cryptic
message from Mary's seed box mean? Will Ruby
be able to successfully channel her ability to
manage scandal into managing the family business?
Who or what is Mr. Roble? What are Salt and Beardere's
next steps now that they agree that something
smells off about Oscar? I need answers on the
next episode of Scandals and Scavengers. Thank
you for listening to Scandals and Scavengers,
a post-apocalyptic Regency romance with Daniel
Begin as Ruby Grace Rhinelander, MattsTheLast
as Lord Samuel Drake, Johnny McEIearney as Second
Lieutenant Immortan Salt, Emily Carmen Weldon
as Mary Smith, Bo Powell as Edgewater Clarence,
and Evan Kelly as the Game Master. Produced by
Evan Kelly, Trope Warden Bo Powell. Hey, this
is Daniel. Thanks for listening. If you're enjoying
what you're hearing, consider supporting us on
Patreon where we release episodes early and you'll
get access to our post-show cast discussions,
Twisted Talks, our Discord community and more.