Mayday Plays - Vegas By Night | Episode 18, "Dead Heat" | Vampire: the Masquerade

Episode Date: July 22, 2024

The coterie finish some personal business around town and then get to dealing with the Lamia, a kindred killing off Nosferatu in the city of sin. What horrors will they unearth and will it lead them to the answers they're looking for? #vampirethemasquerade #vegasbynight #worldofdarkness CAST Amanda as Jackie Santana (Banu Hakim) Eli as Niles (Caitiff) Lev as Mal (Lasombra) Zakiya as Sybil Geier (Gangrel) Vince as Raguel (Salubri) Sergio as John Burrows (Ravnos) Caleb Miller as The Storyteller -- 👕 MERCH: http://ko-fi.com/maydayrp & https://mayday-merch.printify.me/products 💵 Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/maydayrp 📰 Join our newsletter: eepurl.com/iIVUjo 🎙 Listen to us: 🟣 Apple Podcasts : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mayd…ys/id1537347277 🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5vdTgXoqpSpMssSP9Vka3Z?si=97a6a19d71cf4be0 🟠 Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/mayday-roleplay 🌟 Other Socials 🌟 🐦 Twitter: http://twitter.com/maydayroleplay 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/maydayrp/ 🔴 Website: http://maydayroleplay.com/ 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@maydayroleplay 👾 Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/maydayroleplay 🔵 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maydayrp Thanks for your support!

Hello, good morning kindred and welcome to Vegas by Night. Mayday role plays Vampire the Masquerade Chronicle. We're back for another week after a really successful return and I'm happy to share this next chapter with all of you here. If you're not familiar with season one of Vegas by Night, don't fear you can still check it out on Spotify, Twitch VOD and just about anywhere you can find us right now. If you're wondering how you can get more May Day in your life, you can catch our stream here every other Saturday for our main show. You can follow us on all major platforms,

as well as Spotify and SoundCloud for podcast-friendly recordings of all our major shows and streams. And finally, you can donate to us on Patreon and join our Discord. Discord is really where we've had the chance to build a great little family around the content we put out. We have patrons running some incredible games out of the

community and members of Mayday ourselves have been inviting our Discord members into the table for monthly Mayday RAN one-shots. If you're a fan of Vegas by night we have three one-on-one sessions we've recorded this summer that are coming at you. Now, Regal's summer and a one on one for our newest Codering member are on the horizon. So keep your eyes peeled for the next sessions. We'd like to give a shout out as well to our handler level Patreon contributors. It's because of their involvement or content that we can begin thinking of all the big picture ideas we have for May Day. So special thanks to Advanced Wars, Sammy, Bimbleworks, Cameron S, Jonathan M, Kirby's Double, Onk, Ochipan, Ren, and WTF again. We are so proud to announce that we also have a new published writer and contributor in the TTRBG space among us.

Vince recently had the opportunity to write for Delta Green's latest release, Dead Drops, and is featured in its release. So congratulations, Vince. If you get the chance, please check it out and see his hard work. Can't be more happy for you. I'm so excited to read and see what you had a hand in making with the Delta Green guys. Other than that, please check out our Delta Green campaign, Doomed to Repeat, returning for its third season. We're actually in the middle of recording something a little special for Doomed to Repeat right now, and it's absolutely bonkers to be a part of, so I can't wait for you all to see it. Our special presentation of Black Project's gaming...

Black Project Gaming's run of God's Teeth and Delta Green and the rest of our lovely back catalog of campaigns, all available wherever you can find us. Before we get started today, I just want to remind you personally that Vampire the Masquerade can be a dark setting and as such there are content warnings for any watching. Please be advised that there may be violent themes, plenty of adult language, and the exploration of darker subjects. Please take care of yourself and be aware. Take special care for body horror, acid, and cannibalism in this episode. Okay, here we go, folks. Humanity was cursed.

That curse takes new and twisted forms as it roils through the dead circulatory of our husked bodies, one of which was crafted in to seize his part in the creation of new blood in our mother's name. A devoted follower, a powerful priestess, and a weapon of pure belief, Lazarus chose the head of this dark temple to join in his service to Lilith. And so Lamiya was made child in his lineage and born to bear constant loving witness to the world's true dark mother, death itself. From that day forward, a primal fear was installed

in Lazarus in the direction of his new child, a wretched creation that would make for a tortured sire. It is said that Lazarus feared her kiss even unto her final death on Giovanni's tongue. Now that kiss still lives in these modern nights, waiting for new death. Humanity was cursed, and in that curse we will build new monsters in our image. We will build ourselves immune to the steel of the knives we've honed as our own. Until they are primed against our necks, we will become obsessed with the thought that the only way to survive is by the walls masoned by our own hand, but in our poor craft our structures will

crumble to dust in our lungs. We will reinvent pain, we will chase the newest deaths, we will kill our darlings. Welcome to Vegas by night. The So Let's introduce our cast. My name is Caleb James Miller. Today I'll be your storyteller. I'm Amanda and I am playing Jackie. And it's only Amanda. Eli, you may be muted. We always do so well with these introductions. We just we just kick ass on these.

I mean, I might as well go. Well, we lost Eli. We lost Eli. We'll wait for Eli to come back. I'm Sergio and I'm playing Burrows. Oh, we're going crazy. We're going out of the mouth of the back of the order. Eli, it's your turn now,

because Sergio is going to go. Hi, I'm Eli and I'm playing Niles. I'm Lev and I'm playing Mal. This is when Sergio would usually go. I'm Vincent. I'm playing Raigel. I'm Zach and I'm playing Sybil. Beautiful. Now that we've just sort of shaken the baby, let's continue. Well, you're not supposed to do that.

Amoy! We have a wonderful recap to get us back into the groove here. Mal, take it away. All right. Okay. I don't know what I fucking expected. Wait, actually, that's a lie. This is exactly what I fucking expected. Wait, actually, that's a lie.

This is exactly what I expected. Maybe not the specifics of being thrown out of a fucking window and almost shattering the masquerade, but the brug strokes weren't far off. I knew they wouldn't be there. I knew it, and I went anyway in this fucking Polaroid. Well, I can't get rid of it because it's Lydia and she's so big and she's playing guitar. But looking at it, knowing who took it and how, it makes me sick.

Knowing that he talked to her makes me want to drown the world in shadows, be the thing that ends the world to keep her and Julian safe. What is wrong with me? It feels like everyone else has taken to being this thing so well, and I guess I like parts of it, but... I don't know, I thought I'd figure it out. And I would still do literally anything to go back to my life as it was before. It was just getting good. Not just survivable, but...

It was something I wanted. I started wanting things. That's the problem. It's all my own fucking fault. If I just met up with Ezra the first time, he would never have done any of this shit, or maybe he would, I don't know. I don't know. He's a creep who's sick and violent,

who sends other people to do his bidding. Honestly, he probably would have just killed me, and that feels too close to breaking the promise. And so there's just... There's just so much I don't know, and I'm sick of it. I don't know. Getting lost in the past isn't... Isn't gonna help us right now, so I just won't do it.

I just won't do it. We need help. I mean, Sybil might have saved our asses by talking down the old shits on high, but we're still owing them a boon now, whatever that means. I mean, I know what a boon is, I just... we'll get killed if we say no to them normally, so what's one more thing we can't say no to? Having someone who understands the politics of whatever the fuck has happened at an even moment definitely has its perks, but it doesn't change much for us. Niles has

been around a little bit, which is nice. Ever since I started hanging around Cisco's place, I've seen more glances of them, which is cool, I guess. The component kind of knows about anything that's going on. Well, then John, now. Now that we're doing fucking midnight mass at my church, God, talk about fucking irony. Oh, please, Mr. Old Elvis impersonator, help me keep me safe from a creepy old preacher one place he won't seem super horny about.

At least John doesn't think he's God. At least John doesn't think he's God. But... Now Pasta slaps his back. Ragel. He's different now, though. Acting like he's all knowing. He's just drunk whatever Kool-Aid and what Kerr put in front of him. He's the one who decided to leave, so whatever he got into in Golconda or whatever, he did it to himself. It's his own fault.

Oh, and now his new snooping buddy, Jackie, is around too. I don't know how much more know-it-all energy I can take. I'm so goddamn tired of people thinking they know everything, they think they're special and above it all, and she keeps saying that she's here because of us and all about truth, but I don't know, someone who tries that hard to find dirt on people that she's never met is definitely up to something. Even if having an investigator to help us with the Lamia will unfortunately be extremely

useful. And maybe we'll find something about Ezra in this, too. I don't know, his name didn't just flash up on Underwood's phone for no reason. I shouldn't be surprised he's connected to some old corrupt cop. Of course, now I owe a bride another present. That wasn't exactly subtle the other night. I have some old stained glass from the windows that I can just turn into a mosaic. Maybe if I get back in her good graces I can finally start talking to her about Terra again. And what the fuck she's doing at everyone's tables. Like she's immune to conflict or

something. I think there's a lot I could learn from her. Beautiful. Thank you very much, Mal. Very illuminating, especially knowing that Mal believes Gulkandah to be a place you can visit. I think Burrows might actually as well. Yeah, I'm just loving that everyone has adopted the Gulkandah is Wakandah philosophy here at this table. Fuck up, gang. Oh. The slippery slope. Beautiful.

Before we get to individual business, and I roll through the start of this new night, could I just very quickly start off with two rolls? I need both Mal and Niles to make wits plus awareness rolls. Okay. A typical hunger roll. Rouse the blood roll. What are you looking at? Oh no. You're real good. You do it.

Oh no. I got seven successes because I got a crit. Okay. Yes. We'll take it. This might be the only game that Lev rolls really well, usually. Yeah. You may say otherwise.

I was going to jinx it. Only one success for Niles. Well, let's hope that Mal's role has something to do with yours. Oh, no. Got you a can, buddy. Beautiful. It's another night in Vegas. Days from the last conversation we had in the bowels

of Club Canaan, the emptied bar that we have not done a whole lot to over the past summer in Naked City. But we used for a meeting place to have a statement of the Union address, a coming back to Jesus moment for the machine that is NGen here, where discussions were had of where we are, where we were, and where we're going. We brought in a new member of the Coterie, the intrepid reporter from overseas, Jackie, to join the group. We went through dossiers of all of your most important details and the information reserved there by the reporter, and we discussed what the next moment was. And that moment has now come.

Nights later. tonight is the night you all have agreed that a movement has to be taken and it has to be taken soon on the Lamiya situation in the south of Vegas at the shipping yard that you all have location for. But before that happens, you all have to wake up for another night. Here we are. Here we move. Let's start at hunger one. All of you, could you make a rouse check and see if you wake up hungrier today than usual? Sixes and aboves, of course, are a success. I've learned that. Anything below is not. Remind me the things we gotta roll for the Rouse check. You just roll a single die for your Rouse check.

Six and above is a success. Anything below means you're one dot hungrier. Putting you at two, not one. I'm a dot hungrier. One hungry. Hungry. Okay, keep that in mind. You are hungrier. You're rolling with two hunger dice. The rest of you are starting in a cool one. We've been living a little

fatter this summer and making some moves in the quiet that comes after a blood hunt. It has been eerily quiet outside of the moves you've been making yourselves. So either what Sybil did in Elysium has caused actual change for all of your situations, or whatever is going to get you is taking its time doing so. doing so. We're going to start in the great abandoned church, non-denominational of course with our favorite shadow, Mal, how do you wake up in your church? How are things going? Do you have plans for the night before the Lamia? Talk me through what this is, this waking up,

this arrival from new death for Mal. Mal kind of sits up, a little sore in a way that they haven't been in a really long time. I think I still have one aggravated damage. So I think there's kind of just- Did sustain aggravated damage. In fact, if you'd like, we could resolve that.

You could take three rouse checks to remove that aggravated damage. Okay. You will, of course, become however hungry it is across three rouse checks, but you would remove one aggravated damage. Interesting. We are going to deal with the Lamia. Sure. And so it's a question of whether

you'd like to be hungry or alive. Yeah, I'll take alive. So it's just three, one dot. Three back to back rouse checks. And no matter what, you heal the aggravated damage, but this is just how hungry you are. So you could potentially. One success.

Good. One blank. Okay, failure. Goodbye. Find it later. I get two hungrier. Okay, all right. So mark that down for yourself.

Yes. I think they're just like the faintest, like not even like scar like lines, just like, like someone drew on them with a lead pencil from where the glass kind of shattered through. And their body is healed, but it's like the phantom pull of a glass cut in their neck and collarbone area. As you're still a corpse, still a shadow, you can mend in such a way that no one else can. You bring yourself back together after those nights, but you do, somewhere in the sleep of death remember all of those flights you flew the balcony connecting with your rib cage and cracking your back in half something that would have killed any other person in vegas a headline flashes through your your mind the clickbait

article of the vegas suicide at the aria casino that no one seems to be able to find a body for. You remember the QAnon articles that spurned from the days following of those talking about the shadow cabals that exist in Las Vegas that are pushing people out of windows, but removing the bodies after to hide who's dying. But now the only things left are the traces of wear and tear the skin stretch too tight across a soul that's no longer living. You are here still somehow.

Mal clocks their hunger higher and then remembers going after that to the asylum and not being as subtle as they should have and sits down on the ground kind of gathering. They've got all of their like, their art supplies are kind of spread across the floor in a, in less of a, less of an organized way than I think they would like. They're just kind of in piles at this point, different colored piles. All of the, all of the like stained glass they saved from the broken windows has joined the pieces of paper that they were using for a collage that's since been abandoned for other pursuits for now. And I think they're going to start gathering pieces of different colored glass to try and start a mosaic as an apology present to Bride. as an apology present to Bride. Beautiful. You arrange this mosaic. Let's quantify this. Could you give me a Craft plus Charisma? Charisma. Three successes. Three successes, I'll call this a traditional success. You create a sizable, beautiful mural.

What does this look like, this mosaic? I think it looks like... Mal's been steering a lot into the whole the fact that she is dressed like a bride all the time. So I think one side of it, it's a complete arbor, but one side is like twisted with vines and like some small flowers. And as it goes down the other side, they start to wither and die. I don't think they finish it tonight. I think they kind of like sketch out the idea of what it's going to be and start gathering colors

and pieces before they realize that they're probably, they're probably taking more time away from the plan of going to get the Lumiya than is entirely necessary for this night at least. And they kind of leave it set in the middle of going to get the Lumia that is entirely necessary for this night at least. And they kind of leave it set in the middle of the floor, which has become their main project area. It's like one side of the room, it supplies the space in front of the bed, it's project, and then the bed, and that's about it.

Got it. Okay. With the mosaic tucked away for another day to finish off, the bed and that's about it. Got it. Okay. Uh with the the mosaic tucked away for another day to finish off. Uh is there anything else you like to accomplish here? Are there moves in the city uh before the Lumia? Um I think they might drop by Cisco. Okay. Um you drive off into Las Vegas is Mal walking has Mal gotten more used to this bike that they've borrowed from

Niles. Mal is trying to get more used to this bike that they borrowed from Niles. They're not it's it's scraped to **** for sure. Niles is gonna be pissed when they see it. Sure. The bikes used to be twins. I'm sure that yours has been through a lot more. Maybe they're the uglier of the identicals. Yes, absolutely. Let's just for the hell of it,

give us a drive plus dexterity to see how you're driving through Las Vegas. See if we can have you crash into some Midwesterners again. I gotta do, I gotta put something in drive, I'm realizing. The Midwestern serial killer of Las Vegas. I did get two successes, I don't have anything in drive so it was just my hunger dice. This is Sunday driving. It's not exactly something you're running from. And it's a far cry from the first time you were on a bike.

So you drive successfully. You're driving throughout Las Vegas with the moon overhead. It looks giant right now in the sky. Just there on the horizon overlooking all of the meadows. It is a weekday, so a lot of Vegas is sleeping. The Strip never really sleeps, but the surrounding areas fall into a catatonia, and you sort of follow the traditional road signs to bring yourself just north of the strip, northeast, to the farthest stretches of what is Camarilla Bounds, essentially. We're rubbing right up against an arch territory, the Lonely

Hearts Chapel, with that flashing neon heart on the outside and the steel cage closed in front. You remember how to get through. You open that steel caging. You come in through the back door. And Cisco is there as they normally are, as you've caught them early in the shift of the night before they've had to go out on sheriff's business.

And the Sheriff of Las Vegas is in at the desk that they've set behind the altar to the Lonely Hearts. There is a mad dash of writings, of paper, of notebooks, of things strung up right now on a board. That clearly has been something that Cisco has been working on things strung up right now on a board. That clearly has been something that Cisco has been working on and is working under the dim glow of pink neon that runs across this painfully 80s old chapel.

There are pictures along the wall of all of these couples, most of them alternative-looking older Gen X millennial couples who have thrown their lives away to get married here with many people that look just like John Burroughs and other insane celebrity priests. You see Dolly Parton's, you see Joan Rivers, you see an accoutrement of all sorts of people. You can get married by Adele. You can get married by a huge string of people. You know that Cisco probably is all but annoyed to watch, but so happy to know exists. Cisco is sitting there in their trench coat, their hands pressed palm down to the

desk as they're rifling through papers, those big kill boots with the carved smiley faces on the sides and the sheathed blade on their back. And they look deep in thought at that desk. I think there's a corner of Cisco's desk by this point that just doesn't ever get things put on it because Mao always shoves it to the side so they can sit on the desk. And I think by now Cisco's learned

not to put anything there. So Mao kind of plops into their usual spot and waits for them to turn their attention to them. Takes entirely to Lavong. A lot of the time that you and Cisco spend together is spent in this sort of staring contest of who will speak first and who will be more sarcastic when they do it.

And so a lot of this is this tense air that the two of you have around each other. Being both Lasombra, it's like you both occupy your own sense of gravity. And when the two of you are around each other, those two gravities fight for dominance in the room. But eventually, Cisco does look up after shuffling some papers to the side and asked, did you sleep well? Did you? No.

There's your answer. How's it going? Why'd you come by? Well, I fucked up a little bit. Yeah. Fucked up a little bit. Yeah. I thought you knew. I'm sure you heard. I did see something on the news. Phantom jumper.

Wasn't intentional. Yeah. Well, the things that you do rarely are, right? Yeah. What were you doing now? This guy came to my place and he said that my sire wanted to see me. And well, I mean, he didn't say that exactly, but I just kind of inferred that that was what it was. But he also said that some people were there and I knew they weren't going to be there.

And I went anyway. And then it went bad because another person, the person who threw me out the window was there. the person who threw me out the window was there and I mean I don't think I'm allowed to leave Vegas right? No, no you and I are not allowed to leave anywhere especially after what you and I just did. I think that we are going to have the closest eye on us for the rest of our undeath possible. And I can't have you leaving town. You're enough trouble when you're in Las Vegas. I can't imagine the trouble you bring me when you're not. I need to keep an eye on you. Well can you like...

Can you tell me what to do then? Because he... He keeps sending people after me and I don't... And he's gonna... He's gonna hurt people I care about. I want you to take this with a grain of salt. I never really had a sire, considering the rules. But have you tried killing him? grain of salt and never really had a sire considering the rules. But have you tried killing him?

Well, I love to that. Like that would make my life really a lot easier. But the thing is he sends people here and doesn't come here himself and I can't leave here. So it's kind of a moot point. So you're gonna have to get used to that. It's something that people like you and me, who aren't like you and me, do. The reason why we lose our sires, the reason why you and I are on this side

and we're not on that side, is because of people like yours. Sending people, conscripting the ones you love, using them against you like knives. That's sort of our bag. Now, you can either bend to it or bend with it. Maybe you could ploy some dominion of your own, swing your dick around. Like force someone to go fight him for me? Maybe not force.

You're charismatic, I guess. You have a way. You talk. I'm gonna keep downgrading that until we get to something so small it's not a compliment anymore. Right. Listen, you have power over people.

Maybe it doesn't have to be someone you force, but if you build a circle, then you're not alone. You have your friends already. They're always going to ask something when you ask for something too. Maybe you need someone who will do it because they love you. I think the only person who would do that are the people who are trying to kill. So we're kind of shit out of luck on that one. Well I don't know. I tried to kill myself for you and I barely owed you that. You have a lot more power than I think you realize now.

I don't know. I just I guess I don't trust anyone to do it. I want to I want to see it. I want I want to see it. I want to see him die. I will use your people to bring him close. And then they get to watch you win. But if he's what I think he is, he's gonna keep sending those messages, those people. They call them shovel heads. What do you think he is? Also, why Shovelheads? Because they're like fodder? Yeah, they would... It sounds like your sire's old Lasombra.

Sabaad, maybe. He thinks he's gone. Sabaadat then. They embrace en masse. They used to put together these things called flesh pits. 30 or so hicks from a country town, drop them in a pit, embrace them there, smack them in the head with the shovel on the way out and then leave. Watch them do whatever they're going to do to the town nearest and whoever survives by the end of the night

gets to be us. I'm not surprised he's sending people your way. He's gonna keep doing it until one of them either gets you or kills you. He wants what he wants, and he's testing which of you is the strongest. If he's asking for you, it's only because he doesn't think anyone else is stronger yet. Well, I mean, what would he get if I... What would he get out of it if I went there? He has to know I fucking hate him.

We all hate our sires. At least for the most part. If you don't, I don't trust you. Anyone with a good sire is already drinking the Kool-Aid. But maybe he's got some higher purpose for you. Some plan that he needs you for. If he didn't need you, he would have already killed you for insubordination, at least in my mind. I know I would have. Thanks. No problem. Why haven't you anyway? Why haven't you anyway? I don't know.

And they look over to that blinking neon lonely hearts says, I've been in the city for a really long time. And it gets quiet. And I don't go in for all that clan shit all of the time, but you're my blood, I guess. And it's nice to have someone around that sounds like me. Whoa, mushy. Fuck you. Fuck you.

No, no. If we're having a nice moment, same, I guess. Thank you. You and Niles might actually have heads on your shoulders. That is high praise. It is. It is. because I usually lock them off. All I'm saying is, keep the people who keep you strong close. Stop putting up walls. Because, hey, I saved you. I keep the prince safe.

I keep everyone in that room live, happy until they're not. And then I find out why. I don't have walls. I'm just tough. So tough. I'm Cisco and I'm tough. They real quick sling the sword a little bit from the chief. Oh yeah, okay. Sometimes you have to teach me how to use that thing though.

Cause I'm- A sword? Yeah. I fucking, I can't shoot a gun. I've got this knife and they pull out three foot's knife. Oh. Oh shit. Yeah, it's kind of gross, right? Yeah, it's ugly.

Yeah. Sucks ass. Yeah. I'd be happy to show you a blade, but it's a little more graceful than someone who falls 14 stories. Fuck you. I got pushed. Not a good excuse. Yeah, yeah. The conversation begins to fade. Is there anything else that you accomplish here at the Lonely Hearts? The conversation begins to fade. Is there anything else that you accomplish here at the Lonely Hearts? I think as I'm getting up to go, after probably pissing them off a little bit more,

I just kind of say, we're going after the Lamia. That's our new objective or whatever. We've also got this new fucking weirdo in our midst. Jackie. Jackie. Yeah, I know Jackie. Just be careful around that one. She's a lot more important than you think. She's important? Yeah. To the cams at least. I don't know what your other acquaintances might think, but she holds a position of power in this town. And when one of her comes around, it's never good. So stay on her best because you don't want to be on her worst.

Yeah, she's talking about fucking being jury judge and executioner. She is. Okay, okay. All right. I jury judge and executioner. She is. Okay, okay. Alright, I get it. She's scared. Whatever. They call them judges for a reason. So just keep an eye. Yeah, yeah, I will. As for the Lamia, I'm happy to hear that. I haven't been able to touch that one with a ten-foot pole because of the Hiccata. So to know that there's going gonna be an answer is great, and to know that you're reporting to me,

like I thought, some Watchmen might, was also excellent, thank you. I'm not a snitch. I'm also fun. So just, so you can't touch it because of because of the Hakata, but I can touch it? You can touch it. I mean, they gave you permission, didn't they? Oh yeah, I guess they did. Great. Cool. Awesome. Um, okay, well don't die tonight. Again.

I never do. That's your thing. Fuck you. And they leave. Okay. thing. Fuck you. And they leave. Beautiful. We are going to lift from this moment to Ragel. Ragel, you awake in the worst conditions in a three inch pool of standing still blood. Your night is your own. Do you want to walk us through how you wake up, what we're trying to accomplish before the Lemia, if we're accomplishing anything?

Tell us about Ragell's night. Yeah, Ragell will wake in that standing pool of blood and doesn't seem to bother him as much as it used to, but he'll go find Mokur and when he does, he'll tell them the plan. And he's just going to sit. He's going to sit and meditate like Mokur has taught him, and he is going to focus in on the Lumea and try to find something of use. Beautiful. You move into the adjacent service tunnels that branch out from the sewer,

that you and Mokur have made your home, and you find Mokur in his chambers. Very similar deal, that standing inch of blood follows you throughout each of the tunnels that you all call your own, devoid of all water. And you find him sitting in the center of one of those lower leveled tunnels. And in amongst the pool already is bizarrely an oxen

sitting in the center there, full-horned, no longer alive. And you can see that Merkur has split down the middle, this oxen from chest, from tip to toe basically, and has disemboweled the creature enough to pull free its intestinal tract. And from there, he is like ticker tape, reading through the inch of that intestinal tract and whispering to himself on top of it. Sometimes he presses it to his forehead and stretches the length across down to his chin and then shakes his head no and goes back to the readings.

And at first, as always, you walk in and there's no true recognition. But eventually once this meditative process is done, he sets the intestinal tract down, stands up and turns to you and hears your plans. He informs you that this is a sacred purpose, that the movement you're making now will send waves across the visions you've already had, and very soon this moment will turn many arms of the clock until the next vision that will bring you awareness. The Greeks did that, didn't they? Or was it the Romans? Many. Both. All. It is before them, but also for them. It transcends. This goes as far back as the first death.

Do you know what... Do you know what the meal of the brother means? I do not. This language, where have you found it? It's been haunting me. It was in Hebrew. It was in one of the messages, in one of the visions that I had before I met with the lamb. It was my name, and then in Hebrew the meal of the brother

Hebrew is not your language alone Is the language of all who? Consider themselves faithful Whatever faith that may speak to I am unaware But perhaps you should look to God. I need to focus. I need to meditate. Will you meditate with me? Of course. And I'll use its premonition.

What does this look like as you invite Mo'Ker to meditate? What does Rygel's version of meditation and premonition look like in this moment? I imagine that since Raigel's come back, obviously he's more in line with maybe some of Moe Kerr's – what's the word I'm looking for? – his practices, his methods. So he'll kind of sit cross-legged in that pool of blood, you know, hands on both knees, and close both of his mundane eyes, but leave that third eye open to gaze through time and space and begin focusing and thinking of the Lamia of total transport distribution of

underwood, you know, of what it is they need to do. Good. Looking through this meditative process as your mundane eyes close, you are greeted with this temporary vision of the inside of the Las Vegas sun. And you feel just for the briefest of seconds, almost like in lucid dreaming where you feel as though you're walking through it for a moment. You're an intern again, fresh-faced, young, baby-faced Ethan, passing out Manila folders and fetching coffees for those on the cubicle floor. And just as you are about to deliver the most important, a latte, a manila folder, and your resume that

has been snuck into the bottom of possible hires for a new position at the Las Vegas Sun, you shoulder the door to the editor's room, a corner office where eventually you will sit and then fall into this new vision. You are somewhere you don't recognize immediately. Perhaps a boiler room somewhere. It is wall to wall with these chemical stations, not unlike a chemistry class in college, but all of them mishapped, not properly put together, none of them clean, none of them ready, none of them right. And there's caustic bubbling liquids from all of them and they be they they surge to the top essentially. And then your body leaves you when you are floating above that room, following the boiler that sits in the center. And you follow that smokestack up, up, and up until you're in

the attic of this warehouse essentially. And in this most above space, there is a hatch to that boiler, to the shaft that runs down to the basement. And that is what you'll receive for your premonition. Of course, you didn't have to roll for that because we decided that at a previous session. That is the information you gather from your meditation. You come free hours from then with Mokur across from you,

nodding as though Mokur just experienced the same thing you had. Thank you. Thank you. When I come back, we can discuss the ritual for the book. I come back, we can discuss the ritual for the book. Good. We will have to find someone capable of casting it. We will have to find the materials involved as well. I am not privy to its information,

but I know it is something that you need. We will find someone, someone that is of true faith. Keep your eyes out for believers, for those that see the truth in life. Banu Hakim? If you must. There's a new one in our coterie. You bring a judge so close to home.

That's the Camarilla. You worry that she will not see a lack of worth in you? They are quick to abandon. We actually go way back. I knew them, I knew back. I knew them. I knew her when I was alive. I see. Well then, I hope you continue to err on the right side of her judgment.

So do I. I'll be seeing you, Mo'Ker. Be good. Be safe. Be named. And he moves to a portion of the blood pool past the oxen and does that traditional move that you are reminded of when many of you first met him and begins to sink below until he's only just his eyes above the inch. Beautiful. Is there anything else you'd like to accomplish here, Rygal? Nope, not yet. Okay. All right. We're coming up on noon here. So we're going to take a very short break, and then we're going to come back with the others, and then we'll get cracking on this Lamia here folks. We'll see in just a short time. Perfect. Welcome back. We've checked in with some of our coterie here, the NGen, as we're starting off a new night before a big project. Ragell has just premonitioned into some good information for the night.

And we're going to be moving on to Jackie's morning here. Jackie, new to Vegas, new to the Coterie, new to our hearts. Do you want to tell us a little bit about what's going on tonight? If you have any major plans before meeting up for the Lamia. What's going on? Jackie, she's going to because she's in the base, she's in her house where she the one she's renting out. She's trying to keep things like probably the most normal, I think, is possible. So she's actually kind of, you'll see that she has a bed laid out, but she has like a little underground where she actually sleeps and it's like even little blackout curtains on the side. So she's actually sleeping under the bed and she'll like roll out.

And she's going to check emails. Believe it or not, it's like the first thing she is actually getting to work and checking her emails, seeing if she gets any notifications from her side or anyone else. Beautiful. And it's honest. Then while she's waiting on maybe some emails,'s gonna go and get her like fridge of bag blood poured into a cup of coffee Then probably like warm it up in the microwave for like 15 30 Like kind of like it's almost like a routine like getting ready for work kind of multitasking

You get the reheated blood and I imagine it just will never taste like fresh. But sometimes you just need something to wake you up. In your emails, searching for messages from your sire, you do not have anything from him specifically, but you do have a strange subject heading hidden in amongst some of the spam emails asking you if you would like to increase your partner size and if you've considered Ozempic and all of these sort of huge spam emails, about 50 different emails from the casinos here in Las Vegas as they've sort of clocked you as the new Las Vegas native. But in amongst those, give me one second, let me bring it up here for you. No problem.

The subject line just reads 12. Okay. I'm going to definitely I'll click it. Okay, so you're opening the email. Could you make me a wits plus awareness first? Oh, okay. Why? It's so early.

What do you mean why Amanda? You're okay. Just roll the wits plus awareness. All right. Be on your toes. Okay, fine. I'm rolling. I'm rolling. I got a success with two. A success with two. Could you also roll me a technology plus wits? Okay. That's a one. I've got a good like one success. Can I have a what is it the willpower if I use a willpower you can have a willpower special if you spend one superficial willpower point you can replace three of your dice that are not hunger so go ahead and reroll any three dice that are not hunger dice okay hi

buddy how you doing get some emotional support, Kat, for this one. Yes, we are. Yes, we are. OK, a two. So the two added on to that would be three. OK. OK, so three successes total. You open the email. The subject line again just reads 12. And the lines themselves read, you and I come from afar.

Now you and I are very near. I smelled you before I saw you. I smelled you before I saw you. And now I wonder if you can find me before I kill him. Dash 12. Jack is actually going to print out that email. Okay. Beautiful.

There is this slow agonizing of the printer as the new file comes free and shoots into your office there and you have a physical print of this Gmail configuration on the page and the the sequence I just read today. I should have also clarified like Jackie's at a little workstation because it's a simple home not too many rooms but like to your little office setup she's gonna go into like a filing cabinet right next to her computer and pull out like Manila folder right 12 with a sharpie and then slide that email into that folder and

she's then gonna go back into her right and then you're going to see like in this filing cabinet full of like not only is it color-coded with a bunch of info you'll get to one area that is marked Las Vegas and then another folder and she's going to slide that there. So it's... Beautiful. Yeah, so she's going to organize that. As soon as you write that down on the Manila folder, you put it into that color-coded organizer. As soon as you shut the door to that drawer back behind and it clacks in with that metal clank, you get another email almost instantly. And the Gmail function is that when you receive a message from the same sender as you're reading the message it pops up in the bottom right

and it is from the same email thread that reads begin. It's gonna print that one out. Okay. It's more annoying and stuff it in and begin and it's mostly for the timestamps and all of that. But Jackie just gonna makes note of that. Also, Jackie's gonna, if she hasn't already, she would have probably done, had like a Google Maps or just a map of Vegas to mark down locations of one, the kind of hotspots, especially like the known locations like the church where the Camarilla, the Antarx, but she's going to make, like in that little corner, just to like put a post it and write 12 there. So it, the mainly just to see like where this person may be around, but just to like put a post it and write 12 there,

mainly just to see like where this person may be around, but just to kind of keep that in awareness, but. Beautiful. And in printing out all of these prints of the emails that you've just received, you do notice that the from line who has sent you this email reads Mastiff 1203. Mastiff 1203?

Yeah, Mastiff like the dog, M-A-S-T-I-F-F, 1203. No, I'm like, was there a way? No, they would just kind of just do a quick little search to see if they pop up nothing then they would just make notes and You're searching Mastiff 1203. Yeah, just uh, just to kind of see if it's not like a generic just to see what pops up Okay, so This is an interactive portion of Vegas by Night. I invite all of our listeners, all of us right now to go to Google and type in Mastiff 1203.

God, what did you do? And you'll see that the number one option is the Yurf Dog Model 1203Akart, which I think we should all buy. It's not for sale, I'm sorry. I checked the link right now. Is searching Mastiff 1203 comes up with the Urf Dog Model 1203A go-kart? Yes. And under that is an array of is an array of breed information websites on Mastiffs the dogs. Right. Kind of looked like that old dog we had. What was the name of that dog? Oh, we still got him. Rufus? Rufus! He's your dog, Ethan.

Yeah, he's a German Shepherd also, guys. So you just grab him as a Mastiff. He's so dog, Ethan! Yeah, he's a German Shepherd also, guys. So... You described him as a f***ed up dog. He's so dirty and gross. He's a f***ed up German Shepherd. So old, you switch breeds. He's old as f***. I will chuck... Jackie will chuckle at some of it because it's like obviously but apart

She will click on that link for the go-kart for a second because it is just like I kind of have to yeah After your dog model 1203 a go-kart Yeah, there's a portion to order replacement go-kart parts there's an owner manual and then a website to call the go-kart place. And I will hijack this entire vampire campaign to call this go-kart place one more time. I was about to say, I almost wanted to call to see if it was real. No, I don't want to do this. I don't want to pull up the I don't want to pull her off.

Beautiful. Thank you for saving us. Thank you. Jackie, that strange email comes through. You have this riddle essentially that someone has sent you via your email. You've gotten weird emails in the past. Not my first time. Yeah.

Is there anything else you'd like to do with your night before the weekend? No, no, no, no. It was literally just to check the go-kart, a chuckle and then on after that. She's going to get ready Kind of put another Blood bag into a thermos to go like those coffee ones to go but she is going to set up with also like Kind of you're gonna see her with her belts in like straps with her materials starting to line up and then she's gonna top it off with her red hoodie

and With her black pants and kind of like sneakers it almost looks like she's possibly going to the gym So anyone around it looks like she's either doing a little workout or just doing a walk or something like that. Beautiful. You get up to go in combat ready. You open your front door and you do find that there is a package right outside the front door. It is like a very expensive looking, almost like champagne bucket,

but it's cleared in black vinyl, inside on ice, freshly delivered. You're surprised you didn't hear the doorbell ring. Is a very expensive wine bottle. Is Jackie big into wine? She would know her reds pretty well, yes. Well then you would know that this is a vintage of incredible, incredible year differential. This red has been, it's a Cabernet, has been sitting for decades

ready for you. And then surrounding that champagne bucket is an assortment of like different gift bag accoutrements. One is a set of earrings in these very garish, big, beautiful, golden, almost like florets, like carnation sized earrings. I'm sorry, carnation designed the earrings. They're very big, but they're not as big as Carnation's. And an assortment of different things within their expensive dried meats, things that you could put on a charcuterie board. And in the center in front of all of bossed black and gold card essentially, that in the center reads arcade. Arcade, okay. Is there anything,

before I go rummaging and touching this thing, I am gonna check to make sure it is not like tricked with something. Yeah, I've learned in the first season of touching things that I shouldn't. Someone has a secret admirer. I know already. Roll me a intelligence plus investigation

to see if this thing's rigged. Okay, thank you. Okay. Classic, you know, gift bag with a rigged explosive in it. Oh shoot, four. Wouldn't that be awesome? We just bring Jackie in and I blow her up, session one. Four successes, you don't see this as rigged whatsoever.

In fact, you see that this is probably a gift basket from a parked black luxury car that is across from your house right now. There is an individual outside in this very beautiful blue regal hat that is tipped to the side there and what is essentially like a bellhop's uniform and he does give you a little wave as you receive the gift basket. He bows to you deeply, and then gets into the front of the car seat and begins to drive off having seen that you received the package. Jackie will watch as the person like drives away. And I'll be

like, All right, new neighbors are nice nice and it goes and she'll go ahead and place the basket like right by The entrance if there's like a little thing she could put it down on she'll do a quick rummage. She's gonna take Like she'll see the bottle of wine because if it's if it's a old red vintage She will actually make sure that it's like, okay, she'll put it in a nice spot where the cool dry away for a night or another time. But she will go ahead and like once she just like once make sure there's no like tech bugs that we already checked and then she's just gonna go ahead in her car and

kind of start heading out towards uh yeah she's gonna meet up towards that the bar that every that she knows everyone's probably at beautiful okay uh Sybil uh how did your knight find you where are you what's going on here um okay, I know she she woke up with one extra hunger. I do. I, I think I have a good amount of blood bags flowing at this point. Yeah, okay, cool, cool, cool. Then I think I don't have anything specific that I want to do. Yeah, I don't have anything specific that I want to do before we start. Lumia stuff. Okay. I think I'm just going to...

Got it. Sipil is going to go to work as she always does and then just kind of wait for the signal or where she feels like it's time to start gathering the Avengers in a way. Beautiful. So Sybil, you arrive to your work, I'm assuming, not your previous work. Are you driving the van today or are you driving your business? I am driving the van today or are you driving your business? I am driving the van today. Okay, beautiful.

So you show up to Circus Circus. You check in with the circulatory system. You check in with the guys underneath the stratosphere. And you set out to driving the deviants around Las Vegas. Every so often, you do check your rear view mirror at first thinking maybe the blood hunt isn't really over in that whole conversation you had with the Elysium was really just guys so that you wouldn't be expecting them. And then second, maybe hoping that some old friends that used to ride this bus with you

might've stopped by to see you, to spend time. But none are true this night as you wait for the Lamia. Beautiful, do you drink your blood bag to bring you down or are you saving those for later? I will drink, I'll drink one and then just make sure to keep like three on me just in case this gets hairy. Got it. Okay, so your Capri Sun slicks one hunger for you. Sweet.

Niles, Niles, why don't you tell me a little bit about what this night looks for you, what you'd like to accomplish, what we're looking at? Niles is waking up at Hugh's place. They had spent the night there. And while not while he's off getting ready for his evening, Niles is in the kitchen, kind of knees to chest sitting in a chair, and they're sketching in their notebook. Niles kind of put out a bowl and the box of cereal that he likes to eat in the morning. And they're just waiting for him to be done to have breakfast with him. Right. As you're waiting for Hugh, you're sketching, what does the sketch look like? What is the latest in the long string of designs like for Niles? Niles is drawing what looks to be the skull of a predator

and around that skull is just a series of butterflies that seem to be rested on the skull. A couple are in flight. It's extremely detailed with a lot of tiny embellishments on it, but they're sketching it for a client that they might be tattooing later in the week. So they're just knocking out some of those tasks while they wait for Hugh. You find that Hugh has been awake a little earlier than you this night.

It's not something unheard of. You know Hugh to be a very early riser, which is a hard thing to be as a kindred, but it's one of the only things that Hugh has going for him in the way of moving in this world. And as such, Hugh does eventually come through the front door of your apartment together. Essentially, this past summer, you two have been spending so much time here. It sort of bleeds between who it actually belongs to. And while Hugh does joke every so often about you never taking him to your place, you both have an understanding of why that is. Avoiding the bubble gum instead

for this one-bedroom apartment. He comes in, beautiful half Korean man. His hair has gotten a little longer during the summer so that it sort of flops about in this middle part and has gotten some shag to its sides. It still hasn't gone past his ears, but it's enough that he's trying to put some on for the winter.

He comes in, his shirt sort of scuffed with this dried blood, and he shuts the door behind him. He's not physically hurt, but it's enough that he takes the t-shirt off, flings it across the room there, and hurries in through the bedroom, you know, half-shirted or half-clothes, that's the word, and then runs into a new fresh pair of clothes and comes back out, sort of grumbling to himself about the situation he just found himself in, and he peeks over the chair to get a look at your design.

He says, man, that's starting to look really good. You've gotten so good at this. Yeah, you like it? I love it. Yeah, it's gonna go on a thigh probably later this week. You okay? Oh yeah, yeah, I'm good. It's just some shit that Alice had me on.

And people are bleeding when they shouldn't be bleeding. Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm good. It's just some shit that Alice had me on and you know, people are bleeding when they shouldn't be bleeding and that's sort of the whole run of this afterlife, isn't it? Yeah. But no, it looks good. I really dig the butterfly and the little eye hole there. It's fucking it's scary. It's scary as shit. I am just very terrified. Someone's gonna put that on their thigh, doesn't that hurt? And Hugh just kind of looms over you. He has absolutely no tattoos whatsoever. He's pointing in at the design.

And it's very clearly something that someone would say when they've just got no fucking clue what they're talking about. I mean, it'll hurt a bit. I mean, tattooing is always a little painful, But there's enough meat on the bone, I think, that it won't be so harrowing of an experience for this person. So not too bad. It's usually like closer to joints or where the nerves kind of bundle that when it starts to really hurt. or where the nerves kind of bundle that when it starts to really hurt. Yeah, yeah, bundle of nerves, right? That's where you like it and you hate it. Yeah, essentially. It looks good though. Does anybody ever tell you you have cold hands for a tattoo artist?

Occasionally, but I try to double up on gloves that way it doesn't, um, it doesn't feel too bad. Um, but usually they're more focused on the little bit of pain from the needle than my touch, which is fine. Hey, let's see how that goes. Listen, Niles, I was talking with Ellis today and I mean, he's been bringing me up on your situation and everything.

I told you I'd keep an eye out on everything and he's got something for you. It's good. I don't think that you and I are gonna die anytime soon, which is really a relief after this last summer. It's like a gift, I guess. Okay, what is it? Okay. Well, okay. I'm gonna give you an okay, I have to stop talking to you like me. And I'm gonna do the anarchy thing,

right? Maybe I should leave and come back in we can do this the right way yeah I think if you feel that way to keep business separate yeah I feel like that's the way you need to feel uh right like that sure um I can put my I think it's the only way Niles yeah so if you could just do that thing where you get real quiet throw your shoulders up like you're gonna kill everybody in the room and then I'll come in and do that thing where I act like the butler to the worst fucking king in the world and then we'll go from there. Yeah sure sure he gets up he goes okay scene and he goes out the front door, he shuts the front door and he knocks on the front door again, waiting for you to come to the door.

Niles puts their sketchbook down and they open the door for Hugh. Hello, Niles. Hugh. Niles is probably serious Niles is very clear. He's trying not to break a smile. Niles is from the parent of Fremont Street. It's for you.

Oh, oh sure. I guess come in and they open the door wider for him to enter. Thank you for permitting the entry on this night. It's cold. Good to be indoors. And he steps in, big shoulder. What, what does, uh, Ellis need?

First, I would like to tell you I'm not armed, but I am not afraid to defend myself should it come to that. Noted. I promise I won't harm you. Good. Well then, the message then from Alice, I'm going to give you a location to a residential home in Somerset that's to the north of here. Yeah, it's not far. It's not a bad drive.

I would take your bike. I would park maybe two blocks away and walk the rest. Yeah. Okay. It's really important that when you go inside, you keep this information exclusively to yourself. That includes your boyfriends and your girlfriends that I know you're going to go see later tonight. Sure. So, do not tell your little cuddle puddle anything about what I'm about to give you. And that comes from Alice, not from me. Inside is information that is exclusive to you and to him and to me, I guess, but really only in the valet sort of way you get.

And this is the last offering we'll be giving for free. This is the last gift to appease the situation and the information you brought to the Anarchs and to say, hey, sorry we tried to kill you and force you in a contract to steal from the vault of a casino, but also thank you for your information. And he writes down on a post a note in the address that he sets out in front of you. When you get there, do not enter

through any of the main doors. You're gonna hop a fence to the backyard. It's imperative that none of the neighbors see you and no one ever sees you enter. In the basement, through the backyard, you'll find a door that accesses the room. And inside, it's all yours. Okay. That concludes my message from the Baron of Fremont Streets.

And as such, our business is concluded. If we would like to do the customary kindred to kindred smooch on the lips, that would be great. But I would forego customary actions here if needed. Whatever the formality of the room calls for. I think Niles will take the note with the address on it from Hugh and get close to him and tell him, well, I do need to practice more of my etiquette, so maybe we should practice the customs. Sir, yes sir. And there's some smooching. Niles, is there a movement to address this note immediately? Do you have anything else for tonight?

You can stay with Hugh for as long as you can, but detracting from that moment. What's the next move? Yeah, I'll spend as much time as I possibly could with Hugh, but this seems to be a bigger priority. So Niles is going to go and go to that address, take the bike, park it a ways and settle what the bear needs of me. Beautiful. Niles, you're driving into a richer neighborhood, a richer part of Vegas akin to something like the Hollywood Hills or Manhattan, a portion of Vegas that is restricted to wrought iron gates around their long

hallwayed driveways. And you feel out of place. In fact, as your bike engine roars through this neighborhood, you can see that a lot of the motion activated lawn lights turn on as you're driving past. And occasionally an old bitty will look out from their window to see who's making all of that noise in the HOA. You reach about two blocks from the room itself or I'm sorry the house itself. Are you following Hugh's orders to get off the bike and walk the rest?

Yeah I'm parking away and what's the new? Yeah. Yeah, I'm parking a ways and then walking the remaining distance. Okay. Do you have air support on this mission or is it just you? It's just me, especially when I spend time with Hugh at the apartment, I don't bring spoons around anymore. But I am trying to keep visual as much as I possible. Despite

not having my usual air support, I'm being more vigilant because of the lack of that. That is three successes. Three successes. Beautiful. You park the bike on residential parking. three successes. Three successes. Beautiful. Um you park the bike on residential parking. You think you're in a spot where you won't get towed but god in a place like this, you never know. Public parking is not a thing that exists for the rich because they can get out of it and thus they can

make you not get out of it. Uh you walk the rest of the way, swinging your keys, walking through like you're anyone else, like you're alive, like you have a beating heart, like you're among these people. Definitely a sore thumb, but every so often a sore thumb walks through a nice neighborhood. And eventually those two blocks cycle in and you're walking through your your phone GPSing this address. And you come upon what is the climb up to this house that is supposed to be your new secret.

It is bizarrely out of place against the others. It is the only condemned property that you've seen in this entire neighborhood. It is street fenced, so there is a rent-a-fence set up around the entirety of it, and both the fence and the front door itself has been marked with papers of immediate eviction and condemnation, essentially. It is a wonder that the HOA has not taken care of this already and that it is still standing. It must be the worst thing that has ever happened to the white people on either side of this

building. But you're here now. There is a three-floor walk-up as this is based into almost like an artificial hill built into Somerset here. But it truly is just structural more than anything as Las Vegas of course is very flat. Is there a move here or you're surveilling as's as you're standing at the base of it? The architecture itself is very modern. You guess that this house was built in 20 years probably a very fresh contracting built

It's very gaudy and expensive But in the way that it is Supremely white and probably an open floor plan and probably has three pieces of pieces of furniture altogether in the way that it is supremely white and probably an open floor plan and probably has three pieces of furniture all together in the house. What's the move? I think Niles is just gonna follow the instructions of jumping over a fence, not going through the front door. Just if Ellis is being very specific,

Niles prefers to follow those specificities as much as possible. So they're going to go through the backyard in that way. Okay. Easy enough for you in your own death to scale a fence, especially with you being you, Niles. You were jumping fences like this when you were alive with no problem. So of course, now is nothing. Use clamber over and land with soft feet as your big old combat boots connect with the

ground below. And then it's a matter of walking through to the back. There's a back fencing area that connects to the main building itself that used to have an electronic gates lock on it, but now of course that is not in action. And so the gate sort of swings open. You can see that the side of this house has been graffitied with a strange marking on it.

with a strange marking on it. You see on the side of the building is a big red question mark. And the graffiti was done in such a hasty move that the edges have begun to bleed and drip as if someone was doing it in a fit for their life and then ran off before truly the question mark could be done. In fact, the dot to the bottom of that red question mark is only barely hit, but it bleeds right there against the gate on the main wall adjacent to this entry into

the backyard. Is there anything you'd like to do or we keep moving into the backyard? Is the paint fresh or has it been dried? Well the beautiful thing is that you are a bit of an artist yourself and if there's any medium you get it's probably tattooing and graffiti given that you ran with the people that you did for so long. Give me a craft plus wits to discern just how fresh this pain is when you think it was done. One success. With one success, you are confident that this was done in the last year. success, you you are confident that this was done in the last year. So in kindred terms, very fresh in human terms, maybe not

that fresh, right? But you do more than anything notice that it was done in haste was done. In your mind, it flashes to like the cops catching someone in the middle of working or you know something popping off as you're trying to get work done. Okay, then then I'll then I'll proceed in and keep going. You go in. There's the pool. It has been drained and sitting in the center is a beach chair and a line of

beers that line the bottom of that pool. And at the bottom of the pool is essentially some like fetid still water. There's a gazebo section and a beach or beach house, excuse me, a back house that is essentially like a pool house. Whoever lived here was wealthy. This is a nice little area, a bunch of dying succulents and plant life orchestrated and landscaping that line the walls to be sort of like a privacy buffer to your neighbors. And you have not done anything to trigger the floodlights on either side of those neighbors, so you seem to be doing well. And you do see this sort of concrete staircase step down to the door that Hugh told you about.

The door itself looks completely out of place to the rest of this architecture. It is hard steel behind another security door. There is a keypad on one side and what almost looks like a thumb print scanner. There are six different locks, two of which on the security door on the outside and three on the inside. And it is sort of buried in the bottom of this stairwell and it's bordered off by these wood panelings that try and hide how industrial and security forward this door is at the bottom of the staircase. I think that's the point where Nile starts to get nervous seeing the level of security for a single door. And but they'll go down the stairs because I don't think there's any other place to enter.

Was I given any passports or anything to enter in here? You were not, but as you step down the stairs there, you arrive at the keypad and you see that where keys traditionally would hang like a little like extra bit for initially when you get the keypad or if you're keeping auxiliaries there, there is a ziplock baggie that's tied into a key ring that is set onto one piece of the keypad itself. And inside the ziplock baggie with enough weight that it's actually sort of threatening to fall free from the keypad is a disembodied thumb. Fun. Niles will get the thumb and I assume it's for the keypad. Presses it on the pad. The thumb is fresh, you're guessing. Surprisingly fresh, as when you squeeze it between your fingers, there is a drip of blood.

But you do manage to gush the thumb up against the scanner there. And it seems to take a dead man's finger just as well as anyone else's. And there is a green light click, and you can hear the security door a jar itself and then the inside steel door click open as well. Essentially, there is this series of openings. Essentially, the inside door is unlocked. The security door is now a jar. door is now ajar. Niles is going to open it very slowly and enter in with as much caution as possible. Okay, the first thing you notice is the temperature. It is freezing in here. Cold as ice. Stepping into an industrial freezer in the back of a diner, maybe even

colder to keep meat cold cut. The second you notice is the smell. As a gangrel, already there is this preternatural understanding. Even the catiff in you, the one that didn't manifest in the way that gang girls wanted you to, left you with a primal sense for things. And there is a smell of preserved death in here. A smell of corpses, of awful, of excess. The floor itself is so cold, it permeates your boots as you step in, and you feel underdressed for the occasion. You step in slowly, and you find that you are in a stark, dark gray concrete room that is devoid of everything except for the

one item in the center of this basement adjustment. You see an offshoot to your left where a staircase used to be to the top floor, but you can see the lining along the wall where it was essentially ripped out by either the architects by the contractors, whoever it may be. There's nothing there. The shadow of where an access to the main floor was in the center of the main floor you are on off of that adjacent room is a series of chains, metal chains. You're guessing industrial grade, military grade, if you think there could be. Someone has invested a lot of money in the steel that is used here. It is junctioned at maybe eight different points along the room and then used in circling bundles around a figure in the center of the room that is trapped at the center of those bindings. That figure has their arms spread out and down with open wrists, and in the center of those wrists are almost like

tree taps, iron or maybe steel tubes that work like faucets from their wrists to two brass serving bowls that sit on pillared displays. The figure in the center is wrapped in almost like butcher plastic or a morgue's dressing. In the center in between the chains themselves and piercing through the morgue's dressing. In the center in between the chains themselves and piercing through the morgue dressing is a steel, beautiful steak that sits plainly in their heart. Their eyes are closed completely. Their lips are open and a jar as though caught in a moment of surprise and their hair is gelled and slipped down to their scalp in this very nice almost like wet bob just past their ears. The figure itself looks to be a very couture, um, exotically beautiful woman, um, very dark and ashen for their dark skin tone,

um, and trapped at the center of these chains. And you can see drip feeding into each of those brass bowls slowly like tar, like syrup, is the black red vitae that you so routinely require to exist. Damn. I think the initial sight of that like startles Niles because it's oddly familiar. But once they get an idea of what all of this purpose is, is they are starting to put it together that this is how Ellis collects vitae and has been able to provide Niles with food. Niles kind of steps into the room quietly as if hoping not to disturb this person, even though they know that they're in torpor and they're asleep. But they'll go to one of those bowls and if there is enough blood in there they'll they woke up particularly hungry today and they know that they need to eat so they'll drink enough from one of those bowls to

to slake one hunger for them. Understood. The Vitae is colder than you've ever had it. The Vitae is colder than you've ever had it. It is nothing like drinking Casimir, but it is the next best thing. It is well preserved. Occasionally you do bring yourself straight to the tap to see if maybe there's more warmth there, but God is it good to drink. I have to ask you, Niles, do you take any moment

to think of drinking more of taking this person like you did Casimir? Leaving us on a cliffhanger. No, I think that that's our answer right there, folks. Eli has. Oh, my God. Powerful. I keep getting away with this. It can't.

We'll give them a free waterfow a free water fountain though, that's nice. That was good to say. Yeah, very true. Maybe a good time for a second break there. Sure, we can take a short one. Let's see. We'll be back. Yeah, Eli crashed, so let's take our break.

We'll come back in five minutes with Eli. Niles, you are sitting before this drinking basin with the vitae in the center of that brass bowl. I wanna know if the thought of Diablory crosses their mind whatsoever during this drinking. Oh no, muted. Might be muted there, Eli. Or VoD Ninjas killing us. Check input.

Do you hear me now? I do, yeah. Okay, cool. I think no. I think, I mean, it might have, it might cross Nyle's mind, but not in a way of like, I want to diabolize this person. It's more of I've, I recognize the pattern of the situation and I don't want to do it. But I, but I, Niles might take a step forward just to take in the image of this person to even just get a sense of who this person might be at the very most.

Okay. Yeah, like I said, there are Harris Crofts down just below their ears in this couture sort of like wet bob. They're strikingly beautiful, like couture cover model, essentially, about as rich as this house. They are thin and frail and high cheekbones. Their lack of clothing outside of the morgue dressing doesn't mean for much indication of who they are. And it's definitely no one that you recognize from either the Cams or the Anarchs, no one you've met before. You could always pull out the

stake and find out for yourself. I don't think that's the purpose of this, of why I'm here. So I think Niles will, I think Niles is ultimately trying to, is gauging the understanding of what Ellis is about and this is just a part of his repertoire. So Niles will eventually take those steps back after eating and probably get out of here as soon as they can. Niles, as you're contemplating where this fits in Alice's game plan, could you give me a wits plus insight? Sure. That's two successes. Niles, you've met this cowboy. You've seen him a few times. He's a firebrand. He's quick to action, quick to fly off the handle, but gets shit done. You've seen the Belvedere. It's nothing like this place. Just something to consider. And while Niles considers that, leaving what will essentially be their refrigerator for the next year,

let's move to Burroughs. Burroughs, where do you wake up this night? What's the plan? Where are we going? And how does it go? Um, I think more than anyone else, Burroughs is feeling the silence of the city, the way it's just been quiet these last couple days. He feels like it's quiet because of him, for him. So he needs to, he's kind of trying to be a little proactive this evening. He's going to go and find his fuck up of a son-in-law or whatever he is, Ricky, and he's going to go pick Ricky

up and he's taking him over to the Anarchs. He needs to speak to Alice. Okay. You find Ricky at one of his usual haunts. He's outside on the corner of a bar that he frequently smokes pot outside of, and he's with four other little fucked up misgrants, all smoking with him. And they obviously are perturbed as you pull up in baby blue. The others are laughing at Ricky and Ricky is already protesting the fact that you're arriving. Yeah, I think Burrows pulls up in baby blue and Burrows has recently discovered boba tea.

He didn't really, he's never tried that before. So he's got like a extra large taro with extra boba and he's just kind of sucking on that. And he pulls up and, you know, kind of like in the movie Drive. Yeah. He pulls over to the passenger door and opens pulls up and kind of like in the movie Drive, he pulls over to the passenger door and opens it up and opens it up and it's a sign for Ricky to join him.

Come on, fuck off, man. I don't wanna do this shit. Hey man, you also know drugs are bad, okay? Why don't you put that stuff out? Now come on, Ricky. They're laughing and they take an even bigger hit off of their J there. And the other is hitting their vape pen

and they're just clowning on you, laughing. And you know, one of them points in at your blonde haircut there and Ricky kind of bats away at them knowing just how dangerous you can be. I wanna go, man. I hate doing this shit. Why do you make me do this shit? Before we leave, I don't even answer him.

I'm gonna use compel, one of my disciplines. I'm gonna yell out to those assholes that have been making fun of me. I'm gonna say, hey, why don't you eat that? I hear it tastes great. And so, you know, suggesting their joints. In that moment, the flash of direction comes from John's mouth to their ears, and you become their new God. And the man smoking that still smoldering Jay takes it and consumes the entire thing and

winces at the burn as it goes down and crumbles to ash in his mouth and immediately begins to vomit up in his mouth and the other three are looking at him and laughing What the fuck? Until the one with his electronic vape bites down as hard as he possibly can into the electronic vape and can feel his teeth chip and break off the front.

And he manages to snap half of the plastic off the front. And then the inside battery is exposed and he continues. And the other two are, what the fuck man? And they go off running as the two of them have been compelled by this moment. One vomiting and the other trying desperately to shove the electronic components of this fake pen into his mouth. And Ricky goes, oh dude, not the, what the fuck, not again.

I told you to stop doing this shit. And he gets in the passenger side of the car and he slams the door closed. Why do you always gotta do this shit, man? Ricky, you've been eating your red meat? You've been eating all your B12 vitamins I've been giving you? Yeah, you weird fuck.

You keep dropping off this rare steak at my house and killing my vibes and make my friends eat vape feds. Hey man, you should be happy. If anything, that shit's good for you. You're going to have lots of healthy blood and we need you to have blood now. Okay? No, no, I get it.

I'll make sure I'm fed. I'll make sure I'm ready for you. I promise. Well, hell Ricky, I'm getting the vibe that you don't like hanging out with me anymore. And you can see that there is this immediate fear. It's never the way that you want it, or it never tastes the way you want it. You want people to revere you again,

to treat you how you are, but Ricky can't. In this moment, he's as scared as anyone else swallowing a vape pen. He knows what you are, even more intimately than what his friends just got a taste of. And so immediately he falls to the stump speech that everybody gives you, John. No, no, no, I love hanging with you, man.

I just, you bring some weird vibes sometimes and it fucks around with some stuff. Like, not everybody gets you, but I swear I'll be good. I've been eating the meat like you told me to and I've been trying to stay off the stuff I've just been doing, which is basically being sober. Like, I swear I've been good. It's better than nothing.

I'll give you credit for that. Well, we gotta meet somebody tonight. I've been good. It's better than nothing. I'll give you credit for that. We gotta meet somebody tonight. I got a little reconnaissance I need you to do for me, but it'll just take a minute. Reconnaissance? It'll all make sense in a little bit. Hold on. And I'll drive down to the Belvedere.

You gotta stop using these fucking words, man. You drive to the Belvedere. Parking is rough. It's Fremont Street, but you eventually find some public parking. Probably the safest bet with Baby Blue in an area like this. Fremont is not the worst part of Vegas, but it is the second strip for a reason, and people will take advantage the more blocks away from the main drag you are but you eventually find somewhere where you have to pay $50 for public parking and

Ricky puts up the money when you make it clear that you won't and your boy pays through his card declines twice and he ends up having to pay the attendant with cash money. You walk through into the Belvedere, the bodyguards that sit out front, the bouncers that work the bell have become intimate with the boroughs at this point. They nod and shake your hand. I think that you've put on shows for them in the past and they know how much Ellis enjoys your company and so they too have realized that they can sort of enjoy it with you and so many of them you know they offer to get you a drink

they offer to get you whatever you like hey Burroughs good to see you you want a drink you want us to grab you something before you go up thank you man I don. I don't need anything right now. Well, why don't you fix Ricky up with a drink? I got to talk to Ellis for a second. Then I'll probably bring him in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, hit me up on the way out. I got this new Yelp review. This place seems fucking bomb, man. They do Brazilian barbecue. It's all you can eat. It's a great spot. I was thinking you'd love it. He's all about it. Yeah, he'll certainly meet up with the guy afterwards for sure. He takes Ricky off to the bar for the mortals on the first layer. And then you are walked past these

sort of torched out booths with the center lanterns lit by fire light by oil lamp. And you are walked up the small sort of squared out all-sided stair up to the second floor of Belvedere, where two more very large bouncers, very much like Alice, escort you through the threshold and into that spell that the Belvedere cast, the second floor appearing full of mortals from the side of Fremont Street looking up. But for you as you cross that threshold, the reality is perceived. And as of right now, this time of night, there's just one form here on the second floor

outside of the mortal bouncers themselves. And that is a very gaunt figure that you saw the first time you were here for what passes for Anarchalysium. A long stringy black hair that sits about his center chest and end in these insufferable blonde highlights that rim out the extent of them. They've been in for far too long,

so the hair has fried there, and it just sort of bleeds into the roots themselves. He's wearing guy liner across his eyes and elaborate makeup. He's wearing a white blazer with no shirt underneath that shows this elaborate tattoo work that sits underneath them that he must have had when he died. There is like all sorts of Traditional shitty man tattoo iconography. There's a clock. There's a lion. There's a rose. There's a mom tattoo There's just about everything that you would look for in a man getting a tattoo

Matching cheap blazer and then there's very large pea coat that goes down to his ankles over it almost to make him seem larger than he is. No sight of Ellis, but you do see this man and you recognize that in the past, people have called him Jude or Judas, one or the other, but he goes by both. Hey Jude, welcome to Jude. Give him a friendly handshake if he'll take it.

The Beatles. Very good. I like it. And he reaches out and he does that handshake that supersedes your hand and goes straight for your wrists. The predator handshake basically. And he brings you in. He hugs you and then slaps you on the back twice with his hand there and brings you close and he extends

out his arms. You know, I haven't been seeing you around the club lately. We must have been playing tag with each other, huh? I guess, man, I'm a busy man around town. I got a lot of projects. I've got my fingers in a lot of projects, you know? Yeah, yeah. I heard you got a lot of fingers in Ellis lately, huh?

You two are getting on like a house fire. Hey, I can't help it. I'm charming. What are you going to do? You're transcendental. You're moving the cosmos in your favor, baby. Well, look, I didn't come here for compliments. I came here for a favorite ask. Is Ellis around?

Ellis is around, but he's in a meeting with his favorite girly. And Lydia have been talking for maybe the last two hours. I imagine they're probably gonna have another two hours that ends in her walking out of this place very upset, which is usually their gig. They're either fucking or fighting, am I right? Remind me who Lydia is. Lydia is, you, the last time that all of you were here,

there was this beautiful blonde woman, Hollywood, you know, star-esque woman, straight off the movies, and this beautiful gauzy white dress that was arguing with Ellis when all of you came to meet, and then was not an antagonistic but skeptical of all of your involvement with the Antics. I know all about those difficult love affairs but anyway listen um I need to ask a favor from Ellis and

I guess maybe I can leave it with you you think?? Oh yeah, I'm all about favors, man. I think we should all jerk each other off a little bit more. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, I know it's gonna come back to me. I'm gonna owe Ellis something. I'm fine with that, but I need to get, I need to get somebody to look after old Champagne Poudonesque, if you know who they are.

I've got a little bit of a coral with them and I need to make sure that I know where they are before they know where I am. You catch my drift? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're trying to make sure that you don't get a whole drink of the bubbly, huh? Yeah, it's not my bag. Anyway, um... That's a shame. You know, you get in champagne's bag and he's with you for life. He's sort of an obsessive little ex-girlfriend, isn't he? I mean, as far as I can tell, yes, I haven't quite seen the big strokes of his, but I have

a feeling I'm going too soon, which is why I need to get, I just need to know where he is, and especially when he's kind of poking around where he shouldn't. So if you could maybe help me with that, I have a friend downstairs and I'll, I'm assuming there's like a window or a railing or something where I can point at our friend Ricky down there.

And I'll say, if you hear of anything, feel free to go to him. He's like my go-between. And, but if you want to go straight to me, that's cool too. Yeah. Yeah, man. Yeah. I mean, I could totally pass this on Alice.

I mean, bringing this straight to the big boy, that's a bold move for a newcomer. But I like your style and you're you're a disruptor. You're you're taking what is the status quo. You're breaking it in half and you're making it your bitch, right? Something like that. Yeah Now could I as a fellow disruptor baby? Could I float something towards you? I'm all ears. Yeah, you seem like somebody who gets it and

Has got it for a lot longer than the rest of us, you know, he's been around been moving you've been shaking, right? Am I right? Yeah, in a manner speaking. Yeah, sure Let me open your chakra, baby. Let me show you a little spiritual plank. Let me Show you what life is like on the other side Why don't we? Say fuck it to the big boy? The Baron of Fremont Street isn't gonna have a whole lot of time to look for your buddy in the way that

someone like me could. What I'm proposing is you throw me this line of work and I'll see to it that it gets done quicker, maybe better, and maybe in a way that this is both scratched. What do you say? I mean, I'm not going to deny somebody who's so eager for the job, so hell yeah, fine. Perfect, perfect, perfect. So of course, negotiation, quid pro quo, all that good stuff, right?

We're all working for each other. We're all jerking each other off. I think I said that, right? You can refrain from using that kind of language. Just tell me what the hell you want. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure thing, boss, sure. So like, you don't go to an EDM festival without a little mulling, right? You don't show to an EDM festival without a little molly, right?

You don't show up to the Daisy Carnival. Is molly the stuff that makes you go up or down? Oh baby, it depends on what you do on it. Up, baby, always up. Gets you rock solid. Yeah, I bet. it. Now you also wouldn't have a Daisy Carnival without an audience, right? Yes, go ahead continue. So Ellis has filled me in as a fellow Barron of Las Vegas. What it is you have plans for in the city and I just, well I'd like to insert my spiritual form into that

cosmos. You want a part of the Midnight Gospel? I do. I want to help. I want to see it through. I want to see it happen and I want it to be a safe place for my people. I have been hoping to find somebody who is keen to the idea. Beautiful. Well then, this is partnership right here. I will go and find your bit of bubbly and I'll tell you every move he makes and I'll tell you the second he's on your doorstep and I'll talk with your little friend downstairs and you will make a safe haven for the thin blood of Las Vegas. I'm sure as hell glad I came when I came.

I'm glad I spoke to you. Perfect. Perfect. I got a guy down there. He'll give your guy details. We'll let the toddlers play for a little bit. We'll be in contact, right? Jude, it was a surprising pleasure to see you tonight.

Hey, I always make time for legends. I'll kind of disregard that, but then I'll give him another handshake, this time trying to give him like the Predator style, both, you know, Schwarzenegger and Carl Weathers. Yeah, he takes it. He takes it. He claps just like a giddy little kid and he says you're a disruptor baby, you're taking the world, you're aligning its spine and cracking it clean in half baby, suck the juices. I heard this disruptor thing has some, it's a modern phrase

has to do with kind of like changing things up in the world right? Hell yeah. You're taking what the world was and you're seeing it for what it is. You're changing things John Burrows. People need more people like you. Burrows is not a particularly smart man and he is being rubbed the right way when it comes to this man's insistence on Burrows having a vision and he walks away surprisingly kind of like excited for vision and I he walks away surprisingly kind of like excited for this this team up with Juniful. So Jude goes and steps to the the balcony of the the bar and looks out as you go back downstairs. Ricky is on the way there. Do you say anything as you approach? I think I will take him, because like the moment I see him, all of that joy that I have just kind of fades and something annoys me about Ricky. He's not the blood I want, but he's the blood I gotta take.

And so I'll probably just take him back to Baby Blue without much fanfare, but I will say something like, baby blue without much fanfare but I will say something like uh, expect a call or somebody to come visit you and they're gonna have some information about somebody I'm looking after just try not to smoke so much fucking pot that you forget what they tell you the next time I see you, okay? Yeah man, not so much pot, I'm gonna talk to this guy, I don't have to like you know Uh-huh. No man. I wouldn't trust you with something that dangerous. You're not that good of a shot Fuck you man. I mean fine. Yeah sure hey look if anything you should be happy It's gonna be easy all you got to do is keep doing whatever dumb shit You're doing right now, and somebody's gonna come tell you something soon

Yeah, yeah. Hey, before you drop me off, my mom's been asking about you. Yeah, I'm sure she has. Just keep telling her the line I've been giving you. I'm busy with work, I'm not available, and things are a little hot for me right now. But actually, you know what?

I do have something for her. And I'll go to the back of the trunk. And there's like a really kind of obnoxious gift basket. Not too dissimilar from what Jackie got earlier. But it's full of trailer trash. Edible arrangements. Yeah, yeah, an edible arrangement trailer, like yeah, yeah. And then we'll arrange it and maybe some cheese whiz, you know,

just not, not, you know, very nice things, but I'm going to give it to them. There's like a goofy teddy bear or something in there and really just tell her you saw me and tell her I'm thinking of her, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, um, there's something, there's something, there's something, there's something else I got to tell you about it, John. Well, what is it? There's this guy been coming around the house.

A guy? Yeah, yeah. Like a dude. He, I think he likes mom. What's he look like? He's old kind of like you. He's fat kind of like you were. Gray hair, big mustache.

Is this starting to ring a bell? No. It's not champagne. Yeah, sure. Well, I mean, why the hell haven't you scared him away or something, just fucking shit in his car or something? You gotta stop telling me to do that, man. I'm not gonna shit in any of your car.

Look, you're eating a lot of red meat, you're eating a lot of fiber, you should be easy for you. No, it's like, it's different, man. I can't do anything to him. Cause like, here's the thing. Mom's real faithful to you and she's not making any moves against you yet.

But. Does he, is he like me in the... In the way that I've... That I'm special? What? Uh... You know what I mean and I'll actually lift a... A flap of my gums to show

my, you know, long canines. And he, you know, flashes back from the extension of those teeth I Don't think so. I've seen him during the day Not like you day Well, he's real interested in her and I think she might maybe Be interested back? Well, make sure she reads my card that I put in there, okay?

It's got a lot of sweet words. I've been thinking about it. Yeah. Yeah. Thinking about her. Okay. Yeah. Fuck. Alright, well, look, before I drop you off, I'm a little hungry, so, uh, I'm gonna pull off to this alley here and uh I need a taste. Okay just like don't be so fucking rough with it yeah?

Um I I mean Burrows has I can't I are we on the same page that Burlz has attempted to make Ricky a ghoul? Yes. So are you attempting to start that process here? I want to say yes, but I think it requires probably like a conversation. Like, you know, look, Ricky, I know things have been rough between us. I know that you don't think the best of me, but I got a lot of business opportunities. I got a lot of chance for you to make some money.

I got a lot of chance for things to come up in your life. You stick with me, things are gonna be good, but it's gonna require a lot of commitment. You really need to think of this like a job now. Okay, yeah. You know I've been bothering you about getting that job, well, I got one for you. Making it as easy as possible for you.

Okay, yeah, like a personal assistant or something? Like a personal assistant, but I'm gonna, you know, the better you do, the more I'm gonna give you eventually I'll give you a gun eventually. I'll give you your own car Pretty soon you can have all the drugs you want Well, actually no, I take that back. You need to stay on weed because for now I need your blood as clean as possible Okay Okay. Yeah, I mean

Yeah, if you pay me man, sure sure. I mean you're pretty loaded. I mean, yeah, if you pay me, man, sure, sure. I mean, you're pretty loaded. I love something like this. He slaps the side of Baby Blue and then he realizes he probably shouldn't do that. He looks back at you like it's a warning and says, what do I gotta do? All explain the process of which I believe is basically like feeding on him, right? Or he has to drink my Vitae. Yes, so it is any amount of your blood into his body. And that will essentially start the process for him for an amount of days until he gets hungry for it again. I'm gonna feed on him first and slake one hunger.

Okay. And I will then, while he's kind of reeling from that, I will then cut my wrist open and say, all right, your turn. I, like you? You're gonna feel a lot better, I promise. You're not gonna be like me, you will feel better. Okay. And he reaches in, he takes your wrist and he begins to drink from you.

And it is a bizarre feeling as your body is dead, but he is living and taking maybe the only part of you that actually keeps you going. And there is a euphoria here between the two of you in that kiss. But immediately, like a dog that's had a taste of meat and wants the whole drumstick, he begins to drink too much, to drink fast and hard.

He's having a hard time breaking from your wrist. It's so good. Yeah, I'll punch him in the side of the head as soon as I feel like he's gone too far. You crack into just above his temple and you can see where maybe a bone has broken and immediately bruises through as you can see the indent of just the palm of your wrist.

As he collides back and he hits baby blue and your vitae flits from his mouth in this rivulet of tarred, dark red blood. But as he's holding his head and he's whimpering in front of you, he takes his hand away and that bruise and break has already healed as the setting in of this ghoulish living begins. And he goes, no fucking way. How you feeling? as the setting in of this ghoulish living begins. I guess. No fucking way. How you feeling?

No fucking way. Holy shit, it's like doing coke. It's like doing coke times a thousand. Can I have more? What do I have to do? You can have more when you do your job, which is to pay attention to the messages that I'm getting. OK, I'll pay attention. Fuck yeah, I'll pay attention. I'll do whatever.

Fuck yes. Furlz is almost kind of disgusted at himself, but you know, the reaction. He's never been a fan of drug use. And so he's just kind of thrown off by it as he always is with Ricky. And he'll take Ricky back to his friends. Beautiful. Now not a word of this to anybody. This is between you and me.

Yeah, between you and me. Yeah, you keep giving me that shit. Whatever you want. I'll make sure. And I'll make sure that that call comes through. I'll make sure we nab this fucker. We'll get whoever that fucking guy is. I'll kill myself if you want me to.

Burrows is starting to like the sound of his tone and he'll be friendlier to him kind of the rest of the way, kind of writing that love that he's been pining for from Ricky. Over and over he's talking about how good he feels. He asks if this is how you always feel. He goes through the motions of describing that euphoria and sort of finding the camaraderie and the fact that you're both sharing your blood now and dropping him off sort of skirting him out of the passenger side and back with his friends. The only one that is left is the one who had been The only one that is left is the one who had been swallowing the e-vape. E-vape. The vape. What the fuck?

E-vape. Yeah, the internet vape that I just fucking invented. You're welcome. He is writhing on the side of the bar, holding his innards and shaking from the sheer pain of what has happened here, abandoned by all his friends. And as Ricky gets out, his friend reaches for him and calls out for his help, and Ricky looks down at him, spits on his face and goes, I don't fucking need you bitch, and moves into the bar, abandoning his friend, and you're sitting there in baby blue Burlz feels like he's done some good tonight so he's gonna go uh he's gonna go visit his friends

beautiful um there is a call for meeting as everyone comes to their own conclusion of trauma meeting as everyone comes to their own conclusion of trauma. Where is it that the plan to take down a snake begins to take shape? Do we need a club? In the main floor of Club Canaan around maybe the only two pieces of furniture in this room are a raggedy old couch from when the bikers had taken this place over, and some lawn chairs. The plan for Kindred murder begins. You all arrive at separate times,

however that may be for all of you, but the planning begins. Quick question, Caleb. If Jackie would have looked up in this area, what would have Jackie like, would know, like especially building-wise, location-wise or anything, would she have gotten any of that data beforehand? About Naked City, about the club you guys are at? Well, for like the La Mia and all that, like... Oh, the warehouse.

Yeah, the warehouse. The only piece that you have, actually, you know what, let's do a roll for it to see if you can drum up some things to bring to the table, since that is Jackie's thing. Go ahead and give me a wits plus investigation. For success. With for success is you have the name of the location, which is something we all have, which is let me pull it free. Total transport distribution. You have an area plan from Google Maps essentially of the layout of the exterior. You also have interior floor plans that you pulled from probably City Hall or wherever it is that governments keep floor plans. I know that they do. So you pull building code enough that you have the innards of this place. And you know that it has been in the possession of basically the same

CEO for the last 25 years. Although from four successes, you would know essentially that like this shipping business doesn't do a whole lot of business. They are so empty on paper and truthfully just in name that it's pretty obvious from the world that you operate in that this is a front used for whatever business that someone claims to be that CEO for. And with four successes, you would know that the building itself is owned by, let me pull up their name, by a company called the Sinclair corporate. Gotcha. Okay.

That's what you would have. Okay. I'm gonna definitely highlight any floor plans just so I can at least so so we can at least visually see anything like that. So Jackie sets up this map on one of the stray tables to maybe even the bar top of Club Canaan. The floor plans that she had found and printed out paper features of the Google Earth layouts. It's very clear that from the arrangement of all of this that Jackie is very thorough, but Jackie is maybe the last time that they interacted with technology was in the early 2000s. A lot of this is printed out like map quests, not printed correctly, printed in such a way

that you can still see like the addresses that she was using to Google these places or like the email addresses that are above such a thing. But it is all very well researched and set out. Go ahead, Jen. It's not my usual dossier type thing where I break down, but this is what I was able to drum up. The inside of Distribution is essentially with a shipping yard, essentially, where the trucks come in, the trucks go out, and the cargo is held.

The second is an office building that is largely built on bungalows that are three stories high. And then the third is sort of like a water tower as structure, like a silo structure that sits on the campus itself. And that is maybe the most out of place structure among the buildings themselves. It's a wide area plan. It's set in Sloan. It is the only building in its area.

Its only neighbor is across the street and it's across like a four lane commercial exit, essentially for semis and trucking businesses. So it is sort of out of the way and it has major access to the highways. And that's about all you guys can dispel. If I was a Lamio, where would I be? I think...

I mean, if they're... Go ahead. No, I was gonna say if we could lure it to the silo, I think that would give us the maximum amount of space to do whatever the fuck is gonna happen in there, but also masquerade threats in the loading dock. I have an idea that, if you don't mind, we could see if we could get a truck. See, like, maybe there's a breakdown and we just happen to pull off to the side and one of us can be the driver while some of us hide in the cabin and we could be in the vehicle. Something a little bit that's known in the area wouldn't be too suspicious. Um... Isn't that not the truth though, Jackie? Well, isn't... Well, we're trying to find the truth of the situation isn't that what we need to get in? They're trying to be sarcastic they're real good at it sometimes. God.

I mean does it even matter? It's gonna be the middle of the night and obviously from your research this place is owned by someone like us. This is a matter of sneaking in, right? It's the 24th of an operation. Oh, so it is operating. And the basement of the warehouse is where they keep the tears. And there's a boiler. The piping leads all the way up to the attic.

There's a hatch. If we find something, we drop it down, that takes care of the warehouse. So we just go real bang and burn. Or technically we could just do we have anything like a drone or something that could actually just... We just need to drop something down. We don't need all of us. I've been wanting to buy a drone. I'll buy one just so we have one. We can go old school if we need something to fly and drop something. It counts as flying. Well, it'll have to carry something and then open the hatch and then... Yeah, fair.

There will be some fine motor skills involved in this particular effort. Let me just quickly see if I can turn into a bird. I mean, anybody got access to a fucking stick of dynamite? I mean, I mean, I I mean I'm gonna say this in a way that simple would say it so if we need someone to fly up there I can I can arrange that on a very personal intimate level immediately can you I can I can can you bring stuff while you fly or is it just you you get wrong oh I just got it and that's not a bad idea I, I don't think we're gonna find dynamite at this time of night. A jerry can full of gas and a rag will probably do the job.

What I'm concerned about is that it's gonna fall and maybe fuck some stuff up, but it's not gonna kill our Lamia. We got to make sure that thing is dead. Is that your contract? My contract? Or whatever agreement you have with the Hakata he I believe our agreement was with our boy down in the sewers right both well he well he didn't necessarily say kill the Lamia he just said stop the distribution of this shit to my people a refresher for those of us who haven't played this

game in what one year, two years? Been a bit, been a minute. The Nosferatu wants you to do it because they asked you to find whoever is poisoning them. That's right. Hikata asked you to do it because they see the Lamiya as a masquerade breach against their family. And they're being blamed because the Lamiya are technically Hikata. That's right. She is operating outside of the troops. And then of course as watchmen, this would be a major win for the camp. And then for the Anarchs, I don't know.

They'd probably like it. They probably would. I love the explosion as a way of getting their attention and maybe fucking some stuff up, but we got to make sure that thing is dead. Which, by the way, what is, I mean, does a Lamia look like us? Does it look like something else? I don't know. Am I pronouncing the Lamia right?

If it's going to be anywhere, it's going to be in the office building. So it's probably the one behind the entire operation, right? I mean, they're the supplier. They're the stores. So they're the ones who have to supply this shit for it to be distributed. So, and that's assuming there's only one. Mal, you can get in fairly undetected a lot of the times. Can we, I was gonna say, it would be best for you to go in and actually scout out and

report, do some recon work. Or you can glare, You could do that too. Technically, I can do that. You can do both if you really want to be proactive. Yes, I can get in. Awesome. If you're cool with it, Caleb, while this is happening, I'm just going to kind of... I'm going to zone out for a minute and see if I can answer the question of either pinning down a location for the Lamia in that compound or determining how many there are using Premonition. Beautiful. Could you give me an active Premonition roll? I will absolutely do that. That is three successes.

With three successes, which would you rather have the answer to? Can I ask the friends? Yeah, absolutely. Out of character, what do we want? Do we want to know where, or do we want to know how many? I don't know. How many? Okay, okay.

Let's see how many. You see a vision of this black, static form you see a vision of this black static form moving throughout the bowels of this place once through the warehouse commons, once down in the labs, once through the office buildings. But in that vision, it is always the same blur. But there is an ulterior vision that bleeds in once you've confirmed for yourself that there is just the one Lamiya. There is something else, a man made of fire,

big and boisterous and loud and flaming, and he is patrolling the warehouse commons. And I would, I'm assuming, I mean I'm picking up on this but I'm assuming, uh, Ethan would equate this static figure to what he saw in that diner vision with Underwood. Yes, one in the same, identical. Okay. As he does this, I will say, and this is something we haven't really noted before, but depending on how hungry people are,

as he's doing this, because the third eye is remaining open, it begins to weep Vite from, yeah. How hungry are we, folks? I'm at a we folks I'm good is anyone above a two oh now could you make a frenzy resist role okay let me get sent yeah it's gonna be a difficulty to plus my bane severityity, which is also two. Okay, so a difficulty of four. You're rolling Willpower plus your Humanity rounded down a third of your Humanity rounded down.

Excuse me. Willpower plus a third of your Humanity. Okay, hold on. Give me two seconds. Great. Okay. I'm going to use a Willpower. You're human. Okay, hold on. Give me two seconds. Great, okay. I'm gonna use a willpower.

It's a hard story. I'm gonna use another willpower. Okay, so- God. Oh, jeez. You unfortunately cannot use more than one willpower on a roll. Oh great, then two successes. You can use that second willpower to delay this frenzy. Now how long would I delay this frenzy? I cannot tell you that. Until we see the Lamiya maybe?

You can hold it. I mean, we're in at least a bar now. We can handle something small. Right. I'm kind of above table. I'm leaning towards just losing it now and hoping that. Go for it. Go for it.

Go for it. That's fine. Let's ride this crazy train. We can jump in. We'll just jump in. We're getting derailed immediately. I'm not going to use that willpower to push it. And I think it's a little bit of rage on Mal's part that Rogel is just acting like he knows

everything. He's acting different than he was before. Jackie's already asked them to do something like she's the boss. Full like, full like teenager energy comes out of Mal in this moment. Okay. Rather than forcing you to feed on your friends,, I am going to invoke your compulsion. From now until the Lamiya is handled and Ragell shuts up about all of these plans

and his involvement in all of this, you are compelled to be absolutely ruthless. Okay. So that was Sombra and you the conversation with Cisco Royals through your your brain of getting even with Ezra of playing a little more to his rulebook of exercising dominion and knowing that you are strong. Maybe that sounds a little more appealing right now. Especially as you watch the stupid sickly maple drip of that bite from Ra'gel's eye as he believes he's so important because

he's invested into his beast. Maybe it's time you started investing in yours. Mal walks to the other end of the bar and starts doing the pacing they did then when Jackie first appeared. Rego reaches up and wipes the Vitae away and there's two. There's one Lumea. I'm getting the distinct impression it's a female.

And there's a man made of fire. He's big, he's loud, he's boisterous, he's... He's patrolling the compound. It looks sounds like he's security. Like a lamp lighter kind of fire? That I... it was he was just all I could see was that he was made of... it was like he was made of fire. Okay. I guess we got to go packing then, huh? Who's good with guns? I mean, I have some experience.

Not in this universe. I have a little experience. If it were me. Have one. Okay. If it were me, we need somebody on that water tower. I don't know if I'm back. I mean, I've got two in firearms. I don't know.

I only got one. That's great. That's two. What's your dexterity? One. That's less than not that. We need a combat character. Wait a minute. Wait, is firearms like a deck shot? Because I have three in decks and one in firearms.

It's usually a deck shot. That's great. Not a lot of situations you're gonna strength the bullet. Fair. Yeah. Um, so I don't know if that four helps. The only ones that might come into it is Composure or Resolve, like some of those to keep your shot steady, but usually it's a Dex plus Fire. I'm not very composed, but...

My Resolve is... Burrows is more of a hand-to-hand fighter, right? You can go toe-to-toe. Not really, I mean, yeah, I have a big fuck-off sword now, but... big fuck-off sword now, but... I kind of think we need to distract this flame boy while a team goes after the Lamia. The warehouse will do that. That's where that's the- that is the heart of where they're holding it and distributing it. We set that up. It's gonna go up big. It's gonna call everybody running. They're gonna go to see what's happening. It's gonna focus their attention there.

That leaves the office. I think that's a plan. We just going to go to see what's happening. It's going to focus their attention there. That leaves the office. I think that's a plan. We just need to get ourselves something to blow up. We need guns and we need if we can get our hands on some, I mean, dynamite, plastic, something. Shoot, even a thing of oxygen could do something. Yeah, honestly. oxygen could do something. Now, honestly.

Question by the since this is by the highway, since it's an industrial area, Caleb, on the map, would it show like, is there anything like is it by gas stations? Is it by a power line or a power generator or anything like that. There's an Arco down the street before you get on the highway. And I'm sure there's electrical lines for sure. I mean, we can just buy a couple gallons of gas, dump it down the chute and then drop some down

and then we know it's not gonna go out. Grab the propane tank, there we go. Yeah, propane tank, yes. Yeah, we just need something to start the chain reaction and then I'll take care of the rest. Propane's not a bad idea. OK. All right. So I guess I got to get a goddamn rifle, huh?

Or is that no longer a worry? I I just think if we can have not trying to lead here, I mean, I'm open ideas. I'm just thinking if we have somebody on the tower plinking at people, even if it's missing, even if it's a shooting to shoot, it's going to cause them to scatter and move to cover. It's going to pin them down. Does anyone have a rifle for me to shoot or can I just go to a pawn shop?

I can make a call that doesn't involve a paper trail. Thank you. Give me one second. And I am going to call. Can you make sure that that remember I am tiny so it's not an obscenely large. Yeah. No, get that 50 cal. Exactly.

A woman's small rifle. Just something a little bit for a smaller size. Thank you. That's the only thing. Yeah. I got you. Is there like, I don't want to talk to like, Slow. I want to talk to like the person that runs the front desk.

Sure. At the Spurk. Yeah. You put a call in and one of the many, many personal assistants that work for Slow, you know that they basically have a week hiring period before they grab another and there's almost always 20 on staff at any given time. But she asked the other side of the phone, hello, circulatory system, can I take your call please?

Hey, this is, this is Cib. I'm just calling to ne- uh, hmm. She's looking at the rest of the coterie as she's speaking. I'm gonna need, uh, probably let's go five, three rifles and two handguns as quick as possible. Oh, oh, oh my god. Okay, Okay, you're putting in a fixer call Do you mind if I redirect you to our services? Sure Perfect. I'm going to put you through to someone who can handle this call. Thank you Bye Sybil make sure you get me something with a site

Site, okay. Yeah, there is site. The site. Okay, let's go. Uh there is beautiful waiting room music like something you would hear for a museum call waiting and eventually on the other side of the the phone call it picks up and you can already hear the madness that is happening on the other side of the phone. Um... Yeah, well, Whale Burger, what can I do for you? Oh shit. Oh! Hey! Hold on! I remember that voice! Is this Sybil Geyer? Geyer? Geyer? Geyer?

Geyer, hi Grease. I never get it right. Good to hear from you, babe. How you doing? I'm doing just fine. Oh, I've been better since all y'all had such a fun little summer in the hospital, huh? But I'm doing well, considering everything that happened. So happy to hear that. Just calling in to put an order. An order? That's interesting.

Yeah, you moving or what? Yeah, always moving, always moving, always shaking, always moving. You know what, let's put in an order for Sybil Geyer, a guy, excuse me. You put it down, I'll put it up, yeah? So just tell me how many whale burgers I can get you. All right, let's do three rifles with a sight, if you can. Whale burgers, one with extra pickles. And two handguns please. Yes. Oh and two sets of fries. You want them dirty?

What does that mean? Just say yes. Yes. Perfect. Okay and will you need extra napkins for these? Definitely. Whatever that means I I feel like, yeah. Beautiful. And I imagine that you're ready for cash on delivery. Absolutely. Beautiful. We'll be sending our bill, Sibyl Geyer. Do you want us to send it to the circulatory system?

Oh, excuse me. Geyer. When am I going to learn that, huh? Where do you want me to send it, Sibyl? Do you want it sent to the circulatory system? Maybe to Club Canaan? Do you want me to send it to the hospital? Maybe I could send it to those families that watch their dead cops die on that CCTV. Even better, how about I send it to your nice little new jaunt? South of the strip, I heard. Congratulations.

Some good strip front property is hard to go by, especially in the nonprofit space. Oh, thank you so much. Thank you. You know, that's fine. How about we just come pick it up? You want to pick it up? Yeah.

Perfect. Okay. You sure? Because I can always pay Cameron a visit. You know, I was a little offended when you hired someone that wasn't me to run front desk. But this guy is nice enough. It gives you those fun uncle vibes, don't they? Yeah, that's great. They're great. Cameron is excellent. That's good. It's good you're making moves, Sybil. Real good. Real good. I was shocked, you know, to find out that you would do such a thing without telling the powers that be. But such is the way we make waves, huh? as that be. But such is the way we make waves, huh? It's it's ill-advised to speak of plans before they happen. I didn't want to be early. Bullshit. Fucking bullshit, Supergear. Goyer!

You know what, Grace? I think we're good. I'll see you soon. I'll see you soon. I'll see you soon. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. You sure you don't want anything else? Like the DM's gonna step out like explosives? Like maybe buy explosives? I was thinking. The thing you guys don't have yet?

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. All right, yeah. And whatever little weird shit you got that blows up, bring some of that. Oh, I got little weird shit you got that blows up bring some that oh I got a lot of weird shit that blows up myself included. I will bring it by babe Great great. Hey, you should come by a whale burger sometime when I'm off. I miss ya I'll put it in the calendar. I mean we had so much much going for ourselves before, you know, you all fucked it up. Ha ha ha.

Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. The, uh, fumes on the side of my face. Uh, plumage on the side of my face.

Uh, you know what? That's, we'll, we'll, we should touch base. We'll circle back. How about that? Beautiful, beautiful okay so there is going to be a whale burger pickup truck in the back of my little home here you're gonna stop by I'm gonna leave them all in plastic cases in the back there covered by a tarp you remove the tarp take the plastic, and the rest is yours. Please, they are yours to keep. There is a no return policy.

At the bottom of your receipt, you're gonna find a little survey on there. If you could fill that out and just give me five stars. I'm gonna hang up. Quick. During this entire conversation, Mal has stopped pacing and has just kind of sidled up behind Niles and isn't saying anything,

but is almost like, it's just a hair's breadth of shoulders away from touching just in a very like, ah yes, we're both enjoying this kind of way. Yeah. You okay? I am great. We have everything we need. We just need to go pick it up. And great, we have everything we need. We just need to go pick it up. Just so I know, it was what?

Three rifles, two handguns and plastic explosive. Yeah, like a small goody bag. I probably know more than like three or five. If possible, I would request one of those rifles to be a shotgun. Okay, yeah. Okay, so we'll say two rifles, a shotgun. Okay, yeah. Okay, so we'll say two rifles, a shotgun, and hand guns. Scope on, I think I said all of them. That was the extra pickles. Yes. Yes. Okay. Ammunition.

Also glad that gun people are correcting the order because there's either little guns or big guns. And plastic explosives. Okay, beautiful. I'm assuming you go and pick that up. Yeah. It's there for you. Grease is not there when you arrive. In fact, the whale burger is darkened. The pickup truck is out back by the garbage. There is inside a little air freshener that is from the latest movie, Kinds of Kindness, by Jorgos Lannislov. And below that is a little bobble head sitting on the front there that looks almost to be like a 3D printed grease that is smiling really big and holding a silver plate with a whale on top of it. And then in the back is a tarp covering the weapons there. I can't be mad at good branding.

be mad at good branding. Okay. Yeah. Okay. He did it. We're ready. We're ready to go. I keep the I keep the receipt with the survey on the bottom. Okay. Uh so I assume we're all in like the circus circus fan. Yeah. Uh is there any additional planning here as you're all geared up. The rifles themselves, the two rifles are assault rifle format. They are both semi-automatic and automatic and one of them, or I'm sorry, both of them are equipped with sights. There's one like Mossberg shotgun, police issue shotgun, and two 9 millimeter pistols. They're all regular weapons, good for mortals. And then there is a host of ammunition, you won't need ammunition. And then next to that is two bricks of C4 plastic explosive with attached timers. Right now they're flashing with a timer of two minutes, but you imagine that's probably programmable.

And then on the front there in these little plastic stickers is the same bobble head of grease with the whale on the front of the C4. of grease with the whale on the front of the C4. All right, so who's going to go drop the package? Who's team distraction and who's focus on the lamia? What tower do we want me to be at? Cause I'm going after the lamia, correct? That's where my shot is going for I

Mean help with this action. Yeah The water tower is where you'll set up at and it's that's mainly keep keep heads down Jack is gonna take distraction Jackie's gonna hand extend a vial an empty vial out to you burrows or hand extend a vial an empty vial out to you burrows or if anyone can collect any blood for that I would greatly appreciate that that could actually come in from the Lamia and from the one in charge of the can't because I can if you get it to me I can also I can weaken them so if there if it gets really much of a fighter so I feel like if whoever's gonna be taking out the Lamia

maybe they should have it I'm gonna be team distraction I'm gonna send it out to you Ethan oh I'm not a fire it's gonna house I was gonna help with distraction but if you want me you want me to fight the Lamia. No, no. I mean, I can get in there and probably fuck it up a little bit. Sybil. After I drop the explosive, I'll be ready, so. Never mind. I can take. Jeff, y'all all hang on to it.

It's fine. Thank you. I'll take it. There's a strange sort of silence as you all play Pass Me the Gun on a situation where potentially all of your lives are in danger and no one feels competent enough to be the one who fights but we're all sitting here equipped at this point who takes the c4 plastic explosive i will take it for bird time I will take it for bird time.

Do we have spoons? Is spoons around? No, spoons is not around, OK? Who's spoons? Oh, little Miss Donald. Wow, I'm surprised you don't know. Wow. I haven't seen a spoon though. What's a spoon? Spoons is my friend.

He's busy with other things. Huh. You're gonna see that in PR team. You're gonna see that annoys Jackie a little bit that Jackie did not know about spoons a little bit like oh that. Okay. Spoons is great. Spoons is super helpful. They're super cool. I love spoons. This is the most mouse-happy talk show on Spoon.

Yeah, it's clear Sybil does not like spoons. Jackie's going to nod and go start climbing up the water tower. Probably notice that the gun is probably, if not more more than half the height of Jackie just by how big on the shoulder she climbs up the water tower and steps up. Niles does that mean we're team fight? I guess so. We may want to we may want to set those timers to give us a little bit of breathing room look around see if we can find anything because there is a chance that this goes higher. Hmm.

It's the intelligence, right? I mean... If the name Ezra's on anything, that also showed up on your fucking cop, so... Probably worth looking into. That's a great point. Thank you. So what now we're going to go exploring? Yeah well sneaking like so what's the activity level at this place? Actually that's a good point. So as you pull up to total transport distribution, there is not a whole lot to see. It's a largely faceless company.

The logo on the sign just displaying the letters in a corporate swoop. And that swoop above it is a little smiling face, like they made their own Clippy. From the outside of the high white color panel walls, there looks to be a sea of cargo containers on the other side stacked for high enough to create a fortress. There seems to be a standing crane on the north side of the property by

the silo, a warehouse towards the center and an industrial office building to the east of the complex. From the outside the place seems dead until you catch glimpses of a few bodies moving about nearest to the entrance gate through the peaked iron gate that are electronically controlled from the security panel next to it. Small body flashlights on their clothes illuminate

little hoods of light in front of them whenever they pass and patrol. So it seems as though there are people moving about, they're moving about dark right now. Give me two seconds, there was another name that came up. I gotta go back to my notes from the first season because there was another name that got brought up. In the meantime, are there any moves

as Raquel tries to find that? I mean, I say we just give ourselves five minutes drop the thing down. I mean really if we drop a bunch of explosives down we're going to want it to blow up when it lands we don't want somebody to find it and try to disarm it. Yeah. So like a 10 second timer? Yeah. So like a 10 second timer? I'm cool with that. As long as we can get away in time.

I mean, honestly, I'm not sure how much we're going to find at the warehouse. It's a warehouse. The office is probably going to have the bulk of the... That's where records are. It's where documents are. That's where management sits. Tiago, though. Tiago is the other name we need to remember. That's where records are, that's where documents are, that's where management sits. All right. Tiago, though. Tiago is the other name we need to remember. Tiago is the one who runs the operation. I mean, if we're doing investigation, I feel like the snoop over here should be the one going into the offices. Yeah, you're right. Well, really afford him? If there's an explosion, they're gonna come running.

Anyone who's anywhere is gonna come running for an explosion. I don't think one person shooting rifles is gonna... I'm okay. Okay. If anything, yeah, the explosion is the distraction from checking the warehouse. Yeah. If anything, yeah, the explosion is the distraction from checking the warehouse. Yeah. So we warehouse, start with the warehouse in the middle, then blow up on one side

and then Lamia on the other. The office. Yeah. So if everyone's running one direction, we try to lure the Lamia the other way. Just so you know. How are we going to do that? The Lamia is going to just come to where the explosion is. to do that the Lamiya is gonna just come to where the explosion is and this man on fire this who I'm wondering is Tiago just saying I'd like right above you guys you'll hear Jack so do you want me to stay up here or not fuck we're really

bad at this I'm gonna slide down the like, zzzz, cuz I can't hear it. I was like, so is there a change of plans? Why don't we try to nullify the security first? Okay. And then we have some people just nullify, the other people are looking in the warehouse as this is happening. If we see the man on fire, then we start blowing shit up. We clear as many security people as we can until then. Question, Caleb. The timer on the C4,

is it strictly a timer or is it something that could be configured to where if you call it? I did not foresee the C4 being a logical issue, so it can be whatever the fuck y'all want. Call it in. If you wanted to blow up on instant, it can do that. When I described the timer, I immediately went, oh man, the timer cares way more to them than I realized.

That's okay. Yeah, it can be whatever you want. Let's do remote detonation via phone call. There you go. Okay, cool. Then I can just drop now. It's like a little Bluetooth speaker. You hit it twice.

It says pairing to phone and then in the Philippines technology voice. And then you're attached to it now. Bluetooth is paired. Love that. Love that. All right, let's start with the warehouse. Uh, office building?

Is that where you would like me to start? Yes. What in specific are you looking besides? Here. Let's do this. Yes, please. Mal, what are you doing? I'm one of... I'm a fighter person, so I'm probably fucking up security

and or looking for the Lamiya. What are you doing right now? Physically. Brooding. Okay, what's the move? Brooding in the chest. Do you have a move? Are you going in?

I'm waiting to be told where the fuck to go because all these assholes are planning Well last time plan plan is planned we're killing people and then exploring the warehouse if we see man on fire We're going crazy. That's right. I am ruthless So I'm just gonna go start fucking fighting like sneak through the shadows and go to fuck up a security person. Beautiful. Are you going through the security gate? Are you climbing the wall? What does this look like? Probably climbing the wall. Okay. I think the only real change of plans I want to make is I think burrows would see tiny little Jackie on their own and I just don't think it feels right so I do think Burrows will go as backup with a handgun just to make sure everyone else can go cause the ruckus.

Got it. Now go ahead and give me a stealth plus dexterity to get in. Scaling the wall. I'm gonna activate Shadow Cloak. Okay. I pass the Rouse Trek so I don't get hungry or good. Get two dice math. Hold on. Stealth and dexterity. 123456. Okay, great. Eight successes. I got another crit. Eight successes, you are a shadow. You clamber across the wall and into this fortress here.

You land on top of one of the four by four structures of these steel shipping containers and you see that they've essentially created what is almost a maze from here to the warehouses to a break out into the offices. It is arranged in such a way that it would not throw off Google Earth or anyone who saw the top down, but from here it's very chaotic. And you can see, dotting each new row of the cargo containers, you would guess maybe 10 men with body flashlights, and from the glow of those flashlights you can see submachine guns in each of their hands. Ten men total or ten men each?

Ten men total from what you can see here. You're directly above Batman-esque two of them right now. And with eight stealth, I would say that you have essentially a free surprise round on them, should you want to do anything here. Great. Let me... I will activate... No, I'm not gonna do that right now, actually. I think I'm just gonna drop down in between them

and try and just smash them together. Okay. Are you hurting them or killing them? You said I'm ruthless. So, whatever happens happens. Beautiful. Uh you drop down uh with eight stealth uh absolutely imperceptible. Uh you don't land. You materialize out from the shadow below. It is very dark in here. They're seeing almost entirely from their body flashlights. And so for you, this is your playground.

You were made for this. Go ahead and make a strength plus brawl or a dexterity plus brawl, however you think you're doing this. Okay, I have lethal body. Okay, so let's do strength plus brawl, however you think you're doing this. Okay, I have lethal body. Okay, so let's do strength plus brawl. Okay. With my with my ruthlessness, does this count as rage?

Sure. Give yourself that extra special die. Five successes. I crit again. Jesus Christ. With five successes, you land, you materialize out of the shadows. You grab both of these men by their faces, surprising them as they crisscross on the patrol going either direction and as their hands move to the trigger on the submachine gun you move quicker. You

wrench in your nails to the point of drawing blood in the shape of your fingernails along their face and then collide them together in such a way that you can hear the crunch of both skulls and then the meeting and dripping of their collective blood as you have broken both of the back of their skulls on each other and they instantly pale drop and break below you. Moving Jackie and Burrows, what is the move? You see Mal Mal has ported over the wall. They leap from the top of a container and you no longer see them. The two of you you're moving out. What's the plan? I'm gonna go ahead and activate for me Silence of Death. That's a free action. So basically, at least the noise, I won't really emanate a lot of noise, but I'm gonna head

as much as possible, like quickly, through towards the office. Got it. I think I'll join her. I am not nearly as stealthy, but I will give a little bit of a space so that if I am too noisy I don't draw attention to her but I'll follow. Okay. Could I get both of you to give me a self plus dexterity? That's a failure.

And of course you get whatever. You can reroll up to three with a willpower or you can let it ride? I just have nothing in dexterity but I will burn a willpower just to see if I can get a single success. And I do. Just make sure you're not re-rolling Hunger Die because you can't re-roll Hunger Die. I did re-roll Hunger Die, so I will not lose my willpower.

I'm gonna straight up fail that, Dex. Okay. Okay, got it. Jackie, what you got? I had a one, but I just took a willpower to re-roll, and now I have two successes, so that two with one three success. Okay, three successes, got it, perfect.

The two of you, were you going over the wall? Were we going through the security gate? What are we imagining there? I'd like to think we're going over the wall just so that Burlz flips over the other side and lands on his ass. Uh, Jackie being a little thing, she kind of has to back up a little bit and do a little bit of a running start, but kind of does the guy. I'll give you my my arm that you could... Oh, excellent! So did a vwoop! Yeah, I'll totally like vault off.

So the two of you vault over the wall and up onto the cargo containers. The issue is that Burrow falters on the landing and then falls down to the lower level. So we'll assume that Jackie is not caught by the stealth because Jackie is still above, maybe 16, 18 feet above the main floor. And Burrows has landed ass first on the main floor and you can see Burrows the second that you all shit onto the floor that two body flashlights turn and find you immediately and shine those lights on to you and it seems as though they've made you what we're gonna do is you can make your action, I'll make mine. We'll see if you can get to them before they can get to you. What's your action as

you fail the stealth and these two turn guns on you? They're big Latino guys dressed like cartel types. It's very clear that they were working with Underwood's gang and they're here with submachine guns poised against you. Is there any way since if I'm above could I at least drop down because I still have my knife in my under my hoodie? Sure. So you want to take one out while Burrows takes out the other. So what I'll do is Burrows will put his hands up he doesn't want

them to shoot those guns so he's trying to get them to stay quiet and he'll say something like hey boys I was just looking for the bathroom and I'm waiting for Jackie to act once I see that Jackie acts I think he'll probably swing around to the other one and just try to drop that sword on top of their head Okay, perfect, um Jackie go ahead and give me a Melee plus dexterity here and Then burrows if you could give me a melee plus strength. Yeah if you could give me a melee plus strength. Yeah, that feels right.

I got one. When I get two tens, it's a crit, right? Yes, it is. Two tens is worth four. So it's six successes for me. I'm gonna. Six successes. I'm gonna burn another willpower

because all I got is one success, sorry. Okay. No worries. Remember that once you've burned through your superficial willpower, some things go wrong. Yeah. So don't burn too many. No. I failed all of that. So just one success. One success. Okay. All right. So things are popping off. Jackie performs the perfect distraction in landing on top of this guy.

But at the last second, he looks up and catches her in the dive as her foot causes an empty clang on the inside of one of those cargo containers and he catches her at the exact right time. So as Jackie's coming down, he pops an elbow quick and catches Jackie along the jaw. Jackie collides with one of the containers off the wall there and the knife just narrowly avoids. Because his margin of success is larger than your margin of success. He takes no damage here. He dodged out of the way. But his intention was to shoot Burrows.

So he succeeded on that. Burrows, you're gonna take two superficial damage. As he elbows Jackie out of the way, the submachine gun goes off in a flurry of bullets. Now that gets rounded down. Remember, all of you take rounded down for all superficial. So that would be one point superficial damage.

As you can feel this sprinkling of a submachine gun air your body as you unsheath that samurai sword and come for the other guy. You, on the other hand, succeeded entirely. How do you kill this man? What does it look like, Burrows? Yeah, I think I'm swinging around as it comes out and I get shot and it just kind of propels my arm

even further. I think I just lop his head off in one clean strike. I have a Claymore now, so now it's just a big broadsword. Oh, I'm so sorry, not the Katana. Yes, the big broadsword, the weight you're still getting used to, it's just a big broadsword. Oh, I'm so sorry. Not the katana. Yes, the big broadsword. The weight you're still getting used to. It's a lot heavier than the thing you put inside Champagne Pouda Nescazai. It cleaves. You nearly trip.

And that weight helps you even more. It almost fits to your not clumsiness, but bravado. That blind, bullish strength heaves that sword so entwined across his face that half of his jaw is still connected to his body as the other half peels off and slides to the ground there. And then I think Burlz probably looks at Jackie like kind of wide-eyed, knowing that the other guy is still alive and knowing that firing those bullets is going to be a sign to everybody

that things are popping off. So he's certainly hoping his allies realize that it's now or never with that explosive. And with that being now or never, Niles, Sybil, are there actions? I'm just gonna turn into a bird. Okay. And I do get hungrier, so I have two hunger.

But Sybil is full. What do you turn into? Like, what bird are we talking here? A new world vulture, specifically. They have to keep similar to their mass, so they are like sort of a dire vulture. But they have the explosive in their talons and they regard Niles and sort of like a and then fly off towards where to drop it. Taking the plastic explosives with you.

So could you give me this is which discipline is this? This is shape change. That's what I thought. Okay. So you're going to take your points in shape change plus your strength to see if your vulture form can get a good grip around the C4. It should be a very easy DC. You just don't want to drop that out of the sky because then you have nothing to blow up.

Go ahead and spend that willpower. Cute. That's four successes. Four successes is more than enough. You take off with C4 in hand. You fly off from the Circus Circus van. You're formed big enough to shake the van itself on your departure. And this big vultured screen takes off into the night as those wings begin to spread for the first time and you learn what

flying is. This is your first experience with it. Life changing, bizarre to be something that you're not, but you're taking off underneath that Vegas moon. It looks very large tonight. Right on the horizon. There's a time where Sibyl has been frustrated with the penthouse and the stairs up to Elysium, and this is the first time that they are the altitude that they have wanted to be.

Very good. Niles, actions. Um, after Sybil takes off, I think Niles is going to activate Cat's Grace. They want to try to get up as high as they can to try to locate Tiago. Because he would be a bigger threat. And if Mal's handling smaller targets, then I'm going to go after the bigger target. Got it. Okay, go ahead and give me a Dexterity plus Stealth to start off to see if anyone can see you. Would this be Stealth against Kindred? Yes, I think that you're trying to stay away from the Lumia, stay away from Tiago. You're thinking of where those Kindred would post up in a place like this.

I think it works. that is, um, that is three successes, three successes. Absolutely. With the distraction of burrows and Jackie being shot at on the other side of the compound, it makes very easy stealth for you. You are a shadow. You climb over that wall and onto the same structure that now leaked from, and you have a really great sight of the entire compound. Is there a direction in particular you're looking for Tiago? Um, not really.

If he most likely is either doing rounds or maybe I'm going to go towards like this more center part of this facility. Okay, towards the warehouse building in the center? Yeah, towards the warehouse building in the center, actually. Yeah. Perfect. Give me the wits plus awareness to see if you can discern anything on your way there. That is two successes. Beautiful. As of right now, the most you see of this situation is there is a flurry of movement inside of the main warehouse hall. The big open garage sliding door that you can see into the area with shows a lot of um of sneaker feet moving across the um like cement floor as they begin moving out into the courtyard. It seems that what has happened with Burroughs has spurred more

people coming out. No one that reads is a VIP yet. Uh finally, we're gonna go to Regal. Regal, do you have a move? Seeing as things have kind of taken off in a different direction, which is like this is going really good so far, I've roused the blood. I've added one to dexterity. I did get hungry. I did get hungry. So I'm at two now. Did you get hungry? I'm going to take one of the rifles and I am going to climb the water tower and I'm gonna start dropping. Okay.

Give me a dexterity plus athletics. Yeah. As you climb the silo. Let's do it. It's completely different than what we planned it to be. It is. That is three successes, believe it or not. Yo. We've never done a plan, really.

No. Three successes, you get up to the top of the water tower, and you position yourself here. You have a pretty good display of everything out in front of you. You see the now eight people that are, I'm sorry, the now seven people that are left on the sort of maze-like quality of these containers. And you now see a team of what you can guess is maybe 12 people filing out with assault rifles from inside the warehouse. You also see that from the office

that there are some people filing through out of the doors through there with handguns and an assortment of weapons. This place is starting to get flooded with new action. But most notably, you and Niles see the flaming man first. Burrows and Jackie dealing with the last remaining individual and running off towards the office. Mal moving on to take on others, Sybil taking to the sky. Niles and Ragell are treated to the vision of this very large, overweight, but brawny individual in a wife pleaser and these brown cargo pants that are pulled high. This belt that is seat belted and then pulled forward

so that like an excess hangs over his fat gut. He has one rolled leg showing off tattoos on his ankles and these high white rolled socks. Um these fresh uh sneakers that have been walked through Adidas. Um on the top of his head uh is a tattoo that runs across his big bald head. It reads Maldito in a cursive script, and he has just pounds of tattoos across his entire blubbery body.

He has a mutton chop beard that is then beaded through with these multicolor beads, and he is wielding this very large machine gun in his hand with an excess of ammunition. And you even from this point, Niles being a lot closer, it's easier for them to tell for you, Raquel, this is part of your premonition for having an understanding of this situation. Those stacks of ammunition in the barrel of that gun, that might be the flaming you've heard so much about as you become aware that he may be wielding some dragonfire rounds. And we are going to leave this session in Media Res for

two weeks from now when we solve this Lamiya situation. We've started, we've built some suspense, we'll all meet Tiago two weeks from now when he kicks all of our asses. Can't wait. So great session, guys. That was amazing. We got things kicking. Damn. Yeah. Great stuff. Thank you, everybody, for tuning in.

Please continue to do so. We're so excited to be doing this show again. And we love y'all. See you. Bye. Have a good Saturday.