Mayday Plays - Vegas By Night | Episode 21, "Waiting Game" | Vampire: the Masquerade

Episode Date: September 29, 2024

A duel has been set, but while we await to see Champagne Pudanesca and Burrows throw down the rest of the Coterie gets up to their own business. #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!

Good morning, Kindred and welcome to Vegas by night. Mayday Roleplays Vampire the Masquerade Chronicle. I have to tell you, it's so strange not to have like 80,000 voices in my ear at the very last second before we go live. So clearly we know that Lev and Vince are the problem children. We want to welcome you all back into our little Elysium and thank you for coming in to see the true death of the king. I think it's gonna be a wonderful session. 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 our YouTube channel as of right now. If you're wondering how you can get more Mayday in your life, you can catch our stream here every other Saturday

for our main show. Follow us on all our major platforms, Patreon, our Discord, all those lovely little things. The Discord's really where we've had a chance to build a great little family around the content we put out. We've got some incredible patrons who have been doing like insane 20 episode long marathons

just to catch up and be here live. They're in the chat now as we speak. Thank you Ren. Crazy crazy nice to be here with us and some of you watching in cell storms while your your house doesn't even have power so obviously thank you guys so much for the support. If you're a part of the discord you get an opportunity to be a part of the community, talk to members of Mayday themselves every day, and even more important, participate in table games that we run both with patrons themselves and ran by Mayday one-shots. I myself am running one in the Starfinder ruleset currently and I'm happy to get started with the Prince Station family very soon.

We'd like to give a shout out as well to our handler level Patreon contributors. It's because of their involvement in our content. Content that we get to think about all of the big things we want to do for May Day. We've been getting a lot more traffic these days and things are starting to pick up and it's only because of all of you being here for as long as you have that we can do things like this. So we want to say a special thanks to Advanced Wars Sammy, Bimblewort, Cameron S, Jonathan M, Kirby's Double, Ankh, OJPan, and Rhett. Thank you all so much. And we have two new $20 level patrons, Brandon C and R.E. Vergen, who are, I believe, both in the chat. So thanks guys for joining us.

Oh my god. Awesome. Thank you so much. That's incredible. Bergen, thank you for coming by the Orpheus finale chat last week as well. Thank you guys so much for the support. We're proud to announce that we have a published writer and contributor in the TTRPG space among us. Vince has recently had the opportunity to write for Delta Green's latest release Dead Drops and is featured in the release so check that out if you need some more events in your life. We also want to shoot a huge congratulations both to

the finale of season three of our beloved Doom to Repeat series in the Delta Green system and our very well loved ghosts with the most the Orpheus gang have finally said goodbye in our series finale. So both of those are available on VOD now. I'd love if you guys get a chance to check them out and see how those two came to a close. Especially knowing that another season of Doom to Repeat is somewhere in the future. Before we get started today, I just want to remind everyone that Vampire in the Masquerade can be a dark setting and as such, there are content warnings for any watching. Please be advised that many, there may be many violent themes, plenty of adult language, and the exploration of darker

subjects. Some things to be aware of in this episode especially are infants, body horror, torture, torture devices, and bodily harm of relatives. Please take care of yourself and be aware. We're gonna... Infants. Here we go. Humanity was cursed, and of that course, excuse me, of that curse, a hoarse progeny was born.

The gravetenders consider themselves distinguished by their comparison to their clientele. It is easy to feel important when your dinner company shares so few words with you. But even the great Giovannis make mistakes that would see them sooner into the coffins they keep. Like school girls with secrets, some too indulge in impulsive weakness,

and as a result, bear fruit where nothing should grow. It is this careless embrace that we have to thank for the introduction to the one true plague of the afterlife, the one true plague of the afterlife. The Fucking Puttanesca. The Fucking Puttanesca is a species of plague rat traditionally saved for the gutter of the shit-covered streets of old. The Fucking Puttanesca is a byproduct of a dark god's fascination with the foolishness

of man, proof of just how stupid we can become. The Fucking Puttanesca is a chained pit bull, clipped at the ears, who has never known a neutering past death, and if given the chance, there's no stopping it. The criminal Pudineska have been running what masquerades as a Giovanni-sponsored mafia for years, but better serves as a well-tended slaughterhouse that trades your meat for the payroll that funds a funeral empire. The criminal Putanesca was created as an answer to the most depraved among us. At our basis, when all of the rails are removed and there are no lines to cross, what are we? The answer?

A monster. A Putanesca. And of their clan, their most important throughline, the vendicarsi, vendetta, woe to those who cross the monster with no leash. Humanity was cursed, and in that curse we will see our enemies dead. We will hunt them to the ends of the world, for in this new loss of life we were given one gift, one curse, time. There's no place safe enough, no life real enough, not while we still follow in the ghosts of the footsteps left behind. In the corners of your mind we sleep, only until we can join the forefront. We will find you. We will kill our darlings. Welcome to Vegas by night. So Beautiful. I'm going to be his sister. Beautiful. See, they could sense that I was sad I wasn't being bombarded with sound, so they gave their

best effort. Let's introduce our cast. My name is Caleb James Miller. I'll be your storyteller tonight. I am Amanda and I am playing Jackie Santana. My name is Eli and I'm playing Niles Ames. My name is Zach and I play Sybil. Beautiful and before we get started we have a lovely recap from Sybil this week.

CEO slash COO log, chapter five, session two. Ever since I opened the Carry On House, my nonprofit blood bank consultation firm here on the Las Vegas strip, I've never felt more like myself. Theoretically wealthy, sitting in a boss's chair, because I am the boss, and dictating my brilliance in the traditional way.

It's the oral tradition that gives you the real tone of greatness. And do you hear that, future ghostwriter? Absolute silence. Because that is how high we are. Because that is how safe we are. Because that is how comfortable we are. Because that is how safe we are. Because that is how comfortable I am. Yes, right now in my skin I feel comfortable. Yes, hi, okay, so I did almost kill Niles

and had to regale blood dolled for them after the whole, you know, situation. And Niles, actually, Niles is next door. They're resting and they're fine. As long as the dolls don't come back like I asked, just for the next few days. You know, it feels weird, but any nest worth keeping shouldn't be empty, I think. You know, we power on. I'll say it like this. Stay with me. Imagine Vegas like a cup, like a glass, like your favorite drink. drink. Before this this cup, I've never left Vegas. So all that I am my being my blood is in this cup. And if I look up, I can see the sort of salted rim of the sky. I can't it's been it's been a minute since I wrote poetry, but I figure if I die, if I fuck up, then at least maybe the ashes will bitter the drink for everyone else. You know, make the dirt seem duller.

Because ashes. Anyway, speaking of ashes, the immolated Lamiya made our hands clean with the Hakata and led to a literally slapped together resolution for them. And a boon for us. Not before Burrow's precious second secure deciding of the Second Inquisition, but it led us to a hard drive. And that hard drive led us to a twink in Little Vegas. And they should have something for us soon. Like Arthur Koss' name, which I don't know why he's even related to that. Because if he is, then whatever happens next means the Camarilla. And you could you could stop it there. It just means the Camarilla. but specifically it means we can't be invisible for that much longer.

And all I want to do is be invisible. And be the queen. Just an invisible queen. I think that's not bad. Last notes. Last notes. Burrows is going to fight Putanesca with a claymore in a few days. fight Putinesca with a claymore in a few days. And Putinesca is a fucking freak, but if he kills Burrows, I don't know if that means he joins the company, Coterie?

He joins the Coterie? I don't know. I don't know. And I don't want to think about it. So I guess end of vlog. I think I would gladly play Pudinesca. What a pivot. Please a lot of jokes. What a pivot.

Please thank you. Oh my God. Thank you so much. Oh, champagne as a member of the NGen. I don't know how it could be any worse. That's his punishment. That's the lowest we any worse. That's his punishment. That's the lowest we can go. The only way that could be worse is if the Kingsters came back too.

Right, right. It would be insane. One card. Beautiful. Okay. We are in the Grand Library of the Oshuary, the huge estate that the Las Vegas Hickada keep in the north of Vegas, past Nellis Air Force Base, in the red rock you get, unless you're at Niles' place of living. This is how so many of the dead keep their livelihoods. Now castles are gone, stone and ramparts have eroded away, and instead you keep graveyards and in them you have replaced

kings with these men in tight collars and expensive suits and replaced knights with the one that stands across from you now, Burrows. This two sizes too small white leather glove clapped around half of his big meaty hand. You can see the three gaudy, large, almost Super Bowl sized rings underneath the glove of Champagne Poudonesque as it retracts from your face and you can hear the words ringing out in the back of your empty dead head. Duel. Something you weren't necessarily aware of in this golden age of being dead. Who knew that this was still some exercise of the unlife.

But the champagne seems altogether completely serious in his challenge. His eyes have not blinked. He has kept himself cold and steely on you. You can see him breathing, almost adapting a blush of life to be present for this moment. As you can see, this adrenaline that must be the Pudineska's curse is coiling through his body. He is pure, unadulterated vengeance, and he's ready for you. But it's clear he's waiting for an acceptance. Just like we ended last session, I'll look at him and say, you low down dirty dog, it would be my pleasure. And I think Burrow sees that pit bull like attitude that he has and I think he's going to go away

with that. Like I think he's going to be thinking about that as they prepare for the duel. That he needs to match that energy somehow. Yeah. Puttaneska measures your eyes and before he can even speak, Rothstein Jr. stands up using that cane to prop himself up. He walks over, cane in hand with his hobbled step, and he meets in the middle of you two. And he presses a hand to each shoulder, almost like a he presses a hand to each shoulder, almost like a referee in between two UFC fighters, and he looks to the two of you and speaks very plainly. In three days' time, we will meet in the auxiliary building of the Oshuari. We will go deep into the bowels of my family's lineage, go deep into the bowels of my family's lineage, and we will meet at the center of that tomb. There, you too will settle your differences. There is one caveat to this discussion, to

this duel, and to this challenge. No final death will come to either party. If this is broken in either direction, we accept full responsibility for eradicating the other's lineage and we'll see no stop to their revenge. Are we understood? Loud and clear. Yeah, I think I fucking got it. And there is this palpable moment as champagne sizes you up for one last time. And Rothstein Jr. leans into his ear and whispers something just out of reach of you, Burrows. But it's clear that even that can't truly bringagne away from staring you straight down. But is it worth me trying to hear what they say? Oh, it's always worth it, baby.

You love the chances in this game. Let's do it. Let's go wits plus perception. I'm sorry, wits plus awareness. I'm playing different games, apparently. Wits plus awareness. I'm playing different games apparently. Wits plus awareness. You think I'd remember it, it's the thing we rolled the fucking most in this game. I do have two successes.

Okay. There is a hushed tone to which you feel as though Rothstein jr. Is giving some form of instruction you can't hear the edge of but the very tail end of that sentence is Remember that I have plans for these ones And then he retrieves himself claps Houdinesque on the shoulder sometime. And then Champagne lets out this guttural grunt in your direction. He scrubs his neck in your direction, and then begins to move out of the room. These two Sicilian guards right behind him following in after him. He exits out of the

library and begins to go back into if you guys came from the main entrance, he's moving away towards the deeper into the mansion essentially. You're left with Rothstein Jr., the Countess, and that conglomeration of the Hikata who have been brought here today. I want to remind you all that this place feels so much more empty now. When you all met the families, you met them on the night of 10,000 corpses, as they described it. And there were so many of them. It was like the worst dinner party you've ever been to. I mean, hundreds of kindred you've never met before. But now it seems that this is the last few dredges of the Hikata fortune of the people who really make the meadows for the gravekeepers. And it seems empty, echoing in this

room. Is there anything you all would like to do as the two parties are sizing each other up with champagne removed from the room? I mean, I think Bergen or I think Burroughs is Just got got his game face on. He's probably smiling as Pudinesco leaves the room, but I think he'll turn to his allies like that Should we go Jackie does have one thing she would like to do but Because I know she wants to go she She is there anything around?

wants to go. Is there anything around? Like behind, like something, I feel like there's like, are we being watched? She's trying to look at, is there anything unusual in the area? Like she's trying to do, basically I'm doing a perception check of the room, but I'm trying to say it in a way that's not. Got it. Do you have anything in Auspex, Jackie? Not Auspex. Okay. Opfuscate and blood sorcery. Give me a straight-up wits plus awareness then. Let's see if anything Where it is? Gotcha, okay.

Oh, no successes, sorry. So, nothing. Okay. Yeah, you know Jackie, there is that internal feeling that is inherent both to who you were before you were dead and To the kindred you've become sense both The Jackie that existed before and the Bhanu Hakim that is left in her place Feel that something is wrong about this room But it is unfortunate that it is that pit in your

stomach that you can't place for anything in the exterior. Got it. You've got a bad feeling about this. Good to know. I think Sybil kind of notices the look around. It's like, should we check out the actual arena? Maybe just to make sure it's all above board. Jackie's gonna be like a little bit more discreet,

like not now, but possibly. But it's kind of, it's just, she doesn't want to make that her curiosity is piqued because I feel like she's like, there's something not right in this room. And she's trying to figure it out. It's gonna be some hole in the ground anyway that we'll be fighting, isn't it? If he's serious about us not killing each other, I don't think he's gonna lay any traps for me. Wants it to be fair. I think he'd be into that kind of thing.

lay any traps for me. Wants it to be fair. I think he'd be into that kind of thing. It does sound like it'll be an even fight. He's just... Well, he's champagne. You sure you got this? I don't. It's kind of, I think, one of the reasons I'm getting into this. I'm curious just how much higher or lower I am than him in terms of strength, you know? If I met him on the street face to face, could I face him off? I don't know, maybe this is a good way to find out.

There's a couple, wait a minute. Are we still, we're still in the room, aren't we? Let's go. You are, but I'm giving you the benefit of a storyteller's doubt that you guys stepped away at least a little. I'm good at this. But I wanna remind you that you guys stepped away at least a little. But I want to remind you that you all have superpowers for hearing, so who knows. So do they. Yeah, we could do this in the car. We'll say you're doing this as you're stepping out to the grand staircase down to Baby Blue.

So if you'd like to ask that as you guys get to the car and drive away. I'm gonna distinctly wait till my butt is in baby blue. I'm going to make sure that car is even turned on, the engines on, as we're going. I am muffling all of that noise. Good. So as you're waiting to ask this burning question, you all get in baby blue, you turn the headlights on, you're driven out of valet in the courtyard and through the main gates. And a show of intimidation is brought to you. you're driven out of valet in the courtyard through the main gates and a show of intimidation is brought to you. As you leave those main gates there

are four black SUVs all of which have this intricate ornate symbol on the back of which and white sort of bumper sticker vinyl on the back. And opposite each of the cars are a team of three Sicilian individuals in big suits, SMG strapped across their chests. They're not at the ready. It's not as though they're going to fire on you now, but they've left just enough room for Baby Blue to drive through the center and out of this compound.

Burrows is quiet. I think it's noticeably so. Hey, y'all got any business tonight? Is that in reference to the Sicilians or to your people? I'm referring to my people. I'd be talking to them once we're driving out of the compound. I need to check on Niles. That's it. All right. When Niles is feeling better, I want us all to get together. I got something I want to show you. Okay. Do you want me to bring him? When they can get up and walk. Yeah, that's fine.

Fair. Jackie's going to kind of because I know Burz is driving. I'm assuming if she was in the back kind of because I know birds are driving. I'm assuming if she was in the back kind of lean forward in between. She goes. So what is your exact plans for Mr. Putin ask? How do you plan on handling that? My exact plans is is facing them and no, I got that but is there how about this let

me ask let me ask another question how do you think you are going to handle taking that thing on I'm not you do fight very well I just want want to, I just, but I want, I'm trying to figure out what is the actual game plan of are you just going to go swinging? Are you going to do something else? Do you need a backup plan? Would you like one? What kind of backup plan would you have in mind? Okay.

I am of the favor, not that I don't believe that you cannot handle your own business, but I would like to add to the deck, if you will, for you. We would have to go back probably to my place, but I have a couple ideas that maybe we can do, like what I can do maybe to your weapon to add a little bit more damage. Give you a little bit more of an edge.

You know, so you don't die. Well, I don't think I'm gonna die. And I don't know if we're even gonna use weapons. I think it's gonna be mono-a-mon mano, you know what I mean? Fisticuffs. And I think that it's... I don't think this is about killing him. I think this is about sizing him up. I know he's a wild man, but...

I think I need to prove I'm just as wild, just as capable. Set him in his place, you know what I mean? This is the long game, this whole interaction. Can you at least box? I can do karate. Jack is gonna go like on the shoulder and just sit back and be like, karate. Can you can you somehow increase the damage of his karate before we we press on is there a great question can you like a minute to think about that dip his fists I mean I there you can well no then your fist will melt okay look I appreciate all this thinking

then and and and in another circumstance, I would say yes, give me everything, power me up, give me all your bonuses, but not this one. I got to face this one mano a mano and I think I'm going to come out the other side knowing more about this puttanesca. I think to to answer your question it's not over once this thing's over yeah there's gonna be a long game because I'm certainly not gonna let this son of a bitch near my the people I love again and I know he's not gonna give up if he's if he's a fucking pit bull not that I don't trust their word that uh once this fight is done and done that once this fight is done and done I will say that since I was there I can judge that that will be the end of it and you should not be dealing with it

afterwards because then there'll be a violation and we all know I like to handle that kind of stuff. Jackie sits back and is like yeah Burrows remembers he's with a little bit of a of a rules lawyer he's Jackie sits back and is like... Yeah, Burrows remembers he's with a little bit of a rules lawyer. He's got to remember that. Full of rules, judge, jury, and executioner. Okay. Beautiful. I think this conversation continues along the road. I believe we come up with 50 other alternatives to killing champagne. At least 20 of them come up with harpoons.

None of them seem like they're going to be any use. But I will remind you that we came to the Oshuary very late in the night. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to assume that you're all going home essentially to sleep because you're running you're running down the the edges of that orange blaze at the end of the horizon and you can start to feel that that horrible racing feeling like palpitations across your entire body as your beast reminds you that that is the worst enemy, not the champagne. The one thing we can't kill is the sun. As you all go back to your respective homes, I will assume that we are sleeping for the night. Is there

anything you all would like to do at your respective homes before I call this into a rouse check for the next night to see if we get hungrier etc etc. Uh okay I'm just only Jackie's gonna just do her normal uh thing which is uh she uh before she performs this ritual before dawn that basically will wake her at the first sign of trouble during the day. Beautiful. Excuse me. And basically it'll be like she had a full night's rest. Got it.

Okay. So, beautiful. So you'll wake up at the first sign of trouble essentially. Yes. Is there anything we need to burn, roll, or do? I was gonna say basically, you're going to see Jackie, I feel like they dropped her off. So while she's getting check and re-emotile that,

she pulls out of her one of the many drawer cabinets of various apothecary ingredients. She's going to pull some like bones, little burnt bones and feathers and you're gonna see her like mix the ashes of my own blood mixed into the circle and you're gonna see her putting it around the bed and it's gonna it does not require ritual rule unless true danger appears. If the caster appears threatened during the day, then I will have to roll a button in the meantime I don't have to.

Understood. Okay, I'll let you know if that comes up. In the meantime, Sergio, I need you, uh, desperately. Hold on one second. Well, I know that, but what do you need me to do? Um... one second. I need to remember what this was. This fucking Pudineska put a curse on me or something? Yeah, you got the... you're a Pudineska now. You're slowly turning into Shakespeare. A where Pudineska. That's good.

Oh my gosh. Okay. It's pretty terrifying, actually. A Pudineska light. I'm slowly going from a southern accent to a New York accent. Yeah. It's Pudineska light. That's what you're gonna think. Burrows, do you have

auspex at all? I don't. Okay. Presidents dominate. Could you give me a wits plus awareness please? Okay. Two successes. Wits plus awareness please. Okay. Two successes.

Okay. You find yourself awake while the sun is up for maybe the first time since you've died. You find yourself, the internal clock of yours tells you that this must feel like just shy of noon. There is a clattering, crashing sound outside of your sleeping place. Which I assume you're probably using the church. Yeah, probably. I mean, it's probably been a couple of weeks because usually it takes some time before it can sleep at a place again. So yeah, we'll say we're at the we're at the Mous Church.

Because I think it's been since earlier in the summer since then. And we've talked about doing midnight mass. So there is a crashing down below the first floor as a window is broken through and the door you keep locked ahead of you in this window lists what essentially used to be a storage closet that you and Mal have been renovating into additional rooms, is locked, but you can hear footsteps below underneath. And you know the beast in you can only awake when true mortal danger is brought to you, and it is a fight to do so. What I'd like you to give me, I'd like you to roll your willpower plus a third of your

humanity rounded down. A third is going to be, if I've got five, is it just one or two? I believe it's one. Okay, so I've got two, four, six. I've got seven willpower plus one humanity. It's one. Yes. Okay, so that's eight. Yeah, so a pool of eight.

Four, another two. One, two, three, four, five. Five successes. One, two, three, four, five. Five successes. If you would like, you can act for five actions. Yeah, boy, I'm gonna immediately assume it's Pudinesca trying to ruin my sleep. And I think I'll spend two of those rounds

trying to find as much random stuff in the room to shove against the door. So that even if they can get the door open, there's a bunch of stuff in the way. Beautiful. And then I think for the rest of the time, I'm just going to like kind of get into a ready stance in case one of them get to me in the next three rounds. Be ready to judo chop their ass. Okay.

You spend two preparing, so let's handle that first. Let me get a craft plus strength to decide just how well you can get furniture in front of the door. Here we go. One success. One success. One success. I'll say that you manage to get like essentially like a wardrobe in front of it. Or I'm sorry, not a wardrobe, like a coffee table that might sit across from the bed here

in front of it. So it's enough that it lodges the door knob, but by no means covers the door. And lo and behold, as you scramble to get something in front of the door, as you're combining your furniture against the wall the best you can, you see the jiggle of that door knob on the other side. And as they notice that it's locked, you can hear muffled voices on the other side in the multiples, maybe a few, two, three, four. Um, they rock the knob and realizing they're not going to get in that way.

They throw their shoulder against it. Uh, you assume maybe thinking that you're alive. I'm sorry asleep. Excuse me I'm gonna alter once they start banging their shoulders against the door I'm probably gonna pull out my cell phone and I'll call Sybil and I know that they're probably not gonna pick up but I'm gonna Hopefully it goes to voicemail actually because I just want to record what happens. So somebody has an account even better I'll say that you text and then you open like an audio recording message realizing that they're not going to you know get the call but either way we'll say that you're recording now uh cell phone is out recording um you feel that they're in the motion of breaking down the door could you give me a stealth plus dexterity

down the door, could you give me a stealth plus dexterity? Oh Jesus. Stealth! And you can feel in your body, Burrows, you are sluggish beyond all belief. It's almost like you're in a state of sleep paralysis, like your whole body is still asleep and you're willing it to move. I look like a ten pound or a hundred pound bag of shit because I'm just kind of groggly trying to stay in there. I fail. I only rolled one die and I failed. Okay. Unfortunately, you can barely hold your body up and you have this poor relationship with your body to begin with.

It's always felt too gangly in this state. You're nothing of what you've wanted to be Your body will never be where you wanted it to be and so the shuffling gangliness the clumsiness that comes about as you crash into the back of your bedpost and then Kneel down onto the floor to pick yourself back up the creaking of the wood all of it Signifies and immediately as soon as you can hear yourself make that noise you creaking of the wood, all of it signifies and immediately as soon as you can hear yourself make that noise you become aware of the utter quiet on the other side. The jiggling of the door stops, the shoulders stop, and then you hear the loading of magazines,

the wrenching of whatever guns are ready, the poising of them. And it's only a moment before you can feel the hail of gunfire that comes through this door, essentially, as you are in a drive-by shooting of machine gun rounds, assault rifle rounds, coming through the side of those doors. I will give you an opportunity to dodge, give me a dexterity plus... let's call it athletics to get you out of the way. Zero. Let me see. Okay. You are going to take seven superficial damage rounded down to three. So go ahead and mark three superficial damage on your sheep as you can feel these bullets pierce into your body as you are on the other side of these people

that are readying themselves to murder you, to take you, and now it's your victim. Yeah, I think my last thoughts are of, before I probably fall unconscious again, of... of before I probably fall unconscious again of. Yeah, I don't know. I think Burrows is thinking about his past and him in it and almost like as he fades asleep, his image and who he is from his past also kind of fades away.

There's a an anger that wants to rise but he's just too tired and it's just kind of represented by like something's disappearing in burrows, something's going away and being replaced by something else. Understood. You have one action. I mean yeah what can I do besides just pull the phone up to me and probably say, uh, come find me Sybil, you know. Um, right before you slip from and you fall back into the state of sleep that you were in before. You hope that whatever comes for you is a savior.

Just before the reaches of your mind start to blacken around your eyes and close before you go back to sleep, there is a sound on the other side cursing, some Italian spoken and shouts and then more gunfire coming through but not through into your room as you feel though you might feel that on the way out. It is on the other side and unexplainable for a moment. And you're gone asleep, at least, hopefully, to awaken next night.

Beautiful. Dirty, dirty, dirty. We are going to go to the next night. We're going to begin essentially with Sybil. Sybil, what are your moves starting the next night as night needs to rise? I think Sybil wakes up and I think they probably went straight back to the Carrion House because they knew that Niles was there.

The first thing they do is check their phone and see, did you get to make the come find me simple audio? Yes, you do have a message the moment that you wake up that does read from burrows and it is a recording of the transpiring. In fact, you can still feel the, hear the hail of gunfire and whatever happens in the last few moments. Okay. And then clarifying question, did the audio come through clearly? Yeah. Okay. Okay, great. Then- You don't know where Mal's staying tonight,

but it's not here. Okay, that's frightening, but at least makes them feel maybe a little bit better, unless Mal was already gone. They go over to see how Niles is doing. Okay. Okay, starting with Niles, I believe Niles was staying in the carrion house, your nonprofit, right? Yes. Yeah.

Beautiful. So the carrion house, obviously it's later in the day, the, I'm sorry, later in the night. There are no operations going through outside of your assistant being present, and they're only really present to assist you. But Niles is in an ancillary room that you've set up. I assume that you have out of this small complex, this three room essentially floor on this penthouse that you've set up in a digital room that you can stay in yourself and Niles is in there. You want to describe the state that Niles is set up in, the room that Niles finds themselves in and how it is that you take care of this place? Yeah, the like full, if you've seen an interview with a vampire,

the Dubai house is very close. There's the windows that like reflect light, but they are not letting in sunlight. There's like a big like California king bed with satin sheets and satin pillowcases. There's low atmospheric lighting everywhere and Niles is set up on this bed, wherever, honestly wherever they want to be on the bed, but there is a ever-present mini-fridge of blood bags next to them. There's cameras in the room, so assistants can be aware of what's happening in there without humans in a room with a vampire, because I don't think Sybil would like that very much. Uh, and...

Yeah, it's- it's very luxurious, but very dark. Yeah, Niles is, uh, present in this room. Uh, Niles is still in this state of recovery, but Niles, you would be awake, just badly burnt. But you're here and present. You can see that the rapid recovery that comes with all kindred has started to take in where so much of the skin was burned through and charred and gone and basically turning to dust. Niles is starting to repair himself

essentially along that arm and the leather that was basically infused into their skin has begun shedding and falling through. In fact, you can see this sort of feather flocking of the jacket Niles had on just a night before has sort of cascaded over the furniture in this room. And Niles is looking better, not completely fixed by any means. This is still in a danger situation, but it is a remarkable thing, this curse. It means that even when you'd like to feel the pain, you're not allowed to for very long. Hey! How are you?

I think at the hey, Niles, in the usual fashion, freaks out. They've been sitting in this room of opulence, which is very unusual for them. They don't normally stay in such fancy places. But then seeing Sybil, they'll in my spot. You're fine. You're good. Do you need anything? I should let you talk. Um, I'm fine given the situation. Um, yeah. Um, that's, that's about it. Um, like looking at like the, just the level of, of, of Char. Um, this is your place. Yeah, yeah, the nonprofit, this is a part of it. Sort of comes with the, the nonprofit. This is a part of it Sort of comes with the the territory. You're welcome to be here as long as your skin is

burnt, but um Something happened last night, I don't know what but but burrows Needs help so I'm going to go see about that Are you asking me to come with you? I don't feel very comfortable asking anything of you right now and I wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable. You seem like you need some rest and I don't want to put that at risk considering I'm the reason you're here at all. But if you'd like to come, I think that'd be fine. I can also go get Jackie.

Jackie would love this. This is the whole thing, a mystery probably. What do you mean that you're responsible for this? Mm, mm. So, I want to hone in on the fact that the Lamiya is dead. And that's where we should focus on and stay in and be here for that the whole time. They're dead because they blew up. You saw that.

I felt that too. Ah, yes. Yes. Uh, who blew them up? Who blew you up? That's so mean. I think Niles is taken aback by the fact that Sybil says that. I mean, given how this is between you and I, I'm not kind of surprised. You're not surprised? That you want to blow me up?

That I want to blow you up? I didn't want to blow you up. I don't want to blow you up. Niles, I don't... I don't like you, but I like you. You know? We're in this together. Our survival depends on each other. And also your death affects my life. So I... You're my friend. And I didn't blow you up on purpose. And I genuinely didn't... I don't like that you're in my bed. Not well, you can be

in my- I didn't mean to blow you up and I don't hate you. Yeah, but I figured that my undone would probably ease up your grand scheme of things given that you know gangrel the gangrel you confuse and worry the shit out of me but I don't I would be sad if you died. I wouldn't like it if you died. Are you also a mess of uncertain, ever-changing variables? Yes. Yes. But you seem to have that a little bit more under control, and the more power that we get as a group, the less variables that is. And I'm committed to making this easier on all of us. Including whatever the fuck is going on with you.

I'm glad you're alive. Whatever. Okay. Okay. But if you tell anyone I say that, I'm gonna deny it. In a court of law. I don't think anybody would believe me anyways, so it's no point in sharing that. Great. Good. If you don't need help with handling burrows, then yeah, I probably could use another night.

It hurts to move. Yeah. Yeah. Can I- are you hungry? Can I- what do you- is there anything that you hungry? Can I... What do you... Is there anything that you need? I don't want to ask anybody else about my hunger. I'll figure it out as soon as I'm able to move.

But right now I'm fine. Okay. Well, this place is a refuge for me and a handful of other blood dolls, human blood dolls, in Vegas. And I- part of that place was promising them that they weren't in danger. So, whatever you do, just keep that promise as well and you can stay here as long as you need. Well, it's good that I don't eat humans, right? Right.

It's got a perfect... It's not perfect. That's not what I meant. It's nice. It's not a problem. You're not a problem. Right. Right.

Well, if you do need help, I don't have a phone right now. Actually Burrows was supposed to acquire me a new phone. So if you need me to come help, I guess call somebody here. Do you got a house phone? No. That's what sticks their head out of the bedroom and calls for for one of the phone from one of the assistants. He hurries up dressed exactly to your uniform specifications and

like full Hugo boss. It probably costs their entire paycheck, just to even accommodate this. But they come up and they give you their phone. Thank you. And I got you. Don't worry about it. And here, this is fine for now. Probably should give it back.

But I'll be sure to do that. Last thing I need is to owe anything else from you. Oh, I'm not. There's no... I'm not, there's no, I'm not gonna invoice you for this. This is, like I said, this is, this is friendship. Yeah, I didn't like it when I said it,

but I feel like I should, so don't worry about it. Okay, well. Ring, I guess? Yes. I'm gonna go call Jackie. Uh, and I go. As Sybil exits the room, that assistant does Peekus head into the room with you, Niles, and says, um, I just don't have unlimited data, so if you could keep it under 25 gig, that'd be great. And then he leaves.

Okay, so there's a call out to Jackie. Yeah, I just tell them, hey, Burrows is, something's wrong with Burrows. I send them the voice message that I got and I'm gonna go look for him, you down? I'll meet you there like just assuming off the location just like location one more time where is it at yeah we're just gonna meet at the club gotcha I'll meet you there cool she's off. Okay, beautiful. Um let's take a quick, let's call it what? 5 minute, 10 minutes. What do you guys want? Okay,

we'll do a 5 minute break. We'll get a restroom break in and then we'll be right back. Thank you guys so much for being with us. Teeth cereal. That's awful. Horrible. Okay, we come back to following a phone call with Jackie, mobilize the forces, and we are out to find burrows on the run. But before we do that, let's go to burrows. Burrows, you wake up. Somehow, the curse has not ended. Somehow, you have not met your final death. And somehow, you are not in a state of torpor.

Whatever happened in those last fading moments, deigned to keep you here. But you don't know where here is. In fact, you're uniquely aware that you're laying in trash, garbage. There is a slick banana peel underneath you that is rotted past weeks. There is the sludge past weeks. There is the sludge of long past food underneath you. There is sharp metal where you're uniquely aware of a discarded cracked beer bottle is implanted in the side of your ribs. You've been tossed out into this landfill, essentially. And you are buried underneath stacks of,

essentially, trash at the bottom of this landfill. Yeah, Burrows puts himself together, realizes where he is, and just tries to clamor out. I mean, he's being a little slow, just... I think you mentioned earlier that we can tell when the sun is out or not. If I don't feel that the sun is there, then I will more confidently dig myself out. You feel fully rested. The beast is not afraid. Your body is not sluggish and slowed down. You know that this is night But what's worrying you is whatever is on the other side of these bags? Are you climbing clambering out of this place? Stealthily quickly are you making a noise with it? Are you being? Probably shouldn't but I'm also not very stealthy. So if I'm not very stealthy

I shouldn't, but I'm also not very stealthy. So if I'm not very stealthy, why am I going to fail a roll when I could maybe make a roll to like not fucking fall in my ass when I get out of the trash? So I think I'm aiming for getting on my feet faster than being quiet. Give me a strength plus athletics. Okay, strength plus athletics is okay pool. One success.

Okay, you were buried deep and it takes you a second, especially with everything you've been through. is an okay pool. One success. Okay. You were buried deep, and it takes you a second, especially with everything you've been through. You can still feel the bullet wounds closing on your chest, and the weakness that comes along with being awake during the day. You find that you're extremely hungry as well. We're going to put you at a hunger three,

just on the cusp of four. You find that that took so much out of your body that you're struggling to exist currently, and you're feeling almost like a sun sickness. But as you pull yourself through and find the moonlight, you discover that you're mostly alone and you are looking out on essentially a landfill, a junkyard at the maybe east side of Vegas from the city skyline from what you can see. And there are two individuals present with you, one of which is a very skinny man with this very

large sort of like pillowed duffel coat. And the next is a wiry little woman as well, possibly short next to his tall, maybe 4' 10", at the most, standing next to him. She is chattering and shaking in her position, and seems to be scratching vehemently at her wrists. And he has his hands tucked firmly into his pockets. But those seem to be the only two individuals around. And you make your coming out like a like a fucking earthquake like start tearing through the top of the garbage. And if I see them, you know, I don't know what weapons they have, but I'm fucking ready to write a little glove at them.

ready to throw a glove at him. As this semacular of Elvis climbs his way out and smacks this garbage out of the way and discards the wet trash off his rolling house. It's like in Razy, Arizona when they come out of the ground. It's like, ah! Yeah. You find that they are just staring at you. The woman looks terrified of you,

but the man looks like he's trying to psych himself up. And he takes one hand out of his pocket, and you can almost feel for a moment that a gun is going to come with it. But it's just his hand, and he waves you over. I think I'll probably race to them, and I'll probably very aggressively put my hands on their throats just strong enough

To make it hurt but not so strong that they can't speak and I think I'll just you know immediately Who do you work for please please Judas Judas, please? Judas who the hell's Judas you call me Judas you work with them you work with them Judas, who the hell's Judas? You call me Judas? You work with him, you work with him! Judas! You work with Judas! Oh yeah, that guy. Hey, Jude. Please put us down. Yeah, I'll kind of let him go and just kind of be looking at myself all in a mess.

And as you get down here, looking at them, they look like emaciated. They look weak. They look terrified. But, you know, there is a sense of camaraderie here. You don't think that they're ghouls, not at first guess. And then it recurs in your mind that Judas is the baron of thin bloods in the city. You imagine that these are unfortunately the last of a great generation and the abomination of all kindred. These are probably

thin blood compatriots of his. The skinny one says, we have a message. It's from Judas. It's for you. What is it? Okay, just give me a second. I hate doing this. And he takes out this knife and in the other pocket of his duffle coat, he reaches up, he takes it. It is this curved, almost ritualistic blade.

He takes it and slices immediately through his neck and it begins to fold through and fountain. And then from inside that wound, the head begins to discombobulate, fall back and snap. And from within that new gaping wound, Judas pulls his head through, and you can see this almost birthing process of Judas joining on the other half, and he speaks almost as if in recorded message, I'm glad we got to you when we could. Pudineska made a play on you, but I have something better. I'm glad that you're still with us, Burrows. You and I have a date at the church, remember? But first, I have a place for you to go to. I've got you a reservation at my favorite steakhouse. I think you're going to enjoy it there. Vegas royalty. I think you'll love it so much in fact, that when

you go, I'd like you to take a look at my favorite waitress. She's the most beautiful waitress you've ever seen in your life. She'll bring you the best steak you've ever had. And even better, more than The best of all, she's Sicilian. Have a good night, Burrows. And then that... Clamps back down, and the neck overtakes, and the blood starts to fade, and he passes out immediately onto the floor, and the girl goes to him to kind of shake him out and bring him back.

But you're left with that message. I'll kind of stay with them, wait for him to wake up. And when he does, I'll say, thanks. And tell Jude I'd rather a text next time, if that's all right. Phone call. Okay, I'll let him know. He won't like that, though.

And she starts to drag that thin blood away through and passed out through the junkyard. They kind of leave you there immediately after. Yeah, I think Burrows climbs down off of Trash Mountain and thinks about where he is in town. Does it become immediately obvious? Am I outside of town? You're east of Vegas. You're outside of the strip for sure.

You're in local territory. This seems to be like a municipal landfill on the edge of the city. I'll think about like the closest spot that I have been to that has like a change of clothes for me. I leave printed shirts around town and I think I'll probably walk there, change, take a shower, change. Okay.

And we'll probably head to the church since I assume Sybil would try to find me there. But honestly, I think he trashes that hotel room. He's so furious at a certain point. He's holding it in. You know, Burroughs, although Sergio isn't very good at it, Burroughs is generally very cool and calm and collected, very slick. And he just lets out a rage in that room,

breaking the furniture, and then walking out totally cool, calm and collected out of the hotel room, and yeah, he's gonna head to the church. You had a full rock star moment as you trashed the hotel room, leave it full of your rage, everything you want to give to champagne, you instead give to cheap cushions and piss-stained mattresses. But the second you to champagne, you instead gift cheap cushions and piss stained mattresses. But the second you're ready, you step out and you go in search of Sybil at the church.

You do find in your pocket a matchstick card, essentially, for a steakhouse called the Golden Steer. And it seems that you have a reservation tonight for 10pm. Well, wait a minute. Now I'm thinking about it. If I woke up in a trash heap, and it was them that were waiting for me, does that mean they put me in the trash heap the fucking? What? I think burrows is slow. And he starts putting that together. It's like, God damn it. I got something to say to Jude next time I see him. Beautiful.

Sybil, Jackie, is the church the first place you guys would check? Yeah, after we met up at the club, I think. Okay. Absolutely. So let's make this cosmic timing and we'll say that by the time you get to the church you do find burrows in the center And the three of you see the aftermath of the church and what had happened in burrows instead

Many of the pews that Mal had set up have been knocked over It's clear that there was a trampling up to the second floor knocked over. It's clear that there was a trampling up to the second floor. There are bullet holes from the first floor up to the second floor as though they were firing at a verticality. And then there are a massive amount of bullet holes in the storage room wall on the other side where Burroughs was staying. And so it seems as though the first party came to fire on you, Burrows, and then a second party fired from the first floor up at them. You do-

You know what I know? I probably would explain, like, my own theory that Pudineska came and then Jude and some of his- their allies took them out and then dragged me out to the goddamn trash bin. Perfection. his their allies took them out and then drive me out to the goddamn trash bin. Perfection. And yeah, Burrows is like pacing, he's really amped and annoyed. OK, yeah. Sybil, anything you got, you let me know. Jackie, anything you got, you let me know.

The fuck everything I said last night on the drive home. This ain't about fairness no more. It's about teaching that that fucking mongrel a lesson. I got it. Okay. Is there anything is there let's just cut to the chase guys. Is there anything I need to be aware of? This with kudineska that we can, is there anything that we can't?

I barely know anything about him. The only thing I got is that Jude sent me some information, said there was a steakhouse I'd enjoy. Where did you come from, by the way? Where were you? I fucking woke up in Mount Trashmore back there in the outside of town. I don't know why the thin bloods thought it was a good idea

to keep me there. Oh, now that we got thin blood, okay. Okay, okay. Anyway, I think tonight it's worth at least following this lead. Not only that, I probably, we should probably follow you the rest of the night and make sure you don't have any other surprise guests that, you know, want to handle things a little

faster. For sure. Tonight I need to stay with one of you, yes. How about this? I have a spot at my, I have a spare room and let's be for real, they they anyone who fucking ever steps into my territory will have more than just me to answer for so in the meantime I think that would probably be the best case also we're going shopping for a little thing for you to prep for your fight getting gloves wraps do you have any wraps yourself?

No. All right. We're getting you wraps. I'm already like you're going to see Jackie kind of already kind of like start calculating into like she's going to go into her head in a way where she's like, okay, we're going to probably need to do this. Trying to keep you alive. Okay. Well, then we've got defense. If he's taking hits at you, can't we take hits at them? I mean, I'm not... Yes, yes. Can we hurt them in any way? Oh, we can.

That won't put us in greater trouble. We can, but I don't want to right now. Let him play his games. Let him think he's got the head of me. And after this fight, when his guard is down, that's when I'm going to go after the son of a bitch. Can I see that? She's going to reach for that. Like you, you got like that little card with the reservation and all that. Yeah.

I like this. Okay. So let's go to dinner. Is it time? I look as we look at the clock, I'm going to be assuming it's almost 10. So I'm like, I think it's time for dinner. So let's just go and start getting ahead of things. Sybil, you want to come along?

Oh, absolutely. Also, is there anything on you that they placed on you? Start patting myself down, make sure there's nothing else. I did have a change of clothes though, so I think I'd probably... You find that there's nothing that you got bugged with. Also in thinking, Puninesca's not that type. And if Jude bugged you, it's not anywhere on your person. After seeing what he did just to send you a message, you're worried a bug might come in a different form or fashion.

worried a bug might come in a different form of fashion. Yeah, I think we'll jump into a baby blue and we'll head to this state house. Okay. While we get in the car, you will see Jackie actually like lift up her hoodie a little bit and you're gonna see like the utility belt that she always has and I think this is gonna be like one of the times you're actually gonna see it's

very almost It is handmade in a way where you could tell I added stuff to it, but you're gonna start seeing like But like almost burnt bone bits you're gonna even see vials a very thick itker of That's gonna be like my blood and other stuff. So you might see me like prepping certain things with a knife. Got it. Pulling up to the steakhouse, the Golden Steer is Vegas royalty.

It's very famous. And there are basically line out the door, reservation only, cars lined up and down this place, crowds outside, a lot of awareness around this very old timey Vegas steakhouse. It looks unassuming from the outside, but even down to the valets, they're dressed in these full tuxedoed, tailed outfits and white gloved. And

they're taking essentially all the care that would be taken out of this whole 1950s 1960s establishment. It feels very dated, but I think it's supposed to feel that dated. Many people have performed here in the past. Frank Sinatra, all of the Rat Pack, I think Elvis once or twice. There's an awareness of this place that is a staple in Las Vegas. And so it's a little bit of a shock that you'd be sent here to begin with.

A lot of people consider it still to be a level of tourist trappy. But even more so, could I get wits and awareness from the three of you? Okay. Two successes. Okay. Okay. Spend a little power on that one. Again, all, nothing, nothing. Three successes.

Three successes, nothing. Three successes. Three successes. Okay. I think that Sibyl and Burrows are the first to notice them. Burrows I think because he is so on edge at this point. And Sibyl because they're trying to damage control from the night before they want to make sure that this goes the right way. But you know, you're not sure if this is always the case at Golden Steer. Maybe it has been for the last century, but there are those familiar cars printed with a very familiar bumper sticker on the back and abstract white symbol that you recognize from leaving the

ossuary. It's much smaller in number, but there are two cars you can mark out parked very close to the entrance. They don't look as though they have anyone in them, and you don't notice any Sicilian individuals standing out front of the Golden Steer. But it does seem as though maybe some of your invited guests are in attendance tonight. I mean, there's nothing Burrows can do about it. I think he is a little distracted. But as we pull up, he all of that frustration and anger that you can very clearly Read off of him just melts away. He's gonna activate blush of life he's gonna activate presence and he's gonna be all smiles as he valets that car and

let's you know, let's his two friends out opens the door for them and It's really just making a show of having a great night at the steakhouse. Got it. Jackie's going to be a little uncomfortable. How out of place do we look? Because you said the Golden Steer, everyone's dressed up to the nines and stuff. Are we?

That's where I'm trying to figure out like we are not up to dress code or we stick out. Here's the thing. The wait staff are. Okay, good. But the golden steer has fallen back in such a way that it has become sort of a... Okay, so we don't stick out too bad. That was my only...

Yeah, it has become a little bit of a tourist trap. Oh, good, so we can re-blend it a little bit. Yes, so it is like dress code enforced, but at the most of it, you know, you'd be sooner kicked out for flip-flops than you would, you know, being dressed the way you are. You're not expected to be in black tie at least. That's perfect. Thank you.

Um, are you, are you all stepping in through to the Golden Steer immediately? Is there any reconnaissance around the building? Is there anything we're doing besides stepping in? If possible, I was gonna say Sybil. Do you wanna, uh... I'm gonna do, uh, can you... Can you do a perimeter search? Uh, do you wanna do the perimeter search or me? Do you wanna fly up? Do you wanna circle around? That, I think, can be done from here.

Oh no, I don't have that skill yet. Never mind. Yeah, no, I'll be back. Actually, if we go in and sit down, I'm going to go to the bathroom and do a perimeter check. And if we walk through the restaurant, I will be kind of like the tiny little bodyguard to burrows in a way where it's just like, like me looking around for any and all threats. There is a bouncer and a host that takes your reservation and brings you in. It's exactly what you would expect out of a place like this. It is classic steakhouse.

It almost feels odd that it is still here. It is that red booth Italian carpeted, you know, these Tuscan chandeliers that run the length of it that strange almost like terracotta tiling ceiling and a classic bar configuration. And then in the corner is a crooner stage, this small diagonal stage that looks like it has seen a lot of live music. And you can almost imagine they are, you know, this collection of some of the most important people in the world, you know, singing for the room. the most important people in the world,

you know, singing for the room. There's a piano in the center. There's a booth that is labeled with Frank Sinatra's name. And it just so happens that on this night, there's a song that you recognize, Baros. Right now on stage, there is a duet being played out, a song called Where No One Stands Alone, essentially. And it is being played currently by a man who is portly-paunched in the stomach, big oil-slick-greased black hair that is clearly a wig that is poorly laced into his forehead to hide a balding head underneath. He is rosacea-cheeked on his sides, pocked with these pimples and this poor attempt at five o'clock shadow. He is wearing this white rhinestone jumpsuit that runs down to show his full chest, but obviously he is far past his prime for wearing something of this caliber and the beer gut sits over where that jumpsuit sash is is abysmal. He's wearing these long

platform kick boots at the bottom there and is doing his absolute best Elvis impression on stage alongside a beautiful woman, black curly hair that runs down past her shoulders. She's petite, she's very young, she must be 19, 20, big doe-eyed with these beautiful hazel irises, and just looks to be having the time of her life singing alongside this Elvis impersonator on stage as they show you all to your table. You're given this big red booth close to the stage, and you're here at the Golden Sea. Burlz takes everything in paranoia.

He assumes it's all an attempt to throw him off, and he refuses to let it, so I think he, you know, rockously applauses when they end and whatnot. And he very quickly, assuming he understood what the message from Jude was, he's looking for that Pudineska that works here, so he's gonna start asking like, Hey Toots, like the first person that walks by. Are you the best waiter in this building? I want the best waiter in this restaurant.

I think their name is Pudineska. I'm going to start asking around for this supposed person that works here. Okay. Beautiful. And name dropping Pudineska. I love this action here. Classic Ravnos the second you say toots That's gonna piss kind of jack you off in a way where she's going to elbow you

I know but that's okay cuz I'm here to Fix you I'm just gonna correct that all right not toots honey. Hey, honey give me a Charisma, plus... Can't call this subterfuge, that's for sure. Let's call it Charisma plus Persuasion. Persuasion, and I can add my Presence? I activated all? Yeah.

Okay. That's three successes. Three successes. There is a noticeable vibe shift as they set down waters for all of you as they're about to ask you your thoughts on the menu, what you'd like to order, and you interrupt to ask for the Pudinesca in the room, the best waiter here.

You had this balding individual, a scrawny, black tide with the black rag towel wrapped around his wrist, but he gives you a double look. And some of the tables around you do look in your direction as well at the mission of Puttanesca. And he leans in and says, sir, if you could kindly keep your voice down for the other people enjoying their meals, I can assist you immediately

with finding your favorite waiter but I don't think we need to be that loud and he gives you a very pointed look and I'll throw a hundred dollar bill at him tell him to find her he takes that immediately is this oh you're so gracious sir thank you very much I'll throw a hundred dollar bill at him and tell him to find her. He takes that immediately and says, Oh, you're so gracious, sir. Thank you very much. I'll be right there. Excuse me. And he steps away. He moves over and he finds that woman that had just finished that event with Elvis there.

And as she's stepping down and putting back on this wrist towel and looking to go back to serving tables, there's a conversation between her and the bald individual. Go ahead. The three of you make wits and perception rolls for me. Actually, let's cut to Zach real quick. Zach, you went to the restroom. Sybil is in the restroom. She's intending to make a perimeter check, right? Yes. What is it that you're doing to check the perimeter? Are we doing snake cam, like the Oshuary, or are we going full vulture?

What's the plan here? Full vulture. I did a little browse check, I'm okay. I'm going to escape if there's a little window in the bathroom, that I will fly out and do a little lap. Yeah, I'm picturing, you know, the Godfather. There's probably one of those little lapsed tiny push windows that you can crawl out of. By the time you're out there, you're now a massive, massive vulture. Go ahead and give me an Animalism plus Awareness as you do a full sweep flying through the air about the location. Okay.

That is one success. One success. One success. You notice the most of what you get out of your perimeter is three Sicilian individuals smoking in the back of the Golden Steer in this sort of like ancillary access in one of the alleyways. And they perk up as another joins them. So four individuals, the fourth taps them on their shoulders, gestures back to the restaurant. And there now is a level of excitement amongst them. You imagine that this is happening

in sequence with the ending of the duet, you moving to the bathroom, all those things happening at once, and they begin to move back into the restaurant That is about all you garner from this Sweep is there anything you'd like to do? Okay, I think I'm going to I Think I'm gonna go back inside. Okay. Yeah.

You're gonna go back inside, you find your table again. You do notice that the music has left back to a canned performance over the speakers. And as you sit down and you know Burroughs is keeping himself at the table, Jackie's watching the doors, there's a weird air that's taking over this whole place. It's almost like the canned Sinatra is the only sort of sound in this place, save for the shaking of Burrows' legs and the clanking of plates and silverware against them. It feels odd in this place as you sit back down. Could I get Wits and awareness plus, uh, I'm sorry, Wits plus awareness from Surge and, uh, and Amanda, please.

Two successes. Good. Two successes. Okay. I have, um, okay, maybe this is, this is a good time. So if I have, uh, the little skull, I have, okay, maybe this is a good time. So if I have the little skull facial failure mixed with knock with the two little dots, I think that's critical. How do they cancel each other out? They don't even count unless you have two of them.

So we're good. Unless you have two skulls or two. Oh, thank God. I'm sorry. The I think it's actually just one skull, but that would only matter if you fail. Yes, I'm sorry. One skull does fuck you up, but only if you completely fail at what's in the word. How many successes do you have? I have two successes, then two successes. OK, you do not fail. You don't have to worry about that.

Be she'll failure. The two of you are looking around this area and you do spot that there is some presence around the edges of this place. The Sicilians are joining the area. Four of them just filtered in from one area and then two over by the entrance to this place. But there's in amongst these reservations of tourist families and people dressed up like Marilyn Monroe and playing out their Vegas fantasy. Yes, Jackie, what do you think? I'm gonna go ahead and bite the inside of my cheek

a little bit, because I think this is getting a little too weird for me. So I'm biting the inside of my cheek a little bit, because this is getting a little too weird for me. So I'm biting the inside of my cheek. And the point of this is I am preparing in case of shit goes south, something called scorpion's blood, or basically I'm going to take blood and turn it into like a very paralyzing poison. I can either put it on a weapon, melee,

or it can be spat out like fucking reptile in Mortal Kombat So love that so you're gonna see her just kind of like nip something and just like slowly just in case Yeah, I think burles is gonna put his hand on her shoulder and just be like I dare him to try dare him to do it I'll go back. You'll see me like kind of just not totally talk because mouth is kind of filling up with blood. You're like, mm hmm. As Sybil scoots into the booth with you guys. Completely different vibe in here. What happened already?

They know we're here. They know what's going on. It's OK. You know, Jackie's going to start like kind of subtly motioning around like look ahead, look aside. Okay. Uh, that waitress does indeed come up and it's as though all eyes in this place are on you. Even the tourists have got a sense that there's something going on as the conversation has

stopped for the most part. It's late in the night, you know. She comes up and she stands out in front of all of you and she says, Hi, my name is Antonella. I'm going to be your waitress for tonight. I know you were especially requested. Is there something that I can do for all of you? Antonella, what you can do for us is sing again. What a beautiful voice you have. Thank you. You're so sweet. How long have you been singing? Oh, since I was a little girl. Antonella, what you can do for us to sing again. What a beautiful voice you have. Thank you. You're so sweet. How long have you been singing? Oh, since I was a little girl.

Please have a seat. I want to get to know you. I'll gesture towards an empty seat at our table. Oh, the only thing is I'm on shift and she looks over to her shift leader where essentially business has stopped. There's even someone trying to hail for a check in the back left of the the the steakhouse opposite of all of you and they are going completely under her. Their shift leader nods over to her and she looks back to you. Antonella you said was her name? Antonella. Antonella, please, I insist.

Garcon, some champagne, please. Let's have some champagne for everybody. That bald waiter from before immediately snaps to and runs into the back to grab champagne and bring it out for the duration of your table. He comes out and he pours for everyone except Antonella who puts her hand over the glass as she sits down. Burrows is never aggressive to the point of it being not fun with Antonella, but he is so flirtatious and he is so happy to have her at the table,

but when she needs to get up, she gets up. But every time she comes back, it's another big deal, and he is going to spend the entire time charming her the best that he can and making them feel as if they've known each other all their lives. I love that Would you say that this aggression Feels like she may be in danger or do you think that you're not a threat to Anton? No, it's aggressive in the sense that like, you know, sometimes an old guy will flirt with you, but then stop when he immediately gets the signal that you're not interested. I think he just continues to be fun and flirtatious. And the aggression comes in refusing to be cordial in the sense of, all right, you need to leave somebody

alone at a certain point, you know? Got it. Give me charisma plus persuasion. I wish I was gaslighting them because I've got a skill in that, but I'm not doing that. That's four successes. Okay. Yeah. She is pretty charmed by you. She talks to you about music. She talks to you about singing because she talks to you about singing, because obviously that's a comparison that the two of you have, a relation. She mentions that she's been working here at the steakhouse for just two years since she graduated, and she's trying to put herself

through school. She says that she wants to get a music degree, she says that she lives here local in Vegas, and she wants to get a music degree. She says that she lives here local in Vegas and she wants to sing at the casinos someday. She wants to be a chum. Intonel, what are the chances you and I can sing together, go up on stage and do a little bit of the web? Well, I guess it's just, you know, whatever style you like to work in.

I love the old crooners, but you know, I love something modern too. If you want to sing we could sing. I'm sure I could convince Vinnie to get on the keys. We could go around. Part of the night is actually enjoying a steak. Burrows is probably the only one who eats, but he'll have a big, you know, raw steak. And then I think he will, yeah, he'll probably pick some old Sinatra song or something that they're both familiar with, a good duet. And he'll sing and he'll make a night of it. And to Sybil and to Jackie, it seems like he's just having a great old time.

And he just wants to do one last thing before they leave. Okay. Jude wasn't lying. It's one of the best steaks you've ever had in your life. It does prove well. And Antonella brings you up and asks you what you would like to sing with her. And definitely partakes in a performance with you. Do you guys sing anything in particular? I'm trying to think of like a Sinatra duet. Or a good crooner duet. Actually it was probably more something along the lines of what's his name who sang that's a more a oh is that Dean Martin yeah probably something Dean Martin ish

because I feel like he probably did a couple duets yeah anyway yeah he does something like that beautiful okay it is a ratcheting performance. I mean, you have a beautiful voice that works on everyone in the room. And it is a strange, strange, tense performance, where the tourists are clapping by the end of it. But that is a small concentrated two tables in the center of a room that is ready to blow off like a powder keg and some of the Sicilians in the back are just Golf clapping immediately after and watching with intent the two of you working. I we end the song and I Hope that it is entertaining enough for

her that as we bow, I lean towards her and give her a kiss. Okay, she is smitten by you. The charisma has worked on her so far. She does take a little cheek kiss for sure. No, I'm moving it to her lips and I'm casting lingering kiss on her. Okay. Beautiful. for sure. No, I'm moving it to her lips and I'm casting lingering kiss on her. Okay. Beautiful. Okay.

Does this in any way as she tries to give you cheek and you give her lips, is this a forceful move? Is this played off as you guys are performing and she's sort of trapped in the performance. And so it's a, Oh yeah, of course I'll kiss you. It's whichever gives me more die. I think it's not meant to be... I mean, look, the guys in the back of the room are gonna think it's aggressive for sure. But it's more just like, you know, I'm sure in Burrows' life,

he's had more than one girl maybe turn a cheek and he figures out how to get him on the lips instead. Yeah. Look if it has to be forceful it has to be forceful he's getting that kiss on the lips he wants this lingering kiss. Yes let me look up real quick I'm wondering if lingering kiss has to be a bite. Oh it does. Usable during feedings. Yeah, that's not you might be able to get away with this. This could look like a kiss on the neck. If you do it right in front of a bunch of freaking people, he's not very stealthy. I think that it's it's the threat more than

the actual lingering kiss because if I have to be feeding with them, it's just not going to happen. So I mean if you got her away from you. Right which I'm not interested in that right now. I know who she is. I know where she works. I think that's a good start and so I think I'll be gentleman cheek. While he does the kiss, while you do your kiss, Jack is gonna take a photo of that,

just so you know, a photo. And by the way, I'm gonna look at Sybil, take photos, and I'm gonna be just looking at, just like, mm, but the point, and I'll explain when you get out, there's a reason why we put you in that photo. Yeah. Okay, beautiful, you have the photo. You share this kiss.

You said there was one last thing you'd like to do before the dinner's over. That was it. I wanted to see if I could get away with a lingering kiss, but yeah. Okay. Is there anyone that seems particularly frustrated by that move? The Sicilian's more than anyone, but there's no one in particular.

If you're looking for an enforcer in the room, or if you're wondering if Champagne is here somewhere lingering, does not seem, I know that you and Jackie are scanning the room left and right. You're pretty confident Champagne's not here. But those goons are, and there's no doubt that they're Putin's guy, if the cars outside

are to be believed and honestly You can sort of tell there's just something About a put in Eska that you can't deny in a room. It's like knowing a bruja. They just make themselves know yeah I just wanted to make a scene, so I'm done with this steak pulse. Beautiful. Uh you bid good night to Antonella. She actually gives you her number and says that if you ever wanna do it again or if you're ever working the clubs, she'd be happy. You know, I'm I'm thinking about starting a a

midnight gospel actually. You ever sing gospel music? Uh yeah, I I went to church a lot with my uncle growing up, so... Ah, then you'll pick it up just fine. We'll be in touch. Okay. Perfect. Thanks for a great night. You... you're not a friend of my uncle's, are you? Who's your uncle? You're not a friend of my uncle's are you? Who's your uncle? Vincent he goes by champagne. Oh

Feel like I heard that but I know no I can't say that I know him. Oh, I just Someone mentioned that you you said the name. I wasn't sure I Must have been a mistake. You look like a friend of my uncle's. Oh, no. Well, I mean, I'm an old man, you know, all those old men start looking alike. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think somebody was wrong about that. Those are things. Fair enough. Well, either way, it was great singing with you and the tip.

Hey. She gives great singing with you. And the tips were great. Alexa, hey. She gives it back to you. And you guys part ways. Is there anything we'd like to do in the steakhouse before we leave? The other puninescas in the back. Is she heading towards the other puninescas? No, she's going back to work. Okay. And the four that are in the back staring, are they still there or they? They are. Yes.

And two at the entrance and it looks as though we're getting towards the end of the the night for the Stag Gals here. If we leave, I'm going to just make it very known as I watch them as I exit. It's not about being coy. Got it. So you watch them through. Burrows, one of them actually does step in front of you in whatever order you're in leaving the room. Hey man, if you want an autograph,

you're gonna have to pay for it. Hey, how'd you read my mind? I wanted to tell you, you got a great singing voice on you there. I'll pull out like a Sharpie I have and just start writing on his expensive suit. Yeah no problem. Yeah thanks I really appreciate that. You know what could I get one more thing from you? Anything you want buddy what's up? Sure and he reaches in and he takes your cheeks or at least attempts to you can stop him if

you'd like and he goes to kiss you on the lips yeah i don't i don't think i'm surge if you don't have a response i do to something like that well i mean i'm just worried he's gonna do something to me i mean if i tried to do something to somebody. No, no, no, no. There's if he goes for that, I'm actually going to do a trick that I've done many times when I was security, which is you stick your hand in, in a way where it's just like right in time where you block the kiss. And since it's his head, I can bring it towards me if need be.

So like, I'll allow Jackie to make a roll to see if she can get it. So like in a quick. I'll allow Jackie to make a roll to see if she can get in the way. If that's possible, yeah. Okay. Because I want to grab him. Give me a dexterity plus brawl. Oh brawl. Yeah.

Oh. Sybil's just trying to girl curtain this shit because oh my god. Oh, okay, finally. I actually have two, one with the dots, quick six, I got four successes then. Yes. Yeah, what does this look like? What do you do to them?

It's so basically this happens like when people would like, they go for a kiss, it's kind of like the, no, thank you. So it's like the security guard just sticks a hand in and because I'm tiny, I'm going to grab the momentum of the face of because he's going for a kiss, correct? Yeah, I'm like, so I'm going to grab like in the way his face and kind of pull it away from burrows and towards me. And if he wants to kiss me, what I'm going to do is I'm going to smile and he's going to see the blackicker from my, the blood right back into his face as I go slowly and I'm giving him the option to be like, do you want to proceed?

You knock him back. He falls into the threshold of the door there that he stopped you all from. He stares down at you, heavy breathed. He's trying to regulate himself. He's looking between the two of you. You want to make a scene? Hey, I was just trying to give you safe passage into the next one, fucker. Yeah, don't worry. You're gonna have plenty of opportunities moving forward. No, not't worry. You're gonna have plenty opportunities moving forward. No, not for me. Have a good night.

He steps out of the way. You too. Let's get out of here. Won't lie, I'm gonna look at him very predatory. Like, I wanna kinda go after him for a little bit, cause...bad. But, uh, you're gonna see like like a big swallow just so you know maybe a little bit of the burns going down yeah awful one last shot like this by the way if anyone wants to is it thinking of taking

a bite for me at the moment now would not be a good time just to know I think while we're. I think while we're driving, Burlz is like, he has a moment of clarity. He's like, this is getting out of hand. He's getting wildly out of hand. It's fucking Wild West. So the whole point of tonight was to tell Pudinaska that you are trying to date his- That I know. That I know. That he knows and now I know that he knows and now I know that he knows that I know that that's what I'm trying to get across but I'm realizing I'm starting to put it together that this kind of escalation is I don't know well if you really want to make put in Nesca a little upset you can send them this and I'm gonna send text you the photo of you kissing that

if you wanna send that as like a little warning. Like, what you do with that photo is up to you. There is, as you're looking down at that photo of you on the cheek of Antonella singing with her up on stage, she's laughing, the sort of laugh you do when any old man is entertaining. Half of it is like, okay, oh, he's creepy, but he means well. And the other half is at least he's charming.

And the photo does look charming to a certain effect without the audience watching without the context of the tense nature of that air without knowing that Antonella was naive to all of the chess pieces that brought you to her cheek. It does look like the two of you had a great time in a bar. But there's something that riles through your veins, Burroughs. Baby blue driving up the narrow passages of your arteries. That voice in the back of you speaks,

it's not enough. We need to do more. We need to take more. She should be here with us in this fucking car. We need fucking collateral. We need to drive that bitch off a cliff. We need to take her away from Champagne immediately. And that voice is roiling through your body. Escalation is the only answer. He builds up, we build bigger.

He builds up, we build bigger. I gotta be honest, Burrows is listening to that voice, uh, seriously for the first time, maybe ever. Um, but he's also got Sybil right next to him. And he's like, Sybil, tell me the next move, man, because I'm starting to go blind here. I'm starting to just start swinging. So tomorrow I'm gonna put the faces. You made the move.

You did the thing. We have the photo. That's great. We have two more days. Let's lay low. Let's actually make sure everyone is healed, including Niles. And then if we want to scare them the day before, we share the photo. But I don't think unless we are actually trying to make a move against the Pudinesskas, I think we're done. to make a move against the Pudinesques. I think we're done. Personally, I think, look, the best way you can take out and win this is you need to put Pudinesque on the back foot. Mind game him. So if I were you, this is just me, hold that photo until you're about to fight. Therefore therefore you can use it to mess with his head.

Every little bit of advantage helps. Also, um, I, okay, so you, uh, since you gotta travel, you gotta sleep at different places. The night before you're sleeping at my place. Okay? We're gonna prep a couple of things. I need you... Okay, yeah. Jack, I need you to, we're gonna prep a couple things

so you at least have your best fighting chance. All right, well. All right, yeah, yeah. This is all good advice. This is good. I mean, you could take it or you don't, personally. Burrows, I... No no no no okay I think uh I think you're right I think we spend the next two nights figuring out how to make

this as much of a psychological game as possible because when this duel's over publicly we're done But privately, I'm not done with him. With that, Zach, Serge, Dom, I encourage the three of you to take a five to 10 minute break. Excuse me? Eli, let's discuss. Oh! Oh! Oh man, be safe, man.

Oh no. Peace, good luck be safe, man. Oh no. Good luck. And, wait, wait, Delta Green already aired on a couple things. Ha, have fun with this. It's not my problem. Bye. Hey, call me if you need anything.

Sure. Hopefully they have enough data. Yeah, all right, good luck. Eli, we are moving a little into the future here. For Niles, we are taking you essentially into the night of the steakhouse. But at the very moment you drift back into that dead of sleep. As As you fall down to die another day, come back the morning or the night after, you feel your body wracked with pain, with guilt over this happening to you, with worry, with the last fleeting visions of Tiago on top of you burning,

and then below you burning, and then the building crumbling in on top of you. And even more so, you feel the edges of your vision begin to bleed into black, and you slip into that nightly torpor, that healing process. When you were alive, you remember when you first took your big skate off of a motorcycle. When you were being taught by that same individual, some advanced techniques on a bike, things that would keep you alive while

you and him were hunting. Things that would keep you away from the pack and away from yet again being called the runt of the litter. You remember skating your skin free from your arms and looking down at yourself alive at the time before you had joined the embrace and knowing that for a long time you would be hurting. You remember the hospital stays, you remember the bandages over that raw new layer of skin, but even more so, you remember that while the body

was healing when you were alive, there were these extensive periods where the body was so active while you slept that there was no way to escape the nightmares. You had these vivid, long dreams of your family, of your upbringing, of him, of the people you were just starting to know, the questions that you had about who and what they were and what they had in store for you. And there is no difference in that regard to being dead. Because you are entering into a new nightmare.

You wake up in someone else's skin. You are older. you are stronger, you are lean. And you are awake in Lada's castle, somewhere in Slavic Europe. You are standing in a place that reminds you not unlike your own man manner, that is cascaded in these pulled tendons and ligaments that drape over every gothic architecture within this place. But you are so much higher up than you have been. It reminds you of stepping into the echelon, of being in the skyscrapers of Vegas. But even more so, you are in another time altogether.

You are looking out on the countryside of a place you've seen before, in your last vision of Casimir. Only the rolling green hills that were raided through when that band of barbarians came through and stole your family, your livelihood, your farm, your ranch. They have all been burned away to wasteland. The rolling green hills have been turned to gray packed dirt and scorched earth where Lada has pushed her

forces across this land. You are sitting on the blight of the world where the castle makes up the center. And you can see that inroads have been made on the east about the opposite of where you first lived. And those inroads lead to a small settlement that have begun to construct walls about the castle themselves. There are actual villages being brought up underneath those walls. The walls themselves are built the skin of people. And it seems as though Lada is expanding. Your section in the tower has a full 360 view,

a night's watch essentially as you are her second and you have view of Exactly where your home used to stand where your child and your wife once Worked in the fields with you where you would carry water from the trough Inside to nourish your child where you would tend to the livestock When you would see to the wheat you would see to the crops where you would tend to the livestock, when you would see to the wheat, when you would see to the crops, when you would see to your life, when it was just three of you, before you had legions, before you were in control of armies.

You're here in this room, massive bed to yourself, far larger than you ever had in your last vision. There are some of those valets that Lada has employed since. In fact, they remind you of some of the things you've seen on the way through Lake Mead to see Lada in the first place. These pencil-footed, dagger, dagger healed women contorted into all of these powerful, estranged arms in coronet halos around their bodies that act as servants to you. Four of them cornering out this room, a bit into your journey. And you're here in Lada's castle in a new life. And the pervading feeling of this new life, of another kindred, is a loneliness you have never experienced before.

I think after taking a bead, maybe as soon as those attendants finally exit the room, kind of pushing them away, I think taking that moment to kind of regain the sense of being in this body, I think Casimir would leave this room and maybe go seek out Lara to walk the halls like they normally do until they find her wherever she resides, probably in that familiar throne room where she kind of conducts all of her business and where she kind of conducts all of her business and handles herself. It is a trek as the castle has grown maybe threefold from what you were aware of before. It is building. And even more so, the castle that they keep is winding, but also alive. With every step you can feel that the stones decompress with your touch and bounce off of the flesh that keep them in place. And the foundation of this place is almost a creature of itself shrouded in stone, rather than accented. As if this is a prison for something greater than it is draped in whatever that may be.

But eventually you do make it to the throne room where you found Lada before and you do find that she is sitting amongst those veiled white gauzed fabrics that are even more illustrious than you remember from Las Vegas. They are draped all the way down this long staircase that extends to where you are entering in through now. And they extend in every direction, essentially, to the point where she is almost the bud of this beautiful flower at the center of this flail

of undulating, moving, gauzed lakes, essentially. And she sits at the center. She is different from how you remember her in Vegas, of course, but she does look similar to the first you saw her in last of Casimir's Visage. She is still holding this sort of perfect see-through window in her neck to the point where you can see the daylight onto the other side and the architecture behind her. She has that beautiful corona of eyes, that crown that sits on her head. Absolutely gorgeous in the most horrifying way still and standing

on those spindled legs. She dances almost like a spider in the center of those gauzes and every so often her valets have to dance underneath to get to her in the center, to feed her blood, to hand her documents, to hand her proceedings over her kingdom, essentially. But she is there. She is willing to meet you. like in Casimir's own heart, even if it were to be beating, there's that sensation of just unrefuted love and admiration for Lauda as he walks into this room and takes a knee almost down to her feet. If she extends an arm to him, he would take it and begin to kind of like kiss it generously and like trail kisses up to her arm and stuff like that just to show the level of devotion and admiring that he has for her. and admiring that he has for her. You look lovely tonight.

It is... Thank you. It is good to see you, my child. Are you all right? You seem troubled. It is a heavy crown to hold in these nights. To see this world come about to my image is no small feat. I move mountains to shape them in my direction. And in turn the rivers must come, and then the land and then the sea. It is difficult sometimes to see that small motions create large responses. All for the better though. How can I ease such a burden for you? What can I do for you? Oh, it is only in your presence that my soul is eased, my child.

You bring to me something that no one else can. You are my sight in this world, the next generation of my blood. You are everything that I will ever be. And to see you is enough. Have you taken to your new location? Do you care for the tower I have built you? It is most generous. Generous than I have ever imagined, and I am so grateful for it. And for you. You are fulfilling many of my desires that I need. It is only my expectation to see you rise to the greatest of heights. And so if you find anything of wanting, just know that I am here to give to you what no one else is privy to. My love. He nods and you know, continues to give that level of grace and

level of grace and affection towards her just completely smitten by being in her presence. see in you a wanting. Is there something that does not bring you fulfillment in this life? Is there more yet to be done to bring you to happiness? I mean, you have given me the power to destroy my enemies and I have been able to fulfill the vengeance in desire to be your sight, but also your sword to bring this new age for us to fruition. goal, and soon we will find the keys and then the door. But these things last for millennia. It is a long journey, the death that we walk. I would like you to remind yourself that there are things outside of what I ask of you. I Have lost before There was a child A loved one before you One that I held very dear

Why cared for I nurtured I brought close to my chest. I kept them in tower the same as I did you. But you find that sometimes nurturing is not enough. Fulfillment is required in order to preserve one's existence, and it is a difficult thing for the dead to fulfill. I would encourage you to search inside of yourself and find what it is you think you are lacking. For you, I can do that. If that is what you desire most from me. I will find that I will fulfill it. I will keep it in my heart as I keep you in my heart. Such a darling boy you are for keeping me so close. And she reaches in and she touches two fingers to the bottom of Cass's chin, brings him close. And just as she's about to kiss him, they move their head to the side and grow a new larger

mouth out of it. And then this very large almost like a waxing gibbous this hole in the side of her face reaches in to kiss her. I'm sorry, kiss him along her lips to bring them in close. It is a guttural, revolting feeling at first to feel that many teeth through open gum and the wound inside their face they've just created. But then once they envelop over your own lips, it's almost comforting. It is what it is to be loved by them. It is total and

enveloping and whole and not at all what it is to be loved by them. It is total and enveloping and whole, and not at all what it seems on the surface." take, you know, I feel like at this point, Casimir doesn't find this kind of stuff as repulsive as maybe anybody else would, just so enamored by it and just kisses her back with with all of his heart. Perfect. Then I will leave you. There are moments I need to attend to there is a meeting I have with a very important individual Free from the new Empire to the south they have convinced themselves that they are in power And I am to be sent to inform them that there are few things that my hands do not reach. You don't wish for me to accompany you on this? No, no, it is a small conversation that I would not have wolves at the dinner table for.

Your appearance would only scare them. That is your wish? Casimir, while I am away, I would have you think on what I said. But in addition, I would have you go down into the village, and I would have you speak with the constituents there, see what it is my people hunger for, what it is that we can nourish them with. Is this to be understood? I will do what you ask.

My beautiful lord, you have done all I have asked and more. Be good. And she reaches out and sort of courses their spindly, too-many-fingered hands through Casimir's hair, sweeping back some of the black hair with that peppered gray and sweeping it behind their ear. And as they do, you feel their fingers run over something along your temple that feels foreign to you as well, and Lada pulls their hand back and goes, Oh, would you look at that, my beloved, you are changing already. And they pull back some of the gauze along their upper bicep to where there is this

mirror that is placed into the side of their arm, almost embedded into the skin there and then grafted over. And this perfect metal reflection of Casimir's face comes over. And for a second, you're transfixed Niles because it does, to a certain effect, look like you. Your face is almost blended into this old man's face. But even more so, the eye breaking through from that temple, a third new eye that has begun to surface and break through the skin has the same color iris as Niles. Iris as Niles. A lot of pets over that new eye socket. You can't see out of it yet, but you know that the eye is there. The fleshiness, the feel of touching the inner

eye is there, but no sight has come through from it. And as she pets that, she coos almost like she's proud of you in a half lover half mother bizarre Pride that exudes over her and she pets you again and then stands up all of that gauze moving at once and catching in the wind from What's created there and you can see then sort of dance almost like jellyfish in the wind from what's created there. And you can see them sort of dance, almost like jellyfish in the sky there. And she begins to move out of the throne room and back deeper into her quarters,

leaving you there to thumb at the new appendage on the side of your head. Yeah, nice. I think with that, you know, maybe perhaps Casimir would spend some time here in the castle to fulfill those reflections, but eventually would go off to do what Lada asked to go down to the village to talk to the people and to ensure their needs are met or to sort out what those needs are and try to largely the same architecture as the castle. You find these thatch-roofed domiciles that must have been built by some version peasants, but they've been reinforced with this darkened, almost tanned and hide-like leathered flesh that lives and undulates in between the stone creasings essentially, almost brick laid with flesh. The roads themselves are paved from the actual

like gauzed materials pushing out from the castle themselves, almost like the dresses or flesh rather from Lada have formed the roads that lead into the the village itself. Give me just one second here. Perfect. So down in the village, you do run into the people who live under yours and Lada's purview essentially under their kingdom kingdom and they look reasonably happy. It is a bizarre feeling, especially from Niles more than it is from Casimir as this life for Casimir, but they're going about any sort of living that you would in these dark ages.

They're acting just as Casimir used to they are tending to their families to their crop. They are working, they are trading, they are establishing the walls around this place. There is laughter at some points. There are children dancing in the streets, tripping over some of the rooted ligaments that run throughout this land.

But none of them seem to be too perturbed by the state of Lada's involvement in all of this. It's as though all of this has become rudimentary, routine. But you visit with some of the individuals you know in town and you're informed that the crops are coming along, that they're finally starting to find crops that will take after Lada's involvement in the earth and they think that they've secured enough that the village will flourish. They inform you that water is an issue, that they can't find a well that is not as they say touched by Lada and they show

you to the issue. Basically pulling a bucket up free from the well shows that inside of the water itself, which is already dirtied groundwater, there are these red fleshed particulates, almost like blood cells floating in the center, almost like free parasites. The sort of thing you get in pond water. But it's undeniable, even looking at it, you can feel your blood course through your veins as you recognize that that is your creator in that water. So the water is a large issue. And then finally they inform you

that someone has been breaking in while the walls have not been completed and have been stealing into the other homes. They've been running off with goods wherever they can. So there's a thief in amongst the village. wherever they can. So there's a thief in amongst the village. I think Casimir assures them that the water will be dealt with, and that that clean water will come to the people to make sure that for not only for their own wellness, but for the wellness of the crops that have been taken. And they also assure them that they will provide some additional security here, and they will find who it is who believes that they can come and take from us. And we'll ensure that that is put to rest. Because Lada will assure it be done.

They seem to trust you implicitly. You find that these people revere you almost as a god. If Lada truly is a god, then you are perhaps their demigod. And they deal with you the most, and they've seen what you've done in the past. And so they, towards the end of this conversation, get down on all their knees essentially and bow to you, praying at your feet and laying their head on the floor until you've left the room essentially revering you as royalty, as divinity. Once you've left, it's now just seeing about solving these things. What do you think you'll be doing about the water? Is there an intention to solve that? Are you going to allow it to continue with them drinking from Lada? Or is there an attempt to getting them clean water?

I think there is one part and intention to try to bring that, but knowing the region and the area, it would require them to seek that outside of their confines. But also, I feel like that's also the intention is for them to drink of Lauda, to have them be a part of Lauda. So there might be just plans drafted to try to find some way to appease them, but not quite to to solve the entirety of the problem. Just kind of steamroll them into to believing that it's it's gonna get done. The the impulse is to set out a team that goes to buy water or find water in the ground outside of the confines of Lada and

bring it back. But it seems you're clever enough in arranging that for only maybe once a month and then using the groundwater for the rest. So let's see about I'd like you to roll manipulation plus leadership or alternatively wits plus leadership, whichever has the highest pool for you. And we'll see how well the constituents take to your involvement, whether they believe you. Do I account for Nyle's current hunger state in this world? Do not account for it. You are so very, very fed here. You're at zero hunger while you're casting here. Hell yeah.

That is two successes. Two successes, perfect. You do manage to convince them that that's the best alternative. They arrange for a team of eight men to periodically, once a month at least, or however many months it takes to account for them also drinking Lada's groundwater, to go out and establish wells in the surrounding area that are clear of the corruption. And so it is almost served as a gift from Lada that they are rewarded with a sweet treat of clean water. And for every other day, they are forced to drink of Lada's blood, or flesh or whatever that may be that she's putting in the water. In the means of handling this thief, what is the thought here?

How much of the wall is not completed here? It will be months before the wall is fully complete because it's just having some of the guards or the vessels that Lada makes and just increasing their presence along that wall to try to at least block out or at least deter the intention of this thief to continue what they're doing. As you're catching yourself looking at the lamp lighters that patrol the wall as you're working, you're considering using them, diverting them back into the village at night to catch whatever this thief is.

Because obviously, they must be of some considerable power to be able to get past these defenses and inside. There's a thought that comes to you, again, just how lonely you've been. And you look at these creatures, these lumbering, candle-lit, lanterned, fat, grunting beings that patrol the walls. And you're thinking of just how inconsiderate of the details they would be for for catching a thief. And it's just coming to you again and again of solution wouldn't truly solve it probably requires your hand or some alternative to your direct involvement, but something deft, dextrous that understood how you react, how you work. Yeah, I think after the like a couple of days of just letting the the lamp lighters and stuff do that, I think after the like a couple of days of just letting the the lamp lighters and stuff do that, I think eventually Casimir would be joining in those patrols and would be spending more time

in the village, at least during the evening, amongst the people. And along that unfinished wall, and being a more active presence here to, to resolve this issue, or at the very least, fill that sense of loneliness by trying to root out this thief. And on the fourth night, following all of this that you are out in the village with these individuals, you believe you hear the thief rooting around in one of the barns kept in town. You find yourself moving into the barn itself. You cascade up the... or I'm sorry, down into the cellar underneath where much of the hay is kept and the animal feed is stored essentially, where the source of the sound is coming from. And in the center of this bale of hay, covered about by what you imagine are the missing stores of feed and items and valuables that have been taken out of these homes. You find a massive pink ball of sagged and fat flesh that is gelatinous and held over this firm, almost tumor-hard center

that is trapped in the center of this hayvale, turned over to the point where all you can make out from the light of your torch down here is that sheen, that slick, almost oiled sheen of that soft, supple skin that is gelatinized in the center of that hay bale. I think Casimir will approach it. It doesn't feel familiar as it would be for like how the attendants are and stuff like that. Like it's in a way connected to to Lauda or the things that are being constructed. Do you have any points and aspects? Hoo hoo, probably not.

I don't think so. Roll me a wits plus awareness. Oh, I have awareness now. Just one success. Even more so, it does remind you of the valets, the lamp lighters of the defenders of the bizarre servants of this place. But past that, there is an ache in your body. Like you've just found a missing piece of your soul looking at this thing.

I think with that ache, I think Casimir kind of changes the general disposition that he was intending to bring to this, you know, like the attempt to like bring justice to a thief kind of melts away to more of like a parent to like a child kind of situation where he kind of maybe if there's a place to put the torch up on like to make it like a to kind of like rest it up there he would come closer and maybe even crouch down to it and maybe even hold out a hand as you crouch torch over lit gives you more visibility, the higher it is, you're sort of painted.

This long shadow hides a portion of this thing, but just enough that you can see the portion you hand your your wrist out to your palm out to. And as your palm extends, that mass begins to writhe and move and react to your proximity. And from out of that mass, the smallest infant's hand pushes out and through the mass, coming free to grip onto your first finger, the only size that it can match onto. It only has two of the main fingers and a thumb, and it wraps about onto that finger hard, harder than you're expecting, strong, vital. And then following that baby's arm moving back in through the fold, a face begins to emerge from it, from that mass, almost as though you are

carving this thing by your mere presence, and from that face you immediately recognize your child, Kazimir. And from that moment, you wake up back in Las Vegas, free, Niles, and alive again. Beautiful. Thank you all for that. Thank you for giving us a little break. A little Casimir interruption there. If we could get Amanda back as well, we wake up the next night. The night before the duel. And I want to get some preparations out of the way and an introduction into that first duel so that we can get things rolling with this time that we've got left.

Oh, we lost Amanda. Give Amanda a second. I assume they'll be back soon. Good, so waking up that following night, could I get rouse checks from all of you to decide if any of you are any hungrier I will also say that Eli you are now only at one aggravated damage beautiful this will be your follower so everyone take one rouse check let's see if you got hungrier uh Niles does not

get any hungrier okay I do succeed so I think I don't get hungry either. I also succeed. Okay good. Beautiful. Nobody's hungrier. We're doing good. Let's start basically with Burros as this is your preparation. This is the night before. I want to get quick. We don't really need scenes. We need prep. What are we doing here? I don't know if there's much to do in terms of prep.

I just want to bring everyone for an early meal to one of my family. I want to take everyone to Casey, who I haven't seen in months, and who I'm hoping that this whole duel is going to allow me to see them more often. So once everyone's done their business, I'm going to pick them all up in baby blue, and we're going to have a quick stop with my family. Okay. So you're driving out to the trailer park that they're hosted out in.

Do you let them know at all? Do you give a call to Richie or? No. Okay. Just showing no okay just showing up just showing up it's gonna be late enough that I'm I have a feeling they'll be home do you tell the rest of the engine anything about them as you're driving through I think as we drive up to the house I I will say like, yeah, I'm having you guys meet my family. Having you meet what I'm fighting for. Good. It's a long drive through baby blue into that part of the town. And you're all just a little shocked that Burrows is letting you see any sort of

part of his life. part of his life. Is there a check is going to be like, should we have brought something? I feel like this is rude. Did you do we need to bring anything? They're very understanding. They're going to be happy to see me and they're going to be happy to meet some of my friends. So just just be friendly and is there a family's your family.

Oh great. Is there a 7-Eleven at least en route? At least we can pick up something. Just bring something. I'll pull over to make sure I stop at 7-Eleven. Just grab anything. What do you guys pick up at 7-Eleven? What's the buy? I'm gonna just grab a six pack. Are they beer people? Are they beer? Yeah, they're beer people. but bring some candies for the girls.

Okay, I'm just grabbing like random brightly colored packages of like probably maybe nerds that Starbursts and beer. Burrows, I think I'm confused. I'm sorry. This is not our cashier woman. This is our mechanic. No, this is Casey our mechanic. Okay, cool. She has a family. She's got a husband. As soon as you said girls I was like oh I know what I'm talking about. I'm sorry. Yes. I remember Casey we're good. Okay things were about to change. Cool. And I'll fill in the blanks because we both have had it's been so long since we've visited

with Casey. Got it. Thank you for reminding me I should be better about knowing that. So you get some candies for the girls you get some some beer, you guys show up. It's not in a trailer park obviously, it's this like you know above poverty house actually because she makes okay money. And they're shocked to see you at the door for us. The second that they open the door they see you, the girls rush in and hug you immediately like climb up you know basically to get the biggest rush in and hug you immediately like climb up, you know, basically to get the biggest hug they can around you. Casey is super surprised and brings you in as well.

Her husband is there, but he, you know, does his best to be cordial and give you a shake of the hand because he knows he's gonna get it anyways. And she looks to you, Casey, and says, Oh my God, I haven't seen you in months. Where have you been? I've been very busy, you know, out on the road. But well, I'm back. I'm taking care of some business tonight that's going to make sure I'm back in your lives, you and the girls and and Roger over there No shit, okay, and you brought guests hot. I'm I'm Casey

It's good to meet these are my girls. It's my husband Everybody you know I'd love to get to know you who are who is this Burroughs? I'm I'm shocked he'll introduce everyone Niles and Sybil and Jackie and, you know, just kind of talk about them as if they are the closest friends and like we've had lifetimes together. And I think he'll kind of like, you know, guide everyone to the to the dinner table. And he'll keep reassuring the the the coterie like you're safe, you're with family, act like you would amongst other mortals. He almost starts

to take on a little bit of a like he owns the place kind of thing like he'll reach for the dinner rolls when nobody's had one yet. There's very much a feeling like because Casey is so gracious that these are his thralls in a way, this is his cleaver family. Like, you know, this is only cute up until you spent more than five minutes realizing these people belong to Burroughs, you know? Yeah, there is a point in the night where Burroughs

is sitting in a's recliner, right there in the center, and refuses basically to get out of it. It almost looks like he lives there. He looks like the grandfather of this family. But it's in noticing this with the girl sitting on the couch next to him, talking his ear off and Casey sort of dutifully standing by Burrows, that you catch that husband out of the corner of your eye with his arms folded, standing in the threshold of the hallway into the darkened room, where you're almost immediately aware that at this time of night, the girls should

be fully asleep, and no one's really having dinner around this time. And it seems like maybe the lights were turned on just for Burrows. And that husband has not taken his eyes off of his girls since the second that Burrows stepped in. Roger, what do you do? I'm gonna... Roger what do you do? I'm gonna

It doesn't really matter does it I'm just been quiet. I just wanted sorry. It's it was so lovely for you. They got a sense. Don't you worry about Roger? He's not very good at conversation. It's it's all good right Roger Yeah, that's right. I usually let Burrows talk. All right, listen, it's getting late. I think it's time for bed for the girls. Yeah. Yeah, I'll put the girls to bed then. Come on, girl.

Don't worry about it. I got it. No, it's fine, Burrows. You just got back. Maybe you should sit with Casey. You guys can catch up. I put my hand on his chest and just kind of push him towards my coat or he'd say, get to know my friends. Come on girls. He kind of stumbles forward and stands in front of all of you. There is this abject fear. And the girls sort of toddle off with Burrows down the hallway, and Casey sort of looks after, but Casey seems a lot less worried than Roger ever is, and Casey goes into the dining room, essentially,

puts a hand on the back of burros and says, listen, I'll fix you a plate. Do your friends want any food as well? No, thank you. Thank you. Okay, okay. She goes off, toddling into the kitchen. Roger stands like a kicked dog with you, and Burrows, you take them into the bedroom. I assume you're just putting them to bed?

Yeah, I do, I am curious if any of my allies ever come to check in while I'm in there. Ooh, maybe Niles? I think of anybody amongst us, Ooh, maybe Niles? I think of anybody amongst us, Niles kind of understands this kind of behavior. And yeah, I think Niles will slink in the hallway and kind of try to straddle between being out in the front and being over there, but I think curiosity gets a little bit of the better of them. If you poke your head into the bedroom,

you see the two girls in like little twin beds close to each other. Burlz is kind of sitting in the middle between the two of them. And the girls are asking him to sing them a song, and they insist, and he says, all right, but it's got gonna be a special song between the two of us all right between the three of us you can't ever tell nobody about this song okay okay and he kind of clears his throat and Niles you hear him sing love me tender love me sweet

tender love me sweet never All my dreams fulfilled. For my darlings, I love you. And I always will. And then by that point, the girls have fallen asleep and he's going to get up and notice you and kind of be surprised that he'll come up to the door and just say, we need to get going and he'll walk past you. Niles, you see over the two sleeping children, there are a myriad of drawings, little kid drawings, you know, of the family car, of animals seen, princess in their castle. But in the corner is this little family portrait by the youngest of the two girls.

And there's dad, there's mom, and they're on the either side of the girls. And then standing over all of them, a little taller than all of them, is this bright, fun old man in a flowered shirt and his hands are around everyone's shoulders. Niles is just there. There's just such red, so many red flags that are just like creeping into Niles as they're like witness. They're slowly beginning to understand what Burrows is kind of up to when they don't see him amongst the coterie. And it's terrifying. And they're very familiar with an overbearing presence on somebody else's life. And they're just like, they just turn away from those kids and they're just watching Burrows walk down the hall like he owns this place. And all they can do really is

kind of retreat back into themselves and follow back and kind of fall in line. But there's just a lingering fear at Burrows that they just can't keep their eyes off Burrows. They'll look over at him and look away and then keep looking back and just... It kind of gets worse in a way because Burrows walks out out. He goes right up to Casey and like cracking open a beer, he just pulls her neck to the side and starts feeding on her.

Like she's probably in the middle of conversation with Sybil, and he just interrupts. And he's going to try to slake to hunger from Casey. It is the easiest to do. And in your preparation for battle, she very easily slakes those two hunger. You see Sybil as you were having a slight calm conversation about the girls that Casey's head slacks forward and falls basically on her neck, and then bears and Burrows takes his full and then she in this bliss like almost like an opioid crash becomes completely incoherent and stumbles up out of the seat goes immediately to the couch to sit down and Burrows goes over and puts on some game show network to play over her

comatose moment on the couch. I think as I finish and I'm wiping my mouth, I'll very gingerly gesture to them and say, if you guys are hungry, you can have a taste of Roger. I'm ready to go when you are. If you guys are hungry, you can have a taste of Roger. I'm ready to go when you are. Niles leaves. Niles is so uncomfortable, and it's almost like a scared animal retreating away from this, and Niles just goes outside. Yeah, there's a moment where Sybill wants to go over to the couch where Casey is and try to like do something, but there's nothing to be done. And is just like, I get it. Okay. Okay, let's go. Beautiful.

Jackie's gonna go to Roger before I'm assuming Roger saw all this and Jackie's going to go to Roger before I'm assuming Roger saw all this and actually will try to if you will like she'll say to be like thank you for allowing us into your our into your home like as it like it's like cordial thank you but obviously is but I needed to emphasize is not looking happy at the body and And actually, you'll see kind of Jackie kind of like, almost kind of shudder a little not in a way is just very uncomfortable. And then walks out. Roger meeting your eyes right after you say that takes this big shaking breath and he says, Get the fuck out of my house you monsters. Jackie will not Get the fuck out of my house you monsters Jackie I'm not and then walk out I'm going to give you a Very particular offering here. I'm going to forego the rest of planning

to jump in forward in time and very particular offering here. I'm going to forego the rest of planning to jump in forward in time and I will allow for planning on the next session, okay? I mean, what planning is there to do, Caleb? I have no idea, but Jackie said that they had like 50 things they wanted to do. We're gonna do all of that at the ring. Like, we're gonna need days of planning. Oh yeah, not that planning, I'm sorry.

It is the next night. We are at the Oshawa. You are outside the gates. There is a procession of Sicilians and their vehicles out in front. They are waiting for all of you guns in hand. They allow you in. They close the gates behind you. You're driven to the left of the main building, rather than on to the center, into what is essentially this large tombstone shaped construction. You are brought in, it is the most brutalist empty building whatsoever. The second that you step in, you realize that you are standing in the middle of a very large, strange mausoleum.

There are lineages of Giovanni and Hiccata that line every four feet of this area and intersect on either side, to the point where you are essentially walking into the same mausoleum you would in a funeral, but 500 times the size. You are escorted into a series of stairs that take place in the intersection by Schlomo Rothstein Jr. You are not privy to the sight of Champagne Pudinesque. He has not been seen yet. The Countess makes up the rear behind you, and many of the Hecata march with you. There is a crowd forming behind you, essentially watching the walk, and every eight feet there is another armed guard. You can see that this place is heavily fortified for tonight's proceedings.

You continue down flight after flight of stairs until you are no longer in lit rooms, or at least not in rooms lit by electricity. You're walking by these lanterns, sconces along the wall, all lit with gas, pure fire behind their glass cases. You follow all of these through into what opens up into a large coliseum of sorts. This massive domed out area with raised audience seatings on all four sides, where there is an audience of maybe 80 people in attendance to watch this interaction. Your friends are cut off at the threshold into that center arena, where there are four thresholds along either side. On the

south side is where Jackie, Sybil, and Niles are asked to stop and Burroughs is asked to enter. And on the north side you can see in a very similar fashion Champagne Poudinesque is about to enter the same area that Burroughs is in that center arena there are two discs cut out of the surface that seem to be elevator shafts that are decompressed down further into the earth Burroughs as you're brought to this threshold, slow mo Rothstein Jr. stands before you and reiterates to you. I'd like to tell you again, there is no final death in this stool. And should anything come to harm champagne put in Nesca in any permanent fashion, I will have full full recompense on your lineage. Is that understood?

It'd be just me, so yeah, I hear it. I will find anyone you have ever loved. Good. Outside of that one rule, you are free to do whatever you see fit in this room. You are free to do whatever you see fit in this room. As long as that is to be understood, you may enter the battlefield when you feel as though your soul is prepared for what will happen. There are a couple of things I realize now that we, I think we did want to do before

coming here. Yes, which you can tell me now. Yeah, the one is I am going to listen to Ren in our chat. And I think the ultimate way to throw Pudinesque off is we will have t-shirts printed of that photo of me kissing. Alton, I keep forgetting her name. Antonella Antonella Antonella. I forgot it myself.

Shirts printed all of us wearing the Antonella T-shirt 100% and I am going to ask the team to drive in and I'm going to ride in on Traveler. My horse, I'm going to go pick up Traveler, my horse, and I'm going to ride in on Traveler, my horse. I'm gonna go pick up Traveler, my horse, and I'm gonna ride in on horse. Okay. So that's the opening image of Burrows. He's gonna get off and he's gonna go over to Jackie and ask that she lace him up,

that she put on some wraps around his hands. Note that the wraps will have as she it's like, you'll feel shards of like glass actually intermixed. And then with the wrap and it's going to be a black wrap. She's like, if you can get me as much of his samples of Vaite on these. I can make sure he definitely holds his end of the bargain afterwards. I think Burrows lights up at that

and just kind of excites him even more. And yeah, he nods his head at you. And then he will turn, go ahead, Sybil. I was gonna say, as you're coming in and around this arena, Sybil is going to use Feral Whispers to summon as many birds and particularly fucked up looking ones, because I want to, one, invoke that we are dangerous and weird, but also to sort of invoke the presence of the Nosferatu clan without actually inviting them here.

I want grotesque, I want filth to line the arena, and I don't get hungrier. Okay, cool. Burros, describe to me your grand entrance into the arena. I turn around, seeing Putinesca on on the other side and I start stripping. Take my shirt off. Take my pants off. I'm gonna take some baby oil.

Spray it on myself. We're gonna do this like your ancestors Puttanesca. Like you used to back in the old day. I'm gonna kind kinda start walking forward. Does the horse go back to your friends? Or is the horse on the battle? Yeah, the horse can hang out with the friends. I just wasn't sure if Traveller was getting in on this.

As you grease yourself up, Champagne makes his entrance as well. And you guys have had similar thoughts. He is wearing unbuttoned, the first top dress slacks that have been opened up to show his considerable muscle gut. He's sort of built like, like true heavyweight bodybuilders where he looks so strong, even with a gut. It's big, it's pronounced, it's tattooed. His belly button is tattooed like an asshole. There's a horse running across his rib cage, a big stallion. He's got cigarettes and cigarette burns tattooed onto his sides. He's scarred up to fucking hell. He is painted from head to toe basically with those tattoos. He's got

his big rings on, these huge necklaces down to his oiled up sweaty chest, and he's stepping out to the center and he's never looked bigger. And he's quiet except for laughing at you calling out for doing it his way. And he gets to the center. He meets you there in the middle, as long as you're open to that. He says, before we get started, I wanna show you a few things, okay? Go ahead.

The first is this. And he pulls out from his back, as he pulls to the side and he shows you the katana you put in his eye and wrenches it free from his body and it is broken at the point that it entered his eye. It is now almost like a dagger, a tanto that he's pulled free from himself and he spins it in his hand and he says I'm gonna put this right where you fucking put it. I'm gonna make sure that you get to feel everything that you fucking

did to me. You understand that? I don't know. Sounds like you got some meatballs in your mouth or something. Why don't you speak up a little clearer? Oh, okay. Well, let's speak a little louder so that she can hear us too. He snaps and the elevators begin to rise. And as the elevator comes to surface, you notice a shackled individual at the wrists and at the ankles. She is elderly. She is scared. She is crying behind a blindfold.

She is bubbling and falling over on herself. And it looks as though she's bleeding. Her leg, her left leg has been so broken out of its socket that is actually left of body rather than out in front of her. And it looks as though she has been through some intensive, intensive torture. There is an Iron Maiden that has come up on the elevator slab with her as well, and she seems to be shackled to it by chain about her neck. This is Lydia, who I first believed we were going to, and thank God we didn't.

She is strapped in and ready, and the champagne pulls out a cigar from his side, puts it in his mouth, lights it, and looks used to. As he's doing that, I don't even let him finish the words. I'm going to slam my hand into his mouth to make him swallow that goddamn cigar. Perfect. Give me a brawl plus strength. Alright, here we go. Brawl, that's three die, plus strength, that's two die, and I'm going to use my karate skills in brawl to have three die yeah plus strength that's to die and I'm going to use my karate skills in broads I'm gonna get you specialization give me a specialization that's two two crits of four total four okay four total

unfortunately does not beat his pooling. As you go to pile in your hand against the cigar, he reaches up and immediately slashes that katana into your wrist and you can feel it go completely through. And that sword, uniquely embroidered for you by your beloved H.H., is now sticking out of your wrist and he's laughing like a hyena. And as you step back, you can see Lydia scramble and fall at the sound of your voice and hit square onto the concrete. As you step out, the two of you are again at a standstill and he looks you in the face and he says, all right, let's fucking do it then. And since this is the waiting game and not the duel, we're going to have to find out how this goes. You son of a bitch.

Wow. I don't like you. I don't like you. I figured it'd be better if you're all here for this. Don't be like that. We took a lot of time today doing some intrapersonal scenes. I want to make sure we give the duel everything it deserves. So it'll give... I promise it'll be worth it. Come back in two weeks. We'll kill this fucker.

Maybe. Let's go. That was too fun of a session. That was rad. I got so many things to talk to you about. Sergio about Burroughs, some of the attitudes, some of the choices we got to talk. Oh my God. Look, I feel thinking about it too, but it's what Burroughs would do. I was so hoping that you were gonna take that Sicilian girl out of that steakhouse, man. Because then it would have been

two bargaining chips against each other. Yeah, yeah, one step at a time. I know where this is heading, one step at a time. Okay, okay, Burrows has a plan. This is the law game. Yeah, he's gotta get to Putanesca's level. Oh, I love this. I love this game so much.

So awesome, guys. So much fun, like the small tables are, wow, we game so much. So awesome, guys. So much fun. Like, the small tables are... Wow, we got so much meat on today. That was awesome. Yeah. Okay, perfect. We'll be back in two weeks. I promise you, a huge chunk of that is gonna be the duel. We're gonna see champagne. It's gonna be a hell of a fight. And I believe we'll have everybody back at the table.

So Mal and Raquel, who have been standing very silently next to everyone. Yes. We'll at least be able to help in some form or fashion. Thanks for watching everybody. Yeah, we love you all. Thank you guys for being here. So many more people in the chat this time. We're so happy about it.

Thank you guys. Bye. Thank you guys. Bye.