Latest / Dubious Creatures Presents / The Vampire With No Name 1.11 - Hellabaloo

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The Vampire With No Name 1.11 - Hellabaloo · Dubious Creatures Presents

0:28
The. A highway wanders through the
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desert. A tumbleweed drifts past a dusty
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dive bar. A coyote shrieks out to no one
1:28
in particular. Someone's bleeding out in a
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bathroom stall. The stars tonight are bright,
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but not nearly bright enough. This place does not exist, and
1:42
yet here you are. Welcome to San Arroyo Kindred.
1:49
We here at Dubious Creatures present to you the vampire with
1:53
no name. Meanwhile, back inside the mall,
2:01
Quil looks back at you and Bella.
2:06
He's not alone. Great.
2:12
So Ash, how's your family been lately?
2:15
How is Clan Crawford? Complicated and terrible, as
2:21
always. How's the Castillo brood?
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You know, way too fucking many of us.
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That is the what it is, isn't it?
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Yeah, I'm thinking Adam's gonna. Well, AB's got legal troubles,
2:36
but that's if you watch TV, you know that.
2:40
So when did this all happen? When did what happen?
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The Fangs becoming the the Queen of I don't know your coterie.
2:58
Oh well, Mama Don turned me about six months ago
3:02
thereabouts. It was a crazy summer, let me
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tell you. OK.
3:09
And the as gestures to the entire area around them.
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Oh I mean like this has been an anarch hangout since like way
3:21
before me. Interesting.
3:26
I mean not to. It doesn't seem like y'all are,
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particularly with the the Kindred establishment as we've
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encountered it so far. Oh no, we are our own whole
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movement, whole thing. No sire required, no blood
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Potency, or none of that. Interesting SO.
3:49
Yeah, we're totally egalitarian society.
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I mean, plenty of us only feed on people if it's consensual.
3:59
It's a whole way of life, you know?
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Ash thinks about that for a moment, having like, you know,
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not done a lot of that. Thinks for a moment.
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It says really. So like, this is all like
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vampire paradise like. And.
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And there is a there's a clear tone of disbelief in their
4:24
voice. And then Bella just sort of nods
4:28
along. Yeah.
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I mean, do you see anybody hungry?
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We're just having a good time. There Ash like looks back to
4:40
crow and like so really like you're like summoning.
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I don't know the hell mouth from Buffy.
4:48
That's that's your like shtick to like take down the
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establishment. Buff Bill's above.
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That's it. Finally someone says.
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I think it was Hagia, you fucking Queen Babylon.
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But the the leather corset and shit.
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Oh yeah, that's Raleigh. Wow.
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I have so many questions. I might have answers for you.
5:21
I mean let let me just say thank you.
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First of all, seeing Babs on TiVo, well, it really made some
5:30
things make sense in my life. Always glad to help.
5:36
Will once again Cox's head like a hunting dog hearing an
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unexpected noise Moment of truth.
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Are we still? I mean, yeah, feed the chaos,
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right? As you say.
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And just who are you entertaining?
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Everyone. Yeah, but it sounds like
6:01
somebody specifics writing up right now.
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Oh, I mean, I did tell Freddie he should come by.
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I think he'd be really interested to meet you, Ash.
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Ash Darrow's their gaze, Freddie.
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Yeah. Meanwhile, outside Jeremy, this
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is not a great situation, to say the least.
6:30
Yeah, they are very visibly armed, and I don't mean with
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handguns. The guy specifically swaggering
6:40
up to you because he has a patch on his vest that says Sergeant
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at Arms. He seems to be the leader, for
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lack of a better term. You remind me of a guy I saw not
6:52
that long ago. It was at Oh yeah, no.
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We were all pouring one out for a dearly departed friend of ours
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when suddenly some swaggering little rich kid invites one of
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our other friends out back. Then he just vanished off the
7:13
face of the earth, and I believe you yelled something about what?
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Was it just fuck already something to that effect?
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That sounds like me, yeah. Yeah.
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So maybe you can help us out. See, we're in the neighborhood
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and we just want to ask your friend a few questions.
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He'll point back at the direction the party's happening
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in in there. Seems a little bemused, almost
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like he was expecting a bit more resistance.
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That easy, huh? Drugs.
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And they're smart. It's like a drug dinner or some
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shit. They're having a party without
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us. Yeah, drugs, girls.
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Creepy asshole. Yeah.
8:05
Anyone got red hair? Different voice.
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Oh. Can I glance over who's talking?
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This guy does not look like a biker, but you recognize this
8:16
guy nonetheless. It's the bouncer, the roll of
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honor. You'd remember that constant
8:24
stink eye anywhere, The one that Raleigh very unsuccessfully
8:28
attempted to charm. Yeah.
8:32
He looks at his phone, looks back up at the Sergeant of Arms,
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gives a nod. All right, buddy, I think it for
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your sake, you should head on home and forget you ever saw
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anything tonight. Yes, probably for the best I
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guess. Glad you're in such an agreeable
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mood now fuck off. OK, put it.
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He'll put his headphones back in and start walking.
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Again, just a little surprised that the lack of resistance, but
9:11
clearly they have other shit to do tonight as you see them
9:13
immediately starts to disembark off their vehicles, you see.
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Magazines being loaded into guns.
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You see the bouncer, Gabe you think his name was.
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You remember the bartender calling him?
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Gabe starts talking to them and handing out, well, look like gas
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masks. All right, Remember, we're all.
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We're only going to get one shot at this.
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OK, so you move quick and you hit hard.
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As Jeremy's leaving, he'll flip his phone back on as he keeps
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walking and just in his pocket, and then he'll turn the next
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corner and then he'll text everyone that, hey, you got
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incoming. You do indeed have incoming, but
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unfortunately there's two different kinds of incoming as
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those of you still present inside the mall gives out
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footsteps echoing off the linoleum and the tell tale
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electronic buzzing. That damn anthropomorphic Jack
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rabbit stirring to life. Howdy there, cow Cow pokes and
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cow poke gets 3 individuals 2. Well, they appear to be mall
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security, although you don't remember mall security looking
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so grizzled. The person they're flanking,
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however, looks like he just stepped out of a gangster film.
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Bolding, permanent scowl, big burly gold chain, lots of rings
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over a rather cheap looking suit.
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Formidable horseshoe mustache. The kind that only makes the
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frown deeper as he just surveys the entirety of this.
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Am I interrupting something? Oh my God, no.
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I told you to come. Hey dude, looks at you.
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Ash didn't say nothing about no fucking Crawford.
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Ash crosses their arms. Oh yeah, Ash, this is Freddy
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Werth. So you're the runt.
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Oh, runt's like the nicest thing I've been called this week.
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I could think of some more creative things that would give
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me time. Your daddy still got a permanent
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stick up his ass. Coming out the mouth.
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And Bella, you better have a good fucking reason for calling
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me out in the middle of all this.
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Oh, I just thought we might have some new recruits, some new
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Kindred, you know, for the cause.
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Amid that, she's going to look directly at Ash.
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Ash lift their arms. I'm not taking pitches right
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now. I'm currently trying to save my
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own and fellow licks lifes or lack thereof.
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OK, so I know in Bella and her circus and I know you, but who
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the fuck are the rest of you? Going to give kind of a casual
12:52
salute in my drugged upstate and say really Asher, pleasure to
12:58
meet you. Right.
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And I'm John Wayne. Anybody else?
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Astor decidedly like is not as drugged out as she wishes she
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was just good Sup I'm Ashley, she like sticks out of hand.
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All right, Ash. Ash and Ashley, he doesn't shake
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your hand. Fair enough.
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Good one. How much would it fuck you up if
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I told you my name was also Ashley?
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It would definitely be the most comical night I've had in a
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while. So now that we got all the jokes
13:54
out of our system again, what the fuck, Ambella?
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They want my shit and I don't want to give it to them.
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Yeah, well, that shit doesn't really belong to you now does
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it? Yes it does.
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I want it fair and square. Oh yeah, you beat the fuck out
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of some decrepit ghoul. Yeah, All hail the conquering
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hero. Well I don't see you getting off
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your ass and doing anything for any of us.
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What decades? You're supposed to be leading
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this fucking movement and you sit on your ass all damn day
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just complaining about how things should have gone better
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in the past. Well, they did it and we're here
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and we have to do something. Yeah, and if we don't get the
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gun, we're all fucking dead. I'd like to not die again.
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I would prefer not to be there. And probably a lot of collateral
15:03
damage on the way of massage. Rips open, rips open everybody
15:08
in San Arroyo. Yeah, yeah, that too.
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Wow, so let me get this straight, Sheriff's off his
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rocker. Yep, you took that as an
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opportunity to fuck up his ghoul and you, for whatever fucking
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reason, decided well might as well throw some more gasoline on
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this fire by haggling over the God damn Colt.
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That about what I've stepped into.
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Just about more or less. You had to bring the fucking
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Crawford here, didn't you? I mean, we just need one more C
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and we'd have all three. You think I don't know your
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fucking game? You're not nearly as clever as
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you seem to think. You are a kid.
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What are we talking about with seats?
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Right now I'm having a conversation with her, not you.
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You'll get your fucking turn. Ash holds their hands up.
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What exactly do you think is going to happen when Mama Dawn
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finds out? When fucking Sarah finds out you
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thought this through at all. They got more heavy hitters than
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1 decrepit old Gangrel ghetto. Yeah, well, we have the Colts,
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and we have a coat of them, and we've got some new fledglings.
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Some new fledglings that, according to my sources, the Cam
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already got their hooks into. They're new.
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Those hooks aren't that deep. I'll see he's still giving you
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the every so often looking away from Embella to give you
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specifically Ash, just the mother of all stairs.
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And you don't know why. You don't know this guy, You've
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never seen this guy before, and yet something about the name
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Freddie. Can I make a roll for what
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Freddie or Worth would bring up in my memory?
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Give me intelligence plus resolve check.
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OK, because this actually kind of matters to me and I'm
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curious. I'm going to rouse for it
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because why not? Nope, that means my hunger is
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going up. 3 successes. Are you satisfied with three
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successes? Not when you, not when you ask
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me that. So I'll I'll pop some bill.
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I guess I have to be satisfied with three successes. 3
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successes. No way.
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No goddamn way. You This can't be Emily.
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She doesn't. No goddamn way.
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So so Emily recognizes like Emily, like he's related to
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Emily somehow or or somebody. Have an uncle, Freddie.
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And yet this person, whoever they are, has been tormenting
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your sister in her manic episodes ever since.
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Well, ever since she first started to go off the deep end.
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Hey can I like voluntarily make a frenzy check?
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Give me a willpower check. This is important to you, so I'm
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going to put it at a three. 3 successes.
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You keep it together, barely, but your hands reflexively curl
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into fists. Ash like realistically is going
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to commit like every feature of this man to memory, trying not
19:10
to just lose it and just demand why he is the specter over her
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family. But we'll like make a show of
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exhaling and see. So I'm sorry, do you have a
19:27
problem with me or was it just that my father stiffed you on a
19:34
deal at some point? Your father, worst thing he ever
19:40
did was fucking reproduce. That gets Ash to step forward.
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It's like, oh, so it's OK. So it's just it's Zach who
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absolutely great, another person who he's absolutely made a mess.
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Of they went out of their way, put on the bite on you.
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Yeah, I didn't really have a choice in the matter.
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Sure, I can crawl for it's what they want.
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They get. Ash is going to look to Anne
20:20
Bella and say can we get the cult?
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Anne Bella is going to look to Crow and she's going to say I
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want to see the book first. Just a little authentication
20:36
check. You know, I don't know you.
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I don't really trust you yet. So just going to need a little
20:43
show of faith. You know how blood bonds work.
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Oh yes, Annabella is going to like, wrap her arm around
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Darren's. Raleigh it's just the question
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mark meme in the background. Like what are those?
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I'll drink. I don't have it with me.
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I live on the outside of town and a drink guarantees I bring
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it back. All right, we can call that a
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deal. And yeah, Ambella is gonna offer
21:19
her wrist to crow. Yay, cool.
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Wanna go drink? OK, Ambella, you know your
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coterie is already on their toes just from the massed hostility.
21:37
But at the same time, well, you've done weirder with
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complete strangers. Exactly.
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And this is in her mind in service of the coterie skulls.
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So. You OfferUp your wrist, crow
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draws in. Astor and Raleigh both kind of
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dazedly observe the proceedings. The world is just such a
22:12
beautiful place to them right now.
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It's great. The rest of the dispersed close
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ranks, and Ash and Freddie keep staring daggers at each other
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for reasons that at the moment, perhaps they're not quite clear.
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It's a shame no one bothered to check their phone.
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Unfortunate. Now, the only person who has
22:38
rapid reflexes here who's in an SBC is Raleigh.
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So Raleigh, you're in a weird situation.
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Your reflexes are pretty naturally responsive, but you
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are also tripping balls. So before anything happens, can
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you give me a, we'll call it, we'll make it 2 attributes,
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we'll call it composure plus stamina. 3 successes.
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You're not really sure what everybody's so stressed about,
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but you feel better than you have in months.
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I'm sure it'll all work out fine.
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You kind of lazily lift your gaze upwards and oh look,
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there's something sailing through the air towards the
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clustered group of you. That's weird.
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Maybe you should do something about that.
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Can I catch it? You can certainly try.
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Give me dex plus athletics. And I will activate fleetness
23:52
for this. Absolutely you do, because of
23:57
the effects of L of A + 1 to all Dexterity based checks.
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Hell yeah, even better. Benefits of everything being
24:07
just slightly in slow motion. I will get hungrier
24:11
unfortunately, but I'll have fleetness for the entire scene
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all. Right, so let's see how you do.
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And I'm going to. Spend a willpower.
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'Cause I got 3 dice to reroll and that is 7 successes you.
24:29
Almost absentmindedly reach up and it, like a perfect football
24:33
catch, sails into your waiting palm and you bring it down to
24:36
your face to inspect it. Oh, it's a pipe bomb.
24:42
Oh, it's a pipe bomb. I at the at the realization of
24:47
that, I'm going to Chuck it in an opposite direction.
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You Chuck it in a direction, any direction.
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Away from me. And the good news is that
24:58
because you did so, the next bit becomes slightly easier for
25:04
everyone else. I need everybody to make me the
25:10
Dexterity plus athletics check, with the exception of Jeremy,
25:13
he's got different problems. I'll let it write it for 2.
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Success. 2 successes. You successes.
25:22
Yeah, not doing so great, are we?
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OK, so everybody, with the exception of Raleigh, The pipe
25:29
bomb is tossed into the air rather than an incendiary.
25:33
However, when it erupts, it erupts into a sudden flash of
25:38
light as some kind of accelerant ignites into a blinding glare.
25:44
For a moment, everyone but the exception Raleigh cannot see.
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And then a kiss. A plume of acrid smoke that,
25:57
rather than immediately enveloping everyone in the
26:00
junction, instead slowly begins to settle atop all of you.
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Everyone that was caught in the blast has a -2 to all wits and
26:15
dexterity based checks. As your eyes are burning and
26:19
your ears are ringing from what is essentially an improvised
26:22
flash bang, you hear somebody yell, albeit distantly.
26:28
Fuck them up. That's where the gunfire starts,
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Jeremy. Yeah.
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You hear the gunfire. It's very distant, but you hear
26:44
it. After all, it is an outdoor
26:48
locale. The sound carries.
26:53
Question is, what are you doing about it?
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I don't think I I don't, I think I have a lot I can do to help
27:00
them fight off 8 or 9 people armed with guns.
27:04
True, but can you really just leave them?
27:09
Yeah, there were people in there that weren't vampires, weren't
27:11
there too. True, and they don't know what's
27:14
going on. Fuck.
27:16
As Jeremy turns to start heading back, he he will send one last
27:20
text to the the group chat or text back to Aster and
27:23
everybody, which was basically you guys weren't watching your
27:27
phones, were you? And for them to pull this phone
27:29
away and he'll start jogging. Back Hey there, cow, cow pokes
27:33
and cow. An explosion of sparks and
27:37
fiberglass chips as some errand shot decapitates Jackalope Jim.
27:43
It is pure chaos in every direction.
27:49
Stumbling, blind, hearing the sounds, raised voices of
27:53
gunfire. Not entirely certain if it's
27:56
yours or someone else's. So what's everyone doing?
28:02
Yell to get out of here and do I see where these are coming from?
28:10
You do. The upper balconies, they picked
28:13
a great spot for an ambush. They have you like fish in a
28:16
barrel. From all directions you can see
28:18
the muzzle flash of automatic gunfire. 2 or maybe 6 people all
28:25
firing on this collection of people from above.
28:29
Is there an easy way for me to get up to the balcony?
28:33
There is a stairwell, but it's further back into the whole way
28:36
through. You came.
28:37
You could attempt some potentially risky parkour given
28:42
that the play place is full of elevated structures.
28:47
Yeah, no, we're going to do that.
28:48
I'm going to the the quickest direction to get up there can
28:52
help people. I can fight and I'm going to
28:55
fucking fight. You know, it's been a long night
29:00
and you really have not gotten a lot of opportunities to kick
29:02
someone's ass. It's yeah, it really has.
29:06
It's been a really long fucking week too.
29:08
I've got a lot of aggression to get out and I this is the
29:13
perfect opportunity all. Right.
29:15
Go ahead and give me either. I think I know what you'll
29:19
choose, but I'll give you the option.
29:20
Give me either Dexterity or Staminopolis Athletics.
29:25
I'll go with the dex. I'll be here as much.
29:29
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that is 7 successes with a
29:32
critical. If only Toby could see you now,
29:37
he'd be proud. Yeah.
29:40
You couldn't have planned your scent up to the upper balcony
29:43
better if you'd choreographed it in advance.
29:47
You moving faster than the bullets can catch you spring up
29:52
onto the roof of the quote UN quote sheriff's station.
29:58
Pivot, jump, spring off the upper bars of the play area and
30:05
soar some, resulting in mid air onto the gantry right behind two
30:12
of these bikers who barely have time to turn around.
30:18
Yeah. Hi boys.
30:22
That's the that's about as far as they get.
30:25
Exactly. Give me strengthless brawl.
30:29
Thanks, Brawl. And because I'm real fucking
30:32
angry, yeah, no, I'm going to rouse and the beast and I are in
30:37
accord and I do not get hungrier it.
30:39
Would appear so. And I'm going to spend some
30:43
willpower on this. That's for successes.
30:47
All right, conventional wisdom is that if you were unarmed and
30:52
the person that you are fighting has a firearm, you should run
30:56
the other direction. Because this sort of event where
31:02
the heroine in this case successfully manages to disarm
31:07
and pummel 2 large burly men armed with automatic weaponry is
31:11
something that only happens in the movies usually.
31:15
Again, your stunt coordinator would be so proud.
31:20
And Bella, that was particularly punishing for you.
31:24
Your bloodline abhors presence, illumination.
31:31
Something inside of you is inherently recoiling from even
31:35
that brief moment. You can feel Darren's hands
31:40
around you, ever loyal, trying to get you out of harm's way,
31:46
physically dragging you where you're not quite sure.
31:50
You catch staccato flashes of your own coterie.
31:54
You see Hygia diving for cover. You see Quill once again
31:59
utilizing the darkness to fade from sight.
32:01
You see Jesse just straight up Volt a superhuman leap, covering
32:08
at least a good 10 feet straight upwards onto a different gantry
32:14
to confront them head on, as he is so apt to do.
32:17
But what are you doing? Think as Ambella is being
32:22
dragged away by Darren, she's going to grab Crow and try to
32:27
bring Crow to that same safety, but more importantly take Crow
32:33
with her. Crow, you were closest to her
32:38
when all this broke out. Do you resist this?
32:41
Not at all. All right, so in that case,
32:45
could the two of you give me either decks or stamina plus
32:49
Athletics? There's a this is less a measure
32:52
of you getting the hell out of dodge.
32:53
You're both getting the hell out of dodge and more the fact that
32:57
you're trying really hard not to get shot and there's a lot of
33:00
gunfire. That is a singular success. 3
33:05
successes for Crow. Not great.
33:08
Well, fortunately for the two of you, it seems that between their
33:14
improvised explosive not going off quite the way they intended,
33:19
and the fact that now there are people having covered the
33:22
distance scarily fast, the gunfire hits pretty much
33:29
everywhere but the three of you. Ash.
33:34
Yeah. Same problem.
33:37
I think in this instance I'm going to try tailing it at least
33:42
trying to get the hell out of here, because guns, fists,
33:48
there's a range differential. That's true, and you don't
33:52
possess the same gifts that some of the other people here possess
33:56
that would make it oh so easy to get in for a good round of
33:59
fisticuffs. Same pool, either decks or
34:03
stamina plus athletics. I'm going to take stamina and
34:09
that is going to be 5 successes. Bringing it back to the movies
34:15
for a moment, Usually the hapless stormtroopers.
34:19
Terrible shots. Unfortunately, no matter how
34:23
good Raleigh makes it look, these are not the movies you get
34:27
raked by automatic gunfire. Well.
34:30
You take after having only two points of superficial damage,
34:34
but all the same, not a fun experience.
34:37
Yeah. Am I at least getting out of
34:39
like the kill box? You are indeed getting out of
34:42
the kill box, unfortunately. Well, let's just say not
34:45
everybody in the kill box was so lucky.
34:48
Yeah. Jeremy, Speaking of which, you
34:52
are, despite your better judgement, heading back into the
34:57
kill box. And you know the ringing in my
35:00
ears and every iota of my beast screaming at me to get the hell
35:03
out of here. Yeah, but you're reminded of
35:07
another situation that went pear shaped, the rave, and you wanted
35:13
to do the right thing then and you feel like you still want to
35:16
do the right thing now you just you need to figure out how.
35:22
Well, I mean, when I get back outside where they left their
35:25
bikes, what's going on? There's.
35:27
Obvious time coming back in. You head back in, breaking into
35:31
a run, and you see, well from a distance it's kind of hard to
35:35
make out, but you can see in addition to the ones that are
35:40
firing down onto the play place, you see there's two further back
35:44
in the corridor. The same corridor that you're
35:46
rushing towards, laying in wait, waiting for someone to try
35:51
charging out to the obvious exit.
35:54
Is one of them the the shitty bartender guy?
35:57
Yep, you can see these guys. Not only are they loaded for
36:03
bear, they're wearing gas masks, commercial gas masks, but all
36:07
the same apparatuses that would keep them safe from the worst of
36:12
their own incendiary device. This was planned.
36:17
This was coordinated. Question is, what are you going
36:20
to do about it? So they're both paying attention
36:25
to the the door. Yeah.
36:30
Sort of. Where they now decapitated
36:34
Jackalope, Jim previously stood guard all.
36:39
Right, I'm gonna try to slip up behind the bartender guy.
36:43
OK. I mean there's, I mean, I, I can
36:46
roll a dice, but I'm at -4 dice penalties.
36:48
So I mean. Yeah, it's not helping that in
36:52
addition to the cacophony, that action tempo, worst possible
36:58
time. But he hasn't seen you, He
37:01
doesn't know you're there. So the difficulty to beat this
37:05
is 1. So you just need one success.
37:09
Hey, look, success upon success. It helps that at the moment you
37:14
think he's focused on a lot more.
37:18
He's muttering something under his breath as he holds steady,
37:24
showing impressive trigger discipline compared to his
37:29
compatriots. Well, I got one thing I can do
37:33
and it's not a pretty one in this situation because he's not
37:37
facing me, so I can't even tell me and all alone held I'm since
37:42
I slipped up by him. I'm just going to tear his
37:43
throat out my teeth. I think that's the I'm just
37:46
going to lead into the beast here and just I got to help
37:50
people somehow and this is the only thing I can think of.
37:52
You're going in for a bite attack.
37:55
Yeah. OK, that's strength plus Brule.
37:59
Well, good news is I cannot have fewer dice than one.
38:03
There we go beast. Let's see if you got it.
38:05
I'm at -6 dice for trying to bite this guy.
38:09
There is no way for me to have a positive dice roll or alfre.
38:13
I still get a success though. Dude get a success and he didn't
38:19
see you. That's the unfortunate thing
38:22
about ambushes in this system. You don't know what else to do.
38:28
You don't have any other natural weapons at your disposal, so you
38:33
just leap at him and trust something inside of you to take
38:36
over. And it does.
38:40
Has Jeremy fed off of anyone before?
38:44
Now, no, he hasn't you. Just don't need to realize how
38:49
dangerous you can be as you bite down.
38:56
Meanwhile, Aster. Yup.
39:01
Well, you're not sure if what you're on is making the
39:06
situation better or worse for you, but it's definitely doing
39:09
something so. What I as soon as the flashback
39:15
went off, Aster like hit the floor just out of pure instinct.
39:19
She was like loud noise hit the deck.
39:23
You could continue to hit the deck, play possum.
39:26
That is an option that. Is a.
39:29
That was the option that she was thinking of, to be honest.
39:33
All right, in that case. Ted, do I see Crow being dragged
39:39
off like disaster? Witness that A.
39:41
Lot's going on. You weren't necessarily close to
39:46
Crow when that happened. Mm.
39:48
Hmm, so go ahead and give me a Wits Plus awareness check.
39:52
Keep in mind that you are at -2 to this pool.
39:58
Sex nudes 1 success crap. No.
40:04
Everything is light and noise and acrid smelling smoke and
40:09
panic and screams and gunfire. Cool, so in that case, Astra's
40:16
just going to crawl to the nearest what looks like an exit.
40:20
OK, give me a composure plus stealth roll as you're
40:25
essentially rather than making a sprinting break for it, trying
40:29
to attract as little attention as possible in the midst of this
40:32
fracas. 3 successes. 3 successes.
40:39
You're moving to where you're not sure.
40:42
Somewhere that isn't here. In the midst of all the chaos,
40:46
you feel a hand on your shoulder.
40:49
You look up and you see Hygia, the young Asian woman who
40:53
recognized you. She drags you behind one of the
41:00
plastic saloon barricades, rapidly being eaten away by
41:06
gunfire. Puts a finger to her lips.
41:11
Just holds you there. Astor just makes eye contact and
41:15
was like yeah no shit, stay quiet.
41:21
Ash. Yeah.
41:24
You're running in a direction, and you would have run directly
41:27
into a trap if a certain friend of yours hadn't sprung it for
41:31
you. Mm hmm.
41:34
You see it happened As you rush towards it, though you're still
41:37
blinking the bright spots out of your eyes.
41:41
You see Jeremy pounce on one individual.
41:45
You hear another one go oh fuck, rising up with the barrel of his
41:51
gun. I'm going to fucking punch this
41:55
dude. Roll to fucking punch this dude.
41:59
Give me strength plus brawl. Yeah, we're going to.
42:03
That is 4 successes. More successes?
42:09
OK, he has the opportunity to try and dodge out of the way as
42:13
you are very obviously charging towards him.
42:18
He does not succeed, however. All right, I'm not holding back.
42:23
You are not. You don't think you're capable
42:26
of holding back anymore. As one hand reaches out to catch
42:30
the barrel of the gun as a twist towards you, the other one goes
42:35
in for the mother of all hooks. You feel it connect with his
42:39
jaw, and you feel the jaw nearly not just dislodge, but nearly go
42:43
flying off of his face as there's a horrible crack.
42:48
Ash is, I'm assuming that this dude is crumpling, but it's
42:56
gonna look to Jeremy and say y'all right.
43:01
You hear ominous slurping noises.
43:04
Yeah, Jeremy, you're trying to drain this guy.
43:07
This guy doesn't want to be drained.
43:10
He does have an opportunity to try and resist you before the
43:14
Sopor epic effects of the kiss set in.
43:18
Now I know you're dealing with a lot right now, but could you do
43:21
me the courtesy of making a dex plus athletics or strength plus
43:26
parole pool even though I know it's all the same to you right
43:29
now? Could I assist?
43:31
You could certainly try. Well, I got a success.
43:37
OK Ash, give me A to try and but what are you trying to do to
43:45
assist? Specifically, like, I think it's
43:48
going to be just like trying to grab this guy's shoulders and
43:51
just like hold them down. OK, yeah, in that case, give me
43:54
a strength plus athletics check. Messy crap 5.
44:01
Successes. OK, this is an interesting
44:06
scenario. He has also ruled a crit so
44:13
technically technically he beats your pool, however and is still
44:17
a messy critical. So what happens is this you try
44:22
to grab him to hold him down and you get a hold of him.
44:26
He however well he clearly some kind of combat training because
44:32
he immediately goes to try and break the hold you're trying to
44:36
put on him. You, well, you don't want to let
44:39
go, and you feel, even as he tears away from Jeremy's fangs,
44:45
you feel the grip you have on his arm is a pop and a crack as
44:50
just by holding on, you have pulled this guy's arm out of his
44:53
socket. You hear him in a voice racked
45:00
with pain. Fuck you, Muertos.
45:05
And then you see what's in his other hand.
45:09
It's another one of those pipe bombs.
45:12
Shit. Another bang, another flash,
45:19
another spray of foul smelling smoke.
45:25
Raleigh. Yes.
45:30
Unfortunately, you do not have lethal body, so your fight's a
45:33
little more protracted. Yeah.
45:37
Can you please give me some strengthless brawl roll?
45:40
3 successes. 3 successes ain't bad.
45:45
Well, it was going well. For a moment you realize you've
45:55
never actually been in a life or death fight before.
45:59
Or at least you've never been in a life or death fight before
46:05
quite like this. You're throwing out every single
46:10
trick you've had in your long career.
46:13
But these guys, they might not be as good as you, but they're
46:16
no amateurs when it comes to bare knuckle boxing either.
46:20
And they have guns. You twist, dodge, counter attack
46:25
with preaching natural speed, but they get their own licks and
46:30
take two points of superficial damage.
46:33
That is after having. OK.
46:38
As the blows you take are not nearly as devastating as they
46:44
should be. Ambella and a Crow?
46:50
Well, is it fair to say that you're getting the hell out of
46:53
Dodge? Yeah.
46:57
Absolutely. Ambella, where is the colt?
47:04
The colt is in a shoulder bag that she has on her and I think
47:13
she's been using or or at least if she feels like she needs to
47:18
hide it, she would use her ensconce to make it less
47:26
apparent or visible. What shoulder bag?
47:31
Exactly. Darren's dragging you away.
47:36
You're dragging Crow, you still hear the sounds of fighting, you
47:40
actually see somebody. One of the bikers get physically
47:43
tossed off the gantry where he hits the ground maybe a couple
47:48
feet away with you with an ugly crack.
47:51
Doesn't get up again. Swiftly followed by Jesse, who
47:54
just vaults over the side onto the ground next to you, looking,
48:00
well, looking like he just charged that a guy with an AK47.
48:05
Markers are everywhere. But wait, where's Igia?
48:09
I don't know, it's fucking bright.
48:11
Just get her and let's go. But but she's back.
48:15
Come on. Survival of the fittest, mate.
48:21
And Bella give me. A.
48:26
Call it. Manipulation plus Persuasion
48:28
roll. OK, that is 4 successes.
48:36
You can see him looking back, looking for any sign of his
48:39
partner looking back at you, his loyalty to her warring against
48:44
the loyalty to the coderate. Grits his fangs like rides up
48:51
back. I'm sure Quill will catch up.
48:54
Come on. You know that Darren's car
48:58
sparked opposite the main food court area near the actual
49:07
ancillary parking lot. One of those large concrete
49:10
structures really is just that big of a mall.
49:14
Yeah, I think Ambella's got Darren and Crow, and Jesse's
49:19
probably taking point just head on a swivel looking for more of
49:24
these fuckers. They're not exactly pouring out
49:27
the woodwork, but you can still hear the sounds of some kind of
49:32
battle behind you. The.