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The Vampire With No Name 1.06 - Boot Hill · Dubious Creatures Presents

0:25
The. The.
1:19
A highway wanders through the desert.
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A tumbleweed drifts past a dusty dive bar.
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A coyote shrieks out to no one in particular.
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Someone's bleeding out in a bathroom stall.
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The stars tonight are bright, but not nearly bright enough.
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This place does not exist, and yet here you are.
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Welcome to San Arroyo Kindred. We here at Dubious Creatures
1:51
present to you the Vampire with no name.
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It is one of the squishies near me.
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I'd say Ash is currently the closest to you right now.
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The rest of you are are are either deeper into the facility
2:08
or catching up. Comforting Jeremy at the moment.
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I'm coming toughness. Yeah, I'm going to pock
2:18
completeness and pull out the like, unsheath the sword.
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Jeremy Yes, Sir. The moment the moment that door
2:27
opened, the music reached its. Crescendo Bach stands up,
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actually very abruptly, looking past you Aster, at the where the
2:38
the mobster's coming out from. Jeremy is actually gonna walk
2:43
towards where the monster's coming out.
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OK. Cautiously follow.
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That's when you hear the snarl and the sound of what sounds
2:53
like multiple sides of beef hitting the concrete floral at
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once. Ash and Raleigh, you're the
2:59
closest. I need both of you to make Dex
3:01
with Athletics. Check.
3:02
Yeah, yeah, I failed my rouse check for fleetness, so I'm up
3:07
to hunger for Let's go. I'm gonna just rouse to try to
3:14
get away more. Oh yeah, yeah.
3:16
Welcome back, Hugger. Somehow I think this is OK. 4
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successes. 6 successes with a messy critical.
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I'm to say with a messy critical that feeling of self
3:28
preservation that was kicking in before it fully kicks out.
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Now you. Yep, you drop the sword, you
3:34
run. You're in the middle of a fear
3:36
friendly. Pour ash tears into you, this
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bloody and roaring thing. And how much fortitude do you
3:50
have? I have two dots of fortitude.
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OK, so good news, you only take one point of superficial damage.
4:02
OK. There's a low rule for it, but
4:05
all the same, it's claws are in you, hooking into you, merely
4:10
taking you straight off your feet with the impact, and you
4:13
feel like you should be more injured then you end up being as
4:19
you slam back into a machine in the opposite row, hard enough to
4:22
dent the metal. But at the moment you don't have
4:25
time to worry about that because it's here, it's in front of you
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and it's pissed. It looks like it's distracted by
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Ash, right? Seems to be.
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What are the rest of you doing? Jeremy looks at Aster and says
4:44
I'm a I'm gonna do something very stupid here and Jeremy's
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gonna slip off trying to look like he's like cowering and
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trying to slip around. Basically I'm doing an
4:57
exaggerated I'm not a threat, oh God I'm cowering thing, but I'm
5:01
trying to slip up close enough that I can stab him in the back.
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OK, give me a result plus performance chick.
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We're having a good time tonight.
5:13
Yeah, I'm going to make the. I'm trying to make the music
5:15
stop. So this is my cutting plan.
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To make the music stop is to stab it.
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So this is not going. To go wrong.
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Yeah, A7 messy crit. Yes, unfortunately so the music
5:32
does not stop. The music intensifies all the
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sudden. You're wrong.
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This is a de horror film. This is some straight up
5:41
Splatterhouse stuff, and you're right in the middle of it.
5:47
Fuck. And you it sees you as the
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weaker target. You have it's full attention.
5:54
As it rounds on you, you swear to God that soundtrack ramps up,
6:00
almost like it's waiting for the long take over graphic finishing
6:07
move that'll reduce you to bloody chunks for the rest of
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the audience to marvel at. Master grow.
6:15
I'm if I've heard noise, especially from behind me, I'm
6:21
probably going to drop into being a little bit more stealthy
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and work my way back as quietly as possible to hopefully maybe
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jam the stake in this thing without it seeing me.
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Give me 8X plus stealth. Let's willpower that that comes
6:43
out to 8 success critical and I do hit hunger 3 all.
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Right, you see it rounding on Jeremy as Ash tries to pry
6:57
themselves out of the well them shaped indent they left in the
7:04
washing machine behind them. Try really hard not to let
7:08
yourself think too much about a similar situation with a looming
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beastial figure in the dark and instead keep low trying to get
7:17
the angle on it. Just Just need you just need
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that perfect moment. Sebastian told you wear right
7:25
between the 3rd and 4th rib. Which just leaves you Aster.
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Aster will just pick up a rock or whatever that happens to be
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on the floor and throw it at this thing to try to get its
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attention away from Jeremy. Oh boy, Everybody's got their
7:42
own brilliant plans, don't they? Give me yeah.
7:45
Give me Dex. Plus athletics.
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Sure, that would be a messy critical.
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You know, there are other kinds of criticals.
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Hey, sorry. You grab a loose piece of
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machinery and fuck it, thinking that this is your one shot to
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keep it from eviscerating the cowering Jeremy, unaware of the
8:07
stake he's currently got clutch just out of view.
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It smacks against the thing's head and it turns, and that in
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the half light of the fallen, slightly flickering flashlight,
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you get a split second view of Lank, Dark blood slicked hair,
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gaunt, sell sallow features, skin so devoid of life that it's
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practically grayish. And those eyes.
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Those horrible staring red eyes. It doesn't match any of my
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nightmares. I was like, no.
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But this is rapidly turning into a new one as it leaps.
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Oh God. Soaring through the space and
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it's in front of you, it's on top of you, almost faster than
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you could react. Give me another Dexil's
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athletics rule now. You can, if you so choose, rouse
9:10
the blood. You are capable of that, but you
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only get one bonus die. You know, in this situation
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we've we've never roused before, but this is a one of those
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fighter flights and doesn't have any other option than to fight
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all. Right, so. 3 successes.
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Are you satisfied with that number?
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Not really. Would you like to?
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I'm going. To reroll, let's do that 5
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successes. That's better.
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It leaps down, and it's claws are so sharp it carves furrows
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in the concrete where you were standing a second before.
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But something inside of you surges.
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Something twists and you move just barely a degree faster than
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it's massive leap can catch you. But only just.
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You felt the force of that blow stir your hair, crow it's back
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is to you it's now or never I'm. Going for it.
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All right, it's a cold shot. Strength plus melee.
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That is a messy critical. Of six successes, 6 successes.
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You have it, you see it, and as you rush into motion, a black
10:45
silhouette against a black background.
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Something changes in you, in your physicality.
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If you'd like to describe for us what your bane looks like when
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it comes to the four. Visually probably wouldn't be
11:04
super noticeable to anyone yet as she's wearing this sort of
11:10
hooded cardigan situation, but anybody who could see would
11:15
probably begin to see like feathers starting to come in
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through her neck and around her hairline.
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She has it. It looks like she has feathers
11:26
in her hair at first glance, but you would actually see that they
11:29
are starting to ruffle at the neck.
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You stab from behind, a perfectly executed blow that
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probably make Raleigh jealous were she here to observe the
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proceedings. You feel an impact, cutting
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through the rough cloth of whatever rags this thing is
11:53
still wearing. Hit the skin underneath and you
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nearly break your hand as the steak turns to splinters,
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leaving you holding maybe a few inches of 2 by 4.
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Look. It lashes out just blindly.
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A savage backhound. Give me dex plus athletics.
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Well, it's 4 successes on another messy critical.
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Unfortunately, it's not enough. Yep.
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Tank five points, unhalved, superficial damage as it it
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catches you with the back of its hand, the claws in the back
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screen scoring against the side of your face, nearly taking out
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one of your eyes, and you feel yourself spin in the air for a
12:46
moment just from the force alone.
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Raleigh. Yes.
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You're outside. You aren't even cognizant of how
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you get in here. You just know you ran out here,
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shut the door behind you, and now you're panting with breaths
13:04
you don't need. You've never been this scared in
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your life and. Even when I was dying.
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And even worse, you can hear it. You can hear it snarling.
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You can hear the crashing. It's, it's killing them.
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And you can't. You can't move.
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You can't breathe. You can't.
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You can't. You can't.
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But I have to not even a, it's not even a, a can I, it's, I
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have to, I have to go back in there.
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I have to help them. I just, I can't make my feet
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move if they're going to all die and it's going to be my fucking
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fault that I wasn't there to help them.
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Give me another willpower check. One Anderson separate the
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stubbornness. No, it's only 1 success.
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No, you can't. You can't do it.
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You sink down to your knees and clasp your hands over years
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trying to drown out the sounds from within.
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Ash, Jeremy. Yeah.
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It's bad. You didn't see the stake
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shatter, but you saw the thing that rolled out of Crow's hand
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when she was very nearly decapitated.
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So you can put two and two together.
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Ash is going to try to when you try to cross the distance to try
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to pull anybody's ass ass out of the fire.
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Right now it's equidistant from three people.
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I think that they're going to go for Aster.
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OK. You know what?
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No. No.
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They're gonna go for Jeremy. Jeremy, this is going so wrong.
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I told that the the the snake shattering means that when she's
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like psyched up on it tells me that there's nothing we can do
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here. I think Jeremy's just kind of
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like watching like like hearing the like the splatter music
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playing. Then he kind of reaches into his
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pocket. He pulls out his lighter.
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He like looks at it and he's kind of looking at this thing.
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I'm gonna round back around it had there was a utility closet,
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right? Well, a lot is happening right
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now. I don't that's that's what
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Jeremy's gonna be a running looking for chemicals.
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Give me a Witsplus investigation chick.
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Sure, Bucket and snowball park. Two successes.
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Somebody dropped the flashlight. It's it's too dark and there's
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too much going on and there's too much God damn noise and you
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just hold the lighter out. Almost talismanic, but it's
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seemingly not even paying attention to anymore.
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It's rounding on the currently still supine crow, just like it
16:10
did with that guy at the rave, like it's about to bite down and
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feed. Ash is running forward.
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You're not sure towards who exactly, but you're running at
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the danger. Despite everything in your head
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screaming you to do the exact opposite.
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Aster, you're on literally on the back foot, panting, trying
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to just scoot away as fast as possible.
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Crow, there are things sloshing around in your skull that
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probably shouldn't be doing that.
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And Raleigh, you're outside just trying trying to shut it all
16:47
out. And in the midst of all of the
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just as the fangs are inches crow's throat, you hear hey, the
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banging noise, somebody pounding on metal.
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And you see for the back towards the area that you were just
17:08
about to make a mad dash for Jeremy.
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Another pair of red eyes and a familiar voice.
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Hey, hey, come on, come on. I swaddle with a small fry.
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Yeah, come on, I got the shit you want.
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You hear Sebastian's voice as this thing snarls on all fours,
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looking like it's about to pounce, when suddenly it
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doesn't. It seems almost weirdly
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transfixed as Sebastian steps into the light, his shining eyes
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now almost reptilian slits. Or perhaps that's just another
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trick of the illumination as he is staring this things down,
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hands spread wide, slowly maneuvering.
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Yeah, that's it. Look at you, fucking look at
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you. He looks at you, Jeremy, just
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for a moment. Give me a intelligence or
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witsless insight role. 3 successes.
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He looks at you, his eyes flick to you, and then suddenly they
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flick to one of the large laundromats.
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It's door open, it's inside relatively barren.
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As you can see, he is maneuvering himself in such a
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way that he is standing directly in front of that opening, just
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past the open door. Jeremy is going to looks like
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he's cowering and running and frantically looking around, make
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his way in that direction and flee in that direction and as
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soon as he steps out of sight around it, I'm going to cloak of
19:01
shadows and be hidden right behind the door ready to close.
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It it seemingly isn't paying attention to you, it's paying
19:09
attention to him. Some strange almost hypnotic
19:13
effect it's having against this creature as it continues to pad
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and chuff and hiss, so recognizing the human and it's
19:21
so very beastial, it's claws scraping against the concrete,
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setting up showers of sparks. Meanwhile, Sebastian, look at
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you. He chased me up and down the Dan
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County Once Upon a time. Well, what are you waiting for?
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I'm right here. Something changes in the air.
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The thing let's out a bellow and charges forward Jeremy.
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Yep, give me composure or resolve plus athletics.
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There it is, Crit 6. Nice.
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At the last possible moment, Sebastian ducks aside, having
20:09
successfully baited this particular bull.
20:12
He doesn't come out of it completely unscathed, though.
20:16
The creature's claws tag is bare shoulder, leaving nasty rents,
20:22
but it's sheer momentum causes it to sail into this cast iron
20:28
coffin, and you shut the door behind it so hard you
20:32
practically feel whatever mechanism was keeping it
20:35
together squeak and seize, sealing it shut tighter than any
20:39
lock could. You all take a beat, and then
20:43
you all hear from inside of this massive washer, muffled, roaring
20:50
and then thumping. And he watches the metal begins
20:54
to deform outwards and claws rake through, scoring massive
21:02
rents from the inside. And Sebastian just looks at you,
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Jeremy, and says, yeah, this is the part where we've run.
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Ash is going to pick up whoever is closest and firefighter
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carried them out whoever is closest.
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But there'll be crow. All right.
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Astor does not need to be told twice she is booking it.
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You're all booking it Raleigh. Yeah.
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Give me one more willpower check. 3 successes.
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You finally managed to come down out of it, that seizing animal
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fear that wasn't so much keeping you, wasn't so much making you
21:47
run away as it was keeping you from running back in that just
21:52
sense of overriding self preservation.
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Like a feral creature inside your rib cage just scrabbling
22:01
and clawing for release. You finally managed to stand up,
22:08
this clenched teeth gritted, look up and wait.
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What the hell is that? You look directly across the
22:17
street and you see a car parked on the opposite side, and you
22:21
swear just for a moment you catch a glimpse of that woman
22:25
from the bar ducking back into the car.
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But you don't have time to process that, because
22:30
immediately the door behind you flies open and all of your
22:33
friends and Sebastian come rushing out at speed.
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What's going on? Yeah, we're running.
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Yeah, I'm going to going to run. Do you head back to your own
22:49
vehicle or do you just book it? I, I, I don't, I think, yeah,
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well, I run back to the vehicle and if Crow is not in a space to
23:00
drive, Bucket will drive. Raleigh will drive.
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I will try. How are you doing, Crow?
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Not good on a scale of alive to final death, about a halfway
23:15
there. You pile into the car and bereft
23:19
of the driver, Sebastian gets into the front seat as three of
23:24
you are kind of holding Crow across your laps.
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Another one of you gets into the passenger and he just floors it,
23:30
though he seems more elated than scared as he actually punches
23:36
the roof. He's like yeah fuck you Cammy.
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Fuck. See flips the bird tore out the
23:44
window towards the rapidly shrinking exterior of the
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Landromat. Oh man.
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Oh. Man who is like, right?
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I, I think is right behind Sebastian's, like, not that I
24:01
don't like cheating death. I think you're a little too
24:03
happy about getting one over on this guy.
24:07
Sorry, sorry, that was that was cathartic for reasons I can't
24:11
really get into right now. But it makes it hard because we
24:15
kind of turn around and go back and I guess light the place on
24:18
fire. I mean, hey, you want to you
24:23
want to sign your own death war on death row and put on that
24:26
whole dog and pony show? Be my guest.
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But no. No, the answer is if we don't
24:32
kill it, we're all going to be executed.
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So that's kind of it's either that either it kills us or we
24:39
kill it. Yeah, I I kind of.
24:42
You ever hear of a 0 sum game? Yeah, 20 times.
24:48
I was a poli sci major. Shooting.
24:50
Well, let's see, you're kind of caught in the middle of one
24:54
because you're assuming that they're not just going to
24:55
fucking ash all of you once you're done.
25:00
I had that thought thought about that too.
25:04
But don't worry, Daddy's home. He's going to take care of
25:07
everything in a roundabout sort of way.
25:13
Yeah, Now can't go back to your place.
25:17
Probably watching that like a hawk.
25:21
Need to stop over for a SEC and he's driving you out.
25:25
You're already in little Hollywood, but he's driving you
25:27
out towards one of the old industrial parks.
25:29
Just this expanse of kind of dirty, trash strewn blacktop in
25:35
the shadow of what used to be some of the more industrial
25:40
areas that serviced kind of an ancillary roll to the mine.
25:46
As he stops the car rather abruptly, opens it back up and
25:52
opens up, the passenger's like, get her here.
25:55
Yeah, the hand over the the hand over Crow.
25:59
Hey. Hey, How you feeling?
26:04
Come on, talk to me. Like shit you.
26:08
Did so good. You did so good.
26:11
Fucking put it right where you said and it fucking shattered.
26:16
Yeah, yeah, 'cause he's a crusty old fucking.
26:19
Even with his mind going, he wasn't going to go down easy.
26:22
They knew that, and they sent you into the teeth of that
26:25
anyway. Are you hungry?
26:28
Very, very. All right, come here.
26:32
Get something for what the Hell's Yeah not.
26:35
I can't with. I can't with everybody else
26:38
watching. Oh shit.
26:41
Right, OK, later. Yeah.
26:45
OK OK OK stands up So y'all are fucked.
26:55
Yeah. Let's not make any days between
26:59
it, between this catch 22 of a quest they got you going on and
27:05
those wannabe Van Helsings that have been tailing you ever since
27:09
the dive bar. Yeah, things are not looking
27:13
good for all y'all. But don't panic, I may have just
27:19
the thing. OK, Are you going to leave us in
27:22
suspense or? Do you just happen to have some
27:25
napalm lying around? Oh, I got a different category
27:30
of secret weapon in mind. But here's the thing, you knew,
27:35
so I'll be gentle. You're going to owe me for this.
27:41
OK. I somehow didn't think you were
27:44
doing this out of the kindness of your heart, at least for the
27:48
four of us. Yeah.
27:51
So you agree and all are going to owe me for this.
27:56
Look, we are our options are fucked or fucked I I don't think
28:02
we have any other option. What?
28:05
What are we going to owe you? Nothing in particular, just want
28:09
to hear you say it. We'll owe you.
28:12
We shall owe you. We'll owe you.
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And your line is. He'll owe you.
28:22
Works for me. OK OK OK, just another fucking
28:29
night in San Arroyo, OK? He gets back into the car in the
28:35
driver's seat, and he starts to drive off, this time heading
28:40
back into the city. Wherever he's going, it's
28:43
clearly not close to where you currently were, so you have a
28:46
bit of time to talk amongst yourselves.
28:51
Yeah, I after a minute I'm going to look at everyone else and say
28:58
I'm, I'm so sorry for running. I I don't know what happened. 1
29:07
moment I was looking down at it and the next I was was outside
29:12
and I couldn't move. It was the worst anxiety and
29:21
panic attack rolled into one. You heard what Sebastian said.
29:26
It wouldn't have mattered if you were there or not.
29:28
He's a crusty old bastard. Wasn't getting through to it
29:32
anyways. Yeah, if any of you have been in
29:37
a life or death fight before last month, raise your hand.
29:44
Yeah, raises her hand. Oh, well, shit.
29:47
I mean, I was going to say that excuses us, but, well, shit,
29:51
yeah. That's kind of how I just do the
29:58
kind of the, the, you know, the slice across the neck thing is
30:03
just I beat the shit out of my sire as he was trying to drink
30:10
from me. That eyes you.
30:14
It's fine. It's going to get handled and
30:18
everybody can just go back to their respective corners and
30:24
don't have to worry about the ones on top anymore.
30:29
Yeah, well. Running back to.
30:33
Running back to LA is sounding better and better by the day.
30:37
When you say that. Something about vampires in the
30:42
valley, I don't know. It's just like Tom Petty didn't
30:45
know the half of it. Yeah, Nick made that exact same
30:49
joke. Fucking wow.
30:53
OK, prick's stealing my jokes now.
30:56
OK, cool, cool. And it's just up here and find
31:02
yourselves. You're out near the airport,
31:06
Mira Loma Regional Airport, as the name implies.
31:11
Not exactly an impressive sight to be sure.
31:16
It originally used to be an Air Force Base sometime during World
31:21
War 2. Got sold to the city afterwards.
31:25
It's a little outside the actual outskirts near but opposite.
31:32
We previously were nearer to Strider University and the
31:35
campus. As he takes you through the old
31:40
gateway, seemingly there's no one on duty.
31:44
As you cross the airfield towards one of these large,
31:49
almost silo style hangers. He pulls up directly outside of
31:55
it, gets out and leaning in. All right, you kids behave
32:01
yourselves for a second. I gotta go have a slightly
32:04
awkward conversation. Be back in a SEC.
32:08
OK. You watch as he walks up to the
32:13
the rather. The hangar itself is sealed, but
32:16
there's a rather diminutive looking side door set next to
32:20
it, which he bangs on twice. You see it opens up a crack.
32:27
He says somewhat something to whoever's inside, and there is
32:31
light pouring out to that crack. There is some sort of activity
32:35
in there. Eventually the door opens.
32:38
He walks in. The door closes just as fast.
32:45
Kind of rally's doing the thing where you know your your leg is
32:48
bouncing constantly because she's.
32:51
Really. Fucking hungry.
32:54
I'm up to hunger 4. Because of obviously haven't
33:01
lived your entire life with other people making decisions
33:04
for you before, so this is exactly what I didn't want.
33:10
I think it was we had to make the best of a shit situation.
33:17
Sure. Wow, that's that's why wouldn't
33:20
this happen? Something was telling me that
33:22
we're living under real politic rules and we're just we've got
33:27
to do whatever we can so that we don't get.
33:31
It's absurd. Yeah, 'cause if, Oh no, they're
33:36
going to kill. US.
33:39
If they kill me, they're probably going to kill Taylor.
33:41
They're going to kill my boyfriend.
33:44
And you know what? Fuck it, I it's fine.
33:47
But he's completely innocent in this, so at least want to make
33:54
sure he stays OK. I refuse.
33:57
To be nice must be nice having people just fucking care about
34:02
OK yeah, sure, I'm. Not yeah, it is nice Mr. Guilt
34:08
Trip. Yeah.
34:09
No, no, it's fine. It's fine.
34:12
I'm frankly just too stubborn to die twice before I turned 25.
34:19
I can feel that for me it's 30. So if he was following us, what
34:24
are the odds Anselm was also following us?
34:27
Probably, he said he would be watching us.
34:30
So we're being followed here and being followed by other people,
34:36
so. Sebastian followed us because I
34:39
called for him. OK.
34:42
But I mean, we know that Anson was probably following us 'cause
34:45
he button told us to our faces and told us he wasn't going to
34:49
do anything. So.
34:50
Sebastian wouldn't be stupid enough to drive somewhere out
34:55
here for something this secretive if he knew that Anselm
34:59
was following us, or if he even thought that.
35:01
Yeah. So the question is, where is
35:05
this place we've been taken to and why aren't we worried that
35:08
Anselm would follow us here? This is the shooty airport.
35:12
I mean, like frankly, it's the, the fact is, is that like, this
35:17
is, this is like 6 Cessnas and the occasional drug smuggler.
35:22
This is this is. This is the middle of nowhere in
35:25
the middle of nowhere. Yeah, that's.
35:30
So why did he think this is a safe place to take us?
35:33
That's, I mean that's the question is why is this safe?
35:37
It's $1,000,000 question. You know, I don't know anything
35:42
about Crow's vampire dad, so I don't know Crow.
35:50
Do you have any idea why we were brought out here?
35:53
No, but I've learned to trust him.
35:56
He hasn't fucked me over yet. We'll unpack that later.
36:01
It's the yet part that freaks me out.
36:04
And everybody at some point is going to fuck you over.
36:07
I he hasn't given you a reason to not trust him.
36:11
Oops. And if you guys don't trust,
36:13
then feel free to get the fuck out of the car and walk your
36:17
happy asses wherever the fuck you need to go.
36:20
I don't have any other better option at this moment so I'm
36:24
going to see where this fucking rabbit hole leads.
36:27
Sometimes you got to take a leap of faith.
36:30
Exactly. We're going to really need a
36:34
bigger car if they're going to keep doing this.
36:37
Greed if somebody want to buy it.
36:39
For me that would be great. I've had this piece of shit
36:42
since I was like 16. As you say that, you do see
36:46
apparently someone else is joining you.
36:48
As the door to the hangar opens, you get a quick, brief flash of
36:53
a cabinet. Cavernous, brightly lit space
36:57
and some kind of activity going on in the background, multiple
37:01
bodies moving around before it shuts just as quickly.
37:04
And you see Sebastian. But he's not alone.
37:07
There's someone else with him. Another man, dark hair shaved on
37:13
the sides, bearded, wearing dress pants, polished loafers
37:20
and a vest and tie over a crisp white dress shirts, the sleeves
37:27
rolled up to reveal a frankly bewildering assortment of
37:36
complicated, most esoteric looking tattoos that completely
37:40
cover every inch of exposed skin, clashing wildly with this
37:45
otherwise very composed, refined appearance.
37:52
How can I lie? I kind of vibe with it.
37:56
Oh, he's, he's kind of hot. Crow, you recognize this guy?
38:04
Who is it? It's the guy who was talking to
38:08
Marco that night. Oh shit.
38:13
The one that he seemed so clustered about.
38:16
Yeah. He stops maybe halfway to the
38:20
car and folds his arm and folds his arms across his chest as
38:24
Sebastian crosses the rest of the distance, opens up the door
38:28
and says OK, word, advice, best behaviour.
38:34
There are people you shouldn't fuck with and then there are
38:37
people you should have, shouldn't fuck with.
38:39
You get me? Loud and clear.
38:42
Cool, come on out and meet the neighbors.
38:45
Yeah, I'm going to get out of the car and like to pull back
38:50
the hood on the hoodie so my hair is visible and I guess
38:56
start walking towards this stranger.
39:00
Ash gets out of the car and I think that like there are now
39:05
several buttons missing on this shirt because they haven't
39:08
changed and they they they've gone into multiple fights with
39:12
this this this particular suit and it's just looking worse and
39:17
worse. Astor will get out of the car
39:21
and make a a point to like kind of take off her gloves, stuff
39:25
them in her hoodie pocket. Sebastian stays back near the
39:29
car as you approach this figure, who just looks at each of you
39:34
almost appraisingly. He has a very intense eyes, very
39:40
dark brown, almost black. It looks at you, Jeremy.
39:45
You did a wonderful cover of Moonlight Sonata when I was at
39:50
Provence once. Thanks.
39:53
Quite enjoyed it. Not a lot of love for classical
39:58
music these nights. But piano's too good for the
40:01
bar. It really is.
40:05
Before I start, I take it that your most recent excursion
40:10
didn't go particularly well. Yeah, you could say that, yes.
40:17
Was not the outcome we hoped for.
40:20
Less than optimal. And you are all quite new if I'm
40:27
given to understand. Incredibly.
40:31
Yeah. Well, I have heard of you, but I
40:38
do not believe that we have been formally introduced.
40:42
My name is Rafe Patton. I am the Regent of the Mira Loma
40:47
Chantry and Primogen of Clandromir.
40:50
And I realize these words mean nothing to you at this exact
40:54
moment of time, but nonetheless, introductions are important.
41:01
So I will now ask you who you are.
41:04
Oh, who I am. Yes, Mr. Reed, I'm aware.
41:08
Hi, Raleigh Asher Toyador. I enjoyed.
41:15
Your last film. Thank you.
41:22
We've met before, but name's Crow.
41:28
Yeah, we used to work at a bookstore.
41:31
Ah yes, the Scarlet Sage. You're 1 of Marco's friends.
41:35
Employees. Well, ex employee given the new
41:40
situation and everything but. And do you have your
41:45
grandfather's eyes? He's looking at Ash.
41:49
Ash fully like fully like like ducks their head like somebody
41:57
who is being observed way too presently at there's a script.
42:07
Thank you, Ash Crawford, progeny of Mary Gilliam.
42:13
So she finally, well, and you would be turning to Astor.
42:22
Astor sticks out her hand like an Astor Noland.
42:28
He takes your hand and shakes it.
42:31
His palms and his palm and fingers are rough, calloused
42:37
again, clashing with his otherwise Demenaire appearance
42:41
to someone who clearly, at one point in time, was used to a
42:44
fair amount of manual labor. A pleasure despite the
42:48
circumstances. Agreed.
42:53
Your compatriot Sebastian has called in a rather considerable
42:59
marker in order to arrange this meeting.
43:03
He furnished me with a brief description of the task that's
43:09
been set ahead of you. My question is, what do you
43:14
think the purpose of this goose chase is exactly?
43:21
They kill us so we don't. They don't have to do it.
43:24
Yeah, there's a bit of that. Maybe there's at least they can
43:30
pretend to say they tested us and found us wanting.
43:36
Humiliate the people who made. Us that is certainly 1
43:40
interpretation. Baptism by fire, perhaps?
43:46
That is another there's a certain level of expediency to
43:51
it all that suggests that there may have been an ulterior motive
43:56
at play. I doubt Anzome would tell you or
44:01
much care, regardless is jaded to put it mildly.
44:09
Yeah. But the creature that you're
44:13
facing, it is most certainly beyond the bill abilities, and I
44:17
mean no offence by this, of a menagerie of fresh fledglings.
44:27
Lovely. But there may be a way.
44:31
Will be difficult, but likely results in less general demise
44:37
and collateral damage. Tell me you managed to locate
44:44
what was previously our city's sheriff, our how to describe it
44:52
principal law enforcement officer if you will.
44:56
As you probably experienced, he was, and still he is to many
45:00
respects A formidable creature, and yet you managed to locate
45:04
him with impressive alacrity. So what have you learned so far?
45:12
That it is very tough, very fast, very strong and has very
45:18
sharp claws. That somebody wanted us to find
45:22
him. And that a former radio host who
45:29
now lives in a trailer park was ranting about him as well as
45:36
talking about vampires, for he got arrested and charged with a
45:41
restraining order. I see, then I will not waste
45:47
your time. I know of a way to weaken MASAF
45:52
to degree that you should in theory be able to confront and
45:57
apprehend or destroy him depending on whether you feel
46:01
best suits your collective purpose.
46:04
However, I will require your assistance in this matter.
46:09
I. Didn't think you were going to
46:11
do it on your own. A boon is a boon, but as with
46:16
everything in the Sun Life, there are conditions.
46:19
Course. And in the future, I would
46:22
advise that you refrain from owing favors.
46:26
Looks pointedly in Sebastian's direction, without good 'cause
46:30
or justification. We take such social currency
46:36
quite seriously. Noted.
46:39
Yeah, it's like I never left LA. Yeah, seriously.
46:47
The means by which I would go about this process are of an
46:52
occult nature and one not easily explained, but suffice it to say
46:58
it will require you to gather components.
47:04
Will we be getting a list? The list in of itself is an
47:09
interesting debacle. How to phrase this Masaf be
47:16
kindred that you were tasked with hunting down.
47:19
He is old, perhaps one of the oldest of our kind, still
47:26
dwelling within the city limits, and as a result he has lived a
47:30
long and somewhat storied on life.
47:36
Kindred are as much creatures of memory and experience as they
47:41
are creatures of flesh and blood.
47:48
And over the decades, centuries, he will have developed
47:53
keepsakes, touchstones if you will, items that were of some
47:59
great personal significance to him at one point or another.
48:04
I will require these items if I am to be successful in this
48:09
endeavor, at least five of them. That should suffice.
48:16
And once we've collected these items, this will be able to
48:21
exert some sort of weakness on him.
48:26
Nothing so abstract. No.
48:29
He will be weakened. He will be diminished.
48:32
That connection can be exploited even in his frenzied state.
48:39
Gather enough of the associated items and you'll be as weak as a
48:44
kitten by the time I'm done. OK.
48:48
Next question, do you? This might be a wild one.
48:54
Do you have a place to start looking?
48:57
A few yes, Awesome. Understand Sebastian has been
49:05
useful in the past, but I am not simply assisting you because I
49:10
simply feel the need to repay that particular debt, but
49:15
because ultimately, A rampaging white in any municipality
49:20
ultimately serves no one. White.
49:23
Ah, yes, forgive the jargon. A vampire that has been lost to
49:29
his baser impulses. A creature, a thing, a white
49:34
well. It's a have a name for it.
49:38
Yes, afraid your education in the near future will have to be
49:42
somewhat abridged. I'd like a proper education at
49:46
some point. It's, you know, par for the
49:50
course for me. I personally hold education,
49:54
especially of such matters particularly sacrosanct, but
49:57
unfortunately we are operating on something at a timetable.
50:01
As I said, a white rampaging about ultimately serves no one
50:07
and the longer it's allowed to remain in the wild, well, I
50:11
imagine you were in it's lair. You probably experienced first
50:17
hand the results. Yeah, solve them for sure.
50:23
Don't worry me as they get splattered film.
50:26
Gives you a curious glance at that, but continues.
50:31
I have some leads, some more straightforward than others, but
50:37
I would incentivize you to pursue any and all leads you can
50:43
find yourself. Not simply due to expediency,
50:48
but also because if I have heard of them then it is likely that
50:52
other kindred have. And as you have experienced
50:57
first hand, there are those seeking to twist the situation
51:02
in their favor. That's.
51:03
One way of putting it. This former radio jockey that
51:09
you mentioned, if he is even tangentially aware of the
51:13
situation, that too might be a place to start.
51:18
Indeed, it's might be a little bit of a trip, but it's a
51:24
investigation worth pursuing, I think.
51:27
Yeah. Dawn is approaching and you all,
51:34
well, you all have your own lives on the line, so I will not
51:38
keep you any further. However, perhaps simply due to
51:42
my own objection to the frankly appalling lack of foreknowledge,
51:48
I will answer one question from each of you before departing.
51:53
Am I allowed to contact you in the future?
51:56
I do not possess a cellular phone nor any other Wi-Fi
52:01
enabled device. I would also not advise
52:05
trespassing on the airport grounds after dark.
52:09
Wouldn't do that. What was the book that you were
52:12
looking for that night? And architectural and
52:17
sociological curiosity. The Pueblos in particular, left
52:25
behind by the indigenous peoples in this region of the world,
52:28
particularly fascinate me, and I find an interesting level of
52:32
syncretism between them and the ancient cultures of the Levant.
52:40
If he still hasn't been able to track it down, let me know, I
52:44
might be able to help. I may hold you to that.
52:49
Simply remember my earlier warning about owing favors.
52:54
You any good at helping to decipher visions?
53:00
Visions. Yeah, I saw something when I
53:06
died and it didn't feel like you're normal, that, you know,
53:12
death thing. There's something about it that
53:15
keeps bugging me. Not my particular Forte, but I
53:21
may know some individuals who are more adept at that sort of
53:28
interpretation. You aren't one of those people.
53:31
That's shirks of the thought of organized religion, are you?
53:35
There's, you know, parents are Roman Catholic.
53:39
I did the thing. I don't have anything for it.
53:42
I don't have anything against it.
53:46
He doesn't elaborate well, if there's nothing else.
53:53
Well, did you really know Josiah, or are you just saying
53:59
that because you've seen the movies?
54:01
He looks at you. A colleague of mine attempted to
54:08
convince him to star in his magnum opus sometime in the late
54:14
60s. He turned it down in favour of a
54:19
film, I believe titled The Last Sundown, which was filmed not
54:23
terribly far from this very location.
54:27
They smile a little bit and Shrek is like, interesting.
54:32
It's. You're not the first person to
54:35
say it. I have been here a long time and
54:40
there are others who have been here longer still.
54:43
What's? Going to happen if we do kill
54:46
them. Then you will have defied the
54:49
odds and secured your formal introduction into the ivory
54:54
tower. You'll be held to accounting,
54:58
you will be instructed in our ways, and you will be allowed to
55:02
perpetuate your existence within this domain, or, if that is not
55:07
to your liking, pursue the remainder of your own life
55:11
elsewhere. You will be, for lack of a
55:14
better term, free to decide your own destiny from that point
55:18
forward. However, as with most worthwhile
55:22
things, it will not be earned easily.
55:27
Now I really must return to my work and you all should return
55:36
to your havens post haste as we're quite far out into the
55:42
desert and there's not a terrible amount of cover from
55:44
the sun out here. Yeah.
55:48
Thank you for the that the information and the assistance,
55:55
Regent Patton. When you have the items, reach
55:59
out to Sebastian. He will in turn reach out to me,
56:04
and we may yet to put this whole sorry matter to bed.
56:08
Sounds like a plan. Until then, that.
56:12
He nods at all of you perfunctly, and turns back to
56:16
the hanger. Well, yeah, I'm not certainly
56:20
not going to waste any time because I have to get back to
56:24
the hotel and Oh my God, I'm hungry.
56:29
Should really do something about that before I sleep.
56:32
Like to get back. To my house.
56:35
As you walk back to the car, Sebastian's just leaning up
56:38
against the front, big, slightly feral grin across his face.
56:45
No kids. Don't you like your first
56:47
meeting with a God damn wizard? Apparently before you, Matt.
56:54
Not exactly what I was expecting, but pretty good.
56:59
We go home now. I was admittedly hoping for
57:02
something a bit. Yeah, fine, we can go on.
57:08
What a night. What a fucking night.
57:10
You. Can say that again.
58:05
None.