Latest / Dubious Creatures Presents / The Vampire With No Name 1.26 - Eventuate
Transcript
- 0:32The. A highway wanders through the
- 1:21desert. A tumbleweed drifts past a dusty
- 1:25dive bar. A coyote shrieks out to no one
- 1:28in particular. Someone's bleeding out in a
- 1:31bathroom stall. The stars tonight are bright,
- 1:35but not nearly bright enough. This place does not exist, and
- 1:42yet here you are. Welcome to San Arroyo Kindred.
- 1:49We here at Dubious Creatures present to you the vampire with
- 1:53no name, Jeremy. Yes, Sir.
- 1:59Up is down, left is right, ass is over tea kettle.
- 2:06You have no idea where you're going, but the current is taking
- 2:11you somewhere. I I think Jeremy.
- 2:15Is so this? Is a great spot to mention that
- 2:17Jeremy really can't swim. I think he basically like
- 2:21intellectually knows he doesn't need to breathe but is still
- 2:23panicking and frantically flailing trying to get back to
- 2:27the surface. So he is just like a bundle of
- 2:31panicked everything as he gets like bounced off of rocks and
- 2:36you know, corners as he gets swept down the current.
- 2:39Yeah. You don't know where Rita is.
- 2:42You don't know where anything is, really.
- 2:45Your lungs are filling with water, and even though you know
- 2:50that's not as much of a problem for you as it used to be, it
- 2:53doesn't stop that this sheer animal panic from setting in.
- 3:00Give me a We'll call this just a straight composure plus resolve
- 3:04chick. 2 successes. Actually.
- 3:08Well. I'll I'll I'll spin willpower.
- 3:10Still, 2 successes didn't help. Despite your attempts to master
- 3:15yourself, you feel like you careen into every hard surface
- 3:18an object there is to careen into.
- 3:21On your way. Somewhere, wherever it is you
- 3:24think you might have left several pieces of your epidermis
- 3:31along that path, you take two points of superficial damage.
- 3:36That's after having till finally, mercifully, you're
- 3:42deposited somewhere. You're not sure where exactly,
- 3:46but you flail and find yourself connecting with some kind of
- 3:53solid surface underneath your hands and arms, and you just get
- 3:58the soldier crawl your way up and out into the dank air,
- 4:06coughing, spluttering, but it's pitch black wherever you are.
- 4:17I, I think Jeremy like flops onto his back in the darkness
- 4:23and just starts to panic, laugh like just pure hysterical
- 4:29laughter as like staring off into the abyss.
- 4:33I mean. Completely done hurt and knowing
- 4:37he's lost, knowing nobody's ever going to be able to find him
- 4:39down here and just complete letting it all out.
- 4:44I mean, they said you'd wind up in the gutter, but this is a tad
- 4:48more literal. I, I, I think when it all kind
- 4:52of stopped, like he eventually like gets it all out and he
- 4:55just, he's just kind of like laying there staring off into
- 4:57the dark. He'll like sit up and he's just
- 5:01going to start to very softly, like whistle like into the, like
- 5:06just whistle a tune into the darkness.
- 5:09At least the sun can't get him here.
- 5:11And I I feel like he's going to wait for the music to lead him
- 5:13out. You kind of whistle tunelessly.
- 5:20You're trying to get your bearings, your head still
- 5:27swimming. That's when you hear it.
- 5:33A low growl. I'll turn to it.
- 5:41I can't see it in the darkness, but I imagine Jeremy basically
- 5:45just kind of sits up a little straighter and he keeps kind of
- 5:49just slowly whistling. And I, I, I think it, his kind
- 5:53of resolution here is in the dark.
- 5:55He can't get away from whatever this is.
- 5:58So it's either going to attack him or it's not.
- 6:00But I, I, I imagine that he kind of changes the pitch of what
- 6:03he's whistling to something a little softer, more like AI.
- 6:12Imagine he starts whistling like a children's rhyme or like, you
- 6:16know, bring around the Rosie or something like that.
- 6:18It just goes kind of like low and childlike.
- 6:23You hear the sound of footsteps splashing their way towards you,
- 6:36and then a light shines out in the darkness.
- 6:45He kind of like holds a hand up to because I assume it hurts
- 6:49because obviously light and total black.
- 6:52Ow. You see that reader woman who
- 6:56you tackled sans shotgun but having apparently stashed some
- 7:03kind of waterproof flashlight? She looks just as wet and
- 7:08miserable as you do, her long dark hair now sticking to the
- 7:12sides of her head, and her expression is thunderous to say
- 7:22the least. Stop it.
- 7:32Whistling the music. It never stops.
- 7:40Well, it's drowning out everything else, so stop it.
- 7:47He kind of like tilts his head and is like looking at her and
- 7:50is like can you hear it? Can you hear it too?
- 7:55I can hear you and you sound like the world's shittiest one
- 7:59man band. Well.
- 8:07I'm sure the acoustics down here aren't helping.
- 8:11I think he'll like stand up and like brush the presumable like
- 8:15mess off of him. Like just kind of like wiping
- 8:18his hands. Yeah, you don't want to know
- 8:20what you've been rolling through.
- 8:21And then he kind of like looks at her and says, I take it you
- 8:27don't know the way out, do you? This is a situation.
- 8:33All the music out. There's another sound, some kind
- 8:41of scraping. She immediately pivots and
- 8:46shines light into the darkness. You don't see anything lurking.
- 8:49This is right now. The situation is that we're
- 8:54trapped down here with a white at the moment.
- 9:01You're at best an ally in a tactically disadvantageous
- 9:05situation. At worst, you're spare blood.
- 9:09Thanks, you look good too. We need to get out of here.
- 9:16The rest can wait. He kind of like actually like
- 9:20laughs like gives a little chuckle that he says.
- 9:24The only thing I that I could hear before is Anne Sloman
- 9:29myself. Why?
- 9:34What? Why then?
- 9:41Mustafa's more like, you know, the the song from Friday the
- 9:4713th, like the musical sing. He's like that, but it's like
- 9:51strings and more. There's tension and like horror
- 9:59and like a constant build. Anselm's more like an old
- 10:03ballet, like Wagner or something like old German opera.
- 10:08There's a lot of things I can hear.
- 10:11They drown everything else out. You have friends heading towards
- 10:15the horror music. They were well nice before
- 10:21finding you guys. We were.
- 10:22Only thing I could hear at that moment was Anselm, presumably
- 10:26right after you guys found him. Or expression, which was
- 10:29previously, well, pissed, goes from contemplative in a split
- 10:36second and you're connected. I don't know how, but you're
- 10:41connected. And that's the one advantage
- 10:45we've got right now. I mean OK, I mean I can try to
- 10:50find it again if you want. It's just either we find it or
- 10:54it finds us and Kit presumably kills us in some horrible way.
- 10:58If all of your friends are heading towards it, I'd rather
- 11:00have the advantage of numbers, OK?
- 11:03Fine, I'm going to like step up next to her and then tilt my
- 11:08head and and try to listen for I mean, I I know Mesa what Mesaf's
- 11:13music sounds like. That's what I'm listening for.
- 11:14Give. Me another wits plus all specs
- 11:17roll. This is not a good VESI.
- 11:19Crit 6 and I get hungrier. Oh no, I don't get hungrier.
- 11:24So just messy Crit 6. I think we're going to find
- 11:27them. Oh, that's, that's loud and it's
- 11:35mounting and. He's coming.
- 11:39Is that all Jeremy says that's. When you hear a second growl,
- 11:46further away, but lower, deeper, and this is you're pretty sure
- 11:57the part with the musical sting intensifies to let the audience
- 12:01know just how royally screwed these poor side characters are.
- 12:10Rita just grabs your wrist and says move.
- 12:14You're. Going to hate me if I show you
- 12:16in the water again so you get away.
- 12:19She's ignoring you just OK. Dragging you drags her off.
- 12:27He'll let her a leader wherever she's going.
- 12:31You hear something loping through the darkness after you,
- 12:40The rest of you. Yes.
- 12:44Yeah. There was some kind of
- 12:48confrontation because it left a trail.
- 12:53It's the blood scent isn't just noticeable, it's it smells rich.
- 13:06For some of you, it's it's a moment, a split second where
- 13:11there's a part of you that wants to just start it, licking it off
- 13:14the filthy floor. I am at hunger 4.
- 13:21It's a brief notion, but it's there, and it gives you
- 13:26something to follow, especially since one of your number can see
- 13:30in the dark. Everyone ready?
- 13:36That's all of her beef. Yup, let's go I.
- 13:42Will. Lead the pack.
- 13:47Path takes down a flight of stairs.
- 13:49You think you're in the actual sewers now?
- 13:53It's getting tighter, more cramped, more water.
- 13:59You're leading from the front here, Crow.
- 14:02Go ahead and give me what's plus awareness or what's plus
- 14:06survival. 3 successes. Hard to track a blood trail
- 14:13through at least a few inches of dirty water.
- 14:17But looking around, you see what nobody else could see in this
- 14:24pitch blackness. That is claw marks, faint but
- 14:28noticeable, made by something so sharp that it actually left
- 14:33grooves in the concrete. And then you see, darting
- 14:39between passages, a light very noticeable to all of you.
- 14:47That's weird flashlight light. You're not sure, but you see
- 14:55something very briefly. Something hulking and almost
- 14:58running on all fours, briefly silhouetted, but it appears to
- 15:03be headed away from you. It is a wounded monster, wounded
- 15:10animal. It makes sense that it runs.
- 15:15I guess we got to give chase. But.
- 15:19Definitely try to see whether wherever the light it's coming
- 15:21from. Jeremy, can you give me a dex
- 15:26plus athletics roll? Chase successes.
- 15:31All right, could the rest of you please give me a Dex plus
- 15:34athletics roll because you have a direction to go in?
- 15:39Two successes from Crow. Two successes that's. 7
- 15:45successes Messy, critical. I also have a messy critical.
- 15:51I sense a pervading theme tonight, Jeremy.
- 15:58You feel something slice into the meat of your back from
- 16:02behind. I think, I mean I, I think
- 16:07Jeremy just screams. You take after having four
- 16:16points of superficial damage. And yeah, that's that's going to
- 16:21be bad. OK, I'm in.
- 16:23Obviously I'm wrapped by that. I think he he screams and then
- 16:29he like turns his head to the lady he's with because he
- 16:33doesn't know who she is and says run and then like turns on the
- 16:40monster. She doesn't have a chance to
- 16:44reply because suddenly several things happen at once.
- 16:51Raleigh and Astor. You see the thing that was Masab
- 17:01once again, like a repeat of the exact moment in that laundromat
- 17:11towering over Jeremy. I'm certainly not going to let
- 17:16it be a repeat do. You have a split second to do
- 17:20something before it tears into him more.
- 17:27Can I get between Jeremy and it? I can take the hit.
- 17:36Give me stamina plus athletics. You know what really want the
- 17:41six seeds that we're going to rouse.
- 17:44The beast and I are in a core that is hunger unchanged and
- 17:50five successes. You said you wanted to take the
- 17:57hit. Yeah.
- 18:02After having three points of superficial damage.
- 18:08I'm also headed into aggravated, but that's fine.
- 18:13It keeps it from killing Jeremy, which is enough.
- 18:24And asked her. You're here and you're in the
- 18:27middle of it and you know, you're not really sure what your
- 18:33plan was, but you're here. I am holding Jeremy away as.
- 18:41Fast as possible. You see as that happens, as
- 18:46Raleigh is basically holding off this thing and lots of the rains
- 18:50blow after wild blow against her and Cheese clearly defending
- 18:55herself as best as she's able, but there's no amount of martial
- 18:59arts training that can prepare you for this just kind of rabid
- 19:04assault. You see the woman, Freda
- 19:11launches forward with the flashlight.
- 19:16You see her jam it into its eye and there's immediate spark and
- 19:25crack of glass and the thing roars.
- 19:32You're all plunged back Into Darkness, but it moves very
- 19:40quickly away from you, further down the corridor.
- 19:48By this point, the rest of you have caught up looking, right.
- 19:52That I'm it's. It's on the run again.
- 19:58OK, who here is actually like mobile and can fight?
- 20:04I'm still standing. I could fight.
- 20:07You know, lighter, but I can do it.
- 20:10OK, we'll take my. Best.
- 20:12Pieces rally. I'm not worth it.
- 20:16Oh, shut up. We're all worth that.
- 20:19Yeah, nobody here, Steve. Team.
- 20:24Team not breathing sticks together.
- 20:27Nobody's fucking. Dying or I will kill you myself.
- 20:31Yeah, yeah. What a mood.
- 20:34Now you gotta find it without me.
- 20:37Jerry just starts to like chokes off.
- 20:41You all are clearly crazy. Yeah, the woman just says
- 20:45flatly. Says are we going or no?
- 20:48And she's going to start taking off towards it because the
- 20:51longer we stand here talking, the further it's getting away
- 20:53from us. Ash will follow.
- 20:56Jerrie's gonna start limping in that direction.
- 21:00I will help Jeremy limp along. Rita, just watch as you all go
- 21:05with a clearly almost perplexed expression.
- 21:11Jeremy blows her a kiss and before he disappears into the
- 21:13darkness. Jesus.
- 21:14Christ. Of course.
- 21:17You're psychotic. You're going to.
- 21:20Help her not come on. Nick likes you for some reason.
- 21:27It's my charming personality. She is taking up the rear.
- 21:32She whether she likes you or not is irrelevant.
- 21:35She has a job to do. She's here to do it.
- 21:38You continue to follow it. You can see you're again, you're
- 21:45not really sure where you're going.
- 21:47Do you feel like you're deep, deep under the city now?
- 21:52The chamber starts to widen out again.
- 21:55Maybe you're back in the flood tunnels, maybe you're somewhere
- 21:58else. You're not sure.
- 21:58But either way, and there's light.
- 22:02Not a lot, but a little bit. Some sort of maybe another sewer
- 22:06grate, maybe some other edifice above ground that's letting in
- 22:10just a little bit of street light to illuminate the
- 22:14surroundings. This large junction, you can see
- 22:20more bits and pieces, more tents, more lean TOS, more
- 22:29pieces of a group of people that so often the rest of the city
- 22:36forgets. Thankfully you don't see any
- 22:42people around. Even the light seems a little
- 22:46surprised at those. You can see it's rocking back
- 22:50and forth violently, knocking over pieces of slightly moldy
- 22:55furniture as though it's searching bangs, bared, tongue
- 23:00rolling out, growling, huffing, wounded.
- 23:07One eye is just a bloody mess, Torso's riddled buckshot.
- 23:16It's looking for a meal, and it can't find one.
- 23:20Instead, it found all of you. And I am just going to barrel
- 23:26right towards it with a Bowie knife and essentially trying to
- 23:31engage it in fight me to give the other people a chance to
- 23:36stake it. This is Tattershade all over
- 23:40again. Final act Sonia reaches the
- 23:44Baron Mesa confronts the villainous Lord Tattershade,
- 23:48challenging him to one-on-one combat.
- 23:53It's corny as hell, but that's the movie business.
- 23:59Yeah, that's all I know. Give me decks plus melee.
- 24:05I'm going to do an all out attack.
- 24:08OK. I'm going to spend the willpower
- 24:14to reroll a couple of dice for six successes.
- 24:20Anselm's expertly crafted blade give you a + 3 on the damage.
- 24:27It's a fine bit of workmanship, even by the standards of
- 24:32frankly, comically large cowboy knives.
- 24:38There's some resistance, but it's a wild animal.
- 24:43It doesn't really know how to defend itself.
- 24:45It just lails and the knife cuts into it and it doesn't stop.
- 24:51It doesn't shatter. That feels good.
- 24:55Ugly little part of yourself that delights and actually
- 25:00getting to get your licks in. As for the rest of you, seems
- 25:06like Riley certainly got its attention.
- 25:08I'm. Going to go punch it.
- 25:11Strength plus brawl. F it, I'm going to go all all
- 25:16for an all out attack as well. Two successes.
- 25:23OK, maybe we were a little too confident.
- 25:27You try to go in for the mother of all haymakers.
- 25:34You want to get your licks in, too.
- 25:35You feel like you owe this thing.
- 25:39Unfortunately, it rounds on you at the last second, even as
- 25:44Riley continues to punish it with expert slices and stabs the
- 25:48knife. And you get a backhand right to
- 25:53the jaw. Fortunately, your fortitude you
- 25:59only take a point of superficial damage.
- 26:03Small favours, I'm going. To do my best in this moment to
- 26:09try and get in and stake this thing while they have it
- 26:14distracted. You know where to strike right
- 26:19between the 3rd and 4th rib. This time you're pretty certain
- 26:23the damn thing won't shatter. Well, that's unfortunate.
- 26:30That is 1 success, possibility of bestial failure.
- 26:35And it was going so well, too. You try to dart in.
- 26:43Fortunately, the problem isn't even the creature.
- 26:47The problem is Raleigh. She's moving too fast.
- 26:53You don't want to accidentally get her, not when she's the only
- 26:56thing that's seemingly keeping its attention.
- 27:00Then it moves. Another one of those sudden
- 27:06bursts of speed it tackles into you.
- 27:13Crow. You can feel its fangs inches
- 27:19from your face. You're getting a serious sense
- 27:23of deja deja vu Astor. First off, Astor looks to Jeremy
- 27:29and he's like, hey, do you have a ladder?
- 27:32Jeremy kind of gives her a very pained smile and then fumbles
- 27:36into a pocket. I, I, I'm assuming my clothes
- 27:39are salad, right? I, I didn't like it like a
- 27:41bully, like stripped or anything terrible laws.
- 27:43Like he fumbles and he pulls out a Zippo and he kind of looks at
- 27:46it. And then he kind of says, I told
- 27:48you I'm not worth it, go help them when he passes her the
- 27:52years ago. She will absolutely take it and
- 27:59sort of lean down and grab the other syringe out of her boot.
- 28:07Second time's the charm. I'm to become a living weapon.
- 28:12Give me a Rouse check to activate the formula.
- 28:17Oh, we're in a cord. My beast kind of likes this
- 28:20actually. You know, it's nice not being on
- 28:24the receiving end. Yeah, actually kind of is I'm.
- 28:30Starting to say the appeal. Definitely.
- 28:35And just like before, she will kind of like RIP open her own
- 28:38wrist and let it let the blood pool in her hand and.
- 28:44Just it appears to be dead set on biting into crow well.
- 28:49At least it's distracted so it's not going to see this and she
- 28:52will yet again fling her blood, but try to do it closer this
- 28:58time so she doesn't just waste another lighter.
- 29:02Well, it's a big thing and you got a fistful of your own blood.
- 29:07You could just walk up and try to smear it on them.
- 29:12But you know what? Sure, let's let's say Astor.
- 29:16Is that brave all? Right, it's good.
- 29:19Give me a dex plus athletics role. 6 successes. 6 successes
- 29:25on a critical You dart in and just as this thing looks like
- 29:33it's about to RIP out crows carotid you literally smack it
- 29:39in the side of the face. The fistful of your now very
- 29:44diesel smelling blood. And with it's one good eye, it
- 29:50rears up, trying to blink this fluid out of its gaze.
- 29:56Before she tosses the lighter, Astor learned earlier was like
- 30:01and just yells fire to try to keep give everyone a moment to
- 30:06like reflexively brace themselves.
- 30:10Fire indeed. Suddenly the whites head goes up
- 30:14like a Roman candle. Everybody in this enclosed space
- 30:23to give me a willpower check. The exception of you, Astor.
- 30:31One success and I am very close to this.
- 30:35Two successes. I tried to Cano brace myself the
- 30:41best I could got. 3 for just the little.
- 30:45Guy Jeremy unfortunately warning is all well and good, but fire
- 30:51enclosed space bad. Everybody, with the exception of
- 30:58Jeremy and Astor scrambles backwards.
- 31:02Even you, Raleigh, with your knife held in a confident
- 31:08reverse grip, suddenly feel the sudden urge to get the hell out
- 31:12of this thing's general vicinity as the fire spreads from its
- 31:16head down onto its shoulders. And soon the entire upper half
- 31:18of its body is just this massive burning torch Wick as the layers
- 31:24of old ragged clothing. Whatever has been collecting on
- 31:29there for who knows how long just starts to go up.
- 31:34It howls and flails, knocking into other structures, spreading
- 31:44the embers. Not my cleanest work.
- 31:49But. But incredibly, it is still not
- 31:54dead. Fortunately, Free does not much
- 31:58help in the situation either. She also failed her willpower
- 32:01check. Is this one of those things
- 32:04where I can spend a build power and master myself for just a
- 32:09quick moment? You can if you have will to
- 32:12burn. I do and I'll do it just to rush
- 32:18at this thing and take another all out attack at it.
- 32:22The. X plus my life.
- 32:26This one's for the whole enchilada.
- 32:31Rouse one more time. Hunger unchanged.
- 32:36Another six successes. You're a student of cinema,
- 32:41really, so how cinematic do you make this moment?
- 32:47Knife lip, that reverse grip and this knife goes directly through
- 32:55where the heart should be and I push it back back and pin it to
- 33:01a nearby wall. The knife probably going several
- 33:03inches into the wall and I growling like a feral animal,
- 33:09but it's it's almost like I'm there again shooting at scene.
- 33:15I'm Sonia again. It's just Tattershade and like
- 33:22before, I pull through, I win. And at things look positively
- 33:35ghoulish now. Fast acting flames are rendering
- 33:38down it's head down to the skull.
- 33:44It's clawed hands reach up even as you shove Anselm's knife
- 33:52through its sternum and then bowl to its sides, and there's
- 34:04almost a sigh of relief. Or maybe just air escaping an
- 34:14old corpse. Be free.
- 34:20Just slumps down against the wall.
- 34:26The fire continues to spread rapidly, almost hungrily.
- 34:30So you back up. You see, it consumes every inch
- 34:37of him, every bit of flesh, every scrap of clothing, till
- 34:46eventually there's nothing left but a burnt silhouette of fine
- 34:54black ash. OK, rest well.
- 35:01We should get out of here. Yeah.
- 35:03As as sort of a weird habit, I'd kind of be a Roman Catholic,
- 35:07kind of cross myself for a moment and then just say yeah,
- 35:11yeah, we should get out of here. How do we get the fuck out?
- 35:16Here we came. I think Jeremy is like balling
- 35:29up on himself and like almost falling over.
- 35:31He's laughing. Ash will slide an arm under
- 35:36under his like hold the gun, but it's like Nope, Nope, we're
- 35:40getting out of here. No time to fall over with the
- 35:43chuckle flux. We all really need a shower.
- 35:49Oh God, oh God, Oh my God, look at the. 2.
- 35:55Aggravated aggravated damage worth of claw marks on me and
- 35:59he's feeling this is going to be really hard to explain.
- 36:08I I think it is slowly like turning from like hysterical
- 36:12laughter into something like a choked SOB and he just like
- 36:16collapses and dashes arms. Bro, you good?
- 36:21Yeah. Can me and my friend stay at
- 36:29your place for a bit? Absolutely not tonight though.
- 36:35I need a night to myself tomorrow.
- 36:38Come over tomorrow. I will offer a sunproof to live,
- 36:44a living room and couch if it's it's going to be a little cozy
- 36:49but well, you can at least crash there for the night or the day.
- 36:56Just need a ride out to my place to pick up.
- 37:01We'll make sure it happens. I'm assuming this conversation
- 37:06is happening while they're they're walking out or moving
- 37:10out. Yeah.
- 37:11Imagine. Yeah, OK.
- 37:13Cool. You realize how fucked we are,
- 37:18right? He's gonna fucking kill us.
- 37:22Not if we spin this correctly. We did the fucking job.
- 37:28If they have a problem with that, that sounds like a dumb
- 37:31problem. Exactly.
- 37:34They asked, They told us to kill, killed, kill him.
- 37:38And we did. We did it and if they have
- 37:42problems with that I have talked my way out of worse shit in my
- 37:46life. And it does kind of sound like
- 37:49the this blood hunt thing is every man for themselves.
- 37:56I wouldn't be surprised if this is the first time Underhanded
- 37:59Tactics has done something like this.
- 38:04You're not wrong, says Rita. You almost got to forgot she was
- 38:08there for a second. Sure did.
- 38:12I have to find my boss. Good.
- 38:17Good luck. Tell, tell Nick I'm sorry.
- 38:23Not my accounting, not my problem.
- 38:27You all are clinically insane. Yeah, yeah, I told that before.
- 38:37He just starts walking further into the sewers.
- 38:43Yeah, gonna. We're gonna attempt to navigate
- 38:45our way out of here. I'm sure there's like service
- 38:54hatches or whatever, they go up to the surface here on the
- 38:59surface, how I have no clue, but like.
- 39:02Oh yes, it's You may not be able to trace your way back the way
- 39:06you came, but it's not terribly difficult to find a service
- 39:10ladder leading up to a manhole cover.
- 39:14Slowly push your way out onto the street level and well,
- 39:22fortunately looks like you didn't come out in the middle of
- 39:29the town square or anything like that, but you're definitely a
- 39:36ways away from little Hollywood. OK, I.
- 39:44Think maybe near downtown you can see Magdalene Tower not so
- 39:50much in the distance as it is towering over you is.
- 39:53It worth a gesture towards Magdalene Tower.
- 39:58Worth going to report. Yeah, I mean, they're nice
- 40:04before. Before someone makes us
- 40:07disappear. Yeah, yeah, let's head that way.
- 40:13Was there any ash that remained of the missile that, you know,
- 40:18could have, I don't know, ripped something and like, gathered up
- 40:23some of it? You wanted to collect some of it
- 40:27then. That's a little bit of evidence.
- 40:32It's quite possible as you're walking towards in the direction
- 40:38of Magdalen Tower, trying you know, to avoid main
- 40:42thoroughfares because you're not sure how you'd explain well.
- 40:48Everything. Any of this, much less to the
- 40:51police. Somebody walks into your path.
- 41:00Somebody who you, Jeremy, actually recognize.
- 41:10There's a. Carson.
- 41:13I'm going to. Like.
- 41:15Tear away from because I presumably I'm still leaning on
- 41:18Aster and like, step up in front of him.
- 41:23Carson, what are you doing here? Hey kid Carson.
- 41:30Individual middle-aged guy, kind of slightly thinning hair,
- 41:38wearing almost like formal wear, nice button up shirt and slacks,
- 41:44very Polish shoes. It's a.
- 41:48Small wave from me. I was looking for you actually,
- 41:54but I guess these are them. These are they?
- 42:02Yeah. Cool.
- 42:06Hey, folks, Carson Longbow. There's somebody who wants to
- 42:14meet all of you. Ronce, that's not far.
- 42:24Just around the corner here actually Can take you through
- 42:29the back entrance. No need to cause a fuss.
- 42:35You all look like you're having a time.
- 42:40It's been a week. It takes you further down what
- 42:45you realize Jeremy. It's the one of the back
- 42:50entrances to Provence. Head back to the door, back
- 42:57through the large, impressively outfitted kitchens currently
- 43:03seemingly closed down for the evening as there is an assault
- 43:06sight. Back out through the bar
- 43:10entrance. This large oppressive main area
- 43:16that has this strange sort of neo bow arts aesthetic to it
- 43:22that seems rather a touch too fancy for the city it's
- 43:27currently located in, I think. Taylor and I went on a date
- 43:31here. The food's actually pretty good,
- 43:36actually has two Michelin stars. And for this town?
- 43:42It's the go to for Crawford family dinners and celebrations.
- 43:46You're greeted by the sound of piano music.
- 43:52Someone's playing at the grand piano that usually Jeremy around
- 43:59this time of night, you'd find yourself stationed at.
- 44:04Who's there? A woman woman in a very simple
- 44:10but very elegant black evening dress over which a short coat
- 44:21with you think a genuine fur stole.
- 44:27She has long silver hair elegantly parted around a
- 44:39heart-shaped face. The well, she's definitely not
- 44:44in the prime of her youth anymore.
- 44:49She's one of those people who clearly aged like a fine wine.
- 44:55She's playing rather expertly on this piano.
- 45:00Don't recognize the melody, Jeremy.
- 45:05Much like this restaurant, she seems altogether far too elegant
- 45:09at this sort of place. You know it's.
- 45:15Too good to be here. And sitting, well, more like
- 45:23trying not to collapse at a table nearby, looking every bit
- 45:29as dishevelled and thoroughly done with tonight as you are, is
- 45:35Ansel. I'm just kind of stand there and
- 45:40sort of wait to see what happens.
- 45:42Give Anselm a small nod. Just gives you a very tired look
- 45:49but doesn't say anything. Carson opens up the side of the
- 45:55bar for you all to walk through but doesn't follow you and says
- 46:00you approach closer to the woman playing the piano.
- 46:03She stops mid set and taps a key experimentally a couple of
- 46:10times. This sounded out of tune to you,
- 46:17Mr. Reed. It's at the the sour note.
- 46:22Sounds a bit like it, yeah. Yeah, I've been hearing it for
- 46:26months or days. It's kind of hard to keep track.
- 46:33It has been a rather eventful few nights, hasn't it?
- 46:39She turns in her seat to face all of you.
- 46:46And some here gave me the very abridged version of events.
- 46:52But given that you're all still staying here and not decaying in
- 46:57some sewer adjunct underneath little Hollywood, I assume you
- 47:00were successful. Yes.
- 47:05This domain is poorer for it. She taps the key again.
- 47:13He's made it very clear to me that the events that were set in
- 47:19motion at the illegal rave a few nights prior were due to his
- 47:27interference. I never took him for the
- 47:32penitent type, but I suppose we all have our breaking points.
- 47:40Dawn is fast approaching fledglings, so I'll be brief.
- 47:49You've done this city a great service, and you've also
- 47:54deprived it perhaps one of its most devoted sons.
- 48:01I hope you realize the gravity of it all.
- 48:06Yeah, I think so. But you have proven resourceful,
- 48:14determined and able to make the best of a bad situation.
- 48:25Rough around the edges certainly, but I'm sure that
- 48:31give it a few years we can Polish them smooth.
- 48:37Molly is biting her lip at the biting sort of the inside of her
- 48:40cheek at the midst of. Years.
- 48:44There are of course still some extant threads.
- 48:48Obviously deaths of so many kind and so short of time certainly
- 48:55going to draw uncomfortable questions, but at the moment
- 49:05that is no longer the concern of you 5 You may rest easy,
- 49:15Kindred. You have my word.
- 49:21Whatever you think you may have done, whatever toes you may have
- 49:25stepped on, there will be no retaliation.
- 49:29She taps the key again. Must have this tuned.
- 49:38I haven't been maintaining it the last couple.
- 49:41Weeks. There's no place for you here if
- 49:45you'll take it. Imagine a pay raise might be in
- 49:49order given your more permanent issue of residency.
- 49:57I don't want to cause you trouble.
- 49:58I'm I think somebody saw me online, so people are going to
- 50:04come looking for me soon. As you choose.
- 50:09As you said, sunrise is approaching.
- 50:15Oh, get out of your hair minus. Highness is rather old
- 50:23fashioned, isn't it? No.
- 50:25Nick didn't tell me the proper term.
- 50:30You may refer to me as Prince Calais.
- 50:33It's. You were dismissed.
- 50:37Yeah, I'm not going to stick around.
- 50:40Turn the head back toward the exit.
- 50:43And some just sits there with his elbows on the table,
- 50:50practically collapsing onto it like he's barely able to hold
- 50:54himself up. And speed run getting everyone
- 51:01back home I guess. Don is approaching, but somehow
- 51:13he did it. So why doesn't this feel like a
- 51:18victory? I was going to say, it feels
- 51:21very hollow. Music never stops, that's why.
- 51:26I call it Eric victory. Yeah, well survived another
- 51:31night, kissed those bad as much as we can help for right now.
- 51:37Hey, now that we're no longer like under the threat of death
- 51:41and like unliving nightmares, I want to like actually like, I
- 51:52don't know, grabbing a drink is like sort of kind of not thing,
- 51:57but like. Everyone laid.
- 52:00Oh, maybe I wasn't going to be so.
- 52:04We should. Hang out so we actually like,
- 52:06you know, be friendly and not like just we're stuck together
- 52:13because we're all going to die. OK tomorrow night my house
- 52:19movies, pillow Fort, pyjama party that's.
- 52:26Sounds amazing. Thank you for not leaving me in
- 52:33the sewer drain. What never we stick together.
- 52:41You break apart and eventually dawn breaks.
- 52:53Citizens of San Arroyo, such as they are, such as it is, get up.
- 53:01They have breakfast. They try to ignore that text.
- 53:06They try to follow up on that e-mail, Go to work, they
- 53:13commute. They yell at that dipshit that
- 53:19cut them off at the turn signal. They come home.
- 53:26They relax or they don't. The sun goes down and the dead
- 53:36wake. The dead wake underneath Saint
- 53:43Francis Garcias, within the refractory, sealed behind a slab
- 53:52like metal door. Sebastian sits there in a dirty
- 53:58cot. Surroundings are all bare
- 54:03concrete and deep shadows. He doesn't seem particularly
- 54:09bothered, humming to himself tunelessly as he scratches
- 54:13something onto the floor with a single claw.
- 54:18Looks vaguely like a pit surrounded by writhing tendrils.
- 54:25Or are they roots? There's a sudden clank of
- 54:31hydraulics and a low hiss of oiled hinges as the door
- 54:35suddenly swings open, and Sebastian turns to see the
- 54:41silhouette of a hulking, ragged figure, one hand clutching a
- 54:47long sickle like dagger with a blade of yellowed bone.
- 54:53Sebastian grins. What took you so long?
- 54:59The figure doesn't respond, nearly advances further into the
- 55:04cell. The door rumbles shut behind
- 55:08him. Sebastian stands up.
- 55:11Look, before you start, I had to do something, OK?
- 55:14Rafe's getting too big for his britches and we both know it.
- 55:18The newcomer continues to advance.
- 55:20Sebastian's grin shrinks by a few molars.
- 55:23He backs up till his back is against the opposite wall.
- 55:28Hey, wait, wait, you still need me?
- 55:31I'm the only one who knows how to get in.
- 55:34The figures on him in a flash, pinning him to the wall, sickle
- 55:37blade pressed to the Gangrel's throat.
- 55:39Sebastian's grin is now a defined snarl, but his eyes, his
- 55:44eyes betray the terror. Fine, fucking fine.
- 55:50Do it then. Bleed me, bond me, let it all be
- 55:53a be a big fucking waste of time.
- 55:57You're great at that, aren't you?
- 56:01A drop of vitae runs down Sebastian's neck from the
- 56:05shallow cut being dug into his throat.
- 56:09The brute suddenly relents. Sebastian slides down the wall,
- 56:14clutching at the wound, staring daggers up at the vampire who
- 56:20has run his own life for the better part of a century now,
- 56:24into a face that is familiar. Masab looks down at him,
- 56:34pitiless. You think yourself
- 56:39indispensable. You are not.
- 56:43You are simply convenient. The door behind him opens up
- 56:51once more. On the other side stands Regent
- 56:55Patton, arms folded, expression neutral.
- 57:01Masaf turns around to exit, casting a withering look over
- 57:04his shoulder at his fellow Outlander.
- 57:08You will stay close to the court and submit to whatever penance
- 57:11Calais deems suitable. A friend from Texas will be
- 57:14arriving soon. You will make yourself useful
- 57:18when that happens. The former sheriff walks out.
- 57:24The door slams shut once more. Sebastian stares down at the
- 57:31crude symbol etched into the floor.
- 57:35Corazon's for the worthy, and that ain't you, dusty old fuck.
- 57:41And I'll see, and I'll see. None.