Latest / Dubious Creatures Presents / The Vampire With No Name 1.24 - Fussed Dark

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The Vampire With No Name 1.24 - Fussed Dark · Dubious Creatures Presents

• 0:00
  You're all stood outside now, newcomer maybe about 50 feet
• 0:07
  away from you, and just a silhouette of a woman, a dirt
• 0:13
  bike, glowing red eyes uncomfortably evoking not too
• 0:24
  dissimilar creature. For a moment, nobody says
• 0:31
  anything, and then you hear the sound of a kickstand being
• 0:37
  flipped into place. CC the finger's silhouette, take
• 0:44
  something bulky off the back of their bike, and start walking
• 0:51
  towards you. They throw it at your feet.
• 0:56
  Large army surplus duffel bag. You hear her say.
• 1:04
  You lost something. Going to take a look at the
• 1:09
  back. Is that?
• 1:11
  Crow in there. You unzip it and crow.
• 1:17
  How would you say you're doing right now?
• 1:22
  Not. Great I guess, just just feels
• 1:27
  like very loud conflict in my head.
• 1:31
  Not not great. So you see crows, supine form,
• 1:38
  not staked, not bound, but not really, not really with you
• 1:43
  either. And she looks a frightful mess,
• 1:48
  dreaded hair unbound and full of dirt and grit and feathers.
• 1:58
  Are you OK, Crow? Yeah, I guess.
• 2:03
  Offers a panda helper out of the bag.
• 2:07
  Do I remember how I got in this situation?
• 2:12
  Not really, In fact everything post the ceremony it's a bit of
• 2:19
  a blur. You can't give me an
• 2:23
  intelligence plus resolve check if you like. 3 successes.
• 2:28
  You keep flashing back to that moment.
• 2:32
  Sebastian pointed gun cast his head.
• 2:36
  I'll get you a new one. That phrase keeps echoing inside
• 2:40
  of your skull. I feel like crows very quiet
• 2:50
  body language is a lot of she's very pulled into herself,
• 2:56
  embarrassed, shame, but a lot of confusion because she keeps
• 3:07
  replaying that moment and sometimes it's like she
• 3:12
  understands what he meant and knows that he wouldn't have done
• 3:19
  it unless he absolutely had to. And then another moment of anger
• 3:28
  and disgust, but it just keeps wavering back and forth.
• 3:34
  And a lot of that's just kind of on her body languages.
• 3:38
  She kind of just stands there, like not really sure what to do
• 3:44
  with herself or anything. Having stepped a little further
• 3:50
  towards you, you can see this woman Sarah, bit more clearly.
• 3:59
  Tall, rangy, lean woman, dusky skin, very sharp features.
• 4:13
  Not necessarily traditionally attractive, but same time very
• 4:22
  striking. Dressed in essentially looks
• 4:29
  like just outdoor gear, hiking boots, functional pants and
• 4:39
  sleeveless top. A lot of pockets.
• 4:49
  Her expression is well, she definitely doesn't seem happy to
• 4:56
  see any of you. Thank you.
• 5:06
  Didn't do it for you, did it for the crowd of two dozen people
• 5:14
  who she probably would have run straight into.
• 5:23
  Suppose there's a certain irony. Yeah, I guess.
• 5:32
  Cancel, starts Sarah, I realize. Oh, shut the fuck up.
• 5:41
  I back to this one. I don't care what version of the
• 5:49
  truth you are following here, I just right now I'm more
• 5:59
  concerned with whatever these five have to do with it.
• 6:08
  Yeah, we were in the wrong place the wrong time.
• 6:13
  And then people who are so much older than us has decided that
• 6:19
  it was our problem for a little bit, and now they're going back
• 6:23
  and forth on it. And then we got dispatched with
• 6:29
  going to find things and thus we are here.
• 6:34
  The Mac Guffin Hunt. Say that you can see just like a
• 6:43
  collection of bracelets, both wrists and right you can see
• 6:51
  this bit of weathered cord that appears to be attached to it
• 7:00
  looks almost like a silver medallion that she just when you
• 7:08
  say that she almost instinctually begins to fidget
• 7:15
  with on her opposite wrist. So just to be clear, he dragged
• 7:25
  me all the way back here to ask for this.
• 7:39
  Ask for an item that was important.
• 7:45
  If we have 5 items, we can make it so that he's easier to deal
• 7:57
  with. All of you to assume that I want
• 8:04
  to be part of anything to do with that.
• 8:11
  It is unfortunately a threat to a lot of people right now.
• 8:20
  So why are you actually doing it?
• 8:24
  Honestly at this point it's to save our skin.
• 8:28
  I want to see the next sunset and eventually leave this
• 8:35
  fucking town behind. So just to just so I'm on the
• 8:41
  same page here, your entire motivation in a nutshell is
• 8:46
  collect the Mac guffins, kill my sire, then drive on out of here
• 8:53
  and let the rest of us deal with the wreckage.
• 8:55
  That about sum it up. Some of us live here and some
• 9:02
  and all of us were in the warehouse that night at the
• 9:08
  party. And so we've been dragged into
• 9:13
  this. And personally, as somebody who
• 9:20
  has lived here my entire unfortunate life nearly, I do
• 9:25
  kind of want to try to make this place at least a little safer.
• 9:31
  Give me a Manipulation or Charisma plus Persuasion. 3
• 9:39
  successes. I'm going to pop a will for see
• 9:43
  what I can get and of course it's doesn't do anything.
• 9:45
  So 3 successes. 3 successes. All right, well, you don't know
• 9:58
  this Sarah white bird from Adam, but you get the you get the
• 10:08
  feeling that she's not the sort of person to waste anyone's
• 10:15
  time. If she didn't want to engage
• 10:20
  with this situation, she just wouldn't have shown up.
• 10:26
  And there's Well, you grew up in a household where you could cut
• 10:34
  the tension with a knife. In any given day, you know a
• 10:38
  thing or two about things left unsaid.
• 10:41
  And there is a whole lot of that hanging between her and Anselm,
• 10:46
  who, to his credit, has not spoken up since getting so
• 10:52
  vigorously shut down. Her posture becomes maybe an
• 11:00
  increment less hostile and she looks at you.
• 11:08
  You remind me of somebody who really pisses me off.
• 11:16
  If you say I have his eyes, I'm going to be, I'm going to be
• 11:20
  very annoyed but also probably laugh.
• 11:26
  She cocks her head back. No.
• 11:33
  Yeah. They gave some wow, they they
• 11:47
  actually did it. I feel like there is a
• 11:55
  consistent choke that's in like N Sentinelese that every that
• 12:06
  every kindred knows about this that I don't.
• 12:15
  Who is that? Totally it.
• 12:18
  I have to say your family's been off limits for a while on
• 12:25
  account of some bullshit I'm assuming your granddaddy got up
• 12:34
  to with a former member of his social club, she says, gesturing
• 12:44
  to Anselm I. Hadn't known that that was AI.
• 12:50
  Hadn't known that. So even that information is
• 12:53
  appreciated. Thank you.
• 12:57
  And Ash will then extend a hand and say Ash Crawford Clan von
• 13:03
  True. Sheep looks at the offered hand
• 13:08
  for second, then shrugs, grabs it, says Sarah White Bird, Clan
• 13:19
  Gangrel, or what's left of it. Having what's left of it, you'll
• 13:29
  have to excuse it for us 5. We are woefully under informed.
• 13:39
  Yeah, I got that impression. Because if you were informed,
• 13:45
  then you probably wouldn't have fallen for and Bella Castillo's
• 13:51
  particular brand of bullshit. On anything to do with her.
• 14:00
  So yeah. She was a little high on her own
• 14:05
  supply in my opinion. That's the very polite way of
• 14:10
  putting it. But U5, we're still in the
• 14:15
  middle of what happened at the Switchyard, which apart from
• 14:18
  being one of the worst blood deaths this city's had since the
• 14:24
  80s. Also wow you knew they started a
• 14:39
  war. Now I'm told by Freddie and and
• 14:52
  Bella that the crisis is seemingly averted.
• 14:55
  However, the price for that particular piece appears to be
• 14:59
  my sire's head on a platter, so forgive me if I'm feeling a
• 15:03
  little undiplomatic at the moment.
• 15:10
  I understand that's there were some things that we were maybe
• 15:18
  not quite as aware of and we were working on bad information.
• 15:30
  I look over at Anson. At that, at Anson.
• 15:38
  Yeah, everybody's looking at him right now, I think.
• 15:44
  How? How bad is it?
• 15:52
  How bad is what? She doesn't say that to the I
• 15:57
  view. She says that to Anselm, who
• 16:01
  responds Langford openly declared a blood hunt, so pretty
• 16:10
  bad shit. That means it's open season.
• 16:25
  And this ritual that he mentioned, it's opposed to what
• 16:34
  exactly? Bypass his significant defenses.
• 16:47
  Yeah, he was always a tough old bastard.
• 16:57
  She paces a bit, still fidgeting with that medallion on her
• 17:02
  wrist. I mean, it's a bit of a catch
• 17:07
  22, isn't it? I mean, we know at this point
• 17:10
  that his mind's gone, but still Shit.
• 17:19
  Is there I, is there something here beyond the what's?
• 17:29
  Listen, I know that he's very dear to both of you, but how
• 17:38
  much of him is reasonably left here?
• 17:42
  I do you think you could bring some of him back or I'm I'm.
• 17:57
  I don't know your geriatric friend.
• 18:00
  There was the one hanging out with the Gnostics.
• 18:04
  They promised to bring him back the way they brought back
• 18:09
  Arlene. All that good old religion
• 18:15
  praise, the dark father stuff. Yeah, cult shit.
• 18:24
  She says it in such a way that you're pretty sure the sarcasm
• 18:27
  isn't so much implied as it is seething.
• 18:35
  I'm not let. Me ask you something.
• 18:42
  You had somebody you loved, I mean like really loved to the
• 18:49
  boy where you could do and say just so much shit you wish you
• 18:57
  could take back in a moment and still somehow care for that
• 19:02
  person. Yes, yes.
• 19:10
  So what would you do where you got no choice but to put them
• 19:15
  down? Probably be doing the exact same
• 19:23
  thing you are. If they left you back, they
• 19:30
  wouldn't put you in a position where you would have to put them
• 19:34
  down. And now if wishes were horses,
• 19:43
  fuck. It's either we're the ones to
• 19:52
  deal with him or somebody else does and who the fuck know it's
• 19:57
  what they're they'll do to him. I got a pretty good idea because
• 20:03
  at least been filled in on what diabler he is.
• 20:06
  Oh yeah. Yeah, vaguely.
• 20:08
  Yeah, didn't. Get that lesson?
• 20:14
  There's a reason why we don't feed off each other.
• 20:19
  He's old and he's potent and normally that shit's verboten.
• 20:25
  But if yeah. They can, you know, someone eat
• 20:34
  him, seal his powers. I think we all, all of us here,
• 20:40
  just if anything, just want to let it give him a chance to let
• 20:48
  go. With a little bit of dignity in
• 20:53
  our respect. As with how much this guy went
• 20:59
  over at Anson's been working the past couple of days, if there
• 21:02
  was a way to bring him back, I'm pretty sure he would have found
• 21:04
  it by now. Some doesn't say anything, but
• 21:15
  he just looks at Sarah and in that moment there's something
• 21:20
  that passes between them. Fine, fucking fine.
• 21:28
  She hears the medallion off her wrist and hands it to whoever's
• 21:33
  closest to her. Pastor will take it.
• 21:40
  Astor, the moment your fingers touch the metal, you're
• 21:55
  someplace else. And where am I?
• 22:01
  You think you're in a bar? Oh, that's weird.
• 22:05
  You're not sure where exactly. There's there's music and
• 22:09
  there's laughter and there are other people here.
• 22:14
  Like a more modern bar or like an old timey bar?
• 22:19
  What kind of bar? Well, the kind that clearly has
• 22:26
  access to television. You can see this old TV overhead
• 22:34
  that appears to be showing some kind of news report, but the
• 22:38
  film quality is very grainy, Definitely not something from
• 22:43
  this decade. And you, you realize with the
• 22:47
  start, are not you in this moment.
• 22:54
  I've I've had enough weird dreams and I've heard the
• 22:57
  stories from the other artifacts so we're ready ish.
• 23:03
  See from a Saab's perspective. See Sarah and Anselm and a few
• 23:18
  other people who you don't recognize, but there's an
• 23:26
  atmosphere, this place that's very party like, almost.
• 23:30
  You hear the clinking of glasses, the buzz background
• 23:35
  conversation, the slightly crackly sound of a jukebox
• 23:41
  somewhere belting out some kind of pop radio hit that's just
• 23:47
  barely outside the range of hearing.
• 23:53
  Maybe myself wasn't paying attention, or maybe, maybe he
• 23:59
  wasn't focused on that this moment.
• 24:03
  You see Sarah, who's sat directly next to you, burst out
• 24:08
  laughing and say, oh God damn, next time just, I don't know,
• 24:18
  send me a postcard or something. I mean, you're tough old man,
• 24:24
  but you're not that tough. You're Anselm from the seat
• 24:32
  directly behind her. Say, I have been trying to get
• 24:36
  that lesson across to him for the better part of 50 years.
• 24:40
  I doubt our glorious sheriff will heed it.
• 24:44
  Now you feel yourself chuckle. You feel wary, but also
• 24:58
  strangely satisfied. Something's been accomplished.
• 25:04
  You're not sure what exactly, but whatever it is, it fills you
• 25:08
  with a sense of completeness. The job well done, at least a
• 25:19
  situation currently not spiraling out of control.
• 25:25
  Always good. It's always worth celebrating.
• 25:30
  You hear yourself growl. I suppose you'll be heading back
• 25:35
  to LA. Well yeah, it's not like your
• 25:39
  body Jethro's made this place any friendlier to Anarchs since
• 25:43
  I've been gone. Still, let me know next time you
• 25:52
  need a shovelhead exterminator. That was honestly about the best
• 25:59
  I felt about doing anything for a while before you go.
• 26:05
  Then you feel something unclasped around your wrist BC
• 26:14
  sliding across the bar. It's that medallion.
• 26:20
  It's about the size of a silver dollar, tarnished and old and
• 26:26
  slightly dented that you can vaguely meant to make out what
• 26:30
  looks like some kind of script around the rim around these
• 26:38
  group of central figures, maybe soldiers embossed on the metal
• 26:47
  slides it over to Sarah and you hear handsome kind of chuckle
• 26:51
  and say and believes a kind calls that re gifting.
• 26:57
  I got the whole reason you gave it to me.
• 26:59
  It was because you didn't want a reminder of the bad old days.
• 27:07
  Sarah picks it up and examines it.
• 27:11
  Gee, you really shouldn't have. So what bad old days we're
• 27:19
  talking about? And please don't launch and do
• 27:22
  another lecture about how everything went wrong post the
• 27:27
  French Revolution or something. It's kind of no respect.
• 27:40
  You feel yourself chuckle again, and it's good to laugh.
• 27:46
  You don't think you've laughed in a while.
• 27:50
  Something Ansel gave to me. It's a reminder of where he came
• 27:57
  from and now want you to have it.
• 28:02
  I know it's not home here, but it's better than nothing.
• 28:10
  That line echoes in your skull as you snap back to the present
• 28:17
  moment. OK, Aster And kind of like sits
• 28:27
  there for a moment like oh, that looks to handsome.
• 28:33
  And it's like you were really important to him.
• 28:38
  I feel like it's important for you to know that right now.
• 28:44
  It doesn't, Keith very purposefully not looking you in
• 28:49
  the eye. Then after we'll look to.
• 28:53
  Sarah Sarah's got this very quizzical expression.
• 28:58
  This has been happening with all the massage artifacts to various
• 29:05
  members. Each one of us happened.
• 29:08
  Maybe not you anyway. Oh good.
• 29:11
  For a moment I thought I had actually lost my damn mind.
• 29:15
  No. Visions.
• 29:18
  Visions. Yeah, I've seen them now.
• 29:23
  Riley Raleigh has seen them. Crow has seen them.
• 29:30
  Fucking Tremere bullshit. You definitely should have sent
• 29:37
  that postcard. He's also glad that you were
• 29:41
  here. Hey, listen, we just met, but I
• 29:47
  don't know you like that. That's fair.
• 29:50
  So you don't get to comment. Memories.
• 29:58
  Who's Jethro? Or what's a Jethro?
• 30:06
  Part of the original unholy trifecta?
• 30:09
  Ask Anselm. She will poignantly look to
• 30:15
  Anthem. There were three of us in the
• 30:22
  beginning, myself, Masaf and one Jethro Connolly.
• 30:27
  You might have heard of him. His name is on a lot of
• 30:30
  buildings here. Have I heard of him?
• 30:36
  They did visit his Historical Society.
• 30:38
  Oh. Right.
• 30:45
  Sarah eventually pipes up. I have a great If we're done
• 30:50
  strolling down memory lane, how do we do this exactly?
• 30:57
  What? How many items now I?
• 31:00
  Think that's all of them? Yeah, 'cause they will have the
• 31:05
  the thingy. The rappers played.
• 31:12
  That thingy. I you know what?
• 31:18
  No, actually I don't want to. Know we got to take these to the
• 31:22
  magical Wizards and have them do a.
• 31:26
  Ritual. Yeah.
• 31:27
  Yeah, I know what rave's all about.
• 31:29
  I'm more concerned with, you know, finding Massave because
• 31:41
  this is all kind of moot if we can't actually get to him
• 31:44
  before, well, I assume Langford. Yeah, I think he's down in the
• 31:50
  storm tunnels. I think that's what we we
• 31:54
  decided that he's probably done there.
• 31:57
  Lots of people, lots of easy pickings.
• 32:03
  Forget. He he wants to be the one.
• 32:05
  Who does it? Langford.
• 32:10
  Yeah. OK, that guy.
• 32:13
  Yeah, seriously. Yeah.
• 32:15
  Agreed. No argument here.
• 32:24
  Well, the. Other thing we should do is
• 32:26
  prepare because I make sure we're ready.
• 32:35
  I guess maybe it has an elsewhere not to, but I don't
• 32:39
  know what's McLeod doing these days.
• 32:46
  If you do, just leave our memes out of it if you ever is.
• 32:53
  Yeah, we I may have lost my temper earlier tonight.
• 32:58
  I. May have set him on fire his.
• 33:01
  Face may be a little flatter than it was before.
• 33:05
  I mean, who could tell? OK.
• 33:08
  Is there any situation that you 5 have not stepped in?
• 33:13
  No. No.
• 33:19
  I'm pretty sure that we like there haven't been any like like
• 33:22
  downtown still standing. So we haven't at least like
• 33:26
  actively contributed to the acceleration of urban decay.
• 33:33
  By way of reply whistles very sharply and you see picking
• 33:42
  themselves out of the shadows of the various bits of scrap and
• 33:46
  detritus in this junkyard. You see speedy little eyes
• 33:52
  reflecting what precious little light there is here in the yard
• 33:57
  back at you as these canine forms begin to lope out of the
• 34:02
  darkness to, for eight, an entire pack of coyotes.
• 34:13
  It looks like they were just lying in wait this entire
• 34:16
  conversation. And you've all been in Southern
• 34:22
  California a while. You've seen coyotes before.
• 34:25
  They're pretty common urban animal.
• 34:31
  These are big, like larger than they reasonably should be,
• 34:42
  almost wolf sized in some cases. Seem one of these coyotes, a big
• 34:49
  grey muzzled creature with one ear.
• 34:53
  It's a little bit damaged and shorn.
• 34:57
  Pads over to Sarah. She kneels down, kind of almost
• 35:03
  playfully, scratches it's scruff.
• 35:12
  Come on, you know him, boy. You know where he's at.
• 35:15
  Need you and your brothers to go find him.
• 35:17
  OK, OK. Almost immediately, the coyotes
• 35:26
  scatter. This particularly massive
• 35:34
  specimen being the last to depart though, giving all of you
• 35:41
  one last almost slightly threatening look over the
• 35:46
  shoulder before departing. I would like to follow suit.
• 36:01
  I don't know if I can utilize Plague of Beasts this way.
• 36:08
  Could not utilize Plague of Beasts in this specific way.
• 36:13
  Send them after massage you. Could well you could try to
• 36:23
  summon Poe. That would be my first.
• 36:34
  First point of order would be getting PO.
• 36:42
  She was considering utilizing PO to basically, you know, get your
• 36:49
  friends together and follow those coyotes.
• 36:56
  O is your famulus, so it does not require a Rouse check.
• 36:59
  Go ahead and give me either a Manipulation or Charisma plus
• 37:06
  Animalism. Failure says 5 successes. 5
• 37:15
  successes. You hear a familiar cawing as
• 37:20
  suddenly perched on the top of Anselm's little abode, who see a
• 37:27
  familiar mess of feathers. Poe flaps down towards you.
• 37:35
  She's going to whisper to Poe, see if you can get some friends.
• 37:46
  Follow. Those coyotes oh cause and lifts
• 37:55
  off again, soon becoming indistinguishable from the rest
• 37:59
  of the night sky. Sarah just watches this whole
• 38:04
  exchange with the slightest ghost of a smile.
• 38:10
  How many winters, little sister? None, this is my first.
• 38:29
  Well, either you pick up quickly or you had a good teacher.
• 38:34
  You said earlier that we don't drink from each other.
• 38:43
  Why? Because it fucks with your head.
• 38:49
  You drink right from the vein. Creates dependency even in
• 39:01
  towers circles. It's a bit of a faux pas.
• 39:04
  That's how fucked up it can end up being.
• 39:09
  Granted, there's a bit of a double standard.
• 39:12
  Everybody gets iffy if two licks start sharing vitae in any
• 39:19
  context outside of a blood hunt, but you know humans are fair
• 39:25
  games as far as they're concerned so long as they're
• 39:29
  properly fed and taken out on walks.
• 39:34
  You got to love the Camarilla. Now I don't.
• 39:40
  I feel like crow when that said just kind of like immediately
• 39:48
  starts to process and shut down of like the the the realization
• 39:57
  of the fuck. This is not what I was made to
• 40:02
  believe it was. Bro go ahead give me a resolve
• 40:09
  plus intelligence role. And make it 6 successes and I
• 40:15
  don't know if it would assist me or not it being a critical but I
• 40:19
  would like to use one of my zealotry dots for.
• 40:25
  Would because six successes. Is a messy critical. 6 successes
• 40:30
  is exactly what you needed. But you you hear that and you
• 40:39
  feel something clench in your gut.
• 40:44
  You you feel like you're going to vomit even though you're not
• 40:48
  physically capable. Your head and your heart are
• 40:54
  telling you 2 very different things and where they're meeting
• 40:57
  in the middle. It's beginning to tear, but in
• 41:05
  this exact moment in time, you don't know how long you have,
• 41:09
  but at least for right now, once again, just like before in that
• 41:14
  church, that son of a bitch, he did this to you.
• 41:26
  He tried to kill Cass. He's been feeding on Cass rather
• 41:34
  than Rather than inflict some sort of compulsion or penalty
• 41:43
  due to it being a messy critical, I would like for you
• 41:45
  to instead show me just how messy this gets.
• 41:54
  I feel like Crow doesn't even know it it.
• 41:57
  It's like there's so much emotion and and and rage and she
• 42:09
  looks over at Ansem and says whatever deal Sebastian has with
• 42:22
  brief fuck that, fuck his protection, fuck whatever
• 42:34
  bullshit I want him, and she looks up to Sarah and goes are
• 42:48
  all of our sires this fucked up? Are we all supposed?
• 42:58
  Is that just what happens to? US.
• 43:09
  I've heard us called the Clan of Beasts, but I didn't think that
• 43:12
  they literally meant that we were all just a bunch of fucking
• 43:15
  monsters. Actually, it's a hand on your
• 43:23
  shoulder near where those feathers are still projecting
• 43:31
  out from your clothes, from that patch of skin just above your
• 43:35
  breastbone. I think you and I had vastly
• 43:42
  different upbringings, little sister.
• 43:47
  I'm guessing whoever the Sebastian is.
• 43:52
  Well, stereotypes exist for a reason.
• 44:00
  And this close to her, you see, all right, they have the same
• 44:08
  reflective quality, the same Tebidium lucidum as those
• 44:14
  Coyotes. We should have a longer
• 44:19
  conversation, but right now there just isn't time.
• 44:27
  Unfortunately. You need to do well, whatever it
• 44:34
  is this is that Raif's got planned and we looks up at
• 44:42
  Anselm. We need to find him before
• 44:53
  Langford does, or anybody else who feels like trying their
• 44:58
  luck. This feels like a weird
• 45:03
  question, but I'm just going to throw it out into ether.
• 45:08
  Does anyone have a sword I can borrow?
• 45:15
  Hansel actually just kind of chuckles this one moment.
• 45:25
  He walks back into his little workshop.
• 45:31
  You hear the sound of You hear the sound of like rustling,
• 45:40
  clanging bits of metal eventually comes back with you
• 45:50
  actually saw him with this not all that long ago.
• 45:56
  This massive Bowie knife in a rawhide sheath.
• 46:04
  I'm afraid that I don't have anything more sword like at the
• 46:15
  moment, but this is arguably just as effective when it comes
• 46:22
  from separating meat from bone. It's better than the prop sword
• 46:30
  that's in my trunk right now. I should know, I made it.
• 46:36
  He hands it to you, hilt first. Yeah, I generally take it and I
• 46:46
  feel the balance of it, the weight of it, and nod at him and
• 46:51
  say I'll take good care of it. He nods.
• 46:59
  Ben looks at looks at Sarah and just motions him over.
• 47:10
  And I don't suppose you have another form of transportation
• 47:14
  besides, OK? You don't get to complain about
• 47:19
  riding coach after the night you put me through.
• 47:23
  Get on the damn bike. With that you see her get onto
• 47:29
  the dirt bike and and some kind of awkwardly clamber onto the
• 47:33
  back, putting his arms around her for stabilization and they
• 47:44
  begin to ride off. Well, shall we go see the
• 47:52
  wizard? Let's go.
• 47:57
  Yay. Follow the young brick road.
• 48:03
  Feel like we're going to need a bigger car if we keep doing
• 48:05
  this. Yeah, probably.
• 48:11
  I mean, got a Do we all want to go in one car?
• 48:17
  We can squeeze it. Gas.
• 48:19
  Yeah. Be.
• 48:22
  Better for the environment. Take my car, it's a rental.
• 48:28
  OK. Astor's going to head to the
• 48:30
  car. OK.
• 48:32
  Yeah, let's go. Not excited?
• 48:37
  Driving around the edges of town, running into the heavier
• 48:44
  law enforcement presence in San Arroyo is unlikely.
• 48:54
  But not impossible. So whoever is driving their
• 48:59
  respective vehicles, can you please give me a role of either
• 49:04
  Wits plus awareness or wits plus drive?
• 49:10
  Wits plus awareness it is. Promise one day Astor's going to
• 49:16
  get a car that three drive just sitting there doing nothing.
• 49:21
  One success. Thankfully.
• 49:27
  I thank God. Well, you do see red and blue
• 49:32
  flashing lights distantly as you take a long circuitous route
• 49:39
  trying to get to Mira Loma without going too far into the
• 49:42
  city proper. Skirting around the back
• 49:45
  streets, the old derelict buildings, the peeling signposts
• 49:55
  and weed and scrub choked lawns of the very, very outskirts
• 50:04
  where San Arroyo meets the desert, you are thankfully not
• 50:11
  stopped on your merry way. So grateful, incredibly
• 50:19
  grateful. So grateful.
• 50:23
  Once again, it's the regional airport.
• 50:27
  For a place that now seems so very derelict, you are
• 50:35
  patronizing it quite a lot recently.
• 50:40
  Again, you all walk up to the familiar sealed hangar.
• 50:44
  Once again you knock on the exterior, and once again you're
• 50:48
  ushered in, though both the surroundings and the atmosphere
• 50:54
  in here are remarkably different.
• 51:02
  The only sources of light in here, as opposed to the large
• 51:05
  overhead lights, are a set of five lanterns that have been set
• 51:15
  up at equidistant points around this massive ritual circle,
• 51:23
  making the interior of this hangar seem almost cavernous.
• 51:30
  All of the tables full of strange artefacts and other
• 51:34
  archaeological items have been cleared away.
• 51:37
  So now, at the moment, only this strange ritual site is the only
• 51:41
  thing in this space you see in this immensely complicated, not
• 51:53
  quite Hermetic sigil 5 items. The glass case containing the
• 52:02
  slightly cracked bottle of red Jimson weed elixir, the colt,
• 52:12
  the journal and a blade. The rough wooden handle and a
• 52:27
  long curved edge that looks like it was crudely carved from some
• 52:34
  kind of bone or horn have also been set in equidistant points.
• 52:45
  Within the periphery of this circle, and directly in the
• 52:50
  center, is Rafe, sitting in a Lotus position, hands on his
• 52:59
  knees, sleeves rolled up and shirt open to expose more of
• 53:07
  this strange pattern inked into his own skin, which bears a
• 53:12
  remarkable resemblance to the symbols of the floor around him.
• 53:19
  Directly in front of him sits A pewter bowl and a dagger with a
• 53:26
  black handle resting inside of it.
• 53:30
  His eyes are closed and he appears to be muttering
• 53:36
  something under his breath he can't quite make out.
• 53:38
  But that's as you get closer, it's like the pressure in the
• 53:44
  room changes, the air feels heavy.
• 53:53
  And this feeling only gets stronger the closer and closer
• 53:56
  you get to that circle. Aster, can you give me, we'll
• 54:08
  say give me either an Intelligence plus crafts or
• 54:11
  Intelligence plus resolve check? Oh, they're the same.
• 54:15
  So that would be two successes. Her eyes keep getting drawn to
• 54:23
  the bone. Dagger circle that.
• 54:32
  She will kind of walk on the outskirt of the circle to
• 54:39
  whatever line is can like joining with where the scythe is
• 54:46
  and just sit mimicking A Wraith. Just kind of like crisscross
• 54:50
  applesauce, hands on knees. Something something about it
• 54:56
  just doesn't. It doesn't look right.
• 55:01
  You don't know how to describe it.
• 55:03
  It doesn't look the same. Like it's a fake.
• 55:09
  Possibly, but to be perfectly honest, the only time you ever
• 55:12
  got a good look at the thing that your dreams is when it was
• 55:14
  being swung to decapitate you. Something doesn't sit right
• 55:18
  about that, but the moment you do sit down, Rape's eyes snap
• 55:24
  open. He says, slightly strained
• 55:28
  voice. I take it you have our final
• 55:35
  item, yes? We didn't want to interrupt.
• 55:40
  There's nothing to interrupt, this is just precautions.
• 55:51
  Cautions. Please set the final item inside
• 55:58
  of the circle so we may begin. This will take no small amount
• 56:03
  of effort. Lester kind of chews on her lip
• 56:09
  for a moment and kind of deciding if she should say
• 56:14
  something or not. Ultimately decided not to say
• 56:20
  anything and puts the coin down. But we'll walk over to the rest
• 56:24
  of the group and tell them. You do that, and he begins to
• 56:33
  stand up, aches bull and the knife.
• 56:47
  He very, very carefully slits the opposite wrist, hovering
• 56:55
  over the bull. And lo, you came upon him in the
• 57:04
  lands east of Eden, wandering the dust like a lesser beast.
• 57:09
  You warmed him, you fed him, and upon him endowed your lifeblood.
• 57:19
  His own blood begins to drip in a steady stream, a relatively
• 57:24
  shallow cut giving off far, far much more blood than you think
• 57:33
  should be possible from such a minor injury, and it splatters
• 57:37
  into the bowl. Incredibly, not a single drop of
• 57:39
  it spills over the rim. And so he partook and was
• 57:50
  awakened. But you, You were abandoned to
• 57:53
  the dust, as you are always abandoned.
• 57:59
  Then raises the bowl above his head.
• 58:02
  The air around him is thrumming, may call upon you now, you who
• 58:14
  are the first woman in the Malka Hashidim, mother of monsters.
• 58:19
  Lamashtu Lamia Lila Lilith. Slowly, carefully, he walks
• 58:30
  counter clockwise around the interior of the circle,
• 58:33
  anointing all 5 items with the now bubbling vitae collected
• 58:40
  within the pewter bowl. Each time he does, he pauses to
• 58:46
  encant once more. Malka hashedem.
• 58:52
  Khakbeksara ET me shanetan. Malka Hasheden ET me Shanetan.
• 59:04
  The blood splatters onto each of the items and completely coats
• 59:09
  it in a Crimson film, and he watches the book, the bottle,
• 59:13
  the gun, the dagger, the coin. They begin to melt, as though
• 59:22
  the blood is the most potent of acids, each one rendering down
• 59:28
  into a Crimson sludge. Your Pete's phrase, once for
• 59:38
  each item and with each utterance and overwhelming
• 59:42
  pressure seems to exert itself further and further throughout
• 59:46
  the room. You feel your teeth start to
• 59:49
  ache, your ears start to pop, your vision grows tinged with
• 59:54
  Crimson. Need everybody to please give me
• 59:59
  a willpower check. 4 successes here.
• 1:00:04
  Also 4 successes. 2. Successes.
• 1:00:09
  With the 1/3. Humanity that is 6.
• 1:00:11
  With a grit. OK, brag about it.
• 1:00:16
  You are definitely hearing something in the midst of all of
• 1:00:19
  this, but it is not music. It's cackling and roaring and
• 1:00:28
  screeching and something primeval, something even more
• 1:00:33
  ancient than whatever was dwelling down there in that not
• 1:00:39
  quite church. And it's here, and it's being
• 1:00:42
  brought forth by whatever it is Rafe is doing.
• 1:00:46
  And it is. You have never been more
• 1:00:51
  terrified in your life, but you somehow manage to keep from just
• 1:01:00
  bolting just on sheer animal instinct.
• 1:01:09
  Raleigh Crow. Well, they don't hear the same
• 1:01:13
  things you do. Also manage to keep themselves
• 1:01:18
  rooted here, the periphery of the ritual.
• 1:01:27
  Astor and Ash on the other hand, Nope, No no, no, whatever this
• 1:01:39
  is, neither of you want any part of it.
• 1:01:43
  Astor's the science forward, girly.
• 1:01:45
  This is totally out of her realm of expertise.
• 1:01:48
  Goddamn Catholics. So only the three of you are
• 1:01:56
  present as you see Rafe return to the center of the ritual
• 1:02:00
  circle, fangs visibly bared with effort, holding aloft the
• 1:02:07
  drinking bowl once more. Take back what was given.
• 1:02:15
  Take back what is yours. Just as the building energy
• 1:02:24
  feels like it's about to crush your skull like a vice, Rafe
• 1:02:28
  smashes the blood coated bowl over his knee.
• 1:02:36
  Jeremy. The noises stop.
• 1:02:41
  Somewhere out in the universe, something snaps.
• 1:02:50
  The whole building shakes ever so slightly, and the clenched
• 1:02:58
  fist around all of your heads releases.
• 1:03:06
  The bubbling Crimson sludge that had gathered where the items
• 1:03:10
  once were rapidly cools and crusts over, and Wraith falls to
• 1:03:15
  his knees, exhausted. Well, that was a lot more the
• 1:03:23
  craft than I was expecting. Old or the old?
• 1:03:33
  Oh, it's it's done. Yes it I would recommend that
• 1:03:47
  you leave now. Yeah, you don't have to tell me
• 1:03:51
  twice. I'm going to start heading
• 1:03:54
  backwards to the car. Yeah.
• 1:03:58
  I'll follow. Am I still lucid?
• 1:04:09
  You are, although that was I think someone for crows from
• 1:04:17
  crows background might have had the opposite reaction, despite
• 1:04:21
  the increasing feeling of primal terror.
• 1:04:25
  That was fucking cool. But I that's inside thought.
• 1:04:35
  As people are getting ready to leave, she looks up at Rafe and
• 1:04:41
  says, did you know what Sebastian was doing to me?
• 1:04:49
  He looks up and you can see his eyes are slightly glassy, his
• 1:04:55
  fangs still fully extended. I think the better question to
• 1:05:04
  ask is how much do you think he's sheltered you from?
• 1:05:19
  Quite a bit and I can't really find good reason for it.
• 1:05:26
  Stranger Things and Heaven and Earth.
• 1:05:32
  I wasn't merely telling you to go because of the ongoing blood
• 1:05:40
  hunt. I am quite famished after that.
• 1:05:51
  We'll speak later. He doesn't reply, he just closes
• 1:06:00
  his eyes. As you can see, he's clearly
• 1:06:02
  trying to center himself. She's going to take her lathe.