Latest / Dubious Creatures Presents / The Vampire With No Name 1.09 - Snake Oil

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The Vampire With No Name 1.09 - Snake Oil · Dubious Creatures Presents

• 1:16
  The A highway wanders through the desert.
• 1:21
  A tumbleweed drifts past a dusty dive bar.
• 1:25
  A coyote shrieks out to no one in particular.
• 1:28
  Someone's bleeding out in a bathroom stall.
• 1:32
  The stars tonight are bright, but not nearly bright enough.
• 1:37
  This place does not exist, and yet here you are.
• 1:45
  Welcome to San Arroyo Kindred. We here at Dubious Creatures
• 1:49
  present to you the vampire with no name.
• 1:54
  Meanwhile, well, all this is occurring.
• 1:57
  The drive out towards the trailer park.
• 2:04
  Relatively quick and uneventful, the Sunset Hills mobile park is
• 2:12
  in an interesting situation. For most trailer parks, it
• 2:17
  invites a certain image of rundown urban decay.
• 2:23
  But Sunset Hills is a relatively new construction, which means
• 2:27
  the depressing mobile homes that have been stacked like neat rows
• 2:33
  of bricks across this otherwise dusty expanse, with the looming
• 2:39
  smoke sticks of the Borax mines taking up nearly the entire
• 2:45
  horizon line behind them. They've got a fresh coat of
• 2:48
  paint and a fresh shine to their aluminium siding, giving
• 2:54
  everything a slightly uncanny feel to it as you arrive.
• 2:59
  It's hardly bustling with activity, but there are still
• 3:02
  people out and about out on what passes for their porches, Maybe
• 3:09
  having a drink after a long day of work, or with the TV blaring,
• 3:14
  maybe just a Ted too loud for the cheap insulation that
• 3:18
  comprises their home. So what are the two of you
• 3:20
  doing? Checking mailboxes for an M
• 3:24
  Phillips. Can't be that hard, right?
• 3:26
  I mean, it's not a massive expanse by any stretch of the
• 3:31
  imagination. Give me a intelligence or wits
• 3:36
  plus streetwise. Jeremy's approaches can be a
• 3:40
  little different. I'm looking for what I would
• 3:43
  recognize as like radio broadcast equipment or like an
• 3:48
  extra antennas or whatever. 2 successes.
• 3:53
  Jeremy can be either Wits plus Awareness or Wits plus
• 3:55
  Technology. That's success isn't a secret.
• 4:01
  There's this. For a moment there's like this
• 4:04
  buzzing in your ear, like somebody twisting the knobs on
• 4:08
  an old analog radio too quickly and you hear that.
• 4:12
  What the hell was that? What the Hell's that annoying
• 4:17
  past 70s rock anthem that plays in every movie about Vietnam
• 4:24
  ever? Because that's what you're
• 4:25
  hearing right now, and it's a a little ear, gratingly loud.
• 4:31
  Just what I needed. Just what I needed for oh, it's
• 4:37
  only it's gonna. And now it's.
• 4:39
  Oh, God. Oh.
• 4:42
  It's getting louder in a direction.
• 4:45
  Jeremy actually like visibly twists like he's in pain and
• 4:50
  then like lifts one hand and it is covering one of his ears and
• 4:53
  then like tilts his head like he's listening and he like he
• 4:57
  doesn't even actually like say what he's doing.
• 4:59
  He just like reaches out and like hats ash on the shoulder
• 5:02
  and then points in a direction. Ash has quickly learned to trust
• 5:08
  Jeremy's instincts and so just lets him leave.
• 5:12
  Because be sure. You can feel your eardrums
• 5:17
  rattling, You feel like you're somebody's about to tell you
• 5:21
  welcome to Vietnam any moment now.
• 5:25
  Yeah, Nope, Nope, Nope, Nope, Nope.
• 5:31
  And he has as it is getting closer and closer to the source
• 5:35
  of the noise. He has full head, like he has
• 5:39
  his like elbows in his knees, hands on either side of his head
• 5:42
  and is like clamped over him and just like not the jungle and we
• 5:47
  are. This is a.
• 5:48
  Fucking Vietnam movie. Fucking loud.
• 5:52
  So fucking loud. Take some looks from people,
• 5:57
  from inside of living rooms, out from windows and from the
• 6:05
  corners of driveways, but you find what you're looking for.
• 6:12
  Towards the far back corner, close enough to the outskirts of
• 6:20
  the open strip pits that demarcate what constitutes the
• 6:28
  actual mining complex itself, you see a cluster, almost like
• 6:36
  bristly antennae of some kind of radio equipment.
• 6:40
  You're not sure what the details set up on the sloped roof of
• 6:45
  this trailer. You also see sort of dangling
• 6:50
  from the porch area, so dragged the red two flags, the American
• 6:57
  flag and the San Arroyo City flag.
• 7:06
  OK, that's not as bad as I was expecting.
• 7:09
  Well, the city flag of San Arroyo, this stark red and white
• 7:17
  outline of the mission, crucifix and all.
• 7:25
  It has a controversial history all its own.
• 7:31
  Yeah, I think, I think Ashe was in school during the heyday of
• 7:35
  the the Santa Roy and Flag debates.
• 7:38
  Technically, it's not forbidden to put religious iconography on
• 7:45
  public symbols, but it's also not not a violation of the 1st
• 7:51
  Amendment. Yeah.
• 7:55
  Needless to say, there's only outside of City Hall itself,
• 8:00
  there's only a certain varietal of private citizens that openly
• 8:04
  display the thing. When we're saying varietal, are
• 8:09
  we talking like weird sobsits or like Christo fascists?
• 8:14
  6 of 1/2, a dozen of the other. Great, Jeremy, make sure I don't
• 8:21
  punch this guy. OK, yeah, sure.
• 8:29
  What? You know, Yeah, totally,
• 8:30
  totally. Don't, don't, don't punch the
• 8:31
  Yeah, it's fine, it's fine. Can you make him turn the
• 8:33
  fucking music down, please? So fucking loud.
• 8:40
  Ash is going to give like one of those big I'm sorry I can't do
• 8:44
  anything, shrugs and go to the door and wrap on it.
• 8:53
  You can't really tell if anyone's home.
• 8:55
  The blinds are drawn. You don't see any lights, but
• 9:00
  you do hear a voice from inside, kind of muffled, say, what do
• 9:05
  you want? Michael Phillips.
• 9:09
  Who's asking? Ash Ash considers for a remote.
• 9:15
  How to answer it is it says I'm a private investigator.
• 9:23
  No, I'm not here about like any of your ex wives or anything.
• 9:26
  I'm here about a bar brawl you were in.
• 9:29
  Give me manipulation of charisma plus subterfuge.
• 9:34
  Charisma. Subterfuge.
• 9:36
  Let's do it, let's do it. Can I pop off of this?
• 9:39
  You don't have Direct Line of sight on him, unfortunately.
• 9:42
  Right now you're just talking to a voice behind a door.
• 9:45
  All right then. So then it's going to be, well,
• 9:50
  it's two successes, but we're going to willpower some stuff
• 9:53
  and God damn it, dice, you fucked me again. 2 successes.
• 9:59
  Don't have any ex wives. Great.
• 10:03
  I don't want you on my property. Ash deciding to decided to
• 10:09
  tonight they do not have time to dance around with a weirdo who
• 10:13
  is blasting CCR in a Jeremy's brain says I want to talk about
• 10:18
  Masaf. Silence, Jeremy.
• 10:23
  That music's getting really loud.
• 10:27
  I'm great. He's going to look dude, the the
• 10:32
  nom shit. Like seriously, seriously, get
• 10:35
  like any other fucking music please.
• 10:39
  You hear the sound of glass breaking and Jeremy you see and
• 10:45
  ash. You see the barrel of a 12 gauge
• 10:49
  poking out and aiming directly at you.
• 10:54
  Ash will hold their hands up. Easy buddy.
• 11:00
  I'm ready this time, you fuckers.
• 11:02
  You. Think you can bushwhack me, huh?
• 11:06
  Bitch, if I was trying to bushwhack you, I wouldn't have
• 11:08
  knocked. This ain't for.
• 11:11
  Hunting son, not your son, and I'm just here to talk.
• 11:18
  No, you ain't. No.
• 11:22
  You worked me over once. I ain't letting it happen again.
• 11:26
  Ash. Ash, like Ash, has looked more
• 11:28
  like a look of annoyance than anything.
• 11:30
  It's like I do not care who worked you over anything.
• 11:37
  I am literally API trying to do like a job.
• 11:43
  I'm trying to find some information on Masab.
• 11:46
  No, I know exactly who. What?
• 11:48
  I know exactly what you are. OK, he.
• 11:55
  Hasn't open fired yet, so there's an opportunity for a
• 11:57
  different sort of combat. Yes, I would like to initiate
• 12:01
  social combat. All right, So what tactic are
• 12:06
  you taking? Because you're not exactly doing
• 12:08
  much to win him. Over I would, I would like to
• 12:11
  try negotiation, trying to basically like I think the I
• 12:15
  think Ash's tactic is going to be I am not here to hurt you.
• 12:20
  I'm here on business. I would like to talk with you
• 12:24
  and I would like to see, you know, maybe I have something to
• 12:27
  offer and it would be much more pleasant and simple if I was not
• 12:32
  doing this with a gun in my face.
• 12:34
  I got some of the sort of gist of what they're doing.
• 12:38
  All right, manipulation plus persuasion.
• 12:43
  OK. Can I use my specialization in
• 12:47
  negotiation? I would say yes, because you're
• 12:50
  trying to negotiate not being shot.
• 12:52
  Excellent. So let's do this or successes.
• 12:59
  Jeremy, you hear the rock anthem in your head slowly decrease in
• 13:05
  volume ever so slightly. He hasn't opened fire, so that's
• 13:11
  also a good sign. How the fuck do you know Masaf?
• 13:17
  Believe it or not, I have been tasked with tracking him.
• 13:24
  What do you you know what happened to him?
• 13:30
  Yes. The barrel of the gun retracts.
• 13:35
  Do you hear the sound of several locks on the door opening and he
• 13:41
  opens up the door and whoa, that is not you don't know.
• 13:46
  That is not a shock jockey build.
• 13:49
  They get a towering over you. Ash looks like he might have
• 13:56
  been a linebacker in a past life.
• 13:59
  Got a bit to seed, certainly, but he's definitely got a face
• 14:02
  that looks like it might have taken a few too many hits Once
• 14:06
  Upon a time. Not to mention he's got ugly
• 14:11
  crawling, waxy scar tissue and patches on his arms and a bit on
• 14:17
  his face that definitely does not prove his looks whatsoever.
• 14:20
  You see he is heavily armed, not just with what looks like a 12
• 14:26
  gauge Winchester that was previously pointing at you, You
• 14:29
  see a Colt 9/11, their shoulder holster, and a full on army
• 14:35
  combat knife in his belt. I'd say you're loaded for bear,
• 14:39
  but it looks like you're ready for the entire forest.
• 14:42
  Get the fuck in here. Can't have these combos up in
• 14:44
  the open. Ash tugs Jeremy in so they can
• 14:50
  have this conversation inside. And.
• 14:54
  Not music, really. Really.
• 14:55
  It's fucking loud. Jesus.
• 15:01
  Meanwhile, back at the Historical Society, Maria, where
• 15:06
  are you taking them? I'm taking them to a more open
• 15:15
  room with ideally a space that has exhibits along all the walls
• 15:21
  and then some of those like wrap around places to sit in the
• 15:25
  middle. This did used to be a hotel.
• 15:29
  There are nooks and crannies the general public is not Privy to,
• 15:35
  and it has been your home for a while.
• 15:39
  A long while. You've made do.
• 15:43
  How many stories is it again actually?
• 15:46
  It's three stories, which was an impressive amount of stories at
• 15:52
  the time of construction, less so now.
• 15:55
  I see. So yeah, I think she slowly
• 16:03
  leads them upstairs to like, she's kind of deliberately
• 16:07
  taking a long path. There's a sense that she's
• 16:12
  showing off what's on display in some ways, but she's you're
• 16:17
  going to end up in a room upstairs that opens on to one of
• 16:22
  those shallow balconies, so there's a bit of a view while
• 16:27
  they talk. Proud view of your that's I
• 16:32
  think it's not your collection, but you like to think of it as
• 16:34
  your collection, and you've worked very hard at keeping it
• 16:40
  as pristine and presentable as possible, even if you know
• 16:43
  you're never really going to be thanked for it.
• 16:47
  I think as they walk, she clasps her hands together and is silent
• 16:55
  for a long minute like she's counting to 10 and then says,
• 16:59
  well, we best start on a better foot.
• 17:04
  My name is Maria Winters. I'm curatrix of the Jay Connelly
• 17:07
  Historical Society. Hi I'm.
• 17:14
  Raleigh Asher movie star. She does actually raise a brow
• 17:23
  at that. Has it really been so long?
• 17:27
  I don't recognize anyone. I suppose it has.
• 17:32
  Yeah, I How long has it been? I don't since I have recognized
• 17:38
  movie stars. I suppose about 30-40 years.
• 17:45
  Yeah, that's a little bit before my time.
• 17:49
  It's actually even after my grandfather's time.
• 17:52
  Still, I'm glad to know the Hollywood district is still up
• 17:56
  and running. Yeah, it's that's one way to put
• 18:01
  it. She looks at the other two.
• 18:07
  I'm crow nobody special. Did the name come before or
• 18:14
  after the feathers? Before the feathers just showed
• 18:19
  up last night. They don't stick around, do
• 18:24
  they? Or.
• 18:26
  Generally from what I'm guessing your bloodline to be, they do
• 18:32
  fade eventually. I was just commenting on how
• 18:35
  fortunate it was that your name and their coloration aligns.
• 18:41
  She looks at Aster. Hi I'm Aster also no one of
• 18:47
  note. I see.
• 18:50
  Well, it is a pleasure to meet all of you.
• 18:56
  The letter mentioned a problem. Yes.
• 19:03
  Urgent enough that Rafe could not send word ahead.
• 19:09
  We've. We've been tasked with the
• 19:13
  hunting someone, the former sheriff of the domain who's lost
• 19:27
  himself. Yeah, yeah, he he's completely
• 19:30
  gone off the diving board. Yeah, there was a there was a
• 19:34
  word they used, I don't remember it white.
• 19:37
  White. Yeah, yes, yeah.
• 19:40
  Dude's name is Masaf. Apparently went completely off
• 19:44
  the deep end, and we're supposed to fix that somehow.
• 19:51
  Once again, like I said, I think a lot of people just want us
• 19:53
  dead. Yep.
• 19:58
  Maria is again perfectly still and unblinking as she takes all
• 20:03
  that in. And she just kind of stares back
• 20:07
  at all of you for a few moments to process it.
• 20:11
  Masaf, yes, that is unfortunate. We were never friends.
• 20:23
  Decidedly not. But it is disappointing that he
• 20:27
  succumbed to that fate after all.
• 20:30
  But if he has become a white, you should know that there is no
• 20:35
  fixing that. No, I don't think we were
• 20:40
  supposed to fix them. From what I understand, Brave is
• 20:45
  going to have us collect these things and then they're going to
• 20:51
  do some weird magic and yeah. Some weird magic.
• 21:02
  Something about taking away protections.
• 21:07
  Yeah, he was. I tried to stake him and I
• 21:13
  thought I had a pretty good shot because I'm not the strongest
• 21:18
  person around, but the stake shattered like glass on his
• 21:26
  skin. So yeah, apparently we're
• 21:30
  supposed to be finding something that makes that not a thing
• 21:33
  anymore. I am surprised any of you are
• 21:39
  alive at all. If they're handing you this
• 21:43
  task, they are no doubt expecting you to die.
• 21:48
  Yeah, I saw it was one of the oldest.
• 21:53
  One of the oldest canines in Santa Royo.
• 21:58
  Yeah, kind of an inconvenience. And I think they just want to
• 22:05
  wrap that all up in a nice bow. No matter what happens, if we
• 22:10
  succeed, then great. We always knew that you could do
• 22:13
  it. And if we die, it's such, Oh
• 22:15
  well, bunch of dead people, you know does.
• 22:20
  Tend to be how the Camarilla works.
• 22:24
  I'll take your word for it. You would do well not to trust
• 22:30
  any of them. I don't.
• 22:34
  Definitely got that feeling. Yeah, that's the rundown I got
• 22:38
  too. Good, then you're learning
• 22:40
  quickly. Now, if my suspicion is correct,
• 22:50
  in order to enact a ritual upon someone, 1 needs something
• 22:57
  sympathetic to the target, or perhaps multiple some things I
• 23:03
  have. Well, I had two, but now only
• 23:07
  one object that was significant to Masov.
• 23:14
  The issue with It's quite a priceless antique.
• 23:21
  Have any of you ever heard of Doctor Albuquerque the Quack Dr.
• 23:27
  Storyteller? Give me an intelligence plus
• 23:30
  academics, any of you. That is 2 successes.
• 23:36
  Wow, that's not great. Well, it's not terrible. 2
• 23:40
  successes. Again, you mostly know this
• 23:43
  through, you might call it cultural osmosis due to your
• 23:48
  previous marriage. You remember the first time you
• 23:51
  tried for Mellow? I don't want to.
• 23:55
  It was awful. And do you think you suspect
• 23:59
  isn't Zach Might have just been. It might have just offered you
• 24:02
  some of that unfortunate beverage, mostly just to savor
• 24:08
  the expression on your face. But afterwards, when you were
• 24:12
  done passing him out for being a little gremlin, he did tell you
• 24:18
  a bit about why anyone would subject themselves to this,
• 24:24
  apparently. And granted, even he wasn't sure
• 24:27
  if this is true. Way back in the Old West, there
• 24:30
  was this guy named Armando Albuquerque, who, as was the fad
• 24:36
  at the time, was what you might call a practitioner of frontier
• 24:42
  medicine. A snake oil salesman.
• 24:46
  In other words. There was a rumor that for
• 24:48
  Mello, it's based on some sort of miracle elixir that he once
• 24:54
  peddled in this very town sometime the 19th century.
• 24:58
  But again, Zach was pretty sure that was just a a way to trick
• 25:03
  people into buying Vermello. He didn't think that was
• 25:06
  actually true. Yeah, I I vaguely remember
• 25:12
  hearing about this person. Oh good, we do have some
• 25:17
  foundation. Masaf, for some reason saved a
• 25:22
  bottle of his red Jimson weed elixir, the foundation for what
• 25:26
  would come to be called Vermello.
• 25:29
  Are you serious? I am serious, obviously Vermello
• 25:34
  is created with modern food sanitation in mind.
• 25:39
  The Jimson weed elixir no such precautions.
• 25:42
  It did have noticeable medical effects on Albuquerque's
• 25:47
  patients. It it never cured anything, of
• 25:50
  course, but it's still fascinating to read about.
• 25:54
  I'm uncertain what significance this bottle had to massav, but
• 25:59
  he donated it to the museum some time back.
• 26:02
  Very generous of him. And it is for that reason why I
• 26:05
  am loath to part with it. It's a rather rare find, do you
• 26:10
  understand? Made all the more so for being
• 26:13
  massav's. I mean, I guess if it's between
• 26:20
  having this old ass bottle of liquor or having this massage
• 26:28
  Jackass pulling another stunt like he did on New Year's.
• 26:32
  What happened on New Year's? I assume some sort of massacre.
• 26:35
  You didn't hear about it? I am not allowed television or
• 26:41
  much of any news. I can only gather what I take
• 26:45
  the time to do so. There was a party and somebody
• 26:52
  got hurt and massage showed up and started licking up the blood
• 26:58
  and then proceeded to go absolutely ape shit on her and
• 27:06
  another one of our. Group.
• 27:10
  I guess you could say in front of a staggering number of
• 27:16
  people. Normal human people.
• 27:20
  Yeah. Oh, I suppose that is
• 27:24
  unfortunate for the Kamaria, but I'm uncertain why I should worry
• 27:32
  about such an event coming to pass again.
• 27:37
  We also found a warehouse. Yeah, we eventually attract
• 27:45
  Masaf down to this old laundromat, and in one of the
• 27:54
  tanks there were quite a few bodies.
• 27:58
  I think if nobody stops him, he's going to continue killing.
• 28:04
  And just I feel like that is bad from a people dying standpoint.
• 28:12
  And that's a lot of cover up one has to do.
• 28:16
  And I'm from LA, the city of cover ups shit.
• 28:21
  Gets out, a lot of people start going missing and the police are
• 28:25
  already looking into this. So yes, well, I don't much care
• 28:30
  if anything about anyone gets out, but I suppose if you are so
• 28:38
  young it would matter to you the fate of most humans.
• 28:45
  Still, I take great pride in what I have curated here.
• 28:51
  I'm not entirely unwilling to part with it, but I will need
• 28:57
  something of historical value to replace it.
• 29:01
  Bottles of the red Jimson Wee Delixa are hard to come by.
• 29:04
  Vermello has kind of replace them as the collector's item of
• 29:10
  choice. We bring you a a suitable thing
• 29:15
  to replace it and we make a trade.
• 29:20
  That seems the simplest solution to our problems, wouldn't you
• 29:26
  say? You like simple, but what if
• 29:28
  simple doesn't? Work Well, then we can move on
• 29:34
  to something more complicated. Understand I'm doing a courtesy
• 29:39
  in offering a deal at all. I do.
• 29:43
  I'm, I'm sorry, I'm growing into too used to everything just kind
• 29:51
  of blowing up in my face. I apologize for the pessimistic
• 29:55
  outlook. Well, for what it's worth, I
• 30:00
  would not say center action has blown up in your face, merely
• 30:06
  ill advised on some people's part.
• 30:09
  I'm really sorry about breaking in.
• 30:12
  You may relax, I'm not so harsh with the who's so young, but my
• 30:18
  anger does grow at those who sent you here, partly for the
• 30:25
  callousness of it, but mostly for the insult.
• 30:29
  I have two questions If if I if I may absolutely.
• 30:39
  So this whole getting rid of massage thing is kind of like a
• 30:45
  mission critical needs to happen like ASAP thing is the returning
• 30:52
  with an item of historical significance, something we can
• 30:57
  do as an IOU so that we can, you know, make sure that dude
• 31:03
  doesn't freak the fuck out again.
• 31:05
  And a bunch of people, especially since, you know, we
• 31:08
  did kind of just waltz into his his house last night.
• 31:12
  That's question one. I am inclined to say no, but as
• 31:18
  T how are we handling like persuasion roles and stuff like
• 31:21
  that? Well, Crow, if you want to take
• 31:26
  a stab at diplomacy. I will take a stab at diplomacy
• 31:31
  'cause my, my stats, my social stats are so good.
• 31:37
  And go ahead and give me manipulation or charisma plus
• 31:41
  persuasion or etiquette. And here's.
• 31:48
  My persuasion. Maria, give me a rule of wits,
• 31:54
  plus either insight or etiquette.
• 31:57
  I do have something in my back pocket in the event that we tie.
• 32:02
  I'm going to re roll with willpower.
• 32:04
  I'm at 4 all. Right.
• 32:07
  So Maria, you can feel the original indignation kind of
• 32:13
  fade as they feel an instinct you haven't felt in a while come
• 32:19
  over you. You look at these three women
• 32:21
  and they seem so lost and put upon and just so uninformed.
• 32:32
  There's a bit of a stirring of pity as that old, that old, you
• 32:40
  know, caretaker feeling rises to the surface.
• 32:46
  I think Maria worries at her lip a little bit with a Fang which
• 32:51
  are extended slightly in her mouth.
• 32:54
  Ask your second question. If you're what I'm gathering
• 33:02
  here from some of the things you're saying, if your
• 33:04
  allegiance isn't to the tower, then who is your allegiance to?
• 33:12
  She smiles somewhat pleasantly. To answer the first question, I
• 33:19
  might be inclined to lend the Basel to you, and if it is
• 33:25
  returned undamaged then no harm no foul.
• 33:29
  But I have a suspicion that whatever ritual will consume it,
• 33:33
  I will give you one week's time to return to me with a
• 33:39
  replacement object or the object itself.
• 33:43
  Does that sound fair? I want to look at the Yeah.
• 33:47
  Perfectly fair to me. Seems reasonable.
• 33:52
  Yeah, seems reasonable to me. Now you do understand a suitable
• 33:56
  object would be at least 100 years of age and be relevant to
• 34:04
  the history of Santa Arroyo specifically.
• 34:08
  Lee noted immediately. In my brain, Ash pops to mind.
• 34:13
  They've got to have something sitting around that house that
• 34:15
  might can go missing. I was just thinking about Zach
• 34:20
  and being like, hey, got in your house, can I have it?
• 34:26
  To answer your second question, there are two answers.
• 34:32
  My allegiance is to myself, but in the interest of protecting
• 34:38
  that, I count my alliance along the Sabbat, though I doubt you
• 34:45
  know what that is really. Really.
• 34:48
  Shrugs. No clue.
• 34:52
  Grow. Give me an intelligence.
• 34:56
  Plus resolve Chick 3 successes. You remember when you first
• 35:02
  asked Sebastian about vampire society, and when he was done
• 35:05
  laughing about it and you encourage him to be serious, he
• 35:09
  offhandedly shrugged. You remember him saying I used
• 35:14
  to run with some real mean fuckers called the Sabbat, but
• 35:18
  they're they're not round anymore.
• 35:21
  And you joked with him that what, like the band?
• 35:26
  And that was the end of that. I didn't think you guys were
• 35:30
  still around. Yes, well, I am uncertain.
• 35:36
  The state of my fellows at the moment have been residing in
• 35:42
  this museum and only this museum for about 25 years, but it is my
• 35:49
  understanding that we were repelled from Santa Royo.
• 35:53
  But we do still exist. So wait, you're being held
• 35:58
  captive here? After a fashion, I liken it more
• 36:04
  to house arrest. How do you feed?
• 36:10
  I mean, if you can't leave, you just have to wait for people to
• 36:16
  break in. I think she stands up and moves
• 36:23
  towards the door and beckons with a finger.
• 36:25
  I. Will follow.
• 36:29
  She's going to lead the three of them into the basement level and
• 36:37
  down to where the old rustic decor parts to just concrete,
• 36:47
  brick and stone. As they approach the boiler
• 36:51
  room, she pushes open an unmarked metal door.
• 36:56
  And in here it's warm because the boiler's running.
• 37:01
  There's another door on the other side of the room that
• 37:06
  almost looks a little bit submarine Dory.
• 37:08
  It has one of those spinny locks on it, and in the room, bound
• 37:16
  and gagged and laying on just a standard blue tarp, are two
• 37:24
  disheveled men, presumably homeless and seemingly languid,
• 37:32
  as though drugs only weekly, struggling against the bonds.
• 37:37
  Well, our esteemed Nosratu primogen has seen fit to ensure
• 37:44
  that I am fed. Makes life so much.
• 37:50
  Easier. Just like it's like DoorDash,
• 37:55
  yeah. It is rather convenient, though
• 37:59
  not the tastiest fare, and I do resent the implication that I am
• 38:07
  an animal in a cage to be delivered my prey in such a
• 38:13
  manner. And if I have to agree with you
• 38:17
  on that? One of the men looks a bit more
• 38:21
  cognizant of his surroundings on the other, and he looks up at
• 38:23
  you, Raleigh, with these. His mouth is duct tape shut.
• 38:29
  His wrists are bound behind him, but you can see that.
• 38:33
  You can see the welts and the open sores.
• 38:36
  You don't know how long he's been bound like this, but it's
• 38:39
  long enough that he must be in a considerable amount of pain.
• 38:45
  And he's looking up at you, these these big liquid eyes, and
• 38:48
  you just see pure despair. Oh, but captive or not, I should
• 38:58
  be a gracious host. Are any of the three of you
• 39:01
  hungry? I'm.
• 39:05
  OK, fine, I ate before we came out.
• 39:11
  Kind of. She gestures down at the two
• 39:14
  men. Please.
• 39:18
  Esther. Lately, not not my flavor.
• 39:27
  Suits yourself. Thank you for the offer though.
• 39:31
  The one that's been staring at you plainly starts struggling
• 39:34
  weakly, but he's struggling clearly, as though the sight of
• 39:38
  people that are not you. Maria has galvanized whatever
• 39:43
  reserve he has left. He thrashes like a worm on a
• 39:47
  hook. I suppose it's wearing off.
• 39:50
  I am a bit peckish. So she goes over to that man and
• 39:55
  kind of kneels down beside him and puts a hand on his head and
• 39:58
  goes, it's all right, it's all right, He's still.
• 40:08
  He won't look into his eyes and say that with compel.
• 40:13
  Raleigh turns away. His eyes go glassy.
• 40:17
  And Maria will lean down, sink her fangs into his neck, and
• 40:23
  drain them dry. I need all of you to make a
• 40:29
  willpower check. 6 successes with the critical, but
• 40:33
  stubbornness is back. I have success critical from
• 40:37
  crow. That would be 4 successes 4.
• 40:41
  Successes. So while none of you feel the
• 40:43
  need to intervene or scream or vomit or all three, you watch a
• 40:50
  level of casual brutality that is so very different than what
• 40:55
  you saw in the laundromat, but no less horrifying as this
• 41:00
  monster, in the purest dictionary sense of the term,
• 41:04
  kills a man right in front of you, drinks him up in the same
• 41:09
  way you might finish off the less dregs in your water bottle.
• 41:15
  And you watch the light go out in those big liquid eyes, and
• 41:21
  you realize you are in danger. She's polite, conversational
• 41:28
  even, but this is no less of a dangerous situation than that
• 41:36
  laundromat. Meanwhile, in a different,
• 41:40
  equally tense situation, Ash and Jeremy, you are well jostled
• 41:48
  into the confines of this man's abode.
• 41:55
  The term bachelor pad comes to mind.
• 41:59
  It certainly smells like somebody's been living here
• 42:03
  alone for some time. Surfaces every single available
• 42:08
  surface, from the kitchenette to the tiny living space strewn
• 42:13
  with old food wrappers, dishes, ammo boxes, and rather notably,
• 42:21
  near the door that you just walked near.
• 42:24
  What looks like a Claymore mine kitchen nook is dominated by old
• 42:31
  analog radio equipment propped up on the table next to it.
• 42:37
  AM 16 battle rifle. And you think that's just,
• 42:41
  that's the only firearm that you can see within your visual range
• 42:44
  that he's not currently carrying and he has not put down the
• 42:48
  shotgun? Ash is going to have a genial
• 42:53
  smile that's like, wow. It's like a RadioShack crossed
• 42:56
  with a gun trading convention. How point?
• 43:00
  I need to pat you down. Ash smiles, holds out.
• 43:06
  There aren't. Be my guest.
• 43:09
  He puts the shotgun down, but he does rigorously search you.
• 43:15
  Ash is definitely going to enjoy this and like at one point he's
• 43:20
  going to say higher wait. Son, you're not my type.
• 43:25
  But is not actually carrying any weapons because ash is a weapon.
• 43:32
  Do you have your phone? Yes.
• 43:37
  He takes that. Am I going to get that back?
• 43:41
  Depends. All right, you next buddy and no
• 43:44
  sudden moves. Hear me just kind of like looks
• 43:47
  at him. Only if he turned down the
• 43:50
  music. What fucking music.
• 43:53
  He points at the radio equipment.
• 43:56
  Get the fuck over here. Ash is gritting up this as they
• 44:01
  lean back against a wall and. He takes your phone too, doesn't
• 44:05
  smash them or anything that you see.
• 44:07
  He moves some take out wrappers off of what you realize is a
• 44:11
  portable Faraday cage and then puts them both inside of the
• 44:17
  cage before locking it. Standard God damn operational
• 44:22
  procedure. I mean, honestly, what are they
• 44:24
  teaching you kids? I'm not a spy, I'm just an
• 44:27
  investigator. And know what you are.
• 44:34
  So I don't get is why it took this long.
• 44:37
  I mean God God damn it, I'm out of the loop here.
• 44:42
  Nobody's telling me shit. You're not exactly making
• 44:46
  yourself easy to contact because.
• 44:50
  A bunch of fucking no no. First you're going to tell me
• 44:59
  what the fuck this is about. Where's Masaf?
• 45:04
  I haven't seen him in almost a month.
• 45:07
  Oh, he's checked out. Checked out what?
• 45:13
  What does that mean? What does that mean?
• 45:15
  Checked out. As in cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.
• 45:18
  As in hanging out in that old abandoned industrial laundromat
• 45:23
  with a pile of bodies. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
• 45:28
  no, no, no, no, no. He reacts like you just punched
• 45:31
  him in the face. God damn it, God damn it.
• 45:35
  He suddenly lashes out and kicks in one of the cupboards in his
• 45:40
  kitchen. The cheap wood folding.
• 45:43
  Still got the shotgun, isn't levelling it at you but at the
• 45:46
  same time well. Ash makes sure not to.
• 45:51
  No, no, no, no. No.
• 45:54
  Yeah, you can't. You can't like this.
• 45:57
  I've been. I've been loyal.
• 45:59
  God damn it. Loyal.
• 46:02
  Are you bound to him? Almost half a century.
• 46:09
  I like you, but I put in my God damn time and now, now I can't.
• 46:19
  It'll, it'll kill me. It'll fucking kill me, man.
• 46:21
  You understand? Oh.
• 46:24
  Oh, Ash. Ash is like Ash theoretically
• 46:28
  understands this concept but did not know the like specifics of
• 46:33
  it. Oh, you're going to die without
• 46:36
  him? Fascinating.
• 46:39
  I've been, I've been taking the vitae for too long. 50 fucking
• 46:44
  years all at once. I can't.
• 46:48
  No, I can't. That's a lot of debt on your
• 46:51
  body to be coming up. Fuck, fuck.
• 47:00
  Hey, hey, hey, hey, Michael. I need your help.
• 47:06
  You got it. I need your fuck help.
• 47:09
  I need, I need, I need it, man. I can.
• 47:15
  Ash actually last this is you have a gun, but I'm not giving
• 47:21
  you my blood now I have things that I require.
• 47:26
  We've been tasked with finding and well for lack of a better
• 47:31
  term, Masaf is a danger to to this entire city.
• 47:37
  We are trying to limit the damage and your name came up in
• 47:44
  our investigation and what we are looking for are items that
• 47:53
  belonged to Masaf, anything that he might have of an emotional
• 47:58
  attachment or connection with. Your timing sucks.
• 48:12
  Oh, please share the joke. He sits down.
• 48:17
  You, you swear you saw all 5 stages of grief pass across his
• 48:21
  face in a few seconds as it's gone from in denial to angry to
• 48:30
  bargaining and now just defeated, slumping into one of
• 48:34
  the chairs next to the breakfast nook.
• 48:38
  Fucking had it. I had it in my hand.
• 48:40
  I was going to just got to take it.
• 48:45
  Take it, see if maybe maybe I could get me another domitor.
• 48:52
  What? The colt, his colt.
• 48:57
  Where is it now? I don't those fucking little
• 49:03
  pricks. I got it from the Historical
• 49:07
  Society, went through all the proper procedures and shit.
• 49:12
  I was heading back home when I got fucking jumped.
• 49:18
  Ash pinches the bridge of their nose, curses every God that they
• 49:24
  have ever heard of. Who do you?
• 49:27
  Do you? Do you know any of them?
• 49:32
  It's AI gave as good as I got, but I ain't like you I and
• 49:40
  fucking little Anarch pricks. They were 4, maybe 5 of them.
• 49:46
  Where was this? I just pulled off the
• 49:49
  Interstate, was heading back home, couldn't have been more
• 49:53
  than a couple blocks and they were waiting for me.
• 49:58
  I don't it's not like they fucking introduced themselves
• 50:01
  before they start swinging. There's there's this woman.
• 50:07
  I think she was the one in charge mostly because she just
• 50:09
  sat back and tackled like a schoolgirl the whole time.
• 50:13
  And they laid in to me hard. If it wasn't for the vitae, I'd
• 50:18
  probably be in traction. So these anarchists.
• 50:23
  Nope, not anarchists, anarchs. But fuck, you really know
• 50:28
  nothing, don't you? OK, these anarchs, do you know
• 50:34
  where they congregate usually? I don't know, you can cry.
• 50:39
  Switch yard. Maybe they'll rail depot.
• 50:44
  They're like sucking cockroaches.
• 50:47
  It's all the transportation hubs in the city I guess.
• 50:52
  It was this. I was this blonde prick too.
• 50:56
  He took his sweet fucking time. He took it off me and he fucking
• 51:02
  pistol whipped me with it twice. I'm like, I still got all my
• 51:06
  teeth. Any names that you might
• 51:10
  remember? Anything.
• 51:12
  I don't know. Like I said, they didn't stop.
• 51:16
  They introduced themselves. They, I don't know, fucking
• 51:22
  Hitler, Lou Youth looking fuck big good shape.
• 51:29
  Ash wonder for a moment could I describe Bella Castillo as I
• 51:36
  remember her from high school? Oughta.
• 51:41
  We'll call it a hutch. Give me a on the speed
• 51:49
  manipulation, intimidation let's say because you're trying to
• 51:54
  coerce information of him 4. Successes.
• 52:00
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the bitch.
• 52:02
  Big blonde bruiser. They they were fucking making
• 52:05
  out over my bleeding carcass. Cash exhales.
• 52:12
  Thank you so much. Looks down to the Faraday cage.
• 52:16
  If I could have my phone back. You're going to tell them,
• 52:19
  right? You're going to tell them that I
• 52:21
  I didn't lose it all right if they took it off me?
• 52:25
  I'll keep that in mind when I make my report.
• 52:28
  OK, but I, I, I please, I, I don't, I don't have long.
• 52:32
  I could feel it, man. I could feel it.
• 52:36
  You were very good. You were very cooperative.
• 52:38
  I'll make sure you note that and pass that on.
• 52:42
  OK, OK, doesn't help you, but he doesn't stop you.
• 52:48
  Ash undoes the like, opens the Faraday cage, retrieves their
• 52:54
  phones, hands Jeremy's his. And I don't think I'll have to
• 53:01
  say this, but if somebody asks, we weren't here.
• 53:06
  Another drill. Another fucking drill. 50
• 53:09
  fucking years. Good.
• 53:13
  What are you broadcasting? You can't trust those goddamn
• 53:16
  devices. You got to go.
• 53:18
  It's analog or nothing nowadays. To.
• 53:26
  Anyone in your line of work that needs to talk off the record?
• 53:33
  That's that's part of what I did.
• 53:36
  I learned to do it back in Nam and I'm doing it now, among
• 53:40
  other things. That's the Creedence.
• 53:43
  That's the Creedence. OK.
• 53:45
  OK. OK.
• 53:49
  Thanks. You'll you'll tell them right
• 53:52
  Even as you leave. He's calling after you, tell
• 53:55
  Ash. Ash looks over their shoulder
• 53:58
  and says. I'll tell them.
• 54:00
  I'll tell them. You're a good boy.
• 54:02
  And as they are walking back to the car, Ash is going to pull
• 54:08
  Darren's dumper. Dial it up.
• 54:11
  Hey, man. Hey, I want to get something off
• 54:17
  of you. Listen, I know this is weird,
• 54:21
  but I'm in the market for something and I've heard your, I
• 54:24
  heard that you've got it. We're going to switch scenes
• 54:30
  back to the boiler room, the three of you still trying not to
• 54:35
  stare. Maria gently lays the cold body
• 54:41
  down and wraps him up in the tarp.
• 54:48
  There doesn't seem to be any blood on her or any mess.
• 54:52
  What little there was just slid off her onto the tarp.
• 54:57
  Her weird skin just doesn't let anything stick to it, and she
• 55:04
  checks on the other guy to see if he's still drugged.
• 55:08
  This. One isn't as much of A fighter
• 55:10
  so he might keep longer. Good.
• 55:14
  You hate bargaining with that psychotic bitch.
• 55:19
  She clasps her hands and stands up.
• 55:22
  So I do believe we have come to an arrangement regarding the
• 55:29
  vile. I did offer you refreshments.
• 55:35
  You're a nice girls. You're welcome to stay longer if
• 55:37
  you need. Unfortunately, we need to go
• 55:41
  meet the rest of our group and figure out what our next steps
• 55:48
  are. We have very limited amount of
• 55:52
  time. For this, yes, I do suppose
• 55:55
  Mesaf is a bit of a ticking time bomb, as you said, yeah.
• 56:02
  I can't wait to get back home, honestly.
• 56:08
  So just to tell Sebastian that y'all are still around like
• 56:12
  that's it's. Sebastian.
• 56:16
  He's alive. Talking the same Sebastian and
• 56:20
  black hair snake tattoo on the arm.
• 56:24
  That's the one, That's the one. I thought for sure he had died
• 56:32
  and Laszlo betrayed us. I never knew who made it out.
• 56:38
  I ended up trapped here, obviously.
• 56:41
  Oh, that's good to hear you. I like Sebastian.
• 56:45
  You. How do you know Sebastian?
• 56:49
  We were in a the term we use his pack together.
• 56:55
  Gotcha, gotcha. Oh.
• 57:01
  And we haunted and fought and we're free K nights together.
• 57:09
  That's that's the word. Remember how I was saying that
• 57:13
  first night that there was a word that I couldn't remember
• 57:15
  what it was? That's the word K night.
• 57:19
  Anyway, I, this may be really upfront, but if you're good with
• 57:28
  Sebastian and you're good in my book, as far as I'm concerned,
• 57:34
  if you ever need anything that's, you know, higher quality
• 57:40
  than what you've got down there, let me know.
• 57:43
  I'm usually do it for Sebastian every now and then bring him
• 57:48
  food. So if you ever need anything,
• 57:52
  just send a bird. I am touched by the offer.
• 58:02
  I will have to take you up on that at some point.
• 58:06
  Please do feel free to return, but do not next time.
• 58:12
  Absolutely. Of course, once again, we are
• 58:16
  sorry for how that all went down.
• 58:20
  Well, if you do need to get going, I suppose you must, but I
• 58:27
  can see the curiosity in some of you and I'm more than happy to
• 58:31
  answer questions once your task is fulfilled.
• 58:34
  We. Have many questions.
• 58:38
  Yeah, well sure to be back with either the item again or a
• 58:46
  replacement within a week. Yeah, On the way out, she leads
• 58:53
  you past a case which does display objects from various
• 58:58
  crack doctors. But she continues past that into
• 59:03
  a backroom, probably where like the old kitchen would be,
• 59:09
  There's a there's a newer one now, but now it's been converted
• 59:14
  into a long row of what look like small drawers.
• 59:20
  There's some bookshelves and then near the ground, some very
• 59:24
  long drawers, and she kind of clicks her claws down the small
• 59:31
  drawers up top until she finds the one she's looking for.
• 59:35
  Pulls a key out, turns it, unlocks it, pulls the whole
• 59:41
  drawer out and in a soft bed of cloth and padding and again
• 59:52
  wrapped in another glass container with padding in it,
• 59:57
  but you can see the much smaller vial of what was it called?
• 1:00:04
  It was called. Doctor Albuquerque's Miraculous
• 1:00:09
  Red Jimson Weed Elixir, as it says, an incredibly flowery but
• 1:00:14
  faded script from a label inside the bottle.
• 1:00:18
  Bottle itself. Old thick glass blown container,
• 1:00:25
  maybe about the size of a soda can with a no stopper in it, and
• 1:00:32
  very notably, a set of spider webbing cracks taking up half
• 1:00:37
  its surface. Like at some point it was tossed
• 1:00:42
  or thrown hard enough to do just enough damage to not completely
• 1:00:47
  shatter it. Please don't remove the bottle
• 1:00:50
  from its container unless absolutely necessary.
• 1:00:53
  As you can see, it's rather fragile, of course.
• 1:00:59
  Who takes it? I'll take it, I'll take it.
• 1:01:04
  Girl. You take it as Maria, very
• 1:01:10
  gingerly, very carefully, with her gloved hands, passes it to
• 1:01:15
  you. You reach for it, and you swear
• 1:01:18
  as you're looking at it, you see with the slightest vibration
• 1:01:23
  like a shimmer coming from this parcel, and as your bare undead
• 1:01:34
  flesh touches it, the rest of you looks for all the world like
• 1:01:41
  all the sudden crow has some kind of seizure, her eyes
• 1:01:45
  rolling back into her skull. But you, Crow, you're not you.
• 1:01:56
  You find yourself looking down at the same bottle, but your
• 1:02:01
  hand is not your hand. Your hand is large and rough and
• 1:02:06
  calloused and ending in long, sharp black claws that scrape
• 1:02:14
  across the surface of this bottle angrily as you catch a
• 1:02:17
  glimpse of your own warped reflection in its surface.
• 1:02:23
  Same hard edged, almost gaunt features that you witnessed that
• 1:02:29
  laundromat, but instead of feral and mindless, the eyes are dark
• 1:02:34
  and intense and currently screwed into a furious
• 1:02:38
  expression. You can feel you, he, we, him
• 1:02:48
  Masaf. You can feel his anger in this
• 1:02:53
  moment. Not feral rage, but righteous
• 1:02:57
  anger as he holds the bottle and cracks begin a spider web across
• 1:03:03
  its surface and he looks up. You're outside, It's raining.
• 1:03:09
  It's raining so hard it's turning the ground around you to
• 1:03:13
  mud, and in front of you, someone's crawling through the
• 1:03:16
  mud away from you. You see a man, tattered and
• 1:03:21
  bruised and worked over within an inch of his life, crawling
• 1:03:26
  away from you, and you know instinctually that that is the
• 1:03:28
  source of your ire. You drop the bottle, stalk
• 1:03:34
  forward, grab this man back of his collar, hoisting him up in
• 1:03:40
  the same way one might hoist A disobedient puppy.
• 1:03:44
  You want to look him in the eye. When you do this.
• 1:03:47
  You see this man, Hispanic sharp, featured, beaten within
• 1:03:55
  an inch of his life, one eye completely swollen over the
• 1:04:00
  other, looking at you with an almost not fear or anger, but an
• 1:04:05
  almost manic intensity. You can still feel his so
• 1:04:12
  frustratingly human blood drying on the back of your knuckles.
• 1:04:17
  You hear your his voice growl. All this and for what?
• 1:04:27
  More of this poison. What was the point of all this
• 1:04:34
  is suffering the man that oh so hated?
• 1:04:39
  Man you hold up in front of you has the audacity to laugh.
• 1:04:45
  A slow gurgling chuckle through split lips.
• 1:04:52
  You'd think I was the first, No, but you'll be the last.
• 1:05:03
  You shove your claws into his gut, and you drag his guts out
• 1:05:07
  all over the mud. You very nearly drop the case as
• 1:05:15
  you snap back to the present crow.
• 1:05:18
  Are you all right? I I don't, I don't, I don't
• 1:05:24
  know. Just like AI was like a a
• 1:05:29
  memory, but it wasn't mine. It was Masafs, I think.
• 1:05:38
  I I don't, I don't know. I, I see, I see.
• 1:05:44
  I wonder if you 2 take the take this maybe just.
• 1:05:47
  I I got it. I'm Astra's wearing gloves so
• 1:05:50
  like just grabs it. Take it.
• 1:05:54
  No sudden visions, no nothing. It's just a strange little
• 1:05:58
  bottle in a glass container. Not often that a prophet gets
• 1:06:04
  embraced. Or I suppose a visionary is the
• 1:06:07
  proper term. Oh wait, what?
• 1:06:14
  But you just experience is not common.
• 1:06:18
  It might be the object, it might be you.
• 1:06:22
  What the fuck?