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The Vampire With No Name 1.20 - Kick Up A Row · Dubious Creatures Presents

• 1:11
  Music. A highway wanders through the
• 1:20
  desert. A tumbleweed drifts past a dusty
• 1:24
  dive bar. A coyote shrieks out to no one
• 1:27
  in particular. Someone's bleeding out in a
• 1:30
  bathroom stall. The stars tonight are bright,
• 1:34
  but not nearly bright enough. This place does not exist, and
• 1:41
  yet here you are. Welcome to Saint Arroyo Kindred.
• 1:48
  We here at Dubious Creatures present to you the vampire with
• 1:52
  no name. So all roads lead to Saint
• 1:59
  Francis. By the time the rest of the
• 2:03
  coterie catches up, the vigil is now in full effect.
• 2:13
  Dozens of tiny little candle lights against the dark as over
• 2:20
  two dozen people crowd in to the courtyard area, mourning,
• 2:28
  weeping, trying to commemorate 6 lives taken for their time.
• 2:40
  And all of you are here, and all of you were there, and all of
• 2:50
  you, in your own ways, were culpable.
• 2:58
  Those six faces stare up at you. And yet, for some of you, you
• 3:10
  can't help but wonder, all these people pressed together like
• 3:15
  this, would anyone really notice if one just wandered off for a
• 3:21
  moment? It's a very ugly thought, not
• 3:28
  the sort of thought one should have, the solemn event like
• 3:33
  this, and yet it persists, as does the hunger Ambella.
• 3:47
  Yes. You feel a little tug on your
• 3:51
  shoulder from behind as you see Hydrea looking incredibly
• 3:59
  frantic but trying very hard to keep it together despite the
• 4:02
  circumstances. Ambella's going to grab 1 of
• 4:08
  Hydrea's shaking hands and give her a very firm look and a nod.
• 4:17
  OK OK, so they're Freddie's talking with Knox over by the
• 4:23
  Mortuary. Why is the Regent here?
• 4:27
  She kisses as she looks over to where 5 of you are gathered.
• 4:34
  And indeed, Rafe Patten, it's also among the flock.
• 4:43
  I don't know. Is he?
• 4:47
  Is he a fucking gnostic like I don't?
• 4:50
  Is he here for fucking? Services.
• 4:52
  Why is he here? I don't fucking know, IGIA.
• 4:58
  Look pure and simple. We're just here for the
• 5:02
  exchange, and Regent can do whatever the fuck Regents do,
• 5:09
  all right? They're not our fucking Regent,
• 5:12
  OK? OK.
• 5:14
  OK. So what do you just just get?
• 5:26
  Get them down to the refractory and make the exchange right?
• 5:31
  Right. OK, OK, I'm going to, I mean
• 5:40
  that that shit show that that wasn't our fault, right?
• 5:44
  No, we didn't bring fucking hunters to the switch yard.
• 5:48
  We were just doing what we always fucking do and it just
• 5:52
  went wrong. OK, but we're going to make it
• 5:55
  right? Would it be the worst thing to
• 6:02
  try and win them over? I mean, I talked to Aster, she
• 6:06
  seems, well, like any thin blood in San Arroyo, fucking terrified
• 6:12
  of everything. Maybe Ash is a little bit more
• 6:17
  amenable, but Crow took Darren. OK.
• 6:28
  What? Darren got shot and he's at
• 6:34
  Crow's. She didn't say anything about.
• 6:41
  I don't fucking remember. OK, look, we're going to get
• 6:46
  Jesse back and Boss will get us in.
• 6:49
  And look, maybe there is a chance, OK?
• 6:56
  I'm pretty sure Crow's taken in by her sight a little bit too
• 6:59
  much. And if he's gone and out of the
• 7:03
  picture, then maybe. I'm not saying there's not a
• 7:09
  chance, just that look, if you want to talk to Astor and you
• 7:14
  want to try to get them on our side, then like fucking great.
• 7:17
  Please do it. Just I don't trust Crow.
• 7:27
  OK, OK, I I don't know, fuck Bella.
• 7:34
  I'm not public relations. I get you guys L and
• 7:38
  occasionally put in a good word with tabula.
• 7:41
  I I don't know what to do. Just they've got to see how
• 7:49
  ridiculous the tower is, all right?
• 7:52
  With all their stupid fucking rules.
• 7:54
  And they're never going to accept Astor, right?
• 7:57
  So just lead with that I guess. OK, not exactly a hard sell
• 8:08
  after the night we had, but what are you going to be doing?
• 8:13
  I, I don't know, I I'm going to figure it the fuck out and I may
• 8:21
  not have the cult anymore. All right, but I got that book
• 8:26
  from Crow. And if we're the dispersed, then
• 8:31
  the teeman of dispersion can shine down on us and make sure
• 8:36
  everything goes our way. OK.
• 8:40
  We just got to have a little faith.
• 8:44
  And Bella, go ahead and give me either Charisma plus persuasion
• 8:51
  or Charisma plus subterfuge. I will take Subterfuge.
• 8:59
  Oh, that's three successes. I think we're going to willpower
• 9:05
  for this. Nope, that is 3 successes.
• 9:13
  The truth's just a lie agreed upon, right?
• 9:18
  Or was that the status quo? She's scared her partner is in
• 9:24
  real danger. Who wouldn't be scared?
• 9:31
  But she trusts you for better or worse.
• 9:37
  So she slowly kind of shoulders her way through the crowd
• 9:43
  towards Aster, where Deed you see wearing, You think the same
• 9:51
  outfit she was wearing when you guys met the switch.
• 9:55
  You hurt your fellow thin blood. Idea is that Is that you?
• 10:02
  Hey. Hey.
• 10:05
  Have you changed? Can we talk away from cast a
• 10:10
  glance over? That's Crow and her new friend.
• 10:18
  Yeah, Astor will absolutely grab Riley.
• 10:24
  Don't worry, Riley's cool. Hi.
• 10:31
  OK, look, the shit's bad. Yeah.
• 10:40
  Yeah, that's that feels like an interest statement.
• 10:44
  This whole switchyard six thing, like everybody who's anybody is
• 10:52
  got their hackles raised because of it.
• 10:55
  You can't really just sweep 6 dead 20 somethings under the
• 10:59
  rug. Yeah, it's it's a lot a.
• 11:06
  Lot. This is a lot, and the the
• 11:10
  Church is supposed to be neutral territory in theory, which is
• 11:15
  why it's all going down here. Oh gosh, OK, that makes the OK
• 11:26
  that answers that question. Do you know the details of this?
• 11:30
  Because we were even a very uncomfortable run through.
• 11:39
  Yeah. Look where it all went down.
• 11:43
  That's Anarch territory, right? Yeah.
• 11:46
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. But then all of this happened
• 11:51
  and then Langford and his goon squad showed up.
• 11:56
  So it's a bit of a clusterfuck. And the church, they mediate, I
• 12:04
  guess he could say that congregation, you know, some of
• 12:12
  them are on our side of the fence, some of them are on
• 12:15
  theirs. So that's why everybody, well, I
• 12:20
  wouldn't say trusts, but. That's why the air feels thick.
• 12:26
  Yeah, and Freddy's here. Oh, that's not good.
• 12:31
  Yeah, no, because I saw your, I saw tall, dark and fisticuffs
• 12:36
  over there and region. Why is.
• 12:41
  Yeah, I don't know what. The hell he's doing here, I have
• 12:43
  no idea. That's I what?
• 12:46
  I was. Hoping you could tell me.
• 12:48
  There are already enough. There are already enough Cam
• 12:52
  Muckney mucks down there already.
• 12:56
  Look, Freddy's here on behalf of the movement, right?
• 13:01
  So he's far better or worse. The guy who's trying to get my
• 13:06
  boyfriend out of this mess, right?
• 13:12
  Shit. This gets more.
• 13:14
  Complicated by the second. Yeah, that's one way to put.
• 13:17
  It I get that first impressions at the switchyard weren't great
• 13:22
  and I get that and Bella is a lot I.
• 13:27
  Don't trust her. She's look, we've all got shit,
• 13:34
  OK? None of us are exactly Saints.
• 13:39
  Yeah. Yeah, that's true.
• 13:43
  But you can't sit there and tell me honestly that your lives
• 13:47
  since being dead have improved. No, it's gotten so much worse
• 13:54
  actually. So.
• 13:55
  Much worse and my life before was fucked up.
• 14:00
  Right, this was pretty good. Exactly.
• 14:02
  And people like Freddie and and Bella, for better the worse are
• 14:07
  on the side of hey, maybe life shouldn't end in an equally shit
• 14:13
  afterlife you. Can understand that.
• 14:16
  And it's an uphill battle. I, no, I I can respect that and
• 14:21
  I respect the movement. I don't trust Annabelle.
• 14:26
  I'm not I'm not saying we have to get matching friendship
• 14:29
  braces, I'm just saying if shit goes down, which is a
• 14:34
  possibility. You asking us to be on her side?
• 14:41
  I'm asking to be on the side of the people who, at the very
• 14:46
  least, will do you the courtesy of stabbing you in the front.
• 14:51
  As long as it's not any side that Henry Passmore is on, I'm
• 14:56
  game. I don't know who that.
• 15:01
  Is, but that's my sire. Cool.
• 15:06
  OK, so is that a yes? It's a very listen, I want to
• 15:17
  say that this is a yes because I want this to go down without any
• 15:20
  violence. I do not.
• 15:23
  I too many people have died. I no, we can't have any more of
• 15:28
  that. However, I know for a fact Ash
• 15:34
  will not go with this because of Freddie.
• 15:39
  Why? That's a very complicated answer
• 15:44
  and it is not my story to tell. Great.
• 15:47
  That's that's great. That's.
• 15:48
  Wonderful. Something to do with family
• 15:52
  things. It's a family thing.
• 15:57
  So what are we going to do here? Because we're all going to be in
• 16:00
  A room. Together.
• 16:04
  This Freddy, you have to fucking be there.
• 16:07
  Yes, he has to fucking be there. He's the only one who's got any
• 16:10
  status. You think Ambella is going to be
• 16:16
  the one trying to keep people from not actively stabbing each
• 16:21
  other's death? I think Ambella would encourage
• 16:24
  it. I think she would be the first
• 16:27
  to draw the blade Aster has got like her hands just in her face
• 16:33
  just like oh fuck. So please please I need.
• 16:41
  Hang out here for a minute, we'd really got to go talk to.
• 16:49
  Ash Yeah, OK, just maybe come up with come up with your game plan
• 16:55
  and when you're ready, head out to the Mortuary, ask for a guy
• 17:00
  named Knox. He's.
• 17:03
  I guess he'd call him the He Man's the Door, for lack of a
• 17:06
  better word. Awesome.
• 17:10
  And just you don't have to believe in the gospel, but don't
• 17:17
  just keep all your jokes to yourself, is all I ask.
• 17:22
  Yeah, can do. Justin, OK.
• 17:26
  Hey, that's a changed subject, but like, if things don't go
• 17:31
  according to plan, we're still cool, right?
• 17:35
  Because you're actually pretty red and I wanted to hang out
• 17:36
  with you more. Thanks, I guess most of it was
• 17:42
  admittedly just panic and cannabis but.
• 17:46
  Yes, I had many of those days before.
• 17:52
  Just. We'll do our best.
• 17:56
  That's all I can give you. We can get Ash to just put
• 18:01
  things aside for one night. Just make sure they don't lose
• 18:04
  their shit is all I ask. Just help me get my stupid
• 18:09
  clanless himbo out of goddamn church prison and I will be your
• 18:15
  best friend forever. I.
• 18:17
  Can do that, You know, many, many great things are done in
• 18:21
  the name of love. I understand.
• 18:25
  Yeah. I don't, but OK.
• 18:28
  I then walks off. Yeah, looks at you and Bella and
• 18:34
  gives you kind of a shaky thumbs up.
• 18:39
  Well, and Bella is going to head out to the Mortuary and make her
• 18:44
  way into the church. All right.
• 18:48
  Hey Jaya will follow after you, which just leaves the rest of
• 18:52
  you. And Rafe again is also here and
• 18:58
  just seems to be very calmly observing the proceedings.
• 19:03
  Gonna, you know, after leaving this, gonna, you know, gently
• 19:08
  tug on Ash's sleeve and say, I mean, have a talk real quick.
• 19:13
  Ash, having seen who they were talk who who Raleigh was talking
• 19:19
  with will shrug and say, all right, let's talk and moves away
• 19:26
  to try to get a little bit of space you're.
• 19:30
  Not going to like it. No, you're not, but you're going
• 19:34
  to have to be OK with it because the things falling apart is the
• 19:39
  worst option. Yeah.
• 19:40
  Yeah. By far.
• 19:46
  Tell me what the terrible thing is.
• 19:49
  Freddy's here. Freddy's the one that we have to
• 19:53
  negotiate with. Yeah.
• 19:56
  Do I need to be in the room? I think so.
• 20:00
  Yeah, unfortunately. Look, we get to this night.
• 20:07
  Fuck it, you have my axe. We will fight.
• 20:09
  Him. Yeah, we will fight.
• 20:11
  I will burn him alive. Yeah, we got to just get to this
• 20:16
  night. We got to get this settled
• 20:19
  without violence. Lucky for you, I have promised,
• 20:26
  apparently the woman who is ruining my family's life, that
• 20:32
  I'll keep my cool with them, so I will.
• 20:40
  I will not start anything. Thank you.
• 20:46
  Yeah, I'm not. Yeah, I I don't expect me to
• 20:55
  offer much 'cause that's, that might be a bridge too far.
• 21:00
  It's yeah, that's totally mm, hmm.
• 21:04
  Art Oh, OK. Yep, we should just go RIP this
• 21:09
  Band-Aid off and figure out why Wraith is here.
• 21:12
  Yeah, I was going to see like why is right here also?
• 21:15
  Where's Jeremy? She pulls out her phone and
• 21:18
  like, texts Jeremy. Yes, Where is Jeremy?
• 21:22
  Well, he was trying to get in to the church, so they're still
• 21:25
  doing that, presumably. Yeah, there's still an
• 21:27
  opportunity used, Spy. And Bella and Hydrea, they seem
• 21:30
  to know where they're going. I'm just going to follow them.
• 21:34
  I'm not even trying to hide, I'm just going to follow them in.
• 21:36
  Fair enough. So yeah, asked her.
• 21:38
  You have no idea where Jeremy is.
• 21:42
  Awesome, cool, great. Yeah, we should just go inside
• 21:50
  y'all regard with crow all. Right, let's let's do this.
• 22:00
  Super not confident. As we are, as we are
• 22:02
  regathering, could we possibly get a fit check for everybody?
• 22:06
  Just because I'm like, I want to know everybody's outfits.
• 22:09
  Oh yes, how are you presenting yourself as you go to vampire
• 22:12
  church? I'm also curious.
• 22:17
  Ash, do you want to start? Sure.
• 22:21
  So Ash is we'll start. We'll we'll, we'll go, we'll go
• 22:24
  bottom up. So some some black combat boots
• 22:28
  with a lat with ladder lacing a sort of like a broomstick skirt.
• 22:34
  It goes down to just above the tops of the boots for maximum
• 22:39
  swishing action. If somebody's head needs to get
• 22:42
  fucking kicked in a black denim jacket and a Black Sabbath crop
• 22:47
  top. And in that vein, I will go
• 22:52
  next. I'm wearing a beat up old pair
• 22:54
  of purple Converse high tops, sort of artfully ripped fishnet
• 23:01
  stockings, very short shorts, a black crop top, and I have
• 23:07
  thrown over it one of Taylor's old flannels just to sort of
• 23:15
  complete the look. Halo does strike me as the sort
• 23:21
  of person who has several flannels.
• 23:23
  Yeah, no. And I rotate through all of
• 23:25
  them. Of course, as is your right.
• 23:31
  Astor is wearing a pair of black palazzo pants with a black crop
• 23:38
  top and some little like suspenders and black combat
• 23:43
  boots. A crow is in a very DIY denim
• 23:52
  patchwork vest with the hood pulled up and short sleeve like
• 24:00
  tank top. Well, it probably was a T-shirt
• 24:03
  at some point, but the sleeves were torn off of it and
• 24:07
  patchwork denim pants is a very full DIY punk style to her
• 24:15
  outfit tonight. I guess that just leaves Jeremy
• 24:19
  in a bit left. I mean Jeremy's wearing same
• 24:22
  thing he was wearing when he left which is the I think only
• 24:27
  outfit he currently owns other than the 1 Astor bought him but.
• 24:31
  Classics never go out of style. And then Ambella's got on a full
• 24:38
  length peasant style skirt with a lot of like patchwork floral
• 24:44
  pattern on it, simple black tank top and a crocheted shrug shawl
• 24:53
  type of thing. And just way too many necklaces
• 24:58
  per usual. And you're currently old
• 25:03
  convening on where froze standing with her new friend,
• 25:06
  correct? Yeah.
• 25:08
  With the exception of Wizard. Jeremy.
• 25:11
  Indeed, the wizard guy in question is a Well, he looks
• 25:17
  like he's about to attend a college lecture, not a secret
• 25:20
  vampire cult. Button up shirt, very loose
• 25:25
  cardigan, functional pants and hiking boots topping off the
• 25:30
  rather simple display. The tattoos, though?
• 25:37
  There's no hiding those. They cover pretty much every
• 25:41
  inch of skin you think below the jawline.
• 25:47
  OK, so what's the plan? And we'll look to Crow.
• 25:53
  And as soon as that eye contact is made, she is turning her
• 25:57
  attention over to Rife. Yes, this does seem rather like
• 26:01
  one of Sebastian's plans doesn't but.
• 26:05
  Feels so comforted, I'm kind. Of new to Sebastian plans but I
• 26:10
  think he could do a better job. Kind of sucks.
• 26:16
  Listen, I'm not a smarty. But look, fuck it, we ball is
• 26:19
  not a plan. Sebastian survive.
• 26:23
  I'm sure Sebastian has a plan and us not being let in on all
• 26:28
  the details probably to assist in the furtherance of the plant
• 26:34
  like it's better that we don't know kind of things how the
• 26:36
  plans. Work.
• 26:37
  Yeah, we need to know. Yeah, that would be different if
• 26:42
  we were dealing with fucking humans and not people who could
• 26:45
  breed minds and make you do shit that you weren't planning on
• 26:48
  fucking doing. That's like half the people in
• 26:51
  LA. Yeah.
• 26:54
  Anyway, grief, What are we doing here?
• 26:58
  I was rather hoping you could tell me.
• 27:00
  I was under the impression that this was part of your search for
• 27:04
  items. And Bella does have the.
• 27:09
  Cult. Walter did have the cult, did
• 27:11
  the cult, so we don't need that anymore.
• 27:14
  I don't even know what they have.
• 27:17
  They have, from what I understand is it is a prisoner
• 27:22
  exchange for Sebastian to get one of the anarchists back.
• 27:34
  Sebastian said that there's another artifact here, that this
• 27:39
  whole exchange thing is to make it easier for him to get
• 27:44
  whatever this other artifact is. Yeah, but we already have a deal
• 27:47
  for that artifact, one that doesn't involve a dangerous
• 27:51
  prisoner exchange is just, you know, taking a rosary off an old
• 27:54
  lady. I thought the prisoner exchange
• 27:56
  wasn't immediately a part of the plan.
• 27:58
  The prison exchange thing is because of Embella just trained
• 28:03
  the lady. Raif again seems just mildly
• 28:07
  confused. Yeah, there's I'm.
• 28:09
  I'm. Sweet, we got her.
• 28:11
  We got her name right. She's Nosferatu, right?
• 28:15
  Yeah, named Arlene. That gets a look from Rafe.
• 28:22
  Aster just shrugs at him like. You want to share the joke?
• 28:28
  She's one of my fellow Primogen. I take it Mr. McLeod put you up
• 28:37
  to this? You.
• 28:39
  Mean toad Toad. Is that what he's going by these
• 28:43
  nights? Yeah, could get the notebook
• 28:49
  that the church has in the Hezbollah's notebook.
• 28:54
  Oh yes, because robbing a primogen is so much safer.
• 28:59
  We were just going to ask, yeah. Jeremy and looks around again,
• 29:07
  said he had a plan. Yeah.
• 29:13
  I guess we'll just see whose plan works out better.
• 29:20
  If I might just you're walking into a nest of competing
• 29:25
  agendas. Oh yeah.
• 29:28
  Yes, that, that was pretty obvious, yeah.
• 29:33
  I'm not unsympathetic, but I also have my own
• 29:37
  responsibilities right now. Masaf, you know that situation
• 29:44
  that is still very much at large in the.
• 29:46
  City. Is one of them, and this
• 29:52
  exchange, for better or worse, I am being forced into due to a
• 30:01
  previous matter of crustacean that Sebastian has over me.
• 30:07
  If you think that this artifacts will alleviate the situation,
• 30:15
  then I'm not going to stop you. I sense a but.
• 30:22
  No, but simply the fact that I'm not going to stop you, but there
• 30:26
  may be other individuals down there that are less inclined to
• 30:30
  let you rob the church archive. That makes sense, yeah.
• 30:40
  Either way, if you could succeed, all the better for it.
• 30:46
  It really just depends on how much of A spectacle you plan on
• 30:48
  making of yourself. I really don't want to make a
• 30:51
  spectacle I really want. To I don't, I don't.
• 30:54
  I want to do this as spectacliss as possible.
• 30:58
  I am also somewhat biased, admittedly, because my child is
• 31:04
  down there and I would rather prefer she not be in harm's way.
• 31:12
  Yeah. No, that's that's.
• 31:14
  That makes sense. Makes sense.
• 31:17
  Yeah, OK. But she does happen to know
• 31:23
  quite a bit about the inner workings of the Church, given
• 31:27
  that she is a card carrying member.
• 31:33
  If you have a moment in assuming that everything hasn't gone to
• 31:37
  hell in a handbasket, perhaps. Well, the majority of the room
• 31:42
  is occupied with the aforementioned exchange.
• 31:46
  Find Carmen, explain the situation to her, and she may be
• 31:54
  persuaded to assist You. OK.
• 31:59
  Very well. Carmen.
• 32:03
  Herman, a description generally just.
• 32:06
  Basic features. Like colored hair?
• 32:10
  Brunette South American, where's a well, she's rather vocal about
• 32:18
  her own faith. Will likely be assisting in
• 32:22
  whatever ceremony they have prepared downstairs.
• 32:27
  OK. Is it safe to assume that you're
• 32:31
  going to deal help with Sebastian?
• 32:37
  I'm going to do what this boon requires of me.
• 32:44
  Other than that, I don't do politics, I do my job.
• 32:50
  Nope. I no can't ask any more of that.
• 32:53
  Thank you. Then shall we?
• 33:00
  Yes, we shall. Yeah.
• 33:04
  They all, Jeremy included, filtered in by the time you all
• 33:11
  slowly that as a whole group is not to attract too much
• 33:16
  attention from the various other civilians within the space.
• 33:22
  Make your way out out of the courtyard towards the cemetery.
• 33:28
  It's not a particularly large cemetery, couple dozen graves in
• 33:35
  neat rows. They sort of small, almost hot
• 33:42
  like Mortuary building. At the far end you can see
• 33:48
  leaned up against one side of this building.
• 33:51
  Looks like he might be playing some kind of game on his phone
• 33:56
  as a kind of stocky fire plug of a man.
• 34:04
  Dark skin, very close cropped hair.
• 34:08
  He's wearing work boots and gardener's gloves.
• 34:13
  He looks up at the five of you with your new companion in tow.
• 34:22
  Says Regent didn't strike you as the type.
• 34:31
  Who are your friends, The fellow lost souls looking to connect
• 34:36
  with their brothers and sisters in Cain.
• 34:39
  All right, all right. You don't get a good old cloak
• 34:41
  and dagger with me. No, you just here to check in on
• 34:44
  your kid. Wish my old man was that
• 34:47
  attentive. He takes a key chain off his
• 34:50
  belt, opens up the Mortuary, which it's about what you
• 34:54
  expect. Old embalming supplies, couple
• 34:59
  of large slabs for the preparation of bodies, and
• 35:05
  greatly enough, a bunch of plastic wrapped packages of red
• 35:12
  Solo cups. All right, you're gonna have to
• 35:17
  get down there. Single file, not exactly made
• 35:20
  for crowds, if you know what I mean.
• 35:24
  Kneels down, lifts up some sort of latch at the base of one of
• 35:30
  these Mortuary slabs and pushes it.
• 35:34
  It rolls forward with a slight squeal of hinges as you see a
• 35:42
  narrow staircase underneath descending downwards.
• 35:49
  Well into the crypt I guess. Once more, it's the breach.
• 35:57
  I do. I do have some cultural
• 35:59
  sensitivity notes about the the pass phrase, but we we can deal
• 36:03
  with that later. I am not the guy to type that up
• 36:08
  with. Come on, honey, get.
• 36:14
  Goes forth into the darkness. And I'll go first, I guess, the
• 36:21
  stairs. Curve sharply, like they're
• 36:27
  heading back towards the building.
• 36:29
  The air rapidly grows musty and stale.
• 36:35
  Whatever this place is probably wasn't built with ventilation in
• 36:39
  mind. You find yourself very quickly,
• 36:44
  however, exiting out into a larger chamber, roughly
• 36:52
  rectangular, with a large set of double doors directly in front
• 36:58
  of you. There is light down here, but it
• 37:02
  comes from rows upon rows of red candles set into sconces in
• 37:08
  these bare concrete walls, the only decoration that you can
• 37:14
  see. So the light in here is
• 37:17
  especially as you move around, disturbing the still air
• 37:21
  flickering, casting long shadows.
• 37:25
  To your direct left there is a table with a bunch of just red
• 37:32
  solo cups just left out, and directly above the door there's
• 37:40
  an inscription. 2 rows of lettering, 1 English and 11 in a
• 37:52
  lettering that looks very similar to the chicken scratch
• 37:57
  you saw on those clay tablets. Crow, it proclaims.
• 38:05
  Let no child of Cain be barred. Nice to know they're fostering
• 38:13
  an inclusive religious space. Kind of reminds me of when the
• 38:22
  Catholic Church had to rebrand. God I'm thankful to be like one
• 38:27
  of the only Protestant shitty families in San Arroyo.
• 38:31
  Let's. Let's.
• 38:34
  Go to church. You push open the doors and
• 38:44
  first thing you hear is the voice that resonates out.
• 38:47
  If the effect is a media immediate 1 moment it was as
• 38:52
  silent as a grave down here, the next you hear a low baritone
• 38:59
  proclaim across the space. And we pray Thee supply our
• 39:05
  needs from night to night. Command thy host to break us
• 39:08
  from our bonds, that it may be to Thy glory and to the good of
• 39:13
  canines and kind alike. Forgive us our transgressions as
• 39:17
  we forgive our brothers and sisters of the blood be present
• 39:21
  within us and slake us. The voice echoes across this
• 39:27
  nave like a brutalist echo of a more traditional Catholic
• 39:34
  Church. More candlelit sconces provide
• 39:39
  illumination for two rows of pews set out tore in a long
• 39:46
  hallway. The back dominated by an altar,
• 39:54
  but where normally there would be a crucifix, instead there's a
• 39:59
  massive triptych looks hand painted, this beautiful
• 40:05
  depiction of a man bearded and with deathly pale skin and
• 40:13
  glowing red cinders for eyes on the left.
• 40:19
  He's holding a pewter bowl overflowing with some sort of
• 40:24
  Crimson liquid before three other figures, two men and a
• 40:29
  woman on the right. He's wandering with a crooked
• 40:35
  staff in hand through an endless desert, under a beautiful starry
• 40:41
  sky, and in the dead center he's sitting upon a throne, those
• 40:51
  painted eyes staring out directly at you as you enter in
• 41:01
  directly before you. It's like a baptismal font,
• 41:06
  except it's definitely not filled with water.
• 41:12
  You're starting to realize what the cups were for.
• 41:17
  Looking around, you see a lot of familiar faces.
• 41:26
  Jeremy and then Belle and Hagia for one.
• 41:28
  They were already down here. Freddy Worth towards one of the
• 41:34
  back pews, face twisting into a bit of a grimace as he sees
• 41:41
  who's joining them for the sermon.
• 41:46
  The equally twisted, though in a far more scarred sense, face.
• 41:53
  Sheriff Langford and Nick and Mary all sat a bit further.
• 42:10
  The chamber isn't massive, but it's not so small either that
• 42:15
  you have to shuffle past people awkwardly to get good seating at
• 42:21
  the pulpit. A man in an outfit that reminds
• 42:27
  you of a priest Cassock, only instead of black, it's a very,
• 42:34
  very dark red. Continues to proselytize.
• 42:40
  His skin and his formidable beard are the same color, a very
• 42:47
  pale white. He could be a ghost if not for
• 42:50
  the energy he radiates out into the room as he stands at that
• 42:54
  pulpit, reading from some large tome set up before him at the
• 43:02
  foot of the altar. A woman who you think might be
• 43:07
  Carmen, give it the description that Rafe gave you.
• 43:10
  Stands at attention very demurely, off to one side,
• 43:17
  playing with, well, whatever it is at the end of that necklace
• 43:23
  around her neck. It's not a cross.
• 43:26
  Looks more like an Ankh almost. Let thy mighty power ever guard
• 43:32
  us and protect us, Thou great font of wisdom and of the blood.
• 43:38
  Instruct thine Childer in thy holy presence.
• 43:41
  Guide and uplift us now and forever.
• 43:45
  Amen. Several people throughout the
• 43:49
  room echo Amen as they do those that have a cup drink.
• 44:01
  Question, is anyone else partaking?
• 44:06
  Was I handed a cup at any point? Well.
• 44:09
  There were quite a few free ones on that table.
• 44:14
  Also, I'm at Hunger 4, I'm just going to put that out there.
• 44:20
  I'm going to try a little sippy because Ash has learned that
• 44:26
  this is a fucking Russian roulette with drinking blood,
• 44:30
  that they don't know where it came from and depending how that
• 44:37
  first step is going to go, might just like hold the cup in front
• 44:39
  of them and not drink more. It tastes not bad.
• 44:50
  What if is in there? It's not.
• 44:55
  It tastes like blood, but something's off.
• 45:00
  Something enough to make it potable, but not necessarily
• 45:04
  filling. Rafe breaks away from you pretty
• 45:11
  early on, taking a seat in one of the pews.
• 45:17
  Jeremy, you've been down here a little longer than the rest.
• 45:24
  And you have to instinctually try to not cover your ears
• 45:31
  because there's no music in this room and yet the noise is
• 45:36
  deafening this organ cascade. If Faith had a soundtrack, you
• 45:44
  imagine it'd be something similarly ear shattering.
• 45:50
  I imagine then he shrinks into the shadows.
• 45:53
  And is. Kind of awkwardly covering at
• 45:56
  least one of his ears with a hand.
• 46:00
  Rest of you doesn't seem like anyone singled you out just yet
• 46:04
  at what has whatever sermon or ceremony is happening seems to
• 46:08
  have only just started. So what are you doing?
• 46:14
  Finding a seat in the back and observing.
• 46:19
  Dame. I think Crow has just found a
• 46:26
  seat. I don't think she's particularly
• 46:28
  worried about being in the back or being up front like this is a
• 46:32
  it's a religious service and she's going to show it that
• 46:36
  respect, you see. Well, take your seats, you can't
• 46:44
  see there is someone towards the front almost at the first row of
• 46:50
  the at the first row of the pews, directly before the altar.
• 46:54
  Well, someone might be being a little generous.
• 47:00
  This woman is twisted is really the only way to describe her.
• 47:09
  A hunched, elongated, Gray skinned ghoul muttering prayers
• 47:18
  through snaggle teeth that erupt out of her gums and past her
• 47:23
  lips. The clothing that she's wearing
• 47:26
  is threadbare, very bag lady chic, but she holds in her
• 47:33
  hands, her long fingers twisted around necklace of red and white
• 47:43
  beads ending in another similar onk shaped symbol, only this one
• 47:49
  is heavy and over or needs. It looks like you could
• 47:54
  potentially use it as an improvised bludgeoning weapon.
• 48:00
  You think you've acquired your target.
• 48:08
  Astor will point this individual out to everybody else, or at
• 48:14
  least those sitting with her. Sort of scan around as well and
• 48:23
  figure out where Jeremy might have gotten off to because do we
• 48:27
  see him? Is Jeremy actively using cloak
• 48:33
  or shadows? No.
• 48:37
  And yeah, you see him towards the back.
• 48:43
  Stuart does like one of those, like, silent friendly leaves,
• 48:46
  like hi, yeah. He's he's covering like one side
• 48:51
  of his head with a hand and is like leaning back against the
• 48:56
  wall in the shadows, eyes half scrunched closed.
• 49:02
  Didn't know if they were still planning on doing this part.
• 49:12
  Try and backing you over to where we're all sitting.
• 49:20
  At the front of the congregation, the Beecher says
• 49:28
  to the assembled group. Fellow canines pleases me to see
• 49:35
  so many new faces among you tonight.
• 49:38
  This is a night that tests even the most stalwart of souls
• 49:44
  begins to go into some kind of pre prepared sermon.
• 49:52
  Jeremy, do you join the rest of them where they're located?
• 49:56
  Yeah, if I got waved over, I'll come over and I'll sit down with
• 49:58
  them. Sort of lean in and say quietly,
• 50:05
  I think the person we're supposed to talk to is up there.
• 50:09
  Kind of gesture with my head. We just need to get a rosary.
• 50:15
  All right, how do we want to play it?
• 50:18
  Somebody just talk and distract while the while the others lift
• 50:27
  it I. Don't think there's any lifting
• 50:30
  that thing. It looks super heavy.
• 50:34
  It also makes it a lot harder that they're wearing it, yeah.
• 50:38
  Does pose a lot of problems, that's pretty obvious.
• 50:43
  Yeah, we I guess the other option is to talk her into
• 50:48
  giving it to us. I like that option.
• 50:52
  Selfish. The same it's much less likely
• 50:57
  to erupt into violence. So I was thinking, what if we
• 51:04
  what if? What if Jeremy and Ash went to
• 51:08
  deal and get the rosary and we dealt with everything else?
• 51:15
  Yeah, I mean could work because I mean Ash, that means you won't
• 51:19
  have to worry about being in same room as Freddy.
• 51:22
  That's appreciated. I can try to run interference
• 51:26
  while Jer I'm I'm Jerez, the much more stealthy 1, so.
• 51:34
  Yeah, Jeremy also seemed to have a a way with the other Nosfraw
• 51:37
  too, so maybe turn on your charm buddy.
• 51:40
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 51:45
  Awesome, feeling a little less anxiety about this.
• 51:50
  A lot of people. Are going to tie tonight.
• 51:52
  But not us. Can you be more specific?
• 52:02
  Lost several hours tonight so I have no idea but bad feeling.
• 52:08
  Bad feeling. OK, well, that's something.
• 52:12
  Just you got to be less cryptic. Get up.
• 52:16
  Get shot up by bikers. Bad feeling.
• 52:19
  Or like someone careening and cracking their head open.
• 52:23
  Bad feeling. Like being crushed beneath a
• 52:26
  church bell. I'll stay away from church,
• 52:29
  Bell. Yeah, look, we got to we got to
• 52:34
  work together. If we're going to get out of
• 52:36
  this, as we know that Crow is, you know, we can't trust her.
• 52:46
  It's unfortunate. As you're having this
• 52:49
  conversation, you know you were all kind of concentrating on
• 52:54
  your own half cocked plan. You weren't really paying
• 52:59
  attention to what was being said up at the altar and suddenly you
• 53:02
  hear the sound of all sounds, like the grinding of gears.
• 53:07
  As you look back and you see the baptismal font, this large bowl
• 53:10
  shaped structure that first you thought was built into the
• 53:13
  floor, begins to slide forward, some sort of mechanism in the
• 53:20
  floor, dragging it through the Causeway between the pews and
• 53:26
  towards the base of the altar to hear the preacher say.
• 53:33
  But on this night of nights, it is more important than ever to
• 53:38
  reaffirm our mandate. Though the soul of our dear
• 53:42
  Sheriff may wander, as the Dark Father did wander in the depths
• 53:47
  of his despair through the Land of Nod, we who still remain
• 53:52
  remain unconquered. Where the slings of the arrows
• 53:56
  of the beast must remember, we must not be afraid to face the
• 54:04
  fire. You hear some kind of gurgling
• 54:08
  from inside the baptismal font, as whatever was inside of it
• 54:12
  drains the moment it reaches the base of the altar, and then
• 54:18
  Carmen walks over to it. You hear a slight hiss, and she
• 54:27
  fiddles with something you can't quite see opposite on the
• 54:30
  opposite side of the bull. And then suddenly the bull
• 54:35
  bursts into flames, becoming a Brazier.
• 54:42
  Something inside of you shrinks away from the heat and the
• 54:48
  light. Oh, among you will come forth,
• 54:56
  indulge in the sacrament. I knew what that meant.
• 55:02
  I'm just going to do the thing you do in class where you don't
• 55:06
  want to be picked on is you just make yourself small so maybe
• 55:09
  they don't see you. She's going to look over to
• 55:13
  Jeremy I. Was going to stand up from her
• 55:16
  seat. Immediately you feel the
• 55:21
  preachers gaze fix on you. Step forward sister.
• 55:27
  Name yourself for your fellow canines.
• 55:31
  My name is Crow. You are new amongst us, Crow,
• 55:35
  are you not I? AM.
• 55:39
  You wish to affirm your mandate. You wish to stand before the
• 55:45
  flames, as Cain once did, and prove that you too may defy the
• 55:51
  Lord of the prison of the world. I do.
• 55:59
  Deacon, if you would be so kind. And you see Carmen comes over to
• 56:03
  you, takes your hands and guides you to the front.
• 56:10
  Despite your willingness, you don't want to get close to that
• 56:16
  roaring blaze, and yet she's guiding you directly toward it,
• 56:22
  so you hear her whisper softly to it.
• 56:27
  It's OK, He loves you, He sees you, He won't let you come to
• 56:32
  any permanent harm. Do you have an item of faith you
• 56:37
  wish to contribute? She pulls off a necklace that
• 56:47
  sits up underneath her jacket. It's just a it's a wooden
• 56:56
  pinnacle that she hand wove herself with twigs and vines to
• 57:04
  sort of keep it all held together.
• 57:09
  This she'll do nicely. She takes the pinnacle in your
• 57:13
  hands and sort of wraps it around hers so that you're both
• 57:20
  holding it, that she guides you over to the Brazier.
• 57:27
  It dangles above the pit. Crow.
• 57:34
  There's something in you that really, really does not want to
• 57:42
  be this close to any kind of open blaze, and yet you feel
• 57:49
  this woman dangling your hands over just so.
• 57:58
  The tendrils of flame are just barely beginning to lick up onto
• 58:04
  the pentagram, beginning to catch.
• 58:11
  The creature walks down from his pulpit and places a hand, one on
• 58:16
  your shoulder, one on Carmen's, begins to intone in a language
• 58:22
  that whatever it is, it's not Latin.
• 58:28
  You don't know what it is. It sounds ancient and harsh, but
• 58:37
  there's a power to it, something that keeps you from immediately
• 58:41
  running on the hills as your beast recoils.
• 58:47
  I need you to give me a resolve plus composure role.
• 58:52
  We're. Going to willpower that. 6
• 58:58
  successes, 6 successes. All right, planes are going to
• 59:03
  catch onto the little bundled twigs and twine I mean to trace
• 59:09
  up. You feel the flames beginning to
• 59:12
  sear into your skin, and it hurts, but there's a certain
• 59:22
  clarity that comes with the pain.
• 59:27
  All of your superficial willpower damage heals, and this
• 59:36
  moment, in this singular moment in time, Crow, your mind is your
• 59:45
  own. The little voice it's been
• 59:52
  whispering your ear ever since you became Kindred is gone, and
• 59:59
  all those memories uncolored by the blood bond.
• 1:00:05
  Begin rushing in. It's just a single moment.
• 1:00:13
  You can already feel the clarity slipping away.
• 1:00:16
  But what does Crow do in that moment?
• 1:00:24
  In that moment, she remembers sitting on the floor with Cass.
• 1:00:30
  He was freaking out and Sebastian pointing the gun at
• 1:00:36
  him, ready to kill him. And that feeling of the
• 1:00:49
  callousness of just I'll get you a new one.
• 1:00:56
  As if Cass was just a puppy or a a toy that could just be
• 1:01:05
  replaced. Even though she pushed through
• 1:01:09
  to talk him down, there was still that voice in the back of
• 1:01:12
  her head that was just ready to accept it and ready to just go.
• 1:01:17
  Yeah, you know what? You're right.
• 1:01:18
  I'll just get a new one. All because that's what he said.
• 1:01:26
  And I think there's a flush of guilt and anger and she just
• 1:01:37
  starts crying until that that clarity fades, that she stops
• 1:01:50
  and notices that she's crying and wipes the blood off her face
• 1:01:55
  and just says I'm, I'm, I'm sorry, the.
• 1:01:59
  Necklaces. To move herself away, like she
• 1:02:02
  like let's go of the necklace and goes to like get away from
• 1:02:10
  the fire of the justice. I think that in a way like
• 1:02:13
  she's, she's trying to get out of this where she's standing,
• 1:02:18
  but I feel like mentally, spiritually, she's trying to get
• 1:02:22
  away from herself. The necklaces cinders.
• 1:02:26
  At this point the your hands are seared and raw.
• 1:02:35
  You take a point of aggravated damage from the sacrament, but
• 1:02:42
  your mind is reeling. If you can feel someone's hands
• 1:02:49
  around your shoulders, whispering your ear, it's OK.
• 1:02:54
  It's OK, sister. You did great.
• 1:02:58
  Just let it wash over you. You're somebody else in nominee
• 1:03:03
  Patrice Tenebris. Amen.
• 1:03:06
  Another Amen. You hear a very different voice,
• 1:03:13
  your own voice, shouting at you, screaming, but it sounds so
• 1:03:17
  distant, like it's falling down a dark well.
• 1:03:21
  And then it'll just be gone, and then he'll just have his hooks
• 1:03:25
  back in you and you'll just go back to pretending like any of
• 1:03:28
  this, any of this is sane. I.
• 1:03:34
  Thought he loved me. Give me a willpower check. 3
• 1:03:40
  successes. You all see it in real time.
• 1:03:46
  The feathers start to sprout the base of her collarbones and
• 1:03:55
  between the long dreadlocks as you just give off a soul
• 1:04:03
  wrenching howl. Fangs exposed, blood, tears
• 1:04:09
  dripping down your face. You are frenzying.
• 1:04:14
  It's causing quite the commotion.
• 1:04:18
  Shit, fuck. So what are you all doing in
• 1:04:22
  that moment of chaos? Because several things are
• 1:04:27
  happening at once. Yeah, you know what, I'm going
• 1:04:36
  to go comfort. Crow.
• 1:04:39
  Yeah, I'm, I'm going to approach Crow.
• 1:04:43
  Yeah, Ash will as well because they may not have like they may
• 1:04:49
  not agree in a lot, but you know what, Everybody's having a rough
• 1:04:52
  1:00 tonight. And we're all in this together.
• 1:04:55
  All in this bro. Hey.
• 1:05:00
  Hey. Bro, you need to, you need to
• 1:05:03
  go, you need to fight, you need to do something.
• 1:05:07
  You can't be here. It's it's too much.
• 1:05:11
  It's all just too much. Feel like she's just going to
• 1:05:17
  run out of the room back outside.
• 1:05:25
  I'm going to grab Crow before she can.
• 1:05:29
  Give me call it strength or dex plus athletics and crow.
• 1:05:37
  Give me dex plus athletics. I would like to.
• 1:05:40
  Assist, all right, And you can take a bonus die on that.
• 1:05:47
  We got 3 successes. Let us say 5 Success, messy,
• 1:05:50
  critical. Jesus.
• 1:05:51
  Christ, damn damn. Well, if she wasn't causing a
• 1:05:56
  commotion before. Also, I don't know if it matters
• 1:06:03
  but there is a one on a hunger die.
• 1:06:06
  Yeah, for me. Yeah.
• 1:06:11
  This is about to get real fucking messy.
• 1:06:13
  So no.