Latest / Dubious Creatures Presents / The Vampire With No Name 1.19 - Gospel Mill

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The Vampire With No Name 1.19 - Gospel Mill · Dubious Creatures Presents

1:16
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
1:28
in particular. Someone's bleeding out in a
1:31
bathroom stall. The stars tonight are bright,
1:35
but not nearly bright enough. This place does not exist and
1:42
yet. Here you are.
1:46
Welcome to Saint Arroyo Kindred. We here at Dubious Creatures
1:50
present to you the vampire with no name.
1:56
So, Astor, you're back at the Sculpture park and something's
2:04
wrong. When you say something's wrong,
2:08
is it like a gut feeling something's wrong?
2:11
At this point, you've gotten a firm handle on you know when
2:16
you're asleep. You know on some level that this
2:21
is a dream because you are outside and yet the whole world
2:26
seems to be falling in on you. Like it doesn't want you to
2:30
focus on anything except what's directly in front of you.
2:34
And what's directly in front of you is that strange abstract
2:41
metal sculpture. But not all that long ago, you
2:45
and Zach were interpreting together.
2:49
But it's fallen over on its side and it's in shambles.
2:56
That's not good. Just a jagged tangle of old,
3:02
rusted metal. There's someone on his hands and
3:07
knees sifting through the pile, trying to You're not sure what
3:12
they're trying to do, and it's somebody you recognize.
3:18
Is it Zach? No.
3:21
Oh, it's Anselm. That's weird, I haven't dreamed
3:27
about Anselm in a minute. No, you haven't.
3:31
He's on his hands and knees and he looks very worse for wear.
3:38
Jacket is torn, it's hair is undone from it's normal
3:43
ponytail, so it's falling and silver streaked strands around
3:47
his face and he's trying to do something to the pile, maybe
3:51
trying to shift it back upright, maybe trying to salvage some
3:56
larger broken pieces. You're not sure.
3:59
But every time he does, his hands scrape against the jagged
4:03
metal and he bleeds, and the blood is continuing to collect
4:10
and his hands are rapidly beating to resemble ragged meat,
4:14
but he just keeps almost, almost as though he's in a daze, trying
4:21
to put this thing back together. Astro knows this is a dream.
4:28
She's actually going to very like cautiously and slowly
4:31
approach and not say anything but sit and try to help if she
4:40
could even interact with this these pieces.
4:44
You get closer to him and you hear him muttering under his
4:50
breath. OK, I can fix this, I can fix
4:54
this. I just I just need more time.
4:59
What are you trying to fix? Just I just need more time.
5:05
More time for what? You hear the footsteps behind
5:11
you, this dream that you've had ever since your embrace.
5:18
It's only ever ended one way. This is the part where I die.
5:24
You see the figure that Skull Blade clutched in their hand
5:29
approaching. What do they look like?
5:34
Tall, broad shouldered, wearing some kind of ragged cloak or
5:43
tarp that obscures most of their physicality other than the basic
5:49
outline of their body and the thing that they're holding.
5:55
It's not like a farming tool. It looks almost like it's made
6:00
of bone. This is the figure that's
6:03
haunted your dreams for weeks now.
6:12
Something's different this time. This time the ragged slasher
6:20
doesn't doesn't round on you. Instead, he stands over Anselm
6:28
like a headsman at his station. He doesn't seem to notice.
6:34
Watching and like doesn't know what to do.
6:38
There's a serious panic because she knows what's going to
6:43
happen. It's just doesn't understand
6:48
what's happening. I can.
6:52
I can. The figure slowly raises the
6:57
blade. Do you hear it growl?
7:04
No Astor will try to stop this. This yourself.
7:16
The blade descends just as you try to jump forward, trying to
7:19
interpose yourself, and you wake up in bed like all the other
7:24
times. Holy shit.
7:29
Oh my gosh, that one was that one was rough.
7:39
Is anyone at the house who actually stayed?
7:44
Did anyone actually stay? Well, I.
7:49
Think Jeremy did stay the night though he was probably on
7:52
ducking out bright when he wakes up.
7:55
Yeah, well, you're both at around the same humanity level,
8:00
so you'd wake up at around the same time.
8:04
I guess the question is, Jeremy, why don't you go ahead and give
8:07
me a Dicks Plus Stealth roll 1 success.
8:13
Uh huh. All right, so Aster, you catch
8:15
Jeremy just as he appears to be exiting out the back door.
8:21
Jeremy would see Aster just freaked.
8:25
Wide eyed, shaking, freaked. Well, what?
8:32
Easy, you know, right? No, no, I've been having, oh,
8:38
I've been having some really bad nightmares ever since my
8:42
embrace. And that one, that one was bad.
8:50
OK, are nightmares normal? I'm probably not the right
8:58
person to ask that, if we're being completely honest.
9:03
It's. So fair.
9:08
Fuck. All right, deep breath.
9:12
OK, Do you want to talk about it or do you want like a Hut?
9:15
Like what do you want? What would make you?
9:18
Feel better? I don't know.
9:20
Just know that this is a thing that's happening.
9:23
And yeah. OK, well what was the dream?
9:34
There's this statue garden and there was and some who was
9:43
trying to fix one of the statues that was broken.
9:49
I tried to help. There was this cloaked person,
9:56
there was a sickle. And I've seen this before.
10:00
It's been in like every every nightmare I've had and I can't
10:04
shake the feeling that there is some sort of importance to it.
10:07
Sickle like. Like bone or something.
10:13
That's creepy. Super creepy.
10:16
It's killed me every night I sleep weeks, weeks.
10:30
Did did that happen this time? Except this time they weren't
10:35
trying to kill me. They were trying to kill Ansem,
10:40
who wasn't all. And like, she kind of gruesomes
10:44
up her body and, like, hunches her shoulders and tries to,
10:46
like, bring a little humor into the moment.
10:50
OK. And she are taking as well.
10:55
OK, so in so what's? I tried to stop it and woke up
11:03
OK. I have no idea what any of this
11:06
means. Well you you know this sort of
11:12
thing isn't really my Forte but. And I guess STI roll a cult to
11:19
try to help her make some read of what what she's talking
11:24
about. I mean, can certainly try give
11:29
me intelligence, Intelligence cult or intelligence insight.
11:36
OK, OK, it's a secret. Only three successes. 3
11:41
successes. I mean you kept the dream
11:46
journal when you were in rehab. It was one of the many, many
11:52
things you spat the bit on when it came to your recovery
11:56
process. Although, as with so many
12:00
things, you're starting to think there might be more significance
12:04
than the usual nightmares because of you.
12:08
Ever since you became this, you don't remember having a single
12:13
dream. Yeah, no.
12:20
Well, I mean it's a reoccurring nightmare and I mean you guys
12:29
have also been chasing after a big spooky bastard recently,
12:33
although not a not quite in the horror movie varietal that she
12:41
describes. And then there's Handsome, who
12:50
you remember. Multiple people these past few
12:55
nights have told you that Anselm is trying to use you as a cover
13:07
while he does something about this whole Massaf situation.
13:12
Maybe that's what he's trying to fix.
13:17
Makes sense in a way. Astor will look at Jeremy and be
13:22
like I'm, I'm, I'm sorry it looked like you were heading
13:25
out. Be safe.
13:30
OK. And she's going to turn around
13:33
and you'll see her like throwing books in her room looking for
13:38
something. She's actively looking for the
13:41
journal where she has written down all of these nightmares to
13:44
sit on her bed and read through them and try to figure out if
13:49
there's something to them or if she's going crazy.
13:55
OK, you know, if you need me, call me.
13:58
I'll have my phone on me I guess.
14:01
Yeah, thanks. Good.
14:04
Be safe. Yeah, I'll see you guys later
14:06
tonight. Oh yeah, what does one wear to
14:10
vampire church? Or to church for that Better.
14:15
No, no, no, no. I'm you know, where would I
14:19
always wear, I guess. I guess I'll I'll text Ash and
14:23
ask, they'll know for sure. Yeah, probably.
14:27
I think that's a perfectly good segue if I ever heard one.
14:34
So Ash and anyone else who might be interested.
14:41
Who's hungry? I, I think it is, I, I think in
14:46
the, in the spirit of church, I will take a drink before going
14:51
to church. So that way, you know, I'm not
14:55
like at 3 hunger at the door. Also, I really need to mend some
14:59
wounds. There's that too.
15:03
You have been nursing several bullet holes for some time now.
15:09
Yeah. Utilizing your second dot of
15:14
herd, that is going to be a bit where you can utilize that
15:20
resource. Yeah, I just don't really feel
15:24
well. I I think, I think the situation
15:26
for Ash right now is pressing and they don't want to go
15:30
actually hunting. Fair enough.
15:33
So how much are you slaking and how much are you going to try to
15:37
heal? I am slaking 2 dots of hunger
15:41
and I'm going to try, I'm going to try mending 2 at first
15:48
because you know, the worst, the the worst way this happens is
15:54
this is a oh, we're we're we're getting gear.
15:57
OK, So yeah, that's slaking 2 wounds and I'm back up to hunger
16:00
2. I think that is I, I'm good with
16:05
that for the moment. And I think that once Ash has
16:12
properly, you know, taken the edge off a little bit, I think
16:16
when they go hunting there in like sort of like jogging
16:19
clothes, they're going to go back and get cleaned up and get
16:22
ready for church. All right, Speaking of
16:28
preparations and Bella, go ahead and give me a Charisma plus
16:35
stealth check. Excellent.
16:39
That is 2 successes. Well, would you like to burn a
16:45
point of willpower or are you satisfied with those two
16:47
successes? No, let's burn willpower. 3
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successes. All right, I am also going to
16:58
need a willpower check because you're currently at hunger 4.
17:04
That's four successes on the willpower check.
17:06
All right, so you're able to feed successfully.
17:08
How much are you slaking we? Would like dislike all of the
17:14
hunger. Girl dinner comes in many forms.
17:21
That it does. And, and Bella is definitely
17:27
feeling some kind of way at the moment.
17:33
Everybody is still awakening in their separate corners, be it
17:41
Crow with her new houseguest Raleigh, to the somewhat
17:50
disheartening sight of no one in the bed next door.
17:56
Jeremy. Yes, Sir.
18:00
You had a plan in motion, or at least an inkling of 1.
18:07
Yeah. Finding Saint Francis Cosis
18:12
isn't an issue located in what is tentatively the historic
18:20
district, the iconic facade and bell tower having been
18:27
immaculately preserved since reportedly the 18th century.
18:33
Rest of the building roughly cruciform and shape, as a lot of
18:38
these restored Spanish missions often are, although they had
18:42
addition. One wing extended out into a
18:46
large walled off courtyard type area and a small grave plot
18:56
maintained on the church grounds itself just a little further
18:59
off. Although curiously, as you
19:08
approach through the parking lot of the church, seems you're not
19:15
the only one here, as you see a couple of people appear to be
19:22
setting up a sort of table stand just outside of the entrance to
19:29
the courtyard area. Honestly I'm going to go looking
19:33
for the groundskeeper. What are the What's the boots
19:35
getting set up? You see, they're setting up a
19:42
stand full of what look like vigil candles, complete with
19:49
those little cone shaped bases designed to catch excess wax as
19:55
they burned. And the sign itself.
20:02
As looks like 6 portraits maybe crop from a student yearbook or
20:10
something, you're not entirely sure.
20:13
They're having a vigil for the the dead students.
20:17
It does appear to be the case because you recognize some of
20:21
those faces on that sign. I'm just going to kind of give a
20:29
play nod and move past them towards the the actual grounds.
20:35
I'm going to go looking for the groundskeeper.
20:39
Inside the courtyard it's a small sort of desert garden
20:46
plot. Lots of succulents, flowering
20:50
cacti, other Hardy sort of flora endemic to the region.
20:58
Very center of the courtyard there's this old sun bleach
21:01
statue, a young man holding sort of a hinged box to his chest, a
21:12
some kind of tree branch, maybe an olive branch sticking out
21:17
from under the crook of one arm. See already, even before the
21:24
vigils already started, piled at the base of these statues,
21:27
there's stuffed animals, bundles of flowers, several more smaller
21:36
pictures and signs commemorating the life of 6 Striber University
21:43
students who are in the wrong place at the wrong time, and one
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other person. And Bella.
21:58
Yes. You weren't expecting company
22:03
this soon. Do you remember him?
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Although he he left before the festivities really started.
22:17
And Bella's going to turn sort of cheating one shoulder out to
22:22
Jeremy, give him a once over and say, oh hey, just paying
22:33
respects you. Hey, yeah, no, I'm, I'm sad.
22:41
You know, I kind of gesture towards where the they're
22:46
sitting up for the vigil. They know that this was
22:51
happening tonight. Yeah, well, vigils are usually
22:58
on Saturdays, so. Yeah, yeah, I assume you're you
23:12
kind of gestures towards the pile of like votive offerings,
23:18
probably not here for them. No, no, not really you.
23:34
I don't really decided yet. So what do you think you're here
23:41
for then? You know, I've been going a lot
23:46
of places recently and I'm never really sure why.
23:51
It normally makes sense after I get there.
24:01
Sounds like you've got some sort of an inner clock.
24:06
It's pointing you in directions and you're just going along with
24:12
the flow. And I think that's all you can
24:20
really do. So all along it's like when
24:26
you're listening to the radio and you start tapping your foot
24:29
to like a song that comes on and sometimes you don't even realize
24:32
it. Well, forgive me if I choose to
24:37
live my life with a little bit more purpose.
24:43
There, there. So what's your purpose?
24:47
What are you here for? I am going to get my coderie
24:55
mate back. Jesse and Sebastian are down in
25:03
the refectory and we have arranged for an exchange with
25:08
that Sheriff Langford, and so I'm here to do my part.
25:25
Seems I guess you have something to offer, so good luck I guess.
25:32
Oh, I'm offering Sebastian Langford's got a thing against
25:37
the Sabbath, so seems like a good idea.
25:47
Well, and what, you just think he's going to go along with
25:52
that? That's the idea.
26:01
Oh, what's the bot? Oh, I don't know, they're kind
26:09
of like Nazis. There was a whole bunch of them,
26:19
and then there was a blood hunt. I don't know.
26:22
I wasn't dead yet. OK.
26:27
But Sebastian used to be one of them, and I figure Langford
26:32
probably wants to clean up any loose ends.
26:37
Jeremy, God give me a wits inside check.
26:41
Yeah, sure. That's that's the thing.
26:46
And and Bella, if you could please give me a composure plus
26:50
subterfuge check, right? That's four successes on my
26:57
part. All right, so Jeremy, you need
27:00
to beat 4. Doesn't matter, 3 successes so
27:05
I'm not getting a read you. Didn't really have that much
27:09
time to get a read on any of them back at the Switch Yard.
27:16
Music around her is pensive, tense, like it's building to
27:23
something, you're just not quite sure what exactly.
27:28
She clearly doesn't want to be here, that much is obvious.
27:32
But does she know? Does she suspect?
27:40
Or is she really just here to try and get her coderie made
27:43
back? Yeah, So what they got on you?
27:54
Oh, plenty. This feels sounds like a bad
28:05
idea. I'm just assuming that since it
28:15
sounds like feels like it's a bad idea, that means you
28:17
probably know it's a bad idea and you're here anyway.
28:21
So. Well, Sebastian has my boyfriend
28:34
and Langford fucking hates me, and I don't think that the rest
28:43
of the Anarchs are much of a fan either, so the best I can do is
28:55
show my coterie that I that at least I'm there for them.
29:04
What it's worth I mean. Hopefully it works out for you.
29:11
Thanks. I think a lot of people are
29:18
going to die tonight. Yeah, yeah, you're probably
29:26
right. Hopefully not you though, right?
29:32
I don't like myself that much. So you I take it you're looking
29:39
for the groundskeeper too? Oh yeah, he's around here
29:44
somewhere. Going to kind of pause and
29:50
glance around for a SEC. As you look around, you can see
29:57
back to the entrance of the courtyard.
29:59
More cars are pulling up, more people are gathering soon.
30:03
Leave the vigil, coming up furtively in twos and threes.
30:11
After all, nobody's ever excited to gather for something like
30:18
this. How do the rest of you arrive?
30:30
I in the group chat I ask for a ride.
30:35
Same. Ash will pick up the passenger
30:40
princesses, thank you. Have I?
30:45
Have I gotten any messages from anyone tonight?
30:49
There's a text from Taylor that just says I had to take a call.
31:01
If I'm not back, there's food in the mini fridge.
31:06
OK. You do find Crow as you head out
31:15
to your own vehicle after checking on your guest to make
31:21
sure that he hasn't bled out. Poe is standing on the roof of
31:30
your car, and there's a note in his beak.
31:38
I feel like she has a moment like when she first spots Poe of
31:41
like the sort of like frustration of like, dammit, you
31:44
were supposed to stay with him. But when she sees the note,
31:48
she's going to make the assumption that the note's
31:51
probably from him, and she's going to reach for it, take it,
31:56
and give Poe a bit of a scruff on the neck and read this
32:05
letter. Hopefully it's some kind of
32:07
battle plan because she feels very unprepared.
32:11
The note just says on your left third door.
32:17
Talk to Rafe about our secret arrangement, it says in
32:24
quotations. It's very obviously in
32:27
Sebastian's handwriting. Shit.
32:34
Is he wanting me to go see Rafe at the air yard like before or
32:42
is he talking about at the church?
32:45
You have no idea. She's going to head to the
32:53
airfield. It's not a terribly long drive
32:59
away from your haven, as it is also in the sort of outskirts
33:08
the city, heading out deeper into the Mojave Sector.
33:15
Once again, the airfield is derelict.
33:18
You're not. You know, it's technically a
33:21
regional airport, but you can't for the life of you think of
33:24
anyone who has ever actually used it for that purpose.
33:30
It's not like you see a lot of air travel going to and from.
33:37
She's going to go to the door, I'm guessing the one that she
33:45
saw Sebastian go to before. Hopefully it, you know, lines up
33:49
with the instructions given. Shouldn't there be some sort of
33:56
security here? You just drive right in once
34:00
again heading up to this big silo like hanger wrap on the
34:08
door. It opens up a crack, you see
34:13
some sort of figure peering out from you as again there's some
34:18
sort of light and commotion coming coming in from back
34:21
there. You're not sure what precisely
34:27
shouldn't be here after dark. Here is Sea Rafe.
34:35
Who's he to you? Friend of my dad.
34:39
That's supposed to mean something.
34:45
I'm Sebastian's kid. Door shuts.
34:51
You wait a beat. The door opens back up and you
34:55
see a grim faced man and what looks like a mechanic's jumpsuit
35:07
open up the door for you. The interior in here is right.
35:17
It's also the cleanest hanger you've ever seen, and it doesn't
35:21
appear to be keeping planes. As you're ushered in, you see
35:32
several tables have been set up full of you're not sure what
35:37
exactly it reminds you almost of, like an archaeological
35:41
study. Bits of clay tablets, shattered
35:46
ceramics, strange implements made of wood and bone and
35:53
desiccated feathers, all very neatly laid out and categorized,
36:00
sitting under harsh halogen bulbs that provide most of the
36:05
illumination. And in the center of it all is
36:10
well. You've seen plenty of ritual
36:13
circles before, but never one quite that elaborate.
36:19
And standing in one of these tables with his back to you, is
36:28
Rafe, Regent Sebastian's kid. I'm aware You can go now.
36:39
Laramie. Sir.
36:44
Miss Crow, to what do I owe the pleasure?
36:52
And she's going to produce the letter and say you sent me to
37:01
ask something about A secret plan.
37:10
He takes letter, studies it for a moment.
37:19
Crow, go ahead and give me a Wits Plus Insight check.
37:23
We'll power that for four successes. 4 successes.
37:30
There is an expression that crosses his face for a split
37:36
second. Those dark, piercing eyes
37:43
crinkle, just for a moment, with something akin to frustration.
37:52
Let's see. He places the note back down on
37:54
this workbench. You can see he was poring over
37:58
what looked like this large earthenware jar that he seemed
38:03
to be meticulously piercing back together like a massive jigsaw
38:08
puzzle as he removes the pair of plastic gloves he was wearing.
38:15
I take it it's tonight, Ben. Yeah, I guess I'm not in the
38:24
loop as to like what you 2 have planned.
38:27
So I'm going to assume, guess that the meeting tonight at the
38:32
church is what he's referencing. We have him to thank for let me
38:39
just sort of gestures around at the various strange artifacts
38:47
laid out around you. What is all this?
38:54
A mystery that I've been trying to piece together for the better
38:59
part of half a century now. With the exception of that.
39:06
He points at the massive circle, which, as you get a little bit
39:11
closer, is drawn in well. Red paint definitely doesn't dry
39:18
that color. Yeah, I'm kind of I've kind of
39:21
made that assumption that that thing was drawn with blood.
39:26
That is in preparation for the Mesave situation.
39:32
Speaking of which, how goes that search?
39:36
Got a bottle of booze and his gun so far.
39:45
And have you been? Forgive me, this is purely for
39:48
my own intellectual curiosity, but upon handling any of these
39:53
touchstones, have you been noticing any?
39:56
Fucked up visions. Yes, I surmised pharmaturgical
40:04
working of this nature might have some side effects these
40:12
visions describe. One for me.
40:19
I. Saw myself as massage.
40:25
I guess when he got the gun it was him, Anselm and some other
40:38
guy that gave him the gun. Was a.
40:43
Weird sense of deja vu with seeing him.
40:46
He just, there's something about him just kind of reminded me of
40:55
one of the people I'm doing work with right now.
40:58
It was they were having a conversation about starting
41:09
Santa Arroyo, like making it actually an established town.
41:14
Like it was this whole thing and I, I don't, I'm assuming that
41:27
guy was the 1st Prince of San Arroyo, but I don't, I don't
41:33
know shit about the how politics work around here.
41:39
But yeah, he gave Masaf the gun and they were talking about
41:48
turning San Arroyo into this, you know, Metropolis or
41:55
whatever. Just a lot of big dreams and
41:57
shit. Big dreams are the whole reason
42:02
why anyone braved the desert in the first place.
42:08
It's not like they came out here for the scenery.
42:13
Can't argue that it isn't gorgeous to look at.
42:19
Still, it is memoriam triggered by that sort of impetus for
42:31
another time, maybe. While I'm explaining this to
42:38
him, I'm kind of like looking over some of the artifacts to
42:42
like see if there's anything like I can see specifically that
42:48
stand out either with my occult knowledge or my jewelry crafting
42:55
knowledge. Either one of those help me
42:58
piece any of what I'm looking at together.
43:03
Yeah, go to give me intelligence plus a cult or potentially wits
43:11
plus craft. OK, so would my specialties in
43:17
either infernalism or jewelry specifically help me?
43:21
Because that's going to sway witch pool.
43:26
I'd say the infernalism bit might help you.
43:28
OK, we're going to willpower 3 successes.
43:35
And you know what? This feels important enough that
43:38
I'm going to burn my zealotry charge for the session and turn
43:44
that into a messy critical in the event that a critical
43:50
success on this thing gets me anywhere.
43:53
All right, So how many successes is that in total?
43:59
It's three. It doesn't change the number of
44:01
successes, it just makes it a messy critical for the purposes
44:04
of it being a critical. If that affects, if it being a
44:09
critical, affects the outcome, something about.
44:16
All these bits and pieces, there's there's text written on
44:26
some of these things. It reminds you vaguely of
44:31
Enochian scripts, but it's different, almost older looking,
44:39
almost unbidden. You reach out to touch one of
44:45
these fragments and immediately Rave's hand rabs your wrist.
44:53
Apologies, I just. They're quite fragile.
44:58
That's fair. Sorry I just what is the
45:03
language this is written because it's really like feels looks
45:09
Enochian but older and I figured Enochian script is already some
45:17
of the oldest that exists. And he did well.
45:23
In Madrid Palace Gemal on a throne of basalt.
45:29
It's gemalish, named for the same knottest source of
45:37
antiquity. Not the language you're liable
45:40
to come across, even in your former circles.
45:47
Supposedly, it's the language that Cain and his childers spoke
45:54
in the first city in the days when the Fertile Crescent was
46:01
only just crawling up from the mud of the riverbanks.
46:07
Wait, Cain like Cain? Abel like biblical Cain.
46:13
If you believe in that sort of thing, the people that we are
46:18
about to encounter certainly do. So what's the plan here?
46:25
I assume there's to be some sort of trade off?
46:33
Yeah, that fucking Anarch chick. Whatever, Ambella, She's trying
46:42
to trade Sebastian for one of her coterie mates.
46:48
And he wishes for me to intercede.
46:50
That's certainly a way of getting around the situation.
46:57
Crow has a thought in this moment, and I don't know if I
47:02
need to roll against my bond to voice it.
47:05
Well, what is the thought? She wants to ask him if what did
47:12
Sebastian do that would make him valuable to the sheriff?
47:21
It's an interesting dilemma. The bond compels you to trust
47:25
him in all things, but at the same time I think about this
47:29
query technically violates that trust.
47:34
She doesn't understand why Sebastian would be seen as a
47:40
threat. She doesn't understand why
47:42
everybody keeps seeing Sebastian as a threat or whatever.
47:45
Because she doesn't see that in him and it's confusing to her.
47:51
Give me a willpower check, but I'm going to put the base
47:54
difficulty at 3:00. That is 1 success.
48:00
The thought does arise, and then just as quickly you feel bad for
48:06
even trying to give voice to it. Why should you care where he
48:11
comes from? We'll come from somewhere.
48:14
All he's done is helped you and fed you, shown you the ropes.
48:21
If this is the plan, then this is the plan, and you should just
48:24
trust that he has a plan, right? Yeah, hasn't, hasn't let me down
48:32
yet. Are you quite all right?
48:36
You seemed lost for a moment there.
48:41
I'm just anxious I guess. Like I said, I feel out of the
48:46
loop, but Sebastian trusts you and I trust Sebastian so.
48:52
And she's sort of just like openly with her hands is just
48:56
like, nothing to worry about. Everything's going to be fine.
49:02
Why are you so interested in all of this?
49:10
Ever since I was young. I've.
49:13
Always kind of had a belief in something bigger than humanity.
49:21
The church never really made sense.
49:24
And I found belief, faith in the old Gods.
49:34
I guess I just carried through with me.
49:36
I've always believed in her and trusted her, and she made me who
49:45
I am today. This is just an extension of
49:51
understanding that magic I guess.
49:59
Refreshing perspective from one of your clan never would have
50:05
pegged Sebastian for being the prospective parent in this
50:11
arrangement. He I have the suspicion that he
50:15
doesn't so much care what any of this might mean, so long as it
50:21
means that he can continue to persist for a few more nights in
50:24
the process. Still, we shouldn't keep him
50:29
waiting now should we? Let's.
50:33
Get this over with please. Shall I meet you there or would
50:37
you like company on the road? Company's never a bad thing, but
50:43
and. By all means.
50:47
She's going to walk him out to the hot box and head over to the
50:54
church. I guess it's.
50:56
An interesting picture, someone as composed and seemingly
51:04
refined as Mr. Patton, riding shotgun in a, well, car that not
51:13
too long ago used to play host to a frankly apocalyptic amount
51:20
of bong smoke. Unless there's anything else.
51:25
That from my side of things. Yes, Riley, I can hear you
51:33
making noises. No, I, I think I while I'm
51:39
waiting for waiting for Ash to come pick me up, I probably
51:47
should make a phone call that's been sitting on my mind since
51:51
last night. And you see, so you dial your
52:00
father. Yep.
52:03
Rings a couple of times before eventually picks up.
52:12
Hey sweetheart. Oh man, what time is?
52:18
It sorry I'm still adjusting to this hold my schedule being
52:23
flipped thing. Yeah, yeah, lots of night
52:26
shoots. Get it?
52:29
Believe me. Sorry.
52:30
Man, what my future is going to hold.
52:33
Yeah, I know. Your mother and I were just
52:35
sitting down for our nightcap. We heard it's almost done.
52:42
Yeah, yeah, soon, soon. It'll be done soon.
52:47
Yeah, hopefully in the next few days.
52:51
So proud of you, sweetie. Just really, it's good that
52:55
you're back on your feet, you know, especially given
52:57
everything that gave us all quite a bit of a scare.
53:02
Yeah. Yeah, it was, it was a it was a
53:06
rough time, but we, we got the right.
53:09
I think I'm I'm done with hospitals for a while.
53:15
So how you doing? How's Taylor working?
53:19
Hard or hardly working? I think he sleeps in the editing
53:23
suite sometimes, but I don't blame him, he really wants this
53:27
done so. Yeah, just remind him to maybe
53:34
come out of the cutting room now and then.
53:38
Yeah, yeah, with my and. Some.
53:41
Grandkids eventually. That's all I'm saying.
53:46
Yeah. So yeah, I've just been spending
53:49
a lot of time in just Santa Rayo itself as he's finishing up, you
53:54
know, getting to know the the city, so.
54:03
At the Western Museum yet. Yeah, we went there a few days
54:09
ago, made some friends from the area.
54:13
And desire Crawford. I mean, from what I've heard,
54:19
maybe not the maybe not a guy he'd want to get a beer with,
54:23
but I mean, work kind of speaks for himself.
54:29
It's fair, you know, I've met some of the Crawfords.
54:33
They're an interesting bunch. Oh, really?
54:38
Yeah. Yeah, I don't, I don't think
54:41
they're still. In the industry.
54:44
I think one of them. How?
54:47
What was it? I want to say Zachary, he works
54:53
for like one of those financial consulting things.
54:58
Not enough. It's all Greek to me.
55:01
Seems to me just the just a little bit, but it's been a,
55:06
it's been an interesting couple of days to I met someone,
55:15
apparently I went back in LA and kind of didn't remember that.
55:25
Doesn't get as much tourism as it used to, but you know, glad
55:30
you were glad there's at least a couple Angelina's out there to
55:36
keep company. Yeah, yeah.
55:39
Does the the name Olivia the Mark mean anything to you?
55:47
There's a long pause. No.
55:58
Can't say that, she said. She's someone in your crew.
56:04
No, it's just the person who claimed to have bet me that I
56:10
don't remember it was, you know, during that time.
56:17
Sweetheart, you were, you were really strung out.
56:24
I'm not sure. I mean, maybe, but I want to
56:31
talk about giving everyone a scare.
56:37
My specialty I guess. When we've got your diagnosis,
56:41
this new diagnosis from Sacred Mercy, you know, been talking
56:46
and maybe, I don't know, maybe, maybe we should have gotten you
56:54
into some kind of program sooner.
56:56
You know, you know, like you hear about how drug abuse and
56:59
sometimes exacerbate chronic conditions.
57:06
I mean maybe. I mean, maybe it was the stress
57:10
of the last shoot to him. It was it was a lot in the heat
57:18
and. Riley, can you go ahead and give
57:21
me a wit split inside roll? Yep.
57:27
Yeah, it's 2 successes. Riley.
57:32
Yeah. Your father, Victor is a lot of
57:36
things. He's been your biggest fan and
57:40
your biggest supporter. He was there for you from your
57:46
first audition to your most embarrassing crash outs when you
57:50
were trying to get clean. But the one thing he's not is a
57:55
good liar. Yeah, yeah.
58:02
He's been always really bad about that.
58:08
Why he's not an actor? He keeps talking about how it's
58:16
counting the days until you and Taylor back home, and how him
58:20
and your mom are really looking forward to having you over to
58:22
dinner and maybe they should, you know, should do something
58:25
over the weekend. You know, just the extended
58:27
Anderson clan. And for you, all you hear is
58:33
just this distant ringing. Yeah, I, I, I, I sort of snapped
58:43
back in in the middle of a, a sentence and just sort of say,
58:47
yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. Hey, love you sweetheart.
58:59
You too. Don't forget about us when
59:01
you're famous. Yeah.
59:08
All right, your mom's giving me that look, so I should probably
59:13
get back in bed. Have a good night.
59:16
Sorry I took calling so late. Yeah.
59:19
You too, please call us all the time, maybe during maybe during
59:23
daylight hours. I'll try.
59:30
See you soon. Yeah, soon.
59:37
He hangs up. Just going to totally wipe away
59:46
any tears of blood that I may or may not have been crying before
59:52
Ash shows up. Is Astra carpooling with you,
59:58
Ash? We're going to say that.
1:00:04
We're going to say that Aster was the first pick up, I think
1:00:08
all. Right.
1:00:09
So you both roll up outside of the Palmdale to see Raleigh
1:00:12
looking well. Aster will absolutely jump out
1:00:22
of the car, probably not even like it's not even stopped yet
1:00:27
and jump out and like hand Riley, a tissue would be like,
1:00:32
let's get you cleaned up. Are you OK?
1:00:36
Yeah, I'll, I'll be fine. You know, parents really love me
1:00:45
and, you know, we'll do anything, including ruining
1:00:51
someone's career. That's a weird feeling.
1:00:58
Oh fuck. OK, we should.
1:01:02
Get in the in the car. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:01:11
Kind of just like climb into the back seat and kind of do the
1:01:14
thing where, you know, just make yourself small.
1:01:17
You bring your legs up to your chest and everything, wrap your
1:01:20
arms around them are. You going to be OK?
1:01:27
Do you want? Do you want to talk about it?
1:01:31
If you don't, that's fine. I want.
1:01:36
To it's, it's, it's a, it's a weird feeling because it's, you
1:01:42
know, my parents really care so much.
1:01:47
So they ruined this woman's career and I, I don't know how
1:01:54
to feel about it. Really.
1:01:59
You get a text message on your phone.
1:02:04
It's from that same unlisted number.
1:02:09
Yeah. It's a picture of a smash to
1:02:14
hell laptop. Uh huh.
1:02:19
Followed by a text that says I did it, please don't hate me.
1:02:26
If I could turn green, I would turn green.
1:02:32
I don't have to worry about her blackmailing me anymore.
1:02:37
I'm all wins. That's good, because we should
1:02:41
blackmail her. Excuse me?
1:02:45
Oh, we should get some leverage, yeah.
1:02:51
Ash, I, I, there's, I don't know how to tell you this because
1:02:55
it's going to make you really mad.
1:03:01
I don't know who Emily's lawyer is, but they're trying to frame
1:03:06
her for our elective issues. Zach told me it the other night.
1:03:17
Ash is going to just pull over the car and.
1:03:23
So sorry. So sorry, going to like look,
1:03:29
Emily's lawyer is my sire. Oh God, fuck, I'm so sorry.
1:03:38
I didn't want to tell you but. That's a plot twist.
1:03:42
Oh fuck. OK, so my thought was we could
1:03:46
just blackmail the Olivia and Abe and for what they're doing
1:03:54
and get Emily off the hook. That was my plan.
1:03:56
That was a thought. You want to wait?
1:03:59
You want to frame Olivia for. Yes, 100%.
1:04:05
OK maybe maybe maybe I need to like refresh but like what are
1:04:12
they trying like? They're trying to blame Emily
1:04:15
for all of the things we're doing.
1:04:18
It's a laundry mat. The, the shootings, the the, the
1:04:24
rave. I don't know.
1:04:26
I barely leave the house. She no is Zach's freaking out
1:04:31
about it. So, so Ash is going to like snap
1:04:35
their fingers like, no, she has an ankle monitor.
1:04:38
We can like they can prove that it's not.
1:04:42
I know she's not. I don't.
1:04:45
No, no, that's. I'm just telling you what I was
1:04:50
told. Words spray painted on your
1:04:53
front door. The bad news that you really
1:05:01
don't want to believe that everything is a conspiracy, Ash.
1:05:04
But it's really starting to feel that way.
1:05:09
Ash being overwhelmed by this information and being not a very
1:05:19
bright person in the long run is going to try to rationalize this
1:05:24
and they're going to be like no, no no no, it's Freddie.
1:05:30
Like Freddie the guy from the the BNR shit.
1:05:38
Emily has been like haunted by him.
1:05:43
It's him, it's off. It's like how?
1:05:45
Is he getting to her? I'm assuming vampire bullshit.
1:05:51
Check her medication. Her medication hash, that's what
1:05:58
he went to her in the 1st place about.
1:06:02
That's what led you to Jillian and Associates right before she
1:06:08
suggested you have a rollicking good time and you found yourself
1:06:12
meeting the concrete at terminal velocity.
1:06:16
Ash is going to like turn off the car and say give me a moment
1:06:27
and they are going to get out of the and they are going to walk
1:06:31
out of the car and I'm a sit and like walk into the nearest alley
1:06:37
and they're just going to scream for like a good 30 seconds.
1:06:46
And they can't. They're they're just trying to
1:06:51
process it and it is just screaming.
1:06:53
It is just like a wordless just scream of frustration and
1:07:01
they're going to return to the car, get in and say we have to
1:07:12
do this fucking stupid shit and I cannot have this on my mind
1:07:24
right now. We have to survive.
1:07:26
We are all coming out of this. Oh, not quite as dead as we
1:07:32
should be. I wanted to tell you in case I
1:07:36
died. I don't even know if I'm
1:07:40
supposed to set foot on this place like I.
1:07:43
Appreciate it. I'm just I think this might be
1:07:48
my breaking point. I'm.
1:07:50
I'm so sorry. I didn't want to tell you, man.
1:07:53
I didn't. I didn't want to tell you.
1:07:55
I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.
1:08:00
That is. I thought I had something like
1:08:08
I, I'm kind of a royal fuck up and like, I don't know, I
1:08:14
thought this, I thought this, I thought like this whole new
1:08:19
vampire thing, I was going to like get a handle on shit like,
1:08:22
and, you know, try to be a productive member of society,
1:08:26
whatever that means, but fuck. Yeah, well, I don't know,
1:08:32
Fucking child star crashed out and somehow still has a career.
1:08:38
You know, I understand that. Fuck.
1:08:44
Yeah, I mean, all I'm just good at is punching people.
1:08:48
Oh God. I'm really good at problem
1:08:56
solving, so we'll solve both of these problems with each other's
1:08:59
problems. Yeah, I'm, I'm good at the
1:09:01
punching thing too. And the acting thing.
1:09:05
That's about it. Well, actually, if you give me a
1:09:08
sword, I'm even better. I really need a sword.
1:09:13
The there's there, there's a mall, there's a mall in San
1:09:16
Arroyo. I think there like when I was in
1:09:18
high school, there was like a place where he'd get like a mall
1:09:20
Cortana. And so I mean, that works,
1:09:22
right? A mall.
1:09:22
Cortana. Last time you were in that mall,
1:09:28
you got shot at with automatic weaponry and a bunch of college
1:09:32
students were killed. Fuck man, I.
1:09:36
I maybe there's like a pawn shop or something we can go to.
1:09:39
Yeah, there's a good pawn shop and a bad pawn shop in town.
1:09:44
I'm sure event that, yeah, she's just going to be like, OK, I'm,
1:09:52
I'm, I'm dealing with this, I'm processing this information.
1:09:58
This is the car processing information where I'm processing
1:10:01
the fact that my, my parents ruined a woman's career, which,
1:10:07
you know, I, I don't know if it was the right choice.
1:10:11
I mean, it could have been the right choice that she could have
1:10:13
like leaked photos of me. Probably my very worst.
1:10:21
Yeah, I'd we wouldn't want that. That's that's pretty bad.
1:10:28
It's bad. Yeah, I don't Even so I I
1:10:33
remember sex. I remember having sex with this
1:10:36
woman. That's about it.
1:10:39
OK, you know what? I'm going to turn on the car,
1:10:41
but first Ash is going to like, like turn the driver's seat to
1:10:45
like off her hand to both of them.
1:10:49
OK, hands, hands in everybody. Like we're going.
1:10:51
To hands in. Like and like we are surviving
1:10:55
tonight. We are all fucking getting out
1:10:58
of here alive. We're going to get what we want.
1:11:02
We are going to. Nobody's no, none of us are
1:11:07
dying. We are going to pull through
1:11:10
this and we will fucking kill anybody who's tries who who
1:11:16
tries to fuck with us. Sure.
1:11:21
Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:11:24
Great. Go team.
1:11:27
Let's go. Team not breathing.
1:11:30
Team not moving. Team not breathing.
1:11:37
Team not breathing.