Episode 2

MAURA: Greetings Ministers. Welcome to the City of Spire, and to the story of Her Dark Ministrations. Episode 2 begins in the midst of several clever plans, all happening at once.

Our Idol, Eclipse-Awakening-Twilight-Symphony, is seducing the Winters son, Devlin, and feeding him dagger, a dangerous stimulant.

Our Inksmith, Joseph Hearst, has sent Arsene off to inform the rest of the team of whatever that note meant.

It seems our Knight Zyrel is the only one on mission, and is looking for a key to Winters’ office on either Sal Griswold, Patricia Yssen, or perhaps Devlin Winters. Let's begin.

So Zyrel, what is your secondary plan here?

BRIGID: So, I'm sorry, because at this point I'm fairly certain Zyrel's just annoyed, but trying to keep composed. So there are two other people that I could think of that would have the key.

MAURA: Mm-hmm, yes.

BRIGID: One of them's already kind of pissed at me.

MAURA: Yes.

BRIGID: And the other one is my only option.

MAURA: So you're going to track down Patricia?

BRIGID: Yeah, I'm going to go find Patricia.

MAURA: Okay, so go ahead and make me an Investigate, Low Society roll to see if you can find where she's at.

BRIGID: Okay. Two dice. So that's an 8.

MAURA: Okay, which is a complete success. You spend some time wending your way through the crowd. A couple of people have glanced at you because most of the guards are staying at the edges of the party, but you manage to find Patricia in the middle of things that are going on at the bar, and she is drowning her sorrows. She is absolutely off her rocker drunk, and she's been drinking mostly malak, which is sort of like the drow version of weed. It chills you out, but it's also a depressive. So it's been made illegal recently so that aelfir have an excuse to go arrest pretty much any drow they want, because it's a common drug that doesn't really have any bad side effects. She’s just been drinking Malak by the mug full, and is just kind of slumped over the bar at this point, looking very sad. “And I just, you think you do something for someone, a favor, and then they just don't repay you in the way that you want, and it's like there's no, there's no real…”

BRIGID: “Sorry, but it looks like you could use some company.”

MAURA: “Aren't you working?”

BRIGID: “You know, I'm just on my break at the moment. I'm going to continue patrolling after, but I have a few minutes to spare for someone as lovely as yourself.”

MAURA: Yeah, go ahead and roll a Deceive and Low Society check.

BRIGID: Okay. Nat 10!

MAURA: Oh, man, we have not had any fallout yet this session, which does make me sad because the fallout is very cool. So yeah, she absolutely gives you up and down once over.

BRIGID: I'm going to flex so it looks like my biceps are a little bigger, as I lean on the bar.

MAURA: Yeah, yeah, she looks, looks you over and says, “You know what, you're on break. Let's go, let's go talk somewhere a little bit more private.” And she grabs an entire bottle of wine and drags you off by the hand.

BRIGID: “I like how you think.”

MAURA: So yeah, she takes you up the mezzanine and back through another hallway. You guys pass a couple of other guards who, like, look at you a little bit, but they see both Patricia and you in your uniform and are like, nope, not, not in my business.

NICK: ‘Don't talk, anything but talk.’

MAURA: And she drags you into a back room, leaves the bottle on the table and starts trying to undo your armor.

BRIGID: I mean…

JAMIE: Wow, forward.

MAURA: Oh yeah.

BRIGID: I'm going to go with it.

MAURA: Okay. You know, you could punch her at any time.

NICK: You have no armor class.

BRIGID: She's wasted. I'm just kind of kind of take her hands and say, “Wait, wait, wait, don't you want to, you want to have a drink first?”

MAURA: “I'm just so lonely.” And she collapses into your arms and starts crying. “Oh, I just, I just wanted someone to appreciate me, and I do so much Gods damn work in this house and no one even looks twice at me. I could have been someone.”

BRIGID: Wow. Panic mode. There are emotions here.

MAURA: What are you doing, Zyrel?

BRIGID: Is there anywhere to put her to just sit her down?

MAURA: Sure. You, you kind of look around the room desperately and you realize she's brought you into what look like a sitting room. So there are a bunch of, like, chaise lounges around and a couple of armchairs.

BRIGID: I'm just going to sit her down gently.

MAURA: Yep. She's not letting go of you. She's just, like, clinging onto your arms and just sobbing into your chest plate. “I'm just, I just want some, some connections.”

BRIGID: “I know connections are really hard to find and keep stable.”

MAURA: Are you just going to awkwardly comfort her?

BRIGID: Yes.

MAURA: Oh my God. All right, go ahead and make a Compel and Low Society check for me.

BRIGID: Okay. That's three dice. Okay. 8.

MAURA: Okay. So you succeed. She cries for about 10 more minutes. You're not very good at this. You’re just kind of awkwardly patting her on the back as it happens. And she does eventually calm down and scrub some of the mascara out from her cheeks. And she says, “Oh Gods, I'm a mess. Of course…I mean, it's no wonder. You know… I'll take that drink now. If that’s all right with you.”

BRIGID: “Good, drinking always helps.” I'm just going to stand up stiffly and go to the bottle.

JAMIE: So meanwhile, I was trying to follow and find Zyrel in order to pass along the information that I got from Joseph.

MAURA: All right. Yeah, you can absolutely knock on the door at this point. Like, you definitely saw Patricia spirit Zyrel away from the bar.

JAMIE: Yeah. So now I'm also thinking like, Oh boy, what's going on in here?

NICK: And you walk up and you hear nothing but sobbing.

MAURA: It is up to you what you want to do in this moment.

JAMIE: I'm going to put on an air of, like, concern and knock on the door like, frantically.

MAURA: Oh my God. Patricia is like, “Oh God, don't let anyone see me looking like this.” She, like, hides behind a bookshelf and just, trying to fix her ruined makeup.

BRIGID: “Don't worry. I got this.” Just going to re-adjust the armor straps and answer the door.

MAURA: Still, like…definitely looks a little bit undone, but mostly clothed.

JAMIE: Definitely an eyebrow raised from Arsene. And then he says,“There's a--oh, apologies, Patricia. There's a, there's a commotion. I've been told to come get a guard. There's a commotion by the door.”

BRIGID: I'm just going to give them an eye and kind of mouth, Get the key, before I leave.

MAURA: Okay. Yeah, Patricia kind of peeks out from behind the bookshelf as Zyrel walks out and kind of waits for Arsene to leave as well. So she can kind of fix herself up before going back up.

JAMIE: Going to, like, slowly close the door and then, like, kind of out of earshot of the door—

MAURA: You've just completely derailed Zyrel's plan, but okay. What exactly are you planning on doing now?

BRIGID: Wait, aren’t they talking to me?

JAMIE: Okay. Jamie is confused by this plan. But I'm going to pass Zyrel the note quickly.

MAURA: Okay. Yeah. So Zyrel and Arsene, you guys are both outside and hear some snuff—some sniffling from inside the room. But yeah, you guys have a moment to talk freely.

JAMIE: Okay. Can I see the note because I'm very, I'm still confused.

MAURA: Why don't you read it out loud?

JAMIE: Okay. The note says, “Osgood, Drycker---random NPC---is my mark. Eclipse lures Winters out of their office during their performance, I guess. Zyrel is guarding the door and is in position when Winters exits. Joseph tells Osgood that Winters is going to announce bad news at the end of Eclipse's performance, compels Drycker that they need to get Winters---get to Winters ASAP to stop this news. As Drycker runs through the crowd to Winters, Brigid stabs Winters with Drycker's own knife. People need to pickpocket Drycker and get this to Brigid in advance.”

MAURA: Okay. So this is a good assassination plan. You were explicitly told to make this like a hit.

JAMIE: Yeah, this is why I'm confused.

MAURA: The goal of this is to put Winters in his place.

NICK: Oh yeah.

MAURA: And not necessarily to pin it on someone else. You guys have to get out of it, hopefully intact, but not necessarily the goal here. You want to make it—like, you want to tie it back to the Ministry.

NICK: Yep.

MAURA: Okay. So Joseph has a very elaborate plan.

BRIGID: Fuck no.

MAURA: That requires some pickpocketing and getting Zyrel a knife.

BRIGID: I'm just going to stare at the note.

JAMIE: “Yeah.” Arsene's going to give a shrug, like…

BRIGID: “Absolutely—this is way too—this is, no.”

JAMIE: “Well, do you want to go back in and get the key before we—”

BRIGID: “No, because I'm supposed to be handling something at the door.”

JAMIE: “Oh right. I guess I'll go back in and continue comforting this hot mess and try to get the key off of them.”

BRIGID: I'm just going to give them a light swat.

JAMIE: “Okay. I'm very confused. You said to get the key.”

BRENDAN: Just laugh and go with it.

JAMIE: Go with what?

BRIGID: “You have to go in and finish it.”

JAMIE: “Yeah. That's what I said.”

BRIGID: “The key to the office.”

JAMIE: “Yes.”

BRIGID: After that Zyrel is just going to crumple up the note and just give it to Arsene and storm off.

JAMIE: Okay. Arsene is going to put it back in his pocket.

MAURA: All right. I want to check in with Joseph who, I assume, is attempting to pickpocket Osgood.

NICK: Well, I don't think I'm at Osgood yet.

MAURA: Oh yes. You're interviewing Elizabeth Threadneedle. Now, she is very high, and not all there. You could ditch her pretty easily.

NICK: Oh yes. This is the plan. I think I have been walking Threadneedle over to Osgood for a bit of time now. And I think I've told her something along the lines of, like, “The person I'm really interested in—all this information about you and your tragic past and your shocking romance with your three sisters is phenomenal and juicy, juicy stuff. I can't wait---I can't wait to hear more about it.”

MAURA: “You must emphasize that it's not just a business relationship. It's about family. Family.”

NICK: “And your love for family goes so, so deep darling, there's…”

MAURA: “…So pure, and so important to our empire…”

NICK: “But listen, listen, listen here. I cannot wait to write your paper, but it's going to have to be in next week's Torch. I am here on prior work. You see, I need some help. And I would appreciate nothing, nothing more in the world than if Elizabeth Threadneedle could introduce me to the knife magnate, Osgood Dryker. I've heard some information that Dryker has been contacting some lawyers recently, more than one lawyer, which is a little odd from a knife salesman.”

MAURA: “Well, I mean, I, salesman is a generous word. He's more of a hack if you ask me. I don't know why you would want to talk to him. I'm much more interesting, but I suppose…” Go ahead and make a Compel and Low Society—actually, it's going to be Crime, Compel and Crime.

NICK: Compel and Crime, gotcha. So I am not Crime-man. I am Compel-man though. So this is, this is two dice. That's a 9, no, a 6.

MAURA: Okay.

NICK: Sorry.

JAMIE: 8 is the higher.

MAURA: Oh my God. So many numbers coming at me right now.

NICK: Okay. So an 8 is the higher.

MAURA: Yes. 8 is enough to get you a complete success. So Elizabeth is, “I don't know. I mean, you know, I'm, I'm a much more tragic figure if you ask me, but if you want to talk to Osgood, you know, I, I do enjoy a bit of gossip. And the Torch always has the best news. And I mean that in the best possible way. Of course I can introduce you to Osgood.”

NICK: “The story goes where the story goes, my dear, and I can promise you there's a story with you: next week.” And leads her off towards Osgood. An NPC you did not prepare!

MAURA: That's fine. Perfect. I love it. Trash all of my shit. Okay. So Osgood, this knife salesman… here's what's up with Osgood. Making this all up off the top of my head. Let's go. He's also a native to Red Row. He has some unsavory rumors that have never been proven that he has a connection with the ghouls and cannibals of King Teeth down in Derelictus. He has some unsavory contacts, as it were, in the lower Spire. He has made enough money to be present at this party, but he's newer money than Mr. Winters. He's kind of more Devlin's generation than Mr. Winters is. He's young, but he's very portly. He's got a kind of sickly yellow tinge to his otherwise dark skin that gives him, like, a puce kind of coloration that's very unpleasant.

And he is currently drinking the most expensive wine in the place and talking to a young Hellonite of the Church of the Gun, who is showing him this very fancy pistol that Mr. Winters made for him. And Oswald is trying to convince him to buy a knife instead. “Much more reliable, sir. Much more reliable. Will never fail you or explode on you in the middle of combat!”

NICK: Is he showing off his own personal knife or does he just have knives?

MAURA: Weapons aren't strictly allowed in this party. He probably has a show knife that is, it's tied to the scabbard. He can't draw it, but he's trying to show—it's one of those knives that has a handle that makes it split into three blades. And so he keeps like, “I can't show you this capability now, but it really is absolutely the most destructive power that you'll see. And frankly, you—it's balanced for throwing as well. So you really wouldn't need a gun to go ranged at all.”

BRIGID: “Wait, wait, wait.”

MAURA: The Hellonite he's talking to just has his arms crossed is just like, “Uh-huh.”

BIRIGID: So he's an MLM salesman?

MAURA: Yeah, yeah, pretty much. And you guys walk up, you and Threadneedle walk up at this point. And Elizabeth says, “Oh, Osgood, it's wonderful to see you again, dear.” And Osgood looks over…the, the, the Hellonite escapes immediately, just leaves that conversation. And Osgood is like, “Well, Elizabeth, my darling, it's wonderful to see you too.” He puts his very fancy knife back in his coat pocket. “And who's this you have with you?”

“This is my, my dear friend, Joseph…?”

NICK: “Moses Hearst.”

MAURA: “Someone, Joseph someone. And he's just a wonderful, wonderful friend. Works for the Torch, you know, just a wonderful person to have in your corner.” And Osgood, who's noticeably less high at this point, kind of, like, looks you up and down is like, “Well, I mean, you must be here for a reason. And if you’ve don Winters a good turn or some shit like that, you know…Not to be talking bad about our illustrious birthday man up there… who hasn't even shown his face at his own damn party.”

NICK: “It's my understanding that he's waiting for the performer he paid a fool's ransom to.”

MAURA: “Oh, yes, that uh, wannabe aelfir, lady, someone something like that. You know, I'm not a—I don't approve of trying to copy our oppressors. I don't approve. I'd say stick to traditional drow performances. Tradition!”

Elizabeth kind of pats you on the arm and is just like, “I'm going to get something to drink. Would you like something, Joseph?”

NICK: “Something hard, please.”

MAURA: “I can do that.” She pats you on the cheek and then wanders away.

NICK: “So why are you here?”

MAURA: “Me? Well, I was invited, of course. You can't turn down an invitation from one of the premier salesmen in in Red Row. It's just not good business.”

NICK: “And do you hope to do business today?”

MAURA: “Well, obviously, I mean, it's always a business opportunity. What exactly…you're a journalist, you say? I'm not sure what your interest in my business would be.”

NICK: “Well, if you knew anything about the Joseph Moses Hearst name…You know, I made the Torch what it is today, and I made this family what it is today.”

MAURA: You are not necessarily lying, but you are stretching the truth.

NICK: Oh, absolutely.

MAURA: So I will say you can choose if you want to use Compel or Deceive.

NICK: I'll use Compel.

MAURA: This is going to be a Crime, for sure.

NICK: Two dice. Oh, 6.

MAURA: Oh, so you succeed, but you do take a little bit of stress. I mean, again, it's got to be… it's got to be your Reputation. I'm just going to take a d3 of stress because you're stretching the truth, but it's not too bad.

NICK: I'm overstepping my boundaries.

MAURA: But you've got 2 stress in Reputation. And because you have 2 free slots, there's no count towards your total fallout as of yet. So you, you say this to Osgood, and he definitely looks you up and down is like, “Huh. Well, I mean, there's only so many, so many braggarts one party can hold, as they say.” But he's not necessarily believing you, but he is definitely still listening to what you have to say.

NICK: “I'd like to hear your sales pitch again, my friend. I didn't hear a particularly strong one there, but I'm sure you've got a good one in you. You're arguing at a gun merchant's birthday that you can replace guns from someone who already has a weapon. What I'd say, a much more political tact, is that your knives are subtle, discrete. Can hide where no one will ever see. One gets past more guard searches than a bulky Sparrow Shot. You need a different tact. You need advertising.”

MAURA: “Advertising. Yes. Yes. You make a good pitch there. You know, if I was listening to that pitch, I would have bought a knife myself. You have a bit of a talent for the words. Now, what exactly are you asking there, friend?”

NICK: “Well, I'm asking for a bit of information. What is it that you want, that you see, that you think you can get out of Mr. Winters here? You must have a better pitch for him than you had for that, sorry sod…”

MAURA: Oh, wait, that was a lot of verbs. Hold on, could you condense that into one statement?

NICK: “What are you offering Winters?”

MAURA: “Well, I mean, he's the one who invited me. You know, I obviously have a pitch for whenever he shows his fucking face, but you know, I didn't really expect this invitation to come out of the blue as it were. And technically, like you said, we are rivals. So my plan…”

He kind of thinks for a moment and puts himself together. “My plan is just what you said, to offer a business partnership. Now, I've got a couple of manufacturing materials down in Derelictus that I think that Mr. Winters could take advantage of, whether or not he wanted to make guns or knives. I've got the means of work as it were. The supply is there. And if he wanted to make bullets, or guns, or little knife bullets, then maybe we could talk about something like that, a partnership, an equal partnership, and not any inferior… No, I won't have that. No, no, no. I’m an independent!”

NICK: “All right. My sources were correct that you have manufacturing. Excellent.”

MAURA: “What sources were those, sir!?”

NICK: Out of character, absolutely none. I'm just rolling with it.

MAURA: He looks a little worried and/or confused. “What's, what sources? What? Who's been—you've been investigating me? What?”

NICK: “The Torch has plenty of business dealings. As I said, I made this family. I can make another one if they show promise. I am here to tell you, time is short tonight.” I eye his knife again. Can you explain his knife to me one more time?

MAURA: Right now, it just looks like a long dagger that is in a very elaborate sheath. But the, the hilt of the dagger has some extra bits coming out of the hilt. And when he was talking to the gun nut earlier, he was saying that the dagger, when it was drawn, if you press those extra bits on the hilt, it would turn into three blades rather than just one.

NICK: And did you mention that the knife is—it's not nonfunctional. It's just, like, wrapped so you can't draw it, right?

MAURA: It is wrapped so that you cannot draw it.

NICK: Okay. Great. Good news. Okay. As I size him up and down, I continue my sentence: “And I am looking for families with promise. Do you mind if I see a product of your manufacturing?” And I hold out my hand for the knife.

MAURA: He absolutely pulls that out of his jacket and hands it over to you. He's like, “Well, I mean, promise, you talk about promise. Now we are, we are just expanding now. We have the labor, we have the manufacturing, as I said, and we have the goods.” Now, he's not going to break the knife or try and pull it out, but he is going to go into the details and the fine workings at length.

So while he is explaining all of that to you, Arsene, what are you up to?

JAMIE: So I'm going to go back into the room where Patricia is trying to put herself together and kind of stand so I'm not, like, invading her space and say, “So sorry about that, Mrs. Yssen. I'm sure the guard has—"

MAURA: “I'm sorry. Who exactly are you? I would really rather be alone right now. I'll be out shortly. Why don't you go talk to Sal if you need anything?”

JAMIE: “Oh, no, no, no, no, no, I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. I mean, it seemed like you were in a bit of distress and surely it's—this is a nice place to take a load off.”

MAURA: Hmm. So here's what I'm going to do. It's going to be a Compel check and Low Society, but it is going to be Difficult. And for each Difficulty that it is, I take one of your dice away.

JAMIE Oh no.

MAURA: I'm going to say this is Difficulty 1, which means you build your pool and then you take one dice away from that pool.

JAMIE: Okay.

MAURA: This is not necessarily something that she is interested in at the moment.

JAMIE: Okay, that's two instead of three.

MAURA: Yes.

JAMIE: Okay. Oh, no, it's a 4 and a 1.

MAURA: Oh, no. Well, it's not a 1 because you still have a 4, but you do take some stress.

JAMIE: Okay.

MAURA: I'm going to say that this…instead of Reputation, this is going to be Shadow stress because you’re kind of putting yourself out there. And this is going to be, it's going to be a d6.

JAMIE: Oh.

MAURA: So you are going to take 4 stress, but you do not yet suffer fallout.

JAMIE: Okay, what are the rules for fallout?

MAURA: So basically I'm the only one that needs to check for fallout whenever you make a roll---Whenever you take stress, I roll a d10. And if it is at or under the stress that you currently have, then you suffer fallout. There is mild, moderate, and severe fallout. There's a different amount of stress from your stress track. You can also refresh to clear stress from your stress track, and each class has a different refresh move.

JAMIE: So you just rolled for fallout then, right?

MAURA: Yeah, I rolled for fallout, but it didn't happen. I rolled above a 3. You're currently good to go, but that stress is going to sit there and build up.

JAMIE: Cool, cool, cool.

MAURA: And with a 4, you don't succeed. So what happens is that Patricia comes out from behind the bookcase, she's mostly cleaned up all of her runny makeup. She doesn't look completely put together, but she's tied her hair back. She's straightened her pantsuit, and she looks more in control than she did. She kind of glares at you and noticeably takes in your face and it's just like, “I don't remember inviting you to the party. And I know everyone that I invited because I'm the one that put the guest list together. So could you please show me your invitation?”

JAMIE: I will take out the invitation.

MAURA: She snatches it out of your hand and looks it over and, like, holds it up to the light as if she can—she can't because it is a real invitation. So eventually she hands it back to you in a huff and says, “Well, I certainly have no need of your assistance. You can go back to the rest of the party.” And she opens the door and walks out ahead of you.

JAMIE: While she's walking by me, can I try to, like---I'm going to make a guess about, like, the location of the key and just try to pickpocket her as she walks by.

MAURA: Yes, you can absolutely also do that. This is going to be Difficulty 1 as well.

JAMIE: Okay.

MAURA: It's going to be a Steal and a Low Society check.

JAMIE: Okay, well, okay, I'm rolling two again because I would roll three.

MAURA: Yes.

JAMIE: Oh no, that was a 3.

MAURA: Oh no. At last the bad fucking rolls.

JAMIE: I know. Why is it all happening to me?

MAURA: Oh, do I want to pile more Shadow stress on you? I think I do. Another d6 of stress. And you are going to suffer a moderate fallout. Now, I think we're going to have to go with Arrested. It's going to clear 5 stress from your track, but what happens is, you kind of try to slip your hand into her pocket and she notices at once. And she turns and flings your hand out of her pocket and says, “How dare you? You must have stolen that invitation!” and calls for the guards.

“Get someone in here right away.”

Zyrel you have left by this point to go deal with whatever the fuck and/or just to go get a drink. Zyrel’s not having a great time.

BRIGID: I can't drink visibly because I'm technically quote unquote on duty.

MAURA: That's true.

BRIGID: You have to have the Knight be stone cold sober.

MAURA:  You have to get rid of it. So yeah, one of the guards comes in and looks at Patricia and she says, “Well, take this imposter out of here at once.” And he looks over at Arsene and is just like, “Uh…” and Patricia says, “They just tried to steal from me.” And the guard says, “Oh shit. Yeah. All right, you're coming downtown.” Which is not something a guard at a gangster’s party should say.

JAMIE: Yeah, that's a little bit confusing to me.

MAURA: But you definitely clock that.

JAMIE: Does this just happen or can I try to like, like a run for it?

MAURA: So you have suffered the fallout. You can attempt to run. It's—you're going to risk more stress by doing so, but you can absolutely make a run for it.

JAMIE: I mean, I do not think that Arsene would just like…

MAURA: No, I don't passively accept this. No. Okay. So yeah, go ahead and make a Pursue and Low Society check. There's no difficulty on this because this is something that you're quite accustomed to doing.

JAMIE: Yes. Yeah. Okay. So that'll be 2 die again. Let's hope that I roll better than I have been doing. Oh, nice an 8.

MAURA: Okay. Yeah. So you managed to eel your way past the guard and are running through the mansion. You don't know where you're going, but you think you've managed to lose them. You have gone upstairs and downstairs and into rooms and back out of libraries and you’ve ended up on an upper level of the mansion.

It's actually pretty close to, quote, unquote, the ceiling of Red Row. And you can look out of one of the attic dormer windows and see that you are quite a ways from the ground floor and the rest of the party.

NICK: Did the main foyer see any of this Scooby-Doo chasing?

MAURA: I don't think so, because it was happening on a second floor level to begin with. And because we don't want to get any more guards involved, and the guards are all in the main story. You probably want to head up and away to be on more deserted levels of the mansion.

NICK: Sure.

MAURA: Okay. So I do want to see what Eclipse-Awakening-Twilight-Symphony is up to with---

BRIGID: Yeah, it's been a while since we've been with them.

MAURA: Yeah. And Devlin is absolutely high at this point.

BRIGID: Oh, he might have a key, but—but Eclipse doesn't know that plan. Fuck.

MAURA: You are up in a secluded part of the mezzanine. There are, like, some benches and some potted plants around. You can see onto the main floor, but Devlin is restless. He's pacing. He is high on dagger and he's not being quiet about it. And he’s saying, “and yeah, that's what I deserve, really, is all of it. You know, I was born to this life.”

BRENDAN: “Devlin, come up here.”

MAURA: “What? What? What?”

BRENDAN: “What is your father up to anyway? He hasn't made an appearance at all.”

MAURA: “Yeah, I know. It's almost, you know, it's almost like he doesn't even care about any of this or like maintaining his reputation. And—what? What? What?”

BRENDAN: “Your voice, darling, is so loud. Just bring it down a notch.”

MAURA: “Oh, yeah. Sorry.” As he immediately starts yelling again.

JAMIE: Oh, dear.

MAURA: “You know, I just think that he could take some responsibility for all of the shit that he is putting me through. And it's not like I'm not trying to be a better son and business partner. And he just won't let me--” You guys see, at this point, a couple of the guards are coming around gesturing people down towards the main stage where you see Celeste has taken up a pose and is getting ready to dance.

The musicians are out along the side back by the dressing room away from the crowd. And it looks like there are actually quite a few guards up here on the mezzanine that are gesturing people down into the main area.

And you see, one of them comes up to you guys and it's just like, “Sir, Mr. Devlin, Mr. Winters, and… you. Performance is starting. We're asking everyone to clear this area.”

And Devlin is instantly enraged and just like, “How dare you? I am—”

BRENDAN: “Devlin, Devlin, it's, it's okay.”

MAURA: “—Just can’t speak to me like that.”

BRENDAN: “I really do need to go get ready for my own performance. But can I, here, can we step aside just for another second or two? I need to speak to you.”

MAURA: You look at him and Devlin's like, “Yes, of course,” he's glaring at the guard and it's just like, “Yeah, yeah, what are you going to do about it?”

And the guard is just like, “Sir, you really need to—” he's kind of following you guys, but he's going to let you kind of pull Devlin aside for just a moment.

BRENDAN: “Look, Devlin, I need to ask something of you.”

MAURA: “What, what? Shit, what?”

BRENDAN: “There's one of the guards at this party who is black—"

MAURA: “Wronged you. I knew it. These guys are such trash. They're not even our usual guys. I don't know any of them. Can't trust them. Sal told me earlier.”

BRENDAN: “---One of them is blackmailing me and I don't know who's behind this.”

MAURA: “I'm going to kill them so hard that there's blood on all of the stairs, just all of the stairs.”

BRENDAN: “Honestly, that sounds delightful, darling, and I hope you do. And here—"

MAURA: “You point him at me. You point me at them. Which one is it? Which one of these luggers?”

BRENDAN: “He's planning to do it. He's planning to embarrass me and humiliate me and ruin my entire performance.”

MAURA: “I—no!”

BRENDAN: “So just as I'm getting to the high note in my song, he's planning something. So I need you just at that moment to intercept him and deal with him.”=

MAURA: “Point me at him. Point me at him. He's not going to get anywhere near you. He's not going to get anywhere near you. Point me at him.”

BRENDAN: And I'm going to describe Zyrel.

MAURA: All right. Zyrel, where are you right now? Just for my information.

BRIGID: I'm probably behind a column somewhere chugging from a flask before I go find something to punch.

MAURA: Okay. Yeah, perfect. Okay. So yeah, describe Zyrel perfectly. Devlin is, like, ramped up. He doesn't even hesitate and you're like, and ‘that's what they look like.’ All right, go. He's high right now and really also wants to punch something. So he is not going to wait. He is just charging off to try and find this person.

He's actually stopping each of the guards. He doesn't have the mental faculties to describe Zyrel back at them, but he's stopping each of the guards staring at their face for an uncomfortably long period of time and then moving on.

BRENDAN: I need to grab another one of the guards.

MAURA: So there's probably a dozen or so of them on the mezzanine at this point. The mezzanine is pretty much empty except for the guards and you. So the one who first talked to you and Devlin is actually still nearby and is just kind of trying to gently gesture at you without actually touching you. Just kind of doing that thing where they put their hands out in an invisible aura and are trying to move you down the stairs.

BRENDAN: “Thank you, darling. So—always so helpful. Tell me, I don't want to, you know, steal the show, you know, by descending the stairs dramatically during her performance. I mean, she's--”

MAURA: “--right. Yeah, the stairs are actually not in the spotlight. So if you could just come—

BRENDNA: “Is there another way I could go down? A backstage?”

MAURA: Okay, so I want you to make a roll here, roll to Compel, and this is Order.

BRENDAN: Do I get to use my ‘this person doesn't know who I am?’

MAURA: Yes, absolutely. This person does not know who you are and they are blown away by you.

BRENDAN: Okay, so I have Compel and I have ‘Who Are They.’ So I get to roll with mastery.

MAURA: Yep.

BRENDAN: I get 3 dice.

MAURA: You do.

BRENDAN: Wait, a zero.

MAURA: Zero is a 10.

BRENDAN: Yeah, 10.

MAURA: Okay. All right. So yeah, you lean in really close to whisper this to them and the guard blushes like crazy. They're like—their skin is a very dark purple, so they get, like, very bright blue blush and they're just like, “Oh, yeah, there is—there's a, yeah, I can actually—I'll take you back that way.” He looks over at the other guards that are like, “What, dude? What the fuck—?” he's like, “Don't worry about it. Just—don't blow this for me, man,” and is going to lead you around him the mezzanine, into a back stairway. “I'm just—give me five seconds, like five, five seconds.”

So let's see, that's where you are. Where is Joseph at this moment?

NICK: Joseph, at this moment, is still talking to the knife merchant and is trying to usher him into the corner because they're talking about the specifics of this knife and why this is the best knife. And he's going to get Osgood Drycker into, like, a corner, conspiratorially whispering to him about, “Well, that all sounds well and good, but I need to see the steel, help me…” And he's going to, like, indicate shield eyes from the knife as he unwraps the protective weave, keeping you from being able to draw this knife.

MAURA: Okay, yeah, I think that this is not a magical protection on this knife but it is very tightly woven and tied. If you are going to be undoing it, I'm going to need you to roll me a… Hmm, it's going to be a Fix check, and I think it's going to be a Low Society domain.

NICK: Two dice. Don't fuck it up. That's a 7.

MAURA: Okay, so you do succeed, but you also take a little bit of stress. I think this is going to be a little bit of Blood stress. Just a d3, you only take 1. And what happens is: you are unwinding this—it's a wire, it's not a wrapping, and it's tight like piano wire, it's sharp. As you are unwinding it and undoing these knots, it cuts your thumb and you bleed a little bit onto the hilt of the knife and Osgood’s like, “No, no, no. That's my personal weapon. You know—” he’s kind of looking around at everyone else.

Like, the rest of the crowd is pretty entranced by Celeste's performance. You can hear a drumbeat start up on the stage. So you guys are, like, you fairly sheltered in this corner under the mezzanine. No one's paying attention to you, but you, you, are bleeding just a little bit.

NICK: I'm working through the blood and getting the last of this wire off, and I sort of nonchalantly drop it to the floor, unthinking, saying, “Hush now, don't worry, I just need to check the steel, and I'll give it back to you.” And I do that and immediately put on a wowed face of, ‘oh.’ Do we have a fancy metal in this world that this would be, or is that way to indicate—

MAURA: There is, like, watered steel, what people popularly think of as Damascus steel, which—watered steel just looks like it has ripples in it. This is not a very fancy blade, despite all of Osgood's protestations otherwise. It's a very plain weapon. Now, it is brutal. You can see it's a long, kind of sharp dagger with serrated edges. And when you do that thing where you, like, squeeze the handle, there's two other blades come off the sides. So the center blade isn't actually serrated but the two blades on the outside are, and it's got a little, like, fan to it at the moment and it looks absolutely deadly, but it does not look particularly fancy or well made.

NICK: “And just what I like to see in a practitioner, good solid work.”

MAURA: “Well, let's, let's put it away. Let's put it away now.”

NICK: “Of course, of course,” I'm already putting it back in the sheath. And while sort of stepping in…how tall is this guy? Is he taller than me?

MAURA: Probably about the same height as you, but much rounder.

NICK: I definitely invade his personal space a little bit one hand on one shoulder, and I take the sheath and clip it to his waist and hold it there, adjust it, jiggle it a little bit, make sure it's snug, and all the while look in his eyes and say, “You've done me a favor. I know you have mills that would benefit the Winters’ family. So I'll do you one favor now.”

MAURA: “Yes. Yes, favors. Good. Yes. You won't mention this particular incident—” kind of, like, toes of the broken wire, “to Mr. Winters. Will you? I mean, it would be a shame for either of us to be seen drawing a weapon at a birthday party.”

NICK: I look around a little sheepishly and I sort of point out in the crowd—completely making up bullshit—, “That one there, the one with the red dress, they have two knives, one in each boot. You see that one up there on the balcony, eyeing the guard behind them. They've got an under-over Sparrow Shot right in the crook of their arm—tiny little thing, couldn't kill a fly, but if you put it right between the fly's eyes, the hell, that's a different story. Half the people in this party are armed, Mr. Drysend. Welcome to the big leagues. Now, watch where that knife goes. I quite like the look of it.

And now your gift. Mr. Winters is not going to make much of an appearance tonight.”

MAURA: “Yes, he's a little late already.”

NICK: “I have been told that he will come out for his birthday surprise: the performance of a lifetime, with Eclipse-Awaking-Twilight-Symphony. And then he'll return to his chambers and either you are on the list, or you aren't. And from what I've heard from you, you are not on the list yet. And that is a damn shame considering the quality of your work. So you have a short period of time during the performance to get on that list. Make sure you make a good impression.”

MAURA: I want you to go ahead and make a Compel and Crime check.

NICK: Okay, well, I'm actually going to use an ability here.

MAURA: Oh, perfect.

NICK: My ability that I have is: ‘Do It For the Story.’ It's an Occult ability to influence a NPC to do precisely what you want. And essentially all I want to this character to do—the simplest thing in the world, nothing out of character based off the information I've fed them—is I want them to rush over to Mr. Drysend as soon as the party starts.

MAURA: Yeah, absolutely. So instead of making it a Crime domain, this makes it the Occult domain, you still have to roll to compel him to do that.

NICK: Of course.

MAURA: And as you are talking, he's falling under a kind of hypnosis and just kind of silently nodding along to everything you say.

NICK: Yes, submit to the capitalism. What am I rolling, a Compel and Occult or, what is that?

MAURA: Yep, that's correct.

NICK: All right, 3 dice. And that is two 10s and a five.

MAURA: Shit. Okay, yeah. So this goes off without a hitch. I will say, he sees the headlines flashing in front of him, the beautiful advertisements he will have drawn in the Daily Torch, and he nods seriously at you and he says, “You're right. You're right. I have to get on that list, have to, have to talk to Mr. Winters personally. You're right. You're right. Of course, of course.”

NICK: I'm not even going to pickpocket him. I'm going to walk away, it’s someone else's job to pickpocket them. And I'm not sure entirely where that person is, but I've done the little bit of extra work of making it so the knife is no longer secured now, so I feel like I've already gone above and beyond.

MAURA: According to Joseph, his plan is proceeding flawlessly. All right. So, Zyrel, you are currently chugging some liquor behind a column. You wipe your mouth and step out to go try and find somebody to punch. And one of the other guards kind of slaps you on the shoulder and is like, “Hey man, it's almost time, we got to get to the mezzanine. What are you doing back here? Come on, you got your gun or what?”

BRIGID: “Yeah, got it. Sorry, just needed to loosen up a bit.”

MAURA: “Yeah, we all know this job is fucking shit, but at least they're paying us, hey?”

BRIGID: “Got that right.”

MAURA: So you join the rest of the guards up on the mezzanine. There are probably about 20 guards up here now, and there are only guards up here. Everyone else in the party has gathered on the floor and is kind of watching Celeste's dance.

Eclipse, you want to say something.

BRENDAN: Question. The mezzanine… is it directly above the stage?

MAURA: No, it has three sides and staircases on the corners. So, there's no mezzanine directly above the stage, which is located on the side of, like, the far side of the room from the main doors.

BRENDAN: Okay, so the mezzanine is, like, complete opposite side of the room from the stage.

MAURA: Yes, the mezzanine is a U shape on the far—the opposite side of the stage, and also on the two corners, but not directly above it.

BRENDAN: So, the two corners almost overlap the edge of the stage?

MARUA: I mean, kind of? The stage really isn't that big. It doesn't take up the whole wall. It's probably about 10 by 20 feet, but there is a gap between the right side of the wall and the beginning of the stage, and in that gap is where the musicians are located.

BRENDAN: Okay, so it's almost like the orchestra section at the symphony, and it doesn't quite overlap the stage, but it is—it's kind of the back half of the room, and then there's a balcony overlooking towards the stage with, like, the crowd faced away from the balcony towards the stage.

MAURA: Yes, absolutely. There are a couple of balconies that are part of the mezzanine that face out into Red Row itself, like windows. And then there's the mezzanine which faces into the room.

BRENDAN: Okay.

MAURA: You've gone down the back stairway. You've gone around some corner and, barring any other interruptions that you wish to make, the guard will deposit you outside the dressing room.

BRENDAN: I'll ask him, “So, what's your name?”

MAURA: “Oh, I'm Yuri. Hi. Yeah, I just, I kind of got pulled on last minute. They needed somebody to cover the shift.”

BRENDAN: So, I want to stop him, like, as we're kind of going down the stair, like before we get—

MAURA: Okay, you are well away from the main room at this point.

BRENDAN: “Yuri, fascinating name. Anyway, it seems that many of the guards here aren't quite the typical ones that work for the family.”

MAURA: “Well, I mean…” he kind of looks around. Go ahead and make a Compel check. He's not really supposed to talk to you about this. Compel and Order domain.

BRENDAN: And do I still get the ‘Who are They?’

MAURA: Yes.

BRENDAN: A zero zero on percentile.

MAURA: Yeah, so that's a 10. Wait, that's 10. Yeah, absolutely. So he kind of looks around to make sure no one is within earshot and then he kind of leans towards you. “That's because we’re not actually employed by Mr. Winters. I mean, we're taking his money, sure. But yeah, me and my buddies, we normally work down at the Verloren Standard.”

BRENDAN: “Knights? Are you Knights?”

MAURA: “What? No, what? Fuck, no.” You know that’s basically the dead end guard post for the City Guard. It's the last place in, in Red Row where there is considered to be any law and order. But the only people who get sent to work there are, like, the dregs of the City Guard. He's like, “Yeah, I mean, we're just really filling in because we're getting paid, like, shit ton of money for it.”

BRENDAN: “Oh, well, I mean, what's---what? What are you doing?”

MAURA: He looks around and scratches his nose and it's like, “OK, so we might want to. I want to walk a little bit slower, you know, like just kind of. Miss the next 10 or 15 minutes of the party.”

BRENDAN: “You mean my performance?”

MAURA: “No. Well, yeah, actually, you probably just want to. Be busy. Just a little, a little bit.”

BRENDAN: “I see. I feel so much safer here with you anyway.”

MAURA: He like, he flexes.

BRIGID: Definitely not as buff as me, though.

BRENDAN: So my glamor thing is once per situation. Does that—

MAURA: This is a different situation. I will tell you, you don't necessarily have to do that. This guy is already pretty hot for you.

BRENDAN: Yuri, where is Mr. Winters?

MAURA: Oh, he's, I'm pretty sure he's in his office. He's getting ready for his big speech.

BRENDAN: “I see. And what---Do you know, generally, what he's going to say?”

MAURA: “I mean, like I'm not a script writer or anything. But I mean, I heard it was going to be kind of a, kind of a thing. You know, he invites all these people in, gets a bunch of, you know, actually competent guards.” He flexes again. “And, you know, makes a statement.”

BRENDAN: “I see. Don't you think we could, you know, hide out back here for a bit, you know, and you could protect me and—”

MAURA: “Yeah, that sounds great. Let's do that. Yeah, absolutely.” He puts his fist into the palm of his other hand is like, “I'm going to, I'm going to hang out here with you. We're just going to miss the party by a little bit. You know, you were just collateral damage anyway. He doesn't actually care. And most of this was just for other people. So I'm sure it'll be fine. No big deal. Although I probably--mean, you know, just in case anything were to happen between you and me…I probably shouldn't, because, you know, if anybody finds out, like on duty or anything. Just saying that we probably should keep it strictly professional if that were ever to come up. For absolutely no reason whatsoever, right?”

BRENDAN: “Yuri, of course. You've read my mind. I wouldn't have it any other way.”

MAURA: “Yeah, I'm really good at reading people. You know, there's something that many people don't know about me…”

We're going to cut away back to Arsene. We haven't seen you in a while.

JAMIE: I love this. This is so much fun.

MAURA: So you are trying to find a back way into Mr. Winters' office.

JAMIE: Yes.

MAURA: You're by yourself somewhere in the mansion. You're not sure where. Go ahead and roll me and Investigate and Low Society check.

JAMIE: Okay. Yeah, I'm going to do that. 6.

MAURA: Okay, so you succeed, but you do take some stress. I think this, because you are by yourself, is going to be a little bit of Mind stress. d3. So because you had some stress from before, although you only take 1 stress, you do get a minor fallout, which will clear your track. Let's see. I'm going to give you a Shaken stress. You can't focus on what you're doing and you may not gain dice from domains until you take time to calm down.

JAMIE: Oh, shit.

MAURA: So what happens is that you are wandering around this mansion and you come across a room that is not locked, that looks like it could lead to the same wall that you believe Winters' office is going to change.

You can, like, rappel down from this window into his office. You might be able to get there, and you enter the room, and it's very dusty in here. It looks mostly like an attic. There are cloths over some old furniture and the floor is covered in a thick layer of both dust and dirt from the ceiling above. But there is one table in the room that is immaculately clean. It's a beautiful wrought iron garden table that's painted white. There's two chairs, also wrought iron. And there's someone sitting in the chair, and their back is to you. And you can tell that it's a drow with a very traditional high-wrapped, braided hairstyle, and a very traditional long dark dress.

And you're like, okay, well, someone's up here—and you notice that they're not moving. And then you notice that they're not breathing. And so you walk very carefully further into the room, kicking up little puffs of dust as you do so. And you come around and you see the mummified corpse of a drow woman sitting in this chair, posed perfectly as if she was taking tea. There is a tea set on the table. There is a cup in front of her that is currently empty, but not dusty. And there is another cup set at the chair opposite her, as if it were waiting for someone to come and sit down. And you can see her skin is dried and peeled back into that grotesque mummy smile. Her eye sockets are empty and she appears to be looking coyly over her shoulder at you. And you are Shaken.

JAMIE: What the fuck is this?

MAURA: You can roll to investigate further or you could, like, I mean, there is a window. There are a couple of windows in this room.

JAMIE: Yeah. Oh boy. I don't really want—I'm like too shaken to, like, I really don't want to fuck with that anymore. I'm like, “No, no, no, no, no, no.” I want to get out of here as soon as possible. So the plan was to try to find a different way into the office. So that's what, that's what I'm going to keep doing.

MAURA: Okay.

JAMIE: So you said I could, like, try to rappel down.

MAURA: Yes. So the thing about the Winters mansion is that it's made entirely of these jutting crystals. So there are a lot of hand- and foot-holds that you could pretty easily climb down from this window down into what you assume is Mr. Winters’ office.

JAMIE: Yeah.

MAURA: Now, you're just kind of making a guess based on, like, the layout of the house that you understand versus the outside of the house. But you feel fairly confident that his window is somewhere pretty directly below you.

JAMIE: Okay, cool. Yeah, I'm going to proceed with that. Just kind of, like, skirt as far around this odd dead woman as I can and go out the window and start getting myself down.

MAURA: Right. So this is going to be—I'm going to make this a Pursue check, and you cannot gain any domains right now because you are Shaken. So it's just going to be Pursue.

JAMIE: just Pursue.

MAURA: Plus you—it—plus you—the dice you always have, so it's going to be two if you have the Pursue skill.

JAMIE: I don't have the Pursue skill but it has come up and I feel like it will come up again. So I'm going to use ‘Force of Personality’ and declare that I have the Pursue skill.

MAURA: Read what that ability does for me?

JAMIE: Declare a domain or skill once per session that you don't have and you are treated as having it.

MAURA: There you go. All right. So for this session you have gained the Pursue skill.

JAMIE: Yay.

MAURA: You've announced loudly to the empty room that you are good at chasing and climbing, and you hear a little click of, like, a fingernail on ceramic, and you look around and nothing’s changed.

JAMIE: No, fuck this.

MAURA: So go ahead--

BRIGID: Do you climb out the window?

JAMIE: I, like, throw myself out the window onto one of the crystals and go, “Fuck this—"

MAURA: Yes. Okay, so now rolling two instead of one.

JAMIE: Yep. That's another 6.

MAURA: Okay, so again, you do succeed but you do take some stress.

JAMIE: Yeah.

MAURA: Arsene, you are just having a bad day.

JAMIE: I know!

MAURA: This is going—I'm going to have—I'm going to have to make it more Shadow stress. It's a d3 because no one's really paying attention to you right now. So you take 2 more Shadow stress, but you don't suffer any fallout yet. So what happens is, as you are climbing down, you hear from down below you say, “Hey, I thought I saw something. Wait, over there. Wait, was I… swear I saw something,” he’s like, “Come on man, we got to get into the party.” So you were spotted, but only briefly, and you were not caught.

JAMIE: Yeah, I froze in place and, like, my muscles are trembling, kind of like, I was in an awkward position—I was in the middle of reaching for another crystal. Just muscles trembling. I'm trying not to make any noise or breathe or do anything. Let out my breath when I finally hear them go inside.

MAURA: All right, you do make it down to a window, and you look in and you see Sal Griswold is facing kind of in your direction so you, like, duck back out from behind the window real quick and then just lean one eye in. Sal is in there talking to a broad-shouldered drow man sitting at a desk facing away from you. You've never seen Mr. Winters before, but you've heard descriptions of him, and this seems to fit.

JAMIE: Okay, very cool. I did not have a plan after this. So the win--the window’s closed?

MAURA: The window is currently closed.

JAMIE: Okay. If I try to tentatively reach one hand out, is it able to be opened or is it, like—

MAURA: Yes, it actually—it's those two panes, so actually it latches from the inside and the panes swing outward. So as someone who has done some breaking and entering before, you know that normally what you should do is try and get a long thin lever and just pop the latch from the inside, but that's going to be difficult while there are people in the room.

JAMIE: True. Can I just hang out? I'm going to do the watchful waiting thing for a second and see if, like, Sal leaves the room.

MAURA: Yeah, so as you're kind of hanging there, Mr. Winters stands up and pushes back from his desk, nods at Sal—you can't quite hear the conversation, it’s a lot of (mumbling noises) and both of them walk out of the room.

JAMIE: Okay, okay, okay, okay.

NICK: Into the main hall, into the party?

MAURA: Yes. So I want to see what Arsene does real quick, and then we'll skip to the main party.

JAMIE: Yeah. Okay, well so now that they're both out of the room I'm like, this is interesting. Now I'm going to try to pop the latch.

MAURA: All right, I'm going to just call this a Sneak, just a Sneak check.

JAMIE: Okay, well, I just get one dice, I don't actually have—

MAURA: I mean, so it's just Sneak.

JAMIE: Yep, let's hope this goes well. Nope, that's a 3.

MAURA: All right, so you start checking your pockets for the long thin piece of metal that you need to pop this latch. And you're kind of hanging on by one hand and, like, one foot as you're checking these pockets. This is going to be—I'm gonna, I'm gonna have to deal you some Blood stress man. Do I want to make it a d8? No, it's just a d6 because, you're not actively in a fight so you take 3 Blood stress.

JAMIE: I have 2 resistance so that's only 1—

MAURA: Which means you only take 1. So your total stress right now is 4. You don't manage to find it, you’re just patting around, and you slip and cut your hand on one of these crystals. Badly, and you can't use that hand right now and you can't put any of your weight on it. So it's going to be very difficult to get in or to continue to climb, but you haven't fallen, you managed to catch yourself. But it hurts.

JAMIE: Well, this is Arsene’s character so I'm just gonna—he's gonna say fuck it and try to, like, kick in the window instead.

MAURA: Yeah, all right, so kind of swing yourself up and kick in the window. All right, great. I'm gonna make that a Fight check.

JAMIE: Okay, cool. I'm fighting a window. Very good.

NICK: What is the armor class of the window.

MAURA: There is no armor class, you just take damage.

JAMIE: Yep. Nope. That's a 1.

MAURA: Oh, no.

JAMIE: This die is going away.

MAURA: Okay. All right, so here's what it is: that you fall. You swing up, and instead you fall. You're gonna take…oh shit dude, you're taking a 5 more stress, which brings your total to 9. And you take severe fallout.

JAMIE: Oh shit.

MAURA: All right. This is what happens. You swing up to try and kick in the window, and you feel your good hand slip off of the crystal. And there's just a moment, there's this brief instant where you're balancing just with your feet on the edge of this mansion. And then you start to fall backwards and the camera zooms out, away, and we see this little speck that is Arsene falling from this gently glowing, green piece of crystal. And you are impaled on a lower minaret. There is a spire of crystal that juts out from the side of the wall and you are hit through the chest.

JAMIE: Oh my god. Wait, wait, wait, before you go, before I did this, did I have more than 6 stress? Like before the 5?

MAURA: No, you had 4 stress to begin with. And you are Dying.

JAMIE: Oh my god.

MAURA: You can do something useful before you die, and roll with mastery because it's the last thing you'll ever do, or desperately try to cling on to life and lose something vital in the bargain.

JAMIE: Oh shit. Oh my god.

MAURA: Yeah, stress is not good guys.

NICK: The plan doesn't know what to do!

JAMIE: The plan does not know what to do.

MAURA: So for a moment we'll leave you there, coughing up blood and impaled very dramatically on this spire of crystal. We'll skip into the main party, where no one knows this is happening. Eclipse, you are hanging out with Yuri in the back rooms and also don't know that Mr. Winters has entered the scene. Zyrel, you are up on the mezzanine, and Joseph you are down on the main level, and you guys all see Mr. Winters come out from the right just as Celeste is finishing her dance.

The spotlight swings from her up to him and the music dies away as Mr. Winters puts his hands on the railing and looks out over the crowd, which falls naturally to a bit of a hush. Sal is standing at his right hand shoulder. Devlin is nowhere to be seen, and the rest of the railing for this mezzanine is absolutely lined with guards. Mr. Winters says, “Well I'm glad I could get everyone here today. It seems that we've been having a bit of fun, at my expense really, well, quite literally at my expense. And I just wanted to gather you all here to say: fuck all of you. Literally everyone here this party has been a shit to me at some time in the past. Now you may think my reasons petty, but know this: revenge is always the goal.

“All of this, all of this elaborate plan was enacted for one reason, and that was my revenge. All of you who have wronged me—” and he points at Elizabeth Threadneedle, “Who have undercut my business—” and he points to Osgood. “All of you who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time—” and he points to Celeste. “—are going to get out of this just what I want you to, which is absolutely nothing.” He looks over at Sal and Sal raises a hand, and all of the guards on the mezzanine raise—

BRENDAN: There’s screaming, there’s screaming from the back stairwell.

MAURA: Okay.

BRENDAN: There's this piercing scream coming from somewhere behind where Mr. Winters is.

MAURA: What exactly is happening?

BRENDAN: Eclipse is back there, and she's stabbed herself with her own knife.

MAURA: Oh, interesting. What damage does your knife do, friend?

BRENDAN: d3.

MAURA: So I am just going to give you a d3 of stress since—oh God, you have 2 stress in Blood, 2 in Shadow--

BRENDAN: I don't have any Blood stress.

MAURA: Well, I'm giving you 2.

BRENDAN: Oh.

MAURA: Because you just stabbed yourself, my friend.

BRENDAN: True.

MAURA: You've got 2 in Blood, 2 in Shadow, and 3 in Reputation, which means your total stress right now is at 7. You do not yet suffer fallout, but when you suffer fallout, it is going to be severe.

BRENDAN: Screaming like, “Help me, somebody help me!”

MAURA: This is happening and Yuri is just like, “Wait, what? What? Wait, no---”

BRENDAN: And I'm, like, running up the stairs.

MAURA: Okay. So you come up onto the stairs and Yuri is, like, running behind you. He's like, “Wait, what's happening?” And I will say--

BRENDAN: “Somebody protect me!”

MAURA: You come up dramatically directly behind Mr. Winters. So the spotlight is also on you.

BRENDAN: And I've got, like, blood pouring from a superficial wound on my neck.

MAURA: Yes. Yeah, it's definitely superficial, but bleeding copiously. So it's hard to tell that it's not super dangerous. And you, you rush forward, like, to throw yourself at Mr. Winters’ feet, and Sal steps in the way and tries to punch you. I want you to make a, it's going to be a Deceive, Deceive and Low Society.

BRENDAN: Okay. I do have Deceive, and who am I deceiving, Sal?

MAURA: Everyone, literally everyone in the room is fixed on this scene right now.

BRENDAN: Okay. So I'm not taking ‘Who are They?’

MAURA: No. Actually, you will, because enough people in this room don't know you and you are making this dramatic entrance. I will give you mastery on this roll.

BRENDAN: Haha! Three. 7.

MAURA: Okay. So you succeed, but you do take a little bit of stress. So Sal comes up, punches you in the face. You're just going to take, I think just 1 extra, 1 Blood stress, just 1.

BRENDAN: Oh fuck.

MAURA: That does get you some fallout though. All right. All right. All right. So you're taking moderate fallout. So you're not dying, but I think the best one that fits is… you're going to take some Humiliation fallout.

So what happens is that you run up the stairs, you make this dramatic entrance and you kind of fling your arms open as you are coming into the main room. Just your natural instinct is to take up as much space as possible to distract as many people as possible. And when Sal decks you, Mr. Winters laughs. And you actually skid a little bit across this extremely slippery crystal floor, right to his feet. He nudges you away without actually helping you at all. He's just, like, this deep belly laugh, and, definitely afraid, other people start to laugh with him. And they're like, “ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.”

But Mr. Winters absolutely is, by force of personality, is carrying the mood of this room. I think he actually puts a boot on your chest and scoots you a little bit further towards the railing. Yuri is kind of standing frozen in the entrance to the stairwell. Sal glares at him, but is not going to detract from anything else at this moment. And Mr. Winters says, “Let's get down to the real business of this party, which is absolutely slaughtering all of you.” And all of the guards are going to raise their guns and shoot at you.

JAMIE: I am dying and I would like to try to do something.

MAURA: Have you decided what your goal is right now, Arsene?

JAMIE: Yeah.

MAURA: You can live, but you have to give up something in order to do so.

JAMIE: Um, No. Arsene is very committed to the ‘going out in a blaze of glory’ type of thing. And also is going to sort of make his last gamble that this would be a good time to… I was trying to think of what he's going to shout out. He's going to try to shout something that's going to draw as many people as possible outside to where he is. And even trying to use ‘Draw a Crowd,’ like the last to be like, ‘okay, everybody should come over here.’ I'm going to try to give as much of a distraction as possible.

MAURA: So what does that ability say, Draw a Crowd?

JAMIE: Once per session, draw a crowd in a matter of minutes.

MAURA: Okay.

JAMIE: Yeah. I mean, there might be a longer description of it, but I didn't have enough room.

MAURA: People will stop what they're doing so long as it isn't life or death and listen to what you have to say.

JAMIE: Okay.

MAURA: Well--I'll pitch this to you. Instead of trying to draw people outside, you instead decide to...You manage to throw yourself off of this spire and stumble in through the main doors, bleeding out of a gaping hole in your chest. And that is enough to distract the guards, maybe.

JAMIE: Okay. That's what I'll try to do. That's much more dramatic. Thank you.

MAURA: Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. Arsene is king of drama.

JAMIE: Yes.

MAURA: So you pull yourself off of this crystal spire and fall the remaining feet down to the ground. It takes you a minute as you pull yourself to your feet. You're still coughing blood, and you know that you only have a few moments to make the most of it before you are unconscious. Your vision is already wavering. And you pull yourself over to the main doors, which have been left unguarded by all of the people who are now inside trying to shoot the guests.

You fall against the doors to open them and both, like, crash in, interrupting again, Mr. Winters, who looks very frustrated. You are standing there in the doorway like Aragorn coming back into Rohan. And what do you say to these people?

JAMIE: I put my fist up and say, “Long live the revolution!” and collapse.

NICK: I want to use an ability when it makes sense.

MAURA: Yes, absolutely. What ability would you like to use?

NICK: All right. My ability, I've already done, but I want to formalize it. ‘The Next Logical Step’ is an Occult spell. ‘Declare something as present in the world if it makes sense in a schlocky pulp fiction story.’

And I've actually already said what is present in the world when I was doing my rounds and talking to the NPC character, saying this person is armed, that person is armed, that guy's got two knives and one boot. I want all that to be true. Essentially, everyone came here with weapons that somehow they managed to get past the guards.

MAURA: That is absolutely perfect. Absolutely perfect.

NICK: And this turned from a slaughter to a shootout.

MAURA: Yes.

BRIGID: And I would also like to use one of my skills.

MAURA: Oh, great. Yeah, go for it. Let's just pile everything into the middle here.

BRIGID: So there are two that I could use, but one doesn't make sense because I left my gear outside.

MAURA: You have a gun—that--you have the same gear as all of the other guards. I will say you have a Buzzard sawn off, which is the same as Arsene’s gun. So what tags do you—the buzzard sawn off shotgun have?

JAMIE: It does a d6 of damage. You have to reload it, and it's point blank, so you have to be right up next to somebody to shoot them.

MAURA: All right. So what do you want to do over here Zyrel?

BRIGID: How far am I from Mr. Winters?

MAURA: I will leave that up to you, because you were completely unnoticed in the crowd of guards. You could have moved closer to him with absolutely no difficulty whatsoever.

BRIGID: I'd say I'm one of the ones flanking him. So he's standing here in the center of the mezzanine, having his evil monologue.

MAURA: Yes.

BRIGID: And Sal is focusing on our lovely Idol.

MAURA: Yes.

BRIGID: So I'm going to step behind him and shoot him in the back.

MAURA: Amazing. This is all lining up to true perfection here. Arsene says their last line, “long live the revolution,” and that is the moment that you choose to shoot this guy. Go ahead and roll a good old Fight check, and it's going to be Low Society.

BRIGID: Okay. So that's all three of my dice. 10.

MAURA: Hey! All right. So, criticals in this game, you basically just get an extra damage for every 10 you roll.

BRIGID: Okay. There was only one.

MAURA: All right. So roll a d6 for your damage and then add 1 to that d6.

BRIGID: Oh, so two d6?

MAURA: No, just one.

BRIGID: Oh, just a plus. Okay. Okay. So that's five.

MAURA: You kill him. Beautiful. All right. So what happens is: you step up. Sal is hovering over Eclipse-Awakening-Twilight-Symphony with Sal's pistol. Mr. Winters is not paying attention to Eclipse at all. Is, like, looking out over the crowd also fixated on Arsene's collapsed body.

And you just walk right up and put the sawn off against his back and just pull the trigger. Mr. Winters’ insides go flying out over the mezzanine. He does not get a chance to respond or reply. He, his dead body tumbles forward over the railing and lands in the middle of the crowd. The guards are already firing. It is complete chaos in here. Sal is going to try and turn and attack Zyrel, but Eclipse, you can also act.

BRENDAN: So I would like to attempt to use my suspension gear. I like, I do, like, aerial performance. So I'm going to try to run to the edge of the balcony where Mr. Winters has just fallen over the edge---

MAURA: You're there already. You're right there.

BRENDAN: Then I want to grab Zyrel and take him over the edge of the balcony with me. And I'm just singing an aria as I, like, descend over the edge of the balcony.

BRIGID: And I'm just screaming, “Fuck yeah.”

MAURA: So you want to basically use your performance gear as like a rope to descend the balcony?

BRENDAN: Yeah, I'm doing, like, an aerial performance. Spinning, like, pulling Zyrel over the edge with me and singing this aria.

MAURA: So I think this is going to be, it's going to be Compel and Occult. You are, you are literally casting a spell to use your gear in this way. And as always, it is your voice that you're using.

BRENDAN: Indeed. Okay, Compel Occult, and my base die so three total?

MAURA: Yep.

BRENDAN: Oh no.

MAURA: Oh no?

BRENDAN: I got a 2, a 3 and a 4.

MAURA: Oh no. All right. So this is fun. I am going to give you some Mind stress. And I want you to tell me how this goes wrong.

BRENDAN: As I am going over the edge, and I'm doing my aerial tumbles down, the rope kind of goes, like, taut when I don't expect it to. And it knocks the wind out of me and I cough, voice cracks, and I can't continue the song.

MAURA: Yeah. So when that happened, you are also holding Zyrel up at this moment, and they are not a light person. You cough, and the minute your song falters even a little bit, the ribbons that you have been using to, like, weave this beautiful web that is descending, they all come apart. And you can feel the silk slipping through the gauges in your body. You are not secure. And in fact, you fall on top of Zyrel. So you take 5 stress in Mind.

BRENDAN: I have resistance to 1 of them, so that's 4.

MAURA: Yep. So you don't, you don't take any fallout, but you are shaken by this and you're like, oh, shit, that didn't work. Zyrel, you don't take any damage either, but you guys are now on the killing floor, basically. And Joe, I'm simply going to inflict some Blood stress on you because you are simply in the wrong place.

NICK: I'm just, I'm just doing my job.

MAURA: So you take 4 Blood stress, which brings you to 5.

ZYREL: I'm just going to hold Eclipse-Awakening-Twilight-Symphony bridal style, so I can cover most of her body with mine. I'm more able to take a hit than she is. So…Yeah, just going to make a run for it.

MAURA: All right. You run for the doors. I am going to inflict some stress on you. It's not going to be as much stress because this is not the organized slaughter that Mr. Winters was expecting. But people are all shooting at each other. There are a lot of bullets just flying around the room.

BRIGID: And I definitely have a fucking maniac smile on my face.

MAURA: You take 5 stress in Blood.

BRIGID: Which amounts to only 1 since I have 4 resistance.

MAURA: Yep. You are also wearing 2 Armor. So you have a little bit of armor left.

BRIGID: This is what I'm meant to do, you guys.

MAURA: Tank!

BRENDAN: Tank. Tank for me!

MAURA: Yes, and Eclipse, you are held securely in her arms. You guys make it to the door. You see Arsene collapsed, bleeding out.

BRIGID: Can I grab them and throw them over my shoulder?

MAURA: Yeah, absolutely. You can just grab their body and toss it.

JAMIE: Womp.

MAURA: Joe, what are you doing?

NICK: All right. So I imagine I immediately started running to the doors as soon as I saw they were probably unlocked from the outside by this person who forced their way in. And doors are open. I'm running. I'm taking bullets. I'm cursing. I'm spitting. And just as I duck around the edge of the door, I think twice and reach into my lapels and pull out the monogrammed card or whatever that I was supposed to drop to indicate that this was an inside job.

MAURA: So you wrote a note beforehand?

NICK: I don't know. Is there, like, a letter, or a message, or a firebrand of the Ministry? Is there like a...

MAURA: There's absolutely a symbol of the Ministry. And I think you should probably decide what that is.

NICK: Guys, what do we think the symbol is that's on this card I'm dropping?

MAURA: You serve the drow goddess of the dark side of the moon. Secrecy and grace are her companions.

BRIGID: I'd say, in my opinion, it'd be a bloody moon, like a lunar eclipse.

MAURA: So that's actually a whole different goddess.

JAMIE: There's actually a goddess of that.

MAURA: There are three goddesses. One of the dark side of the moon, one of the red moon, and one of the full moon. Do you think it's just a black circle? Like, just like a new moon?

NICK: I think it would be something like a black circle, new moon. There's like a white shining sparkling outline of it. And maybe like a slit down the middle, like almost like the opening for an eye, but rotated vertically. Nothing in the middle of it.

MAURA: Yeah. Like an eye opening. Yeah, I like that.

NICK: And I curse. I fucking launch it back into the room. It lands in a puddle of blood and I fucking book it out.

MAURA: I like that. So our last shot of the evening, the camera focuses in. The sound and clamor of the gunfight fades away. And all we see is the slowly soaking red of this note. And we see that, like, the red edges of the blood creeping in towards the opening eye of the Ministry.

NICK: One thing that the note says—

MAURA: I will certainly allow you to do so.

NICK: Okay. The sort of thing I was thinking was: “No masters, no kings, the Spire must fall.”

MAURA: Yeah. If you guys are all good with that, then that's your slogan. That's what it is. No masters, no kings.

MAURA: We have been playing Life and Soul by Grant Howitt, which is a premade adventure that can be found in the Shadow Operations source book.

Zyrel the Deathless was played by Brigid Lydon. Eclipse-Awakening-Twilight-Symphony was played by Brendan Ziebarth. Joseph Moses Hearst was played by Nicholas Wolslegel. Arsene Lightsbane was played by Jamie Moffa. They can be found on Twitter @PlainEnglishSci, and on their podcast In Plain English.

Music and sound effects for the show are courtesy of tabletop audio. These and many more tracks can be found at tabletopaudio.com. The logo for our show was designed by Kate Lydon. More of her work can be found @lydonart. That's all lowercase L-Y-D-O-N-A-R-T on Instagram.

I have been your host and game master Maura Lydon. You can find me on the official discord for Her Dark Ministrations by following the link in our episode description. Or on Facebook @HerDarkMinistrations.

Until next time Ministers, remember. The City. Must. Fall.