Dead City, Part 1

This transcript is machine-generated and may contain errors in names, terminology, or attribution.

Pickaxe. Some decisions are easy, like playing your favorite song. Other decisions are hard, like choosing the right credit card. But that's mostly because the financial system is complicated. There's so many offers, rates, and products, but which one's best for you? That's why we've reinvented Credit Karma to do the hard work for you. We scan for the latest offers from our trusted partners to help you find the best financial hits for your unique situation. That way, you can spend less time saying, huh, and more time doing, well, anything. Download into a Credit Karma today and get everything you need to outsmart the system.

Your teen requested a ride, but this time not from you. It's through their Uber teen account. You drive your teenager around a lot, to their friend Jacob's house, their other friend Jake's house, to James's, to Jayden's, to Jaylin's, to-- Uh, mom? This is Jake's house, not Jacob's. Now with an Uber teen account, your teen can request a ride under your supervision. The ride with a highly rated driver and with live trip tracking, you'll follow along the whole ride to their friends' houses that all sound the same. Add your teen to your Uber account today.

See app for details. Bye, mom. I'm sure by now you lovely folks know that we have a Patreon. But did you know that we have hundreds of hours of content over there, including a brand new campaign starring group one? We actually have three new campaigns over there, including a horror campaign set in a Therian prison and the reboot of Stars Without Number. Not to mention Good Morning Theria, behind the scenes content for almost every episode, and every single episode of the show that we put out now is ad free over on our Patreon, starting at just $1. And of course, that's not even mentioning our monthly Patreon games.

Each month we play a game set in an ongoing campaign for you and a few others so that you can blaze a trail and make a legend in a version of Theria that is just for you. A lot of the time they're full. But if you look, there might be a spot open, and I would snatch that up right away. It helps us make ends meet and pay bills so we can concentrate more on what we love and make more stuff that you love. Swing on by patreon.com/dandr right now and help support the show. Trust us when I say every little bit counts, and we're always open to suggestions on new stuff to put up there.

Without further ado, let's get on to today's episode. Let's do that thing where we go around the table and introduce ourselves. I'm Jason. I'm the Dungeness Crab. I am the Dungeness Crab. Going around the table. Starting with Brie, who is coming back to work for D&R. Ladies and gentlemen. Yay! Woo-hoo. I'm a little frightened because tomorrow is April Fools. And this might just be an elaborate gag. No, I hate where I am right now. Anyway. Healthcare sucks. Wait for GMTs. Anyway. It's not high. Healthcare does suck, but the people you work with are racist fucking buffoons, and I hate them.

They are. They genuinely are. And they got worse over the last week. Anyway, today especially, it's like they found out I was leaving, and were like, OK, gloves coming off. We knew you were a liberal the whole time. Anyway, we're going to start using the n-word. Seriously. Like they, like seriously, like it's so fucked. Anyway. Bad. Anyway. Hi, I'm Brianna, and I play Runez, the Monk Barbarian. Say it again. And Jasper. Wow, I can't follow any of that. I'm not going to play it on time. And the n-word. Ay yi yi. Hi. I'm Jasper. Not related to that in any way. I play Petrichor Mulch, the Vanali Druid.

That's good stuff. And Alex. Hello, I'm Alex. I play K'naan, the Human Warlock. And last and certainly, obviously, not least, Susan. Thanks for saying obviously. I'm Susan. I play Tamika Fildihan, the Shifter Sorcerer. Guys, we did it. We made it. We did it. You're it. I. It has been. 15 months since the original trailer went up, telling everybody what you guys were going to do, going to the go into the city of Donhurst and what a just a few things have happened in that 15 months. But you've made it throughout it all. You have had your your metal tested. You have lost appendages.

You've went through a haunted ask farce. Not so much haunted is just not great. Just dangerous, right? No. But you are now over looking the city of Donhurst and better yet, it's dawn. What a good time. What a good time to like. Enter a city full of vampires. She's so peaceful. Are they as full as the full, full. I don't remember exactly. It's been a long time from a distance. You can see all the vampires everywhere. They're bursting into flames. But man, they are. This is a problem taken care of. There we go, guys. Yeah, the truth is they're real fucking dumb. Oh, no, they're beautiful.

Daylight savings, blah. Like they just go right up. So, yes, it is it. I mean, it's not the same population as old Donhurst, obviously. But there's quite there. There's quite a few vampires where it numbered in the hundreds, if you remember. Oh, well, yes. Yes. So. Overlooking, you're looking down kind of not not cliffside, but like a plateau and down into this valley, there's that, you know, there's a river that you are going to have to cross. But like just beyond that. Are the big wooden walls of this city. What what are we thinking? Like, how does it feel to to finally just see it?

Because this is the actual challenge, sadly, right? Because now it's I would imagine the right. I mean, but the entire time it's like, OK, yeah, this is our mission. How are we going to do that? Let's just get to that when we get to it. And now you're you're you're to it. So. I think for relief, it's the first emotion that Kanan would feel. It's like whatever weight was on his back and he sees the city is just, oh, it's like release of them. It's like, oh, a bad first emotion that means weight and release, because I think of like Homer, I think of Kanan stacked.

Yeah, he's got OK, up top, rock solid with his negative two strength. You got some strong pecs. Oh, pecs. Oh, yeah. Jason and I were just thinking, I'm staring. I'm trying to stay away. I'm trying to stay away, you know, trying to. OK, OK. Keep us on the. In the moment here. Uh, you're right. But you know, I mean, I loved even if Kanan will stack, that's to love me equally as much. Probably more. Yep. Boom. We said that. Yeah. No, but yeah, I think for me, the first thing would be that he would think of a bed like because how long has it been since we've seen the bed, an actual bed bed during hollow.

We didn't get a chance. No, we didn't get a chance. I don't even think you got to speak to any townsfolk in Dern Hollow. One lady that that Alex purposely slut shamed. I remember I did not. Oh, and this he hates. He hates ladies of the night. He does. That is true. He's not going to. There's a lot of ladies of the night in Donhurst. That's a real problem. Aha. Because they're vampires. Is there anything like, yeah, vampires. Take out the one that there is. What about petrichor like this is, you know. This is a little outside his wheelhouse, first of all, big cities.

True. I think he's been you know, he ventured out with this kind of thing in mind. His whole motivation is rebuilding and making something better so that when things go bad, there'll be something good already there. If that makes any sense. So it's almost like he's setting up the pieces. So honestly, it's exhilaration for him, but I think it's also that adrenaline dump. This has been a crazy journey of trying to get somewhere climbing uphill and then all of a sudden to see this this place. I mean, it's going to be who cares whether it's going to be harder or not as hard.

It's just a destination that isn't. A crazy pivot. Once again, he's he's just going to feel that same relief, but also just. He's going to look over, actually, at at ruins and he's going to to like slap him on the back. And we made it. We made it. He's going to look over at Terry because that's the first thing he's going to start thinking is it's not just so much that they just got where they were supposed to go. Now they have to figure out what to do with everything. And Terry's kind of top of that list in a way. And he's going to look to look to Terry and see how what is Terry doing?

Is Terry? Terry, this wasn't his destination. Does he care? Yeah, but like. I'd say we're well beyond the hey, do you want to tag along until we get to X? Because like. What the fuck is he supposed to do now? Like, let's say you guys is like, all right, I'm heading out, guys. What's he you know what I mean? Like he's with you guys for better or worse now. I mean, I guess speaking anecdotally, right, with Terry seems like he could use this as adventure fuel, you know, like is he's farming experience. He's he's learning. He's learning right now. You know, like long as he's with us, the more.

On the job experience he gets. Uh, petrichor is going to. He's just going to be kind of clapping people on the back and smiling and everybody like we got here, we did it. He's going to get to Terry and he's going to he's going to look at him. He's going to he's going to see he's lost an eye. He's got he's everybody's terrible right now, probably in bad shape. He's going to look at Terry and just size him up for a second. He's going to you good. You good. We're here. We did it. You're with us. We got here. Look, I feel like you got through phase one. That there's phase two.

OK, we have a saying in in the Silver Glade. Mushrooms in the moonlight grow twice as bright. We just were in darkness for a real long time. I'm telling you, this is when you are going to come into your own. There's a part of Terry that at this point thinks you're fucking with him. You're just because like he he like he almost wants to ask a follow up. He's like, how bright are your mushrooms normally? But just like it's like you're you're OK, but that's not not the point. So that city is full of vampires. Yeah, that city is full of vampires, but we have it on good faith or maybe we've heard about in any case.

I'm sure they want to do the right things. And that's why we're here. We're not here to like knock them down, get them to get out. We're here to keep the peace. We're here to make things OK. That's where you can fit in. I think you could play a big part in that. And then Tamika is going to pipe up and go, but you're from Brightport, so how is this any different? That's good. So, OK. Is there a leader we're speaking to? How full when you say full is like dozens, hundreds, what do we do we have a nice round number of vampires? I guess is what I'm asking. Actually.

Oh, and a plan. So backing out really quickly, this is actually a question I wanted to ask, too. Now that we're kind of where we need to be, where we were intending to be. What are some things, what are some fundamental things that as ravens we would know about Don Hurst and what we were meant to do, how we were meant to do it, at least in the base? I don't mean the full plan, but here's what you got to do. Here's what you should expect. And yeah, can we open the quest log? Yeah, I was about to say we did this 15 months ago, but it was 15 months ago. So we were all different people.

It was 2021. But the laws of physics change at some point and they change back. Can I test my notes on you, Jason, just to make sure that I'm not like an idiot? Sure. OK. There are there's like 100 or 100 or so were werewolves. That would suck. Vampires. Way worse. That's just salt bait on top. Like it's just like, oh, yeah. Yeah. They watch the gate during the day. Sausages. Yeah, exactly. But my notes are already wrong. Is that? No. No vampires. But Finn reached out because there's something in the caves that he needs helps with. Or in the mines? Yes, in the mines.

Wait, is it Dubin? This sounds very familiar. Adobe? Dubin? No, it's Scooby Dooby Doo. It can't be Scooby Doo because Scooby Doo was killed by a great group of adventurers who are beautiful, handsome, successful millionaires now. Once I was just picturing it. I always just pictured as a bunch of rocks falling on him so we could bring him back whenever we wanted. Now he got he got like a children's cartoon. He got holy lighted. He got holy, holy. Yeah. My track record for vampires is really butts. So I'm half afraid you guys are going to walk in, trip and kill 200 vampires.

So we do have that holy hand grenade. We also have that in case we get into trouble. Yes. Go show it down. Take it. So. So long this was years ago on the show, but a couple of years back, Donhurst had some trouble. And this is how things got started was there was essentially a demon in their minds, and it was kind of dealt with kind of, but mostly just postponed. So when when these vampires took over, they they kind of inherited that problem. And while. They were probably keen to take the whole place over, and it's like, wait, we have no infrastructure. We don't.

Also, if we're all vamp, who do we eat? Like it's like slowly but surely, those things start dawning on them. And when you have that many mouths to feed, that's a lot of blood. So they started running into trouble instantly. Now, what you know is that they are willing to negotiate. And obviously the people from Donhurst scattered out to Winterhaven and and Durnhollow just kind of like chilling, waiting to find out, like, could they can they go back? So they basically there's like tent cities and stuff where people are just like, well, our homes are being inhabited by.

I mean, maybe maybe vampires like they're just like, so when do we get to go back on that? So your job is to basically negotiate some kind of way for these people to be able to come back to their homes and deal with this vampire threat. And since you have some kind of leverage in that, you know that they want to deal with this demon situation. That being said, all of this is. Above your pay grade, but what they did with the Ravens, basically decided like as an organization, it's like, OK, this feels like. More diplomacy than like sending in the Navy SEALs.

So. Obviously, you can always send word back to to Overdale and get new orders and stuff, but yeah. Oh, we have that White Raven thing. Yes, you do. We could send a raven back. Yeah, you're not alone alone. Like you're not. It wasn't like and we assume it all went to plan. They know there's going to be complications. They have had teams of white ravens before. Now, if you tell them everything that's happened to you thus far. Honestly, they may just call you back. It's just just that sucks. Hey, we picked up turn around, walk through the forest. We picked up another member, too, by the way, and his eyeballs missing.

Yeah, kind of on us also. So you guys want to try taking the road this time? That'd be cool. Now I write that out right back. Yeah, I'll write back. You take the road when there's orcs and birds that are as big as houses signed in on. They almost like to our little baby boy. I almost stole to Mika PPS. Send money, please. I'm broke. I need my child support. So, Terry, listen, you you got some good questions there. They got vampires. Yeah, got a good number of vampires. Do they inhabit a space that other people want to live in? Yes. Do we have a plan to fix that?

No. You did not ask about the demon that lives beneath the city. But we do have that as a bargaining chip, believe it or not. And you are right to be concerned. But the day has started and I'm hungry. When you just just everybody in your in your mind palaces realize that when you say, oh, you didn't ask about the demon. Imagine like petrichors on this side of him just. Just very slowly, not a word is spoken and just turns his head towards. Just like. What? Like, just he doesn't he doesn't ask, he doesn't say anything, but it's you know how looks at Ernie when he's really upset.

Yes. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. Same vibe. Terry, like when Ernie's officially gone too far. I would always like to point that Alex, Bree and myself all at the same time went, ah, like a finger up like. I was going to go, no, no, let him speak. Like I was reacting to you and Alex. Terry, I get it. I sense your vibe. And I know that we all need a little bit of some food. We need to get a little bit of rest. We need to get sorted out here. Listen, swamps are very, very murky. And he's going to sort of point at Don Hurst. But he's saying, but they're teaming with life.

There's lots of opportunity here. That's what we're going to take. It's more the on life I'm worried about. Hey. I think, OK, so not only is the place swarming with vampires, potentially, like you can't see any because it's not like they're out in town square now. It's like seven a.m. So like. There is. There's also a demon which may or may not be affected by sunlight or whatever, but you don't hear about too many like. Demon attacks in the daytime, it's not it's like a noon was the day that, you know, like it's like when people retell these stories, it's always like midnight or something, it's spooky times.

Yeah. So he's going to look up like he's just going to like look up and it's like, OK. So we should get in there now. Right. Oh, yeah. Petrichor is going to look at the canon. Let's. Let's hop on in there, see if we can find a place to stay. Yeah, I was just wondering about that. Wonder if any inns are open in the daytime in the town or in a city full of vampires. This will be a first for me. So remember that before they were vampires, they were a gang. Yes. So their customer service skills probably are not what you are used to. And they go for a bright horse, a bright horse, bright house.

Right. Oh, I got I am. My brain's done today. I'm from Brightport, so you got it. I like Bright House. The White House sounds like. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I watch Bright House perform with the hives back in the. Oh, Bright House is my Internet service. That's why I was on the mind. Oh, OK. Is Jason is anyone, by the way, is anyone expecting us at all? Oh, yeah. That's a good question. Are they is there is there any sort of message that, hey, we're sending some ravens to the envoy, the chat? Yeah, they. It would be it would be kind of loose, but that's mostly for your benefit is like, look, I don't know how you guys want to approach if you want to sneak in and find things out.

If you want to approach directly, if you but. They they obviously did speak to somebody because, you know, the vibe was but it's like, hey, we're ready to negotiate. But you know what I mean? So I see. Do we have a contact name? Do we have somebody that we could ask for if we got somewhere and we were being overt about it? We, you know, it's like we're looking for a person. Or is it just take us to your leader? Kind of a kind of I think what they're assuming is that it's so cutthroat. It's like by the time you get there, like. It's like it's like goblins and magic, the gathering, where it's like they've probably been through eight kings by the time that you get there.

Like it's, you know, so I, I think it's more just it's like, hey, who's in charge, who has negotiating power to take me to them or who thinks they do? I don't know. That could be four people who stand up. I would say it's probably an hour to get from where you are to the front gates. So you guys have a little bit of time while you're while you're marching down there. And there's like a shallow portion of the river that you guys can cross. But like it's one last time that it's like, all right, let's let's wash our hands, fill our canteens, that kind of thing.

Plan wise. While you guys are kind of sliding down this hill and then crossing this river and then walking like what? Who who? I mean, we we have a leader. So I imagine our leader has a plan. You've had 15 months is what I'm saying. So I thought we'd been here. You know, I never imagined we'd be in this position. You know what? That's fair. I would think in his mind or he would share with the group. Canons plan would be, first and foremost. Finding out who's in charge, right? Asking them. What they need. What is it that's bothering them primarily? Basically looking at a problem or their problem.

Seeing what are the root causes. And then analyzing how we can help. In our capacity as emissaries of our organization. In a realistic sense, I'm not saying like, hey, yeah, it clears the demon for us and then, you know, we'll let people live here, because that's not there's a couple of things missing from that equation there. Right. We don't know who's safe once they live there. We don't know what their plans are with those people. We don't know what I mean, because we know it's a demon in the caves, but we don't know what it's doing to them right now.

Currently, it might be advantageous to let the demon eat them. You know, who knows? It's really about analyzing the situation, seeing how things go. But K'Nan as a leader, as sorry, K'Nan as a as a character, does not like demons. So this is a very big problem for him. Undead things? Sure. Indifferent, right? Like they technically represent demonic side of things to him. But the more tangible threat between the two are demons because he's seen them, he's felt them. He hasn't seen vampires yet, so it's kind of middle of the road currently. But that's the first step is finding out what their problem is and how we can help them.

That's the first step, I think. And that's what he'll translate to the group. He'll try and tell them first, you know, when we get in there, keep your eyes open. Keep your head on a swivel. We don't know what they're what they're willing to do or how desperate they are, especially if they reached out to the white ravens, to us to talk. I don't know about you, but from what I have heard of vampires, I haven't heard that they're particularly, particularly chatty group of people. So it's best to be on our guard. But if all goes haywire, we could just run outside.

I'm sure none of them will follow us. And he'll look to look to the sky as it's daytime. So keep in mind, there's a handy dandy clock. In the bottom left hand or left hand corner of the screen. So I'll keep track of that. It's very handy in situations exactly like the one you're in right now. A lot of sunlight left, a lot of daylight left. Yeah, it's it's it's not even eight a.m. You're doing great. OK. Canon should do do we want to do any like reconnaissance or anything? Maybe I'm not I'm not quite sure. I mean, they don't know how many of us are here, but if they catch whoever's doing recon, it's not exactly getting off on a good foot.

Yeah, that's true. I was I just brought up because apparently I could do that whole invisible thing now. I don't know. Well, can vampires see invisible people like he doesn't? He's honestly asking. He has no idea. I don't know. I mean, terrible thing to find out in the moment. Yeah, just as this question is asking on thinks and he says out loud, this probably should have been covered in the handbook when we were training. Well, at the time, I didn't know that that was something I could do. I mean, so. Fair that they didn't tell us. I don't know. Hmm. Well, the cautious part of me wants to say something.

The cautious part of me wants to say, yeah, but the overtly cautious part of me says it's best to put our honest foot forward, especially when we're beginning negotiations. We don't want anything. We don't want anything that'll give them leverage or anything they can pin us back against the wall with. Pardon my language. I mean, they can probably do that with just one hand being that they're vampires, but well, some more than others. And it looks to ruins. I think they'll need to use both hands to pin you against the wall. Just guessing here. I was muted.

He's just going to give you a thumbs up like. So he looks at the group again to reiterate. Plan B, if things go sideways, is run outside as fast as you can into daylight. If there isn't an exit, we will make an exit. Before we go in, who is holding the holy hand grenade? I think it was you. I think it's you. I think it's runes. Yeah, because you were going to get a bag at one point and then we're like, no, no, no. Yeah. I think runes would pass that over to Kanan. Oh. He'll take it. Oh, fearless leader. I'll take it. Thanks, runes. But I really hope it doesn't come down to this.

This is something that. I'm unsure of how much damage it can actually do to everyone. But this is plan C. This is if we cannot make an exit and there is no exit. Everyone takes cover and he puts that away. He looks at Terry. We're going to be fine. Everything's going to be great. Everything's going to work out. And then if you want, we'll get you a ride down south. That that seems so foreign. It's like, yeah, well, OK, because it's been a week he's been traveling with you guys. And that's like if I was like tomorrow, I went, oh, yeah, I wanted to be a ballerina.

Like it's been a while, you know, a lot of time has passed. I've changed as a person. Although there's a like he's probably said more than once. He's like, oh, paladin training probably would have come in handy right about now. Like that type of, you know, you don't you get training's done, baby. You and you in his business. Right. But, you know, I don't think he'd kick a smite out of bed. You know, I got to pray. I read a book and pray a couple of times. Big deal. You'll get it easy. You'll pass that test. You took the driving test before the written test. You're fine.

Walking up to this main gate, I want a perception check from everybody. Oh, boy. Dog is going to stick close to petrichor side because there's a weird vibe of like. We're just walking up to city gates, but it feels weird. Like, you know what I mean? Like, oh, OK, we got our first one out of the way. Yeah, I got a one petrichor 19 to make a 15 runes 18. Can on to. What are you doing? Can I know you? He's overthinking. He's overthinking as he's walking. It's like he's doing that thing that like. Like assistant managers do with their planning. It's like and if they say this and what to do this and then this, like, you know, I mean.

You're going to notice a few things. The walls of Donhurst were these very is very rustic, very large. Almost wooden rampart style and that kind of surrounded the entire place. Originally, that was to keep works out and the they basically are like very, very large trees with just everything shaved off in that that style. And the tops of them were filed like they were basically sharpened to points. Those points have now been whittled down a bit so that they're blunt. And it's. There's like in that there's a there's probably a thought that pops in, it's like, oh, someone slipped or something, didn't they?

They staked themselves by accident. And then it's like, all right, new rule. And then they just, you know, but like. Or maybe it just offended them because it's like, hey, no sharp wood. Just stop that. So the gates are definitely shut and there is no one overlooking them, because normally there would be someone patrolling the tops of the gates from the inside. And there's even like little guard towers and stuff. All that is completely empty. And these gates are obviously sealed and probably locked from the other other side. So how how do you want to approach this?

Why is it every time I come to Donhurst, I have to knock on this fucking gate? It's OK. Think of it this way. Decisions you make now might influence that in the future. Last time you also met Lark. Yes, so things were, you know, worked out. I also met click or my favorite pet. This this is true that there's new sharp things in Donhurst. Neo clickers are enhanced. Like cyberpunk. Is is there a big is there anything to to knock with, like a big knocker or like a big rope to pull or anything like that, like a doorbell? Nothing, nothing like that. But there is there's kind of a like a large sliding panel on the opposite side.

So they can kind of like who's there like a nightclub? You're like an old speakeasy type of thing. But it's this big, you know, but the odds of there being someone on the other side of that, considering the sun, the sun is just shining down, is slim. Hmm. I guess we knock. See if anybody's respond. I mean, yeah, but maybe they have a pet human. Yeah. I say maybe they have a familiar or something like a blade. You know, maybe they have a Guillermo. Maybe they have just like a love. Me, too. Oh, care, mom housing a pet. You call. He'll do it with everybody. You know, he'll kind of look to make sure that nobody's objecting, but he'll pick up his staff and two handed and he'll he'll just boom, boom, boom, some sort of pattern.

And it's clear that it wasn't a bird hitting it or something. It's there's clearly somebody there. Yeah. There is a. There's a long time where you're just kind of waiting. And you're listening to that like you're listening for any. Any sign that someone's on the other end of this, you're waiting. So like you're going to hear like the the kind of gentle swing of this gate, like just kind of like almost like you can hear like hinges, like like just a little bit as you're knocking on it, you can hear like the gentleness of chimes from someone's house inside, like little little noises you're going to pick up as the breeze blows through.

But no people, no, no, no one's going to answer the gate or, you know. Cool. All right. I look to the group who remembers the obstacle course. Well. Can at least walk around and see what we can find. Maybe there's another way in. And if not, obstacles. It's a pretty big walk around. Have we got time? I mean. I here's the thing, Jason made such a big deal about the fact that we have this clock, so like I don't want to waste time, though. Plus, it's meant to keep orcs out like I don't think the four of us are going to be able to figure it out, you know? Yeah, I mean, even.

OK, so what we break through the front gate, like what kind of message is that going to send? I feel like we wait until evening like that's what I'm saying. Absolutely not. Never. Absolutely not. What if we just wasted this opportunity? Can't we can't let them gain leverage in any aspect of the negotiations that the Jack Donaghy rule number 45, I believe from his book, Jack Attack. Did we break into the city and then they're already like or finding our way in a completely different scenarios here? Ah, Terry Terry will raise his hand. I was always pretty good at climbing rope, just saying.

I think I think yeah, I think our athletic members were pretty good athletic members being everyone but me because my negative two. Yeah. You know, me too. Probably not very good. No, your strength, I thought your strength was like abnormally high. No, plus one minus two. So you got it. It's my con. Oh, you're con. That's right. We're grading on a curve. Oh, OK. Curve is who's who's at zero or above. That's the curve. OK, Terry's like plus one, plus two, something like that. Like the foot, but OK, the more this means. Yeah, Kanan's vote is athletics. Kanan's vote is throw the rope up top.

Oh, there's no point. So we can't we can't Batman it onto something. Oh, it's still like it's just not sharp. Like it's just kind of filed off up top. So it's still got the little triangular like, you know what I mean? And it's 10 feet high. Oh, yeah, that's fine. You remember? I do remember. I remember. Hey, like riding a bike, baby. I don't have any, you know, face that cool stuff. That's not real. So my vote is my vote is to climb over. But I am aware that there is the issue of it is considered breaking in. I'm aware of that. Rune's is going to like look at the gate and then mime picking someone up and like holding them up because he is six feet tall.

So if he could even get you up that high, then the rest of the rope would probably be way easier. Are there any other people in this party that would be small and easy to lift up by any chance? I don't know that. Not the best climber, but yeah. Who can also turn invisible? This is this is this is Group B, part two. There's no way this is it. Somebody is going invisible into the streets of Donhurst and abandoned for the time being Donhurst. I can't can't hurt to take a look if we can find a way before we make our way in, just take a peek. Tamiko will walk up to Rune's.

I guess. Would you lift me up? Is there any like dirt on the ground or anything? Yeah, yeah. Like he could maybe take a stick to. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Dude, it's it's a dirt road. Yeah. So Rune's is going to draw a rectangle. And then he's going to point to it and he's going to point to the wall. Then he's going to put a little stick figure on top of the rectangle, and it has pointy little ears. He's going to point to you. Then he's going to draw Slender Man next to it. He's going to point to himself. And then he's going to draw an arrow pointing both ways at both people.

And he's going to look at you. In case you wanted a depiction, that's what he just drew. Oh, oh, oh, cool. OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I did my best. That's that looks like you are launching that special right over that wall. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's perfect, Rune. So you lift me up and then I'll throw a rope down and it will both be up. Yeah. OK. That's actually exactly what he wanted. You're really good at this. I mean, your actual image helped instead of the auditory. Sorry, podcast listeners. I did my best. No, but maybe I just need the visual. I'm usually auditory, but.

Yeah, yeah, I got I got this rope. Let's do it. All right. So he's going to do it. Yeah, he's going to try to pick you up. As she's being picked up. Would I turn invisible, boss? Wait, wait till you get to the top. OK, so you're just going up and tying a rope off at the top. Right. For everyone else. And then are you are you going over or are you just. I'm going to wait for everybody. Or at least Rune. OK, I do want to point out something that might not be obvious, but I thought would you know, you could just go over and open the gate. I thought it was the other side.

Well, yeah, but if you're climbing up. But then you'd have to jump down by yourself and I don't want to do that. That's why Rune's drew the picture. Right. I will also say it's broad daylight. Still, have you seen things that have happened to her? That's fair. She's got both eyes. That's the bar, yeah. But at the very least, I think Tamika will wait for Rune's to come up and then maybe they'll both hop over. OK, OK. Just before all that happens, just hear me out for just a second. We're here in a particular capacity. And I get it, he's going to look at K'nahn.

I get it, I don't want to be here at the wrong time. I know it's all happening. And he's just rambling. I like the idea that Tamika is being held up over Rune's head like fucking Simba from The Lion King. And she's just doing little Shiba Inu swimming motions while you're talking. And he's rambling. He's thinking out loud. But he's trying to engage everybody. He's like, hang on, we're here. We were sent here. We were asked to come here. I just want to make sure that we're not showing up like we're trying to, I don't know, pull one over on them or something like that.

I'm not saying that I want to be in a bad situation, but I am saying maybe if we meet them on their terms, they might be a little bit more open to, hey, we're here to help. All I'm saying is, whatever you do, don't break anything. Aww. I mean, it makes sense. Noted. I mean, my plan was just have runes come up and then maybe we'd open the door so we could get inside and not sleep outside where the orcs are. Maybe if we stay, we come on in, we stay close to the gate until we can find somebody. I don't know. I'm just nervous. We just came out of a haunted fucking forest.

So I don't know what I just I don't even know anymore. True. Yeah. New dangers await, whether in the wilderness or in the urban wilderness itself. But either way, my back is killing me. I would like a bed at some point. And I think I'm speaking to Alex for a second. I mean, mine too. And we're all in our 30s now. So, of course, said I would. Let's be careful, make sure we lock the gate when we let ourselves in. Noted. Yeah, I'm just going to climb up here because I don't want runes to arms to hurt. So just I'm going up. He's going to like look at you like, no, that was not even splinting as he's holding you up.

Like this is nothing. Like me picking up Pippin on the way home from a walk. But eventually just holding that pose. Yeah, that's yeah. So I'm not going to ask that you roll anything because you'd have to you'd have to beef this pretty hard. So rolling. No. On the way down, maybe. But like just just kind of like being held up there and it's like, OK, here's rope. And then you're like, I imagine you're just like either holding on or just kind of like straddling the gate itself. The walls are a little higher than the gate. They're about 15, but the gate is a bit lower.

So having runes climb up again, I don't think like worst case scenario, you don't climb it well. And it's just embarrassing. Right. Right. But let's say 10 minutes go by while you guys are hashing all this out. I think that's fair. And then you're both at the top of this gate. And I imagine you're looking down like kind of like scoping the area out. So it is not like five hungry vampires clinging to like the sliver of shadow, just like waiting, waiting. It's just like looking. It's like, hi, guys. High news for the suck. Yeah, we haven't thought past breakfast, to be honest.

I don't know what to do. But there's nothing there's nothing down there. It's just kind of like sprigs of grass and stuff like that. Now, beyond the gate, like in a bit, there was a place to like tie up horses and there was like a little stable area. You will see dead horses, a stack of dead horses. Alex, you think that's a call out? Well, you know, that's classic. That's groupie did that. That's never returned the ones that we rented from. I forget his name. So with a T. Well, now you have a chance. That's not I cannot has no affiliation with not not not getting this.

Yeah, so just a bunch of pale horses, flies buzzing around them and stuff like they are decomposing, like they've been dead for a while. Yeah, yeah. So beyond that, nothing, nothing dead. All right. So I think runes would climb down first, probably just to be safe and then give me an athletics check. Well, here's what I was thinking. Why don't I just take the rope from one side and move it to the other side? OK, give me an athletics check. OK, all right. There's no way I'm climbing that rope. This is just for flavor. This isn't like and you died like it's, you know, you break it.

It was a check. Just a check. All right. Six. Six. It's ugly. It's ugly. Like like going up is is is fine. Like it's it's it's graceful and they're like going down. It's like I think the party is just going to hear like. Like there's no there's no sure footedness to it. So it's just like, boo boo boo boo boo boo boo boo boo trying to like stop yourself. And then like as you just kind of like fall, but not like superhero pose fall. It's like, OK, like it's just not graceful. I'm glad they couldn't see that. Yes. Somebody if somebody was asleep nearby, they are awake now for one.

It's not like a cacophony of noise or anything. It's more just like that's the most noise you've heard come out of runes probably is. Oh, and then to me, because going to go runes and then jump. Oh, can I get an acrobatics check, please? Actually, she's going to inadvertently cast feather fall and just gracefully float down. Whoa. But runs is going to catch her because he's terrified that she's going to fall. So you immediately like stands up. And then on the inside, there's there's a like a huge wooden bar with a couple of like grips on it that you can pull back.

And the gate will the gate will be unlocked. Oh, you guys come on in. OK. Yeah. Can I open push it open? Peek inside, see the party and then. Sauncher and nothing, nothing happened. We we we just climbed up and down is fine. Everything's fine. OK. But I do know that I could cast a spell that makes me fall slow for no reason. I just I just found out. Get to know, I think that seems to be the specialty of your powers there. Normally you find things that are useful in the moment. So I'm happy you found that one. Yeah, I did it and and then, you know, nothing happened.

And, you know, yeah, you know, nothing happened. I can almost have ruined. You're right. You just cannot. Thumbs up. OK. I guess once Terry and Petrichor get in, he will close the gate and put the bar back. Carefully, we're locking ourselves in with all the vampires. We can unlock it. Like, would it be embarrassing if you let a bunch of orcs in, though? That you know what? Yeah. It's like if you visited a friend's house and like their cat gets out while you're walking through. Nightmare, nightmare, nightmare. Now I got to go chase this chunky cat. And then, you know, once once your dog is going to start sniffing.

And obviously the the the pile of horses is a is a curiosity. Like it's just kind of. Oh, and then just very low to the ground, ears back, just kind of like skulking around, just kind of, you know, and there's a main thoroughfare where there's there's inns and shops and things like that, a lot of smaller things, and it opens up into the larger city. And Dog is very much like like slowing down more and more as she starts to like approach the thoroughfare and just. Just. You know, she knows something's up. Come on, dog, come on. Leave it. And then, yeah, just kind of like slink back, but not turn around, just kind of like kind of like sidle up next to petrichor.

Is is this like when you say thoroughfare? Can you describe a bit a bit more for me? So are we looking at like places of business and houses or is it like a main street like going down? So when you first enter Donhurst, there's again, there's like a large, stable area. And after that, it's it's a main street with rows and rows of shops and things like that. But it's it's lots of small, quaint stuff. There's little places to stay. There's like saltwater taffy type stuff. It's it's it's very quaint. And then obviously the the the the more the city opens up, the larger the businesses and stuff like that.

But this is like gift shops and antiques and things. There's also just people's residences mixed in. So that's either side of the street. There's kind of like awnings and stuff like all the way down to keep out rain. And then about about 50 or 60 feet in is where the streets it kind of catty corners out. And it's just big businesses and old fruit stands and stuff like that. It's it's much more foot traffic. The buildings look well kept are the ones we can see close by. I mean, they probably looked better before. There's a lot of smashed windows and stuff, and there's a lot of like like boarded up.

It looks like the windows were smashed and like boarded up haphazardly and stuff like that, obviously, to keep sunlight out and things. But like all things considered, it could look a lot worse. What's the play? We call them out or I honestly, I feel like don't see a soul. We just broke into their city. But we're keeping them safe. He's going to point back to the gate. I mean, least we could do is let them know we're here at. Worst, worst case scenario, they don't like it, but worst worst case is we didn't tell them and then they don't like it. Yeah, I agree.

I would rather find the solution that leads us with less holes than our neck to, you know. What's a good way of like calling these guys out, I guess? Does anybody have like a double turkey? Yeah, like a like a I don't have any of those. I don't have those basic cantrips. Come on. Talking, talking to Vicious Macri over there. Is there like a good meeting place, like maybe a church or a town hall that it looks like the town is sort of built around on any level? Well, there was a church. Yeah, well, I wasn't there for that. So the old fortress. Yeah, there there was a nice there was a nice church.

It is. It is. In dire need of repair, and I'm going to I'm going to spoil it for you. The gang members turned vampires didn't fix up the church yet. Has not been brought up in a town hall meeting. But where are those meetings held? There you go. Good question. So you're looking to move a little closer, a little closer into the city, like that the main like you're you're basically looking for a building or buildings big enough, probably a tavern. Like think like gang members that are also vampires like. Got it. OK. As the group moves along, just to me, it's just going to be like, do oh, under her breath, do we like want to like keep this low key or do we want to like make lots of noise so we don't seem like we're intruding because we could just be real loud right now.

That's what I'm wondering as well. Can on looks around and looks to the group and it's like announcing ourselves kind of sounds like the way to go, right? Well, nothing you can do to announce yourself more than walking tall and proud straight down the middle of the street, down the middle of a city that nobody else is standing in. So we could just be as loud as we want to and keep on moving. Yeah, I like maybe just like over, you know, like like I'm doing like this thing where I'm pretending to be like, hey, we're not here to fuck shit up. We're just here to talk to people.

Isn't it fun to not try to mess up anything or be dangerous? Yeah, like that kind of that kind of thing. Yeah. Just yeah, no, yeah. We're on the same page, Petrichor. Let's I don't know. I just feel like we should just keep going till we either find somebody or they find us. I don't know why, but the Transformers, the movies, Universal Greeting keeps popping into my head. Oh, we know like it's like, I don't know why. And then if you're 40, that makes sense. When you guys are having that conversation, Runes is just going to like whenever anyone's talking, his head just goes back and forth between every person.

But then when you guys start raising your voices, he's just going to look confused for a second and then just start going tap, tap, tap on his own bo staff like. That's a good start. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thumbs up. You got it. You got it. I'm going to go with the other side. Yeah, thumbs up. You got it. Yeah. Can I announce if you can walking down? White Ravens are here to talk like really loud, louder than that, obviously on screen to the mic. Thank you. And you're going to hear like that. The acoustics are perfect. I can imagine for like, oh, it's just just imagine a big empty city.

And it's just like you're going to hear that. It all it kind of like just just barely bounces back a little bit. And you guys are, I imagine, just kind of like walking, walking down Main Street here, just announcing that. And. Can I get a perception check again from everybody, please? I'm looking for high rolls. Woo. There's another one. 10. Oh, that's better. Whoo. Let me get Terry. Terry, what do you got? What you got, Terry? She's a perception. It's just normal. Boop. Not bad. Nine. That's not bad. So petrichor for Canon 10, ruins 19 to make a 14. Terry nine. And, you know, dogs pretty focused.

So I would say runes and Tamika are going to. You're going to hear just like a subtle like shuffling, like you're you're going to hear. Yeah. Like just like something being moved and not gently like it sounds like, you know, wooden chair gets knocked over or something like that. And it's going to take your eyes just a little bit to adjust because it's it's, you know, it's done. It's it's, you know, like that. I imagine the sun's kind of like. Coming at you from like it's just about ready to rise over the walls. So, you know, but it's pretty gentle light.

But in the darkness of these buildings, you're going to see eyes. And at first, it's just like a pair of these like bright red eyes. And then as you look around, you're going to see that there are more sets of them in different buildings. And they're very. They're very kind of like wide, and then they kind of like squint down and slowly you're going to see figures like come just just to the point of where the shadows stop. And they look desperate, like I figured hungry. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Like they like some of them look like maybe they haven't eaten in a week or more and that there is a.

A very bestial. Um, like all reason is gone, like it's very they are animals like at least these like, you know, maybe it's different, like maybe there's a hierarchy, maybe the people in charge are not. But if there's a caste system, these guys are low. So I have the access to the most blood in the party. I mean. Yeah. So I imagine you're probably like 20, 25 feet in when you start to like, and it's just it's just to make it right now, just kind of like you. You probably get like dog is not. I was going to say, Rune's is going to grab dog real quick. And then like the second he sees the figures, he's like, no.

And Rune's and Tamika probably make eye contact to like, oh. And to paint a picture, the main streets really wide. So it's it's probably like 20, 25 feet across. So there is a good distance. If someone were to charge out, there is a very good distance where they would have to be in direct sun to get to you. So it's not like, oh, if you back up a little bit, there's hands. It's it's it's it's it's a big city street. Yeah. Yeah. Tamika stops and then rune grabs dog. I it maybe maybe those walls would were to protect us, not to protect the city. And then she going to do the struggling thing that I just said.

Maybe we should wait outside to petrichor and Kanan. Yeah, I'll look around. He'll see the eyes now. Like what? It'll take a second and then see the number, the sheer number. And then the figures, like you mentioned them on that line between shadow and light and like his heart will stop for a second or he feels fear. But then he'll remember. He's like, no, I can't I can't show fear. I can't like try and really quick to bottle it up. But it's too late. It already showed. And he'll get back pedal to get closer to the group to Mika and runes specifically. And then he'll tap Petrichor as he's walking back like.

Yeah, maybe coming inside was a mistake. I told you. Remind me later when we're outside. Not a problem. Listen. Hey, we're just here to to help you all out if you need some help. We just wanted to let you know that we're going to be outside of the gates. He's looking at everybody in the group as he says it. When you are ready to speak with us, let us know. He's doing the thing I don't. Am I saying the right thing? I don't have any. I imagine you kind of instinctively get like tight as a group, like a little bit like everyone else. And and like as you guys I imagine also you're kind of keeping your head on a swivel because all around you in some form or another, it's like, OK, I don't know how many are here, but and you're going to there's going to be a flash like just just like real quick.

It's just going to it's almost like. If you ever watch like a bad stage magician, it's like like just almost. What's it called? magnesium? Magnesium. Yes. Yeah, it's very job. Right from Arrested Development's like illusion like boom. And it just goes off. But that is one of these vamps sticking their hand out to like pole and instantly their hand going up. In fact, you can see their hand burst into flames and it it slightly illuminates everything as they pull it back in instinctively and then it goes out and it's just dark again. Like that's how desperate and fucked up they are right now.

And Terry, like. This is where common sense check, and I think at this point, Terry is Terry's there like any naivete that like we've stripped some of that down. So we want to wait outside until night. We just don't want to wait until night inside here. Yeah, we want to move. Well, we still got. I'm not saying we go inside buildings, but maybe we should look around and just stay. Like maybe they're not all like this is what I'm saying. I just I don't want to wait until they're all really well rested and it's night and then what? True. I think they can climb that wall pretty easy, right?

I mean, we're not going to be safe outside if they just open up the gate, are we? But also, do we want to be stuck in the middle of the city when they all start waking up? Oh, no, no, no. I'm not saying that we stay that we stay. I'm saying around noon we leave. Yeah, we've got plenty of time. Right. Look around and then leave while there's still a lot of light outside. Also probably move as much as it pains me to say this. Move further away from the city if we don't find someone important to talk to or someone who is at least and he looks around, not as feral to talk to.

Who can arrange safety for us? Maybe that's it. Maybe we just need to take a little time and see if we can find ourselves a a champion, someone who's going to be on our side and understands why we're here and protects us a little bit. I don't know. Is that Petrichor super quick? I would hate to think of a champion vampire, but I know what you're saying. Yeah, somebody who's going to at least be in our in our corner or something. I don't know. Or at least see that we're in theirs. OK, I don't I don't think it's a bad idea as long as we can keep safe and only in the middle of the road and only if we stay single file so that we're in the most sun we can possibly be in.

Terry, OK, you know what? I'm going to roll for this. Hold on a second, because I don't know if this is a really good idea or really bad idea. Oh, he loves it. It's the best idea. Oh, it's a 20. It's a great 20. So, Terry, like there's a there's kind of a minute where like, you know, options are being gone. OK, this is going to sound really dumb, but just think about it for a second. What if we what if we filled up like a canteen or a sack or something with blood? So like if if we get into some kind of jam, we could just huck it and they'll probably chase that.

It'd be a lot easier. It's like a it's like a Capri Sun for vampires. You won't say Capri Sun. This is Terry and we have Capri Suns. We did it. It's like a moist pocket because those are cannon. Moist pocket. Yes. I forgot about moist pocket. Yeah, Kanaan loves this idea, but he'll look to the group and say, I feel like Kanaan loves moist pockets. He loves them. Loves. He'll look to the group. I assume we're not moving. We're stuck in the middle of the road, back to back in circles. I think there's very much it's like, hey, we need to hash this out before we're too far in, like that point of no return.

You feel like you know, they can't. Yeah. Yeah. I kill her, go for her. I'll say I don't know if my blood is probably the best. I mean, it's it's been tainted one way or the other, I think, but I don't know how they'll react to it. I don't want to poison them, is what I'm saying. So you're saying you're thinking about actually taking some of our blood and throw it like a like a like a raw steak for a dog to run after. It's it's an emergency plan, I think, is what Terry is outlining. Yeah, because it won't hurt anybody. And if we're trying to be diplomatic, then I mean, this is I mean, maybe they'll think better.

If that's the case, we're really hungry. Like if you ever like sometimes I crave a like a Sicilian pizza and like sometimes like, you know, it's just you think better when you eat right now, then right now, Brie and Jason. We're so hungry. Getting red eyes, turning feral. Oh, my God. How many houses or how many like vampires do we see that look like completely feral? Everyone that you see right now looks like if like if the lights were to go out now, you'd be dead. Yeah. OK, because I was just thinking maybe we could just throw it into the house. So they're rational when we talk to them at night.

But I don't think we could fill that many canteens. Too many. Yes, exactly. So just to clarify, Terry's idea is to make these like emergency grenades, so to speak. Sorry to me to cut you off. Go ahead and finish. No, that was you're good. OK, it's a Terry's ideas. These are like emergency flares. Like, hey, go over here instead of towards us. If they if they pursue if we get trapped somewhere that has no sunlight or something. Right. Is that was he is that what he was pitching, Jason? That's yeah. Like, it's not it's this is a very much a first draft. Like we can workshop this, but it's more like it's like, OK, what do we have that they want that we could get away from us so that they don't eat us blood grenades?

Tamika is going to look to runes. I mean, I'd be OK with it. Would you? Runes will look at his hands and then just be like and then just kind of nod like petrichor. I don't I feel like we've got what a a million vampires who want to eat us, suck our blood. You throw a little bag of blood in one direction. That'll get them for about maybe 10, 15 seconds. Next thing we know, we're I just don't know. I mean, that could be 10, 15 seconds to save us. I guess you're also none of us are the same species. And it might be like King's Cup, where like if you mix a bunch of different kinds of blood together, that doesn't mean it's going to make a delicious, tasty drink.

Like usually that's the punishment at the end of the game. Yeah, but these look like they hungry, though. They yeah. Look at that. They're feeding. They'll look at that concoction and be like, hmm. Yeah, if you if I haven't eaten in days and you say the only thing available is like Taco Bell, I mean that Taco Bell. I love you know what I mean? I love Taco Bell. But be you know, be damned the consequences like I see. And there will be consequences. Yes, there are consequences for sure. I cannot looks at the hell. Take it empty vial from his pack. And what do I have?

Do I have something I can cut like my finger with? I'm pretty sure I like a pretty sure you could find a sharp object. And I have so many daggers crossbow. Yeah, I will do this. I'll cover as I'm doing this. I'm spiky. I'll just give you here's my hand. I have incisors, so cut my finger and fill as much as I can in a little while. So maybe like one third or something, you know, before it clots. And they'll stop it and put it in my pack and my front, like a front pouch or something like for emergencies. Can I do a perception check for when he does that? Oh, yeah.

Oh, you won't need one. Yeah. OK, cool. How'd it go? So they can smell. They they can smell this like it is it like there is the closest thing to like a feeding frenzy of like without them feeding. So it's like it's that you can hear them sniffing like that. Like you like there. They are right. Right against any of them running against the thing, because like one of them reached out before we had even cut ourselves. Like now that there's actual blood. I was wondering. But like. I think, you know, I'll roll for it, but it's like after that one pops up, it's like, oh, yes, I'm like shit like instinctually, they know.

But at the same time, now that there's blood, so like, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to see how on a scale of one to ten, how weak their resolve is. The smaller the number, the weaker their resolve is. And yeah. So here we go. Oh, thank God. Fine. So I do feel like that son, that guy, it's like, oh, yeah, Fred just burst into flames like that's why I don't fucking it. Fred, like I'm hungry, but like we probably won't make it out there to him. You know, can I after finishing the stopping the bomb, put it in the violin. His front pocket is going to look to petrichor and the rest of the team.

OK, let's keep moving. Yeah, OK. I don't think there's any other thing to do. I think we've just got to keep going forward. Look for his health, say this under his breath. He'll say and continue looking for leadership. And like if you hear him say it, it's like he's talking about the situation. But you can tell, like, oh, is he talking about himself to like, is he unsure? As you guys, you know what, let's let's let's advance time about, you know, 20 more minutes, right? So 830 in the morning, it's fine. Like we are still deep within McDonald's breakfast territory.

So no, no panic yet. Wait, is there an eclipse today? Nobody hears a thunderstorm coming. It's real. So I just missed a joke so hard. What the fuck are you guys talking about? And if it's cloudy, vampires come out. Yeah, well, get us. Oh, it wasn't that deep. It was just I was trying to relate it back to the McDonald's breakfast thing. I was like, oh, fuck, it's McDonald's breakfast. If it's cloudy, like, no, no, no, they still they still serve breakfast. And if it's cloudy, it's fine. OK, cool. No, they're like vampires. They can't do it. They cannot break. All right.

Yep. It's a well-known fact. Only until breakfast when it's cloudy and when it's raining. So they are you're you're eventually going to get past that big like that, that that main thoroughfare and it kind of opens up and there's this big circular town square type of thing. And there's there's all kinds of businesses of like there are there is an in and the doors wide open like it's it's like it's it's all obviously dark inside because like there are no windows open for the most part. There's a couple of buildings where I guess they are just not used or whatever.

So there's smashed in windows and stuff like that, but nothing's boarded up. So there's big columns of light kind of shining all over the place. And like if someone were to elect to go inside, it's like, well, the columns of light are nice. We can from dusk till dawn this, I guess. Like we can, you know. Hot lady's going to put her foot in my mouth. Oh, if you're into that, I mean, I don't even have a mouth. So, oh, she'll put her foot wherever you want. Like, it's fine. Damn. They put in the end show any. How do we know where leadership is? Like, I mean, it's it's kind of tough, right?

Because like there's, you know, crazy for blood. You are going to hear pacing like big like like heavy boots walking back and forth, like kind of like. And it sounds like regular pacing, like people like just like someone pacing back and forth thinking not like like they're they're they're freaking out. But it is coming from a a small place. It looks like maybe it was a maybe like a clothing store or something like that. And everything's boarded up. So this is like a modest size shop. Looks like there's a couple of floors to it. And we all hear it. Oh, yeah, like it's it's one of those things where like it's probably not right away because it's not like they're Robocop or something.

But like it's it's it's kind of rhythmic and it's like, hey, you guys. It's like boom, boom, boom, boom. And you kind of like it takes you a while to narrow it down. This is like, well, yeah, good. What does the door into the shop look like? Like, is it just a regular door? It is closed, but like it's still on its hinges and it's just a regular door. OK, so. Unless the one stops him, Rune would probably like put his hand out to like keep everyone else back. Move forward very quickly, like undo the door and then use his bo staff to push it in so that he's still in the sunlight to see inside.

Smart move. I like that. So as greetings go, it's a little rude. So it's I would say we're pieces of meat. That's pretty rude to. Yeah, that is. But it's more like I felt objectified. Yeah, me too. It's it's like ten times worse than just opening the bathroom door when someone's pooping. Stop. Lock the door. Oh, I'm I'm sorry if you heard a bit of yourself in there. This was just general. No, this is going to be a great tick tock. Keep it going. Yeah, no, I mean, you know, it's a great tick tock. It's it's my fault. We did just invent knocking. So. Oh, OK. What how far we had to do that.

I'm writing this down. It'd be like it'd be like 158, 159, I think. 150. Well, if the door's open, the door is now open. Can on. Oh, I was going to go where? No, it was closed. I assure you. Sorry. Can I was going to call out anybody capable of speech in there? Oh, good one. Good one, boss. Good question. I insulted his intelligence. So when. Yeah. So this is so again, the pacing stops. Mm hmm. When I cut this, it'll be seamless. No one will even know. So. So pacing stops and and the like a head is going to kind of lean. So it's this, you know, big bearded guy doesn't look unkempt or something like that, but definitely kind of like kind of like scraggly a little bit like big, big, like a big duster that is just formal vampire attire.

Honestly, you need something that you could pop up, but like he looks like he's like all there and just kind of kind of lean. Can I help you with something? Yes. Oh, like you were being rude. It's like, man, you don't knock like just you know, they mean like I like to answer. And on looks at Patrick or and like motions like, do you want to take this or do you want me to do it like you'll? Hi. We're we're travelers. We came here. We were asked to come here. We're part of part of the way he's going to keep these fumbling and looking around at everybody else.

Part of the the white ravens. We're looking for someone who might be in charge. Uh, we're here to help. And again, just kind of like peek out a little bit more, because like I imagine you're not all single file like in the door. So it's just kind of like like how many of you are? We're just going to wave. If I invite you in, am might get some kind of guarantee that there won't be any kind of violence. Only if you guarantee not to drain us. Big grin on his face, like like kind of like slowly. Uh, I don't think that's going to be a problem, but please come on in.

If you could shut the door behind you, I'd really appreciate it. We'll leave it open. Can't be too sure yet, but we'll close it if things go in a positive direction. Can I do an insight check just to to get a sense of whether or not we're being played here? Please. Oh, damn. Twenty five. That is a 19. So far, you're not getting anything from him that screams this is a trap. This doesn't look like a very large establishment. So if there's like eight vampires hiding behind the door, it would be interesting. You only heard the one set of footsteps and. In your head, it's like, OK, that would be a pretty elaborate ruse to just do this night and day forever to to lure in some people.

You know what I mean? Like, probably OK, but let's keep our guard up type of thing. So it doesn't sound like this person's just simply say, come on in. It's, you know, we all float down here. Yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah. It's like you want some candy, like pretty genuine, you know? Yeah. At least on the asset, Petchicor is going to kind of do his eyebrows up like. I mean. He's going to he's going to look at Canan. We may have an ally. It's the closest we've got. They'll nod in agreement. Look to runes, as I guess if Petchicor moves in, Canan will follow him, but he'll stay behind just a little bit and look to runes and whisper and keep Tamika close.

He'll give a serious nod at that. And he's probably going to come in last. Should the dog stay outside? I feel like the dog should stay in sunlight. I don't I just it's just how I feel. Does does dog start squirming as we're going in? Because dog still in your arms, maybe. Here's the thing. He's not still holding. That was just to keep dog from running into the shadows. Well, yeah, gotcha. Is it is dog sticking close to Petrichor is the idea. Like dog's instincts are going to be where we go. Ever since you like, OK, I want to make this perfectly clear because I I will.

I will get murdered by our fan base if I purposefully did something with dog where dog wanted to sneak away or don't want to get in trouble. So dog will act instinctually. But ever since you called like you did the little like that kind of thing, like dogs been near your side. So unless something abrupt happens or there is a change to the status quo, I will announce it ahead of time and then I'll roll for dog to do something. So got it. So anyway, this vampire eats dog and like sacred flame vampire in the face, right in his mouth. Petrichor cast darkness.

We know a fireball in this building. The Bern Hall will be no burnhurst. I mean, Petrichor is going to he'll take the charge to sort of walk in. I don't know. He's going to he's going to bite. And with that insight check, just kind of feel like that wasn't a pun. But he's going to he's going to he's going to take take the guy's invitation invitation thing. And I'll be right there with him. I think I'll be closer. I'll be closest to Petrichor. Can only be closest to Petrichor as he walks in, too. All right. And this guy's going to back way off of the column of light, the door and just kind of like park park on a, you know, kind of sit down.

And the first thing you're going to notice is the guy's got a lot of pets inside, like a lot like like real cat person, but there is a dog, small dog type of thing. So as you guys are sitting down, like he's going to start petting this little dog, like looks like a poodle mix type of thing. So as you as you come on in, like he's he's going to kind of get get comfy. You could take a seat if you like. Can I roll to pet a cat? That's a that's a free action. OK, he pets cats. Excellent. Which color cat are you after? Every cat that is willing to get close enough to get pet is going to get pet.

I imagine sitting down in ruins just sits there and then all the cats we look over at one point and all the cats are the brooms. So what's what's wonderful about ruins is ruins almost has like a carapace. So it's it's it's a wonderful type of leg to like brush up and like scrape against because ruins has got those little nubby table. Yeah, it's got little nubby. So it's like, oh, that's the stuff. So like you got. Yeah. Coded in. He sits down and like there's a cat sitting on his head and his little tails like going in front of his eyes. Oh, I got a terrible.

Ruins is more calico than character now. Like it's it's yeah. Kannon looks at the pets that are around him and then looks at the dude, this man. And he's going to ask him just straight up. Did you start off with more pets? Again, big grin. You know, you didn't knock and now you're accusing me of eating pets. It's a little rude. Sorry, not an accusation. Just curious. I'd like to know. I'd like to know the person who I'm talking to beforehand. I'd like to know if they eat cats. Or pets. I, I promise you, I don't eat cats. Now, I have taken in quite a number of strays, because as you can imagine, the streets are dangerous around here at night.

Petrichor was going to try to. There's not like this isn't crazy tension, but it's certainly we we were rude. Oh, more than anything, you know, just odd. But he's going to kind of after a little bit of a silence like, OK, what the fuck to me? He's just going to reach his hand out and and Petrichor mulch white raven. Um, he's almost taken aback, like it's like, oh, OK, well, we can be mannerly good. He's going to he's going to reach his hand out. Dexter Hannes, a vampire. Really a long pause, it'll be. I don't know what I'll say. All right. Well, I, me and the team here were like I said, we were here to help.

We were effectively sent for at some point. And well, anyway, we're here. And I'll be honest with you, we're a little bit in over our heads. Is there anybody like yourself that maybe is in charge? Somebody who might be somebody who can help us, you know, not find something bad happening to us here? Well, I assume you you met the locals. Didn't so much meet him as. Got pretty creeped out and then kept moving on. Well, I wish I could tell you that things get better as you move into the city, but that's not the case. For the most part, there's there's pockets of.

Well, it's called humanity, whatever you want to call it, but there's pockets of civilized folk still around, but it's gotten hard for us to have meetings recently because when night falls, it's just scavenger city. If you want to talk to who's in charge, you're probably looking to talk to our and like big quotation fingers mayor. That'd be Ripley, but you you have to go up to the castle. Can on looks to the group castle. She can see and he'll look. He'll whisper to Tamika and we see a castle when we walked in. It was above the city. It is she going to play the direction it was.

Yeah, just he shakes his head like, how the fuck? What about that castle? How the fuck did I not see that? Like he's just. That's what you get when you get a crit one. You know, I'm just playing it out. I'm playing it up. There's a city. I thought this was a farm. So. They finally sent someone out here kind of like. Not like he doesn't believe you, but like. What did it like, why? Like, why now? Because it's been a while like this is, you know. But. Can one walk closer to Petrikar and speak up? The big group White Ravens has been recently reformed after a different iteration existed.

Winter Haven's trying to. Extend as many hands as it possibly can to help out those in need. Your particular or the request of Donhurst in particular seemed like one that. Could be met. I noticed in the request there was something about. A situation in the mines. I suppose I suppose you all should know what you're getting into. Here. Smart coming during the day. You you would not believe how many people come here at night. Just dumb shits. All of them. In the little chibi canon. If this was an anime, it's like, yes, it's something. We did it. We did the nuts. Stupid thing.

Yeah, we got it. Got him. So we first took over. Everything was is pretty copacetic, real nice. You know, obviously took what we wanted. I I sort of set up shop here. By the way, if anyone needs anything, so repaired, something like that. I am. I am one hell of a fabric magician, if I do say so myself, just just throwing it out there. And those of us with some useful skills were able to barter higher positions, that type of thing. But eventually when the blood ran out. None of that accounted for squat. And hell, before that. We had Ripley taking over telling us we'd we'd set up trade routes and people would be begging to come back and we'd just take a percentage off the top.

Same thing the countess was trying to do back in the day. So after she died, he moved into her old pad and. We wouldn't see him for days at a time. Then one day he comes down telling us how something in the mines has been talking to him, whispering that type of thing. Rest of us figured, OK, well, he hasn't had anything to eat. He's gone nuts. So. Few of us got together, sent out word, but this was is weeks ago. We figured, you know, no one's coming. Figure, well, just let us die out, do whatever. Problem is, they keep finding just enough to keep them upright.

Think about a vampire is. You can lock them up, keep them. Keep them locked away for years. And all they do is just get hungrier. They don't die. So eventually they just go crazy. I don't think I don't think most of the fellas up front are like that yet, but they sure ain't thinking right. So. Way I see it, you got a few options. You can head up on the castle, talk to Ripley and hell, maybe he's as sane as can be, and he'll walk you all through it, tell you all what he sees and. Maybe it'll make a hell of a lot more sense to you. You can go check out the mines.

You can. Maybe get us some fresh supplies, some new sources of blood, and when everyone's thinking a little bit better, bartering might be a little easier, that type of thing. You guys ain't hungry, by the way, are you? Not in particular. I could eat, I mean, no, I'm good. I could open my chest cavity and just put some food in there. Wasn't there a black cat here? Never, never. All his friends. Petrichor is going to he's going to say, I'll be honest with you, I'm actually starving. Yeah, I'd certainly take you up on something if you've got something. In fact, I can help you out a little bit.

He's he's laying it on a little bit, but he's not being disingenuine. There's so everyone saw this guy smiles. You can you could see those fangs like it's it's it's a little off putting between that and the eyes, because it like he he's been friendly and affable all the way up until now. But there's just there's always that like, is he going to leap across the table? Is he going to you know what I mean? But the entire time just kind of pet in this poodle, this laying there. Well, good thing for you is no one's after meats and grains. So anything you find, knock yourself out, have at it.

Now, I got to eat and he's going to like hold up a hand just now. If you promise to stay put, I'm going to back up to the closet. And I'm going to grab a bite. And we're all just going to keep our cool. So that's something very uncool is about to happen. Yeah, I don't know about that. Dexter, buddy, what? What are you going to eat? He's so just he's he's almost going to like cock his head, he's like. What do you mean? I'm going to. And he Jennifer. Is. Is Jennifer willing? And again, OK, for for future peace talks, questions like that are kind of frowned upon here because, you know, I mean, do you mean she's going to put up a fight because not much?

No. If you're asking if I'm going to bite her, no, because, you know, she turned. So I just I cut her open a little bit. And then, you know, I get what I got to get. And then, you know, she goes back to sleep for the most part. I'm sorry, guys. How how much do you need? I mean. I've been rationing things out, so, you know, I'm not not a greedy man, just trying not to be like fellows up front. Not the best welcoming committee. And, you know, I don't want my pets to start looking like food. I think Kannon's going to step forward and pop the thing out of his coat pocket or his best.

Look at it as is this enough? There's going to be just the like this, just the most subtle change in body posture, just kind of a just like chest puffs out a little bit. Like he he sits up like you can tell, like he's still like his nostrils flare a little bit. You can like you could tell he's like picking that up. I didn't know you're bringing gifts. Yeah, he'll he'll stare at him with the thing in his hands, still continue. Is it enough where you don't have to pull somebody out of storage while we're here? Well, hell, it does me a favor, actually. Let's hear let's her heal up a little bit longer.

You know, you don't want to drain them too dry because then, you know, they might die. And then where would we be? So, yeah, that would be that'd be fantastic. What do I owe you? Safe passage to meeting your leader. This Ripley. You know what? I've got just the thing now. I wanted to make sure you guys were cool and. Honestly, in a different life, I feel like I could have got a beer with y'all. So here's what we're going to do. And he's going to hold that his hand again, very, very like loosely. I'll take that off your hands. I give it to him. And he's going to, you know, thank you very much.

And he's going to he's going to sit up and like this, this poodles very much like just chilling on top of this, this table, just kind of like and he's he's going to kind of like give it one more pet and then walk over to the wall and elbow the shit out of it. And a portion of this wall is going to slide away. And there is a tunnel system here. Now, this will take you all the way up to the castle. It's been a little hard to walk around here at night recently. So the only problem is. It's heavily shaded, obviously, so you all are comfortable. I could take you all the way up there.

Now, once you're in the castle, you're all alone. But. This gets you into the second floor. OK. Appreciate I'm sure we appreciate the help, Dexter. Just need to confer with the team for a second. Feel free to enjoy the gift while I do so. How about I wander into this tunnel just a little bit while you guys talk, give you a little privacy. I'd appreciate it. That's just concerning. He's just like he's marching ahead of you so you can keep an eye on him. He sees into the, you know. OK, turn to the group and as low as I possibly can say. Can on from the depths of his soul.

With his eyes closed and talking to the group says, I cannot let this stand. I know what our mission says, so I know what we have to do, but if it were up to me, I would burn this place to the ground, even if it meant myself along with it. But seeing as how we are here together. I want to do what's best for our safety, for your safety. I've already lost people once before, I'm not going to do it again. Bruns is going to hand you the blue rock, the please explain rock. They are what he eats, Bruns is people. He drinks their blood. Normally, and he'll still speaking very low.

Normally, vampires will kill their prey. Intelligent ones. Ones with some civility will keep their food source alive and take as much as they can without killing. In this instance, it seems like he has someone and he looks at the closet. That he's feeding off of just enough to keep her alive and to keep him satiated, which is why he's able to talk to us compared to the other ones. I know why. Now his voice gets a little loftier. I know why my patron brought me here. Besides being part of the Ravens, I feel that he put me on a path to get here. And I can see why.

And I'm doing everything I can to stop from completing what he wants me to complete, because I know it's not making peace. Yeah, this this situation. Makes him look like a monster, but and then she's going to glance at her hands and then look at runes and then look at petrichor. I I've been called a monster before and desperate situations make us even more monstrous. Perhaps we're just not seeing them at their best. They're locked in a city without any other food sources. Look, I. I don't want to pass judgment. I don't want to be that kind of person. But I can't really help it.

This ain't good. But I will say I don't think we have much choice right this second. We're. Severely outnumbered, we ain't going to make a dent in anything, and that we may end up in closets ourselves. Let's just stay the course and then figure it all out. Find everything we need to figure out, get it all done. And we come back. And you know what? Jennifer ain't going to be in that closet anymore after that. And guess what? Maybe we can burn it all to the ground. Runes is going to reach into his bag, and he's actually going to take out a red rock that Tamika probably has seen before because she's been around for most of the creations of the various runes.

And it says, I need help on it. But he's going to use his thumb to cover the eye. So it just says, need help. And he's going to point to the closet. But then he's also going to point to the tunnel. And then he's going to point to the ground. Yeah, this whole place needs help. Can I for a second pause and like, even though he knows his patron isn't like omnipotent or what is it like omniscient, he'll subtly under his breath. He's like, maybe maybe you called me here for something else. And he'll go back to the to the group, return to Tamika's gaze and say.

Yeah, you're right. You're both right. He'll look at Petrichor as well. I'm not I shouldn't be thinking of some sort of self-righteous campaign, I should be thinking of helping the problem I was sent here to help that we were sent here to help. Hey, Alex. Yeah. Can I get a religion check from you? Oh. The 10. 10. OK. OK. And yeah, he'll go back to to the two who basically share the same viewpoint of like, we can't do anything right now. We have to just continue. So he'll nod. He'll look to runes as well and say they do need help. And I should remember to I should remember to not be blind by passion, whether that be rage or drive.

I should be more mindful. And then for just a split second, he'll remember the room where his friends, his friends died and come back. All right, let's. Let's follow Dexter. I hope he's true to his word. I mean, if he is, at the very least, we have we know a secret passageway out of the castle instead of front door. And so he gets a shrug and start following. We still have daylight on our side. That's a look back towards the sunbeam coming in. Oh. If you guys start to walk down that tunnel, you're going to hear a whistle. From further in, kind of like kind of echoing off the walls and around the corner and that poodle is going to jump off the the table and kind of like brush past you and just like just kind of like go down the tunnel and and and kind of like meet up with Dexter and dog is almost like kind of on edge the entire time.

But at the same time, there's a bunch of new animals here and it's like just just almost like rude, like as the dog like just doesn't do anything. Yeah. Doesn't acknowledge the presence. Yeah. Just it's almost like, man, at least sniff my butt first, you know, just like just zip on past. Just be polite. That's all. That's it. Common fucking courtesy. That's the name of the episode, Being Polite Because Polite. Colin learned to knock and then as you guys. Sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Just sniff and we'll be done with it. And as you guys round the corner, like he's like he's kind of like down to one knee, just kind of like petting petting this little pupper's head.

And in his other hand, he's he's got a little bit of that blood that you gave him and he's feeding it to the dog. Like you can see the vampire dog. Oh, my God. And I think that is a wonderful time for us to stop for the night. Oh, no. Vampire poodle. Vampire poodle. I love it. Shit. Wow. Wow. What a charged episode. Oh, that was great. I'm trying I'm still trying to think. It's like a labradoodle. It's a vampoodle vamp. Vampadoodle vampadoodle. You guys are in, though. You're in the city. You've got it. We are not only in the city, we are in the depths of the city.

And where the hell we're going. We are Ripley, man. God, I know Ripley. You know, we could have straight up just like walked in, assessed the situation, walked out, because that's really all our job was. Well, shit's fucked. That's the situation. It's very fucked. It's absolutely. That wouldn't be a great story. But we could have just like I don't like this pie. Probably not the way to get a promotion. That's probably not the. I mean, not only that, but my my patron, he told me he healed my arms and basically without telling me, said, you got to go here. You are supposed to go here.

So you better get in there. And figure out what I want. It's like the tax. It's like the IRS. You figure out how much you owe us. And if you're wrong, we will let you know you're wrong. Honestly, that's probably the best description for the gods. I think I've ever heard. It's basically we're going to show you where you have to go. Exactly. You figure out what to do. You figure it out. Do the wrong. I'll tell you, you're wrong. Fuck, man. Who? Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is this is crazily tense. Chill. Yeah. Yeah. Whoosh. Oh, I'm so glad we got to play tonight. Just yeah. Yeah.

Hell yeah. We're doing this. Come in clutch. Yeah. I mean, like I said, Jason out of the blue, like, hey, just, you know, I flubbed a scheduling thing. And then he was like, why don't we just play? Oh, it's an option. Things lined up where it's like, hey, I got done the stuff I needed to do with the table and then, you know, I got to wait for stain to dry. So, yeah, let's do it. - Hell yeah. soon.