006 - Bounty Hunters - Mechanics Incarnate

Content Warnings
- Missing People/Disappearances
- Intimidation
- Panic Attack

[Show intro plays]

ROVER

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Remains To Be Seen, the DnD show where one group's past could determine the other group's future. I am your host and dungeon master, Rover Elliott. Today, I am here with...

ANNIE

Hi, I'm Annie Ruby, she/her.

ELIZABETH

Hi, I'm Elizabeth Simpson, she/her.

Hi, I'm Jo Mendacium, any pronouns.

MIRA

And I'm Mirah Fae, she/her.

ROVER

And who are you guys playing?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

I'm playing Josie, who is the permanently-on babysitter.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

I'm Corwin Duvall, slightly more healed than I was last time.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Viktor should-have-packed-painkillers-for-half-the-party Valthayne.

MIRA [as UNA]

And Una, who probably should have read the notes before starting.

[Laughter]

ELIZABETH

Valid!

ROVER

Wonderful. So Jo, do you want to give us a quick rundown of the past episodes that we had now?

So, very quickly...first of all, if you start here, and this is your first episode, what are you doing? Go to episode 1. Thank you. Secondly, we all met in London. We all got the assignment from our boss, Safra, to go and search for Jonny who has been missing for several weeks now. So we went on a train to Oxford.

Quite as Viktor expected, trains are dangerous because this train stopped halfway into a tunnel, lights went out. We, through magic sleuthing, I guess, our paladin found out that the people we have seen on the train—or, one of the persons we have seen on the train—seems to be some type of Fiend, a person, humanoid, with a briefcase.

And a Undead-type thing that was doing some stuff on the roof of the train, leaving indentations in the roof. So we went investigating, left the train, saw that the...I think the guy vanished before we left the train, right?

ELIZABETH

The Fiend? Yes.

ANNIE

Yeah, the...

ELIZABETH

Yes, the briefcase guy.

ANNIE

Yeah, Briefcase Guy while we were headed toward the back, and the other guy...

MIRA

Everyone vanished.

ANNIE

Yeah.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, and then the Tabaxi as well.

Oh, right, I forgot about the Tabaxi. I'm so sorry. So there was also a random Tabaxi on the train who also pinged on the paladin radar as evil, or as a Fiend, rather. They also vanished as we went outside investigating. The thing on the roof turned out to be some type of zombie, puppeteered by something we could not see, but could see it might be heavy and spider-like, you know?

ANNIE

Well, Josie knows spider. And Josie has not said that to anybody else.

The druid knows spider. (Laughs)

[Annie giggles]

Yeah, and Viktor shot it, because what do you do when you see something scary? Just shoot it. Don't run from it. Just shoot it, and see what happens. It also vanished. And we boarded the train. There was a lot of headaches going on from Una because she now hears voices in her head. And I think we ended with arriving in Oxford.

ROVER

You guys arrived in Oxford, where there was kind of a poster with Mechanics Incarnate...

ANNIE

It said "temporarily closed."

ROVER

Yeah, temporarily...there was a sticker saying "temporarily closed." There was another line under it...

ANNIE

Ahh, I didn't get the subtitle.

ROVER

...that I forgot, which is fine.

ANNIE

You know what, it's in the recording!

ROVER

Which is fine!

ANNIE

That's what we record these for!

ROVER

It's in the recording!

MIRA

It is in the recording.

ROVER

You guys will not have forgotten it. It doesn't matter that I have forgotten.

[Laughter]

ANNIE

Nevermind that it's been a week for you, and it's been 40 minutes for us, you know.

(Laughs) Shh. Shh.

ROVER

Yeah, you know?

(Laughing) The immersion! The immersion!

[Laughter]

MIRA

Whaaaaat?

ELIZABETH

They don't need to know that.

ROVER

We're starting in Oxford. So as you guys get onto the platform, and you guys take in the sights of Oxford, we are looking at...there are a lot of, we're focusing more on the gothic architecture that there is. And there is a lot of different types of architectural styles. You're looking at more modern, functional designs, together with Baroque kind of tones. You're looking at dramatic uses of light and shadows.

[People talking and evening city ambience begins in the background]

There are a lot of what you can see as students around. Either they're with a group, they are at...they seem to be at libraries, at shops. Some are walking towards the campus of the universities and colleges there. And you can determine that there are also just a lot of churches around the area. Think of...I think Corwin will definitely recognize it as: there are people of Apollo there. There are some people of—instead of letting you guys roll for this—you can see that there are some priests and paladins of Artemis walking around. And yeah. These are kind of the structures that you'll see around the area that you guys have arrived at.

The address for Mechanics Incarnate would be about 10-15ish minutes going into the city. So from here on, I'm going to let you guys do what you want.

One question.

ROVER

Yes.

Cause it's not been officially said. I believe it's evening now, right?

ROVER

It's, yeah, we are looking at about 7, 7:30ish. Safra will not have fixed anything for you guys to sleep at—

Yeah, of course she didn't.

ROVER

—so you guys are gonna have to find a place to stay for the night. You guys are gonna have to find yourselves some food. So yeah.

Right.

ANNIE

As we are, for the churches galore, you were specifically naming Apollo, Artemis...anyone...is it basically all of the various churches that would be around? Or is it specific...

ROVER

You're looking at mostly Apollo, Artemis.

ANNIE

Okay.

ROVER

There are some other people around from the different churches. However, the main ones are very much Apollo and Artemis here.

ANNIE

Okay, as long as—alright. Yep. Then Josie's not...Josie's head's on a swivel, but no more than usual.

ROVER

Got it. What you can't see though, and I will immediately say that, there are no people of—

Give me, everyone, let’s say Una with Disadvantage, a History check.

[Assorted dice clacks, clunks, and clonks]

MIRA

I'm being bullied.

ELIZABETH

That is a 21 from Corwin.

MIRA

I rolled twice the same number.

ROVER

Lovely!

MIRA

Which brings me to 16.

ROVER

Ooh, okay!

ANNIE

I forgot I had that much in History, which tracks for Viktor. I have a +5 in History.

ELIZABETH

Wow!

MIRA

Yep.

So it's 19 plus 5, I have a 24.

MIRA

Nice!!

ROVER

So we got a 24, a 16, a 9, and a...what did you have, Corwin? A 21, right?

ELIZABETH

Yeah, 21.

ROVER

So, I'm gonna go to Una last because of the different types of knowledges there are. What everyone will know, even with a 9—

ANNIE

Hmm.

(Laughs) Sorry, but rude.

ROVER

There is, after the flood of the Netherlands, people started casting out the church of Poseidon a lot because they decided that if there is someone that could be potentially responsible, or someone that could have anything to do with it, it must be the church of Poseidon. They are still active. They are just not near the areas where the Netherlands is. So if you're looking at Germany, UK as well, Belgium, France a little bit, going more...the further you go to the south, you will know that there might still be people of Poseidon there. However, the actual church of it, in the surrounding country—so you're also looking at Denmark and stuff—you will barely see any Poseidon people here.

So that is also why, in Oxford, you will see people of all kinds of groups except for Hades and Poseidon. And with, yeah with that 9, it's...you know that they're not there. You don't know the exact reason of it, but with, also where you're coming from, it makes sense that there's at least some kind of knowledge about that.

ANNIE

Okay.

Does the 24 get a little more than that?

ROVER

The 24?

Mmhmm?

ROVER

Also because you read a lot.

[Mira laughs]

MIRA

Read a lot.

Sir Read-a-lot.

[Laughter]

ROVER

Sir Read-a-lot. The Church of Poseidon is not the evil cult that people say that they are. There are...just as in different kind of religious, different kind of churches, there are their own little cults that have been active here and there around the world. However, people will mostly put the blame rather on the entire church, then find the exact people who were part of that cult, who could be done with that. There is knowledge about the flood, in general. People think that it is some kind of...either a Cult of Poseidon, or they're just talking about the flood of the Netherlands. It seems to be kind of mixed in with each other, and it just does not really make a lot of sense.

Poseidon's a very difficult part of history that people have not really figured out yet.

Right. Makes sense, yeah. Alright then.

ROVER

Yeah, what do you guys want to do? You guys have the freedom.

MIRA

Seemingly.

ELIZABETH

(Giggles) That's not concerning at all.

Above table—let's do the planning above table.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, smart.

ANNIE

Yeah.

First, and then we can do the character thing.

ANNIE

Yeah, agreed.

I think...so for me personally, I think it's...I kind of want to go to Jonny's first before fixing any accommodations kind of thing, because I don't want...I just want to know, you know?

ANNIE

Yeah. I'm torn back and forth because I'm trying to think of, you know, Josie thinking in the entirely pragmatic way that she does, is in fact herself very 50/50 torn because waiting till...if we go to Jonny's right now, and we don't secure accommodation beforehand, there's less of a chance of finding something worth our time and money that late.

Right.

ANNIE

But also, she's like, the sooner we get there, the less time somebody else has to come through, since we know the government's on it. So I think that Josie's perspective would probably go the same way: We know that we're not the only people looking at this. We should get to the shop first, and then figure everything else out after.

Amazing. Viktor and Josie just being like, handshake. (Laughs)

ANNIE

Yeah.

ELIZABETH

Also, above table, no matter where we go first, I think we should stop and get healing potions. Just because I think we have a limited amount of healing, and I think it might be smart.

Right. Yeah.

MIRA

Ouchies.

ROVER

Okay. So give me the plan of what you guys want to do.

MIRA

Go to Jonny's, I guess?

ROVER

Go to Jonny's first? Mechanics Incarnate?

Also, the name is metal as fuck, well done Ro.

ELIZABETH

Incredible name.

ANNIE

Yeah, very good.

ROVER

Hehehe, thank you.

ELIZABETH

As we walk, Corwin is going to be very intentionally not looking any of the Apollo people that they happen to pass in the eye, and kind of trying to say the other side of either Vik or Josie—just cause they're bigger—the other side of someone from the Apollo people.

ROVER

Do you make that, like, is it kind of aware that...do you make it kind of aware that Corwin is actively trying to not be close to Apollo people?

ELIZABETH

I think she would do it as subtly as she could. I don't know if that's something that I should roll for?

ROVER

Give me a Performance check.

[Annie laughs]

ELIZABETH

I think that's probably smart.

ROVER

And then I'll give the Insight check for the others again.

ANNIE

Yeah, I wanna...you go first, and then I'll go with mine after.

Can I ask something? I'm so sorry.

ROVER

Yes.

Does Corwin still wear any insignia that is signifying Apollo?

MIRA

I was about to say.

ELIZABETH

She does not.

Okay.

ELIZABETH

She does not wear a single thing that is Apollo-related, except for, she probably, in deference to Apollo, would have put a little sun charm on her hoverboard? But that's probably the only thing. That was a 10 on Performance, and I would like you to know that is with a +5 to Charisma. (Laughs)

[Everyone loses it]

MIRA

Oh, for goodness sake.

ROVER

So, I would like everyone to roll a...

ANNIE

Quickly, I want to—one thing for Josie here is, if Corwin is trying to hide behind, particularly like Josie being big and a person you would hide behind, you will notice that she is not doing a very good job of getting in between you and anyone religious. She is also, herself, concerned with being...just, not hiding, but drawing as little notice as possible. She's not going to take up space so you can't be seen. She's trying not to be seen. She's not going to be the one who's gonna be seen in front of you. You gotta hide behind someone else.

ELIZABETH

Corwin and Josie trying to be like—oh, trying to hide behind each other.

ANNIE

Basically. But it's less like, don't look at me, and all this stuff. And it's more just like, I am not here.

Laser focused. Yeah yeah.

ANNIE

Yeah.

MIRA

Okay. Would it be fair to Una to notice that, and then potentially...?

ROVER

If you want to say, "I don't think Una will notice that." I will also take that.

MIRA

Okay.

ROVER

Whatever you want.

MIRA

Okay. If those two munchkins are making a, not obvious, but—(laughs) not obvious, but it's clear when the formation kind of falters (laughs), there might be a suggestion made to maybe not walk down a main path. If we're hiding, how about we actually hide!

ELIZABETH

I love Una approaching this practically. Like, "do you guys just wanna take side streets?"

MIRA

Just like, "Can we just—?"

ANNIE

Yeah, that's cause she's a rogue!

ROVER

I kind of want to—I kind of see it like, in game, Corwin would have had to roll, however there's someone else who's also struggling with that, so I'd say it as Disadvantage. It's already not going great. So I'd genuinely say, even without Insight checks, these two have some issues going on.

ANNIE

Mmhmm!

ROVER

And you guys will notice immediately.

ANNIE

I will also say, Viktor probably knows about them already. If you've been out with me on an assignment, you know that I just don't talk to church people.

Yeah.

MIRA

Church people (laughs).

At least that, I feel like, would be apparent, because I feel like there's a lot of churches in London as well, so. I feel like Viktor would prioritize Corwin right now, because he's like, "Ah, Josie's got that shit." Like, he's seen that. So he's going to offer his arm, as subtly as he can, to Corwin to hook under, if she wants to.

ANNIE

I have a question for you, Jo.

Mmhmm.

ANNIE

What shape is Viktor in right now? What's your appearance at the moment? How large, how masc?

He is still the appearance he was when we entered Nyx's blacksmith shop.

ANNIE

Okay.

ELIZABETH

Oh!

He is this more androgynous, kind of...you can kind of tell he was inspired by Tieflings because he has his little horns. He has one canine kind of poking out of the corner of his mouth. He's a cutsie.

MIRA

Cute!

He is shorter than Corwin, right now. I think he is 165 or something like that in centimeters? In meters? You know, in something.

[Annie laughs]

In...in...aaaaaaa.

MIRA

In the system! In the system!

[Laughter]

ANNIE

In units!

ELIZABETH

He's a lil guy.

ANNIE

In measure.

MIRA

In the measure! (Laughs)

Yeah, so he...yeah. He's very unassuming, I think, in his current form. Yeah, offering his arm.

ELIZABETH

Okay yes, so. Sorry about that. I'd forgotten that Vik was in this form. I was thinking of Vik as very tall.

Oh, no.

ELIZABETH

Vik is short. But yes, Corwin would absolutely (laughs)...Corwin would absolutely, yes, loop her arm through his, and also just kind of, just kind of keep her eyes on the ground. She's just kind of following, trying not to attract notice.

ROVER

So you guys are still walking. Viktor has offered their arm for Corwin.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

I didn't realize there was gonna be quite so many Apollo people around. I mean, I knew that Oxford's a hub. But...(sighs) the sooner…

JO [as VIKTOR]

So...just one question. You don't have to go in depth, but—former colleagues, or people you just try to get away from?

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Nothing that's going to be a problem for any of you. Former colleagues.

JO [as VIKTOR]

That’s—okay. I was about to say, that's not what I asked. (Laughs)

He, as quietly as he can, so that nobody else hears but Corwin, is going to be like,

JO [as VIKTOR]

You're going to be alright.

ELIZABETH

Corwin is...not going to say anything. She's gonna just kind of cuddle in a little bit? You know like when you're holding arms with someone and you just kind of like, nestle into their shoulder a little? But she is, she's just gonna kind of swallow hard and just cuddle in a bit and then keep walking.

Fan art. I need fan art. Thank you. I need so much fan art.

[Laughter]

ANNIE

I would say if Josie hears the former coworkers bit, you're gonna kind of...Josie, I'd imagine, would be walking at the front of the group as she tends to, she's always trying to be out in front of everybody. But she's just gonna kind of—you kind of might catch her cock her head back a little bit, not quite look at you, but just kind of take notice and then keep going.

MIRA

Josie will remember that.

ANNIE

Basically yes! Exactly that!

ELIZABETH

Yeah.

MIRA

Okay.

[Evening ambience continues. Crickets, footsteps, and soft voices]

ROVER

Yeah. So, you guys are gonna walk towards Mechanics Incarnate. Once you guys get there, you can see this...it looks similar to Nyx's shop. There's colors with reds and browns and oranges in the entire thing. Where Nyx's shop was quite small, it was more of a rectangle hallway, this is...this is giant. This is a large, large store. And from the windows, you can see shelves with different types of clockwork figurines, and there's a section that is just parts of weaponry. And there are all kinds of mechanical stuff in there.

And on the signs that hang on the edges of the store, it is just these two cogwheels intertwined with each other. And the door is chained up.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Anyone have a key? Did we think to grab that?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

We probably should've asked Nyx for that one, huh? You know...

MIRA [as UNA]

Give me a moment. (Laughs)

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

That's on us, Vik.

ANNIE

And then I will try to stand sort of in front of the door. If Una is genuinely gonna go over there and try to look at the lock, I'm gonna try to stand in front to try and block the view. Just looking away.

ROVER

Okay.

MIRA

Yeah, I would very much like to do that please.

ROVER

Alright. Go for it.

Rik was—Rik? Who's Rik? Rik is on the Protectors team by the way, he's a lovely guy. We love him.

[Laughter]

Vik—fuck me. Vik was about to grab his Thieve's Tools, and was seeing Una grabbing hers, and was like, "Okay, well, let the new girl show off."

ANNIE

"Ah, you're gonna do this better. Yeah."

Yeah yeah. No, oh! You don't know!

[Laughter]

ROVER

Alright, Una?

MIRA

Sleight of Hand, then? Just a simple...?

ROVER

Yep. Roll me Sleight of Hand.

[Ominous creaking of a chair]

MIRA

Sorry, the die...fuck. (Laughs) Give me a sec!

[Laughter]

ANNIE

Ha ha! Yes!

ELIZABETH

You Sleight of Handed so well that your dice disappeared.

ANNIE

Yeah, exactly.

MIRA

So I have rolled...it's so hard to see this number. Oh, it's so hard to see this number. Oh, it's a 17, plus...25 please.

ANNIE

Oh wow! Okay!

ELIZABETH

Wooooow.

MIRA

25 please.

ROVER

25? So while Viktor is kind of a little bit like, "Ah, you know. Let her show off a bit." She does. She very much shows off. It is literally, it's like...working with the Thieve's Tools and it's unlocked. 10 seconds. Maybe even less.

MIRA

Una just goes (blows out quickly).

Yeah, she blows on it and it opens.

[Laughter]

MIRA

(Laughing) Joking.

ROVER

So the chains fall down the side, and the door is now officially unlocked.

MIRA

Just for the flavor, can I say that Una would have been a bit careful and actually try to support the chains, just so they don't go kchsssssshhh!

ANNIE

Waaa-shiiiing! (Laughs)

MIRA

(Laughing) I shall do that.

ROVER

Absolutely. Can I, by the way, know...have you guys just actively been standing around this shop in the middle of the street, and not been stealthy?

ANNIE

I mean—

No!

ANNIE

—yeah, Josie's just been standing. I don't know what the others—Josie's just been standing up front facing away from the door, just talking to the others, hanging. Looking nonchalant, but...

ROVER

Got it.

ANNIE

...not hiding that I'm here.

Yeah, I feel like we would have done the thing where it's like, the three of us very much looking like, just, normal people talking in front of a closed shop. It's like, not, yeah...

ELIZABETH

I agree.

ROVER

Okay. Yeah. I'll take that without a roll, then.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

You're really good at that.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Mmhmm.

MIRA [as UNA]

(Whispering) Thanks. Right, just before...

MIRA

And then this is when it's like, look left, look right (mimics a door creaking open).

[Door creaks open]

[Laughter]

The door.

ROVER

The door opens, and you guys enter Mechanics Incarnate.

[Shop ambience begins: Mechanical clicks and whirs, clocks ticking, and occasional dings]

Once you kind of see all of these shelves, there are...there is a desk at the very end, and it's this large, service desk with...one part of it is part of a workshop. It's this workbench. And there is a backdoor, which is kind of, this door is like slightly opened. And next to that, give me a Perception check, everyone.

ANNIE

And one quick note is, once I am...Josie's gonna try to go into the door last and close the door behind her.

ELIZABETH

Smart. Also just noting for—

MIRA [as UNA]

I could even lock it, if you want.

ELIZABETH

Oh, sorry babe. Also just noting for everyone that, I think, Una you do still have Darkvision just now, right? Cause it would be dark probably, at 8pm in the UK?

It's for 8 hours.

MIRA

Yeah.

ANNIE

Yeah.

ROVER

Yeah, she got a Darkvision for 8 hours, so that's all good.

[Dice clunks]

MIRA

I can see forever!

ANNIE

18.

ELIZABETH

Nat 1 baby.

ANNIE

Ooooh.

Aw! Oh baby girl.

ROVER

Let's see, 23...so we've got 18, we got 23 from Una, we got 1 from Corwin. And 13 from Viktor. So I will say, Corwin, this is all so much stuff you are not, you are not even aware this is so much stuff that was worked into weaponry and these kind of clockwork stuff.

[Ticking, dings, and whirs continue]

With the 13, you can kind of see these different parts. There are...there is this…I'm going to need people to help me with words here. You know where, in those science classes, you have the skeleton that stands there, right? What is that on? That is on this rack or something?

Like the stand holding it?

MIRA

The stand?

ROVER

The stand, yeah?

ELIZABETH

A display stand, maybe?

ROVER

Yeah, so kind of, a display stand, yeah. So there's, on this display stand, there is this kind of half-made mechanical body. There's, like, one leg is mechanical. There's a torso that's mechanical. There's an arm that's mechanical. The head, shoulders doesn't really fully exist yet. You can see that he has been working on that.

I will note that everyone, obviously, above a 13, will also notice this. And for the 18, you will see that Jonny has had like, at the back of the shelves, at the back of the desk, you will see some shelves where there are these actual clockwork figurines that are not for sale. And you can clearly see that there's this clockwork figurine that very much reminds you of Nyx.

Aw!

ANNIE

Aww.

My heart.

ROVER

That he kind of just made. And with the 23, you can see he has on one of the sides of the walls, he has in, there's this frame where there is part of a newspaper that just says, "Local Artificer Saves Man's Life."

MIRA

Can I read that article?

Lore. Lore. Lore. (Laughs)

ROVER

You can absolutely read this article, if you want.

MIRA

Yeah, I would love to read that article please.

ANNIE

Alright gang, look for clues.

ROVER

So it's not, you can't see the full articles. You…it's like ripped out of it, just the headline. There's this picture of the shop, and then there's the subtitle text. And from what you can get from that, is...artificer saw this man collapse next to his shop, and he made him a new heart. He actively made him a new heart.

MIRA

Upon reading those words, I am going to come up to the skeleton. Cause I would find that extremely fascinating.

ROVER

Mmhmm.

MIRA

Cause it's new! It's, it's new technology, right?

[Laughter]

ANNIE

Oh, especially for you!

ROVER

I have, I have Jo staring me into my soul, and I think I know why—

ROVER

—but I'm not quite sure. Anyway.

Jo has connected dots. Viktor has not.

ROVER

Yes, Mira? Continue.

MIRA

No no, I just, Una would read that...what's the date on that? Cause obviously there would be a date of the article? It doesn't need to be exact. You can just throw out, like, a month ago! 17 years ago!

ROVER

It's in 1919—no. It seems to be a couple years ago.

MIRA

Oh, a couple of years ago. Is the name of a person, the saved person, mentioned?

ROVER

No, it's not mentioned.

MIRA

Okay. I would, yeah, just come up to the skeleton. Just would like to have a look at that, cause that seems very interesting, to be honest.

ROVER

We'll go past everyone first, then I'm going to come back to the skeleton. Yes. I heard either Josie or Viktor.

ANNIE

Josie is going to...two things. First, Josie is going to go to the desk and start looking for paperwork, correspondence, anything with a date that a) might indicate what the latest date on anything I can find is to try and establish when exactly he disappeared versus when we found out about it.

ROVER

Mmhmm.

ANNIE

And b) just any clues on if he was talking to anyone specific, making any kind of plan, anything like that. Just so looking for correspondence and documents on the desk.

ROVER

Got it. Give me an Investigation roll.

[Dice tower clacks]

ANNIE

That is a 7.

ROVER

You...there's a lot of papers. There's another copy of that article. Once again, slightly ripped out. Clearly, there was a part where he kind of seemed to have ripped through parts of the article—

ANNIE

Mmm.

ROVER

—and was like, "I need to get a new one because I fucked up—"

Awww.

ANNIE

Right.

ROVER

"—the cut of it." So there's multiple ones of those. He, you can clearly tell he was good at doing anything mechanical. Was not very good when it came to, like papers. And even if you're looking at blueprints, it is just scrabbling.

ANNIE

Sounds like me.

ROVER

He, it's just scrabbles of blueprints. And you can see parts of airships that he has made, stuff like that. But there doesn't seem to be any kind of notes that was in it.

ANNIE

And the other thing, you can come back around to me, but just to name what I'm gonna do when you come back around: the next thing Josie is looking for is anything that looks like either, I'm thinking like a hard-to-reach spot where something might be stashed, or a space that would be difficult to get through, that might have something behind it. Just sort of looking for...

The secret compartment in the desk.

ANNIE

No no, not in the desk, just in the whole shop. Because, to be clear about my intentions, she's looking for if there's anything where she might need to turn into a cat to get to it, cause no one else could. That's what she's looking for. Just in case it would be useful.

ROVER

Yeah, understood.

Aw, Josie. That's cute.

MIRA

Aww.

ELIZABETH

I love Josie.

Viktor, who clocked that Josie's taking care of the desk/working station kind of thing, would...I'm so sorry, but he's just the person for that. He would make a whole show about going to the back room, with Corwin, and being like, with a smile, like not to be patronizing at all, just you know, being like, making a joke out of this,

JO [as VIKTOR]

You, you have my back, right? When I go in there?

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Of course, always.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Good. Good.

And go to the back room.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, Corwin's gonna follow.

[Ticking and mechanical whirring continues]

ROVER

Alright, you guys are gonna follow that. I will come back to that in a moment. Skeleton.

[Laughter]

MIRA

Skeleton!

ANNIE

Skeleton!

MIRA

Tis I! Ha!

ANNIE

Huzzah!

[We all lose it]

MIRA

By the power of the Great Skeleton! Sorry.

ROVER

The mechanical parts stand, yeah.

MIRA

Yeah. I just, Una would come up to it, proper like, you know when you're looking at a piece of art, and you're trying to like, just understand. Cause she hasn't seen something like that before, kind of thing. Or at least, as far as she can remember. Just, yeah, just looks at it, trying to figure out why, what does it do, what makes it tick. (Laughs)

(Laughs) Good one.

MIRA

Does it move?

ROVER

So, give me an Investigation check.

MIRA

An Investigation—let me roll it.

ROVER

I will say, Corwin and Viktor, also roll me Investigation, just for, beforehand.

[Good dice clacks]

MIRA

(Quietly) Investigation. So, that's a 16 please.

ROVER

16.

ELIZABETH

That is a 19, oh woah—that is a 19 from Corwin.

ROVER

Keep that for when I'm coming back to you guys, yes. So we got a 16?

MIRA

Mmhmm.

ROVER

It is not necessarily made to connect with each other. Like, he isn't trying to build a robot or something out of this. It is clearly, like, this seems to be some kind of work stand, where he wants to build parts of it together.

MIRA

Right.

ROVER

And even if you try to find things that are under it, there are no, like, what you've read in the article about the heart that he built, it's not like that was in or is still in that in any way. It seemed to really just be a way for that...funnily, the left arm is not there. Knowing that the type of things that you make you will recognize from the arm that Nyx has.

So these are clearly things that he is making just to be sure, so that he can either replicate this for other people, or that he can have on hand if something goes wrong, he can make something like that.

MIRA

Okay. Can I just make one note?

ROVER

Yes, absolutely.

MIRA

I just would like to, and I hope everyone would agree, we did not turn any lights on, did we? Everyone can see in the dark.

Yes.

ANNIE

Yeah.

MIRA

Good, good, good.

ROVER

Good to know, good to know. Yeah.

ANNIE

Very good to establish that, yeah!

MIRA

I was like, (laughs). I was like mm-mm. I know that you want to, well you're going to be moving on to Josie, I'm guessing, so Una would make a comment like,

MIRA [as UNA]

Your friend has been into...interesting things, it seems.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

He's the best at what he does in a way that, frankly, I don't think anybody else can quite keep up with the things that he makes. So, it makes sense that we'd find a lot of stuff in here that's pretty much one of a kind.

MIRA [as UNA]

Hmm. Yeah. Any idea what I should look...any ways I can help? You guys knew him.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Um…At this point, the only thing we're really here for is information. Anything that indicates if something happened to him. Anything that indicates if he intentionally went somewhere. I don't have a better idea than that at the moment, unfortunately.

MIRA [as UNA]

Okay. In that case, to not be in your way, I'm just gonna keep an eye on the front door and the window.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Okay. Make sure to poke around a little bit. Anything suspicious to you, even if you think I might already know about it, you never know.

ELIZABETH

If Corwin can hear this, she might pipe up, like,

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Might be worth checking the locks? Seeing if anything looks forced, if...you know, maybe he left on his own.

ROVER

Can I have, if, and I want to make sure because Una said something about helping—would you help investigate stuff, even if you're going through towards the door, and stuff?

MIRA

Yeah.

ROVER

Because otherwise, I will let Josie roll with Advantage.

MIRA

Yeah yeah yeah, no absolutely. But like, just want to kind of say that.

ROVER

Cool.

ANNIE

Yeah.

MIRA

She would be by...she would be on the lookout, essentially, just to say it plainly.

ROVER

Yeah, perfect.

Good call. Best Perception in the party.

ROVER

Perfect, perfect.

ANNIE

Yeah.

By far.

ROVER

Yeah, actually! Alright, give me Investigation with Advantage.

[Dice tower clacks]

ANNIE

That’s pretty good. Oh wow! Okay. I got a 19.

ROVER

Oh.

ELIZABETH

Let's go! Good job!

ANNIE

I had an 18, and then a 19, so that was good Advantage.

Well done. Well done.

ROVER

19. So…I will come back to that.

ANNIE

Okay.

The suspense.

ROVER

We have the...once you go to the backrooms. The backrooms?

Yes, we are in the backrooms.

ANNIE

The backrooms!

[Laughter]

ROVER

You're going into the backrooms! You're going into the back room. And the back room is not necessarily a back room. The back room is a stair. Stairs that go up.

Oh.

[The shop ambience stops]

ROVER

And once you go up...there, this door is also slightly opened, and once you go in, you can hear, kind of, ruffling through, like it seems to be like something or someone is ruffling through stuff.

[Soft thumps and rustling of cloth]

If you see through the gap, or you walk through that room, you can kind of see this very cozy living room space. Could potentially be that Jonny also just literally lived above his store.

[Footsteps, creaking of doors, rustling of papers and clothes, and thumps as items are moved around]

So we hear someone riffling through things in the living room?

ROVER

In the living room, or something in, like, a little bit further into that room.

Can we see?

ELIZABETH

Yeah, can we—?

ROVER

Give me a Perception check, both of you. I can, in my head, it's like, pokes head around, pokes the head above it.

ELIZABETH

Yes. 100—

Yeah, we are Scooby-Doo-ing right now. (Laughs)

ELIZABETH

Yes.

[Laughter]

[Dice clunks and clacks]

Oh, where's Una when I need her? Ah, it's not that bad. The numbers on these dice. It's not that bad...it's not the best, that's what I wanted to say.

ELIZABETH

Corwin rolled a 5.

MIRA

Baby girl. Baby girl!

ROVER

Corwin has not been rolling very well!

Also, Perception?

ROVER

Yeah, Perception.

Ah...16.

ROVER

Okay. So while Corwin is looking through the living room, it is quite small for how big and grand the store downstairs is. This is just kind of like small rooms with each other. There's a door that, it's not really a door, it's just this—

Archway?

ROVER

Yeah, it's just this archway into a kitchen.

[Rustling of cloth and quiet footsteps continue]

And there is a door to the side that Corwin is sadly not focusing on, because that's where the riffling through stuff comes from. It's from the, once again, slightly open door, kind of in a corner.

Once you're in that living room, there is an archway and a door in the corners of it, yeah.

I think Viktor is going to cast Message, to have a connection with Corwin.

ELIZABETH

Smart, smart.

And in her head, be like,

JO [as VIKTOR, through Message]

There's someone else here. So we should sneak up on them and try and see if we can interrogate them.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN, through Message]

Yeah, sounds great. You lead the way.

JO [as VIKTOR, through Message]

Alright!

[Annie laughs]

ROVER

Okay, give me a Stealth check.

ANNIE

I love that we have the big, clanky paladin and the squishy warlock sneaking up...

[Laughter]

MIRA

I was about to say, but I didn't want to jinx it! Oh no!

ROVER

Yep. Yep.

ANNIE

While the rogue and the druid are downstairs! (Laughs)

ELIZABETH

(Vague anxious squeal) This is fine, everything's fine.

[Dice clunks]

ANNIE

It's perfect.

MIRA

We also split the party.

ELIZABETH

It's not a nat 20, but it is a 21. In Stealth.

ROVER

Oh. Okay, good.

ANNIE

Ayyy. And then Jo...

ROVER

Uh oh.

Dirty 20.

ANNIE

Ayyy!

ROVER

Ooh! Okay, okay, nice.

MIRA

Oh! (Claps)

ANNIE

Let's go!

Viktor has a +4 on Stealth, so we're good.

ELIZABETH

Oh! Corwin's a +3.

MIRA

Nice nice!

ROVER

You guys can stealthily walk through the living room until you get to the door that is once again slightly opened. And you can see, this is a bedroom.

[Rhythmic ticking and whirring noises begin]

And it has...for how small Jonny actually is, it has this large bed. Like, he has actively profited off of the fact that he is now working also for, for...like he's making the crown and stuff. He's working for the kingdom. And he made something cozy, but also just beautiful out of it.

He made this, while downstairs everything is still kind of that brown, rusty colors of all the cogwheels and mechanical parts—he has made this clock in the corner that is actually painted and things like that. And he has a desk next to his bed, like his nightstand, where someone is ruffling through the stuff.

[Cloth rustling, faint thumps]

And it is this, from what you can see, Halfling man. And his hair is in this kind of afro style, but more gathered into a bun. This large trench coat, same as Jonny would always wear. And he seems to be ruffling through the nightstand.

(Sighs) I'm sorry, Jo is thinking.

ELIZABETH

Lizzie is also thinking.

ROVER

You guys think, and I will go back down.

Yes, we are thinking, we are panning back to the others.

ELIZABETH

Good plan, good plan.

[Shop ambience returns: mechanical ticking and whirring, occasional dings]

ROVER

Yeah, so you rolled a 19 Josie, with that. And obviously Una's also still looking around. Una, you can definitely notice that no one's looking your way. Like there is...the front door is closed, people are not looking inside. People are not even noticing that people are inside. And in one of the corners of the shop, there is an open…open mailbox that could have been closed. He could have just forgotten to leave it open. With that, Josie, on the workbench, you find an envelope with, in very neat handwriting, there is just Jonny's name. Like, "Jonny de Rolo," and there's this line under it. And it is open.

ANNIE

Is there any—is it still have its contents in it? Is it just an empty envelope?

ROVER

It does not have its contents in it anymore.

ANNIE

Okay. And there's no other marking information. I mean a stamp, presumably, but—

ROVER

There seems to, like, there's pens behind it—or, behind it—there’s pens on the workbench. But what has been in it...could have been one of those pens, but seems unlikely. It could be that something that was in that envelope, he either has taken with him, or it has something to do with that.

MIRA

Okay.

ANNIE

Aaaah.

ROVER

From upstairs, you guys can just hear dun-dun,

[Echoing thumps]

…as upstairs, the man drops, on accident, this photo frame. Do you guys speak Halfling? I don't think anyone speaks Halfling, do you?

Hang on, let me actually check, cause Viktor can do a lot of things.

MIRA

Give me a sec.

[Annie laughs]

ELIZABETH

I do not.

MIRA

Not one of the languages I know.

No.

ROVER

Alright, so there is some words in Halfling being said, mostly to himself. So yeah, you can hear that falling from upstairs.

As we scan back to upstairs…

[Shop ambience fades away, replaced by the rhythmic ticking and whirring of the clock]

(Laughs) Okay.

MIRA

(Laughing) Did you guys think about it?

ELIZABETH

We did!

Yes, we did.

ELIZABETH

We were side chatting.

We were side chatting. We came up with a plan. So Viktor is not even actually addressing that in the Message thing with Corwin, just hoping she naturally does that. He kind of leans against the doorframe, door open now, and goes,

JO [as VIKTOR]

(Clears throat) Can we help?

Hoping that Corwin does something behind him to look intimidating.

[Laughter]

ELIZABETH

Yep. Behind him, Corwin is gonna kind of like, you know, she's wearing leather armor, she's tall, she's gonna kind of thunk her halberd against the ground and do her best to fill the doorframe. And just kind of look as bulk and intimidating as she can.

ROVER

So both of you give me an Intimidation check.

Oh, yes.

[Dice clacks]

Ahhhh, this is going to be very interesting.

[Giggles from the group]

ELIZABETH

That is an 18 from Corwin.

MIRA

Who's the good cop, who's the bad cop? (Laughs)

ROVER

18 from Corwin.

ANNIE

Oh, Jo.

ROVER

Oh no. Did you roll a natural 1?

No, I—(laughs) I rolled a natural 20. Again.

ELIZABETH

Ayy!

I have a +7 on Intimidation.

ELIZABETH

Yes!

MIRA

Nice!

I am now at a 27. Being there, in my full gear.

ROVER

Okay, so, he turns around, he's like,

ROVER [as HALFLING MAN]

(Scared noises) What is—?

ROVER

And he's still, kind of, he once again drops the frame that he just picked up, and he has his hands full with clothes and these, these figurines that you saw downstairs, he has a couple of them in his arms. And he kind of stumbles around. I'm gonna roll...

[Soft dice thunks]

...shit. That's what I rolled.

[Laughter]

(Laughing) I'm gonna roll shit.

ROVER

And he takes a couple stumbles back, hits his foot against the bedframe, is just like,

ROVER [as HALFLING MAN]

Fu—ah. I, I, ah—Did I forget to close...? Should have closed the door.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

You...you are robbing the place? Are you kidding me? Don't you have any professional pride?

ROVER [as HALFLING MAN]

Robbing the place? Robbing—who's the robbers here?

JO [as VIKTOR]

(Out of the corner of his mouth) I, I think that might be someone, one of Jonny's....

Through his teeth, to Corwin.

ROVER

Downstairs, you can hear the commotion going on.

ANNIE

Right, we can hear voices, basically?

ROVER

You can hear voices. You can hear a voice that is not Viktor or Corwin.

ANNIE

Yeah, Josie's beelining for the stairs. She's not, like, in a panic, like drawing her weapons, ready to fight. But she's like, "I need to be there." She can tell they're obviously not yelling, but she's like, "well, that's where the action is. Let's go."

MIRA

I hang back. I'm basically just keeping an eye on the door. If anyone is gonna make it from the upstairs, then I can potentially intercept them as well. (Laughs)

ANNIE

Yeah.

ELIZABETH

Smart.

ANNIE

Good idea.

MIRA

I'm staying downstairs.

ROVER

Got it, got it, got it.

Yeah, Viktor, through his teeth, is going, to Corwin, being like,

JO [as VIKTOR]

(Through his teeth) I think that might be a relative, not a thief.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

(Through her teeth) What kind of relative just—

ELIZABETH

Well, I guess we have Message, still.

Um, yeah—I think it's funnier if they are arguing in front of that poor man.

[Laughter]

ANNIE

That they forget!

MIRA

All that intimidation!

ELIZABETH

Corwin's like,

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

(Through her teeth) What kind of relative would be this sloppy? What kind of relative grabs a handful of clothes?

JO [as VIKTOR]

(Through his teeth) I don't know, I don't have any.

Turning back to that guy.

MIRA

(Laughing) My god!

ANNIE

Oh my god!

ELIZABETH

(Laughing) Corwin just, face falls, just—

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Oh! (Through her teeth) Well I have lots and that's not how they react.

JO [as VIKTOR]

(Through his teeth) Okay, I'm glad you have someone (mutters quietly)—

Okay, turning back to that man, loosens up a little, trying to be less intimidating. Like clocking that he's, while everything is full of stuff he could steal and sell, this is not a thief. This is a guy kind of gathering stuff from someone he knows or is related to. He's like,

JO [as VIKTOR]

I assure you, we are not trying to steal anything. We're trying to find out what happened to the owner of this store. And I'm assuming you know Jonny?

ROVER

Josie?

ANNIE

Yeah for, I think, just to add to, just to sort of punctuate that line, I think it's during that sentence that Josie will arrive behind you guys there, see him there, hear you saying...yeah, hmm, no hear you saying we're trying to find out what happened to him. And she's going to flash something that she has that has a bounty hunter insignia on it, to show that we're not just random motherfuckers coming in here.

Especially if they, if they're a relative of his, they probably know he worked with Nyx, who is part of the bounty hunters. So, I just kind of go, like, official—it's like a cop flashing a badge, right? Official business, kind of thing.

ROVER

Yeah.

Right right.

MIRA

(Laughing) Official business.

ANNIE

But she won't say anything, just whoop.

ROVER

So...he sees that, and he still kind of, he's looking around, he seems to be kind of nervous, in a way of being like,

ROVER [as HALFLING MAN]

(Stammering) I-I-I'm not robbing the place. I-I promise.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Oh, I know.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Remains to be seen.

ROVER [as HALFLING MAN]

(Stammering) Ah-wha-you guys, you've worked with him, I suppose?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Peripherally. We've met him a few times.

Viktor's going to take half a step towards that man.

ROVER

Mmhmm.

Extending his right hand, and being like, politely being like,

JO [as VIKTOR]

Viktor Valthayne. It's a pleasure.

ROVER

He looks down at the hands that are full of stuff. He just, kind of just, instead of that, he does a little bow forward, not wanting to be impolite, but actively showing like, "I don't have the hands for that currently."

[Annie laughs]

And yeah, so he's like,

ROVER [as MARCUS DE ROLO]

Marcus. Marcus de Rolo.

ROVER

This is quite an older man. He seems to be definitely over 100. The most important thing that you can notice is he looks quite tired. He has these quite heavy eye bags under his eyes. Yeah he’s…you can clearly see that he probably hasn’t slept in a while, or if he did, it wasn’t a great couple of nights of sleep. He's like,

ROVER [as MARCUS]

I, I was just getting stuff. Sorry. Did I—were you guys investigating this place? I mean, I'm sure Safra already knows about...his disappearance. He's—

JO [as VIKTOR]

She knows.

ROVER [as MARCUS]

Okay.

ELIZABETH

Corwin is gonna stop blocking the door, cause I realized that she was blocking Josie.

[Laughter]

So Corwin is going to stop blocking the door and kind of like step inside and step a little to the side. And face softens, and just goes,

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

I'm sorry. I'm sure this must be a really hard time for you. We're here to help. We're here to help find him.

ROVER [as MARCUS]

That's, that's good. I'm glad there are some professionals actually looking for him. I'm sure...I'm sure people will be glad to know that. Can I, can I, can I do something for you guys? Is there anything I can...help with? I...do you mind if I just drop this somewhere?

ROVER

And he looks down at the pile of clothes that he has.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Oh. Oh, sure.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Do you want help with that?

ROVER [as MARCUS]

Ah, no, no-no-no-no-no. I can do it.

ROVER

And he walks past you guys into the living room and places the clothes very carefully, almost too carefully, onto the desk. And he wipes off his hands. And then, he still goes back to shake, to Viktor again, and he's like,

ROVER [as MARCUS]

I do want to…sorry.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Oh, don't—no worries.

[Rhythmic clock ticking and whirring continues]

ROVER

For everyone's knowledge, can I have a History check from everyone that isn't Una, because Una is downstairs!

[Laughter]

ANNIE

I’m gonna, I am gonna poke my head...I'm gonna poke my head down, like, over to the stairs, and just go,

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Una, one of Jonny's relatives is up here. Just so you know, that's who we're talking to.

MIRA [as UNA]

(Far away) Oh, all good?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

All good.

MIRA [as UNA]

(Far away) Okay! I will keep an eye down here.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Thank you!

[Dice clacks]

ELIZABETH

Ah, that's a 19 from Corwin.

MIRA

Whoo!

ROVER

19?

ELIZABETH

Yes.

ANNIE

13.

ROVER

13.

Ah, 22.

[Laughter]

ROVER

Oooh, okay. No, I will then count it for everyone, even. This is...Jonny's profession doesn't come from just his love for that. His entire family works into building things. His dad actually started making the mechanical cars that are now for…kind of slowly starting to run the city. And he, Marcus de Rolo, is the big name on that. Which is also why Jonny became such a big part, because they were like, "Oh yeah, he can do some small stuff," and then Jonny actively made a heart. And they were like, "Okay, get him on the side of projects right now."

So yeah, that's Marcus de Rolo for you.

Did he invent cars? Or…

ROVER

He did.

Oh, damn.

ELIZABETH

Wooow.

ROVER

He did.

ANNIE

So Marcus is his dad.

ROVER

Yes, Marcus is his dad. He…his outfit looks more scruffy, like you can see in newspapers most of the time that he keeps himself quite well kept, and now his coat looks a little bit dirty, it’s kind of just hung from his shoulders in a way that he probably just put it on without really thinking about what he looked like.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Um, do you know...do you know if Jonny was talking to anyone before he disappeared? If there's any...anyone that you didn't know? Anyone that we might, might be worth us checking out? Any leads?

ROVER [as MARCUS]

I mean, he, like, like you guys, I'm, I'm not saying that I don't trust you, but he works for a lot of people. I'm unsure who he could have been involved with that would have been in any way dangerous to him, because this entire job is full of danger, isn't it? I mean, he works with Nyx at the Wanted Dead, I mean, you guys (shaky breath) probably know that. He...I don't know, he, he sometimes goes to Manchester. He, he has some people at the university, where he gets stuff. He does some extra research with the university there.

He also, like, he went to school there when he was younger. He always loved Manchester.

ROVER

And he keeps kind of just rambling on, at some point.

MIRA

Rambling (laughs).

ROVER

Yeah.

The more Manchester gets mentioned, the more Viktor starts shaking. Yeah...not fully there right now.

ELIZABETH

If Vik is okay with...mmmm would, is this something that Corwin would notice? Or is this something that Vik is kind of trying to be discreet about?

I think it is like someone starting to get a panic attack. You are not actively trying to avoid anything. More like that, yeah.

ELIZABETH

So, if you're okay—which, I'd feel okay if you vetoed this—but if you're okay with Corwin noticing, she will probably, cause we were fairly close, she'll probably take a step closer to you and just barely let, kind of like, our, the edges of our bodies touch? Just so that you have, kind of, like, the warmth and solidity of a person right next to you, like something to ground you a little bit. And she won't draw attention to it. She'll keep looking at Marcus, and continuing to talk to him, but just kind of trying to give you something to ground to if you want it.

There's just every so slightly leaning in. Like, without making it apparent. This very, very tiny kind of leaning in.

ROVER

Mmhmm.

ANNIE

While that's happening, and he's rambling, Josie's gonna go,

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Um, okay, do you know...when's the last time you saw him, and when's the last time anyone you know saw him, for sure?

ROVER [as MARCUS]

Oh man, I don't, I don't know. I rarely see him, actually. He's always somewhere. Like, he's either, he's either with Tobias. He's either with you guys. He's (shaky breath) all over the place. I know that he went to Manchester again, like, like the day before he left, he came by to our house for dinner. And, you know, he brought, he actually brought your friend. Nyx, I think is her name? He brought her over. Lovely woman, by the way. She's great. So, so, if, I don't know if you're even suspecting Nyx, but Nyx wouldn't...I know for a fact Nyx would never do anything.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

She's horribly torn up about it.

ROVER [as MARCUS]

Yeah, I, I get that. She, um, she has taken very good care of Jonny for the past couple of years that he has been with the Bounty Hunters. I hear many different stories about Safra being someone and Nyx being someone, and how that's always kind of, like, there's always a story with them. But he went to, he went to Manchester. I think he was gonna meet up with Ms. Williams, I think? Who is...I think he said an Evocation teacher, I think?

He's always busy. He went there so many times. I don't know. I have not...it could be that he's still there, and something happened, I don't know.

[Rhythmic clock ticking and whirring continues]

JO [as VIKTOR]

So um (clears throat). Where, ah, where does he keep his books then? I feel like there might be information there, as well?

ROVER [as MARCUS]

He...his books? His books?

JO [as VIKTOR]

Yeah, what he...the stuff he did for people? What he…the things—

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Accounting books.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Yes. That.

ROVER [as MARCUS]

Oh...ah...I'm, I'm unsure actually. I never, I never really saw his accounting room, I'd say. Or books. Or shelf. We keep ours at home. He's always wanted to kind of separate from us. Not in a family way, but in a, he wants to do his own thing. He got this store from us. I got my own place over...it doesn't matter.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

That would be a good place to start looking, then—is anywhere we can find those.

Quick out of character question.

ROVER

Mmhmm.

Does the teacher's name mean anything to Viktor?

ROVER

Ms. Williams has taught, is still teaching, from what you know, at the University of Manchester. And she's indeed the Evocation teacher. She is at the part of the actual Wizardry school. And yeah, you've seen her a couple times. So yeah, you would know her. However, she has never…you guys have never interacted.

So, Una.

[Clock ticking stops, shop ambience returns: fast ticking, whirring, and dings]

MIRA

Oh yes.

ROVER

Give me a Perception check.

MIRA

My very first question, what's gonna be going through Una's mind, is: "The front door was locked. I opened it, and there's someone else inside." I would be frantically looking for any other way in into this property (laughs). I literally wrote it down. How did, the hell did he get in?

[Annie laughs]

But I don't know. Maybe there's a back door. Perception, did you say?

ROVER

Mmhmm.

MIRA

That's a 9. Ahhhhh, okay that gave me 15.

ROVER

15. Hold up. That was a 15 on a Perception check. Keep that 15, roll me Investigation.

MIRA

Oh! Keep that 15!

ROVER

Keep that 15.

MIRA

(Quietly) Crap. (Normally) That's a 22.

ROVER

There is another back door towards the back of the building, that is slightly open. However, that is not the first thing you would be finding. Next to that, in between the shelves of figurines, you can see that, under one of the figurines is kind of like, it seems to be a sort of pressure plate, that one of them is standing on. And it's kind of this circular outline around the actual clockwork figurine.

MIRA

Okay. You know what they say...gelatinous cube ate the curious cat.

[Transcriber's note: Ask Mira about this sometime, listeners :) ]

ANNIE

Yeah, you're gonna trigger an Indiana Jones trap on us.

MIRA

Mmm. Pshew pshew. I mean...I'm not gonna touch it. I'm gonna wait. I'm not gonna interact with—so there's a doll directly on the pressure plate that's actually pushed in, I would presume?

ROVER

Yeah.

MIRA

Okay.

ROVER

There is. In one of the corners is the small back door, and then behind the desk is this long shelf of just small figurines.

MIRA

Right.

ROVER

And this kind of Dwarven figurine is on this, it could either be a pressure plate, it could be rotating. It is…

MIRA

Right.

ROVER

It seems to be something you can move, at least.

MIRA

Okay, okay. Is there a wall next to me, kind of thing? So if I was to go around it, would I kind of be able to...you know how, if there is a room, would I be able to gauge that, oh yeah, the depth of this area is different to the depth of this area, so there must be something this way. Kind of thing?

ANNIE

Hmmm.

ELIZABETH

Smart.

ROVER

There's not something in the walls, no.

MIRA

Okay.

ROVER

There seems to be a different depth when you're looking through the back room that the others left through, downstairs.

MIRA

Okay.

ROVER

Like, the stairs stop at some point, and if you turn to the side of that, it seems like there is...a part of that floor has a different depth to it.

MIRA

Right. Once again, I'm gonna take a mental note of that. I'm not gonna touch it. However, can I pay attention to some of...Una would find it intriguing, maybe for different reasons, she would find it intriguing that there is a figurine that resembles Nyx. And there is other figurines. Do they...would that seem purposeful? Or would you say...I know that's a very hard question to answer, actually. But like, would you say it's fair to assume that they look like those people? Like that, if there's one looking like someone that he knew, maybe there would be more, kind of thing?

Ah, like there's a theme. They all look like actual people?

ELIZABETH

Oh my gosh, they're voodoo dolls.

[Laughter]

ANNIE

That was my thought too.

ROVER

They do look like people you've either seen or recognize. You are pretty sure that when you look through actually all of the figurines, you're pretty sure that there's one that isn't necessarily perfect, but he's tried to work on a Safra one that did not go very well.

MIRA

Okay.

[Jo laughs]

ELIZABETH

Incredible.

ROVER

So it does keep reminding people, or like, it keeps reminding you of people that he's actively worked with—

MIRA

Okay.

ROVER

—or at least knows for some reason. The dwarf, however, on the...I'm gonna call it the rotating pressure plate, for now, because I don't know the right word for it.

MIRA

No, that's fine.

ROVER

You have not seen, you have not recognized, not even in The Wanted Dead group.

MIRA

Okay. That's fine. So that was, like, the back room, sorry, the back door.

ROVER

Mmhmm.

MIRA

So, without losing the eyesight of the front door, would it be possible for Una to walk up to the back door and actually close it? Like, pull it in? Cause you said it was ajar.

ROVER

You, yeah you can close that door. And if you keep an eye out on outside, with your 15 Perception check that you rolled before, you can see, in one of the alleyways, the orange Tabaxi that you guys saw on the train.

God fucking damn it.

ANNIE

(Sighs.)

[Resonant, percussive music begins]

ROVER

Actively looking at the shop. And once...

MIRA

I didn't notice him until now?

ROVER

Once you notice...no, you didn't. Once you notice him, or them, they give a little salute with their fingers, turn around the corner, and that's there.

ELIZABETH

Oh, I hate them!

ROVER

And that is—

ANNIE

Yeah.

ROVER

—where we end—

ANNIE

Aarghh.

ROVER

—this episode—

MIRA

(Gasps)

ELIZABETH

(Squeals)

ROVER

—of Remains To Be Seen.

Amazing.

ELIZABETH

Amazing.

ROVER

Thank you all so much for listening. And whatever happens next remains to be seen. Buh-bye everyone.

ALL

(Harmonizing beautifully) Bye!

[Show outro plays]

ROVER

Remains To Be Seen is an original podcast created by Dyaflame Studios and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution non-commercial share-alike 4.0 international license.

Today’s episode was produced by Anusia Battersby and edited by Rover Elliott and Jo Mendacium. It starred:

Elizabeth Simpson as Corwin Duvall
Jo Mendacium as Viktor Valthayne
Annie Ruby as Josie
Mirah Fae as Una
and Rover Elliott as the Dungeon Master

The intro and outro were composed by We Talk of Dreams, and the transcript was written by Elizabeth Simpson.

To get in touch with us and keep up to date with our antics, follow us on Instagram, BlueSky and TikTok @ DyaflameStudios or view our website at www.dyaflame.com

Check our show notes for additional credits, links and transcripts.