009 - Bounty Hunters - Dreams and Debts

Content Warnings
- Dead bodies/Corpse Remains
- Interrogation
- Nightmares
- Traumatic Memories
- Drowning
- Jesters
- Spiders
- Being Restrained
- Threats and Physical Violence

[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 DM, Rover Elliott, pronouns he/they, and today I am here with…

ANNIE

Annie Ruby, she/her.

ELIZABETH

Elizabeth Simpson, she/her.

Jo Mendacious, any pronouns.

MIRA

And Mira G, she/her.

ROVER

And who are you guys playing?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Josie, currently a giant, spooky, and exasperated spider.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Corwin, you know, just glad she got anything other than a nat 1 on at least one hit.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Viktor, in his element, reading in the dark.

MIRA [as UNA]

And Una who is not entirely sure what she has just done.

ROVER

So! Recap of the previous episodes. Let’s go…let’s go Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH

Alright, recap of the previous episodes. So we are still in Jonny’s shop, Mechanics Incarnate. Jonny is missing. We are…we began the episode in the basement, with the desiccated husk that was or is some remnant of Jonny. We began the episode, actually, with Vik and Josie having a bit of a conversation, talking. They are both dealing with a bit of emotional damage because they both knew Jonny much more than Una or Corwin did.

As they are talking, we hear breaking glass from upstairs, and very quickly, Una snuffs out the candle so that we are in darkness, to not reveal our location, which turned out to be very effective because we were mostly able to get up the stairs before we were able to be seen—with the minor exception of: we bumped into the edge of the stairs a bit at the top of the stairs just as we walked into the room, alerting the three enemies to our position.

Josie acted super quickly and cast Entangle, I believe? Yes. And that restrained one of the assailants, while two of the assailants were still in the middle of the room, still free to move, though they were acting under the Difficult Terrain modifier, which means that they were not able to move near as quickly as they would be otherwise.

We moved into combat, and it was a very active combat. (Laughs) Between Vik and Una, two of the enemies were killed, were dispatched very quickly. One, I believe, was gutted like a fish. The other was electrified and then, I believe, stabbed with a rapier. And also stabbed with a psychic knife. Lots of stabbing happening. I believe that was correct. If not, listen to the previous episode, correct me in the comments.

Josie, in the meantime, turned into a giant spider. Corwin tried and failed to attack Crossbow Person. Tried again, and managed to get a hit in. But before the Crossbow Person could retaliate, Josie’s held action, which was to Web them, went off, completely entrapping the final alive combatant (laughs) and thus ending our Initiative round.

Corwin mended all of the windows so that we were not quite as obvious to any passersby. Vik ran downstairs to get the rest of the research, because there are books left unread, and that is unacceptable in Vik’s world. And we are just about to interview our last remaining person.

If you want some more detail, listen to the episode. Yes.

ANNIE

Yeah, exactly. (Laughs) Before we get rolling on, I know that we were talking about opening with Viktor and the books, before we do the interrogation. I would say, based on an above-the-table conversation we had last time, as well as just in general, I think that Josie would say,

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Una, you stay with Vik downstairs while Corwin’s mending the windows, and then Corwin, join me when you’re done.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Sounds good to me.

MIRA [as UNA]

Okay.

ROVER

So, before we go into the interrogation, we are going downstairs into the basement for all of the knowledge that I wrote down in my notes, because Viktor found it. Alright, so…how much do you want to know?

[Ticking begins in the background]

I believe the thing I said was, I’m specifically searching for names I would recognize. I’m searching for connections to the crown. I’m searching for connections to Safra. Because in Viktor’s head: crown bad, and he does not trust Safra, especially with everything going down within the past, what, five hours?

So yeah, he kind of wants to see if he can find leads that either the crown or Safra or both are somehow conspiring against Jonny, or are linked to this. And I said, I think, also, he’s kind of, in passing, looking out for the name Aleksander Aintsworth.

ROVER

Okay. So…to get on all of the names that you have just said, let’s start with that one. You will not be finding anything from Aleksander Aintsworth. However, you do find that some of the books about tarot, about magic, are from the University of Manchester, and have been used by multiple…you can recognize a couple of the names from teachers there.

Uh-huh.

ROVER

Next to that, Safra, you can’t really find much. Jonny started working with the palace six years ago, and his first order was to make the new crown for the king.

Can I ask a question about the crown?

ROVER

Of course.

Because we would, we all kind of know that Jonny is being the crown smith—

ROVER

Yeah.

—and he was in the news with that title. Is there something special about that crown? Like is it a magical thing, or is it just pretty?

ROVER

It is a magical thing.

Okay.

ROVER

It has actual, like, the crystals that are worked in it could be…change colors—

Oh, okay.

ROVER

—depending on the event, for what is necessary. It’s more for the view of it, and kind of like a power…

Yeah yeah yeah, I see. I see.

ROVER

…a way to show the power, that they have someone who can make cool stuff like that. For a crown, it’s a very heavy, mechanical thing. And he got asked to make that after the incident that was in the newspaper, that he made a heart for someone.

Right.

ROVER

He got the knowledge that he could be able to work with them if he did that, and has literally their own place in Darlington Palace, where he is allowed to work.

Nyx has sometimes gone with, to that place. You can kind of read that he used to go there here and there throughout the week. Nyx went with him to Manchester around the 7th of September.

Shit. We are now in October?

ROVER

You are now in October. You are the 21st of October.

How close would the 7th of September be to…we know Jonny definitely for sure vanished.

ROVER

So, you’re unsure. However, in the conversation with Brian, there was a mention of if the same thing happened as what happened with the missing person who worked at the Apollo temple, that would have been the 19th of September. So it is just a bit before that. Yeah.

So it’s, it’s kind of close enough that it could be—

ROVER

It is close enough.

—not linked because it’s not, yeah. Yeah yeah, okay, I see. Mmhmm.

ROVER

Yeah. And he went there with Nyx. He came back about three days later, and went to…went to the store, to gather all his knowledges. Next to that, you’re gonna start to find the same work orders. In the weekends, he’s in Oxford, and Monday and Friday, he’s either at Darlington Palace, or he’s at the Wanted Dead. Sometimes it depends on the day, it depends on the moment, it depends on what’s necessary.

So in the week, Krillis, who is, who you can find an address for in Oxford, takes over the shop and does the necessary repairs for people coming in and sells weaponry. Most of the money they are currently making from government orders. There’s things for making weaponry for types of military uses.

The name of the dwarf is Krillis. K-R-I-L-L-I-S.

So yeah, they make a lot of money out of what the government asks for, but they also make a lot of money from the weaponry that needs to either be remade or just fixed up from the Wanted Dead.

They also have some orders on weaponry made for the Hunters Guild, from London. And you can see that Jonny collaborates with them, and sometimes he collaborates and teaches at the University of Manchester. There’s a lot of combinations there.

Let’s see. You’re able to find his dad’s name. You can see that Marcus is in some of the records. They are working to make ship mechanic parts in a location in Dover. And yeah, next to that, you’re gonna find more blueprints for body parts, mechanical weaponry, mechanical weaponry. I think that’s most of the stuff that you’re gonna be able to find, other than he started working at the Wanted Dead about 20 to 25 years ago.

The things Viktor would pocket are: the books about the Deck of Many Things, the books about tarot cards, and all the blueprints he can carry.

ROVER

Okay. I will allow you to take everything because I don’t care about inventory. I care about inventory, however, I don’t care how much there is.

Ro, would you like to say on record that Viktor, for some reason, might have a book-specific bag of holding sewn into his pocket, just to hold as many books as he can. (Laughs)

You know what, for the sake of it—!

ANNIE

Oh, oh, what are we getting?

He’s leaving. (Laughs)

ELIZABETH

Ro has left the mic.

MIRA

Oh, oh, for the sake of it, bye!

For the sake of it, fuck you! (Laughs)

ROVER

Alright, tell me one or two.

Two.

[Dice clacks]

ROVER

Yes.

[Laughter]

Ah! Oh. This is my birthday! (Laughs) Yes!

[Laughter]

Okay, okay. Mmmm. Ah! Okay, sorry. Sorry. Sorry.

ANNIE

You have a Pocket of Holding?

I have a Pocket of Holding.

ROVER

You have a Pocket of Holding.

ELIZABETH

Book-specific Pocket of Holding.

ANNIE

This is excellent.

I have achieved my warlock dreams.

ROVER

Yeah, book-specific Pocket of Holding.

Yeah, it’s book-specific.

ROVER

This is purely because I, for Bags of Holding, I genuinely don’t care. Like, actual Bags of Holding, I will give you guys at some point. However, for this…(whispers) I don’t care.

ANNIE

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. So ship parts—sorry, I’m almost, I’m still taking notes. So with Marcus, he specifically made ship parts for shit in Dover.

ROVER

For shit in Dover, together with…his dad helped working on that. And sometimes you can see that sometimes his dad financed some of the orders that they got, and sometimes Jonny did. It seemed to be collaboration with his dad.

Would it be…

ROVER

His dad made cars, to remind you. Yeah.

I know, that’s why I’m thinking. Would it be unusual for the guy who’s, more or less, famous for inventing cars, to work on something like ships? Or is it more like they want to modernize that part of transportation, too?

ROVER

Give me an Investigation check for if you can find what the reasoning is for the order.

[Dice clacks]

18.

ROVER

18. So, what you can find from some of the papers: his dad has tried to do some more on ships and stuff after the first parts of the mechanical cars became a thing. He’s been kind of wanting to expand stuff. And what is one thing that you also, as Viktor, and Josie would know this as well, is that Jonny has always had this interest in kind of, not really knowledge in the way you are for books…he wants to know what it’s like across the sea. He wants to know all the unknown stuff. Which is probably also why, when he was holding something new, was looking up every single possibility that he could.

ANNIE

To be clear, that’s across the Atlantic? Is what you’re saying, is what he wants to see? Okay.

ROVER

Yes. And currently, because of the way the world works, there shouldn’t be anything across the sea from Europe.

ANNIE

Yeah. New World? Never heard of her.

ROVER

Yeah, exactly. And Jonny’s been, always been very obsessed with getting to that knowledge, wanting to cross the sea. And he knows that it has never happened before, and he knows that’s not working, however, he wants to create something. You can kind of figure that out, he wants to create something that might be able to actually do that.

ANNIE

Cool.

ROVER

And his dad is just helping him with that. And yeah, that is in the location of Dover, at the haven, at the port.

Interesting.

ROVER

So that is the knowledge you can get from that.

ANNIE

Oof.

[Ticking continues]

I think Una was down there with Vik, right?

ROVER

Yeah.

MIRA

Yeah, this whole time. (Laughs) Apparently so.

He would have taken you with him on this journey. You can tell that he’s not necessarily the person who’s holding back information like that. If anything, you are…you are meeting a Viktor that is getting really fucking excited about solving a mystery. So he’s going to give you all the information I just got from Ro. And like, thinking aloud…

JO [as VIKTOR]

If that…if he’s…but I don’t think Dover is…important. What do you think?

MIRA [as UNA]

Well, the only other time recently I’ve heard about the Solar Bastion as well…I know that that wasn’t part of that, but, it’s when the prisoner stole the Deck of Many Things.

MIRA

And she would point at the book that…I’m guessing you were not, like, sneakily pulling it off, like…

Oh, no. He’s very openly…

MIRA

Yeah yeah yeah. So, so yeah.

ROVER

The Deck of Many Things book by the way is officially from the Solar Bastion. So Jonny has gotten connections for that.

MIRA

Yeah, so…yeah.

Oh!

MIRA

So that’s what I am putting together.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Good shout, good shout, yeah.

ANNIE

Mmhmm.

JO [as VIKTOR]

How did he get…I mean, he, I mean I guess when you work for the crown, you’re really fucking connected, right? And dead.

(Laughing) Pointing at the husk of Jonny.

[Laughter]

MIRA

Oh god.

ANNIE

Oh my god. Jesus.

ROVER

No, the husk is still there.

[Laughter]

JO [as VIKTOR]

Did...did anyone touch it yet?

MIRA [as UNA]

Touch what? Well, I thought people were examining it? Is it safe to assume that it was touched?

ANNIE

Josie would not have touched it. I don't know about Corwin, but Josie would have...I mean, even once I knew that it probably wasn't, like, a corpse, Josie is not touching that thing. She's just looking at it pretty close, and then going, eh.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, Corwin did not touch it. She thought about it, but kind of out of respect...

ANNIE

Hmm-mm-mm.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Hey, Una? Do me a favor. Get at least one of your knives out. I'm going to fucking touch that thing.

MIRA [as UNA]

Okay. Great.

MIRA

She doesn't get the knife out. (Laughs)

[Laughter]

Viktor, Viktor's like, pausing for a second, being like,

JO [as VIKTOR]

No...no bickering about that? Okay, fine.

MIRA [as UNA]

No. You wanna touch it, you can touch it. I don't...just touch it with the hand that you don't like.

[Laughter]

He's going to take his left hand and boop one of the hands. And just see if it falls—

ROVER

On the, on the hands?

Yeah. If it just disintegrates.

[Low hum begins]

ROVER

It feels like stone. It doesn't disintegrate. Give me a Perception check when you get closer to the body.

Oh! Ah.

ANNIE

Oh boy.

Oh god, this weakling is driving. (Laughs)

[Dice thunks]

MIRA

(Laughing) Okay, does not comply.

Ah, Per...oh, I'm not good at Perception. But it's still a 16.

MIRA

There you go.

ROVER

16. That, that would kind of work. When you hear, when you get closer to him and you start actually tapping it, nothing happens. However, when you're actually close to the body, you can hear something from...

Ah!

ROVER

...the shell. And it isn't something where you're like, that's scary. However, it sounds like cogwheels turning against each other.

[Soft, fast clicking]

And it's almost...it's very, very echoey, in like the depths of this thing. And it's all like, click-click-click-click-click-click-click.

MIRA

Is it audible to Una as well, or is it just Viktor cause he touched it?

ROVER

It's currently just Viktor.

MIRA

Okay.

ROVER

It's very quietly.

JO [as VIKTOR]

I think there's something mechanical inside that thing.

MIRA [as UNA]

You guys have been in this room at least 15 to 20 minutes before I came in, and that didn't come up?

JO [as VIKTOR]

I, that's, what were you doing in that 15 to 20 minutes, by the way?

MIRA [as UNA]

I was watching our back, as always.

[Mira laughs]

JO [as VIKTOR]

Okay fair. Fair enough.

Can I, peering inside the hole, I'm not going to get my fucking face in there, but—

[Laughter]

I have, I have 120 feet of Darkvision. Do I see shit in there?

MIRA

Right. Is it alright...

ROVER

Yeah, Mira?

MIRA

If you're making that movement very deliberately, thinking about...

MIRA [as UNA]

I would probably suggest using a reflective surface to stick inside of that hole to see the reflection, instead of putting your own eye next to that. Like, a piece of glass, a weapon. I would not want anything to kind of get you, whatever is there.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Turns out, the only shiny surface I have is gold. (Laughs) So, do you have, like, dentists' tools?

MIRA

I would just take the rapier, because obviously it's a polished blade, right? And,

MIRA [as UNA]

You can use this. Or I can do it? Up to you.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Oh, your own, your own weapon?

MIRA [as UNA]

My own weapon. Yeah. Rapier.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Okay. No no no, yeah. Because I'm not going to stick my own weapon in there.

MIRA [as UNA]

Okay. I can do it then. (Laughs) If you want.

JO [as VIKTOR]

No no no, I can...I can stick it in there. I'm just saying there's some stuff going on with my sword that, I...I don't know if these things interact with each other, so.

MIRA [as UNA]

No, then it's probably even better to put just the mundane weapon in there.

He's going to take it from you.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Thank you.

And, 120 feet Darkvision, a reflective surface...

ROVER

Mmhmm.

MIRA [as UNA]

You might not see much, because of the amount of space, but something.

ANNIE

There might not be much there, yeah.

His entire face is gone.

MIRA [as UNA]

But will also cast a light on—oh no, there's no light.

JO [as VIKTOR]

No no. I don't need the light.

[Laughter]

ANNIE

(Gruff voice) I don't need the light.

MIRA

I was thinking more like, you know when you're casting like a light on something, so it would be bending it around the corner, so you might be able to see easier inside. But anyways...

ANNIE

Mmm mmhmm.

[Soft clicking and low hum continues]

ROVER

When you stab—I'm gonna use stab into the thing—it is like your rapier gets swallowed by the shadow around it.

MIRA

Hmm.

ROVER

And it's just, it's just as if you could look at it, you could listen at it, as if there's something in it, however once you actually put something in it, it's like it disappears. And you can pull your rapier back, and the rapier's still there.

MIRA

Okay.

I can also see 120 feet in magical darkness, Ro.

ROVER

Amazing. So, have you ever seen the insides of a body part that's completely made of mechanics?

Well I have now.

ROVER

You have now. It is literally, the inside looks as if it's reflected from the body parts that Jonny makes, but the inside—it's all turning. Everything is turning. And you can see that the outside is supposed to be also mechanical, however it's not. It's completely stone. It is mechanics incarnate.

I pull the rapier out, and I give it back to Una.

[Mira sighs]

And I've not told what I saw, yet. He's giving her a sly smile, and be like,

JO [as VIKTOR]

We should go up to the others.

MIRA [as UNA]

Why? Something wrong, or you just...found out what you needed?

JO [as VIKTOR]

That's...yeah, it's full of cogwheels. This has never been a body of anyone. It is...

What's the DnD term? He would know.

MIRA

Oh, you mean...

ANNIE

Is it a construct?

MIRA

Yeah.

Ah, automaton was what I—

ANNIE

Yeah.

MIRA

Mmm.

JO [as VIKTOR]

It might be a construct, an automaton. This has never been Jonny.

MIRA [as UNA]

Well...

JO [as VIKTOR]

Because last time I saw that little Halfling, he was not clickety-clacketing away whenever he moved.

MIRA [as UNA]

So do you think he made this in his image?

JO [as VIKTOR]

You saw the heart upstairs. I'm pretty sure he made it, and I'm pretty sure something happened to it. So...turns out we might still be searching for Jonny.

MIRA [as UNA]

Okay.

He's going to go upstairs.

ROVER

(Strained) Hold on, give me like three seconds! Clickety-clacketing away! So good!

[We all absolutely lose it]

I killed Ro again.

ROVER

That was so good!

ELIZABETH

That was so good!

ROVER

Oh, man, ah.

Thank you. He is a sophisticated man who knows a lot of words—

ROVER

Yeah, I love him.

—but sometimes these words don't come to him because they don't come to me.

ANNIE

There's a fanart request. I need someone to draw Jonny and just write "clickety-clackety" all around him as he's like—

[Laughter]

ROVER

Yes! (Laughs)

(Laughs) Clickety-clackety.

[Shop ambience begins: ticking, whirring, and occasional dings]

ROVER

Upstairs, we have a big spider and a tall princess going to...

[Giggles]

...it's such a duo.

[Laughter]

ELIZABETH

All princesses belong with spiders, this is canon.

ANNIE

Yeah.

A princess and a spider walk into a shop.

ROVER

...about to interrogate one of the bandits that entered the shop, and the only one left alive.

ANNIE

So Josie is going to put them down, basically wherever's a convenient spot kind of near the stairwells, that's away from the windows, close enough I can hear them downstairs and stuff.

ROVER

Yep.

ANNIE

So, I put this person down, and Josie goes,

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Well, you've now been taken into the custody of the Wanted Dead. I don't know if there's a bounty on you. You were not our target, but people like you—I tend to be able to find somebody who's willing to put a price. So...work with me, and see if you can outbid the ones who would gladly receive you from us. Yeah? What's your name?

ROVER

Give me a Persuasion or Intimidation, whatever you want to do.

ANNIE
Okay, let me see, oh actually—yeah yeah yeah. I was gonna say, “oh no, I need to look up the spider’s Charisma for this,” but no.

ROVER

No, you don’t.

ANNIE

I keep my own mental stats.

ROVER

Yeah.

MIRA

Also, you’re a big spider. (Laughs)

ROVER

I will give you advantage because you’re a spider.

ANNIE

Excellent! (Laughs)

ELIZABETH

Yes! Also, while you’re rolling, I just want to clarify on record—

ROVER

Yeah?

ELIZABETH

Can you remind me what the pronouns of this person were, cause I’m pretty sure that I messed them up last time and—

ROVER

He/They.

ANNIE

I think we did—oh, we’re doing he/they now?

ELIZABETH

We’re doing he/they?

ANNIE

Cause I think there was “she” at the beginning of the episode.

ROVER

Oh! Was there?

ANNIE

So I kind of just want to do an all pronouns?

ROVER

Any pronouns, perfect!

ELIZABETH

All pronouns?

ANNIE

Any pronouns! Yay!

ROVER

Cool.

ELIZABETH

Perfect, okay, thank so you much. I want to be sure I’m not misgendering anyone.

ANNIE

You said Intimidate or just flat Charisma. Is that what you said? Or not Charisma…what was the other one?

ROVER

Persuasion or Intimidation.

ANNIE

Persuasion. They have the same, they have the same bonus for me, so I’m going Intimidation.

ROVER

Amazing.

[Good dice tower clacks]

ANNIE

Okay, I’m glad that you gave me Advantage.

[Dice tower clackety clacks continue]

That was cocked. The first one was a natural 1, so….ah, okay, still not great, but that’s an 11.

ROVER

Ooh, okay.

ROVER [as CROSSBOW PERSON]

Well there might be a bounty on me now. Uhmm, I don’t have much. What do you want to know? A name? The name’s Merrick. I don’t…

ANNIE

Mmm. Merrick.

ROVER [as MERRICK]

I can’t do anything, man. I really can’t. I just needed the money. C’mon.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Needed…needed the money? Who hired you? Who sent you here?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Yeah, were you targeting the shop for a reason, or just cause it was empty?

ROVER [as MERRICK]

I mean, the guy who owns this, he’s probably dead. There’s no way, there’s no way that he minds us getting this stuff. Well, me getting this stuff.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Now, you say that, but it’s our job to confirm things like that before the possessions are up for grabs. If he’s not dead, it’s my job to make sure that he comes right back here, and the shop is intact when he gets here. How…how long have you known that he was gone? How long has this been planned for?

ROVER [as MERRICK]

How long he’s been gone? Mate, have you heard the news? It’s been, it’s been all over. It’s been in newspapers; it’s been in radios. When a guy is missing for god knows how long, and still not back, and definitely a dude that’s a De Rolo, there is no way, there is just no way that he wants anything.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

So—

ROVER [as MERRICK]

Oh, shut up Bubblegum. It’s, we’re not, you’re not in the conversation.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Excuse me? So you’re just an opportunist? You’re just here just because it’s available? No thought, no interesting motive. Who sent you? Why are you here? Why Jonny’s shop?

ROVER [as MERRICK]

Well if I knew the goddamn question to who sent me, I would have given you the fucking answer.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Would you now?

ROVER [as MERRICK]

I would’ve!

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Why don’t I believe that?

ROVER [as MERRICK]

Look at, look at my friends! They are, well, one of them is…something, and the other one is also something. What have you even done? What am I supposed to do here?

ELIZABETH

Ro, does…is there any insignia on this person’s…what this person is wearing, what Merrick’s wearing? Any…anything that we could recognize?

ROVER

There is nothing recognizable on him. So if you’re looking, for example, for either anything religious or—I’m gonna say an example, another chess piece on the thing?

ELIZABETH

Yes.

ANNIE

Mmhmm.

ROVER

No, it’s not there. This is just a guy that has seemingly nothing to do with this. Or not nothing to do with—

ANNIE

The disappearances.

ROVER

—with the people you’ve just met. Basically that.

ANNIE

Can I roll an Insight?

ROVER

You can roll an Insight, yeah.

ANNIE

To see if he’s hiding that from us at all?

ROVER

Absolutely.

ANNIE

Hiding what his involvement might be.

[Dice clacks]

That is probably not gonna give me much. That is a 10.

ROVER

You’re unsure if this is just a dramatic outbreak, or if this really is just the truth that he’s actually saying. Could be both. You are unsure about the actual reasoning of it.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Alright, well, I’ll be honest, Corwin, he just seems like kind of some idiot who got caught up in here. Let’s…I’ll make sure he can’t get anywhere, and we’ll send communication back to, back to Safra just to see if anybody’s willing to pay out on him.

ANNIE

By the way, would there be like a, would there be like a bounty hunter headquarters or whatever in Oxford? Where we could—somewhere we could take him?

ROVER

Not in Oxford, no.

ANNIE

Okay, so we would have to have someone come and escort him back by train.

ROVER

Yeah.

ANNIE

(Sighs) Well, at very least for now, Josie says,

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Yeah, we’ll just, we’ll call back to Safra. We’ll see if anybody has money out for this, this individual. And if the—

ROVER [as MERRICK]

Oh, come on.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

C’mon what?

ROVER [as MERRICK]

I need money. Like, please don’t.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Listen, Merrick…

ROVER [as MERRICK]

Like, (sighs) at least let me sell these weapons and give the money. Like…

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

That’s probably doable. This is just standard procedure to see what the price is set at. So, rest for now. We’ll talk once I hear back.

ROVER [as MERRICK]

(Aside) Well this is gonna go on my resume. Talked with a fucking spider.

MIRA

Oh yeah!

[Laughter]

Amazing!

[Whirring, shop ambience continues]

ANNIE

I never described what I looked like!

ROVER

Yeah, describe the spider.

ANNIE

Okay, so think very kind of tarantula-coded.

ROVER

(Vague noise of disgust)

ANNIE

We’re thinking, not spindly and hard angles. We’re thinking wide and flat; thick, very furry kind of limbs going; really really really large abdomen. And then the rows of eyes down the face. And stripes in black and basically the orange color that is almost the same as her skin when she’s in Tiefling form.

ROVER

Question.

ANNIE

Uh-huh?

ROVER

How many eyes are a different color?

ELIZABETH

Oh!

ANNIE

One.

ROVER

One of them, okay.

ANNIE

So there, so of the eight eyes on her face, they would all be…they’re not very spider-like eyes, they’re like, seven of them are like surprisingly almost human-looking. It’s really unsettling. Except for the top one on the right side. You can still see a little scar through it, and it is still just like a black stone almost in the face. And there’s a white, a little shock of white spot on top of the head where her hair would be.

ROVER

Yeah. At this point also, Viktor and Una come upstairs.

MIRA

Uh-uh. No Una.

ELIZABETH

Corwin is gonna turn to Josie and be like,

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

I trust your judgement. I’d like to not let this guy go. I feel like there’s got to be something more here.

At that, Viktor is trotting up the stairs. And I think for a second, he forgot that there’s going to be a giant spider.

[Laughter]

ANNIE

(Jumpscare noise!)

So he pauses, already hand on the hilt of his fucking rapier, and then remembers, and is like,

JO [as VIKTOR]

Druids are so fucking weird.

[Laughter]

ELIZABETH

Incredible.

ROVER

Yeah, so this person that is still in this spiderweb cocoon is just, looks defeated, and is just there like, “Alright, well, this is how it is.”

MIRA

C’est la vie.

ROVER

C’est la vie. So honestly, not even, that’s not even a joke. He does say, “C’est la vie.” In a perfect—my accent is not great—perfect French accent.

MIRA

C’est la vie.

ROVER

Where you can tell that he might actually be French.

Where’s his Australian accent? We learned that from Pierre. (Laughs) Nobody can do that. Nobody is like Rik.

ROVER

Nobody can do that. Very proud of Pierre on the other side, being able to do that.

Yes.

ROVER

It’s ah—

Maybe they know each other.

ROVER

Maybe they know each other. Ooh. Anyway, yes. Una wanted to stay downstairs. Tell me what you want to do.

[Shop ambience disappears. Slow ticking resumes]

MIRA

Well first of all, Una…cause there was some accounting papers, right? So Una would like to…

ROVER

Mmhmm. That Viktor has just…

MIRA

Oh.

ROVER

…taken with him.

Mmm, I took, I took the books I said, and I took the blueprints.

MIRA

And the blueprints.

I didn’t take…

ROVER

Okay.

MIRA

Okay. If it is still there, Una would just have a quick browse through, cause she didn’t have a chance to do that between the combat and then figuring out the Pinocchio mystery with Viktor. (Laughs)

I’m sorry, the what now? (Laughs)

MIRA

Pinocchio. (Laughs) So she would like to, she would have a look at the accounting. Specifically looking for the surname Virelle, but potentially any other name that…I wouldn’t say that jogs her memory, because it’s not something that she would have control over, but any name that she would be able to recognize essentially.

ROVER

Good question. I personally don’t think there will be, and I will say the explanation for it. Jonny is about 80 years old. I think, I don’t think he was old enough to do all of this, start his own stuff, before you had, like, all the…the…

MIRA

The thing. Right. But obviously…

ROVER

Yeah, before the thing.

MIRA

Before the thing. But obviously Virelle is a family surname, so it would have been a hope that she might see that surname in there? But obviously it would depend on them shopping with him as well.

ROVER

I don’t think you will.

MIRA

Another thing she would probably do is to take out a trinket that I presume she had with her this whole time in the clothes that she woke up from?

ROVER

Yeah.

MIRA

And just look at it for a moment. Do you need me to describe it for you, or are you okay with it—?

ROVER

(Whispering) Yes. Describe it. Describe it for me as the DM because I forgot!

MIRA

Fair enough.

[Laughter]

And for me.

ELIZABETH

I was gonna say, describe it for me because I wanna know.

Yeah! (Laughs)

ANNIE

Yeah, cause we wanna know! Yeah!

MIRA

(Laughs) No, so the small trinket, potentially the only thing that Una had on her when she started this current adventure with you guys, other than the clothes on her back, was a small brass compass about yea big—and I literally just made, like, the smallest circle with my fingers for anyone listening. With a single needle that is constantly stuck between northeast. So like at that angle instead of pointing north. And just, kind of just looks at it.

If there was nothing in the accounting books, if you allow her to have a little bit more of a nosy around, she would probably have a look at any books to do with…anything, any books to do with making mechanical parts.

ROVER

Ooh!

MIRA

That Viktor didn’t already take with him.

ROVER

There are so many. There are so many. Like, if you’re looking at the actual books on how to make specific stuff, how many do you want?

MIRA

I mean, she…I would say give me three, and she’ll be happy.

ROVER

Yeah sure!

MIRA

As long as we can kind of say that they are slightly different to each other? Instead of like, edition 1, edition 2.

ROVER

Absolutely. Absolutely.

[Laughter]

MIRA

Revised!

ROVER

I will say you can find a book on weaponry, first of all. How to repair them and how to make them.

MIRA

Mmhmm.

ROVER

There will be a book on how to make the body parts that he was making. And I’d say, random one…

MIRA

Something on the electricity, or something like that?

ROVER

Yeah, something like that. There is also, if you want it, there is a book to read, where he was trying to learn Infernal.

MIRA

Yeah, I’ll take that one.

ROVER

Okay.

MIRA

Cause—

Ooh!

ANNIE

Oh! If you need a conversational partner, Josie—

Yeah, I was about to say, you have a practicing buddy!

ROVER

I will say, on record and above table, once you guys hit level 4, and you want to read the book, I will allow you to have Infernal in your languages.

MIRA

I already have it.

ROVER

You already have it!

ANNIE

I also already have it.

ROVER

I knew Josie had it, but you also have it.

ANNIE

Yeah.

ROVER

I forgot. Okay! No no, that’s good.

MIRA

Yeah, I have five languages.

ANNIE

Yeah (laughs).

MIRA

Well, four plus the thieves one.

ROVER

Incredible. Yeah yeah yeah yeah. Incredible. No, I didn’t—I totally forgot that you had Infernal. Perfect, okay. Yeah.

Well, maybe the fellow party members want to learn a new language.

ROVER

Yeah! So you can take that.

[Mira laughs]

ROVER

Oh! The book title is “Cogs, Couplings, and Other Conventions of the Clockwork Canon.” Thank you, Lizzie.

MIRA

Oh, for fuck’s sake. (Laughs)

ELIZABETH

(Laughing) I gotchu.

[Laughter]

MIRA

(Laughing) Okay, right.

ROVER

Perfect.

MIRA

Upon collecting that, she would make her way back upstairs, probably amidst the very end of the conversation that has been happening.

[Slow ticking stops, shop ambience resumes: quick ticking, whirs, and occasional dings]

ANNIE

Alright, Josie is gonna shift back into Tiefling form at this point, and go,

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

(Sighs) Alright, well, we're keeping this one with us for now. Corwin—actually, could you take him upstairs real quick? I'm just gonna fill Vik and then we'll join you. I think we might want to stay here tonight.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Absolutely. Yeah, sounds good.

Vik is sensing another difficult conversation on the horizon. He's like,

JO [as VIKTOR]

Alright...

ANNIE

Mmhmm!

ELIZABETH

Yeah. Corwin's gonna bring the guy upstairs.

ANNIE

And then as Corwin's bringing him up, I'm just gonna turn to Vik and be like,

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Told them we're gonna send word back to see if he has a bounty up, and give him the chance to outbid himself. But really, I'm thinking that...he's probably not worth much. He definitely didn't know anything about De Rolo. But if...if we can convince him that he's got a bounty that he can't outpay, he might be useful if we need to send, send someone to gather information with connections out here that we might not have.

JO [as VIK]

Yeah. (Sighs)

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

You know the drill. You know how it goes.

JO [as VIK]

I’m, yeah, I'm not going to keep them here. So, like, I mean...you know how Safra is. If she does not see any priority, this poor fellow might just starve to death here.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Oh, no no no no.

JO [as VIK]

I don't know if Marcus is planning on coming back.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

I'm not talking about leaving him behind here.

JO [as VIK]

Oh.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

I'm saying that, that, you know, I told him we're gonna send word back to get, to find out what he's worth. Realistically, it's not going to be much. We just need to convince him that it's enough to get him, then we can have him on a leash out there for a bit. Get some more information.

ANNIE

To kind of take that back above table a bit, what I'm trying to say is that, A) we should sleep in this apartment tonight, cause I wanna make sure we get sleeping in this episode.

Put it back into character. We can have that discussion right now.

ANNIE

Ok, great great great great great.

I was ready. I was ready. (Laughs)

ANNIE

Sorry, yeah yeah yeah.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Viktor, I think that it's late as hell right now. We're already here. There's an unused apartment upstairs, and it's pretty defensible as we've already shown. I think that we, we post someone on watch, we sleep here tonight. In the morning, we pretend like we've gotten some kind of value back, some kind of price back for that guy, and convince him to go out and ask some questions for us of people who would answer him but not us.

JO [as VIKTOR]

(Short sigh) I think trying to convince them that they owe us something so we don't rat them out is a pretty good idea. Maybe we can fashion a forged, like a forgery of a wanted poster.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Mmm, not a bad idea.

JO [as VIKTOR]

I probably have enough shit to make one. It just has to be half-convincing.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Yeah.

JO [as VIKTOR]

I mean, if there's anything on them, it's barely a silver coin.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Listen, real small potatoes in more ways than one. That guy is not the brightest we've had to catch, so.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Is it bad that I'm disappointed?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

I am too, a little bit. I was kind of hoping that this confrontation we got up here would be at least somebody interesting to fight, if not someone directly related to what happened to Jonny, at least a more fun fight than that. Kind of sad, really.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Also, would have prevented some deaths, if I'd known that they mean literally nothing, but I mean, yeah, so...

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

But hey, no comment on that one.

JO [as VIKTOR]

It's fine, we have different...techniques.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

(Chuckles)

JO [as VIKTOR]

I just hope the next time you fill everything with vines, you kind of...Josie, there is no nonlethal damage on my ranged things. You can't deal nonlethal damage with spells, so you kind of left me out in the open and no other choice. I hope you know that that was...hmm?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Well, wasn't exactly a planned engagement, you know what I mean?

JO [as VIKTOR]

Hmm.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

So. What happened happened. I'm not worrying about it. I know that no one else is either, so, don't fret. You just know my preference.

JO [as VIKTOR]

You're terrifyingly unbothered sometimes, Josie.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Mmm, I thought you'd be used to that by now.

ANNIE

And Josie's gonna go upstairs.

I wanna roll fucking Insight on Josie.

[Laughter]

No no no no. Because Josie officially does not know that the thing downstairs has never been Jonny.

ANNIE

Yeah, right.

So, in Josie's world, Jonny might be dead, or something worse.

ROVER

Do me the Insight, and then we're gonna move over to upstairs, to Corwin and Merrick.

[Dice thunks]

MIRA

In the meantime, I'm looting the bodies. Just wanna leave that out there.

ROVER

Yeah, all good.

[Laughter]

ELIZABETH

Valid.

ANNIE

Good idea.

Ah...I had it for 7. (Laughs)

ELIZABETH

Oh, oh!

ANNIE

I mean, should I roll to counter that, or are you just gonna keep that as a bad roll?

I think...I mean, if you want to, but I'm pretty sure on a 7, Viktor is not really able to tell how much you're burying right now, and how much you're just being Josie, I guess. (Laughs)

[Annie laughs]

ROVER

Before we move onto the conversation, I'll quickly give you what they have on them.

MIRA

Thank you.

ROVER

They both have a scimitar. They both have 10 gold on them. And one of them has a letter that says—

MIRA

Oh! I probably should write it down. 10 gold. (Laughs) Sorry!

ROVER

10 gold each.

MIRA

Each.

ROVER

So 20 total. 2 scimitars.

MIRA

Any copper? Is any of that in change of copper?

ROVER

No.

MIRA

Shit. Okay. I was hoping.

ROVER

And there is a letter that says, "Do not come back with nothing." And then there's a line, and it has a G on it.

Moving to Corwin and Merrick. You're gonna have to carry him, because he's still a cocoon.

ELIZABETH

Alright, so, she's carrying him upstairs. As she does, she's gonna heal him for…

[Heavy dice thunks]

9 hitpoints.

ROVER

Okay, good to know.

ELIZABETH

Because he's injured and she's not just gonna hang out while someone might bleed out on her watch.

ROVER

Mmhmm.

ELIZABETH

She fully trusts, you know, Josie with the, like, "let's put him in for bounty, we'll talk to Safra", but...so she sets him down on the couch upstairs.

[Shop ambience fades. Slow ticking and whirring begins]

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

So, listen, I don't, frankly, know whether to trust you or not. I feel like there's gotta be more than you're telling us. But at least...at least...have you ever interacted with paladin magic before? Why, why did it interact with you that way? Why did your veins light up gold? That's not how Divine Smite is supposed to work.

ROVER [as MERRICK]

Hey, Bubblegum, if you think I know anything about paladins, you're in the wrong spot.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

I'm not asking if you know anything about paladins, I'm asking if you know anything about your own body.

MIRA

(Laughs) Damn.

ROVER [as MERRICK]

No. What am I supposed to know about body and magic. I don't know what you want from me.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

What I want from you is a little bit of any sort of answer. Any sort of straight answer as to why this shop. Why you reacted weirdly to our magic. Why three of you for one presumably empty shop.

ROVER [as MERRICK]

Like I said, we wanted money. We wanted to sell this stuff. We wanted money. I need to give the money back to whatever the fuck is over there in Dover, and then, only then, I'll be fine. So just let me sell the stuff, and get me out of there, I'll be out of your hair. Once I get my debt paid, I'm all good.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

What's in Dover? What debt?

ROVER [as MERRICK]

I owe some dude a fuck-ton of money, okay? It's, it's nothing important.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Who?

ROVER [as MERRICK]

I don't know what his name is!

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

You don't keep track of who you owe money to?

ROVER [as MERRICK]

No! He doesn't even show his face.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

(Exasperated) Great, it's me. You owe me money.

[Laughter]

ROVER [as MERRICK]

What money? All I have—

(Distantly) Fuck!

ANNIE

That was so fucking good.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

You have to—you have to know who you owe money to.

ROVER [as MERRICK]

I don't, I don't know a name.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

I don't believe you!

ROVER [as MERRICK]

I played a stupid game in some stupid club, and I lost, and now I owe money. And all I have is, like, 5 gold on me.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

How are you going to pay them?

ROVER [as MERRICK]

I could pay one drink. By selling this stuff! And then giving the money—

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

No no no, how are you going to get them the money if you don't know you're paying?

ROVER [as MERRICK]

Well I, I know what he looks like. I don't know the name.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Oh? Okay, great. I would love a description.

ELIZABETH

Also, at any point—I just want to open—at any point, you all can walk in. We're not being quiet.

ANNIE

I was gonna say, I think Josie probably comes in here. And,

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

They never show their face, but you know their appearance?

ROVER [as MERRICK]

I, I know what—

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

You owe money to a faceless entity that you met in a fucking nightclub that—(noise of disgust).

MIRA [as UNA]

You don't seem very financially responsible.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Ugh, Merrick, Merrick. Merrick, buddy.

[Laughter]

Merrick, you are...you are so...

ROVER [as MERRICK]

I made a mistake, okay?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

You're so beyond fucked! You're so beyond fucked. You're not getting out of it.

ROVER [as MERRICK]

Yes! Yes I am! Okay?

I'm going to strut in.

[Annie laughs]

Like, crouch down in front of them, grab them under the chin with my spooky hand.

ROVER

They can't do much against that, cause they're still in the cocoon, but yes.

No, they can't. Be like...

JO [as VIKTOR]

Oh, faceless entity, you say? I might know someone, me, who knows a thing or two about that.

And I like, I tickle their chin.

[Laughter]

Like, this is not a—I need you to understand, it's not sexy. It's like, c'mon.

ROVER

He's trying to pull his head away, he's just like,

ROVER [as MERRICK]

Just let me sell stuff, and then I'll be out of your fucking hair. I don't—

JO [as VIKTOR]

(Sighs) Describe who you owe money to, my fucking god.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

And how we find them.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Mmhmm.

ROVER [as MERRICK]

Well, there's only one popular nightclub in Dover. (Sighs)

ROVER

Gimme a Persuasion check. People can help, by the way, if you want. I will allow someone to help.

ANNIE

I say, I'll help.

ROVER

Yeah go for it.

ANNIE

Yeah.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, I'd love to help. Does Help just give Advantage, or do you add on—

ROVER

It gets Advantage.

It's just Advantage.

ELIZABETH

Oh, okay.

Natural 20.

ANNIE

Yeah!

ELIZABETH

Let's freaking goooo!

Which brings me up, if we go for Persuasion, oh it's the same as Intimidation, it's 27.

MIRA

Nice.

ELIZABETH

Ayyy.

ROVER

So, it's just the thing of like,

ROVER [as MERRICK]

It's...it is this club, and I think it's...it's called the Darkness of Sight. It's a club where nothing, like, I don't know anyone. It's this kind of masquerade-ish kind of thing. And there's this one person who is there kind of always. Don't know why. He's...he has this, almost crimson red suit. And he walks around with a pure, like almost, huh—almost blood-red mask on. And he seems to be human. That's one thing for sure. But it's always, it's like the whole crowd focuses on him, instead of...or like, not focusing, it's (sighs)...

JO [as VIKTOR]

They listen to him?

ROVER [as MERRICK]

No, it's like...it's like he is the bar. It's like no one, no one pays attention to him. It's like he's not even there. However he is because everyone just moves aside when he walks. I don't fucking know. I play games with the wrong guy, and look where that got me. I've been talking to a fucking spider, which is apparently you. And in the meantime, all I want is money.

JO [as VIKTOR]

How much do you owe him?

ROVER [as MERRICK]

The last bit of money was from the fucking train.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Ah ah ah, shh shh.

I kind of...

ROVER

Mmhmm.

Lock their jaw between my fingers or whatever. Like,

JO [as VIKTOR]

Calm down, focus. How much money do you owe that person?

ROVER [as MERRICK]

Uh...700?

[Laughter]

JO [as VIKTOR]

Alright.

ANNIE

Josie's making that noise. Just like, (in disbelief) oh my god...

ELIZABETH

Corwin just kind of like, puts her head in her hands. She's like,

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Are you kidding? How could you get that far in the hole?

ROVER [as MERRICK]

I know I made a mistake, okay. I, I'm trying to do this with...

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

I think you made a few.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

It's, it's not...it's not that you made a mistake. Trust me, we've all made mistakes.

ROVER [as MERRICK]

I mean, you're bounty hunters.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

It's that you're trying to solve your mistakes by hurting...it's like you're trying to solve your mistakes by hurting other people, and that's not how this works.

ROVER [as MERRICK]

I have not hurt anyone.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Oh, no, that pretty much is how it works sweetheart, but—

ROVER [as MERRICK]

And listen, I will do anything—

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

I don't know, it is kind of how it works in our line of work.

[Laughter]

ROVER [as MERRICK]

Yeah, I was about to say! From what I've heard, you guys are bounty hunters.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Ah, alright.

ROVER [as MERRICK]

From what I've seen, you guys are bounty hunters.

I tap on my breastplate where very clearly, the fucking Wanted Dead logo, whatever the fuck it was, I forgot. I think it was something with a skull and a...

ANNIE

Knife through a skull...

ROVER

Yeah, skull on a dagger, yeah.

It is etched into this...this breastplate is very scratched and not polished. So it's kind of hard to see, it's kind of being on the low, but when you're close enough, you see that he's a bounty hunter.

ROVER

Mmhmm.

And like,

JO [as VIKTOR]

Yes, we are. And we have resources to get you out of your shit.

ROVER [as MERRICK]

That would be wonderful.

JO [as VIKTOR]

If...

ROVER [as MERRICK]

Can I...listen, I—

JO [as VIKTOR]

Oh, you would owe us a favor though.

ROVER [as MERRICK]

Yes. What?

JO [as VIKTOR]

Mmm we'll talk about that tomorrow.

ROVER [as MERRICK]

(Exasperated) Oh my god.

JO [as VIKTOR]

You should sleep.

ROVER [as MERRICK]

I swear to god, I'm with the stupidest...

And I, like, slap him condescendingly against the… (Laughs)

ROVER [as MERRICK]

(Splutters)

[Laugher]

ANNIE

Does any of us have...you don't have Sleep as a spell, do you?

I...I'm happy to just throw a blanket atop of his head, like, you know a fucking canary?

[Laughter]

It's night. It's night now.

ROVER

Do people know French?

ANNIE

No.

ELIZABETH

Oh, oh wait, I, I do.

ROVER

You do!

ANNIE

Was gonna say, Corwin would.

ELIZABETH

Hold on, let me double check that. I do know French. Cause Alea speaks French.

ROVER

Just for your knowledge, there is a bunch of French swear words coming out, for like a good full minute where he's just so fucking annoyed at Viktor. And he's just...

ELIZABETH

Corwin teaches him a new one.

ROVER

Oh? Okay.

ELIZABETH

Like, teaches him a new French swear word. Is like,

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Hey, you know, you might add this one to your repertoire.

ROVER

You get a...

ELIZABETH

I, Lizzie, don't know French swear words, but Corwin would. She absolutely would.

ROVER

Oh, you get a death glare. So hard from this man. Oh my god.

[Laughter]

Oh, putting the blanket back onto the swearing man.

ELIZABETH

(Laughing) From under the blanket!

ROVER

Yeah! You can see the—

ELIZABETH

And she's gonna kind of...she's gonna whisper in his ear, because she is a little pissy about this,

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

(Whispering) There is a difference between bringing people in for bounties and breaking into a shop of a guy who's missing and looting it.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, and then she's gonna walk away.

ROVER [as MERRICK]

Correction. He's dead.

ELIZABETH

Ooooh, she's walked away, so she can't clap back.

ANNIE

If Josie, if Josie hears them say, "correction, he's dead"—

ROVER

Yeah.

ANNIE

She's just gonna, like, tip of the boot just—

[Thunk]

—donk, kick him in the ribs.

Awww.

ANNIE

Go fuck yourself, buddy.

ROVER

I will have him take at least a d4 of damage.

ANNIE

Mmm sure!

ROVER

Oh no, you'll roll for it? Please roll for it! How much—? Yeah, go for it.

ANNIE

Yeah, I will roll!

MIRA

And he's dead! (Laughs)

[Dice tower clacks]

ANNIE

MIRA

(Laughing) Oh my god, you're about to kill that...

ROVER

3 damage, amazing. He's just like, oaughh.

ELIZABETH

It's okay. I've just healed him, so he's not gonna die die on us.

MIRA

Oh yeah yeah yeah, that's true, that's true, that's true.

ANNIE

Yeah yeah yeah.

This poor, incapacitated man, who now has a blanket on their head, hears another whisper as Viktor bends down,

JO [as VIKTOR]

If you call her Princess one more fucking time, by the way, I will have you gutted. I don't fucking care, okay?

And I'm going to whisper that quietly enough so nobody else can hear.

ELIZABETH

Thanks, love you!

ROVER

He's not gonna make a remark back.

No! He should not!

ANNIE

Good! He finally makes a good decision.

ROVER

Alright.

ANNIE

Let's go to bed.

MIRA

Well, I'm still downstairs, I would like to have you know, guys. (Laughs)

ELIZABETH

Oh my gosh, poor Una.

ROVER

Yeah, Una. Una, what else did—

ANNIE

Oh yeah. Una, get up here!

MIRA

I'm waiting!

ELIZABETH

Una, my love, come upstairs.

MIRA

I'm waiting for my turn you guys. (Laughs)

ROVER

Yeah, no your turn is—take your turn!

[Quiet shop ambience returns—ticking, whirring, and occasional dings]

MIRA

Yeah, Una would have been actually taking her time to take the dead bodies, like if there are any cloth or anything like that, she would actually take time and care to wrap them up. And distinctly, from the money that she found—I don't remember what denomination she has on her, cause I don't have it on my character sheet if she has any silver on her?

ROVER

I don't think she did, did she?

MIRA

I don't think she had any money at all. There is a register, right?

ROVER

There is a register, yes.

MIRA

She would just...she would just exchange a gold coin for silver coins, or just literally put one gold coin and then take out two silver pieces. It doesn't need to be fair.

ROVER

You will notice that there's literally nothing of silver or copper there, which is what you are, normally you would be used to that. There is nothing of that there.

MIRA

So I don't find the two silver pieces that I was hoping for?

ROVER

No, you don't.

MIRA

Fair. Okay, that's fine. Gold it is. For each one of those people, before she wraps them up in whatever sheets she finds or something like that, she would put a coin each in their mouths. And then yeah, she would wrap them up and place them slightly off side, so they're not...oh no, the curtains are drawn, nevermind. But still, kind of just be a bit more respectful towards, like, the fact that you know, they happened to stumble upon us and it was just not a very lucky day.

ROVER

Yeah.

MIRA

And then she will come back upstairs. If people are, at this point, talking about falling asleep, you can see how extremely uncomfortable she is with the idea.

With falling asleep? Or with falling asleep…

MIRA

With falling asleep.

…with us in the room?

MIRA

Just uncomfortable, I guess. Unless you ask, then yeah I can tell you. That's absolutely fine.

I, Jo, love the idea that Una's paying the ferryman, by the way.

ELIZABETH

I love that so much. That was a lovely, lovely scene.

MIRA

(Laughs) You're welcome.

This is so cool. This is so cool. And none of these characters upstairs noticed. Aaagh.

MIRA

It's okay!

It's fine. It's an Una moment for Una.

MIRA

You will see when we come downstairs in the morning, like "why are they wrapped up?" (Laughs)

ROVER

Josie?

ANNIE

I'm gonna say this above the table right now, that I don't know if it's...I don't know how much we'll get to it when we get up in the morning or whatever. If I see the, the coins in the mouth. But that is specifically, paying the ferryman is a specific making that I'm making very deliberately because Una was in the ram statue that we linked back to Hades, and the actual coin in the mouth is linked directly to Charon who's taking people through Styx into Hades. So I am going to do my damnedest to make Josie make that connection and get on you about it. So, just so you know.

MIRA

If you get to see the mouths, then sure, absolutely. (Laughs)

ANNIE

If we see it, yes exactly. If I see it.

MIRA

Burns the bodies! (Laughs) Just joking. But yeah, coming back upstairs.

[Shop ambience fades. Slow ticking and whirring begins]

ROVER

So, sleep plans?

JO [as VIKTOR]

I'm going to say, with yall's permission, I'm the last one to take watch. I need a long time to fall asleep anyway.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Yeah…Una, you don't look like you wanna sleep much. You want first watch?

MIRA [as UNA]

Yeah, I don't think I would be very comfortable falling unconscious...in any form of sleep? Can I actually even...? I think I had plenty. Don't really feel that tired. If I could help it, I don't mind keeping the watch altogether. Also someone needs to—

MIRA

She, like, points at the beaten up Merrick. (Laughs)

ROVER

Yeah.

ANNIE

Yeah. Yeah yeah.

MIRA

Be like,

MIRA [as UNA]

How long does that last? Like, the webbing?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Till it's destroyed.

ROVER

I will, by the way, say if you are planning to stay up for the 8 hours, you will get a level of exhaustion.

MIRA

I mean, she will probably succumb to tiredness, I would say, before that. But it just literally is a question of, can she even fall asleep? Cause I don't know.

ANNIE

Well, Josie's gonna say, Josie's gonna say,

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Even if you can't sleep, or don't sleep, we need you to lay down and rest, and what happens happens. But we're not having you up after just 24 hours ago, you were imprisoned in a statue for gods know how long. You need to rest. That's all that matters. I don't care if you sleep or not, frankly, but I think you will.

MIRA [as UNA]

And I think you understand why I'm not so keen to...go back.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Oh, I do. Believe me. Believe me. This is not a question of motivation here. I understand you. But you're not gonna be worth much to us if you're not at least somewhat rested in the morning. So you handle how you want to get that done yourself, but take first watch, wake me up in a couple hours—

MIRA [as UNA]

Okay.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

And I'll take second, and get your rest then.

MIRA [as UNA]

Okay. I can at least try.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, Corwin's not going to fight falling asleep. She'll take whatever watch you guys want. She will stay up for a little bit, and, like, pull some copper wire out of her bag and—her family are jewelers, so she does a lot of little wire crafts—and she will be kind of fiddling with it, and forming it into something that might eventually be a cat.

ROVER

So, before we continue, so, for the plan: do we have Josie and Viktor going for the full 8 hours? Or, for the full 8 hours, for like no watch, then Una and Corwin as a watch? Is that what I'm hearing?

ANNIE

No, I'm taking...no, no.

ROVER

Okay, I'm sorry.

MIRA

If there's four of us, we're dividing the 8-hour rest between the four of us. Two hours each, right?

ROVER

Two hours each? Understood.

ANNIE

Yeah, exactly.

MIRA

For the watch, yeah.

ANNIE

So, it was gonna be Una, then Josie, then Corwin, then Viktor, cause Viktor wanted to go last. So.

MIRA

Yeah, yeah that works out.

ROVER

Then...where are people sleeping? Cause we have...Jonny's bed would, could have two people in it. And the couch is currently occupied by Merrick.

MIRA

Floor.

ANNIE

Wherever people are sleeping, Josie's trying to be all in the same room.

ROVER

Okay.

ANNIE

Have everyone who’s unconscious in the same room. Which I understand Vik is not keen on, but is going to at least try.

No no no, it's cute that Ro assumes that we put the guy on the couch. No. He's going to sleep on the fucking floor!

ANNIE

He is on the floor, that's fair.

ELIZABETH

Oh, that's because—

ROVER

That's—Corwin, Corwin did!

ELIZABETH

Yeah, Corwin set him on the couch.

ANNIE

Oh! (Laughs)

MIRA

Well, it can be undone. (Laughs)

(Laughing) Yeah, I'm happy to drag that man from the couch! Nah.

MIRA

It can be undone!

ROVER

I will say he takes another 1 damage from being dragged.

ELIZABETH

Well, I was gonna say, if you're okay with it, Corwin will intervene. She won't want you, like, dragging him, and she will kind of like, she would prefer to lift him and set him in a chair or on the floor.

I never said I'm dragging—

ROVER

You did.

Okay, fine. Fine.

[Laughter]

MIRA

He might not survive the night at this rate.

I feel like before Corwin gets to intercept, that head clonked against the floor at least once.

ELIZABETH

That is totally fair. Yup, that's totally fair.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Ah, before anyone sleeps, does anyone need healing? Did anyone else take damage?

JO [as VIKTOR]

(Chuckles) Nah.

MIRA [as UNA]

Ah, no, I would just mend that sleeve. But that's...

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Do you want me to mend it for you? It'd only take a second.

MIRA [as UNA]

Ahhh, sure?

MIRA

It's actually gonna be the left side, but,

MIRA [as UNA]

Um, sure? Yeah, that's fine.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Okay, great.

ELIZABETH

She, like, reaches out and just pinches the seam together, and it kind of glows a little bit and magically mends.

MIRA [as UNA]

Thank you, I appreciate that.

ANNIE

And smells like soap.

MIRA

It smells like soap.

ELIZABETH

And it—oh no, it's not Prestidigitation. That specifically is Mending.

ANNIE

Ooh, that's just Prestidigitation, you're right, you're right, you're right.

ROVER

Does anyone want to do anything before they either have the watch or go to sleep?

I will have something before Viktor goes to sleep, but I have last watch, so yeah.

ANNIE

Yeah no, Josie's whole thing, as I kind of mentioned earlier, is that she's going to position herself somewhere where the door is, where the entrance to whatever room we're sleeping in, she's as close to other people as possible, and sleeping with the door fully in view, back-to-the-wall kind of style.

[Note: We continued discussing and ended up swapping the order of the watch, which is why Vik ends up first here.]

ROVER

Okay, no then we'll start with Vik. That works, because then everyone else is asleep, then you have the two hours, and then you can do your thing.

Any other thing? Also, I think the wonderful Elizabeth named the serpent book I gave to Una, kind of offscreen, to be like, "hey Una here's a children's book you can read to fall asleep". The title of the book is "Slumbering Serpents and Other Insomniac Stories."

ROVER

Incredible.

ANNIE

Very good.

MIRA [as UNA]

Thanks, I will read it after this one.

MIRA

The Infernal one.

ANNIE

I will actually say one thing about the...

ROVER

Yeah?

ANNIE

One thing about Josie's sleep is that she's clearly having a nightmare. Nothing super intense or whatever, but she's just clearly not having a good time.

ELIZABETH

How does that look for Josie? Do you kind of thrash, do you talk in your sleep?

ANNIE

Definitely some, some mumbling and some, just, you know, mostly facial expressions, pained facial expressions and things, so.

ROVER

And then, Viktor, first one.

Yeah, I think the only notable thing about Viktor's sleep, now that he's actually sleeping with people in a room, which he has not done in a very long time, is he looks adorable. Canonically adorable when he sleeps.

[Laughter]

His entire vibe is cat-curled-up. Just so you know. So he's getting up for his two hours of watch, kind of smiling to himself seeing where Josie has put herself, you know, facing the door. Because the entire time he was like, "If I hold watch, I'm just going to sit in front of the door. (Laughs) Because nobody’s going to come in."

ANNIE

Yeah.

[Whirring and ticking fades; soft piano music begins]

So he's getting as comfortable as he can in front of the door on this hard wooden floor in the house he does not know. And he's ever so slightly curling around something he's kept in the inside pocket of his, you know, vest, since they've started their adventure, hidden away from all the others. The wanted poster, or the missing poster, rather, that he has collected. And it slightly crumples as he becomes much, much smaller. Finally letting all that pressure to perform and to hold himself together fall off him.

And he's going to utter a sentence in Elvish, with a thick accent because he has not used Elvish in years. He's going to say,

JO [as VIKTOR]

Mekin g‘alath, nír ewen.

Which, if anyone who speaks Elvish would be listening, translates approximately to, "Be well my heart."

And that's how he sits there, for two hours.

[Piano music fades. Ticking and whirring begins again]

MIRA

Bless.

ROVER

Amazing.

ELIZABETH

Buddy.

ROVER

So that's Viktor's two hours.

He's having a good time. He’s fine.

MIRA

And that was the first watch, yeah?

ROVER

Yeah, that was the first watch. So when everyone is asleep during the second watch, Una.

MIRA

I am so not ready for this. (Laughs)

ROVER

Are you going downstairs at any point during the night?

MIRA

Would I have a reason to go downstairs at any point, DM?

ROVER

I think you would.

MIRA

I would? Hmm. Ahh okay.

ROVER

I think you would actively have the, like, you wake up and it's the first thing.

[Ticking and whirring grows louder and begin to echo ominously]

It's like the whispers are back—you can't hear them, but it's the full idea of like, "I need to get up. I need to go downstairs. Now."

I’m going to say that louder. “I need to get up. I need to go downstairs. Now.”

And it's the full feeling as if there's a force that is like, "go downstairs."

MIRA

Okay. I mean, if it's like an urge that she feels when she's still kind of half awake, cause obviously the two hours, falling sleep probably felt very restless, very unnerving to be unconscious but yet have a control over it in some way. Yeah, she would, she would go downstairs. Obviously trying to not disturb anyone.

She would look at Maverick first—Maverick? Merrick.

ROVER

Merrick.

MIRA

Merrick. Merrick. That guy. She would look at him and if she is absolutely sure that he's also asleep, this is when she would...cause the instincts would still be there.

ROVER

Yeah. I will say they are.

MIRA

Then that's fine. She would go downstairs with...oh! Her Darkvision is still up, cause she's only been asleep for two hours.

ROVER

Yeah, I will say after these two hours, the Darkvision will go.

MIRA

Wait, the two hours that she fell asleep or the two hours that she takes for her watch, cause we said it was—

ROVER

The two hours that she takes on the watch. I think after this, your Darkvision will go.

MIRA

Nevermind.

[Quiet, echoing shop ambience begins, beneath the loud ticking and whirring]

ROVER

Downstairs...in the shop stands this cloaked figure, completely covered in this actually large cloak. And they have what seems to be a suitcase holding in front of them.

MIRA [as UNA]

Who are you?

ROVER

There is no, there is no words.

[Rhythmic, clanking music begins]

MIRA

Do they, do they look familiar to what we've seen on the train?

ROVER

They don't look familiar, they feel familiar. It's not like the familiarness that is there from the person from the train. This is something entirely different.

MIRA

And they haven't done anything since I've seen them from walking downstairs?

ROVER

No.

MIRA

Una would get closer, very slowly, still trying to make it out if it's a dream, if it's not.

MIRA [as UNA]

Why are you here?

ROVER

They click open the suitcase. It opens, and in the suitcase is this, what looks to be this black book with a clover that is, like, a blue glow carved into it like it's painted lines. And I'm guessing that you do not speak Draconic, do you?

MIRA

We were discussing that she was studying it, but I didn't put it down as a used, usable language.

ROVER

You can recognize it as Draconic, however you cannot see what it says. And there's a word in that Draconic on the edge of it. And if you would open the book, there is, in the cover, there is “Virelle” carved into it in the same blue glow paint.

MIRA

Right, so they're presenting that book.

ROVER

Pages seem to be completely empty and it seems to be this notebook.

MIRA [as UNA]

Once again, who are you?

ROVER

There's no words.

MIRA

Can I see their face?

ROVER

You can't. It's fully, like, the cloak's fully over it. You're unable to see a face. Even if you're trying to look for the face, you can't see anything.

MIRA

Right, so with the book...once again, kind of trying to figure out if she's asleep or not, she would reach out towards the person and just try and touch the cloak. Is it possible?

ROVER

Once you do that, and you have the book in hands, the suitcase snaps shut and the cloak, without anything in it, falls on the floor.

[The music and the loud, echoing ticking fade away. Quiet shop ambience remains: ticking, whirring, and occasional dings]

Ah!

ANNIE

Mmmm!

MIRA

So is that cloak still on the ground?

ROVER

Yep.

MIRA

In that case, right, with that snap, Una would have been kind of like, you know, it's a very loud noise when someone does it right in front of your face, so she would have startled a little bit, looked around, looked behind her if there's anyone following, and then grabbed the cloak and just shove it in any crevice space or something like that.

Unless it has any symbols on it? I'm guessing it's just a simple cloak?

ROVER

It doesn't. It's a...yeah, it's a very simple cloak.

MIRA

Just yeah, she would just shove it somewhere inconspicuous and then look at the book again and start flipping through the pages just frantically at that stage.

ROVER

Mmhmm.

MIRA

And not necessarily because she's hoping for an answer, but within her mind, she would be like,

MIRA [as UNA]

(Silently in her mind) Do you mind explaining the meaning of this?

ROVER

There's nothing.

[Shop ambiance fades. Quiet ticking and whirring of Jonny’s apartment begins]

MIRA

She would probably come back upstairs, just proper awake now, startled even, and put that book along with her other belongings. Take out the brass compass again, kind of like, just thinking about stuff. Obviously the needle is not moving, and just, like, "Okay." Just keep the watch until it's time to wake up another person.

She would also make sure, before even doing anything with that book, if anyone's actually asleep. Because once again, the disturbance downstairs, stuff like that.

ROVER

Yeah. So...those are your two hours.

MIRA

Mmhmm.

ROVER

Josie, is there anything you would like to do with your two hours?

ANNIE

What I will say is, I'm...it depends. Do you have anything particular that, for Josie to experience here, or would it be a more interesting use of my time here to discuss the nightmare?

ROVER

Feel free to discuss the nightmare.

ANNIE

Great.

[Echoing chime. Apartment ambience fades away. Water drips softly.]

It's the same one that she gets from time to time, and has for as long as anybody's ever known her, where she is about six inches beneath the surface of the water, in salt water.

[A low hum begins; water bubbles quietly.]

And there's a single shaft of light coming in from the top of this massive chamber in which she is—this very ornate temple. There's a shaft of light coming down onto the pool that she's in. And she's floating completely weightless, like I said, about six inches to a foot beneath the surface of the water. She can breathe fine under the water, but she cannot move.

She can hear people screaming outside of the water, clearer than she should be able to, but it's the only thing that she can hear while she's in the water. And they are screaming the name Josiah and the name Josannah, to the point that they blend into each other, to the point that she can't tell which one's which, to the point that she doesn't know if they even are, if either of them are being said at all.

[Ethereal ringing. Water continues to bubble and drip.]

And as she lays there, unable to move, and begging for silence, the water just starts to cloud over with these, these spreading clouds of crimson.

[Deep ominous music]

And she can smell iron. And then she wakes up.

[All sounds stop suddenly]

My heart!

MIRA

(Distressed noise)

What the fuck, Annie.

ELIZABETH

(Distressed noise) Josie!

[Soft ticking and whirring of Jonny’s apartment begins again]

MIRA

Would she be, cause Una would have been waking Josie up for that, would it have really startled Josie when Una wakes her up?

ANNIE

No. You would think so, like, I'm...like I said, I think you can see—

MIRA

Tossing and turning?

ANNIE

—twitching on her face. There's like, her body isn't moving, cause again, even in the dream she's locked in position. But her face is twitching, she's clearly having emotions, she's trying to mumble things out. Or like, you can kind of hear her going, (whispers) "Please, please, please, please, please."

You know, like that and stuff. But so, you would fully be expecting that as you wake her up, that she would go like (startled noise) you know, or whatever as she startles up. But you shake her, and all of the sudden her face just goes completely slack. And she opens her eyes slowly and just goes,

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

(Deep breath) Thanks.

ANNIE

And then gets up for her watch. Just like that. Back to business.

MIRA [as UNA]

You're...welcome.

ROVER

While your nightmares are terrible, your two hours go perfectly fine. Nothing seems to be happening. Even Merrick seems to kind of have chilled and has actually fallen asleep.

My guy's snoozing. (Snores)

ROVER

Yeah.

[Laughter]

ELIZABETH

He snores; we're all upset about it.

ANNIE

Yeah.

ROVER

Your two hours are pretty okay.

ANNIE

Great.

ROVER

And same goes for Corwin. However, Corwin, please give me a Constitution saving throw with Disadvantage.

ELIZABETH

With Disadvantage!

Oh.

ROVER

With Disadvantage. Oh no. Oh Corwin.

ELIZABETH

I'm sure this is fine, this is fine.

MIRA

Do you wanna half wake someone up to hold your hand whilst you do it?

[Laughter]

[Double dice clacks and thunks]

ELIZABETH

Alright, with Disadvantage, that is a 9.

ROVER

So.

Ro just cracked his fingers. Whaaaa—

ELIZABETH

That makes me so nervous.

ROVER

So, your two hours go fine, and the moment you get back and sleep, it is the same feeling that is always there with your nightmares.

[Apartment ambience fades away]

However this time, it's like...you remember from your childhood growing up in Italy, there would have been probably churches around, and you would have heard church bells all over.

And you can just hear the church bells with this kind of same sound of the noises of the hats of the jesters that you keep seeing.

[Church bells toll; jester bells tinkle lightly. A low hum, and echoing choral singing, begins.]

And there's this humming and then there's almost a choir with this rhyme in Italian. And it's...this is new. You're used to the jester nightmares. However, these are new.

[Sounds fade away; apartment ambience returns]

And when Corwin wakes up in the next morning, there is a bottle of wine on the table next to you all, with, in Italian, a letter on it that says,

"Grateful for your gift. Indulge in mine. Alloric."

And that's where we're gonna end the episode.

What?!

ELIZABETH

(Laughs in disbelief) Wha—?

ANNIE

Wow. Alright.

ELIZABETH

Excuse me, I need a moment to recover.

ROVER

We'll see you...

[Laughter]

ELIZABETH

I'm not okay!

ROVER

...next week. Buh-bye!

ELIZABETH

(Distressed noises)

ALL

(Anxiously) Byeeee.

[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.