0:29

Hello, I'm happy

0:32

to be here once again to join you free

0:34

on a wonderful adventure through the delightful

0:36

world of Cult Divinity Lost.

0:40

Hopefully things are going to get interesting

0:42

one way or the other today. To

0:45

recap, you were once

0:47

again descending deeper into the bowels

0:50

of the earth.

0:51

Luckily, Richard seemed to

0:53

have a very uncanny ability to

0:55

always find the right way to go. In

0:58

this case, it literally seemed to create

1:00

a pathway that led you to a

1:02

very interesting area. In this area, Balthazar

1:04

decided to look down and was delighted

1:07

to find untold horrors lurking

1:10

beneath the bridge you were on

1:12

at the time. Sort of

1:14

humanoid beings,

1:16

but with their skin flayed, just

1:19

sort of like ghoulish beings sort

1:21

of scrambling around beneath you.

1:23

Tony Cobb, of course, was not concerned

1:26

by any of this because he was pretty damn sure

1:28

that he at least was on the right path. And

1:30

so was everyone else, because if you follow

1:32

Tony, then you are always on the right path.

1:36

Absolutely. So they

1:38

went over said bridge and found themselves

1:41

at a small little alcove where there was

1:43

a rather strange little building that had been

1:45

constructed, almost like an outpost,

1:47

if you will. And there, in

1:50

typical heroic fashion, they knocked on

1:52

the door and then punched the person

1:53

who came out. Granted,

1:55

that person did come out with a knife first, but

1:58

you know, if you listen to my

1:59

show you know that my players as well I have a habit of having

2:02

players who just be people

2:04

up or get really angry with their

2:06

an NPC is even slightly slightly

2:09

like who are you slightly

2:11

she held a knife to my

2:14

companion's throat your

2:17

best friend oh there we go guys you heard it here

2:20

first I don't

2:23

know actually no thinking about bow

2:26

he might be his best friend or or

2:28

as close as he has suffice

2:31

to say negotiations were a little

2:33

tense although Tony did calm

2:35

things a little he doesn't have a way of words but

2:38

all that didn't seem to matter to Richard who

2:40

immediately decided to look into the house

2:43

outpost and saw there

2:45

his friend Brendan Williams

2:47

there in the flesh although oh

2:50

so on a bed of some kind bleeding

2:53

badly from a very nasty bandaged

2:55

leg wound and currently sleeping

3:00

and so as on that note where we left off we've

3:02

left it off with Balthazar and Tony

3:04

outside this little dwelling you have

3:06

this woman cloaked

3:09

well not necessarily cloaked more just wearing a

3:12

sort of hooded jacket

3:14

there we go a hooded jacket so she's got a hood up but

3:16

otherwise her clothing still looks reasonably

3:19

mundane with her knife upon

3:22

you although you also have a knife

3:25

Tony at this point and

3:27

you're there outside while Richard just burst

3:30

into this house

3:31

and has seen that this sight

3:33

and of course don't forget that there's

3:35

nowhere else to go really other than a sort of slightly

3:38

collapsed looking tunnel although the things

3:40

that are in the way look like debris

3:42

that's just been put there and

3:44

beyond the debris a horde

3:47

it seems of strange google-like

3:49

beings the thing trying to get in

3:51

although rather calmly so

3:55

with that recap were there any pressing

3:57

questions do we have a name for this

3:59

woman

3:59

I

4:00

do not believe she has

4:03

given a name. No If

4:05

she did it would have been like literally one sentence

4:08

and it happened the last five seconds because I think He

4:10

just punched her in the face and then

4:13

said where's my friend Brendan? So I don't say yeah

4:15

I don't think I did give the name. Oh So

4:17

yes note that you do have a nice knife

4:19

when you tell me a good sharp knife That

4:22

would be the equivalent of to

4:24

harm. I I

4:28

Don't think Balthazar has anything beyond

4:30

his Maglite or

4:32

his phone the mad like smashed

4:35

though. I picked up a crowbar. Oh,

4:37

that's right You've got a crowbar again. That's actually I

4:39

think yeah, that would be similar to harm weapon

4:41

there. Hmm, and I believe Richard has

4:44

not much But

4:46

he's actually the best at fighting. He is

4:48

so good. Awesome. Well in that

4:51

case we shall roll straight in There

4:54

is your friend Richard Brendan

4:58

Williams lying on a strange

5:01

raggedy bed in this strange

5:04

sort of shed Or

5:07

something. It's like again a combination

5:09

of wood and metal haphazardly

5:12

put together to create a space

5:15

that has shelves Boxes are

5:17

on the shelves supplies of different kinds. You

5:19

don't know what they are. They're not labeled Again,

5:21

the symbol of the orange bird Has

5:25

been painted on one of the walls here quite

5:27

large and there is Brendan. He

5:30

is bleeding badly from a leg wound It

5:32

has been bandaged, but you can see that the bandages

5:35

covered in blood and looks

5:37

nasty He currently is

5:39

sort of sleeping. He's also sweating

5:42

quite a bit You

5:44

just walked in what do you do? Richard

5:47

sort of leaps across the room and grabs

5:50

Brendan by the collar. What the fuck did

5:52

you do? What the fuck did you do? Why

5:54

was Laura dead in your house? You

5:57

shake Brendan. He does not wake

5:59

up He mumbles something

6:02

but seems to be in a very deep sleep.

6:05

He's oh so now you're up close sweating

6:07

terribly He smells awful.

6:09

He thinks of sweat and blood What's

6:13

happened to him? What

6:16

he turns around and faces

6:18

this woman what the hell happened

6:20

to you The

6:22

woman looks at you Balthazar

6:25

and you Tony still holding

6:27

the knife kind of cautiously Will

6:31

you allow me to enter Go

6:35

in Will you let me pass?

6:40

If you step back she will attempt

6:42

to walk past you to enter the room

6:44

will you allow this Balthazar? Yeah,

6:48

you step back as she goes in

6:50

and Richards in would we assume that both

6:52

you now? Balthazar

6:55

and Tony will also enter this strange

6:58

little Accommodation sure

7:01

hmm Then all

7:03

of you are now gathered inside this place

7:05

and you two now see this man You don't know

7:07

who he is, but you can tell

7:09

he's injured you especially Balthazar

7:12

can tell that that is a very bad leg wound possibly

7:14

infected What's that stench

7:18

death? His wound

7:21

is festering. I have

7:23

been doing my best to

7:25

help him But I can

7:28

do little about help

7:32

How did you even get back here Richard?

7:36

We we followed the birds Gestures

7:40

to the sign on the wall. Would

7:43

you have known to do that unless? wait

7:47

Did these sent you? Did

7:50

you he sent these two to help that's

7:52

what's happening here? It's not

7:54

it's not exactly how it went down That's

7:58

an understatement

8:00

Are you a friend of this Mr.

8:02

Z?

8:04

She seems like she was about to answer

8:06

quite quickly and then pauses

8:09

as she listens to your various reactions. Yes.

8:15

So tell me, does he ever come

8:18

out with a straight sentence or is he always

8:20

just a cryptic son of a bitch? He

8:24

has his reasons to be

8:26

cautious. Who,

8:30

wait, who are you two? I

8:32

know who Richard is, but I

8:34

don't know who you two people are. How do

8:37

you know Z? How have you become involved in this? Val

8:40

Hartman and you've

8:43

no fucking idea.

8:45

My name is Tony Cobb and

8:49

like the others, I'm here because

8:52

I'm meant to be here.

8:55

You complain about my associates

8:57

being cryptic. Yeah,

9:01

sorry about him. He

9:04

is marked

9:06

by something I'm unsure

9:09

and as for you, she

9:12

actually steps close to you, Balthazar,

9:14

and starts looking at you quite intently and

9:16

then for a moment something comes over

9:18

her features. If you wish to try

9:21

and guess what it is, anyone

9:23

could make a reader person role they wanted.

9:26

Yeah, why not? Yeah,

9:29

I got a plus one to that. You

9:31

could all roll intuition. No,

9:34

this is actually what I expect my character to

9:36

do. The first time I'm doing it, I

9:39

got 12. You got a 12. I've

9:43

got a 16. I

9:45

got a 14. Ah,

9:48

well let Tony go first.

9:51

So Tony, on a 16,

9:54

you, for the rest of

9:56

this scene, can ask two

9:58

questions that are about individuals

10:01

intent. These can be questions

10:03

such as are they lying, yes or no,

10:06

how do they feel right now, what

10:08

do you think they're going to do, what

10:10

do they want you to do and especially

10:13

for Tony, how could you get

10:15

them to do something. So

10:17

this is basically two times, you need to use it right away

10:20

but just say that for now for the scene, two times

10:22

you can kind of intune a few things.

10:24

The rest of you, only one time.

10:28

Do you wish to use something now Tony or

10:30

do you want to wait a second? Oh wait.

10:33

Then bow, do you want to use

10:35

your one right now because she's looking at

10:37

you quite intently? Yeah I want to know

10:39

what she's looking for. You notice

10:42

but she suddenly seems very interested

10:45

in you, she is surprised, the surprise

10:47

leaves her face quickly but now

10:50

she's very intently looking

10:52

at you as if she

10:54

hadn't really noticed you before and now has.

10:57

Hey hey my

10:59

eyes are up here I'm not a piece of me. What

11:04

about you Richard? And this would

11:06

be about sort of intuiting her

11:08

feelings now or can I ask a question about something

11:11

that's, because I mean really I want to know what's going

11:13

on. Exactly you can say

11:15

that basically every time she

11:17

says something we move along during the

11:19

scene you can then ask about that specific thing. I'll

11:22

do that then yeah. It's not the mind reading

11:24

skill, it's sort of like the catch-all

11:26

skill for all the insight check type stuff. Sure.

11:30

I think the last thing she said was about the other T so I'll

11:32

wait for the conversation to get back to.

11:34

Yes of course.

11:35

So yes as you say that Balfa's

11:37

art she just leans forward. How

11:41

is this possible?

11:43

God made me beautiful.

11:44

Yes. But so

11:48

do you know Mr. V? Well

11:52

I just met the man and

11:54

it was a rocky

11:57

introduction. Of course

11:59

but don't forget to subscribe.

13:48

and

14:00

I got the fuck out of there as quickly as I could.

14:03

You ran away from

14:05

your family? Well, I was

14:07

eighteen. I wouldn't exactly call it running away,

14:09

but I sure as hell left. This

14:12

is... strange.

14:17

Alright, we will speak later then.

14:19

Um, she looks to the others. Yes,

14:23

uh, Richard, uh, this is very interesting.

14:25

You were brought... this man

14:27

and this one. But if

14:32

they are not Hitami, then fine.

14:35

Your friend, or you should remember.

14:38

We were attacked.

14:39

You were lost. I

14:42

thought you were dead. You need to start

14:44

from the beginning and do it now, and be very innocent

14:46

at all. Well, the last thing I remember, and

14:49

it's hazy, is... it's... it's

14:51

arriving at Brendan's house on...

14:55

a Friday night. I'd been out somewhere.

14:59

You don't remember anything?

15:01

No, and then walking down the street

15:03

in London and meeting these two days

15:05

later.

15:07

She pauses. You

15:09

happened to come

15:11

upon your friend, myself,

15:14

and another, during

15:16

a moment where then we were attacked

15:19

shortly by our enemies. I

15:21

then did my best to save you, to

15:24

bring you where you can be safe. But

15:27

unfortunately, we encountered

15:29

the Zelos, and

15:32

you were lost. You

15:34

panicked. Understandable. And

15:37

I managed to get your friend

15:40

in here, but he was gravely injured. I

15:42

have not been able to move him for two or three days. I have

15:44

done my best

15:45

to keep him stable, but

15:46

I have been waiting here, hoping

15:49

that help would be sent. Wait, wait.

15:51

So this other person was that Laura? Is that

15:54

my Laura? I

15:57

think that was her name. I wasn't reacquainted.

16:00

did with her. And what happened to

16:02

her? She died. No,

16:04

I know that. How did she die? The

16:07

enemy. People who are

16:09

after you now, they killed her. They're

16:12

going to kill you too. Sorry,

16:14

you need to back up again the enemy. Yes.

16:17

You're

16:19

gonna have to fill me in more. What you have

16:22

enemies. I have

16:24

enemies. Who are these people you said Xenos?

16:27

No, no, no, the Xenos are outside.

16:30

They are just one of

16:33

the many horrors of the

16:36

enemy or something. Mindless

16:39

now, skinned. They're

16:42

all that remains of people who are fed to

16:44

the grassfang ears. All right,

16:47

well that clears everything up. Yes. No,

16:50

you are pursued by one of the brotherhoods.

16:54

There are countless numbers

16:56

of them. They have been hunting me

16:58

and unfortunately

17:01

due to our arrangement

17:04

they came upon your friends

17:07

and yourself. Stop

17:09

it. Why was Brendan and

17:11

Laura and you and Brendan flat?

17:14

Why did that happen? I was conducting

17:17

some business with them. What

17:19

business? I was giving

17:21

them something that they wanted. That's

17:23

all. And why were they together?

17:25

I don't know

17:27

that. They were friends, no? Yeah,

17:32

but no. Wait,

17:35

so with this perception then, I'd read a person.

17:38

How does this work? So

17:41

now you can ask one of those questions

17:43

I mentioned earlier. You can ask is she lying?

17:45

You can ask how does she feel

17:47

right now? You can ask what do you think she's about

17:50

to do? You can ask what she

17:52

wants you to do or you can ask how you could get her to

17:56

do something. I don't think anything

17:58

can help me. Tell

18:00

me more about this brotherhood. Why are they after

18:02

you? Why are they after me? What have I done? We

18:06

met them. We fought them in this alley. That was

18:08

them, wasn't it? The crazy Spanish inquisition

18:11

guys? I assume

18:13

so. The situation

18:15

is difficult to explain. I didn't have much

18:17

time when we were escaping from the before. Yeah,

18:20

very unexpected. Essentially,

18:22

they are bad

18:25

people and they are now going to try

18:27

and kill you and your friends.

18:29

Probably. Although

18:30

Balthazar will certainly be able to

18:32

help. I don't know about this man. Why

18:36

would Balthazar be able to help? I mean, he's

18:38

been helpful, I guess. Thanks,

18:40

boy. Well, because they'll be after

18:43

him too. No, that's

18:45

not right. You said it like he was different.

18:48

Not that he was going to help as in, you know, carrying

18:51

me bags. He

18:53

said it like he would help. Like

18:56

he's like you. Well,

18:59

I'm sure he's in the fuck not carrying your bags.

19:02

I didn't have any fucking bags. She

19:05

pauses and if you want, you can use your

19:07

question now to get why she's

19:10

pausing. At least why you think he's pausing.

19:12

That wouldn't make sense. Yeah,

19:12

okay.

19:14

She pauses. You notice

19:16

she looks awkwardly at Balthazar.

19:19

She doesn't want to say something

19:21

that will upset him. That

19:24

seems to be the look on her face. That's

19:26

all a lot of people get when they don't want to tell someone,

19:28

for example, that they're adopted.

19:31

Or that their brother is

19:33

dead or something upsetting.

19:35

She's unsure what she should say and that's why she's

19:37

pausing. Balthazar,

19:39

who are you?

19:41

Who is he? Why

19:43

are you acting so funny around him? Do

19:46

I get any sense of this? A little,

19:48

but not quite the same. I'll just

19:51

spit it out, lady. All

19:53

right. Balthazar, who are

19:56

you? Tell me who you think you are. Americans?

20:00

Southern, ex-law

20:03

enforcement, guy

20:06

very few people have the taste to

20:08

like, Epicurean

20:11

when we know, when I get the chance.

20:14

Does the name Caton-nor

20:17

mean nothing to you?

20:19

No.

20:21

He doesn't know. Sounds

20:23

like a good Scrabble name, Scrabble

20:25

word. How can you not know

20:28

this is awful? I'm so sorry. I

20:30

don't know how to tell you. This

20:34

entire time Balthazar's eyebrows are basically

20:36

trying to meet his hairline. He's just so

20:39

confused and

20:42

being him when he's confused, trying to act

20:44

and bemused.

20:47

Well,

20:48

and then she coughs quite heavily,

20:49

suddenly there seems to be like some sort of raking

20:52

cough. That probably takes

20:54

her for a few seconds.

20:57

Well,

20:59

you are

21:02

not, well, you may have been bored

21:04

in America. Raised

21:07

there rather, but you weren't. Your

21:10

heritage doesn't come from there. I

21:13

always thought we were German Irish. No,

21:17

you were one of my people. We

21:20

live below. What?

21:23

We come from the city of Condor. City?

21:27

Down below? Yes.

21:30

Like Australia?

21:34

No. Do you,

21:37

wait, how much do you even know?

21:39

You couldn't

21:41

have found Mr. Z if you didn't know a little,

21:44

if you didn't have a guide. I think

21:47

she sort of points at Richard.

21:50

Richard is just normal. No offence,

21:53

Richard. Although admittedly

21:55

you have managed to find your way back here. That is strange.

21:59

What Tony's been doing while he's not

22:02

been having that conversation is he's

22:04

gone over to Brendan and has knelt down

22:06

beside him and has been speaking

22:09

quietly to him, just while

22:11

everyone else has been getting on with their business. And

22:14

if you want we can come back to that. But

22:17

I'm happy at this stage just to look up and say

22:19

it was me who found him, but

22:21

don't worry about that.

22:23

You. You are

22:25

marked by one. Who do you serve?

22:28

You serve someone I can tell.

22:30

I serve death.

22:32

Who do you actually serve them?

22:34

I serve death.

22:37

You are aware that there is no

22:39

personification of death. Does

22:42

your god claim to be a god of death?

22:45

Tony's

22:47

been kneeling down beside Brendan's

22:50

bed, smiling quite benignly.

22:55

And this last

22:56

comment is his smile has become very

22:59

fixed. I'm going to make

23:01

a fanatic roll.

23:02

Yes, please do. Oh,

23:06

that's an eight. Please

23:08

tell me what the fail it was, what the eight result

23:10

is. Less than nine you are

23:12

forced to choose between taking steps to

23:14

changing the person or situation

23:17

to adhere to your ideology

23:19

or reduce your stability by minus two.

23:22

In which case,

23:24

what Tony has been doing quietly

23:27

for the last few minutes is

23:30

just talking to Brendan and letting

23:32

him know that he's dying, but everything's all

23:34

right and that the transition

23:36

will be peaceful and that

23:38

Tony will help him on his way. At

23:41

this point, having had

23:44

his belief challenged in this way,

23:46

he takes

23:48

a deep breath and says, So

23:52

you don't believe in an

23:55

embodiment of death. You don't

23:58

believe in Thanatos.

24:01

I have not heard

24:03

of him, but thank you, there you go, a name. I

24:06

have not heard of Thanatos, but

24:08

very well. You serve them, I will not question that.

24:12

In which case, yeah, he

24:14

lets out a deep breath and then just

24:17

reverses his plan to kill

24:19

her. Yes, I

24:21

say actually that does go with the like, there you go, she's

24:23

acknowledged. She's acknowledged. Yes.

24:26

Okay, she gets to live for the moment. So Tony

24:29

just smiles and nods and then goes back to talking

24:31

to Brendan.

24:35

I almost want to find

24:36

out what would have happened if I didn't say that.

24:39

She looks at you strangely, goes, very well,

24:41

you serve Thanatos. All

24:44

right then, again, I've not heard of that

24:46

one, so therefore he cannot be too

24:48

grave a danger. Yes,

24:52

you are from there. Well,

24:55

actually you are half human and half Azadev.

25:00

Tell me, how old are you?

25:03

She's speaking to me or Richard?

25:04

She's speaking to you, Balthazar. Thirty-two?

25:08

Thirty-two. Incredible. Incredible?

25:11

Yes. Well,

25:18

yes, I will, if you come with me

25:21

together, we will go home and

25:23

we will find your place and this will be

25:25

glorious. This is really

25:27

good. I

25:30

don't know how you managed to survive out there on your own

25:32

in all this time, but this is good. Okay.

25:39

So, shrugs a bit, sort of shakes and has

25:41

like, well, not the weirdest

25:43

thing that's happened to me in the past couple of days. Oh,

25:46

shit. Tony, as you've gone back to Brendan,

25:49

again, you

25:51

have a little bit of knowledge and doctrine, don't

25:53

you, we've discussed? Yeah.

25:56

All people's health. Oh, that will be it. Well,

25:58

actually, you tell me, do you actually... actually start investigating

26:01

his wound at all.

26:03

No, I'm not interested in that. I'm

26:05

not interested in helping him. I

26:09

want to, as I said, calm

26:11

him, make sure that he's prepared

26:13

for death. But

26:15

what Tony's done most of all is

26:19

just trying to cut

26:22

through the fugue state that Brendan's

26:24

in and make some kind of contact

26:26

with him. Because

26:29

Brendan, Tony believes

26:32

at least, is close enough to death

26:34

that he will be getting

26:38

visions from the other side, or at least so

26:40

I hope. At this stage, I tell

26:42

Tony is just gently stroking Brendan's

26:44

hair, telling him that the

26:46

end will be coming soon and then just whispering

26:49

in his ear, tell me, tell me what

26:52

it is you see. Have

26:54

they come for you yet? Are there any visions?

26:57

Tell me, have you seen the other side yet?

27:01

What has been revealed to you?

27:04

Can you hear him? Can you make him tell

27:07

us what he and Lohr are all doing

27:09

in his flap?

27:10

That's not important now, Mr Sinclair.

27:13

That's not important.

27:15

You mean it's not important? Of course it's

27:17

important. That's the whole reason we're here. He

27:20

is largely muttering incoherently.

27:23

You realise it's because he has a heavy fever.

27:26

He's only a little bit conscious.

27:29

However, you actually feel

27:31

that he is far closer to alive than

27:33

dead. He has had medical

27:35

treatment. His leg

27:38

needs better medical treatment, but

27:41

if you just look at it briefly, it has been bandaged

27:43

and wounded up. So he

27:46

still is alive. He is

27:48

still more alive than dead. Granted,

27:50

if he is left for a few more days,

27:53

he probably will slowly succumb.

27:56

Then what I'll do is I'll

27:58

say to the others. Well,

28:01

Zeta and Richard in particular. Mr

28:04

Sinclair, your... your friend

28:06

is in a very serious state. I

28:11

think I should examine his wound

28:13

and see what can be done for him.

28:16

Some sort of doctor?

28:18

I'm a healer. Well, then that

28:20

will do as well. Yes, I've been trying

28:22

to keep him comfortable, Richard, but he can't leave

28:25

with him like this. He would never even get past any

28:27

of those creatures.

28:29

I'll take the bedding away from Brent

28:31

in hand. Start

28:33

unbanstaging his

28:34

wound on his legs. I

28:37

can take a look.

28:38

It appears to be a festering

28:41

wound of some kind. Deep cash has

28:43

been cut by something. It is

28:46

just on the joining of the leg and

28:48

definitely infected. There

28:51

does seem to have been some attempt to add some

28:53

disinfectant to it.

28:56

Probably not enough. Needs a lot better

28:58

care. Proper hospital care, really.

29:00

Yes, yes. He's in a

29:03

grave condition, a grave condition.

29:07

Under the guise of looking at

29:09

the wound, I'm just going to poke around,

29:12

insage it a bit, and

29:15

try to find a weak

29:17

spot somewhere near

29:20

a blood vessel, somewhere where I can just open

29:22

it up a little bit

29:23

more and get him to start bleeding out.

29:26

You can certainly do that. However, you

29:28

will need to act under pressure to do

29:31

it with no one else noticing that you

29:33

suddenly go for his leg

29:35

and try to make it bleed more. So please roll your

29:37

coolness. Sure. So

29:40

that's ten. You

29:43

move your hand. There's your

29:45

looking. You take a few

29:47

seconds just to make sure that no one's looking too closely.

29:50

Balthazar is watching, but he's also watching

29:52

everyone. And Richard, for

29:54

a moment, is looking more at his friend's

29:56

face rather than what you're doing. And it's that

29:58

moment you just go forward. and just push

30:01

a little on the wound and

30:03

immediately feel something happen

30:06

as the wound starts bleeding heavily. However, when

30:08

you do this, the woman then comes forward.

30:11

She didn't notice you do it, but she

30:13

did notice the bleeding. Oh,

30:16

he's bleeding again. Wait, I can

30:18

get some more bandages just a moment.

30:21

Yes, yes, you do that. You

30:23

do that.

30:24

She goes to quickly gather some bandages

30:26

from a box nearby. What do you do in the

30:28

meantime? Again, you two here

30:31

say that he's now bleeding badly.

30:33

Get me the bandages and I'll put some pressure on the

30:35

wound.

30:38

Can you make him conscious? I need

30:40

to talk to him. I need to know what he and Laura were doing

30:42

with this woman

30:44

in her apartment. Like, why were they there?

30:49

Just heal him. Do that thing you

30:51

do.

30:52

You want me to heal

30:54

him. You do understand

30:56

that at this point, his

31:00

situation is terminal. If I

31:02

heal him, you're asking

31:04

me to kill someone else in his

31:06

place. It

31:08

is his time. Are you asking

31:11

me to make

31:13

it someone else's time instead?

31:16

What you mean? He's not that bad.

31:18

He's still half a week

31:21

and it's only a legroom. He can't...

31:23

Who

31:24

should die in his place?

31:27

You, me,

31:30

her, Mr Hartman?

31:33

No, I need to know why. I'm

31:36

slightly confused as to what you mean. What sort

31:38

of healing are you talking about? Besides,

31:40

I've got bandages. You'll be fine. We'll just need to wrap it up.

31:42

I thought you said... Are you

31:44

actually a doctor? And she kind of starts,

31:46

comes to your side and is about to put fresh

31:49

bandages on that will stop stemming

31:51

the bleeding.

31:52

In this case, I'll do the lay on hands

31:54

at this stage and transfer the wound

31:56

and the infection over to her.

31:58

Very well. Because

32:00

someone's got to die here.

32:03

Ah, that's 13. Which,

32:08

yeah, could be better.

32:11

So, you begin

32:14

to very quickly channel your healing powers.

32:17

However, you are doing this very,

32:19

like, suddenly spur-of-the-moment.

32:23

You feel some of the energy going,

32:25

but it doesn't quite all

32:28

transfer.

32:30

You

32:31

feel it go to the woman. She

32:33

blinks for a few seconds and then looks

32:35

at you in horror, then at her leg, and she

32:38

suddenly just clutches it. A

32:40

nasty, dark gash suddenly appearing

32:43

on her leg as she clutches said leg

32:45

and falls to the ground screaming in pain. Meanwhile

32:48

Brendan's wound closes.

32:51

But it has not fully healed.

32:54

But the blood is gone, and maybe

32:56

even the infection. Still,

32:58

there's a nasty wound there

33:01

as he sort of suddenly opens

33:04

his eyes looking really confused. Ah,

33:07

ah, ah, ah, ah,

33:10

ah, ah. He says, and meanwhile

33:12

yes, this woman is suddenly on the floor.

33:14

Ah, what have you done to me! Ah!

33:18

Mr Sinclair, why don't you

33:20

talk to your friend and get the answers you need

33:23

while I tend to this young lady's bones.

33:26

What the fuck, Tony? Yeah,

33:30

Richard's gone completely white at this moment and

33:32

he's sort of backing away from Tony. I

33:34

told you, someone has to die. Right,

33:38

yeah, of course, of course. Brendan,

33:41

we haven't got long. I

33:44

can't describe what's happening right now, but you need to tell

33:46

me what were you doing in your flat

33:48

with Laura and this woman. What?

33:51

Where am I? Richard? Ah!

33:54

Wait, we need to get out of here. Oh, are

33:57

we safe? What are those things? Are they here? Very

34:00

agitated. Brendan, what were you doing?

34:02

What were you doing in that room? What are

34:04

you talking about? We don't have time! He tries

34:07

to get up and immediately then puts that leg forward

34:09

and then... AHH! And leans

34:11

back again like, AHH! My leg! Oww!

34:15

Ah! Ah!

34:18

What's going on? Who are these people? What are you doing

34:20

to Jenny? Jenny, meanwhile,

34:22

sort of steps back a little from you, reaching for her

34:25

knife as you come towards her. Stay

34:27

away from me! What have you done? What are

34:29

you talking about? Magic's you! No! AHH!

34:32

My leg!

34:34

What I'll do is I'll just look at her calmly,

34:37

take the knife that I picked up

34:39

earlier, put it up to my own throat,

34:42

just smile at her and say, I

34:44

put that knife down if I were you.

34:46

Richard!

34:49

What's happening? Why are you betraying

34:51

me?

34:53

I don't know what's happening. I don't know. Tony,

34:55

what the fuck are you doing? Put that knife down. Jesus

34:59

fuck, Tony.

35:00

As I said, someone has to pay

35:02

the price. You decided that it shouldn't

35:04

be Brendan.

35:06

Is there any other weapon in the room? There

35:08

are several objects you could pick up. Various

35:12

boxes or bits of wood or maybe

35:14

even a bit of a metal pipe over there. Yes, there's one

35:16

if you want. Tony, put

35:19

that fucking knife down.

35:21

I'll put it down when her

35:24

new friend puts her knife down. Balthazar,

35:27

what do you do? Granted,

35:29

Tony is talking the talk, although you can't help but

35:31

notice that the woman holding her knife up really

35:34

does seem to be doing it in defense from him. And

35:36

as though she's currently on the floor, although she has started

35:38

to try and get up clutching said

35:40

leg, it's strange. There's like a bleeding

35:43

gash just like to form on her leg. I'm

35:46

going to sidle over and stand beside

35:48

Jenny in front

35:50

of Tony. Like Tony's gone full weirdo-golfist.

35:54

And, uh, like Tony,

35:56

nobody has to die here.

35:59

I expect to be... better of you, Mr. Hartman.

36:02

The Psychopomps will be coming

36:04

soon. Why the fuck

36:07

would you expect anything else from me? I

36:09

don't believe in your bullshit on a good day.

36:12

You seem too much to be

36:14

a skeptic, Mr. Hartman. You seem too

36:16

many truths to disbelieve

36:19

in all this. And

36:21

you know now that

36:24

death is coming for someone. Who

36:27

will it be, Mr. Hartman? Yeah.

36:31

Right about now you sound pretty good.

36:34

We'll hold up the crowbar. If

36:37

the woman sort of staggers back to

36:39

the shelf and starts trying to apply

36:42

the bandages that she had in her hand, or

36:44

herself, quickly trying to tie it together.

36:47

Ah,

36:48

only fleeting. Of course, quite

36:50

bad. Ah, what

36:53

are you doing?

36:55

What needs to be done? Mr. Sinclair,

36:59

are you getting the answers you need? People

37:02

are paying a heavy price for this. Make it worth

37:04

it.

37:06

Brendan is trying to sit up right now,

37:08

wincing at his leg and looking at the entire scene

37:10

with utter terror. You think he'd

37:13

be trying to run if not for looking at you, Richard,

37:15

and obviously recognising you. But it is Brendan. It is

37:17

your friend. Although he currently is delirious

37:20

looking and terrified. Yes,

37:24

press Richard to see one of them. I thought

37:26

we'd got away from them and see one of them. Brendan,

37:29

I need to know what were you doing in the apartment

37:31

with Laura. Why, how do you

37:34

know Jenny? Who is she? Someone

37:36

I know. We were just doing, we were

37:40

just having a good time with Laura

37:43

as well and then I can't quite recall. Great

37:45

start that you were you having an affair with Laura? No,

37:52

mate, he's

37:55

something a little, I think you had, no, you've used

37:57

your job. No, I've used it, yeah. Yeah,

38:00

he kinda just seems to be stuttering a little on that aspect.

38:03

What does that even... Richard! What

38:05

does that even matter? There are people trying to kill us! I

38:07

think he's one of them! He must be!

38:10

Mr. Sinclair, I've had many opportunities

38:12

to kill you if I wanted to. Over

38:15

the last few days, and I've done nothing but help

38:17

you.

38:18

I don't know who the fuck you are, man! All I know is you've come

38:20

in here, holding a knife to your throat, you're attacking

38:22

one of my friends, who's helped me, and now

38:24

you're saying people need to die! Sound

38:27

like one of them! They're crazy! I

38:29

don't know who they are, Richard, I really don't know,

38:31

but there were loads of them they killed! Ugh,

38:33

you know that! I'm sorry! But...

38:37

We almost managed to get away! We've

38:40

been with Brendan, we've come a long way. We've

38:43

come a really long way, and I don't... I

38:46

don't... I don't think you all know what we're looking for.

38:49

Just don't. What are you talking

38:51

about? You were with me! We thought you were dead!

38:54

You were in the tunnel, and then they... you ran!

38:57

You just started screaming and ran! I

39:00

know! It was all so quick, but

39:02

with her friends, they were helping us

39:04

get away from these people! Richard's

39:06

eyes have gone almost completely blood-red, and

39:08

his face is... is completely

39:11

white. And I want to roll on contagiousness.

39:15

Very good, please. Oh, God.

39:19

It's all going on. Oh,

39:21

dear. That's a sixteen.

39:26

Oops. You get to choose two of the

39:28

options that are available to you.

39:30

I feel that I need to trigger some disadvantages.

39:34

It feels like it needs to be in Tony.

39:37

I think that might make this scene a little bit more interesting.

39:41

Well,

39:41

you can certainly do that. More

39:43

interesting. Probably get to make it

39:45

a lot bloodier. And I think I need to

39:48

call the creatures of madness to haunt

39:50

Brendan. Very

39:52

well, then. Are those your two final choices?

39:54

They're white sea choices. You

39:57

tell me what happens. You're staring at Brendan

39:59

and... And what happens to him first of all, from

40:01

your point of view? I think we'd

40:04

lock eyes for a moment and the

40:07

blood red that's pooled across

40:10

Richard's whole eyes just

40:12

drains out and

40:15

Richard collapses. And

40:17

I imagine Brendan's eyes turn

40:20

black and then deep

40:22

red and he just starts screaming.

40:26

And then that screaming triggers Tony's

40:29

disadvantage which Scott can decide

40:31

how to do about that. My

40:33

two disadvantages are thematic

40:36

and involuntary medium. Oh

40:39

gosh, well I'll leave it to you. One of them is a

40:41

lot easier to implement. Yeah,

40:43

yeah. Well I'm happy to go full thematic.

40:46

So Brendan just

40:49

sort of lies back in the bed and

40:51

starts screaming. Tony just starts trying

40:53

to claw at his face and

40:55

then he just starts trying to stagger out of this area.

40:58

He kind of tries to get to the door. He kind of falls

41:00

on his leg, stumbles, falls

41:02

over and then just scrambles out of the area.

41:06

Meanwhile you, Tony, take a moment to

41:08

sort of look at this scene as you are at least

41:10

paying attention to your surroundings. And again, something

41:12

about Richard, suddenly you

41:14

feel something wash over you. And

41:17

this is the first time that you've ever felt

41:19

something affect

41:22

you in this way that wasn't a spirit.

41:24

So once again, please roll thematic and

41:26

see what you get. I've never watched

41:29

you roll snake eyes more. Nope,

41:32

I've rolled 12. So

41:34

you will now become an emotion. You

41:36

can choose angry, confused, frustrated,

41:39

whatever. Something overcomes you and unfortunately

41:41

it does distract you which means that there

41:43

will be a minus one on your next roll. So

41:45

what happens to Tony? I

41:48

think it is just

41:50

pure anger. However

41:54

much Tony projects this mask

41:56

of a vain coolness.

42:00

There is always this sort of simmering

42:03

anger and, well, rage

42:05

underneath. At

42:08

this stage, I mean, everyone is

42:10

just, it seems, disparaging

42:13

his beliefs, challenging

42:16

what he's trying to tell them about the price

42:18

that needs to be paid, and

42:20

the anger is growing and

42:22

growing. He

42:25

just looks around at everyone and

42:28

says, I tell

42:31

you, the price must be

42:33

paid. Someone

42:35

has to die here today. This is how

42:38

it works. Brendan was dying.

42:40

We have cheated for that. And

42:43

now the price must be paid.

42:46

If one of you does not choose, I will

42:49

choose for you.

42:52

Richard, for a few seconds,

42:54

seems to be out of it, although you do notice

42:56

him blinking and he does seem to be coming too.

42:59

So you, Balthazar, are here. You

43:01

also notice the woman sort

43:03

of looking at you, looking at Tony

43:06

and then raising her knife. Just

43:09

try it, chucklehead. Tony,

43:12

what do you do? You can look at Balthazar as he

43:14

says that.

43:15

Then I think at this stage,

43:17

Tony is going to take

43:20

that knife and cut his own throat.

43:23

First

43:26

of all, you will have to endure

43:29

injury because even

43:31

though you have certain powers, cutting

43:33

your own throat this quickly is

43:35

a little bit distracting, at least for a few seconds.

43:38

Just a tad, yeah. So roll

43:41

Fortitude minus 2 at

43:43

the half as you suddenly cut

43:45

your own throat. At this,

43:47

you notice that the woman behind you was about

43:49

to strike but does pause

43:51

because she is clearly taken aback by

43:53

your sudden self-infliction.

43:57

So roll your Fortitude minus 2.

44:00

This was a really, really bad

44:02

time to roll a five. Ohhh...

44:08

The injury is overwhelming.

44:10

Well, you choose. You choose.

44:13

You can either die. I don't think you won't do

44:15

that just yet. You can be

44:17

knocked out. I could make

44:20

that a serious wound as well as my choice.

44:22

Or you can receive a critical wound but continue

44:25

to act. And again, if you needed

44:27

to be reminded in cults, you can have one critical

44:29

wound at a time. And

44:32

then that's it. You can't choose the option

44:34

again.

44:36

So what are you going to do? I imagine

44:39

you want to take a critical wound. Yeah,

44:41

and I will go for a critical wound. Tony

44:45

drops to his knees almost immediately,

44:48

one hand going down to the ground to spot him, there's

44:50

blood pouring out of his throat. But

44:53

the smile has not wavered from

44:55

his face. He's forcing

44:57

his head up and just looking around the room

45:00

from person to person, deciding.

45:05

Exactly. You feel your

45:07

legs starting to give way. You feel

45:09

a few, 30, 40 seconds

45:13

you will start dying. But you still have 10

45:16

seconds as you feel the blade go into your thick.

45:18

And it hurts! It hurts a

45:20

lot. But you're just able to concentrate

45:23

enough to imagine cast your own

45:25

hands. Remembering

45:28

what he did in the club, I'll take a couple steps back.

45:32

I think ultimately, having

45:34

travelled all this way down here with

45:36

Belle and Richard, it's not

45:39

going to be either one of them. It's not going to be

45:43

Brendan

45:45

as all of this has been done so that Richard can

45:47

talk to Brendan. Who's currently fleeing the room in absolute terror.

45:52

So that just

45:54

leaves me or Jenny.

45:56

Are you happy with...

45:58

me

46:00

using bleeding out as another

46:03

opportunity to roll my

46:05

cult leader thing and

46:07

try to find out what my god wants from

46:09

me in this situation. Whether

46:12

he wants me to die or whether he wants someone

46:14

else to die in my place.

46:16

I mean, I am, but I would

46:19

say then that will kind

46:21

of be...

46:22

you might not have time to do both things. Yeah,

46:25

that's true. Oh...

46:30

And also she will probably react, yeah.

46:33

I know I came down here to guide

46:35

Richard to his final destiny, and

46:37

I don't think we've reached it yet.

46:40

So... yeah, I'm

46:42

going to try to transfer this wound onto Jenny.

46:46

What

46:46

I'm going to try to do is just turn around,

46:48

look at her, and she just has a few seconds

46:51

to realise something's going to happen and is

46:54

going to try and do something about it. But

46:56

you will go first.

46:58

So I'm at minus one on this?

47:01

Minus one to the roll, yes.

47:04

So I've rolled thirteen, I've got

47:06

three souls, minus one, so that's fifteen.

47:10

So that is a complete and utter transfer.

47:15

Well, you turn, and

47:17

you channel your energies, and

47:19

you feel a negative

47:22

energy just flow out of you as your

47:24

throat closes up perfectly.

47:27

She rushes forward, raising

47:29

her dagger, and then... stumbles.

47:33

She falls by your feet Balthazar, clutching

47:36

at her neck. Suddenly her neck

47:38

opens and her blood begins pouring out.

47:42

You see her look at you Balthazar. A

47:44

tear starts falling from her eyes, she

47:46

reaches out to you.

47:47

I

47:50

scooped a contour, you're our only

47:52

hope.

47:55

And she falls back,

47:57

and dies.

48:01

This woman

48:03

has said this and is now bleeding out

48:05

from the neck. Her leg wound as well bleeding. Tony, you have a few

48:08

seconds to feel your

48:10

own neck. You are totally fine. And

48:13

Richard, you come back too.

48:15

You're not quite sure what happened. You were

48:17

very angry. And now

48:20

you look around, you can't see Brendan anywhere, but the

48:23

woman is lying on the ground dead. I

48:26

hope the price was worth it, Mr. Sinclair.

48:29

You fucking cunt.

48:33

You fucking religious

48:36

maniacal piece of shit.

48:39

How fucking dare you decide that for somebody

48:41

else. I did ask you to make the

48:43

choice. I'm

48:46

glad you like death,

48:48

you motherfucking son

48:51

of a bitch. Cause I'm gonna

48:53

kill you one of these days. And

48:56

thou leaves.

48:58

I trust you will, Mr. Hartman. I

49:00

trust you.

49:19

Thank you so much

49:21

everyone for playing and thank you everyone at home

49:23

for listening. I'm not

49:25

quite sure what to do with that. It's

49:29

happened. It's all good. Let's

49:31

do a sign off. So again, if you want to get in touch with me,

49:33

easiest way is either through Twitter, which is at

49:36

J the GM or at HWR Podcast

49:39

or through the podcast discord. If you're not

49:41

on there, please do check it out. Dave,

49:43

again, thank you so much for playing.

49:47

Where can people find more of you? I

49:51

am too found on a discord.

49:53

Yeah, that

49:55

was a bit of a scene. And

50:01

again, Scott, thank you so much for taking us down

50:03

into this vial of madness. I'm

50:05

not sure where we go from here. I'm excited to find out.

50:08

Neither am I, but I imagine

50:10

this will be somewhere absolutely wonderful.

50:12

Oh

50:15

yes!

50:16

But yeah, if people want to find me, I'm on

50:18

the How We Roll Discord, I'm on Twitter at Estorbert,

50:21

or alternatively, take a look at BlasphemousTomes.com,

50:24

where, with Paul

50:26

Fricker and Matt Sanderson, we

50:29

produce the podcast The Good Friends of Jackson

50:31

Vias, where we talk about Call of Cthulhu

50:34

and other creepy things. And

50:37

last but by no means least, again, thank you so

50:39

much, Craig, for instigating this

50:41

madness. Where can people

50:43

find you? Is there anything you want to plug, share, mention?

50:46

You can

50:46

find me on RedmondRolePlaying.com, where

50:48

we often indulge in such things. Please

50:51

do follow us there if you've enjoyed today. And thank

50:53

you so much, everyone, for playing, and thank you so

50:55

much for having me once again on How We Actually Roll.

50:58

Amazing. And we'll be back very soon with the next

51:00

episode.