Episode 6
Episode 6: Yellow Card on Ocean Avenue
Book and Ocean get a little too big for their britches after their successful scavenging run and immediately butt heads with the local consigliere.
Maybe relaxing at a bar that certainly isn't filled with threats from their past will help them clear their mind.
This one is mostly about the economic viability of tariffs.
Transcript
Welcome to Oops!
Speaker:All Apocalypses, a show where we explore the collapse of society by playing fun tabletop role-playing games.
Speaker:I'm your host, Stu Masterson, here with a couple of my excellent friends.
Speaker:Hey everybody, I'm Brady, and I play Book McCready, a super smart sleuth who has a new and terrifying fear of salad fingers.
Speaker:Delicious.
Speaker:And I'm Jacob.
Speaker:I'm playing Ocean, a gentle giant who is getting ready to start a new career in podcasting.
Speaker:With Johnny Hertz on the cards in sevens and twelves.
Speaker:Johnny Hertz in Ocean Avenue.
Speaker:Your place on Ocean Avenue.
Speaker:It's the only thing I could think of.
Speaker:And talk with.
Speaker:Jacob, I don't want to dunk on you right now, but you really missed.
Speaker:Ocean Waves.
Speaker:Ocean Waves, that would have been good.
Speaker:From the top, Stu, you got to say plural apocalypses from the top.
Speaker:Yeah, it's the thing is, is that apocalypses, like the S's can blend together, so I won't hold it against you.
Speaker:Yeah, I just sound like a snake at the end, I'm like Apocalypses.
Speaker:We have a much better falling in love question than last week, which was lame, a lame-ass question about telephones.
Speaker:People don't even use those anymore.
Speaker:They need to update this for the modern era.
Speaker:It'd be like, before you send a good ball pick on Snapchat, do you play it out first?
Speaker:Oh, man.
Speaker:Was that too gross?
Speaker:Should I clean that out?
Speaker:That depends on what our audience ends up being, what our demographic is.
Speaker:This week, we're here to ask our two lovely contestants, what would constitute a perfect day for you?
Speaker:This is good.
Speaker:This is open-ended.
Speaker:This starts the conversation.
Speaker:I like this one.
Speaker:I also like this one.
Speaker:Books, oh man, books, perfect day, waking up early, something that I hate to do.
Speaker:Waking up early, cracking a book, McReading it, going down to the soggy worm, have Calista talk to him first, like she acknowledged him, and instigate a conversation that lasts more than three sentences.
Speaker:Maybe even asking her on a date, even though, like in this perfect day, she's single, which she's not in every other day.
Speaker:Going on a date with Calista would be pretty neat.
Speaker:And then I'm going to say like hanging out with Ocean and like just building stuff.
Speaker:Like I think he would like to just tinker around with the spider, make it do some cool stuff, and then ending the day with another book to make read.
Speaker:That sounds like a pretty good day.
Speaker:I would take that day.
Speaker:That's a pretty good day for anyone, I feel.
Speaker:I also choose your fake girlfriends.
Speaker:Ocean's Perfect Day, I think, would consist kind of a polar opposite of the opposite of Book's favorite day.
Speaker:I think Ocean's best day ever would be to be alone in a deep, dingy cave, just as full of really interesting things that he can just spend hours just pawning over, looking, pouring over, looking at, putting in his car, stuffing through the things that seem like the most intriguing, just finding lots of cool things down in the deep dark.
Speaker:That also sounds like a pretty fun day.
Speaker:I'd do that one.
Speaker:It's just a danger-free day, too.
Speaker:Like, no threats, nothing, just a smooth day where he goes down, finds a bunch of cool stuff, comes back, chills for a little bit, takes a good nap.
Speaker:Stu, can I guess your perfect day?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Wake up, like, 11.
Speaker:AM?
Speaker:Go to Shaggy's, get breakfast and coffee.
Speaker:Like, 30 minutes later, go to Burrito Bandito.
Speaker:Get a burrito and a tall boy.
Speaker:Then go to Side Tracks at like 4 p.m.
Speaker:It's a Tuesday.
Speaker:And listen to the worst EDM you've ever heard.
Speaker:Yeah, that's probably pretty close to mine.
Speaker:Not Shaggy's, because I ate them every day for a year, and now it's disgusting to me.
Speaker:But besides that, it was always disgusting.
Speaker:I do like waking up early, though.
Speaker:I'm like that with Book.
Speaker:I don't do it always, but I get a bunch of stuff done.
Speaker:That's a good day for me, getting a bunch of stuff done in the morning.
Speaker:Because I know that you wake up early often, but I assumed that you hated it.
Speaker:No, I like it.
Speaker:I would actually prefer to go to sleep early and wake up early, but I stay up very late and wake up early.
Speaker:Nice, that's a good trade-off.
Speaker:That's a good compromise.
Speaker:But you got like nine tenths of my perfect day, I think.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Bandito burrito for lunch, sidetracks for dinner.
Speaker:Their food, their food was actually very good.
Speaker:Yeah, we should pour one out for sidetracks who will not be sponsoring us because they are no longer an extant building.
Speaker:That's true.
Speaker:Wait, really?
Speaker:Sidetracks is gone.
Speaker:RIP.
Speaker:Luckily, probably everyone listening to this lives in the same place we do, which I guess I won't say, but just in case, sidetracks is a terrible, not a terrible.
Speaker:Sidetracks is my favorite building, but it's a dingy ass bar that also has music in it.
Speaker:It's a music venue.
Speaker:And it was my favorite place to be until it got destroyed this year, last year.
Speaker:So thanks, Brady, for making me sad that my perfect day can never occur.
Speaker:You're welcome, Stu.
Speaker:Do we have any Books Nooks since our last episode?
Speaker:It's been a long time since the last Book Nook.
Speaker:Have you found any new apocalyptic media?
Speaker:No, no, no new apocalyptic media that I've consumed.
Speaker:Let's go for some old ones.
Speaker:And is it true you've never played Fallout because you're an insane person?
Speaker:I have never played Fallout, but I was always very interested in playing Fallout.
Speaker:Yeah, you should play it.
Speaker:You seriously never played Fallout?
Speaker:I played the phone app.
Speaker:I played the terrible, awful phone app.
Speaker:Fallout Shelter.
Speaker:They came rocked.
Speaker:It was horrendous.
Speaker:I played it for like three days, and then I was like, why am I?
Speaker:Why am I wasting my life away?
Speaker:I as a way too young lad, I played Fallout one because the box was dope as shit.
Speaker:Had some cool ass dude on the front, bought it from Target, probably when it was like down to like three dollars in like very early 2000s.
Speaker:Probably didn't run on my computer very well.
Speaker:I was too young to understand this game.
Speaker:All I remember is that I was constantly dying when nothing was happening.
Speaker:I've beaten it since then, but I'm thinking either I didn't understand radiation or I was just playing it incredibly wrong.
Speaker:But I remember I kept like having to restart the game.
Speaker:I would be like when I was very little, I'd play it like this.
Speaker:Pretty fun.
Speaker:Very complicated.
Speaker:And then like all my characters would die.
Speaker:And I had to start over the beginning.
Speaker:And I didn't know what I was doing wrong.
Speaker:Never figured it out.
Speaker:Eventually gave up and then played it 15 years later and loved it.
Speaker:I would say that sounds like every video game experience I've ever had because I'm very bad at video games.
Speaker:Yeah, so Fallout.
Speaker:Definitely I'll give it a try and I'll get back to you guys on if I like it.
Speaker:Next week.
Speaker:Yeah, tell us if you liked.
Speaker:Go ahead and play Fallout 3, New Vegas and 4 with all the DLC and give us a quick review.
Speaker:You got it.
Speaker:It's not quite like I'm employed.
Speaker:Not for long.
Speaker:And with that, back to our story.
Speaker:Last time we wrapped up your guys' first nice fetch quest into Subtropolis, where he went and retrieved a through the earth communication device for Johnny Hertz.
Speaker:He was very happy with it and paid you handsomely.
Speaker:You guys are pretty much back in town and we're kind of starting a new arc here.
Speaker:So we're going to pull out the beginning of session moves.
Speaker:Are there any lovely moves you guys have before we should roll for scavenge?
Speaker:I have.
Speaker:Give me your visions.
Speaker:Yeah, I get to roll and see what you're what you can do to me for my visions.
Speaker:It's a reminder.
Speaker:I roll hard on a higher.
Speaker:I roll the less points Stu has to spend to screw me over by triggering visions.
Speaker:So everyone's hoping for a low number here.
Speaker:Let's see it.
Speaker:Honestly, I kind of like having a low number.
Speaker:Six.
Speaker:Oh, no, it's an eight with a plot with my heart with my heart.
Speaker:Seven through nine MC holds.
Speaker:So that means I can spend two of them like I did previously to immediately cause a vision any time I want, which can be in a time of intense action or where it would be very useful for him to have all of his faculties.
Speaker:Or I can spend one twice to during a transition scene trigger vision.
Speaker:So he's not in danger like any of the times where we kind of go, OK, we're moving to a new place or moving, jumping between characters, stuff like that.
Speaker:We can trigger vision.
Speaker:So I will remember those and use them.
Speaker:Additionally, if you have three at the start of the session, you must begin the special by this day, then we can move to rolling scavenge.
Speaker:So you guys are in the same scavenge categories you were last time.
Speaker:This role will tell us what is easy and what is hard.
Speaker:What I'm going to do this time, though, since you guys are currently flush with cash, even though you're living life the same way as before, you have a sudden influx of money.
Speaker:So I'm going to give you guys advantage on this scavenge role.
Speaker:Oh, what that means is you growl three d six and you get to choose the two highest ones and add your modifier to that.
Speaker:Very exciting.
Speaker:OK, I'm off to a bad start.
Speaker:I got a two and a one shit.
Speaker:So we roll.
Speaker:OK, that's actually an eight, but with my scavenge, that brings it down to a seventh.
Speaker:I think that's still a success.
Speaker:I rolled a one, a two and a four and I have minus one.
Speaker:So my I have a five.
Speaker:I still feel an utter failure, even with advantage.
Speaker:The dice sometimes just are giving us something more interesting than we even could hope for.
Speaker:On a seven to nine, you're allowed to ask me what's easy and what's hard.
Speaker:And on a miss, you should be prepared for the worst.
Speaker:That's what's going to happen to you, Book.
Speaker:OK, what comes easy is Beethoven, your good, good friend, comes back with a haul.
Speaker:He happened to be in Subtropolis about the same time as you, actually.
Speaker:He drives this flatbed truck that always has this very suspicious tarp over the back, covering something large that no one is brave enough to try to peek into.
Speaker:It comes back towing this sled with a bunch of huge, double plated windows that look like they were ripped off of the skyscraper.
Speaker:And he comes bringing this back into town, and he is selling them to people for money.
Speaker:It looks like he has gone into town, literally ripped the windows out of some buildings and brought them back for trade.
Speaker:So how difficult would it be to take that and fashion it into a new...
Speaker:It's going to require some work, but you definitely think you have the right materials, and you know how to...
Speaker:Fucking giant thunder exploded.
Speaker:I heard that.
Speaker:Certainly got picked up.
Speaker:Yeah, certainly got picked up by my wife.
Speaker:Discord didn't even filter in.
Speaker:The shit was that.
Speaker:But yeah, you think you definitely have the materials with him.
Speaker:You can afford it with some of the money you've made.
Speaker:No problem.
Speaker:And you think you have the expertise to do it.
Speaker:It'll take some time, though.
Speaker:It's not going to be like pop one out, pop the other.
Speaker:Yeah, it'll probably be another session or so.
Speaker:I'm Ben.
Speaker:Another story.
Speaker:Or one roll and a several hours later.
Speaker:Yeah, you'll be able to.
Speaker:I would say the next time you need the spider, it's going to be good to go.
Speaker:We're going to stick around the town for a little bit here.
Speaker:But by the time you're going to need it, you'll have it.
Speaker:What's coming hard right now is the power available to people.
Speaker:Mercury has been extra stringent on the energy allocation to everyone right now.
Speaker:You see throughout, as you're trying to work on this, your lights go out every freaking 20 minutes.
Speaker:You're in your shed trying to fit this glass onto it, trying to get the right shape down, cut it out, create a framing for it.
Speaker:And it is very frustrating to work on.
Speaker:Every 20 minutes, your powers go out for like 40 minutes.
Speaker:And this is definitely more than usual.
Speaker:Book, right now, he's basically keeping your power off.
Speaker:You don't know what's causing this, but he's giving you like trickling just enough to be able to survive.
Speaker:But all day, you're trying to read your fucking books.
Speaker:Can't do it.
Speaker:You wake up, you're like today may be the perfect day.
Speaker:I got some money in my pocket.
Speaker:I'm good to go.
Speaker:You open this book.
Speaker:You're so excited.
Speaker:You're like, I got all day to do this.
Speaker:I got to recover.
Speaker:I'm a little sore from some of my scrapes before.
Speaker:Open this book.
Speaker:Get halfway through the first paragraph in the book.
Speaker:That's wonderful.
Speaker:And of course, I just burnt through my last candle.
Speaker:Yes, your last candle.
Speaker:You're like, I don't need candles anymore.
Speaker:I'm an electricity boy.
Speaker:I'm a zappy boy.
Speaker:Did you guys have any harm on you?
Speaker:I do.
Speaker:I have two boxes.
Speaker:That's still in the area where it heals by itself, right?
Speaker:Yes, after six, you need medical attention, but you're a four six, so you can clear those out.
Speaker:Actually, you're going to have enough time around town to relax.
Speaker:Cover up your wounds and be good to go.
Speaker:So Book, you have enough money.
Speaker:Your main goal here, why you went and collected some of these funds, was to try to obfuscate the Jeep from belonging to the Boxcar Children.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Which you acquired during our short intro romp of Splash Splash Boom.
Speaker:That is correct.
Speaker:That was your main goal.
Speaker:You also rolled really bad on scavenge, so it is not going how you hoped.
Speaker:I'm going to say you're able to do this, but the Jeep looks the opposite of how Book would want it.
Speaker:What does it look like?
Speaker:So what Book was looking for was sort of this camouflage for the cave environment.
Speaker:So I was picturing a kind of a gray base coat with black and light and darker gray triangles in sort of a zebra-esque arrangement.
Speaker:So they're not all the same size, they're not all evenly spaced.
Speaker:And instead of making the Jeep more difficult to see in the cave environment, it is now the most glaringly obvious thing that you would notice even when it's surrounded by stalagmites and stalactites.
Speaker:Yeah, it looks like, what's the name of the pattern for houndstooth?
Speaker:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker:It looks like that.
Speaker:It's gaudy as fuck.
Speaker:It's the colors you want.
Speaker:But yeah, so I want to ask you, so was that something that I did myself?
Speaker:Was I unsuccessful in getting Frida's help?
Speaker:So if you want it to be, I was, yes, you were unsuccessful in getting, you tried to contact Frida, which is not something that is very easy to do.
Speaker:Usually they contact you first, but you tried to reach out and you were unsuccessful in this amount of time.
Speaker:It seems like they are busy with other things.
Speaker:You haven't seen any new art pop up recently, but it seems like they are busy.
Speaker:If you want it to be a similar pattern, but gaudy, like we kind of talked about like a houndstooth or something like that, that would be you had to hire someone else to do it and they just did a bad job.
Speaker:Another option you could go with is you only had access to like one color of paint.
Speaker:So you just had to like paint it.
Speaker:You primed it and the shit solid white and waiting for other coats.
Speaker:Oh, I think that I think that's a much better option.
Speaker:OK, you went to go buy all the supplies you needed and they had like primer and lime green and nothing else.
Speaker:And you're like, well, I can at least buy this for now.
Speaker:And you got it to make it look different.
Speaker:You had to uninstall the lift kit.
Speaker:It's less lifted than previously.
Speaker:Oh, no.
Speaker:That's the worst thing that can happen to a Jeep.
Speaker:Less lifted, smaller tires, a solid light now.
Speaker:Still a good Jeep, still runs well.
Speaker:And you think it's definitely not as obvious that one of the boxcar children would own it.
Speaker:They couldn't just go and point and be like, hey, that's my Jeep.
Speaker:You could make a somewhat cogent argument that no, this is a different one.
Speaker:Is it a matte white?
Speaker:Because I'm assuming it's a matte white because it's the primer.
Speaker:Yeah, which is pretty cool, still.
Speaker:Yeah, it's not the worst thing in the world.
Speaker:Ocean, you are you're able the only other thing wrong with your truck was the fuel line, which is very easy to replace with the amount of money you have.
Speaker:There's fuel lines laying all over the place.
Speaker:You just buy a new one, pop it in there, and you're looking pretty good.
Speaker:So is what would you guys be doing?
Speaker:I kind of want to dig into this Ace of Spades, the Queen of Spades.
Speaker:Okay, so I'm going to start off by saying, so did Ocean visit me or did I visit Ocean?
Speaker:So that we can have a conversation about what we want to do today.
Speaker:So the Jeep is at Ocean's place anyway, so while you're painting it, you'll probably be there.
Speaker:I have a question before you guys talk.
Speaker:What are you guys going to do with the cool, cool hot mixtapes that were given to you by Crandall?
Speaker:Oh, I'm putting that in the glove compartment of the Jeep.
Speaker:The glove compartment?
Speaker:You have one too.
Speaker:You both have.
Speaker:I'm assuming that they're identical music.
Speaker:Yes, they're both Vessel by 21 Pilots.
Speaker:Okay, perfect.
Speaker:That's so funny because I have a 21 Pilot CD in my car permanently in the CD player.
Speaker:It's the only one you need.
Speaker:Well, that's their best album, so why isn't it that one?
Speaker:It's Trench.
Speaker:That's good if you like random ska songs thrown in.
Speaker:Okay, so you guys are together at Ocean's place?
Speaker:Yeah, I think it makes more sense, considering your cave.
Speaker:Yeah, mine has no power.
Speaker:So Ocean just said to me, mentioned investigating the ace of spades, or sorry, the queen of spades.
Speaker:I nod my head and say, yeah, the only issue is, I think we might, the only person we have positive confirmation of knowing anything is Frieda, because they made that artwork referencing the queen of spades.
Speaker:What about those cards that you found?
Speaker:Oh, yeah, that was at the bar, right?
Speaker:Could we?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Could we hit the bar up and figure out anything about because that was how many?
Speaker:How many days would you say if you're not doing this immediately when you get back?
Speaker:If you're like trying to work on your cards a little bit first, it's probably been two weeks since you first went into that bar.
Speaker:You guys were only in Subtropolis for two days.
Speaker:Yeah, that might be a good option.
Speaker:And you have a pretty good report with that bartender.
Speaker:So maybe we can kill two birds with one stone, pay off your debt to the bartender.
Speaker:And I was just about to say, I think I need to go pay my debt back.
Speaker:I like it.
Speaker:Let's let's hit the road.
Speaker:Who remembers the name of the bar?
Speaker:Was it the something with a leg?
Speaker:The broken leg is what it was called.
Speaker:I 100% call that by memory, not by checking our previous episode notes.
Speaker:Excellent memory there, Ocean.
Speaker:So you guys are trying to head to the broken leg and just collect some information.
Speaker:You're heading there.
Speaker:You know where it's at.
Speaker:You're in the relative safety of the town, but you do see someone who is known to cause some problems.
Speaker:You see someone by the name of Pistachio Jones.
Speaker:Do we recognize this guy as the guy that took a scorpion shot?
Speaker:No, that was Beethoven.
Speaker:Pistachio Jones is the right hand man of Hickory Fleek.
Speaker:Hickory likes to only make his presence known when he's trying to make a statement.
Speaker:Like he doesn't go around town and talk to the normal people very often.
Speaker:He likes it to be a somewhat traumatic event when he shows up.
Speaker:The man doing his day to day work, is Pistachio Jones.
Speaker:He's keeping people in line.
Speaker:He's being the voice of Hickory.
Speaker:He's the one who will go try to shake people down.
Speaker:And you see him doing similar things to that roughly on the way to your bar.
Speaker:Can we hear what he's saying?
Speaker:I'm not very sneaky, but I would like to try and listen in.
Speaker:Yes, you want to try to listen in without being seen?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Who wants to do that?
Speaker:I think I'm going to let Ocean take point on this one, because I think he flies under the radar better.
Speaker:And I'm just going to I'm going to try to work with the information he gets me.
Speaker:Yeah, I'm just kind of since I'm quiet.
Speaker:So we'll see if I'm going to casually just kind of start walking.
Speaker:I'm going to walk by basically, like go around the corner and like kind of say behind the corner, move to get closer towards Pistachio Jones.
Speaker:I'm going to do an act under fire for you.
Speaker:Oh, that's pretty good.
Speaker:That's a 10.
Speaker:OK, you're able to get kind of around the corner from him.
Speaker:You're just casually walking around trying to look like you belong there while still listening to his conversation.
Speaker:And you hear him basically shaking down someone.
Speaker:He says that they've started collecting a portion.
Speaker:He knows when people go scavenging and they come back successfully, they need to provide some financial compensation to be able to be part of the community.
Speaker:And he's trying to frame it in a way that says, hey, we're all working together here.
Speaker:We all should get benefits from the people who are able to go out and collect things.
Speaker:Is that something that we would be pretty well aware of?
Speaker:No, this is a new thing.
Speaker:It's a new thing that we haven't heard of.
Speaker:You've never had to pay that before.
Speaker:He's tried to like he tries to get money from you for the power and things like that.
Speaker:But this is a new tax being levy.
Speaker:He's basically imparting a like a scavenging tax or a scavenging levy.
Speaker:He's the damn sheriff of Nottingham.
Speaker:Yeah, I'm going to kind of lean over to to Book and be like, hey, maybe we should try and keep our future scavenger on the down low.
Speaker:Sounds like Hickory's trying to tax us.
Speaker:This is something that directly impacts us that we are not a fan of.
Speaker:So we should probably take him out.
Speaker:I'm kidding, obviously.
Speaker:Take him out as Killen?
Speaker:Yeah, yes.
Speaker:Take him out now.
Speaker:Inconspicuously in a crowded street while he's talking to me down.
Speaker:Speaking of, I actually just marked an improvement.
Speaker:Excellent.
Speaker:So do you want me to go ahead and take that now, Stu?
Speaker:Because I know what I would like.
Speaker:Yes, if you know what you want, go ahead and take it.
Speaker:It could be useful.
Speaker:I'm going to take the Hold Your Own move from the Volatile Playbook, which allows me to count as a small gang when I make combat.
Speaker:That is awesome.
Speaker:In earlier versions of this, this rework burned over is they kind of cleaned up some of the language to make it more appropriate for all audiences.
Speaker:In first and second edition, it was called Not To Be Fucked With, which I think is a little more accurate than just holding your own, where you literally count as a small gang in any battle you're in.
Speaker:So if you're up against one person, it's like them having to fight two or three people.
Speaker:And if you are against two or three people, that is a fair fight for you.
Speaker:You're able to take them on without any downside.
Speaker:And that also still helps you when you're outnumbered.
Speaker:You basically are always treated as a small gang.
Speaker:So if you're fighting a medium gang, it's only one tier above you in a large gang is two tiers instead of...
Speaker:That is super handy, especially because I will be of very little assistance in those fights.
Speaker:Yeah, so now it's like you have instead of one and a half people, you have three and a half people on each fight.
Speaker:Beethoven needs to watch out because there's a new big boy in town.
Speaker:I bet Beethoven probably has this move.
Speaker:Imagine if Beethoven just is Frieda.
Speaker:That would be the twist of the situation.
Speaker:But if that were the case, then Frieda would not need us to scavenge for them.
Speaker:That's throwing people off the scent, you know.
Speaker:Let me get these two chucklefucks to pretend to get stuff that's useful.
Speaker:Give these guys an inflated sense of ego.
Speaker:Okay, you have that now, at this exact moment.
Speaker:So do you think that comes from your past?
Speaker:Do you think this is something that has opened up within you, that you always had within you, and now you've been in some dangerous enough moments, you've seen some weird enough shit that now you're like...
Speaker:Yeah, I think actually it's probably more in the line of that, from the last outing that they had.
Speaker:You know, Ocean's a pretty big dude.
Speaker:And from going out and climbing through the sewers and chopping a creature's arm off and all that stuff, he's more aware of his size.
Speaker:He's more like spatial awareness, so he's more able to like utilize his body mass.
Speaker:I'm picturing that this added experience dealing with gangs just made you realize like mentally, like, oh, I could take them.
Speaker:There's more of a mental block than a capability block.
Speaker:You saw the people in Crandall's first floor, and you're like, I think I could take all of them at once.
Speaker:I saw Crandall and was like, what is this?
Speaker:How is he a warlord?
Speaker:I could be a warlord.
Speaker:So are you guys gonna try to get past Pistachio Jones without being seen, or are you just gonna waltz by him?
Speaker:You're closer to him, so I think your behavior is gonna determine mine.
Speaker:I don't think...
Speaker:Or we could like shoulder past him, bump into him.
Speaker:I was about to say, I think I want to make my presence known.
Speaker:Yeah, I don't think I want to.
Speaker:Yeah, I think I like the idea of like, not like in a way that's like actually trying to hurt him, but in a very way where like I bump into his shoulder to make it obvious that I know he's there.
Speaker:As I walk by him, but I don't want to stop and talk to him.
Speaker:I just want to keep on walking.
Speaker:This is going to be a Confront Someone roll.
Speaker:Confront Someone roll?
Speaker:Oh god, I'm not very good at confronting people.
Speaker:Yeah, this is plus aggro.
Speaker:Sounds like it though.
Speaker:This is when you confront, intimidate, threaten, stand off, or bluff someone.
Speaker:Yeah, intimidate, I guess, is what I'm trying to do.
Speaker:I'm trying to make it look like, hey man, leave this dude alone.
Speaker:I'm here.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Let's see what I do.
Speaker:I'm nervous.
Speaker:I'm not the most aggressive.
Speaker:This is plus aggro.
Speaker:Oh, that's bad.
Speaker:OK, I'd like to help.
Speaker:I'd like to try to help.
Speaker:As Ocean tries to gently bump into him and make it seem like it was by accident, and he accidentally rockets through him like a bull, I'm going to stumble after him and go, I'm sorry we're in a rush.
Speaker:He's having a baby.
Speaker:That's absolutely insane.
Speaker:Not like he's about to give birth.
Speaker:Yeah, like we're rushing to the hospital, we gotta get there.
Speaker:OK.
Speaker:That makes a little more sense.
Speaker:I was thinking that you were saying I was having a baby.
Speaker:OK, great news for you.
Speaker:That's also going to be a confront someone.
Speaker:Because that's you trying to trying to bluff him.
Speaker:Maybe I should bluff Agro next.
Speaker:Considering how often we seem to roll Agro, maybe I should get rid of this negative one.
Speaker:I like you guys failing it.
Speaker:I think it's fun.
Speaker:Speaking of, I gotta mark that.
Speaker:I rolled for it.
Speaker:I like it because in this game, when you fail, it's not like you just can't do something.
Speaker:It's like fail.
Speaker:Yeah, it always results in something.
Speaker:Yeah, something happens that pushes the seven.
Speaker:Oh, shit.
Speaker:No, you got a seven minus one, which is known as a six.
Speaker:Oh, yeah.
Speaker:So what you said is accurate as you try to gently kind of just you kind of want to graze them.
Speaker:You want to keep your same movement going forward, not like he running into him, but you don't realize your own mass compared to this guy.
Speaker:Pistachio Jones is a pretty stout dude, but he's a good head and a half shorter than you.
Speaker:He stumbles forward.
Speaker:He didn't notice you at all.
Speaker:And he was at like leaning a little bit forward towards this guy trying to make himself seem imposing.
Speaker:So he actually falls to the ground and has to like catch himself with his hands and he gets all dirty.
Speaker:The dirty ground comes up on him, messes up his very shitty suit he's wearing.
Speaker:Book starts stammering some ridiculous excuse.
Speaker:But before you even get to the part about having a baby, he's like, You quiet!
Speaker:And you just feel in your soul this man staring at you and his position of power over you.
Speaker:And it just makes you shut up for just a second.
Speaker:He gets back, dusts his pants on his feet, and he goes, Now, what the fuck do you think you're doing here?
Speaker:Don't you know who I am?
Speaker:I'm going to try and spin this into a different direction now, because this has failed so poorly.
Speaker:I'm going to turn to him and be like, Look, man, stop trying to intimidate the little guy.
Speaker:Pick on somebody else.
Speaker:You know I'm Piscatio Jones, right?
Speaker:I know who you are.
Speaker:I don't care who you are.
Speaker:I'm tired of all this taxes you keep levying on us.
Speaker:It doesn't make any sense.
Speaker:I was allowed to come to you guys because I think you owe a little bit yourselves.
Speaker:I don't think we owe anything.
Speaker:I heard that you were down in Subtropolis and you were collecting all sorts of things, and you came back with pretty heavy pockets.
Speaker:I think a little bit of that belongs to the town itself.
Speaker:We already gave it back to the town.
Speaker:That's not what I heard.
Speaker:That wasn't for us.
Speaker:That's not what I heard.
Speaker:I think you owe us about probably a car battery, which you know is an absolutely insane amount of money.
Speaker:Pistachio, I'm sure this is just one big understanding.
Speaker:Yes, it is an understanding.
Speaker:I know exactly what's going on here.
Speaker:Sorry, did I say understanding?
Speaker:I'm sure this is one big misunderstanding.
Speaker:Why don't you come grab a drink with us at the Broken Lake, and we can sort this all out?
Speaker:So I can be poisoned?
Speaker:Hey, we won't be serving the drinks.
Speaker:You know, what's the bartender's name again?
Speaker:Juniper, or I know everyone in this town, Book and Ocean.
Speaker:Well, why don't...
Speaker:Juniper's gonna be serving your drinks.
Speaker:I'm sure you know each other very well.
Speaker:Why don't we go sort this out?
Speaker:And in a Sottevote, the reason I'm doing this is because I think I remember Sue saying that there's no weapons allowed in that bar, and the only person who has a weapon is that guy.
Speaker:So I'm hoping that if this guy's packing heat, he'll respect the rules of the bar, so he doesn't try to fuck with us.
Speaker:Okay, give me a Sway Someone roll.
Speaker:Hell yes.
Speaker:Okay, let's roll it.
Speaker:9 plus 2, 11.
Speaker:Okay, on a 10 plus, they have to choose, set reserve and skepticism aside, and go along with you, or explain to you why they must refuse.
Speaker:I must refuse.
Speaker:I'm not an idiot.
Speaker:I'm not going into some random place with you guys.
Speaker:I don't have time.
Speaker:I'm a busy individual.
Speaker:I really, really need to get on and collect some more taxes.
Speaker:So if you guys could go ahead and pony up, pay me what you owe, we can just go ahead and get moved on.
Speaker:As you can see, neither of us have a car battery on us.
Speaker:So it looks like we'll just have to cross paths another day.
Speaker:Well, I know right where you live, so we can take a quick sojourn that way, and let's go ahead and hand it over.
Speaker:Speaking of where I live, if you're so worried about what we're contributing to community, I'm a little worried about what the community is contributing to me, because I haven't had power in two frickin weeks.
Speaker:Why would I pay taxes to a community that isn't giving me power?
Speaker:That's coming from Hickory himself, so you're gonna have to bring it up with him.
Speaker:Yeah, so what's that about?
Speaker:I thought you were Hickory's right-hand man.
Speaker:No, no, you said yourself.
Speaker:That's right, Ocean, you just said.
Speaker:So let's talk about this.
Speaker:Let's go get that drink and let's talk.
Speaker:I'm not going in a bar with you guys.
Speaker:That's absolutely ridiculous.
Speaker:Then turn my power back on.
Speaker:You may be able to get some power back when you pay the appropriate price for your scavenge.
Speaker:I think we're at an impasse here because I'm not paying a tax until I see some lights on.
Speaker:Well, there will be repercussions to this.
Speaker:I'd love to see it.
Speaker:Okay, dropping it down.
Speaker:He pulls out this thick notebook and he writes quite a lot down, looking at you, and he's just making his face just like, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker:I imagine this guy having really large jowls.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Massive jowls.
Speaker:I think I would like to take this opportunity just to walk away.
Speaker:I'm not going to give him an opportunity to say anything else.
Speaker:You move away.
Speaker:He's taking note in his book something.
Speaker:And you move.
Speaker:Are you following emotion?
Speaker:Yeah, I'm following.
Speaker:I look back.
Speaker:I give him a glare, but I keep going.
Speaker:He's talking into a walkie-talkie.
Speaker:Oh, shit.
Speaker:When I turned to Book, I'm like, well, that didn't go as smoothly as I hoped.
Speaker:Yeah, I may have.
Speaker:My temper may have gotten the best of me there.
Speaker:But I've really if he's going to run back to Hickory.
Speaker:Let him run back to Hickory.
Speaker:We might as well.
Speaker:Well, we might as well stick around this bar for a while.
Speaker:We don't have anything to give.
Speaker:I just I won't mind being in a place where weapons aren't allowed.
Speaker:So let's let's hustle.
Speaker:No, let's let's get let's let's have a bar.
Speaker:I still would like to learn about this ace ace queen of spade, queen of ace queens, queen queen of aces.
Speaker:Nailed it in one.
Speaker:Queen of aces.
Speaker:I'd still like to learn about this queen of aces.
Speaker:Book.
Speaker:Book looks at Ocean.
Speaker:Queen looks at Ocean.
Speaker:Hats his back and he goes, Let's go, buddy.
Speaker:Just a little flustered.
Speaker:I'm sorry.
Speaker:Anytime Hickory just pulls.
Speaker:I know you don't like confrontation.
Speaker:She's not right.
Speaker:The words couple of jabronis from behind you as you continue onward.
Speaker:He's squeezing this town dry.
Speaker:You make it to the broken leg, not accosted during that short jaunt, and you open the bar.
Speaker:And I think every time we go into this bar, I'm going to have you guys read a situation.
Speaker:So it worked so good last time.
Speaker:Who wants to do it?
Speaker:Who's going in first?
Speaker:Ocean's generally the one that goes in first.
Speaker:Just because he's more.
Speaker:Yeah, he's just a little bit more sturdy.
Speaker:Yeah, you give me a read a situation and it gives it's a good opportunity for you to read situations, which is what Book normally does.
Speaker:Oh, that's pretty good.
Speaker:Why can't I roll?
Speaker:That's a 10.
Speaker:You get to ask me three of these questions right now.
Speaker:I'll start with the standard.
Speaker:Who or what?
Speaker:As you go in this bar, you spot two people sitting at the bar actually and drinking.
Speaker:One of them has a face that has a very bad burn wound on it.
Speaker:And the other one is like their whole right side.
Speaker:Like you see his shoulder, he's wearing a tank top, and his shoulder and arm is just like disgusting, like completely boiled away.
Speaker:Like this is a wound that needs medical attention, like he's just sitting at a bar drinking.
Speaker:Oh, we gotta go.
Speaker:Why does everyone who hate us all on this one street in Vars?
Speaker:Hold on, these are chaos cultists.
Speaker:So maybe they have a no harm or a lot of harm, no foul system.
Speaker:Who knows?
Speaker:It's chaos.
Speaker:Maybe they'll respect you more for beating the shit out of them.
Speaker:Do I see this too?
Speaker:Yeah, you see it when you come in.
Speaker:I think, can we try this in the corner?
Speaker:Like, do we have to get our drinks at the bar is what I'm asking?
Speaker:No, they have people who come around.
Speaker:But we want to talk to the bartender because he probably has the most info.
Speaker:I'll let that tie into my next question, which is who or what represents the best opportunity for me to find information on the Queen of Spades?
Speaker:Mentally, you know Juniper, the bartender, generally knows people, especially since Book saw some.
Speaker:He collected the cards in the bar.
Speaker:You think you have a good idea of maybe who they belong to, who is there.
Speaker:That would normally be the answer.
Speaker:But you see in the corner is someone sitting at that same table that Book had taken all the cards from, and it looks identical to the painting that you saw from Frida.
Speaker:So they are in the corner probably.
Speaker:You think that's most likely who was called the Queen of Spades.
Speaker:Oh, fuck.
Speaker:Oh, oh, oh, oh, fuck.
Speaker:I should say.
Speaker:Oh, damn.
Speaker:Last question.
Speaker:What or who should I or I guess it's just as what should I be on the lookout for?
Speaker:You see that they notice you come in and their eyes lock on Book, and they reach down and they pull out a weapon, which isn't allowed in here normally.
Speaker:But you see there is a one of those short katanas that only weebs know the name of.
Speaker:Wakazashi or whatever.
Speaker:Wakazashi or a Tanto.
Speaker:I know that from Morrowind actually.
Speaker:Okay, that's fine then.
Speaker:Can you explain why you know it?
Speaker:Because I like swords.
Speaker:Listen, I've...
Speaker:The only...
Speaker:After Last Airbender is not the anime, right?
Speaker:Depends on who you ask, but by all technical definitions, it shouldn't be considered.
Speaker:That's the closest to anime I've ever watched.
Speaker:Except the new Cyberpunk show.
Speaker:I did watch that.
Speaker:You haven't seen Family Guy?
Speaker:Okay, actually, there is an American show that is actually very close to being able to be called an actual anime.
Speaker:And that is, oddly enough, the Boondocks.
Speaker:Because the Boondocks was made by a Japanese studio, just produced by an American company and written by American people.
Speaker:But all of the animations and the art and all the stuff was done by a Japanese.
Speaker:So this weeb knife, a Totoro, is that what you said?
Speaker:Tonto or a Wakazashi?
Speaker:So is it a short sword or is it a knife?
Speaker:It's like a knife.
Speaker:Okay, then it's Tonto.
Speaker:This Tonto that you see them pull it up and they flip it around like they're going to throw it.
Speaker:Like it's they're holding in a position where they can throw it.
Speaker:Do you have the cards?
Speaker:I have one of the cards with me.
Speaker:Maybe you can hold it up.
Speaker:Like, I mean, I can't tell you that because I'm not technically.
Speaker:I imagine this is all happening very fast.
Speaker:You can not like grab the card.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:Do we have enough time for that, too?
Speaker:Or are they they're like one?
Speaker:Yeah, no, they're not.
Speaker:You're not watching them like grab it, flip it around and wind up to throw it.
Speaker:They have somewhat surreptitiously like you wouldn't have noticed this if you didn't roll this read a situation, taken it out of a sheath they have on their ankle, bottom leg, the lower leg region and flip it around.
Speaker:But they're still like holding it under the table.
Speaker:So they're just prepping basically.
Speaker:They're OK.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I'm going to I'm going to nudge book and be like, hey, you got cards.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And then I'm going to motion with I'm going to nudge my head that way in their direction.
Speaker:I got one of them.
Speaker:What should I do with it?
Speaker:I think we should show it to her.
Speaker:I think we should just raise it up right now.
Speaker:Don't make on contact, but just hold it up in her general direction.
Speaker:And let's walk over to a seat.
Speaker:Yeah, I take out the card and I I flash it.
Speaker:Yeah, you hold that card up and you see their eyes narrow like a little bit.
Speaker:Those Avril Lavigne eyes.
Speaker:God, they're just so hot.
Speaker:Yeah, I was going to say, the idea of this person threatening us, but also being the most beautiful person I've ever seen, Book is immediately in love with them.
Speaker:Callista is dead to him.
Speaker:Get out of here, Callista.
Speaker:Callista no longer best friend, new best friend.
Speaker:They hold the knife still, but they kind of lean back a little bit, and they wave you over.
Speaker:How close are they to the people Book got in a friendly balloon battle with?
Speaker:If you remember the first time, there are this Fuddrucker-sized corner tables, and the door is right where you come in.
Speaker:You met Johnny Hertz in the one in the far right corner from you, and they are sitting in the one in the far left corner, so you actually have to walk along the bar to get there.
Speaker:You guys could take some awkward snaking path to try to avoid.
Speaker:I'm just going to try to walk on Book's outside.
Speaker:Book is going to walk outside of Ocean to try to stay out of view of the melty boys.
Speaker:Let me use my mask to hide.
Speaker:It sounds like you are trying to hide, so I'm going to have you roll a try something challenging roll back.
Speaker:Just, sorry, just Book.
Speaker:Ocean, you're just walking normally.
Speaker:You're fine.
Speaker:Yeah, I'm just walking normally.
Speaker:Though I do know what Book is doing.
Speaker:It may give you an opportunity to help.
Speaker:I got a 9 minus 1.
Speaker:I got an 8.
Speaker:8.
Speaker:Do you want to risk helping out?
Speaker:I was about to say, is there any benefits?
Speaker:I'll go ahead and tell you the cost before you have to decide.
Speaker:Because it's supposed to be very open with, like when you make your decisions, you guys should be fully informed.
Speaker:So the cost for this is going to be the Queen of Spades, or the person you think is known as the Queen of Spades at this time, is going to be suspicious of what you're doing.
Speaker:They're going to notice that you're doing this, and you're kind of like going down.
Speaker:So their opinion of you is going to be...
Speaker:I definitely think I should try to help then, because I think we want to be on good terms.
Speaker:Or we could just not do it, right?
Speaker:Yeah, or we could fail it.
Speaker:So if we decide not to go through with it, we fail?
Speaker:You fail the hiding from them roll.
Speaker:Do you want to help, or should we just fill the role?
Speaker:Because they're chaos cultists.
Speaker:They may have found that funny.
Speaker:Are you going to have me act...
Speaker:try something too, or would I use my history to help?
Speaker:If you wanted to help out, it would be you trying to...
Speaker:You know what he's doing, you're trying to kind of help block him, and you want to do it in a casual way, so that I would let your role act under fire.
Speaker:Yeah, I'll give that a shot then.
Speaker:I'm not bad at acting under fire.
Speaker:I'll say, if you fail this, it basically makes his success moot, because they're going to notice you being weird.
Speaker:That's a 7.
Speaker:Is there any drawback for not getting a full success for this?
Speaker:Of course there is.
Speaker:We just have two complicated decisions to make.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:So you start walking by, and Book, you're trying to kind of stay to the side, a little hunched over from Ocean.
Speaker:Right when you're right by the Chaos Cultists, one of them turns to the bartender to try to order another drink, and they're basically facing you two.
Speaker:And you see that moment, and you have to hunker down more, and Ocean stands up straighter to try to block more of the sight from him as he looks.
Speaker:And the Chaos Cultists' eyes lock immediate with Ocean, and he grabs you by the arm, Ocean, and he goes, Hey, are you that guy?
Speaker:And he kind of pulls you to the side.
Speaker:Book, to not be noticed by them, you have to just kind of keep going and walk separated.
Speaker:I think that's a good plan, just to keep going.
Speaker:Because you are more personable anyway, so you'd probably be better off talking to her and I can distract them.
Speaker:Or them, I guess.
Speaker:I think this is actually kind of a good thing, because you can do like three things, and I can just do one thing.
Speaker:One is you can pay off your debt to the bartender.
Speaker:You can distract the Chaos Cultists so they hopefully don't see me.
Speaker:And three is you can ask the bartender for information, and then we can compare what we get and kind of corroborate what each person says.
Speaker:I think this has potentially come to our favor.
Speaker:Well, let me change that now.
Speaker:I give Ocean a look that conveys all of that perfectly.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:We're very good friends.
Speaker:My plus two history means I compliment entirely.
Speaker:I give him a little sida, and then I nod, and I give him a thumbs up.
Speaker:What actually happens is, as they grab your shoulder, Ocean, you just make yourself really big.
Speaker:You turn straight facing them, like, oh, hi, nice to see you, and block their vision entirely, and Book, you scurry away to the corner.
Speaker:And the Chaos Cultists, talking to you, Ocean, they go, are you the guy, are you friends with that, the little one who, the know-it-all, you know that guy?
Speaker:Pamphlet.
Speaker:They think my name is Pamphlet, because I handed out pamphlets.
Speaker:The pamphlet guy?
Speaker:Do you know him?
Speaker:Oh, yeah, we're friends.
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:I was just talking about him.
Speaker:We were telling the bartender the story of what went down.
Speaker:That was so funny.
Speaker:That was, like, ridiculous what happened.
Speaker:And we were like, it's crazy that you come in here, and we were just talking about, like, what are the odds?
Speaker:What are the odds?
Speaker:Can you tell me?
Speaker:Tell me what the odds are.
Speaker:I can't tell you the odds.
Speaker:It's chance.
Speaker:It's pure random chance.
Speaker:I bet Pamphlet could.
Speaker:He probably could.
Speaker:He's very smart.
Speaker:I bet he would know those odds right away.
Speaker:Do you want a drink?
Speaker:Yeah, I actually was coming over here to pay off a tab with the bartender.
Speaker:Oh, yeah, yeah, you pay off that tab, but we'll buy you a drink.
Speaker:OK, great.
Speaker:A little a bit of sweat like pulls down his side of his face.
Speaker:I love that my nickname is Pamphlet.
Speaker:All right, I'm like, before I do this drink, I'm going to go to the bartender.
Speaker:I'm like, hey, I got your battery here.
Speaker:I'm going to roll on the battery.
Speaker:Very coolly grabs it and grabs it right as it rolls off the edge.
Speaker:He snatches it up and he goes, thank you.
Speaker:I knew you would be good for it.
Speaker:I think you promised he holds his pinky up.
Speaker:And he goes, you're really going to have what they're having.
Speaker:I'm leaning a little bit.
Speaker:I feel like anyway, you can make it a little less dangerous.
Speaker:No problem.
Speaker:Don't worry about it.
Speaker:Yeah, I'll have what they're having.
Speaker:He's going to say a little bit louder.
Speaker:He pours you a drink, and it ends up tasting like a...
Speaker:I was about to say some fancy-ass drink that shouldn't exist in the Apocalypses.
Speaker:It ends up tasting just like a rum and coke.
Speaker:Yeah, when they see you just drinking it normally, they're like, whoa!
Speaker:Dude, we got a badass over here.
Speaker:What can I say?
Speaker:I've got a lot of experience being down in the deep.
Speaker:I have to eat what I can, drink what I can.
Speaker:That's Ocean One, Beethoven Zero.
Speaker:I never heard about Beethoven.
Speaker:Any of you guys heard anything about this Ace of Spades character?
Speaker:Queen of Spades?
Speaker:Any of you guys heard anything about this Queen of Spades character?
Speaker:Spade over in the corner there?
Speaker:And they point and look right as Book jumps behind a table.
Speaker:Book's casually walking up looking cool, and you feel this tingle on your back, and you dive behind a table as they reach over their shoulder and point in that direction, and then turn back around.
Speaker:And they go, Yeah, they came into town a couple, like a month ago.
Speaker:I don't know, they got a pretty sweet setup.
Speaker:Everyone loves them though, they're very nice, very sweet.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:It's just not the vibe I got from that painting, that graffiti art that I saw.
Speaker:Oh, the one on the old apartment complex?
Speaker:Yeah, that was cool.
Speaker:I stared at that for a long time.
Speaker:Oh, I think we all have.
Speaker:We're going to jump over to Book.
Speaker:As you walk up, there is silence.
Speaker:They don't say anything, they just look at you.
Speaker:I stick my hand out.
Speaker:McCready.
Speaker:Book McCready.
Speaker:Spade?
Speaker:They do not shake your hand.
Speaker:They actually keep their hand on their knife.
Speaker:You see on the table, there are way more Queen of Spades cards, just like the ones you stole.
Speaker:They are kind of like half set up like it was before, where a bunch are tucked into the corner, a bunch are on the table.
Speaker:There are also a bunch of weird small knickknacks, looks like valuable things that have been found.
Speaker:And on the table is also a large revolver.
Speaker:It looks beautiful.
Speaker:It's like very shiny.
Speaker:Like it's way too shiny for normal gunmetal that you've seen.
Speaker:And it is, if the barrel was one inch longer, it would be comical how long this barrel is.
Speaker:But it's right at the point where it's like elegant and a little scary.
Speaker:Nice.
Speaker:And so everyone is just ignoring Juniper's rule today?
Speaker:It looks like just for Spade, which is how they introduce themselves.
Speaker:This is Spade.
Speaker:You are just the person I was looking for.
Speaker:I heard that you came and took a bunch of cards from my seat.
Speaker:I'm sorry.
Speaker:I think this belongs to you.
Speaker:And I hand the card back.
Speaker:I can get you the rest.
Speaker:I didn't realize.
Speaker:No, that's fine.
Speaker:I don't really care about the cards.
Speaker:It's just what people give them to me.
Speaker:I don't think they use them for their game they play.
Speaker:They play some weird game here.
Speaker:It's called Old Maid, and you only need three queens for it.
Speaker:So I think they just had a lot of extra cards.
Speaker:Someone really needs to teach them new games.
Speaker:Yeah, I grew up on Old Maid, but I would welcome a new one if you know of any.
Speaker:Yeah, I've played a couple.
Speaker:I don't have the rules on me, but I really just wonder why the fuck did you take all those cards?
Speaker:I thought they were a clue.
Speaker:What does that even mean?
Speaker:I like to...
Speaker:I try to figure stuff out.
Speaker:And I saw them, and I thought that maybe there was some writing on them or something on the inside, and I was probably going to spend 10 hours pulling each one apart, the laminate, and seeing if there's anything underneath, if I'm being honest.
Speaker:I'm a little...
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I'm sorry.
Speaker:Give me a weird roll.
Speaker:Well, now that my weird is plus one, don't mind if I do.
Speaker:That's a nine.
Speaker:You feel this compulsion.
Speaker:You've done a very good job playing it out pretty well, where you're just pretty much told everything.
Speaker:But you also feel this additional compulsion to gift them something.
Speaker:Like, you feel like that would really win over favor with them, and it just comes out of nowhere.
Speaker:Like, that's not a normal thing.
Speaker:That's probably not books love language.
Speaker:I'm giving gifts out imagine.
Speaker:But you get this really weird feeling that you're like, I really should give you something.
Speaker:Do you have anything of like interest or value on you?
Speaker:So I pat my pockets and I realized I never refilled on my beef jerky.
Speaker:So I look down at my cane for like a very long time, and my hand kind of stretches towards it, and then it pulls back.
Speaker:And I say, how would you like a piece of information?
Speaker:I would love that.
Speaker:What do you want to know?
Speaker:Well, what do you have?
Speaker:What's the most valuable thing you know?
Speaker:What's something that would interest me or something that people don't want to know?
Speaker:What's like a secret?
Speaker:Those are always the funnest things to share.
Speaker:And Book starts thinking about that because I think off the top of his head, he's like, I have no idea what this person's motivations are.
Speaker:I have no idea what they want.
Speaker:Well, I'm really good at getting information if there's something that you do want to know.
Speaker:Give me a sway someone.
Speaker:Oh, no.
Speaker:That was a six.
Speaker:Well, we're making up for all the successful roles that we had the last couple times.
Speaker:I don't have much interest in people who don't know what they have.
Speaker:So how about you run along and you come back when you think you have something interesting.
Speaker:The way they say it, to try to stay here, you're gonna have to act under fire.
Speaker:Or you can give in and just leave.
Speaker:No, I'm gonna act under fire.
Speaker:It's a seven, so it's a partial success.
Speaker:Okay, I'm gonna say either you're going to have to walk away and try this later to be able to trigger your compassionate presence, or you're gonna be able to stay for a little bit, but you're going to have some compulsion to come back and give them something of value later that is significant.
Speaker:Okay, I'm going to stay.
Speaker:Okay, give me that compassionate presence role.
Speaker:You see, as you stay there, there's like a hint of their face has actually been like pretty non emotional, not showing much this entire time, but there's like this hint of annoyance that flashes over their face that stabs into your heart when you stick around.
Speaker:I got an eight.
Speaker:An eight.
Speaker:So you get to ask me one of those questions.
Speaker:If they are ashamed of something that they have done, they blurred adapt to me.
Speaker:Their eyes just lock into yours.
Speaker:There's nothing.
Speaker:No shame.
Speaker:That's not interesting, but it does make sense.
Speaker:I think it's very interesting.
Speaker:Can I ask you a question?
Speaker:I think you've had just about enough of my time, but let me hear the question, and I'll decide if I'll give you an answer.
Speaker:Why praise the Queen of Spades?
Speaker:You see that they chuckle a little bit, and I go...
Speaker:Okay, you should just run along now.
Speaker:I hope to see you again later, and I hope it's more worth my time.
Speaker:I'm gonna...
Speaker:Okay, so Book, that interaction threw him off.
Speaker:He's just gonna walk up to the bar, like, not thinking about who's there.
Speaker:And you hear...
Speaker:There's so much effort.
Speaker:Check out this motherfucker!
Speaker:It's him!
Speaker:Pamphlet!
Speaker:Okay, are we gonna cut to five minutes prior?
Speaker:No, nothing happened during that time period.
Speaker:They were drinking.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:It's this...
Speaker:Pamphlet's back!
Speaker:Where were you?
Speaker:You talking to Spade or...?
Speaker:Yeah, I was...
Speaker:Do you know Spade?
Speaker:Not personally.
Speaker:What do you think of him?
Speaker:Got any new pamphlets?
Speaker:And they both laugh way too hard.
Speaker:I could cook some up for you if you want.
Speaker:Who is that guy you quoted on that pamphlet?
Speaker:Oh, Aristotle?
Speaker:That's how you pronounce that?
Speaker:It's ridiculous.
Speaker:We were saying it all sorts of wrong.
Speaker:Not even close.
Speaker:Well, I mean, if you want to hear any more, I'd be happy to show you some of my books.
Speaker:Absolutely not.
Speaker:Your friend here, he can take a mean drink.
Speaker:He is just sipping on this bad boy.
Speaker:Oh, yeah.
Speaker:Look at him.
Speaker:I'm going to like hold it up and...
Speaker:What was that, Sue?
Speaker:It cut out for me.
Speaker:Look at him go!
Speaker:Damn, Ocean, you pacing yourself there, pal?
Speaker:Trying to.
Speaker:What can I say?
Speaker:They know their drinks.
Speaker:You settle up with Juniper over there?
Speaker:Yeah, and as you look up to Juniper, he's actually headed in your direction.
Speaker:He kind of waves you two over away from the cultists a little bit.
Speaker:All right, that's a good sign.
Speaker:It's better to say, Ocean will take any excuse possible to get away from the cultists.
Speaker:Book, you've been around this bar a good amount, not like casually drinking partying, but you said you come here to kind of collect information.
Speaker:So you've been around Juniper a good bit.
Speaker:You've probably never seen him look worried, and he looks a little worried right now.
Speaker:Normally, his composure is like absolute, and it's always like sad but responsible, like walking in the rain to a liquor store because you're too drunk to drive.
Speaker:That's a nice analogy.
Speaker:At this moment, he looks like a little bit worried, and he goes, you may want to head out the back.
Speaker:Hickory's men are looking for you.
Speaker:Hey, thanks for the heads up.
Speaker:What's the deal with Spade, Pack, and Heat over there?
Speaker:Oh, they provide some security that we were previously lacking.
Speaker:I never known anyone to pick a fight with you before.
Speaker:Yeah, it's pretty uncommon, but no one picks a fight with them.
Speaker:What can you tell us about them?
Speaker:They showed up, were looking for a job, proved themselves pretty handy in short order.
Speaker:I don't know why they're in town.
Speaker:I think they got bigger fish to fry here than working at a bar.
Speaker:They spend most of their days in here.
Speaker:I'm going to use my improvement and unlock...
Speaker:To get a big ass going.
Speaker:I think Book's experience in Subtropolis has kind of opened up a new side of him, and I think that's kind of been highlighted by his interaction with Pistachio and with the Queen of Spades.
Speaker:And I'm going to unlock Stern Presence, which is one of my characters.
Speaker:So you have both options now.
Speaker:That's what you're going to roll when you enter the bar.
Speaker:In the future.
Speaker:This little shrimp intimidating everyone with a Stern look.
Speaker:I'm going to use it now to see...
Speaker:I'm going to try to scan the room, but I especially want to see what's going on with Juniper, because he doesn't see himself, and I definitely want to see what's going on with Spade.
Speaker:And so what Stern Presence does...
Speaker:When you enter into a situation, roll plus hard on a 10 plus, both on a 7 to 9, choose 1.
Speaker:If anyone here is intentionally told lies, betrayed trust, or sown confusion, they can't meet your eyes.
Speaker:If anyone here needs your help, they meet and hold your eyes.
Speaker:On a miss, something else catches your attention first.
Speaker:Ask the MC what does.
Speaker:So I'm rolling plus hard.
Speaker:Give me that hard roll.
Speaker:Which is not my best, absolutely.
Speaker:I like the move.
Speaker:It's very fitting here, too.
Speaker:That's a natural 12, minus one, so an 11.
Speaker:Oh, dang.
Speaker:If they can't hold my gaze, it means that they've lied or sown.
Speaker:What was it?
Speaker:Intentionally told lies, betrayed trust, or sown confusion.
Speaker:The other one is if they need my help, they meet and hold my gaze.
Speaker:So I'm anticipating Juniper to hold my gaze, and I'm anticipating Spades to not be able to hold my gaze, but I'm going to let you sort that out.
Speaker:With this new feeling in you of this just resolve, and you have some sort of very stern look on your face.
Speaker:You look like a proper gentleman, and you see you lock eyes with Juniper.
Speaker:You look behind you, you kind of scan the room, and there is one person sitting at just a random table who is averting their eyes from you.
Speaker:You don't recognize this person.
Speaker:They're averting eyes to you.
Speaker:You look into the back corner, and Spade is just staring straight at you.
Speaker:Oh, shit.
Speaker:God.
Speaker:But you blew your roll so badly, we have to leave and come back if you want to.
Speaker:But I'm going to ask, Hey Juniper, who's that guy behind me?
Speaker:The one who couldn't hold my gaze?
Speaker:That there is Mako.
Speaker:He runs some of the power lines in the town.
Speaker:I don't know much about him.
Speaker:I think I might.
Speaker:Cogs are starting to connect.
Speaker:But Juniper, is everything okay?
Speaker:I need you to get out of here as soon as possible.
Speaker:I apologize, but I can't have Hickory's men causing a ruckus in here.
Speaker:Hey, no worries.
Speaker:I'm sorry if I brought any heat onto you.
Speaker:We'll get out of here.
Speaker:I'm sure it's not your fault.
Speaker:I flip them a AAA, and I walk out.
Speaker:Big spender.
Speaker:Big spender.
Speaker:Are you guys going out the back like he suggested?
Speaker:There's the shittiest, smallest kitchen of all time that's not used ever.
Speaker:They can make emergency fries and a burger, but it's never used.
Speaker:No, just a grilled cheese, no meat.
Speaker:It's literally like...
Speaker:They don't have a fridge.
Speaker:It looks like a walk-in closet.
Speaker:It's like a skinny, long room that then leads...
Speaker:There's another door that heads out the back.
Speaker:When you head out back there, what are you guys trying to do?
Speaker:Well, I don't think I can go back to my place because Pistachio was real unhappy with my behavior today.
Speaker:He's real unhappy with both of our behaviors.
Speaker:I don't know how happy he will be at my place, too.
Speaker:Do you think Johnny Hertz would put us up?
Speaker:Johnny Hertz owes us a favor.
Speaker:He said to come to him if we need anything.
Speaker:We got to install that TTE, so maybe we should lay off on the references to Hickory Fleek and just ask if now is a good time for us to do that work since he's off air, since it's nighttime.
Speaker:Are you guys trying to get there without being seen?
Speaker:Trying to keep it low?
Speaker:How are you trying to do that?
Speaker:Is there like a specific way?
Speaker:Trying to just look casual, trying to disguise yourselves, trying to sneak from corner to corner?
Speaker:I think we're probably pretty familiar with the town, so definitely want to be keeping to routes that aren't normally traversed.
Speaker:I don't think we could easily disguise ourselves, unless you have any idea on how to do that.
Speaker:So canonically, I wear a long cloak, which makes me pretty distinguishable, but I can also maybe pop my collar and try to disguise my silhouette a little bit.
Speaker:And then I was thinking we could probably do like a bit of a leapfrog system, where one of us will run to the corner, kind of check it out, flag the other one over.
Speaker:And that way we don't double up anywhere, because we are, as a duo, we are super recognizable.
Speaker:And specifically stick into areas that we know aren't frequently traversed.
Speaker:I'm wondering, do you think, does Frida have Frida's alley, where most of their work is kind of located to a specific area?
Speaker:I'm wondering if maybe Hickory's people avoid that place, because they don't want to be associated with those opinions.
Speaker:I like that, that that exists.
Speaker:Yeah, it's probably not huge, but yeah, there's an intersection of alleyways between four buildings that are still mostly standing, that all along the walls is a bunch of graffiti, and you can actually see some of the early works from Frida are still on there.
Speaker:They seem to be keeping for the sentimental value.
Speaker:So I'd like to route us through Frida's alley, and then I would like you to describe Frida's abundance of works to us in great detail.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:I like this plan.
Speaker:Okay, then both of you give me a try something challenging role.
Speaker:I like the idea, though, so I'll give you both advantage on it.
Speaker:Oh, sweet.
Speaker:Thank God.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Got a two and a three, so off to a good start.
Speaker:This one better be better.
Speaker:I got the exact same thing.
Speaker:So four.
Speaker:I rolled three twos, and I have a minus one.
Speaker:You guys start jumping building to building, staying out of sight lines, knowing the paths that people don't walk down very frequently, especially Hickory's men who are usually looking out at like places of residence and things like that.
Speaker:So you guys go like through a market and you're heading towards Frida Alley is what you call it, which is where there's all this artwork that I'm about to have to describe in excruciating detail.
Speaker:You see it.
Speaker:There's kind of one last gap between buildings that you have to get across from that is pretty heavily traversed.
Speaker:But you guys take your time.
Speaker:You wait till there's like a group of people moving by and you start trying to run across.
Speaker:Frida keeps these like worn tapestries on each corner of this of this intersection of these buildings to kind of separate it out.
Speaker:And you know that Hickory's men would normally stay far away from this area.
Speaker:They don't, like you said, they don't like being associated with it.
Speaker:And you guys skitter through and dive behind this curtain.
Speaker:And then you hear this shotgun cock and Book, you feel one press right up against the back of your neck.
Speaker:And we'll end there today.
Speaker:Hey everyone, Brady here to say thank you for listening.
Speaker:We really hope you liked this episode, but whether you did or didn't, you should play the show out loud on road trips, so everyone trapped in the car with you can make their own informed opinions.
Speaker:You can tell us what you and your captives thought by emailing at oops at stu.cool.
Speaker:That's O-O-P-S at S-T-U dot C-O-O-L.
Speaker:Stu Masterson does our music and editing, Jacob Cecil provides our remote medical services, and I made our logo.
Speaker:Stay tuned for more of our subterranean adventure.
