Critical Role & Sagas of Sundry - Relics and Rarities Ep. 8 - Kevin Smith in The Case of the Black Onyx - Part 1

Episode Date: August 5, 2024

After a harrowing experience in King Senna’s Tomb and almost losing Rikki, the team receives new info from Professor Roundland. Rumor has it fresh clues to the sisters’ nefarious plans lie right here in the town of Bellbrook! She teams them up with Tiefling Warlock Private Detective Sam, who knows these streets like the back of his hand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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How are you feeling? after your ordeal. Oh, tip top shape, thank you for that. I must require some other spells. Yes. So, well, luckily, I do know someone in town that can make them, they are very expensive. Oh.

Yes. Well, maybe we could train. Let is no issue. And I do, I want to commend the rest of you on pushing through your exhaustion and carrying him home within the 24 hours so that we could save his life, or else that might have been the end of Ricky the Huckster.

Oh, heaven forbid. I owe you my life. I owe you mine. I mark that down. Well, in the hubbub of that when he came home, we unfortunately were not able to work on that final riddle. So I wonder if we could spend a little time now helping me figure out what we think this means.

So the last one reads, Made of cloth by magic spun. It blocks out all beneath the sun. It covers what's real, reveals what's true. No face, no eyes, but senses new. certainly use your help. Hmm. Well, my initial instinct is some sort of cloak or cover

that maybe conceals somebody or blocks out light. Light, exactly. Like a masking cloak, like a shape-shifting of sorts. You would gain new senses from shifting into an animal of sorts. Or looking, yes, like a different species of sorts. Is there anything that comes to me? But does, I enjoy the idea of masking oneself.

That is an interesting idea. Possibly. And definitely something of cloth, something that you can put on your body. That sounds like we're on the right track. Protective and some sort of you ultraviolet. Oh, very good. I will search the compendium while you are off exploring today, and hopefully I shall find something by the time you return.

Right. For now, we did a little bit of research into the Metal Springs Mining Company, which is the company that mines for the Black Onix gems that you brought back. Yes. They keep their stock here at the Bellbrook Bank, right in town. So I sent a friend of mine, a sleuth, if you will, to check out the bank this morning. He should be returning any time.

In fact, oh, yes. Hi! Come and join us. How are you? Sam Hane, y'all. Sam Hane is a pro. That's true. With a few tricks up his sleeve as well.

He's been at the bank this morning doing a little reconnaissance. Yes. Everything in good shape? Everything looks fantastic, but I can barely see from behind my horns. Oh, look at those holes. Yes. Thank you. So let me get this straight. We are robbing the bank blind. Oh, no.

I'm so sorry that that that was. That was the impression that you had. That is entirely my fault, of course. I should have been clear. No, we would just like you to go to the bank, inquire a little bit, see if anything fishy has been going on, and report back. Let us know if we can get any further information

on these black onx gems. Find out of this fish, though, okay. Like what they're used for? Well, see, you know, who, if anyone has bought any or taken any from them involved, who, you know, can we get any information on that? And it is possible you may need to bend the law here and there.

We are not endorsing anything. but of course you do what you need to do to keep Bellbrook safe. Loud and clear. I do believe we have turned over the Onyx stones, are we allowed to take those with us? If you would like to take one with you, you may, yes. What would we do with them? We're gonna set up an account.

Oh, love it. I'm ready. We have a plan ready to go. Wait, but I thought we're trying to get information. Why would we give them what... Uh-huh, there she is. Cutting up. Don't look a gift horse.

Of course. In the snout. Close enough. All right. Of course, as you know before you go, we offer a little gift here. You may go first. Please search around the room for anything

that has a special tag on it, as things here are more than what they seem. Anywhere? Anywhere. You'll see things with tags inside cases on top of. It's relics and rare, geez. Very thorough. I appreciate that.

Very hate. Very haines like. Does it keep going? It does. There's stuff nooked in everywhere. This is like shopping for cereal. It's just there are too many choices. Can't it just be corn flakes and we can move on?

Oh, you could take the magical corn flakes. If you would like, they can aid you. Yes, we do know what some of the things do. That's a two for one. It's crystal and compass. However, the crystal has been lost, unfortunately. Lost or intentionally left somewhere. This is very true.

That compass is very valuable. It's a very valuable compass. It'll take you right to King Senna's tomb. I feel like I should take the sheet music, but no. We don't know what that does. That has not been applied yet. This feels like peer pressure. All right, sheet music it'll be.

Yes, all right. If my character dies, you guys are dead. We can heal you. Yeah, thanks for us. Bring me back. You will find with this sheet music that when you are talking to someone, If you hum the tune while you speak,

you get a plus five to your charisma checks. Oh. They seem to like that. We're quite a charismatic person to begin with, so this is gonna put you right over the top. Will it increase my negative one strength at all? Unfortunately, it does not. Not even a good singing voice?

Fair enough, I'm happy with my choice. All right, Vera, whatever you would like. All right, you're about to see something special as I walk around the room simply. Ah, yes, well, I can watch. Have we used the bell? Oh my goodness, it's got weight to it.

I could curl with this. Great. On a stealth mission. When it rings, you find that only you can hear it. The rest of them cannot. Oh. Fair enough. Beryl, your turn.

What's the point of making music if no one can hear it? I'm going through that torment in my mind. Please select. Are we starting a band? Apparently, yeah. You know, actually, it's a theme. A total musical instrument episode. Since you want us to go on a mission for fact gathering,

feel like I should take a notebook to write things down in. Well, as you will remember, when you write something on one sheet of paper, the translation of it in common shows up on the next side. Ah. So anything, you can translate, any language, one word at a time. Annabella, your turn. You can pick up the pocketbook. It's lit down. It's calling, does that.

It's calling. Oh, ooh. Actually, yeah, I'm gonna take it. Oh, you are? Yeah, I am. Fantastic. I am. So yes, when you wind this, you find that time slows down for you.

Difficult terrain is no longer a problem for you. You have advantage on dexterity saving throws, and you can use Dodge as a reaction. Question. If I'm breaking into a save, time slows down for me, and no one's coming to get me, because I have more time. Sort of. I'll take it.

Sold! Yes, good enough. I'm going to go for the thread. Ah yes, as you remember from your adventures underwater. The shark killer. The shark killer. Shark killing thread. This thread is impossibly strong and invisible to the naked eye.

I assume you used a piece of it to string your shark tooth necklace. Absolutely. You always have a little with you. You found a magical scissors. Yeah. All right, well then please follow me. Oh, this is so metal. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Welcome to your first Dungeons and Dragons table, Kevin. Last time I lost my virginity, not nearly this much stuff around. So this is interesting.

Same amount of people, though. Yes, they were. Ironically, five people all staring. All right, fantastic. So you eggs. visit relics and rarities, and quite literally, the bank is just a few blocks down. This is just a small town.

Sam, you have a map of Bellbrook. I do, nobody else has this map? No, this is your map of Bellbrook. I thought it was a place mat at a diner, but it is, it is in fact a map to Belbrook. Professor Roundland drew it herself. Is that, really? Get out of it.

I shouldn't have spoke so soon. Should I tack it up onto my board? This is your suspect board, your investigation board. Folks, yeah, I don't know if you know this, but I'm such a private dick. dick. And I'm here to help you get through Bellbrook, man. And we're going to put it up here on the board. And hopefully by the end of this mission, we'll have like Carrie Matheson strings all over. So Professor Roundland would like you to go to the Bellbrook Bank and inquire after some black

onyx gems. Now, they have previously found some of these gems in the possession of a very bad lady, although she was, you know, kind of cool to talk to. But she had some bad gems. She's doing some I loved her. Yeah. She was fantastic. And then we gave one to Seamus. And then we gave one away. But we still have three.

You have three. You brought one of them with you. Yes. And these gems, what are they? Onyx gems? They're onyx. And they're quite large. They're a good, like, ostrich eggs sized gems.

Have we had anyone check them for the five C's, cut clarity, carrot, that kind of thing? No, you have not. I think we should. That's in my line of work as a teafling, private dick. The first thing we always do is make sure that what we're dealing with is is real. For all we know, these could be apples that are enchanted, no? I love this.

Wow. Annabella, do you have that? I do. Bring it out and look at it. Does anybody have a jewelers loop? Does anybody bring their magical jewelers loop? No, it's not in my Explorers pack. I do have alchemist supplies. I might have a glass in here somewhere.

Bang, look in there. Meanwhile, I'm gonna see what my abilities are and see if I can do anything. Ooh, I'm gonna Eldridge blast these. Whoa, they're gonna blast it. Wow, they're very precious. Yeah, but if they're whether there should be, nothing will harm them, correct?

That makes sense to me. I trust you. That's a higher level of thinking. That's why I'm a T-Fling and you're not. A beautiful Viking. Yes, well, my bet. So I feel like the Eldridge Blast is the move. Plus, I've always wanted to use this ever since I learned that I could do this.

You might have set it down. I might be doing this a lot. So I have two more. Okay, so you took all three with you. Yeah, but I'm holding two. I'm holding two. Where did the blast come out of my eyes or hands? Where would you like it to come out of?

My choice? Yeah? Here we go. From the hands. A huge ball of force flies out of your arm. You guys can even feel it in the air. It kind of goes. It seems to stun onto this gem that you've placed on the ground.

It falls over, but it does not break. It's real, kids! Wow! That is not an enchanted apple. It is, in fact, a black onyx gem. Nobody knows what these things do. At this point, you do not try to figure that out, no. No.

But we do know that she had them locked in a safe, so they're very important. We also know that she had... Greetings, adventurers. Spring has sprung here in Los Angeles, and that means it's a brief period where it's only 75 degrees instead of 95 degrees. I'll take it. And that means I've been outside a lot more. Walking around, occasionally galloping after a toddler hopped up on juice boxes,

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Yes. said in the note that she had a source. A new source. It's for the Black Sires. She had a note so you guys can read that if you would like it. This, here. Let's see this note.

A gem mule. I have found a new source for the Black Onix gems and the plant is set in motion. Once the job is complete, we should have everything we need for expansion. I am beginning to lose interest in this little village and I'm anxious to try our experiment

on new subjects, larger towns and cities. And then she goes on about Margotso getting more and more reckless, how she has to feed her prey every day, just to keep her satisfied. It's time to take this to the next step. It's getting too risky to write. And this was the last note we got. If you need to reach me inquire at the shoe, I don't know what she's talking about the shoe. Follow the yellow ribbon and you'll find me. Sincerely, Ulu, a sister. Good lady or bad lady? Did we know? So you are aware there was a prophecy that was made and there are three sisters, Akiva,

Ulu and Margosa. They have met Akiva. That's who he stole this from. This note was to Akiva, from Sister Ulu. And it mentions Margoza. And it mentions the third sister Margosa eating prey. So it seems like these are components to some sort of large spell or ritual.

Perhaps the new source was this metal springs mining company. If they found a deposit of these black onic stones, that would be quite valuable. They're guarding them with their lives. You'll notice that I'm the kind of private dick that lets everybody figures and then I go precisely. It's more satisfying for me.

Yes, I like how your kids are working it out without me having to give you the answer. Should we pin that? I think that's my best thing. You want to pin it on the board? Other than shooting Eldridge Blasts, pinning shit on the board is my chief ability. I think I have a plus five when it comes to pinning.

It's all right. Yes. I mean, you're taking my only job, but go ahead. As you turn the corner to go to the main bank, you start to hear kind of a ruckus, people shouting and running around. As you turn the corner, you see, see the Bellbrook Bank is on fire.

Someone has put a rope around the outside and men and women in uniform with bandanas across their face are running in and out of the bank with buckets of water trying to put it out. There are some people standing around watching. Oh no, the money. Well, looks like we've gotta be firefighters. Yes.

How large is the fire? Is it like inferno or like? I mean, not quite inferno. There's smoke pouring out of the front door of this and you can see some flames flickering in there. Your sense is that it's a little further back in the bank. We have to get in there. We've got to stop it.

After you two. Well, let's dress up as firefighters and get in there. Right, so I pull out all of my costumes and I disguise the same bandit cloaks over the faces of the firefighters to protect your breathing. And I am not gonna go in. I am standing outside watching. Oh, we're the duo.

Okay. So you place these bandanas around near the face just like the firefighters have. And what do you do? I'm gonna stormy. Before you leave, I'm not to pull out. two large vials. Drink this and drink this.

All right. Bottoms up. Cheers. Clink, clink. I love it. What did we drink? Protection from energy against fire specifically. Oh.

I think that calls for one of those. All right. All right. So I'm actually super proficient in intimidation. Fantastic. So I'm gonna walk up to the rope and just try to take control of the situation and be like, by Jove, good man.

You're way behind schedule. The way, look at the, are you looking at this? I'm going like this in disbelief. People are dying. This is a... Get out of the way, let the professionals take it. I'm gonna have my fire crew chief here, kind of instruct your men on how to get

the proper mechanism of the delivery. Why aren't you using sand? What is he doing? Why are you using water? Look at this. Imbecilial. Deception check, you may add your deception bonus as well.

Hugely persuasive and intimidation. So she's gonna roll, you can both add your deception bonuses. All right. Oh God. I got a seven. You're adding plus ones and eight. Yeah.

So yes, this whole song and dance, two-man routine, one-man-woman routine going on, a sort of large gentleman who's wearing an official hat steps in front, and he goes, I don't recognize you two, you're not part of my crew. I need you to back up. Listen, buddy, we don't have time to get in a pissing contest with you right now about whose jurisdiction this is. And I step in front of both of you, and I use intimidation. Okay.

We are from a higher, higher regimen. You are not from this county that we're from. We're overseeing this operation now. It's like the FBI. That's a kind of motif. The FBI always a bad guy. Now back off and let us handle to the professionals. I get in your face and I roll.

Roll an intimidation. And I go for a 13 plus four. And now Vera's peck start, go boom, boom, boom, boom. I'm like, back off now. He goes, all right, man. I'm doing my job. Even you can appreciate. that I gotta be careful.

I can't let people in there are gonna get hurt. Understood. We don't want everybody to get hurt either. He goes, all right, everybody back off, back off. And he picks up the rope and lets you two through. I get him, man. I turn back to her only she can see like a dumb wing. Yeah.

I get him, man. We're all just trying to earn our paychecks at the end of the day. I give him a Viking handshake, thank you. He goes, all right, well, we'll get in there and do what you can. All right. You three are outside. They're inside, we're outside. It's just gone in, through the smoke, into the smoke,

into a burning building. We'll come back to you two. You three. Right. So we are actually interviewing victims coming out of the bank. Okay. You could ask where they are.

I would like to ask where are the victims that came out of the bank because I want to go talk to them. So you make a perception check, please. Okay. I can do it for you. Oh. You're good. Oh, yeah, no, you do it.

You want me to do it? I'll do it. What is your perception bonus? It is plus one. Okay. So you look around. and there's a lot of people that have got like soot on their faces and stuff. You do see one man who's sort of smartly dressed and he's sort of sitting on the on the curb

coughing into a into a handkerchief with a blanket over his shoulders. Yeah and so I addressed him and I say, sir, did you work in this bank? Yes, I'm Jonathan. Pleased to meet you. Yes, I am the bank manager here. Excellent. And what did you see this afternoon? Did a group of people come in?

Did the fire start? No, it was a very regular morning today. We were business as usual. And then all of a sudden, that good for nothing, Jack Corey, runs up from downstairs, and then fire starts billowing out of the vault basement. Thank goodness they carted him off to the jail. Was he an employee here as well?

No, Jack's a good for nothing. Layabout. He comes by the bank every once in a while to run his scams and we try to kick him out. I don't know how he made it into the basement this time. And I actually came to see if I could open an account here. This is just bad timing. Yeah, I'll say.

With the fire, but... I'm afraid all of our records will be destroyed. We keep all the paper down there in that chamber. So that's what lies in the basement is paper. Well, there's the vault, but outside of the gates of the vault is where we keep all of our backlog. Mm. So what I possess would probably need to be in a vault, how is it organized? These are some interesting questions.

Why do you ask? Well, I think that my head of security could tell you why I need to know the organization of the vault, because what we possess is highly secure, right? Oh, security, who do you work for? We, of course, are represented by Block and Spiel, the best in the business. Oh, we are with the Teethling traders.

Teethling, Teethling traders. I didn't know the Teethlings. We're particularly versed in the securities. We're getting there. We're, you know, second generation only. We're still figuring out financing and stuff like that. We've watched trading places a few times, so I think we understand the game, the trading game.

What we're looking for, I mean, clearly you guys are dealing with something here, and look, our hearts go out to you. Thank you. But we were looking to find purchase for something very precious, and so we wanted to know how secure your vault was. And in the midst of this conflagration, I haven't heard anything about the vault being destroyed. Has it held within the fire?

This is hard to say. No one has made it all the way down into that area. I keep waiting for news. I'm asking my bosses naturally are very eager to know if the vault is safe. I'm glad that you ask, we are always happy for new business. And if you're looking for financing, we have a very generous loan program.

I like how on-brand you are. Even as the place burns down, you're still selling. You're a golden employee. You can trust us. Do you own the bank, you're just in charge? No, no, they've just hired me. I live here in Belbrook and I run the bank and I promise you, things are very secure.

The vault is way down underneath the ground, very hard to access. We have two locked gates that are both physically and don't tell anyone magically protected. Very few people in Belbrook are aware of the magics. However, we do find the best. I'm going to talk with my pals for a second. Give us two minutes.

You deal with this. Clearly, you've got your hands full. Wait, I'm terribly afraid for my job. I should have kept Jack out of there. That's your problem. We have something to talk about here. Hey, kids. So two of us are inside.

We haven't heard from them, but they're clever, and they're probably on their way to the vault. Good point. I've got an idea. I don't know if anybody knows this about me, but I also have an imp familiar. And where he came from, get this. Volunteer firefighter.

Whoa. Yeah, a lot of people called him a scab and like, how can you not be on the job and do it for free? But his local ledger was small. They were in a borough. It wasn't even like a town or a city. So fire people weren't paid. He's volunteer.

So he put in 10, 20, 30, these things are old, 30, 40 years on the force, man. Like, was around from the institution of the Top Finder sticker. so you could find a kid in a burning house and stuff. This imp is on top of it. So firefighter at heart, small and magical in and of himself. What I'm suggesting is we send my imp familiar. Nobody's going to see he's very small.

Down into the bank, into the vault. He will take care of the fire in terms of around himself. Get to the vault, secure our onyx gems. Is that what we're going for still? Yes. Anybody down with this? Anybody else have an unfamiliar? No.

Well then. Fresh out. Thank you. So yeah, we're gonna pause you there. We will absolutely make that happen. Let's see what's going on in the bank. So yes, you too, you cover your mouths and your eyes and you run through the smoke and it is heavy.

It's hard to see anything. It stings. It burns your lungs. But you can see that while some of the paperwork and wood in this upper level has caught fire, it does seem to be that the main smoke is coming up from these stairs that go down. Yeah.

That seems to be where whenever people run through with buckets of water, they're going down there and back up. I pull out my water skin and I douse the fabric that's around mine and Giroz's face in an attempt to kind of filter out some of the nastiness. We're about to breathe in. Then we fist bump, but we go down the stairs. So you're running down the stairs,

you can see right at the bottom of these stairs are not terribly long, maybe 15 feet. There are flames just completely covering this door burning up and down. The smoke is pouring up and out everywhere. What do you want to do? The room we were just in, you said there were some papers on fire? Yeah, this is kind of like the bank, the tellers area,

and the waiting room and things like that. So up there, there are some things like that. We should look around. With smoke just billowing in our eyes without any, okay, you want to look around. You do have water skins. We have water skins. You smoke like, you smoke all day long.

What's a little bit more smoke? It's very different. I'm gonna put my wool to skin on. Okay. Yeah. You just have it on. You just spurt if you need it. Yeah, just I have it.

Okay, great. Out of my pack. Cool. It's ready to go? Yeah. There's only like two tellers sections. You know, it's a small town. Yeah.

So you both can go over and look at that. I'll roll your two. The war is over and both sides lost. Kingdoms were reduced to cinders, an army scattered like bones in the dust. Now the survivors claw to what's left of a broken war. praying the darkness chooses someone else tonight, but in the shadow dark, the darkness always wins. This is old school adventuring at its most cruel.

Your torch ticks down in real time, and when that flame dies, something else rises to finish the job. This is a brutal rules-light nightmare with a story that emerges organically based on the decisions that the characters make. This is what it felt like to play RPGs in the 80s, and man, it is so good to be back! be back. Join the Glass Cannon podcast as we plunge into the Shadow Dark every Thursday night at 8 p.m.

Eastern on YouTube.com slash the Glass Cannon with the podcast version dropping the next day. See what everybody's talking about and join us in the dark. You know that feeling when you hear one interesting thing and suddenly you want to know more. Well, that's the idea behind my podcast, something you should know. Every episode starts with a question you've probably never thought to ask. Like why people do or don't like you? Why certain habits stick? Or what everyday advice is actually wrong? I'm Mike Carruthers, and I talk with scientists, authors, and experts,

and I keep it practical, surprising, and fun to listen to. If you've got a curious brain, come try one episode of something you should know. On the podcast app you're listening to right now. Investigations on that. All right, what is your investigation bonus? Investigation bonus is... Mine's plus zero. Minus one.

I'm just very good looking to remind you. There's a difference for now. You start going through the papers. Everything is really singed and sooty and you think you probably can't read it in here. Even just with the smoke in your eyes, you're having trouble keeping them open and they're watering and they're kind of blurry.

I'm just gonna grab fistfuls of paper and shove them into my bag. Okay, see you've taken all these papers. Yeah, just a stack. We will pause there. For your imp, it's very simple. You just tell it. what you would like it to do,

you can actually see through its eyes and speak through its mouth while it's away from you. Oh my lord, so I control the imp. I mean, that's a declarative statement. I control this end. It's loyal to you, it likes you, you like it, you like it, you feed it, you know, so it does want to do what you say. Okay, and did I name him yet?

You did Lockheed. Lockheed, Lockheed, this is your, right? Reference, Lockheed, this is your moment. I need you to go downstairs, get into the bank, sounds like the vault is downstairs, use your firefighting abilities to make sure you don't get burned. Get through the magical vault door,

get inside, grab the stones. Cool. Lockheed you down with this? No! You gotta do it anyway. Okay, such is life. There we go. He's very, you know, he's sensible.

He's very sensible for an imp. The place of reason. He lost all his impishness. He's just kind of like reserved. He's the reserved in. You keep him in your coat or something like that? Yeah, hell yeah. Yeah, so he crawls out kind of

of fronten your belly and leaps off. Let's make a stealth check for him. 20. You've broken it. Woo! He doesn't even know what he did. I'm going home, that's it. That's never get better than that.

What happened? That is a natural 20. That is a crit roll. So it means that the best possible solution that could come from this course of action will happen. My man's gonna get the stones, isn't he? Well, he crit on his stealth. So literally no one sees him as he darts

in between the shadows and even in the smoke. It's like he's using, he's like a perfect little like back and forth in and out, and he slips right in the side of the door. He even uses one of the firefighters as like a little block to kind of find his way and only you guys see him do this. As he does that, he passes you two as you go through paperwork.

What is this? I can't read it. Can I talk to them? You can. Through Lockheed? You can. This is gonna freak you out, but it's me. That's weird. It's Sam Hain, and this is my little

demon imp, Lockheed. You're not even sure where this voice is coming from. Okay. It's me, it's Sam Hane, I'm outside. How much smoke did we inhale? I just want you guys to know, A, looking at papers was fucking useless, and B, I got this.

Okay, we'll follow you. No, no, I can't work with, you look how large you are. I'm little. You might need like a distraction? I'm an imp, I need nothing. Nothing except the man who controls me, that's Sam Hane and Sam Hane is telling you, get your asses outside.

Yes, you guys gather up your papers and do as the imp command. The Spiritly Imp told us, let's go. And you start to run out while the imp continues down the stairs. Now, while the other firefighters stop and try to throw water on this, this, just raging inferno right in front of the door. Nothing for Lockheed.

Lockheed just leaps through it. It's like a nice little, little tan, little warm sauna for him, and he lands on his feet on the other side. Does anybody see this? Nope, because he's so stealthy. He's so badass, but nobody will ever be like, you should have saw him jump through the wall flames.

I'll say, you're looking through his eyes, so you see it. I see it. And you're like, dude, dude, you're like VR, is what you're doing right now. Well, I like it. All right. So, yes, so he leaps through these flames. You see the flames come at you.

And then suddenly he's clear, and it's still very, very smoky, and everything around all the paperwork, all of the old files are all burning off to one side. There is a small stove that would be used for heating. And then there is a gate in the wall and a stairway that goes down. Gotta be where the goods are. Looking around here too, with his vision,

I think there's all kinds of good vision for the imp. You do look up and you see that there's one of those basement windows that can pop in and out. so there is sort of a second exit. And I'm gonna send it back to Sam Hain. He communicates to the kids. There is another way out, which means there's another way in.

Shall we? Let's go. Let's go. Yes. Yes. And what a like inception this will be because I'm already in Lockheed, which sounds dirtier than I meant it.

And I'm now going to be moving while Lockheed's moving. Well, that, fuck with me at all. You're used to me. I get motion sickness very easily. He's got anti-aids for this. I do have tablets for that. Thank you. I will require a potion of stuff.

This has special stuff too. What do these really do? Alcourts. They give you. They make your breasts. However. I got him now. I'm gonna take one and save two for later.

You do have now advantage on Constitution saving throws, which we will let you know how that's helpful to you. And I have fantastic breath. Yeah. It's a little two further. He jumped through the most of the fire. It's behind. Also, I opened the window while I was there,

so it's vent. Okay, so Lockheed scrambles. There are burning boxes right below this little window, but it doesn't bother Lockheed. So he scrambles up on those boxes and kind of runs up, and he gets to that window, and there is a little latch on the inside that he noses up and is able to unlock the inside of that window, and then you scurry back down

and wait for them to come around. We rejoin the group then? You've rejoined the group? Listen. Update. Here's the update. Stay with me. It's a lot of fire, so we didn't try to put it out.

I brought these, and I just, Put a stack of papers in front of Annabella. And I'm sorry. But this window that he's found, I assume that it's relatively small, right? Yeah, it's small, but you guys can get in there. Maybe I could. I think that the gnome can, the others can try.

Oh, that's right. You guys don't look like you look in real life. Yeah, well, gnome's getting in. Or if I don't fit, do we have to roll for that? Can I break the window larger? Yeah, I'm wondering if he can kick open. because I tend to do things like that. Cowardly Viking full effect.

So I take my Warhammer. So you guys want to go to this window? Oh, yes. Before we go. Ricky has something to say. Perhaps we have this information now. We could use it at another time when the building is not on fire.

Should we leave and come back at another time? Oh, that's pretty smart. And that'll give Annabella time to go through all these papers I found. Not only that, we have another lead. We found out who might be responsible. That means he knows how to get like how he got in. Right, and what his motive was. But while we're there, should we look down the staircase?

We don't quite know what's there. Would you be able to do that? Yeah, hold on. Magic boys can do it? Hold on. He's looking. Okay, so Lockheed, you know, you sort of communicated to him that it may not be happening right now. He runs over to these bars and he looks up and it is a very like heavy-duty padlock on these bars and the bars are quite skinny. Now, Lockheed might be able to squeeze through them, but not the gnome, not anyone else. He's squeezing through. Yeah, hell yeah.

He squeezes through. There does not seem to be any smoke coming from down here. It seems to be sort of up here and stay. The other thing that Lockheed notices is that there's a little stool next to this gate, as if maybe someone was posted there usually. So there's a little stool for sitting there. On watch. So he goes in and this is a long, dark staircase and it seems to go quite a good way is down.

into the earth. At the bottom is a huge metal vault door. From what he can see, there's no way that he can get it. This is as far as his adventure goes. For Lockheed at this moment. So he turns around, he scamper's back up the stairs. Dodge, like, jumps through this ring of fire, up the steps next to the feet of the firefighters, and out the front door, and back up under your coat.

He sort of shakes all the soot off of him. Now, you kind of, you were mumbling while you were in there, but you mentioned this window. Yes. What sort of features were keeping this window shut was it? There was a latch, but my guy used his nose to open it up, even though he had wings. Let us go and maybe let's permanently open this window

so that when we come back it will be open. Would you be able to lead me to the outside where the window is? Heavens, yes. Follow. All right. So you all sneak around the side of the building, and there is kind of no one here, because the commotion is all up front.

They're all watching that. You come around the side of the building around the back of the building. And yes, set into the very bottom, there's even dug out a little bit underneath, is this little sort of basement window. And yeah, you go check out. I'd like to, because he, the latch was open, right?

He had undone the latch on the inside that was holding it shut. Okay, so I'd like to take my thread and permanently like tie it open so that it looks like it's shut, but the actual latch doesn't move. So you reach forward to touch it and you can feel the heat coming off of the metal

and the glass. Oh dear, uh, Viros. Yes. Be a dear. Yeah, sir, no problem. So I take the thread. You're gonna try and touch it? Yeah.

All right, as you touch it. He does have resistance to fire. He does have resistance to fire? I'm extremely... Fantastic. Tough skin. That was two, so you will take one fire damage. Ow!

Oh! Okay. You hold it up, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. Get your little loop on the latch in there and then let it go. Hey, Ricky. Yes. Lick your finger. Done.

Great. Finished. Not too hurt? Ah, fine, come on. That's boy. So I look to Sam and I say you're a detective, so I'm sure that you have worked a little bit with the police department in this town. Is that true? I'm not popular with the Belbrook Police Department. Okay.

You do know where the jail would be, the prison. Oh, very familiar with how that is. It's part of the problem. I think we need to talk to Jack Corey. Everyone agree? Yes. He's in jail. Yes.

So to get into this jail, does anyone want to go undercover as a prisoner? Or should we try to just break in and get him out? We could just visit him. Or that. I like the first two options, but... Can't we just lean outside the window and talk to him? If that's what the jail looks like, let's do it. So yes, you're gonna walk over to the jail.

So you do know Bellbrook jail a little bit. I do. There are no windows in the jail cells. There are only two jail cells again, tiny town. And you know that Sheriff Stokes is the sheriff of this town. He will most likely be posted there watching over the prisoners. But he does not tolerate criminal behavior. Let me tell you something about Sheriff Stokes who we have to deal with in the next few. This button pusher, this like total company man,

like he's a good dude outside the job, but on the job, what an asshole. Like all by the book, by the number, so he ain't gonna let us go talk to Jack Corey. So we're gonna have to break his back. Oh no. Oh, sorry. I was gonna suggest Eldrick's blasts, but that seems to work on all occasions. But I think I have some sheet music here.

And I believe that if I, what is my? If you sing to him, then. You are more likely to get what you want. Bang, so I'm gonna go sing to the sheriff. Oh, perhaps we could combine that with Fantastic Annabelle. as disguise skills. So we're playing.

Do you, would be? Yeah, I am going to dress up as the bank manager. Okay. Jonathan. Okay, you're going to be Jonathan. And I am going to go talk to Jack Corey, you know, as Jonathan. Okay. And you're going to explain to Sheriff Stokes that like, you know, I've hired you.

And the woman of the night. No, I'm not a woman, though. She said I was the woman. She's indicating I'm the woman. Yes, that's fine. You've brought him a bounty. A gift? A distraction.

No, I'm a minstrel. Oh, yes. Because I got to, you know, because I've got to do the music. So I'm a wandering minstrel. I'm the person who sings songs about the bank manager that's just like, oh, she or he. Oh, Jonathan. Oh, Jonathan saves for a penny saves us a penny. That kind of thing.

So I'm your follow man. Your hype man. I'm your favorite. Yes. But what I'm really doing, people think that I'm. I'm your hype man, but I'm singing, and we're gonna use the power of the suggestion to get information out of...

Jack. The sheriff. We got you past the sheriff. To get permission to talk to Jack. Yes. You hide around the side of a little building. I'm a troubadour. There you go.

And you get out your makeup kit. Yeah, and my hair's up, and I'm looking at his suit, and I'm quickly stitching my cave. What suit are you looking at? The bank manager, because he's outside still coughing. So you're looking at him,

and you're... And I'm trying to make my... self look like him. I'm disguising myself. In-game question, I believe you actually have a spell that will do this without you having to make a check. Disguise self, right? Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and use that spell. Disguising self.

What are you saying I am when you introduce yourself? You're gonna be my security detail. Who sings a lot. Yeah. Fair enough. I was a troubadour, times are tough, now I'm bodyguard. Yeah. So... So...

So... So... Pretty sure the way it will work is as long as they don't touch you or try to... you look like whatever you want to look like. For one hour. For one hour. Okay. Okay.

So again, you go behind this building, so you have a little bit of privacy. You cast a little spell, you move around a little bit, you say some words, and it's just like suddenly your whole body like pixelates and you come back and you look like Jonathan the bank manager. That's amazing. Viros, you have this interesting item

that you've pulled from relics of narratives. That could be sort of a beacon if they're in trouble. So I would like to attach this spell to Annabella, who now looks like Jonathan Middle-aged man bank managers, and we're going to attach this to you. We're going to put some of that job. Well, no, I think we should use some of that thread as well, you know what I mean?

Okay. To help, so she doesn't have to hold it, you know what I mean to attach it to it. As she takes it, it doesn't disappear with her the way everything else did. I don't believe. No, because it's equipment gained after. It's not her equipment.

Yeah. But that could easily be like, that's my bank manager tool. I need to ring a ding, it's a deposit, you know? When you come in, you could be like, it could be like he could announce you, like the people on the street that are like, beer, you do. When you ring it, it doesn't make a sound

except for fear. That's fine. It's broken, but I've used it on the job. I can hear it so I know if you're on danger. We need this. No one else can hear it. We definitely need it, but I think you should hold on to it. So if you're in danger, don't worry.

You guys can sync up with us. And nobody else can hear this, but I know you can hear this? So the whole time, I'm... He hates this. My guess is. he's just messing with you. Okay, so you guys come up to the front door,

literally posted on the front door of the jail, you see this. To the board. Yeah, somebody pinned that up. It's your job. Well, I like to let everyone have a chance, but here we go. Okay, so on the front door of the jailhouse,

you see this wanted sign for Jack Corey, wanted for pickpocketing. You open the door and you step in, the two of you, I assume. Three of you. Ah, ah, ah, ah. What would the three of you like to do outside? Like, how are you, the three of you who are not going in? Go around the back and wait.

I'd like to be as close as possible at the ready just to help. Okay, so that would be near the front door. Near the front door. Okay, so you're just gonna kind of hang out by the front door until you hear your bell ring. I'll make it look casual. I'll probably out my pipe. Hey, yay.

And I've implored him, Sam, please don't cry one. I don't want to give you away. Fair enough, I will stop bringing the bell. And we'll just play cards and smoke. Cool. The two of you open the door and enter the courthouse. It is quite small. There is sort of a large man, broad shoulder, strong guy.

He's sitting at the desk in there. And you can see there's a door behind him that you know goes back to those two cells. This is a barred door with a lock on it. We're entering the room. You've entered the room. He sees you coming, he stands up and he says, oh man, Sam, what do you hear for now?

I don't have to pick you up for something else now, do I? No, I'm on the side of the Angels, Sheriff. Behold! Jonathan, the bank manager. What are you up to, Sam? Nothing at all. I got out of crime because it didn't pay, as you said, many times, and I finally took your advice.

And I went real. I got a real job. Like, it's 9 to 5, I'm a normie now and stuff in a more adventure, but like this is steady, and it's really good. So all I do is sing songs about what a crack bank manager this cat is. That's my gig. I'm very impressed by that.

Yeah, you know, it's not, it's, it's. I was told you there was more to you. You could really make something of yourself. You did say that it was my lot in life. He says, ah, so you are the bank manager that he's representing today? Jonathan is a storied bank manager. I don't know if you know much about bank managers. Jonathan rewrote the book on it, then burn the book and not to be confused in the fire that's literally happening across block. And then rewrote the book on

bank managing. I heard about that fire. This is the bank that you manage that's on fire. Yes. Oh then I, I suppose... Jonathan has deeper voice. That's my job is to sing everything that Jonathan does. Wow! You do, you have a lovely, fine, deep voice you do. Thank you. I suppose... Jonathan is grateful. I suppose that means you're here about Jack.

Yes. On top of the... Jonathan is always on top. On top of the frightful afternoon I had at work today. You know, we hired him and he is supposed to help me, you know, get to the bottom of things. He's doing a fabulous job. So listen, so we gotta talk to Jack Corey because I think he saw something,

and our insurance indicates that we can't claim anything lost in the bank unless we did a proper investigation. Corey, Corey, we must know the story of Corey, let us pass. As Sam is singing nonstop in this room, it is amazing to you that it is like, it's like, it's just, Sheriff Stokes is like, of course, why wouldn't the security details sing everything?

This is fantastic. Sheriff Sox didn't see that very obvious wink. Make a persuasion check. You can add your persuasion bonus, you can add your persuasion bonus as well as the plus five. Wow. What is my persuasion bonus? I almost don't want to make you do the rolls.

Okay. So seven plus nine for me. All right, so we're already at 16. That's great. Plus five is gonna get you 21 plus. Persuasion, plus seven. Plus seven, so we're at a 28. Do I roll, no?

No, you don't need to. We're adding your bonuses to it. He goes, of course I understand. My bosses breathes down my neck all the time. I've been getting it bad from Governor Price. She was all on me to get in a suspect right away. You know, she was down there this morning too. canvassing and she, you know, she was right there when the smoke started to billow out and everything.

And she came right up to me and she said, you make sure you get that Jack Corey because this is not a good time for there to be bad press in Belbrook. So I know what you're talking about. He takes out his keychain and starts to go back and he unlocks the gate. And he says, all right, he's down there in the far cell. You know, let me know what you find out. But he ran up right before the smoke started to pour out and his clothes reek of alcohol. So we're pretty sure he used that as an accelerant. Not looking too good for Jack. Even though, I have to say, this does seem a lot of his league. Normally we bring him in for petty theft,

pickpocketing things like that. This seems a little crazy for Jack, but you know, the evidence is stacked against him at the moment. Sheriff Stokes goes back and he sits down. He actually even locks it behind you though, just in case. But you walk down the hallway, this first cell is empty. As you come to the last cell, you see him. He's sitting on his cot.

He's got long, thin legs and especially long, thin, dexterous fingers. And he sits there, he's playing with cards, and you can see that he flips them around and they disappear, and then they reappear again. And as he sees you come up, he goes, ah, visitors. Jonathan, what are you doing here? I told you I had nothing to do with it.

You know what, Jack, I know you're too dumb for this. You tell me right now what Governor Pierce was doing down there today. You tell me. Christ. Right. What do I know what Governor Price is doing out there? Probably making a deposit. Of what?

What was she depositing? Who knows? Maybe campaign finest? Oh, please, not that music. That music gives me nightmares from my childhood. Could we get something a little bit lighter, some lighter music here? Are you a fan of true crime TV shows? And what about Unsolved Mysteries? The show that jumped started all of our love of true crime.

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Let's get started. What am I? The bank manager. That's you. Jonathan is the bank manager. The town tria? I look at Sam and I go, I think we're talking to the wrong person. We got information here.

We got information, but I think if you were a lady, you'd get more information from him. You got to drop this. Jonathan out. I grab him. You grab his hand. Only if I touch someone, they can see me. Well, they can't see you, they'll just sense, like if the bank manager's hands are calloused

and you touch it and your hands are soft, he will feel soft hands, not calloused. You can whip your hair back and forth. Yeah, so I touch his hands and I whisper in his ear, things aren't what they seem. In your own voice. And as Annabella. And Sam Hayne goes, oh shit.

And I go, I need you to do something for me and I will do many things. for you. Do you understand? So, as you say that in your own voice, and he feels this, like, soft feminine skin on his hand, he backs up. He's like, what's going on here? And he says, yeah, he's, he's going on. I'm, I don't know, I don't know what's going on here. I don't know if you're here to, to hurt me or whatever, but I promise you, I, I had nothing to do with the bank. Did she send you? Who? The woman in the cloak. The woman in the cloak. Don't tell me you don't know who she is.

I know her. Yes. No, I know of her. She's a monster, and I'm here to protect you from her. She's my step-sister, and I want her dead. So what do you know about her whereabouts? Deception check, please. Do you want to help her? Jack Story, ignoring my friend, who got lost.

You roll the 17, plus the 5. All right. He comes forward and he says, she's going to kill me. I know she set me up. She's trying to kill me. All right, I tried to do what you told me to do, and I took the money, I shouldn't have gotten curious. That's my one rule, you just take the money

and you run, you don't get curious. What did you get curious about? All right, well, she told me that I was just supposed to pick the pockets of the red ribbons, right? And then plant whatever I find on the pockets of the yellow ribbons, right? Okay. Check it in.

You hear a ring outside. It wasn't frantic, it was just one. BTB, Beryl the Brutel. I'm gonna wait. But I do hear Sam. Okay. At all. Again.

Should we go in? It's the second ring. My guess is it's time to join them. All right. I will not let them go. Okay, it's frantic, let's go. Oh dear. We're gonna pause right there for a second at that point.

So you three are gonna jump up and run into the jailhouse. Ricky, make haste. Jump on my back. Okay. You run and burst through the door with the jailhouse. It's an ongoing thing, he's always on my back. Officer Stoke stands up and he goes, whoa,

whoa, hold your horses, slow down there. What can I do for you? We, I'll hop down. We have from the society to check the security of all the facilities after this horrible bank incident. Security society, it's a new company. What deception checks are. You make the deception check, you added to it,

you can add your bonus. Plus one. Plus one, and what's yours? Plus one. So plus two. Oh, 23 plus two, plus 25. So 25. So you guys, all right, so you guys must be from Glockenspiel.

The best in the business I've heard. Do we even need to explain ourselves? I'm sorry, I did not recognize you. We've had other technicians have come before. I'm a seven foot tall, half forked barbaria. How do you not recognize me? You weren't here before. Yes, I was.

I would have remembered you were? Last week. Deception check, please. Oh, God, BTB, close it. Close it. Close it. Stop talking. You got this.

You got this. Oh, God, I'm screwed. I aimed for the sun. for the sun. You had it. And she wrote. 20! He goes, I am so sorry.

I even bought you a beer. Oh my God. Now, I remember now. Open the gate. You're embarrassing yourself. Actually, as the team lead, I'm going to ask you to be more professional. Now, we are here from Glocking-Spiel, and as you know, we focus on mechanics. Yes.

We're going to check that all of these hinges work, all of the locks work. all of the locks work, you're going to have to turn over your ring of keys. We need to check every cell. All right, is it all right if I lock the front door first? I can't have jacket out. I mean, like I said, I'm on a lot of pressure. That was a test, and you've passed. That's proper security protocol.

Oh, my God, please tell, tell Governor Price that I did the right thing. We'll do. All right, so he passes over his keys after he's locked the front door behind you. We're going to go back to these two. So he's up against the bars. You hear them burst in in the other room and start talking. with Officer Stokes. While that's going on, he's going, okay, so I plant whatever I find on the yellow ribbons, and then I just take whatever money's in their pocket, and I go.

They told me not to look at the correspondence, but God damn and I got curious, right? What did you see? They said a lot of things. A lot of things I couldn't understand, things about shipments, numbers of items and things. I didn't really get it, but a few weeks ago, there was something about the bank at 9 a.m. Now, this woman in the cloak that told me to do all this, I hadn't heard from her in a while, and I was getting restless, so I thought it'd come here to see what was going on. And then the bank lights on fire while I'm down there,

I'm telling you, she set me up. Have you ever heard her name spoken? No, no, I mean, she barely spoke herself. She just gave me the instructions, and I never heard from her again. I didn't even see her face. What does that mean? I think that it's the sister who's the woman in the cloak. She's the one that lit the fire?

And this is a bad bitch. I never saw her face, but I could see her eyes. see her eyes, they glowed from within her cloak. Glowed because she was happy. Maybe. She didn't seem happy. She seemed very serious. She tried to make things more positive. I'm a very positive person.

At this point, you guys have now gotten the keys. All of that is done. Officer Stokes has locked that front door and giving you the keys. We make our way towards our friends. So you come into the back and around and start joining in this conversation. I'm gonna lock the door behind us.

Okay, you lock those bars. Okay, great. Lock and spiel, security. We'll say the keys are on you. Just wait, wait, don't, don't. You got to get me out of here, you guys. I didn't do it. I'm innocent.

Hold on. We got to have a quick spiel. Mm-hmm. Quick spiel. I do agree. Definitely innocent. Maybe not doing things like by the book, but I think he's valuable, and I'd like to take him as an asset. How many guys do you have to choke out, not kill, choke out to put to sleep so that we can leave?

Probably zero. Oh, just, there's just one person out front? No, I'm pretty sure we could convince him. He's already scared shitless of us. Yeah. I don't know about that one. Trust me. Look, Beryl's got him in the hall of the graph or can't.

Tell you what, tell you what. I have him convinced that him and I shared a beer last week. I'm gonna go up there. I'm gonna whip out a little accordion, have a little drink with him, and you guys just tiptoe right past. I could love to plan more. I knew you would.

I'm your back right there. Yeah, no, I got this. It's no Eldridge blast, but it'll Do we agree we should take him or do you want to leave him? No, let's do it. If he's innocent, it's our duty. Let's take him. But listen, once he's missing from the jail

and he's in our possession, we could bring him back and get a reward. Oh, we get some money, man. Ricky loves that shiny gold. Now, I've got some rope here. I'm not very intimidating, but if you could maybe tie him as we free him, so it looks like we're taking him for a full cavernal that must happen in a medical facility.

This man, What a great cover story. This man is a danger to society. He has an infectious disease that we've all been inoculized from. We must take him. Yes, I like it. I like it. So you're gonna have to sing that to the sheriff

so we let us sleep and you don't have to choke anyone out. This is way better. Lost. Then we're not like wanted. No, I'm on board, it's fine. Okay. I'm ready. Shall we start?

Yeah. All right. This guy in, your cell's got the shits and we gotta get him out of here. real quick, so we're gonna take them out and take them to the doctor, we gotta rope them up so no one thinks it's weird. Don't worry, we'll bring him back.

Lovely, so you unlock the... Before I do, go for it. Come here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And you can see now that he's had like this little purple flower on his coat the whole time, and he just go, pst, and a purple spray comes out, and it's poison spray.

It's a can trip. Yeah. You have to succeed a constitution saving throw. Okay, let's see. Wait, are we entering the prisoner or the sheriff? Yeah, the prisoner, because that's a look real. He's doing a thing, okay. I don't make it?

One D12 poison damage. Oh, five. Okay. You're fine. He's okay. I didn't realize there'd be so much math in this game. Oh, math wins. Yeah, apparently, man. So yeah, your little flower sprays him in the face.

He tries to kind of get a bit, but you do see his eyes go a little crazy. They get those red veins and, you know, veins and his eyes and his kind of, his skin goes a little kind of yellow. Okay. So I'll hand actually the rope to Vera's and then I'll unlock the latch. Unlock it and you're gonna tie him up. I tie him up. Okay. And his, well, his, shall we do the ankles too?

Yeah, way not. Yeah, I'll bind his ankles as well. Okay. I mean, I can carry him. You're gonna carry him at. He's a little skinny, dexterous fingered man. A bit long fingers. Yeah, it's like a dumbbell.

So I tie him up, bind him, he's not going anywhere, right? Okay. And you throw them over your shoulder? Yeah, it's just like a knapsack. All right. So I run out of the room and I go, we have, as Jonathan. Yes, you're still Jonathan.

It's locked, the door's locked. Okay. Okay. Okay. And then, and then, moving the door. Mm-hmm. What kind of facility are you running here? This prisoner is severely injured and damaged.

Jonathan is super pissed. And we have to get him to medical care because if he dies, then my insurance policy is null and void. From the stairs, I'll say, make sure the sheriff is protected. We don't want him to catch this. Also, you yourself could be at risk. Please hide in the bathroom.

All right, deception check plus the five, plus your help. What did you roll? I roll a three, but my deception is seven. Nine is six. 10, 16 plus five is 21. We're great. That worked?

I'm just as surprised. It's really just because your music is a good choice for this game. It worked out. So yeah, so you come running out and you say all these things. Suddenly, Officer Stowe's dose goes, oh, what do I do? Tell me what to do.

Get out of here, go into the middle of the wood and you have to roll around and leave. That's the only thing that will help you. Here, I'll help you and I'll run up and I'll unlock the front door. Okay, you won't like the front and he goes, all right, you're gonna take care of it, right? Yes, run as fast as you can and don't look back.

Make sure you lock everything behind yourself and you gotta get Jack back in there by the end of the day or else it's my ass. No problem. All right, you runs out the door and you just see him. He's just like a tall, dark streak of light, like out, find in the woods.

Oh, look at him going. Great. Sheriff's gone. We have the keys. We have all the keys. The sheriff is an idiot. Absolutely. We should have some sort of headquarters or something where we can confirm and talk.

Do you have an office? Yeah, hell yeah, I got an office. You want to come to my Teetflin'ling office? Yeah. Let's go there. Let's go to the office. Teflin traders. As we're coming out of the jail,

I'm going to turn around and lock the front door. Okay. From the outside. He told us to lock up. He did ask you to lock up. That was very, very considerate of you. Thank you, but I'll pocket the keys. Fantastic, you keep the keys.

So yes, you, sure, you have an office in town. All right, kids, the big boards up. And so I would like to start tying together some of the bigger points, man. We've got a little bit of Jack Corey, who I believe, of course, ties us to the town of Belbrook. This thing over here gets us over to this note, I'm taking it real seriously.

Yeah. This is our string. As you can see, it's a direct line. Right. Point A to point B. Gotta mean something. But we're looking for. I think we're looking for, in my head, I was looking for some onyx, but maybe,

maybe we're not looking for onyx. Maybe if we all listened to that riddle before. The prophecy. Yeah. Uh-huh. Yes, we have been. searching for these sisters and, what's this? That's a person in a cloak with glowy eyes.

I thought it was a chicken. Should we put this on the evidence board? This mystical chicken, I feel, is the doorway to what we need. If we see this cat, we need to contact him immediately. I love how crafty Annabella is. You'll notice I didn't put any red string on it because, quite frankly, I don't think the chicken plays.

Well, we do have this prisoner. We can treat him humanely. Mm-hmm. But let's see. What was your name again? Jack, Jack Corey. Jack Corey, if that is your real name. I've gone by many names, yes,

but Jack is the one my mother gave me. Aha. And you were born here in Belbrook? No, I was born in another city, but Bellbrook's good pick-ins, you know? There's a lot of sort of naive folk around. I see. You take advantage of people

kindness and their trust. Well, you know, I'm down on my luck. I haven't got much. I figure they can spare it. You're a bastard. That's right. I've been called worse in my days. Well, here's the thing here, Jack.

If you don't help us connect all these dots, me and my buddy Viros here are going to create a few dots in you. Or caverns. Oh yeah, dots are like... I'm at holes. That's fine. I got the reference. Thank you. There's no need for that. You got it.

You got it. me out of jail, I'm grateful for that and I'd like to prove my innocence so, you know, if you could untie me. No. At least my hands. I need my hands to help you. But remember, you are on borrowed time. I fully understand my predicament. That reason. I got this one staring me down. I wouldn't want to make that face mad or that one. I've already... Look at how creepy those fingers are. We cannot untie those. You don't need to worry about these two. Look at them clacking them like that. I don't like it. I don't like it. You need to worry about me and what came out of this little fly. This is true.

I've got my eye on you. Can you point on that map where you meet the woman in the cloak? He goes, I can do more. Untie my hands. Folks. Let's do it. If Ricky says let's do it, I'm with Ricky. We, well, maybe we untie you, but I'm just gonna tell you right now.

First, false move, Eldridge Blast. And I have an inventory of all of my money and belongings. Yeah, that'll help. And then I'll bash your skull with a war hammer, just for saying. just for safekeeping. Now you're talking. No, take his fingers. Ooh, I could chop them with my hand, actually.

Don't take my fingers. Don't take my fingers. This gets really creepy. Okay, we unlock your hands. All right, so. You slice them. Can let him down. I told you not to lend the mirror.

He flexes his fingers, like they haven't been worked properly in a little while. And as he swings them around, a paper almost appears out of thin air in his hand. He goes, this is something not very much. many people have, I will give it to you if you let me walk out that door. Ricky, Honorella, Barrow, Saab. Just take it.

It disappears inside his way again. You don't even see where it is. Can we ask some questions about this? You may ask some questions. After we see it. Is something written on that paper? He says yes, and it will be very helpful to you. Of what nature?

Very few know this. Only the criminal underground of Bellbrook. of Bellbrook, that there is a whole system of sewers underneath the town. So there's a literal criminal underground. A literal criminal underground. That is so, brilliant. We use this to escape from the law and hide our wares.

If there is any place that our cloaked woman is hiding out in Bellbrook, it's down there. What is the password? I know about this. I know about this. There's always a password. Good thinking, Ricky. Fiddle sticks. I give you that for free.

Thank you. You have this if you let me out. Okay. Let him out. I don't want to look at his creepy fingers anymore. Will that lead us to a sewer? Because we need to know where our entry point is. This will take you anywhere in the sewer

that you would like to go. I'm down. I'm down. All right. Okay. Now, we're going to let you go. Yes. But you have to come and see us within 48 hours for the cure.

Ah, good thinking, Ricky. We have to survive this or else you won't survive this. Deception check, please. Oh. Da-da-da-da. 20. 20 plus something, but who cares? He goes, absolutely, I'm not looking to die here.

I just wanna get my affairs in order so that I can take that and get out of town. Come back and see us here in this office within 48 hours. If we're not here, there's trouble for you. Oh, goodness. Well, take care of yourselves, please. I don't wanna die.

So you used to gotta undo his legs. So I take my hand axe and I go, Alright, two ropes down. No! He could get to me sooner. He backs up against the back door. He's got his back hand on the door. He starts to twist the knob.

He holds this out, and he slips out the back faster than a flash. That redens. It's soiled beyond belief, right of all. Well, he lives in a sewer. Oh, Lord. Oh. Okay. Here we are.

I guess that goes on the board. It's definitely a map. A complex map. I'm throwing it out there. I think it's a map. Is this a map of the bank? He then comes back and he pokes his head in and he says, you might want to check out the melted shoe

and displems again. The shoe. The shoe. Wait, I'm sorry, I was hanging the map. He came back. He stuck his head in. After that amazing dramatic entrance to pop his head back in.

He forgot some information that he needed. And he doesn't want us to die. And he doesn't want us to die. And he tells you to check the melted shoe. The melted shoe. Well, it was in the letter. That's in Ulu's letter. So it seems that we have several paths to go down.

We have this melted shoe which connects this letter. We also have the governor who has come up. We could go and visit the governor. Or we could examine the bank again. What would be the best course of action? So you know the melted shoe very well. It is the most well visited tavern in town. Now that sounds like a fun place.

People love the melted shoe. So kids, we're going to the melted shoe. You know what I'm saying? First we're gonna get some meat. some grog, and we're going to talk this through. It's like 10 o'clock. Yep, that's a good time for me. Yeah.

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