The Adventure Zone - The Adventure Zone: Steeplechase - Episode 1

Episode Date: October 6, 2022

The employees of Poppy's Place take on their first, unexpected heist. Montrose dabbles in PR, Beef causes some chaos, Emerich reconnects with an old friend.Opening monologue performed by Autumn Seavey Hicks: https://www.instagram.com/autumnseaveyhicks/?hl=enAdditional music in this episode: “Something’s Not Right Here” by Kirk Osamayao: kirkosamayo.com; “Voyageur” by Monkey Warhol: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Monkey_Warhol/; and “Motorcycle Scene” by Pablo Perez: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/pablo-perez/. Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/jointaz

Hey friends, it's Crystal with a K with another steepy watch. Okay, so let's talk about prize pantry in Eustaban, which lets you unleash your inner Saturday morning maniac as you rifle through boxes of cereal until you find the incredible prize inside. But please, do not eat the cereal. We know it's early to say that, but we really can't emphasize how important it is that you do not eat the cereal. The faux flakes may look like the real thing,

but they are chemically indigestible to a degree. that really is irresponsible, so don't eat the flakes. It's a really big day with the 150 years of dreaming festivities finally adding a little dream dust to prize pantry, one of our favorite spots that doesn't get the love it deserves. Beginning next week, customers of prize pantry may find more than a t-shirt or slap bracelet in their inedible breakfast because dentonic creationeers have created a one-of-a-kind enamel pin with the famous dentonic logo and a gold embossed 150. It's so cute and get this gang, they only made one.

Some people are estimating this could be worth as much as 10 sweets. All right, that's all for this week's watch, Steepies. And remember, like Dentonic always says, never know when to stop dreaming. Sorry, I'm trying to make my mouth start talking. Yeah. It's the hardest part. Nothing is coming out.

Do you want us to start? Hi, everybody. Welcome to either welcome to or welcome back, depending on where you're at, to The Adventure Zone Steeplechase. We're so happy to have you back. Thanks for deciding to take a spin on this. Can I do what you usually do to me and be like,

The yarn spinner takes the loom in his hands and weaves. A magical tale, take the wizard by his hands as he flies you around. on his rug made of wings and an angel's hair. Now, Griffin, that was beautiful and I loved it, but I do just want to jump back real quick to Justin thanking people to listening to our show by using a phrase, taking a spin on this, which also sounds like a weird way to ask somebody

if they want to engage in courtes of you. Hey, baby, want to take a spin on this? How much of this do you guys feel like is going to be dragging me and how much of it is going to be like action adventure? Would you say? I think for the first episode, 50-50, yeah. I've been so nervous.

I've been trying to will myself to start, but I think I should just start. Yeah. I think that's the only thing I'm going to be able to do. Okay. Just start. I believe in you, son. Who is that?

That's our dad. Oh, has he been on the show before? Why are you being a goofball right now? I don't want any kind of goofing around, please. Oh, this is one of the serious ones? This is a serious one. You guys say that up front. Here we go.

All right. here I go Okay, so you remember last time a woman had just fallen from the sky Okay, beef leans over to Emmerich or says to Emmerich

Do you think that this is more of like a Linden scenario or like a beef? All right, all right, one sec. And you see the woman reached behind her and she, with a single slash of one of those blades. cuts her wire down and the wire just goes catapulting.

It was under a lot of tension. The wire just goes catapulting back up into the sky. And she sort of like gracefully lets herself go and lands on the ground. Right. Who do we have? Who are you? Names, please. I am Emmerich Dreadway.

Right? You? Yes. Emric. Mm-hmm. All mine. names beef punchly, you know, the mountain of meat. Oh my God, beef punchly. Yeah, the slamming slab. Oh my God. I was such a big fan of you in your prime. Okay. You? I was inside.

I couldn't be bothered to, I was in the middle of a sales pitch. But for the- Oh, so you're not there. But for the interest of introductions, I will poke my head outside and see what my two cohorts are doing and then walk over. Oh, right, who you? Late arrival. And who are you? No, wait, who are you? I have all these knives. Who are you?

Montrose. She fell from the sky, and she was on a big cord, and then she cut the cord. The cord flew away, but I don't think she's from around here, just to fill you in. Oh, they've punched a good bit of Smarton, did she do his muscle? What's your handle? Oh, my name. is Montrose Pretty and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Right, Montrose, Babe, Imrich.

This is awkward, but I don't have a lot of time. So I'm just going to lay it out to you quick, right? What kind of guys are you? What sort of men? Well, I'm a big guy, aren't I? Yeah, big guy. I should have been more specific, right? I'm sort of middleweight.

I guess you could say, not too big, not too small. The peopers work fine. I can see you all right. Are you the sort of men who would like to make a little extra coin, maybe even sweet, real cheap and squeaky life? Listen, I'm flattered, but I'm not really interested in entanglements at the moment. What about you? Any of you? I just need warm bodies at this point, you know, the closest ones. I would be interested. We are currently in need of funding. Right. I think it's a nice way of putting in it.

We are seeking angel investors for a exciting opportunity. Well, boys, how would you like to be your own angels, eh? What about you, beef? I'm not looking for a date if that's what you're looking for. good. Me neither. I need you to help me with a little bit of nasty business and if it all goes smooth, right? You're going to be walking away with a little bit of coin. How's that sound? It still kind of seems like you're looking for a hookup. Perhaps this is not the sort of conversation that should take place outside when you have just smashed through the sky. Right, but I don't have another time

to have it. My name's Gravel. I'm about to rob the Paris Pantry. And you free are going to help me. Oh, it's a robbery. Okay, yeah, brother. Let's do it. Really? You're beef. You flip real quick.

A robbery, you're in. I thought you were looking to engage in sexual congress with one of us. Don't flatter yourself. Emrick, what do you think? That would be conducive. That would be very, very conducive to our goals. Montrose, I need one more. I think we just have to...

I have expressed them in a real rush. Montrose. Let's just have a yes and we'll get on. People are watching this conversation take place. You have just smashed through the sky, like some sort of... There was nobody around. Oh, there wasn't? Well, then that's fine.

You didn't ask. Trust me. Okay. Is there anyone... I want to survey the area. Is there anyone around? You're going to use... No, you don't have to roll for that. Just look around.

Yeah, it's not a daring action. I look around. There's no one. Okay. I don't know what. In the end of it. area. Normally there would be. Yeah. Normally there would be

quite a crowd here, but you've remembered that today is the day of the big unveiling. Today is the day that they're going to be unveiling this pen for everybody to see. It's going to be on display for a little while until they slip it into one of the prize pantry boxes and leave it for someone

to discover. Sorry, Gravel. If I could drop beef just for a second. Oh my God. You sound completely different. Yes. I'm really, Lyndon, don't worry about it. So, this is throwing me.

Okay, Veefe, go ahead, sorry. Really, really on a time crunch, but whatever it is, super quick. Let's step inside a arcade real quick. Just in case. Let's just in case. Okay. So, listen, as we've established, we are not above this. We are interested.

Fantastic. We do need money. But we've kind of got a pretty good, established thing going here in Eustaven. And I am from experience, I've learned not to shit where I eat. That's so smart.

I love that. Thank you. If we're on a time crunch, it would probably help if you didn't interrupt. You're not wrong. Go ahead, beef. Brains and brawn, I love it. If you would like us to engage with you on this job, we're going to need some certain assurances.

We'd need to know, because at this point, we don't know you. So we could probably gain some coin just by turning you into the authorities. Now, now, now, let's not. Let's not be dazed.

Travis, when you say that faster than you can even think, gravels at your throat with a knife. I understand the point you're trying to make right now. Is that a joke? Oh, I see. Yes, because of the knife.

But it's also kind of defeating the purpose of getting us to trust you and side with you if your response to being questioned is to immediately go from my throat. Right. So here's what I'm trying to establish with my outburst there. And I am sorry about it. I fly off that a little bit. I want you to know that I'm proper bad. Real nasty, right? And I know what I'm doing. And I can get you through this. if you trust me and you should because you saw what I was pulled there and I got lots of other ones right I need you to trust me

and just be a just help out a little helping hand no one will even you know what if you if you do a proper job no one will even know you there right so you really can't lose I really could use the help and I want this I want this the problem is I just got separated from some other real nasty types right

And I think that they're still going to try to steal the pin And I really, really want the pin I really want it So I'm willing to offer you each one sweet If you'll just help me out with a plan that's already so creamy You wouldn't believe, what do you think? Is that one sweet each? Fucking, yes, one sweet each

I don't know how you like working for Dendon but if he's run you a little bit ragged like it if for me maybe you don't see a lot of other options for getting a sweep of your own so think on it I look knowingly at the other two and kind of chuckle and say oh we have our ways of getting our pleasures of the this I'm sorry can I start over we do not rely on the gifts of the Dentonic Corporation

we have our own ways of blowing off steam. I believe you have established your bona fides simply with the number of knives that you are carrying with you. I must express some concern that having competition in a score of this magnitude is harmful to our health. And so I'm afraid I must counter

with an offer of two sweets each for all of us. I believe if you look at the wrist that is being posed... It doesn't leave enough for me. Sorry. Now? Griffin, if you would like, you may attempt to sway to convince her. I don't want to use the language and mechanics, right? Yeah.

If you want to make a press for this, you can absolutely make a press for it. That is what I'm trying to do is say, I'm trying to establish this is dangerous, and so we need more payment. Okay. So shall we talk about position and effect? Right. So position and effect are the two different sort of big things you need to think about before you take what's called an action roll.

And an action role sort of compasses almost every thing that you will do, right? So you will have a certain skill that you're using in this action role. There's a position that indicates sort of the level of danger that you are in while you are trying to do this, right? So there is a controlled, there's risky, there's desperate. And bad roles in desperate situations are real bad. Good roles in desperate situations are real good. You'll rarely be in a controlled situation because by definition, if you're having a role on it, there's probably some risk of failure.

Right. So the default is risky. As far as effect, that's how much damage you're doing. I saw a good video that said to imagine it like a treasure chest, right? If you're trying to wreck a small treasure chest, a tiny one, you're probably going to have a great effect and to destroy it. If you're trying to wreck a medium-sized treasure chest, then you'd probably have about the effect you'd expect, a regular effect. And then you could have great effect, or sorry, a limited effect or no effect, if it's massive and made of iron and you're

not going to get anywhere with it. So that's kind of effect that you're shooting for. What does this feel like to you? It feels risky, I think, considering that she seems like an established criminal, and I am asking for a 100% increase in our payment. Sure. In effect, I would say maybe standard. I don't know. Yeah, I think that that is fair. So let's just call it risky standard.

Risky standard, and I am rolling. Okay. So I have rolled 2D6 because I have two. I have 2 in sway. Okay, great. So I roll 2, 6-sided dice, and I have gotten a 5 and a 4. Okay, so we take the highest one, and that's a five, and that's going to be a mixed success. Yes.

All right. Okay. Here's what we're going to do. I'm going to offer the three of you four sweets, one for each of you, and then one to invest in your business ventures. That's really the best I can do. Please, I've already outlay a lot of sweets just getting to this point, and I really, really need this score and we are running out of time. Please, boys, please. Four sweets. Four sweets and everything changes. Four sweets and you're off. It sounds reasonable to me. And I hold out of

hand for hands. Emmerich? I think it's a wonderful idea. I'd like to know a little bit more about the plan, but I'm, I trust my comrades here and, um, sort of you. Beef. Beef is in. Oh, right. I'll explain on the way. Now, normally we, we wouldn't talk about a plan, but I think for this first engagement, it probably be who's to talk through, just to give you an example, I want to talk through

what gravel was going to do. And this is what Gravel explains on the way over. Does that make sense to you all? Just so we have like a vague, I normally wouldn't want to steer in this way, but I feel like in the interest of efficiency, it makes sense to talk through what she was going to do. Does that make sense?

Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. So let me real quick share a little bit about the price pantry. So you should see now two sheets in there in your handouts. one is a reference, just to give you an idea of what prize pantry is. And while you're looking at that, I'll talk about it. So prize pantry is a shop in used to bin, which, as you know, used to bin is one of the layers in steeplechase,

which is a huge sort of resort amusement park with immersive layers that are stacked on top of each other that give the rich an amazing immersive experience that they couldn't get in the outside world. It's the biggest theme park on the planet by exponential factors. And used to been is a place that's all about nostalgic feelings. It's about making you feel like you did when you were younger, be it a real experience that you had or maybe one you always wanted to have. Prize pantry is a shop that lets you purchase boxes of cereal that have toys inside, just the way they used to.

That you don't eat the cereal, but you do keep the prize. Once you're done with the cereal, you dump the cereal into the cereal collection tube. It gets hoovered up into the pipes of the prize pantry. It gets reloaded into a new box with a new toy. This map that I'm showing you, there are four areas that you know of after talking, both from your experience. It's next door to the arcade. I'm assuming, have you all been there, would you say? To the prize pantry?

Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. What about you, Emmerich? You've been to the prize pantry? I would assume that there's some kind of hard-like constructs used in just a business. about every phase of Steeplechase. Okay.

So I would think that there's like an attendant or, you know, something there that he's familiar with Hard Lightwise. So yes. Okay. Great. Beef's not really a big serial guy. And he's done, he knows, he cares about real prizes

for winning competitions. Okay. Like prize fights. Well, he's not a fighter. He's an arm wrestler, but yes. So the prize pantry, the areas that you know about from having been there, there's a show floor where the boxes of cereal are. There is a cereal cafe where if your hunger for cereal has been awakened by opening fake cereal, you can go buy some real cereal and eat up. There is also an administration area at the top, a couple floors.

And then there is the entryway. The reveal is sort of in the middle of the show floor. You've seen it probably in the lead-up, a large podium covered by some sort of velvet drape and waiting on the big reveal. That's on the show floor. And this is what Gravel's plan that she had worked out was this. This was what they had been building towards. Slipper, one of her guys, was going to infiltrate the back office, the back where the, the, the serial is stored, to disable the alarms that are connected to the podium.

Then Matchstick, one of her other guys, was supposed to sneak in underneath the sort of like faux stage that they've set up that the podium's on top of, was going to sneak in there and using tools cut out the pin from the bottom while it was still covered. And then Trashbag, the third guy on her team, was going to make a big distraction so everybody could get out. That was the plan that they had worked out. Is that clear enough? Question, can we switch characters and be those three? Yeah. Because those were-

I don't want to be trash bag, but other than that, I'll be trash bag, too. I like trash bag, too. I'll take matchstick, frankly. Okay, well, then when we are working towards a score, which is the language that we would use for this, we would need to do, I think the next thing we would do, would be to decide on an approach.

So there are six different approaches that you can take. There's assault, which is just go, you know, assault. You're going to do violence. There's a pepper. Deception, which is a lure to trick or manipulate. Stealth is to trespass unseen. a cult is engaging in a supernatural power. Social is negotiating bargaining or persuading.

Transport is carrying cargo or people through danger. Now, what these approaches would... Hold on. I just, for the record, Dad stifled it, but when I said a pepper after Justin's at assault, dad laughed quietly. And I just want that on the record. You'll get credit for that.

You get credit for that after we were... That held the laugh in, but I just want to note it. Let me try it again. That's good We'll fix that. Okay. So what these approaches are actually telling you is what you don't have. Does that make sense?

So for assault, what you don't have is the point of attack, where the attack is going to come. That's a detail you need. For stealth, the detail you need is the point of infiltration. For transport, the detail you need is the route and the means. So you're looking for a detail. Based on what I've described to you so far, which of the, these do you think applies? What would we need if we went with deception? If you went with deception, you need the method of deception, how you're going to fool people. Now, she did have, they did have

an outfit, a, like, uniform, slipper was going to use to get in the back. Slipper has the uniform. She does not have the uniform. Yeah, I think we're all probably, maybe a little too recognizable and used to been anyways. Right. So, I don't think, stealth. Taking on disguises and hiding is sort of my main power. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm not willing to count that strategy out, out of hand. Yes, but this is the world, this is the layer in steeplechase where you would be the most known. So you may have to get a little creative.

Because it sounds like what she described was a stealth approach. I think that that's probably the closest. Yes. And you do still have the point of infiltration. What you don't have as a way to shut down the alarms in the rear. which is in sort of, you can imagine that in a huge cavernous stock room.

It's not part of the show so it's like not themed. It's not all colorful and fantastic. But now you know the things that I have told you now the things that gravel knew. That's the intel she had.

What we've sort of done is bypass the gather information stage. You have a plan. That's what she was going to do. Her role was going to be more of a an overseer, sort of a coordinator. You're going to be linked via communications. You've got an earpiece that lets you all talk.

I know everyone always loves that, being able to be in contact. But in this small scale, I think that these earpieces will work just fine. So what do we think? Which of those approaches are feeling right? Can I... I don't know if this is a conversation that needs to happen in game, but what the escape plan was once... The escape plan was for, I mentioned,

trash bag was going to cause a distraction on the show floor, something that distracted everybody and let the other two and hopefully trash bag to escape unseen. That was like literally walkout. Literally walk out. I will say, I feel, B feels pretty good about the idea of like causing a distraction. Big guy like that, pretty easy to, you know, trip. Right. Or do something.

I will warn you before we go too far down this path. We need to take this in order because we don't want to start planning. We're not planning. The rule in Blaze of the Dark is when you start planning, you're already done. Does that make sense? So we're not going to talk about a plan. That is something we'll uncover as we're doing it. Right now all we're going to figure out is the approach.

Can I suggest deception? Lower, trick, or manipulate, and the detail is the method of our deception. we know that a heist is going to take place here and we know the exact details of how that heist is going to take place which seems like a tremendous advantage that we can use to actually score this stuff ourselves while potentially pinning it on someone else I think I think deception is our is our strongest to play and then what we what we do what is the method of deception what would you how are you deceiving people Well, we have two options.

We can either try and deceive the administrative staff here at the prize pantry by telling them that this heist is going to take place and we're here to help stop it. That may be a tough sales pitch. The other method is that we deceive the other thieves who it may be easier to steal the score from rather than trying to steal it from the place itself. What job was gravel going to do? Gravel was overseeing, which is going to continue to be the role that she will fill. So we have the advantage of knowing what they were going to do. Correct. Right?

Yep. And they have a disadvantage in the fact that gravel is not with them. What you need to figure out. No, yes. Yes, that's true. That's true. You do have that over them. But what you need to figure out, all you need to figure out right now is it seems like deception.

because the method of deception is what, unless you want to use stealth to get into the back, that is the gap in your plan right now. That's what you need to figure out. I think distraction because we've got disguise. We've got, yeah, I say deception because we can distract. Okay. So, here is my question. Which of you is going to be the one who is tasked with shutting down the alarm?

Emmerich. I mean, he's the technically oriented one. Okay. Sounds good. So wait, just before we start, because he said, are we deceiving the other crew or are we deceiving the staff of the building? I think that you should decide that. Are you going to let them play out? Are you going to let them?

Because I think those are two different roles. Let me make this argument that if you're going to steal it from there, it's stealth. If you're going to steal it from them, it's deception. Or assault, depending on if you want to get like so rowdy on. Super rowdy. Yeah, I think it's trying to steal it from them, especially since our gang's reputation. Our thing is subtlety, right? So it seems to me there is way more room for blaming it on the other crew.

Yeah. If we go with deception. I think that's a good, let them do the hard work. And then we'll swipe up for them. What are they going to do? They can't go to the authorities and be like, I was robbed a while I was robbing. Is the plan? Is Emrick going to do something with the alarm?

I'm just trying to figure out the first beat that's going to happen. Yeah. Well, I don't think, yes, Emmer. Yes, Emric will do something with the alarm. But if we're waiting for Slipper to go in first and disable it, we'll just play it by ear, right? Figure it out as we go. Yes.

It doesn't seem like we need to do anything to infiltrate this place. You're in. We're in. It's a question of how do we intercept the prize before they get away with it. Right. We have every right to be there. We're employees, right? Yeah, we can be there.

We don't have to go in in disguise. No. Are you going to steal it from these guys? Let them steal it and then steal it from them. or are you going to try to steal it before they steal it? I'm going to try. I vote steal it from them. Same.

Same. Okay. Okay. So are you going to deceive them into giving it to you? Are you going to steal it from them by force? Are you going to secretly steal it from them? Which of those sort of like approaches are you thinking? I'm going to.

Because can I make one other, just one other point. Yeah. One other thing that gravel would probably bring. up as you're talking through this. If they can steal it and Graville can say oh thank God she may not, she doesn't need you.

Yeah. Well, I'm not trying to undercut you. I'm telling you what Gravel would be telling you. It's like if we don't get it first, I'm just going to go with it. I mean, does that make sense? Because she probably had a better deal with her crew. Okay, well then let's do this. We're overthinking this.

Let's do stealth. Let's steal it before they steal it. I think that would be more fun. I think it would give us more opportunities to like flex our different skill sets and I think it would be a better if you act fast they're going to be uncoordinated because they don't have they don't have gravel if you act fast you could get it before they do I bet yeah okay maybe I think that's okay with that are you feeling real okay yeah okay why don't we why don't we back way up and and well some of that though I mean don't don't back up too much because I do want to explain about you know gravel's allegiances yeah I think okay first things first I

need to play it by ear a little bit because I'll tell you the piece of information we can't possibly have how far along are they how close are they this other crew right so like I don't think we have I think we need to get in the room first somebody needs to get eyes on this displayed thing and then we can play from there okay and I think beef is going in for that right beef as the biggest and the physical force if something goes down for that he's ready to like, well, assault is the backup plan, you know? Okay, so we're going to do an engagement role, and that is going to determine sort of where we start in this.

So you get one D for sheer luck, okay? A D in this case is a die. Oh. You get one die for sure luck. You get, is the plan overly complex or contingent on many factors? Nope. No? No, I guess not.

Is it particularly bold or daring? I mean, I guess it would be. Yeah, because you guys have done this before us. I think it's pretty fucking bold. So 2D, can any of your friends or contacts provide aid or insight for this operation? I don't think you would have any time to do that. So I don't think that that one would apply here. And then are there any other elements you want to consider?

No, I think 2D to die is a good, that feels good to me. Two D6. Well, it looks like Travis rolled one and dad rolled one. Well, I'd say it would be, uh, here we go. I'm, I do the roll. Oh, you do it. I don't want to dim the lights. I'm playing with my brothers.

Gross. Wait, where's the D? Well, that's what she said. Damn it. No, where's the, where's the die? It looks like a D20. It's in like the top bar on the top left. Oh, D6.

There we go. We're going to roll two D6. Oh Is that good? All right. Wait, is that good or bad? That's good. Believe it or not.

You guys show up. You guys show up. Okay, so they got a six, which means that they're going to bypass the first obstacle. This is how good the engagement role is. They're going to bypass the first obstacle that we had in place,

which I feel like was getting into the back room. So you guys show up. You're looking around. You see that people are starting to head towards the podium for this big reveal that's about to happen. And, Dad, you see your friend. It's one of your constructs. He is a hard- Ustice.

Eustis. Oh, Eustis. U-E-S-T-A-C-E. E-Stace. E-S-A-S. Yeah. You see Eustace walking, carrying a, a big arm load of cereal boxes.

We have started to use hard-like constructs in this world. They started out as something to replace sort of like animatronics that we would have in our rides. But the technology was so powerful that you helped develop Emmerich that they started to use them in more practical functions. So this is a hard light construct that's carrying boxes. And he greets you. Well, hello, Emric.

So glad to see you. you, father. How can I help you today, father? Eustace, I've told you you don't have to call me father. But you are the father. I am

a father. I'm, you look well? These boxes are so heavy. I'll walk with you and you can set them down. Is that? Yes, please, father. Walk with me. Help me as I go. Can I carry some of them?

Oh, father, that's not necessary. Thank you. Kind, kind, Papa. Papa, come with me as I carry these to the back. It's such a joy and a pleasure to see you, Papa. Oh, sweet Papa. So against all odds, this cat has walked with you and shepherded you back into the back storage area where, you know, the electrical panels are at.

that just by sheer, sheer fate you have bypassed and you are now in the back. What happened next? Eustis, how, where do you have to take these things? I'm setting them here. And then he sets them on a shelf. Another job, well done. Yes, good. Is that all you have to carry?

Yes, Papa. I'm done for the day. Oh. Goodbye. And Eustace is gone. You find yourself, are you alone? No, there's probably. two or three other employees back there with you. But like all people in jobs where they're at the

lower level, if they see someone that's not in a uniform, they just assume they're a manager from somewhere else. So unless you do something to upset that, I think you're back here. You're okay. What do you want to do now? Yeah. Emric, where is a cover all? You know, like a one piece jumpsuit? Yeah, like a jumpsuit kind of thing all the time anyway. All the time? With Oh, yeah. You in the shower. He unzips it in the shower. Okay, that's good.

Let's the water fill it up. Yeah. You're right. Yeah. Well, I think he would look around to see if he can find the... Yeah, he's going to look around to see if he can find it's probably... Ooh, you think it's a breaker, probably or something like that, some sort of like, it's probably near the breaker, but it's not exactly. like that. Here's what we're going to do. I'm going to, Dad, I'm going to ask you for a survey role.

I am going to say it's risky because too much attention, you know, you're going to, it's not going to be good for you. But the effect is probably standard. I mean, it's, you're just looking for what you think is the panel. So go ahead and give me, what's called a survey. Survey says, is this risky? Yes. Risky standard. Risky standard. That's what they call me. Risky standard All right No bonus die

Submit Oh my God We love it I mean you love to You hate to see it I guess You hate to see it We love to see it

Okay that's fair Dad rolled a six Which is Hell yeah he did Very good That always rolls a six He's very talented That doesn't always roll a six

He's very good at games I roll a six When I roll a hundred-sided die Right. Right. Yeah, perhaps. So that's a six. That is a success. This is going to sound wild. But there is a box right next to the breaker. And it says alarm. It says alarm panel here. And you know exactly where it is. Do not mess with. You can walk right over to it. Okay. Okay. You know where the alarm panel. is, Dad. There are maybe two guys in here. And I don't think that, I mean, you had a success. I don't think that they think

anything about it. But they but if you start fucking around with the panel label alarm, they may. I don't know. Now, Justin, I have a question. Did Gravel give us a description of the other crew? Hmm. Let me think on that.

Maybe basically, like you know, you're not looking at a artist's recreation of their faces or anything. I think you know basically what they look like. And they do not seem to be either the two cats that are already there. Okay, great. Amort? Action's still with you.

Okay. We are in communication, right? With the earbuds? Correct. I'm going to reach up like I'm scratching my ear. and activate the earbud and tell the other two, I am in position at the alarm. If they can do something to draw these guys away. Okay.

I'm assuming that you were sort of talking quietly to yourself. I am in position. The eagle has landed. Okay. But there are people. here watching and if I try to do anything with the alarm I believe I may come to some misfortune. Right.

Okay. So can you just sort of snuff them out? Kill, right. Yeah, just sort of snuff them out. It'll be real nasty. Oh, that's not really my bailiwick. Good. That was a test.

You shouldn't go really nearly. snuffing out lives, you maniac. I don't even know why you brought it up. Now, I'm sorry, though, I can't help. I'm your eye in the sky. Um, I... Here's what I can't say. There's nobody else headed your way. It's just those two in there.

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Just kind of like surveying? I am wearing my finest, my finest fancy garments. Okay. And I walk into the room with an air of, I deserve to be here. Just trying to look my absolute, my absolute fancies. And I'm looking around. You see it's working.

You see people around you and they're looking at you like, he deserves to be here. Like they're into it. I'm like examining the podium like, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, this looks right. Excuse me, take a step back, sir? Yeah, I'm going to need you to take a step back, sir. Thank you. I want to wave down, like an attend. That was a big guard.

Yeah, it sounded like a pretty big guard. Try to do my big guard voice. That was a big guard. My mistake, my mistake. Excellent job. was a test and you have just succeeded in passing it. Please step away, sir. My mistake. I take a step back. Excellent work. What's your name? My name's Kevin. Thank you. Never know when to stop dreaming. Please move it along. I like that, Kevin. I like that. And you really shouldn't even be talking to me when you're on the clock.

Correct, sir. Please step away. Okay. Do you want to continue the conversation, Griffin? Yeah, kind of. Okay, great. No way. Travis, I want beef to do his thing. He's talking to this guard. That's what he's doing right now. What are you doing right now? We'll come back to that. Montres, don't you worry.

I would like to wave down an attendant. Somebody who's like handling, getting boxes for people. Perfect. Yes, how can I help you? My name's Dan. Oh, hey, Dan, it's a pleasure brief. Are you looking for the perfect match between you and a prize? Because, yes.

Dan, I'm going to stop you right there. Dan, Dan, Dan, Dan. It's me, Beef Punchley, the mountain of me, you know, the slamming slab. I'm a little young. Were you in your, are you in your prime now or would you say? That's not important, Dan. We could talk about that later. But I'm looking around here.

I don't see any beef berry. Any beefberry crunch? Beefberry crunch is available in our cereal cafe. But I don't see any of the boxes here, Dan. You know, sir. that is a great point. You're absolutely right. You know, we try to have a cornucopia

of serial experiences represented on our show floor, and I do not, I do not think Beefberry Crunch, kind of a collector's item. I think retro would be so cool if we did some beef berry, but no, we don't have any beef berry on the floor. Are you sure?

Maybe they could check back in the back, back in the warehouse. Hey, Dan? Look back in the warehouse. I sure would appreciate it. I'm pretty busy. I mean, but for you, beef, I guess, I guess, sure. I mean, I could go look. All right, Travis, give me a sway roll. Let's see if you can convince Dan. And I think that this is not risky. I mean, I think that this is controlled. I mean, it, it, it. Yeah, I don't really lose much.

The worst is going to have it as Dan say, no, I'm not going to do that. I don't really lose one. He's like, no. And the effect, I think, is pretty standard, too. You're asking an employee, a very reasonable request. Yeah. Could you? look in the back. Bonus dice, no? Okay, here we go. Ooh. Well, well. Oh my God.

Well, that's a one and a one. Did you have two in sway? Or no, you had no. No, I would have to take the lowest. And that's hard to choose on these two ones. Yeah. Holy shit. Hold on a second.

I mean, I have to see. I have to see what's due here. I think it's an unmitigated. failure would be... I mean, it's gonna be an unmitigated failure, but I have to feel like... Does he just not feel guilty about the fact that they have not stopped... He just walks away without answering anything. I mean, here's what I will.

Here's what I will say, Traff. It's a really good time to have a bad role. Yeah. Because really, I mean, the stakes of this are... I'm trying to figure out a way of... I'm trying to think of a way of penalizing you. But, like, I really... I can't...

I can't think of too much that I could level against you here. Let me see what the... Well, it could penalize his ego. That's true. Hold on. I'm trying to look at... Okay. Believe it or not, on a controlled...

On a controlled roll, a 4-5 or a 1-3 result gives a scoundrel a chance to try again. Okay. So, I'm sorry. Hey, I'm so sorry. I'm super rushed, though, and I just can't. I got to go. I'm so sorry. Oh, yeah, I totally understand.

I'll just go back myself and look. Absolutely not. You know that I can allow that. Oh, man, that breaks my beefy heart. If you want to try to push it, Trave, you absolutely can ask again. I will let you do it again. It will be risky this time. Come on, man.

Can't you please go back there for me, brother? Let me think about it. it's risky now right now it's risky one and a four Jesus Christ that's a one yeah I'll go look for but I'm here's what I'm gonna say

I'm not gonna take a lot of time looking all right but I will take a quick look because you say that you're somebody and I don't want to get in trouble with the you know the higher up well I mean everybody's somebody I mean okay I'll I'll be right back and Dan starts walking off to the

to the to the rear. Emrick. That's when you see the door fly open. Hey, guys! Hey, guys! Can you guys help? I have, like, so many people out there with everything going on.

Can you guys please help me out? I'm looking for Beefberry Crunch. Do we have any empty boxes back here? And the three of them start looking for a Beefberry... A Beefberry... Is it Beefberry or Beefberry Crunch? It's Beefberry Crunch. Okay.

It originally started off as beefberry, and everyone was really confused by that. But then we figured out if we just put crunch on the end, people understood a lot better what it was. Fantastic. Okay. So, yeah, Emrich, they're distracted. They're looking for beef berry. I think that Emric, in the guides of also looking for beef berry to see if there's any, oh, I don't know, in the alarm box, opens the alarm box. So just to be quick, I just want to double check a quick.

Are you loudly announcing as you open the alarm box? Let me see if there's any in here. Body language. Oh, okay. Just body language. They're distracting. Don't worry about that. You're fine.

You're fine. You've got a window. Uh, opens the alarm box. Okay, pal. It opens. And it's fucking wires, man. It's wires for days. If you want to have some sort of impact here, you're going to need to, uh, you're going to need to

roll for it. I'm assuming. Well, no, I won't assume. What are you doing? Well, Tinker. You're going to Tinker. Use my tinker skills. I have two dots in Tinker. But to what ends? To disable the alarm. Okay. So you want to, you want to disable the alarm? Well, now, hold on. Hold on, hold on. I want to understand something. If the goal is to deceive the other team. No, that's not the goal anymore. We're trying to steal this thing before. We're going to steal it before they. steal it. Okay. Okay. All right. So, Emmerk, you're going to disable the alarm. Yes. Let's see. Let's call that a risky for sure. And standard is like, I mean, that's what you'd be getting into something like this for, right? So I think it is risky standard. Okay. I, oh, I see. Okay. Five and a one. Oh, lucky. Lucky, so we'll take that five.

It's a mixed success. You hearken back to some of your old, you know, you've wired systems, not dissimilar from this before. But at one point while rewiring things, you get shocked. And the Dan and the two warehouse workers are look over your way and start walking towards you. Let's cut over to Montrose. You are talking with a guard that you were interested in for some reason. Yeah. And he's asked you to step away.

What are you going to do, Montrose? I've stepped away. I'm continuing to try and have a conversation with him, but I want him to know that I respect his authority. Thank you, sir. I appreciate that. I appreciate someone who is as skilled and competent at their job as you seem to be. My name's Dominic Good Party And I am

Yes, I'm in the event planning business It's not my real name, but legally it is I changed it to Dominic Good Party I could swear that I've seen you around I mean you I would swear I've seen you around Don't give away my Don't give away my

I want to say something up front I have established that Montrose wears a mask everywhere he goes, like a hard light mask. I don't think I would roll in here with my just my regular old Montrose face on. Okay.

Fair. Yeah, that's fair. I think what you're going to have to accept is that if you want to wear the mask, it will hide your identity. But people are, it's going to be really, really hard to get people to trust. Like, people are, it's weird that you're doing this. Okay, then how about this? I'm not, I'm not

wearing the mask. I don't want to be recognized. Yeah. Okay. It's not, I have a, face under there. It's just a very plain face. Okay. Hey, it's a beautiful face. Thank you. I'll accept it. Yes, Dominant, good party, good party event planning. And I have to say this is quite a shindig that your higher-ups have thrown together here. Security is... Sir, I really... Griffin, if you want this man to talk to you, you got to convince him,

because he has told you to step away. Got you, got you. Anyway, I don't want to tell you, I don't want to get you in trouble, but it seems like you do have all... You need to roll your dye to keep this man from taking some action against you. I produce a set of climbing gear that I have brought with me. Okay, he's intrigued enough to see where you're going with this. I did just find this in the alleyway. And so. Oh my gosh, you're kidding me.

Yeah. And listen, I've seen this happen a lot of times. You look left, right, you look forward, you look backward. but you forget to look up. Griffin, go ahead and mark one on your load for me. Yes, it's actually two. It's actually two for the climbing gear. What load did you go?

Now, I did not ask you guys. Yeah, I don't think that I probably need to. I think we'll just call it normal unless you all have some sort of opposition to that, to having a normal load. The way Blades in the Dark works is you don't have to take, you don't have to specify the, the load out that you're taking. What you do have to specify is, like, how kidded out you are.

So one to three is a light load, which makes you less conspicuous and faster. Four to five is like normal. Six is heavy. Seven to nine is encumbered. Now, four to five load, you look normal. So you look like a scoundrel ready for trouble.

Yeah, I don't. I think I'm light. I think I'm definitely like in light. Okay, so that's, that's, you use two. I basically have three load points. that I can spend on gear in the moment when I need it. Okay.

And we also get one free load because of our crew. Great point. Okay. So am I, is it, are you guys going in Emrick and B, for you guys going in light or normal? Beef is more of a normal guy. Okay. Normal?

Yeah, I think, normal. Okay. That probably made you, we won't deal with it right now, but normal for the future, it will be tough with normal if you want to do a lot of like convincing people you are not a criminal

not a criminal because someone who's normal like has some tools by the way will you look at your your character sheet there Emmerick and see if your tools that you use. Pinkering tools is checked

is checked okay so you got you got that accounted for in your load so you found oh shit I knew this would happen I try to tell them. I tried. Up crime.

It is the scourge of the security personnel. And I am so pathetic. So you just found these lying in the alley. Yeah. I guess they were trying to keep a light load. I'm not sure. It's hard to get in the mind. It's hard to get in the mind of these criminals, isn't it?

So, Griff, would you say that right now what you are doing is attempting to attempting to sway or consort. What would you say? Would you say you're trying to... This is a lie. This is a lie. This is a lie. I'm trying to...

I want to get under that stage. Because I know that that is ultimately where they are going to want to go, the other team. And so I am trying to divert as much security, as many eyes and security personnel away from here. And the roof is about as far as I can think to. So it's sway, baby.

Try and send them. All right. Well, let's see. So what are you trying to get him to do? go check out the roof okay let's uh let's call that a sway i think this is definitely risky because it's a big lie but uh i think the effect is probably still standard i mean i no it's gonna be tough because i don't think he would leave his position i think he would radio it in but i tell you what let's see how let's see how the role goes before i start micromanaging uh okay uh do i get a bonus dice

because I've used a tool. We haven't really talked much about how bonus dice factor into things. Okay, well, let's see here. You can normally get two bonus dyes for your action roll. Some special abilities might give you additional bonus dice. For one bonus die, you can get assistance from a teammate. They take one stress, say how they help you, or give you plus one D. You can also push yourself to give yourself another die.

What were you thinking that you would get a bonus die for? Producing this climbing gear, having a prop, doing some. some light prop work with my friend here. I'm trying to figure out if that would be applicable here. It doesn't happen. I don't know if that's a thing. Okay, then I won't use it. No bonus size.

Don't need it. That's a six and a four. We'll take the six. Hot? Whoa. You guys are crushing it. Not me. Well, a couple of us are.

That's a complete success. Okay. Oh, all right. All right. All right. Give me the gear. I hand it over. Do I take it off my...

I guess I brought it already, so I've expanded that low. Yeah, yeah, okay. Okay. Give me the gear. I'll go check it out. You know what? I'm going to do a fortune roll to see if he does go check it out or if he sends someone to check it out

because I don't know what he would do. Fair. So I want to do two. So Fortune Roll is just sort of like something where the players aren't in control of it, but I don't necessarily want to make the decision because it dictates too much. So we're just going to see what the fates say. Baby.

So that's a five, sorry, that's a six. I'll be, dang, you guys are killing it. Yeah, all right. I'll go check it out. Hey, can you do me a favor? you seem like another professional. Can you hang out around here and just kind of keep people's hands away from the pin?

Don't let any peek under it or there's been some vloggers around that want to get an early peak. It's just right here behind me. Obviously, I mean, he doesn't need to say that. It's pretty clear. Is it in a box or is it just the pin itself is underneath the clock? What you see is a like,

four inch by four inch square that you can tell is a cube, right? It's a four inch by four inch cube that is about six feet elevated off of the ground on a, on a, you can't really tell, probably a pedestal or something, but there's a large, uh, purple drape draped over it. Um, so you can't, that, that is what you see. Okay. Yeah, that is not a problem. All right. He schleps off to parts unknown. He takes your client. in gear and he heads out beef. What are you up to, my man?

Right now, here's where we're at. Emric has disabled the alarms. And you, you, Griffin, or sorry, Montrose, have lured away the guard that is standing nearest to the stage. Tell me about the method, the dumping of the fake flakes

into a thing and then the tubes carry them away. Are the tubes visible? Can I see them? After you check out, there is a four foot by four foot pink square that's labeled prize zone. You stand there and there's lights that are on there and there's like they're booming music. It's like a big moment when you open it up to see what you get. Then after you tear it open, there is a receptacle, not unlike the things that you put your 3D glasses back into. You know, that kind of idea.

and you just up in the box and dump it right into this receptacle. And then there's a, and you see it sort of a Willy Wonka style vacuum tube, just, cereal just blowing up, blowing through this fat tube. And you dump your box next to it. And it is, the boxes, I think, probably just go into like a recycling thing. There's also a plastic, like, jewel case amoree around each box that keeps people from opening them in the aisles.

And those are stored behind the counter. They just unlock those with a magnet and toss them behind the counter. And that is the system. Got it. I think the cereal is probably blowing into the back and being collected in, like, big, big bins. So wasteful. Well, then they reuse it. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's all reused. It's all reused. Okay, I'm going to position myself close to that, close to, like, the receptacle and stuff. and then I'm just going to kind of keep an eye out for the crew members. Okay. All right. With the theory being what? What's your rationale?

That prize area seems pretty rigged up for good distraction fodder. Okay. All right. These are going so smoothly for you guys. The thing that needs to happen now, and this is what you hear from Gravill, all right, all right. It's all going real smooth. We've had great luck here.

What all I need is someone to go ahead and steal the fucking pin, if anyone would be so kind. Thanks. Well, do I see any of you? You see from your perspective. Here's what you see. You don't see him, Rick. He's in the back.

You can see Montrose standing near the stage, and you don't know why, but fucking Montrose is just standing there by himself right near the stage unaccompanied. That is what you see from your perspective. You probably actually do know why because you could hear via the earpiece. Are you guys comfortable with those being always open?

Does that make the most sense? Yeah, correct. Catching people up? Yeah. Okay. And do I see any of the other rival crew? You wouldn't, probably. I mean, I don't think that you would.

You could do, You know what, Trav, why don't you go ahead and let's call this, I think this would be hunt or survey? I mean, are you looking for, you're probably, I mean, what do you think? Hunt or survey? Yeah, I think in this case it's survey because specifically the sense trouble before it happens and gather information about opportunities or exploits as described in survey is what I'm looking for, rather than trying to find someone to hurt them or find someone to. to attack them.

So I think survey is the way to go. And I'm gonna push myself because the timing of like creating the distraction and everything here feels important. So by pushing yourself, you're gonna take too stress, right? You're gonna take too stress to give yourself an extra die. And we can deal with what stress is.

But a good way to think about stress and this is the way that, John Harper explains it in the Blades of That Art book is the ability to take on stress is what separates you all from other people. That ability to push yourself beyond the limits of what normal people could do. That is what separates your scoundrels from the other denizens of steeplechase. So you're going to push yourself for a bonus die. Yes, which will put me at one die because currently I have zero in survey. What input value?

Is it risky? Is it risky? No? I mean... Okay. Well, yeah, it is risky because, you know, it is risky because if you miss it, it's bad. Yeah. If you don't see them, then it would be negative.

So yes, I would say risky standard. Got it. Which, by the way, I know we're saying that a lot. That's kind of the default. And they even say in the books, like, you could probably be fine just like using risky standards. So that's a three. Damn. So that is a, let's see.

You know what? This is a very important moment. And I'm going to... Oh, I can push myself or take a devil's bargain. Yes. Yes. I can't do both. Could you do both?

I mean, at this point, listen, it's early on. Hold on. a devil's bargain can give you a bonus die but it's only before the role I thought devil's bargain was you accomplished the thing but you a GM or any other player can offer you a bonus die if you accept a devil's bargain common ones include

collateral damage sacrifice coin betray a friend offend or anger a faction add heat to the crew suffer harm the devil's bargain occurs whether regardless the outcome of a role it's always a free choice. If you don't like one, then you don't have to take it.

But if you make the deal, you pay the price, and you get the bonus die. Okay. Okay. Well, so we can do it, but this is a new rule. So if you want to go back and take the devil's bargain, we can. No, I think, I don't know what, I don't know where they are.

But, um, Montres, are you ready to make the ground? Why am I speaking in the beef? It should be the linen voice. Montrose, I don't see the other crew, but are you ready to make the grab and I'll make the distraction? Or how do you want to make the grab and then I make the distraction? Okay, because of the, you did not manage to spot the guy. but I'm going to put a clock.

Okay, so clocks are a way of monitoring time or progress. Yeah, generally speaking, yeah. Yeah, that's been my experience. In my creation, clocks are, no, in my fantasy worlds. Okay, so what I've done is I made a clock called rival thieves, and you know this is happening. and I'm going to this clock represents their progress in stealing the thing

you don't have any insight into what they're doing but this I am telling you that you are now one I've ticked away one of the steps because of a beef's inability to spot this guy this is he beefed it he beefed it so when this clock runs out they will steal the thing and get away with it So the race is on.

Okay, Montrose, do you want me to trigger the destruction now? I think, first of all, we need to, in the future, talk about how we are going to converse over these things because regretfully, my autonomous sensory meridian response has been absolutely zooming. I, uh, no. No, no, no, that's all well and good, but... Nope, stop it. People have earbuds in.

You can't do this. I got one more piece of the puzzle that I think is really going to bring this whole thing together. What are the vloggers like in this room? How many vloggers are we talking about? They're pretty easy to spot, right? Because they have the cameras sort of... They've got Cropros. No, they...

It's like an attachment on their back. It's like a back rig. And then coming up over them, there's sort of like a, imagine a selfie stick that was attached to your back and just sort of like arcing out in front of you. So like, and then it had like a camera at there. And you see them like basically yammering on to themselves, but you can tell they're streaming, right?

Because not everybody can get to Steeplechase, but there are still people who are obsessed with Steeplechase. They are so excited to see this pin. Like, they cannot wait. to see this design. This is a big moment for them. Okay. And I would say there's probably, let's see, yeah, four. I want to work the room with those five specifically and prepare them for an exciting press-only opportunity to get just some, some, you know, merch photos just so that.

Because once they unveil it, sorry, once we unveil it, it's going to, the hubbub is going to be, There's going to be a rush and you know, you're going to get a bunch of noggins in the way of these products shots. Okay, they probably have like a assigned area that they're in. Oh, that's fine. That's fine. Yeah, that's not. So you go over and talk to them. What's your spiel?

Hi, everybody. Thanks for coming. We're really excited to have you here. Just to let you know, the higher ups have permitted you all to get some exclusive product shots of the pin before we unveil. to the public. We, just a limited time to secure those. You hear that gang? This guy hit, what's your name?

My name is Dominic Good Party. And I'm a PR rep here for. Oh my gosh, do you work for Dentonic? Are you like a separate entity? I'm under contract from Denton. Because I've never met, I've never met you before. I don't think. I go to these events all the time.

Yeah, we're new. Normally they handle the, These internally, right, gang? And they're like talking to you, but they're also kind of talking to the camera. So they're like filming it? They do have their own internal PR teams for, you know, print and traditional press. So I hope you're not offended that they've sort of siloed you all off and hand you off to me to sort of not really give you all the, listen, they don't want me to give you this scoop. But I think the work you all are doing is important and you're reaching out.

Oh my gosh. Thank you. This is an exclusive photo opportunity. We have to be a little bit discreet, but if you just follow me. Is this just for us? There's like four other vloggers, but they're not really paying attention? I want everyone. No, this, okay, this is for everybody.

So everybody has turned towards you. So if everyone can follow me, we'll do a quick opportunity. Oh my gosh, but we're going to miss the shot. You're going to get the shot. I'm giving you the shot now. I know, but if we miss the big reveal, that's the moment everybody's waiting on. I'm giving you all an exclusive reveal. You know what?

Never mind. If you all want to take the photos with the hoi-poloi in the way and not get the footage that your viewers and your audience craves, that's fine. Just forget I said anything. Okay. I'm going to say, hey, man, risky standard sway. Let's go.

How do you get advantage in this game? Is there advantage in this game? Because that was a good long. line. It's a good line. Yeah. That's a good line. It's not mechanical. One and a six. A one and a six. All right. Okay. So where, okay, we're so thrilled. Thank you for thinking of us. Where should we all go? And they're all kind of like nodding to each. Like, yeah, yeah, where do we, where do we go? Head up right next to the podium and I'll just kind of uncover it on one side and you all can get the footage that you need. So we should walk onto the stage. Yeah, it's fine. I've told security what's going on. They're going to turn a blind eye to us this one. Okay, right now?

Right now, right now. Let's move. Okay. The six vloggers with their cameras and everything and they're chattering to each other. And you see them walk up onto the, they walk up onto the stage. And then you hear from the back, hey, get down. Hey, we've got people trying to make a run at it. Hey, everyone.

We've got several bloggers on stage. They're trying to pull the curtain off, and you see three or four security guards start to make their way towards the stage. What do you do? I know we have a lot of distraction hirons in the fire, and this would be the time for us to execute them, I do believe. Okay, great.

Beef is going to lean up against that big tube, the pneumatic tube. Like, he's just resting, but he's going to push against it, and he's trying to knock it loose. Okay. I'm gonna wreck it. You're gonna wreck the tube. I'm gonna wreck the tube, baby.

Wreck the tube. I think this is probably, you know what? For a tube, I'm gonna say it's definitely risky. And standard. I mean, I don't want to say it's desperate because this isn't life and death, but people are going to be like, what is beloved?

What is beloved arm wrestler right or boxer? Where do we settle? Arm wrestler. Beloved arm wrestler, beef. If beef can't have great effect against a tube, what is he here? What's he doing? And this is a moment too where like this is, the distraction is like his moment. I'm going to push myself again.

Can't you elect to push yourself after the roll? I, um, no, I don't get the sense. I mean, looking at the action roll section, it does sort of like look like you need to add the die before. because otherwise it's sort of like what is my effect I would like to have great effect I think you would all like to have great effect on a too I mean it's just so I mean you're a human man you're just a human being and this is well no hold on I took the trait that lets me do a feet of superhuman strength uh-huh so I'm going to say that this is where that comes in I've just that work is that like a one one and done kind of deal or what I think you have to take stress in order to

activate that, right? Is that the way that works? So it says you can push yourself to do one of the following, perform a feat of physical strength of virgins on the superhuman, or engage a small gang on equal footing in close combat. So I'm pushing myself, right? Yeah, you're pushing yourself. Take two stress. I did. Okay. Okay. A five and a five. Whoa. All right. Um, how did you reflect the, Okay, so this is the feet of superhuman strength. We're saying it's a five and a five. You, holy shit, beef, you didn't know that you still had it in you? Like, when you're doing this, you're feeling the way that you used to feel when you're arm resting.

You could feel the stress of it pulled against you, and you could feel the stakes and the stress, and you didn't know that you could still do this, but in this moment, you are like alive. And you feel your muscles, like, start to strain your shirt. and you yank this tube out and it is just sucking. I'm leaning against it. You find yourself, well, here's what's happened. Right now, you find there's this huge tube of suction

and things are starting to get sucked up into this tube. Oh, I thought it was blowing up. What? It's sucking. It's not blowing. It's sucking. You have a giant, you've now unhinged a giant vacuum tube that is sucking people.

There are people who are starting, to feel themselves pulled towards it, such as the power of the serial tube. And I'll tell you, they're fucking distracted. People are really into this. And beef is definitely doing something. And keeps on the way, whoa, whoa. What?

Sorry. Oh, look. What did you do? Sir, what did you do? Sir? The tube came loose and I was trying to catch it. The tube came loose? Yeah.

Brace those people or someone's going to get hurt. Okay. they're fucking distracted. What do you do now? So I am like barking orders, right? In my biggest boldest, biggest beef voice of like, guards, hurry, grab those people. They're going to get hurt. Hold down the, we have to protect these people while I try to get this back in place.

You, you, you, help those people. You're doing great effect. Like, this is a mess for sure. Yeah. I mean, they are listening to you. I think this is a very stressful situation they find themselves in. Anybody want to steal the pin or where are we at vis-a-vis that? In this chaos that is now happening with all the vloggers on stage trying to get picks of this thing,

the security personnel rushing them, I am going to run towards them also. I'd be like, what are you doing? Get down from, you can't be up there. And just run towards them. just basically trying to get into the crowd so that I can stealthfully grab the box. Okay, so it's under the sheet still. The box is under the sheet. Oh, okay.

I have a, okay. How about this? I run up, and I'm running up towards them like, stop, stop, what are you doing? And I'm going to knock the podium just over. as I go towards them to stop them. It's chaos, baby. Okay, you knock the, so you're running to, so you are now in the role of,

you're pretending to, like, stop the vloggers from. Okay. I also have on me fine clothes and jewelry. And if this is something that I had time to prepare, I would like to say that that jewelry is a bunch of pins that I am going to scatter to the ground like so many, like so many beautiful caltrips. Okay, so you're throwing a bunch of pins on the ground

You have no idea what this pin looks like So you're definitely not trying to pretend it's the pin, right? What's the goal with like throwing the pins on the ground? Just more I'm the joker baby Okay So you read the vloggers are like getting ready to get their shot right But now they don't know what it looks like either right I'm not concerned about whether or not the vloggers get the shot

I just wanted bodies up there so that when I grab the thing it's not instantly obvious that I have just run on stage and grabbed a pin. Okay. So they are, is this, so they're looking at you. I'm not going to make you roll for this because all you did was throw some pins on the ground. They're kind of looking like, is this the pin?

Is this swag? What do we do? And they're still filming over there, right? Like, they're not really paying attention. They're kind of confused by you throwing pins with them, but they are still definitely filming the vacuum disaster. Okay, I think that there is, and I've knocked the podium over. Did I see the thing topple out when I knocked it over?

You knocked, did you knock the podium over? Yes, you did knock the podium over. Well, you know what? I'm going to need you to roll for that. Oh, really? How heavy is this podium? Well, I need to know how it's going to go. Okay, can I say.

I don't know if it's attached or not. I need you to roll to tell me if it's attached. I don't know. Can I argue a skill? So one of the finessexious. things is employ subtle misdirection or sight of hand. I'm trying to

misdirect everyone with these mini pins. Okay, here's what I'm saying. Everyone is looking at the fucking crazy shit with the vacuum. You are good on misdirection. Okay. You know what?

It's not going to get let, like, you reach a point of infeasibility, right? Like, there's still people who are thinking about it, but like, They're as distracted as they're going to be by this incredible calamity that we first created. Okay. Emmerk, when you heard this calamity start, what did you do? Because I think that that also gave you a window where the three that were starting to look at you,

they are now like probably making their way outside because all of a sudden, weird shit like papers and paper clips and gum wrappers and magazines and all kinds of random trash is blowing through the two. right now. So I think those guys are going to, the warehouse workers, Dan gave up, I think, on the beefberry crunch, and the warehouse workers are going to see like what the hell is going on. They probably are looking for a way to shut it down if I had, if I had to guess. So you have an opening here. What do you want to do? I'm going to summon Eustis. That would probably be a tune. Well, yes, a tune. A tune. Yeah, I'm going to use a tune.

So in the game of Blaze in the Dark, there are, ghosts. We don't have ghosts. We have hard light projections that are standing in for ghosts. So Dad is playing as a whisper, which is normally someone who's very adept with like supernatural forces. In our game, we're using that metaphor as somebody who's like very adept with hard

light. So you know Eustis is here somewhere. And so you can try to attune him, which is sort of like an all purpose supernatural type role, if that makes sense.

Yeah. Should I roll before I tell you what I want to communicate to you? Yes. Tell me what you want to do first. I want to communicate with. Oh, that kind of spoils it. I'm going to communicate with Eustace to ask him to do dear old Papa Dad a favor. Okay. That seems like a good boundary. Let's roll an attune on that and see. Okay. Risky? Yeah, because if you're staying in the back, there's a risk that they're going to spot you. Standard. Okay.

Five, it's not instantaneous. In fact, there's enough time that one of the guys walks over and starts walking towards you. But you do see Eustis in front of you. And the other guard is not within earshot yet. Yes, Papa, how can I help? Oh, Papa! Uistice, my boy. Everyone, it's my papa.

Hello! It's so nice to meet Eustace's coworkers. Eustace, could you do Papa Dad a favor? Anything for you? Yes, I believe they need you to carry one of your cartons of boxes. Oh, I'm very good at that, Papa. Yeah, I would like you to carry a carton of boxes out to the display where the, what the podium is. Let me just take one box out so that there's just this.

one hole. Would you mind running this out there to the podium? Anything for you, Papa. Anything. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, good. And then he takes a stack of boxes. Any certain boxes? No, just as long as there's one cereal

box out. What is the cereal box that the prizes? I don't think the pen is in a cereal box. The pen is just in the podium in the box. It will be placed in a cereal box at some point, and then it's like a sweepstakes type deal.

Just carry these out to the podium towards the rather plain looking gentlemen. Sure, Papa. And then Eustace goes outside carrying a big stack of boxes. Okay, I have an idea now. Okay, now we are panned over to Montrose. You see a hard light construct. I don't think you would probably think anything of it, but coming out of the back room.

And then you have some vloggers that are still filming the vacuum debacle. Okay. I would like to... The vloggers are still near the podium, right? Right. Maybe I want to bump one of them into the podium just to...

I want to run towards it and make it look like I'm trying to control this situation. Okay, but you're going to... I feel like if I just lift up this curtain, reach and grab the thing. Like, it's hard to do that discreetly. Okay. But if I can get it on the ground, then maybe it'll be a little bit easier. Okay.

Seems good. Let's call this then probably finesse. Okay. Right? I mean, you're trying to make it look like something else is happening. Finesse it. Okay. Risky?

It feels a little desperate. I think it's desperate. It's desperate. for it. Yeah, it's death for it, which me, which has has big implications if it does not go your way. Effect. Standard. Uh-huh. And I'm going to push myself to take a bonus die because this is, this feels like a big one. Okay, that's a 4-4-2.

4-4-2. So we're going to take the 4. It's a, it's a mixed success. you are doing some like fancy fancy maneuvers you're trying to like shoe them away while at the same time you're knocking the podium over and you throw you have an action where you sort of like are trying to throw one of them but you lose your balance

and you both fall into the podium and it topples over do I see the pin come out? No what? It's still covered in a huge purple drape so what you've done is you've knocked over the whole thing, but it's still completely covered. Uh, okay.

Oh, my mistake. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm going to stand up. And while I stand up, just kind of try to subtly grab the, the, the, oh, no, you know, oh, man. You want to stand up and grab the, the, the cloth? Do you have a knife?

No, I mean, I could have a knife. You have a huge vacuum behind you. Oh. yeah. Do we... How far am I from the vacuum? I mean, I'm imagining like 20 feet. I mean, you're at the...

But like, it could be closer if you got a good idea. We know where this vacuum ends up, right? Yeah, it blows into the back. Okay. I want to try to in one swift movement, stand up and try to uncover the pen

and then kick it. Like a soccer ball toward the vacuum. Okay. Is that a lot? It's a lot. I'll let you do it, but it's a lot. Okay.

Okay. I'm going to call this wreck. Rec? I don't know what else it would be. I mean, what are you doing? doing you're not you the subtlety is over right you know you got knocked out you knocked yourself over with this other person there is a podium covered in a gigantic purple cloth lying on the ground if you want to try to chuck the cloth and the podium into the vacuum i'll let you know not the podium i'm

not going to throw a podium okay so you're trying to you know what i tell you what i'm gonna first things first let's take this in order uh i want to i'll i'll i'll try to to as I write myself and stand up, I'll grab the cloth and try and move it off the box. Oh, okay. Well, I mean, that slips right off. You're holding the cloth. And then you pull it away so you can reveal the prize inside. When you reveal it, though, you see something you missed before, a hole where the podium used to be. And you look down into the hole. And you look down into the hole and you are looking into the face of matchstick and he holds up the pin in front of his face and says shh maximum fun.org comedy and culture artist owned audience supported