The Glass Cannon Podcast - Time For Chaos S1 | E9 – Room 410

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

The campaign begins in earnest as the investigators meet up in New York City for a mysterious rendezvous with their good friend Jackson Elias. Watch the video here: ⁠⁠⁠https://youtu.be/np9RAZNo3HQ For a limited time, use code "TFC" to save 15% on Cthulhu products at ⁠⁠chaosium.com⁠⁠. Access exclusive podcasts, ad-free episodes, and livestreams with a 30-day free trial with code "GCN30" at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠jointhenaish.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join Troy Lavallee, Joe O'Brien, Skid Maher, Matthew Capodicasa, Sydney Amanuel, and Kate Stamas as they tour the country. Get your tickets today at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://hubs.li/Q03cn8wr0⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. For more podcasts and livestreams, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://hubs.li/Q03cmY380⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Watch new episodes when they premiere every Friday at 8PM ET on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/theglasscannon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, starting July 11th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are very few things that you can be certain of in life. But you can always be sure the sun will rise each morning. You can bet your bottom dollar that you'll always need air to breathe and water to drink. And of course, you can rest assured that with Public Mobile's 5G subscription phone plans, you'll pay the same thing every month. With all of the mysteries that life has to offer, a few certainties can really go a long way. Subscribe today for the peace of mind you've been searching for. Public Mobile, different is calling.

Wendy's most important deal of the day has a fresh lineup. Pick any two breakfast items for $5. New four-piece french toast sticks, bacon or sausage wrap, English muffin sandwiches, value iced coffee, and more. Limited time only at participating Wendy's Taxes Extra. You are listening to the Glass Cannon Network, the premier source for role-playing game entertainment. Happy Friday everybody, it's time for Chaos. I have a question for you all tonight, a very open-ended, perhaps difficult to answer honestly question for you.

Would you consider yourself a good friend? I'll start. Yes. No, I'm yourself a good friend? I'll start. No, I'm not a good friend. I'm not like someone that goes out of their way to be hurtful to people. Not in that sense. I'm just a terrible friend. Like, you can't rely on me. I don't put any effort into friendships because it's just it's exhausting. And then you get older and you have kids, you're married.

There's just no time. Nora, you're a good friend. You jumped right on. You were like, yes, best friend. There's a caveat though. Like I'm bad at like thoroughly, like keeping the communication going. Like maybe it'll be like a couple of weeks

before we talk or text again. Yeah. But I'm super loyal as a friend and I am very reliable. Loyal and reliable. Those are two buzzwords that are often thrown out there when one speaks of good friends. You remember birthdays? Yes because it has Yes, because it has to be on my phone. Okay. Because not being on Facebook, like I got rid of my Facebook a while ago, smart.

Years and years ago, and it's made it more difficult to keep track of birthdays, so I have to like input it into my calendar. You say you're loyal. Do you find often that your loyalty is tested as a friend? What kind of circles are you running often that your loyalty is tested as a friend? What kind of circles are you running in where your loyalty is constantly tested? I mean, no, like I stand up for my friends. If I feel like somebody has wronged them,

I'll stand up for my friend. Like I'm not going to be the person that's like, oh, you know, I'm just not going to say anything. Like I'll like I'll say like hey this what you did was not cool You should go talk to this person. So you're a good friend. You're a classic good friend. Oh What about you Ross? You're a good friend. Are you someone? Here's what it is for me like that makes time to hang out with people like it would never dawn on me to be like I should call so-and-so and see if they'd like to hang out That to me sounds like what some a good friend would do what humans do to be like, I should call so and so and see if they'd like to hang out. That to me sounds like what some good friend would do.

What humans do. Right. What humans would do. What regular humans do. Human beings. I'll say sure that I've experienced, I think, some growth. So I think there was a time where I was where I was, I was maybe not so good a friend, and I think that maybe has to do with like growing up moving around a ton, and I would make friendships,

and then I'd move away, and it was just like those people just disappeared. And there's, until I finally, it's like, oh, you gotta put in just a modicum of effort. Also living in a city like Chicago, which I did for a long time, living in a pedestrian city does so much work for you because you just run into people all the time. It's like, I got so many friends, it's just popping and going.

Then you move to LA and it's like, I'm so, so very alone. So yeah, finally, finally stepping out and just making an effort. Because most of that, I feel like, doesn't come from disregard for people. Finally stepping out and just making an effort. Most of that, I feel like, doesn't come from disregard for people. If anything, it comes from nerves and insecurity of, well, it would be burdensome of me to impose on their time. I'm sure they have 10 other wonderful things going on. Just relax, dude.

Just text. It's fine. You're triggering so much in me, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I guess the importance of the pedestrian city, I never thought about that. Like when I was living in the city, it was a lot easier to do that now.

I mean, forget it for someone who's already bad at this stuff to then move outside of the city. I got to drive somewhere. It's just never going to happen. Kate, are you a good friend? Or you just hang out with your plants and your husband? Why would that make are you a good friend or are you just hanging out with your plants and your husband? Why would that make me not a good friend? I don't know if you're too busy watering your plants to put in the time needed to water a friendship. The fact

that I can nurture these plants must mean that I can nurture other things. Like friendship. And a lap. Do it really. That's a leap. That's a giant leap. I don't know man. So you're a gregarious friend-zoni. I think, yeah. Yeah, fuck it. Yeah, I'm a good friend. If you were to text someone that you consider very close to you right now and say,

am I a good friend? You think they would be a resounding yes? Yeah. Or would it be like, who's this? You got a new phone. Yes. Now that I am of like mid thirties,

I'm friends with people who I enjoy and the people who enjoy me say friends with me. It's like, I don't know, no more fucking around. Not just like party friends or anything like that. So. Yeah. You've got party friends or anything like that. So yeah.

You've got a quality over quantity. Yes. Rob, I've known you obviously since the, since the nineties, but we lost touch for 20 years, but you're still friends with people that we hung out with and did theater. And that is mind boggling to me. I consider that to be an achievement that is,

it just stymies me that you were able to do that. Have you always just been really good at that? Oh yeah, I'm an amazing friend. I will say that the people that you're referring to, I mean, there's like three to four of them, out of however many we went to high school with. That's still, I've like, every time I've moved to a new place in life, I've lost the people.

You've shed the skin. I've shed the skin. It wasn't like a conscious decision like, haha, see you suckers, I'm on to my new friends. It's just I moved on and out of sight, out of mind, I didn't even think about it. No, it makes sense. I think I'm a pretty great friend. You know, I think it's just because what each of those people, you know, I feel like brings to my personal table, right? Um, I will say in my twenties, I was not as great a friend.

I feel like in your twenties, you're, you're number one, right? All the time. Yeah. So, so I think that I had like a nickname for a while that was always like better deal, Kirkovich or something like that, where I would have plans with somebody. But then if a better deal came along, I'd be like, I can't, it's not I can't. And then it'd be found out that I couldn't do it

because I decided to do something else that came up after I'd already committed to the other thing. When I was with those people, I was a great friend. Like in that moment, right? I really filled the void perfectly. Too bad to the ones you ditched. Yeah, I'll tell you what I don't- Can I ask you, oh, go ahead. Oh no, no, what are you saying, Nora? Perfectly. Too bad to the ones you ditched. Yeah. I'll tell you what I don't-

Can I ask you, Troy? Oh, go ahead. Oh, no, no. What are you saying, Nora? I was just going to ask Troy and anybody else, who is your oldest friend that you keep in contact with? Like, when did you meet? At what time in your life?

What grade were you in? I have a kid that I have been friends with since second grade, but I'm pretty sure he hates me right now and wouldn't even pick up the phone if I called. So that doesn't, so that's not actually an answer. Yeah, but like, that's your oldest enemy, but you're saying the oldest person that remembers you. I don't think he hates me, but I think it's because I'm such a shitty friend that he would,

if I, he'd be like, Oh, Hey, nice of you to climb down from your work to call me. I don't know. I used to use ambition as like an excuse. I'm like, well, I'm just too ambitious. Hey, nice of you to climb down from your work to call me. I don't know, I used to use ambition as like an excuse. I'm like, well, I'm just too ambitious. I got too focused on my career to be a friend, but like there's plenty of successful people that have really good friends. I think, I assume, I don't know, maybe not. I think my oldest is only one of the guys that Troy knows, like from, you know, sophomore

year of high school, freshman year of high school, freshman year of high school, something like that. Yeah, same. My closest oldest friend is from high school. I don't remember which year, but yeah. Does my mother count? No. Oh, yes.

I think it's a guy I met in sixth grade. And we were tight throughout middle school and I moved away and same deal, like radio silence for a long, long time. And then like years later, just found each other online, circled back, got together. And it was just like, it's one of my favorite things in the world

where you see somebody you haven't seen in like a decade and you just pick right back up. It's it was wonderful. That's and we're still in touch. It's he's a lovely, sweet man. That's like my oldest. My oldest friends were like from sixth grade. She actually like texted me this morning. She's like because I cosplay and all such like,

do you have a favorite clip in hair extension? The expert. But yeah, when we when we meet up in person, it's like nothing, no days have gone by. I'll tell you guys what I don't respond to. Guilt trips. The guilt trip, like if you can't do a hangout and then the person's like,

like on a group text, it was like, we had a great time, which would have been better if Robin showed up, like something like that, you're gonna quickly, the older I get especially, you're just like going warp speed to the dustbin. The do not call list. Yeah. Yeah. Do you guys find that you're still making new friends?

Oh, that's tough. It's hard. Like at this age. You're all my new friends. I would consider you all my new friends. Yeah, there we go. Beyond that, yeah, that's tough. It's hard. Like at this age. You're all my new friends. I would consider you all my new friends. Yeah, there we go. Beyond that, yeah, that's true. Honestly, it's streaming with new people

that are the new people that I meet now because otherwise, as an adult, especially living in LA, very isolating, it's, no. Yeah, but how often are those people, you're like, hey, let's go. Let's go get a malt together. Let's go to the malt shop and get a chocolate malted. I know he's never once called me for an ice coffee. Well, when you guys came into town.

Yeah, sure. We hung every day. Rob and I hung out a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, that was the coolest thing ever. I saw that. I was so I'm joined to my soul. I was so glad Noah was invited for the record. I want everyone to know that I was invited. And I'm the busy person. You've got a much better offer.

Yeah. All those pictures I've seen, I'm just like, I'm so happy for you guys. I had strong FOMO. That was lovely. That was great. You know, having children, Rob, you have like friends out there that have children?

Because that sounds like it would be a good time. Yeah. We don't have that. I lucked out for most of my life where from college on, I went to college in LA, so all the film and theater nerds stayed in LA that I met in college. We all moved to Silver Lake, Los Feliz, Atwater, Echo Park, all those places. So we were all like a stone's throw away. And I didn't really experience the whole like needing

to get new friends thing until I moved to New Orleans. But then, cut to Denver, a bunch of those LA friends with kids have moved to Denver. So we've got a, you know, there's a good like four couple slash eight kid group that's just super strong already. That's amazing. That's a good like four couple slash eight kid group. That's just super strong already. That's amazing. That's a lot. That's a lot of people.

As an adult, that's a solid group. Yeah, when we get I mean, it's a 16 person hang when you get all of them together. That's a party. And then, you know, the younger eight ones are hanging out with each other and the older eight ones are hanging out with each other, you know, smoking weed behind the fence. It's great. How did you think? Kate is thinking like, how many plants though? Right.

Well, the one that we were smoking. Who's watering the plants? Yeah, that sounds like a dream. That would be nice to have friends with children. You could like hang out. Hey, moms and dads have a couple cocktails and kids run around playing in the grass. Well, then you get into the awkward situation of like,

are you comfortable enough yelling at your friends' kids? Yeah, that's gotta be true. Cause I think we're all willing to yell at each other's kids, which is the real like, yeah, that's the Rubicon. That's like the- Right, that's what we mean. What was that, remember that short-lived pilot, like the slap, the guy like slapped the other kid,

and then he became homeless. Right. I think it only ran like two episodes. Well- It lived pilot like the slap the guy like slap the other kid Think it only ran like two episodes well Close I consider you guys good friends And I I hope that as we continue to do this will will have physical hangouts And then it won't just be a thing we say we're good friends, but we never really see each other a gen con Yeah, Jen con let's all coming out to San Diego Comic Con? No, I was going to. Someone asked me to and it just didn't work out timing wise.

I also heard you were coming and I didn't want to come. But the reason I'm talking about Good Friends is because it kind of connects to the good friends that the investigators have become over the years and their good friend Jackson Elias who has brought them back together after a four year hiatus. So this is my link between the banter and the show. Now for those of you at home, we haven't recorded in a few weeks. We recorded that last episode and then just people got sick and the timing, we had to move stuff around. It was just a mess.

So I'm like so excited to hang out and play with you guys. Also because I don't think I said this on air I think I said this afterwards like this is the beginning of the actual campaign. Everything else has just been like prologue it's like now the credits roll now we start massive near a little tip and chaos. Now we start Mass of Nierlithotep and Chaos Hymn sent me this sweet box set of like a collector's edition now. They have these new bindings and everything. I wanted to look up and see what's different in it but anyways I think if this hasn't been

released it's going to be released soon so if you're like on the fence, oh I want to get it, I want to read it, buy the new one. I'm going to give this away at some point but it's it's very heavy and also there's this other sweet book that just came out Cults of Cthulhu which I was gonna give away until I started reading it and I'm gonna keep it instead Listen Chaosium. If you wanna throw one of those my way. This was the only copy they had.

But you know, there's some scenarios in the back that'd be fun to run. Anyways, check out Chaosium.com, buy some of their shit. In the meantime, we are really jumping into this for real tonight. And so I don't wanna waste any more time. I wanna jump in so we get some progress done tonight. I've been sending you guys emails

over the past couple of weeks, even though I haven't been recording, just kind of reminding you about development stuff for your investigators. There's a lot of stuff that we hand waved on last week's episode, just because I figured we would do it between sessions. One of those things is that you can train skills

over like three and four month periods. I can't remember, it's three or four months. And since four years have passed, you're able to train like 12 different skills, or one skill 12 times, or two skills six times each. So I let you guys roll that off air, and then some of you become better in certain skills. And then obviously there was some sanity gains

based on different things that you did to get your minds right. But we are now all in New York. And as I mentioned last week over the past few years, even if you haven't even kept in touch with each other, you've always kept in touch with Jackson. If you're not the type of person that is good at keeping in touch like me, it doesn't matter because Jackson is the type of friend that is good at keeping in touch.

You've all developed a friendship and a kinship with him over the years. He sent you letters detailing all his crazy adventures as he globetrotts, hot on the trail of his next story. He actually stayed in Peru after you left to finish writing his book, a book that would come to be called The Hungry Dead. And even though everything that Jackson thought he knew about the world came crashing down around him just as it did all of you. He omitted those parts from the book, focusing more on the historical connections

between the Tiwanaku and the Conquistadors, and he presented the cult of the Karisiri as a purely human evil. Probably thought it would sell more copies if it was believable. But he stayed abroad when you all returned to your homes. And evidently something in that time that he spent with you in Peru spurred him forward toward his next work

that he's told each of you over the years is something quite big. He's onto something huge. So recently you all received a telegram from him and it came from a boat at sea where he said he has information concerning the Carlisle expedition and he needs reliable investigators, like the four of you, to help him.

So he asked you to meet him in New York on January 15th, 1925. That's four years after your adventures in Peru. So you all make your way to the Big Apple for Faeruz and Carter. Easy trip. You're in Massachusetts. Hop on a train, steal a car. You could be there in a few hours. For Margot and Vaughn, takes a little bit longer. But you all make your way there.

And as you do, some of you spend some time looking into the Carlisle expedition. You all had probably heard about it. It was a big thing in the news. But I would say base knowledge was that you knew it was this expedition that perished somewhere in Africa a few years ago. But you spent some time digging into newspaper articles, going on Reuters, and going through

like whatever your local paper archives are to read about it. And this is what you learn. You learn the Carlyle expedition was led by a 24-year- old millionaire playboy with a bit of a reputation named Roger Carlyle who was funding and leading an archaeological expedition to Egypt that departed New York in 1919. The principal members of this expedition were Sir Aubrey Penhew, a noted Egyptologist, Hypatia Masters, a beautiful society girl and photographer, Dr. Robert Houston, a fashionable psychoanalyst, and a man by the name of Jack Brady, who was Carlisle's right-hand man. The expedition members, with the exception of Sir Aubrey Penhew, departed America, sailed to London.

That's where they met up with Penhew, who's like a master of all things concerning ancient Egypt. They spent a few weeks in London, and then they departed for Egypt. Using Cairo as their base, evidently this expedition performed several short desert excavations. An important find was rumored to have been found at some point, but they didn't comment

on what it was to any of the reporters. The principal members then departed for Mombasa, Kenya, and quickly went inland to Nairobi. At the beginning of August, the expedition headed into the wilderness and then vanished. In March 1920, villagers told authorities in Nairobi of a party of whites that were massacred somewhere in the area where the expedition disappeared. On hearing about the missing expedition, Roger Carlyle's sister, Erika Carlisle, traveled to Africa and hired a search party. After weeks of looking, Erika, with help from the local authorities, found the remains of the expedition. Fingers were pointed at some tribesmen, some Nandi tribesmen

in the area. A trial was held and it was heavily implied that perhaps this massacre was racial in motivation. The tribesmen were found guilty and then hanged. The expedition members were all declared dead and the incident was forgotten. Erica Carlisle then returned home to New York. You all arrive in New York to meet up with your buddy Jackson. Last night on the 14th of January, he called each of you and asked you to meet him at the Hotel Chelsea, room 410 at 8 p.m. tonight on the 15th.

He didn't sound like himself on the phone. He sounded anxious, maybe a bit frightened. He didn't sound like the Jackson you've come to know over the past four years. He was cryptic and he hung up before answering any questions or going into any further details. So now imagine the skyline of Manhattan. It doesn't look like it looks today. There's no Chrysler building or Empire State building yet in 1925. Only the Woolworth building is easily recognizable as the tallest building in the city.

Maybe we see an aerial view of Central Park and horse drawn handsome cabs just taking people away from the teeming crowds of the city. The electric signs of Times Square are there in 1925. Cut to, you know, deep into Brooklyn we see the the lights of the Wonder Wheel and the Cyclone roller coaster in Coney Island. Those were there. Maybe we see the Staten Island ferry and it's closed right now because the waters of the East River are still too frozen from storms that have been ravaging the city in early January 1925. It's actually been a really harsh January historically and what's cool about Masks and

a lot of these Cthulhu adventures, it's historical fiction, a lot of the stuff that they, the research that they do is what was actually happening at the time. So there was a huge two-day snowstorm on January 2nd, 1925, and then another one 10 days later on January 12th that left all of New York in a complete standstill. It shut down transportation lines, and things like the Staten Island

Ferry can't even move through the river. So as you're making your way to the Hotel Chelsea there's snow still piled high on the sides of the streets. Let's say there's a light flurry as well outside. It's cold, you're all bundled up, everybody has layers of clothes on and you head to the Hotel Chelsea, 23rd Street, between 7th and 8th Ave. Still there today. You all arrive in the lobby one by one like you did at the Bar Cordano so many years ago. Last week we ended by me jumping right to you walking towards the door, but let's talk

about this meeting in the lobby. Who's the first to arrive? I feel like Carter would have gotten there first because he's pretty pumped. He's like, he didn't expect to ever form the connections I think that at least he felt he formed in Peru as sort of a lone con man. deformed in Peru as sort of a lone con man. Gotta look out for myself, type of thing. But then, you know, you fight some fat vampires and a mummy destroys your buddy's sanity, and then suddenly, you know, find yourself thinking about him years later.

So Carter's trying to play it cool, but is fairly giddy. Is there a bar at this place, Troy? No, it's like a, it's a hotel that has been turned into long-term apartments. You know what, actually, there is a bar. There's a restaurant in the hotel. So there would be a bar. Okay, so Carter's, Carter got a drink to settle the nerves.

He's, you know, once in a while, he's like, just just be cool, Carter. Be cool. So he's all pumped up like a kid on Christmas morning. Exactly. Who rolls in there next then? Margo can roll in, I guess. I don't know if it's like still snowing,

so like maybe she's got like a long coat on and she kind of like bustles in, like kind of disheveled. And yes, he's Carter and goes over to him. Frown, lying, sour. Hello, Carter, how are you? As I live and breathe. You look great.

You too, you look wonderful. Thanks. He pulls out a flask and he's like, I loaded this with a Pisco Sour. For old times sake, you wanna swig? Yes, oh yes. Then he immediately runs out of stuff to talk about. Pisco Sour should have been your nickname

from your time there. That's true. That's an old Pisco Sour. Everyone just calls each other Pisco Sour? Pisco Sour. Everyone just calls each other Pisco Sour. Pisco Sour, chilling ass. So while you are drinking outside liquor at the bar, who else rolls in? I think.

Oh no, please. I think Faeruz rolls in. And you see nothing but like a silhouette hood comes up over her head as she walks naturally towards the bar and having thoroughly trauma bonded with this group of people. sees Margot and kind of like her eyes start to like well up with tears but she holds them back and she just runs over and just hugs her without saying a word. Margot's probably like, because aren't aren't like Germans and like Europeans kind of like not like standoffish with their emotions a bit?

Sure, for this story. and Europeans standoffish with their emotions a bit. Sure, for this story went on. Yeah. All of them. But yeah, she'll be like, oh, hello, so nice to see you. Pass you on the back and maybe is a little stiff. It's good to see you.

And she turns towards Vaughn and she kind of hesitates for a moment and then goes in for a hug. Well, Carter is now over 40. So he's lost five appearance points, which have put him at 15. So, yeah, maybe while you're hugging her, you just see this horrible visage just like,

like coming to her face. Hey, bring it in. And then she comes to his ear, it's so good to see you. Thanks for at least saying it in a way that one person could hear. And then- I think it's a charming little scene.

Oh! And the man is striding in from the entryway, is striding in from the entryway, the cigarette still smoking in his fingers, you see in a very, very dapper coat, probably trimmed with fur, but very tasteful, very understated, like taking off a hat and dusting off snow. Tilling ass, old boy. taking off a hat and dusting off snow. Telling ass-old-boy, as I believe.

What up, player? Yes, let the players play indeed. He walks in and extends a stiff hand to you, because as an Englishman, hugging was out of the question. Oh, Carter goes full bear hug. Come here, you limey. You just see Vaughn's face smashed up against the mask as he goes in.

Yeah, the mask kind of jiggles. Faerys will assist in a group hug, seeing, especially after seeing him uncomfortable. Yes. Just uncomfortable. Yes. Just so. Yes. Come here frown line, get in on this. Oh, okay.

I have a little bit of Pisco Sour, so I'm okay for a hug. Another hug. That's gonna be interesting. You shared this horrible experience in Peru, but it brought you together and you've had this time apart where you needed this to experience in Peru, but it brought you together, and you've had this time apart where you needed this to kind of recover, but it must be the type of thing you think about every day,

the pile of rags rising up, the larvae on your face trying to get in, Larkin's floating head, de Mendoza melting. So as much as you wanna get away from it, you're still all drawn back to each other, drawn toward it. I would say Fay Rouse is very much obsessed with her academics and with this experience.

Yes, I mean Vaughan has sought many countless hours of study and faith seeking and unpacking his mind to a confessor. What is what he has experienced. Margo's definitely been like trying to run from it, but not being able to type of thing. Yeah, Carter definitely thought about it a lot and it's really changed his behavior or has started, there's tiny sparks of the potential of change behavior, which is a big deal for him. But I feel like we wouldn't,

I don't think any one of us would be like, anyway, that mummy, like I think there's a lot of, I think there's a lot of, I think there's a lot of like, you know, there's just kind of like an unspoken thing. Like an elephant in the room of just like, do we talk about it? Do we talk about the puke pit?

Probably not. Yes, I guess not. Rather a bit chillier than the last time I saw you lot. It's snowing. Yes. Yep. Have you been watching any movies? Any movies, anyone? It's a lot. It's snowing. Yes. Have you been watching any movies? Any movies, anyone? Oh, I saw this one where it was just a train

coming straight at the camera and everyone in the theater ran out. They thought it was gonna hit them. I was like, you haven't seen shit. Was it the one where the girl was tied to the tracks? No, it was just a train. It was just a train. I love that one.

It was just a tripod set up and a train and people thought the train was coming and I was like, you don't know existential dread. They do not. I have been watching movies and practicing my American New York accent and I've gotten so good at it that sometimes it bleeds into my normal accent now. I can hear it. Yes, isn't it crazy? I'm so good at it that sometimes it bleeds into my normal accent now. I can hear it. Yes, isn't it crazy?

Yes. I saw a moving picture not too long ago. Leave it. Nos Fratu, a symphony of terror. Yes. Oh, the part where he grabs in the shadow. Yes, couldn't get the image out of my mind as I was making the crossing.

So much of that happens on a ship, don't you know? But it was, you know, it's not terribly frightening. Yes, I didn't find him too scary. We've seen worse, am I right? Visually, it's beautiful, but... What do they have to drink at this establishment? You want Frisco Sour? Did you bring this here?

Yeah, I made it two weeks ago. So it's just been sitting in this. I've been sipping it slowly. And I go up to the watcher and I'm like, my man. Now I'm, of course, familiar with the with the mashes of our highlands and local, local spirits, but I'd like some of your, some of your Kentucky gentlemen's best. Whiskeys, whiskeys for all?

Ooh. Yep. Yes. Pours four bourbons for each of you. Maybe a toast. Yeah. Hey guys, to getting the band back together for whatever reason, I'm sure we'll find out. Clink.

Clink. Clink, clink. Margo like throws the whole thing back, puts the, like kind of slams the thing on the counter, just goes,. So yes. Should we go see the man? Glasses clink. Guys look at each other.

You know, it's time to go up and see your old friend. So now we cut to the four of you walking that long hallway towards room 410. And now the four of you are standing outside of Jackson's door. He doesn't have a home, he just kind of bounces around from hotel to hotel because he's only in New York for a little while before he goes someplace else

on some adventure. So this is a place where some people stay long the hotel because he's only in New York for a little while before he goes someplace else on some adventure. So this is a place where some people stay long and other people are only here for a couple nights like a normal hotel. What do you do? With a deep breath and an intense look at everyone else, I kind of gesture that I'm about to knock and wait for the Everyone's ready Nuts I

Knock on the door come come come come come Knock on the door And there's no response Everybody give me a listen roll. Oh There you go first roll Everybody give me a listen roll. Ooh. First roll of the day. First roll of the day. Maybe get some new listen to scores. I rolled kind of high on that.

What's, oh, you know what? I'm going to use, I rolled a 68 over 65. I'm going to, I'm gonna use some of that luck. Use some of that luck. Oh, we didn't do our luck improvement roll today. Oh, we didn't. So we'll do that right after the listen roll. So you're going to use some luck to get a, just remember the 68 when we roll it later.

All right, so you have a regular success. Anybody else have a regular, hard, or extreme success? Nope. Healed. Okay. I'll get back to you. I forgot to open roll 20. Here we go. or hard or extreme success? Nope. Healed. Okay. I'll get back to you. I forgot to open roll 20.

Here we go. Ah! Got it. You're fired. Yes, it's been too long, guys. This is the problem. I don't understand all the things that are needed. All right, we're doing listens.

Listen, I think you have a decent listen, if I remember correctly. Yeah, let's listen to this dice. You have a 63. Yeah, I got it. I got listen if I remember correctly. Yeah, let's listen to this dice. He was 63. Yeah, I got it. I got a regular success, 55. Okay, two regular successes. All right, now let's get that luck roll out of the way

just so we see if anybody gets any luck here. And again, this was a number you need to fail. No luck. Sick. Definitely failed that. Ooh, got it. Ooh, nerds. Sweet, I got seven points. I got six points.

Great. Bum bum bum bum bum. No answer. You kind of all tune your ears in to listen to if you hear anybody approaching the door, anybody inside, television on. Nothing, no response. All right, check the door knob

to see if it's locked or not. You check and it is locked. Do we have the right time and day? Pull out your pocket watch, 8.01 p.m. One of the, it's still low, but one of the skills that I worked on in the past four years is locksmith skills. Me as well.

Of course you did. Who's got the juicier locksmith? I mean, you can both try it. Probably Rob. I mean, it's not huge. It's like a 43. Oh, you definitely have the higher one. All right.

Carter's like, give me a second, guys. And he just reaches into his jacket pocket. I'm sure we can talk to the concierge. Oh, I see. Hand him a hairpin. Yeah, thanks. This will work. You know what? I'm good.

And he pulls out like a little leather like pouch that he kind of like, or like an envelope and it kind of like unfurls and there's all these tiny little... Oh, the hairpin gets tossed over her shoulder. I missed you guys. All right. Let's see what old Cardiff... It's been a while. Let me just give this here a little jiggle. All right, let's see what old card trick it's been a while.

Let me just give this a little jiggle. He starts playing around down there, so to speak. And I'll sort of turn around and act as lookout. I rolled a 45 over 43. So I'm gonna go ahead and spend those two points of luck. Yeah. Two points of luck to turn that into a success. Yeah.

Knock on the door. No answer. Look at the time. It's 8.01 exactly when you were supposed to meet him. Something doesn't feel right. Let's pick the lock. Yep, immediately. And break in.

So you stick your tools in there, ta-tunk. And you open the door. As you open the door, you realize you're pushing up against something and you see like papers and pillows on the floor that are kind of blocking your way in. It doesn't seem like they were purposely put there but you have to actually push past that to even get into the room and you see that the room is completely in shambles. There are drawers overturned. The mattress towards the back of the room has been stripped and flipped over and you see two other things that jump right out at you throughout all of this disarray in the room.

You see a couple of men climbing out of the window onto the fire escape and they're dressed in like shabby suits and they both have a band around their head that just has this long strip of red flannel dangling down from it and they both have long knives in their hand almost like machetes. The second thing you see laying on the floor in the middle of the room is Jackson Elias. His stomach has been completely torn open and his intestines have been pulled out of his body and Just thrown about the room He also has blood

Gushing from his forehead where it looks like something was cut into his flesh The man at the window see you and just start to take off like it's you and just start to take off. Blaggards! I draw my gun. In it. We are in it. So there is a thing in Call of Cthulhu, there's a whole chapter on it that is called Chases. The Chess. And we are in a Call of Cthulhu chase.

It is a little bit complicated. I think I know it pretty well. So I'm going to walk you through it and we're gonna see what happens here Obviously there's a lot going on your good friend is dead, but the killers potentially are getting away so in a chase First everybody make a constitution role So you want to roll under your constitution for a success if you succeed? So you want to roll under your constitution for a success. If you succeed, there will be no change

to your movement speed. If you fail, you will take a minus one to your movement speed. And if you have an extreme success, which is probably pretty hard to do, you'll get a plus one to your movement speed. And movement speeds will determine basically how many actions you get in this chase

and where you start the chase, how fast you can advance on these people fleeing. So let me start with you Margo. Margo, what did you roll for your con? 67, over 55. She had too many swigs from Carter's Flask, was not ready for this. Okay, so that's a fail. So Margo, you normally have a movement of eight,

which will now be kicked down to a movement of seven. Carter, what did you roll? Yeah, I failed too. I got an 89 over 65. Actually two. My movement is seven now because I am older. So it's actually six. Oh no.

Yeah, me too. Brutal. Oh God, so same with you, Carter. Carter, yours was a seven. It was a seven, yeah, so now I'm to six. Okay. Great, Vaughn. So frustrating, I rolled a 49 over 45 on my con.

Ugh, it's brutal. Can you spend luck on that? Can I spend luck on that? Sure, I don't see why not. In that case, yeah, I'll spend. Yeah, four points to try to get these. Absolutely, I'll spend four points to try to get the jump on these dudes.

Okay, and your speed is normally an eight. A regular success means it will stay at an eight. Failure would have brought it down to a seven, you'd have an extreme success to have brought it up to a nine. What about you, Feyreuse? I rolled a 17 under 80, so I'm gonna spend six luck points to make that an extreme success.

Sheebus, Fairooz! Fairooz right back at it. Our superhero. Yep. You desperately needed somebody to succeed here to even have a chance to try and catch them. I just lost my sweet dry erase marker. All right, so your movement will go from an eight to a nine.

This is such a fucking cool system and it's meant to mimic those classic Lovecraftian stories. I think it's the Innsmith, something in Innsmith. Shout out to Innsmith as a very famous car chase scene. One of the examples they use in the book is like a boat trying to get away from Cthulhu and like the rules make total sense. So even though there's gonna be some technical stuff in here,

be sure to kind of describe how this is all working out. But basically now there are locations. Location is like the foyer to the bedroom to the fire escape to the alley below to the street. And everyone is gonna be in different locations based on a couple of different things. There will also be hazards or barriers between locations. And you're gonna have so many actions each turn

based on your movement speed to be able to do stuff. Stuff can be moving from one location to the next. Stuff can be trying to navigate a hazard. Stuff can be attacking one of these people. If you're in the same square location as one of the enemies, you can attack them with a melee weapon. If you want to use a ranged weapon, as long as you can see them, you can attack them.

But that takes up one of your actions. So, let me go back to my cheat sheet here. Wow, some of you are very, very slow. Margo and Carter are way behind. All right, so this is what's gonna happen here. I'm gonna say that one of these gentlemen is in the fire escape. They're out the window on the fire escape. Fae'ruz is going to be up front in the foyer,

two locations behind. So you always start, you generally start with the fleer being two locations. The slow the Fleer being two locations. The slowest Fleer being two locations ahead of the fastest Pursuer. So in this case it's Feroz and the Foyer. That's going to put Vaughn at the door. And then Margo and Carter are still gonna be in the hallway. So you guys are gonna have to move pretty quickly.

All right, now I've got a couple other people I've gotta move around here. If they're there, then this guy is gonna be here, and this one's out of it. Okay. Just have to bear with me. But basically, we have one of these men is the fire escape. The other one saw you and jumped down to the alley below.

And that's all you see right now. All right, great. So we've placed everybody. Now we move on to the slowest person. The slowest move gets one action. Everybody else gets one plus the difference in move to the slowest person. For example, Vaughn and, excuse me, one action. Everybody else gets one plus the difference in move to the slowest person. For example, Vaan and Carter and Margo with a six, you're only going to get one action

each. Vaan, you have an eight, you'll get two actions. Just keep that in your mind, two actions. Faeru's with a nine, you're gonna get three actions. And then, my guys have some actions as well. Would I say you had Vaughn two? That's right. Okay. So everybody has different actions based on their relative movement speed.

And now we go round by round in deck's order. So I'm just gonna walk you through this. Fae'ruz, you said your gun was pulled out. So that's going to move you up. And you will go first, Fae. Fabrious you have three actions so right now you're in the foyer you can move to the bedroom that's one action but then you've got to navigate your way out the window to the fire escape. Also where there is a person on the fire escape that you can see you can spend an action to just fire at them. I definitely want to close in on the distance, so I'm assuming it'll take two actions to do that?

Yeah, so it'll take one action to move in the bedroom, and then you need to navigate the window. So basically, this is a hazard. You need to use a climb roll, and whether you succeed or fail, you're gonna make it onto the fire escape. If you fail, I just have to decide if you're gonna take damage from that.

But either way, you will lose one D3 movements, actions, or one D3 actions if you do fail it. If you succeed on your climb, you get out there and you'll still have one action left to attack. Let me see what my climb is here. But I mean, I have to do it. I'm one track behind. I'm trying to close in the distance. Now-

And you have luck too, so. Now, can I potentially use a navigate roll instead of the climb roll if I'm navigating my way? Oh boy. That's gross. What is your climb? My climb is a 20. What's your jump? My climb is a 20. What's your jump? My navigate is slightly higher

Let me see what my jump is Good question. That's what you can do is like bargain with me I'm gonna jump now if you jump if you fail a jump I might say you take some damage or if you fail a climb you just kind of stumble. There's been many nights where I have to navigate They're the same. So you know what? Listen, we're in what, episode nine? We're gonna do high risk here. High risk, right?

High risk, high reward. Go for it. We're gonna go for it. So yeah, I'm gonna try to close the distance, and as soon as I see him, I'm gonna try to fire if I've got that one action left. Okay, yeah. Now here's the thing, is worst case scenario,

you're just gonna make it onto the fire escape and lose a certain amount of actions and end your turn, but at least you'll be right next to one of these guys. Yeah. All right, so what am I rolling right now? Roll a climb. Roll a climb. Do it.

Nope. Okay. I failed. All right, so you use one action to move from the foyer into the main bedroom area. You use a second action to move onto the fire escape. You fail that. You won't take any damage,

but you will lose one D3 move actions. Roll a D3 or a D6 and divide it by two. And if you lose multiple move actions, it carries over to next round. I rolled a two, so that's a one. Okay, great. All right, so you lose your final action, but you'll have your full complement of actions next round.

Here's one thing to keep in mind. When there's hazards, I should have mentioned this before, I don't think it would have changed what you were gonna do. You can give up a certain amount of movement actions to take a bonus die. So you could, if you had three movement actions left, use all three of those and get three bonus dies

trying to make a skill. So I should have if you had three movement actions left, use all three of those and get three bonus dice trying to make a skill. So I should have told you that beforehand. It's up to you if you want to lose an action next turn should you not succeed. It's up to you if you wanted to burn that extra action. You know what I mean? Yeah, we'll do it next turn because we've already done this. Let's keep moving.

Okay. All my dry erase markers aren't working. There we go. Faeruz is on the fire scape. You see this guy, like I said, pretty shitty looking suit and has this like headband, but like a homemade headband with this long red flannel strap hanging down. Got a great image I can actually show you guys.

It's just Rambo. It's just Rambo. It's John Rambo? I'm going to kill you. Say true first blood. Let's see if I can find, there's a great image from the book of what's actually happening right here. These skills, I was ruling my extra skills today, great image from the book of what's actually happening right here. These skills, I was rolling my extra skills today and I was like looking at climb and jump and being like,

I'm not gonna choose these to boost. I'm not gonna climb and jump. Literally the first thing we're doing. I'm the same. Right, I'm never gonna use climb and jump. Now you know, I can't find it, but anyways, this is a very cool picture. I think they'll see it on the stream,

but you guys won't see it. But anyways, moving in Dex order is now Margo's turn. Margo's got that amazing 80 decks, but you only have one action. Where you're standing in the hallway, you basically can move into the apartment, or you can try and fire from there, but it's just such a long shot

and now Faeruz is out there, wouldn't make a lot of sense. Yeah, and for realism, I guess, I don't think she would have had her gun drawn, especially being in the back of the party. So I feel like that would be some time. So yeah, she's just gonna move into the room. All right, so Margo is going to move into the foyer. I'm just gonna say you're right near Vaughn here.

Because even though you're two behind, it's just ridiculous. I wanna make sure you guys are involved. So Margo is in there as well as Vaughn. And now, Faeruz, you see down below, there is another one of these men. You saw two of them on the fire escape.

One of them is down in the alley below, and he's trying to like navigate these snow drifts that are down there. There's probably, there's like a, the hotel kitchen, the back door to the kitchen is down in this alleyway, and so there's trash all piled up that's been covered in snow, so he's attempting to navigate these snow piles.

So I am going to spend a couple move actions here to get some bonus die to see if I make this. And he does. So he navigates the snow pile and gets out onto the sidewalk. So you just see this guy down below just running around the snow and he gets under the sidewalk.

And if you look far enough ahead, it looks like there's another one of these guys that has run around the corner. So there are three of these guys with these weird headbands. Two of them have practically got away, but there's one still right next to you. Unfortunately, two of your friends are very, very slow.

So the guy next to you, it's his turn. He's got a crazed look in his eyes, and he is going to swing at you with his machete. Okay. With one of his two actions. Let me see which one this is. Okay. All right.

So it's going to be a brawl. What would you like to do? Do you want to dodge? Do you want to fight back? Do some weird maneuver? I mean, I can either dodge, I could brawl back or can I shoot him? Yeah, you can't quite, I don't think you can fight back with a ranged weapon if I'm remembering correctly.

But you can do maneuver in fighting back. If you have like a specific goal in mind, you can describe what that goal is You can do maneuver as a, in fighting back. If you have like a specific goal in mind, you can describe what that goal is and you would resolve it as a fighting maneuver. I'm gonna use, okay, so I'm gonna use my brawl skill and using the butt of my gun, as soon as he comes at me with a machete, I'm gonna try to like deflect it away from me.

Okay, great, all right, so you're gonna try and maybe even knock it out of his hands. Let's take it a step further to succeed on this. You can use the power of your gun to kind of knock this weapon out of his hands. All right, so you roll your brawl and I will roll mine and let's see what happens. I got a regular success. I rolled a 10. Yes. A 10. And what is your build by the way. I rolled a 10. A 10.

And what is your build by the way? I should have asked. My 10 under 34. So that's a hard success. That is a hard success. What is my, I'm sorry, what was the question? What is your build? My build.

Well you're trying to do a maneuver that would come into play. Build is at the top of this thing. It's in the combat tab. In the combat come into play. Build is at the top of this thing. It's in the combat tab. In the combat, thank you. Build is one. Build is one already. It's build is one as well, so there'll be no bonuses.

But anyways, you succeeded on that. So since your goal was to knock away the machete, you succeed that, boom, the machete falls down and it just like clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, hits the ground through the fire escape. so he doesn't do any damage to you and instead he tries to navigate this ladder to get away from you with his second action. Let me see what he needs to roll. what he needs to roll.

Yeah, Fire Escape, narrow, rickety, covered with ice. It's been loosened from its fixtures a little bit. You can feel it shaking from the weight of these guys jumping down, it's shaking badly as you two are fighting up there. So he's going to attempt to do a climb roll to get down the ladder. And what level are we on? You are on the fourth floor.

Fourth floor, okay. Alright, so he's going to attempt a climb roll here. He's got a pretty good climb. And he succeeded. So he climbs down and he is now in the alleyway, one location away from you. Move him over there. You feel the fire escape jostle and bounce as he jumps off the ladder below.

And that is the end of his turn. And now it's Vaughn's turn. Vaughn, you're in the foyer. You're two locations away from where Fae'ru is away from where Feyruz is on the fire escape, and three locations away from where this other guy is in the alley. And you have two actions. I mean, I want to close as much distance as I can. Would I spend both of those just to draw a level with Feyruz out there?

Yes. The only thing you have to do is navigate the window. Yes. And that will affect how many actions you have left next round should you fail it. So what do you want to do? Climb through the window? You want to be a little more daring and jump?

Is there a way to jump? Hmm. I mean, part of me wants to like cut him off by just like jumping into a snow drift out the window. Going all the way out. Oh, jumping straight through? If that's what you want to do, I will certainly allow it. The risk of failure will cost you. Yeah, understood.

I mean, it sounds insane, right? It sounds totally unhinged. Yes. So let us not forget that even after all this healing and self-reflection, I still only have 36 sanity. All right, so you're gonna have one action move into the bedroom. Your second action is to try and jump

straight out the window and like acrobat your way past the fire escape. A failure on this could hurt, especially where you're on the fourth floor. That's right. But there's snow and stuff out there. There is snow. To break the fall, right?

You see, I'm a chug downstairs. My jump skill's terrible. Dump a pot of boiling water right where you would land and it melts to snuff. And you're kind of a newly- you're a Catholic now, right? Yes, quite. Yeah, that's, uh, Catholics always win. That's what they say.

That's proverbial. That's right. They feel terrible about it. It's great. Look it up. Alright, so give me a jump roll. This is insane. Okay, sure, fine. Here we go. Um, I think I think what this is is Vaughn sees this scene of horrible gore, like the intestines spilled all over the floor and is like frozen. They're like, blackets as people are coming through and then it's like, and see here's

here's them like going down the fire escape. It's like, um, oh, oh no, over the top! And just like, run, run, run, run, leap! And oh man, is that a failure. Oh no! Oh, fuck! Okay, all right, so. My odds were terrible.

What's your jump score? 20. Oh, jeez. He swept up in the moment! All right, so that's bad news, Bears. We knew it was going to be high risk, high reward. Go ahead and roll 2d6 damage for this fall. This is where I get taken out in the first day.

Or do I? I rolled 2d6, and I rolled a total of three. A total of three and what are your total hit points? Nine. Nine, okay great. That's still quite bad. It's a pretty bad fall. A third of yourself. A third of yourself. I mean that would make sense. You basically, it's not like you jump out and just aah, splat from four stories you would die. It's more like like Plinko from the prices, right? You're like don't don't don't don't don't don't don't don't don't and you're like

Hanging as you fall and then you hit the ground pretty hard I'm imagining this almost like one of those Jackie Chan maneuvers, but done totally clumsily where he leaps and like grabs like a fire escape Ladder, but it like breaks loose of its moorings and like slides down And he like whoa falls off that and and but it but it like breaks loose of its moorings and like slides down, shoosh, and he lies down. And he like, whoa, falls off that. And, but it decreases his momentum enough to where when he hits the snow and garbage pile of old like cans and Chesterfield cigarette boxes,

he's not totally pulverized. It's one of the Jackie Chan outtakes that we see during the credits. Exactly. Which is where it went wrong. This is very much like credits of Supercop. Exactly. It's one of the Jackie Chan outtakes that we see during the credits exactly This is very much like credits of supercop It's funny I've gone I went on and on before we started this about how I'm not gonna run a pulp campaign And it's just it's a pulp campaign as you come flying out there hero But now you're you're both in the alleyway and

You see that the main road is about 20 feet away from the base of the stepladder that you just careened down. Snow everywhere that you're going to have to navigate, but he's down there as well. So you guys are in the same location. Now give me a D3 roll because you failed that to see how many actions you're going to lose next round. Two. Two, okay. All right, so you're gonna be,

basically you're gonna lose your next round. And it makes sense, you've made this big daring thing, you fell, you're like on your back, ah, what the fuck did I just do? Feyruz, you're just watching this happen. Ah! Imagine it if it had gone well, right? Can you just imagine?

Well, that's why we take those risks. And we just see you jump, and that's it. You're gone. See ya! Just ran right out. Amazing. All right, so now I believe we wrap it up with Carter. Carter, you're in the same predicament as Margo.

I'm basically giving you a freebie to just get in there if that's what you'd like to do. Well, yeah, I think Carter sees Vaughn just haul ass and jump through the window and then just hears this horrifying rattling of iron as he finally clumps to the ground. So Carter was gonna run in and then he stops and he looks for a second and then he turns around

and I wanna run to the elevator and go down. Oh, okay, great. I didn't even think about that. Okay, wonderful. All right, so Marco goes into the room, you turn around, I'm gonna say the elevator is one location away. You hit it and you're in the elevator. Okay, so I'm driving.

So I'm gonna go down to the ground. It's like a jam on down button. Yeah, maybe then there was actually probably an elevator operator, so I'm like, down, the ground button. Yeah, maybe then there was a there was actually probably an elevator operator So I'm like down down down down down down down. Oh, that's very cool. Okay All right, where's the fire bud? Yeah My buds in the intestines another guy jumped out of the window. Let's go down This guy's daffy let's go down And now we'll do round two right after this word from our lovely sponsors this week

Nice do you remember last year when I did a couple streams where I constructed custom miniatures of our like iconic network? Characters from years past over on hero Forge. Well, I am pumped to say that hero Forge just sponsored the GCP That's right. They're in the house, baby! They're Naish members themselves! And they're running an awesome spring sale this year for one week only from Monday, May 19th to Monday, May 26th. Go over to HeroForge.com and you can get 10% off physical miniatures, even color printed ones, and up to 25% off STL files and digital miniatures. We used Hero Forge across the board for all of our iconic characters at last year's gauntlets at Gen Con and this year will be no exception. Guys, it is spring, things start to bloom again, and GMs start getting ideas for new

summer campaigns. I'm one of them, admittedly. Get your new character ready for summer by taking advantage of this one week only deal. GMs, this sale can also be used on Heroforge's incredible double-sized color printed miniatures. If you've seen these, they are highly detailed, super durable, and perfect for that big bad showdown that you've been looking forward to. Plant the seeds of your next great adventure with the Hero Forge Spring Sale. Get up to 10% off physical miniatures and up to 25% off digital miniatures from now through May 26th only.

Don't hesitate, head to heroforge.com to let adventure bloom. Spring is here and you can now get almost anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? You can't get a well-groomed lawn delivered, but you can get chicken Parmesan delivered sunshine. No some wine Yes, get almost almost anything delivered with uber eats order now alcohol in select markets. Yeah for details

Did you know there is an online cannabis company that ships federally legal? THC right to your door and they found a way to combine THC with carefully selected functional ingredients to target nearly every mood and health concern you can think of. I'm talking about Mood.com's incredible line of functional gummies. And you can get 20% off your first order at Mood.com with promo code CANON. Forget one size fits all supplements that only get you high. Mood's functional gummies are optimized to kick in in as little as 15 minutes

and take you to the mood you're looking for. Whether that's Mind Magic Gummies for deep work and creativity, PMS support to ease cramps and balance mood swings, or there's Sexual Euphoria Gummies to help you feel ready for action and turn every touch into a full-body experience. Listen, you can find gummies to just get you high pretty much anywhere these days, but Mood's functional gummies combine premium, federally legal THC with targeted botanicals to help you get into the perfect mood, usually in as little as 15 minutes.

And everything ships discreetly right to your door. No dispensary lines, no awkward conversations, just better days and nights delivered to your doorstep. I've talked about my trouble dispensaries. I have a very hard time communicating with those guys. I just got some, I got the gummies and I also got the Sleepytime THC Tincture. Use it mostly at bedtime. And being honest, it's some of the best sleep I've ever gotten. It's amazing.

But best of all, not only is every Mood product backed by a 100-day satisfaction guarantee, but as I mentioned, listeners get 20% off their first order with code CANNON, C-A-N-N-O-N. So head to Mood.com, find the functional gummy that matches exactly what you're looking for, and let Mood help you discover your perfect mood. And don't forget to use promo code CANNON, C-A-N-N-O-N when you check out to save 20% on your first order. That was the fastest hour in Time for Chaos history. I can't believe how fast that went by. We were talking in the little break we took about...

I looked at the combat damage flowchart on page 122 of the Keeper Handbook, and I thought about this as you were doing it but I wasn't a hundred percent sure but if your damage is less than half your maximum you take regular damage is what you did more than half your maximum is a major wound you fall prone and you got a roll a con roll and if you fail that you go unconscious more than your maximum hit points which could have happened on 2D6, outright death. Game over for that character. So you could have died. And as Rob so eloquently

put, he's like, well, yeah, when you jump out of a fourth story window and it doesn't work out. The math adds up. The math adds up. It does add up. In my defense, I think Vaughn has been living a very costated life over the intervening years. And the yearning for action of pushing down these accumulated stresses and traumas with thrills and unto the brink of death has been building up for a while.

Yeah, I mean, and it certainly played out there and the consequences could have been pretty awful. We would have had two deaths on our hands. Well, there's more chances to die. Let's go. Yeah, that's true. We're only in round two. It's just, it's crazy the way this worked out,

but this afternoon I pre-rolled these guys' con saves, and two of them got extreme successes. So the fact that Margo and Carter aged and their movement speed went down, and they both failed, it makes it almost impossible for them to catch up with them, but then I didn't think about using the elevator or that one of you would just jump out the window. So let's see what happens. There's still one of you would just jump out the window. So let's see what happens. There's still one of these guys here. It's on you, Feroz. Feroz, you had three actions available but how many did you lose? Just one going

into this round? Just one, yeah. Just one. Alright, so you have two actions available to you? Mm-hmm. Great. What would you like to do? are on the fire escape the the ladder is there if you'd like to climb down Or you could jump You absolutely can that guy is down in the alleyway you see Vaughn is like laying on his back like It looks like he's breathing which is good at least for right now But that guy is in the alleyway with Vaughn, and you've got a clear shot on him. All right, yeah, I'm gonna shoot first and then move later.

Okay, great. What do you wanna do? You've got, do you wanna do a full John Adam, boom, boom, boom, or just one shot? Let's do, no, let's fire it all off. Unload that clip! Unload it! Listen, I'm going full balls to the walls,

and if I die, I roll up a new character, but I'm living on the edge. Let's do this. This whole group has spent four years being stretched out like a slingshot. Exactly. Now firing off. This is a time for calm, a stop a cast!

All right, three shots. Oh, he got it. Each come with a penalty die, where you're unloading the clip. We're not unloading the clip, you have six shots. Yeah, there's six shots. I know, I keep fucking that up. So you could do this twice,

but you're still gonna take a penalty die on each shot here. Hey, all it takes is one or two to hit. All right, let's do this. Something to keep in mind, because I've been paying attention to people who write YouTube comments and on the subreddit mainly for like rules corrections Rob you got an extreme success on an attack role in Peru Extreme success on an attack role is like max damage

Depending on if you're using a blunt weapon or a blade or a gun So if you're ever really close to an extreme success, spend that luck. It can do crazy damage. So you're saying I can take that and apply that to one of these rolls now? The hand is off the proverbial chest piece, but I think we all learned something. Okay, alright, I took my hand off. That's fine. Four years past. Whatever.

Hello. But hopefully that knowledge can help one of you. Feru, let's take your shots. Alright, so I'm rolling my firearms. Firearms, yep. Penalty die for each. What's the penalty die, remind me again? The roll the double digit one twice,

but you keep the single digit one. So you could roll a 71 and a 31, but you always, yeah, you roll that one twice. Or roll two of these if you have some extra D hundreds, which a professional like yourself probably does I rolled okay, so taking that that into consideration 41 under 67 Okay, and what was the other one?

Higher I don't remember. Okay. Alright, so that's a fail on the first shot. You need to... You take the lower of the two on a penalty. Yeah. Die. That was the lower one.

That was the... But I mean the worst one you take on a penalty die. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. No, I'm saying that was the worst one. Both rolls were under. Both rolls were under. no, I'm saying that was the worst one. Both rolls were under. Both rolls were under. Okay, that was the winner though. I copy, all right, so that's a hit.

I communicated that like super poorly. That's okay. The number you want is 41. Right, okay, great. So that is a hit, give me damage. Okey dokey, so that is a hit. Give me damage. Okie dokie. So that is a 1d6. 1d6.

Okay. Oh man, you need an extreme or a nice three hit pop. Oh, that sounds like a what? Or over one. Yep. Okay. On that first one.

That's all right. Hey, the first one hit. Okay. Second one. Boom, boom, boom. Okay, second one. Same thing penalty. Okay, second one. Same thing, penalty. Yeah, penalty die.

That's the drawback of unloading the clip, but it's worth it. I didn't make that second one. I got the third one. Third one, yep. I feel like this would be a good one. Yeah, 37. 37, okay, great. Give me another D6 for the damage.

Six, yeah. Six, there you. Give me another D6 for the damage. Six! Yeah! There you go, making up for lost time. I saw boom boom echoes throughout the alleyway. Snow drifts just flying from the bullet that missed. And you still have one action left if you'd like to try and navigate this ladder. Now, here's the thing, if you fail the climb, there could be some damage here

in addition to losing the movement action. So you might wanna wait till next round, spend two actions to get the bonus die on the climb. It's up to you, or you can do something else. How bad does he look? He looks pretty beat up. You see just blood starting to stain the snow beneath him, but he's not down. My climb is so bad, I'm going to wait and get the advantage on that for next turn.

Yep, at least you've got him in your sights here. All right, now it's going to move to Margo. Margo, unfortunately, you're still in the foyer. You turn around, and you see Carter has run to the elevator. I knew he was going to. She turns herself off. I knew I could do that, but I'm already in the room.

And then can't pull him up. And oh, god. So I mean, like, so no one is on the fire escape anymore except for us. Like the baddies are down. Right, just Feyreuse. Vaughn's laying on his back in the alleyway next to this guy who was just hit by two bullets and Feyreuse is standing there with a hot gun. You could move into the bedroom.

Feyreuse is so effective and powerful. I just imagine her after this like taking to whatever camera is nearby and just like, I'm surrounded by idiots. I can't. No, because everybody has their own specific, I suck at so many other things. But I appreciate you. Okay, we appreciate you.

Yeah, I mean, you can get in the bedroom, you have a clean shot on Faeruz. Oh, oh, okay. She'll turn from Fra Lainzauer. If you use your one action to get into the bedroom, you could ostensibly peek your head out the window and start taking shots down. Next round, there might be a penalty or something, but like you could get in the action next round.

This is kind of the drawback of being further away. And getting down the fire escape is one action? Getting down, yeah, whether you fail or not, it's only one action. All right. A locked door would represent a barrier, in which case, like if you fail, you don't get through. But things like getting out the window, climbing down the ladder and navigating the snow drift, those are just hazards,

which if you fail, you just lose actions. You might get hurt. All right. I'm going to run up to the window and then decide how I'm going to climb down with my great climb score on my next turn. What is your climb score?

What is your great climb score? It's 20. And I'm going to, so like, if I don't climb my one turn and save it for my next turn Can I double up on that one and get the bonus size since I only have one move action around actions? You know, it's funny actions don't carry over but you can get penalized into the next round for that's not fair at all It really is it? You know, there's an optional rule for ranged attacks that I wasn't gonna to invoke, but we can talk about it next round, where basically you can take an attack

without using an action and just take a penalty die for it. But if you were, for example, Faeru is taking a penalty die, she would take two penalty dies on each attack. It gets a little wonky. We'll talk about it next round. All right, so it moves on to these headband dudes. Faerûz you see this as well as Vaan laying on your back.

You're trying to adjust to everything. You look down. Like head of John the Baptist. You see six of them. The first guy just rounds the corner out past the sidewalk and he's now gone and it is the guy next to you Vaughn he sees that you are really not a threat so he's going to just try to get away oh we have you surrounded. Hammer. This snow drift is going to be, basically, I

can either use strength to try and push through these boxes, or try the snow-covered boxes, or try to use jump to jump over these. The first guy jumped. This guy is going to use strength to kind of power his way through. So I'm gonna roll a strength roll and, yeah, I'm just gonna do a strength roll.

Crack die. Made it. So he gets past, he gets through the alley onto the sidewalk and there are people all over the sidewalk so he is going to attempt to like yell at them to get out of the way and try and intimidate them and he succeeds with a nine under 25 so he uses two actions and he gets to the road as well. Von, you just see him kind of zip around the corner.

The dice were in my favor here and not you guys. Let's see if there's anything left that you can do. It now goes to Von's turn. Von has no actions left this round because of the failed jump. So just describe to me what happens there as you're laying staring up at the fire escape. Right, I'm just like, creatively swearing. Shut this down there. Yeah. Oh, by the roasting grill of St. Lawrence!

I'm like, holding onto my feet. And as he's maybe like disappearing towards the street, he's like, we have you surrounded, oh boy. No, okay. And it's like trying to get to his feet, I guess, if that, if he can even do that. And looking up at the window that he just like, foolhardily left from. Yep, you're able to kind of struggle to your feet

and you're trying to get your bearings. You hear gunshots from above and you just saw this guy next to you that could have just used his actions to probably easily kill you. But instead he just darted past, pushed his way through a snow drift, and then yelled at people on the sidewalk

to get out of the way, and has now turned the corner, and is gone. It now goes to Carter. Carter, it is your turn. Well, you tell me where this elevator is, because it could be a whole turn of me just passing small talk with the elevator operator about this unseasonably cold January we've been having. Are you here visiting, sir? Half-faced, sir? You know, there's a lot of snow for 1925.

Yes, we had snow back then. The elevator takes you to the lobby. I'm gonna say you didn't have to use a move action from that, you could go lobby to outside from one location to the next. Yeah, he wants to just tear ass out the front door. All right, you zip outside. Give me a spot hidden. All right.

This is of course not Carter's forte, spotting hidden things. I always ask you guys to roll the things you're not good at. Nope, real bad. Didn't get that. Troy, you never. It was over by like 60 points.

Over by, so yeah, you don't want to burn 60 luck. Especially since I don't have it. Okay, well, you don't want to burn 60 luck. Yeah, that's not, especially since I don't have it. Okay, well, let me see here. What is going to happen? Basically, I'm gonna withhold some information from you. You look and you see a car, and there are people all over the place. You're kind of, you're looking and you hone in on this car

because there's like a commotion where you see people like screaming to get out of there. They're moving to the side and a guy runs and jumps into a car and you see his long headband and he gets into a car with what looks like two other guys and the car takes off down the street Do I get the license plate if you would hit the spot I would have given you the license plate you said New York the son of a bitch

No, it's N2. There's only four numbers because there's so few cars. It's just so covered in snow one two three Oh, I don't know! I was looking for the license plate because I have the license plate had you hit the spot in the middle of the first two. But yeah, I mean, there's so many different ways that could have went and I just rolled so well and you guys rolled so poorly.

But that's okay. Boo. That's okay. You're not a good friend. These guys, sorry. I forget, you're a terrible friend. Boo. That's okay. You're not a good friend. These guys, sorry. I forgot. You're a terrible friend. Yeah. I know.

Pulls off into the night, swerving down the icy road. Cardi are just standing there. We could cut to Fae Rue's now at the top of the next round. Fae Rue's, as far as you know, this guy has just run around the corner. Do you try to pursue or are you just like, ah, fuck. Oh, there's one guy that hasn't come into the car? No, the guy that was right next to Vaughn that you hit twice. He ran around the corner.

On the run? Are you gonna, but I'm saying, are you gonna climb down? Take your time to climb down. You know what? F it, let's do this. All right, give me a climb check. This is gonna be so oh, but I used I get advantage on it Because I waited I you've got you have got three actions this round You could ostensibly use all three actions get two bonus die if you want it or you can just use two actions Yeah, it's up to you. I'm gonna need the advantage on this

because my climb, not so good. Or you could just jump off using the body of Vaughn to break your fall. That's true. He's got a couple of hit points left. First thing, my jump, also not great. All right, just for shits and giggles, give me this roll and you roll the tens die three times

and take the best one. All right. Three times. No. So bad. I rolled a two. Nice. That'll do.

Extreme success. You slide down there like Dan Aykroyd in Ghostbusters. Yes. And Vaughn was just getting up and you land with your ass on him and he falls down. You slide down there like Dan Aykroyd in Ghostbusters. Yes! And Vaughn was just getting up and you land with your ass on him. And he falls down. But as you get down, you look down the end of the alleyway and you just see a car peel out

and you realize they're in the wind. But that's, do I have one more action? You do have one more action. Can I run towards where that other guy was running? Yep, you can run out to the sidewalk. We'll say that that guy by using strength to push back these boxes has cleared a pathway so there's no more hazard there. With your final action you can move from the alley to the sidewalk.

The sidewalk is full of people that just dispersed when that dude yelled, get out of the way. But now they're starting to come back together. So you just come out to the sea of people and see the car peeling off down the way. And then you look over to the left and you see Carter standing at the entrance to the hotel. Can I, can I, I don't have any more action. Can I do like a spot hidden to see like,

if I notice anything about the car or notice anything specific about people that we didn't notice. Yeah, give me a spot hidden. Okay. I rolled a 62. I know my spot hidden is high. Under 80. So this is a under 80.

So this is a regular success. A regular success. Okay. All right. Pretty good. Pretty sneaky, sis. Let's see here. I don't think that's gonna be good enough

to know the license plate, but I'm gonna say that once I find it, it looked like a black Hudson touring roadster. I know that model. You know your cars. Those are still around. 1915 Hudson touring roadster. Very, very popular car at the time. License plate was like NYL and there was a number,

but you didn't catch it. Okay. But you see your buddy Carter there. I'll take what I can get. Jackson's killers are gone. And poor Margot is left in the bedroom. And you just look down. Raspberries. Raspberries.

Raspberries all over Jackson State. Raspberries and like she lit a cigarette while she watched all of that and just like smoking it, looking out the window. I go over Vaughn's like laying down, take the cigarette out of his mouth. It's all crumpled. It's like molded.

Broken 90 degree angle. As these cultists, as these men get away. I'm sorry, what, Troy? Cultie headbands, they're pretty clearly some sort of weird society. As they speed off, the full brunt of this experience starts to weigh on all of you. Give me a sanity check.

Oh, damn it. Oh, man. There wasn't even a floating head. I had this. Floating head. There wasn't even a floating head. I had this. Floating head. Spread around the room. There's my cheat sheet here. Yeah, that's cool. For the chase.

I don't know if you guys can see it, but there's the foyer, the bedroom, the fire escape, the alleyway, the sidewalk, and the road, and different little hazards along the way. But it's a pretty cool system. It's specifically shaped whiteboard that is. Yeah, well, my wife got this for me. It like sits in front of your desk

and so you can make little notes. It's great for gaming. Definitely spend some time with the chase rules because I think it's something that's gonna come up often through the game. A lot of times it helps break up the, I don't wanna say the monotony, but it breaks up the action a little bit

to try something different There's a lot of little moments when you're just running after things or running away from things did anybody fail their Sam maybe Maybe yeah, we can't use luck on these right right yeah I have a 92 sanity I rolled a 99 oh Oh no, that's extra bad isn't it to sanity, I rolled a 99. Oh. Oh. Oh no. Yeah, I think that's extra bad, isn't it? That's super bad.

You know what? I think it's only a hundred, if your sanity is that high, is a fumble. Michael in the chat, let me know if it's 99 as well. I think it's only a hundred. If it was a fumble, it would be max sanity loss. But I think 99 where your sanity is so, I think it would have to be under 50

for a fumble to be a 96 to 100. Otherwise it's just a 100, not 100 for sure. So I think you're okay. Yeah, you're like a Buddhist monk at this point anyway. You have so much sanity. Who else failed? Me. Okay, Vaughn.

Sitting pretty. Sitting pretty, you've seen first. Just broken on the side. I have other fish to fry. Faeruz? Oh, I passed. Okay, so Faeruz and Vaughn take zero. Margo and Carter, give me a D4.

You're gonna lose one D4 sanity points. I don't know if I've done this so far, but I should be having you guys roll your sanity loss. Lose two sanity. Oh, max sanity for poor Carter. I don't know if I've done this so far, but I should be having you guys roll your sanity loss. Yeah, four. Lose two sanity. Oh, max sanity for poor Carter. You know, I'm excited about this.

Carter was, I mean, I think we'll see when we, I'm assuming he's gonna wanna go back up to the apartment, but you know, Jackson had told him, if when they saw each other, he'd read the manuscript of Carter's book that Carter had been working on. The one he kept pitching to Jackson all those years ago, Carter said he was gonna do it himself.

And they had a good pen pal thing going on. Very supportive, Jackson. He's giving you notes on your writing. Yeah. What's the plan here? Margo's in the room alone. Vaughn is shaking off this pain. Carter, you see Feyreuse and you're standing there

and you realize that there's nothing you can do. Do you want to go back upstairs? Yeah, I think Carter yells and is like, What's going on with Vaughn? Because he can't see, right? It's around the corner. Vaughn? Vaughn, are you all right? Right as rain. Smacks him around. Right as rain, Miss Gibran. Forgive me, ever so foolish.

She reaches into his pocket, takes out a cigarette for him, lights it up, gives it to him. Many thanks. Couldn't bear to see those hollered blackheads make good their escape after what they did. Who the hell were they? Looks over at Carter. It's good. Rarely in New York that I've seen headgear like that outside of the Ziegfield foyers. Peculiar indeed. Carter's like, he comes around the corner, he sees them commiserating, he says, let's, you know, he kind of comes around the corner, he sees them kind of commiserating. He says, let's get upstairs. Let's see our friend. Well, I know we're in New York since your gunfire hasn't seemed to have attracted any attention whatsoever. Surprisingly, none.

If you guys walk through the lobby, you see there's a bit of a commotion. So people know something is going on. So they did hear the gunshots. Maybe the concierge is on the phone. You would think probably talking to the police. You guys head back up the fourth floor. All right, you get there and Margot, you just standing over Jackson's body.

Maybe not standing over his body. She probably looks at it and is looking around the room just to see, make sense of the mess and the chaos. Like, is there anything here that can help identify, like, who they were or what happened?

Yeah. You're looking around. I mean, the first thing that jumps out at you is this horrible cut in his forehead. Obviously his intestines are all over the place, but if you take a moment to look at the body, you see that this cut in his forehead is very purposeful.

And so let me show you what it looks like. This is a bit gruesome, just to warn you here. It looks like that. Oh, it's like a design. Whoa. Yeah, if you, you know, there's blood pouring out of it, but as you look closely, you see that it's very purposeful in the way that it was like carved into his flesh.

Draw this in my notebook, in my little sketchbook. And just, yeah, continue looking around the room until my friends come back. Okay, so the rest of you come upstairs and you just see Margo drawing something. Look at this, his forehead. It's like a purposeful design, like carved into his forehead. Has anyone, have we seen anything like that?

I am. And Vaughn has been, I think, communicating with Elias and with his new found interest in sort of like mystical matters. And I want to roll a cult and see if I can identify this, which is one thing that I have trained in over these years. Okay, yeah. Give me the call roll. Ah, sweet. I got a hard success. 1,530.

Success. All right, so you start staring at it and it looks like at first glance, like a set of brackets, maybe around a flower motif. But there's something that almost reminds you, like not of a brackets and flowers, but like a mouth, not unlike the carisiri mouth in a way, like the grasping mouth of a lamprey. Maybe there's a vague similarity

to the tattoo on Larkin's chest even, but you don't know how much of this is new knowledge and how much of this is just like flashbacks. You're looking at it and you just flashback to walking into Larkin's hotel room and seeing with his his shirt wide open flashing at um Demendoza transforming in front of your eyes into the curry siri and then you shake that away and you think that that this is some sort of cult symbol that you would need to spend time like at a library researching,

but you think it's Kenyon in origin. And two of those men that were fleeing the scene appeared Kenyon. One of them just looked like you, but the other guys appeared Kenya and so you think okay I'm gonna file this away if you spend some time in the New York Public Library if you wanted to you could do some research on what this is and Margo's got a if you look over at her, she's got now a perfect representation of what's on your poor friend's head.

Ross, did I lose my mind for a bit, or did you jump out of the window? Hmm? Ah, yeah. Yes, bloody foolish, I suppose. I suppose. One can only look at such a wretched scene, not wish for there to be some measure of vengeance by any means. She just takes like a very long drag out of her cigarette

and just stares at you directly in the eyes because she remembers from Peru how you turned against us momentarily but came back and went insane and all that. She's got her eye on you. Yeah. Desperate times, desperate rest, et cetera, et cetera. Yes, yes. Bloody, bloody lot of good it did. It nearly broke my back. If not for the shooting of

Ms. Gibran, we would have given them no scuffs at all. not for the shooting of Miss Gibran, we would have given them no scuffs at all. I was trying to get the license plate of that car that got away, but I only got a little bit of it. I don't think it would prove to be useful, but... But there may be something here. There may be something here. It seems to me that Mr. Elias and I, in our correspondence and our epistolary mode over the past several years, spoke about magic circles, sigilisms of ancient mystics. That lot always goes into this sort of thing. And we can't shake the feeling that this is rather like a Freemasonic compass or some sort of marking

of, I dare say, some sort of signature. Are you suggesting that this is some sort of work of some secret society and she looks a little suspiciously over at Margo? Margo. Just that. Some sort of a secret and mystical anti-Rosicrucian sort of brother. What I'm seeing here tells me it has a rather Akinian origin. Whatever it is that Jackson had knowledge of, if they were to take these sort of precautions to make sure that word didn't get out, what do you suppose that they were trying to conceal? Yes, perhaps he was onto something that they bloody well wanted to snuff out.

Well, they were looking for something in this room. Maybe they found it. Was it in this room or was it within Jackson himself? Ugh. I... Not within, but I mean the knowledge of whatever. Oh, okay, yeah, all right. Oh, gosh, right, yes, of course.

Oh, he ate something. Carter's like, yeah, all right. Oh, gosh. Right, yes, of course. I'll be able to eat something. Carter's like, all I know is that we don't have much time here before the cops show up. And I've had just a few run-ins with NYPD, and it's not pretty. So let's look around, figure out what we can get. Yes, just 23 skidoo out of here. Yeah, so Carter's having some trouble even looking down at

Jackson's the intestines thing Troy a little intense He doesn't want to look at that especially considering How he feels about this man, so he he's sort of using that as an excuse to start rummaging through Jackson's stuff his luggage Okay, yeah, I mean the room is a complete disarray you do get the sense that they were through Jackson's stuff, his luggage and stuff. Okay, yeah, I mean, the room is in complete disarray. You do get the sense that they were perhaps looking

for something, there's papers strewn about, and he's a writer, so he had like research and stuff. It's hard to tell if they got away with anything, if they were looking for one thing in particular, but there's a lot here. I say we grab all the pages. Grab anything that you think Jackson wrote and we'll look at it later.

All right, give me a Spot Hidden, everybody. Woo woo. My best. Let's go. Okay. I think I just read it. Oh fuck. Seven, seven under something. I think my Spot Hidden is an I rolled a 77 under something. I think my spot hidden is an 80, let me see.

Oh yeah. Yeah. I got a regular success. Regular success? No way. Yes, my spot hidden is an 80, 77 under 80. So just a regular. Two regulars.

Nice. I got. One cream, no sugar. I got an eight under 25. Nice. Okay, that's a hard. One cream, no sugar. I got an eight under 25. Nice. I got a... I got a 15 under 75. That's an extreme.

All right, so an extreme, a hard and two regulars. OK. Coming right up. You start grabbing things and a lot of it doesn't look important, like at first glance glance at least, but you wanna be thorough so you start grabbing things. But Vaughn, something jumps out at you. It's this typewritten letter without an envelope

from someone named Miriam Atright. It appears a librarian at Harvard University and it's addressed to Jackson in care of his publishers. Let me go ahead and show you that letter. And if you'd like to give it a read there, Ross. Sir, ah, see, Harvard no less. And if you'd like to give it a read there for us. Ah, see. Harvard no less. Dear Mr. Elias, the book about which you inquired is no longer in our collection.

The information you seek may be found here in other volumes. If you will contact me upon arrival, I will be most happy to further assist you. As always, Miriam Ashright, Harvard University, etc. etc. That was written on November 7th, 1924, so just a couple of months ago, and it was sent in care of Prospero House Publishers on Lexington Avenue in New York City. in New York City. So that kind of jumps out at you.

And you grab that along with some other things. And you see another letter. Carter. You see something that also jumps out at you, strange. It is another letter addressed to Roger Carlyle from someone named Warren Besart. The text is in a neat, very precise hand. Couldn't give that a read there. It's just gonna make me struggling to read it even more impressive.

Guys, look at this. This isn't even into Jackson. This is to Mr. Carlisle. This is from Cairo, Egypt, March 3rd, 1919. Years ago. You're testing. Dear Mr. Carlisle, your lawyer informed me that you seek certain knowledge of this land in a distant past, and I believe I can aid you in this regard.

Inquiries in the old quarter have identified one...is that an F? Faraz Najjar. Faraz Najjar. Yeah, some voice is telling me how to pronounce this. Faraz Najjar. Faraz Naj- Yes, some voice is telling me how to pronounce this. Faraz Naj- In the street of Jackals, who claims to be in possession of quote, singular curios, which he believes will be of great interest to you. He is prepared to part with these items if a suitable price can be agreed upon,

and I shall endeavor to make sure that matters are arranged to your satisfaction. Yours, M. Is that a monsieur? M. Warren Bessard. Could be a monsieur. Could be a mister. In that case, it could be Bessard. Bessard. Bessard.

Warren's not super French, though, if you think about it. Warren. Warren. Yeah, could be a Monsieur. Bessard is definitely French-ish. But strange, you know that he was researching the Carlisle expedition. This is the reason that he called you here

and has a letter from this guy. Six years old. Addressed to Carlisle, yes. Singular Curios. I mean, 1919, that's before we all even met. Yes. Yes. What do you suppose this Curios is?

Some sort of ancient Egyptian artifact out of Brazil. We must find out what it is. We've got to find out everything that Jackson was into in terms of whatever he was researching in Egypt. I dare say I'd love to speak to that Miriam Ashwright. Perhaps I can arrange a telephone call. As you're standing there going through everything, you do eventually hear sirens. You've also been seen coming into and exiting the building. What's your play here? Wow, wow, wow, wow. I don't do great with cops.

No, we should probably. Is there like a service elevator or like a back stairway? Fire escape. There is a back stairway. Yes, maybe that's better than trying to do the fire escape again. Oh yes, absolutely. I Just think we should 23 skidoo out of here. Yeah, so and as you we gather things like

Vaughn crouches next to Jackson's head and uses here a muttering directly a maternal Donna ace head, and you just hear him muttering, Reclia Maternum Dona Ace Domine. He walks with a push of a pin, and Reclia's got the punch, and he crosses himself, and heads for the door. So- Thank you, Vaughn, and as Beyrus absolutely

is not Catholic, doesn't know the hand gestures, but appreciates what's going on. So your goal here is to try and sneak out so that you don't get implicated in this. All right. This is a tricky move. Where Carter and Faeru's were seen and coming in and going, you know, I'm going to say this is going to require

a group stealth role. Just to see what happens here. So who has the worst stealth? I've got 37. I have 56. Okay. I have 24. Ooh.

I got 60, baby. I trained that shit over these four years. Maybe I can offer an alternative or a twist on the plan where if since maybe if I go out the other way while people go out the back and just try to put on Daffy Charming Foreigner and throw off the cops if they question me on the way out. Okay so so you wanna take, see what happens and go out there so that your friends can escape. I could do that, I like that. Although I'm...

I'll go with Fawn and just, a couple is always less suspicious. Yes. Okay, so Carter and Margo, you're gonna sneak out while they run an interference. Yeah, I unfortunately have what you would call a recognizable features. I think it's best that I get away from any witnesses. All right, so Carter and Margo, you, Margot spots like a back stairwell.

You guys go down that while Faerus and Vaughn jump into the elevator. You come down to the lobby and right when the doors open, there's two uniformed police officers standing there. They have their hands on their hips and they're like, excuse me, sir. I say just the chaps I was looking for. Do you have any idea what the noise is about this place? I mean, I heard- Terrible fuss about. City that never sleeps, city that always screams and explodes more like. What the bloody hell is going on?

Yeah, we- Absolutely preposterous. Bloody hell is going on. Yeah, we- Absolutely preposterous. We had, we heard reports of some shots being fired. So we're, we're, we're checking, checking every floor here. Now, Faeruz, you were seen downstairs

and Vaughn, you were pretty beat up from that fall. Yeah. No. Oh no. So- Nose bleeding. What is going on around here? I forgot. Just got off to a honeymoon.

Nothing to. Where's the bar, my love? Oh yeah, have to get down to find out. Wait, is Prohibition currently on? I think it is Prohibition. Oh! That bar was... We have a reservation, my love! When did Prohibition end?

1933. Oh shit! Oh yes! The hotel tells us. Yes, well, simply must dash. The missus, you know, has to see the sights. We have a reservation, you know.

May I ask what floor you are coming from? The reports were that it came from an upper floor there. Are you all right, sir? You look a little rough. I'm afraid I took a tumble on the ice, old boy. Terrible bit of business. We are on our honeymoon. Let's just say my mind was elsewhere. So took a bit of a slip on the ice. Clumsy me. Only to shame making.

He's so modest. Come on, come on, come on. We have our reservation. Yes, yes. First flash of love, you know how it is. Right, old boy, give him a little elbow in the ribs. Do you wanna do a fast talk or a charm here? I wanna do a fast talk. Oh, you gotta roll first?

Yeah, fast talk or charm, you're both very charming. I'm not. I regular succeed. You regular succeed? Okay, I'm gonna rely on that. I don't think I even need to roll, my, it's both Charm and Fast Talk are solo. All right, I think that regular success here is enough for them to be like,

all right, just enjoy the rest of your night. Be careful out there. We don't know what's going on. Don't do anything I wouldn't do. All right. Client. No, no, no, honeymoon. And they get into the elevator

and just kind of eyeing you suspiciously as the doors close. And you're out. Clothes. Two clothes. Well, shall we make our reservation, dear? Good God, I don't want to see any more authorities in this business.

You go outside and reconvene with Margo and Carter. We're just nervously smoking cigarettes in like an alley. Just chain smoking. Jesus. All of us. Took you long enough.

You see there is a group of people now like they're pointing is like you can see they ran around the corner here and they hopped into a car and another car pulls up and a big guys heavy set guy looks like he used to be pretty muscular back in the day but he's a little older now a lot of that muscle has turned to fat and he's got a dark complexion black brown slick back hair he just looks like a cop. Nice suit on.

He comes on and one of the police officers that you talked to, Vaughn and Faye Rouse comes out and kind of ushers him inside. Can I do a listen check to see what Scuttlebutt is being talked about from anybody that's been standing there. Give me a listen check as you're trying to eavesdrop. I rolled a 27 under 65.

Okay, it sounds like the guy that just showed up's name is Lieutenant Poole. He's a plainclothes detective. And the officers are 27 under 55. 65. All right, you heard something about like, there's a body upstairs. It's quite a scene.

People have said that there was some, a bit of a hubbub and people fled the scene. And so the detective nods and then goes with him in to go investigate the scene. We should go. Yes. How? Yeah, let's get out of here. Let's beat feet. Slowly, slowly.

Blend fading into the crowd. Yes, yes, let's get out of here. Let's beat feet. Slowly, slowly, blend fading into the crowd. Yes, yes, there you go. You fade off and we just black out from this horrible scene as Lieutenant Poole and his officers take in the crime scene. Where's everybody staying? Out of curiosity, do you have friends? Or I know some of you have money.

There's a lot of different options, like the book even goes into great detail about, if you've got a lot of money, you could stay at the Plaza Hotel on Grand Army Plaza. You could stay at the Waldorf Astoria on Fifth Avenue and 33th Street. But you know Vaughn's rolling deep. Yeah, it's nowhere where Vaughn is.

I'm in one of those spots, and I think I might invite you back to a hotel room that looks like something out of like a 20s movie in its opulence. It's like a hotel room with a piano in it. Oh, thank goodness, because I had no way of getting back tonight. Oh, thank goodness, because I had no way of getting back tonight. There are boarding houses, like if you really don't have a lot of money, you could where

everything is shared. I'm staying at the Y. Oh, I'll take a couch over at Von's Villa. Do you have two couches? Oh, yes. Couches, love seats, ottomans. We can sleep petri-foot. You have two couches? Oh yes, couches, love seeds, ottomans. We can sleep petri-foot.

Well, if you care to, Fowl-Eyed Sour. Don't know your Germanic ways. No funny business, you know? We've encountered much worse. So you all like imposing upon Vaughn and his wealth? Yes. Well, absolutely. Yeah.

Not his wealth. It's like on paper, literally on paper, like on my character sheet, my credit rating is very low. Even though my situation is that I'm married to this incredibly rich person, right? So I always just figured any time that Carter kind of blows off, he's kind of tied, his hands are kind of tied. So I just assumed he was going to be staying at some, you know,

like a best Western equivalent. So he only has access to that money when she's around. I would think so. Otherwise, I don't know, it just feels a little. You're a kept man. Yeah. Yeah, he tries to, you know, he's trying to put on airs, but he doesn't have shit in his pockets.

So, yeah, I think we just, it's more, I think Carter just wants to go to Vaughn's to like, figure out what we're gonna do. It's not like I'm looking for a place to crash. Right, or at least that's your excuse. I'm not sleeping anytime soon. He just wants to bro out. Yeah.

You got a Nintendo bro? You could have some Smash Bros. Yes. I'm more of a Sega man, Mike. Sega does what Nintendon't. And the f- And I go to these foes. How droll.

I just like picturing the four of you in one bed, all head to toe. Right? A little medcap going up and down. Sardines and a cat. Alright, so you get back to where are you? The Waldorf? Or one so you get back to, were you at the Waldorf or one of these fancy- Yes, the Waldorf Astoria.

Waldorf Astoria. Two bottles of gin, or maybe pulling the elevator boy aside. You happen to know who could spit a two bottles of gin up my room? There's a good boy. And they slip some money into his jacket. The bellhop nods. And it's not long before he comes up and he's got some bootleg gin and he gives it to you and looks at this orgy that's about to happen.

Gives you a thumbs up and then leaves. Garty's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on, sir. Let's get some shrimp cocktails up here. Let's get some oyster Rockefeller, I think. We need, what else, what else you guys got down? What's the specialty of the house? You know, just give me, bring it all up. Come on.

Right away, sir. Right away. Yeah. Yes, the finger sandwiches, baked Alaska, Senator. All the horrible things that people eat now. Baked Alaska. Yeah. Salad with jello in it for some reason. Oh, I love jello. Yes, anything Salad with jello in it for some reason.

You're right. I love jello. Yes. Anything you have with jello in it and maybe some cheese on toast. Jello and cheese on toast, shrimp cocktail. All right. We'll be right back. And he leaves.

Vaughn is beat up from his fall out the fourth story window. You all just have this image of Jackson, poor Jackson lying on the floor and Tessin strewn about forehead carved. And maybe it's connected to some Kenyan cult, at least from the symbol on his forehead. And then you think of the headbands that they were wearing and then just picture the car peeling off.

And you just fled the scene of this murder, which... You know, if anyone saw you, it makes you now a possible suspect if it gets back to this lieutenant or whoever's investigating the murder. So what's the plan here? What are you guys talking about? I don't know, but am I able to do some sort of first aid for Vaan? Yeah. Yeah. Do you have anybody have medicine or just first aid? I have first aid. That's pretty high. First aid, if you succeed, it heals one point. Medicine can heal 1d3. Oh, I'm not very good at medicine, but I'm good at first aid. Yeah, well, hey. If anybody else is good at medicine, pop in. One point is pretty good at medicine, but I'm good at first aid. If anybody else is good at medicine, pop in.

One point is pretty good. I got a one. You know what? I'm gonna wing it. I have winged it on a one before and made it. So I'm just gonna try my best. I really wanna help you out. To walk you through this, to be effective,

first aid must be delivered within one hour. All right, it's fine, it's smooth. We'll say that for argument's sake. In which case it grants one hit point recovery. It may be attempted once with subsequent attempts constituting a pushed role. Two people can work together to administer first aid with a success granted if either one of them rolls a success. An exception is allowed when treating a dying character wherein the best that can be achieved

with first aid is to stabilize the patient. He's obviously not dying. Medicine takes a little longer, but you can do better. There might be a little bit. I rolled a 13 under 40, which is a hard success. Great. All right. All right.

So you get one hit point back for now. Obviously you're going to need, if you want to recover those other hit points, you're going to need a doctor or somebody trained in medicine, which is something you'll want to take care of when you want to. If you're like, ah, I'll be fine, you know, you're going to be down those other two hit points until you take care of that. Yeah, with my medicine role, I kind of look you up and down, take a sip of the martini I just made and go, he'll be fine,

I don't see anything wrong with you. Walk it off. Yeah, walk it off. And maybe Vaughn is kind of like in his, like singlet undershirt now, just kind of looking and saying, actually it doesn't look too terribly bad. And then he turns around as his back

is just one enormous purple bruise. Oh, it's just getting like darker by the minute. Yeah, you hit. Here you go. Have a cigarette, it'll make you feel better. Yes. Revivifying effects of tobacco will do that work. There's nothing damaging about cigarettes. Nothing at all.

Absolutely rejuvenating. Love the stuff. Here's a martini too. Yeah, perfect. Drank the one that the sclethias. Who's full of liver, I always say. And this cocktail sauce has heroin in it. I'm doing 10 new for the time chilling half.

But I think we should, I'm gonna call Harvard. I'm gonna call that woman. Well, this, if I remember correctly, that letter, it's from a New York office. Yes, perhaps we could go to that Prospero Publishers and see if we can get a line on whatever Jackson might have been up to. Yeah, and we got this license plate

that we almost have filled in completely, right? It could. I don't know if you have any other contacts that would help us out with that perhaps. They're illegal. Yes. Maybe there's some way to research illegal drivers registration department.

The DMV. I can just roll into the DMV. Charm whoever's in there. It's gonna be great. Roll into the DMV. Yes, you got a couple leads. Obviously, it's it's late at night now. It's it's probably nine, nine thirty,

almost 10 o'clock. So there's not a whole lot you can do other than just sit and stew on this. Right. So eventually you guys, I don't even know if you sleep, if you can sleep. You know, get some rest, drink some gin, smoke some cigarettes. You gin your way to sleep.

Put on a phonograph or whatever the fuck they were rocking back then. These are the black eyed peas. We're all gonna die someday. I hit my drunken stupor before I fall asleep. We're all gonna die someday Cause we're calling I have a feeling I turn to Fyrus and go, you shot at someone today Our first day We just, guns were blazing

Oh god, and she like knots up Vaan falls out the window Fyrus at this point who's never been a smoker has two cigarettes in each hand. Just yes, I just know that this fuckery is just has me stressed. And you see Vaughn like opening it has like a copy of another copy of Jackson's most recent book signed and he's kind of like, he's hoping to get another inscription, yeah? We'll find out, damn scoundrels. Yeah, Carter's sloppy, sloppy drunk at this point.

It's like, he didn't even get to read My manuscript he said he was gonna do any he pulls out from his like bag this thick This it's clearly like a first novel You know how you have friends who are like I'm a writer now and you're like But you never took creative writing in your life that type of vibe and it's just and you're massive Yeah, they still want you to read it and they still want you, and it's just massive. Yeah. And yet they still want you to read it. And they still want you to read it, and they won't ever give up.

Regardless, follow your dreams. So it has a thick book of pages, and you guys can see, like, hands scrawled on it, and also terrible penmanship, by the way. It says, like, the adventures of Carter Tillinghast and his cowardly friends. But then you see cowardly friends crossed out and it's like, and his three nervous compatriots.

And then you see that's crossed out and you just see, and his good pals. Like over the years he's changed it. And he's just like, now there's like tear drops falling on it through the one hole in his mask. He's like, he said it was had promised he just had to follow a three act structure. I thought he was saying that Jackson Elias read that thing. No, he's a true friend indeed.

I soft pitched it to him. I, you know. You still have your chance. Yeah, well, you can only talk on the phone for like a minute or two, it costs so much money. You guys eventually drink, smoke, and shrimp cocktail yourself to sleep. Pour one out for our homie.

Whoever wakes up first the next morning, Friday, January 16th, wakes up to the sound of a thud at the door. Go over the door, you open the door and you see the New York Times sitting there. and it catches your eye that right on the cover is an article about Jackson. I'll show to you right now. Oh no. Noria, want to give that a read? Certainly. Author murdered by mutual killers.

Body found in Hotel Chelsea, possible connection to Harlem murders by Rebecca Schoenberg. Manhattan, New York, January 15. Author Jackson Elias has been found murdered in his Chelsea hotel room. The killers are reported to have used long knives to butcher the victim. Lieutenant Martin Poole of the Murder Squad stated that he is exploring possible connections between the murder and similar slayings in Harlem last year. Local resident Hilton Adams was convicted of the Harlem murders in October last and is awaiting execution in Sing Sing, Lieutenant

Poole offered no opinion whether this new murder indicates that Adams had accomplices or is innocent of earlier crimes. Interesting. Just the idea that in the newspaper offices, every single journalist is walking around talking like, hey, you got that article done? I sure did. What's going on? Get in here right now. I sure did, buddy.

Buddy, don't call me buddy pal. Don't call me buddy pal. Front page news that possibly Elias's murder is linked to murders in Harlem, where someone was arrested and is now awaiting execution in Sing Sing Prison up in Westchester. And there's also a listing for Jackson's funeral, which will take place at Cypress Hill Cemetery in Brooklyn at 2 p.m. tomorrow. Interesting. We should go to that.

Perhaps we split up. Two of us can go to the funeral to see if there's any suspicious people. And perhaps two of us can go to this prison and see if we can see if this Sing Sing Songbird sings. You've got some leads, you have some things to kind of look through. Everything is a clue. But you also have a dead friend. And we will pick it up there next week. Jackson Elias, we hardly knew you. All right, please. Jackson. hardly knew ye. Jackson.

Sorry, Mr. Jackson. I am for real. I am so dead. Too soon. Never meant to make a car to cry. I am for real. I tried to catch them them and I almost died. Poor dead cat.

We're back baby. Available on iTunes. It's time to make your membership official. Start your 30 day free trial today and become an official member of the Naish at jointhenash.com with the promo code GCN30. That's join the naish.com and use code GCN30 to gain access to exclusive podcasts, ad free episodes and content you can't find anywhere else.

Once again, it's jointhenash.com and use code GCN30 at signup to get your first 30 days for free. Tell your friends, come join yourself, and see what everybody's talking about when you join the Naish today. Music