The Glass Cannon Podcast - Time For Chaos S2 | E13 – Two Little Ducks

Episode Date: June 25, 2025

Vaughn's homecoming to Eagle's Grange is anything but peaceful. Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/QCiN_scfPls 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

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 their 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 Moods 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 conversation, just better days and nights delivered to your doorstep. I've talked about my trouble at dispensaries. I have a very hard time communicating, kidding with those guys. I just got some, I got the gummies and I also got the sleepy time THC

tincture, use it mostly at bedtime. And being honest, it's some of the best sleep I've ever gotten. Uh, 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. 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 CANON, C-A-N-N-O-N

when you check out to save 20% on your first order. No Frills delivers. Get groceries delivered to your door from No Frills with PC Express. Shop online and get $15 in PC Optimum points on your first five orders. Shop now at NoFrills.ca. You are listening to the Glass Cannon Network, the premier source for role-playing game entertainment. I'm gonna be a man, I'm gonna be a man I'm gonna be a man, I'm gonna be a man What's going on everybody? It's Friday night and it's time for Chaos.

Perfectly timed, Troy. Right before we start, it was just silence and then I stopped looking at everyone and launched into yelling at the screen. Was someone taking a drink or a breath? Yeah, they were taking a big old sip. A big old sip of whiskey. They almost made me spit take my green tea all over my mouth. Normally, when I'm watching people, I'll make a really inappropriate joke as they're

drinking just to get that spit take. That was accidental, so I'm glad it happened. Welcome back back everybody. Shout out as always to our sponsor, Chaosium, the publisher of Call of Cthulhu. Have you gone out and bought these books yet? My God. I'm like preparing already for the season finale and I'm like, man, these next seven episodes, there's so much going on.

There's so much left to do and we're off at Eagle's Grange and I'm like, you know what I need to do is like take a couple minutes every day and just re equate myself with these rules because it's just going to be a lot going on and I really want to I want to know it so I don't even have to worry about it when we get into the thick of things. You know, I was thinking right before we started, I was like, we got to get we got to get a physical hang of this group together sometime, whether we're playing in a studio together, we can do that.

Obviously, they always work, but like, we gotta get a good, like a nice dinner in a place that's fancy and like dark and maybe 19s. Can't get Pisco Sours. And Pisco Sours, wouldn't that be fun? Have we never been, has there always been one person missing? No, we've been, we away been physically in the same space, but it was around like 50 other glass caniney people

In LA last year, yeah We need to get like a proper dinner in like a place that where everything is oak I just imagined as oak and there's cocktails that come to the table and the waiters like Just take the box off when you've had enough smoke, sir. And we cosplay our characters the whole time. We can do that. I imagine Nora with a long cigarette holder, perhaps.

Just let the whiskey flow and see what happens. I do have to have. It's just one of those cigarettes that's made out of chewing gum. Yeah. We just blow out powdered sugar. That's the one thing about remote recording, especially remote recording with people from all over It's like we never get to physically hang and obviously playing in person is better

I'm glad to play at all, but it would be nice to get a get a hang going. So yeah, okay, you're in charge sure. Oh All right Are you a good organizer? Yes, I am to a fault and I'll do it and I'll do it really good, but I'll don't want to. But I will. But it's going to be great. The second step and I'll take care of the second step is we should do a live record. Just like an in-person recording or like something at some point, whether we get, we just fly Nora and Ross and Rob out to New

York or we all fly to New York. Well, the next time improvised Shakespeare goes to New York, Ross will be there. Yeah. So then it's just me and Nora. We'll fly you guys out. Or we just meet in the middle and do a show in Wichita, Kansas. Good old Wichita. No, I'll just drive there.

We can do a live Call of Cthulhu like dinner thingy, like murder mystery dinner. Oh, that's fun. Yeah, a little whodunit. Did you ever do one of those murder mystery? At Boston College they had this thing. I think I went once and I was like, this is not for me. But it was like everyone there is, you're either a guest or you're part of the show and it's a mingling.

I forgot all about those. You just said that. Did you ever? I've never been to one. I feel like my career is heading there. So I'll be doing it. I feel like as a participant, they suck. I've never done them, but I feel like everyone there as a participant isn't on the same level as you. Some people are there to hang out and and have the show be a side thing.

Yeah. And then some people like me would be really into it. Right. Take care of yourself. And it's just not the same if other people aren't really into it. That's like I feel like everyone's like, we should go to an escape room. And I'm like, I want to go by myself because I want to just figure it out by myself. I don't want teamwork and all that.

Teamwork. Yeah. So. I've realized that escape rooms are not for me because they're the least, my least favorite part of the D and D. I don't like the puzzles. Yeah. They don't like them. Do you like a jigsaw puzzle? No.

What about a crossword puzzle? Like if I'm on a plane and there's nothing else, I don't know. Like I'm not like, I'm like, not to say they're not, they don't have parts that are fun. Like, there are some puzzles that I found fun. But generally speaking, in my experience with playing home D&D games, the puzzle parts are my least favorite. Probably just fucking get this over with.

I just figured out I want to go do the next thing. Onto the next thing. I just don't want to interact with anybody in character. When they're in character and I'm not, I'm like, what do we do? Like, I know where you're at. I know where your head's at right now. We don't have to play this charade with one another. My worst fear in going to a live performance, even as a performer,

as someone with an MFA in acting, is that they'll be like, do you want to come up on stage? And the whole thing of these murder mysteries is that's the entire, uh, like emotion for the minute you walk in the door. One of my favorite onion headlines, very relatable. And I think it's this, there's something along these lines is, oh dear God, no performers coming into audience. And I should say I've, I've done short form improv for a long time. Oh man.

What a nightmare. Kettle is black. Ross, do you like a, do you like a, like a, I guess it's not dinner theater. It's more of a- They can be. It's a murder mystery. Yeah. I've never been to one.

I've never been to one of the fully immersive ones. Do you know what Tony and Tina's wedding is? This was like sort of an immersive show that was like attending a wedding party where like you were served catering like it was a wedding, but there were a bunch of characters and if you wanted to, you could kind of roam around and interact with all the characters and a sort of story played out, but you could go, I guess, multiple times and have a different experience each time. It was in the same building that housed Second City in Chicago, so I would always walk by it. Yeah, I guess it would be like that except in the middle

of it like, there's been a murder. I went to one in Framingham once because my cousin was in it and I was in high school. And we were all really like psyched to see him. We were like, this was like his first acting gig. It was like, let's go, Maddie Brown. And then, and it was fun. You know, they're doing a lot of improv. They're fucking around. I think they're trying to make each other laugh, which is fun.

But then I, of course, you know, I was like, well, I got it. I don't like everyone else having this spotlight. So when it came time to do the who you think did it or whatever, I was like, Colonel Mustard with the branch in the library. Like, I wrote it down. And then, of course, one of the guys was like, what's this one? Who wrote this?

And I was just like, and then he's just like, sit down. And I just had to... Sit down. The worst part of any show, Troy, is that it's not me getting all that attention. That is right. Part of my problem. You just unlocked a memory for me though, Rob. I feel like we played a murder mystery type game. This was like... We did.

It wasn't a role playing game, but it was a role playing game. Yeah, we had a box and we all got into different outfits. It's like that episode of The Office. There's been a murder in Savannah. It was we played a game like that. Yeah. I don't remember how it worked. It was fun.

I mean, it was all the theater kids. It was like, you know. Yeah, we got all the theater kids together, high school theater kids. And it was a good time. It was fun. Yeah. We should do that again. Maybe that's the next level. I was looking for

the next thing. Maybe we're going to do live dinner, theater, retype murder mystery. And we're going to first let's get a dinner. Kate, you'll take care of all this. Yeah, let's do that. Yeah. Let me just call my agent that books dinners. Are you guys all going to Gen Con? Let me put you on the spot here on this live episode. I don't know. We haven't been told anything about this. Is Gen Con, are you guys going? What's the plan?

We're going. Plan's a little different this year. Let me know. We'll talk about it. You know what, Troy? I think I am. Oh, really? Tentatively, I can say that I think I am.

A couple improviser friends of mine and I are maybe going to be putting up a show there. Whoa. Cool. Tentative. Tentative. Maybe you've heard of them, Wayne Brady and Ryan Stiles. Yes. They're spelled differently, but all very cool people.

Actually it's my good friends and yours, Mary Lou and Sarah Kaplan, who's another... Oh, Sarah's on one of our shows. Oh, yes, yes. Yeah. Yeah, she did a game graph. Yes, yes. We've all done improvs together in LA and we're going to see about putting up a show at Gen Con, but I've maybe made the mistake of saying that might happen when it's not altogether nailed down, but I think I'm going to speak it into the universe so that it will happen.

Manifest it. This is how spell work. That's one more reason to go. Well here's something funny. On Friday, August 2nd, I have a theater booked for a live Call of Cthulhu show that I haven't cast yet. Last year's was fun. If anybody sitting in this room would be interested in being part of it, maybe you send me a text after or during this.

I'm showing up and I'm going to sit down on stage. Much like this wood paneled dinner might be taking place in beautiful Indianapolis. You've got a perfect spot, right? Troy, don't you guys go to some- You sure do, little St. Elmo's? Put it on the comp. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the perfect spot. All right.

So you heard it here first, Friday, August 2nd. Time for Chaos Live. But for now, let's talk about episode 13 of season two. We can't talk about episode 13 without talking about episode 12. That was a lot that went on. It's one of those things that like, did I say it during the episode? I mean, I'm not sure. I'm not sure.

I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. We can't talk about episode 13 without talking about episode 12. That was a lot that went on. It's one of those things that like, did I say it during the episode or like in there

in our post debrief that was like, it was the Chekhov's gun of season two, like we mentioned once Eagles Grange was out there, you knew you were going to end up there. But I, it wasn't until I looked over Michael's notes, I was like, holy shit, I forgot that this started back in Les Riedale. So much happened last episode. We pick up last week with you dealing with the aftermath of killing, you know, having to kill, being faced with an impossible decision, having to kill Eloise Vane in her ghoul form after she almost wiped out almost the entire party.

Certainly some of you left some of you with major wounds, psychological scars. There's nothing you can do for her, but you are able with some clutch rolls, able to help the two young Osgood children. One of them may even not have to have their leg be amputated after it was being chewed on by Eloise in her ghoul form. Unfortunately, you know, the Veins, it seems like, you know, we never really got too much into it, but it doesn't seem like Lord Arthur Vane is the understanding type. Probably thought you could have done more, so you didn't win any friends per se, but

you did save that community. And then you leave there and you do some healing, enough so that Faeruz and Carter removed their major wound condition, which was huge. Rob is experimenting with some flash photography. I turned my Bluetooth off because I wanted to save battery and it zoomed me in. So enjoy my nostrils tonight, everybody. You don't have a major wound, which was great. You begin the healing process

and you think to yourself, we're out here in the country. We have to like regroup for a second. You've been talking about going to Vaughn's ancestral home. No time like the present because you can't just go stampeding back into trouble without, you know, getting a little rest and recuperation. So you kind of kill two birds with one stone and you head to Eagle's Grange. And upon arriving, Vaughn very quickly notices that things have changed.

This is not the home that he remembers leaving not too long ago. After Peru, was it? You came and spent some time there before New York, left some of your journals and books behind in your room. Everything has been turned into a bed and breakfast. You stampede in there looking for answers and your mother is waiting for you in the drawing room and you speak to her and you introduce her to your fiancee

and causes it a bit of a distancing between your mother and you. And she seems to be OK with it. She's being very passive aggressive in her response to you about this. Meanwhile, Carter and Margo are forced to share a room as well at this little B&B. And there's all sorts of characters visiting this place, one of which is a young lady by the name of Miss Jasmine Pink, a medium, a psychic who has a little shop in London She's she's traveling through the country on the way to her visit her parents Turns out her parents aren't aren't home. So she had to I'll just stop at this cute little B&B

To bide the time as she she notices you she gets the sense that like there are these Spirits surrounding you and you know, maybe 10 15 years ago if someone said that to you, you'd be like, all right, crazy lady, get out of here. But your mind has been opened up to other things. And she's very insistent about it. She's like, I could do perhaps a séance for you. And you're open to it. So later that night, you are taken into a room. She dims the lights, candles

are up, and she starts the séance. And at first it seems kind of silly, then all of a sudden a wind seems to enter the room. All the windows are closed, the candle wicks start flickering, and then all the lights go out except like one or two, and she changes. Her eyes go up in her head and, and Von you hear the voice of your father talking to you and your brother and then like weeping, but that voice then changes into another voice and it sounds like Jackson Elias and Jackson starts spouting some crazy things It's unclear whether or not you are communicating with him or if his spirit is on some sort of loop

talking about Something and talking in riddable writ riddables riddles. He says fancy gar fancy gar They are among you with their pretty yellow nooses. Then he spouts something off in Spanish. He talks about shadows following his every step, the fog following him to his hotel, needing to get out of London. And then that voice is supplanted by another one, something that is beyond voice. I think I described it as sounds that were trying to funnel their way into your mind in such a way that you could understand the language and the voice

says that You've come a long way since the pyramids. We tried to cut my tongue off in New York yet. Look I still speak The time has come. The time for chaos. And then Miss Jasmine Pink bursts into flames. We pick up there today. Let's start with a luck roll. It's a little anticlimactic but I want to give you that luck. Because I need it. I'll give you that chance for luck. Thank you, thank you.

Six points. Six points. Oh Man so So much for me going through your head you went from like just moments ago being like what are we doing? This is so silly and pointless to voices from beyond Contacting you and then some entity some great powerful entity, speaking directly to you.

The psychic bursts into flames. Everyone give me a sanity roll. It's not every day. Otto. You see someone spontaneously combust. Yeah. Well, the lucky thing is I got a little bit of luck back. But we all know what happens when Vaughn does this sort of thing Old and definitely insane Vaughn fail and I failed as well Two fails. What about Margo the unflappable?

hard pass Hard no one likes a bracket Also hard oh Right then Yes. Hard, but no one likes the record. Oh wow, guess what? Also hard. Pass. Oh, right then. One point of sanity loss to Margo and Carter even on a save, and Feroz and Vaan lose 1d6. Now, a couple things are going to happen.

Feroze specifically, if you were to lose five or six here, then you have to roll an intelligence check to see if you fully comprehend this. And then we'll talk. Vaughn, if you even lost one point, bad things happen. Uh huh. So let's... Wouldn't you know it? I rolled a one.

You rolled a one. Okay. That's politics. The least worst terrible thing. So, let's... I rolled a one. You rolled a one. Okay, that's politics. The least worst terrible thing. The least worst terrible thing. All right, so you lose one point of sanity. You're about to have what is known in the book as a bout of madness. Since you are indefinitely insane, your sanity is so razor thin,

just hanging by a thread at this point that any loss of sanity will trigger a bout of madness. But Nora, I'm seeing a face that looks like a five or six face if I were to. My role's a five. Ooh. My sanity. Okay. So you said that's an intelligence role?

So this is an intelligence role, and not unlike the luck roll here that we do at the beginning of the session, this is a roll that you want to fail, which is going to be really hard for you because you have a high intelligence. I have a high intelligence, okay. All right, so it's in times five. No, I know, I succeeded.

You succeeded. Wait. Uh-oh. That's bad. That's bad. Yeah. That's bad. Yeah. That's bad. Yes, so you fully understand the brunt of what is happening and you will also have a bout of madness.

So fuck. Doon doon doon do do do do do doon doon doon doon dueling banjos time. It's the newlyweds, the fiancees. They were meant to be. So is she still burning and like She is still burning this all happens within a second and this is how I imagine this Sort of manifesting here, I think

Vaughn you see this and Maybe it triggers some sort of war memory. Uh- huh. I think I have an idea. Yes, certainly. I saw people like covered in liquid fire. If I may, I think it's not just that. I think that this theory has been evolving in Vaughn's addled brain that he is a full and complete theory of the evil that they're facing is coming into focus for his madness and he's seeing in the ways, all the ways in which the forces that they're contending with are using holy and pious imagery and perverting them. And that the cannibalism is like a false Eucharist, that this person speaking while burning is like receiving a false and diabolic prophecy. It's Moses receiving the law from the burning woman instead of a burning bush.

Yeah, yeah. Everything is, he's terrified by it, but the madness is that like, I'm beginning to understand. I understand how it all works. So I think Vaughn is maybe just like unnervingly like, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha a sort of clash of religion and imagery and everything smashed together in your brain. I think for you, Feyrouz, and you can collaborate here with me on this, I think that the way it manifests for you is this sort of stunned curiosity where you're perhaps reaching for the flames.

Yes. And as Feyrouz, like there's flashbacks of Faerûz. You see a flashback of her holding that scepter in front of her father, days of no sleep on her face. She's like, yes, yes, this is it. This was meant for me. This was meant for me. She summoned a cat!

I summoned my cat! This is crazy! These demons from the Death of Hell! Come back! Speak not! Speak not, demon! Demon, demon! Back from whence ye came!

Stand down, heretic! Back to thy shoebox with the rag in it. Back to your unholy realm under the couch. Back to my large Amazon box. Alright so you're seeing all these things as you reach forward and dip your hand directly into the flame and Vaughn, you see her put her hand into the flame. Reach into the burning bush. I see this.

You all see this. Whoa! Whoa! Is there a fire extinguisher in here? I start looking for something to put the fire out. Yeah, is there like, we're at a dinner table, right? Or no, we're in a reserved room. Have a care! Have a care!

And Vaughn is standing out, knocking over the chair, and maybe just grabbing at whoever's closest, like, The sons of Herring burned strange fires before the Lord, and for this they themselves were burned. Don't you see? I'm seeing it, I'm seeing it right now. Yeah, right now I'm seeing it. Watch out!

It's all happening. What is a temple? This is the tabernacle. Fuck off, get off me! It is burning! And I want to grab the curtains that I'm assuming are not doused in gasoline, and try to wrap them around this woman and like, beat her head, I guess. Right, so you kind of, I imagine this gets really sloppy.

Chairs are falling over, there's a table involved, the candle might hit the floor. You're just jumping on her and as you do so, maybe like, Feroze falls over and it's just a big sloppy mess. Margo, what are you doing? Probably just searching for a fire extinguisher in the room if there is one, like searching for something

to put this fire out. Troy's Googling the existence. I looked it up before we started, they exist. 1723. They definitely exist. Relax. But they were the size of a small house. This one you have to crank and it's like, ouch.

I don't know how they work. So you're just looking for something. All right, so give me a search role. Search, search, search. Is search a thing? Spot hidden? Yeah, I don't know if search is, but spot hidden. These hidden fire extinguishers.

Under 69, so regular success. 40 under 69. I'm going to say that you remember seeing one out in the hallway. I'll be raised back and I run out the room. It's OK, I got it. I got it. Swat, swat, swat, swat, swat. You're jumping on back and I run out the room. It's okay, I got it, I got it. Swat, swat, swat, swat, swat.

You're jumping on, you're putting out the flames, yelling, screaming. And he's like, yes, yes, telling us, telling us, old boy, just don't listen to her. When she speaks the law, it will be a false law. Yep, I'll remember that for next time. I come back in and I have a fire extinguisher and I just start spraying it everywhere.

Ah! My hair! Beerus is on the ground, Margot's spraying everything, Carter's on top of this woman, Vaughn is spouting things, the fire is sort of covered by this, and smoke fills the room, and we fade out of this scene. We fade up. It's daytime and there's a window, curtains, it's like fluttering ever so gently in the

breeze. Windows cracked, a little breeze coming in. And we kind of widen out from there and see Vaughn lying in bed. Vaughn, you look around and you're in your bedroom, the library as it's known now. And as you or eyes adjust to the room, maybe you try to sit up or something and you're like pained, physically pained. And you look over and there is a man standing in the room holding like a, you know, a scully cap and wringing it in his hands. And it's your brother. Bertie?

Vaughn, are you alright? Yes, Bertie, what? My god, have you seen what Mother's done to the place? Yes, it's, uh... It's much changed from what I remember. Yes. I was... I was going to, uh... surprise her with a... a visit and, uh... Well, suffice it to say, I've been...

caught up on... on everything. Yes, I-I thought you were on... on Prince on everything. Yes, I thought you were on Prince Edward Island. Apparently Mother is quite bored. But there's no need to worry about me, Bertie. Who's Oberon? What? My, uh... And Vaughn is almost like clawing at the bedclothes now? When I came in, you were still half asleep and calling for Oberon.

I didn't want to bother you. I just was sort of standing vigil, I guess you could say. Just a school chum. A school chum of mine, Bertie. We were in the fusiliers together. Was I really shouting, naughty-burty to go sneaking around, listening at doorways? What's going on? I thought this was my room, damn it! First, my mother's moving people in, and then you're lurking around like a damn shadow. Vaughn, what's what's going on with you? You're you're not yourself. You're not the brother I saw last.

But I'm more myself than I've ever been. More myself than I've ever been. I'm more myself than I've ever been, because I... I... I understand. I understand your concern, but I understand more than your concern. Don't you see we're flesh, you and I? But we stand at the center of an infinite regress of concentric rings, marching off into infinity, into vastness, and down into infinitesimal smallness at every point. Yes, we are borned, we are christened, we learn our catechism, but all the time there is a force moving in reverse, perverting, decaying, corrupting.

The life everlasting is a gift of the Almighty, but a perverse and shambolic undeath is the gift of the Dark One. The chosen seed was taught on Mount Oreb by the burning bush and I've seen the fires of the evil one. Yes, it can change the flesh. It can change the flesh and alter the very fabric of the soul. You have been in my prayers, Bertie. You have been in my prayers and you shall remain in my prayers because I believe that perhaps my prayers are the only thing protecting any of us in this fallen world. I believe that I can see the state of the soul. Why are you looking at me like that? And as you're speaking to him, you see out of the corner of your eyes someone else enter the room and it's your mother.

And then you're not sure how long she's been standing there and she's just looking at you with her eyes wide open. She's like, Fawn, who are you talking to? And then we cut to the three of you outside. Carter and Margo and Faerus are getting some fresh air. I imagine Faerus, you are still a little shook. Maybe Carter and Margot are walking you for some fresh air. I don't think, yeah, I mean, I think, well, how do we, Troy, when do we find out what happened to this woman?

Did she die? Yeah. Yeah, what happened to her? That'll determine what's happened in the past few hours, I think. Right, so for you guys, your wits are more about you than Vaughn. It's the next day. That's a hit point, baby. One second.

Just get that sweet hit point. Yes. Boom. Yes. Boom! Nine! Yes! Uh... Hehehe... You would know by now that, uh, you...

You put out the fire, um, but it was not easy. And, uh... They called a doctor, uh, who came. And, uh, from what you last heard she's still alive but you do remember as you were like leaving the room or being pulled out of the room seeing them lift the curtain and like she was charred, completely charred. But last you heard she is still alive or clinging to life. So would you say she is still alive or clinging to life. So would you say she is pink?

She's medium rare. And Vaughn was taken to his room. His mother displaced the people that were in his room and gave him every comfort and she is not allowing any visitors. If you've asked to go up there to check on him, she is like, he's under lock and key. So that's where you are at the beginning of this. Yeah, so I feel like Elise Carter never went to bed and just kind of like between Vaughn and seeing Feyruz lose it, just trying to like, I don't

know what Faeruz is up to, but just trying to keep an eye on her, not be allowed into Vaughn's room, but kind of keeping an eye, just sort of like roaming around downstairs. Yeah, Faeruz has definitely been, like just, what if, what if all of this time, it wasn't that people were just dying because they were uncovering something. What if they were not worthy of the knowledge? We are. We are worthy of this knowledge.

Yeah, maybe, I mean, I feel like I'm worthy of a scotch right now, so Carter's got like, you know, probably got a bottle from somewhere it's like do you want just you want a drink yes is Margo here with Margaret was she's like sitting in the chair like nodding off yeah she's like yes worthy where's where's where is he uh-huh she's like she's been listening to you talk I guess all night long think about it Margo You and I are in the same order. We have been chosen.

They ruse. I start to be... Oh, God. She looks tired. This is why we have been surviving. I'll let you guys, you know what? Why don't I give you guys a little, you guys want to

talk about something? I'm gonna just see if there's more scotch, because this isn't empty now, but it will be. So excuse me for one second. Hey, Ruz, I know you're going through something and you're processing, but you can't just, we can't just talk about the order. I keep trying to tell Carter that it's not real and making him feel crazy. I'm trying to gaslight him about it.

When you didn't tell me that. There's so much to tell, I guess. I don't know. So much just happens. But this must be why. I was thinking about it. I was thinking about why. Why would the two of us who belong to the same order

and aren't be known to either of us, but I'm sure Father knows. I'm sure Father knows everything. And I'm sure this has all been a test for us to see if we are worthy of this knowledge, because we are just, we're fledgling initiates of this thing, but I tell you right now, I tell you right now, with everything that we have seen,

we are moving up these ranks and by I don't know how long it will take but I'm sure that you and I will be at the top of this thing. Margo, Margo this, whatever this is, whatever this is, we have the power to run all of it. And then we will be the ones who will be instructing initiates. I don't want to encourage this behavior right now, but yeah, I agree with all of that. Honestly, it must be it. But we must, you are right, you are right,

we must keep it secret because nobody else is worthy of this knowledge. We don't know the ramifications of talking about it. Remember the guy at the small town that was watching us? Was he part of the order? Would we get in trouble? I don't know. Yeah, you're right, you're right.

You're right, this must all be kept under wraps because this in the wrong wrong hands you saw what happened to that woman. She clearly wasn't worthy of the knowledge. Something like that. We need to come up with a new definition for what the order is for when Carter asks again about it. Right, right, right, right, right, right, right.

Carter, you're coming back from the bar with your scotch. Well, they didn't have any scotch, but they had gin, so I was like, I guess it's this or fucking lighter fluid. I'll drink gin. As you're walking back with your glass of warm gin, give me a spot hidden. I'll spot the hell out of this hidden. Oh my God!

Carter's spot hidden, just so you know, is a 28. I rolled a 24. Wow. Wow. All right, so you're coming back and you're making a quip about them not having what you want and you look sort of past them and there is a man standing like in the cemetery. Remember I mentioned that there's like a little family cemetery that's been sort of covered over? Oh yeah.

Um, you know, cause it's, it's unsightly for the bed and breakfast, but you can see it. It's not like completely hidden. Um, he's kind of standing there and he's looking at you and then kind of ducks behind a wall, but very clearly spying on you? Motherfucker. Every time I turn around, some dude staring at us and Carter's like downs the entire gin thing and throws the... Is that peeping Tom? I don't know, I'm gonna find out right goddamn now. And I start like running.

Just like, this is the third time that Carter has spotted people watching us. The guy, the people in the car, outside of the ill-fated fence jump at the spice place, spice shack, whatever it's called. And then in lesser EDL with the guy who parked in a shrub. And now this dude, Carter's fucking up to his tits in frustration at this You stomp over there

And we come back to Vaughn in bed I think Mother that's the only thing to combat this force is divine love. And as there is an order to creation, so too there is an order of love. There is the love of friendship, the cords of mutual experience that bind us mystically to one another. To Tillyhast and Saur and Elias, the love generated by mutual understanding makes one worthy to share one's life in the sacred union of matrimony like Miss Shebron. And then there is another love beyond the flesh, the love that I think the angels share. Where the confinements of sex no longer have meaning, and one can commune, as it were, soul to soul.

Love that cannot speak its name, for to speak it is to profane it. Do you understand mother? I'm glad that you've made close friends. You were always a little loner. It's good that you have people that you care about and people that care about you. Yes. I don't know if that's love, but perhaps I've never quite understood what love is. Everything I've loved has been taken from me. And that is why seeing you return here in such a state, involved in such things that I cannot even begin to understand.

I want to make sure that I protect the one thing that is left in this world that has any meaning to me whatsoever. And that's you, son. I suppose, Mother, even you can love in your own way. And Vaughn will sort of take her hand if she'll allow it. Yes, I am in the middle of a great and important work. The work for which I have not chosen, Mother. But a destiny to which I have been called.

But I have to admit, I don't really feel myself. Mother, can you come here, closer? Closer. She leans in. Mother, are you come here closer? Closer. She leans in. Mother, are you really here? Of course I am. Good, good, good, good, good girl, good girl, good old girl. Good girl, good girl, good old girl.

A packet of cigarettes would be the offing. My god, I'm dying. Yes. You stay right there. We cut back to outside. And you're stomping over there, Carter. And this gentleman- Fucking every goddamn time we go go anywhere this goddamn person's fucking watching us fucking sick of this shit And I don't care if it's a ghost. I'm gonna beat the shit out Gentlemen like turns but doesn't really have anywhere to go and just kind of ends up going into the cemetery and it's not a large

Cemetery, there's you know a dozen or so plots. Hey Jeeves. Where you going? Ross what does this guy look like? Huh? Um... This guy knows he's caught out, and so will kind of stop... and turn. Oh, fuck. He's just kind of... he's dressed pretty anonymously. Just a... You know, a... And he's dressed pretty anonymously, just a suit, tweed, waistcoat, but it's not natty in any way.

Pretty faded. And you can see he's got a little notebook in his hand, and he's maybe been taking rubbings of some of the gravestones maybe? And he turns around to meet you. And he's clean shaven. He's got dark sandy hair, looks to be in his early 20s, pretty young. 20s, pretty young. And there's that shock of like curly hair, kind of, that could never be tamed by pomade. Excuse me. Sir. What can I do for you?

Curly Sue, I'm talking to you. What are you doing peeping on me and my friends? Also, this is a sacred... where are you on? Sacred Villiers land right now. I happen to be friends with a relative of a lot of people that are buried here. So I need a couple answers, starting with your name, while you're Googling us. With his eyeballs, of course. Yeah. Google balls, yeah.

Barney Google then, no. Just walking about the grounds. Old matron who runs the place said I could have the run of the spot. I've been up and down. I'm not doing anybody any harm. Well listen, you were staring at us pretty hard over there. I just want to know that you're... Look, I'm in a bit of a... Well, there's been quite a bit of commotion

the past night. Tell me about it. I was woken up out of my bed smelling of smoke. Yeah. Saw Miss Pink leave this morning. That's right. Yeah. So, what's going on in that little, what are you diddling there with your notebook? Oh, just an interested party. Getting all the names straight, you know. Are you a reporter? Do you work for the Scoop? And you, he just like kind of cracks a little smile at that

You've met my uncle oh shit Okay, so you're a scoop man Well for the moment I wouldn't exactly call the scooped a paper or record, but it pays the bills, don't it? Hmm. Mm-hmm. Well, then you... What about you, Mr. Tillinghast? What brings you out here?

So you know my name? Well, you visited the offices, didn't you? Are you there? I just was so focused on your... Your uncle's accent at the time. Like... Oh, yes, my uncle's quite a character. A big personality. Takes up space. Very accurate brogue.

Yeah, okay. So, were you there? Did we meet or you're just kind of on assignment? I don't think we met, Mr. Tilling asked. Okay. Well, there's a practice in journalism where a story never really goes cold if you follow the trail. It's easy to see what papers you've been rifling through and what sort of connects the issues that are scooped that you were looking over.

Yeah. And when you go back to the scene of a crime like what was going on in Lesser Edale, well, raises curiosities, don't it? Were you there in Lesser Edale? There, there for a bit. Quite a bit of commotion there as well. Is your license plate blablabla or whatever the fuck I saw that night? And it's not.

Well fuck. Afraid not. Came in on a train same as you Well, I could see that you're pretty smart to be following Carter tilling has around jotting down notes about all my adventures and what-have-yous Yeah, I should also I figure you're maybe the leader of the little outfit that you got going on Well, you figured right amos this way here the names not shame Two more gases That's right. The name's not Seamus. Huh? Bow. Colin? Lucky. Two more guesses.

Lucky. What's the name of the Notre Dame, that thing? No? Hey, Lucky. Look, it doesn't matter. My mom was Irish too, I get it. I'm there with you. Let's, you want to head back to the-

That makes two of us. That makes two of us. The name's Desmond. Desmond? That doesn't- okay. Des, but I figure you're, uh, you must be the leader of this outfit. Lee Swayze, your name's first on the card. And he holds up the, uh, business card. Mr. Squad Business Card. And the card is doing its job. That's right, sir.

Uh, you know, we can talk about this later, but I'm in the middle of writing a novel. Uh, sort of an autobiography, but,, but I'm in the middle of writing a novel. Sort of an autobiography. Favors and Margot, you see them chatting during all of this too. Is he making K.French with his peeping Tom? Seems like it was a little heated and now they're like... Carter's got his arm around him. Carter's like slapping his back. Oh, you're writing a novel? Well, if you're a Johnson in need of a Boswell, I'm pretty handy about the typewriter.

Yeah, I heard there's a lot of ghost writing going on with some of this stuff, where it's like, I have the gift of prose, obviously. But sometimes, you know, I type so slow, I just got the two fingers. You know, I'm not one of those people that spends a lot of time, you know, I use these for other things.

I don't know if Faye Roos follows, but at least Margo is stomping over at this point. You're like, gotcha. at this point. Do we? What are you doing? I'd love to sit down with an intimate chat with you, Mr. Tillonas. There's a great deal I'd like to ask you about. Who's this? This is Darby, I think his name was?

O'Gillis? Desmond. Desmond, sorry. Desmond Mahoney. Desmond Mahoney. Desmond Mahoney. Desmond Mahoney. What business do you have here? Desmond. Desmond, sorry. Desmond Mahoney. Desmond Mahoney. Desmond Mahoney.

What business do you have here, Desmond Mahoney? What business? My business. Just a... Good reporter for the scoop. Think you had the pleasure of meeting my uncle, Mickey. Oh. Yeah, remember Mickey Mahoney, that guy? That's his nephew. He's following us around trying to write, like, he's writing more scoots just about

our adventures. What? Following up on, uh, on Leeds' left, Left Cold. Yeah, he's a fan. I thought they weren't following his story anymore. Well, we weren't. But when people got snooping around the dead story office poking around dead letters and following up on old stories, pricks curiosity, don't it? We were following up on the death of our friend.

That's right, Mr. Jackson Elias. He come around talking about the same stories. But then, I know that you're in contact with Mr. Elias. Yes. I know a great many things, Mr. Broughton. Perhaps we'd like to have a more intimate conversation. Perhaps over a pisco sour. This guy fucking gets it. You listen here. How long have you been watching us and taking little notes about us and... What else do you know? It's not that I've been watching you exactly, Ms. Sauer.

And forgive me being so bold using names before I've been properly introduced. Desmond Mahoney, yes. It's more I've been asking about with people who you've been talking to because you lot make a rather large impression on nearly everyone you've stuck you've come across you should hear what I heard from a fella named old bill back unless I read it. Love that guy. Well it's just we're Americans. Of course us are going to make a big impression. I've been around them for too long, I think. I'm like them now.

Well, let me ask you this. What's your end goal here? You're trying to break away from the scoop? You're trying to start your own paper, the dig? What do you got going on? What's your angle? Are you trying to slander us? No, no, no, no, no, no, no slander at all. Try to get to the truth

well exposure um Exposure is a nasty business. I I suppose things could be said on deep background But as a reporter I'm interested in finding out the truth because as I'm starting to draw together What it is you're actually after I know what sort of rag the scoop is and what sort of stories we publish and I'm willing to write off most things as the product of a febrile mind, but Seems to me that um where you go chaos seems to follow That's us, the mystery squad. Carter telling Haths, turned and pondered. Can I just say that out loud?

Can you get in this down? He turned and pondered, his square jaw glistening in the British sun, which is pretty rare. Are you writing this down? Well, it doesn't shed as many golden beams around these parts as where you've probably been used to. I mean I read in some of Mr. Villiers writings exactly how hot the sun can get. Wait what writings? Well the writings that he left in his room. mother fucker, I grab, I wanna grab Why do you think I checked into the library?

I wanna grab em by the That's our friend shit man. What are you doing? What do you think you're me? Rooting around and stuff? You have no idea what you are trying to snoop yourself into Danger is it what you call chaos. Well, why don't you tell me then, Masawa? Which is dangerous as all that. And perhaps the reading public would like to know exactly what they're about to contend with.

Absolutely not. Well, let's hear him out. What? What? Hey, you gotta let them go. It's like, reading public, you know? I mean, I feel like if he talks about what's going on to people, then maybe people would be more aware of, say,

giant black dragons that attack them on the top floor of their hotel room. You getting all this down? Or maybe like cults with the fucking tongues flapping around. Which, by the way, now think about it, that voice last night when the medium turned into a, who got possessed by the ghosts of all these people, and was saying like, you cut, try to cut my tongue off. Think about it, ladies. the tongue, the tongue cult. It's all coming together. Do you see what I mean, Fyrin? Yes, and maybe you should bite yours. Do you see what I mean?

Desmond's just... Yeah, just... Yeah, just... Duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-du Margo, whatever he finds out, what's it matter to us? If he's not worthy of the knowledge, then fate will take care of him for us. Wait, are you talking about me? I guess so. What?

Not you, Tillygast. Oh, okay. Thank God. So, Vess, you want to tag along with us and write about us while we're here? Well, whether or not I write about you, Miss Sire, that's all up to you. Whether you'd like to be made the subject of the story. But it's the story itself I'm after, so I'd like to know just what the hell is going on here.

It seems to me that what goes on in Lesser Edale, the Vane family, not being too forthcoming about what happened to their daughter. But something tells me that you might know in more intimate detail what precisely happened. No one in the town is invited to that funeral, but tongues do wag if we're speaking of tongues. And as for what I've read in Mr. Villiers' papers, his letters and his journals, which his mother so kindly left in the room to be perused by the common eye, raised a good many questions, let me tell you. Although, after reading them, I have to say that it's hard to get a good night's sleep. You're telling me. Can we do a psych roll on like what his,

is his intentions like align with ours or not? Yeah, do a, yeah. Yeah, the whole reading his journals and being so forthcoming about it, it's just like, what? Cause we're not, I mean, naturally, if we're being chased around a bit and all this crazy shit, we're not gonna be like, yeah, buddy, hop on board.

We're gonna have your name on the card. I think We're not going to be like, yeah, buddy, hop on board. We're going to name all the cars. I think also because he's young and knows Mickey and all of that, it's just kind of like, I don't know. It's like, look, it didn't mean no harm by it. His mother sent me in a room. Oh, it failed. I failed.

What are you supposed to do? Sit in her library and not pluck something off the wall? Oh, wait, I I wanna roll this too. It might as well. Psychology? Yeah. Or psychoanalysis, okay, oh watch this. Psychoanalysis, what is he really feeling?

Nope. Carter's just like, this fucking guy gets it. Can't get a read on this guy. I could say, yeah, you can't get a read on this guy, maybe. No. I don't know. I don't think a psycholo... Maybe you don't get any depths of his psychology, but he seems like cocture, but sincere.

But he doesn't seem like he... Like, he seems a little unnerved by what he's read, but like... Because it seems to me, Mr. Telenhast, if you are the leader of this little outfit, that what I've been reading is so much fantasy. Wait, what? It's right there on the card, isn't it? It's on the card, guys. I can't... I can't control optics. It's because you put your name first. He didn't send that in!

That was... I didn't know I was gonna go to print. That's where we're at. Listen, it was very fun in games with you being like, I'm the leader, ha ha ha. But now you actually have someone writing a story saying that you are the leader. Think about it, guys. Just put, put your logic hats on for just one second. I get being all creepy and secrety. And we're talking about orders and stuff like that or whatever. What was that? What was that now? Nothing.

We'll get to that, that's chapter eight. What I'm saying is, is think about saving some lives, right? Who cares if some of this stuff is out in the open if it means people are gonna be more like aware of the world around them? Maybe people don't fucking incinerate in front of our eyes all the time, you know? Or maybe they all will.

We don't know. That's a, well, that's, I didn't think about that part. You saw what happened to Von last night. We still have not been able to see him. Some people they cannot handle the knowledge. So Mr. Filioz is incapacitated then? We don't know. It's great, man.

I tell you one thing, Desmond, is it? Yes. You may be following us around It's great man. I'll tell you one thing Desmond, is it? Yes. You may be following us around and you may be writing your big story for your uncle or what not for the scoop with an exclamation point as I pictured in my head. Very much so. You have not earned your spot in the Mystery Squad nor are you part of the Mystery Squad. No, that's for sure.

Such a weird threat. You can't sit with us. I'm not looking to join your squad. I just want to know what it is you're after. Why are you so queuing so closely to the footsteps of Jackson Elias, as friend of yours?

What exactly is Jackson Elias on the verge of uncovering exactly? It's got you so worked up that you're willing to run from pillar to post, coming across the water all the way over here and go poking around in the dimmest backwater in all of England. Well, we had Jesus in the... And before you can answer, I'll say that Giles is walking towards you and maybe you all notice

that enough so that you don't immediately answer his question and Giles is walking towards you and maybe you all notice that enough so that you don't immediately answer his question and Giles looks at you in favor and says, I'm so sorry to bother you. The lady of the house requests your presence if you wouldn't mind accompanying me. Where should we all go? Is Von seeing people? No, just um, Miss Gibron here. Um, of course. Uh, if you all will excuse me. Very well. Um, right this way. And uh, she pulls Faberous away.

I guess maybe we can leave the graveyard too unless you're here doing something. I'm getting another drink. This is a bunch of I was not expecting this to happen right now. Just put together some of the family names. It's going through those papers. Margo and Carter give me a spot hidden. You see these papers of etchings. Come on. As you know, I'm a fucking nope. Fail. Yeah.

Damn it. We're too flustered. At least Margo is. OK. Ferus, you continue off with Giles. And he brings you into the same room where Vaughn spoke to his mother when he first arrived at Eagle's Grange, the drawing room or whatever I called it.

And she's sitting with her back to the door staring out the window. And Giles lets you in and says, ma'am, Miss Chab here thank you Giles close the door and she stands up and walks towards you and stands maybe like three or four feet away from you and just kind of folds her hands in front of her I imagine I don't need to tell you that my son is not well. He has seemed on the decline as of late. I was hoping you would have good news for me. He's speaking in riddles and talking to people who aren't there. People who aren't there. People who aren't there? Anyone specifically?

May I see him? Not at the moment. He needs rest, but you can see him before you leave. I suppose what I'm getting at is... I think he should remain here, Tegel's Grange. Did he say that, or are you saying that? Do you love him, Mr. Brown?

Yes. Yes I do. Do you want what's best for him? Of course I want what's best for him. But I also want to make sure that that is what he wants. I don't think he knows what he wants, Mr. Brown. I think he is very, very ill and is a danger to himself, as well as anyone he is close to. You must see that. I will see that when I am able to see him.

All right. Then you can talk to him yourself right this way Gibran, hello darling. May we have a moment alone, please? She says to his mother. She says, she kind of waits, hesitates before answering. All right. Vaughn, as your mother leaves and closes the door and Faerûz kind of gingerly steps towards the bed, your brother is just sitting in a chair, maybe five feet away from the bed,

just kind of watching, looking at Faerûs, looking at you. Thawne, are you alright? Uh, Mr. Braun, that I... That I am not, I fear. Or so Mother tells me. There are moments I think I must be going mad, but... I suppose all of us have felt that over the course of our travels together. How could it be madness if it's what we are seeing together? How could it be madness when we know the truth and others don't?

Yes. Yes. Precisely. We do know the truth. One fragment of it anyway, that the conventional world is as yet unprepared for. It's... It's... Oh, sorry. Oh, no. It feels as though it's swimming into focus.

Every time I think I grasp it, it slips through my fingers, like trying to hold water in a sieve. I know that things are stressful, there's no understatement, but Vaughan, the world is living behind a veil. Yes. We are so close. Yes. But I know that.

I know that. I know. I can't tell mother everything. And she truly think I was incurable. Truly cracked. June, I know that I'm not. It's just that I see the way our enemy works by perverting the sacraments of the Almighty. And while I believe that I have been called, perhaps something like the way the Holy Spirit descends on one, to give one the power of prophecy. Yes. So too does the evil one corrupt and invade one's mind, and make them work towards his ends. He has done it to me twice already. More times, perhaps.

How so? What do you mean? Based on what Sara and others have told me, I nearly... I nearly killed Tillinghast back in New York. I... I nearly killed Sara. in that poor unfortunate shipless. I know that what I have seen is the truth, but I'm beginning to wonder if I'm not rather a burden to you. And perhaps I shouldn't... I shouldn't rest for a time. I think that maybe the- It's alright.

Yes. If you need time, take it, but know that you are seeing things more clearly than anyone else. We are uncovering the truth. We will find it, and whatever has happened, we will find it together. We will. Me, Tillinghast, Saur, we know things that others can never know. Your mother absolutely should never know. But we know the truth, Vaughan. Yes. And if you need to rest, whether it's for your personal choice, or whether it's even to keep this facade of, oh, the things that we have seen, the stress, and you just haven't been rested. It's do what you need to do to keep the veiled veiled.

Thank you. Thank you, Shebron. We saw it in the war, you know. Men who thought they must be going mad, lunging over the top, volunteering for missions, wishing not to come back, a danger to themselves and others. I couldn't come to this act of service through love on my own. I of course have the support of others. And he looks across the room to an empty chair who are counseling me to this end. looks across the room to an empty chair, who are counseling me to this end. And Faerys turns around.

There's nobody there. I, um... I swear to you, I will diligently recover. I will arm my mind with the armor of my faith, with the love which is all that can stand against the dark forces arrayed against us. And when I am myself again,

I shall return to our great work. Pray for me that it shall not be too long an interval. I will, Vaughn. Yes, perhaps. When she looks back at the empty chair, perhaps it is best. You must, you must come through for us, for all of us. Yes. I don't know.

I just needed to hear from you, you see, your mother. I just wanted to make sure that this is what you wanted. I just wanted to make sure that this is what you wanted. It is not that I wish to leave you, Ms. Chimbron. It's that I do not wish to hurt you. I don't think that's possible. Surprising words from someone I nearly shot a few days ago. We are the ones fighting this. We're the only ones who can fight this. We're the only ones worthy of this knowledge. Yes. We have been chosen.

Exactly. This is not cowardice. No. Cowardice would be to surrender, to sally forth unprepared. To walk into the dragon's teeth. I, um... to the dragon's teeth. I have to thank those near me who have been so kind as to counsel me as to the best course of action." He go to your prom. All right. You're going to make me cry, damn it.

Get out of here, will you? All right. Don't make me cry in front of Bertie. Bertie. Right. Right, right, right. You wouldn't want to cry in front of Bertie. No, you wouldn't want to cry.

And she's mumbling to herself as she quietly like you wouldn't want to cry in front of Bertie, no you wouldn't want to cry. And she's like mumbling to herself as she quietly like, wouldn't want to, wouldn't want to, little ducks went out to play over the hill and far away. Mother duck said quack, quack, quack, quack. And this childhood song is harmonized by Bertie. They used to sing it as boys, but you're only hearing one part of it. And you just hear the great door closing. Shut the door. And we'll be back right after this break. Well, we have one seat at the table open. Turns out.

Turns out. The new BMO VI Porter MasterCard is your ticket to more. More perks. More points. More flights. More of all the things you want in a travel rewards card. And then some. Get your ticket to more with the new BMO VI Porter Mastercard and get up to $2,400 in value in your first 13 months. Terms and conditions

apply. Visit BMO.com slash VI Porter to learn more. Nothing is as it seems in liminal London. Hidden amongst everyday people are werewolves. You'll be the werewolf then? Yeah, and megs. Wizards. Montgomery Archibald Barker at your bloody service. And those cursed by the fae monarchs of the city. Deccan Buchanan, PI. He has quite a large pair of antlers growing out of his forehead. Join the unlikely misfits of Liminal London,

as they work to take down the powers that claim to rule the city. I think the Queen doesn't like you very much. With incredible guest players like Johnny Chiodini, You say there's... sludge? Yeah, sludge. Yeah, I'm the sludge boy. F***ing love sludge boy. No, again, I'm not that sludge boy. Grant Howitt, Isaac Newton did the study in f***ing love Sludge Boy. No, again, I'm not that Sludge Boy. Grant Howitt.

Isaac Newton did the study and f***ing putt and who did he? Who's Isaac? Oh my god. And Sharmony Bundel. There's a magic community! There is! Yay, I'm in a magic community! Go to realmspod.com or search Realms of Peril and Glory, wherever you listen to podcasts,

to find this mysteriously magical actual play series. I'm Dallas Taylor, host of 20,000 Hertz, a lovingly crafted podcast about the amazing world of sound. From music and video games to science and history, the world of sound is full of great stories. 20,000 Hertz is crafted by a passionate team of professional sound designers, and that means that our episodes will always sound incredible and be jam-packed with ear candy. To unlock your sonic world, follow 20,000 Hertz right here in your podcast player.

Where in God's name do we pick up from here? This is unprecedented in what we do here. It just seems to make the most sense with this situation. But I want to continue role playing a little bit here and see where we get to. We all kind of, us in the audience know what's going on here, but like how do we reconcile it? How do we really get to the next step? Vaughn is, you all saw it, you know. Now, Faeruz has gone up there and seen, and it's Vaughn being Vaughn, but like yet again, the minute something goes wrong, Vaughn loses it. And how is Vaughn going to be helpful to you when you're up against, you know, some really

dark shit? You know how things ended in New York. If it's a situation like that again, how is Vaughn going to function when he has to deal with it? Like it just doesn't work. And now someone has fallen into your lap that seems to know a lot about this. It might be a lot about this. Might be a blessing in disguise.

So we'll cut back to the outside there, just outside of the graveyard. You guys maybe you're moving back towards the bar and continuing our conversation. Where do you want to pick it up there? Carter and Desmond and Margot, Faeruz will join you shortly. Maybe you're like warming us up a bit and we're like not spilling anything, but just being like, yes, Peru was, it was, it was, it was interesting and New York and we plan on traveling a lot more actually. That's where my sort of trade goes dark you see. I learned from my raiding what

Veliers saw in Perure, claimed to see. Well what is it exactly that you saw when you went to New York that has you coming over to London? Lekati's split. Listen. I mean, the trail of our friends led us here. Well, just retracing them, retracing Jax and Elias' footsteps there. You could say that, yeah. Also we're trying to save the world.

It's for his book. You could say that, yeah. Also, we're trying to save the world. It's for his book. No, I mean, well, it's for humanity, but then also the book is also for humanity. The point is, if you're gonna tag along with us, if you're gonna learn what we know. Who said anything about tagging along? Slow down, Kaj. Oh, is that not where we're going with this?

Am I crazy? It's been like 10 minutes. I know, and he seems to get it. He seems to understand that I'm the leader, which is, I mean, honestly, that's like, he's already top marks, as they would say. I saw that you were picking up and picking up a cult crisis, old stories.

Thought I might be able to flesh them out, just by seeing the sort of research that you'd been doing and interviewing the people you've been interviewing. That's why I've been sort of tailing you. And it was only after I saw the villiers' mants was close enough to get to that I came here and checked myself into the library. I wasn't expecting you lot to come here after me. I just- Well, if I've got the opportunity actually to interview you and know exactly what it is you've got going on, then that's what I've got a mind to do know exactly what it is you're going on and

that's what I've got a mind to do if you've got a mind to share well if you're a thing if we share we have to know that your mind won't fucking splinter to a thousand pieces what's your sanity at these days no uh low What are you? Low, friend, low. It's gotta be an upgrade. Keep it down a level. While I'm looking out for the kid, I don't want his tiny Irish mind to blow apart. I'm mostly concerned about blowing our cover while we're here. We're here for like another week or so, finishing up our investigating before we probably move

on and we can't have an article written about us. No, that much is certain, especially when there's a book coming. Of course. As we were saying, the article don't have to be about you. You say investigating. Or about anything that we're doing. We can't have anyone be tipped off. Well, you're on the trail of something it seems.

And I've got my hands around a couple of the threads that you've been pulling. But if you blow this thing sky high, you learn exactly what it is that you're after. I'm willing to help with that investigation. And look, Messara, I realize you just met me and I've been skulking around. You've got no reason to to know me from Adam or trust me from anyone. But I've got the whole archives of the Scoop behind me. I've lived here for quite a while. It could be useful to you. Hmm? Investigator to investigator?

Yeah. I don't know, we already have, we've kind of got a full house, you know? I don't know, I feel like he and Vaughan would get along real well. Quartet. Is that what four people are? Quartet. That's right. Still got it. Nailed it. Nailed it. As always. That's right. Well, I suppose if there's not room for a fifth whale, then... I have confidence that Yvonne will snap back out of it. Oh, he's gonna be right, it's rain. I feel like the five of us, I mean, if this kid's got some leads. Yeah, leads? Tangible leads, as they say.

We could use them. As long as you don't write anything about us until we say it's okay. Fae Rue's rolls up at that. Here's Fae Rue's with the good news. How was fun? He will not be joining us for a while. I think he's in need of some recovery. I thought he was fine. I thought that he could pull through, but then he said something. And then she looks over at Desmond, turns over to kind of like turn her back towards Desmond and only address Margo and asked at this party. He mentioned, he spoke as though his brother was in the room with us

and I realized that he really should take some time to recover and it is what he wanted. I, his mother pulled me in and thought and said that oh he won't be joining you, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I just needed to hear it from him. And it seems he could really use the time to recuperate. You're saying that one of the mystery squads not gonna come with us? For a short time, I really think, Full short time, I really think. Lieutenant Cast, if you saw him, you'd... I thought he was fine and that he maybe just needed a night's rest. It's just gonna be like...

Us but without Vaughn? Is he not going to bounce back from this. Well, maybe he will. Maybe he just needs some time. I just, can you excuse me? I just need one, I just need one second. I'm just going to walk over here and Carter just sort of like walks off like 40 feet away. And you just kind of see him staring at it like a tree.

I guess they have better buddies. 40 feet away and you just kind of see him staring at it like a tree. I guess they were better buddies. I mean, I mean, it breaks my heart, too. I don't want to see him. It's sad, but like Margo has been becoming frightened of him with like the whole being dominated, seeing him almost shoot you. So she's maybe more like, but I guess I understand and it could be dangerous to keep bringing him around.

We care about him. I want him to be here. He is very useful with investigating, but he could get himself or one of us hurt. Well, I, yes, I'm right there with you. I thought he was going to be able to pull through fine. And then he spoke us and his brother, Bertie, was I'm right there with you. I thought he was going to be able to prove you're fine. And then he spoke, as though his brother Bertie was in the same room with us. He even pointed out to him.

And I looked over and no one was there and he spoke as though he was in the same room with us. It's very unsettling. And suddenly you just hear, fuck! Fuck! Yes, exactly. Exactly. And then Carter comes walking back up. And suddenly you just hear, fuck! Fuck! Yes, exactly, exactly.

And then Carter comes walking back up. You could see like there's a little like moisture. Did you process your feelings? So that was, that was, that was, that was this? I, I mean, the man tried to throw me in a flesh pit, don't get me wrong, but. Oh yes, the flesh pit, I forgot about that. She looks over at Des, sees if he overheard that.

Yeah, you can see, he's just kind of like standing looking at his face. Stop saying these things out loud. Faerûz just slaps like the notepad out of his hand. Oh, okay. It's a euphemism, you know. It's a flesh pit of... No, it was a flesh pit.

Whatever. Fuck it. He's into some really kinky shit. I... Oh, wow. Okay. Okay. That's just one down.

That's fine. That's fine. We will... He enemies? We'll see him again. He's going to get better and then he's going to join up with us. He's going to get better and then he's going to join up with us. He's going to get better and then he's going to join up with us.

He's going to get better and then he's going to join up with us. He's going to get better and then he's going to join up with us. He's going to get better and then he's going to join up with us. He's going to get better and then he's. We will see him again. He's going to get better. And then he's going to join up with us and it's going to be like it was before. And we're going to be just as strong and we're going to be just as capable. And that's, I just need another sec. Excuse me. And then he just leaves again. Not to speak out of turn, but hard nots over here when folks are slapping your notes out of your hands and what have you. But um, seems to me that you're about some work and now you're one set of hands short. You're in the investigating business, I'm in the investigating business.

And I've been following these trails myself. It seems to me you're one shy of your quartet, Missar. I'm happy to play second fiddle in this quartet. Well, just so you know, you'll have to room with Carter. She looks over at him while he's like screaming into a plant or something. Fucking shit! I lean into you, Marco. In all my research, I never actually learned about the, not to be insensitive, but where did he actually serve? Say in...

Carter? Yes. Why would you think... Is thisier? Yes. Why- Why would you think... Is this face? Yes. That's- That was from a horse. Okay, I'm good. Alright.

He doesn't like to talk about it. What are you guys talking about? Our secret. Oh, nothing. Alright, well, um... I don't know know what the fuck. What do we do now? This whole thing started. We were trying to check out this manufacturer thing for the safe. You know anything about this? St. Patrick, we got this safe, walk-in safe we're trying to track down. safe for trying to track down. I'm sorry. I walk in see if you're trying to.

I don't know how ahead of the curve you are here. This is a test. Henson manufacturing that come across your little notes there Shamrock. Henson manufacturing. I see that I'm going to have to I'm going to have to get used to your particular worldly charm Mr. Tillinghouse. This is interesting here.

People grow around you. This is interesting here. I think this would be a fun way to kind of insert you. Give me a give me a no roll. This is something we haven't really used. This is an intelligence check. Straight up intelligence check. This guy's been around the stacks.

He's been around the back pages of the scoop mm-hmm I I got a hard success oh nice oh 28 we don't have to go there now all right so this is interesting. Henson manufacturing. Yes, I remember. Henson manufacturing. Or perhaps I've been tying up some... I know you've been asking around with Zara Shafik and the Penhu Foundation, etc., etc., etc. Yeah, what exactly is the loose end that Desmond is pulling on here? Yeah, so if you're eavesdropping on their conversation, like I almost want to flash

back to your original conversation with Mickey, like we see you in the back. Just like listening. You were there the whole time. You know, maybe you start following up on this thing and you're trying to fight on any information. I don't think at that point you guys even knew about Zara Shafik, but you had mentioned Gavigan and the Penhew Foundation. So maybe you were just looking into that.

And if you had read his books and you know, you had found Gavigan's card back there, I'm sure that was in the journal as well. Some of you looked into it. The guy is squeaky clean. Any sort of records you look into whatsoever, super squeaky clean. Let's take it a step further. Let's say that one day you're like, I'm going to tail this motherfucker. What's he up to?

What is he up to? Because you just get this sense that there's something there and you followed him all the way to Darby where you made a visit to Henson Manufacturing. That wouldn't be too crazy. You guys found a receipt in his secret room. It wouldn't be crazy that Gavigan went there and he left. That was it. So he looked into Henson Manufacturing and you found out that maybe in your research that the business, Henson Manufacturing, used to be owned by someone named Arthur Henson

and it was sold to Edward Gavigan in 1921. But you tried to look up more information about the sale, maybe the price and any sort of details of the actual sale itself and there are no records whatsoever other than the fact that Gavigan purchased it. He purchased the whole manufacturing. He purchased the whole plant and the business is listed as the manufacturer and fabrication of machine parts. Gavigan owns it and it appears that Henson took the money and retired. You went looking for information on like Henson to see maybe what he's up to.

No trace of him anywhere. So he took the money and ran it seems. And Gavigan bought this manufacturing plant on the outskirts of London, you know, in Derbyshire. And that's all you know. But that's something your new friends here did not know. They knew is what is it again? There was a receipt for a walk-in safe being built there? Yeah. Okay. Someone about Penhew never really sat right with me. Too clean.

Too clean by half. And with all the disappearances going on, the way I interviewed him back with the original story, something didn't sit right with me. Either the fellow I interviewed or the fellow is factotum. Can't quite remember his name. Did he have an assistant? Maybe not. I can't remember. Dim, dim. Sometimes memory fails, but this much I do remember but it's some

manufacturing plan you're talking about God you know it's not purchased it from the previous owner Arthur Henson don't own the concern no this it is a machine parts manufacturing but that's a Gavigan concern matter well then why does he have a receipt for a safe from the manufacturing plant? I think that Margo thought it was from... It wasn't from there, it was from somewhere else and it was being installed at Henson Manufacturing. So here's the deal.

Desmond, right? That's it. Oh man, I'll forget it. The Gavigan, we may or may not have let ourselves into the Penhew Foundation after ours. I may or may not have lockedpicked upwards of 27 different locks. Keep that out of this. What you need to know... Oh, mom's the lawyer just to Tillinghast. Besides just knowing I got the Tillinghast touch is that we found a receipt for a walk-in safe that's being installed in Henson Manufacturing. That sounds shady as fuck to me.

I don't know about you, but that was- The receipt was in his safe too, he was. Yes. Yeah, his smaller safe, not the walk-in safe. I also let myself into that. Actually, that was open, but don't put that in either. Anyway, Margo and I had a great time. Well- What was I talking about?

What I would like to know Desmond, what was your last name? Mahoney. Mahoney. What I would like to know Mr. Mahoney is how lawful are you when it comes to breaking and entering? Because I think that's going to be a pivotal part of our decision here.

And have you ever pissed in an office owned by the government? And I was like, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up. Well, I suppose the journalists of the more esteemed papers of record go about their business in a gentlemanly fashion. But I don't know if you've read the stories in the Scoop. Let's just say that liberties are sometimes taken to chase a story down. And I suppose, yes, sometimes laws can be bent, bribes can be passed around, and a lock, as Mr. Tillinghast has implied, gets the common touch. A lot of backdoor locks, yes.

Yes, alright. If you're a backdoor. Getting into all that again. I think Mr. Tillinghast and I understand what it's like to go around the backdoor. Okay, alright. We don't need to... We did go into the backdoor together. That's not us. You let me into the back door.

That's right, it was both of them. So anyway. That's very progressive of you, Mr. Telling-Us. She's German. She's German. So listen, don't worry about concerning yourself about anything. What we need to know before we, before you become an official intern of the mystery squad is whether or not You can handle

The horrors of the night. Do you know what I mean? I'm talking real evil shit We're not into some just like whoo-hoo. Look who the king is snogging. Yeah, but a bit better We're talking some serious earth-shaking Mind-shattering shit that you're about to walk right into. You man enough, Mahoney? Yeah, what is the weirdest thing you've ever seen? Like, unexplained phenomena? Yeah, what's the weirdest shit you've gone through?

Yeah. Well, you mentioned, well, to answer your second question before we go into this little interlude. Yes, I've pissed in an office. Oh, thank God. All right. Well, good. It's in a foreman's office of a shipyard in Belfast.

Now we're talking. All right. All right. I've seen some things. I've seen the lengths and the horrors that people would give themselves over to when things start running out of control. I don't think I've got to go into too much detail. But um, if you're asking me if I've seen violence and if I've been in a scrap, you bet you're asking me if I've seen violence enough I've been in a scrap You better you better self boy, oh

That's right tilling asked I've been up against it a time or two And if you got my back then I'll get yours So let's not call me St. Patrick again. Did I do that? You did. You called him a few names that weren't his name. Listen, again, I'm from Massachusetts, we're all Irish, we get it right.

You should see St. Patrick's Day there. Do you guys have St. Patrick's Day over there? It's less of a thing. It's more of a hallmark. Yeah, that's fine. Anyway, we die the river green. It's authentic, is my point. So regardless, just so the audience knows,

my mother was intensely Irish, to the point where she would write Kierkevich with a giant O and an apostrophe, which makes no fucking sense because it's Slovenian. Regardless, I just want that out there from a sensitivity standpoint, just so we're all clear. That's my disclaimer. You have legendary St. Patrick's Day parties, too.

She did have some. Yeah, Troy can. Anyway, doesn't matter. My family still has the glasses. They were glasses that also say Kirk-ovitch, because that doesn't make any sense. That's funny. We don't want to get into it.

That's from a therapist. So great. Just might have bought a sign on our high school campus that said, Kirkovich Way, my senior year. That was after Troy was gone. You didn't see that. Is that Rob? Is that how you actually spell your name?

I didn't know that. Nope. Anyway, here we are. Okay, Mahoney, I get it. But things are going get a little bit more rough than you used to just prepare your brain pan well, you know the worst thing about this is We have to get some new cards mates. I get no No, he's an intern to the mystery squad is not earned a right to be on the card Vaughn stays on that card Vaughn and they're gonna think that he is Vaughn.

Why would they think he's Vaughn? He reminds me slightly of Vaughn for some reason. We're just going to have to remind everyone that he is the intern at every time, every introduction. And he'll work his way up. I don't know how though it works. It's probably like Boy Scouts. You get a badge or something.

This is like working at a scoop all over again. We'll get you a little sash, get some little badges. first time your brain melts, we'll give you a little thing. So, alright, then I think the move is Henson Manufacturing. What do you guys think? I think that's a splendid idea. And along the way we can tell you, yeah, we can tell you all about Lesser Edale and that whole detour. So those gaps filled in, don't I? And let's go down 33 episodes. The Hinson Manufacturing. I'm very curious to see if they've got a back door. If they do, I want nothing to do with it.

No, if there's a back door, Tillinghouse will find it now. I will respectfully decline the back door. Very smooth. I go right in the back door. Very smooth. I go right in the front door as long as it says it's okay. Front door or the back door? It doesn't matter, they're telling us. It'll go in any door that's open. That's not, it depends.

Listen. Why are you getting so flustered? It's the shitty gin I had to drink. Do you know what gin tastes like? Gin's lovely. Poison. It tastes like poison. It tastes like licorice. to drink. Do you know what gin tastes like? Gin's lovely. It tastes like poison. It tastes like licorice, poison, and I hate it.

All right, so we're going to Hanson Manufacture. We are. However, I think that, Margo, you've made it clear, Vaughn has scared you at this point. It doesn't mean you're not close, but you're a little off. Carter, this has affected you. This has affected you in such a way that I'd like to set up just one last scene here at Eagle's Grange where we see the door to Vaughn's bedroom cum library crack open and you peek

your head in and Vaughn is asleep. Am I by myself? You're by yourself. All right, yeah. So Carter just kind of walks up, sees him. Fuck. Like, I don't know if I've seen him like this. Like we've slept in the same room together and stuff.

I've like thrown a pillow at his sleeping face, but he doesn't look great. His color's all off. He's gaunt. He's got, you know, scars but like marks from battle. Yeah, and I think for Carter, you know, like, back in Peru, I feel like there was like a moment that they had where Carter confessed to him for the first time. It's just like I feel kind of shitty about the things that I've done in my life. And so ever since then, Vaughn has just sort of been this presence for him that he always made fun of or was jabbed at or whatever

but this fucking dude went to war and Carter is just a con man who's snaked his way out of whatever so I think to see him like this and just to recognize the impact that he's had on him he's just sort of looking at him he's like fuck a double V man we need you but this is this is for the best and you're gonna come see us again all right and Carter just kind of leans over and gives him a little kiss on the forehead comes away he's like don't tell anybody about that and then as you turn away he just rolls over and asleep and you hear a mobo. Oberon? And they just kind of like pass his head one last time and then looks and he sees

a like I feel like even though this is like loaned out and now as a as a bedroom but maybe there's a photograph of Vaughn I don't know if it's like from the art if he's in his in his uniform or it's just like post or pre whatever there's there's like a there's a framed photo of Vaughn and then Carter sort of looks at it for a second and then we just cut to outside the bedroom and Carter has finished tearing out his face from the picture and has opened up the locket that he has that has a picture of Carter's face pre-accident and the other face of Carter with the mask on and he takes the pre-accident picture out he just flicks it to the side and he puts Vaughn's face in there

closes the locket and like gently closes the door and walks out. And then he goes, mystery squad for life. And then he walks out. Oh, this is amazing. And you get into a waiting car. Yeah, and just as he's getting in the car, Margo's there, he's like, do I really grow on people? Yes, like moss on a wet tree.

That's still growing though, right? That's still... Like a fungus. It's flourishing. Oh, like a musky smell on a house. I'm not talking to you! Alright, so the three of you get... She tosses in the cigarette.

You get in the car and it kind of leaves Eagle's Grange and we're watching this all from the porch. It pulls out, takes off on the way to the train station. As we watch it, we just see a figure walk into frame, sort of clearly watching you leave. And all we see is their wrist. The very familiar tattoo. And now we cut to a train pulling in to Darbyshire station, actually St. Pancras Station, I think it's called. St. Pancras? St. Pancras? I may have fucked that up, but it's like, where is it? St. Pancras. St. Pancras Station.

And it's a bit of a hub. You came through here on your way to Lesser Adale. You switched trains to go to Lesser Adale. It's a direct train, can take you right back to London. I imagine if you left that – now it's probably 3 o'clock, I'll say three, four o'clock in the afternoon. We'll have you arrive. I think it's easy to believe that Desmond knows the location of Henson Manufacturing. I'll give you a little bit of information about Darby.

It's situated in what's known as the Midlands on the banks of the River Derwent for our people who enjoy factual geography. It's a large town with a population of around 130,000, one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution. It is a hub for industry and manufacturing, particularly automobile, aircraft, and railway engineering. So, hence in manufacturing is one of several plants of this nature. But it's the one that Edward Gavigan is interested in. There are hotels, plenty of hotels in the area.

I would imagine you'd want to spend the night. I don't know what your plans are, but it's three o'clock now. Tell me what you want to do. I just, sorry. Rob Kirkovich is freaking out that Vaughn's not with us. I just need that. I just need a moment. It's just hard.

It's sorry. It's hard to like, It's just hard to picture like Troy describing the four of us coming up to this thing. And now you just got a mentally... you should have ended the episode then Troy! Okay I'm good I'm sorry let's go. Yeah we roll in, it's tough. We pan across all four of your faces and the last one is Desmond. This brand new face. This like spring chicken of a dude who like. Shock of curly hair, bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Hasn't seen anything terrifying yet. Cocture and fancy free. Nothing at all. Should we go to the manufacturing and see if they're open, if we can go in first? It's just 3 p.m. and maybe they close soon. Do you want to do the thing where we try to enter the place and ask some questions, or should we go straight to afterwards and breaking and entering?

I think that was a great idea. We should know where we're breaking and entering. Yeah, we got to case it. Favourous if I taught you nothing. Here's the thing is that we had an original plan to go in as if we worked for the company that installed the safe. However.

And we were going to be like, yeah, we were going to be like, just checking on our handiwork or whatever. But we've now come to realize that that's... All right, well. Oh, wait, because, no, no, because it's not like Gavigan owns the company that made the safe. We just found the receipt for the company that made the safe and installed it into his manufacturing place.

Right, so we case the joint, and I promise I will not fuck off and climb some fences and... Listen, you do you, baby. Whatever comes to your mind, I mean, if there's anything we've learned now, we just got to stick true to who we are, right? It's worked out for us this far. Yeah.

I think that maybe two people should try to approach the plants and then maybe two people watch from afar, just because like Desmond said, we are very noticeable bunch. We do seem to be followed around a lot. Just kind of looks over at Desmond. Guilty as charged. So you're saying you want us to actually go in the front door then and have this little

meeting you're describing or just watch from outside? Alright. This is what we do. Yeah. Watch for a later. All right. This is what we do. Yeah. Okay. So listen, I volunteer myself along with whoever wants to come with me to be a representative of Ernest Whitfield and company from Birmingham. Obviously, I don't have a Birminghamian accent, but... but uh... I suppose he's the only native of the...

of at least a relatively adjacent island. Oh yeah, Carter's like, alright, you're English right? Technically, come on! When you say, you're English right? Like you just see like a vein bulge in his forehead. Oh, that's right. I forgot you guys love English people. Yeah. Do you want to come in with me?

Not precisely at Artillian Ast, and also not from Birmingham, but it takes all kinds. Are you just a backdoor man or are you going to do the talking as well? I could do everything, pal. That's my thing. That's what I bring to this squad. Well, all right. Seems that you're the face that laid on well I give him a business and you watch Margo I don't why don't we try to see if anybody is watching us or if

we're being followed and we can kind of lay low in one spot and make ourselves unseen. Yes. So it's not to distract any, not to attract any more attention. Yeah, if you guys get a sense of the perimeter, you know, weak spots, all that stuff. Perhaps by the back door. A nice spot to keep an eye on everything. That's fine.

Or a front door, or a welcoming front door. Whatever you want. I'll have my camera out just in case anything goes on and splendid. We're just two ladies walking about town. I love it. And then you don't see us. We're gone.

You can take a tram, you can take a cab, but we'll just get you over there. You can take a tram, you can take a cab, but we'll just get you over there. Hanson manufacturing lies along the Eto Exeter Road heading west toward the town of Mickelover. As you approach, maybe you hop out of the cab a block away so you can walk on foot. There is a 10-foot high brick wall surrounding the premises. The premises? The premises? Yeah. Like perimeter. I was trying to say premises and perimeter. The perimeter. The premises and the perimeter of the entire manufacturing plant. There is in the front, what would you call the front? The large wrought iron gates that maybe have provide access for vehicles or horse drawn

carts and that's shut. But as you're looking around, you do see a like a little small gate on the side that's unlocked and there is a like a guard posted up there just standing at the gate, the sort of side gate that is just for foot traffic. A guard. Looks like there's several buildings on the other side. It's hard to see over the fence, but you see like one large building, maybe some smaller buildings in this area.

Can I roll like a, I don't know if spot hidden works, but just like a spot where, to try to find a spot where Fae'ruz and I can like lay low that no one's going to see but has a good view of everything. Hmm, yeah. Man, if you could get like some height, you would kind of look over. Give me a spot hidden.

Spot hidden. Whoa, did I roll a four? I roll a skull and then a four. Then skull being zero? Yeah. That's a four. That's a double zero for the skull. Alright, so and what is your spot hidden?

That must be extreme, right? Oh yeah, 69. Nice. Nice. I love saying it's 69. So you do see like across the street, there's this like dilapidated building that looks completely uninhabited,

like kind of under construction or maybe being repurposed. And it does have a couple of fire scapes. You're like, that's not conspicuous, but if we went over there and climbed those fire scapes, you could really get a bird's eye view into what's going on over there. But you need to move stealthily so people would be like, hey, what are you doing in that abandoned building? Otherwise there's plenty of places away from that little side gate and away from the main gate where you could walk around. You just can't see and not be like stand out at all.

It's just going to be hard to really see over the fence into what's going on over there. How many buildings? What are the entrances and exits? Just based on that wall. Yeah, you're really, your only good bet is to like try and sneak over to where those that abandoned building is. What do you think, Faberous? Let's climb up the fire escape? No one will see. Yes, we can go tiptoe through the window which is uh what year is it? 1925? Damn, four years, five years later. That has a nice ring to it. You can make a little song. I know.

To go through the window. Through the window. We'll work on it. We'll work in progress. Work in progress. We need to do something to entertain ourselves while we're spending so much time on recon. Staking out.

All right, so yeah, can we just stealth our way? Yeah, let's see. Where are you going? Yeah, who's got the- Oh, them. Gotcha. Yes, see the boys. Just for shits and givings, who's got the worst stealth? Uh-oh. I've got a 60. I have 46. Karlo leans over to Dez, it's like, watch this shit.

Get ready. Get ready to Yeah, get ready to get your mind blown Right. Um, all right, so you have a 46 Kate and what do you have Nora for stealthy 60? All right, so give me a roll Kate and see a little group stealth. Yes We both roll or just just can't do a group stuff. Yeah, so we're stealth. That's a 66 over 46, but I've got 24 luck. I could spend 20 of it.

Sure could. Um. It's up to you. I don't want you to be afraid of failure. It just might mean that you're clumsily over there. Could also push. I push. Okay, what do you do different?

I push. And make it good. Watch difference and shit I realized that's maybe we're being a little noisy and I'm like I'm trying to show off in front of the new guy like oh yeah we know what we're doing so I am I try harder to take off those earrings so dangly they make so much noise. Oh, yes, of course. They're big chunky earrings You can't sneak with earrings on and I am My my trench coat I try to like bunch it up so it's not just like swaying everywhere And maybe you're a sawed-off shotguns too loud. See you throw it in a gutter That's a good push

Nice try, Troy. This is too loud. We got a little hard thing. Not gonna need this. Maybe I do do that, like I kind of readjust my trench coat and you see her open it and you see the shotgun. Yeah, Mahoney just sees the shotgun and is like. Mahoney's eyes widen. Oh no.

Okay, I think I might just got to decide. You're in the mystery squad now, motherfucker. Get ready. Who did you think you were dealing with? Yes, very, very sneaky. You're not doing that. You're not doing it. motherfucker get ready. Who did you think you're dealing with? Yes, very sneaky you look like it interesting Cuz I did worse You deserve it for that first role

Impressed with Margaret Sauer unless something happens right I try harder I stealth even harder. All right So here's we're gonna say one of the things I want to really play around with is like failing forward, right? Because you can fail and fail like oh, you don't know or like oh you didn't do it No, you do it but something bad happens and of course with a pushed role something really bad happens So here's what I'm gonna say is like you get over there and you feel like you're fucking James Bond. You find a little like opening in a wall that they must be repurposing. You're able to slide in and very easily walk up the stairs inside of this building and then just step out onto the fire escape.

And it almost felt a little too easy. But the both of you, the two of you are up there and you look down and in and you see two large structures dominating the yard. Looks like there's a large building and then a shed, a smaller building to the side, like a shed, but they're close together and then beyond these at the rear is a much smaller wooden shed and what is pretty obviously like a toilet block, like an outside bathroom. So it's just those four buildings and there is no one walking around outside. But there is like steam coming out of pipes. There are lights on. You can't really see, there's no like,

the windows are all covered. But you can see that there's this stuff going on in there, but you don't see anybody walking around except the one guard at this side gate. That was easy. Look at this, you can see everything. That was easy. Look at this, you can see everything. Yes. If only there was a way to tell them

there was only one God. And Desmond and Carter, what are you doing? I'm just like, see that? See how well they did that? That's why we let them vote now. Because they are capable. They are capable of so much. Do you know what I mean? We let them. That's why they are capable. Wow, they are capable of so much That's why they got it that's why I mean they earned it, you know, it's a new world There's no world Dylan asked. Yeah, women can sneak around just as much as men can and he's just like wearing like big no less

Thank you. Give me big thumbs up to them. All right Quiet and smooth as quicksilver. All right. Yeah, let's get in. Let's walk into this. Let's just go right through the front door. The front door. You have a cover story planned or taken off your lead?

Yeah, this is what we're sort of talking about is that we are representatives of Ernest Whitfield and Company Birmingham and the receipt has said that it was this thing was installed three years ago but we'll just say that we're on an annual checkup and then we can act like oh did they not come a year ago that's that's well that's not a fucking mess and then we want to get a sense of where this thing is and why it even exists in a manufacturing plant. You ready, rookie? Ready as I will ever be.

Here we go. All right. This is the experience that interns get paid in, I suppose. There's this sour looking guy standing there and as you approach, he stands up and kind of puts his body in the in the walkway. He's like, oh he's not, I forgot we're in England. He can't be like, hey sorry guys, can't come over here. He's the same guy as you do.

He says, sorry, can I help you? Ah, hi, Biggins. Yes, I'm representative of Ernest, Whitfield and Company. We installed a large safe on your premises about three years ago. We're doing one of our annual checkups to make sure everything's tip top in terms of what have like joints and other mechanical intricacies. It's all very technical that's inside this walk in safe right now. He's like, he leans over into like a little box and pulls out a clipboard with some papers

and he's like, oh, I don't have any appointments to the Whitefield. Did they not put through an appointment for us? God damn it, they did it again. Isn't that just the way with the home office? You know how it is. Big wigs up there in the top floor never never know how to back up a little guy trying to do his job what Carter's just sort of like Taking this guy in like

Look I'm gonna level with you since since certainly the boss is what sent us out here certainly didn't Since certainly the boss is what sent us out here. Certainly didn't. Somebody's safe, see? I've been made over the past three years with a design flaw. If we don't find this, then this thing's pregnantable as all getter. Now you know from me that if someone breaks into this thing, it's not gonna be themselves that they're gonna blame. It's gonna be the likes of us.

So... You just let us in we can circle back and you know what a what a grand job you did keeping a place tight as a drum give me both you give me a fast talk roll oh shit that's the fastest talk I've ever heard you don't think it's more of a charm well that was a failure, but I'm uh I This is my first outing. I've got to make you I feel like this is this is the moments the pushes are made for Alright so well let me find out what did you Carter do beef it my fast talk is a fucking five so Yeah, mine is I I gotta persuade and charm.

That's what Tilly Hats is all about. Fast talk my ass. All right, so fine. Well, the new guy, he kinda jumped in there and took over. How, what tactic would you, how would you change this to like really to merit a pushed role? From seeing him be all skeptical.

Yeah. It's tricky. It's always a tough question. Vaughn was the fast talker. Shit! I think his fast talker is almost the same. Let's see. Yeah, well, how do you really really go for it? I mean he was trying to do like a like a populace us up us against them sort of sort of thing yeah how any reporter would normally get into this sort of thing by trying to by

trying to charm their way in. Yeah, maybe the guy's like, listen, I don't have any appointments here and Mr. Marshall's already gone for the day, so you'd have to have an appointment to come in here, so I'm really sorry, I can't let you in. That's what I'm telling you, we got an appointment, see? So... I don't have anything written down there, it's the thing. See, here's the problem, there's been a communication breakdown. Evidently.

That's right. See, not your fault, not our fault, someone in between. Okay. So, we're going to go in there, have a word with them, save the bacon of this whole operation by pointing out the design flaw in this little safe of yours. And what was your name? My name? Witherstone. Mr. Witherstone.

And then what were your names? Miles O'Connor. Steven Petrie. Steven Petrie. How do you spell it like it sounds? He Stevens with the pH See I wouldn't have thought nature on page no pH pH pH Long shot. This is almost me trying to like do a blades in the darkest flashback at this moment, right?

I'd like um could I just be like, why don't you call my boss at Hamster Manufacturing and I'd give him the number of the scoop. That's a good push draw. Hoping against hope that this sort of thing happens all the time and that when my uncle answers the phone, he's going to back up whatever story he hears on the other side. All right. So that's a phenomenal push draw. All right. So give me the push draw and see what happens.

Here we go. Success. Oh my God. A regular success. So he's like, you know, I'm really, the boss isn't here. I can't let anybody, I'm happy to call though everything hold on What's the number again any calls it um, I'll even jot it down for right here you tell the operator that's another you look for I'm Birmingham based of course, but there's a London office. What's the that was who am I asking for? You'll be asking for you'll be asking for mr. Mahoney. Mr. Mahoney, all right, hold on.

Or actually, I think in situations like this, maybe there's a cover name. Yeah. It just seems all this stuff. So yeah, be Mr. Bryson. Mr. Bryson, all right, hold on. It's ringing. Hello, can I speak to Mr. Bryson? Yes, I have two of your associates here. Well, Mr. Petrie and Mr. What was it again? O'Connor. Mr. O'Connor. They say there might be a problem with the safe and that they had an appointment,

but I don't have any appointment listed here and my boss, Mr. Marshall, is not around. So I can't approve this. Do you remember? Do you know anything about this? And all you hear is All right. All right. Very well. Okay. Thank you there, Mr. Bryson. All right. Have a good day. All right. So it appears that your it checks out you you do have an appointment unfortunately It's nothing that I can approve until I speak with mr. Marshall. However, mr. Mr. Bryson informed me that this is a Legitimate situation we should be concerned about so here's here's what I can do. I can phone mr. Marshall and We can set you up for an appointment first thing in the morning If you if this is a concern we want to make sure we get get you in there right away.

What would that would that work for you i just i it is a above my pay grade at this point to let anyone in without mr marshals knowing certainly certainly no of course will keep that appointment feel free to make that for us but it would be make everyone's a. that for us but it would be it make everyone's job a lot simpler if we could just have a once over of it just to make sure that we know that the flaw that we think is in your safe isn't fact there if we could just have a look at it it would suck if it got cracked tonight you know before we get a chance to come in wouldn't it wouldn't it be the way yeah i you know i i appreciate it but we you know i've got the irish accent i i appreciate it but we you know I've got the Irish accent I appreciate it, but You know it rubs off Thankfully we have two night watchmen that cover the premises at night Which is information that anyone who was thinking about breaking in would probably really want to know there to night watchmen Yes front and back door they they take turns walking the perimeter of the inside and the inside of the main workshop.

So I'm not too concerned, though I do appreciate your concern. Unfortunately, I am under strict orders not to let anyone in without... Just so I'm clear, the safe itself. Now, in my records, it shows that it's in Mr. Marshall's office. Am I correct in that? Oh, no, that's false information. The safe is in the workshop itself. Mr. Marshall's office is a part of the workshop, but the safe is, you know, I don't really know much about it, but I've seen it. God damn right.

We keep getting all this false information. We've got to fix our lines of communication. Yeah, evidently. Well, orders is but, not to question why, orders is but to do and die. They make the messes, we clean them up, right? That's just because he and I are foreigners, do you know what I mean? Like we're always just treated terribly. Right, no, I understand. Well, again, I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help, but'll say over 10 a.m. tomorrow is there a number I could contact you at or are you staying in the area?

We'll come we'll come by at 10 we'll find a place to do it. Any recommendations for is there a nice Waldorf Astoria nearby? There's no Waldorf here in Derby but but there is the old Bell Hotel in the town center, and that's the one that most people stay at. There's also the Georgian House Hotel, a little bit quieter, but there's a lot of history in the old Bell Hotel. Some say it might be haunted even. No, thanks.

Check those out. Okay. Listen, I would love to chat more, but the men are just finishing up for the day. You do your job. We've done ours. We're both, we're all three of us workmen, blue collar. It's been a long day. As he's saying that, two guys come up and he waves to them and they come in to the,

past the gate and they walk towards the door and as you're standing there you see the doors open and like several working men are Coming out and he's like gentlemen. I'll see you tomorrow. I'm sorry I can't be of more service right now, but it's a change of shift Everyone's off for the day. We'll see you at 10 a.m. Tomorrow. Yeah, right to right. Yeah, you've been very helpful I will see you right at 10 or right before. In our line of work, if you're on time, you're late. All right.

Have a good night. He waves you off and you just see like a dozen or so men. You can't tell like how many are workers and how many are guards. It seems like there's a good amount of guards as well as these workers. Trevor Burrus So are we getting the sense that there's people working there while guards are also guarding a machine shop? John Sathorne Yeah. There's like a lot of security along with these workers.

And you see the workers sort of file off one way and the guys that are dressed in the obvious garb of guards go another way and the workers all go away. Can I have a little psychology on the guards that we see walking by? Yeah. Extreme success. Oh shit. Six under 40.

They're eyeing both of you very suspiciously as they come out and also looking at their co-worker who was chatting with you. But otherwise, you don't see any guns on them or anything. But they just seem a little focused, laser focused, whereas the workers are like heading off to a nearby pub. Okay. Interesting. Um, great.

Seems like a, um... Safe's... A guard staff that dwarfs naval fortification. Strange for a machine shock, don't you think, Mr. Tillenass? It's a little weird. I've got a couple notes on how you handled that situation but for the most part I think you did okay for the first time thank you mr. Tillenhouse as an intern it's always good to get paid in the inexorable experience yes but yeah I'm not expecting that I'll be paid when this

story comes out for now all right I get expenses, so I hope you're not planning on staying in the Waldorf story. Let me ask you this. Yeah, let me ask you this. Have you ever been a ward? Do you know, like, someone, you know, like, where someone takes, like, an older man takes a young rapscallion under their wing and just teaches them so that they can carry on in their footsteps. Have you ever been in that situation?

I have, Mr. Tillinghast. Oh, shit. And he gets a haunted look. Yeah. Oh, forget it. I don't want to talk about it. Sometimes an older man comes to you. No, no. Weaving a tale of utopia.

I'm alright. Of a homeland that should be free. Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's a bummer. And you do things that make it so you have to get smuggled out of the country over. But I've said too much. Yeah, that sounds like a shitty situation. Let's find out. Let's find out what the deal is with this hotel.

So maybe you walk over in the direction of the abandoned house or the abandoned building. Yeah, Carter starts going, gah, gah, gah. Why is he doing that? Caw caw! We saw them leaving so we're coming back down now. But before that, can I just do a listen roll to see that nobody was around knowing that we were there in the building? Like maybe if somebody else was in there?

Yeah. Okay. Fuck I failed. maybe if somebody else was in there. Yeah. Fuck, I failed. You failed. You stopped so good, Fabius. No one- Oh, you guys. You nailed it. Crushed. I'm sure you're right, but one can never be too careful.

Yeah, you see them coming away from Carter and Desmond. You see them coming away from there and maybe they give you a signal and the two of you walk back into the building and down and you hear a noise behind you and you just turn and you don't see anything there. But you do get this weird feeling like you were, like someone's watching you.

Maybe you take a step back towards that sound and you don't see anything. And so you just wave to the two of them and four of you meet up and walk off to hatch your plans for the evening and we black out and we come back up on Vaughn in bed and there's a doctor by his side and the doctor is injecting him with something maybe a sedative, mild sedative and you see Vaughn sort of relax and his clothing is a little disheveled, like maybe he was having an episode and needed to be calmed down, and his mother is standing there watching. Her eyes are a little red and the doctor nods at her and then we hear this, uh, kind of like a 1920s phonograph.

It's like, Two little ducks went out one day Over the hills and far away Mother duck said, Quack, quack, quack, quack But only one little duck came back. And everyone leaves the room. And Vaughn opens his eyes and just walks over to the window and looks out.

One little duck waited one day over the hill and far away. He's just looking out over the grounds. Mother duck said quack quack quack quack, but none of the five little ducks came back. And as he's standing there, Bertie comes and stands beside him and puts his hand on Vaughn's shoulder and looks out the window with him. And if we're looking at like a wide view from outside, we see the mother come out. Maybe look up in the direction of the window, but can't see Vaughn. It just looks over at the grounds. Sad Mother Duck went out one day over the hill and followed her way.

We just follow her gaze over to the cemetery. Sad Mother Duck said, Quack, Quack, Quack. And all of the five little ducks came back. And we just see a headstone that says Bertrand Villiers lost at sea near the coast of Prince Edward Island dated seven years ago. And we'll see you next week. Oh, uh-huh. I'm traumatized. Ha ha ha! Oh, God. To Vaughn.

What a joke. May he swiftly recover. Ha ha ha. God. He'll be back. He'll be back. It's time to make your membership official. Start your 30-day free trial today and become an official member of the nation at join the nation

Com with the promo code GCN 30 that's join the NA ish Com and use code GCN 3-0 to gain access to exclusive podcasts add free episodes and content you can't find anywhere else Once again, it's join the nation 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 Nesh today. The American American history is full of infamous tales that continue to captivate audiences decades

or even hundreds of years after they happened. On the infamous America podcast, you'll hear the true stories of the Salem witch trials and the escape attempts from Alcatraz, of bank robbers like John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd, of killers like Lizzie Borden and Charles Starkweather, of mysteries like the Black Dahlia and D.B. Cooper, and of events that inspired movies like Goodfellas, Killers of the Flower Moon, Zodiac, 8 Men Out, and many more. I'm Chris Wimmer. Join me as we crisscross the country from the Miami drug wars and Dixie mafia in the

South to mobsters in Chicago and New York to arsonists, kidnappers, and killers in California to unsolved mysteries in the heartland and in remote corners of Alaska. Every episode features narrative writing and cinematic music, and there are hundreds of episodes available to binge. Find Infamous America wherever you get your podcasts. The Old West is an iconic period of American history and full of legendary figures whose names still resonate today, like Jesse James, Billy the Kid and Butch in Sundance, Sitting

Bull, Crazy Horse and Geronimo, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and Bass Reeves, Buffalo Bill Cody, Wild Bill Hickok, the Texas Rangers, and many more. Hear all their stories on the Legends of the Old West podcast. We'll take you to Tombstone, Deadwood, and Dodge City, to the plains, mountains, and deserts for battles between the U.S. Army and Native American warriors, to dark corners for the disaster of the Donner Party, and shining summits for achievements like the Transcontinental Railroad. We'll go back to the earliest days of explorers and mountain men, and head up through notorious Pinkerton agents and gunmen like Tom Horn.

Every episode features narrative writing and cinematic music, and there are hundreds of episodes available to binge. I'm Chris Wimmer. Find Legends of the Old West wherever you're listening now.