The Glass Cannon Podcast - Time For Chaos S2 | E9 – Law and Orders

Episode Date: June 19, 2025

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of peril and glory to find out more. You are listening to the Glass Cannon Network, the premier source for role-playing game entertainment. Oh, hello, it's Friday night and it's time for chaos. You know, for most of this season, we have been recording these episodes during the day, which for East Coasters is, you know, around two o'clock. And then for our West Coast is like 11 in the morning. This I think correct me if I'm wrong, is the first night recording of the season? Wait, one other one.

We did one other one? Well, we did. Guys should have just went alone. Because that time I also had a glass of wine. That was the other one. Are you just trying to justify that 9 AM recording? Yes. It was a brunch, a boozy brunch.

Well, it feels like the first nighttime one. We had some technical hiccups. I had a cocktail and now it's gone. I drank it all during the technical stuff. Nervously. Do you like playing at night or do you like playing during the day? I like night, because I feel like for the vibes,

like Cthulhu and shit goes down. Yeah. It's hard, it takes me out of it when I know the mailman's fucking delivery Amazon packages. I feel like for the vibes, like Cthulhu and shit goes down. Yeah. It takes me out of it when I know the mailman's fucking delivery Amazon packages, one feet away. The paper boy. Paper. Plus I get to do these cool lights.

It's always too bright in my apartment to do lights like this in the daytime. So that's how you know, audience, that it's a night recording. Meta. And you got these lights in the background. The real lights. The same around the board? The nighttime is the right time.

The nighttime is the right time. The vibes are right, yeah. And as you can see, yeah, I'm in a pitch black, undefined void. So that's where I should be for a Call of Cahoola game. Is that a hotel? You don't want to do, Troy, you said it, matinees suck. You never want to perform during the day. Yeah, you're wrong.

It's not what anyone's looking to do. Yeah, what about you, Kay? You a day or night recorder? What do you like? I like night because it's less stressful for me of moving my window of like my day job. Yeah. When I record during the day,

I just like shift my window that couple of hours so I end up like starting work at 6 a.m. And then also like when we start recording is when it's like the sun is the most intense in my window. Oh, tapers. And I don't have curtains on it. Maybe that's my problem, but I feel like I can't figure out how to put curtains on it.

It's like a very unique circumstance. I don't know, but also that. Is it a rectangular window? It is, but it's like at the corner of the wall. So like if you put like curtains on either side of it, on the one side, it's too close to the wall. And then I also built this window sill, so the curtains would interrupt the window sill that all my plants are on.

Now have you thought about blinds? I do have blinds. I bought custom fitted blinds that aren't blackout because I didn't want those. I wanted the diffuse light, fusion light. I see. I guess I could have gotten blackout ones and I wouldn't be complaining. Well, this is all good feedback.

For me, I like the idea of a night recording and for five years, that's all we did. But for a game like this, that just means I stress out from the moment I wake up until we start as opposed to getting the stress over with in the afternoon. That's fair. I mean, if you ask my wife, she's way more down with the daytime, because that means she

doesn't have to handle two kids, dinner, the dog. I was going to say, I also don't have children. So my nighttime is literally my time. But that's also why I like nighttime. It's like, oh, sorry, babe. I've got a windward. That's why nighttime recordings are better for me because often if we record during the day, my wife is working six feet from me while I'm doing my little voices.

Oh my God, really? Yeah, yes. Oh, that's amazing. She has the patience of a saint. That's so funny because I see her walk by sometimes. I didn't know she was sitting right next to the entire job. Oh my God. Maybe you can feel as she walks by.

I'm like, oh, I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm. That's so funny. Because I see her walk by sometimes. I didn't know she was sitting right next to the entire job. Oh my god. Maybe you can feel as she walks by the palpable eye rolls. My god, so like when you are really in it, she's just right there. She's just right there. She has her earphones.

She's off. She's nose to the grindstone. It must be wild. It's my baby, you know? Just like hearing. I'm lost in the sauce. I'm making money right now. And like his monologues, like it must be wild hearing just that.

Yeah. Just imagine this in isolation. Do you ever finish a recording and she's like, who's Carter tilling at? I hate him. That's the nature of y'all's relationship exactly. That's amazing. Yeah. Well, it is, it does, the night does feel right for Cthulhu and especially tonight because we've got, oh man, I shouldn't even banter anymore.

We got a, we got a lot to cover here and I really want to get into it because last week was so much fun. It just felt like the beginning of a bottle episode that we're continuing into this week. Not a true bottle episode, but it kind of feels like there was this adventure and now we're stepping away to investigate something else. So I'll do a little recap of last week because as usual, a million things went down. We actually began the episode in a pretty high pressure situation outside of Empire Spices in London. That felt like 10 episodes ago,

but that was actually the beginning of last week's episode. Margo and Carter go in to investigate. They meet Zara Shafik, who seems totally above board. But meanwhile, Feyrouz and Vaughn hop a fence, walk down an alleyway to try and investigate the rear of the building. And while they're there, Vaughn steps on this coal chute, makes a real loud noise, and Feyrouz sees a young man who we now know from the narrative is like the other employee of the shop, kind of be like, what the hell is going on there?

He starts to come out. You guys book it, climb the fence, and make it to safety. I think Vaughn took like a point of damage like from the fall or he nicked his arm on the top of the fence. I can't remember. But meanwhile, Margot and Carter see this car with two people in it seems to be like observing. Are they observing Empire Spices?

Are they observing the four of you, one of you in particular, a couple of you? You don't know. You go to go close to the car. The car takes off. I think Margot though is able to get the license plate. But that's all the information you have. You've caused a big scene here. You get out. You decide it's the weekend. Maybe it's a good time to investigate some leads outside of town. You want to check out Henson Manufacturing in Derby having found a receipt in the basement of the Penhew Foundation for a safe that was installed there. It's very unclear how or if this is connected at all to what's going on, but it's closed on the weekend so you decide to head further inland away

from London to the village of Lesser Edale. One of the three or four articles in the scoop that Jackson Elias was interested in mentioned this town as the site of two grisly murders. Two people were torn to shreds on back-to-back nights a few months ago, and the third victim was injured but able to escape. A rabid dog was killed on that third night, and the case was closed. Jackson was interested in this, so you're interested. You arrive late in the day on Saturday.

The train station is far away from the town. You hitch a ride from some hay truck and you arrive into Lesser Edale at night and check out the inn, the Laughing Horse Tavern. You meet Bill Whitlock, the bartender and owner, and you ask questions about Harold Short. This is the third victim the one who survived the attack Carter Fails to charm bill faeru's can't quite get a read on what's going on with bill It seems to be a little withholding perhaps of information about Harold Oh, we haven't seen him in a while is all you hear so the ladies

attempt to flirt with the locals. Faeruz and Margot decide to turn on the charm, flirt with the locals. You learn about some of the local sites, the big hill with the ruins atop it, mom tour, the caverns. And then the locals talk a little bit about these recent murders. They say the murder the murders

were Were by a beast the tore apart its victims Some people say oh is a large dog or a wolf but Constable Tumwell shot and killed it So no one's worried other locals though seem to think maybe it wasn't a canine. Maybe it was something else Margo in favor is finding excuse to step away when the flirtation gets a little weird. Carter and Vaughn meanwhile go to speak with a local drunk named Old Bill. Not to be confused with Bill the bartender. Old Bill, over a couple drinks, tells him that he saw the beast, which he calls the black dog of Edale.

It's an old folk tale he heard about when he was a child and now it's coming true. He says you can hear the howling of this dog at night. Initially, you'd only hear it on the night of the full moon, but now you can hear it every night. And he claims that the vicar and perhaps others have seen the beast. So the next day on Sunday, Margot and Vaughan attend a local church service and take communion to check out this vicar in action. Margot spends luck to make a successful psychology check on the vicar and you can tell just from the way he's delivering his sermon, the way he's reading the Bible, he seems perhaps a little troubled.

Feyruz and Carter stay outside and investigate the graveyard, the small little graveyard outside the chapel. They see two small silver crucifixes hanging over the headstones of the two recent victims. You meet the groundskeeper who like every cemetery groundskeeper in every horror movie, tells you all those crucifixes are there to keep them from coming back. Best be on your way.

Looks like a storm's coming. You shouldn't have done it with a main accent. I really shouldn't have. That's my favorite character in all movies. Like that cemetery. Fred Gwynn. Right. Storm's coming. Sometimes dead is better. Sometimes dead is better.

Tonight's the anniversary. You then, you speak with the vicar and say you'd like to talk to him. He says, well, I have to go and speak with some of the families, the elderly, the shut-ins, who aren't able to make it to church. But you can come by the vicar and say you'd like to talk to him, he says, well, I have to go and speak with some of the families, the elderly, the shut-ins who aren't able to make it to church but you can come by the vicarage later and we can chat. So you've got some time to kill. You decide to visit Mr. Parkins.

This is the father of one of the two victims. He lost his daughter on the first night, I believe. He's upset obviously but he puts the blame on the Vains. This is the ruling family of the area. They live in a big castle up on the hill. He says a neighbor of his, I think his name was Tom Cordy, saw the son, Lawrence Vain, wandering around and looking upset the night of his daughter's murder. He doesn't believe these official stories about some murderous dog.

He believes people who might know the truth are protecting the veins. You ask about Harold Short. He doesn't know much about Harold Short, but he suspects that Short may have seen something he wasn't supposed to see. You walk outside. Look up at the hill, look up at the castle, skies open up, and the storm arrives. So the four of you are standing in this small little village, not unlike Cheers, where everybody knows your name.

And it's pouring. There is obviously the church up ahead. There's a little general store. There's the Laughing Horse Tavern. There's other people that you've heard names of. What are you looking to do right now? You probably still have a little time before you're supposed to meet with the vicar. The city is yours.

Should we go to- All three blocks of it. All three blocks. Should we try to inspect Harold's house? Yes. To see if there's anything there? Yeah. Evidence wise. Yes, so Harold's short, he was the third victim, survived, but now you ask about him, people haven't seen him in a while. So here

Seems to have disappeared. So his house is the one with with the s on the door. I believe yes All right, so in the rain you just sort of scurry over to You just sort of scurry over to Harold Short's house, it was pointed out to you. If not, you could have asked somebody, you know where it is. And it's a small, one story, very modest home, thatched roof, door, two windows on either side,

the curtains are drawn, you can kind of see in a little bit. It's like a small living room, maybe a little bedroom in the back. It's hard to see though where the curtains are drawn. If you case the joint, you go around back, there's a very small yard with what may have been a garden that is now dead. Yeah, and a back door. No lights coming out? No lights coming out.

They try to get in through that back door. Could I do like a spot head? I just want to make sure that nobody's watching us. Yeah. Nobody's following us. Yeah, give me a spot hit. Where are you? There you are. Hard success. Hard success.

Well, luckily when the rain started, everyone sort of scattered. While you do stand out as tourists in the area, tourists who were maybe asking too many questions last night at the Laughing Horse Tavern, they're pretty accustomed to having tourists with the sights in the area. It's not too strange for there to be outsiders here. And luckily with the rain, it appears that you are alone. You're just wet. You're very wet. Well, I think for once this foul weather has come to our advantage. Yes, I say, Tillinghast, why don't you use some of that...

Huh? Why don't you use some of that well-practiced second story work of yours to, um, get in Mr. Short's back door. Now, wait a goddamn minute. What is that supposed to mean? I'm just saying, I'm... What do you expect? He's not even here.

No one's even seen him. How am I... Okay, oh. Gotcha. All right, yeah, that's fine. I was just giving you to understand that you could pick any lock that you would have certified back door man, right? Yeah, yeah It's not important. Okay, let me just get the old let me just finger this man's back door

Tell the cat burglars call it Pick this thing it's been a long day. That's how the catburgers call it. I'm gonna lockpick this thing. It's been a long day, it's really funny. See? Teelinghast is an expert. Ladies, do this one-handed. Not today, unfortunately. It's too wet. I got an 80 over 48. I can't, it's so slick here. Yeah, if you need to have a steady hand to hold one part, you're kind of slipping. But you know what, I'm gonna push this. What are you doing differently?

I'm wiping the rain off my one eye so I can see better. I'll take my coat off and kind of hang it over. Oh, that's nice, okay. Yeah, give me a little cover, thank you. I got a five under nice. Okay. Yeah, give me a little cover. Thank you. I Got a five under 48 It's an extreme success. I was once you start pushing rolls I immediately think of what the worst thing I can do to you when you fail that role

And I had a good one and it's crazy because it's a 48 so it's like a 50-50 almost every time Yeah, so it's just like right down Main Street and you pop it open with ease. Cheap little lock. You should have got it the first time. But you're able to, with the cover of Feyruz's jacket, pop it open and you can slip inside. Thanks, Feyruz. Anytime.

All right, let's get in here. God, I'm soaked. Anytime. All right, let's get in here. God, I'm soaked. You walk inside and you see a little clearer picture of what you saw when you peeked in the window. It's a living room. There's maybe like a thin layer of dust on everything, you notice immediately. There is a bedroom, the door is cracked

in the back of the room, and a small bathroom. Okay. Do we have like flashlights in this scenario? Did we have them? Torches. Torches. I'm sure at this point, sort of veteran investigators such as yourselves carry flashlights, yeah.

That are the size of our forearms. I'm sure that's what it is. Just in case, since people know that he's not in town, it would be rather suspicious to see the lights on in the house. I mean, it's still daytime, right? I mean, I know it's overcast and there's a storm and everything, but I feel

like we crack a couple of couple curtains still some ambient light Early afternoon. Yeah, okay. I don't know how dark it was And I'll I'll say him. I think if we're operating under the theory that um The theory is that this mr. Short is perhaps Now perhaps told to leave in a hurry if indeed the veins are keeping him out of sight. I'm going to be looking for things that will seem to be upset or rifled as if he was working to get out of here in a hurry, what he was after, what he was taking. Are there signs of someone leaving in haste? Um, and maybe I'll spot hidden it up. Yeah, spot hidden it up.

Spot hid. Spot hid. We got, ooh, a hard success. Nice. 30 under 75. Success. Alright, so you're really casing the joint here to see if you notice anything. You see that everything in the living room looks relatively undisturbed. There are no dirty dishes in the sink. Everything has been washed and put away. There's no trash in the trash bin. It's completely empty You go into the bathroom and you see Bandages lots of bloody bandages

Kind of piled up in the corner like there's too many of them just like laying there There's a little bit of blood on the floor, but they've been kind of neatly pushed to the side in the bedroom With a hard success. I can give you a couple things here. It looks like most of his clothing is gone You you see the drawers are like half open and when you open it up there's just no clothing in there, very little. Um, and you see a, a book that I guess it's kind of like a journal, more of like a, like an address book. a page with, it has his last name but not his first name and a location in Skegness,

which is a city on the East Coast, and then a phone number. But there's no phone in the house anywhere. Well, I will of course jot down that phone number. And it seems to me that what we've heard may be the case. It's not that we were sort of perhaps letting our imaginations run away with us, thinking that Mr. Short was under the influence of some sort of malign lycanthropy. It looks as though he's gone off to Skagness, perhaps packed for a trip. How bad do the bandages look? Pretty bad.

There's a lot of them, and they're all stained with blood like they he had to change them regularly Like are there some that are like older or I can roll for this if you want, but like yeah You can just tell that like some that have like darker blood versus lighter It may be that he was told to leave if he was if he had seen something incriminating. Well, even if he wasn't told to leave, anybody would suffer something like that, to that nature.

And if he had seen, especially if he had seen something quite out of the ordinary, I mean, I wouldn't have stayed if I had the chance to seek safety somewhere else. But he was injured. Why would you risk traveling to wherever this town is? Um, I don't know where this is when you're so gravely injured. Maybe he was scared. Yeah.

Yes. Maybe he felt as though his life was more in danger here. Yes. Troy, was there, you said there was a name, just a last name. Did you say what the name was? Was it his name? You said? It's, it's the same last name, short.

But his first name wasn't written next to it. His first name wasn't written next to it, yeah. So family probably. So perhaps a family member, yes. Yes. One would assume. See if there's a telephone somewhere in this one-horse town. Could be a no-telephone town. Oh, God.

To rely on the telephone. Is there a, you said there was an address. Is there a telephone number next to this name? Yeah. Ross got it. He got it. Great. Perfect.

Okay. So yeah. Let's see if Bill Whitlock happens to have a receiver down at Laughingholt. Okay. Well. down his laughing-halls. Okay, well. I guess before we leave, it seems like, yeah, whether he was chased out, like told to leave by the town or left on his own,

like he left, but like, is there anything else just like out of place with like, I don't know, weird Cthulhu stuff? Any Silver Crucifix's liners? Any diary written by Cthulhu? A lizard skin. Give me a... A journal today, I invoke the nightmares of a million.

As you look for something specific like that. No, even the yard is very, very small and the houses are pretty close together. But give me a spot hidden to look specifically for sort of mythos related items. Creepy stuff only. Creepy roll. A 63 under 69. Oh, what are we rolling? Are we rolling mythos? I rolled spot hidden.

Spot hidden. Gotcha. Specifically looking for mythos types. those types. Books wrapped in skin. Yeah. And whatnot. We have paintings. Idols. Anything that-

Silver bullets. Yes. Yeah. Coffee table book of Shipley's paintings. Yeah. A hard success for me. Nice. A hard success for you, regular success for Margo.

You're looking around, you're looking around. He's got a couple books, but they're very mundane. Nothing jumps out at you. Maybe you grab them rifle through the pages nothing But then you notice next to his bedside table Like a little sketch pad and there's just this odd drawing on it of like, I mean it's cartoonish. It would be like if someone without any artistic ability whatsoever was trying to draw like a bipedal monster. We take that I take it and put it in my sketchbook

I mean you can tell it was like drawn with a with an agitated hand He would have taken it with him if he had missed it or if it was important to him, so Either he had a very fine odd style of drawing or he was Agitated but he was drawing this. It's very chaotic. I'm not, uh, I'm not trying to take advantage of this man not being here, but is there any, uh, like silver around like cutler? Or something that we can take and use in self-defense. What, are you looking to sell it or...? No, no, I'm using, I'm thinking, well look, we told you guys, the graveyard had this,

this creepy old guy from Maine told us that there are these silver crosses hanging on these headstones to prevent whatever from coming up. So silver is obviously a thing, right? Like even if, who knows if this is a werewolf or what? Yeah. And you're going to be, you betcha Bippy, I'm going to ask the vicar for the same thing. But right now we're here. This guy's not going to miss a fork or whatever. I don't know. Maybe he's not rich enough to even have silver. Yeah, you look around and you're not surprised that you don't find anything. Anyone that had any sort of silver heirlooms would have to be people of means at this time or something like an antique that was handed down.

And unfortunately it seems like Harold Short doesn't come from that type of family. I want to take his precious family heirlooms and smelt them down into bullets. It's not... If you did find some silver, you could bring it to the local blacksmith and have them melt it down. I'm sure somebody in the comments has already said how much it's worth in this time. Silver didn't exist. Silver's free.

It grows on trees. Vaughn, I think, out of the corners of his eye just sees Tillinghouse rifling through this guy's silverware and is like, hmm, habits die hard, I see. Sort of a dull man to the last. But, no, God damn it. Alright, fine, whatever. Um, yeah, so that's what you see in Harold Schwartz. You've spent enough time here that

You know the vicar it was probably it's getting closer to the time that you said you'd meet the vicar But it's still you look outside the rain is slowed down a little bit, but it's still coming down pretty hard See you have any umbrellas in this joint He has what he has one umbrella all right, and it's it's emblazoned with the Short family crest. I was gonna say. Forget it, forget it. Is it plain or is it like his monogrammed umbrella? Property of Harold Short. Is it made of silver?

It's a huge golf umbrella made of silver. No wonder you can't afford any silver treasure. It's incredibly heavy. This umbrella has passed down to me for a century. No, this umbrella. That umbrella was passed down to me for a century. No, no umbrella. He has some newspaper. Well, he could take his bloody bandages and put them on there. Make a hat?

Make a cool hat, yeah. Alright, let's go see the vicar. So let's go splashing off across the street. Fine, before we go over there. Oh yes. We don't need to get into a lot of god talk with this guy right? We don't need to go down that road like we don't need to get into the... What are you gonna do? After seeing his sermon I'm very curious about the peculiarities of his theology. So.

What was his seven life? Well, let us get the important stuff out of the way and then you can talk to him after we hit the pub or whatever. Very well, very well. Was he speaking of something in particular that was off-putting or? It is only how frequently he was drawing together

the beasts of scripture, the Leviathans, Bahamoths and dragons. He seems very troubled. Seem to have the bestial on the brain. Okay, that should be fun. Interesting. All right, so you zip on over, moving with all haste to not, you just started to dry off and now you're gonna get wet again.

You go past the general store, the pitchlocklocked general store, you see the laughing horse tavern in the distance, bunch of people. It looks a little crowded because everybody's like, it's raining, it's Sunday, let's get drunk. You head over to the vicarage and you knock on the door and an elderly woman answers and she's like hunchbacked. She's stooped over and she's got little Pinsnay glasses at the end that are like attached to a chain and she says, oh, hello.

How may I help you on this rainy afternoon? Carter's kind of immediately like, oh, like puts his hands up because of the lizard woman from before. Last time we saw a cute old lady. All of us kind of reel back a little bit. Just kind of take a little whiff. Anything smell, miss? No, it smells rather nice in there. It looks neat.

Pastor, she's kind of standing at the door, but she's holding it shut, kind of. But you can see past her and everything looks nice. It's a small little vicarage that's not attached to the church, but right next to it. She's like, how may I help you? Well, we had thought that we might have an interview with the vicar. I spoke to him after his sermon. Oh, Reverend Stratton, yes. Well, he should be home shortly He's just finishing up his house call as a you know after church on Sundays He checks in on the elderly that can't make it in person anymore a very nice man

The reverend is lesser a dell is is lucky to have him We've always had good reverence, but Reverend Stratton is something special, I tell you. We're all like in the rain. Yeah, just like a wet cat. Does this upset? Yes, quite so. A lovely man. Always lovely and delightful to find a vicar so devoted to his calling.

Might we come in to escape the elements while we wait for the Reverend? Oh, you must think me so rude, but no, it would be... I would not be allowed to do that. I keep house for the Reverend, you see. I keep things clean and I do the laundry while the good Reverend heads to the church to write his sermons or to preach. He has such nice sermons, but as it were, I'm not really allowed to let visitors in, but I'm sure he'll be here in just a moment.

If you could perhaps crowd under the awning, most of you could say, dry. Carter's like, Carter turns over and is like, I got this, she's old. Hey. My sweet, sweet thing. Man. Oh dear. Oh dear. I thought I had seen all the the beautiful women in London with their Go-go boots that also don't exist yet

I was wondering if yes It's just tough to appreciate your Country while getting rained on. Do you know what I mean? Like I really would love to be dry and in the company of someone who is ravishing. And I want to do a... What do we got to do here? Charm?

Charm or persuade? Charm? Yeah, sure. Let's charm. I mean, you're charming the pants off her. It's a seduce the elderly role. Never before have I seen, yes. Seduce the elderly.

Joey has super power. Oh, alright. 28 under 75, so that's a lot. Still got it, baby. Just turns out the rest of them. He knows just what they want to hear. I'm really, really not supposed to, The rest of them, you know, it's just what they want to hear. Yeah. I'm really, really not supposed to, but I suppose if you just stayed right here at the door,

I don't want to get in trouble. Oh sure, we won't trot our soggy boots anywhere. All right, I just cleaned in here. I don't want there to be too much wetness on the floor, but you seem like a nice young man and your friends and everything. All right, just stand in this little one foot square in front of the door here, and I'll leave the door open

so no one thinks there's anything untoward going on. Oh no, we wouldn't want them to think you and I are an item. Heaven forbid. You flatter me. My husband died. I really do. Long ago, and I've been so alone. Gladly. Anyhow, please come in and may I ask what business do you have with Reverend Stratton? She lets you in and you see it's like a studio apartment almost.

It's very, very small. Everything's in here. The bed is kind of wedged into the back. He's got a desk that's scattered with papers and books just in front of the bed. There's a small little couch like sitting area. It's more of a love seat with another little table in front of it where it looks like there's a dish like some food on it, maybe hers. And then there's a separate bathroom room and it's small enough for a toilet and a very small shower. And she's just standing there kind of not letting you into the

room, but you guys are casing the joint. What business do you have with the vicar? You're not from here. I've never seen you at church. Well, no, though. My associates were there earlier today, and I can assure you that Reverend Stratton is expecting us. So I suppose we shall just huddle here for warmth while we wait. And as like Sparrow has like, stomped it, put like dragons in mud from the-

Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry for that. Oh, that's quite all right. I can always clean that up tomorrow. That's what I'll do tomorrow, I'll clean up that spot. I mean, this place is pretty... It must take you what? 5, 10 minutes to clean this whole joint?

This place is sunny. I'm very thorough and I'm also very slow, so it takes a long time. Just making his bed alone takes me half the day. What a wonderful existence. Yes. No, I'm very lonely. I mentioned that my husband passed. You did. Yes, no, I'm very lonely. I mentioned that my husband passed. You did, and a pleasure for him.

Many, many years ago. So this keeps me busy, and I feel as if I'm closer to the Lord just being near the Reverend. It is good. I'm glad you're coming to see him. He seems so troubled as of late. I literally am. Yes, he stays up

all hours of the night. I live nearby and sometimes I'll get up to urinate in the middle of the night. I do it so often. I drink so much water and yet I have a tiny, tiny bladder. I know that it's going to make me get up all night, but yet I still do it because I get dry. I don't know how you get dry in this country. It's moist everywhere. Well, I get up and I'll get up in the middle of the night and I look over and his light is still on. The man is up all hours of the night. I feel so bad. It's nice that he has some visitors to come and see him.

He's always out visiting others. I'm glad you seem like good people. And you think he's home when you wake up and you see him in the middle of the night, madam, and you see his lights on? You think that he's here, he's inside? Of course he's here. He's doing his problem writing. Maybe he's inspired by the Lord

and that's when he finds the best time to write his beautiful sermons. Did I mention he has the most beautiful sermon? Some of us heard it. Yes, yes, I had the pleasure of hearing it this morning, madam. He's lovely. Oh, and here is the Reverend right now. Thank God. You've been the acme of Christian charity.

You turn around and he's kind of walking up and he's got something like a paper over his head. He doesn't have an umbrella or anything. And he waves to you and he sees the doors open and he's like, oh, pardon me. I'm sorry. I hope you weren't waiting long. Myra, I thought we weren't going to let him guess. Oh, I just remembered it was raining.

I didn't want them standing outside. No, no, you're right. No reason to have people be wet. I should have been here. I told you that I would be. But please, please come in. No trouble at all, Vicar. Myra was just keeping us occupied with her scintillating conversation. Quite.

Good, good. Sorry, let me just gather myself. Myra, are you all right getting home? It's awfully wet out. Oh, I'm fine. I'm very dry. I'm very dry. It would be nice to let it hit upon my face." And she walks out in the rain. He's like, All right, I'll see you tomorrow, Myra. All wrinkles disappear as she absorbs all the... She's like a little amphibian. She was beautiful. He says,

Yes, please, please come in. And he just kind of, you can tell he's a little discombobulated and he like is wringing out, like slapping his hands to get the water off. And he takes his jacket and slams his jacket out. He's an old man. He's kind of frail, but he seems strong in the way that he's whipping his jacket. And he, yeah, he just kind of looks about and he's like moving things to like try and give you guys a seat, but there's really not room for all of you to sit.

And he just kind of goes over to his desk and he says, oh, sorry, it's a bit of a mess. He kind of like moves the papers around a little bit. Anyhow, I apologize, I'd like to say that the weather isn't always like this, but it often is. And anyhow, how may I help you? You have to remind me, we met at the end of church today. Why do you want to speak with me? Yes, we attended your service, Vigora. We've come here following up on some investigations and research done by a late lamented acquaintance of ours, our friend, one Mr. Jackson Elias. It seems as though Lesser Udale has suffered a great deal

in the past year. Yes, it has. Unfortunately, I pray every night that the village life can return to normal, but it has been a trying time for the good people of Lesser Aether. Yes, most unfortunate. As the spiritual leader of this rather insular community, what do you think... We've gotten many theories about these unfortunate events that have gone on, ranging from the rather folkloric to the more pedestrian. I'm wondering what you make of it all?

Oh well, you may find some people in town more open to discussing these horrible happenings but I find that no one wants such tragic events raked up. Families are still grieving. We try not to speak about it unless spoken to. I'm always there to lend an ear. I find that the families of the victims are at that precarious point where they're, dare I say, turning away from the Lord. They feel as if they have been abandoned by his grace and so I'm doing the best I can to win them back as it were while also trying to instill a sense of hope in the community that has just been ravaged. This is a small town with thankfully mostly small problems. These murders were just very out of the

ordinary and a horrible, horrible occurrence. Simply ghastly and you've proven quite articulate about the terrible toll that's taken on the locals. But I am curious what you think of the nature of the crimes. Now do you... I... You say that the suffering of late has come to push people further and further away from... ...from the sacraments, from people's faith. I find that as one suffers, perhaps one has drawn to faith all the more. For it is in the scripture that one finds some explanation for occurrences that some might dub supernatural. You are a man of faith, I can see.

I am, Lord knows I am a sinner, but I am a faithful man in my way. Well, I'm sure if you're a follower of the Scriptures, you've read about all manner of things and there are those who take it word for word as truth and others who see the symbols in what the prophets wrote. For me, I'm always questioning, and these latest occurrences have made me question even further. But the constable shot that wild dog, which has hopefully put an end to all of this and I would like to do so as well. Now we've already psychologized this guy over the course of his sermon. It seems to-

Oh, did you? Oh, right. Yeah. He seems troubled and you also know from old Bill, old Bill said that he, the vicar saw- Saw, yeah, that was my next-icar, saw. Saw, yeah that was my next. Yeah, go for it. Reverend, in the spirit of truth and discovery and to find closure in such tragedies that I can't even imagine what it must have been like for you. Is there anything, anything that you have experienced, anything that you've seen that would help us?

He looks down, kind of looks over towards his bed and his desk area, and then looks back and he's like, I hope that what the constable shot was what I saw. I only glimpsed it momentarily when I was walking home after visiting one of my parishioners. It was around nine o'clock and the moon was full, although a heavy mist had risen that evening. As I was opening the front gate, I heard heavy breathing a few feet away. Looking up, I saw a huge shape shrouded in mist, and while the form was obscured, its burning eyes, red eyes, filled me with terror. It let out a blood-curdling cry, or perhaps howl, and I knew it had seen me. Without thought I bolted into the house and locked the door, thanking God for my safety. That was the night that Harold Short was attacked. Tumwil felled the dog and there have been no attacks since.

Did you see Harold before he left? Did you go visit him at all? I did and he was unwell and touched. It felt as if he was reliving the moment over and over again. I told him that I would come as often as he wanted to just sit with him, to talk, to listen. And then one day I came and he was no longer there. And Harold was attacked, right? Yes.

Did he have to go see the doctor? What happened? Yes, there is a doctor in town. And I believe the doctor did the best he could to bandage up his wounds. They were horrible. The gash on his chest, you've never seen anything like it. So they were constantly changing the bandages over and over again. But I can't tell if he was getting physically or mentally better and then he was gone. Oh. And, sorry, Carter Tilling asked, American, we were in the cemetery during your sermon,

though I heard it was fireworks. Yes, sorry you missed it. No, next time. It's every Sunday, right? It's hard to miss. Yes. Is that how you guys do it in the Anglican Church? Is it Sundays? It's Sunday today, right? It's Sunday. miss. Yes. Is that how you guys do it in the Anglican Church? Is it Sundays?

It's Sunday today, right? It's Sunday. Yes, today is Sunday. Sorry to keep track. There's no sun. When we were in the cemetery, we saw a couple of, over the victims' graves, some silver crosses and the nigh unintelligible groundskeeper told us that it was to prevent the victims from arising. Is that something that you also subscribe to?

There is much folklore here and the further you go from the more civilized parts of England, and you know, some people believe certain things more so than others. I would never frown upon a crucifix being on a grave whether I may believe the same thing as the person who put it there or not. So you didn't put those there that was the townspeople putting on there? Yes it could have very well been the families. I'm not quite sure. Oh, yes. Well, Reverend, I...

I... Hearing everything that has occurred, I can't imagine the hardship that has befallen upon this small village. It's so wonderful that they have you as a pillar of faith in this community. I did want to ask you, because this township has its very humble charm to it, but I did notice this castle that's on this hill. It seems a bit off place. Could you tell us about the family?

Yes, I was thinking the same thing Reverend. Is the Vane family, are they members of your parish? They are. They don't come as frequently as some of my other parishioners. Lord Vane is often in London, and his son and daughter will keep house, as it were, while he's away. And they do come down. They like to mix among the people.

I mean, you'll often see Lawrence Vane at the Laughing Horse mixing it up with the locals on Whistler Knee Slap Night. Isn't that one of the guys who like doing Whistler? Yes. Yes. Yes, I do. Handbone night, yeah.

Yes, but the Vane family has lived in Derbyshire for centuries. Some say as long as 700 years. They were made lords during the reign of Charles II. Although no one knows exactly why. And they live in that keep up there. The castle, I'm a bit of a student of history so you asked the right person. Plum Castle as it's known is one of England's Norman fortresses.

The keep was originally built by Henry II in 1175 and later rebuilt and remodeled in 1587. It's gone through several changes over the years. And the castle is one of 20 built around the area at various times between the 11th and 17th centuries. Now you may find this bit of trivia interesting. Plum Castle's name is falsely said to have derived from when it fell into the hands of Edward III's like the plum, as they say, when a rebellious former owner neglected to secure the gate. But that is not true. In fact, the name comes from the Norman French le plomb, meaning lead.

Thus, it's not plum castle it's lead castle this area was actually a very important source of lead for over five centuries hence the castle's name there are in fact lead mines still active today just south of Montour most of them long since forgotten to time, but it's still a thriving industry here in Lesser Edel. It's a lot of pencils. Very fascinating. Yes.

Yes. How I could speak on history as much as I could the Bible. It's always been a bit of an interesting side hobby. So Carter wants to, here's what I want to do, Troy I want to stand up and I want to walk Towards this desk and I want I want to give a little peeky at these papers that he Shuffled around when he first came in, right? Yeah, but I want to distract him by being like history man

It's crazy that this country has it. Do you know what I mean? Like, where I'm from, we've got what? What's the year? 1920s? We were founded in 17th? And so that's what? That's like 400 years only that we've been around. So the fact that you guys go back into the 11th, 10th century,

I don't know, is that where you start? Tell me more about this king, who was it? Is this Charles II, is that the roundhead guy? Who are the roundhead? And just start like walking. And Faerys will be like, do tell us about the history of your church. How long has it been established?

When was the foundation? Was the 1587 remodel due to Elizabeth II doing a progress to the castle? And Tillinghast raises an interesting point. How did the interregnum affect the Eadale area? He's torn between watching Carter being really interested in you being interested in what he has to say. So Carter, give me a spot hidden. Yes, of course. My worst skill. Next to ride.

You should have been the distraction for the better spot. Holy fuck. I got an 18 under 28. All right. So regular success. One eye's working hard. Yeah, I mean, that's the truth, right? so you going over there and he's like, oh I can Yes, I will. It's interesting you ask about the church's structure. We just rebuilt that and you look over at the desk Okay, there's a few things that jump out at you you got you got to do a quick glance right because if you're lingering there

He's gonna see why don't over there so quick glance Regular success on a spot hidden a couple things jump jump it out you you see some letterhead on his desk That's Very it just it's very strange. It says the Derwent Valley order of the Golden Druid It says the Derwent Valley Order of the Golden Druid. That's great. That doesn't sound real Christian. Derwent Valley Order of the Golden Druid.

You also see a Latin to English dictionary, like a primer, not even a dictionary, like a primer for Latin to English translations. Then you also see a paper with the name Vane on it. There's other books, leather bound books and whatnot. He's like, and please Mr. Tillinghouse join us here when I talk about the church. That church. Oh I just listen better on my feet. I've been standing all day so I should keep standing. Yes Father, Tillinghouse's pacing is a sign of his, it's just his thought process. It means I'm engaged. Ah yes, good. Well, you know us Americans. Yes, you're

Americans and you're walking. Yes. We just love to take up space, Americans. You know what I mean? Americans are a connoisseur of country. Yeah. Yes. Well, you know, I should, all this talk of history has kind of gotten me off my original thought is what makes you interested in everything that's taken place here. You know often we get tourists here to see the ruins or perhaps try and get an invitation into Plum Castle or check out the Blue John Cavern, but your interest seems to be investigative in nature. Well, as my fiancé has mentioned earlier that…

Oh, congratulations. No, not me. Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. I have a lazy eye. Oh, you were looking at him. I was looking at him. Right.

I'm sorry. I have a lazy eye. Oh, you were looking at him. I was looking at him. Right. Sorry. We did have a good friend of ours pass under very unusual circumstances that we have reason to believe may be connected to the occurrences that happened here. Really, may I ask how so? Supernatural, supernatural. The occurrences that are uncanny in nature, Reverend. Where? Occurrences that are uncanny in nature, Reverend. Rather like the ones I think bedeviled Lesser Edel.

Was your friend... Where was he killed? He met his unfortunate and untimely end in no lesser city than New York. But even in that city, which is a byword for the modern, one can still find a Chthonic element. And it's interesting, and you believe there may be some connection between something that happened in New York and something that happened in our small village. I understand how strange it must sound, but yes, it does seem though there are peculiar

connections, of a most uncanny, and of a most global nature. It seems to dog our steps wherever we go. I'm fine. Poor choice of phrase. It's very, very interesting. I am sorry for your loss. I hope that this ugliness will soon be behind all of us. We want to do what we can to understand and avenge our friend a bit. We did not get the chance to talk to him before and understand what he was investigating himself.

or and understand what he was investigating himself and you had the chance to speak with Harold. Is there any way you could share with us anything you think might be useful information that he might have told you before he left after the accidents? Well, first I hope you don't mind me preaching as it were, but you said you were hoping to avenge your friend's death. It is not my place to tell you what you should or should not do, but, as it is written in the scripture, do not take revenge, my dear friends.

But leave room for God's wrath For it is written it is mine to avenge. I will repay says the Lord revenge is a dark dark Passion that can put you in a worse place than your friend? Surely, surely Reverend, but um... those to whom

terrible uncanny things have been revealed might not be said that they have been chosen for some purpose and while it may be base to term it so darker a thing as vengeance, we at least may assist God's justice. Does he not work through us, his ministers and his instruments, to set right the affairs in this fallen world in which we live? As it is written, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. It would be easy to just do as they do.

Sometimes the more difficult path is the way of the Lord, but we are not in church and I'm sorry. It's hard to get an old reverend from doing what he does. Of course, you give me much to think about. Dare I say best? But if just hypothetically, if we were to like, you know, slay a monster, that would save lives in the future, no? Wasn't there, is there not a church story, whatever you call them, about a serpent and a, what was it, Jesus Vaughn, there's a guy with a sword, there's a fucking knight, and there's something, now the night's probably too late, you know what I mean?

Many stories of serpents. And they're all slayed, God's like, kill that motherfucker, you know what I mean? Yes, I have a teeling hasse. I think you're talking about the story of St. George and the Dragon, which Yeah, there we go. That's not in the Bible. That's not technically scriptural. Right, it's in the Bible part two. Not sure that's a thing.

Going back to your friend's original question, I wish I had more that I could share with you, but I cannot. I would suggest you speak to Constable Tumwell. He was in charge of the case, and while the higher authorities in Derby did come and investigate, they worked together and the case is officially closed. I think that he might be able to give you a little more closure than perhaps I can. Well Reverend the reason why we came to you is because although we are people of science there are things that science cannot explain. We have seen those things with our own eyes and I'm sure hearing your story that you have

as well. And so while we will make it our mission to seek justice for our friend and ask all the things, all the questions from people that we need to, especially of our constables, we wanted to speak to you because we feel that you may give answers that others might not have had the correct eyes and heart with which to see. He kind of pauses and regards you curiously. Yes. Well, perhaps we will speak more on this

if and when either of us have more information to share. Very well. I hope we do. Before we go, you don't have any extra those silver crosses around, do you? I just would feel safer hanging out in your little berg. Little holy water, little vials. The holy water, I

keep it all at the church. I could bless some water for you if that's... I don't have any more crucifixes except the one I'm wearing. Oh yeah, what's that one look- what's that look like? It's silver. Um... But I-

This is- This is- was given to me by my- my grandfather. I've just- I've always been so curious what a cross looks like that a priest wears versus... What? You're not getting my- Can I see it? Do you mind if I- You're not getting my cross young man? I just want to see it He's gonna see it may bless him water for you get out of my house

Actually, Troy. There's a reason for this bullshit, which is to see if he's actually wearing so oh yeah He's like I suppose I could show you yes, and he unbuttoned his little shirt Sitting nestled between his white chest hair. Ah, that's what I was getting at. A silver cross for this silver box. That alabaster gold. Margot melts. Thank you for giving us so much of your precious time. Yes.

I dare say you deserve some much needed rest after spiritual labors that you've undertaken today. Yes, it has been many a sleepless night as of late, but I always hope that I'm tired enough to actually get some rest, as were and you should as well but my door and the doors of my church are always open to both believers and non-believers except when it's raining and you're not here but that's all. Myra means well she's She's just old and dry. Truly one of the most arid women I've ever met. God. Just some toast and a dress.

Just a human pile of sand. Well, cheerio. Pipip cheerio. Makes you think. Oh, it looks as if the rain slowed down a bit. Where will you head now? Mid afternoon now? Getting on until evening? It's getting into the evening time, yeah.

I think, well, there's- We're not quite sure, sir. A phone, a telephone. I'm sure just, we are, we are, we must get out of these soaking wet clothing and- Maybe we'll move on, maybe we won't. We're just gonna go with the, where the breeze takes us. One more question, is there anywhere in town

where one might use the services of telephone? It's funny you should say that there is only one phone in this village and that belongs to Constable Tomwell. Oh, yes. He's very open about letting the villages use it as it is the only means of direct communication with the outside world. But yes, he does have the only phone. His house acts as the police station as well. Oh, great. Does he mind if people just drop by? I'm sure he'll want to know why, but you can always try.

He's very nice. He can be a bit gruff. He's got a lot of pressure on his shoulders and more so as of late since these troubles. But yes, he's a good man. I see him in church every so often. Okay, we will just stop by though. Mainly Christmas and Easter. Oh, it's one of those. Thank you so much for your time, Reverend.

You're welcome. I'm going to take off my clothes. Get some sleep so we should go. You should leave. I hope you sleep well tonight. I hope so as well. Good night. Good night.

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June 17th, wherever you listen to podcasts. Welcome to the ultimate social deduction game, Blood on the Clock Tower. The evil team must stalk the streets at night, hunting down members of the good team one by one. Meanwhile, the good team must outmaneuver the evil team using their unique abilities. I'd like to kick things off by telling you all that I'm possibly the demon. Our players can mislead and manipulate others with absolute freedom. I didn't like hearing my name in the same sentence as demon.

That was very upsetting for me. Emily and I will be your storytellers, guiding you through every labyrinthian twist and turn. How are there so many evil players in this game? What's happening? With guests from No Rolls Barred, the Pandemonium Institute, and Oxventure, you won't be able to stop listening. Alright, so you leave the Vicarage, the old church ominously standing in the distance, rain coming down but not pouring like it was earlier. You see people walking about and the first thing that strikes you is a woman by herself with two small children and she's

walking like kind of shielding them from the rain but getting wet herself and she's just walking off like towards the westerly direction. Based on what we've heard, I'm trying to remember, would this family of women and young kids be reminiscent of the family of one of the victims of the beast? Yes. The victims of the beast. Yes, yes. One of the victims left behind a wife and two young children. And so you would think this is probably them. There was Mr. Parkins who lost his daughter. He'd already lost his wife.

And then there was the, I think it's called the Osgood. So you must think this is Miss Osgood. She's with a widow Osgood walking with her children. And yeah, you want to pay a visit to the old constable? I don't know, when would it also be appropriate to go up to the castle? I am rather intrigued by the vagueness. Not at night time. Can you just show up to a castle? You mentioned something about an invitation being necessary,

but I find that I have good luck if I just knock on the door. Is this a castle? Do you not have a tapestry? A tapestry. No. I'm the worst that could happen. Well, should we try to use the phone first? Yes, perhaps. Certainly we'll never,

could see if we can get Mr. Short on the receiver. Here's what I think. I'm down to check out a castle. Lord knows I love a castle. I don't know if I love a castle when the sun has gone down and the beast might exit it. Maybe, yes. So tomorrow. When's the full moon again? Well, when did we establish this is the sun has gone down and the beast might exit it. So tomorrow.

Yes, when's the full moon again? Well, when did we establish this is? Well, it sounds like- A week from Tuesday. But it sounds like this thing, but it also didn't it sound like this thing was showing up not on full moons? They've been hearing it howling every night. Yeah, so perhaps-

So I'm just, I think a nice 9 a.m. castle visit. Maybe we can visit, two of us can visit the constable and two of us can go to the store and maybe they will have something to make you feel safe that is made of silver. Yeah, I mean we could check that out too. Or we could also keep an eye on the vicar's house at night. Do you think he wasn't being too bright? Listen, I know it's 1925. I just had this image of a Stephen King book from 60 years from now about a priest who's a werewolf

called Silver Bullet, no big deal. Actually called Psycho the Werewolf. Maybe they'll make a movie called Silver Bullet. Anyway, I was just, you know, everyone's a suspect, gang. If we not learned this yet, everyone's a suspect. But he was wearing silver. Exactly, well now he's off the list. See, that's why I wanted to check.

If he's wearing silver, he's not a werewolf. But what did you see when you were probing around on his desk till he was? Oh yeah, gee, I almost forgot. Christ, so much has happened. Uh, we had an ad for something. Uh, the... It's like about Joe Dice. Christ, so much has happened. We had an ad for something. Uh... The...

Something about Joe Dice. Something hilarious. Making fun of some redheaded pants. There's a... There's a couple things. One, Latin to English dictionary. Almost said Latin or American. I'm not that dumb. Latin to English dictionary almost a Latin American not that dumb Latin English

dictionary which I would think most priests don't most priests just know Latin now it's thinking almost anyone with it traditional education has some grasp all right calm, you know what I mean. Nora did study Latin in college. I mean, obviously Vatican II is what changed the whole Latin in mass thing, at least for Catholics. I don't know what's going on with Anglican and Latin. But anyway, saw that, saw a piece of paper with the word vein written on it. The castle. What sort of a paper?

Was it a deed, a correspondence, a digital document? It's a great question. Let me look back into my mind, Troy. I think you just said paper with the word vein written on it. Maybe that was because of the quality of my role. Yeah, there was a paper with the word vein written on it. Yep. word vain read on it maybe that was a quality of my role with the word vein and then there was a third there was a letterhead from some crazy golden

society of druid ding-dongs or whatever something the Derwent Derwent Valley order of the golden druid yes I'm pretty sure it was Ding Dong. Ding Dong. There was a D word in there. Ding Dong does sound more accurate. He said Ding Dong. I'd have a 10 on me, I would have written it down, yeah. The Valley Order of the Golden Druid. That doesn't sound very Christian.

It doesn't sound that evil, but it doesn't sound Christian, yeah. However, yes, any order we've encountered in these past few years. Yes. Have bad luck with the brotherhood of this and the colloquy of that in the order of so and so. Precisely. Well, yeah. But the thing is, if this guy's awake at night, I'm not saying that he's a werewolf necessarily, but something's bothering this dude. I'm not saying that he's a werewolf necessarily, but something's bothering this dude.

And if future Mrs. Tillinghast is saying that she sees him outside, she gets, she's peeing nonstop and sees him hanging out, maybe he's up to something. Maybe he's hunting the beast himself. I mean, I think it's, he's carrying the weight of making the whole town feel safe, and it's just keeping him up at night.

And causing massive dehydration. And it sounds like he saw a monster and maybe is freaked out. I don't know why he doesn't want our help, but. Okay, I think actually in both Maya and I think Vaughn's imagination, something sparks with this, like, water of the golden druid. I have Vaan's imagination, something sparks with this, like, Order of the Golden Druid.

I have to agree with you, Saur, there is something rather, as bad luck as we've had with these sorts of brotherhoods and orders, it does sound something more benevolent. The vicar seemed to me to be a rather compassionate chap. It does have a more jovial ring to it than order of the bloody town. It also sounds more real.

Golden and druids, aren't they supposed to be nature people? Yes, yes. But perhaps. Maybe he knows some magic, like a little witch, but for a priest, if a priest was a witch. In a world where there are so many- Are you making a Jesuit? Which is, you know, sometimes there are witchy ladies around in the woods,

and like instead of a witchy lady, it's a, it's a, a, a priest who lives in a small town and he's a druid. Witchy vicar. Witchy vicar. Could be a witchy vicar. Perhaps we should just Ask him out right The episode title we could just tell him like look we we want to battle monsters by your side Yes, this is it. Perhaps. There's a perhaps there are brotherhoods sworn to a more a

more beneficent Tradition than the ones that we've encountered here before well we don't need to get into it now, but I feel like ladies. We definitely need to look into. Is there some order situation you guys are familiar with? Come on. Come on. And Faerûs uncomfortably like gives darts over at at Tillinghast at that insinuation and then realizes it's a very smart, innocuous question. Margot jabs you in the side. Oh god damn the knife

with a knife Bleeding out. That's how Germans order. That's how Germans jokingly Equipment well, I'm a Dems. I sure I'm Impelled to go and ask about the vicar about this order outright. But perhaps that shall wait. Yeah, maybe if you went to him solo and used your desperate Vaughan face, you know? Yes, perhaps. And then, plus you're all about the Bible now.

You guys can get into that too if you need to. There must be some historical society or... Order? No, I mean, a records keeper of this town somewhere where there might be some mention of this. Perhaps. These people don't seem to be keen on libraries. Yeah, it seems the local historian

is the chap we just spoke to. Right, and I don't suppose this would be anything that would be written, perhaps this is something that's in establishment currently, and so maybe that would be a perhaps is something that's in establishment currently and so maybe that would be a dead end altogether. Maybe we can break into his little studio house when he's not there. But then the lady, she's always there.

That's where Tillinghouse could possibly whisk her away. Unless you could be coaxed away. It's just a dry black hole of charisma. Just set out a bowl of water somewhere. Yes. Yes. Yes. And she'll come to you.

Water in fleet. And she'll come to you. Oh, I found an outdoor shower. It's a camping shower. All right, let's go see this fucking constable guy. Let's use his phone. Let's talk to him about who knows what and let's get moving. I'm still soggy.

Agreed. Plus, I want more of that pint of whatever the hell we were drinking last night because that shit was the bomb. Alright, very well. To Tumwills. To Tumwills. Constable Tumwells, Constable Tumwell. He lives in a house which also acts as a police station and which, if the vicar is correct, holds the only working phone in the village.

How does the Laughing Inn take reservations? You knock on the door and there's a long pause until you hear scuffling feet and the door opens and a very overweight, rotund gentleman, mostly bald. He's got a policeman's cap on, but you can tell his hair is being shoved up and over it, what little hair he has left, bit of a comb over under the cap, and he has a big bushy mustache and this rather like bemused look on his face as he opens the door and looks at all of you and he's like, yes, how may I help you? Terribly sorry for the intrusion, old man, but I was wondering if you might do with the kindness of allowing us to use your telephone

We hear you're the only one in the parsonage Yes You are the visitors that Bill told me about says you were at the laughing horse last night asking many questions about our fair town. Would this phone call have anything to do with that? Are you perhaps visitors from Derby here to check up on our work? No, um, we've come from London, I'm afraid. Oh, from London! Is that what they've done? They've sent people from London to check up on old Constable Tumwell. It wasn't enough to have the investigators from Derby come and check my work. Now they've sent the London crew!

Listen, listen here, Tumwell. Villiers is the name. We're not here to check up on your on your labors. We- we- the whole town is simply abuzz about your slaying of that dog that's done all these terrible things. We just want to pay a social call Social call yes, well That's the case And you've heard of my exploits in ridding the town of that horrible dog Oh, yes, everyone is cracking on about your heroism Tom Tomwell. I'm practically vibrating right now in your presence.

Well, it's not unheard of. Uh... Please come in. Uh, I'd, uh... I would offer you some tea, but I don't touch the stuff. I, uh... I just have, uh... Water in the morning and ale at night.

My man! Carter's into this guy. Yes, and a bunch of sandwiches in between. Not necessary, but thank you for your hospitality nonetheless. Just a thing for the guys. So social call, you said, and you want to use my phone. In what order, Mr. Villiers, was it? Yes, Vaughn Villiers we are

say it I give him a card you are in the distinguished presence of the mystery school yes yes that's the one have animal investigators in the mystery squad car is loving this I feel it's the first time he's heard any of you say this out loud Like to somebody to a stranger at least you have your own business cards And yet you say you aren't investigators from London and yet you have business cards stating your investigators from New York We are an international Investigation from London yes, you know like Interpol? Does that exist yet? We're like that, but for the world and for creatures.

You'll pardon me if I don't cut straight to the chase here. Why are you here and how may I help you? Well, we did say telephone. That is very important in this. Yes, I don't just let any Tom, Dick, or Harry use my phone. Well, you see, we would use another phone if there was another phone available, but you see, you are the only one currently

in this fine town to have a telephone for us to use. And I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but if we could use that telephone, please. Plus, to be in the presence of a local hero. Oh, yes, absolutely. A folk hero. Really, what we're here to do, Tamwell, since we've heard everyone here simply gushing over your amazingly heroic exploits with that dog,

is to get it straight in the horse's mouth, so to speak. We were wondering if you could give us every detail of your hunting and slaying of the terrible beast that was running roughshod over poor, defenseless Lesser Edale until the noble and strapping Tumwell stepped in to save them. Can we try to explain this later on? Yes, because we've heard some mix of stories.

One person at the inn made it seem as though you were just kicking a poodle. And so I, very confused, so I just wanted some clarification on this story because a man such as yourself, you know, Faeru's starting to try her hand at flirting again, which she's not good at because her charm is so low.

Just winking with both eyes. Winking with both eyes. Yeah. Because I had heard such harrowing tales and then a person must have been jealous of you, made it downplay the situation drastically. So there you have it. Who said that I kicked a poodle?

You could think of us as that. What if it was somebody, Bill somebody. Investigators in training. Old Bill. Yes, it must have been someone who just, maybe out for your job or maybe. Give me a time where like, give me a charm roll

Just curious I've got a 15 you guys You waded into these waters huge I rolled a 94 15 Wow inches away from a Fum Boney Yeah, he just kind of looks at you like- Yeah, what do you do? Wait, I want to know how you fuck this up. She's like leaning in towards him and her like, she's like her, she's like trying to play with her hair, but it's like dripping on him. Your hair is wet. Just in his face. As she's like trying to like, you know

can I say like You can think of us as investigators in training like we have our cards, but you know, we We heard about your story Purely amateurs old man We would love for you to hear it from you and to learn more about how to be you know, good investigators Your accent is that? Bulgarian Close my second great investigator Bulgarian I

Hate it. I'm not Bulgarian good. I like you already Listen, I have nothing to hide the matter is over with and I've moved on with my life. It's hard enough being a one-man army in this town when any little thing goes wrong. I'm an open book. I've told this story many times. I'm happy to tell it again, for there is not much to tell. You must understand murders and such don't happen around here unless they hate hell. Everyone here knows each other.

They grew up with each other. They're baptized inside that church, and many years later, they're buried 20 feet away. Two nights and- Why don't you, oh, sorry, you're going right into it. Just get, why don't you, while you're telling us, could one of us just use the phone while you're telling the story?

No! I want to know who you're calling, and then I will will decide seems like a breach of privacy, but okay I want to know if I can trust you to use my phone. It's a precious It's his fault. I'm the guardian of the phone such is the role of constable Feroz you're getting wet my entire shoulders wet now cuz You've got my police uniform wet I only have two Hey, Rose, you're getting wet. My entire shoulder's wet now. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You've got my police uniform wet. I only have two. Okay, sorry, I cut you off. Keep going.

No, I was just going to say two nights in a row. They were a simple town. People, we don't have the problems like what we had a few months back. Two nights in a row, people showing up dead. And in such a busily fashion, I was out trying to keep the village safe by myself you should know I waited for you to trick actual spit take on the third night after Harold was was brought to safety I went back out and I found tracks big tracks right where he was attacked. I followed them outside of the city and was able to track down a rabid hound, the size of

which I had never come across in all my years as a messiah down. It was enormous and easy. Steady on, steady on, Tumwil. My god, the doughty Tumwil striding off into the wilderness, facing off with rabid hounds. I hadn't yet switched from water to hail. It was an easy target. Ten feet high if it was a yard. Ten feet high? No, I'm being, being obsequious. It was big and I shot it three times and it went off to die in the hills and there's been no trouble since. I shot the blighter. Thank God. Was the body recovered?

Yes, was the body of the beast taken into your custody? Or was it just stuffed around here somewhere? No, there's no way it could have survived. I got three rounds off right in its chest. I will say that I went out the next day to try and track it, but it had rained, obviously. It rains every fucking day in this town. And the blood. Sorry, language.

The blood lord. I'm sorry, that's my second wife for you. She taught me those words. And yet such bountiful dehydration in your elderly. Yes, I was there. Oh, so you've met Myra? Yes. Yes, a human desert. Anyhow, the blood trail went into the soil from all the rain.

I couldn't track it. But I assure you, somewhere out in those woods, there is a carcass that the rats have picked clean by now. A what? A carcass! Oh. The rats have picked it clean by now. There's no way it could have picked clean by now. A carcass! Oh. The rats have picked it clean by now.

There's no way it could have survived. Case closed, and all the more recent, since that night there have been no other attacks, people say, oh, there's this myth, oh, there's this folklore, oh, there's howling in the hills, there's howling in the hills ever since I was born. Whatever that creature was, it is gone. Case closed.

Can we do a psychology roll on that? You may. This is very confident. On this very jowly sounding, I'm so stupid. I rolled a d20, I'm like wow I got a 10. What a phenomenal roll. Alright. That's a 50.

I fail. I can spend, look and we haven't done the luck thing and oh Shit, this is the latest luck roll This might be the latest in the history of the show, but I can spend some luck here once we figure out how much I See Did it I failed I did it. I failed. I failed for once. I failed. Ugh, one point only.

I also failed my luck roll. Failed is good. You see, yeah, yeah, it's a D10. Physical dice for this part. Folks, I got two points back. Nice. Oh! It's a double mine. Nine points for me, which I will aptly also use up in a sec.

I got jack shit. Use that luck. All right, I'm gonna spend 13 points of luck to make this psychology a success. Yes, probe him, probe him! Leak on him. What's he all about? Make him wet.

Sod him. My god, you've soaked him, Shebra. The anti-myra. Yes. So, marinate him in my hair juice. So you spent luck to turn a failure into a success or a success into a heart? Just a failure into a success. Failure into a success.

Alright, so the rest of you are trying, this guy is confident, blustering but confident, but Faeruz is just watching him when he speaks. And you get that small little twinge of doubt. He speaks with confidence because he's trying to convince himself that he really did solve this. Maybe he really believes it, but's this... I have to... And very subtly, Fae-Rus will be standing also next to Vaan and very subtly she will

tap the side of his foot. Carter sees it and is like See Margo, that's how you fucking tell somebody to stop talking. I don't think that's what you fucking tell somebody to stop talking. That's how you subtle- I don't think that's what she's trying to tell him. Whatever she's telling him.

Whatever she says, it's a subtle non-jab to the side. Don't bring your tongue again. Okay, I'm done. I have to wonder. Glitcher. Vaughn of course reads this non-verbal communication expertly and like nothing else of course. expertly and uh like yes of course um well it's a the people of lesser edale are quite lucky that uh that a second saint george strides abroad in their very midst that's that's you tom well my god man you you slayed the beast

i got that reference yes yes yes you're yes. You're too kind, sir. I'm just doing what I can. I was raised here. My father was constable before I was. Taught me all, all his ways, and I've taken over, and I do the best that I can. These stiffs that come up from Derby, they think they know better than I. I know these people. Terrible. Terrible, terrible to have interference in one's line of work when one is clearly an expert. Whether from Derby or I'm sure you don't get anyone here

trying to ruffle your investigations with any just cause. Certainly not Derby or London or the Veins. What an insult, somebody from Derby thinking they can interfere in your affairs when you run this town. Yes, an insult. But possibly could they have come here to say to you? I mean, really? They just corroborated the things that I already saw.

The attacks, they were grisly. When the bodies were found, it was a horrible sight. The likes of which I've never seen. It was not for the squeamish. Well, like my man Vaughn said too, just like people coming up from Darby, the Veins, right? The Veins, like. I don't doubt that local aristocracy. Blue Bloods.

Oh, the Veins. This is down on one. Well, no, the Veins are lovely. Oh, right, okay. Yes, yes. Lord Arthur Vane himself came from London during all of this to ensure that you know, his presence was felt here You know, he he's a museum No, he came after Afterwards. Yes. He was in London as he is often as a member of the House of Lords

But he he came back after all this business immediately To make sure that you know the the people felt safe that their Lord was here That's very surely. He must have a son that that runs the estate Lawrence vain Vain is his heir and he has a young daughter as well that they've been trying to marry off or whatnot. But Lawrence Vane is, he's a good chap. He's not, in my opinion, not quite ready to rule. He does things a little bit differently than his father, but he's a man of the people and some people like that. Yes, we hear that he'll mix it up at the laughing-horse of an evening.

Oh, yes. I'm surprised you haven't run into him yet. If you are staying over there and hanging out talking to old Bill and whatnot. Oh, keep an eye. Oh, he's over there right now. Yes, hopefully they have a pleasure. About the telephone. I have the telephone, my old...

I suppose you seem as if you're on the up and up. You've been very complimentary to me, and that is the fastest way to my phone. All right, you may use it. I suppose I should just go in the other room, or should I stand over your shoulder like this? As I said, this is a social call of a rather delicate nature. I'm, though I'm sure a razor sharp-minded investigator such as yourself loves to keep tabs on everything.

Hey, in Famous Flicks her wet hair again. Tomwell, why don't you show me your, I wanna see the weapon that felled the beast. You got that around? Give me a. Oh, I suppose I would show you the weapon. I have it right. All right, you make your call and I will And I'll show you my gun. Come on So sweet may I may I hustle off to the phone in relative privacy and ring the number in red their old shorts Oh, it's red

I in Harold Schwartz. Oh, it's red. Duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh. I guess I get the operator. I'm like, um, yes. Hello, there, old friend. How's it going, sonny? Yes, um, I was wondering if you could connect me to Mr. Schwartz in, let's see, that's Skagney's 5402-35666-Z7. However the hell the early mid-1920s English telephone number is.

We'll find out in chat. Sound off in the chat and you tell me exactly how I'm wrong. Be very specific with it. Okay. Sound off in the chat and you tell me exactly how I'm wrong. Okay. Okay. Be very specific with it. Yes. Yes. Summon the pedants. I'm all out of here, skim through quantity. Too kind, thank you. Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr I'm I am a I'm an interested party

Following up. I'm about a medical matter I'm sorry you have to be more clear. I'm his brother Thomas. Oh, yes I'm watching over him Are you the doctor that treated him back home? Yes, I'm the doctor from Lesser Edale. I was just curious and following up about the wounds. Well, you know, he's convalescing here and the wounds seem to be healing. We did everything that you prescribed for him to do. They seem to be healing, but you know the extent of those lacerations. Of course, terrible, terrible.

So he's resting well then? He's resting as well as he can. You know, the lacerations and the physical healing are only part of it. It's the mental part of it. He's still not quite over it. He's haunted by what he experiences. I'm sure you can under, although I imagine you can understand it sometimes I hear him talking.

It sounds crazy to me. I dare say. I wouldn't be able to speak uh, speak to your brother himself. I... not to disturb his... his rest. Uh, he's really not, uh, not in a position to be, um, disturbed. Uh, is there something that I can... can help you with? And so you could try to persuade him with a persuade role or some sort of role like that or intimidate or you could just I

think I might mean if I can bargain this can I do fast talk and really try to lean into this doctor lie yeah yeah yeah absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Great. That's a hard fast talk success. Yeah. In 665. Fast talk success. Yes, of course. As you say, Thomas, if I may call you Thomas, there is of course the physical dimension to an ailment,

but there is also the mental dimension. And if I can speak to the man himself, I will have a better knowledge of exactly how to move forward with his convalescence. I think we'll have him up and about and back to his normal self in no time, as long as I can get a appropriate picture of how his mental strain is affecting him.

But of course, that's only possible if I can speak to the man himself. Uh... well I suppose that will be alright. You do your brother a great service, you know, I can tell he's in good hands. We thought the seaside air out here would help, and I imagine it has but Yeah, maybe you could just make it quick. I don't want him to get all upset I Promise mr. Mr. Short. I'll be of these brief as possible All right

Hold on and you can hear him like in the distance And you can hear him like in the distance. Yeah, I know. Then you just hear... breathing. Is Mr. Short? Yeah. Following up, sir, about um...

The horrible experience you've had in Lesser Edale. It has caused you to take the uh, the cure... On the seaside. You're the doctor that treated me. I must confess Mr. Short that I am not. Who are you? One who is looking for true justice. Who or what has done this to you, sir?

I was out taking a stroll. I was always taking evening strolls. I liked to walk and think about what to do with my life. And I'd walk out into the country to clear my head as it were. And as I was coming back out the moon. I fell backwards a little bit, And then it was on me. And I could feel its burning claws raking my body. I hit the ground and everything went black.

I was sure that I had been taken. It all happened so quickly. And I, I see it every night in my dreams. And I smell it. This foul smelling gray colored beast is haunting me even when I sleep at night. Mr. Short, Mr. Short. Can I? Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

Thomas picks up the phone. Doctor, he's not well. I've got to deal with him. Put him to sleep right away. Treat him with the it's alright, Harold. It's alright, Harold. It's alright. Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo You got any other guns you want to show us? This is a big one Anyhow And my mustache combs oh my god look at these combs yes, I'll handle them Did everything go well with your call there, Mr. Villars, was it? Yes, Vaughn is like taking down a cigarette in almost a single pull. Like, um, yes, uh, righteous reign, righteous reign, old man.

Everything's fine. Yeah, I feel like we probably see Vaughn's demeanor. Like, well, thanks so much, sir. We will be on our way. Yes, it was wonderful to meet you all. I was wise to be wary once I heard from Mr. Whitlock that there were people asking questions, but it turns out that you are fine, honest folk,

not here to be cowboys in a small little town. I guess. Never. Never. We are awesome. Could never be us. Could never pull off that accent. Oh, wonderful.

Well, perhaps I'll see you later, the laughing horse. I, it's almost a'clock. Hey. For the constable. First pints on us. I will hold you to that and by us I mean that guy right there Vaughn Phil. Yes. Yes, of course. It's free. I'm drinking it If you see old bill tell him I didn't kick any poodles. I

Was only sure to correct him never My third wife loved poodlesodles and I wanted to kick them. But I never did. Good day! Good day to you! Oh, or should I say good evening? It's getting late. Oh, too right, too right.

All the more reason that we should be off! Yes. Alright! See you! Goodbye. Be seeing you. Alright, we get outside. Yeah, see you. Goodbye. Be seeing you. All right, we get outside. Yeah, we get outside immediately.

Just like, if that jackal ate shop that dog, then I'm the pope. That, what? I mean, I'm very surprised that he was open about it being a literal monster dog. Hold on, hold on, Fawn, what's up, man? You look like fucking, you look worse than usual. What's going on?

I don't think, you didn't, you spoke to Mr. Short. Yes, what did he have to say? You don't look like a cute little ghost. He wasn't so much what he's, he, um, a man of a truly troubled mind. He's been through a terrible, terrible ordeal. The manner in which he spoke, the plodding pace of it, the shattered nerves, the labored respiration.

I remember... I remember people suffering from shell shock speaking the exact same way. After they'd undergone the horror of the guns, never quite the same. He's been through something terrible. That-that-that-that-that picture you took from his, uh, his bedside. Mm-hmm. It was, as he described it, a hulking, enormous, gray, foul-smelling beast. Thought it killed him.

So weird, so he thought it killed him, but it didn't? So it left him there? He was not, he was not telling us what actually happened. Whatever happened, it wasn't. He was embellishing you. Something wasn't. He was not telling us the truth. Yes. Either he was shot and the dog ran away, the beast ran away, something got in the way of it. I have no doubt that something like that would have finished the job.

But the theory of ours that whoever has been attacked by this beast would belabor the legends of lycanthropes would turn into one of them. It seems as though he's, despite his mental strain, he is not taking on another shape. Well, cross him off the fucking list. This is what we do. We cross off names, we work through suspects. God, what a gift.

We do know that whatever has happened, this is not just open and shut as this constable would like us to believe. No one who has experienced something that is not, if this wasn't supernatural, this was not caused somebody to up and flee and have the reaction that Von you say you heard him have. Yes. We do know that this heir to the Vane family was acting rather... he was rather disturbed that same night. Yes. The father coming home to check on the welfare of the town. Now, I would love to imagine that the Vanes are possessed of the sort of noblesseblige that the aristocracy of our nation should be. But there is a nagging suspicion that he was coming not to comfort the bereaved, but to check on his son. Well let's not forget, there's a daughter too.

Yes, yes, two daughters. Who they are trying to marry off and is pretty wealthy oh you could be a lord that's not what I'm saying that's not what I'm saying I've got that's the old Carter I'm just saying if we need a cover she's the like and throw that could be it would. The fucking brothers all distraught Oh, my sister fucking killed another peasant. Oh, okay, yeah, so let's go. Let's go meet the lady I'm just saying if we need a cover Me as a suitor. Of course. Could go there. Hold on. Yes as a cover

Please go flirt with more other women. It's an act. It would be an act. It would be in a total act. Listen That's not, what? How do you? Why do you? No, that's not. Carter's just like fucking melting down. Certainly an angle we could explore, Tilling Castle. Carter's like, new Carter and old Carter

are fucking smashing together like a train wreck in front of Margot. You can't tell me, I don't't what are we talking about? I don't know anymore. Neither do I. What are you saying? All I'm saying is if we need a cover. My point is that there's several suspects here.

All right. This is an intricate case, man. There's a brother and a sister. That's all I'm saying. And if we need to have some sort of, you know, a ruse. I could flirt with the brother. You could totally flirt with the brother. I would be totally fine with that. Because I would know that that's in the interest of this case.

That's all I'm saying. Huh. As Faerus is looking at this very, like, uncomfortable conversation, like, looks over at Vaughn, looks over at the two of them. see, I'll flirt with him too. Listen, I flirted with that lady, that got us inside. We got, we got, we got dryer, faster. Who wants a pint? And we flirted with men and we found some answers. And the next old man I see, I'm flirting with him too.

That's fine. The next young man I see, flirtin' with him. I love it. Alright, you two, let's go get a beer. To the laughing horse, I think, I think the only correct thing that Tumwell made him say the whole time he was with us was that it's ale o'clock. We just started walking. It's like, I mean, I could talk to maybe if I had a teacher,

I would talk to that teacher in a flirty way. I don't know. You open up the doors to the laughing horse tavern and it is fired up in there. They had obviously an earlier crowd than normal. You don't know what normal is but like the rain everyone was like hmm do we go to the general store? Do we go to the church? No let's go to the bar. It's the only bar in town and it has turned into quite a lively affair. There is a

two-piece band playing. They've kicked it up to a full band? Yep. And they're sitting in the corner playing and I mean there's just a bunch of people in there and Bill Whitlock, the bartender kind of waves at you and kind of say one second he's like, he's understaffed, shortstaffed

working all by himself. Everybody give me a spot hidden. Spot hidden. Spot hidden. Spot. The hidden. They're on this. Nope. Ooh.

40. Regular success. Regular success, 40. 40. Regular success for me as well. Couple regulars. The less said about my result, the better. You see old Bill sitting by himself at that same table.

It's like his table. He's probably the type of guy that like if he comes in and someone else is sitting there, he causes a big scene. They're like, just give old Bill a table. Old Bill's sitting there. He doesn't see you. He's just staring at the bottom of a glass. But you do notice, those of you who passed on your hard success, everyone seems to be

like making eyes or trying to get the attention of a stunning looking young man. Blonde hair, blue eyes, angular features, this like Romanesque chin and he's dressed in like immaculate country tweed with a flat cap and it's like he's just holding court in the corner and he turns to the bartender and you can see he's ordering a couple more drinks for everyone around and they all seem to be very excited by his presence. It's like 28. This may be why Vaughn failed his role. He's just kind of like, striking, striking chap. Yeah, he's just like holding court and everyone is just like, I mean, you can tell he's just charming the pants off everybody there. 28, 27 years old, young.

This must be the gentleman that we've been hoping to encounter. I feel like after the tiff with Carter, Margo walks in like arm in arm with Faeru. It's just like, oh, let's go get to drink together. And we see him. Yeah, and I just had to be, as we're walking out. What was that?

Can you believe it? The conversation that Timmy has. Never change, he will never change. Just, has he taken a- He's the same person. Has he taken a liking to you? Yes. Was that what he said?

Oh yes. Yes. And it's so annoying, he flirts with me, but then he flirts with everyone. So it's like, stop it. But if you're so upset that he's flirting with other people, have you taken a liking to him? No, it's because he flirts with everyone.

And he flirts with me, but then you flirt with the old lady, and then... Why is it upsetting you so much if you don't have any feelings for him? Because it's just annoying. He's never going to change. I don't think he was being genuine with that. I think we were all trying to,

I mean, I certainly wasn't purposely flirting with that constable. I mean, purposely, like, didn't have genuine feelings for that constable. But there's always an ulterior motive. I thought I did my feminine wiles, won him over. And she's like, flicking it around. But with Carter, there's always an ulterior motive.

It's just, you can't trust it. He'll flirt with anyone just to get to the leg up anywhere. I don't know what he wants from me. I know he asked me about the order before we left New York. He wanted to know about it. So I don't know if that's what he wants from me. Hold on, Feruze pauses because has Feruze and Margot exchanged this information yet?

I feel like we know. But we've never talked about it. You just blurted that out, yeah. You blurted that out and we've never talked about it. Hey ladies, you guys want something to drink? Sorry, I had to deal with a couple other customers there. Can I get you a nice warm ale? Yes. Cosmos?

Two cosmopolitans. Cosmos, two cosmopolitans? Cold. Two cold? Very cold. Big spenders. Make mine a double, please. Oh, alright. Coming right up.

And your gentlemen friends, I'm sure they'll catch up later. They're not our friends. They could take care of themselves. Right? I'm... Hey, manny! He's just talking to somebody else. I don't know, Vaughn's just not taking his eyes off this dude, but... Yeah, it's just like taking his eyes off this dude

He's looking looking everywhere, but him Carters just up in his ear like muttering like I don't fuck I'm not like why she give me shit Just try to put out like a potential way to get some more leads. I don't fucking you know what I mean, man What's this? So you get it you were, no, I know, you got my back. Yeah, of course, of course, of course. Has no idea that Vaughn's not even paying attention. Just so, just so. And I'll approach the bar and it's like,

I'm a good man. Two of you are most room temperature ails, please. Coming right up, yes. You're not the fancy spenders of your friends over here. They got a cosmopolitan with ice. Oh, God. That's going on my tab, no doubt. There you are, Constable.

And Constable Tumble comes in. Hello, Willem. Willem, the regular. Make it three. Make it three. Oh, thank you very much. You're a man of your word, Mr. Villers. Don't feel like you have to talk to me.

I'll just find my own seat and with my fourth wife and I, you know, we'll spend some time together, all right? I'll be over here with my own table. You collect wives like our friend Tillinghouse here. I don't understand that inside joke. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. And he goes and sits down.

And he goes and sits down. He toasts to the gentleman holding court and the handsome gentleman who takes his cigarette out and smiles at the constable. And to Bill Whitlock, I'm like, I'm about to assume that this is Miss Laurence Vane. Ah, yes, that's Mr. Vane, yes. Good chap, good chap. Man of the people, as it were. He'll make a fine leader someday, uh... Yes, and, uh, you know, for the most part, when his father's away, he is the de facto leader, and, uh, you know, he's learning,

but, uh, he enjoys being amongst the people. Delightful. Um, perhaps, um... We were hoping to, uh, pay a call to his manor? Well, they're not exactly the type of place that takes house calls, as it were. But you get to talk to Mr. Vane. I wouldn't be surprised if a man such as you wouldn't get an invitation to dinner. Well, perhaps I'll make his acquaintance then, Mr. Whitlock, and I will walk over to the little scrum of people around Vane. Meanwhile, Faerûz knocks back one of the drinks,

says to Margo, may I have a word with you in private, please? Okay. As we walk. Okay. Carter just walks over to the band. I don't know if the guy has a drum with a little stick. He's going back and forth with it. Tick-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling. Angrily drinking.

You cut to Margo and Faeruz. You pull her towards the far end of the bar by yourself. What do you say? I get in really close to Margo. Have you been sent to spy on me? What? Have you been sent to spy on me? You mentioned the order.

You've never mentioned it before. Who sent you? Was it my father? No, I just, I thought that we weren't talking about it in front of each other, but we both knew that we were in it together. And I lift up a part of my, like, sleeve, and I gesture. Because there's like I know that Margo had mentioned a this is out of game.

So Fae Rue's doesn't know this, but Margo had mentioned a tattoo. Or like a little marking before. So what do you show her? You have a marking? I don't show her, but I start to lift my sleeve to see if she understands. Oh. Oh. I don't remember if I mentioned that or not,

but I'm going with it. And I look at you and I go, I nod. you and I go, I nod. And so explain to me how you and I have never met each other before this, who both in this order and neither of us knew beforehand. I don't know. I mean, I just assumed that they sent us here to get on the path that we are on

now for investigating whatever it is we are investigating. I don't know if Jackson was in his order or not. I don't know if Jackson was in the order or not. I know that investigating and finding out more about this, finding relics, gets you promoted within the order. But I'm not here to spy on you. I did not know you before this. I don't know who your father is. But I saw you one day.

Just, you know, we stay up late at night and we look at our books together and I saw your wrist. Can I do a psychology roll on this? I'm probably not gonna do well, but... PVP psychology rolls! I think that not gonna do well, but um... PVP psychology rolls! I think that'd be so bad, but I gotta do it. I gotta try it. Ah, fuck, I failed.

How does it work? Does she have to roll two or something? Well, she'd know, because it wouldn't be an opposed roll per se. She's just trying to scrutinize. Okay. What if Margo's on the up-and-up and you failed so you can't quite read her you can't tell with her mannerisms You know you've hung out with her for a while, but she's still like German and weird so German so weird So you're telling me that So you're telling me that you had never met my father before and you were not specifically instructed to keep any tabs on me? No.

I was not informed about you, but clearly there is some work behind the curtains, some thing. Of course they had absolutely had to have known about this is not a mere coincidence. I just assumed we, they were working together sort of, but it had to be kept under wraps. But Carter asked me about, so I don't know where it came from.

Do you think, Amago, that we are being used as pawns then? I think that she's been so drunk on her mental power this whole time that she hasn't really thought about that. She's just like, I'm just great. And that's why they want me out here. I'm just like really good at this somehow. Uh, so you mentioned that and she's just like, huh? Why was my father at the gala?

Why did he, how does he know about this expedition? What does he know that we do not? Vi- There is no way that the two of us who didn't know each other beforehand were both sent on this mission. And Vyazvan- It's my father who knows. Vyazvan trying to marry you and Carter trying to get close to me. I just thought that's because we were hot.

Me too, me too. But you know what? I don't know anymore. He mentions the order and... It just clicked for me. Do you think that Vaan and Tilling has to know about the Order? Have you spoken to anyone about it? Because I haven't. I did not initially speak to Carter about the Order. I don't know how he found out.

I don't know why he asked me. I was so surprised when he flat out asked me. I think he saw it on my face, even though I said, I don't know what you're talking about. I think that he knew that I was lying and I had things to say about an order. I don't know why he felt so comfortable mentioning it earlier today, but he hasn't asked me since. And then you have them over there talking. You see them, they're talking.

And Von is trying to marry you. What's going on? What's going on? And while they're talking, Carter, you're over and near the band, just kind of watching the band. And then your glance goes over, and you're looking for Margot and Ferruz, and you see them at the end of the bar,

kind of in a quiet, hushed, but intense conversation. And then you look towards the other side of the bar, and you see a man sitting alone at a table staring at them. Vaughn approaches this man surrounded by people. I imagine we're seeing things from Vaughan's view as he approaches and the people begin peeling off to allow Vaughan to step in. And as he does, we hear the voice of Reverend Stratton from the church service sort of

playing over this as Vaughan's walking. And I saw when the lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, see and Vaughn gets right up to this young man who just like turns and throws his blonde hair back and smiles at Vaughn and we hear Reverend Stratton say, a white horse. And we'll see you next week. Yes. What? Yes. Yes.

Oh my God. There's so much happening in this adventure. Let's keep playing. It's only 9 p.m. by the time. So dry. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh.

Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh 9 p.m. by now. So dry. So dry. It's time to make your membership official. Start your 30 day free trial today and become an official member of the Naish at JoinTheNaish.com with the promo code GCN30. That's join the naish.com and use code GCN30 to gain access to exclusive podcasts, ad

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Yeah, that's it. Sealskin Rock. Whoa. Return to the mysteries in Don't Mind, Sealskin Rock. Subscribe now to catch the premiere and we'll see you on the rock.