The Glass Cannon Podcast - Time For Chaos S3 | E3 – Glass Houses

Episode Date: July 26, 2025

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You are listening to the Glass Cannon Network, the premier source for role-playing game entertainment. Hey, what's going on everybody? It's Friday night and it's time for Chaos. I went into this season with a, I don't want to call it a plan because that sounds too set in stone, but a thought in my head that I expressed to Joe in some of our closed door business meetings. I was like, I think I can finish this in two more seasons. Give me two more seasons, 20 EPS a pop. I got this.

I can make it happen. After the first two episodes that we've recorded for season three, I think it will be at least six more seasons. Thanks for keeping me employed. All right. I texted you guys last night, can we just every six months bring you to New York and do this for a week for the next four or five years? That'd be fun.

My wife's going to love it. Bring the kids. We can do more real-time role plays of month-long boat trips. Yes. That did take up some air time. But yeah, I really don't know. This will be an interesting next few EPs because I really have no concept of where it goes. You guys had thus far in New York, Peru, obviously Peru is very linear, but New York and England.

You've done almost everything in the book and it's not intended to be played that way, but you guys are very thorough. So who knows? You could just kind of bit-bop-boop all of a sudden. You're at the end of this chapter and we move on to something else, but I don't see that happening with this group. Yeah. Let me just bit-bop-boop through Shanghai in 1925. There's a lot going on. At a certain point, I think I was like, let me just, we'll just hand wave you settling into his apartment and then 40 minutes of role play later, you were still in his apartment. All right, I guess it could be a long season. It could do two more seasons of just Eagles for now.

Yeah, it's true. Sure, Eagles grades will come back. Yeah, don't think about all the side shit that you're going to come up with. It's not in the book. Yeah, I know. I didn't even think about that. Do you guys, would you guys just move here? Is that possible? You don't need to be in LA anymore, right?

It seems like a pretty affordable place to live. So yeah. Did you ever consider going New York? Like you finished school or whatever and you're like, I got to do two choices in this business. New York, LA, maybe you doubled Chicago a little bit, right? My journey was if it was going to happen, it would have happened for college. Because I got into NYU. Yeah.

But they gave me like $4 for financial aid. That's not enough. $1 a year? Yeah. And I was like, so that's it. And I got into Tisch. I did the whole thing. I was fucking pumped.

And then they gave me no money. So then I went to USC. So then my situation was I was already in LA. It wasn't like LA or New York after I've already fucking been in the trenches here. So I just stayed there. Stayed there. Yeah.

Also, I think if I had come to NYU, I would be dead now. Because the FOMO thing, not because of a fear of New York crime, it was more that I would go out every night and die. Get involved in lots of shenanigans. Join the cult. Yeah, just like mostly, I probably, my body, I would have just destroyed my body. You always say when you visit, your cousin's like, how come everyone doesn't drink before you? It's a very strange culture out there.

You're not doing shots at three in the morning? I don't understand. Weed grass shots. Nora, what about you? What was your journey? Well, I grew up in New York. My whole family moved to California while I was a sophomore in high school.

So by then, by the time I graduated, I was like, well, UC system, because I don't have boatloads of money. So I would have loved to come back to New York, but I'm like, no, my wallet said no. So good old UC system. You said you love visiting New York. Yeah, yeah, I got lots of family out here, which I haven't seen on this trip, don't tell anybody.

Don't get mad at me. I'll email them. Long filming schedule. But yeah, I love it out here. If I, I would totally, I think I'm at that point where I'm like, do I want to move back here? Yeah. Get that taste of real pizza. It's impossible to make pizza in any other city. It's complicated.

It's the water. It's the water. It's the water. And what about you, Ross? You're from, where the hell are you from again? Carolina? Listen and all y'all talk about your New England childhoods. Y'all, I'm from the South. Real salt of the earth. That's right. I was in North Carolina.

Yeah, Kackalacky. In North Kackalack. And I was going to school in Appalachian State University out in the lovely little town of Boone, North Carolina, out west. Boone! And the first time I went to visit. Incidentally, sorry, the same college that Paula Deming went to. That's right.

Of all the colleges and universities. Yeah. Appalachian State. Also a great name with a Southern accent to say, Boone. Boone. Yeah. Boone. Boone.

Boone in Watauga County down there in the holler. Man, the first time I went to New York, little country mouse coming to New York on like a class trip was just like vibrating out of my skin. Like just overwhelmed at the immensity of it all. But I did have that sense of like, oh my God, I will come here someday, take a bite of that beautiful big apple.

And then I moved to Chicago because I got, I got so like struck by, by the love of improv. And I wanted to go to like the Mecca of, of improvisational comedy, which at that time was still Chicago. I feel like it's, it's a little bit more diffuse now. Um, but even when I was in Chicago, I was like, one day I'll move to New York. And that was my plan the entire time until suddenly I was like, no, I'll go West coast. This seems to be the way to go. And now, now I'm California all the way. I love LA.

I love LA. They have their claws in you. Yeah. That's right. I'm out there doing my yoga, sipping my $30 Arowan green juice. Loving it. Can't go back. Yeah, maybe one day I'll be the New Yorker of my high school dreams when I still had this mental picture of myself just walking around like WMS Burroughs or something. There's still time to take a few life choices that way. I don't know.

Would you ever return to Carolina? Would you ever live back home, do you think? I have the nostalgic kind of pull for that part of the world, just the natural beauty of it. Western North Carolina is truly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life. It's so, so gorgeous, and especially in the fall. Oh, the fall, when you get all the people.

Remember fall? Yeah. Remember fall. Watching the leaves turn. Yeah, it's gorgeous. And I do have that pull, but every time I do, fall when, like you get all- Remember fall. Yeah. Remember fall. Watching the leaves turn. Yeah, it's gorgeous. And I do have that pull, but every time I do, I'm also given the pause of like knowing how mad

I would go in sort of semi isolation. Yeah. Yeah, I enjoy the thrum of a crowd somewhat, but also being able to kind of retreat into your little hidey hole and then experience it again. But yeah, people, Chicago is another stay out till six in the morning, getting blackout drunk. Love that town. We love Chicago.

Chicago's great. My kind of town. I know. And in my kind of town. And when you go to LA and then you come back to a Chicago or a New York, you suddenly are struck with like, God, it's one in the morning and I'm seeing just rafts of hammered pedestrians walking around. And you just do not see that in LA. Cause like, I mean, the driving culture of it all

keeps people like kind of in there. It is, there is of course a social and clubby scene, but I feel like more typical is people like getting, getting high at home. Yeah. It's like. With a glass of wine. Did you, now you went to school in Philly,

or outside of Philly, were you always just coming to New York? Or was there a moment where you're like, I might just go to sunny California. No, no, never California. I always, I didn't know where I'd end up. I was just kind of like leaf on the wind kind of thing. And I got done school and I just got a job in Philly

and just kind of worked there. And then I met a girl and started dating her. And we were like, it's getting serious. And she got a big job opportunity in New York. So she was like, I'm moving to New York. And I was like, I'll move to New York. Like, this is crazy. I'd love to live in New York.

Because by that point after college, I had a couple of friends in New York now, right? Because they had gone on to New York and I knew some people. And I was like, I've love to live in New York. Because by that point after college, I had a couple friends in New York now, right? Because they had gone on to New York and I knew some people and I was like, I've got a couple friends there. I could go there and yeah, this will be really exciting. And I'm so glad I did. It was amazing. It was amazing. Falling a lady. I lived in a room with her in a four-bedroom apartment. And there was two other singles and another couple,

a gay couple. There were six of us, one bathroom, living in Chelsea. It was a different time. And I was like, couldn't have been happier. Couldn't have been happier, right? Well, and then like six months later, I was like, we have to get the fuck out of here. And then I moved and I heard from a coworker

who lived in Astoria. Astoria's amazing, man. And I just moved to Astoria and lived there for like 14 years. So love Astoria. I'm glad you guys are all here. I'm so happy to have you here. Yeah, we're here. We're talking about margaritas after this.

That's how it goes. Well, well, stay tuned. We've got a fun app in store for you right after this break. Don't like the sound of that. you right after this break. Don't like the sound of that. Here the most popular fiction podcast of all time, which the New York Times described as what might occur if David Lynch was a producer at your local radio station. Welcome to Night Vale is a twice monthly update from a small desert town where the paranormal is real. Every conspiracy theory is true. We all have to get on with our lives anyway.

Welcome to Night Vale is available wherever you get your podcasts. Greetings adventurers. Today we're excited to introduce you to a new story. Dark Dice, a horror podcast that blurs the line between actual play and audio drama, where the story is determined by the role of the dice. Six adventurers embark on a journey into the ruinous domain of the Nameless God. They will never be the same again. One of the players is not what they seem after a doppelganger, a creature that can assume the form and voice of whatever it kills, infiltrates the team.

As the players are picked off and replaced one at a time, can they figure out who the monster is before it's too late? Can you? Here's a quick example of what our show sounds like. The shambler with the jar of liquid inside of him. Soren Arkwright let loose an arrow that cracked the glass, passing through the spine of the creature.

The shambler still managed to maintain its forward momentum, but stumbled as it eagerly tried to bite and swipe at sore and landing near his feet. As Jeff Goldblum has now joined our cast, Dark Dice is available however you listen to podcasts. Are you looking for a movie review show where the critic is at the top of his or her game, meticulously breaking down and explaining exactly why a film does or does not work? Well good luck with the search. Because we're having fun here on Adam Does Movies. Each and every week, I hit the big blockbusters, I cover the streamers,

and I even toss in some movie news for fun. Check out the show on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts, on YouTube, and hopefully, we can do movies together. Hot. [♪ music playing, we're back. As always, I want to thank our sponsor for this season, Chaosium. They have a really great code you've probably seen on screen the last couple of weeks. I just want to mention it. If you head to chaosium.com, you get 15% off all Call of Cthulhu products.

It's not store-wide. It's just Call of Cthulhu products, 15% off if you use code TFC2, which is weird. You'd think it would be TFC3, but it's TFC2. It's the second code they've generated. Nice. Okay, TFC2. So please, if you want to see 15 more seasons of this show, go buy everything in their store.

You got the Keeper's Handbook, you got the Invest the investigators handbook. Excuse me, Keeper rule book. You got the massive Nehru-Lithuotep box set. They got Regency Cthulhu. Don't forget there's so much. That's so much. It's like you're not just talking about the Call of Cthulhu role playing game. It's anything Cthulhu based and they've got so many offshoots now. Cthulhu by Gaslight. The solo adventure that Brian Hollenrode. Solo adventure against the static. Yeah. And I like that Brian Hollen wrote. Against the static, yeah. And I like that when you get the book, you also get the PDF.

Yes, yes. Also, and this is super fun. No, but this is actually super fun. You can get the PDF. You can just buy the PDF. And if you decide you want the hardcover, you get the cost of the PDF off the hardcover. That's right. It's not like you're, ah, am I risking paying twice forcover, you get the cost of the PDF off the hardcover. That's right.

So it's not like you're, ah, am I risking paying twice for this if I get the PDF first? Nope. You can get the PDF and then get the discount. TFC too. Check it out. Also, if you didn't know, we have a subscription service. If you had to join thennash.com and enter code GCN30, you get 30 days off of the subscription, 30 days for free rather, free trial and you can listen to this show ad free as well as-

What else do you get, Troy? Thousands of other shows. Oh. So check that out. I have been thinking about this app since we finished because I had to go home, sit in my car. I'm trying not to like look at my phone while I'm sitting in traffic but I did because I'm just sitting in bumper to bumper and I'm trying not to look at my phone while I'm sitting in traffic, but I did because I'm just sitting in bumper to bumper and I'm like, what am I going to do next now that they've done this? Let's talk about what happened because I didn't know how it was going to

start and now I have no idea where it's going to go based on the choices you made. That's what's so beautiful about this game. It is so non-linear and I really want you driving the ship and I hope that my preparation is ready to dance along with you. You make it to Shanghai, you meet a friend on a boat. Luckily- A new friend. A new friend. Luckily, he's all set up in Shanghai. He's a professor at St. John's University in Shanghai and he has campus housing, which is really nice. He's got servants, he's got a staff and while it's not the accommodations you may be used

to with the old money bags, billiards, it gets the job done. And more importantly, you have a contact, someone that knows the lay of the land a little bit. You start thinking about, okay, what do we know? We know that maybe Jack Brady is alive and here in Shanghai. Maybe he's in Hong Kong. You don't know, but you have that to go on. You have a couple of notes about like Ho-Fang import export and Jonah Kensington, when he

wired you the money for this part of the trip, also mentions that Jackson Elias left behind a matchbook for a bar called the Stumbling Tiger. So you're like, well, it's nighttime, let's get a cocktail. And you head out to the stumbling tiger and you meet the barkeep Fergus Chum, also known as Mick Chum. And he seems to be a real purveyor of information. He knows what's going down. You bring up Jack Brady to him and with a couple bribes, you find out that he does know Brady. He hasn't seen him in a while.

In fact, he thinks he's left Shanghai and is in Rangoon doing this deal with a big money guy, something to do with guns. He doesn't ask any questions. You catch the attention of a rather drunk Japanese foreman sitting at the end of the bar. He's singing, he's dancing, he's drinking. But as you start chatting with him, he seems like a friendly guy. You get this sense that he's not really drinking. He's kind of like putting on a show.

Fay Roos tries to do a little switcheroo with the glasses. Isn't very slick with her sleight of hand. He grabs her wrist. All of a sudden, his reflexes are pretty solid. He's like, what the fuck are you doing? Doesn't like the cut of your jib, decides to walk out of the bar. Villiers follows him, follows him up an alley. Our new friend Marion tries to follow as well. Falls face first in the mud, slides along the street. Failed to spot him. I was thinking about that when I left and I was like, that got a little bit dramatic. That got a little out of hand. Just like splayed in the muddy street.

That's a fumble. That's a fumble for you. You fumbled the spot hidden. You failed the spot hidden. Luckily, you made the spot hidden because that changed everything. You start walking down this alleyway street. There's an intersection. As you're trying to decide which way to turn, you hear the cocking of a pistol and you feel

a gun against your back. It's this guy. He is not drunk and he is a badass and he wants to know, what do you know about Brady or what do you want to know about Brady? But Ferruz comes up around, just provides that split second where he pulls back the gun to kind of see who's coming up behind him. That gives Villiers, a veteran, a lieutenant of the Great War, the opportunity to make a move.

He tries to grab the gun and you succeed at grabbing the gun and turning it on him. Now you have the upper hand and you're the one questioning him. Turns out that Mr. Asoje Taro is a Japanese naval officer here investigating what's going on, found out that Jack Brady is possibly involved with the creation of some weapon and he's training some militia here. He knows the address of the warehouse where they're training these militia and he knows that this McChum fella knows more that he's letting on. He looked into the lead that he gave you and it sounded like bullshit and

he knows that the leader of this militia, someone named I believe Chu Min, every morning he goes to a tea shop. He follows him there and he doesn't know why. But that's all he knows. You're like, okay, here's your gun back. We're keeping the bullets. Can we contact you? Maybe we can work together. Can you get us some guns? He says, there's a tea house in town.

The bartender's name is Zhang. If you need to contact me, go there. Seems like he'll probably be at the stumbling tiger as well on most nights. So you have a way of getting back in touch with him. Maybe he'll hook you up with some guns, but you also don't want to blow his cover at the stumbling tiger. There are eyes all over Shanghai. It's nighttime. You want to call it a night here? You tell me. I have two things. Yeah.

One is this. Were you wanting to do the tarot card? I was going to say, let's see what the cards do. Perhaps the cards will. I didn't want to cut you off. No, no. I was gonna say, let's see what the cards do. Perhaps the cards will. I didn't wanna cut you off. No, no, I was gonna bring that up and I was gonna bring up the luck roll. Yes, which I wanted to do. Oh, thank you for that.

Free show, but here we are. We've never done a free show. Yeah, so roll luck. If you fail, give yourself a D10 extra in luck. Oh, you do this every episode for luck? Oh, that's how you stay lucky. It's an optional John. Yeah, so the more you use it,

the more chance you have of getting it back. Yeah, that's your roll at lucky. It's an optional jump. So the more you use it, the more chance you have of getting it back. Yeah, that's your roll at 25 under 29. Like, poop. Oh wait, do you want to roll over? Yeah, you want to fail. Oh, I finally fucking get some luck points. Let's roll to 66.

Oh. 60 under 65. Got 65 luck. 10 points of luck, baby. I just started money bags. For the forever. Yeah, smashed it, unfortunately. I got a five under 39. Ugh.

All right. All right, guys. It's our future hold. Who's telling me when to stop shuffling this time? I'll do it. All right. Stop. All right.

Yeah. Top card or a cut? Cut. Ooh, you went with the cut this time. It is the King of Swords. OK. Top card or a cut? Cut. Ooh, you went with the cut this time. It is the King of Swords. Okay. Ooh, every time you do this I get chills. I don't know why.

Always like, what does that mean? It's the Chocolate Eclair. What does it mean? It's the chocolate eclair. Ooh, not bad. Summertime beignet. The King of Swords, okay. All right, so let's think about that.

Okay, who could the King of Swords, okay. Let's think about that. The King of Swords being. Your companion, your host, is covered in mud. Oh yeah, that's also just picture for a second, Dr. Marion Wesley Walsh. He, I described him getting on the boat in this sort of like dark three piece suit, bow tie, et cetera, I think once we had a chance to go to his house,

change, go back out into Shanghai, he's more in like white. I was gonna say white linen suit. White linen suit, white hat, anima hat. That's what I was hoping for. Exactly. And so it's so stark, the mud just like all over the front of it. To see your nipples. Yeah. So as this fellow walks away, I think he's like, I'm going to go home and get changed and perhaps get some rest. What about you? I mean, is there anything else we need to do out here?

What time is it, Troy? Is it nighttime? Yeah, it's nighttime. It's probably 10, 10.30. I feel like we've caused enough distraction for one night. Most of that my fault, I'm sorry to say. Plus the tiger's paws don't really hit me. Getting on top of me.

Mr. Taro has given us a great deal to think about. Must confess to a little flush with that brush. One doesn't quickly shake off having a revol Having a revolver stuck in your back. Well, I mean, you got it in your hand, Vaughn. That's... That's pretty cool. It's extremely impressive. Yes, lucky break, old man. Lucky break. But, uh...

Good work. Perhaps some... some trench reflexes still... Still cling to one. I would say drinks on us, but I don't think we want to go back to that bar. No, no, I... You've got it. You've got liquor, right? Oh yes, oh yes. We can head back to my place and have a drink there,

a nightcap and talk over what we've found and figure out what we're going to do in the morning. Yes, I dare say I'd like to cool my nerve somewhat with something a little bit stiff. It feels as though I should be a little bit more tight. So yes, let's try back to your place and I'd rather not get my jollies by having another tilting the wrist a little bit more the stumbling tiger and sipping more of McChu's motor oil. Charlie.

I will not be mixing Scotch gin. Or with palm olive. With palm olive. And tequila. Dishwater. And I'll start And tequila. And dish water. And I'll start walking back to his house. All right. You get back to the house,

maybe have some cocktails, and maybe you talk about the next day. So as much as I'd like to fast forward, I think it would make sense that you're making a plan here before you go to bed. So what do you wanna do? We got Chou Min to check out. That's the leader of the militia, right? Who is the autumn morning tea house.

Every single day. Apparently he goes there. You have the address of this warehouse where these militia are allegedly being trained. And, you know, you have all the normal resources that you've used in other towns, museums, newspapers, libraries, try and figure out, you know, why, what Jackson did, what would Jackson do? WWJD? Yeah. We've got a great many leads suddenly when we came in, knowing really next to nothing. Right. It may just be me, but I do think we should at least procure some firearms before

we go check out anything to do with this leader, Chu Min, or with any possible militia that we're dealing with. Uh-huh. That and also you had the great idea for Faeruz to go talk to or find out more about Ho-Fang. Yes, I would love to do that situation seems Dangerous yes doing some first day that we are doing some rather clandestine research on Mr. Ho-Fang could indeed reveal some things and of course now we have the

location of this curious militia group And of course, now we have the location of this curious militia group. Mm hmm. Should we split the party? Various tea houses, as opposed to cover more ground. Time, time always moves apace. Try to get some guns and some books. Yeah. Your General Cthulhu stuff, really? Exactly.

Give you an idea of how firearms work. Licenses for firearms can be obtained for a small fee upon entry into Shanghai. You can always tell me that like, you know, it's probably something you would do like day of, you know, the next day. Or you could say to me, you did it upon arrival. I think that makes sense, especially if we went through customs and they confiscated our weapons. I think that part of that process might be the application process.

Yeah, because we didn't know we were gonna meet Taro. Although Taro said he could help us, but I feel like he said it only if he helped him first. We gave him information. So that's gonna take a while. So am I thinking of this correctly? He's saying he may help us if we help him, but you're saying you don't wanna get that information or go there to get it without guns.

So we're kind of in a chicken and the egg situation. Yeah, I think for two men, well, he told us to go meet a man named Zhang at the Lucky Fortune Tea House for weapons. Right. Well, he said you could contact him there. Oh, contact him. Oh, contact him. Yeah, if you needed, if you had information to set up a meeting with him Yeah, I feel like there might be opportunity or there might be circumstances in which we are

Approached by police forces and I think maybe having obtained them legally might get us into less Yeah, I'm American I don't like somebody telling me how I can get my guns Yes, I mean stick with us long enough old man He's had a few now So you guys long enough old man and you'll find yourself in the wrong side of law of the law more times you Than you ever dream possible And it seems as though you've got great many laws Rather overlapping here. I'll keep track whether you're in the Frenchman's territory the Englishman. Oh god knows who

Do you mind if I put on some jazz? God knows who. Do you mind if I put on some jazz? Vaughn's feeling it, man. Let's go. I think Vaughn, like, I mean, he's still hims him. He's packed maybe some records and stuff. He's putting some platters on. So what do you say?

Would you rather go, would you rather get them from Sojay Taro or? I just think we have to jump through more hoops to get him through Taro. Yeah, it seems that way. Yeah. I like to have Mr. Taro have less on us and us to be less beholden to him than. That is true. Yes.

He's a spy after all and that sort is always looking for leverage on people. Yes. Well, do you guys, some of you guys, the Brainiacs, go figure out some Ho-Fang intel if it requires some sort of library use? I don't know what's going on. Yeah, no, I don't mind doing that myself.

If we were to get papers, proper papers for our firearms, would that be something that we all need to be present for? I could meet with you later. Oh, it's up to Troy. I would say you applied for the permit upon entry and you have a permit to now purchase guns. Okay. Great.

So we can go to the library and then go shopping. Yes, yes. To the gun store. Go to the library to research Mr. Ho-Fang. Of if put on the cloak of stealth as it were we could um poke around the actual import-export Warehouse get over there too. Yeah, Lord knows it here's I hear you've done your share of that already Casing a lot of warehouses lately. Yes, hopefully we can do it without burning the bloody place down well, then there was the other warehouse where I Yes, hopefully we can do it without burning the bloody place down. Well then there was the other warehouse where I fell between a crate I think.

I can't remember if some shit happened when I was trying to... That was at the docks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you got two leads. You have the address on Kao Yang Street for Ho-Fang Import-Export, and then you've got this other address now for a warehouse where allegedly a militia is being trained. Just Bond style. Yes, you've got you've got a couple of things you certainly can and should split up. There's dangers and benefits to that. Bond, you know guns and firearms. Feel like maybe you and I go buy the guns.

So we are shoppers, your research. You are the academics, I suppose. Sounds good to me. Yes, I'm not too familiar with procuring guns. Not my forte, but. You'll get there. Get me something stylish. Of course, pearl handle. Please. Okay.

Do you know your way around a pistol wash? Have you done a spot of hunting? Yes, a bit. Target practice? As you said. You were in the service, weren't you? I was in the service, yes, though I was not in the trenches myself. I did some basic training.

So, sure, yes. Comes back with a bazooka for prayers. I'm going to get you a pistol that's just a lighter. So discreet. I'm not going to tell you until you actually need it. Yeah, exactly. I also am so curious, Yvonne is so curious about this, what is it, the Autumn Tea House that Chu Min and the others are in?

The Autumn Tea House. The Autumn Tea House. The Autumn Tea House. The Autumn Tea House. The Autumn Tea House. The Autumn Tea House. The Autumn Tea House. The Autumn Tea House. The Autumn Tea House. The Autumn Tea House. The Autumn Tea House. The Autumn Tea House. I will not tell you until you actually need it. I also am so curious, Yvonne is so curious about this, what is it, the autumn tea house

that Choumin goes to? To just maybe take a look at it. Yeah I think that that's probably where Marion's kind of leaning. I think even we could split up honestly. Like if you want to do the library I think you'd be like, I could, I could go by this teahouse and simply get a cup of tea. Sit. Watch. Um, I feel as if I'm, uh, I don't attract much attention. People aren't interested in a professor just walking around.

I don't think that I would draw any... You're familiar with the guys. And they're seeing you in this area. Exactly. I just need a cup of tea. And don't take this the wrong... Is this how it works? Yes, of course. And don't take this the wrong... Is this how it works? Yes, of course. And don't take this the wrong way, old man, but um... You're not what I'd describe as a threatening presence.

Precisely. I'll take it as a compliment. My good man, thank you so much. Not all of us can be as strapping as the Esmol, Mr. Bron. Yeah. Plus Marion's a girl's name. No, it isn't. Good night. Marion's a perfect... What do you want about it, Tilly Hazzard? Marion is a perfectly masculine name like Courtney or Ashley. Exactly.

I stay corrected. In terms of guns, you know, feel free to peruse guns and weapons because it would be easy to buy, you know, brass knuckles and bullwhips and garrets and knives on page 401 of the Keepers Hand Rule Book. But on 402, I would say you're not going to be able to just go out and buy rifles and shotguns, but any of the 1920s era handguns on page 402 I would say you could probably get one each so you can be like can I get two of those I got a buddy like Yeah, I'm gonna need to see if I can get two of those. Yeah, I got two beers. Give me two.

Give me two Magnum revolvers. I'm trying to remember I feel like Carter never really uses a gun. And what's your firearm skill? I feel like I trained it at one point. Now it's a 20. I mean for handgun, for rifles it's a 26. Yeah, keep in mind. But I always feel like he's been like oddly uncomfortable with them. And I don't know why.

I don't know. Vaugh don't, Von's like, You don't know him? Impression, I don't know, is always just like, you keep hinting at all these things. I assume you, Von thinks you may have been a real criminal in your past. Oh, he's definitely like, criminal, yeah. I mean, like, I wonder, I think he's,

I don't know if he's ever used it. He's maybe seen some terrible violence. Yeah, yeah, I don't think he's ever like, He's knives and ropes, probably. Yeah. But I still think he should have one, but I do, I he's ever like... He's knives and ropes, probably. Yeah. Lock picks. I still think he should have one, but I do... I'm starting to like... My dusty memory is starting to remember some moment with it where he was like, I don't know.

Vaughn is super skilled at rifles because of his time in the service, but not with handguns. Oh, I'm the opposite. Okay. Yeah. I have handguns, 77, rifle shotgun, 25. And I think Margo is also like the big rifle shotgun Yeah, well have to count on count on you once again to be the be the brawn of the outfit as well as the brains She drops and does push-ups. Yeah All right show off

Keep in mind you can't fight back with a gun other than to pistol-whip. Yeah I don't even know if you can use it as an improvised melee weapon, but I would allow it as a maneuver Yeah, lots of things to think about game-wise. Okay. So yeah. It's April 2nd. It's the morning of April 2nd. Try triple split.

We triple split in the party? Triple split. All right, so Autumn Tea House, a library of some sort or... I'm guessing a university library would be... Yeah, they could use the university library. Oh yeah, and he can give you directions to like where it is, et cetera. And what's the third thing? Guns.

Oh, guns. Gun procurement. Who's going gun shopping? We had said, but I'm also curious about Autumn Tea House. Would you like to go with me? I had considered it all, man. Do you think you can... Can you smuggle a whole bunch of guns to Linghast?

Just want to hang out with him instead of me. No, I get it. You know, the gunshot. I'm not in a vulnerable place. You're all going to have to individually. Everybody's abandoning Carter. On the second thought, Dr. Marion, I think I will go with Tillinghast. He's just sort of nervously like thumbing the locket that he's got, like your picture

in. I lean in. Yeah, do you want to go? It's nothing personal, man. He really needs this. No, I can't. Oh, you're talking to him. What are you talking about? Plus, I'm not going to do anything,

make any moves without you. I'm just observing report. Yes, observing report. Low, low profile, old man. Let's try and take these swan dives into mud puddles. What? Yes. All right.

All right, coming, Vod? Yes, telling us it's you and me. Coming, Vod? What I'll say is we'll get you to the gun shop. I don't think we need to role play it so much. However, a successful fast talk role, I would let you get a third gun. Oh.

So this is safe. I have a pretty good one. You don't want to say persuade. Uh, no. I don't want to persuade. Persuading them? OK. I will try to fast talk.

And I will try to persuade. OK. Let's see what happens. Well, yeah. The result of these roles will determine. Get out of my store! I got a regular success on the persuade. I got no dice on the fast talk. Okay, regular success?

Yeah. I'll think about it. Okay. Let's get you the- Maybe an ankle gun? Right, you can get a holster. You can get a holster you can get a whole one holster You are going to the University Library and doing some research on

I so if there is somebody who could help me find I'm going to Not not very obviously but look into the import export the whole thing export, the history of it, who owns it, blah, blah, blah. So if there's a person, like a librarian that's there. Oh, hello. Hello. The B&B owner from the seaside town. This is for all of my women. No, no.

I was wondering. Terry Jones as half the characters. Are you a matriculating student here? Lovely. I am a visiting student. Oh. I was wondering. May I see your ID?

And she pulls out her Miskatonic University ID. Oh. You've come from very far away. I have. And I was wondering if you could help me because I'm- Can't imagine our library is as nice as yours. Well, you see, it does help that I'm here and it does help me greatly that you are here as well. Oh, me? I was wondering... My first day on the job. It's very nice to say. Really? You really lifted me up. You are doing wonderfully so far. I was thinking about leaving at lunch. Perhaps I'll see you through the end of the day. You're just going to quit at lunch? Just quit at lunchtime. It's been a through the end of the day. You're just going to quit at lunch?

Just quit at lunchtime. It's been a rough morning. I'm not much of a reader. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm flying for a job here, but you've really brightened my day. It must be a very quiet day for you. I was wondering, I'm here because I'm researching modern trade routes from across the Orient. So I was wondering if you could help me out with if there are if there are if there are any records or any any history of certain records. I think we just have books no records. You would need to go to a music shop or something like that. Oh, now Flows gone to records. Oh, now I know I didn't want to role play in the gun shop.

Documentation. Just sit there like I've got this. Documentation. Oh, documentation, yes. On certain import-export companies. Import-export, yes. Any history you could point me towards would be greatly helpful.

Oh, all right. Give me a library. No, keep it going. No, let's do this for 20 more minutes. And give yourself a bonus die because you're using this brilliant woman. Thank you. Ah, yes.

Oh, I rolled a one. Wow, all right. It's an extreme success. Extreme success. That's, yeah. Interesting, interesting. No one's gonna do the lives. Interesting. No one's where Cthulhu lives. Interesting.

So she does her best to, I'll say one of the other employees comes over and says, I'll handle this. And they direct you to an area to suit your questions. And you do some research on Ho-Fang. It seems like he's a pretty powerful businessman here in Shanghai. Man, with extreme success, I got to give you some juice here. He, in addition to the warehouse he has with clients all over the world, he has a mansion slash fortress here in town and I'll give you the address

of where he lives as well. He's pretty well known, pretty powerful, and evidently very wealthy. Okay. So you have his home address. It sounds like a really impressive house slash fortress slash mansion and yeah, the warehouse. Everything seems above board, at least the way it's being reported. But yeah, clients all over the world. Amazing. Maybe we get to do some B&E later.

B&E! Wait a minute. Let's go to the Autumn Tea House. Autumn Tea House, you arrive and... Where is this in Shanghai in terms of the concessions versus the, you know, Chinese-dominated territories of Shanghai. So I'm wondering if I should be bringing an interpreter or if... I'd say with your... ...English would be perfectly fine with passable... The autumn morning tea house.

He's also trying to be respectful, you know, insofar as you're not expected to just walk into these places and speak English, you know. Yeah, you don't want to assume that everyone speaks English. However, most do here, or at least passable English. You've never had any problems. If you've left Shanghai, then, you know, maybe you've used the services of Carpador, but that has not been a problem thus far for you. So I wouldn't think I would need it in a place like this.

Yeah. Okay. So can we cut to him already at a table settling in his bulk and bringing over a little teacup on a saucer and just the tiniest taking off his his white hat just Fanning himself. Okay, you order some tea sit down some tea a little cake maybe oh, yeah Yes, I love morning. Oh, yeah morning cake. Yes, I think starts the day better than German chocolate And he brought a couple books as well. Okay, so just you know He's gonna be doing some research some reading while he's here anyway perhaps he brings a book of Jackson Elias's Oh, and he's just you know reading. Oh he has Jackson Elias's book and Carter's book Carter's

Working manuscript mm-hmm and he was just sort of pouring over these as he starts sipping some tea all right I would imagine Taro though. We didn't roleplay it, gave you a physical description of this guy. Yeah. The name again is... Choo Min. Choo Min. Yeah.

She doesn't know the name of this group, but he knows or believes that Choo Min is the leader. This is the auto morning tea house every day. What time do you think you arrive? I would say he arrives at like 10 a.m. 10 a.m.? Yeah. Okay.

Um, I'd say you're there for about 15 minutes before a young man comes in and- He's just looking over a book. in and just looking over a book. Stocky looking Chinese guy, very powerfully built, has a thick shock of black hair kind of peekpping tea and eating a little rice cake. Give me a spot hidden check. Okay. Nervous. Shouldn't have come alone. All right, spot hidden.

Here we go. Uh, oof. 88. Over 45. Okay. Doesn't notice anything in particular. He eats his little sweet rice cake. Sips his tea.

Um, he's there for maybe 15 minutes. And he leaves. Okay. Uh, never made eye contact. Never looked up, never, no exchange, no nod. The only exchange you saw was with the tea shop waiter server. Hmm, okay. He'll get up and go to pay his bill and say, a gentleman who just left, he looked familiar. I thought I

Recognized him, but I didn't want to interrupt his tea time. Do you know who that is? Do you know his name? No No bother enjoy your day And can I do a psychology role Fail 67 over 40 so it seemed like they know first day out as a spy Exactly as expected That's like real Joe Yeah every nothing seemed untoward I mean did seem you know pretty tough-looking

But everything seemed on the up-and up. And when you spoke to the person, they didn't seem to be lying. OK, I have some ideas. But he's for now, he's going to play it super safe. Just leave, go about his day. If you go outside, you don't even see him. Yeah. Later in the day, you guys have set up a place, I'm sure, to meet up and chat. Yeah. So we we show up there and you guys have three guns a place. I'm sure to meet up and chat. Yeah, so we we show up there You guys have three guns

Three guns I well I was trying to figure out a way to privately message you about this but I was looking through the rule book and Also noticed one of the weapons listed is none Chackoo You're a nunchuck. You want to roll with some sweet nun? I feel like Carter Come back. He's got these guns. he's like, plus guys, look at this fucking thing. I just saw this on the shelf. It's two sticks with a rope tying them together and I feel like I could do some damage with this thing.

If you fumble on a roll, you're breaking your elbows. Shatter your bone. I mean, it does one D8 plus another D8 or something like that. It's crazy. Yeah. Oh no, one D8 plus DB. My eyes don't work. Yeah, you can use your Brawl skill, but you can also invest points in nunchucks. I'm just saying, they're there in the book, and we're in fucking China.

Yeah, you would easily get nunchucks. They're like street vendors selling Jugs yeah Like covered in foam, yeah, it's gonna still slow down into the dragon By frame I fucking did it I got a lot of pairs of nunchucks I'm trying to learn them. I know, yeah. Yeah. Free! Free! Free by free. You probably fucking did it too, I know you did. I got a lot of pairs of nunchucks. Joe bought me a pair. I did, I have nunchucks.

I did. Yeah? Yeah. Nice. Did you train with them and exercise with them? I did, yeah. Got my black belt in Korea. That's nice.

Wow, amazing. So I came back through TSA with lots of weapons, but apparently my sunscreen, I had to throw it. Yeah. This is the real lethal weapon, madam. Yeah. TSA with with lots of weapons, but apparently my sunscreen I'd throw it This is the real lethal weapon madam All right, so you can tell me later what guns you have unless you've already decided But I'm assuming they're all just like pistols right guys. I mean like you guys can look and you able to get any guns Yeah, he's just carrying a brown paper bag

This little man, clunk Yeah, I just like lay them out and then I'm like and plus these sticks with the chain tied together It's... these are mine Oh wow, yes, Tilly has couldn't take his eye off this bloody thing It was sold by some vendor in the street who had a bunch of these Curiously pointed stars in a pipe the shape of a jester skull He threw in a vape juice for Like but like 32 pistols probably like 32 revolvers or like it yeah, yeah, um for a second I like 32 pistols probably, like 32 revolvers. I like it. Yeah. Oh, for a second I pictured 32 pistols.

I thought you opened the bag. They're all loaded. AHHHHH! Stop! We could get one 32 pistol or 32 one caliber pistols. I'll reach out and grab one. And he reaches out, takes one, feels the weight of it. Maybe you're over? Maybe you're in a park somewhere, not in a tea house.

In a park somewhere is fine. You're still waving that around, old boy. Very interesting, huh? Did you get any holsters? I think I got one with my... Something with my persuade. I got a holster. You got a holster. Okay. I'm just gonna spirit mine into the...

My waistband. Oh, is that how it works? Uh, yeah. You can put it wherever you want, man. Wherever you're most... I, of course, am taking these nunchucks and putting them right under my back. What do you intend to do with that thing?

I don't know. I'm gonna practice at your house if that's okay. I'm sure it's gonna go... I'd love to see that. Yeah. And what about... What about you, Doctor? Did, um... What did the...

Oh, um, well... What did the morning tea house reveal to your keen senses? I'm afraid either I am a terrible spy, or he never showed up. I'm not sure, but there was one gentleman that caught my eye. Rather well-built, strong physical specimen. It seemed like it could be our man. But, came, sipped his tea very quickly. I didn't wish to interrupt.

I didn't want to draw any attention to myself, unwanted. Though I did try to see if I could catch his eye, see if he was interested in speaking with a stranger, but he seemed very focused on his own business. And he caught up and left. It could have only been 15 minutes. I went and asked the shop, the purveyor, if she knew who he was, knew the name at all. And I got a very, I don't know what seemed like a nervous no, but I couldn't really tell if she just didn't know the customer if it was him Though and he came in here every day. Of course. She should know him my hair

Oh, she may have been lying to me. Am I here? He's like looking at me. I'm like, I don't know Yeah, yes, um But well, I don't know. I I felt nervous. I didn't want to press Rather wise I wanted to fly I didn't want to press. Well, rather wise. I wanted to fly under the radar, so to speak. Yes. Well... I-I-I suppose that's wise, Doctor.

But I had a thought. I know him, or I know what this gentleman looked like now. If he returns to the, uh, tea house tomorrow, perhaps, uh, this time, myself or-or more of us could, uh, be outside. Yes, I can- And then see where he goes after the tea house tomorrow, perhaps this time myself or more of us could be outside. Yes, I can see where he goes after the tea house. There you have it. Oh, that's trail him. Yes.

You guys sleep. Follow him. Tail. Yeah. Tail him? Trail him? Tail him. It's the same thing.

The context clues were there. Follow. Yeah. Follow works. English is a fun language, isn't it? Same word for many things, but Yeah, hollow works. English is a fun language, isn't it? Same word for many things, but um, many, many words. Yes, yes, of course. I wanted to see that place as well. And it seems though it didn't do anything particularly suspicious, but enough to arouse your

attention at least. Um, just a certain aura, I don't know, any other way to describe it. Seemed very strong, not as slight as most men moving about the city. Well, I suppose if you don't find it too upsetting, I suppose I'll follow you the next time you darken its door. A rather intense, strongly built chap, I dare say. Would you like to have a look at that. Wow. Well, uh... Speaking of... Oh, wait a minute, is this the thing?

Oh, I didn't know that. Speaking of, we... How do you explain it to you? Your words, man, your words. Oh, fine. Sorry, I thought you said you were engaged. We were. What?

Yeah, totally engaged. Yes, what do we mean? Look at another man. Speaking of, we could peruse by the Ho-Feng Import Exports as just to scout, but also the owner of this import export is a very wealthy mogul in this area and has a veritable fortress built in this city, which we can also go to. Found his address. His address?

Yes. In the library? I had an amazing helper, yes. Yes, her first day. Wow. Chil-mosquit. Incredible work, Feroz, incredible work. Thank you. Yeah. So what's next?. So, so what's next?

Well, I think what's next is... Do you just go shoot someone? No, no. Oh, no. Did you read my book at all? Yes. While you were at the... Not yet, Carter, but I'm going to get to it.

No, that's fine. I was reading about you. Okay, all right. I was going back through some exploits of Peru. From the very pen of a friend. Tell us your favorite part. Our mutual friend. About him.

And just the Peru chapter in general. The Peru part. Yeah, when we were in Peru and all the things you know. You know, I think there was something in that tea. I'm a little fuzzy at the moment, but. Fair enough. Okay, yeah, I don't know. What do you guys wanna fucking do?

Once again. I can't. Well, all yeah, I don't know. What do you guys wanna fuckin' do? Once again, we're... Well, alright, Tillinghouse Town. Seems there we've got a number of options. We've got the variable fortress of Ho-Fang. We've got this curious character at the autumn morning tea house. And then of course, there is the little militia training ground.

Yes, I... And then of course there is the little militia training ground. Uh huh. Um, yes, uh. Allow me to make a suggestion on the tea house. Yes. Um, perhaps going in, myself in particular, another day in a row would be, um, and he's futzing with his glasses, um, too obvious, draw too much attention. But they don't know you, right? So you go in, I stay outside. Ah. Perhaps you could strike up a conversation if you see fit, and if not, if he walks out,

I can tail him. Ah, there. Well, I'd rather like the sound of that. I do. Plus I think the fortress is more of a nighttime activity. Yes. And also quite a bit more dangerous. Uh-huh. Right, sounds like something I'm gonna have to do. Sounds cool. Breaking in. Well, we could all go tonight.

Well, if it's a private residence, here's the problem with breaking into a private residence at night. Usually that's when they're home. Right. But there's also the warehouse itself. That's why I was thinking that that might be a the first place to stop and then perhaps if it looks like there's Any info or leads that that that we need to follow up on maybe we then we go to the fortress. Yes. Yes Okay, so um

And we could also from the warehouse perspective Observe for quite some time without going in yes Yes, and see if- Although usually the temptation raises its head. We always say we're going to be- We always say we're just gonna watch. Be sensible and we're never sensible.

Yeah. Great. Yes, we should let sense reign and not go off half cocked, as it were. Lowering the pistol in Walsh's hand. He's just been pointing with it. He's just been gesturing with it the whole time. He's just scratching your head with it like,

what am I doing, Nick? Um, yeah. Tuck it in, tuck it in here. Which way are you comfortable, old boy? Uh, so yeah, it's... He gave a loaded weapon to a man who's proven himself to be very clumsy. No, fantastic. Tuck it in his own pants. Good stuff.

That will never come back to haunt you. So yeah, it sounds like we've got our plan for tomorrow. I think so. Well, I think tonight we could go to the warehouse. Yeah, we could go to the warehouse. Yeah, let's go to the warehouse tonight. We'll take a gander. We'll take a gander at the warehouse?

I mean, I would say it's probably still early afternoon here. You were there at 10 by 1030. You were out there. You guys purchased your guns, set the guns to rope it at 9 AM. Early bird catches the worm. You did your research. It's probably like one, two o'clock. You want to head over to Kao Yang Street?

Yeah. Sure. Now, which, were you doing Ho Feng's Warehouse or the warehouse? We're not doing the militia training grounds. No, no, no. Yeah, no. Yeah, not yet. Okay. Ho Feng's Warehouse. All right. Let's go's go to whole phase warehouse. I mean, it makes sense. Some of those crates that we saw, um, yeah, or that

you rather described. This was a big lead coming out of London. Edward Gavigan seemed to have the shipments hidden in a room within the venue foundation, as well as at a warehouse near the lime house docs that were being put on a boat and you know lots of labels going to Ho-Fang import-export alright so let's check out Ho-Fang import-export right after this quick break this Friday may I speak freely? I prefer English. The Naked Gun is the most fun you can have in theaters.

Yeah, let's go. Without getting arrested. Is he serious? Is he serious? No. The Naked Gun, only in theaters Friday. From the creators of the Leviathan Chronicles comes a new audio adventure. Join treasure hunters Captain Jeffrey Tully and Oberlin St. Clair as they build their dream research ship the Invenios and assemble a daring crew.

But soon their adventures plunge them into a globe-spanning conspiracy with hidden ties to Leviathan and visitors from beyond this world. The Invenios Expeditions, the newest series from Leviathan Audio Productions. Available now wherever you listen to podcasts. It's ticklish business anyway, you look at it. Come on, we'll stick together. Love movies? Love classic movies? So do we. Ticklish Business is the podcast where classic film is discussed in modern times. Hosted by me, film journalist Kristen Lopez, and my co-host, author Emily Edwards, we dive into the golden age of cinema with fun, heart, and serious expertise.

As published film historians and lifelong classic movie buffs, we bring insider insights, deep research, and lively debates with a variety of special guests, ranging from celebrities like Holly Madison, to TCM luminaries Dave Carver and Eddie Muller, and even family members of old Hollywood legends. Subscribe now to Ticklish Business on your favorite podcast app, and let's talk about old Hollywood today. On the north bank of the Wangpu River, along Kaoyang Street stands a large two-story building. You're standing there, you approach from the street casually, right?

You're not like sneaking around. Give me, everybody give me a spot hidden check. All right. What are we just kind of strolling by kind of idea? You didn't tell me. Yeah, is there enough activity on the street to where is it completely isolated? No, no, it's like in a part of the city part of the city and in a in a section where it looks like there are Several warehouses, okay, and they all kind of look the same a warehouse district

Yeah, warehouse district or other people walking around yeah, okay. I rolled an extreme success. I was a seven beautiful I got a hard success nice. I uh I got a hard success as well Look at everyone succeeding I got in skids game the worst possible result 86 86 okay with all right so hard hard success and extreme success odds and and extreme. You would notice my hearts. My hearts would notice that the at least a portion. Pause for edit. Nope. My hards can see.

My hard boys. At least a portion of the warehouse. It looks like at least a portion of like the back part of the warehouse is built on a wooden pier or wooden pilings that extend into the river. It's right up against the river, but as you're casing the joint a little bit, you notice that a portion of it looks like it's built on the river itself, like hangs over the river. Okay. And yeah, I would say with extreme success, it seems like a boat could almost go under the building. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Interesting, interesting. Are there, is there boat John hear the boat sound?

Hahaha! Nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, So boats boats go by that's good and sure there's an under the floor hatch we can get in so I'm What about the front of the yellow? That was the extreme success You guys the hard saw like oh it looks like it hangs over the river and like yeah You could drive a boat right under it. I think that under the cover of night and we procure a boat somehow We've done that under the dock and come up and sneak in. Okay, yes. There are five sets of large doors

along the side of the building. The windows are at least seven feet from the ground and covered with iron grills. And it looks like there's a large, well-kept motorized junk boat in the rear of the warehouse. But any sort of angle you get on it, you can't see much about the boat. It may not even belong to the building, but it is sort of moored there. Do we get the sense that the type of ships that we saw getting loaded up and unloaded

in Limehouse, they probably couldn't get upriver enough to like port at this warehouse. Would cargo be tended back and forth from such a boat or could it pull up to this pier? As Faerûs pointed out to you, yeah, you could. Yeah, that boat you saw, I think you know it was called the Ivory Wind. Yeah, I could absolutely a boat of that size Okay, take an air you did meet the captain right? Yeah. Yes, or Swedish captain did Lars Torvach. Oh, yeah, he was great You also I've been what they playing like Warhammer and the hold

Desmond I think upset Lars and he yeah, yes wrong and they out he was drinking aqua feet. Oh, yeah, I'm ready Fumbled all right Yes, sir. Yes, she brawn. I think that is the plan. I just say we can't really knock on the door and hope to get a Cordial entry about taking a gander. It's sort of security guards That kind of a thing like how the shift what are their security systems like? How about taking a gander at sort of security guards? Yes. That kind of a thing. How the shift.

What are their security systems like? Yeah, when does it roll or not? When the shifts change. If we spend a couple hours, like, yeah, do the doors open? Who goes in and out? Yeah, I'd say if you stay there and watch, there are a businessman looking guy comes up at some point, goes in and comes out a half an hour later.

There are a dozen workers that come out for like a break and then they go back in and then like another dozen come out and they go back in. So you see sort of these lunch shifts happening. So you know that there's probably at least two dozen workers in there. Are they all Chinese? All Chinese appear to be. And you don't see any security guards on the perimeter. Do we see cargo leaving the warehouse?

Not while you're watching right now. So, all right. If we manage to sneak in there at some point when it's safe, we could find out if there are any more of those crates coming in from, what was the name of the dock in England? Limehouse? Limehouse. The Limehouse dock. We can see if anything was shipped in from there.

But also, and she like takes out her journal, she's like, we saw inside Mr. House, there was a ledger in the secret, remember in the secret torture room? There was a secret torture room. Oh yeah. There was a secret torture room. She says to both Vaughn and whatever.

That's where we found the cop who we thought we had been talking to, but we were only talking to his magical clone. If we can find the office and their records. Is this where they, what you burnt down? No, no, that was hence the manufacturing. This is what you would call our climactic battle in London. Yes, so we found a ledger with several invoices.

That May 23rd of last year, there was an invoice 32098, with which fabricated materials and parts and prototypes that were addressed to the Pale Viper were Kerob-Hofang Impulse exports. So if we can find information from that invoice number, that would lead us to the Pale Viper. And she shuts her book. I dare say that- Excellent work. You do excellent work. Cracking, cracking. I dare say that even if we were to keep eyes on the outside, then the theory that probably is

resolving for all of us might come into greater clarity if we saw cargo coming out of Hovheng's warehouse and going to where this militia is being trained, where this weapon is being manufactured. Already, it seems as though the machine parts that we saw being, or rather say you saw being fabricated, seem to be the sort of thing that they might be about. Is that perhaps this Chumin is the Pellviper. Yes, that's what I keep thinking. Ooh.

Could be, could be. All right, so we got- Or I wonder if it's this, what was the name of the owner of the Ho-Fang Imports and Exports? Ho-Fang. I think it's Ho-Fang. Oh, his name is, okay.

Yeah, his name's Ho-Fang. Yeah, could be him himself. Yes, or some. Could be. Or. Unseen party. Or it could be a live member of the Carlyle Expedition. Oh, also pretty cool.

Bradley? Another member, well, if I'm not mistaken, what we, the correspondence that you discovered, said that the Viper has been tasked with putting an end to Brady. Yes. Perhaps there may be... They could be at odds with each other. There could be another member, certainly. But right now all of this is mere conjecture. Yes.

We'll need more proof, need to see... Yes, but how are we to follow a boat, Vaughan, that leaves this warehouse? And how would we know if it goes to the warehouse where all the militia are? We'd either have to follow it in our own boat or stow away, old man. Stow away? If indeed that is how the cargo was transported from here to the warehouse. The warehouse that was described as being the training ground of the militia is on an island, you said no No, it's it's it's it's here another building here

So there's there is a chance that the cargo that is unloaded at Ho-Fang is transported over land somewhere Probably yeah, is the you know that militia warehouse on the water No, the address is it's it's in town and yeah, okay It's a remote part of town, but it's in town, whereas this is right on the river. Right, so I'm talking about following a boat. You don't have to do that. Yes, it seems as though we'd be rather more following

a Drayhorse or a truck. How comfortable are you with breaking laws? Not terribly comfortable, Fyrhuz. This would be new to me. Marian's what we call a easy mark. You're talking about the law of breaking into this warehouse? Yes. That I think I could do. Okay. All right. I believe there is some... Then you're fine. I believe there is several important reasons to break this particular law, and I feel as if we are caught, we may have solutions.

Yes, yes. Of course, one must pay deference to law, to local custom. Although isn't that whole thing where we could be tried as our own laws or whatever? Precisely. That is a benefit. If this could be spun in such a way as to be a direct threat to citizens of Britain or America or France, I feel as if we could talk our way out of it. Yeah, now we're talking. Manipulation. Let's go.

We can do whatever we want. We're gods. Ah, but I don't know if you go that far. Fine. I might dare say that, of course, all credit to the law render unto Caesar what he seizes and all that, but there is a divine law that is sometimes at odds with the rather temporal and circumscribed venal laws of man, and it is to that law to which we must first pay homage. Shall we, um, what are you saying, Dr. Orchard, that you will, if we shall break into the warehouse, um, close days?

Well, your idea is very interesting, Vaughan, however, I'm, there's a gap. There's a jump in logic, I fear, that you've made that may not connect quite so much as you think. How are we to follow goods that are transported from the warehouse to the militia warehouse if we don't know what goods are being loaded onto what trucks? Yes, we, indeed. Indeed, we'd have to, there'd have to be someone on the inside, or we'd have to do a great deal of leg work to see where, of course, they were transporting everything that came in and came out of the warehouse.

I don't know that we've got that sort of time. And wait, and sorry, we're convinced, out of character, we're convinced that the stuff that gets dropped off at this warehouse is also going to the militia. I don't know that. It was one theory. It's a theory. It's a theory. The theory is, I think, that the cargo that comes from the Lime warehouse.

The machine parts that were being manufactured at the warehouse that was burned down, which we know were being shipped out of Limehouse, yes? You're pretty confident, yeah. Probably destined to this importer. We've got the intimation from Sojay Taro that a weapon is being manufactured by Brady. That thing. Okay, got it.

Got it. And so the theory is that this is the sort of chain that what's being manufactured at the warehouse shipped out of Limehouse received by Ho-Fang is being sent to this militia to build this strange. You would need to have access to a warehouse on the water if this is being shipped by boat. If your warehouse does not have a position on the water, you would have to have an agreement with the warehouse that does.

So it could be, Von's theory could be correct here that they're shipping through Ho-Fang, but then merely moving them directly to the... We know where the militia is being trained, so it's not like we have to follow the truck. Right, we just have to find a ledger of theirs that indicates that that's where they're being sent. Yeah.

Because if anything that we've seen will tell us, it's that whatever we find amongst that militia, we will know immediately that it is not a normal weapon. So just by its nature. I mean, it almost makes sense if we could somehow intercept it here at the docks and then destroy it before it even gets to the militia.

Well, that's... There's probably less armed fighters here than there. That also depends. I don't know how long this operation has been conducting its business. Indeed. We are groping around in the dark, as it were. We need more information. By groping around in the dark, as it were. We need more information. By groping around in the dark?

McCarty, you said something that is rather interesting. Are we wasting our time here? Or with Ho-Fang entirely, have we already skipped this step? If we know that these goods are ending up, perhaps, at this warehouse, and we know that the central area of this threat or where this weapon could be being manufactured is this other warehouse. Perhaps that's the warehouse that really needs our attention.

Definitely check it out anyway. Yes, however, with this invoice, this invoice could tell us a little more information about the Pale Viper in their record. Ah, yes. So Troy, is it safe to assume that in this dock warehouse, we could potentially find, like, will we find like a schedule of deliveries,

like when the next one is anticipated? It's hard to say. I mean, this seems to be the main business. I don't know how boating works. Your research turned up that this is where his main business is and that he imports and exports all over the world and it doesn't necessarily have to be done by boat. There are big shipping doors where trucks could pull up and be loaded in. In fact that's probably the most likely way you look and you're like

a boat going under there it would be really tricky there'd have to be some sort of crane and pulley system but there it appears to be underwater access. I have another idea. Yes. You've been seeing these workers coming and going, right? I have a comprador, an interpreter that I've used in the past who I trust. I've worked on several projects that require me to go into or or just outside the city, and have used him on several occasions. I've paid him well. I believe I have no reason why he would not go along with us.

Another idea. What if we were to grab one of these workers and interrogate them? Learn from them. All of that goes on inside the warehouse. How it operates, how they move the equipment, and if they are ever seeing any shipments to a pale viper and where those are sent. We could try to do it through a simple bribery, paying them off, or we could try a heavier hand. They're very loyal. Arian! No, no, I don't mean... Good lord!

You're fitting right in. I don't mean to get out your nunchucks, but I do mean perhaps... And he looks over at Fae'ru's. Perhaps breaking a few laws. What if we were to impersonate policemen investigating some sort of crime and say that we need this information or we could get this person in a great deal of trouble. I don't know, but it's a way to see almost what's inside that warehouse without exposing ourselves to the risk of breaking in. It's certainly a way of applying pressure. An interview keeps us from rushing headlong into the unknown confines of that warehouse.

Yes, perhaps we could just simply attempt a more casual interview before we really put the screws to them. Right. And if all else fails, maybe we could even ask Sojay Taro in his assistance. Absent. So yeah, like what would we like most? I mean, all these are good. We could attempt to look at the militia warehouse where the training is supposedly taking place, just to check it out.

Or we could try to sneak in the dock of this place or we could try to go in under legitimate. Much like we did at the warehouse, much like y'all did at the warehouse back in London where we pose as interested parties trying to make use of it and try to look, take scope it out that way. Or just as Dr. Walsh is suggesting, try to make contact with one of the workmen and shake him down for info. A lot of good ideas. I think we should try the simplest first and go for the best.

This guy doesn't cough up any info. We can always just... I think beginning with a worker is a good place to start. And then remind me of the, so the politics of the time. We talked about this before, right? That there's like foreigner cops that are there. Like there's different police forces representing different groups.

Of course, I as a player am guessing at a lot of this stuff. But like, it seems from what I'm reading that there definitely are international police forces and Shanghai police forces. It doesn't mean the international police forces are a bunch of Irish guys and English guys. I think there's a whole bunch of Chinese people that are involved in the international police as well. But yes, I think the simple fact is there are factional different police forces within the one city. Because the concessions,

the international areas are considered to be legally distinct. So non-Chinese police. My concern is we don't know what type of, how he would feel about us. And so the biggest concern would be him just going straight to Ho-Fang and telling him, hey, these bozos came in and are trying to... Right, which is why I thought perhaps the fear tactic of presenting as law officers and threatening imprisonment or worse, if they talk or say anything or whatever. It's easy to talk yourself out of it.

No, no, no. It's complicated. I was thinking about the unfortunate realities of the time that this worker might be used to the fact that some foreigners are coming in and being like trying to assert their dominance or whatever. So it might not be that out of place. That's what I was trying to gauge, like what we knew about the time period and all that stuff.

I think it's possible that, was it your idea to go there under legitimate or that? Oh no, I was gonna break in at night. I think it was. Okay, so here's, how about this? This might be, this is still still I think in the same ballpark I think this might be the easiest the legitimate You are starting a spice store and you have to meet with warehouses

Yes, and you're gonna meet them and just discuss deals. What are your rates? How would this work and you can at least see somebody and at least get in there. My only fear is that if the rumor of the crazy people from London who pretend to be from a spice, you know, like somehow Zara Shafik's crew is talking to this crew. So I think because they don't know you, you could figure out, like if there's a,

you obviously have been established in this city for a while, maybe there's something through the university that they're wanting to, with their sister school in America, are transporting. Maybe they're gonna be transporting like a museum artifact. Museum artifact, perfect. And they need very secure, whatever, I could go with the comprador and say, how do your processes

work? And I could look around. This, this Dr. Walsh is the plan. Someone, an unknown quantity of them with a perfectly legitimate story of cover. Yes, I think you and your comprador should simply go in and have a perfectly legitimate interview. Why you came into our lives? For this moment? Just the only thing in order to because Carter brought up a very, very good point about not running into us being a threat in past circumstances with Spice World. As long as you...

Spice it up. Spice it up. Spice World is the Spice Girls movie. Spice up your life. Did I say Spice World? You said Spice World, if as long as you... Spice it up. Spice World is the Spice Girls movie. Spice up your life. Did I say Spice Girls? You said Spice Girls. It is now Spice World. If we... These people are trying to destroy all people of the world.

Every boy and every girl. Every boy and every girl. As long as you don't mention Miskatonic University as the sister school, I think that would maybe arouse some suspicion. Oh, yes, I wouldn't at all. I'd make it in London. I'd say Cambridge or some such.

Perfect. Let's go from there. Wonderful. Let's do it. All right, so do you wanna walk in there right now, or you wanna come back later? No, time like the present. Yeah. Or well, if you wanna come in with your interpreter. I mean, yeah, we're walking.

I mean, even if people saw us, like we're walking around, you know, actually he could be like, if we want to make it look really good, perhaps go to a warehouse next door and start there. Oh, perfect. And just do that first, then move to Ho-Fang. That's called an alibi. But of course I would need that compadre.

Yes. So that sounds more like a tonight or tomorrow thing. Yes, perhaps tomorrow I need to get in contact with Wu. Great. Wonderful. Then I suppose if you're about that, I suppose if you're about that business, then we could stake out the...

Militia? The militia or the tea house to have a look at this chap that sent a little shiver up your spine. Yeah. Excellent. Perhaps both. Yes. Okay.

So you're going to contact your comprador, come back tomorrow morning posing as business people looking to do some important exporting. Yes. Okay. And in the meantime, tonight- Something we all know about in real life. Tonight you want to stake out this tea house and the militia warehouse. I will say the tea house closes at seven o'clock.

Yes, so hit up that button. And there's nothing to say. Okay. Looks like a normal business. This guy, all you've been told is that he comes there every morning. You don't see anything else shady. All of you go stake out the other warehouse? I think safety and number one. The only other thing is, do we want to check back in? Not necessarily with Taro, but with the whole Jack Brady situation? Because we sort of like heard he's gone to Rangoon, but we don't know when he's coming back and all that stuff. I don't know. Like I just don't want us to forget about Brady.

I thought the militia warehouse is the main Brady lead. Isn't it? Brady, I don't think Brady has anything to do with the militia. Brady is- Brady, he thinks Brady is training a militia. Oh, I thought he was getting guns for somebody else. Okay.

No, the guns was a red herring, I think. Yeah, McChum told him, oh, he's dealing with this big money guy in Rangoon to get guns. Oh. And Tau was like, he told that same story to me. I checked it out and the guy corroborated, but something about his story was fishy.

And so he's like, he thinks that's a red herring. McChum knows more than he's letting on. But then that means that Brady is helping the people that are also gonna try to kill him, because doesn't the Pale Viper want Brady dead? And if the Pale Viper is behind this militia that's building a weapon. Well, it could be have misinformation somewhere along the line. Yes, something doesn't quite add up.

The inner machinations of this organization are more frayed than they would like to admit. We just simply don't know enough yet. Yeah. You saw how Zar Shafik went and stabbed Gavigan in the back? Yes, they're not a trustworthy bunch, these horrible, horrible people. Okay, well let's swing by the warehouse. I mean the militia warehouse. So I'll say you do wait a couple hours just to see if there's anything underwarranted at the tea house.

And they close up shop. It doesn't look like any employees are in there. So you head over to this warehouse, the address that Taro gave you. I mentioned this is in a more remote part of town. It's outside of the warehouse district and it's next to this noisy foundry. And from the outside, looking at the directions you're looking at, but this warehouse, it's all boarded up. It looks like it's not in use anymore. At the front section, there are what appears to be two men standing outside of the door.

You sit there for a while just watch these two men outside the front door and they just stand there. Nothing happens. Are they um, what is their demeanor? They look like tough customers. Um... Do they talk to each other? Uh, they do talk to each other. Do they walk anywhere?

No, they stay right in front of the door. Um... Sometimes their arms are folded, sometimes they're behind their back, hands in their pockets. Um... Stands to reason, I suppose, that if there's a... paramilitary unit

doing maneuvers in there that they'd want some rather stout security. What about audio? Is there any any sounds emanating from the place? Any? No, you see from time to time, some people will walk around towards like the back of the building. Around towards like the back of the building. There's like one guy while you're standing there and then if you half hour later two guys seem to be going around but Other than that it's very quiet here. What's night? Let's take a look at the back of the building Are you roll up to the back?

Are we doing this selfily or we're just like yeah? Should do it. Does that mean group? So does one person want to go who's the stealthiest or do you want to roll a group stealth roll? I think I'll stay back. Whose I've got a 60. I got 66. Oh no. That's sleight of hand. I think you have higher. I have 64. I'm not that high. 24.

So maybe you two stay up front, Vaughn and Marion, and then you two go to the back, and Nora, you roll the stealth check, or you're at the lower. Okay. Unless you want to go up and then call her to get that extra couple points. It's only a few points, I don't know.

Do it, roll it. Say rocket. I rolled a 56 under 60. Okay. All right, so you... Tight. Using the shadows, you... Hey, Ruz, I see you've learned from my tutelage. Well done.

You have taught me well, Kod. Yes. You slide up. It goes heel to toe. Heel to toe. Just like in charm school. Slide up to the edge of the building. You wait until all these people pass and you just kind of hang out there. For what seems like forever. You peek around the corner though, and you see there are two more men standing behind a back door.

You wait. A man comes, goes up to the back door, talks to the two guys, and is let in. To a single door or a double door? Single door. Do the two men have any visible weaponry? You're not there. We could get a spot hid. You guys. Yeah, let's try it.

Spot hid. I'm just saying they're not holding rifles. Yeah, they're not holding rifles. I rolled a 23, so it's a hard success. Hard success. From time to time they'll move in such a way that it looks like you see the outline of a gun holstered in their jacket. Under their jacket.

You continue to wait. Two men come up, talk to the guys a little bit. They go in. This reminds me of Juju House. I know. Are we getting the sense that there's like a gala? We're not seeing anyone coming out. We're just seeing more and more people go in. As of yet, neither of these two groups have seen anyone come out.

Only people go in. And it's what time at night? Or day? Afternoon? I'd say it's probably 10 o'clock at night. Oh, shit. Nothing good happens after 10. No. Well...

I mean, we're not walking up to these guys. Absolutely not. We should tell the others. Yeah, let's go back. Okay. The last thing I'll tell you that I didn't mention is every time these people come up to be let in, the guys open a padlock, let them in and re-padlock it. Carter's licking his lips, staring at a padlock.

You roll back to the rest of your crew and let them know that there are people being let in the back, but it seems like there are only two ways into this building. The front and the back with possibly four armed guards. Okay. All right, that's the deal. Tough. Definitely not a place. Definitely keeping something secret in there.

Yes. It tracks with what we know of the place. And no, I mean, I know it's nighttime, but no deliveries of any kind. No. Okay. Is there any visible place where things like that would happen? Like large doors for trucks, that kind of thing? No, no. Maybe there was at one point, but everything's all boarded up.

It does not seem fondly there. Receiving anything, truckloads of equipment, it would be difficult to deal with in a single door. Is what's been described to me of the machine parts that were being fabricated back in England, they were rather modular, small, perhaps some easy to be shipped, to be assembled at some other facility. So that this particular warehouse doesn't have, as it were, a loading dock doesn't necessarily strike it off the list for me. There could be a third location in which these things are being assembled, and perhaps they're being brought in to this warehouse, but just not in bulk shipment. Yes.

Perhaps. But perhaps. It's my guy, one of the guys anywhere thatwhere. That walks up, walks around, walks in, walks out. It's pretty dark out. It would be hard to tell. They all kind of have caps. So maybe... Here's a question.

They're all kind of bulky. They're all kind of bulky, yeah. Oh, okay. I was going to say, do we think that the people going in and out are more like engineers or just straight-up workers that have been hired to put this thing together? Or does everyone look like they sort of... Do they look muscle-y? Yeah, they look like soldiers.

They do look like pretty well-built dudes. Okay. And shady, shady-looking. Yeah, okay. Underworld. Never, you know, one and two, never more than that. Okay, interesting. All right.

Let's just lock that away. Yes. I wonder if they used this. I wonder what this warehouse was used for before. There's a way to find that out. Unless... They clearly made some adjustments in order to make it more secretive, but there may be something they didn't think of.

The St. John's Library, it seems, is a wellspring of that sort of local information. If they had any... If it has blueprints on every building in the city. Are there windows in this fucking building? Everything's boarded up. Everything's boarded up and the windows are like all clouded over. No light coming out of the windows?

Any rooftop entrance? Like, can you get from a building to a building? You jumped off the helicopter. Helicopter, yes. If I park or... Grappling hook wise. Is there a point of egress? Yeah, I mean, if you could climb the building,

you think that there might be some way in up top But yeah, whatever this was before it's not being used for that anymore And it's really noisy from the foundry next door so it's kind of a convenient location for whatever shit's going on there All right Well, just we can always come back on a different night. We can make bad decisions. Collecting information. This is how it happens, baby. Little piece of the puzzle. This is how it happens, baby.

Snowball grows. Let it happen. Keep those nunchucks holstered. Really need to use them. Poorly. Okay. We've done everything for today, I think, right? You've called Wu.

Or do you need to call him? Yes, I've made contact with Wu and he's, or do you need to call him? We don't, I don't. Yes, I've made contact with Wu, and he's going in the morning. And that's for tomorrow? Yes. All right, let's just get out of here. All right, so heading to bed or anything else

you wanna check out under the cover of night? I mean, you're out. That's why I would have died at NYU. How far is Ho-Fang's fortress mansion? His mansion, it's not in this part of town. So you'd have to go a little bit out of your way, but you do have the address. You can always check that out while he's doing his thing tomorrow. I don't know. Right.

Yes, these are the leads. Yes. Maybe tomorrow morning if it's warehouse, hoofang, manse, tea house. Very interesting. Yes. His mansion is in the French concession, not far from the old city. Okay. Going back, going to sleep, could Marion have a conversation with Carter? No. We're like roommates, aren't we? No. Well, I don't know. I don't know the lay down of it.

I was going to get stuck with this guy. Yeah, of course. Of course. I would say, yeah. It's yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, You might have something here. Mm-hmm. There's something. You hear this, like, kind of bleeding through the wall. Carter's writing in a journal of some kind. And yeah, Marion is in,

like, nightclothes. Right? Like, a lot of the one, the Scrooge McDuck. Exactly, a little cap. I think, in the way that Vaughn might, his purchase maybe on the way back, or just at an interval, is maybe in full silk robe.

With the little like. Fez. Little, yeah, gossip. Amazing. Smoking and bopping along. Yeah. Booking his hands. Harry's got a little robe

that's got fluffy little like a robe that's got like fluffy sleeves. Amazing. Of this image of Vaughn. No one to talk with, all by myself. No one to walk with, I'm happy on the shelf. I feel like- I'm just behaving, saving all my love for you. Apart from the one.

I feel like at some point in our relationship, especially since we spent that whole month in the cabin that we have this like choreographed jitterbug And we're like conducting our conversations like mid choreographed choreographed like so what do you think about this? Really is this pale viper? Who do you think the pale viper is? I know every time I think of the man I think of a rather reptilian chap Wouldn't be the first time unfortunately Rather reptilian chap. Wouldn't be the first time, unfortunately. Jabba dabba dabba doo.

Yeah, so he's kind of getting settled into his bed. Oh, I'm in your bedroom. Yeah, okay. I'm saying it's like, yeah, we set up like a cot situation. Oh, right, right. He didn't have that, he had like one other bedroom, I'd say. Some just friend spooning. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, I have to turn comfortably writing in this cot. It's all creaking. Yeah. I'm kind of a hotel. He looks over just turning in soon. Carter, are you going to work late? Well, I've been struck by the old inspiration. Oh, writing. Yeah, I'm just working more on the book just the back back pages. Yes What's on that is the light keeping you on I can oh no I don't mind at all in fact I'm it's it's rather a bit fun. I haven't had a roommate since the war. Yes a blast Having a great time. I'm getting the sense that you are rather unhappy here Carter is that I'm getting the sense that you are rather unhappy here Carter is that

My reading that right? No, no, no, it's it's we're very grateful to you for allowing us to crash here You know, it's just usually when we're around Vaughn were staying in high-class Places. This is yours. Just do it fine. It's just you know, I would another Adventures we've been on I would be in a bed of some kind I'm sorry sleep in my bed. kind. I'm sorry. Sleep in my bed. No, I'm good. Of course I can sleep in my cot. No, no, I don't know what I was thinking. You're absolutely right.

You are a guest in my home. This was... I didn't mean to make you feel bad. Plus, you've already slept in those sheets, so I'm not getting in there. But, that's fine. And I've shared a bed with a man before, you know, you know, I've been in a... It's fine. I'm fine in the cot. All right. All right.

Anything else you wanted to... Just get in the know of. Well, I just wonder. Vaughn speaks very deeply and very intensely about his Catholic beliefs, his Catholic leanings. I'm just curious, and I don't mean to get too personal, I'm just curious where you stand on all that. Yeah, and Carter's sitting there like kind of mulling over your question for just a beat and then he says, I never grew up with religion really, you know, in Massachusetts, obviously, like Catholics. I never really took a taste to it myself, especially given that the only thing that

really mattered to me was me, not God or the well-being of other people. And so, no, I never found a taste for it. The only religion I ended up coming up against is the various cults, I guess, that we've been forced to cross paths with and... Yes, so you've come into contact with some of these very unnatural forces. Yeah. So what do you think now? I think that there's obviously things out there that we're never going to understand. And all you can do is look at the things around you and, uh, like what I've learned.

And then he kind of like looks out and he sees the silhouette of them doing this goofy ass dance with each other. They're like a screen. Yeah. He's looking at them. He's like, he's just. Got to find the joy in the things that you got. It's beautiful, Carter. It's you don't think that that much differently than a theologian, I'll tell you that much. Well, I don't get crazy, you know.

Sometimes the good things you got, they go away. So get back to writing. Yeah. He's not going to press, so let it go at that. But files that away. And yeah, you hear the creaking of his bed as he turns over in bed and just turns his face away from the light.

You don't snore, do you? And you just hear, SNORING LAUGHS Oh. Oh my god. LAUGHS That's a wolf.

Yeah. It's a step down from the Waldorf. And you go to sleep. You wake up and it's April 3rd, 1925. Let me look at my calendar here. It's Friday! Hey, you made it to Friday! TGIF! All right.

You got an awesome blossom. Yeah. TCIF. Now, what are we doing here? All right. You got an awesome blossom. Yeah. T-C-I-F. Now, what are we doing here? Are we going back to the tea house where Marion didn't do well? Are you just taking Woo and some of you are going to try and do a fake? Oh, we're just business. No, it's just me.

I think it's just me and Woo. Just you and Woo. It's Woo and I. It's Woo and I. Just Woo and I. And I was going to try to go to the tea house. Yeah, we can go to... Do you want to do a tea house?

I just think us splitting in a place before where we don't know people or interpreters are, is a weird thing. Yeah, okay. What cool thing are you going to do? Maybe I'll go check out the Ho-Fang's house. Oh, Case the Mansion. Yeah. I mean, that's what they used to do.

Yours is fun. I love when people split up. This is also in... I was going to say we do both, but like... Also... Okay, never mind. We can do... The three of us can roll.

The three of us, yeah. Sure. Sure. Okay. So you want to do a tea house and then go check out the mansion. But you're going with Wu to set up an appointment. Yeah. Yeah.

And I think that we would... Maybe we would have a plan to meet between the teahouse and the mansion. Great. And, yeah. Because I don't expect to be very long. Wait, yes. Don't lay it on too thick, old man. Yes.

A perfectly legitimate reason. That's all you have to keep reminding yourself. Yes, yes. Of course it is. May I have one of those? Oh, yes. He's like, reaches in his little soft pack. Thank you. I don't normally smoke, but.

Oh, you're going to start. Steady on, old man. Right. Listen, here's the thing. When you're lying, okay, you're going to feel your heart rate start to pick up, all right? It's all about deep breaths, okay? You take a deep breath and you never break eye contact. All right, you start there, you're gonna be a professional con man in no time. Okay, deep breath and never make eye contact. Yeah, and stop sweating, Jesus Christ.

I'm just nervous, Scott. Wear something black or dark on top. You look like a fucking- It's too hot in the sun. Paper towel ad. Swampy. May or may not exist. Swampy city. It's a swamp. All right. And then he will describe to you the guy, as much as he can,

all the details so that you know who to look out for. And where would you like us to go? You meet up with Wu? Meet up with Wu. And he says, Wu, my old friend! How are you? It's been months! Dr. Walsh, yes, it's good to see you.

I hadn't heard from you in a while. I wasn't expecting you back so soon. It's good to see you again. Yes, I was not supposed to be back so soon, but things happened, stuff got bumped around a bit, and now I'm in town months before I meant to be, but it's good to see you. It's the same. What is it that we are doing today?

Matthew 20.10 I am on tasks from the university since I am not currently teaching classes to help with a matter of moving artifacts back and forth between campuses in London and campuses in St. John's and so I went to go to a few warehouses today on the river. Is it a river or like a more like a bay? It's on the ocean. Matthew 20.10 The Wangpu River. Matthew 20.10 It's the river, okay. I want to meet with a few warehouses on the river. Is it a river or like a more like a bay? It's on the ocean. The Wangpu River. It's the river. Okay. I want to meet with a few warehouses on the river, but perhaps three, four, and just get some rates, some ideas of how they move product back and forth and what it would cost the university to process their shipments through these warehouses that come, you know, from the

ocean. Very well. Lead the way. Excellent. Yeah, so you're gonna just- How's your family? Oh, very good, very good, thank you for asking. Your son's doing well, growing up?

Yes, yes, he's just graduated. Just graduated? Kindergarten. Ah, I thought I've, for a moment, I... Yes. Excellent, excellent. He's gonna be a doctor. Oh, it's a funny age. He's going to be a doctor. Oh, it's a fun age.

He's going to be a doctor. Yes. That's what he said, doctor or a fireman. We're hopeful, we're hopeful. That's a fun age. That is a fun age. Yes, he's 24. And they walk off together.

They walk off together. And we just see you going into various factories. Yeah. Hello, as you see from behind. A high octane montage of getting shipping rates. Warehouse montage. Yeah. Meanwhile, we go back to the teahouse and the three of you are sitting there. And right around 10 a.m., this gentleman comes in matching the description that both Taro

and now Marion have given you. He goes up to the counter, orders a sweet cake and tea, gets it and sits down and begins eating and drinking. Give me a spot hidden. We got to do it. We have to succeed. I rolled an 80, but it's still under 85. 80 under 85. Great. I made it exactly. I got a regular success as well. Three regular successes. Okay. Keep in mind, one thing, we haven't done three episodes

in and you all succeeded, but you can push rolls as well. Failed rolls. Oh, right. and oh, duh Pushed in the tea house push in the tea house. Well then anybody you know if you fail Yeah, it's bad go tits up. I wouldn't have failed in the second one. You're right. You're right. I don't know Yeah, you're right. You can't push on combat Yeah, I can't push in combat. But yeah push is combat. But yeah, push is high risk, high reward. You have a second chance, but if you fail, God, thank you for the reminder.

Every season, we're like, all right, that whole integral mechanic. I thought about it on the drive in, I'm like, man, two ups, they haven't pushed yet. I gotta remind them. And here we are at the end of the episode. It's real good. He eats his sweet cake.

He drinks his tea. He gets up and he leaves. Shall we? That's what a successful spot hidden gets us. Can I walk over to, does he bust his own stuff? No, he leaves it right there. Great. As we kind of like...

DNA. Yeah, I swab it. Yes, nature finds a way. No, but I might just glance over his table to see like anything interesting. Yeah, you look down at the plate, just crumbs from the cake in an empty sea glass. Delicious.

OK, off we go. No evidence that he's a fish person. No, he does not look like a fish person. Well, I'm out of ideas. Yeah, good. You can cross off fish person. Well, I'm out of ideas. Okay, cool.

I think that's a wrap. All right. Yeah, so no trail of I-Core following. Yeah, no humime. Yeah. No, out the door and let's try to follow. Yeah. Just for a little while, so you see what this guy is up to. This could just be a totally random,

this is just a guy you saw. But he seems to be keeping the hours up. Remember, he also said that it seemed like the shopkeeper might know something and was a little nervous, but he didn't want to press. And it would make sense that the person would know who he is he's there every day yeah this is true I mean following him is great too but also you could split again certainly give it a try may I try to charm the hostess of oh oh back for more

tea let me just roll away this is happening are we not following I mean what you would like to follow, I could try to put the full core press on the- Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, let's follow. Maybe it was an eye follow up. Okay, you follow and you charm. Let's go to this charm here. See how I-

So, you want to, oh, more tea? Yes. Oh, you must have enjoyed the first batch. I blew it, so considering what we just said, do it. And we'll push. Okay, so remember when you push, you're gonna say, what are you doing differently? What tactic are you using?

Shine him that great British smile. What did you do the first time, and now what are you doing differently? To reach her. She sees more of my cigarette-stained teeth. Starts unbuttoning his shirt. Ever seen an English nipple? You haven't seen a true horror. Have you ever seen an English nipple? Yes. Ah! Ah! They're much smaller. You haven't seen true horror.

Ah! Yes. Yes. Prepare to have your mind unwoven. No! No! By the English underbelly. I sat on your roads.

I can't even find it. It's that tiny nipple. Yes. Behold the most tanless torso you have ever held. Yeah. No, I think I'm just trying to engage her in just like the casual conversation, trying to warm her up, just rely on my charm.

Okay. Like, so yes, a charming place you have here. What's, what's, what's going on? How long have you been in business? Delightful cake. So, dance upon the palate. What's the secret of your tea? Just this kind of thing.

Dance upon the palate. And this is getting me nowhere. So now I will push it by, yeah, I'm not gonna rip open my linen suit. Bodice. But I think I will try to. And do the flirt lean. I will try, I'll do the flirt lean.

Flirt, crossover into flirting. I'll do the flirt lean and try to see if it gets me anywhere. Come natural to Vaan. Success. Yeah. Whoa. A regular success.

So yeah, I think I'd go from a tea, wonderful chai. Forgive me, my clumsy tongue can't make its way around you. The phrases that I've only conned from my friends. But truly, I am one, one encounters cuisine every now and then that transcends the mere, merely edible and potable and enters the echelons of true art. I think I'm dealing with an artist here.

I but make tea. Modesty, modesty, a very becoming feature. I'm glad you enjoy it. I'm sure many people enjoy it. In fact, I believe I... gentlemen sitting across from us, I makes it makes a habit of of coming here near to every day it's it's certainly not the charms of the neighborhood that brings him here but but the but the work of genius oh that's you're very kind I can tell from your accent that you are from a land of tea I am surprised that you would find mine so appealing do you not

have it's kind of you to call us the land of tea. I believe it is your country that holds that special designation. We merely stole it. And built an empire off of it. Well, yes, he is one of our regulars. We have many regulars who come here to enjoy my tea. Takes all sorts, I suppose. And of course, Vaughn is trying to get any sort of information from her about this guy.

So, yeah. The more you question about it, the more she seems uneasy. So the success on that second charm, I would say that you detect a little bit of unease and deflection. She doesn't want to say anything. She doesn't want to say anything. And I don't even need a psychologist to tell that just broaching the topic of this guy is causing her unease. A little bit of unease, yeah. Okay.

You charmed her enough that she sweetens up, but if you keep pressing about this guy, she... It's not Vaughn that's making her uneasy. It's having to answer anything. Okay, well that's telling me something, that this guy is heavy. Important. Um... I don't wanna... More sweetcakes. Pfft. Sweetcakes? Oh, oh get behind me Satan.

Oh, oh, oh, I will... A man can only deflect so much temptation. Really feeling the charm? Yes. Um, I will... but yes, I'll have another. You've twisted my arm. Oh, clearly you have a high metabolism. You'll scarf that down and still look as beautiful as you do.

This moment. Modest and flattering. Oh well. Only I could eat so many cakes and look as fetching as you. Come on. It is not the diet that makes one fetching. You don't need to reduce at all or perfect.

Perfect as you are. Very kind. My mother says I'm hideous. Mothers can be very cruel. I am 24 and unmarried. It is a great offense to my family. She says it's because of the cakes. Oh no.

Listen. She beats me. It just keeps going. Everyone's like, uh, yeah. She starts me. Just keeps going. She starts crying. Yes, I understand there's a great... Too charming. A great many sorrows that one encounters here in this veil of tears. I understand what it is like to have a rather overbearing maternal figure.

One with whom one doesn't always agree, who puts certain pressures on one. One must never forget that though we are commanded to do homage to our parents, we are, we are all of us, especially formed in our own way, on our own journeys, and must nurture that which is within us, which is a gift given to us by the Almighty. You have a gift and I conjure you to keep nuttishing it. Matthew 16 The strangest conversation I've ever had. Pete Is there something else I, I mean, can I try to get more? Do I feel as though-

Is there any other reason to keep talking? I mean, I would have this conversation all day, but I- Are you perhaps free for dinner? Too charming. Uh oh, I've gotten out of my skis here. I mean, it's, you know, it's a little bit of a long con, but there's information here. There absolutely is. Um, didn't you say?

Yes. What is your name? My name is this Chinese name. Jing. Jing. Yes. Chinese... Jing. Jing? Yes. My name is Vaughan. Vaughan? Yes. Lovely name. I could very well say the same to you. Vaughan.

But if the promise of a dinner at a later time promises even more of the rather transcendent cuisine that I've experienced here this morning. I wasn't planning on cooking our dinner. Well then, allow me to extend my hospitality to you. Not my mother. You've already done so much. Allow me to return the favor. Oh.

Perhaps I could drop by this evening, say seven o'clock? I get off at six, but I could wait around for an hour. No, no, that seems absurd. I would just stand here behind the counter until you arrive. What is happening? Poor woman. Why don't you just let her get off at seven? Yeah, I can't show you any to her.

She's a tough one. Okay, I'll come by earlier I guess. I sort of have a thing, but I'll try to swing around. Try to swing here early for you. Yes, um, six o'clock it is then. Oh, wonderful. See you then, Vaughn. I'll see you then, G.

Uh, yes. There's a line of six people behind you. Sorry. Oh my god. Sorry. So sorry. I'll take my sweet cake and go. Meanwhile, we're dead in a puddle of blood. Guy, sauce, and killed.

Yes, I think you were playing that. I charmed a little too well. Yeah, it was great. I'm really like, okay. She really got me feeling rather sympathetic there, but maybe she does know something. And maybe outside of here, in a more casual atmosphere, I can learn a little bit more. You're trying to follow this guy.

Okay. Are you being, you're being sort of coy about it, obviously, you don't want to be found out. You follow him for a couple of blocks and he just seems to be going about his day. Eventually he stops into like a little noodle shop and sits down and has lunch. I'd love to gauge the behavior of the people that work at this place too. To see if there's a similar... When he walks too. To see if there's a similar... When he walks in. Yeah, if there's a similar sort of like, oh shit. Like, oh shit. Yeah.

Yeah, no, he walks in and you don't see anything untoward, anything strange at all. Nothing strange about his behavior or the looks he's getting from the people. Okay. I'm glad he sat down. I could eat. Should we get some noodles? Yes. The only problem is, is this guy gonna see us

at every single place he goes to? Maybe. What if there's the two that were just at the tea? We stand out a little right now. Some of us more than others. Should we get some new, I was assuming we'd have newspapers. The eye holes cut into them?

Yes. Not with the eye holes, but at least a city map. Why don't we sit across the street? There's probably some other place we can go. Okay, fine. We'll get noodles later. We'll sit across. Yeah, we try to like pick a different business.

And I would assume that, like, let's assume like, Faerûs does have like a map because why wouldn't she? And then we needed to... That helps. Okay. And then Vaughn is taking a long time. Yeah. Where's Vaughn? Because sure I wouldn't she and then we needed to Okay And then Vaughn is taking a long time. Yeah, there's Vaughn. Well, he doesn't know where we went. We just walked out the door Yes, but he shouldn't have taken that long before he was behind us. That's true. Yeah

I'll run back and get Vaughn. It's your run back. What the fuck is going on? Where have you been? I was goes in and gets noodles. I made plans. I made plans. I couldn't help it. You made plans. What like you're on a date That's stretching it a bit till he has well, you know what I mean like a date date Not a date Let's say a meeting. Okay. All right, but what does she think it is diplomatic? I fear that um, yeah Yes, she may have her suspicions that there was romance in the office. You sly dog, you just pullin' on a woman's poor heartstrings. Come, come, I am- No one's gonna go anywhere, and you're using her, and I love it about you.

Come follow us! We're following this dude, he's at a noodle shop. Which I'm sure Faerûz did not go into. She laid on me a tale of sorrow that I couldn't, uh, gentlemanly extract myself from, and now I- Oh. Now I feel rather unbound to- Yeah, the old sad sack move. Yes. Yeah.

Okay. Well, come over here. To this other location. In we go. Wait, where's Faeruz? You come back, Faeruz is gone, Faeruz, you slip. Oh, god, she's dead. You slip into the noodle shop, the guy's sitting there, eating noodles, reading the Shanghai Courier, and you order noodles, you sit down.

What is your stealth score? 60. 60. He's eating noodles. At a certain point, he gets up to use the bathroom. See him go into the bathroom, wait, and he doesn't come up. It's in these noodles.

He got the runs. Shit. Stop eating the noodles. What's in these noodles? IBSD. Kinda turns the corner, goes around, where he assumed the bathrooms are. Yeah, but he leaves all of his stuff there. No, he left his noodles, D. And it turns the corner goes around where you assume the bathrooms are yeah, but he leaves all of his stuff there No, he left his noodles. Yeah, he took the noodles into the bathroom. He left his laptop

No, he left the Shanghai Courier and his noodle bowl, which is half finished if I is there like It's not the noodles that are doing this. Ah! Is the door or window of this shop to where I could see? Yeah, you look out and you see Vaan. Like gesturing. Oh, there she is, Jesus Christ. Hey, sorry, really, Vaan got a date.

I don't know what's in these noodles. Uh-oh. But the gentleman has gone to where I think would be the restroom, and he has not come out yet. He's been in there for a while. Is it a unisex bathroom? I don't know. How does it work?

Well, I figured you would go check, because I'm certainly not going to. OK. I suppose he's caught on that he's got a tail. Well, his left is... well, yeah, probably. I'll walk into the noodle shop, walk down the little corridor that was indicated to me. Walk to the corridor, you see two doors for a bathroom, and one door that is an exit to behind the building. Yeah, you made us. I, uh,

Wind gave you the slip. Yeah. I cracked that door to outside. Yeah. It's like an alleyway that eventually leads out to the street that you guys are on as well as the next street. Hmm. It's gone. You had to go into the fucking noodle shop. Well, yes, apparently he just, at least we know that there's a, whatever he's gone,

maybe he's just in the bathroom. Maybe he'll just come out. Maybe we'll just ask him. He just checked the bathrooms. Oh, is he back out yet? I'll knock, I'll open the bathroom doors. Yeah, what he's in there. I was assuming this was going on while he was...

The keeper just said he's gone. Why was Bob taking so long? I walk back. Yes, I fear our little bird's given us the slip. Jeff, you just stayed across the street. You still have so much to learn. She just... You know, sometimes you think you have a protege and they...

It's okay. We'll keep working at it, but don't fucking go in there. Sometimes you have to call an audible. And plus, the noodles looked really good. We cut back. We cut, the noodles looked really good. Have you had lunch yet? We cut back to Ho-Fang. Import exports. This is your third or fourth stop here, along with Wu.

Wu, yes. All right, so. His 24-year-old son just graduated kindergarten. Nobody caught up. He must be a doctor or a fireman. Might be a fireman. Must be be a doctor or a fireman. He must be a doctor or a fireman. He's not right in the head. So you and Wu walk up to the set of doors and Wu stands there for a second and looks and just like opens the door to the warehouse.

And let's go to the map. Let's go to Foundry Virtual Tabletop. Ooh, we got ourselves a map. Got a map. Oh, boy. I'm using one of the reference images you gave me here. You walk inside, and it is a very large storage area supported by several rows of wooden pillars. There are these archipelagos of salted fish,

hemp cordage, copper canned foods, bagged rice, chess, bricks of tea, porcelain, dried herbs, machine parts, hardwoods, yacht goods, all heaped in mounds across the floor of this warehouse. There are a few dozen workers going about taking these things, putting them into various crates, looking at forms and going about and almost forms this like maze throughout the warehouse. To the, what would be the West, there are two stories of what look like offices with a staircase leading up, lots of different offices.

You also see a handful of tougher looking customers that don't appear to be working. You don't know if they're foremen or they're just kind of... Guards? Yeah, maybe guards. Are they upstairs or down? Downstairs. Downstairs, among these stacks. Yeah, you know, you're kind of looking around, taking the whole scene in as quickly as you can,

and Wu is looking to speak to someone, and one of the workers notices Wu and calls out something, and a petite Chinese woman comes out of one of the offices, comes down the stairs and comes over to you and says, greetings, how may I help you? And she says it in Chinese to Wu, but you understand it. And Wu explains, what do you want him to say? You want him to say, this is, I am Dr. Marion Wesley Walsh from St. John's University. I am exploring the options at different warehouses for the comings and goings, shipments of a

university in London. He starts translating. Yeah. Through to St. John's University here we- She's like, I speak English. I speak English. Oh, excellent. Yes.

Do you mind if we inverse directly? No, that would be fine. Yes. Do you mind if we... Oh, no, that would be fine. Wonderful. What is your name? My name is Son... Son Chun-Wa. Son Chun-Wa.

Yes. Doctor... I can't remember my own name. Marion Wesley Walsh. Pleasure. Stunned by my beauty. Take it back, Max. It's a pleasure to meet you.

We are in the process of perhaps creating a deal for the shipment of some rare and precious artifacts between museums in my university and in Cambridge in London. I'm looking for a warehouse that is discrete, that is extremely secure, and can make sure that these valuable artifacts are received from London, are on the river, and then transported to the university in kind.

And if you are such a warehouse, I'm curious about how this would operate. Rates, I'm very new to this whole thing. The university has just sent me to learn. And so I am a student of this importing and exporting in the moment. Yeah, very good. Yeah, no, this would be the type of business we could handle. My employer would be the one that could give you much more information. Unfortunately, Mr. Ho is away today.

Perhaps you could make an appointment? Could make an appointment as early as tomorrow? Yes, I will clear my schedule to speak to Mr. Ho, yes. Okay, let me get a pen and she... It's Dr.... Dr. Marion Wesley Walsh. That's a girl's name. No it isn't. It's a lady name.

This is your wife's name. Please, I'd like your name. What did you say about that? No, uh... Doctor Marion Wesley Walsh and you're with St. John's University. St. John's University. Yes. Alright. And the scope of this is what are we talking? We're talking perhaps a few palettes every few months. It would not be a great deal of material.

It really depends on what exhibits are going to be shown when, and I don't really have that information currently. Okay, very well. How is 10 a.m. tomorrow? 10 a.m. Excellent, yes. Make it happen. I will set it up with Mr. Ho, and we will see you tomorrow at 10 a.m. tomorrow? 10 a.m. excellent yes. Great. I will set it up with Mr. Ho and we will see you tomorrow at 10 a.m. And will I need Wu, this is Wu by the way, or should... Will Ho speak English? No, Mr. Ho speaks English. You're welcome to use, I'm assuming Mr. Wu is a compador? Yes. You're welcome to bring Mr. Wu or you could meet with him

directly. Excellent. Then I shall do so. I'll meet here tomorrow at 10. All right. Have a wonderful day. Thank you. You as well. And you leave. All right. So can I do a quick spot hidden? I just want to do a roll to see if I can see anything of more interest before I leave. Any particular crates that perhaps have any symbols on them that they have described to me or anything that seems to be, I don't know how it would be marked for that. The Militia warehouse is completely unmarked, right? It has no name. It has like off the grid. Yeah. Whatever it was.

Would there be any crates that say from Limehouse or from? Yeah. Is there any way I could just do a spot hidden? Give me a spot hidden. There's a lot going on in here, but maybe you might catch something. Just kind of peeking around. 42 under 45. 42 under 45. You don't notice any crates that really jump out at you because there's just the scope of what's in here. So many, yeah. So there's a lot of stuff. The only thing that kind of jumps out at you is in like the back, back corner of the warehouse near where the stairs are going up.

There's a small table with four chairs around it directly outside of a door. That's the only thing that kind of jumped out at you, like what was going on over there? Maybe it's a break area, but there's 30 something workers here and only four chairs there. And also you saw from your stakeout the workers leaving for lunch.

That's the only thing that kind of jumped out at you. But beyond that, everything looks above board. Okay. Excellent. And he'll head out. Crap. He'll head up and make an appointment with the man. Oh, thank you. Tomorrow, 10 a.m.

That's right. April 4th. All right. April 4th. All right. Now what? Now we're going to meet up. All four of us are going to meet up and check out Ho-Fang's house. Right. Yep. This may change things slightly, but unless you don't want, maybe he shouldn't come in

case he comes out and sees you. Well, I definitely wouldn't come. But we need to meet and we can say, you know, we meet and catch each other up on everything that we saw. Yes, I don't know if I can go to Ho-Feng's manse. I now have a hard out around five. Why, what are you doing? Well, darling, I seem to have let my meager charms run away with me. And in attempting to interview the young lady

who was attending the cake counter at the tea house this morning, I seem to have arranged a little assignation. Charmed the pants off of her, is what he did. Really? Not quite. But I, of course, will return her kindness by purchasing her dinner, I suppose.

Why are you sweating? Well, it's rather hot, isn't it? Rather shame-making. But, yes, hopefully in a more relaxed attitude, I can get from her what it is that made her so damned nervous as soon as the gentleman that we were tailing was brought even glanced at. Right. Well, relax your attitude and whatever you said, because your neck's getting splotchy. Yes, yes. This always happens in the heat.

And Vaughn, if you need, just like I did with Marion here, I can give you tips on how to talk to a woman and sort of get Valuable information from her usually my experience is the woman's much older of course But that doesn't mean that I don't I can't help you guide you through the the charms and wiles you'll need to speak to a lady Yes Thank you all the same until he has to I think I've got it. Okay. All right Try not to drop too many F-bombs.

You know, sometimes they get a little like, eww. But, you know, sometimes you gotta say, fuggin'. Thank you. You're a true modern-day Casanova, Tillinghast. Yes, I believe I read that somewhere. Yeah. Fuggin'. Yeah, and you're gonna need some-

Actually, you know what? I still got some here. I'm just like, almost like a priest with the f** water. He's doing with perfume. Yeah, you gotta get it all over Easy easy easy I'm doing it now so that it part of it wears off by the time you go out Yes, yes, I I so I promise you killing us. I've got it well in hand I don't need to be perfumed by the Rudolph Valentino of Massachusetts And you head over to the French concession, not far from the old city, as I mentioned,

and you approach a compound. Ferruz found the address to Ho-Feng's mansion, but it is truly a compound surrounded by 13-foot high walls. There are gates, looks like a gate in the front top by spear points, broken glass and barbed wire. Broken glass? Yeah it's like it's really... Like kickboxer before they dunk their hands and all that shit? This area here is riddled with gang members and whatnot, so it's probably, you know, make sure people don't break in.

But yeah, very, very secure. And yeah, you see what looks like a doorman just beyond the gate and and the gate looks like it opens into a courtyard And with lots of like hallways and rooms Beyond so like a lot of money clearly went into this place. This is a gentleman of Means really the import business has been rather good to mr. Ho Yes, and she did mention this place was a fortress, and I... she did not lie. Yeah, this place is gonna need more than a cat burglar.

It's gonna need a cart burglar. Yes. Cart, as in Carter. Wow. Burglar as in still burglar. Yes, it's just that facility with the English language that one finds crackling off the page with certain memoirs.

Bushmaryan was here to see that one. I'm not going to worry about that one. No, seriously, this is serious shit. I don't know if we can do this. Yes, what do you propose we do? Is it even worth rolling a spot hidden to see if we see like any... anything? Anything, yeah. Absolutely, you can always go spot hidden.

It's a skill you rely on so much in this game. And sorry, you said there were guards or there are not guards? No, this looks like a doorman. And if you case the joint, one gate in. All right, I got a regular success on spot hidden. Okay. You sit and watch and you can see beyond the main gate the roofs of the mansion, this peaked red tile. It's kind of, there are parts of the inner compound that are indoors and parts that are

outdoors. As you sit and watch, there's a doorman just kind of sitting there on the inside of the gate. Watch is a doorman just kind of sitting there on the inside of the gate and at a certain point an Occidental gentleman, middle-aged, bespectacled, clean-shaven with receding hair, walks up to the gate, speaks with the doorman for the briefest of moments. The doorman opens the gate Let's the man into the compound And shuts the gate behind the man sort of walks deeper in and disappears from sight Did the doorman have to unlock the gate or was it already like it was unlocked?

It was half. Yes, like a keyhole or here's unlocked or it only opens from that side. Okay Right. Oh the doormen's on the inside of the door. It's opening. Okay So it's like gate and a little gate house right there with a gun. All right, so business social call here and Give me a sense of what's around this place. Is this is you saying we as we take up a whole city block Okay, what's like on the other side more kind of residential compounds or yeah? Yeah, other more residential compounds none as nice as this one all right um Okay Well, I suppose what we've learned is that Mr.. Ho has a pinch on for security and

Yes, it would be frightfully difficult to barge through these doors. Well, ideally, we would try to sneak through them and probably have to barge through them when one of us fucks up. But I agree. Still doesn't mean we can't try. Yes. Later. Yes, later. Just so, um, well, the sun is dipping in the sky

and I've got a hot date to get to. Just more. Blasted rose water off me, telling us. All right, so we'll cut to the Autumn Tea House. Vaughn walking, and you see Jing, uh... putting away the last sweet cake. Turning around. Trying not to eat it.

Locking the door of the tea house behind her, turning to you, smiling. So, where are you taking me? Um... And we'll see you next week. That's gonna be a juicy date! It's a surprise. You got a week to think about it. Come up with a good idea. Should've asked Marion for a recommendation. We should follow them.

Oooh. Cyrano de Bergerac me from the booth behind us. Safe, safe faggin'. Safe faggin'. Bye. 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,

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