23:53 <Crion> Things are still...normal...in Baltimore. For certain definitions thereof. 23:54 <Crion> Sure, there are a bunch of Pigs roaming the near Hedge, but they can't hope to get into the motley's Hollow and don't seem aware of where it really is. Tony's got a bunch of weird rude buddies/pets going in and out, ringled by the honking Steve, but that's usual. And things on the real-world side of the city are as they've always been. 23:54 <Crion> Where's Stewart on his next day off after locating the Loyalist Hollow? 00:00 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart is at his apartment, which needs to be kept clean, and where geese and cops and cackling kill-orders mostly stop at the door. He's reading on his iPad, this 'Settlers' pdf Melanie linked him. Woof. He's got an ear out for any notifiications that might come from his computer. 00:01 <Crion> What's he set the notification sound to on the hex box Autumn chat app? It can be any normal system sound...along with a bunch of onboard, seemingly-default spooky sounds besides...? 00:05 <VoxPVoxD> He's got it set up differently for different people. Santander gets the MIDI of a lightning strike. Kingsley gets an ominous wind chime, where Gerald has the same chime in a major key. Lauren's got a creepy theremin tone. 00:07 <Crion> It'll be that creepy theremin tone he hears, then, twice. 00:07 <Crion> <he> 00:07 <Crion> <y> 00:09 <Crion> Username dolor_sit_amet 00:09 <Crion> of course. 00:12 <Crion> <u up> 00:12 <Crion> <sry> 00:12 <Crion> <Are you awake.> 00:13 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart hears those weird notes and he's in the chair. He doesn't scramble, he'll insist. <yeah sorry i was reading. what's up> 00:14 <Crion> <power in my building's out. i'm on a coMPANY PHONE> 00:14 <Crion> <you wanna crash the mage bar> 00:16 <VoxPVoxD> Oh hell yes. <100%> 00:16 <Crion> <alright i'll be there in 30> 00:17 <VoxPVoxD> <sick> 00:18 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's only got 30 minutes to... the apartment's already immaculate. Sometimes being a tightly bundled ball of neuroses works in your favor. 00:19 <Crion> If he hasn't already, how long does it take Stewart to register that a girl just asked him to meet her at a bar? 00:19 <Crion> If it helps, pictures of the location indicate he's looking for jeans, decent shoes, and a gingham shirt. 00:26 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's registered and dismissed that four times before he's out the door. The oscillating quantum potentiality finds Stewart at ease, meeting a friend for an exciting new venture and bewildered, overwhelmed, mired in the rules of a game no one ever fully taught him. For now, he's comfortable (as comfortable as Stewart gets without a keyboard under his hands) and, arguably, he looks 00:26 <VoxPVoxD> nice. 00:27 <Crion> Nice. Does he drive? 00:30 <VoxPVoxD> Yeah, he's gotten used to having his own car, and between Uber's pricing and the stuff Melanie keeps sending him to read it's getting harder and harder to justify booking a ride. He could always walk, but, these are his nice shoes, which he wears so infrequently that they aren't broken in yet. 00:33 <Crion> Hard to find parking up there! Hard... 00:33 <Crion> ...But not so hard tonight! 00:33 <VoxPVoxD> What luck! 00:35 <Crion> He finds a spot on the Belvedere's block, just in front of but not blocking the fire hydrant -- the curb's colored here to let him know. 00:37 <Crion> As he parks and steps out, his eye catches on a man cater-corner from where he parked, a wiry, handsome man with slicked back hair and subdued -- but still red -- suit. He winks, turns, and walks up the block. 00:41 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart makes eye contact with him for just a moment before he turns away. 00:42 <Crion> The Red-Suited Man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfXupu60v-Q No we can't slow down; we can't hold back; though you know we wish we could. 00:44 <VoxPVoxD> Nice. So there's a nonzero chance that was the actual Devil. Cool. Cool cool cool. Well, we're parked. 00:46 <Crion> The Belvedere Hotel has a nice, spacious walk up, a man to open the door -- he does, Stewart is precisely the sort of young man who they expect to be walking into this hotel -- and a semi-busy lobby with a...yes, there it is. A great wooden, hardcarved sign over a pair of open double-doors off to the left, before the reception desk: THE OWL BAR 00:46 <Crion> Below that: EST. 1903. 00:47 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart idly wonders how much of the national register of historic buildings is infested with the supernatural. Is it all of it? It might be all of it. He also looks around. Any sign of Lauren? 00:48 <Crion> https://i.imgur.com/pbQInHT.png 00:48 <Crion> The eyes are more imposing than perhaps they should be, for symbolic owl eyes. 00:48 <Crion> How on time is he? 00:49 <Crion> Early, on-time, late...? 00:49 <Crion> Well. He's not late. 00:50 <VoxPVoxD> Since parking was a lot easier than he expected, he's about five minutes early. 00:52 <Crion> Then he's just in time to see Lauren in...a yellow sundress...having a heated conversation with a tall African-American man at the front door of the Owl Bar. He seems very long-suffering. 00:56 <VoxPVoxD> Whaaahowowowowookay. Stewart approaches the confrontation. 00:56 <Crion> Lauren: "You've seen my ID. I can drink wherever I want. This is BULLSHIT!" 00:56 <Crion> The big guy: "This is for your ow..." 00:56 <Crion> He sees Stewart. And it's clear that he sees Stewart. 00:56 <Crion> "Oh." 00:57 <Crion> "Well, if it's like that." 00:59 <Crion> Lauren: "Yes, Fireman, it IS li--" 01:00 <Crion> She stiffens and turns to follow his eyes, and by the time she faces Stewart, she's...almost smiling? No, that's still a grimace. "Hi," 01:02 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Hey. Is-- is something up?" 01:03 <Crion> "No!" she says. "No. We were just...going inside?" 01:03 <Crion> It's a very aggressive half-question. 01:05 <Crion> 'Fireman' closes his eyes. "The Owl Bar expects the best behavior from its guests." He opens them again to glare at Lauren. "Children's menu is available until 10 PM." He looks at Stewart again. Then: "Good evening, Mr. Reader. Ms. Ipsum." 01:06 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Thank you so much." 01:07 <Crion> As you walk in, he'll motion to another bouncer and walk off. Seems he's not actually the usual doorman. 01:08 <Crion> Fireman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eJbxI-jZbA Don't you ever tame your demons, but always keep them on a leash. 01:09 <Crion> The hostess chipperly asks you if you want a table or the bar. Lauren's going to volunteer table almost immediately unless contradicted. 01:09 <VoxPVoxD> Table sounds good to Stewart. So does this song. 01:11 <Crion> Once the hostess has seated them -- Lauren makes sure they're as far from everyone as possible, though this place will eventually be filling up -- Lauren sips the ice water and says, "Sorry about Fireman. That's his name. He's a wizard." 01:11 <Crion> "Sometimes he's an asshole about letting us drink here." 01:12 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Only sometimes?" 01:12 <Crion> It's weird...sound seems to carry less than it should in here. Hard to tell why, whether it's acoustics or something else. But there's no live music and the piano stuff being piped in from the PA is very soft. So is the argument between two soon-to-be-ex partners three tables down. 01:14 <Crion> She shrugs. "Kingsley and Santander are close with these dudes. For certain definitions of close. And it's not like we're going up to the thirteenth floor!" 01:19 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "This is my first time here. How often do you come down?" 01:20 <Crion> She grins at some private joke. "I don't go anywhere often." 01:20 <Crion> "But when I go out, it's here." 01:25 <Crion> A waitress will come by with menus. Lauren orders a house pilsner. This place's specialty is high-end personal pizzas from a big brick-oven pizza they keep sort of backed up to the bar area so you can see them putting the things in and out. 01:25 <Crion> *big brick pizza oven 01:26 <Crion> One of the specialty toppings is, yes, lump crab. They let you choose whether the crab meat is cooked with the pizza, added after, or sauteed alongside. 01:27 <Crion> There's also pineapple and ham and all that nonsense. 01:28 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart orders a stout for now. "This place must be special if it can get Lauren Ipsum out of her fortress time and again." 01:30 <Crion> She looks intentionally unimpressed about it. "It's got wizards." 01:30 <Crion> "I mean, they don't like. HANG AROUND down here." 01:30 <Crion> "Not all the time." 01:31 <VoxPVoxD> "But if you come here to people-watch often enough you'll catch..." 01:32 <Crion> Chipperly: "A stake, a bullet, a car, a rifle grenade--" 01:33 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, I see the appeal." 01:34 <Crion> She laughs. "But seriously, this place is under their protection. It makes it a good place to talk. And yeah, they're listening, so we can't talk real secret shit, but. Well." 01:34 <Crion> "NORMAL secret shit they already know." 01:34 <Crion> "Wizards." 01:34 <Crion> "And we have agreements. Oaths." 01:35 <Crion> "Not you and me, but the people above us." 01:35 <Crion> She sips her beer again. "So basically we can treat this like The Sidereal, except we have to pay for food." 01:35 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Seems fair enough. Are you hungry?" 01:36 <Crion> "Oh yes, I'll be ordering a pizza when the waitress comes back. Do you want to split nachos?" 01:36 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Well I do now." 01:37 <Crion> She grins. When the waitress returns, it'll be a plate of nachos to split, one personal pepperoni and four cheese pizza for Lauren, and...anything for Stewart? 01:44 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart'll get a personal margherita. Between that, the stout and the nachos, he doesn't want to have to roll out of here. "So, okay, no trade secrets, obviously." 01:45 <Crion> She nods firmly. "Current events are fine, though." 01:46 <Crion> "For the most part. If you've stumbled on a way to murder every vampire, keep to yourself. Just so we can sell it back to the vampires." 01:48 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Good looking out. But that's not the way the murder winds are blowing." 01:48 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Good looking out. But that's not the way the murder winds are blowing." 01:49 <Crion> Lauren hides her grimace with another sip of beer. 01:52 <Crion> Nachos! That was quick. 01:52 <Crion> After a particular cheesy one: "That bad, huh?" 01:53 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "When I had the thing with Kingsley and Gerald, I was expecting a lot more pushback. Like, keep watch, defend your base, I expected that kind of thing. But these" his voice drops to a whisper for a moment as the nachos arrive "these out-of-towners and their combat specs are just, like *here* and everyone's totally like 'Yeah, no, it's cool, let's go square off' nevermind 01:53 <VoxPVoxD> the fact that Nels got fucking shot in the chest." 01:54 <Crion> She blinks. "Is she alright?" 01:58 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "She was wearing a vest. I think Maggie did something, some clause or-- she's fine. But it's insane! One of them, she's this big jacked like, Zarya with a chainsaw. And everyone's just, fine with it? I feel like I got backdoored into the Walking Dead here." 02:02 <Crion> She sighs and finishes a nacho. "I don't think everyone's fine with it. And from what I've heard about The Walking Dead, it went a lot better than that. No one died, right?" 02:02 <Crion> "So it's more like...you got backdoored into a horror movie, where everyone sucks." 02:03 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Which sounds a lot more like reality." 02:04 <Crion> She sips her beer again. "Is everyone REALLY like, 'let's go square off?'" 02:05 <Crion> "Like, that's 1v1, right?" 02:05 <Crion> "Squares have the same sides all the way around." 02:08 <VoxPVoxD> Three bites of nachos and this stout and Stewart can already feel his gut sloshing around. It's so good though. "No, we're like... basically we had to find them, and we think we did, right. But Gerald gave us the option to hand off, uh, step two to another team. The Wherehouse didn't want any of that. Everyone was into us doing it ourselves." 02:11 <Crion> Lauren: "The...wait. You named it??" 02:11 <Crion> "You named you???" 02:12 <Crion> She slams the counter. "You have to lead with this stuff!!!" 02:12 <Crion> "That's so cool!!" 02:12 <Crion> "Sorry. Sorry." 02:14 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart looks startled and delighted. "Nels came up with it. Maggie started using it. Now it's kind of stuck." 02:15 <Crion> Primly and firmly: "Names you give yourself are very important. And also impossible to use in magic. I approve." 02:18 <Crion> "Anyway. I'm jealous." 02:18 <Crion> Hastily: "Not enough to want to, like, join you." 02:19 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Hey, we're only trying to catch up. There are some devastatingly good self-given names floating around." 02:19 <Crion> "But this doesn't sound like The Walking Dead at all. If uh. What I've heard about The Walking Dead is true." 02:19 <Crion> "None of those people like each other at all." 02:24 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Maybe it's me that's the weird one. Like I'm not saying those guys don't deserve it, or whatever. But like... I don't know. I keep thinking about how Gerald and I, sort of, cleaned one of those up." 02:28 <Crion> Lauren's pizza is here. She devours a slice. With her mouth still slightly full: "Well, you're not going to be cleaning anything up, right?" *gulp* "And you don't have to kill them unless you have to. You can, like, put them on a hobwagon down Route 666 after making them swear not to get off until somewhere around the Ozarks and never come back. Maybe you have to hurt them, but you don't have 02:28 <Crion> to KILL them. So are you guys committed to killing them?" 02:31 <VoxPVoxD> Man that looks good. "Like, would we offer and accept other terms as long as they fucked off? I don't know. Probably. But the way Kingsley and Melanie were talking it seems like we're at least *expected* to kill them." 02:32 <Crion> She rolls her eyes. "Were you asked to kill them?" 02:35 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Not... directly..." 02:36 <Crion> "Then I'd have a little faith in the forbearance of the man who not only forgave his fetch, but calls him brother, when it comes to accepting creative non-violent solutions." She pushes forward the pizza dish. "Have a slice. You're staring." 02:38 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart takes a slice. "You're right." He takes a bite. Chews it thoughtfully. "I just, I hear gunshots and chainsaws revving and my mind locks on to the worst case scenario and then suddenly that's the center of the universe now." 02:38 <Crion> She pauses. "I'm not saying it won't suck. You know, when you walked in the door that day at the office, I asked why they got you. With 'The Wherehouse,' I understand now. We don't actually, uh." She has another bit of pizza. "Have the same skillset." 02:39 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You and me, you mean?" 02:39 <Crion> "Yeah." 02:39 <Crion> "I mean we have like." 02:39 <Crion> "70% of the same skillset." 02:40 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart watches Lauren elaborate. 02:44 <Crion> "But you're able to have the problems you have with this stuff, this field stuff -- real problems!! -- without having also either ordered Kingsley to stop putting this shit on you, or stopped going outside. You're here in your nice shirt and clean jeans drinking...okay, you're drinking a stout, and who does that, but you're able to maintain, assess, and proceed. That's what Gerald calls it. 02:44 <Crion> MAPing. And you also realize how fucked up it is." 02:44 <Crion> "It's a hard balancing act, being scared in the court of fear. I know." 02:47 <Crion> She seems to realize she's been giving a speech now, and goes bright red. 02:47 <Crion> "Anyway, Kingsley's the king of the freehold. Fuck the rest of 'em. That's what I say." 02:47 <Crion> She hurriedly sips more beer. 02:50 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart, of course, is rapt. 02:51 <Crion> "Have another slice!!" 02:51 <VoxPVoxD> "So you're saying, what, you're saying that it's my job to be running back and forth freaking out all the time?" 02:51 <VoxPVoxD> "That this constitutes a skillset?" 02:53 <Crion> "Stewart. You're going to be freaking out all the time no matter what." She sips her beer again. "I was putting that in the 70%." 02:53 <Crion> "And yes, caring about why you do things is a learned skill." 02:54 <Crion> "Look at those Loyalists if you disagree." 02:58 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Okay, you're right. So what would you do if you were in my situation? How would you apply your skillset?" 03:01 <Crion> "I've got two answers to that," she says. "The first is what I'd love for myself to do, in an ideal world." 03:01 <Crion> "The second is what I think I'd actually do." 03:02 <Crion> "I can give you either, or both." 03:03 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Both, please. I want to hear from present Lauren and all hypothetical future Laurens." 03:10 <Crion> She doesn't seem to find that funny. "So. Route 666. That's a huge trod, one of the biggest we know of. It runs vaguely from around the Interstate 70 sign outside Baltimore -- which is actually on I-695 -- to Cove Fort, Utah, where it hits I-15. Long stretch of road. You know where their Hollow is; you know how you get internet in a Hollow. That means Kid Kid Kid, unless he has access to our 03:10 <Crion> magic and a spoofed server, is using a goblin switchboard. That means you can jump his signal and send him some kind of meet request out near the Route 666 trod. These guys are go-getters, right? They're also bullies. Tailor it to that, and no matter how suspicious it is, they'll show. You neutralize them, you get the Travelling Hobs to agree to take them on board, you oathbind them never to 03:10 <Crion> see the Atlantic Ocean again. That's the ideal." 03:12 <Crion> She leans forward. "What I'd actually do is tell Loser, the chainsaw girl, and the fake brit to fuck off, and tell your Summer and your Winter Court that no one ever needs to see Kid Kid Kid or the Proctor ever again." 03:13 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's stunned. 03:13 <Crion> "I wasn't around last time Proctor was through." 03:13 <Crion> "I was around for the fallout." 03:14 <VoxPVoxD> "What happened?" 03:15 <Crion> Her brow knits. "People...couldn't go on living." 03:15 <Crion> "With themselves." 03:15 <Crion> "So they didn't." 03:16 <Crion> She opens her mouth, closes it, and opens it again. "He tricked a courtier into giving two other freeholders up. The courtier thought he was helping." 03:16 <Crion> "Proctor made sure, when it was done, that he knew that he wasn't." 03:17 <VoxPVoxD> "Oh." 03:18 <Crion> Lauren takes a bite of another slice. "As for Kid Kid Kid, he's an alt-right fuck who just needs to die. Why do you think it's three Kids?" 03:20 <Crion> She pauses. "This got a lot more serious than I meant for it to get." 03:21 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "It's fine, I'm just as- wait, how serious did you mean for it to get?" 03:22 <Crion> Lauren: "I was hoping to see if you played Destiny 2, since it's F2P and you seem like that kind of MMO pi---person, might be that kind of MMO person, and I've gotten addicted to shooting weird aliens in the head." 03:22 <Crion> "Also, I wanted pizza and my internet was out and I wanted to see you." 03:22 <Crion> "And YOU wanted to see the Owl Bar." 03:22 <Crion> "So, you know, good all around." 03:25 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "That's still in my backlog. I completely missed Destiny 1, but I'm hearing that's not a problem?" 03:26 <Crion> She laughs. "Fuck no! They got free of Activision, which means all the dumb gating bullshit is done too. The new expansion is great!" 03:27 <Crion> Her phone buzzes. "Oh! Power's back." 03:28 <Crion> "You ready to head out?" 03:29 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, let's go." 03:32 <Crion> Lauren throws down the law office business card...and takes Stewart by the hand as they walk out of the bar, through the lobby, to the street outside. A car rolls up for her that Stewart will recognize -- Gerald, of course. Lauren lets go of his hand as the window rolls down, but the very slight smirk on his face shows through. "Thanks for coming out," Lauren says. 03:33 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Thanks for inviting. I had a great time." 03:34 <Crion> "So did I." She takes his hand again, squeezes it, then jumps into the backseat. 03:34 <Crion> Gerald looks studiously forward. "Good evening, Mr. Reader." 03:34 <Crion> This is both a greeting and a farewell. 03:35 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's just flustered enough to only manage a "Yeahthanksbye-" before the window rolls up and they're gone. 03:35 <Crion> Back to his car, then? 03:36 <VoxPVoxD> Yeah. Stewart's still flexing his hand when he goes to open the car door with the other one. 03:37 <Crion> He's got his seat belt on and is about ready to put in the key when...there's a knock on the window. 03:37 <Crion> It's a smiling African-American man, in plainclothes, and he's got a police badge 03:37 <Crion> . 03:38 <Crion> He makes the "roll it down" motion. 03:38 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart lowers the window. "Is there a problem?" 03:39 <Crion> His mouth was open to say something before Stewart said something first. "No. No, player. Nothing's wrong. Sorry to bother you. Sorry to get in your way." 03:39 <Crion> "Did you know you're parked illegally?" 03:39 <Crion> Stewart is not parked illegally. 03:40 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "No, I did not know that. I'm sorry." 03:40 <Crion> The man's smile widens and his stare deepens. "You're sorry." 03:40 <Crion> He straightens up, speaking to someone over on the other side of the car. "He says he's sorry." 03:41 <Crion> "Well then, we have no choice but to believe him," says the woman leaning against Stewart's passenger side door, grinning. 03:43 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's white enough that he's only very nervous. 03:43 <Crion> "Yeah, he is sorry," the 'cop' says, then leans down. "You're Stewart. I'm Singular. Both upper and lower case. I've got a Permit -- that's my partner over there -- and you don't. You're here without authority. Do you understand how that goes for boys like you, in towns like this?" 03:45 <Crion> Singular: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udmTfK6_aM8 The whole world loves it when you sing the blues; the whole world loves it when you're in the news. 03:46 <Crion> Permit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnO-MflYxCw You better run, better run -- outrun my gun. 03:46 <VoxPVoxD> Okay now he's freaking out. But his keel stays steady. Heart thudding in his chest he focuses on the music in his ears, and says clearly and slowly: "How does it go?" 03:47 <Crion> Singular cackles. "Well, young man, I'm glad you asked. It goes a little bit like--" 03:50 <Crion> The badge in Singular's hand hisses, glows, and ignites his hand and coat. 03:50 <Crion> "AHHHH!!!! AHHH!!!!!!!!" 03:50 <Crion> "FUCK!!!" 03:51 <VoxPVoxD> Holy shit. Stewart starts his car. 03:51 <Crion> In his rear view mirror, he sees Fireman walking down the street. 03:51 <Crion> And taking off his suit jacket. 03:51 <Crion> He nods to Stewart. The message is clear: drive. 03:52 <VoxPVoxD> Holy shit holy shit holy shit-- the car squeals out of there. 03:53 <Crion> The sirens won't even start for twenty minutes or so. And on the news, it'll be an engine fire. 03:53 <Crion> Weird. 03:53 <Crion> Just another day in Baltimore. 03:53 <Crion> --Fin.