Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the All Night Society, an actual play podcast brought to you by Queens Court Games.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: Well, as is typical, we've ended one conversation with many, many, many more questions than answers.
But unlike the usual, I feel like we might actually be equipped to handle them this time.
Calamity seems to be pointing her compass towards tunnels. Man made tunnels, too smooth to be anything else.
And we know that there's water involved, if Anna's hallucination, we'll call it, and paintings are to be believed.
Which leaves me with one question to add on top of all the others, what do we do next?
Unfortunately, but with all the fly boy murdering and finger painting that we had to take care of, there's not a lot of this night left.
There certainly aren't any public departments open or research libraries available. And it would take more than the hours you have at your disposal to track down the nosferatu. So I think unless someone has a late night snack they'd like to go out and grab, this will be a case where we send you off to the day's sleep and begin our business anew the next night.
Does that sound fair?
[00:02:06] Speaker A: It does.
[00:02:07] Speaker C: I'd say so.
[00:02:11] Speaker B: Then so it shall be. Anna returning to her room in the Rucheski Manor, as opposed to the pillow fortress apartment. Maya having to give up the luxury of her own condominium.
Calamity and Ivy, at least at home, the kindred body is predictable in many ways.
You have wounds, aplenty, and also the need to rouse in the morning.
Which means, before we continue with our story, I expect there's a whole lot of dice rolling that needs to happen for our gangrel and tramir friends.
[00:02:50] Speaker C: I am afraid to say that you would be correct.
[00:02:54] Speaker B: Just so everyone's on the same page, how hurt are you?
[00:03:01] Speaker A: I only took four superficial damage.
So much less hurt than Calamity.
[00:03:08] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:03:11] Speaker C: At the very least, that is one aggravated and a couple superficial leftover, so that should be taken care of sooner rather than later.
[00:03:22] Speaker B: The bad news is you don't have much choice in the matter. But the good news is, you're as satiated as any vampire can be.
So let us begin with Ivy, since this will be easier if you'll make that first rouse to heal.
[00:03:39] Speaker A: Getting a little hungrier.
[00:03:42] Speaker B: One down, one to go.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: And again.
[00:03:47] Speaker B: Well, surely you cannot fail three in a row. Let's see if you wake up absolutely famished or just a little famished.
[00:03:57] Speaker A: Just a little famished, as luck would have it.
[00:04:02] Speaker B: Indeed. So having slaked two hunger from the Ducheski and having gained two more, you are essentially back where you started, minus a few cuts and bruises.
[00:04:13] Speaker A: I'll take that trade any day.
[00:04:17] Speaker B: I'm sure it feels good to be whole again.
[00:04:21] Speaker C: It always does.
[00:04:23] Speaker B: Calamity, on the other hand, you will find yourself in a slightly more difficult predicament superficial damage. You can heal quite easily, but aggravated damage is a more involved affair and will need you to make three rouse checks to repair your aggravated damage.
[00:04:40] Speaker C: Of course.
Very least I was able to pull the worst of the shrapnel out.
That's one failure.
That's one success and another success.
[00:04:56] Speaker B: We are a lot better at this than Ivy is. One more should handle the superficial damage.
[00:05:04] Speaker C: Not terribly lucky, unfortunately.
[00:05:08] Speaker B: And then aroused check to wake up to break the tie.
[00:05:15] Speaker C: Hunger or stale?
[00:05:19] Speaker B: So it is ivy and Calamity both awaken, fully healed and at three hunger.
Maya and Anastasia, if you will also make your waking rouse checks for me.
[00:05:34] Speaker D: Not great.
I get hungrier.
[00:05:39] Speaker B: Well, it's going to be an interesting morning then. As each of our vampires meets the evening with that familiar growl.
It's hard to ignore what you are when the insides feel like that.
You felt hunger pangs in your real life.
They were never this animated.
They were never the fault of some other being living inside you.
It's getting crowded in the Ducheski Manor, ivy, it's your house. It's only fair to start with you. Where do we find you as the evening arrives?
[00:06:23] Speaker A: Well, I still have very strict rules about who can and can't use my library. Which means that a portion of my evening has been spent poring over my books, trying to find anything that I can about these tunnels that Chicago is built on top of and then bringing them down into the kitchen and laying them on the island so I can get a better idea of where to begin.
[00:06:46] Speaker B: Are you a stack them in order most likely to be read organizer or I lay them out in a line so they're all available organizer.
[00:06:56] Speaker A: Oh, gosh, that is so dependent on the situation.
When I bring them down from the library, they are stacked in order of importance, so when I lay them out on the island, the arrangement isn't haphazard. They are organized such that the books that are closest to me are the ones that are more likely to contain important information, while the ones farther away from me are the least likely to contain the specific details I'd need. Though they might still be helpful.
[00:07:28] Speaker B: So we have industrial Atlas of Chicago directly in the center and then on the far right and far left it's curious architecture of the Windy City. And then something vaguely HH. Holmes adjacent on the opposite end. Something like that.
[00:07:45] Speaker A: Exactly, yes.
[00:07:47] Speaker B: Delightful.
It would not be a good plan in Ivy's home if I did not offer Maya an opportunity to ruin it. So what are you doing? As the sun sets and the books are spread and the papers unfurled?
[00:08:01] Speaker D: I'm never maliciously going after anything Ivy's working on.
[00:08:06] Speaker C: Because you have to remember, if I.
[00:08:07] Speaker D: Was going to be the kind of person who would go out of my way to bother Ivy, that would imply I care enough to bother Ivy.
That's the difference between having an enemy and having a person who finds you to be mildly inconvenient.
And it's a fine line to walk. However, I do pick up a book from the center and check it out before putting it down at the front.
I don't want to see what happens.
[00:08:36] Speaker B: Well, I already know the eye twitch, but surely there's more.
[00:08:40] Speaker A: The pursed lips, the exaggerated raising and dropping of shoulders, and then the act of very calmly reaching over, grabbing the book and placing it back where it belongs before putting my hand on top of it and looking at Maya and saying, please keep them in the order they are currently arranged. Thank you.
[00:09:06] Speaker D: See, now I've learned something, something we already knew, which is that whatever is up Ivy's ass is sideways.
[00:09:15] Speaker B: Sideways, like the book you just put back.
[00:09:19] Speaker D: So is there a rhyme and reason to this, or are you just redecorating?
[00:09:27] Speaker A: Well, far be it from me that you would come into this room with any sort of understanding of my process.
Yes, obviously. And I will gesture to the books and say in front of you lays the information that I have at my fingertips as we go in search of these tunnels that Anna thinks her sire might be in.
[00:09:51] Speaker D: All right, so you think we're just going to go spelunking? How bad could it be?
[00:10:01] Speaker A: That's precisely what I'm trying to ascertain. Hence I say, as I sweep my hand over the island in front of.
[00:10:09] Speaker C: Me, all the books.
[00:10:13] Speaker D: Oh, Barbie, I would never go out of my way to antagonize you.
[00:10:18] Speaker A: No, no, you come by it quite naturally, don't you?
[00:10:22] Speaker D: They say if you're good at, you know, it is easy.
So, Chicago tunnels.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: Yes, there is quite a lot of information, and it's all in different bits and pieces. And I fear, unfortunately, that while the manor's library is quite extensive about all manner of things, the necessary information about this tunnel system may be too niche for this collection.
I may have to go to the University of Chicago. I assume their research library has information on these tunnels that is much more specific, as opposed to the broad overview that I'm currently working with. Because from what I can glean here, there's a lot, plain and simple.
[00:11:16] Speaker D: All right, hypothetically, we make it to the bottom of a lot.
What, then?
[00:11:27] Speaker A: I close the book that I'm reading and place my hands on top of it and glance up at Maya?
Well, none of us want Newberry alive anymore. I think we can both agree on that.
[00:11:43] Speaker D: True, but I think we would disagree on methodology.
If I recall correctly, you wouldn't be able to take a shit without Mommy and Daddy's permission.
And so do you need to get a waiver signed before we go?
Did he already ask?
[00:12:08] Speaker A: At this point, I'm just staring at Maya.
[00:12:12] Speaker B: Staring because you don't like the questions? Staring because you don't like your answer.
[00:12:19] Speaker A: Whether or not I have the permission I need. Why is that? Information that she should be privy to. We tramire are known for our ability to keep secrets, after all.
[00:12:31] Speaker B: Fair enough.
Although I think if you ask them, they say you're supposed to keep secrets from other people, not from your boss.
But that's between you and the pyramid, what remains of it. So I'll stay out.
Two cats downstairs, one yet unaccounted for.
Calamity madden as Ivy and Maya get to their usual. How does the evening find you thus?
[00:13:02] Speaker C: I have fed, taken care of my needs as kindred, and by my reckoning, there is one in this house who is not able to do that for themselves. So I've taken it upon myself to make sure the youngest of us is still getting the blood they need to make sure their healing continues as it should.
[00:13:23] Speaker B: Plenty of vessels custom built for that purpose around the Ducheski Manor, of course.
[00:13:29] Speaker C: Making certain that Ivy won't blow a gasket if I take care of that. But it's fine. I think we have an understanding at this point.
[00:13:37] Speaker B: Just have to make sure that the ritual residue has been washed out before you start filling it up again. You think forever chemicals in your drinking water are bad? Wait until you get a load. What's, in this house?
[00:13:50] Speaker C: That's a lot more than I really want to think about. That's a little disturbing, but no. I've gone in to take care of Alex, as said, make sure he's fed, and found myself spending a decent amount of time there, just talking.
Not entirely certain if he can actually hear me.
I was in Torper once. I don't remember a whole lot, but it was also almost 60 years ago. So the memory lets that kind of thing go.
[00:14:20] Speaker B: Of all the various human things they make you leave behind? The memory's capacity to remove trauma from itself that survives the embrace.
[00:14:29] Speaker C: I mean, it's survival instinct. And we are nothing if not creatures who will claw and scratch our way through to survive.
[00:14:40] Speaker B: Would you prefer it if Alex could hear you? Or is it easier if you think you're talking to yourself?
[00:14:49] Speaker C: If he can hear me, that means he's still in there.
Means he can come back.
Maybe that's why I'm doing it. Making sure he's got a way back. Something to tether him to this side of the grave.
[00:15:06] Speaker B: We've come a long way from I'm going to spend a few nights in Chicago solving a werewolf problem to going to share myself with this enthusiastic Bruha. Because I hope he survives.
[00:15:20] Speaker C: Yes, but bruha have their purpose.
I don't think I've ever encountered a kindred with such a propensity for violence.
Some training, some more knowledge. He picked up that firearm and took to it like a duck to water. Something safer.
[00:15:40] Speaker B: That's a bit strange. We'll have to check in with Ivy on that later. Of all the things you'd expect Alex to do, given a vampiric body. The amount of blood involved. Did not see that coming.
Seems like the kind of person who would somehow find a way to apply potence to starting a podcast or founding a fantasy football league. Not necessarily the adventures that he's gotten himself into so far, no.
[00:16:06] Speaker C: But it makes a certain amount of sense. You go from being average in every sense of the word, walking around with your daily human life expecting nothing and having nothing expected of you to have in this power mighty.
It's got to be exciting for a pup like that.
[00:16:32] Speaker B: Finally, an outlet for all that millennial rage.
Well, I hope the conversation is fruitful, that the secrets told and concerns shown was worth it. But it will all be for naught if Ivy finds out you haven't washed the dishes.
Eventually, you'll have to head downstairs with that chalice.
[00:16:55] Speaker C: I will. I'll, uh, make sure there's no blood spilt on the sheets, make sure it's cleared out of his beard.
Probably take a moment to smooth his hair back, because I can't help it.
And shut the door behind me as I wander on down to the kitchen.
[00:17:15] Speaker B: Then let us say Calamity arrives mid conversation between Ivy and Maya, just in time to hear the line. Well, how are you going to solve that problem once you're underneath all of that?
[00:17:28] Speaker C: Evening.
[00:17:30] Speaker A: Evening, Calamity. How is Alex?
[00:17:33] Speaker C: Hasn't moved, but blood seems to be doing the trick.
That's all we can hope for.
[00:17:41] Speaker A: In it as it does, as it always will.
[00:17:46] Speaker C: But that's good to hear, miss Lagasse.
[00:17:52] Speaker D: Calamity.
So now that this whole guru thing is settled, you headed out?
[00:18:01] Speaker C: Haven't decided yet.
Although, with the state my car was left in, I'll be grounded for a little bit, at least. Ivy, if you don't mind having my company for a bit longer.
[00:18:16] Speaker A: No, it's the least that I could do to offer you a safe haven for a time.
[00:18:23] Speaker C: It's quite all right.
[00:18:25] Speaker D: Can you spare the room?
[00:18:28] Speaker A: I will have you know that when this house was originally constructed, there were 14 rooms. Unfortunately, four of them have been converted into a library. Ten of them, however, remain perfectly serviceable.
[00:18:40] Speaker D: Is the Tremere Bane being unable to detect sarcasm?
[00:18:45] Speaker A: No, I think it's just pretending not to care.
[00:18:51] Speaker C: I don't mean to interrupt. I just hold up the chalice. I'm just going to get this cleared up for you.
[00:18:58] Speaker A: Abby, please. Thank you.
[00:19:03] Speaker D: While you're here, Calamity, let me pause at a hypothetical. Pick your brain a bit.
Let's pretend, hypothetically, you're new in town and someone went out of their way to try to murder you and your family and your clan. And in quite fiery fashion, actually.
And then they got staked and they were left somewhere in the bowels of the city.
Hypothetically, if you found them, what would you do?
[00:19:45] Speaker C: Hypothetically, of course.
Hypothetically, somebody came after me and mine like that. I don't know why they still have a head hypothetically, on a scale of.
[00:19:58] Speaker D: One to ten, how would you rate your ability to eliminate certain obstacles and unwanted influences in your life?
[00:20:09] Speaker C: Miss Lagasse, that's literally what I've been doing since I was embraced. So the fact that I'm still up and walking and talking should say something to my ability.
[00:20:20] Speaker D: So you would say you're aggressively experienced, as it were?
[00:20:24] Speaker C: Yes, if you want to simplify it.
[00:20:27] Speaker A: I hold up my hands and I say, maya, we are not dragging Calamity into this. She was here for the Garru thing. She'll be gone when her car is.
[00:20:39] Speaker C: Just just out of curiosity, what is it exactly that I'm not being dragged into? I don't honestly, I don't have a whole lot to do with my night, so I'm just looking for some entertainment at this point.
Exactly.
[00:20:51] Speaker D: A girl needs to have a hobby. We happen to be working on a fun new enterprise in which we are eliminating a particular entity from this fucking city.
[00:21:04] Speaker A: Why are you being so coy about it? It's actually a little annoying, Maya. I looked at Calamity and say not that long ago, around the time the Lasombra, my gesture to Maya, entered the city, the then Malkavian primigen, Jason Newberry, took it upon himself to try and eliminate both the Lasombra within the city and myself at various times. Using fire as the preferred mode of execution.
He hired a small crew who attempted to set me and the now La Sombra Primagen on fire as we rested.
[00:21:42] Speaker C: For the day, and then set the.
[00:21:45] Speaker A: Diamond Yama on fire in what can best be described as a domestic terrorist attack.
To their credit, the Primaging Council did find him guilty of these crimes. The unfortunate part is that our dear prince, Kevin Jackson, decided that the punishment most befitting the crime was to stake Jason Newberry and allow him to lay torpid for, as of today, 99 years, eleven months and a handful of days, depending on exactly when he started that clock.
[00:22:23] Speaker D: What Ivy also is leaving out is the fact that the domestic terrorist attack led certain government officials to looking into the people involved and the holdings involved, and therefore brought some attention to our little social club.
[00:22:43] Speaker C: Newberry Leary Children. That is that is a violent some bitch if ever I heard of one. So I'll look to Maya hypothetically.
And I'll look to Ivy. If I knew that bastard was helpless somewhere under the tunnel system of Chicago, I would dust that some bitch.
[00:23:15] Speaker D: Every girl needs a hobby.
[00:23:18] Speaker A: Well and I pick up a book and clap it shut. Yes, all of that requires me to find out what is down there. So, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to grab Anna and take her with me to the University of Chicago research library. Because maybe in all the books they have there, something will speak to her.
[00:23:43] Speaker D: Try not to be too excited.
[00:23:45] Speaker C: Have fun, princess. Better you and me.
[00:23:50] Speaker A: I don't even respond to Maya. I finish piling the books back up, and I ring the servant bell to let the duchesky know they can come and take the books and return them to the library before leaving the kitchen and heading upstairs to grab Anna.
[00:24:07] Speaker B: Does it ever get weird to you how quickly they respond? Calamity just came through that hallway. There were no duceski there. You ring the bell, and, like, by.
[00:24:17] Speaker A: Magic no, it doesn't, because they were born for this. They were bred for this. This is literally what they're here for.
[00:24:28] Speaker B: Everything as it should be.
[00:24:30] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:24:32] Speaker B: Ivy departs the scene soon to take a Malkavian to research how best to remove a Malkavian, leaving Maya and Calamity alone together.
[00:24:44] Speaker D: I will wait a healthy amount of time while Ivy goth clumps her way upstairs, followed by her nasty little spies, before I turn back to Calamity.
Well, so long as you need something to do. I can offer you a host of diversions, provided all of them are murdering Jason fucking Newberry. However, you seem to already be familiar with the guy.
[00:25:16] Speaker C: As Maya starts in on this line of questioning, I'm just going about my business of making sure Ivy's precious ceremonial chalice is spotless. I'll set it down to dry, and I'll turn to look at the lasambra.
Familiar is not exactly how I put it.
I know who he is.
[00:25:40] Speaker D: A violent son of a bitch.
[00:25:43] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:25:47] Speaker D: All right. I can tell that being coy is not your strong suit. Nor is subtlety, it seems, based on your whole name.
When was the last time you were in Chicago?
[00:25:58] Speaker C: Jesus.
After the Garu War, but before our new prince, your new prince, was put on his throne.
[00:26:10] Speaker D: Jury's still out on New Prince. Were you here for garu purposes again?
[00:26:15] Speaker C: That's what I do.
Garu aren't exactly something that you clean up in a matter of nights. They are strong and tough. Tenacious just clean up.
[00:26:29] Speaker D: Your familiarity with the mover and or shakers in Chicago would lead me to believe that you stayed a little longer than the war and got a little more.
[00:26:39] Speaker C: Like it's, uh, when Garrett decided to buckle down and go into Hayden. They are very good at hiding. Takes a lot of work to smoke them out, as it were.
Yeah, it's not always something that you sweep in and clear out, but that seems to be the case all over this great nation.
[00:27:05] Speaker D: Fascinating. You seem to have built up that kind of relationship that they would continually call you back.
[00:27:14] Speaker C: I am very good at my job.
[00:27:16] Speaker D: Darling, and it is very useful to have good helpers around.
Who would you say calls on you the most?
[00:27:30] Speaker C: Uh huh.
Ms. Lagassi, I appreciate, um how do I put this politely? Your attempts at extracting whatever information you can get out of anybody you come across. But I don't play in politics.
I appreciate that, but I'll leave that to the lasambra and the tramir. He'll. Excuse me. I do have a phone call to make.
I'll turn and walk away.
[00:27:58] Speaker D: I'll just give her a finger wave as a goodbye.
[00:28:05] Speaker C: A storyteller, I imagine. I was given away to make contact with Ms. Hernandez.
[00:28:12] Speaker B: Yes. You are in possession of a burner phone.
[00:28:16] Speaker C: Well, let me go ahead and make that call then.
[00:28:22] Speaker B: Won't be too hard. There's only one phone number saved in it.
The voice on the other end, of course, belonging to your Primagen contact.
She knows who you are.
[00:28:37] Speaker C: Job's done. Ms. Hernandez, I do have some other information that I think you will need.
[00:28:45] Speaker B: Is that jobs, plural?
Both sets of problems?
[00:28:52] Speaker C: Yes, ma'am.
[00:28:57] Speaker B: Excellent.
I'm going to text you a time and an address.
You're going to lay low tomorrow night, and then the night after. You're going to meet me there at that time.
[00:29:11] Speaker C: Yes, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: No need for formalities on Rosa's part. The line goes dead a few seconds later. As promised, it chirps to life.
You don't know Chicago that well, but this address belongs to a park on the North Side.
I presume you're not so foolish as to drive the car in its current state.
[00:29:37] Speaker C: No, but I do carry cash, and that's what taxis are for.
[00:29:45] Speaker B: And it shouldn't take too much of that cash. At least no more than Ivy would spend on the way to her destination.
While the city abounds with libraries, a not too terribly well funded public library system. But the city is also home to three major research universities with their own collections.
Stands to a reason you would be most personally familiar with the University of Chicago, given the Chantry's proximity.
There's an abundance of surface level information available to you, but to see how well you digest it, that will probably be a wits and academics role.
[00:30:28] Speaker A: That is a critical with seven successes.
[00:30:32] Speaker B: That's what we get for sending you off to do the thing that you're best at.
Indeed, one of the problems you will run into immediately is that the subject tunnels in Chicago covers a tremendously wide number of things. But over the last 150 years, the city has been carved up inside out below its surface half a dozen times over.
The tunnels that most people are familiar with extend about 35 to 40ft underground. Just below the surface of the streets is the Chicago Pedway. It's a mazelike system of semi public underground hallways connecting about 50 buildings downtown, including City Hall, the Chicago Board of Trade, department stores, office buildings, all the famous ones you've seen in the skylines. And then also several CTA tunnels below that.
The actual CTA tunnels.
The Works Progress Administration funded the beginning of Chicago's subway system in 1938. That was just the loop downtown, and since then, it has been expanding ever since.
Going further down, it gets a little older once you're 40 to 60ft. Beneath the city, you find the old Chicago freight tunnels built starting in 1889.
Going further down, you also have to go back in time between 40 and 60ft. Beneath the city, you find the old freight tunnels. The freight tunnels were built in the late 1890s, first for telephone cables, but also to deliver freight between the lakeshore and downtown. Before the proliferation of electric power, they would bring coal in from barges along the lakeside. They didn't want to tie up the streets above. So these tunnels serve as a way to connect all those buildings together.
You'd also find they're most famous for especially disastrous flood in 1992.
But you can go deeper still. And in fact, once you get to 70ft below the city, you find the old cable car tunnels even before the subway, this 1882 to 19 six, they've long since been abandoned. In fact, the location of those tunnels is national security information because of their proximity to other important pieces of city infrastructure, you have respite for a while between 80 and 100ft. It's just good old fashioned Chicago bedrock before you find the 1867 tunnels stretching out to the lake to bring fresh water into the city.
The tunnels, of course, crisscross the city, but the main feature are the spurs that stretch 10,000ft out into Lake Michigan to bring in fresh water.
Those tunnels laying 110ft beneath the city are not yet the deepest thing one can discover, because once you're 300ft below the earth, you find the sprawling network of giant overflow sewers built to control flooding, but also store water for the city.
The aptly named Deep Tunnel can hold tens of billions of gallons of water.
Construction started in 1975 and continues to this day.
Assuming they stay on target for their budget, that'll be wrapped up in 2029.
[00:34:23] Speaker A: This is all incredibly fascinating, and as I pour through the top few levels, of course yes, of course, this makes sense, obviously.
But as we start getting to the tunnels built in 1867 and the giant overflow sewers, that's when I'm going to call Anna over, because I'd like to show her information about both of these and see if any Malkavian magic comes into play.
[00:34:59] Speaker B: Well, honestly, Anastasia, I don't think you'll have to rely on Malkavian magic.
I'm going to share a picture with you, and I'd like you to tell me if this looks familiar.
[00:35:11] Speaker D: That's like my drawing.
[00:35:13] Speaker B: Among the many clippings and newspaper articles and photographs that you've managed to unearth, Ivy, there is one in particular. A long straight shot down a tunnel. It's dark, it's wet, but more importantly, it's a series of concentric, dark ribbed circles.
[00:35:33] Speaker A: So you think your father might be here, then?
[00:35:38] Speaker D: Maybe. Knowing my dad, it's never as simple as it seems.
[00:35:44] Speaker A: Okay. Well, it's a start, at least.
[00:35:49] Speaker D: I'm pretty proud of how good I am at drawing, though.
[00:35:53] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, it looks just like it.
[00:35:58] Speaker D: Bubbles and all.
[00:36:00] Speaker A: Bubbles and all.
At this point, I'm going to take as much information as I can with me because I want to get it into everybody's hands so we can start formulating a plan, make photocopies, things like that.
[00:36:14] Speaker B: Of course.
I assumed you brought a binder with you.
[00:36:19] Speaker A: I always have a spare binder with me. I have one of those little inserts. It's the three hole punch that you actually put in the binder so you don't have to have it separate so you can punch your holes as you need them.
It's very handy.
[00:36:36] Speaker B: Yes. Comparing notes amongst the various tunnels, at least. If Anastasia's intuition and drawing is to be believed, the deep tunnel does seem to be the most likely culprit.
There is that nasty part where you're not allowed to know where it is because the Department of Homeland Security is concerned you might poison Chicago's water supply. But that's a problem someone else can solve.
[00:37:02] Speaker A: Lucky for me, I know just the person to handle all the corporate, legalese, and lawyer adjacent minutiae.
Maya.
[00:37:14] Speaker B: She really does put the spin on bloodsucker, right?
[00:37:20] Speaker A: She does her own little seasoning.
[00:37:24] Speaker B: Well, we know you can't call her via cell phone, for obvious reasons, but I would think by now you have a way of getting in touch with one another.
[00:37:32] Speaker A: A pager?
She's a product of the 80s. Doesn't require any real interaction on her part.
[00:37:41] Speaker D: It still works.
[00:37:43] Speaker A: I can't believe it still works, to be honest with you. But it does a well enough job letting her know that I'm done and we'll be home soon.
[00:37:52] Speaker B: I'm sure if you Google it, there's a GeoCities page that has all the codes on it from back when people still used pagers.
But indeed, it's as good a lead as any.
Maya, when presented with these images, I'm sure you will also find them similarly compelling.
[00:38:13] Speaker D: You call these the deep?
[00:38:17] Speaker A: Uh, yeah, they're tunnels. They're deep. What else is there to know?
[00:38:26] Speaker D: Barbet from city planners to come up with anything original.
All right, so we just need to get access to these somehow.
[00:38:38] Speaker A: Yes, and that is, unfortunately, the wrinkle in this whole plan, because knowing that information is a matter of national security.
[00:38:51] Speaker D: Well, fuck.
[00:38:53] Speaker A: Yes, exactly.
[00:38:56] Speaker B: It's just that small teensy concern over bioterrorism. Just an itty bitty thing.
[00:39:04] Speaker D: Well, no problems, only puzzles. We can fix this. We can solve this.
[00:39:09] Speaker B: It's also worth noting that there are hundreds of miles of them.
[00:39:17] Speaker A: Yes, that is the other problem. We have a lot of tunnels, and as of right now, no way to narrow it.
[00:39:27] Speaker D: Okay, okay.
Well, if Newberry is in one of these tunnels, it would have to be somewhere that was recently accessed. And if it has to be subtle in doing so, there would be a record of city maintenance or something of the like.
[00:39:45] Speaker C: Right.
[00:39:47] Speaker B: If there's one thing we know about this city or the state or the country, they love writing things down.
You don't get to do a project like this without tens of thousands of. Pages of paper.
Just a matter of who has them and how can you get your grubby technophobic myths on them.
[00:40:08] Speaker D: Thank God I love paperwork.
I think I have enough connections within the city and other affiliated kindred who might be able to help me get my hands on some permit records.
[00:40:24] Speaker B: Sounds reasonable. It's going to be slightly more difficult because you're trying to convince people to give information that's fairly closely held. But that sounds like a job for manipulation in politics, maybe manipulation in finance. Either one of those would work.
[00:40:40] Speaker D: Manipulation and finance, as every good fucking.
[00:40:44] Speaker C: Wall Street bro will five successes do it?
[00:40:48] Speaker B: Five is enough.
When you tell Ivy, I would lie and say you got a few more.
There are, in fact, a great number of permits that have been issued in various places for various reasons. You are able to sort very quickly just by the top line budget number, which ones are probably more relevant to your cause. It's likely not the case that Prince Jackson arranged for this $40 billion bit over here. It's also probably not the case that it was this $100 bit over here. And by the time you cross out the ones that are too expensive or too cheap or too far away, you end up with a pretty short list.
You will recall in my discussion with Ivy about the nature of Chicago's tunnels, that the fresh water supply for the city comes from Lake Michigan. There are towers in the lake about 10,000ft offshore that draw the liquid in and then deliver it to these tunnels.
Those tunnels are ancient, at least by modern standards. The deep tunnel is very new, which means you would need to connect the two at some point. Right?
The question that will stick in your mind is those tunnels are functional, the city water supply hasn't been interrupted, and any kind of disaster or maintenance failure would certainly be news.
Why was a new chamber added within the last year?
More to the point, why was that chamber added about halfway between the crib intake in Lake Michigan and the junction where water is fed into the city?
Who could possibly have a reason to install something like that just over a mile away from the city shores?
[00:42:37] Speaker D: If I didn't know any better, I would accuse Prince Kevin Jackson of being sloppy.
[00:42:42] Speaker B: In fairness, you're a fair shake better at finding this kind of information than most kindred.
It's also possible that the other important kindred in Chicago are smart enough to not go looking.
[00:42:55] Speaker D: Well, the other kindred in Chicago didn't have their clan attacked multiple times, so we have a location.
Now it's just a matter of access.
[00:43:06] Speaker B: Indeed, we will presume for our benefit and that of the audience, that Maya is not so sloppy as to accept the first answer that comes into her book and will at least spend an additional evening corroborating the information that she has discovered, which means conveniently. We can turn now to Calamity en route to a very important meeting.
Business abounds at the Jesky Manor. But that's coterie work. Despite sharing in the shedding of blood, despite helping to save the lives on lives that call this place home. I don't think you're quite ready to use that word to ascribe membership to yourself.
[00:43:53] Speaker C: No.
Well, they're all right as kindred go. But after this job, it's on to the next one, isn't it?
[00:44:03] Speaker B: So it's been for the last few decades, so I assume it shall continue. But, yes, your business is almost done. You've accomplished both tasks that Rosa Hernandez has set out for you.
Now you only need to go deliver the evidence and collect your reward.
[00:44:21] Speaker C: Hopefully, that reward includes detailing I'm not going anywhere until poor Orion's got, well, doors again.
[00:44:31] Speaker B: Rosa is a primidgen. I imagine she commands those resources. If nothing else, you can negotiate it after the fact, right?
[00:44:38] Speaker C: And if nothing else, she's a gangrel of her word.
[00:44:42] Speaker B: It's true.
Of all Chicago's primigen, rosa Hernandez is perhaps the easiest to deal with, because she doesn't have time to be anything but upfront.
Well, the cab driver will deliver you near the Gold Coast of Chicago.
High rises full of high incomes, but also an older part of the city. It hasn't been completely torn down and replaced with 50 story buildings. Every now and then, you can find a nice four story commercial space, a quiet little walk up made of brick. And that is where Rosa Hernandez keeps the legal offices that provide a human facing front for her activities. Naturally, not so many lawyers about at this time of night.
Vampires and attorneys. Two kinds of bloodsuckers. But you do split the night and the day between you. You've been told where to go. Not the front entrance, of course. That involves security cameras and guards. But there's always a side door, there's always a stairwell. And the lights at this particular firm are still on.
[00:45:47] Speaker C: I think there's a moment where I pause at that side door. I've been doing what I do for several decades at this point, but, well, Flyboy was a bit more than I was anticipating, especially with what we managed to discover about him. The implications are disturbing, to say the least.
[00:46:15] Speaker B: It is enough to make you wonder, rosa, yes, more trustworthy than most Primagen, but that's also not saying much.
Is there any part of you that wonders if she knew before she sent you that the tower that you're holding contains confirmation as opposed to new evidence?
[00:46:34] Speaker C: Maybe.
But I suppose in the long run, if she knew or had a suspicion, well, that's the kind of threat you need to take out quick.
[00:46:46] Speaker B: Then it falls to you to push past the glass doors separating this law office from the hallway. It's standard commercial real estate. You've been in buildings like this before. There are no secretaries, no paralegals, just an office in the corner, more lights to follow. And there Rosa Hernandez waits. No doubt she heard you approaching from the moment you stepped off the elevator. But that doesn't stop her from affecting surprise, excitement when she finally sees you. She was leaning back in the chair at this point, staring out the window. But as you approach the door, she spins around in this beautiful black leather office chair, the stuff of actual lawyers. And her lips are spread wide in a smile.
[00:47:30] Speaker C: Ma'am.
[00:47:32] Speaker B: Calamity.
I have never been happier to see a kindred in. Oh, well, it's been a while.
[00:47:40] Speaker C: That's mighty kind of you to say.
Well, it was worse than I thought.
[00:47:51] Speaker B: But you were alive as you live and breathe, so to speak.
[00:47:57] Speaker C: Yes, ma'am.
[00:47:59] Speaker B: And the.
[00:48:03] Speaker C: Miss Le Roux, I have to tell you, she's a credit to this city.
Mr. Scott was well, he was badly injured. He's in Torpor right now, but I think he'll be all right.
[00:48:18] Speaker B: Well, three kindred against a pack of werewolves, one kindred in Torpor. That's an outstanding result. You came highly recommended. And I see that you've delivered on your reputation.
[00:48:30] Speaker C: Thank you, ma'am.
And the other situation that we discussed and I will step forward and place the computer tower on her desk.
[00:48:42] Speaker B: Yes, Mr. Grewall.
[00:48:45] Speaker C: That was considerably worse than I expected as well.
Miss Le Roux and I saw fit to take a meeting with Mr. Gruwal, see if he could do anything to cover the noise that we were sure to make.
Well, he kept his promise in a manner of speaking, but he has connections with the federal government that are very concerning for people like us.
[00:49:17] Speaker B: Fat motherfucker.
[00:49:20] Speaker C: That's what I said.
[00:49:22] Speaker B: And I'm guessing that's what this is. She's gesturing to the computer.
[00:49:28] Speaker C: Yes, ma'am. I'm afraid that I don't have the know how to go through things like this, but I imagine you've got some folks on the Nosferatu end in the court who couldn't take a look. He was in contact with someone who confirmed essentially that they were gunning not just for the Lupines, but for us as well.
I think there might be a presence circling this city.
[00:49:56] Speaker B: Calamity, do me a favor and roll wits and insight for me.
[00:50:01] Speaker C: That's two successes.
[00:50:04] Speaker B: Two successes. Well, in that case, I wouldn't worry about it. Rosa looks genuinely concerned.
Surprised, but also not surprised. It makes sense that Flyboy might have done something like this, but she doesn't reveal any sense of foreknowledge, anything like that.
Well, they hesitate to get the Nosferatu involved unless we absolutely have to. She pauses, reaching down to the black phone on her desk, pushing an intercom button. Sarah, can you bring it? There's no noise from the other end. It's my tech person. Don't worry about it. I understand computers more than, say, you're my Lagossi friend, but I still prefer not to get my hands dirty with unless I have to.
[00:50:49] Speaker C: You know, I agree better with bullets and a shotgun than anything with a keyboard, to be perfectly honest with you.
[00:50:58] Speaker B: Oh, God, I wish we could solve the world's problems that way.
[00:51:02] Speaker C: Would certainly make things faster, more efficient.
[00:51:07] Speaker B: All right, she'll be on her way. I need you to walk me through this from the beginning.
We're dealing with something critically important. I'm going to have to have all the t's crossed when it comes time to talk to the Prince. So you arrive in the forest?
[00:51:28] Speaker C: We arrived in the area where the pack had settled. Ms LaRue had a ritual prepared that was meant to force the Garou into their wolf forms. Managed to wrangle at least two of them. There was a fight, bloodier than usual.
And then there were men in tactical SUVs with very particular weapons and a fucking helicopter.
[00:51:50] Speaker B: Which you presumed to be the assistance he said he would provide.
[00:51:54] Speaker C: Yes, ma'am.
[00:51:55] Speaker B: Go on.
[00:51:59] Speaker C: We made the escape as best we could, and that is when Mr Scott was injured. With the knowledge that we had, I thought it would be appropriate to go and discuss our concerns with Flyboy directly.
[00:52:14] Speaker B: Something tells me Mr Grewall was not abundantly.
[00:52:20] Speaker C: No.
No, in fact, that some bitch tried to blow me up with a hand grenade.
[00:52:30] Speaker B: A hand grenade?
[00:52:32] Speaker C: Yeah. I'll actually lift the corner of my shirt. There's probably still a little bit of a notch in my side from where some of the shrapnel got popped out.
For a thin blood, he was very, very cunning.
I'm not sure how long he'd been in contact with these folks, but there seems to be some sort of a system in place, and I am concerned that the fact that he was able to call them in so quickly means that Chicago's got a target on it.
[00:53:05] Speaker B: I see.
Did he say or do anything, aside from the hand grenade, obviously, that you could perhaps testify to in front of the Primogen to drive that point home?
[00:53:18] Speaker C: I can say for certain, ma'am, that once you get into his computer, you will find the evidence that you require. I can tell you that at one point he received a message from who I can only assume are the folks involved in the altercation in the forest, because that is when he went for the grenade and tried to put a final end to Miss Leroux and myself.
[00:53:46] Speaker B: Going to assume, based on the fact that you still walk and Miss LaRue still walks, that Mr Gawal does not?
[00:53:55] Speaker C: No, ma'am, he does not.
[00:53:57] Speaker B: Were you able to secure the body?
[00:54:00] Speaker C: No, ma'am.
We had reason to believe that he had managed to call some of his federal buddies in, and we only had a few minutes to escape before there would have been a full Masquerade breach on our hands.
[00:54:12] Speaker B: No, there's wisdom in that. If Mr Gruwal was cooperating with the Si, they won't want this to get out any further than we would.
Well, I hate to ask this of you, as it wasn't a term of our contract, but this is a story the prince is going to need to hear. Would you be amenable it to remaining in Chicago until that meeting? Can be.
[00:54:37] Speaker C: Yeah.
Yeah, the si is really tight in the noose. I suppose you're going to need as much information as you can get.
[00:54:45] Speaker B: You're not wrong. And the only thing more dangerous than the second inquisition city are our fellow kindred.
I would prefer to not be in a situation where Prince Jackson put out a blood hunt on you for violating the traditions just to get the heat off his own.
[00:55:03] Speaker C: Hmm.
[00:55:05] Speaker B: Well, shit, don't worry about it, Calamity. You've done something incredible for me. I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you in this city.
[00:55:16] Speaker C: To that point. Ma'am. My car kind of looks like somebody tried to open it. Like a can of tinfish. Do you think you could have someone take a look at it? On top of what we have already agreed upon? It's got sentimental value, of course, on.
[00:55:31] Speaker B: The topic of your rate.
She reaches now into her desk and pulls out a fat envelope. Smells like a bank in there. No need to count it. She just slides it across the desk to you.
[00:55:45] Speaker C: I will pick it up and look inside briefly, but, no, I won't make a show of counting it.
[00:55:53] Speaker B: No, that would be insulting. When's the last time you held $50,000 in cash?
[00:56:02] Speaker C: Baltimore?
[00:56:04] Speaker B: She smiles. Seeing that you are at least pleased with that part.
I'm sure we can prorate additional expenses based on your daily retainer rate. No worries about the car. We'll consider that the cost of doing business. A contractual fee, of course.
[00:56:20] Speaker C: Much obliged, ma'am.
[00:56:22] Speaker B: Where is it now?
[00:56:24] Speaker C: It's at the Dichesky Manor, where I've been staying for the time being.
[00:56:30] Speaker B: Very well. I presume you'll see Miss Leroux before I do. Let her know that someone will be on hand to pick it up, and then we'll deliver it back to you once it's been brought to its proper shine.
[00:56:41] Speaker C: Yes, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am. For the time being. I imagine I'm going to stick around that area just for her simplicity's sake. Honestly and well, I'd kind of like to make sure Mr. Scott comes back all right.
[00:56:55] Speaker B: I'm in no position to question your prerogatives, Calamity. You're a free agent. That's why we hired you. It will make it easier to deliver the summons when the time comes.
[00:57:06] Speaker C: I fight the urge to bristle at the idea of being summoned and say simply, yes.
[00:57:13] Speaker B: It is this point that a ghoul comes. Sauntering in, dressed as a paralegal. She's carrying a small tray, maybe two or three inches deep, blue plastic, the kind of thing you'd haul out of an It closet somewhere. Various cords and whatnot, a USB key dangling off one of her fingers. She doesn't need permission from Rosa. Doesn't even make eye contact. As she heads over and begins to assemble the various pieces of the machine. I suppose you've also earned a chance to see what's on. Hmm.
[00:57:44] Speaker C: I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit curious.
[00:57:47] Speaker B: Well, let's see what kind of secrets Mr. Grwal has been hiding from us.
It will take a few more minutes for the computer to get set up for monitors and power cables to be plugged in. It boots up the way any other desktop would. Nice little windows. Login screen. And that's when the Ghoul sticks the USB drive into one of the front facing ports. The screen flickers a moment, and then a directory window pops up. One of those black command prompts, old school Dos code starts flying by. Whatever program was opened seems to finish without incident, and a new directory opens on the desktop. Have you ever seen the security banner on a government computer before?
[00:58:38] Speaker C: No, I can't say I have.
[00:58:42] Speaker B: When you're working in a classified environment, it's important to keep track of which machines you're using. So if it's a system that is only set up to handle a certain level of classified information, there will be a sticker on the monitor, of course, but then also across the top of the window, there'll be a yellow banner that has the various code words yellow in case of top secret, green in case of secret other colors for other classifications. This one reads T-S-C-I-S-A-P blank body.
[00:59:20] Speaker C: That's blank body. That's what they refer to us as, isn't it?
[00:59:25] Speaker B: One of the words they use. Rosa isn't wasting any time to look at your reaction. She's clicking through the various PDFs that have been saved. Flyboy was right. He was keeping dossiers. But these aren't the ones that you and I have found. These are very, very different. And it's perhaps just when you're leaning forward to scan a few lines of whichever Rosa happened to open first that the beast claims her.
You see her hunch up the way a dog does before it strikes, grabbing the keyboard, throwing it across the room. The plastic shatters, and you see that glass wobble as the room fills up with a bang. She's screaming, stomping. First the keyboard, then the office chair. What are you doing?
[01:00:13] Speaker C: I think there's an instance where I back up just in case her beast decides to lash out at something more substantial. I know I can defend myself to an extent, but that's a primogen, and she's primigen for a reason. But I'd want to see exactly what caused that reaction.
[01:00:29] Speaker B: Yeah, you are strong. We know that much. We've seen it in action. But you don't become a primogen in a city like Chicago without having a little something extra up your mm hmm. Well, then we'll say it's as Rosa has turned her hands to the window, pounding on it as an animalistic howl comes out of her throat, that you manage to tilt your head and capture a look at the screen.
I don't know which word will catch your attention first.
Blank body, of course, dealing with vampires. And there are plausible reasons that Noah might have this information. Know thy enemy and all that. It has long been presumed that the second inquisition has contacts amongst kindred. Surely the Kindred would have contacts amongst the second Inquisition, right? You haven't been privy to those rumors. But that's one of the big problems in the Camarilla right now.
They spent all that time and energy trying to massage the various organs of government to take out their sabat rivals. Oh, there's a terror cell in Atlanta, and then a sabat cardinal gets wiped out in a daylight raid. They hadn't counted on the new post 911 security state being able to read between the lines, find clues, blow the lid off the whole thing, and then the lid off Vienna, as it were. But you don't need to be versed in the lingo of government or the Tom Clancy esque obfuscations of classified information. What Rosa opened was a memo from flyboy to a redacted recipient, the contents of which describe the arrival of a certain tramir in Chicago, tying her existence back to a base of operations in Las Vegas and a connection to Vienna. It concludes, we believe with reasonable certainty that this indicates a significant kindred presence in the city of Chicago, that Operation Velvet Oracle caused many of our enemies to come out from their hiding holes and seek safety in new cities.
I'm formally requesting additional resources to investigate, catalog, find, fix, and finish the threat in Chicago and Groal. Directorate of Operations, Central Intelligence Agency.
[01:03:01] Speaker C: Oh, Harvey.
[01:03:01] Speaker A: No.
[01:03:03] Speaker C: Oh, God damn it.
[01:03:05] Speaker B: Rosa has found her demeanor again, still furious, the rage of her beast bringing out all the animal features. What stares at you now as it turns away from a window is not a normatively attractive Hispanic woman with slightly dirty hair and some exotic tattoos, but a wolf jaw, elongated nose flat, every tooth a mockery of a canine. She snarls. There's a spittle on her tongue. I knew that girl was bad news, but I didn't know it was like this. They're coming for us.
They're coming for all of us.
[01:03:46] Speaker C: Ms. Hernandez, I admit that I do not know Ms. LaRue terribly well, but I do know one thing. We would not have survived without her help.
I would like to make that abundantly clear.
[01:03:58] Speaker B: Nothing's going to happen to Ivy. At least not by my hand. We could kill her. We could hang her fucking bag of dust up from a flagpole in front of the federal building. It wouldn't matter. It's not the fact that there's one of us here. It's that there's many of us. This motherfucker swinging her arm in an exaggerated gesture towards the computer. He's been keeping track of every single fucking person coming into this town. He knows who I am.
God, no. They're not going to stop with one. The second inquisition. They're idiots. They think it's all some fucking Dracula movie, and if they can just find the King Dracula, it'll all be over. But that doesn't make it meaningless, dangerous.
Calamity.
[01:04:39] Speaker C: Yes.
[01:04:40] Speaker B: She makes direct eye contact with you. Stalking forward, closing that distance step by step by step.
You have never seen a woman that size look so large.
It's not clear if it's a trick of the light or if those are actually claws growing out of her fingers as the unbreaking eye contact continues until her nose is inches from yours and she puts a sharp, pointed finger in your chest.
This is bigger than all of us.
And it's certainly bigger than your friend.
I've never had a reason to trust a Tremere. I don't intend to trust one now. So you are going to keep what you know to your fucking self until the permitian and the prince have had a chance to look this over. Am I understood?
[01:05:39] Speaker C: Yes.
[01:05:41] Speaker B: If your friend gets spooked and flees the city if your friend gets spooked and does something stupid like trying to solve this problem by herself, they will firebomb Chicago, make it the 18 hundreds all over again, and make fucking cement out of the dust that is our remains.
You will not tell her. You will not run.
You are going to go back to that mansion and conduct your life as someone who just enjoyed a very healthy payday and is only waiting for her car to be repaired.
You've done good work for me, Calamity. Do not give me a reason to fuck you storyteller.
[01:06:32] Speaker C: This is why I've always kept moving.
I fucking hate the politic of this.
It just complicates everything.
And I know better than to trust a Tremere. I know better than to trust any kindred. But this particular tramire stood and fought where others had turned and fled.
But I will meet Rose's Gaze. I will nod once and say simply, understood.
[01:07:05] Speaker B: Good.
We play this right, we can make it out with minimal casualties.
Now, if you'll excuse me.
She doesn't take a step back. It's just that her menace shrinks.
The room becoming less claustrophobic because her rage is taking up less space.
I have to make a phone call that's going to change the course of our city's history. And I think you have some news about a card to report.
[01:07:38] Speaker C: For what it's worth, Chicago's been all right for the most part.
I hope everyone comes out the other side of this.
[01:07:47] Speaker B: Our species excels at surviving, Calamity.
The question is how many of our kind we're going to have to sacrifice to make sure the rest of us get to continue.
[01:08:00] Speaker C: Of course.
Thank you, ma'am. I will await my summons.
[01:08:06] Speaker B: I appreciate your patience.
And nice. About the grenade.
[01:08:15] Speaker C: Honestly fucking sucked.
[01:08:19] Speaker B: Well, we'll let that conversation wind down and allow Calamity to reacquaint herself to a kind of politics that she thought she'd left behind.
This is but a fraction of the important business taking place across Chicago before the Sun's return puts kindred scheming to temporary slumber.
But that's a story for another night.
[01:08:45] Speaker A: You've been listening to the All Night Society, an actual play podcast brought to you by Queens Court Games. If you've enjoyed your stay, consider supporting us on Patreon for access to exclusive art, audio and private fan only games. For more content, follow us on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok at Queens Court Games or on Twitter at Queenscourt. RPG.
