Episode 37 - Tunnel Rats, Part 1

[00:00:01] Speaker A: You're listening to the All Night Society, an actual play podcast brought to you by Queens Court Games. Well, then, we return to our story a few evenings later, having given the codery the opportunity to digest the myriad options available to them. When it comes to descending into the mess of infrastructure of darkness that is, the infrastructure under Chicago, you find yourself in an interesting predicament. You have solved so many problems so far by availing yourself of useful allies, of trading boons for information you otherwise wouldn't have access to. But the stakes in this particular instance, if you'll pardon the pun, are such that informing other members of the court is probably not ideal. If it gets back to the prince what you've been up to, no doubt there will be consequences. Anyone else you chose to inform would have the worst kind of leverage over each of you. What would the pyramid do with Ivy Le Roux if they found out she had sabotaged their reputation in the greatest North American city? And how long would the La Sambra survive with a new primogen if Maya Lagossi had done something so terrible as to undermine the prince's will? Calamity and Alex are barely allowed in the city. Something vaguely probationary about the accepting of your presence and Prince Kevin Jackson is many things, but not the kind to forgive if it costs him politically. Which means, for once, the codery is required to do something a bit atypical, and that is use discretion as they approach their objective. We've discussed it a bit before that the best way into the tunnel system is to proceed layer by layer, starting as deep as you can beneath the city and making your way into the tunnels from there. Side of that, or a very awkward swim trying to find some entrance along the banks of Lake Michigan. Vampires don't have to breathe, but still doesn't seem pleasant. So, knowing that you are due for some spelunking, that you're going to have yourself an evening's worth of underground adventures, preparations are no doubt in order. If nothing else, Maya will want to buy a special pair of shoes. So let's begin there. Maya, what are the shoes? And then for the rest of you, what preparations have you made, considering the path that lies ahead of you? [00:03:24] Speaker B: First of all, fuck you. I don't know if you know this storyteller, but sneakers have existed for a very long time, and I am quite comfortable in a pair of nice running shoes as much as any other pair of heels. [00:03:43] Speaker A: You say that, but aside from when Anastasia made you wear slippers, I don't think anyone in this room has ever seen you not wearing shoes that could reasonably be bartered for very expensive rent. [00:03:59] Speaker B: Well, you dress for the job you deserve. Most of the time I'm with the coterie, I want to maintain an air. [00:04:05] Speaker C: Hmm. [00:04:06] Speaker B: What's a polite way of saying I'm better than you. Whatever they understand. [00:04:12] Speaker A: So am I to believe that the primary motivation for your wardrobe choices is appearing better dressed than Ivy wherever you happen to be going? [00:04:20] Speaker B: Well, one of us is quite versed in 90s goth chic, and the other one looks like she has an apartment at a job, so yes, all pettiness aside, I am here to do business and we are doing some urban exploring. Sneakers, leggings, general athletic wear, harness, firearm, wallet. [00:04:45] Speaker A: Just in case you have occasion for cash. [00:04:49] Speaker B: Always. [00:04:51] Speaker A: Calamity, you are more adventurous. At the very least, you've been outside outside, not urban outside. At some point in the last 20 or 30 years. I imagine the tunnels don't bother you so much from a preparation perspective. [00:05:10] Speaker C: From a preparation perspective, sure. I was given the general rundown of what to expect. So as with our little hunting trip, I imagine I'll make sure that we are appropriately armed in case of trouble. Nothing too extreme, given we might have to travel through a bit of the city and I don't want to raise too many eyebrows, but at the very least, we run into trouble. We'll be able to defend ourselves. [00:05:44] Speaker A: One would hope that these tunnels are as abandoned as their purpose implies. It's meant to hold trillions of gallons of rainwater once the tunnel machines are out. Not much of a reason for the workers to be down. [00:06:03] Speaker C: You know, there are other things that might go running around. I would hope that we don't have any issue with the Chicago sewer rats, as it were. But I imagine between Maya, Ivy and myself, we can at very least ask forgiveness instead of permission. [00:06:29] Speaker A: Well, the Nosferatsu are many things, but they never struck me, at least in Chicago, as a shoot first, ask questions later kind of group. Worst case, you would end up extorted for something. But in that way, it's no different than any other option you would have had, right? [00:06:45] Speaker C: Boons and kindred, that's how we run things. [00:06:49] Speaker A: And Miss LaRue. I can't imagine. You are too excited. We've already done an outdoors checking off one of the items on your list of cardinal location sins. I can't imagine the tunnels under Chicago are going to cooperate anymore with your aesthetic. [00:07:06] Speaker D: No, I can't imagine they do either. But luckily, I am never far away from a good pair of boots, so at the very least, I have that. [00:07:16] Speaker A: Well, it seems to me then, we might end up in a position where Ivy and Maya end up arriving in the tunnels wearing the same outfit, save for the footwear. I'm not an expert on these things, but I don't think urban exploring is really the occasion on which you want to wear your skinny jeans. [00:07:32] Speaker D: No, I can't imagine it is. But something tells me that regardless of the pieces that we bring to the table, maya and I wear very different so. [00:07:45] Speaker A: And then there's Alex. I don't mean to insinuate anything, alex but I imagine I could take the amount of thought you've put into this, multiply it by five or 700 times, and it would still be less than what any other codery member has decided. [00:08:07] Speaker E: Probably. I don't know. I just keep thinking over and over again about the garu and what that failure feels like. To go in knowing that my one purpose is to make sure no one else gets hurt. And then failing that miserably, being the one that is hurt, hearing the sound of the bullet break the glass. And then my ribcage, knowing all too well what it's like to be staked. And that failure again, the people that I love and being a burden, the one thing I finally thought I had the power to stop being. And here I am, out of torpor on good behavior and nothing to show for my big, dumb smile. So I'm thinking really hard about making sure that doesn't happen again. I think I saw that tattoo armor somewhere. Don't tell Cal I stole it because it didn't do much against the garu, but I think it's going to help against what we're up against now. So, yeah, I'm probably going to take out that old Apex classic and see if I can't take what's left, attachable plates and weave it in there. And then I'm going to go out there with my silver gloves and my superhero best and just stop fucking up. [00:09:32] Speaker A: That's the goal. It was half and half for me. I was guessing either the Apex outfit sands, the part that ripped off of you by a werewolf, or the My Little Horses sweater. [00:09:44] Speaker E: I think when we're done, I'm going to wear the My Little Horses sweater. That's more casual gear. And I don't like to wear my casual gear when I'm killing a fucker. [00:09:55] Speaker A: Oh, my God. I didn't realize that the Coterie had a work dress code. [00:09:59] Speaker E: I mean, have you met Ivy and Maya? Everything has got a dress code. Being Caddy and Snappy, you have to have the right shoes. Having a fit over breakfast have to have the right mean. [00:10:10] Speaker A: You got to dress for the job. [00:10:11] Speaker C: Wait, there's a dress mean? [00:10:14] Speaker E: Yeah. Apparently every time I show up wearing my lumber snack best, I get a talking to and well, damn it, I only have so many shirts. [00:10:24] Speaker C: All I brought from Baltimore was know the Levi's and the flannels. So that's going to be a problem. [00:10:29] Speaker E: Shit, yeah. We need to do a shopping day. We need to snazzy up our game. [00:10:35] Speaker A: I am desperately torn between how no one likes a shopping episode, but how everyone would like that shopping episode. Well, it seems that everyone has showed up with something at least reasonable enough. Hopefully, Alex won't be needing his body armor, but you never know what you'll find in tunnels these days. To remind you and also our audience, the layers of Chicago underneath are an industrial cake, beginning with the pedway a series of walkable tunnels, not more than 10ft under the surface of the Earth. Below that, the modern subway tunnels. Once you get to 40 or 50ft, those are the old freight tunnels where they used to bring cargo off of barges and scamper about the city with it. There are abandoned cable car tunnels, yet below that, the original subway system at 110ft, the water tunnels, and then three times as deep, the tunnels. That will be your objective for the evening. Now, anyone who has access to Google or has seen the relic knows that the freight tunnels abut the lake. Not terribly difficult to find. The old entrances to those tunnels, some of them boarded over, some of them not. That is one way to get in. Aside from that, just like any other city, a mess of interconnected this and that, doors people have forgotten, leading to places that are unmapped. It is not infeasible that you could find a subway tunnel and make your way further still down into the Earth. Which of those do you think is the more appealing route for our foursome? [00:12:31] Speaker C: Well, between me and the puppy, if anything's boarded over, it won't be boarded over for long. If we find something abandoned, something that people aren't keeping watch over, I'll just pry loose a couple of two X fours and chimmy on down. [00:12:49] Speaker E: Works for me. I don't fully understand how swimming is supposed to work, but I think the farther we get away from water, the better. [00:12:58] Speaker C: Yeah, no, we'll sink and it's annoying. [00:13:01] Speaker B: We have the construction records, we know where the suspicious builds are. We have a good place to start. [00:13:10] Speaker A: Indeed. Ivy, does that gel with you? Yes. [00:13:15] Speaker D: Though I'm not allowed to have a binder on this trip, I was explicitly forbidden from bringing that much paper and anything that could accidentally be left behind. I do have a small tablet with information loaded up to hopefully help us get through all those blueprints and photocopies that we have. Hopefully they'll come in handy wherever we do end up finding an entrance. [00:13:37] Speaker A: Yeah, it's got to be a lot better living in the digital age. Pop out an iPad. Do you have the little pencil you can draw on it? [00:13:45] Speaker D: The problem with the pencil is you might lose it. But, yes, there definitely is one around here somewhere. I'm not bringing it with me, but yes. [00:13:54] Speaker A: So I'm imagining a scene where you arrive at some predetermined meeting location. If you're leaving from the house together, fine, or if you want to go out and do a little bit of feeding and then rendezvous somewhere, also fine. But Ivy is first, because punctuality is professionalism calamity, maya and Alex, at various times will arrive to find you thumbing through maps like you're an engineer on the enterprise, on your future tablet, and you have already drawn an ideal route if it works. All kinds of little tiny neurotic handwriting notes all over the different pages? [00:14:33] Speaker D: Oh, absolutely. Every single piece of information that I have added to these blueprints are based on cross referencing everything else, as well as information that we feel may be important based on what Maya was able to uncover. It's a little messy, but it is organized. Also color coded. [00:14:55] Speaker A: Oh, can you elaborate on that scheme? [00:15:00] Speaker D: So the most important notes are in red, because red draws the eye. So things of really important note, the most ideal route is obviously in green, because green means go. And I needed to make sure this was as easy to understand for everybody in the room. Not naming any Alex names or anything. Yellow is a potential secondary route, but it's also pretty long, and I don't have any red markings for the route. But blue is kind of your it's not ideal. We should probably stay away from any of this, or this tunnel just loops back around, so we don't want to head down this way, things like that. It's pretty organized. At a glance, it looks a little messy, but once you understand the key, it's very easy to understand. [00:15:52] Speaker B: I'm glad to know in a situation which we're all going to have to perhaps run for our lives, we can stop, look at the iPad that I obviously cannot interact with, and consult the mystifyingly complex and messy now list of way escape routes. Excellent planning, Ivy. [00:16:11] Speaker D: Maybe I picked the iPad for a reason. [00:16:14] Speaker A: I was going to say, in absolute fairness, if this were a situation where one of you had to be left behind and Ivy were in charge, iPad or not, Maya, I think we know who's spending the rest of their unlife lost in a web of nothingness under the city of Chicago. [00:16:29] Speaker B: Oh, no more shadows. [00:16:31] Speaker C: Maya, do you want me to hold your hand while we're down there, sugar? [00:16:35] Speaker B: Would you? [00:16:37] Speaker C: Gladly. [00:16:40] Speaker A: A route is quite necessary. These tunnels are not only for taking cargo from the lake into the city, but also in between different buildings. If you imagine the core downtown of Chicago, right, get yourself in a little sky camera in your head and picture the part of the city where all the buildings are taller than ten stories underneath that web, every single block, street by street, a network, a grid of crisscrossing underground tunnels. So we might jest about leaving Maya behind, but the risk of getting lost is higher than one might think, and having a plan is nice. That said, Maya, it's not all bad. In the modern day, most of them have been labeled with the streets they are under, so that someone needing to navigate from the south end of the loop to the north end of the loop can follow the street sign. Labels on the walls should be familiar to anyone who's been to New Orleans and sees the blue mosaics they label streets with. But we are on the lake is a darker evening, such that staring off onto the horizon, it becomes impossible to distinguish sea from sky. You never know who's around at these times of nights. The lake shore is public. Perhaps not the kind of people you want to hang out with this hour, but I suppose before we can answer that question, we have to know what hour it is. Did we wake up and come over. [00:18:16] Speaker C: Here, give us the most amount of time? Yeah. [00:18:20] Speaker A: Well, in that case, there are indeed people around. The natural population of homeless, of course, but also the occasional bucket drummer trying to squeeze a few more dollars out of the night before they head home. Couples holding hands twisted up with one another, ignoring the world as they sink into one another. Metaphorically not literally. Joggers, cyclists, the occasional patrolmen. All that said, night is night and Chicago is Chicago, so it would not be too difficult to keep an eye out, wait a bit and then wrench something open. Alex, given what happened in the forest outside of O'Hare and your feelings about it, it's my assumption. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. You might have a little bit of a need to prove lurkin underneath the surface 100%. [00:19:17] Speaker E: I am already trying to establish a plan in mind to undo the ledger of my recent debacle. [00:19:28] Speaker A: Yeah, and when all you have is a hammer, every problem seems like a nail. Metaphor works better in this one, because it is literally a problem that can be solved with hammers and involves nails. Before we make a roll to see how the evening starts, is this the kind of problem you're going to solve with a tool or with your hands? [00:19:49] Speaker E: I know I have a few things going for me. I'm pretty fast and I'm very strong, so I'm going to try and establish my value by using both of those things. Hey, everyone, look at me. Look what I can do. And I'm going to use my hands and rip these wooden pieces off the wall. [00:20:12] Speaker A: I like this. So we'll keep that in mind. Let's actually start with the conversation that happens as everyone is gathered together and doing their last minute check ins. And then when it comes time, we can say that Alex isn't going to wait to be told to open the door. He's going to be the big, brave leader. First in, last out. [00:20:33] Speaker C: Well, I think first and foremost, I would want to make sure that the rest of the codery is appropriately prepared to defend themselves should the need arise. Abby, I know you're not overly fond of a firearm. You still got that knife on you? [00:20:51] Speaker D: Yes, I still have the knife for whatever good it will do me. [00:20:56] Speaker C: Better safe than dead. Again, I will turn to Maya. Darling, you know how to shoot cal? [00:21:08] Speaker B: I grew up in the voted for Reagan, and I'll push my jacket aside so that she can see a pistol and a harness well, all right. [00:21:18] Speaker C: I guess you're taken care of. Puppy. You all set. [00:21:24] Speaker E: I still have the lesson that you gave me on shooting. Still fresh in my head, but I think that I say as I look at the silver plated knuckles from the Gauru fight, kind of raising both my hands up in front of my face, I think for this fight, these are the only guns that I'm going to need. [00:21:46] Speaker A: Oh, wow. [00:21:46] Speaker E: No, I heard it the minute I said it. Oh, God, that was so dumb. [00:21:55] Speaker C: Honey. A for effort, a for enthusiasm. Still, just for my own peace of mind from the holster under my jacket, I'm going to give him the Glock that I've got on hand. You remember, focus. Don't get too much in your own head. Okay? [00:22:21] Speaker E: Yeah. Me in my own head. I don't even know how to do that. It'll be great. No worries. [00:22:29] Speaker C: I'll grin a little and reach up and kind of like pet the beard. Ready? [00:22:37] Speaker E: Yeah. We fucking got this. All right, I'm going to step back. It's time to go apex. And I start to flex every muscle fiber in my body as I reach for the wood and rip it with ease. [00:22:53] Speaker A: Oh, ease is correct. You've got more than enough dice to make a show of that. And then the tunnel is open before you. Now, to put it into context, some of these tunnels are much older, but they were invented after humans started using concrete to build things. So there's a vaguely Hoover Dam vibe about it. Cast concrete tunnels, the floors with rails in some parts or the remains of rails in others. But aside from the fact that it is quite dark inside, the other important thing you will notice is that these are very short tunnels. They're not meant for adults to walk full size inside of them. In point of fact, they used to hire children to push these carts around. So anyone who is over 5ft tall will be doing a bit of stooping as you go deeper inside. [00:23:49] Speaker B: Will you be okay, Ivy? [00:23:53] Speaker D: Yes, I will be fine. Uncomfortable, but fine. [00:23:59] Speaker A: Be careful for your nugging. That said, it does open up in places, but especially at junctions where they have to have built in arches to keep the tunnels from collapsing in over themselves. You will want to watch your head. That aside, the walls are smooth. The floor is smooth, save for the places where rails have been stamped down. There are exposed wires. If you've seen above a drop ceiling, how they'll have electrical wires in the small little metal tubes. You see those kind of stapled up against the walls. Not stapled, but bolted, rather stretching out directly west. Based on Ivy's map, you know that you could walk pretty much from here to the river on the far side of the loop. The first steps will tell you how silent it is, because Chicago built in layers built in layers, you're actually below the subway system. So it's a bit alarming how quickly the sounds of the streets above disappear as you enter. Soon enough, it'd be the kind of place where the only thing you could hear is your own heartbeat and your footsteps, which means in your case, it is just the pitter patter of I believe in order. Ivy's boots, Cal's boots, Maya's sneakers, and whatever Alex is clomping around in. Did I guess, the marching order right? [00:25:30] Speaker D: I mean, of course I have the iPad. I know where to go. It only makes sense that I'm first. [00:25:37] Speaker E: And holding the door open does mean you're usually last to enter. But if anyone needs me at the front, I can kind of lead from there and you can tell me where to go. [00:25:49] Speaker A: It is wide enough that you could walk two abreast if you needed to, or force three people abreast if the situation called for it too comfortably. But that said, let's see how your navigation goes. Can you rule a wits and survival for me? I would also take street wise, as this does involve streets I just made. [00:26:15] Speaker D: And notated the map. I have other people to actually do the navigating for me. That's why Cal's right behind me. [00:26:23] Speaker A: Of course, delegation very important. Well, then, Calamity, I'll take wits and survival. Or wits and. [00:26:35] Speaker C: Let'S do wits and survival. Looks like that's. [00:26:42] Speaker A: Two successes you're not going to make. Very good time is the problem. Yes, the streets are labeled and so is Ivy's map. But anyone who has tried to navigate in the pre GPS era, going back to when you had to boot up MapQuest print and pray, understands how difficult it can be to be in motion and also keeping your bearings without the buildings above to tell you what is east and west. Once you're far away from that lakeside entrance, it quickly becomes an exercise in trying to use that little compass in your head and hoping that things go the right way. And on a two, that means there are lots of left turns that should have been right turns, moments spent at an intersection trying to figure out north based on the orientation of the streets and such. [00:27:38] Speaker C: And I have to admit, farther we get away from topside, the quieter it gets, the more uncomfortable I am down here. [00:27:51] Speaker A: Not a fan of the underground? No. Extrapolating from your background. [00:27:58] Speaker C: Yeah. Madden family don't exactly have the best history with underground tunnel systems, do we? [00:28:08] Speaker A: No. And I suppose I should have mentioned this before you made the decision to go inside, but would you care to guess the most important good shuttled through these tunnels when they were at the peak of their usefulness? [00:28:22] Speaker C: The storyteller? I don't imagine that would be coal, would it? [00:28:26] Speaker A: And they say Ivy's the one who has the most intelligence. Yeah. Barge is coming across the lake with coal loaded into carts in these tunnels driven around to every building heating and such. I don't know that Ivy or Maya would notice. I don't think Alex would notice either but especially given Cal's background, that lingering whiff of it, that slightly oily carbon smell I imagine is right there in your nostrils. [00:29:00] Speaker C: This is an important mission, bit like the pup. I'm here to make sure that folks get out of this in one piece so this would be a time to take whatever reservations I have about not being able to see the sky. And what is it that Avi said? Crush that down into its little box. [00:29:25] Speaker A: I really like that. As the story has progressed each of the characters has lent something to the others that Maya has taught Alex how to balance the beast with his own desire for humanity calamity has taught people how to defend themselves and Ivy has taught people how to disassociate from the emotional things that hurt you. We all have our expertise. We bring to the. [00:29:49] Speaker C: What is this what being in a coterie is like? [00:29:53] Speaker A: No, I would venture most of them are slightly less trauma rich but that's what makes you special. [00:30:04] Speaker C: I love that for us but I'm trying my best to get us to where we need to go without letting my own bullshit get in the way. [00:30:17] Speaker A: Of course. And it's not so stressful at the moment that you would need to make any kind of roles. It's unsettling but not dehabilitating. I'll say that Maya and Alex, you are closer to the rear but between the two of you I think we know which is likely more focused and paying attention in this moment. Maya, will you roll wits and awareness for me? Two successes, Maya, then two successes, not quite enough. That means you will not hear the group approaching from across intersection but you will notice the flashlights. Calamity and Ivy, we will say that you are just far enough ahead, just around the corner to avoid this beam of light as it shines down. Maya and Alex, you see the light and then you hear the group that has turned about 50 or 60ft perpendicular to the path that you've been traveling. I don't know that Maya would recognize what this is. Alex more likely to be able to intuit what is going on. When you see someone wearing a waterproof jacket emblazoned with some kind of logo being followed by a group of ten to 15 people mostly in the cargo shorts and sports team t shirt variety. [00:31:55] Speaker E: You have to be fucking joking. They have tours down here at this. [00:32:01] Speaker A: Late at night and then the voice comes. Now, the Chicago Underground Ghost tour doesn't normally come down to these tunnels but of course you are our VIPs so we can show you some things that the normal people don't get to see. These tunnels were built in the 18 hundreds usually to transit goods and things from the lake into the city and also in between different buildings in the city. There was an actually direct link from City Hall to the stock exchange. And Barnes would come in, bringing in not only coal for heating, but also fabrics and textiles that have been shipped in for the different retail stores. That, however, is not their most famous use, because this tunnel here is the exact path that the Chicago outfit used to smuggle people out of Al Capone's favorite club and into the lake when they'd ended up on the wrong side of the mob. And, yeah, Alex, there is a group of underground ghost hunter tourists, and you've got, I would say, five or 6 seconds before someone notices you. [00:33:06] Speaker E: Of all the absolute insanity. Okay, I have an idea. I tap Maya on the shoulder and I whisper in her ear, hey, Maya, can you get, like, a really cool shadow spell going? I think we should just terrify the shit out of those people. Be a lot easier than killing and eating all of them. [00:33:26] Speaker B: I think as soon as Alex turns to tap me on the shoulder, I'm gone. Is it a little cheesy to melt into shadow when people are coming by? Yes. Do I continue to do it also? Yes. [00:33:44] Speaker A: Shadow cloak normally applying to stealth. In this case, given the terrain, there are shadows everywhere and the distance between you and the possible discovering parties. I would take either stealth to represent ducking into a corner, or athletics, which is just plain old diving either forward to where Ivy and Calamity are or doing a wily coyote skitter backwards to go to the opposite side of this intersection. [00:34:15] Speaker B: Well, based on the fact that we've just been surprised, I think I would rather just get out of Dodge. [00:34:24] Speaker A: Will three successes do it or get into Dodge, as it were? They're far enough away. Yeah, three is a success. You will be able to duck backwards back against the wall if it suits you, just as a curious tourist beam passes along the area where you stood but seconds ago, catching just that teeniest hint of a humanoid shape in the shadow, perhaps inadvertently giving them their money's worth on this ghost hunting adventure. Alex, on the other hand, lacking the ability to manipulate shadow to your will, what are you going to do, good friend? [00:35:03] Speaker E: I am going to leap into action, and by that I mean leap away from the action, leap to Ivy and Calamity, as I am a big man but not a stealthy man, and I really can't take another tally in the loss column here. I'm going to use the option that allows me to have athletics and dexterity. [00:35:25] Speaker A: But I'd like to pop a little. [00:35:28] Speaker E: Bit of my solerity with fleetness because I need every advantage I can get right now. [00:35:33] Speaker A: It'd be really embarrassing to get shot and then immediately revealed the party before you've made it too far into the tunnels. So that will be yes, dexterity. And athletics. Your solarity rating is two, so you'll be able to add two points to your role. [00:35:49] Speaker E: Okay, so that is four successes. [00:35:54] Speaker A: Four successes. More than enough. Which means that Maya ducks back just the appropriate amount to avoid being spotted. Alex catlike, very nearly in the back handspring version of the event, also manages to avoid the oncoming flashlight. Now, the way that they're ambling through these tunnels, you have two problems. One, if you lean around the corner to see them, it's possible they will see you. And two, you don't know where they're going unless you do, because someone in this room presumably would know ghost stories. Someone in this room presumably would know history. Ivy, if you can pull out intelligence and academics or intelligence and occult and tell me which direction the Al Capone body hiding tour is going to go, then you would be able to navigate folks around it without having to worry about being seen. [00:37:03] Speaker D: Of course I know all of this. You think I've come down here without doing this research already? Let's see if I can remember, though. [00:37:13] Speaker A: Not about the things you know, it's about the things you can call to mind. [00:37:18] Speaker D: Well, I have done my research on this area and unfortunately there's a lot of information, so I only end up with three successes. But I'm hoping that's enough. [00:37:32] Speaker A: It's not a terribly hidden fact. There aren't exactly that many correct options. [00:37:36] Speaker E: Right. [00:37:36] Speaker A: You're not being asked to conjure this out of nothingness. You have the context clues of the location that you're in if your brain can get close enough to decide, oh, was it Lower Whacker or East Eigth Street? Which are definitely not streets that are close together in Chicago. Well, you know which one you're next to now, so you can act accordingly, which means at this point, you have likely heard, if nothing else, the skitter of Alex, which would cause you and Calamity perhaps to turn coming to terms with the situation as is. And then Ivy, as is her way, quick with an explanation of what to do next. [00:38:14] Speaker D: I grit my teeth a little bit and as quietly as I can, but also loud enough that hopefully Alex can hear it over the people talking down the way. I just say, Alex, to the left. [00:38:27] Speaker B: Just go to the left. [00:38:29] Speaker A: You'll be okay. Just left. [00:38:32] Speaker C: Who's left? [00:38:33] Speaker E: Yours or mine? [00:38:33] Speaker D: Which direction am I pointing? [00:38:35] Speaker A: That left. [00:38:36] Speaker E: Fine. [00:38:37] Speaker A: I'm sorry. [00:38:38] Speaker E: And then I jump in that left direction. [00:38:41] Speaker A: Maya, observant as you are, I'm guessing you also hear this and can act accordingly. [00:38:46] Speaker B: Ivy really has a way of accessing that stage mom voice when she's watching her child perform poorly in the OST. Yeah, I got it. I can hear her from the audience. [00:38:59] Speaker A: Then that makes it quite easy. There will, unfortunately be a moment where you have to separate, because if Maya and Alex turn left in order for Calamity and Ivy to follow you would have to cross into the area that we just decided was not a good place to go. The important question then becomes can you manage to find your way back to one another? Ivy has the map and Calamity can navigate. Domaya and Alex have a sense of the instructions enough to make it back to the next adjoining intersection. I am open to explanations of how you would do that. What comes to mind? What reasoning do you have to support your ability to say, well, of course we do, because and then we'll see what role comes from there. [00:39:50] Speaker B: In fairness, I have a streetwise and I have streetwise and wits. I saw the map. One success. God damn it. [00:40:04] Speaker A: I don't think I need me to tell you that one is not enough. [00:40:08] Speaker B: At the risk of getting lost in the dark with Alex, the apex predator, I'm going to willpower reroll that two successes going to help. [00:40:22] Speaker A: Two successes will stop you from becoming interminably lost, or ending up stumbling back into the tour group or making your way by accident to the lake once more. But that does mean that after a few minutes left turn, right turn, left turn, left turn, right turn. In theory, the four of you should end up in the same place. In practice, it becomes very quickly obvious that that is not the case. [00:40:46] Speaker B: Storyteller I have a bad idea. It's not a bad idea, actually. It's just sort of a dumb one. [00:40:53] Speaker A: Well, explain to me what that idea is and how this is any different from normal shadow perspective in a room, that's all. [00:41:01] Speaker B: Shadow. [00:41:02] Speaker A: Well, there are plenty of shadows about. Smaller little red lamps on some kind of warning indicator, department of Water and Power, that kind of thing. Older lamps that are just there, wired to a building above that has long since forgotten they exist. It's not pitch black, but there are rare pools of light, we'll say. So there are shadows around if you wanted to take a peek. Looking here and there, I don't know. [00:41:33] Speaker B: That it would do that much better than being able to see with my own two eyes. Considering you have to have line of sight, it would have made sense to have at least two copies of the map. Too late now. [00:41:47] Speaker A: Unfortunately, not arriving where you're supposed to is going to be a bit the least of your problems. It is dark and Maya does have Lasombra sight. Alex, you said you were holding her hand, but it's only a matter of time before someone takes a turn, something gets moved. You have an itch psychosomatically, any one of a hundred reasons why you would have to let go of her hand. Likely as you're passing through a darker part of the tunnel, as that makes what comes next easier to explain. Very quick memory test. Alex, what were the tunnels made of? [00:42:27] Speaker E: It was before concrete, so it was made out of stone? [00:42:34] Speaker A: Oh, exact opposite. It was made just yeah, no, it's definitely concrete. Quite all right, though, because what if I told you as you exit that patch of darkness, it's not made of stone or concrete, it's made of wood. [00:42:53] Speaker E: No, it's made of earth. [00:43:00] Speaker A: Right. Not my friend. [00:43:04] Speaker E: You spend your whole life in this city and you never come down here. This is what I get? Son of a bitch. Okay. Can I get a hint? [00:43:12] Speaker A: Yes. But I think the surprise of it is going to be it's far enough away from what you expect that any amount of guessing is going to be an exercise in frustration. Because despite Alex's lack of knowledge about the guts of Chicago, he should know. I would assume he knows we agree. He knows that it's not made of corrugated. [00:43:36] Speaker E: I would I would absolutely know this. [00:43:39] Speaker A: Okay. So then explain to me Alex's reaction as you again step through a particularly dark part of the tunnel. And then as the light, the next light you see a bit down in the distance is not revealing more wall or hewn stone or wood or earth, but the corrugated steel walls of a shipping container. [00:44:01] Speaker E: Okay, wait a minute. First last time I was in one of these, I had a very interesting time. Also, Maya. Maya? I think we may have kind of taken the shortcut to Candyland here because I don't know what else would be in this kind of metal protection except Jason fucking Newberry. [00:44:30] Speaker A: Who's? Maya? [00:44:35] Speaker E: Who's talking to me? [00:44:38] Speaker A: Honest to God, Alex, I don't think either of one of us asked her name. [00:44:44] Speaker E: The La. Sombra that I was traveling with Maya Lagassi, right? [00:44:49] Speaker A: I mean, I know who Maya Lagassi is. I'm saying that the person who is speaking to you now, we never establish her name. [00:44:56] Speaker E: Oh, right. Well, I guess we play this like gentleman. My name is Alex. What is your name? [00:45:07] Speaker A: I know who you are, Alex. And she tilts her head that even in the darkness you can see the long cascade of hair that once upon a time you pulled away from someone's neck. And if that is not enough to jog your memory, the gaping wound having torn open the voice box that should not be able to speak now but does will be enough to remind you. [00:45:35] Speaker E: Yeah. It's you. Last time I was in a container like this, I had a very bad day. And I'm guessing it's not even close to the day that you had. Hi, there. My name is Alex and I never got your name. [00:45:56] Speaker A: I was Lucy. Alex. Now I'm a stain on a shipping container. Now I'm a case file in a Chicago Police Department homicide office. Now I'm an unsolved mystery that follows my parents to sleep every night. [00:46:17] Speaker E: Yeah, I did that. [00:46:21] Speaker A: You took it from me. Alex, I don't know if this is. [00:46:26] Speaker E: Going to make it better and I know it won't. Lucy, I need you to know every time I see your face, every time I see it when I feed, I see it when I fight, I see you there but little I can remember from the state that I was in. You didn't deserve what I gave you. And I'm sorry that I was capable of that. [00:46:59] Speaker A: You're sorry? [00:47:02] Speaker E: Yeah. Doesn't mean shit, does it? [00:47:05] Speaker A: Oh, I suppose it's all fun. And well, we're both dead now, after all. [00:47:13] Speaker E: Only my death is a bit more exciting. I'm still getting that benefit. And you're not? [00:47:25] Speaker A: No. Because after being smuggled across an ocean by monsters, having my body sold for money by monsters, pause for a moment and think about what it must have felt like to be in that position, wondering where you were going to end up, what was going to happen to you. And knowing that the only possible hope you had to escape that was for someone to stumble across the container that you were being smuggled away. And that maybe you'd get lucky. And a poured inspector would see something a little off about one shipping container. And then to have a door open up and to have all the world's hope pour into you because you had been discovered and you had been saved. And then imagine the journey you get to go on when that turns to fear, as a dopey motherfucker 25 year old something with his big, stupid, warm Labrador retriever face smiles at you to reveal a different kind of monster entirely. And no, you don't remember because you were a monster. The monster in you was in control. So you don't remember what it was like to hear me cry as you approached, knowing something was wrong, but not entirely what. And you don't remember what it was like to hear me screaming until all the blood was out of my veins and into your mouth and on your chest. Your heart stopped beating because somebody turned you into something else. My heart stopped beating because a hunger you cannot control took every single drop out of me. And the last conscious memory that is burning itself into the reptile part of my brain, that tiny little neuron that begs to be alive knows exactly what it feels like when your heart tries to beat but there's no liquid to move. Alex so I'm really glad you're sorry but I don't need your pity I don't need your apology there's only one thing that can make this right. [00:49:57] Speaker E: There'S so much in this world I'm constantly having to be told that I'm stupid, that I'm just a baby my identity constantly taken from me because of what I represent. I guess that I'm new and I'm stupid, I'm just ignorant. But I met this one girl who could do things to minds and the things that she could see and I've been told that's just the tip of the iceberg I know that Lucy is dead and I know that I fucked up. And I know that there was something inside of me that was put there by someone else to fuck up. I know that there's a system in my blood that is designed to implode and fail, and I know I'm no fucking monster. [00:50:43] Speaker A: Well, I want to believe you, and I think Calamity and Ivy and Maya want to believe you. The question is, do you believe yourself? Why don't you roll Willpower for me? [00:50:57] Speaker E: That's two successes. [00:51:00] Speaker A: Well, I know that you want to believe it, but I'm not entirely sure you do. But that makes sense because you can understand something conceptually, right? Murder is wrong. No one needs to be told that. That's a very different thing when you are the one who has committed the murder. And saying a thing does not always make it true. As far as you can tell in your Alex brain, this isn't a trick. It's not a ruse or a projection or some kind of hallucination. As far as your body is concerned, this is incredibly real. And if not intellectually, you will understand that physically, as what used to be incredibly dainty, painted fingers quite resemble more talons. As this woman leaps at you screaming, I need to destroy you like you destroyed me, she will roll her dexterity and her athletics. You can roll your dexterity and athletics as a defense action. [00:52:19] Speaker E: Two successes on my part. [00:52:22] Speaker A: Her pool coming back with four. So it's two superficial damage, not halved, because these are talons. It's not a swipe like an animal. This is a desperate smashing clawing, very much in the same universe of like a rat trapped inside something trying to claw its way out, but reversed in this instance. Calamity, turning to you for a moment, you have a predator's instinct and a very acute sense of when things are going wrong around you. Will you make a wits and awareness role for me? [00:53:11] Speaker C: Storyteller? That is three successes. [00:53:14] Speaker A: Well, then I would say not only do you hear the scuffling of feet and the grunting, but you can identify its source. I don't want to talk right now about why. You are very well tuned in to what it sounds like when Alex is wrestling, but you can hear the sound of a body hitting the wall. You can hear the sound of the grunt, of exertion, the scrape of boots across concrete, the smash of a plate carrier against the wall. Alex is in trouble. [00:53:53] Speaker C: Alex shit a storyteller. With that role, would I be able to hear the direction? [00:54:03] Speaker A: Yeah, because it's laid out in a grid. You don't have a super great sense of exactly which direction to go, but, like, north, south, east, west, the cardinal directions you can figure out. Sprinting in that direction, you'll get there soon enough. [00:54:18] Speaker C: Then that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to turn to Ivy and say, I'm sorry, don't move. And I'm going to sprint in the. [00:54:25] Speaker A: Direction of that sound sprinting such that I don't suppose it matters what Ivy has to say about it, because you will be taking off regardless. Alex, we return to you. It's not just her blood now that begins to spill. Your own body opening up. Vita leaking from the wounds. And now we face a question. This woman, who has a very legitimate reason to hate you, seems intent on clawing her way into your chest cavity and ripping the dead heart out of you, physically extracting the beast. You've already killed her once. What's a second time, right? [00:55:10] Speaker E: I know this can't be her. I know with all the fiber in my being that it is impossible. And as much as I don't want to believe that I am a monster, I still know that she's right. She's right for wanting vengeance. She's right for wanting to hurt me. I guess the only thing I can do to get to get through this is just to fight my way through this. Like I always do. Like I always do. [00:55:47] Speaker A: Then tell me for the second time, how do you subdue this woman? [00:55:55] Speaker E: The painful irony in this moment is that the only gift I have is my strength. My overwhelming and superior strength. And that's what I'm going to have to use. So I'm going to grapple her as hard as I can. And once I get hands on her, I guess I'll figure out what the next move is. [00:56:20] Speaker A: Then let's try strengthen brawl on your part. I roll three successes, one more than her, which will work out well for you. You are combative. Of course, Callus taught you more. You've already known quite a bit. And as we established much earlier in your story, you are significantly stronger than she is. Which means you get your arms up around her chest, under her arms, lifting, pushing, grappling. And Calamity will turn the corner to see Alex Scott wrestling with nothing. His chest obviously wounded, hackles raised, breath racing by biological impulse. A memory of how to be human. The feeling of blood coursing through his veins, even though it does not. Alex, you will eventually, as this grapple proceeds, slam her against the wall or execute a especially skillful ground takedown. And that is when the body explodes into ash. A cloud of deep, black grainy ash that, were you the type of person who had to breathe, would leave your lungs sputtering after inhaling it. [00:58:00] Speaker E: As I'm pinning them. I'm just saying I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. And you know I'm sorry. And you know that I am sorry. And then when they go up in flames and ashes I'm so sorry. I'm still so sorry. [00:58:22] Speaker C: Alex. [00:58:24] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:58:27] Speaker C: Hey, Storyteller, is there is there any way I would know what this points to? [00:58:36] Speaker A: Why would he suppose there's a vague sense that Jason Newberry is who Jason Newberry is? And if you're this close to water and something gets wet, you can draw a line between those two things. As for the exact mechanics of it or the vampiric power that allows don't think I don't think Calamity would understand the how, but you're close enough on the why that you could get there without too much of a running. [00:59:10] Speaker C: Going to I'm going to walk over. Careful. I don't want to spook him. And I'll just crouch in front of him, one hand on his shoulder, the other hand on his cheek. Hey. You're all right? [00:59:29] Speaker A: It's okay. [00:59:31] Speaker E: Hey, Cal. [00:59:37] Speaker C: What did you see, baby? [00:59:41] Speaker E: I saw, um I saw the first person that I bet off of. I saw the first person that I really, really hurt. Like, more than just, like a bad relationship or being an asshole in the subway. I saw someone that I can't undo anything I did. And I'd like to. I'm not strong enough. I can't undo. [01:00:14] Speaker C: No. No, you can't. Sugar. Yeah. [01:00:26] Speaker A: Hell. [01:00:26] Speaker E: Am I a disappointment. [01:00:34] Speaker C: Alex Scott? Why would you ask me a question like that? [01:00:44] Speaker E: You know? Can't handle my bullets like I used to. I guess. So I'm a little shaken. [01:00:52] Speaker C: You are new. You are learning. And when we get out of this, remind me to tell you what happened when I first came back. But you are not a disappointment, Alex Scott. [01:01:20] Speaker E: Sounds good. Yeah. [01:01:21] Speaker C: You're okay? [01:01:22] Speaker E: Yeah, I'm okay. I'm going to be okay. [01:01:28] Speaker C: Yeah. I came running and I left Ivy, so let's head back. All right? [01:01:36] Speaker E: Yeah, she's smart, but I don't think she's good on her own. So let's go back and Cal, when I see this Jason fucking Newberry, I'm going to split his goddamn head open like a fucking nut. [01:01:50] Speaker C: I'll hold him, and you start hitting, okay? [01:01:56] Speaker E: Yeah. Grainy la, pinata. Let's see how far we get. [01:02:02] Speaker A: A small addendum. Alex is all right for now because there are plenty of tunnels waiting between you and the prize you seek. But we will have to wait and see what waits inside them, because that's the story for the night. You've been listening to the All Night Society, an actual play podcast brought to you by Queens Court Games. If you enjoyed your stay, be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast app. For more content, including exclusive art and audio, follow us on Facebook or Instagram at Queenscorp games or on Twitter at Queenscourt. RPG SA.