Roleplay for One | The Investigative Journalist

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On this episode of Nat One Presents.

Investigative journalist. I know he's an investigative journalist, you idiot. I was married to him for two years. Oh well, we haven't said the M-word. You didn't tell me you were married, Wallace. Oh yeah, he was married. He was married to me, alright.

Actually, we're still married. The paperwork hasn't gone through yet, but pretty soon.

That is so like you, Wallace. Wallace, I could never. Wallace! Wallace! Wallace!

Adventure! Heartwarming stories, role-playing that could only be seen by the gods. Here at Nat One Presents, you get all that and more. Now join us as we start another epic tale of convent.

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Hello and welcome to Nat OnePresents the podcast.

Hey Nate. Hey Nate. How's it going? Oh, it's going great. I'm I'm just excited to see what we're gonna talk about because I I tasked you with uh thinking about a an opening uh topic, and we went through uh went through a couple cycles and we decided none of those would be good for for air. Not good starting off point. So I'm just ready to see what are we gonna talk about, Nate. Okay, so there's something I've had a pretty rough week. Okay. I'm sorry, buddy. Now, the thing that took the cake was Corvin may have gotten into a fight at school, and he may have been suspended for a couple days. And it broke my heart because I thought for sure this nerd would never get into a fight.

And it turns out it wasn't even really a fight. Some kids were picking on him, he gave him a good old Hadookin, and some other kids saw it, so that's the only reason that he got suspended. That sucks. That's the first time.

Uh actually it's the second time. Oh, okay.

All right. How uh so how does like he feel about it? Like, does he like feel bad when he gets suspended? Is he does he realize like after the moment, like, oh, that didn't go how I wanted it to? Or is it just kind of like, and I remember as a child, like you think you're either right or wrong. And it's hard to like change your mind. And he is a firm believer in him being right, like he has some strong opinions about it. And he gets that from his dad. No way whatsoever. All Megan, all the way. But he did feel bad about it, and we talked about like, hey, if this happens again, you need to do the right thing and like assess the situation, calm down, just walk away.

But at the same time, I know walking away is hard because yeah, yeah, it's tough, you know. But hopefully it'll come, you know, it'll come through. Like his teachers even said that they didn't even want to uh suspend him because they know he's a good kid and everything, but because there were so many witnesses, they couldn't just sweep it under the rug. Yeah. Well, and I mean at one point, like some growth he has to do, whatever, but it's also like it would be nice if teachers were supported enough and staffed enough to be able to be around and stop that stuff from happening. The reality is they can't. They these I mean, I don't know. Do you know how many people our kids are in Corbin's class? Oh, there's quite a few. Yeah.

I was at recess, and there's millions of kids running around there. I did like a nonprofit where I was like in classrooms, like I wasn't like a teacher's aide, but I was like this like extra element that was just like helping like support anyway. And those classes had like 35 to 40 kids per teacher. Now, this was like inner city Los Angeles. I'm guessing maybe here like the classes are a little smaller, hopefully. Just a little bit, I think. But things are getting rough. There's no teachers out there, apparently. It's it's huge. It's it's hard. There, I mean, I 100% will say not to get political, but I don't think teachers get paid enough. I don't think they get enough benefits.

Like, absolutely, the the people who are supporting like the future generations of this country like need to need to be treated as such. Like it's an important role, and we don't we pay them [expletive]. I know in Arizona, like they were paying teachers as little as like 30k.

Right.

Like 30k to like take care of all of your children. And it's not just like teach them things. Like these kids come and they haven't showered, these kids come and they uh don't have food. And like like they are tackling, and I've been there. I can I can say I only did like a year in this nonprofit, but you see, like I saw kids dealing with gang violence, like all kinds of stuff. Like [expletive]'s going on, even in the suburbs, Nate, like even in [expletive] bow dunk, uh. I was trying to think of it.

Um happens everywhere, and so I just don't think, but it would be nice if there was enough teachers, enough support that like a teacher would be teachers would be out in playground and they would catch these things, can't catch everything, but like it also seems like this is a thing, like you know, Corbin's a little bit of a point dexter. And like if I was a teacher, like right when I was in a program, I knew the kids who got picked on. I knew it. Like I could and I I would keep an eye on them. So right, you know, it'd be nice if they were able there to intervene.

And like hopefully those other kids also got disciplined, and like you, you know, like like how did it get to this point and what was your part in contributing to it? Like, probably not, you know, honestly. But they're probably just like, oh no, you got hit. Sorry, please don't sue the school. Yeah, you know, and like with all this anti-bullying stuff they always talk about, but there's still bullying going on, yeah. You know, like uh it's tough. Challenge. It's it is. I would not want to be in school. Nate, my biggest fear, like not biggest fear, but growing, I could not imagine being in school today because I can just imagine like the group text conversations.

Oh, yeah.

The like Nate is a [expletive] stupid homo group chat, right? Like that, like that probably could be a thing today of like like look how easy it is. Like, oh yeah. We I mean let's look at it. Like, there's like a chat of me and you. There's a chat, me and Chris. You and Chris maybe have a secret chat, and then there's the Nat One chat, right? Like we have all these like separate channels and the group channels, right? So I cannot imagine the complex like social uh constructs created um in high school now through through like instant messenger, email, chat, instant messenger. If people use that anymore, but no, I agree.

I couldn't handle it because how easy it would be to ruin somebody, you know, like because normally we all do dumb [expletive], but now somebody can record that dumb [expletive] and then show everybody else, and it's just dumb. Yeah, it can spread faster, more people can be in on it. Like the remember, like the biggest, I don't know about you, the biggest thing in my school is like people would make lists, like these are the hot ones, and these are the not hot ones. And like that is nothing compared to today of like what you know, screen cap, like taking a video, sharing it to a bunch of kids immediately, like tagging it, putting it online.

That is like listing 10 hot chicks in school now is like no like subjectifying women back then was like that's bad, but now like now it can be way worse. Oh, yeah, it can be horrible. So, man, I I would not want to be like an awkward teenager or just teenager at all growing up. Like, I should take him out of school, homeschool, homeschool, and then I can bully him.

Oh gosh, I'll install some lockers in the house, and when he's walking by, I'll nudge him into it.

Like, watch a nerd. We don't even use these lockers. What are these for? Like the toughen you up for the real world. We're gonna roleplay the [expletive] out of this. Well, I'm sure he'll be fine. We all gotta like he'll get some thick skin. It's usually what happens. He'll obviously like delve more into maybe like intellectual hobbies. He'll find his people. Right. Just get him to college. Once he gets to college, I'll agree. He'll be okay. Yeah, he'll find his people there. In high school, he's just gonna be surrounded by honestly dumber, oh yeah, less talented kids.

Sounds like you have uh experience with this?

No, I wasn't a smart kid, you know. I was just no, I was like neither. I literally like did not exist. I was just like the kid in the background. I was just like in the background of all that.

You were an extra? Kind of, but not even like a Highlander extra, just an extra?

Yeah.

Hey buddy, you okay?

The Highlander extras who would like take their role to the max. I still love the wife who like turned her scene into like a big thing. Um, no, yeah. I don't know.

Oh man.

I'm not worried about it. It was like confusing that back then, but you know, whatever. We all had our things in high school. I don't think anybody has it really good. There's maybe some like popular kids who just are living the life, but I feel like most kids are had dealing with some kind of like [expletive] in high school. Because those kids always turn out to be real wheelers, you know.

They're like, yeah, I remember I scored six touchdowns that night and finger banged old Lucy behind the bleachers, you know.

I don't know if that's totally true because I feel like a lot of the like kids I went to school with, like, they did just become doctors of like rich people. Like they're probably still like maybe not cool people, but like they're definitely successful, at least. They're not like all like the like ex-jocks at a bar now who like work at the supermarket. Like, that's definitely like the popular kids were all rich and they're still rich. It's kind of just depend of what town you're from. Maybe, yeah. Maybe not a per rump thing. Yeah, small town. Definitely a link in Rhode Island for sure.

So what are we gonna talk about today?

Well, I didn't really know what we were gonna talk about, but I think today's episode we were gonna do uh roleplay for one.

Oh, okay. I like roleplay for one.

I do like roleplay for one because fantasy, you know, like talking about this other show. I'm already depressed from our. I don't want to live in the real world. Yeah, honestly, I don't know why anybody listens to our show. That's what we talk about, but it is what it is. It's depressing. But roleplay for one is a place where letits what was her first name? Do you remember? No, I just remember letits. I think we just kept calling her Litits, where Letits can pay 20 grand for a toaster, uh, and that can be the highlight of our episode.

But it was really nice and time accurate.

I love the heist. If you are new to the show or haven't listened to some of our other roleplay for ones, my favorite is the heist. What's your favorite name?

Um Do you have a favorite? No, I still like um the original one with Rusty and Harry, where you complained about not getting a card.

Terra Museum, yeah, I think, or something like that. And then uh the other one was when we all went to the cabin. And for some reason, everything Chris did that episode [expletive] cracked me out. I don't know what it was, but I was rolling. Those are good ones. Yeah, the whole Rusty arc, I think, is pretty pretty good. Um, but today it's going to be a little bit different. Now, I purchased quite some time ago the Chaosium Berlin book for Call of Cthulhu. We can see it there. We can see it. Now, this book was like 60 bucks, and I've never got a chance to use it. So I am today the day. Today is the day. I am totally cheating.

I have taken one of the uh basically sideline quests out of it and kind of altered it to fit what we're going to be doing today. But as far as the main meat and potatoes of the quest, it is coming out of the Berlin book. Nice. Yeah, I don't think everything has to be like uh sometimes I find like out-of-book campaigns to be bland, but only because like like they're good. I don't know, they're good and you hear a lot of people talk about them. So a lot of times, like I knew a lot of like I knew Tomb of Annihilation, I knew um Curse of Strahd before I even played them because I've heard about them. So I think that maybe is what takes away from them. Right.

But they're usually well written, so I'm excited to do, I mean, uh not just impromptu out of your own depths of your insanity. Yeah, it's rough. It also might make a little bit more sense because sometimes sometimes I've been in your campaign, I'm like, I don't feel like I picked up on all the things I was supposed to do. I've been told my stories are pretty convoluted. Complicated, at least. Yeah. Well, that's why today we're running it out of a book. Kind of for the most part. The outline you like close it and now like that's like so the book's out. Okay, so we're gonna start off. You are Wallace Harris, you are apparently a 30-year-old investigative journalist. Yeah. Now Nate made his character 15 [expletive] seconds ago.

I don't enjoy I'll just I'll just call it out. I don't enjoy making some people love making characters, right? They'll spend hours for me. I don't, I'm sorry. Like I like playing the game, I don't like um prepping for it.

I can get that too.

It might be because I edit like all of our episodes and have all these like I have to so much work to just keep the podcast up and running. So maybe that's why I don't, or maybe I'm just a piece of [expletive] and I'm lazy. No, it's probably it's probably it's just a character sheet, anyways. It's no big deal. But yeah, 30 minutes ago, I I printed Wallace Harris. Wallace Harris, investigative journalist. Now, lately you've been kind of undertaking a task of investigating a series of murders or actually miss uh sorry, missing persons uh along the docks in town here of Arcum. Or in Arkham again? Yes, yep, yep.

Uh the Berlin book obviously is set in Berlin, but I changed it because there's so much backstory in this book that kind of coincides with the sideline quests that I basically just took out what I needed. That's very chaossium, is like they usually go like a lot in actual history. Oh, yeah. Which kind of makes it kind of cool if you're into that thing. Right. It this book is bananas. Like I read through it, and like just the things you can do not playing the game, if you were to be like, nope, I'm gonna do what I want. We could probably spend if we played every day two weeks, just you running around doing whatever the [expletive] you want it in Berlin. Oh, that's awesome. Oh, yeah, it's crazy.

Let's actually do that at some point.

Okay, what do you want to do? There's uh there's a couple brothels.

Uh the chaossium stuff is very uh adult only. Oh, yeah, yeah. It's not DD friendly. Yeah. For like the youngins. Now, you're investigating uh missing persons at the dock. Um let me think. Yes. Um, the the latest disimparance, you have been noticing several like markings where these people have been last seen or what you feel like they have disappeared. They're weird, they're very weird symbols. Uh, you have jotted some of them down, but you don't know quite what to make of them yet. And you've been investigating this for about a week now, and no leads, nothing. It's just more and more people keep disappearing. We're up to like seven now, missing from the dock.

And this goes on, you're in your office, all of a sudden you get a random knock on the door, and then there's an envelope left by your front door. Inside is a hand-drawn, scribbled, really messy, looks like they're in a panic kind of written note telling you to go check out this art exhibit, and then that's it. And it has a flyer for the art exhibit, it's for a Pierre Le Croc, and that's pretty much the gist of it. And it's happening tonight.

Okay.

And so where am I right? So I've seen I see the flyer. Where am I currently? You are standing in your office and you just received the the flyer, and you looked outside and there's nobody there. And there's and there's nobody around right now. Correct. Um, okay, I'm gonna what time is the what time does the flyer say? I'm gonna say it's in like a couple hours. From the time it takes you to get downtown, you probably got an hour to [expletive] around if you want. But if not, we can just go straight to there. Okay. So I'm gonna pick it up and I'm gonna put it on my board, right? I got that board with like the threads and like the pins and stuff.

And I'm like, hmm, like this could like what kind of what kind of art? Can you give me a little more context? You said it's an art exhibit? Yes. What kind of art uh mast uh mostly like um sculpture and things like that, whatever the 20s would be big on. There's a uh the main art for the 20s. Yes, yeah, okay. The the main uh person there is the uh Lecrook Pierre Le Croc. Yeah, but there are sounds fishy, other things there too. Um can I roll a I want to just I don't know anything? Oh, there's an appraise. Interesting. Uh I want to roll some kind of skill to see like if the markings maybe correlate with any of the art uh maybe going on at this event.

Okay, yeah.

Is that just investigation or something?

Uh yeah, or a spot hidden if you want.

We always go with spot hidden. I know, I love spot hidden. Um yeah, all right. Let's do spot hidden. No, as uh megathail. Yep, it just looks like a plain old flyer. Okay. He's like, well, I got nothing better to do, so I'm gonna go to this event tonight. And then uh I like buzz in. There's like phones back then, right? Yeah, there was phones. I'm gonna buzz in my assistant and be like, get me uh two tickets to the uh exhibit art show tonight, Mr. LeCrook's event, and uh call that uh that woman I am always chasing after, see if she wants to go on a date.

Oh, very well, sir. I'll be right on it.

Thanks, Latits. Damn my woman voices. Nina only has like one type of voice for each character. So there's like Sheila is the raspy, Latit is just unintimating. Yeah, in the flu, yeah, the the like unintimidating woman. Um yeah, and that's pretty much it. Harry or Chip, and then the Harry Chip voice is the same. Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

So uh she manages to procure you tickets for tonight's event on short notice, no problem. And your date arrives or whatever, yeah. You got the tickets. So now it's up to you to decide whatever you want to do from there. Okay. Uh still in my office or yeah, if you want to be or if you want to move whatever you want. No, can we just jump ahead a couple hours? Like I yeah, it's fine. We can jump straight to it. Since I didn't actually tie any connection to this event, like I'm just pondering, right? I'm like, I'm like going over the facts in my head and like you know, like something that's going on. Seven deaths. Okay. Tonight, maybe the night of the eighth. Okay.

Are you taking a um taxi or are you driving yourself to the event? Or like a taxi. I'll take a taxi. Okay, just a taxi. Okay, so you and your date. Uh, what's her name? Do you have a name? Made up name? Uh Trish. Okay, Trish. Trish. I like it. Trish. Okay. You and Trish arrive uh moments before they open the doors. And are you a gentleman? Do you like walk around to let her out of the cab? Yeah, sure. I'll go around. Are you one of these new age men that uh No, I'll open it up and be like, ah, thanks for coming out tonight, Dal.

Oh, no problem. I know I sound a lot like your secretary, but I'm not.

I knew there was something I liked in you. I just didn't know it was well, the fact that you sound like my secretary, but there's nothing worried about that.

Oh, thanks a lot. I appreciate it. I haven't been out in some time.

Anyway, you like art?

I love it. What kind of art is here?

Oh, you know, modern.

Oh, I love the modern art. In the 1920s.

So as you guys are uh conversing, you notice there's kind of a big uh crowd gathered around the door that doesn't look like a normal crowd waiting to get inside, and there's kind of a hustle and bustle. And he's like, uh, you see uh a large man carrying uh kind of like a smaller built, like a Corvin looking nerdy kind of guy, you know, thin framed, gangly, uh carrying him out.

He's like, I don't care who you are, your stuff's done here. Now get out of here.

There I go back to my Texas hillbilly [expletive] accent, but whatever. And then you see him get thrown down on the ground and out. And then that's not Mr. LeCrocq, right? Do I recognize as either of the two as Mr. LeCroque? I did my research, I'm investigative journalist. Okay, yes, it is uh he is throwing out Mr. Pierre Le Croc's out of the event. One second ago, I gotta go. That that's uh the main headliner of the event. Something's going on here. One moment. And uh I'm gonna go up to uh Mr. LeCroque. Oh, okay. Uh Mr. LeCroque, uh what's going on here?

Oh, all these people don't know anything about nothing. I'm getting out of here.

But this is your event. I came here to come see your work tonight. Well, they kicked me out, so good luck with that. I'm hitting the bricks. You guys will reap the day.

I've seen God, I know who he is, and I know he will return.

And then like he picks himself up off the ground and like kind of like shuffles his jacket around and then like wanders uh down the street there. You can tell he's really agitated. Wow, that was real crazy. Damn right I am. Oh, you're still here. Uh give me a uh a roll.

Uh I don't know what kind of roll.

It's uh what? What am I doing? Now hindsight, something fell out of his pocket, but I want to see if you were able to catch something falling out of his pocket or not. Yeah. Uh nope. That's a fail. It's a fail. Oh, okay. Uh yep, you don't notice anything at all.

But then all of a sudden, Trish is like, hey, this fella dropped this thing over here.

Wow, just forgot about you're wrong. It's almost like you're here to help aid me along my journey and uh whatever we're doing tonight.

Oh, no problem, Wallace. You're such a manly man.

I you know, you probably missed it. You're such a good investigator. I don't know how you missed the big book flying out of this man's coat, but okay, here it is, right here.

Ah, dinner at eleven if you watch your mouth.

Okay. Smooches.

Uh can I and uh look uh like look at the Yeah, Trish hands you the book, and then now you can uh roll either an appraise or yeah, or in a cult or whatever you want to do with your book. Well, does it does it have a cult on the outside or does it just look like a normal book? It looks like a uh a leather binder of some kind. I'll just appraise it. Okay. No. No, not horrible investigator channel. Like, what are these words? Seems to me like Mr. Cook was reading this book.

Well, yes. Uh it says there on the cover, it's his uh manifesto of deity. Very odd indeed. You speak Latin, Trish?

Oh, fluently.

I thought you were just a pretty face.

Oh, I can be both, you know.

Wow, really glad you're here. Uh what else does it say?

Uh pretty much that's it. There's some weird drawings in here, but that's about it. He talks about drawings. Yeah.

And I like snatched out of our hand. Now give me one more roll. Uh like a library use, but you're not the library, so something to to guess. A GUI decimal. Uh just give me a straight education or intelligence check. You just really want me to pass this. Uh education, it is a pass. Okay, perfect. They uh the symbols do match the ones. That you have uh I never looked to see if it even just looks like I can just visually recall.

You're the worst [expletive] investigative journalist I've ever seen in my life.

Holy moly, Trish. These are the exact things that symbols I've investigating. This is this is straight out. I I've never seen this book in my life. I have a whole investment on the board. Oh, I think we're on a something, Trish. I think we're on something big.

Calm down, Wallace. Now you still promise to take me on this date. Hmm.

I did do that, didn't I?

Yes, you did. Now let's go inside.

Alright. But I am gonna read this book the whole time and maybe zone out while you're talking.

That's fine, Wallace. You'll be my arm candy for tonight.

So you guys uh um get in line and then you walk inside the art exhibit. And then uh it's just really slim pickings now that they've kind of closed the LaCrux uh exhibit. So it's just smaller pieces, but then you notice the LaCrux exhibit is like uh barred off and barricaded with just like caution tape or whatever the [expletive] they used back then. Yeah, it isn't true. This is a little unorthodox, but uh I want to go check out that exhibit. Um you sneak in there? Yes, uh death like so you do a distraction. Uh do just like that uh I don't know, something a big dumb blonde girl would do or something.

Okay.

Um and then and you're like, say you're like a brunette.

Yeah.

Like, I'm gonna sneak in and just see what uh what was going on in uh Cook's station before he left.

Oh, okay, I can do that. Um hold on, let me unbutton my blouse a little bit.

I also just want like this character wasn't written in, right? The Trish character. Like you're just going, this is not part of the story. I just threw her in, and now you have to play an entirely second character in this live set. Okay. Uh here we go. Uh stealth thing. I'm gonna unroll stealth. Okay. Uh no, I didn't. It's not great. You can have an advantage since uh Trish is trying her best to make a scene. Uh she walks out into the middle of you can keep rolling. She walks out into the middle of the room and then does that fainting, like, oh my, is it hot in here? Oh, and then she faints in the middle, and then of course everybody's like, Oh, a pretty woman in distress. Let me go help her.

And that does work. I rolled a five now, so that is a very good pass now, the second time. You easily sneak underneath the caution tape, okay, past the security and into the exhibit. I want to spot hidden and just kind of in general, just kind of navigate around. Actually. Yep. So uh once inside the exhibit, it's kind of like tucked away from itself. You notice there are several paintings along the outside, and then this seems to be the main exhibit he was working on is no longer there. That was supposed to be in the center. Was it a big exhibit or like a pedestal type deal? Or it was a pedestal. Uh you can investigate with whatever you want to go from here.

The other pieces of art, are they uh do they tie in at all to maybe some of the images in the book? Give me either a spot hidden or you can use your uh art and craft or art is art and craft. It is one. Yeah, art and craft is all fine art. Yeah. I have really low numbers for basically everything on this.

What kind of investigative journalist are you?

I just have like a good history. That's like really the only good number here is like an all psychology.

Why psychology?

So I can interview people, I guess. Um, no, I failed. The thing you got it off of is like a [expletive] scam thing. They're like, haha, good luck doing any investigative journalists with this character scrub. Oh man, that sounds like it. Okay, I failed again. You're gonna have to be real heavy-handed with this. Yeah, Trisha's gonna have to be very active in this campaign.

Um okay. Uh Trish manages to sneak back in there with you. Oh, would you look at this, Wallace? It kind of startles you a little bit if she sneaks up on you. She's so stealthy.

Um, there's a lot of the same symbols inside the bottoms of these paintings right there. Look, look, look closer, Wallace. Let me help you look closer.

She kind of grabs the back of your head and disappeared. Oh, I didn't see this.

Yeah, look at that.

You caught this, but then 0.5 seconds of standing in this room? Oh, yeah, from a mile away. It's what do you what do you do? What's your day job? I've never asked you, Church. I assumed you just stayed home and cooked, but I'm a dancer. Oh, okay.

Exotic one from the Orient.

Okay. Well, uh very perceptive of you there, uh, my dear. Uh yeah, I this hmm. Let me cross-reference this symbol with uh that book thing I got again. Uh-huh. And you notice that uh a lot of these symbols do match, and they seem to be going in some kind of order as they're going. It's like this one, this one, and like a set of three. So, like this one, this one, this one, and then the the set repeats itself in a set of three. Got it. Um holy mother. I I'm no I'm no investigative journalist, but uh it looks like there's a pattern or three. Like, one, two, three, one, two, three. Do I get to a part where maybe the pattern is missing or is the final exhibit in line with that pattern? Yes.

So what uh what pattern of the three is missing for like number three? It ends at the last painting. Okay. And then because how many paintings did I say? I forget how many [expletive]. I don't know. But let's just say there's enough to go around where the pattern repeats itself twice and then it ends where it should start again at the center of the exhibit there. Do I have anything in my book that has the like missing pattern or something? Not in a book you own. Trish, do you have any books on you?

Uh not me, but the library has a lot of books. Um, what kind of investigative journalist are you, Wallace? Don't you know?

I know we're on a date tonight. Trish.

Well, now I want to uncover a mystery. I think you're in the wrong field. You think so? I'm a good dancer. Watch this.

Yeah, maybe actually quite your day job. Anyway, listen, listen. So, wait, this uh out of character, this this art exhibit, I was assuming it was a gallery, but is it in a library or no, no, no, it's in a gallery. Church, how far away from the nearest library?

Oh, it's just a quick stone's throwaway. It's right down the street.

I didn't really think you could read much, but uh, could you take me that way? I um do you have a library membership? Oh, of course I do. And she pulls out like this platinum member library card. Holy moly!

It'll get us anywhere in the library.

What what time? Because it's like art shows are always at night, right? So it's like in theory, the library should be closed, right? Yes. Uh Trish, do you think that could get us in the library?

Do you know how to pick a lock?

No.

Oh, neither do I.

Well, we'll figure it out when we get there.

Alright, sounds good. Uh, you hail another cab.

Yeah. Okay.

And then uh you and Trish uh get in the cab. Uh there's really nothing else going on at the art exhibit.

You know, Trish, I really feel like I underestimated you. I like I said, I thought you were a pretty face, but uh you got brains.

Yeah, I'm a great plot device to help move along the story. What? Oh, nothing. Nothing, Wallace. You're such a gentleman.

So uh Wallace and Trish hop into the cab and then uh go to the library. And it is starting to get late, and the library is closed. Now I think, Trish, based on my research, I think this place will be closed right now.

You're pretty accurate.

So um my guess is that we have to go to a door, but the door is probably locked.

Uh-huh.

News at 11. Okay, I'm following. No, I don't I don't know. I don't uh does your platinum key membership card unlock the library by any chance?

Oh no, it doesn't, but I do know of a time they're open, which is tomorrow in the morning.

No, that's way too long. We we can't do that. Uh listen. I'm gonna need you to cover your eyes for a moment.

Okay. You sure are a gentleman, Wallace.

I'm going to um what's like the like sturdiest thing I have on me? Like, or is around me. There's like rocks on the ground where like they have like a gravel pathway kind of up to the side. I'm gonna just grab a rock and throw it through like a window or something. Okay. Crash. It's a library, they didn't invest in security. No, there's no security alarm or anything like that. Okay. Alright, Trish, uh, just stay there, keep your eyes closed. It'll just be uh probably a couple more minutes, and I'm gonna attempt to climb in through the window.

Oh, Wallace, I'm so excited. What are you doing back there?

Oh, duh mind me. It starts to sound more distant. Like, oh, be there in a sec, Trish.

Oh, Wallace.

Uh what do I have for like climbing? Oh, there's climb. There's literally a climb. Yep, climbing. And it's of course, like everything else on this character sheet, incredibly low. Oh, thank god. Whoa, you crushed it. Yeah. I can't I can't solve anything, but I can climb through a window that I uh you do it so good, you basically just like sideways cartwheel from the matrix into the library. Okay. Now am I smart enough to figure out how to unlock the door? Oh yeah, that's fine. It's uh it's easy. You can just walk around and unlock the door. It's easy for most people, but for this journalist, I don't know.

I'm still waiting, Wallace. You unlock the door and open it, and she's still standing there like with her eyes, hands over her eyes.

Like, right this way, just okay.

Do you want me to keep my eyes?

No, yeah, you can you can you can look now.

Oh, well, you got us in the library, Wallace. That's amazing.

Yeah, it looks like I do know how to pick locks.

Oh, wow, such a cheap.

I like with my foot push some like broken glass out of the way. She doesn't notice. Nice.

Okay.

Now, what are we doing here? Right this way a minute. Uh we need to find the third pattern, the third art or symbol in the pattern. Now, you said library has books, books have symbols. This might be the place where we can find the missing symbol.

Ooh, sounds great to meet, Wallace. Uh, maybe you should use a library check skill of some kind to investigate.

Well, that's a great idea, just but uh maybe leave the head lifting to me there, dear. Oh, I'm sorry, Wallace.

I didn't mean to step on your toes.

I am an investigative journalist, after all. You probably see my bees.

I'm on you're the best.

I'm on the 2 a.m.

news the back page.

Yeah. Um, I'm finally starting to roll good. Yeah, for library. Yeah. Yeah, that's a really good one. So um you've been you're familiar with the library. You do actually come here often, just not have the platinum membership like Trisha's got. And you know that these symbols, and you've been studying for some time, do have some kind of occult uh correlation to them. So you do go to the uh occult section. And uh as you're meanding around, you notice like the sections, nobody really uses it that often. And actually, with that good of a library skill, uh you see that one book is missing in like a set of books. There's a book missing, and I'm gonna take a podcast and think that's the one I need.

Oh no, what would make you think that? It could just be a a checked-out book of some kind.

No, no, that's not how these wings, Tress. Trust me, I'm an investigate journalist.

Oh, I could see that. You're so smart, Wallace.

All right here. Look, let's see, but uh, can I infer what the Dewey decimal number is between the two books? Like, was it like 16.1 and then 16.3? And that 16.2 is the one in the middle that I'm missing? Yes, yes, yep. Okay. So I infer whatever that number is, and then I want to go like find the ledger of the like for people who like check books out. Ooh, perfect. So uh see that's done, Trish. When I such a case, this is uh this is top level. This is the heightened intellectual work that we do as investigate journalisms. I think with that library use, you are good to go.

Like you can go back downstairs and you go to the master log and you look through, and then you see it uh scribbled on like a note on the side that that book was in fact stolen about seven days ago.

God damn it.

Uh there's a stone in our plan. I was thinking somebody checked it out and we could have looked up, they would have the address and everything in the system.

But uh only there was somebody to talk to during the day that might have more information about these kind of things.

Um listen, Trish, if you want to go back to my place, like just ask, you know. I was trying to, you know, I thought we were on an adventure here tonight, but if uh No, I love your adventure, Wallace.

You're such a gentleman.

Alright, well, let's call it a night. I'm getting like tired. We know the name of the book, and uh I guess we'll just come back during the day and uh ask somebody. I mean, or maybe the police. I don't know, I don't know. Let's go back to my place, Trish.

So forward of you, Wallace. Wait, did you hear that? Uh give me a listen check.

Uh no. You didn't hear anything? You're too busy checking out Trish's rack. No, wow.

Hello? Who goes there?

Yeah, so I didn't hear that or did you No, you heard that now. Oh, okay. But you didn't hear him shuffling up behind you. Uh listen, Trish. Uh I might not have gotten in here by legal means.

Oh, how could you, Wallace? You're so nefarious.

What do you call me weird names like that?

This is security. Who goes there?

Oh, just me, the off the off hours librarian. I'm new here. Oh, good. I thought you might have been a burglar again. Nope, nope, definitely not. Again. Yes, again. But when was the last time? Well, you should know you're the newest security guard. I mean, I started within six days ago, I think. Didn't all that barely happen, I don't know, seven days ago.

Hold on, let me get my light on you. No, no need for that. Oh, very well. I I too am shy of the light a little bit, I guess, in my old age.

Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, what would uh what was the last robbery? Um that's what I'm investigating right now as an employee of our flowers.

Okay.

Don't worry about it. Lots of details. Is that a a woman with you? Yes, she's my assistant. She's also the works here. Not the first time I've seen Hanky Panky in the library after having a. Very for it, very far.

Oh well.

Eyes on the prize here. Oh yes, now the the robbery. It just so happened. Was it a book? It was a book. From the occult section?

Yes.

Was it this one?

Yes. That's the exact are you actually the thief? And are you returning it? You have a lot of information for not having any information.

There's a note right here we left it. That's it. Oh yes. Oh, yeah. Were you there when it was stolen? I was, and it was a terrible thing. Because it was stolen?

No, because I had oatmeal for breakfast that morning and it was cold. I didn't get a chance to eat it while it was warm.

The the robbery thwarted that plan. Okay, well, sorry about the robbery. So the robbery was in the morning. Yes, it was in the morning. Male, female, who's the culprit? Did you get eyes on him? I did. He was a a gangly fellow.

Uh very hoity toity, if you know what I'm saying. Looking. Yes. And he was curious about the book before, and I've already explained all this to police how my oatmeal got cold, you know.

No, yeah, we can skip over that part. Okay. So uh Gangly Fella came in and saw the book, and then uh he just escaped.

Yeah, it's uh there's only so much I can do, you know.

Like I've been working 14 hour shifts and Oh, yeah, and you've been doing great. Keep up the good work, and we're gonna head out now, and uh I think we have what we need here. Oh, you're not here to relieve me? No, no, god no, you'll be here until the end of time.

Oh, okay.

Oh, your oil meal's ready.

Is it really?

Let's go, Sh. Quickly.

Oh, very well. You're so deceiving, Wallace.

Uh, you don't get to be an investigative journalist on the two o'clock news without 2 a.m. news without a little bit of deceit. But don't worry, you're in good hands, gal. There we go.

Good, good, good, good. But this is not how I thought this episode would go today, but here we are.

I didn't know Trish was gonna be, to be honest. And now here she is.

Okay, so um you have information on the book, on symbols, and you have a description of a person, basically. Yep. So um, all right, listen, it was definitely that La Cook fella. If I know one one gangly fella, I know them all, and that uh sounds like La Cook through and through. So now, Trish, we gotta figure out uh, I mean, we could wait till the morning, but boring. Uh, I'd like to find out where this fella lives.

Oh, I just wouldn't want to go to bed with me either, Wallace. Let's keep it going, I guess.

And it just so happens that I know a gal who knows a gal, who knows a guy, who knows uh how to look up the system and get people's address.

Oh, that sounds good.

We're gonna have to go down downtown to the station. All right, to the station it is. And then as a side note, I forgot to tell you that the book that you know from looking it up from your the catalog of what was missing. You know, decimals isn't me. Yeah, it was uh Rituals of Dead Flesh was the name of the book that is missing. So just pay for it all out, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So um you head down to the station. Uh okay, listen, Trish. Uh well, the person we're gonna talk to, uh, you know, we had a fling back then, uh hard though, situation. But listen, uh I might have to lay down some some strong signals, but they're not they're miss signals, you know, deception, miss yeah, misdirection.

Okay, very well. I I'm following your lead, Wallace. You're so full of useful information. And oh, just something about an investigative journalist really gets my blood boiling.

If you know, I love when you say investigative journalists.

Oh, that's what you are, aren't you?

Yes. Uh all right, so I'm gonna storm inside. Uh okay. And then there is uh a police officer. Uh you say you're gonna have to schmooze them. So a female police officer? Yeah. Okay, she's on the phone with somebody.

No, I don't care. I don't care. Another break-in at the library? Who wants to keep breaking into the damn library? Okay, I'll send somebody on it right away.

Click I confess, officer.

To what?

The library.

You were the one who broke in?

No, but I saw the guy.

Oh my god.

And I let him go, and I'm guilty of that. I'm guilty of trusting somebody.

Okay. What are you doing?

Guilty of trusting you in my heart, which you broke.

God damn it, what's up?

But also I saw the burglary.

Wallace, is that you again?

It's me. She like picks up from around. She was getting ready to write down the description and looks at you and it's like, ugh.

Alright, Wallace, what is it this time?

Okay, well, so real talk. I did actually see a burglary happen at the library, really uh, Kingly fella. Uh apparently he did the same crime about a week ago. You're familiar with uh seven days ago, the uh the the other break in at the library. Oh, I know you aren't. That's why I have a job, because you guys, you when they call cops back then. Was it like a nickname for cops? Coppers? You copa, yeah. Yeah, you you coppers don't care about these cases, and these are the cases that ended up on the television, on the big on the tube, as they say. Oh my god, Wallace, why are you really here? Okay, listen, I need someone's address. Okay, that sounds about right.

I think it's tied to the robbery, which is tied to the other ibery, which might be tied to the seven deaths that have been in the city. You care about that, right? Of course. You don't care about books, but you care about death.

How does a missing book go towards the the missing people doing it?

Look here, gal. Look, look, look. See the symbol? Uh-huh. Yeah, you've been on the cases, you've been on, you've seen the pictures, right? There's been a cult attached to all of these symbols. Now that is not this book that I found this art gallery, and this art gallery had this guy, and the guy is associated with the robbery that happened at the library. It's all it's all connected, it's all connected.

We deal with concrete evidence here, Wallace, not your weird stonework that you found at the docks.

Listen, I really need this case, okay? Things aren't going great at the news station, right? This is if I crack this, not only will I save people's lives, but uh I might be able to keep that job. And uh listen, Trish over there, uh, things didn't work out between you and I, but I think I think we got something good here, you know? She really points me in the right direction and keeps me on track. Oh, that floozy. Floozy.

Hey, how's it going? I'm Trish.

I would like can you just uh do one interaction between the two of them since it's the same voice and I wouldn't even be able to tell who's talking.

What are you what are you doing hanging around with this guy? Well, I don't know. He seems to be very interesting uh interesting. He's a uh investigative journalist. I know he's an investigative journalist, you idiot. I was married to him for two years. Oh, well, we haven't said the M-word. You didn't tell me you were married, Wallace. Oh yeah, he was married.

He was married to me, alright.

Actually, we're still married, the paperwork hasn't gone through yet, but pretty soon.

That is so like you, Wallace. Wallace, I could never Wallace! Wallace! Wallace!

Thank you. You're welcome. That's everything I wanted. Nothing you expected from me.

Oh, it's gonna blow my brains out.

Alright, listen, gals. We're not here to fight, we're here to save lives. I'm really on to something. Look, uh Betty. I know I put you through a lot of [expletive], but this is real and there are lives at stake. So help me out. Give me the address of this uh something LeCrook. I forgot his first name.

What's his name?

Le Crook.

Oh, the the artist guy?

Yeah, he that yeah.

Yeah, he said the artist name, Pierre Le Croc. Now get on it. Wow. Trish. Trish is such a [expletive]. Get on it, Betty. Do your job.

All right, well, wait here, Wallace. I'll get on it. And she heads in the back room for a little bit. You know, Trish, uh I've never been more turned on, like I'm uh you know, with me and Betty, you know, she just didn't believe in my work, but you, you take it on. You take it on headstrong, you know.

Oh, there's so much of you, Wallace, I want to take on.

And then Betty walks around the corner like, if you do are done, I have some information for you.

Was that you, Betty, or it's hard to tell.

It echoes inside this police station a lot.

All right, what do you got for me, Betty?

Betty, not Trish.

Police officer Betty here with information.

Now, uh Pierre Le Crox, that's not even a name. There's no name Pierre Le Crux in our system.

I can't be I I mean he's uh not over the news, it's blaster.

Yeah, and we've arrested arrested him twice already. His real name is Jim Beard, and he has an apartment right down by the dock, so I hate to admit it, Wallace, but you could be on to something, maybe.

Thanks, Betty.

Damn right he's on to something. Betty, don't you ever forget it.

Well, Betty, uh, if you wanted to tag along, you might be the right hand of No thanks.

I have a job here at the police station. You just hang out with Trish.

You share the Momarian sister. Alright, we'll take care of this. You keep uh you keep an eye on my six and uh we'll we'll we'll crack this case cold.

Okay, now you and Trish are done with [expletive] Betty and you head in the the cab. Where are you going? Where are you heading to?

Please be a male. Um we're going to, and he reads off the address of Jim Beard. Um, okay, yeah. Yeah, down by the docks. Yeah, down by the docks. Uh I'm heading that way. Is that a safe area, you know? Oh, absolutely not. It's the docks at night. Oh. Do I need to be armed, do you think? Well, it looks like you're armed with that pretty gal you got there. She she uh more dangerous than you think, my friend.

Oh, Wallace, he's talking to me like that. Do something.

No, no. Uh she's a pretty girl, but she's my girl, you hear? Oh just as soon as those divorce papers go through. Anyway. Alright, to the dogs. Uh the taxi uh drops you down uh right in front of the address. It's like a an apartment complex, but used to be a factory kind of deal. It's like they kind of retrofitted it to fit the people coming into town, basically. Listen, Trish, uh, up until now, I uh you know, I really enjoyed having you here, but it's dangerous. It's real, this is men stuff right now. This is the the nitty-gritty powder investigative journalism that we don't like to show other people.

Uh-huh. And then what?

You should stay. I think you should stay behind.

Oh, Wallace, you're supposed to stay behind me if you know what I'm saying.

Wow. Um so here's the thing. Right. Protection. We're gonna need that. Um sorry, I'm very hard to focus right now. Listen, I want something more with you than just investigative journalism. I want, you know, maybe a relationship. But what I'm about to do can be very dangerous. And I I don't want to put a pretty uh it's not about pretty, actually. You're you're so much more than looks. Uh yeah. Man, I'm getting all nervous here. Stay behind, okay? It's not safe. I'll come back for you.

Okay, Wallace, I'll do it for you.

Thanks. But go ahead and yell if you have any helpful tips while I'm in the middle.

Okay, you got it. And she reaches into a purse and pulls out some binoculars and she's looking up at the second story apartment building.

You can count on me, Wallace.

Thanks, Josh. You're welcome. All right. Uh, and I I go in. Okay, are you uh just storming in there or like you're gonna try to stealth in there? Well, all right, so you said it's like it used to be like a factory, but it's like retrofitted.

So, like, what is does it have like an like is it like when I think of like an apartment building, like you go in and then it's like stairs and just into the apartments, or is it kind of like because it was retrofitted, there's like an entry area and it's like how how it's set up is that there is like the main entrance down below, and then there's stairs that go up, and each floor is basically like a uh studio apartment, just like one big floor is the the room, basically, and then it goes up, and there's uh it's only like a four-story tall building. So Okay. Um yeah, I'm just gonna go in. What what kind of activity am I seeing when I when I enter in at first? Nothing.

It's looking desolate in here. Okay. Um, and I didn't really bring any weapons. I'm pretty much just brawling. I'm investigative journalism. I don't care. Um, I'm going to start stealthing my way up to what what floor was he on? Second. Okay. I'm gonna start stealthing my way up. Okay, real quick.

Guidance.

You're just uh it's a fail. A fail?

Okay. Uh doing your best stealth for an investigative journalist.

You're like slinking up the stairs, but then you knock over like a whole case of bottles and they clang all over the place. Holy [expletive].

Wallace, is that you? Are you okay? Were you trying to be stealthy in here? I was worried you made a noise.

Ah [expletive], lady.

All right, I'll go way back outside. Good luck, Wallace.

Man, I I really don't think I'm very good at this without hair. But persevere. Okay, you continue forward, and um you get up to basically where it levels out, and then you can see a a door, but it's cracked open and there's some light coming from inside. And this should be uh Jim Beard, aka Pierre Le Croc's apartment. I'm gonna like slowly push the door open, trying to make as little noise as possible. Like a slide of hand for that, or I'm gonna fail it. Never mind. It's a 10%. There's no way. I haven't rolled anything under like a 50 today.

You should just be a journalist. Like you're not very good at investigating anything.

I'm not you like the weather map. No, even they look at data. Oh, yeah, that's it. You're you're a desk jockey kind of guy. Okay. I want to say you do open it, and then uh you see in front of you there's lights going, and there's no furniture or anything inside this apartment. It basically looks like it's his work studio of some kind, and he's creating some kind of eight-foot-tall statue looking thing, and then you notice on the walls around it and on the floor are the same symbols from uh what you've noticed from the the missing appearances and from the book and stuff that you've got. Oh, and gatsby.

Who's there?

Is that the old guy from the No, sorry, I lost my voice.

Why? No.

Okay. Uh uh, Mr. Bed? That's me. It's uh me, your landlord. I already paid you rent. Yes, you did. Uh and I just wanted to let you know that rent's going up next month. Um it's partly because uh all these statues and everything uh uh violates the code uh one. Get out of here! I'm busy. We'll talk later, okay? Busy with what? Summoning a god. Oh, well, I could wait, I'm sure.

Please, since you're here, come inside and witness God.

Trish. Trish, you might if you can hear me, go get some, go get Betty. I'm on it, Wallace! Uh okay, Mr. Beard. I uh am approaching carefully Your name's not Beard.

It's the Crux. I am an artist, and I have reconstructed God.

Which god? Like God god? He came to me in my dreams. Yahweh, it's actually um Yog's Latoth. Okay. Uh that hasn't come up before.

No, he came to me in my dreams and told me that if I build this, he will come. And he is a god. I only need one more thing.

Oh, what's that? Blood. Oh, that's and then I can go get you some. Uh Pierre LeCrooks, aka Jimbeard, pulls out a knife and is like just staring at you. Uh I would like to try to fast talk and be like, well, well, well, bud. Uh, I just want to tell you that uh I'm a huge fan of your work. I saw your exhibit. I wasn't supposed to, but I snuck in the back and wow, you bet you don't need to summon a god because you got you're a god yourself. Like this this is the most awe-inspiring work I've ever seen in my life. And wow, I didn't realize that art could impact me that way. I are you, my friend, are the god. Roll to see if it uh affects him in any way.

What do I have for fast talking? A five. No, wait. A five. Come on, dice. It's an 81. And do you want to push it? Because either way, I'm about to get [expletive] hacking slash. 86. Okay, so um Jim Beard, even in his crazed state, can see what you're trying to do, and you're trying to distract him. So now he goes and lunges at you and goes to uh attack you. Uh 65. He's gonna miss. Okay. He's a little deranged. Um try to judo top chop him on the back. Okay, so give me an unarmed strike.

Uh uh.

Is that on here? Uh fighting brawl. Fighting brawl, thank you. Which is still only a 25. 66. You also miss. So two incompetent people swinging and missing at each other. I'm gonna position is there a window? There is. Is it open? No, they're closed. Okay. I'm gonna run to the window and try to open up the window. Okay, it's easy it's not locked or anything. So you push it open easily. Okay. And I'm gonna turn around and uh be like Le Cook. Or should I say beard? Is that French? I don't think it's French. Listen, you're a sham, you're after sham. Everything I just said, [expletive]. You want some blood, come and get it. I like open, I like unbutton my shirt and I open it up. Ooh.

And then okay, so then uh Jim Beard looks at you with the knife in his hand and that crazy look, and he's like, I never intended for your blood. And then he plunges the knife into his own. Oh god, and then basically falls in front of the statue. Oh, that's not that I thought that would go. And then uh as the blood is flowing from his chest into this weird golem-esque statue, you see it kind of twitching and moving and sigils. Trish, get the cab! Get a cab, boom, boom, boom, boom, and start to glow. Glowing brighter and brighter. Nope, nope, nope, nope. Uh, if Trish were outside, it would look like just on the one story that you're standing on is pure red glow shooting out of the windows. I'm gonna can't.

Am I gone or am I just? No, you're still there. It's just like I'm gonna climb out the window. Is there a fire escape? Roll a climb. I'm good at climbing, actually.

Holy [expletive]. Yeah, I am. I am really amount at climbing.

I don't need a fire escape. My shirt's unbuttoned. Trez, Trez, get the car, get the car, Tredge.

She sees you kind of like a ninja crawl out of the fire escape and then land in like a superhero pose and then stand with your shirt unbuttoned and flowing, and a gust of wind comes in with a light behind you. Looks oh, Wallace.

Don't worry, I called a taxi.

He'll be here in a couple minutes.

We don't got minutes. Let's go, gal. Okay, so you're gonna start running. Give me a track and field for your run. I'm gonna athletic stuff. It's uh it's a it's a 10, it's a 16 on a 10. That's pretty. I'll push it. Okay, that should be close enough. Yeah, yeah, it's a holy [expletive]. You crossed it. I'm really good at physical stuff. I'm all I should not have been an investigative journalist. So um Trish was kind of lollygagging behind, but your tracking sealed score is so good, yeah. You threw them over your shoulder and you just start booking it. And then uh you hear loud, terrible noises coming from the building, as in the the breaking of glass, shatter, shatter, shatter. The light gets even brighter, and then it kind of sucks back.

I stop for a second, I turn around. Hmm. Trust something bad happened.

What happened? Nothing bad could happen with you, Wallace.

No, uh that the cook guy? Mo Beard.

Uh-huh, the beard guy?

Yeah, he killed himself.

Oh no, did you do it?

No. I thought he was gonna kill me, but I was very incredibly wrong.

Oh, okay.

Um Man, I almost feel bad, like I should go back. But also, did anything happening? Like the lights going back in and uh just as you're talking with her right now, uh, all the glass explodes from the building and the building itself starts to crumble downwards. No, never mind. Was that you, Wallace? No, no, no, no, not me. Listen, uh, is that cab coming?

Yeah, it should be here any second now.

Okay, okay. So we're gonna take that right back to the exhibit. Uh, you see something moving around inside of the crumbling dust and stuff. You see something moving around inside the building. Uh just then the taxi pulls up. Oh hey, uh tickets can be then, please, right now. Whatever you want, whatever the charges. Oh, you got it, boss. On my way. And then you drive off. And I'm just like staring, like just I'm like totally turned around reverse in the car, just like looking out the back, like whatever. As you look out the back, you can see just a silhouette of a figure, and it's the weird Golbum thing that's like eight foot tall, huge claws, and like a big, weird, misshapen head that's supposed to look like a god.

Yeah, it's alright to bug you, pal. Can you go a little faster, Aaron? And then it's just standing there. All you see is just its silhouette, and then you guys drive away. Yep. Faster, better. Yep, you successfully manage to get away from it. Okay. Uh, do we get to the museum? Yes. Um uh thanks so much. I'm gonna super tip the guy and be like, you should go to the other side of town and not do any more trips by the docks tonight.

Oh, but it just so happens I got another cough by the docks. I wouldn't do that if I were you. Uh, you don't know nothing about me, pal.

I'll see you later, alright? Alright, no one bites the dust. Uh listen, Trish. Uh that was the last you ever saw of the game. All right. Is the exhibit still open? Uh no, it's closed down by now. I'm gonna say this whole excursion, you're probably looking almost morning by now. Almost like you intended it to go over. Trish, uh, man, I just have a feeling we need to be back at this exhibit. If you like uh I feel like uh we need to complete the puzzled [expletive].

You really think so, Wallace?

Yeah, unless you think otherwise, Trish. I don't know anything different from what you know, you know. I'm just I'm not the top-tier investigative journalist you are, Wallace.

Oh, but you could be. You could be right now. You really think so? Give me a gut check. What would you do right now if you were me?

Hmm. I'd say we just leave town and hope for the best.

I mean that's actually not a bad idea. But do you want to leave town with me, Trish?

I would love it, Wallace.

You know, I had a lot of thoughts last night, you know, like maybe you could be more than just uh date and you know, maybe I could do something athletic instead of investigative journalism.

Start our lives over?

Yeah, yeah.

I would love that, Wallace. And I have just the thing. I found it outside the building.

Oh, what's that? She pulls up the book of uh whatever [expletive] I called it, the rituals of dead flesh. Oh, right, right, right. She has that book. She's like, I found it outside. Yeah. Haven't we had it the whole time? No, the book itself was missing because uh oh, that's the book from the library. Oh wow. Wow. That's uh that was the book we were looking for.

I know, crazy thing. We could start our lives over with this book.

Or can we open it up? Yeah, you can open it. Is there anything? Do I see the ritual that the guy just did? Yeah, it was uh you summoned through it, uh um barring the library use because you know how to use a book. You work through it enough, and you manage to line up the pictures and everything. And this book does look like it's all in English, it's just a translation, probably, of another book. And yep, you saw the ritual, and it is to just summon a god. So is there like a reverse like next page unsummon a god ritual? No. Okay, on to our new life.

All right, Wallace, I'll follow you.

Uh, only thing is those divorce papers haven't really gone through yet, but uh we can figure that out.

It's not the first time I lived in sin, Wallace.

Okay. Uh yeah, and maybe this is a part one, uh part two. I was okay. So it was good. It was a good time. Um, how off the rails, Nate, did that go? Uh, not too bad, actually. Oh, really? I did have to have Trish guide you a little bit. I was hitting it.

Really, I thought I was just kind of Yeah, I was expecting you to pass some things that you should have passed, but all in all, I think I will definitely create a new character sheet for Wallace.

Maybe I will actually go through the motions instead of using a random generator. I think now he should just keep these and go become just scratch out investigative journalists and put athlete rock climber. Or at least the sportscaster, like something like that. Sportscaster. Um, that was a lot of fun. I at a blast uh it was good. I like I like that we're introducing new characters, not just I I love Rusty and Harry, but I think this was uh uh I'm really into following Trish and Betty. They're twins.

Yeah, they're twins.

Um good time. Uh definitely if you liked Roleplay for one, or if you've in general liked roleplay for one over the first season, um that's gonna be we're going in kind of going in more on that level uh for season two, it'll be a bigger theme of like an ongoing campaign. Oh, yeah. Maybe not call Catho. I think we're thinking D D, but um we're looking we're looking forward to it. So definitely if you like the show, stick around. Season two's coming, and it might be way up your alley. Um and as usual, go ahead and leave us a review if you're on a podcast, podcast addict, or uh Podbean, or there's there's a bunch of ones, uh Podchaser.

Whatever you're [expletive] listening to, leave us a review of something.

Yeah, not all of them have reviews, but if it lets you do a review, please leave a review. Yes. And then share an episode. Share your I challenge you if you are just do it at least once. If you are a brand new listener, once in your history of listening to our show, go somewhere and share one of our episodes on one of your social medias. Please. Your favorite one. Maybe this one, maybe just the part with uh Betty and Trish, which will be my favorite. Going crazy. Yeah. Um because that's uh the more you share, the more support we get, uh, the more we can create more great content. Which brings us through the Patreon. Uh, if you'd so choose, there is a dollar subscription or even other. It's only a dollar.

Just a dollar. Um, you can get the video episode so you can see Nate's face while he role plays multiple characters to himself. Um and then we also do a bonus episode every month. And so check that out. It's worth it, because it's just a dollar. That's patreon.com slash nat one presents. Uh check it out. And we look forward to talking to you next week. Thanks for stopping by.