The crew returns to the Ms. Egg, and stakes out 481 8th Ave.
Support the show, and the people who make it at http://patreon.com/funcityventures
--
--
Recorded in various locations around Brooklyn, NY and Los Angeles, CA
Edited by Sam Grant, produced and sound designed by Mike Rugnetta
Pixlriffs pedicab plays yachtrock
Our music is by Sam Tyndall - https://www.cloak.xyz/
Our art is by Tess Stone - http://notdrunkenough.com/
Our Discord mods are Olivia Gulin, Kit Pulliam and Kelly McKew
And the voice of Artemis is Molly Templeton
--
CC-BY LICENSED MZK/SFX USED
TX IS AUTOGENERATED AND MAY CONTAIN ERRORS
Artemis
00:02
In the early 21st century, magic reawakened on Earth, and alongside it a new human race of orcs, elves, trolls, dwarves and others, humanity became meta-humanity. Proliferated and greatly advanced in the awakened world as global mega corporations seized ever more power, becoming de facto states with their own laws, courts, and armed forces. The corporations attempt to control all aspects of modern life. This has led to a vast and complex criminal underground which works for and against corporate interests. The independent career criminals who do what others can't or won't are called shadow runners. The year is 2102. Welcome to Fun City.
Mike
00:48
This episode of Fun City contains descriptions of self-harm. Her reviously on Fun City. Following a trail of clues, the team finds themselves in the literal magical underground. Most recently at The permanent party called The Brays, deep in the depths of Raised New York, and presided over by powerful shapeshifter Alacrity Gimbal, who shares what she knows about The Seven, a group seemingly tied to jests or a calcolum enrichment project. And his magical ascendancy. But things go south with alacrity, who reveals there's a bounty on the team's head and she simply must collect it. A cramped hallway scuffle ensues with TK getting rubber-boned, Lux dying via transport suit. Again, Viv being swallowed by a guy, but not like that, and Lash Well, actually, Lash seems fine. We join the team now, having just limped out of the braise as they make their way back topside. Rebuilt New York. You are all riding a municipal elevator. Up to the surface from Raised New York. It's rickety. It's shaking. It's screeching. It feels like it will barely make it. You all feel Like you will barely make it. What state are you all in?
Nick
02:42
Lux is doing bad. Uh very bad. He's got one uh physical health left. He is currently hanging on the back of TK. Uh Um TK is probably supporting 95% of his weight. He's almost gonna die.
Bijan
02:58
TK is uh not is supporting 95% of his weight um but in different directions because TK is still rubber boned. He's wobbling back and forth.
Nick
03:07
Yes So maybe you're just leaned up against the the elevator wall and I'm in between you sandwiched. Yes. Yeah. And so the the friction is holding me there.
Bijan
03:18
Yeah, but TK is TK's wobbling. Uh and is uh how many more minutes do you have on the rubber bones? I don't know. It's another couple hours.
Mike
03:26
I'm gonna say yeah yeah, you probably have I'm gonna say like maybe two and a half hours. Like how long do you think think you were stuck in that basement in continuous time.
Bijan
03:38
It was only minutes. It was only minutes.
Mike
03:40
Yes. So that I mean you've got
Bijan
03:42
What three hours and forty-five minutes of of rubber bones left. He's getting used to it though. I mean he's like it's like being at sea
Shannon
03:51
Yeah he's a sea legs, yeah.
Jenn
03:57
That's awesome actually.
Bijan
03:58
I feel like you can kinda see his bones through his skin too, just like just a little skeleton What does it feel like? I think it feels like being exceedingly like drunk but only in your body. Oh. It's like the room is spinning, but it's just him spinning. The room isn't the room is well, the room is moving up because it's an elevator, but. . Every step there's just a slight Yeah I'm sure there's uh um um somebody could put in an appropriate sound effect uh right here. That's Aruga! That's what it sounds like. He's wobbling. But he's in better she's better in better shape than everybody else basically because uh he's not desiccated because he shot the desert shot.
Nick
04:40
Oh the jerky maker.
Bijan
04:42
Yeah, in the corner chilling. So yes, Lux uh you um you good?
Nick
04:49
Uh uh Lux is kind of struggling to take off the uh the warp suit um because it is it is warm and he's definitely not using it again right now. Okay, that good. Okay.
Jenn
05:02
Viv uh what's good?
Bijan
05:05
Okay. Mm-hmm.
Jenn
05:06
She's uh both shoulders are sort of touching the back corner of the elevator. She's just crunched their elbow. Like wedged into the wall trying to keep herself up. She has a large chest wound, like a sword slash, across the front of her body, and she has ripped one of her sleeves off. She has like a white shirt on her underneath her her vest and she's staunching the blood because it's a very large wound. She can barely speak because She needs a drink. She's been desiccated and she's not doing too well.
Mike
05:43
I think you're pushing down on it and you hear like these sort of light brittle noises because there's like All the blood has dried across your chest and your corset uh and your armor and it's like it's flaking off onto the ground in like small sheets.
Jenn
06:04
Michael! Mm-hmm. Sound sounds right.
Bijan
06:08
Huh. Okay. Viv, remember when you taught me how to heal? I can only do it once.
Jenn
06:14
She side-eyes you. You sure you want to use it on me?
Bijan
06:19
Well I I mean you you could flip a coin for it.
Nick
06:22
Lux is not flipping a coin right now. You can do it to Viv.
Bijan
06:25
You know what? I we'll talk about this later. Uh Lash, what you good?
Shannon
06:30
Lash is standing upright.
Mike
06:32
Everybody's just like crumpled on one side and Lash is just like lean in one stretch.
Shannon
06:37
Upright right in front of the elevator doors and she has tipped upside down. It's the empty Gainarade bottle from her pocket, just trying to get any kind of last drip that maybe condensation in there and then her and her other hand is actually still the knife up in psycho mode. She kind of still has a lot of adrenaline running through for her, so she has not like put that knife down.
Jenn
07:03
You're really terrible in this moment.
Bijan
07:05
I hope TK uh puts his hand up for a fist bump from her and uh lowers it very slowly seeing uh the knife and the Gatorade
Shannon
07:16
Oh, oh, let me put this down. Oh, you guys are looking rough.
Jenn
07:22
Yeah. Where can we go? We have Warrants out for us.
Mike
07:30
The elevator creaks and rattles and shakes, and there's the dullest, saddest little As it arrives to the top of its track, and you hear a zaps, you hear electricity. And where the crystal was that you found on the way down, you see sparks come out and the doors try to open and they're stuck. You hear banging on the other side like someone is on the other side of the door. And then you hear a voice say You fucking stupid? These things haven't worked for decades. Decades!
Taylor
08:13
Yeah, but the AP the A APB said they went down here!
Mike
08:17
I- you know what else the APB said? Day PB also said one of them was a fucking Wendigo.
Taylor
08:22
Maybe it's a Wendigo, I don't know.
Mike
08:26
How much longer do you want to just stand here?
Taylor
08:28
I can think by the hour.
Mike
08:29
This is overtime for us. What's your problem? There are real crimes and real criminals that we could be out there catching. and doing something about and they got us chasing some what did they even do? Tax evasion?
Taylor
08:42
Pikawentego stealing an elevator is a real crime.
Mike
08:47
It's a boring crime. This is fucking boring. This is a big thing.
Taylor
08:50
You think a window stealing an elevator? It's a boring crime?
Mike
08:52
Yes.
Taylor
08:53
Why did you join the force?
Mike
08:54
What a bust heads
Taylor
08:55
Wanna block the windigo head?
Mike
08:57
Yeah, but I wanna do it now.
Taylor
08:58
Oh, it's- I hear noises! I think it's coming up!
Mike
09:01
I'm telling you, this is never gonna open. They've Go ahead. Why don't you you try to use that little beat?
Taylor
09:06
Citizen, please stand back. Please stand back. Give us room around the elevator door, please. Place that back Oh what nice? I'm just trying to eat my dog sandwich. Leave me alone! Please stand back so I do not have time to talk to you about your sandwich.
Mike
09:18
Why don't you use that gizmo that you're always walking around with that you say like, you know See if their comms are around or like why can't well you can op you try to open the door. You try to open it.
Taylor
09:28
Okay. You hear you begin to hear hacking sounds. You hear the tick-tac-tickity of uh of someone typing and the beep boop you hear some beeps. And I'll be honest with you, you hear some boops. Uh someone's looking at a readout. For some reason you can hear it. This is not commensurate with the world. This does not make any sense. And yet and yet it's what's happening. Welcome to the world of Shadow Rhyme!
Mike
09:56
So loud!
Taylor
09:57
So loud Do you never wear headphones? I liked I liked I liked uh tactile feedback when I'm typing on my device.
Mike
10:04
Oh god, do you play your games on the subway that loud? Yeah Here we go! They did they did put in the handbook that we were required by law to.
Taylor
10:12
Alright, here we go. Here we go. Here we go. The manual says that uh the city operated elevators have an emergency open valve. Should be here on the sidewalk, there should be some kind of handle of uh that we can open and turn it and then open the door manually, hydraulically
Jenn
10:27
Can we hear all this?
Taylor
10:28
Oh yes, absolutely. Yeah, they're two feet away from you for the on the other on the other side of the door.
Jenn
10:33
Has everyone taken their disguise off? Because I know I did.
Taylor
10:36
We all have.
Jenn
10:37
Okay.
Shannon
10:38
Looking for a windigo. Wait, and they and when we went down here, did we talk to an elevator operator?
Taylor
10:46
Yes, there was a there was a person on the intercom that you pressed the call button.
Shannon
10:50
Ah, I see, I see, I see. Okay, so as this is going on, Lash who had just put that knife down has slowly started to raise it back up into the position. Lash, really? I I I
Jenn
11:04
What are you gonna do?
Bijan
11:05
We gotta talk away. We gotta talk away out of the also. Can they hear us?
Taylor
11:10
I got it. I got it We were attacked by a windigo! Oh god, help me! Help me! Help me pine up! Come here!
Mike
11:17
Come here! The doors jankily start to open.
Taylor
11:20
I come on! No! Move! Move! Let me do it! Let me do it! They're in trouble! You must catch the window. Thank God you're here. When to go victims, I'll go here the doors. The doors slam open
Jenn
11:33
Oh, that windigo is down there.
Shannon
11:35
We all come like tumbling forward.
Bijan
11:37
Oh my god, what did that windigo do to you? Look look at me. I can't even And Tika just wobbles.
Taylor
11:43
What you see are Two people, two humans, both completely bald and completely identical. They are wearing No eyebrows, nothing. They are wearing They're wearing old NYPD blue uniforms with a shiny white chromium badge. Uh it the same sort of shiny white substance that the knight errant, you know, mech like uh armor suits are made of, but it says Pasi Comatadas in cool old school digital font. Where parts of the letters are thick for no reason. You know what I mean?
Mike
12:18
Wait a minute. Did you guys You guys see a wendigo down there? Yeah.
Taylor
12:24
Of course they saw the wendigo. Look at them, man. I don't know.
Mike
12:32
Thank you. This is This is suspicious. They we saw in the camera four people go down there. I mean they were, as it was a Sasquatch and a ghoul, whatever. And now there's four people coming back up.
Shannon
12:45
You got They're still dumb.
Mike
12:47
They're behind us. They're coming right behind us.
Shannon
12:50
Look at look at she was slashed open with the with the claws
Taylor
12:55
Fight God Reynolds I just remember I just realized if the door of the open the elevator can't move which means everybody else down there Trapped inside with the windigo.
Nick
13:05
They're trapped inside. Lux is happy to roll for this and roll 90 dice to lie to this idiot. So if you want the if you want them To to be suspicious, that's fine, Mike, but they're gonna believe it.
Mike
13:18
Wow. Wow. You know what, Roland?
Nick
13:21
Alright.
Jenn
13:21
Did you just try to bully Mike?
Nick
13:24
No, I was just saying, you know, this guy, we're we're all dying. If they want to do something with us Have them take us there. They either believe this lie or we're fucked because that's that's just how it is. I'm not rolling. Go ahead.
Jenn
13:36
No, go for it. Go roll. Okay
Mike
13:38
Reynold is holding a bunch of the medical supplies that uh Stuart has given him and is like not applying them um and is just sort of like has them cradled in his arms as uh Stuart is like pulling them out and trying to apply them to Viv uh who is all dry and gross and like trying to apply them to Lux who's like half out of the transport suit and half in the transport suit. So he's like a Applying a bandage to an arm in a suit that doesn't actually have an arm in it.
Nick
14:10
LuxRolls 11. Okay.
Taylor
14:13
Jesus. Okay, okay. I'm sorry. Ma'am, I'm so sorry. I'm just the sound your skin is making. Okay, okay. It looks like you take these bandages, take these stim packs Reynolds, now's the time. Five seconds ago you said your greatest dream in the the world was to beat some wind to go heads and that downstairs is that chance. Here we go. Okay, can one of you there Who which one of you is the most able-bodied? Is Lash still holding a knife above her back?
Shannon
14:42
No, Lash has the knife behind her back.
Bijan
14:46
TK notices and says, uh I uh uh yeah, I got it. Okay, you and your friend with the knife come over here Okay turn this use this T-bar and turn this valve
Taylor
14:59
When we get in the elevator, turn this. It'll close the elevator door, then we can go downstairs and arrest that fucking windigo. Reynolds, to me! You say so. I get uh okay. Yeah, let's fucking get him
Mike
15:11
Good luck! Drops a bunch of medical supplies and goes into the elevator.
Taylor
15:15
And as the elevator goes down, you hear Once more into the bridge, dear friends, until we fill it up with our English dead!
Shannon
15:23
Uh Lash N T K close that door.
Mike
15:27
Close the hell out of that door. Halfway down, uh the facial recognition scan is complete and it says identities confirmed. APB APB APB
Taylor
15:37
Well oh no, but the device he dropped it upstairs. It's by you. It's by you. If you guys want a cop computer, you can bake it.
Jenn
15:44
Actually, yes.
Bijan
15:45
Uh TK sees the cop computer on the ground and says, Mine
Jenn
15:50
If gathers up all the health uh supplies and starts hobbling, we need to get out of here. Yeah. How did we get there?
Taylor
15:58
The car. Yeah, yeah. So is the car park nearby? Yeah. Aren't you guys buying like a a riff on cat's delicatessen? Yeah, you g dogs. Uh dog meat. Dogs.
Shannon
16:08
I'm the best, baby! The best in the business. It sells real dog meat.
Mike
16:15
Yeah. There's like giraffe heads in the window and stuff.
Jenn
16:19
Lab grown dog meat.
Bijan
16:21
Uh TK calls uh the car to I guess the front of the uh the shaft. He piles in.
Nick
16:27
Lux somehow gets in as well
Bijan
16:29
So a slash. Yeah, so TK uh sets course to the Mrs. Egg um avoiding uh highways, just taking surface streets, trying to avoid attention After a minute he looks back at the is everybody and he says You know I don't think Beef Wagon is doing it for me as a name. I think guys you I think it's time we should talk about renaming the car. What? What? Well The f are you talking? I'm bleeding out of my chest. I was thinking when to go. I was thinking when to go. Is uh yes or no would suffice.
Nick
17:02
Lux passes out.
Mike
17:06
The transport suit kind of floats a little bit above him. The arms make a gentle circle. Okay, all right.
Bijan
17:13
Fucking point take. We'll do it later.
Mike
17:16
The vehicle temporarily Known now as the Wendigo, uh drives uh across Manhattan and down to the water's surface, crosses the Brooklyn archipelago, and heads far out to where the Mrs. Egg is anchored. Kurt. Um you all eventually pile out of the car Exhausted. Some of you obviously more than others. One foot in front of the other. It's just like all you can think about. Think maybe even, you know, like Lash, even though you're not physically hurt, I think it's like, how many times in a row have you now had to like hulk out, essentially? Have you had to like mom a bear or something like it? To like get everybody out of danger. Viv, you are the constant target. Lux, how many time how many times have you died in how many days?
Nick
18:23
Too many.
Mike
18:24
TK, you have to die. have this incredibly powerful weapon that is just so unpredictable. To me at least from the outside, it feels like another version of punches that won't land. Like. You guys cannot catch a break. Like you've had some successes recently, but God, they are hard won.
Shannon
18:51
Barely scrap scraping by.
Mike
18:53
You are barely scraping by. You are dragging your feet across the deck of the Mrs. Egg to the bridge. And as you get closer and closer, you hear the sounds of crashing metal. You hear sheet metal being thrown. You hear glass breaking. You hear Gabe shouting at the top of his lungs from 30, 40 feet away. Fuck this! Fuck I'm Done! Dun I can't do it anymore! The lights in the bridge are flickering.
Jenn
19:31
That game?
Bijan
19:32
Sounds like it.
Shannon
19:34
Lash goes running in.
Mike
19:36
Lash, you separate from the group. You run across the deck through the door Up the stairs, through the galley, into the bridge, it is wrecked. It is demolished. Every single wire, every Computer chip, every control board has been ripped out of every single container that it was in. The screens are off, some of them are smashed, a bunch of knobs are on the ground, and Gabe is is elbows deep in one control panel at the far end screaming and just ripping out wires and shouting I can't do it I can't do it I can't I'm done
Shannon
20:24
Gabe, Gabe, you have to what did I say? Remember to breathe.
Mike
20:29
He turns around and he looks at you and he's like, he's bright red, uh, he's got a black eye, um, his arms are cut and bruised, and he looks you and he He's got this like manic look in his eyes. You have never, ever seen him like this before. And he's like, I can't I can't hear anything. I can't I can't think. I can't I can't sleep. I can't the whole the whole ship I can't get away from it. I can't get outside of it. It's inside of me. I'm inside of it.
Shannon
21:04
I just I can't I know I know Gabe, I know. I can't imagine what it what it feels like to wake up like this and not have it be part of your life your whole entire life. You have to breathe
Mike
21:20
Wake up. Wake up. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good yeah, that's a good idea. Yeah, wake up. And he storms past you. And he like pushes you to the side and he starts walking towards where everybody's quarters are.
Shannon
21:32
She follows him.
Mike
21:33
He is motoring down the hallway. Uh he is passing everybody's room and he goes towards his at the end of the hallway and he turns in and he goes inside. Are you still following?
Shannon
21:44
Yes, yes, yes, yes, just following me. And what is this looking like in VR? Like is he doing anything in VR with his No.
Mike
21:52
No. This is all He's just he is like destroying the Mrs. Egg.
Shannon
21:56
Yeah. Okay.
Mike
21:57
He turns Into his room, and it's you know it well, it's just packed full of stuff. Boxes and boxes and boxes of equipment and gear, uh, long lines of clothes on uh double tall racks, um, a big chest of drawers, and he opens up one of the drawers. Drawers and he pulls out a handgun and he puts it to his temple.
Jenn
22:16
Yeah, Viv is hobbling toward where the noise was coming from, toward the bridge, and she's standing in the doorway with her jaw dropped. What happened here?
Bijan
22:28
It's gonna take some time to fix.
Jenn
22:31
Gabe worked so hard on this. Why? Or how?
Bijan
22:37
It's all computer shit. Sounds like he was talking to him. TK's gonna leave the bridge and go looking for Gabe. And Lash, because he doesn't see Lash here either.
Jenn
22:48
I think Viv's a little too slow.
Bijan
22:49
And he's TK sprinting.
Nick
22:51
Lux looks at Viv and says, They fucked him up. They fucked him up when they made him a technomancer.
Jenn
22:59
And we left him alone.
Nick
23:02
Flux is basically crawling to his room, to where his med packs are.
Jenn
23:06
Oh, nock, let's try to go together.
Shannon
23:10
And they're both slowly making their way. Lash sees this and runs and grabs for his wrists.
Mike
23:18
The gun goes off. There's a loud pop and your ears are ringing and your face is Splattered with blood.
Jenn
23:30
What was that? Gabe?
Mike
23:32
Gabe? Gabe. TK sprints in the room. Gabe falls to the ground. The pool of blood grows underneath his head.
Shannon
23:40
Gabe, Gabe, Gabe, Gabe, Gabe.
Mike
23:42
From the wound where he has shot out His neural implant.
Bijan
23:47
TK rushes in and sees Gabe and Lash in the blood and immediately grabs his head and tries to heal him.
Mike
23:58
You can see uh in the portion of Gabe's skull that's been removed, like PCB, like th circuit boards. um processors, capacitors, like there's stuff in there. And some of it's melted and there's blood pooling around it. And you can see like a kind of plastiel, almost ceramic, like protective layer, isolating it from where it's hooked directly into his brain. So you don't see any brain But there's definitely broken skull and broken neural implant.
Nick
24:39
And the blood is just from the the tissue all that had grown all all the way like back around it essentially. So you still have you still have plenty of blood vessels and stuff in your scalp and everything that's all bloody. Okay.
Mike
24:51
Yeah, when they do it, they basically dremel out a portion of your skull.
Nick
24:55
Yep.
Mike
24:55
Take it out, put protective layer, put the implant in, like plug it in in the wire harness. put the skull back in and then graft new skin over it. And you maybe never noticed it 'cause it's like, you know, um funnily enough, this is completely uh unrelated. Gabe has a tattoo of the ship that he was stationed on when he was part of the as technology uh navy when he was like a merchant marine uh on that spot on his skull. So you maybe never noticed that it was there, 'cause it's got a big picture of a boat on it, but it's it's gone now.
Shannon
25:33
TK you said it was too much, it was too much.
Bijan
25:36
Uh TK uh is trying to heal him with the one spell he knows. Um so I sh I f probably I feel like I should roll that. Force what, six? Fuck it.
Jenn
25:46
Lash is screaming for Viv. We're coming, we're coming, Biv! And uh Viv has pulled up to the doorway, is looking in, leaning really hard on the frame. What happened?
Shannon
25:59
Biv, can you do something? It was too much. All the techno management. Or something. It was too much. The the boat. It was too much. Me?
Jenn
26:07
Uh yeah, she gets on her knees and makes her way so that she can touch Gabe's leg and also tries to heal.
Bijan
26:16
Um, I got one, two So that's six hits on a four six healing spell.
Jenn
26:22
Four hits from Viv.
Mike
26:24
You guys are successful.
Bijan
26:25
As Viv rushes in TK's holding Gabe's head in his hands, trying to avoid the wound, but also trying to get close enough to Stitch the skull back together.
Mike
26:35
He is looking right at you. He's not conscious, but his eyes are open.
Jenn
26:41
Yeah, Viv has both hands around Gabe's ankle that is toward the door, and she She closes her eyes and bows her head and um thinks about the sea, thinks about all their trips, like a montage of Gabe um with wrenches and soldering and just like Like being under the console. Like every time she wakes up for breakfast, Gabe is just under the console. And her like knocking lightly being like, turn it down, will ya? Like on some night. And every time he leaves to go DJ at the club, she's like, be careful. And she's just thinking about all these things as her healing spell radiates from his ankles and up.
Mike
27:31
You look down and he's He's wearing his black rubber clogs and he's got these tall socks on, and they are just covered in uh Simpsons characters, which is like hundreds of years old at this point. It's like a very strange It's a hundred years old. A hundred years old. And it's still on the air, I'm sure.
Jenn
27:50
I think at this though, because it's a huge spell strain for her, like she certainly takes a stun from this, uh, she passes out.
Bijan
27:59
Yeah, TK also probably passes out immediately afterward.
Mike
28:02
Gabe. eyes close and he like twitches a little but he doesn't wake up. Lash, you're the only conscious person in this room.
Nick
28:14
Um a small correction there. Um Lux um has finally gotten to his room and uh used a med kit. It didn't work very well. He only healed for three, but uh he passed out in his room too, so the correction is that you're not only the only conscious person in this room, but on the entire ship. Oh my God.
Mike
28:37
It's so quiet
Shannon
28:42
Lash is feeling overwhelmed. She has this overwhelming sense of guilt. Cause really she's the only one who could have known how overwhelming that this would have probably been for Gabe. But she had kind of let her little bit of distrust for Gabe in the moment and just the bigger situation going on just kind of Get to her head. And so she does the only thing that she thinks she can do in this moment. And she picks up Viv, she walks her to her room, places in her bed, shuts the door. Walks back, picks up TK, places him in his bed, shuts the door, picks up Gabe, walks him to her bedroom puts him in her bed and then shuts the door and sits next to him
Nick
29:52
Is Lash thinking that this is made worse for for Gabe because of the neural uplink or is she or is she like thinking Oh yeah, I I'm hit by a lot of signals from stuff all the time. He's just gonna have to get used to that. Like what is she what is she thinking about, what his experience is?
Shannon
30:08
Yeah, I think she's thinking just the like basic experience of not constantly being in in, you know, in AR essentially. Just you're constantly you kind of get a sense I'm assuming get a sense of like what to pay attention to and what not to pay attention to because you're being able to perceive everything. It's kind of like the idea of like Right, even just like for people, we don't always think about how our cloth we can feel our clothes on our body. Right. We eventually get a filter for that kind of a thing. Right. But that is like Gabe right now has no filter to filter out all the incoming signals from the boat. and from the rest of the world that it's just it wouldn't make anyone go crazy to become awakened in that way.
Taylor
30:56
Yeah, it's like getting a new sense. I mean, can you imagine a a blind person suddenly getting full sight. I mean it would be maddening.
Mike
31:02
Nick raises an interesting point, which is like, imagine if Lash got a com permanently installed in her brain.
Nick
31:11
And she hates comms. Like just she's just to have it in her ear is is awful to her, yeah.
Mike
31:16
This is maybe the only situ right, like every technomancer in the world that has existed up until this point Would be like, I would never do that. I don't even want to be near one. Like, uh uh-uh. So this might be the only situation where someone with technomancing abilities has had a neural implant.
Shannon
31:37
Yeah, yeah. Totally.
Bijan
31:57
Hello and welcome to another illustrious ad. Read Fun City style. That's right. It's me, your boy Bijan. I'm here to tell you about our wonderful Patreon, where you can get just a ton of extra Fun City stuff for the low, low price of $5 a month. That's like one fancy bean coffee. Or like a dive bar beer with a one dollar tip. For that, you'll get a whole extra show from the cast. It's called Funchatty, and it's where we answer listener questions, along with talking about you know, um everything else. Seriously, it's fun. You also get access to our wonderful Discord where you'll find fun, like-minded people to hang out with. There's other stuff included too, like access to our secret merch shop, yes we have one, and our mysterious cold storage archive on Dropbox. If you spend $15 a month, that's like three beers, you'll get all that, plus access to our leveling up episodes, one-off episodes in different TTRPG systems, access to original music, and more So that's all for me. Please join the Fun City Patreon today. Like we always say, you uh absolutely definitely probably won't regret it.
Mike
33:35
It's morning. It's early. It's like five thirty in the morning, six in the morning. Is Lash still awake?
Shannon
33:42
Yeah. Lashes on her third brewed pot of coffee.
Nick
33:46
Lux is feeling better. Uh he's used another medkit and the the rest and everything has repaired him almost to tabula rasa, but not quite. But he has gotten up early. to try to figure out how to move this ship. He thinks that we're just gonna need to be mobile for a while. He got a little bit of Lash's help, but now he is piloting it in a very manual way with a lot of the automatic subsystems. uh broken and stuff. He is just uh moving the ship slowly around the base of Manhattan.
Bijan
34:19
TK gets up, like forgets for a moment, like what happened and then remembers as soon as he sits up and uh walks Like he's there's no urgency now. He's walking toward the bridge hoping to see Gabe there. Uh instead he finds Lux. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Nick
34:38
How's how's Gabe?
Bijan
34:40
I don't know. I thought I would see him here. I thought it was uh a dream or something.
Nick
34:45
Lux has clearly not slept much at all. Did you notice anything about the The Shot? No, about the seats. Seats? They're all municipal. Oh sh there's no there's no seats. for army, there's no seats for for executive, legislative, there's no there's no seats for for any sort of national or cross continent positions that would be necessary. The seven are based in this city.
Bijan
35:16
Yeah. Shh shh sorry, um yeah, yeah, fuck.
Nick
35:19
Lux has got like blood coming down his nose.
Mike
35:22
I love TK being like, that's what you're thinking? Are you kidding me? Yeah. Fuck dude.
Bijan
35:29
Yeah yeah, yeah, they can't they can't send the army after us, but I mean Knight Errant is i they're basically I mean they have the money. But what does this mean what should we do about it? But the
Nick
35:43
And then Lux is like Lux is thinking that he would be, you know, on the same page with them already. Um Lux has a very good foundation and understanding of like the Big Ten Megacorp, you know, policies. society, things like that and you know this this this what Ivo is doing they may only be doing at a local level. This could be a big moneymaker for Evo but on a national level, on a global level, if If this got out, this could cost them everything.
Bijan
36:16
Oh, I s oh, but they have to they have to prove it here first. That's what you're saying. If they if it fails here then it they don't do it to other people. If this was a worldwide scheme, there'd be nothing we could do. Uh uh-huh.
Nick
36:29
It's happening here and only here. TK, I need you to find out if this is happening anywhere else.
Bijan
36:35
Okay, I'll p I'll uh I'll put Bob on it. Bob is the agent in his deck. Um I'm gonna I'm gonna get some is that coffee?
Nick
36:44
I'm gonna I'm gonna go find the coffee, get the coffee.
Bijan
36:47
Um are you d are you driving this shit
Nick
36:50
That's about to address. TK was noticing he would notice a T that uh that Lux has really just been driving in about a half a mile circle. Uh this is d doing very little to like lose anyone. Um Lux is not doing well mentally at all. Uh he He's helping by driving this boat in a giant circle. He doesn't understand why people haven't come to arrest them in just the short a hours that they've been asleep. And he is just about at a tipping point that's similar to Gabe's.
Mike
37:20
Lux like Lux has a really high logic, so I could imagine that like with enough time and probably some amphetamines, like he could actually probably figure out how to do what he's doing, but in a roundabout kind of way. So I'm picturing that he's um driving the boat. by like connecting bare wires together.
Bijan
37:40
Lux, you're doing a great job. I'm gonna leave you Thank you. Thank you for keeping us um not in one spot. Uh I'm I'm gonna I'll I'll be back. Uh but I I'll put it I'll put Bob on it. We'll we'll get some answers.
Nick
37:53
Alright, you come take over for me a little bit, okay? I gotta I'm gonna try to get some more stuff.
Bijan
37:56
Yeah, you g you need to you need to get some Yeah, get some rest. I think I leaves the room.
Jenn
38:01
I think Viv has gone to Lash's room and knocks on the door. There's no answer. Going to open the door. And she peeks her head in.
Shannon
38:13
And what does she see? Lash is sitting in that same spot, sitting in a chair next to Gabe who's laid out in her bed. I assume Gabe is still not awake.
Mike
38:23
Yeah, he he's um definitely asleep, you know. He's breathing, his chest is rising and falling.
Shannon
38:30
And Lash is sitting in that chair, and you kind of immediately know that Lash is kind of has a glazed over. Look in her eyes, she's in VR. And she's just kind of in the
Jenn
38:43
VR kind of waiting for Gabe to show up. I think a surprising thing happens to you. A school of fish appears in front of you. Viv has hopped into VR with you. Whoa. Oh hey Viv Hey Viv I uh it's like a big uh glob of fish that can speak to you. Have you had any sleep?
Shannon
39:09
Oh I don't really need sleep I mean I'm fine. I'm doing totally fine. I'm not her, so I don't really need sleep. So so you guys, you guys need sleep. How are you feeling? Are you doing okay? Uh I could be better.
Jenn
39:27
What? Happened last night.
Shannon
39:30
Oh, he you don't remember? Where should I start? There's an elevator.
Jenn
39:34
Oh, not that far back. Uh fast forward a little bit. We got back here.
Shannon
39:42
So I I came in and Gabe was upset. And I tried to calm down, but before I could and lash closes up. Yeah, I should have I should have talked to him. I should have been here. I should have told him what to expect. There's so much to expect. I should have told him how to take it slow.
Jenn
40:06
Lash, it's not your fault. No one would have known except for me. I understand. We also left Gabe. We were so distracted by everything that's going on that we just didn't pay attention.
Shannon
40:26
I didn't even need to be at the battle. I didn't even get hurt. I didn't even do anything. I should have been here. But you should rest. You know, I'm here. I'm here for when Gabe wakes up, I'll be here. You know we can do this together.
Mike
40:40
Gabe flickers into the Matrix. Gabe flickers into VR. He appears for just a moment, just a like a couple frames, and then dematerializes.
Shannon
40:50
Oh yeah that's been happening a couple times. What do you think we should do with Gabe? We can't leave him here like this. No. But where do we take them, Evo?
Jenn
41:01
No. Doesn't your Father have a Faraday cage?
Shannon
41:08
Faraday cage? Yes. Okay. Okay, we could try that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I we should call him. We should call my dad. I think that might be a good idea.
Jenn
41:20
Yeah. For now, why don't you let me watch Gabe? Lash, you should go to sleep. Well Will you promise? you'll wake me up? Of course. Even if he just flickers. Sure. Okay. Then she materializes NVR in a chair.
Mike
41:36
Just a school of fish floating around of like simple wooden chair. Mm-hmm.
Shannon
41:41
Flash closes her eyes.
Bijan
41:43
TK has been peeks his head, he pokes his head in, sees everyone sort of quiet and there, and uh leaves the veteran control
Mike
42:03
Rests. When she wakes up, she calls her father, Tuck, who doesn't ask one question. He insists a helicopter transport Gabe, Lash, and one other member of the crew from the Mrs. Egg to Connecticut. Tuck says he'll place some calls and make sure Gabe has the best medical team in the United Canadian-American states. In the safest location he knows. Tuck tells Shelly the news. In the basement, she begins the tedious process of turning off their phalanx of home servers. One one. She unplugs the mini fridge and moves its contents, three sprites, and two Gatorades, upstairs. An unmarked private medevac service arrives four and a quarter minutes after Lash hangs up with her dad. A team of stern, quiet, efficient men bring Gabe from his quarters onto the idling chopper. The hand helmets and headsets to Lash and TK, who bored. Gabe is hooked into various instruments and readouts TK notices six machine pistols locked in place on the transport bulkhead. For the 53-minute flight, The only words spoken are between the rescue team about Gabe's vitals, their navigation, and the weather. They talk in flight as they did on the deck of the Mrs. Egg. Blunt and clipped. A fleet of large black SUVs rings Lash's childhood home. She can see them beetle-like from 5,000 feet. The helicopter lands. under the watchful cover of Tuck's colleagues in the front yard and the rescue team take Gabe through the open garage door. Shelly introduces Lash and TK to a tall man in khakis who's wearing golf shoes. Two white gloves pour out of a back pocket. Dr. Asimwe Who has rushed here from other obligations will oversee Gabe's care. He tells Lash and TK he'll contact them the moment there's something useful to report. The Good Boggs and T. K. eat a quiet lunch, while the medical team assembles an impromptu hospital room in the secluded basement. T. K. summons the vehicle maybe temporarily known as the Wendigo. He and Lash ride back to the city wordlessly. Another evening passes. The next morning The team awakens to find Viv with Loma's book open on the table in the galley. Next to it, a paper map unfolded, see-through at the seams. She's placed a small statue. you of a crab on top of a location in Chelsea. 481 8th Avenue. Whoever's there paid for Jasts or a Calcombe Together, again in the galley, the team agrees that Gabe wouldn't want them moping around. Today, they'll stake out the New Yorker Hotel. Each one of you has a very clear view of the New Yorker Hotel of 481 8th Avenue right now. Each of you tell me where you are.
Bijan
46:06
Uh absolutely, Mike. TK, um, he calms the group, and you can just hear the wind rushing by and maybe a bird squawk. And he's like, I'm not in. but I'm watching. And TK is across the street at um the government career center across the street, on the roof of the building. Just trying to trying to look to see what cars are pulling up and also trying to see what their networks are like inside the uh hotel.
Shannon
46:35
So Lash uh is the The eagle is near the building. Um, is what she comes. And she lashes in business casual, sitting down in a small back
Mike
46:50
office sitting down for an interview at so it is the former site of the Hammerstein Ballroom uh at the Manhattan Center.
Shannon
47:00
Which is now a bank. And so this job interview she has landed herself A job interview for a bank teller physician, obviously using an alias.
Mike
47:10
I mean it it is a bank in a sense, uh, but the number one service that they offer their customers is uh crypto vaults. Um And most of the people who are there who use it, uh it's the secure digital location that they keep uh their NFTs.
Taylor
47:32
I would rather hear diarrhea hit. Water in a toilet and hear a person say fucking NFT to me, Mike. We have to put a content warning on the show now.
Nick
47:42
This is bad. Put it right after uh Gabe shoots himself in the face. Now wait a minute, everyone, it's gonna get scary here.
Mike
47:53
This episode contains some content that some viewers might find objectionable. Uh what do what did you say your experience was?
Shannon
48:00
Um Yes, I love NFTs. They are my passion.
Mike
48:07
Uh uh-huh. Interesting. Okay.
Nick
48:10
Um, Lux is on the uh on the opposite side of the block um from TK. Uh TK, are you in the Not on north, uh east or or south side.
Bijan
48:19
Great question. Uh I am on three oh one West fifty third thirty fifth street, so I am on the Okay, you're in the north.
Nick
48:26
Okay. Okay. So on the south side of the building across the way, uh Lux is in kind of a window cleaning thing what what happens is that you know obviously in the future nobody needs window cleaters but what people found uh and this is kind of passe at this point was that it's actually a great busking opportunity. As soon as a technology is there that you could pay anyone you see with your com, um, you know, uh it's it's a great busking opportunity. You you you go up the floors and you do little entertainment shows. So people think I'm a uh window cleaner entertainer, um, but I am actually looking with binoculars um when i can um at all the uh south facing entrances to the building. Uh I also come with the team that I have just heard back from my guy from Flipper and he says we're all go. What I did was actually contact the Flipper organization uh as a potential client. Back channeled with someone who I demanded to meet the project manager of the project that I wanted to be done after promising lots of money. back channeled, uh worked aside deal with them and offered them twenty thousand new yen to set up a uh a channel similar uh a data s you know kind of skimming system for this building that they had set up before. Mike, do I need to roll to see if that happened? I'm I'm in the middle of saying it worked, but The universe still has a say, I guess.
Mike
49:48
If it's like unstructured time, I I feel like there is no doubt that Lux has rolled enough dice. Okay. Uh s you know, metaphysically speaking um to make this happen. He's had some video calls, he's offered up some money. Uh every background check would confirm that he's good for it. So though they might be like, what's the deal with this e it seems like you have a property that's got six C of O's? That it's that's uncommon.
Nick
50:17
Uh it's in arrears. Um and uh so uh it's what he says. And um that was good enough. Uh so you know, Lux is not expecting every gram of the seven to start flowing into these data channels that they now can pick up as they are a mostly or at least you know largely magical entity but they they may have some dealings that need to be done through data channels flowing through the building so he's got those on tap um and now he is back to looking at entrances and exits. In addition to uh just setting up some some general data skimming for everything coming in and out of this building, Blux has also uh finagled getting deep deep real estate information, historical real estate information about this building, transfer of ownership, even inquiries, uh things like that. Uh they have all of that unlocked so they were happy to acquiesce for that for a small sum as well. Um Mike, how much is this all costing me? I said twenty thousand 'cause that's uh I a quarter of my money, but uh you know, if the universe again decides what I will end up paying. Say it's twenty three. Twenty three, great. I am uh sending you all of their portal information right now TK. Oh good thank you. Any forwards the information because he knows that TK will actually be able to do something with the data uh pass through that they've set up for us um and uh Lux will not.
Mike
51:41
TK's having it go directly to his private server. Lux has an unanswered message on his comm that just reads, so like, you're a developer or something. Right, this is totally legal. Yup.
Taylor
51:56
That's it. Blackout, yeah.
Nick
51:58
Go Yep. Uh-huh. Big yes.
Jenn
52:01
Bomba bird is circling. Biv has paid a pedicab driver, like all of a thousand new yen, to just circle around the building. building. So you hear in the background when she's calming you uh loud pop music or whatever is popular at the time.
Mike
52:22
It's uh this guy in particular listens to reggae. Yeah. A lot of loud reggae And um bells. He's got all like bells all across the roof of the pe it's yeah, and they're like it's bad. Yeah, it's really irritating actually.
Jenn
52:36
Bombabird is circling. So what you're gonna look for are people concentrating.
Mike
52:44
So are you like, are you visiting or are you like is this a tourist thing?
Jenn
52:49
I'm from Scandinavia! I Don't speak very well. I'm on the phone.
Mike
52:57
Oh sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.
Jenn
52:59
Privacy, please, some privacy And she's telling you over calm about some of the things that she has an edge on, you know. Like Viv has been a mage for many years and so her insight about detecting it might be really helpful. right now. Some people might be cloaking their astral signature. I do it too, but it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It only appears for half the amount of time. That a normal astral signature is around. So there will be traces. Look for people who are concentrating. People who have their eyebrows furrowed. You know what I look like when I'm concentrating, right? People who can't handle conversations. People who walk into things, look for clumsy people, or people who are standing still and not moving. I've been studying for For a long time. So if they're not as experienced as me, they won't be able to hide their signatures. And so she's just circling around and as sensing. She's gonna pass by the front door and ascense. That time. Yaw four hits.
Mike
54:15
There's one guy uh in the front lobby Uh he's in his late 40s, he's got high blood pressure, and he's in a really good mood.
Jenn
54:25
Not catching anything yet.
Mike
54:26
He's mundane, not mag not magical.
Jenn
54:29
Is anyone seeing anything else?
Bijan
54:31
Uh I can see you circling. How much are you paying for this shit?
Jenn
54:35
Doesn't matter.
Mike
54:36
TK, you're looking down off the roof of the building at the street, right? Mm-hmm. You look for a while. Uh we'll let's say, you know, we'll take these in like ten minute, fifteen minute chunks or so. And uh you don't see anybody enter the building, you don't see anybody leave the building. You look across at some of the windows to try to see if you can see anything. i in them like anybody moving around and it just looks like empty rooms. Some of them have curtains, uh in some of them you can see tables with flowers, in some of them you can see like the corner of a bed. But you don't see any people uh moving around in them and like you're looking at a big building with a lot of windows and a lot of rooms like twenty or thirty across and I think it would seem strange to you that you don't see any
Bijan
55:29
TK's gonna do a uh matrix uh perception test just to see what networks, if any, are in there. Oh, my bones are back to normal. Let's fucking go. Oh yeah. Normal bones. Oh brother. I know I'm not gonna see anything, but Seven hits. Can you roll just straight logic for me?
Mike
55:47
That is two hits. City's poppin'. You're in the middle of one of the busiest parts of Manhattan. There's horns honking, there's cars driving around, there's dozens, hundreds of people on the side. Sidewalk below you in the building that you are on top of. There are comms everywhere moving around. The it's dense here. It's like really, really noisy, and that is included in the building that you're looking at inside the New Yorker Hotel. Uh there are comms that are in there that are moving around. That are You know, like doing their thing. You see comms, you see fridges, you see uh toasters, you see televisions, trade units, video game systems. Uh there's like dozens of things. Does anything seem out of place? Not for two hits, it doesn't.
Nick
56:36
Mike, does Lux see anything? Um, in the time that he has uh been looking down through binoculars, people coming and going.
Mike
56:44
So you have your binoculars in. On What do you do with binoculars? What is the correct preposition? Bonoculars You peepers You're looking through your binoculars And you are struck by the same thing that TK was, though I don't know if you've communicated about it yet. They're clean, they're stuffing them. You don't see any people. You look down. You look at the perimeter of the building, right? It takes a uh whole side of a block. You also don't see anybody in this chunk of time coming or going. It's a big building, and seems strange that like no one has entered or left in 10, 15 minutes. You look up to the top of the building. It's the same empty rooms. You linger there for a second, trying to see if you can see someone move, trying to see if you can see inside an office. A helicopter comes into view. Lands in a helipad. Takes off. Takes about 45 seconds, maybe a minute And it kind of like you know the sky above Manhattan is very busy. Um it's one of maybe a dozen helicopters that are currently visible, but it definitely comes. Goes.
Taylor
58:05
You recognize the truck nuts dangling from it?
Jenn
58:09
Lux has photographic memory, so he does. Yeah.
Taylor
58:12
Get that tail number, baby. Get that tail number
Mike
58:15
Sure. Let me give you a tail number.
Nick
58:17
Do I recognize a helicopter at all?
Mike
58:19
I mean I know that they're Um yeah, it is uh it it is a common uh service uh that is provided by a local business. I'll tell you the name of it when I tell you the tail number. It's a matte black helicopter. Uh they're all across the city. You see them a lot. It's a service that's provided by so the company is called uh Spirals, but there's no vowels in their name, so on the side of all of their helicopters it says spurls.
Jenn
58:47
I'm mad at it.
Mike
58:49
And the tail number on it is uh K Q Q S. Q S. You're sort of filing that away. In the brain, the old noggin, another one comes. Is coming towards you this time. Lands, you can just see the edge of it land on another helipad.
Artemis
59:13
Hmm.
Mike
59:13
Stays there. For about 45 seconds, minute, and leaves. You think, huh, interesting. You start looking around the building, you can't see one side of it. Uh, so you can't know for sure what's on the other side.
Nick
59:26
Yeah.
Mike
59:27
But from where you are, you can kind of Count six helipads.
Nick
59:31
Yeah.
Mike
59:33
Shannon.
Shannon
59:34
As for my biggest weakness, I would say I can be a little bit too much a perfectionist, you know? It can be hard for me to put a test down. because I just want to get just just right. Huh. Hey, I noticed you're right next to the New Yorker building. Don't get a lot of people walking in here Thinking it's the New Yorker building? No? Interesting.
Mike
01:00:02
No.
Shannon
01:00:04
No?
Mike
01:00:05
No.
Shannon
01:00:06
I thought the New Yorker building was a very busy hotel that a lot of tourists stayed in.
Mike
01:00:10
Yeah, yes, it is. It is. It's right next door. Um, but uh yeah, I don't actually uh I don't think it's been a hotel for a long time.
Shannon
01:00:20
It's crazy they call it a hotel. Well, I th uh yeah I guess. You ever go in there?
Mike
01:00:26
No?
Shannon
01:00:28
Interesting. Have you? No, but I would love to one day. Oh, okay. Uh I wanna my my goal is to go into every building in New York.
Mike
01:00:42
Uh-huh. Uh-huh
Shannon
01:00:45
And uh and become a bank teller.
Mike
01:00:54
I think you're I think you're crushing it. I think you're gonna get this job.
Jenn
01:00:58
Are you searching in the Meantime also thinking she was gonna get a lot of information.
Nick
01:01:04
You're just trying this interview.
Mike
01:01:12
I think that this is a great plan. I love this And you did gain two P you did gain information that like there's no you know, you know that it's not a hotel.
Nick
01:01:22
Okay.
Shannon
01:01:23
And this person is next to the hotel, next to the building every day, so I assume might have some information about that.
Mike
01:01:30
I think I think this is a great not only is it funny, I think you're gonna get what you want from this interaction.
Shannon
01:01:34
I hope so.
Bijan
01:01:35
TK's gonna um look around the roof for um like a small rock of some kind. Sure.
Jenn
01:01:43
Uh yeah.
Bijan
01:01:43
You find like half a brick. Oh wow. He's gonna break that into a smaller piece. Not enough to, you know, break a window, but enough to like tap a window. And he's going to throw it as hard as he can across the street, aiming at one of the windows.
Mike
01:01:56
Okay. I'm just gonna give it to you. You throw it, you're high enough up, and you get a big enough arc that it crosses the street And slightly further down, like a few floors below you, it hits the building. You hear a dink and it falls off, and it falls to the ground below. Uh no one's on the sidewalk where it lands, uh, so you don't injure anybody.
Bijan
01:02:19
DK just it stares at that window just to see if anyone's gonna show up. Okay.
Mike
01:02:24
No one shows up immediately. He's patient. You get a ding on your calm, it's in the thread that Lux added you to with Flipper. And it says, Hey, dash. Been running the siphon all morning Period. This is weird, Colon. Seems like there's no traffic in or out of the building. Period. Newline. Did you know they have a nuclear power plant? Question mark. What? Okay. That'll be a big challenge for a new development.
Taylor
01:03:03
Period. Yeah, it's like buying a house with a mechanical bull in the living room.
Bijan
01:03:12
That's gotta be your thing, you know? Your resale value's going down otherwise, it's true. TK says, yeah, that's why we're interested.
Mike
01:03:19
Oh hey, you get an email back. Oh hey, uh nice to meet you. Uh I'm Joaquin, you must have e-meet you.
Bijan
01:03:27
Hey Joaquin, thanks for thanks for your message. Very nice to e-meet you as well. No. Can't believe they're still doing worse. And and thanks for the data, man. Is eBat worse than NFT? No.
Jenn
01:03:46
They're both pretty bad. They're cousins. They're certainly cousins. Yeah. I think over the calm you hear uh light reggae music again. And Viv is like, I'm gonna try again. And she's passing around the front door. Again.
Bijan
01:04:02
TK comes and says, the flipper guys just said there's no traffic in or out of the building. And I haven't seen anyone. We've been here all day. It's a big building.
Nick
01:04:13
Hey TK, how many helicopters have come and um landed on the building in the last uh couple minutes?
Bijan
01:04:19
I want to say it's like one, maybe two, four, four Or the last hour or so every fifteen minutes. But people don't seem to be getting in or out.
Nick
01:04:29
I know. The two over here didn't either. Mike, is that true? Is that do we were we unable to see anybody get in or out of those
Mike
01:04:36
Neither of you have clearly seen any human body exit a helicopter.
Bijan
01:04:42
And what we're both like high up. Yeah. Yes. High up enough to see the helipads. Yep.
Nick
01:04:47
Yeah. The people uh And the two that just landed in and took off here, there didn't seem like anybody was coming or going either.
Bijan
01:04:56
TK, um, is there a door on the roof of the New York New Yorker hotel? There's a bunch. Are there any near the helipads Yes. TK is going to wait for the next helipad and just stare at the doors. Okay.
Jenn
01:05:09
Meanwhile, Viv is as sensing one more time as she passes the build. She's circuiting around the building, and so she's
Mike
01:05:16
Circumpetticabbing.
Jenn
01:05:18
Yeah, circumpetti cabbing. Uh got eight hits this time around
Mike
01:05:24
He maybe won the lottery. Or like, he won something. He got like really, really lucky. Uh and like had a big windfall. There's no other people in this building? That can't be right.
Jenn
01:05:39
It's the same guy.
Mike
01:05:41
It's the same guy. There's only one guy. You've only a sense to the presence of one man. uh who's got high blood pressure uh and is in a great mood and maybe just won something this morning. You don't see any other people in this building, uh which is huge. It's a huge building and you don't see any other people. Uh that's very strange You also like turn your sights downwards. You're like, okay, maybe there's something, you know, if you're on the email chain or if TK mentioned it, it's like there's a nuclear power plant in the basement. So you turn your sights downwards, you're like, maybe I'll get something below. Um and there's nothing. You can sense Like you can feel it. You can't really see it, but you can feel the edges of the building, like the cradle of the foundation. You know that it's there. You know that the structure's there and it's old. It's got a lot of storage. This building has like been through a lot. A lot has happened here. And like the structure itself has this kind of like vibration to it because of all of the history that it's seen and been home to. But like you only get that distant feeling You don't get anything other than you think his name is Carlos. Carlos is the only thing you get
Jenn
01:07:06
Yeah.
Mike
01:07:06
Which is That's really weird. Weird.
Jenn
01:07:09
Yeah. I'm not getting any astral signatures and Compared to the party that we just came from, I saw that a mile away. I saw that from hundreds of feet above that basement party. How come I can't see anything here?
Mike
01:07:30
A helicopter lands. Does she hear it? Uh I mean I think you hear helicopters like they're s just constant. So Yeah, so the answer is yes, but I don't know that you can pick this particular helicopter out from any of the others.
Jenn
01:07:45
She peers out the side of the pedicab and looks up. Does she see any glow of anything?
Mike
01:07:52
TK, from your vantage, Vantage point, you see a helicopter land. About 20 seconds pass. It lands on a helipad that you have not seen a helicopter land on you. The door opens. There's no one there.
Bijan
01:08:09
I fucking knew it. TK comms. The door closes. They're hiding themselves. They're getting off the helicopters.
Nick
01:08:16
Keep looking at the building door, TK.
Bijan
01:08:18
I saw it.
Nick
01:08:18
I saw it open. I saw it close. Oh, I thought you were saying the d helicopter door opened and closed.
Bijan
01:08:23
No, what Uh well I couldn't see the side that side of the helicopter, but I could see the building door closest to the helicopter. Helicopter hovers and then leaves. Bib Viv, you gotta you gotta stop the cab. Just hop out and look up.
Jenn
01:08:35
Okay. She taps the the young person who has been driving. I need to get out. I need to get out. And she uh jumps out onto the sidewalk, uh but keeps speedwalking around the block and is looking up.
Mike
01:08:50
Cause you got an eight, I'm gonna give it to you.
Jenn
01:08:52
A.
Mike
01:08:53
Look up. You're reasonably sure that you lock on to the helicopter that TK has told you to look at Um it's just left this building. It's the closest one, it's the lowest, all the other ones uh are higher up. You're you're trying to open yourself up to whatever magical presence it may or may not have, and you get Nothing. There's no visual indication of any kind. You know, like normally you can see some kind of aura some kind of glow and you don't see even a pinprick, but you get in the way that you can feel the history of the building as this distant presence even if you can't see it you get from this black matte black four-hire helicopter that there are hundreds of in New York City, you get this feeling of just a thousand snakes in a pit.
Jenn
01:09:52
And she unexpectedly recoils on the sidewalk and is bumping into people? Oh, uh, what the hell? Snakes?
Mike
01:10:00
And it's gone.
Jenn
01:10:01
I saw hundreds of snakes.
Mike
01:10:05
I don't even think you saw them. It's just like Like the suggestion it's almost like you had the like the unforced semiosis of Oh, that was disgusting. What was it, Viv?
Jenn
01:10:19
Since Slithering, pulsing, moving, gross.
Nick
01:10:26
In the helicopter?
Jenn
01:10:27
Yeah Someone is associated with that, but I can't tell who. You know how I associate with the sea and that I have spirits that resemble marine animals Well some people have astral signatures that are characters or animals or shapes. This one was slithery and gross Oh how many uh helicopters has is that now? It's five? That's five. Ah. She's gonna keep walking around the building.
Mike
01:10:59
Um So to answer your question, um no, I don't think there are many customers here who also work at the hotel. Um But I don't interesting. Do you think that that's like an untapped NFT market? Or would that be something that you'd be interested in pursuing?
Shannon
01:11:25
Absolutely. I could open up my own division. Of this bank servicing the New Yorker Hotel.
Mike
01:11:35
Well, the bank already is its own division.
Shannon
01:11:40
Well I could specialize in those customers. Anyway, do you ever get lunch at that cart that's right outside the New Yorker Hotel?
Mike
01:11:50
The Nuts for Nuts guy?
Shannon
01:11:52
Yeah.
Mike
01:11:53
I guess sometimes, yeah. I mean there are a lot of really nice lunch options in the neighborhood. It's uh very busy.
Shannon
01:12:00
Uh you know, really uh anything weird when you're there.
Mike
01:12:05
At the at the nuts for nuts guy? Yeah. You know, I think this position has been filled. Uh I'm just I'm getting a I'm getting a a calm message. It looks like we've accepted a candidate.
Shannon
01:12:16
Uh yeah they didn't even get to my salary expectations.
Mike
01:12:21
Uh thank you so much for your interest. I really uh really appreciate you coming all the way from Connecticut, you said it was.
Shannon
01:12:27
Yes. And may I just say, of all the people that I've ever interviewed with, you have been the best.
Taylor
01:12:42
Um Than a small group of people have gathered around to watch this interview and they all begin to clap.
Mike
01:12:50
Um thank you. Uh that's very nice, and uh I hope your friend feels better
Shannon
01:12:58
Oh, thank you so much. I I'm sorry to get into all that with you, but I just really haven't spoken to many people.
Mike
01:13:07
It was it was surprising it was the first thing that you wanted to talk about. for as long as you wanted to talk about it for.
Shannon
01:13:14
Well, I really appreciate you listening. I mean, I'm not normally such an open book, but you just have such carrying eyes. Do you wanna go get some nuts together? I know we've raised that working relationship kind of a situation.
Mike
01:13:28
I d uh I don't think that would be appropriate. I d I appreci th uh thank you uh for thank you for your interest and have Have a wonderful day.
Shannon
01:13:36
Okay.
Mike
01:13:37
Um, and he stands up and like gives a polite wave and then like backs away from the desk and and walks off uh behind the main teller counter So you're just here now.
Shannon
01:13:49
Does he walk into the room?
Mike
01:13:51
I'm picturing you being in kind of like an open, like semi-open desk area. Sort of like, you know, if you're in a public bank, you know, you like you can kind of see where everybody's desks are He kind of like walks off. You know, like you lose track of him and he just kind of disappears.
Shannon
01:14:06
And I say, okay, I'm just gonna use the bathroom. You you don't need to tell me that And Lash is gonna kind is there a bathroom in there? Oh yeah. Yeah Lash is gonna walk towards the bathroom and kind of be lying if there's any doors that she can go into. sneak into.
Mike
01:14:25
Um you don't see anything notable. You see all the things that you would expect to see in like a contemporary money store styled friendly you know, this bank wants to be your friend even though it's a bank uh sorta spot
Shannon
01:14:38
Are there any kind of like security guards there?
Mike
01:14:40
There are security guards. There are like uh renta cops uh just around. Like the cheap Aries cops uh that wear gray suits, but like they're not They're you know, they're all sort of like spacing out looking at their comms or whatever.
Shannon
01:14:53
I'm gonna go over and talk to the the rent a cop guy.
Mike
01:14:57
Okay, we'll come back to that in a sec Lux, TK, Viv outside. You look around for a few more minutes. Seems the helicopters have come and gone.
Nick
01:15:07
Yep.
Mike
01:15:08
No more are arriving. It's been now a longer interval than any that has passed so far uh without the arrival of any additional aircraft. You also, I will say, um, you know, you took your attention away from it to look at the helicopter for a while, TK, but like if you keep looking back at those windows like you don't see anybody come, you don't see anybody show up. Roll logic again Uh three hits. The newest new calm model that you see walking around as you like flip through your matrix perception test over and over again, you just kind of refresh it, is from three years ago.
Bijan
01:15:46
Oh. Oh. That's awesome.
Nick
01:15:48
Odd. Wait, where are these comms? Inside the building. There's one person inside the buildings. There's multiple comms.
Bijan
01:15:55
Right.
Nick
01:15:55
The newest is three years old.
Bijan
01:15:57
It looks like There's people in there, but we can't see any people. No one's gone in and out except except for the helicopters on the roof. It's very clearly a front for something.
Mike
01:16:05
Which I will grant Lux you have in your memory. We don't have to say what exactly they are, but if you want the identifier. information for those helicopters you have them. Yes.
Jenn
01:16:16
Keep ascensing the same guy.
Bijan
01:16:18
I keep seeing comms that are three years old. There's nothing newer than that. This is a hotel. People should be going in and out. It's not a hotel anymore.
Nick
01:16:25
Viv. They're using concealment. How do magical concealment. How do we get around it?
Jenn
01:16:33
Think. At the same time that she's thinking back She's also scrolling in AR through a social media app that geolocates astral signatures and seeing if anyone has seen anything in this area.
Mike
01:16:48
It's almost exclusively uh hookup requests. And none of them are centered around the building. The vibe of that network has like changed a lot in the last year or two. You know, they haven't really decided whether or not they want to be a quote-unquote dating app. Um, but they've got to be.
Taylor
01:17:05
Every generation builds their own sniff.
Mike
01:17:10
Uh but it's it's how a lot of the younger mages are using it right now, and yeah, in around here it's just all hookup requests.
Jenn
01:17:18
like the times she's had to use concealment, which was way back in episode one. I would have to just do a perception test. I think if everyone did a perception test, we might be able to see something. Alright. If is is Staring up at the top of the building. She's on the sidewalk. She's shielding the sun from her eyes and trying to concentrate. Like the edges of her mind are reaching toward astral signatures. She's trying to picture libraries of information. Like whenever she touches a person. She gets libraries, she gets magazines, she gets pamphlets. No matter what level they are, there's something to read. And so she's squinting and really trying to ascend the rooftop. I got four hits on a perception test.
Mike
01:18:09
Okay, do you are you are you trying to perceive or you trying to ascend?
Jenn
01:18:12
The specific spell is perception. The counter to concealment is perception. I understand. Everyone should be trying to pay attention. Because even if you were trying to conceal It's only half of the amount of someone's perception threshold. It's like not zero.
Bijan
01:18:30
I got three. I got three hits as well
Jenn
01:18:33
Biv comes over to the comms and says, Everybody, try to stare at the building. Try to fix your eyes on a point and don't move.
Nick
01:18:46
Okay Sounds fine.
Jenn
01:18:47
Lash, if you're indoors, look in the direction of the building. Try to perceive something. Try to look. Look really hard. Even over the matrix. We'll do.
Nick
01:18:57
Lux begins to look at one point and not move.
Bijan
01:19:02
Staring at his window that he threw uh part of a brick at.
Mike
01:19:05
None of you see any people. You do not see any human beings. You do not see the suggestion of hidden human beings. You do not see wavy lines where human beings move. might be you don't see astral signatures peeking around behind hidden corners. There's just nobody. And it's strange. There's it would appear to plain sight and To uh astral perception, to a sensing, but not in the world of the Matrix, as though the building is simply empty. Uh, at least in the portions of it that you can currently easily. Lay your eyes on. Viv, even though you don't see any people, you're still sort of piecing through this as sensing that you've just done. You don't get any human forms. You don't get any press. presences, but you do feel right, you're looking for knowledge, you're looking for books, you're looking for recorded history, you're looking for just some storehouse. And again, you do You don't have any visual representation of it. It is only distant feeling. Just a complete, it's a very strange experience. A completely severed semiosis. You just kind of, you sort of possess. The suggestion of deep, deep institutional knowledge, like eons Of know how centuries of collected insight In just a massive edifice. It almost feels like this must be what the Library of Alexandria feels like. Or felt like. And it's like, I think. I think for Viv especially, it's practically seductive.
Jenn
01:21:09
Yeah, it's intriguing. It's everything, you know. It's. She saw her legs kind of go weak out from under her a little It's like, whoa, really? It can't be.
Mike
01:21:22
It feels almost cathedral-like.
Jenn
01:21:25
She reconsiders. how much time she's dedicated to the sea and how short-sighted that might have been.
Mike
01:22:00
You are now leaving Fun City. Thanks for listening. If you want to support the show and get access to a huge back catalog of amazing bonus content. Patron only in Universe Merch and access to our show Discord. You can head on over to patreon. com forward slash fun City Ventures. And of course, thanks to all of our current patrons for help keeping this ship afloat.
Bijan
01:22:36
Hi, I'm Bijan Steven, and you can find me online at Bijan Steven, B-I-J-A-N-S-T-E-P-H-E-N, on Twitter and Twitch. On Instagram, I'm Bijancakes, B-I-J-A-N-KX.
Jenn
01:22:46
I'm Jen Delavega, I play Vivian Lakewood, and you can find me online at Randwich's.
Nick
01:22:53
Hey, this is Nick Gurcio, I play Luxythe, and you can find me online at NGRC, G-U-E-R-C-I-O on Instagram and at NicholasGercio on Twitter.
Shannon
01:23:03
I'm Shannon Odell. I play Lash Goodbog, and you can find me on social media at Showdell at S-H-O-D-E-L-L.
Taylor
01:23:11
I am Taylor Moore. And I play all the bad guys, I think. Is that how it works? It's not clear. You can follow me online at tailor.
Mike
01:23:18
biz. And my name is Mike Rignetta. I am your GM. You can find me on Instagram and Blue Sky at MikeRagnetta. You can find the show on Twitter and Instagram at At Fun City Ventures. This episode of Fun City was recorded at various locations around Brooklyn, New York, and Los Angeles, California. It was edited by Sam Grant and produced and sound designed by me, Mike Rignetta. Pixel Riffs, Petti Cab, Play. Is Yacht Rock. Fun City's music is by Sam Tyndall. Our art is by Tess Stone. Our Discord mods are Olivia Gulin, Kelly McHugh, and Kit Pullium. And the voice of Artemis is Molly Templeton.