Ghosts on a Train

Ep 69 - Putting a Literal Cat in Your Line Bull Gang (feat. Joel Holland)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 23 Jan 2025 05:00:00 -0500

While the Line Bulls of the Pride of Duskwall are officially fired, they know that they are in fact the ones striking. They must prepare for the long haul, and for this first night they take up the Alms from King Aldric House on their offer of a warm bed. While there, they'll find that some Line Bulls are still working here in Arvaedh... A literal cat named Wonck. Drix can hardly believe it. Pip loves a wittle kitty cat in Line Bull gear! But Andrel is more of a dorg person.

Find special guest Joel on his podcast here! And watch him on Twitch as Omamer

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

We'll find some more current links to put here, but know that the way to make it through another Trump term is going to be by sticking together.

Follow us on Bluesky @ghosts-train, and if you have questions or suggestions for the train email them to ghosttrainpod@gmail.com or leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/ghosts-on-a-train/message and you might hear yourself on the show

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Ep 68 - Layover Part 2: Ars-vaedh Shut

Gregory Carrobis — Sat, 28 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0500

In this episode the Line Bulls still lack access to their healthcare with the Physicker because it is tied to their employment, but you can help erase medical debt by giving money to Undue Medical Debt here

With nothing but time on their hands, the Line Bulls begin to busy themselves with side jobs in Arvaedh- but not necessarily for their side employers. The King of Rats can complete the ritual that was begun on Pippin McKeel more than a decade ago, in exchange for liberating rats from a slaughterhouse. Pippin rolls for rat. Andrel makes a Naruto. Drix shares parenting advice.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Follow us on Twitter @ghosts_train, and if you have questions or suggestions for the train email them to ghosttrainpod@gmail.com or leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/ghosts-on-a-train/message and you might hear yourself on the show

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Ep 67 - Layover: Yours, Mine, and Ar-vaedh

Gregory Carrobis — Sat, 31 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0500

In this episode the Line Bulls lose access to their healthcare with the Physicker because it is tied to their employment, but you can help erase medical debt by giving money to Undue Medical Debt here

Across the Void Sea awaits more than the Isle of Skovlan. The Ministry of Preservation, at Lord Strangford's direction, stands ready to relieve Candice of the Pride of Duskwall or remove her entire crew. But the crew of that proud locomotive have made preparations to stand together, all of them. Andrel has a positive interaction with someone who learns she's an orphan. Drix must stand against his enemy turned friend. Pip loses a lot of chits.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Bonus - Stop at the Depot: Ep 64-66 (feat. David "Trials-of-the-Apocalypse" Easley)

Gregory Carrobis — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 12:15:00 -0500

Please donate to help our friend Nico get top surgery here and share the link even if you can't donate!

Now that the Line Bulls have learned about the ownership of the train, saved the track, and stashed away a Leviathan Tentacle, the cast of Ghosts on a Train discuss episodes 64 to 66 along with guest David. We discuss how Ditri formed in David's mind, Andrel's child development, Pip's becoming a better person through guilt, and advice for being a guest at an established table. The gang also discusses being Lawful Good in the bathroom and what Trials of the Apocalypse arcs you might enjoy!

Find special guest David on Twitter @TotaPodcast, and occasionally on Twitch with https://www.twitch.tv/seroRPG

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ethical Ghosts on a Train into Town - An Almost Crossover

Gregory Carrobis — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 13:00:00 -0500

Welcome to a fun Ghosts on a Train / Ethics Town variety experiment! Here we have two short (ish) episodes based around the theme of ‘revenge’, one created by the Ghosts on a Train team and the other by Ethics Town. You don’t need to have listened to either of these shows to enjoy this special! You can find a full transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16Fw9X2X7s_jmrcgYUlJbFoLZJeu9jLiXUfyr5sP2Cf4/edit

Content warnings: Ghosts on a Train (30 secs to 17 mins)

Loss of Self
Mention of Teeth eating flesh
Verbally Abusive Behavior towards teen from their guardian
Loss of Limb
Blood
Wet squishing noises

This episode was written and sound designed by Greg Carrobis, with music by TJ Woods and Sebastian Black. Isak Kardera was played by Ben Bonadies, Jamu'kha was played by Jack Wisnosky, Andrel Anderson was played by Hannah Levin, Lady Ankhuset and the courier were played by Greg Carrobis.

Content warnings: Ethics Town (19 mins to 28 mins)

Anxiety
Sickness mention
Murder mention
Implied parental neglect

This episode was written by CL Hendry and sound designed by Cai Gwilym Pritchard. You heard Rhys Lawton as Ian Jacobs, Michelle Kelly as Ms Smith, LM Clohessy as Alice Jacobs, with additional voices by Evan Gwen Davies, Avalon Willowbloom, and David Kurze.

You can find out more about Ethics Town here: https://ethicstown.weebly.com/

Ep 66 - One Step Closer (feat. David "Trials-of-the-Apocalypse" Easley as Ditri)

Gregory Carrobis — Fri, 24 May 2024 05:00:00 -0500

Leviathan Hunters and Line Bulls risk their lives against the supernatural so that the rest of the Imperium never have to. Despite this great service, society at large would rather keep them both out of sight with Leviathan Hunters being out to see for a third of the year. Perhaps for this reason, the general public holds a romantic idea of a sailor's life while the ever present Line Bull will never be anything but picked on. But when tragedy takes one Hunter ship, it is a crew of Line Bulls who must pick the slack and prevent further catastrophe. Drix takes a pounding. Pip saves a life. Ditri leaves a surprise. Andrel actually warms up to a guest.

Find special guest David on his podcast Trials of the Apocalypse here! Follow them on twitter @TotaPodcast

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Vamps in the Village - (NOT) Ep 46

Gregory Carrobis — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 16:00:00 -0500

Content Warning: Discussion of vomit (~3:48 to 4:37, ~7:07 to 8:10, ~11:52 to 12:30, ~19:14 to 20:11) - Trevor threw up offscreen before the events of the episode and it is referenced throughout

Hey there kids, Your Cool Aunt Hannah is running another game of vampire hunting for our young sleuths! Feel free to start here, and they'll catch you up. This week: Candace drops Trevor, Drix, and Pip off with Auntie Andrel, who asks the kids to give some cookies to her new neighbor. But there's something off about the way they never take off that plague doctor mask....

Lessons learned this week: Season your food, and make friends with your neighbors

The Vampire Next Door by Cat Elm. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Latepril Fool's Announcement

Gregory Carrobis — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 05:00:00 -0500

Looks like Greg forgot about April Fools until it was too late! They've had a fun idea in the can for a minute though, so let's see if it works out.

Ep 65 - Train Based Trauma (feat. David "Trials-of-the-Apocalypse" Easley)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 05:00:00 -0500

Culture shock for roaming Line Bulls is not uncommon, as each locomotive can be run entirely differently than every other despite the existence of Imperial regulation and convention. But a certain Bull must serve on every train in the Railways fleet, and just when he thought he had the hang of it he is assigned to the Pride of Duskwall. Drix supports childhood development. Pip reminds one of science class. Ditri meets a sparkboy. Andrel freezes up and has a bad time.

Find special guest David on his podcast Trials of the Apocalypse here! Follow them on twitter @TotaPodcast

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep 64 - The Bashful Bull (feat. David Trials-of-the-Apocalypse)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 05:00:00 -0500

The cities of the Imperium are cloaked in night at the best of times, and a darkened alleyway carries no special menace. But even Scoundrels dread to venture beneath the docks, close to the blackest Sea. It is here that the nervous Ditri must go to make ends meet. Later, Pippin puts Jean-Claude in his place. Drix lends a helping hand. Andrel spies someone weird.

Find special guest David on his podcast Trials of the Apocalypse here! Follow them on twitter @TotaPodcast

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 63 Part 2 - Layover: Once Tyr-moor with Feeling

Gregory Carrobis — Sat, 25 Nov 2023 05:00:00 -0500

This is the second part of the Layover in Tyrmoor, now split in two (as all Layovers will be from now on). The first half an hour is pretty emotional and there's an offhand mention of Crowl possessing someone to commit suicide at ~43:30

A cliff where the sky meets the land. Below it, a shore where the land meets the sea. A witch's ritual, where the past will meet the present. The city of Tyrmoor gives to the Line Bulls only what they themselves have brought. Andrel cries for her mother and father. Drix is shamed by his Greater. Pip drinks for his own safety.

Check out How to Make a Literal Cat in Your Favorite RPG here

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 63 - Layover: For a Few Silver Tyr-Moor

Gregory Carrobis — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 05:00:00 -0500

The northernmost city of Severos is Tyrmoor, named in the fashion of Skovlan. Though Severosi do live in the highlands, many prefer the plains and common Imperial reckoning places the beginning of Skovlan at the lightning barrier of Tyrmoor. But for the Line Bulls of the Pride, the sight of the fourth Shattered Isle brings a nervous anticipation. Pip alarms the Physicker. Andrel gets the truth. Drix dreams of home.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Bonus - Fan Expo Boston 2023

Gregory Carrobis — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 05:00:00 -0500

Video of the show is available on YouTube here!

In their second live appearance, the Ghosts on a Train gang played a short encounter on The Creator Stage set up by Chuck Lindsey (@ChuckLoadComics) at Fan Expo Boston 2023! Guy made it to this one, so it's the full gang of Line Bulls. The gang are invited to take a trip under the Void Sea that anyone can enjoy outside of continuity! Pip sticks his head inside a membrane. Andrel sides with a girlboss. Drix gets a man between his thighs.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Bonus - Stop at the Depot: Ep 60-62 (feat. Xan)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 05:00:00 -0500

Now that the Line Bulls have faced Dust Devils, freed the spirits of a ghost train, and formed a "friendship coalition", the cast of Ghosts on a Train discuss episodes 60 to 62 along with guest Xan. We discuss how Xan came to be our guest, Guy's desires for Pip and Candace's relationship, player suspicion of guests, and how success and failure feel in games. The gang also discusses height and the origin of Pip's dislike of Jean Claude!

Find special guest Xan on Twitter @inxanityTTRPG, on the JUST RELEASED Actual Play Emergent Code, and keep an ear out for them on Super Suits! And if YOU want to play with them yourself you can book them on here on startplaying.game! Our own Conductor Greg has already signed on for a game of Blades in the Dark.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 62 - Ghosts Train (feat. Xan)

Gregory Carrobis — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 05:00:00 -0500

Life on the Ghost Lines is carried over the bones of the dead, and every train may one day become a coffin. Before Line Bulls, there were merely electrofields wrapping each train like a raincoat; and after the first hurricane the Ministry knew that something more was needed. Line Bulls fight and die, as necessary as the plasm pushing the locomotives forward and when the entire crew of the Pride of Duskwall stands together they will be able to protect even their own protectors. Andrel gets Trevor to fold. Pip gets yanked. Brogan gets Drix to cry.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Bonus - Rainbow Roll Fest 2023

Gregory Carrobis — Sat, 29 Jul 2023 13:30:00 -0500

CONTENT WARNING: Traumatic Cannibalism Recollection (~38:23-41:38)

This 45 minute screener was played as part of the Rainbow Roll Fest 2023 Showcase. Watch it on Youtube here

Ghosts on a Train is a bi-weekly tabletop podcast where four friends play Ghost Lines, an RPG by John Harper. Take a ride on "The Pride of Duskwall", an electric train traveling through ghost infested territory! Our gang of Line Bulls will ensure your safe arrival by (lightning) hook or by crook! Using a game system that shares a setting with Blades in the Dark and specifically focusing on the Unquiet Dead means that Ghosts on a Train sometimes goes to dark places with regards to death, Dickensian inequality, and the cruelty of Imperialism. But the gang is always quick with a joke, and the players talk about the narrative and their feelings both on and off mic for their own safety and for that of anyone listening. They’re normally audio only, but hope you enjoy them taking the opportunity to be on camera as they play a “Could be Canonical” one off Ghost Lines adventure.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 61 - Stampede Together (feat. Xan)

Gregory Carrobis — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 05:00:00 -0500

Indigo, Badge Name Brogan, is not the first Line Bull to suggest collaboration between Line Bulls for the betterment of them all. But the powerlessness felt by the Bulls is well reinforced and difficult to surmount alone. The Ministry of Preservation kills the very idea of Unionization before it can enter a Line Bull's mind, because once it is there they know that it will never leave. Brogan meets a King. Drix gets some hot goss. Pip seeks out a hard conversation. Andrel fires and she misses.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 60 - Friendship Coalition (feat. Xan)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 05:00:00 -0500

A familiar scene plays out on an unfamiliar train. The whims of the noble Lord Glixterbury call for the Soaring Skovlander to stop in the middle of the deathlands, and as an unspoken rule the Imperial Railways should answer his call. But this train has a gang of Line Bulls that stampede together. Sometime later: Andrel confounds Georgie with an unknown power. Pip goes on a date. Drix fires a hesitant finger gun.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep 59 - Layover: Lucky Number Sevrin

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 18 May 2023 05:00:00 -0500

The final days of The Feast of Gratitude yield warmth for the shivering masses of the Shattered Isles. As the cold leaves the ground, so too does it slowly melt away from the hearts of the disillusioned. The Pride of Duskwall will once more whistle with fire and smoke, a call for its Line Bulls to hop aboard once their business is finished. Drix has a fated encounter. Pippin spends a night drinking. Andrel makes an enemy.

Listen to The Monster's Playbook here and follow them on Twitter @MonsterPlaybook

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Bonus - Stop at the Depot: Ep 56-58 (feat. Jaci Szilagyi)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 04 May 2023 05:00:00 -0500

The Talkbacks we've been doing on Patreon are now going to be posted there early and then put on the Main feed between the end of a Line and the Layover for the start of a new one. This will give us a chance to talk through and reflect on a full Line, as well as giving Greg more time so they don't fall behind on any edits. Enjoy a minimally edited discussion of the creation of Ghosts on a Train!

Now that the Line Bulls have encountered ghost Taji, tested Cricket the Whisper's Spirit Locator, and uncovered the secret of The Creature "Friday Feeling", the cast of Ghosts on a Train discuss episodes 56 to 58 along with guest Jaci Seelagy. We discuss Cricket's origins as a Blades in the Dark character, whether they would do another in game holiday, the consequences of killing Taji the Tank Engine, and how Greg would run this Line differently. The gang also discusses the deep sadness that the past few Lines have contained, and what it means for the future!

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 58 - Just That Friday Feeling (feat. Jaci Szilagyi)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 05:00:00 -0500

Content Warnings: Spiders (~5:00-8:00)- Drix falls into a web made of spiderwebs, tries to pet a giant spider, is accidentally bitten by it, and ultimately rides it to safety, Child Neglect(~17:15-17:39)-A little girl talks about her father regularly leaving her outside all night, Child Death(~19:20-35:40)- The little girl has been dead the whole time, and we later learn she died from exposure after her father left her outside

The strange creature reminiscent of Ringmaster Friday Feelig exerts a strange power over the Big Top of the abandoned Friday Feelig's Carnival. Through the Ghost Field, the past can be viewed and even touched by the present and there can be no doubt that the figures the Line Bulls of the Pride meet in the Big Top are from the past and yet- the Echoes of the Ghost Field bear the imprints of reality, while everything under the Big Top is warped in a way that betrays the damage of human perception and memory. Drix makes a many-legged friend. Pip clowns around. Cricket puts lightning in her veins. Andrel gives a hug and feels worse for it.

Find special guest Jaci Seelagy on her podcast Jack of All Trades! Or perhaps acting opposite Greg in Midsummer's Quarantine? Why not Sybil in The Gorgon Show? And you can't miss her as the invisible hand behind Super Suits season 1!

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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TOTALLY (NOT) Ep. 58 - PARTY: Goats on a Train

Gregory Carrobis — Sat, 01 Apr 2023 14:00:00 -0500

As with every episode marked PARTY, this episode can be enjoyed as a standalone.

Thanks for your patience, partygoers! We weren't even planning to release on April 1st this year, but hope you enjoy this 58th episode of Goats on a Train. It's the Feast of Gratitude in the Imperial City, and our goats want in! Pip beats loudly. Andrel is burdened with knowledge. Drix changes clothes.

Goat Crashers by Grant Howitt. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 57 - Carnival of Errors (feat. Jaci Szilagyi)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 16 Mar 2023 05:00:00 -0500

Content Warnings: Spiders (~45:10-45:40, ~50:15-52:30, ~58:30-1:01:40)- Drix is menaced by a giant spider over a net of webs, Drowning (~1:05:20 to the end)- Cricket is trapped in a large bottle of water and we end on a cliffhanger of darkly accepting her fate

Bristling against the strange requests of an employer often comes with being a Line Bull. But in the case of a Bull's side employment, they have much more freedom than when they are on the rails and at the mercy of the conductor. For this very reason many Bulls eventually leave the Imperial Railways to bring their talents to those who need them, though certain experiences leave others choosing the opposite path. Andrel grips her lightning hook tight. Pip eats a corndog. Cricket ignores a warning. Drix hangs around.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 56 - Lucky Cricket (feat. Jaci Szilagyi)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 02 Mar 2023 05:00:00 -0500

Content Warning, Gunshots (~49:10, ~57:16)- A ghost has a ghost revolver that shoots but leaves little scorchmarks instead of bulletholes

Cricket, the cunning Whisper, takes no time off for the Feast of Gratitude. Hired by the thief known as Gimmy the Snatch, she shows kindness to the spirits that slip through the cracks. But Cricket is a Scoundrel, and her kindness should not be confused for naivete. And the Line Bulls of the Pride of Duskwall are awfully late reporting to her. Drix loses some candy. Pippin is found out. Andrel reveals some new knowledge.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta. This episode contained audio from The Lone Ranger - The Osage Bank Robbery (1937), which played while Drix was in the movie theater

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Super Suits Launch Promo

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 05:00:00 -0500

GHOSTS ON A TRAIN WILL BE BACK FROM HIATUS TOWARDS THE END OF FEBRUARY.

Check out the Super Suits Launch party on February 5th at 12pm EST - https://www.twitch.tv/faustiannonsense. Listen on February 6th wherever you listen to us. Follow Super Suits on twitter @SuperSuitsPod

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Ep. 55 - Layover: The Magnificent Sevrin

Gregory Carrobis — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 05:00:00 -0500

Content Warning, Dehumanization and Intense Violence (~29:05-31:18)- The Physicker's Curse activates and repeats the verbal abuse written into it. They are physically harmed by the curse, and though it is excruciating they are not left dead or with lasting physical damage.

The city of Sevrin becomes the winter home of the Pride of Duskwall, as the Feast of Gratitude coincides with the harshest cold across the Imperium. Imperial Railways employees enjoy an extended holiday past their typical Layover. Andrel makes an innocent discovery and the punishment is unearned. Drix makes a door. Pippin fails to avoid fish.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Bonus - The Feast of Gratitude

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 05:00:00 -0500

The Ghosts on a Train crew play Ryan Khan's The Festival of Deep Winter, the storytelling game of creating and exploring a winter holiday. Expanding on the already existing Gratitude celebration from Blades in the Dark, the gang create the customs of the Feast of Gratitude and then explore the previous year's Feast as their Line Bull PCs from the main show.

The Festival of Deep Winter by Ryan Khan. Music by TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 54 - Rejecting Despair

Gregory Carrobis — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 05:00:00 -0500

Content Warning, Drugging and Racism (~38:00-44:00)- Lord Strangford attempts to get an employeed of the Pride fired by drugging them and accusing them of being an alcoholic, playing to a racial stereotype.

Two gunshot sounds from ~25:40-25:46.

For many Scoundrels, death is the end of the Line. But with a benefactor like Lord Strangford, Crowl has been able to continue doing as he pleases for 20 years since his demise. The destruction of the McKeel's has grown beyond a job for his patron, and is now Crowl's current obsession. Pip gets a grip on his past. Drix sees through a lie. Andrel gets a talking to.

After the main show, the Line Bulls receive a shady advertisement that unfortunately wins them over. You can leave similar messages, questions, or suggestions for the train to the email ghosttrainpod@gmail.com. The Line Bulls will respond!

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 53 - Futile Hopes

Gregory Carrobis — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 19:00:00 -0500

Content Warning, Real Drug Mention (~27:05-27:37)- There is an out of character mention of Narcan, the real medicine that can save the life of someone suffering an opioid overdose as well as Speed, slang for a real drug.

With centuries of life behind lightning barriers, one may wonder how the Deathlands continues to be so treacherous. How does the outside replenish itself in the modern age of Imperial Safety? In truth, it is known that Imperial Safety comes hand in hand with Imperial Oppression and many a doomed traveler will escape to an uncertain freedom than live out their lives under the Emperor's boot. Drix gets a guilt trip. Andrel learns what happened to Ji'mani. Pip is unsure about his relationship status.

Donate to the Karen 1% Seed & Spark campaign here

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 52 - All That's Left Behind

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 05:00:00 -0500

The mood is dour on the Pride of Duskwall as the train makes it's way non-stop through Thorn to Sevrin. Walker's near-death at the Journeyman ceremony stirs many conflicting emotions in the hearts of the Line Bulls, feelings that are only articulated with great effort. But an important passenger on the Line brings along a more immediate threat. Andrel forgets about Ji'mani. Pip decides to remember. Drix must run to the rescue.

Vote for Ghosts on a Train for the Audio Verse Awards here!

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 51 - Many Great People

Gregory Carrobis — Fri, 14 Oct 2022 05:00:00 -0500

Content Warning: Gun violence(~00:36:20-00:42:15)- Someone is shot, and there is a brief moment of civilian panic. The gunshot wound is tended to, in a stressful and traumatic situation but without gory description.

Though it has only been two days in Belisle, the Line Bulls have now experienced life outside of the Imperium for longer than many who will live and die behind a lightning barrier. But all good things must come to an end, and the Line Bulls must return to Cullfield for their Journeyman Ceremony with Mr. Walker. Andrel catches Orlence in hypocrisy. Pip is not helpless. Drix gains a heavy burden.

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Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Bonus - Stop at the Depot: 50th Episode

Gregory Carrobis — Fri, 30 Sep 2022 05:00:00 -0500

Making an appearance here on the main feed is the 50th episode edition of our TalkBacks that we've been doing on Patreon. Enjoy a minimally edited discussion of the creation of Ghosts on a Train!

Now that the Line Bulls have returned from the unplanned hiatus, done a live show, and visited Drix's home of Belisle, the cast of Ghosts on a Train discuss the milestone of the 50th episode and the creation of the story so far. We discuss Greg's attempts at metaphor with Human Magic, whether Andrel trusts adults now, why Pip is sticking his neck out, and how it was decided that Drix would be a Magician. The gang also discusses the creation of Arcane Fortress Belisle, and how we're probably more than halfway through this campaign now!

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 50 - Like a Tumbleweed

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 05:00:00 -0500

The treasonous plan to destroy His Majesty the Immortal Emperor has been hatched in the secluded nest of Belisle. Peeping like a chick, it is not yet safe for it to go as far as the conspiracy of Magicians, Line Bulls, and distant Skovlander ghosts dream of. The Line Bulls of the Pride of Duskwall have another day to spend on further business in this outpost outside of the Empire that they now turn against. Andrel learns a life altering truth. Drix goes head to head with his rival. Pip gets revenge.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Bonus - Fan Expo Boston 2022 (feat. Arlo Barksdale)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 25 Aug 2022 05:00:00 -0500

Watch the video that this audio is from on the FN Youtube channel here!

In their first live appearance, the Ghosts on a Train gang played a short encounter on The Creator Stage set up by Chuck Lindsey (@ChuckLoadComics) at Fan Expo Boston 2022! Guy couldn't make it, so instead Arlo Barksdale (of Hecla fame) played a guest (not Hecla). It's a ghost hunt inside a city that anyone can enjoy outside of continuity! Spirit Warden Holtz Bowman brings an offer the Bulls can't refuse. Andrel hunts an old nemesis. Drix does it to another man, always.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 49 - The Magic of Belisle

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 05:00:00 -0500

The Magicians of Severos remember the land before the cataclysm, living as they do outside of Imperial society. The Immortal Emperor saved scholarly works to educate humanity in the cataclysm's wake, but he distributed them selectively and for the utility of propping up his Imperium- the Severosi let knowledge flow as free and wild as the horses of their plains. The Line Bulls of The Pride of Duskwall take a trip to Belisle, an Arcane Fortress of Severos and Drix's home. Drix reconnects with his past. Pip is a cool guy. Andrel shares a secret.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 48 - Layover: Cullfield of Dreams

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 28 Jul 2022 05:00:00 -0500

Content Warning: Rampant Shirtlessness (~1:05:30-1:16:44, and ~1:19:05-1:21:10) - everyone winds up at a bar where the bartenders are shirtless, with Drix shirtless among them, Andrel as a clothed bouncer, and Pip swinging by to make a delivery. Sexual Harrassment (~1:12:53-1:14:55) - one of the shirtless bartenders gets their butt slapped, and Andrel kicks the offender out of the bar.

The Pride of Duskwall arrives in Cullfield with some badly needed lightning oil. With an extended Layover on their hands, the Line Bulls celebrate Andrel's Orphanage* Birthday and take on an unusual side job. Andrel encounters something she thought was left behind. Pip receives an obvious warning. Drix takes his top off, but the hat stays on.

Check out Gather the Suspect's crowdfunding campaign over at Seed & Spark, they're a cozy murder mystery audio drama and fellow FN show!

Fireman Drix artwork can be seen on the FN discord server, and it's by @BrothBowl on Twitter. The Fireman Drix artist is just shirtless, but BROTHBOWL IS AN 18+ ARTIST.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 47 - Pride of the Pride

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 26 May 2022 05:00:00 -0500

Content Warning: Gunshots Throughout- Coleman's gang (and Candace!) all have revolvers. People are shot and shot at, but nobody is killed by any shot.

Though often erroneously chalked up to his Dagger Isles blood, Coleman Kanatcher's skill as a Whisper is revealed. Staring daggers at the Pride of Duskwall, he's stopped the train in its tracks and moved in to rob the Imperial Railways directly. The Line Bulls split up to handle the situation and keep anyone from dying. Pip takes three men. Andrel learns what The Pride of Duskwall is made of. Drix Casts a Spell.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 46 - Light a Shuck

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 12 May 2022 05:00:00 -0500

The Line Bulls of the Pride of Duskwall are finally due to leave the Severosi city of Thorn. But forces conspire in hopes that they won't escape the consequences of their actions. Thorn is in chaos and Lord Strangford's ghostly infiltrator Crowl has revealed that the Minister of Preservation will wipe the slate of his involvement. And not only that, Crowl is free to kill Pippin and end the McKeel bloodline. Drix carries the team. Pip recovers from a rough day. Andrel totally calls it.

Listen to The Green Horizon and follow them on Twitter @greenhorizonpod!

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 45 - Layover: Crown of Thorn

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 05:00:00 -0500

The Line Bulls of the Pride of Duskwall have effectively dashed the hopes of Thorn's home-grown conspiracy. Though concentrated in the city for it's unique Zoo ecosystem, many beyond it's lightning barrier had stake in it's success and failure. As the Bulls prepare to leave, they may not be able to escape what slides into the power vacuum. Andrel comes face to face with something unknowable. Drix is left with a bad review. Pip gets an invitation he won't refuse.

Listen to The Green Horizon and follow them on Twitter @greenhorizonpod!

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 44 - A Blockbuster Finale (feat. Cai Gwilym Pritchard)

Gregory Carrobis — Fri, 15 Apr 2022 05:00:00 -0500

Content Warning for Violence against Animals- Pip kills some snakes by cracking them like a whip (~13:20-15:50)

The unique creatures of The Zoo defy common logic. A 4 winged crow that speaks and divines your hour of death is most certainly a Devil, but snakes that can be both flesh and intangible electroplasm boggles the minds of professional Line Bulls. And yet, Timoth has stumbled into a den of them with the real Line Bulls rushing to his rescue. Pippin does some ghost grabbin'. Drix gets caught in a crowd. Andrel helps make a weird new friend. Timoth learns the meaning of being a Line Bull.

Find special guest Cai Gwilym Pritchard on their podcast, Chain of Being!

We created the Zoo on a Bonus Episode with @OneShotRPG, using his book The Ultimate RPG Game Master's Worldbuilding Guide that you can purchase here or wherever books are sold!

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Off Da Railz: 44 Seconds to Mars (feat. Greg Carrobis)

Gregory Carrobis — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 05:00:00 -0500

Content Warning for mention of Hate Crimes- Fishbone gets a mysterious note that says 'Race' which is really an invitation to race cars but is humorously misunderstood as threat of a hate crime (~11:50-12:30)

Sup Fast Fans! Hope you're ready for a doozy of a 44th Movie. Like every Movie played on Off Da Railz, this one can be listened to without any prior knowledge (but those who've stuck with La Familia until now are the real ones, respect!). The death of Timoth has left the Family broken, but the return of McKeel from the Shadow Realm will reinvigorate their bonds. Andrel has thrown herself into catching the remaining members of Gearshift, and Fishbone plans to make an announcement to the whole Familia.

Find special guest Greg on Twitter @gergcandlestick!

Wild Speed: Space Family by MIchael Elliot. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 43 - Templeton Unspooled (feat. Cai Gwilym Pritchard)

Gregory Carrobis — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 05:00:00 -0500

Content Warning for Scary Animatronics- An animatronic of the Zoo's mascot turns on and jumpscares Timoth, and then he has a flashback of it scaring him as a kid (~33:30-36:15)

The Line Bulls of the Pride of Duskwall have been led into the open mouth of a nearly dead Leviathan. Even after being mined of flesh and blood, the skeletal creature's life continues though it's body is still. The inside too, teems with life of a different kind as this creature's skeleton was further used to house a now abandoned Zoo. The Bulls must ponder the reasons they were sent here, while avoiding their very likely deaths in this forgotten ecosystem. Pip learns an unspeakable truth. Timoth finally breaks. Andrel and Drix bust the whole thing wide open.

Find special guest Cai Gwilym Pritchard on their podcast, Chain of Being!

Listen to Disc Space on Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts!

We created the Zoo on a Bonus Episode with @OneShotRPG, using his book The Ultimate RPG Game Master's Worldbuilding Guide that you can purchase here or wherever books are sold!

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black and TJ Woods. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 42 - The Leading Man (feat. Cai Gwilym Pritchard)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 05:00:00 -0500

The Line Bulls of the Best Friend of Thorn may not always behave, but no train is faster and no crew more tightly knit! Timoth, badge name "Templeton", is the leader of the gang and when a ghost has his number the Bulls protect him like they're a Family! Meanwhile, the Line Bulls of the Pride of Duskwall aren't taking to the rails for at least another few days. Drix gets gaslit, gatekept, and girlbossed. Andrel considers the role blackmail plays in her life. Pip is used as an actual anchor.

Find special guest Cai Gwilym Pritchard on their podcast, Chain of Being!

Listen to Disc Space on Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts!

Help fund Super Suits here, and follow the show on Twitter here.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta. Heist Music by TJ Woods, find him on Twitter @Tjizzlell and his linktree here

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Ep. 41 - Layover: A Rose Between Thorn

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 05:00:00 -0500

Content Warning for Animal Death and Gore- A whale-like Leviathan Spawn is killed by being ground into chum ~1:10:30-1:13:00

The Pride of Duskwall enters the Severosi city of Thorn. The center of this city leaves not a trace of the Severosi brambles from which it gets it's name, presenting to those disembarking a city that is artificially warm and welcoming. On the furthest edge of the city, past the shacks of undesirables and the thorny brambles of Severos is an abandoned Zoo of some repute. Andrel brings Ji'mani to get some medical attention. Drix is confused for another notable Severosi. Pip lies about his name for no good reason.

Follow Bring Your Own Mech @OwnMech on Twitter, and listen to their show here!

Listen to Disc Space on Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts!

Help fund Super Suits here, and follow the show on Twitter here.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta. Heist Music by TJ Woods, find him on Twitter @Tjizzlell and his linktree here

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bail_funds_george_floyd?refcode=cwg https://www.joincampaignzero.org https://www.napawf.org/donate https://www.navajowaterproject.org/ https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/contribute-to-the-atlanta-solidarity-fund https://nymag.com/strategist/article/where-to-donate-to-help-asian-communities-2021.html

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Bonus - The Escape of Ixis by Bennoni Thomas

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 05:00:00 -0500

EPISODE 41 WILL COME OUT IN FEBRUARY 2022.

The Four Demon Princes of Iruvia are said to rest in U'duasha as the four obsidian pillars around the burning lake of The U'du, and legend says that though they had escaped their prison in the skies these pillars still restrained them. When the pillar of Ixis was found split in two, those who truly believed in the Princes knew that he had been freed. Enjoy The Escape of Ixis, written by Bennoni Thomas.

Find Bennoni on Twitter @darcwizrd. Ixis voiced by Amelia Kinch. Khayat voiced by Avalon Willowbloom. Serekh voiced by Trevor Schechter. Khuset voiced by Joe Cruz.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 40 - Mermaid's Wake

Gregory Carrobis — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 05:00:00 -0500

Like many creatures now thought myth, the mermaids survive in some way outside of human settlements where they would be considered Devils as any supernatural creature is. The previously delightful encounter is found to have not so delightful consequences for the Pride of Duskwall, and out of necessity the Line Bulls team up with some nearby Daggerites. Andrel slaps Trevor A LOT. Drix blows something wide shut. Pippin interrogates every rat he can find.

After the main show, we have another Suggestion (after so long!) outright demanding a new train car. Submit your own at ghosttrainpod@gmail.com

Follow Trials of the Apocalypse on Twitter @TotaPodcast and listen to them here

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/ep-40-mermaids-wake.

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Ep. 39 - Walker's Footsteps

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 25 Nov 2021 05:00:00 -0500

With their heads still not clear from a Layover in Mistport, the Line Bulls of the Pride of Duskwall agree to meet on the train early and investigate the Office Car. The mists of the Dagger Isles are unable to conceal the secrets of Mr. Walker, who's true nature is finally made clear to the Line Bulls. Drix busts this whole thing wide open. Pippin is cornered and frightened. Andrel is told she is pretty.

Follow @EryliaPod on Twitter and learn more about Adventures in Erylia on their website here

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/ep-39-walkers-footsteps.

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Ep. 38 - Layover: Line Bulls in the Mist(port)

Gregory Carrobis — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 05:00:00 -0500

As the Pride of Duskwall speeds through the Dagger Isles, the Line Bulls on board must deal with the results of their altercation in the mist. Passengers are often lost, and a locomotive may enter a city a few passengers lighter than they left with. Conversely, stowaways are rare and extra passengers may be viewed with suspicion. The Bulls approach Mistport hoping to put the situation behind them. Pippin is caught in a lie. Andrel makes a promise. Drix makes a friend.

Fishbone Music by TJ Woods, find him on Twitter @Tjizzlell and his linktree here

Find our sponsor Little Business Library on Twitter @lilbusinesses, and use our code "listen10" to get your business on their directory here!

For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/ep-38-layover-line-bulls-in-the-mistport.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 37 - Fate, Sealed (feat. Arlo Barksdale)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 05:00:00 -0500

Content Warnings- Slavery: The Hollows are forced to defend their slave master Reverend Declan (~12:45-14:30)

Suicide Mention: Hecla says she would end herself rather than be Hollowed (39:23-39:46) and later she considers ending herself in a tight spot (~47:43-47:48)

The Line Bulls of the Pride of Duskwall are about to cross a threshold. While a simple Bull follows their job to the letter, it is a human being who makes their own choices. The gang of Bulls are loyal and trusting of one another over the orders of the Railways or the power of the Church, and so they choose to free the Hollows and abandon these passengers. Andrel confronts yet another rotten adult. Pippin calls upon something he has only found accidentally before. Drix is good in a scrap, but flinches at murder. Hecla strikes now.

Find special guest Arlo Barksdale on his website here

Find Redgate and Wolf on Twitter and listen here

Find our sponsor Little Business Library on Twitter @lilbusinesses, and use our code "listen10" to get your business on their directory here!

For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/ep-37-fate-sealed-feat-aurora-barksdale.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta. Sound Effects for the Magic SFX in the final showdown by Cai Gwilym Pritchard! Check out more of their work on their podcast, Chain of Being!

We are a proud member of the Faustian Nonsense Network of podcasts! Join the Faustian Nonsense Network discord here, and support us by joining the FN Patreon!

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Ep. 36 - Hollow Words (feat. Arlo Barksdale)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 14 Oct 2021 05:00:00 -0500

Content Warnings- Slavery: Hollows, human bodies without their souls are forced into servitude and neglected (discussed throughout the episode)

Starvation: The players spend most of the episode in a room where a Hollow that has starved to death (discussed throughout the episode)

Mass Graves: Pip and Hecla go to bury the dead Hollow, and find that many Hollows have been buried here (~11:33 - 13:10)

The Line Bulls of the Pride of Duskwall and the apparent flesh nun Hecla are given the grim task of burying a Hollow, as casually as one might be asked to empty the garbage. Far from any Ministry authority, the Line Bulls must decide on if the abuse of the Hollows shall go unanswered. A visitor comes for Andrel. Pip wishes to remain uninvolved. Hecla jumps to an extreme solution. Drix is prepared to fight.

Find special guest Arlo Barksdale on his website here

Find our sponsor Little Business Library on Twitter @lilbusinesses, and use our code "listen10" to get your business on their directory here!

For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/ep-36-hollow-words-feat-aurora-barksdale.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

We are a proud member of the Faustian Nonsense Network of podcasts! Join the Faustian Nonsense Network discord here, and support us by joining the FN Patreon!

Help the Show by Rating and Reviewing on Apple Podcasts

Ep. 35 - Clouded Judgement (feat. Arlo Barksdale)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 05:00:00 -0500

Content Warnings: Slavery: Hollows, human bodies without their souls are forced into servitude and neglected (~53:16, to the remainder of the episode)

Dehumanizing Violence: The Hollows are whipped when they reach for food before they work (53:28-53:46)

Starvation: The Hollows are hungry and overworked, one has starved to death (~59:19-1:00:50)

The Church of the Flesh use the Imperial Railways as though they were a formal Ministry under the Imperium, and Line Bulls must defer to them as many of the formal Ministries are full of high ranking Church members. Now the Pride of Duskwall must carry missionaries to the Dagger Isles, where the Imperium is unnecessary and the Church unwanted. Drix sends rope messages. Hecla struggles to find her destiny. Andrel blows something wide open. Pippin has a job to do.

Find special guest Arlo Barksdale on his website here

Find our sponsor Little Business Library on Twitter @lilbusinesses, and use our code "listen10" to get your business on their directory here!

For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/ep-35-clouded-judgement-feat-aurora-barksdale.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

We are a proud member of the Faustian Nonsense Network of podcasts! Join the Faustian Nonsense Network discord here, and support us by joining the FN Patreon!

Help the Show by Rating and Reviewing on Apple Podcasts

TRANSCRIPT

Greg 0:00

Content warning for slavery, dehumanizing violence, and starvation. Check the description for timestamps and details.

Pip 0:08

Last time with ghost and trains and something.

Greg 0:13

He picks up a badge. It's triangular, like the Line Bull badges, but it lacks the indicators of rank along the edges, it lacks the extra inscriptions. It is truly the same as a typical Line Bull badge, but unlike the other Line Bull badges, it has not been modified from its original purpose. Inscribed upon it is the name Booker.

Greg 0:33

There is not a lot physically significant about Hecla, perhaps, but Sister Hecla, unlike your fellows who believe that all spirits are inherently sinful, you know that some spirits are good, the spirits of your ancestors that have guided you to this very train.

Greg 0:53

There is a group of clergy of the Church of the Ecstasy of the Sacred Flesh.

Mr. McClaremont 0:59

Dear me, am I the only one that always gets nervous whenever my boss's boss shows up?

Greg 1:04

It's Mr. Walker, he's there to work with you from the Ministry of Preservation!

Pip 1:09

And today...

Radio Announcer Greg 1:12

The Church of the Ecstasy of the Flesh, often referred to as simply the Church. So ubiquitous is the Church that these two words alone immediately bring the so-called state religion to mind. A secret society in the most respectful sense, the Church of the Flesh would never deny their existence, but their higher teachings and true goals are impenetrable to those outside of the organization. Socialites and politicians alike see membership as the path to success, and so the Church has embedded itself into the culture of the Imperium. In recent years, the Church of the Ecstasy of the Sacred Flesh became truly ecstatic, with rumor that they were adopting practices and absorbing membership from demonic spirit cults. This is unsurprising, as the modern Church was preceded by the Cult of the Empty Vessel. Although where once only volunteers would be hollowed, the Church has begun to use hollowing as a way to help those they deem in need of salvation, regardless of their own thoughts on the matter.

Greg 2:35

Hello, welcome to Ghosts on the Train! And to those passengers that are returning, thank you for riding with us once again.

Hannah 2:44

You're just doing this because Guy via me dunked on you last time for saying welcome back.

Greg 2:50

Yeah, I am. It's called taking feedback.

Hannah 2:52

All right.

Greg 2:53

Which we do. Email suggestions for the train to ghosttrainpod@gmail.com, you can be in character, you can not be in character, it's fun. We're gonna have fun with it. I'm your conductor, Greg, and I run the game.

Hannah 3:06

I'm Hannah. I play Andrel Anderson, a kid who is not a big fan of religion, apparently. I've made that decision.

Guy 3:16

I'm Guy. I play Pip. Pip is in a way. I don't have a follow up to this.

Stefen 3:27

Yeah, I'm Stefen and I play Drix, who is pretty thoroughly but vaguely uncomfortable around these people?

Greg 3:37

And our special guest.

Guy 3:38

Special guest!

Aurora 3:40

I'm Aurora. I'm playing Sister Hecla, and I'm one of, one of those people that makes Drix uncomfortable. And makes, kind of - well, I think, I like to think I'm making everybody uncomfortable.

Stefen 3:53

I would think so.

Aurora 3:53

I like to think it's a group effect.

Hannah 3:55

Always, always.

Greg 3:55

Just a classic flesh nun.

Aurora 3:58

Thank you, thank you.

Guy 4:01

You're welcome, I guess.

Greg 4:04

You're very unsettling.

Hannah 4:05

Yeah.

Aurora 4:07

Thank you all so much. I do, I do try.

Greg 4:11

All right. The Pride of Duskwall. Mr. Walker is on board, talked to Pip earlier -

Guy 4:19

He sure did.

Greg 4:19

- before anybody showed up, expressing some amount of concern after hearing that he encountered Crowl.

Guy 4:26

Which gave me a hecking concern.

Greg 4:29

Which gave Pip a hecking concern. He dropped it immediately after Andrel Anderson showed up, and he explained that his purpose on paper for being on this train is to check on the construction of a new railway from Mistport to U'duasha. On top of that, Mr. McClaremont, looking very upset, explained to the Line Bulls that the train is kind of being, well, not taken over, but his area, his space is being invaded by some reserved seats for some missionaries of the Church of the Ecstasy of the Sacred Flesh, the state religion if ever there was one, of which Sister Hecla is a part.

Guy 5:09

Woo!

Greg 5:10

Currently our Line Bulls have been told by the extremely Akarosi, derogatory, Reverend Declan, to leave them alone as they have their little prayer time. So being upfront, the passengers outside of the missionaries are not going to super matter, much like the time that the passengers outside of the Ministry of Preservation did not super matter. They're not exactly all coming onto the train right now. They might be returning from the dining car, they might be wandering about and you just notice something about them as they stand up from the seat, but these - one of these people was just extremely rude to you. Besides Reverend Declan and Sister Hecla, does anybody have any descriptions of these missionaries? You can go nuts.

Hannah 5:56

I got one. So he bears an uncanny resemblance to the Head of Operations from the Ministry of Preservation -

Greg 6:04

GOD DAMMIT.

Guy 6:04

Well played.

Hannah 6:04

He's wearing a green shirt and brown pants, and he's got curly brown hair, like, a little bit of stubble...

Guy 6:22

A very form fitting outfit, apparently. So have fun with that.

Greg 6:26

Off-mic, Hannah was like "Oh, I already use my bit where I just, where I put Greg in there." And now she has once again described what I'm wearing.

Hannah 6:38

I didn't, I wasn't saying that as a, as a misdirect. I said it because I actually thought it, and then it occurred to me, that's fine, I can just put another Greg in there.

Aurora 6:49

Can always put more Gregs in there.

Hannah 6:51

You said go nuts.

Guy 6:52

The Shattered Isles are just full of Gregs. Just -

Hannah 6:55

So many Gregs. The most Gregs.

Guy 6:57

- doppelgangers of Greg.

Hannah 6:58

They're all positions of power, which is crazy? I think there might be something going on there.

Greg 7:03

Yeah, Reverend Declan -

Guy 7:05

We're gonna bust this thing wide open.

Greg 7:06

Reverend Declan is like -

Greg 7:08

Sister Hecla, It's wonderful of you to take our seat. Say, Brother Gerg. You're my favorite. You're my favorite. I love you. You're so cool and strong.

Hannah 7:18

Oh, the terrible one likes you. I don't think that's the ringing endorsement you think it is.

Aurora 7:24

Hecla nods, but makes kind of a wincing face about Gerg.

Greg 7:29

Brother Greg canonically sucks, probably. He's a missionary of the Church of the Ecstacy of the Sacred Flesh.

Guy 7:34

Brother Gerg is fine, probably. He's just fine. Just kind of, like, harmless.

Hannah 7:38

He's problematic.

Guy 7:39

The best you can describe him is, he's there.

Stefen 7:42

In this house, we do not abide Brother Gerg's bullshit.

Aurora 7:46

He's been a cog in the machine.

Greg 7:48

So any other descriptions? They don't have to be expressly missionaries, maybe, just, like, part of, like, a retinue. By attaching them to this group, we will see them.

Stefen 7:58

Okay, I think there's one woman who is wearing a ring on each finger, and extending backwards from that ring and up her arm is a lattice pattern, starting at the color of each ring and then weaving together until they eventually come to a point.

Greg 8:16

That's pretty dope.

Aurora 8:17

Hell yeah.

Hannah 8:18

Yeah, that's metal as fuck.

Guy 8:20

I have one. I think they are one of the, one of the higher-ups on this retinue, and their nose can only be described as hook shaped. Which wouldn't be, like, too bad, except they're constantly just, like, sneering and looking down on people. They are also, like, seven feet tall, so there's, like, no other way to really view them.

Greg 8:45

Nyeh!

Guy 8:45

Just a constant, like, look of disgust, looking down their nose at them, and all you can think of is just, like, wow, I could, like, hang a hat from that nose.

Aurora 8:54

Remarkable.

Corvid Man 8:55

I say! Father McClaremont, your confession booth is downright wretched!

Hannah 9:01

This... Guy, if anyone, if anyone who wasn't Jewish had suggested that, I would, like, bend you over my fucking knee. That would be deeply offensive coming from anyone else on this podcast.

Guy 9:16

That's true. That's true.

Stefen 9:19

That's fair.

Guy 9:19

It was definitely not my intent. Yeah, I was just thinking of, like, a very kind of rude and mean and tall bird person.

Corvid Man 9:29

There is an utter lack of metal in here! Truly wretched!

Guy 9:35

I will also say that their laugh is kind of more like crows cawing.

Hannah 9:41

Greg, give us a laugh.

Stefen 9:42

Yeah, Greg, come on.

Aurora 9:43

Yeah, Greg. Come on.

Greg 9:44

Say something funny.

Hannah 9:46

Oh!

Aurora 9:48

Is there another missionary?

Greg 9:50

Sure.

Aurora 9:51

Um, great. Okay, so that missionary is, they're, like, I don't know if there's any kind of ceremonies or features or, I don't know, items that would be associated with the Church of the Ecstacy of the Sacred Flesh, but -

Greg 10:09

It's up to you.

Aurora 10:09

Somebody who has, like, a lot of incense or something that you might use, you know, in, like, a sense, or. It's, like, stacked in, like, a backpack. It's very heavy and they look to be in an amount of discomfort, but they don't take it off even when they sit. So they're kind of sat at an awkward angle

Greg 10:29

Clang, clang noises.

Aurora 10:31

Yeah, but this is their, this is their sacred duty and they will fulfill it.

Incense Carrier 10:36

Geh, ugh, uh, uh, uh.

Greg 10:41

And they begin to reach for some water, but Reverend Declan swiftly picks it up and takes a sip and says -

Reverend Declan 10:49

Temperance. Remember, temperance is the way. Your toil -

Hannah 10:54

Damn!

Reverend Declan 10:54

- your toil is what makes you sacred.

Hecla 10:56

Just gotta temper those urges, buddy.

Guy 10:59

I have one more. They are wearing, literally, a hair shirt, visibly, like, uncomfortable, and they have, like, a little, little something to just, like, whip themselves. And so just, like, every kind of, like, 90 seconds or so, like, kch! Just flange themselves.

Greg 11:17

That's how people, that's how they sing spirituals. They just, to the beat of the self-flagellating guy.

Aurora 11:24

He keeps time. Sister Hecla is sitting as far away from that guy as she can get.

Greg 11:30

What a colorful, weird set of characters. There's a couple other passengers that go on. Not a crazy amount. A bit of an empty train. Mistport isn't the only dead end as far as cities go, but it is one of the more remote ones. There's not a lot of reason to go to Mistport, unless you have business in Mistport. And not to mention passing through the Dagger Isles makes many people uncomfortable. As the people of Dagger Isles live without lightening barriers, and whether that means they have some superior way of defending themselves, or perhaps coexists with the unquiet dead, both of those things are probably pretty troubling for any Imperially minded citizen.

Trevor 12:15

Pride of Duskwall departing for Mistport. All aboard!

Greg 12:21

Do you spend any time doing anything before your appointment at the islands?

Hannah 12:29

I think Andrel is keeping a sharp eye on both Drix and Pip, as they;ve both been a little weird.

Guy 12:40

Yep.

Hannah 12:40

In the first episode.

Guy 12:42

Yep.

Hannah 12:43

I don't know that she's necessarily saying anything, but she's vigilant in case they want to talk or, or in case, like, one of them starts slamming their head against a wall or whatever.

Guy 12:56

Pip actually has, like, his, his anchor suit on. I guess I'm going to be the anchor this time because it's what I'm best at.

Greg 13:03

Makes him feel safe.

Guy 13:04

Makes him feel safe. Pip has the anchor suit on and the mask on just so, like, no one can really read his expression, which helps, but, like, inside is kind of panicking.

Greg 13:14

What's Drix up to?

Stefen 13:15

I think Drix seems a little distracted, generally. He's kind of laying on the bunk kind of staring up and occasionally, like, glancing between, like, Pip and Andrel.

Greg 13:26

Sister Hecla, how's your ride going?

Aurora 13:30

My ride is going great. Sister Hecla is sat away from the flagellation guy, and she is spending her time in what I would describe as aggressive, quiet contemplation. She's sitting very upright with her head back against the seat, eyes closed, her hands clasped in her lap, very proper. She is thinking. She is contemplating, presumably the teachings of the Church and,...

Ep. 34 - The Pull of Destiny (feat. Arlo Barksdale)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 05:00:00 -0500

In the highest point of the Imperium, the echoes of Skovlan's lost Queen Alayne still sound through the mountains and keen into the heavens. Ancient spirits of the mountainous Isle charge a grim task to an ordinary woman, which she undertakes for a homeland she will likely not return to alive. Some time later, the Pride of Duskwall prepares to leave for Mistport, with Mr. Walker on board for the trip. Pippin is unable to play the fool. Andrel learns that Mr. Walker is a lot. Drix is nervous around some new passengers.

Find special guest Arlo Barksdale on his website here

Find our sponsor Little Business Library on Twitter @lilbusinesses, and use our code "listen10" to get your business on their directory here!

For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/ep-34-the-pull-of-destiny-feat-aurora-barksdale.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

We are a proud member of the Faustian Nonsense Network of podcasts! Join the Faustian Nonsense Network discord here, and support us by joining the FN Patreon!

Help the Show by Rating and Reviewing on Apple Podcasts

TRANSCRIPT:

Radio Announcer Greg? 0:00

At the highest point of the highest mountain of upper Skovlan, a tower ascends further still, as if intent on tearing the sky. The structure of Blackvale Tower is ancient, stones wet with the blood of Skovic heroes predating the Cataclysm and halls echoing with spirits that saw Skovlan through to the formation of the Imperium. In the topmost chamber, two fingers face each other in battle, their speed bursting the clouds surrounding the gargantuan tower. One is a four-armed humanoid machine of tarnished bronze, wearing a crouwn and cape detailed with opulence more at home in the Imperial City than here in the frozen Northwest. The other is an unassuming woman whose simple clothes obscure her hearty physique and aggressive battle stance. At 55 years old, she is a mere babe in comparison to the millennia-old walls of Blackvale Tower. The machine and the woman salute one another, and begin the next of a countless number of engagements.

Greg 0:57

You do not have an entire gang of Line Bulls with you, but please, Aurora, if you would roll to face the supernatural for me. We'll, we won't even, we won't even go through the questions. It'll just be straight roll for you.

Aurora 1:09

Alright, and now's the part where I ask, what am I rolling exactly? I don't know how to play this game.

Greg 1:14

It's all good. 2d6.

Aurora 1:17

Okay.

Greg 1:18

Just a straight roll.

Aurora 1:19

That is going to be a four.

Greg 1:21

Okay, so you are not able to do any of the special options for facing off against the supernatural, but you will get to make the opening move against the hull. So you don't seize the initiative, so I'll say the hull, it gets to start off doing its thing. The hull begins to bear down on you, clicking around its four arms into some sort of attack formation, and out of one palm, the red of heat begins to collect. You get to make the opening move. You are the equivalent of a Spider, you are not dressed as a Line Bull. Not even in a pretend way. Honestly, do you, do you have a vision of what your battle garb, your training battle garb looks like?

Aurora 2:01

Um, I mean, I think it's, like, a light tunic and pants. It's nothing, nothing, like, fancy, nothing ostentatious. Nothing of any interest at all. It's very normal.

Greg 2:12

Very normal.

Aurora 2:12

It's something easily, like, disposable, easily worn by anybody of approximately your size. It's, like, gray.

Greg 2:19

Yeah, yeah. Hecla has, like, along with that, like, the accoutrement necessary for battle. Like, there's protection, there's, like, lightning oil canisters, your weapon, your mess of daggers and wires and things. So you can, if you'd like, use a lightning web, or in this case, your special little wire trap, to tether your opponent.

Aurora 2:41

Yeah, I would like to quick throw a knife, one of my webbed knives, out into the, to tether this baby to, to tether the ghost to a spirit bottle.

Greg 2:53

Yes. In this case, it is a hull, so you would be tethering it but not necessarily to absorb it, just to keep it from moving. So in this case, you would roll finesse. That'd be 2d6, plus your finesse.

Aurora 3:04

Okay. Okay. That's a five.

Greg 3:08

Heck.

Aurora 3:09

It's just a five.

Greg 3:09

Just a five. So you send out your, your web, your webbed knife, a dagger that probably can split into multiple daggers is the, is the notion, so multiple of these wires can sort of entangle.

Aurora 3:22

It can do all sorts of crazy stuff.

Greg 3:24

Yeah.

Aurora 3:24

You don't even, you don't even know.

Greg 3:25

Unfortunately your sparring partner here, the hull, is aware of this trick.

Aurora 3:30

We did build this thing.

Greg 3:31

Mm hmm. It bats away, with one of its arms, the mess of wires, maybe a couple of them loosely but ineffectively clinging to it, and with that open palm that is getting ready with some heat, it shoots out a quick jet of fire. Go ahead and take the equivalent of a manifestation attack. Which would be two harm, but it's reduced to one because of your "tough" gift.

Aurora 3:59

Tough as nails!

Greg 4:00

Tough as nails.

Aurora 4:01

I'm a tough old bird.

Greg 4:02

You've, you've probably already got some long-healed over burns and scars from this.

Aurora 4:08

Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Greg 4:09

It's like, you know, you know how chefs that have, like, just been burnt enough can just sort of, like, touch hot stuff?

Aurora 4:16

I have the calluses.

Greg 4:16

Yeah, yeah. Like that, but for your, your body.

Aurora 4:19

Yeah, but for my body and ghost, ghost trauma.

Greg 4:25

Alright, your move.

Aurora 4:26

All right, um, it didn't take. I'm just going to go again.

Greg 4:31

Okay.

Aurora 4:32

And roll those sweet, sweet d6. That's going to be a seven.

Greg 4:37

Nice!

Aurora 4:37

Finally an, any number that could give me something!

Greg 4:40

Pick one from the list.

Aurora 4:42

I avoid trouble, compromise, or cost.

Greg 4:44

Cool, would you like to describe it for me?

Aurora 4:46

As we've established, my one knife can split into multiple knives. But I think I pull, like, a second knife out and I just, I just toss that one as well. I've got a second pocket.

Greg 4:57

You've got as many of these as you want, I think.

Aurora 4:58

Yeah. I just, I'm not fazed by this. I just whip out another one and get that sucker.

Greg 5:06

Cool, yeah. This time it probably strikes a little truer, wraps around the chest area so this thing is sort of pulled a little bit towards you, but not in a significant enough way, as you were only able to just avoid the trouble for it. But now this thing is in your metaphorical power, as you could charge up some electricity through the wire. Seeing this, it snaps off the one remaining wire from the arm that was hacked and tangled by your first one. That arm, it holds out, and there is a screeching noise as a horrible sonic assault hits you, hurting your head and briefly leaving you seeing stars This is actually going to be the equivalent of some mild supernatural weirdness.

Aurora 5:59

Oh.

Greg 5:59

So take two trauma as you're, like, starting to see the world getting fucked up as your brain is getting affected by the sound. It's your move once again.

Aurora 6:08

All right, I take the trauma. All right. So I've got it, I've got it anchored. I've got my, my knife in. I'm trying to get the ghost out of the hull until - I'm, remind me of what exactly my objective is? I do listen to this game every week and then I immediately forget all facts about it except for the characters.

Greg 6:27

No, it's all good. Your, yours, yours is a specifically weird one because this is training for your task.

Aurora 6:34

Yes, for my task.

Greg 6:36

So I think your goal is definitely the destruction of this hull.

Aurora 6:41

Okay. That's wonderful.

Greg 6:43

If you do that by pulling the spirit out of it, if you do that by just smashing it up, I think your knives could work either way.

Aurora 6:52

Ooh, ooh. Oh yeah, um -

Greg 6:55

Like, you could just charge electricity through him.

Aurora 6:57

Yeah, I'm just gonna charge electricity and either chase it out or, like, shatter the hull, as we know will certainly happen if you put electricity into metal.

Greg 7:06

This, yeah, I think this is the equivalent of you using a lightning hook, so go ahead and roll force for me, 2d6 plus your force.

Aurora 7:14

Oh my god, that's a five. Okay. Maybe there's a reason I've been assigned to this task. Or, or maybe I should get physical dice instead of using my dice roller. This feels cursed.

Greg 7:25

You know, you know, there are certain people that would swear that that's what's happening to you. They've returned with the physical dice.

Aurora 7:32

Right, I've got those sweet, sweet dice sounds.

Greg 7:36

But in regards to that, that, that miss, you go to start charging with electricity, that's, this is, this is how your weapon works. This is how you, you face off against supernatural foes. It begins to charge. Where many creatures would struggle against it, I think this hull pushes forward, and as it, as it pushes forward to try to close the distance to you, it just flexes that one arm with fire into a fist and gives you a big old punch. Go ahead, take another two harm reduced to one.

Aurora 8:11

Love that for me.

Greg 8:13

But I still, I still got to punish the miss a little bit. So I'm going to make things a little bit worse for you.

Aurora 8:18

All right. Please do so. It's how you learn.

Greg 8:20

It gets you into a punch. And then with its other arm, it clamps it over your mouth. It is a, it is a third arm that has yet to do anything special. That's the situation you're in.

Aurora 8:38

Okay, so the way I want to respond to this. I want to use, like, the wires that I have, like, attached to it or that are available to me to, like, pull, like, pull it up and off of me. Like, don't use, like, my own hand but, like, leverage what I, like, the hold I already have.

Greg 8:57

Okay, what do you think that would be?

Aurora 9:00

Maybe steel.

Greg 9:01

Okay, so pick one that you, from the list that you don't want to do.

Aurora 9:05

What I don't want to do is panic, disengage, or flee. Well, I guess I can't do that. This has not been going super well for me, so I am concentrating, I think, on keeping my cool.

Greg 9:17

Cool, cool, so you will not panic disengage or flee. All right.

Aurora 9:21

All right. All right, so that, oh, oh, these dice are much better already. Oh, that's gonna be an eight.

Greg 9:27

All right, you do one that you did not pick. You wanted to, what, flip this thing up and over you?

Aurora 9:31

Yes.

Greg 9:32

Cool. Describe that for me a little bit, and then I'll say the thing, the other thing that I'm gonna do.

Aurora 9:37

Suffering more trauma or harm is always fun for me.

Greg 9:39

Oh, well, I pick that, and I -

Aurora 9:42

Oh, right. Okay, okay, okay.

Greg 9:44

So on a seven to nine you do one that you did not pick, but I pick it.

Aurora 9:47

Okay, okay.

Greg 9:49

But I was actually going to pick that one. But I'd like, I'd like to hear what your, what your action is before I decide how that works.

Aurora 9:56

So the knife that I already have, like, I get it up. But I think it's a thin wire and it's meant to attach and, like, recoil, and, like, be, you know, quick, but it's not really meant to, like, haul things. It's not really meant to move, move objects.

Greg 10:13

And yet you are able to succeed in doing this. It just, I don't know if that's affects your...

Unknown Speaker 10:18

If you're, if you're going with trauma and harm, I think it's a bit of a struggle. I'm, like, maybe I'm trying to preserve the wires, I'm trying to preserve my tools, and then may value the wire not snapping over...

Greg 10:29

Over properly getting, like, a lot of hoisting distance. You, you hoist it off of you, getting that one arm off of your mouth. But unfortunately, if you had given it more force, you might have knocked it off balance, but as it is it takes its fourth and final arm and shoots a couple of wax bullets into your back. Go ahead and take three harm reduced to two.

Aurora 10:53

All right.

Greg 10:54

Yeah, the wax bullets, still very painful, especially at this range, breaking apart on your back.

Aurora 11:01

Don't love that.

Greg 11:02

Then it sort of lands with, like, a hard clang. Yeah, yeah. One more move, one more move.

Aurora 11:06

All right, I'm going to try and get a second knife into this thing. Do some damage. So is that finesse again?

Greg 11:12

If you want to get a knife into it for, like, restraining purposes, then it'd be finesse, yeah.

Aurora 11:17

I would like to stab this thing.

Greg 11:19

Force. Force, then.

Aurora 11:21

I'm always calm. I'm always very cool and always very collected. But I do need this thing to die.

Greg 11:28

Cool, force.

Aurora 11:31

Oh my god. Okay, that's four. My dice have betrayed me.

Greg 11:38

You throw your knife at it. For a second it might purchase, and you're like, fuck yeah, this rules. With the inhuman strength and speed of a hull, it moves forward, and there's a tear sound as its cape, which is the only thing your knife actually found purchase in, rips off of its body. It gets that third arm back over your mouth, and the world sort of spins and goes dark for a minute. Or at least you think it's a minute.

Aurora 12:07

Yeah.

Greg 12:08

Potentially hours later, you do reawaken, seeing your own breath in this cold mountain air, and out from the hull slips a spirit. The spirit is called the Ancestor of Skovlan, and they say, and he says it himself, that he is a spirit from before the Cataclysm. He was a spirit before it was what you needed to do, which grants him certain power.

Greg 12:34

Oh.

Greg 12:35

And as Skovlanders, Skovlanders have the belief that when you die will go to the halls of your ancestors, the fact that you can't do that anymore, because there's no way to go beyond the Gates of Death, seeing the ancestor of Scotland is kind of the only way of doing that and he's sort of taken this mantle on. I would like to give you the opportunity to describe what the Ancestor of Skovlan looks like to you.

Aurora 12:56

Yeah, thank you, wonderful. Um, so, recalling our, our establishing of Skovlan culture, I do remember that we established powerful mustaches.

Greg 13:09

Intricately braided,...

Ep. 33 - Layover: The Iron(dale) Horse

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 05:00:00 -0500

Content Warning for Discussions of Horse breeding ~59:45-1:02:40: Drix must confirm that two horses breed (we don't describe it) and Hannah talks about how that was a real job she had to do

The Pride of Duskwall triumphantly crosses the Void Sea and enters the city of Irondale on the Isle of Severos. Severos is wild country, the Imperial cities being relatively new and the vast plains being easy hiding places for Magicians and Outlaws who can live outside of Imperial rule. Drix meets some kin. Pippin shares some information. Andrel has a nice time riding a horse.

Find our sponsor Little Business Library on Twitter @lilbusinesses, and use our code "listen10" to get your business on their directory here!

For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/ep-33-layover-the-irondale-horse.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta. Sound Effects for the Human Magic sequence by Cai Gwilym Pritchard! Check out more of their work on their podcast, Chain of Being!

We are a proud member of the Faustian Nonsense Network of podcasts! Join the Faustian Nonsense Network discord here, and support us by joining the FN Patreon!

Help the Show by Rating and Reviewing on Apple Podcasts

TRANSCRIPT:

Greg 0:00

Content warning for discussions on horse breeding. See the description for details and timestamps.

Radio Announcer Greg 0:06

The wild plains of Severos unfold before the single, incandescent eye of a familiar locomotive. The Pride of Duskwall, spouts a jet of fire and lets out a whistle, giving the impression of a mustachioed face admiring the clear skies in the Imperium's wildest island. In the early days of the Emperor's calls to unite mankind, Imperial settlers beat back the dark brush and thorny growths of Severos to find thick veins of useful ore. Cities such as Irondale were founded for the purpose of safely extracting these resources, which helped turn the dream of an Imperial Railway into a reality. An Imperial train like the Pride, though constructed in Akaros, was likely built with metal mined from Severos, making this entrance to Irondale a sort of homecoming for the noble locomotive. The Imperial cities of Severos are some of the newest in the Imperium, as the native people of Severos weathered the cataclysm within Arcane Fortresses tended by magicians. Though many saw fit to join the Imperium, the occasional sighting of a Severosi magician wandering into town only to leave as quickly is proof that these Fortresses thrive to this very day.

Greg 1:42

Welcome back to Ghosts on a Train! This is a podcast were we play Ghost Lines, an RPG by John Harper. I'm Greg, I'm your conductor, and I run the game.

Hannah 1:52

I'm Hannah, I play Andrel Anderson, horse enthusiast, apparently.

Pip 1:59

I'm Guy, I play Pippin "Pip" McKeel. One of us is under a duvet. I don't think that PIP has ever even spelled duvet.

Hannah 2:10

I mean, you don't need to spell it to be under it.

Guy 2:12

That's true. But it's, like, I'd like to express that I have more of an understanding of my current situation than Pip does, but that's just kind of true most of the time.

Stefen 2:23

I'm Stefen, I play Drix, and I will, or, I'm gonna go ho-ooo-ooome, he's gonna go home.

Hannah 2:33

Oh my God.

Greg 2:36

Yeah, that's right, Severos, baby! We just crossed the Void Sea, you guys beat that, that big watery spirit that was giving you trouble the last time you were here, and now you're heading into Irondale, a city on the, the far eastern coast of Severos. Severos is full of windswept plains and dark very thorny underbrush, I can't stress enough how dangerous wandering around outside is, because this is still the Shattered Isles, so even though you see that starry night sky out here, far away from the smog of Akaros, it's, it's still a, you know, a death land.

Pip 3:22

Also still, like, you know, the sun is still dead.

Greg 3:25

The sun is still dead. Or it's trying really hard.

Hannah 3:28

Long live the sun.

Greg 3:32

So, the Pride of Duskwall enters the lighting barrier of Irondale. Irondale, it looks like a, those frontier towns with their sort of basic, like, tall rectangular buildings, but as the name would imply, Irondale, these buildings are, have a lot of a metal protection from elements, or perhaps any robbers.

Guy 3:55

Hey, Greg, not to kind of step on the toes of your narration, but if most of the things are made out of iron, wouldn't that mean that it's not really as protective against rain?

Greg 4:05

Oh, we don't have to worry about rain.

Guy 4:06

That's true. How, you know with the sun being dead, how does the water cycle work?

Greg 4:12

I'm sure, I'm sure it rains.

Hannah 4:14

Rain is memories.

Greg 4:15

Probably just not that - well, no.

Hannah 4:16

We've already covered that.

Greg 4:17

No, no, not all rain is memories. That's very specific rain from a Black Wind. This is where, this is, this is, like, a desert. There's not a whole lot of rain here. We're in Severos now. Back in Duskwall, yeah, because it's basically England. Right now we're in the frontier. Heading west, baby.

Pip 4:35

All I'm saying is, John Harper, give me that, give me that Blades in the Dark source book about the water cycle. I want to hear it.

Greg 4:42

Tell us about the water cycle, John. You guys prepare to exit the train, having just been paid by Candace for an impressive clearing of a major ghost and a not-so-impressive, or at least not to her, coaxing of Gafou, Laudius Dalmore II's 12-year-old Elysian servant boy who has fallen ill and was spirited - spirited, haha - on the train -

Hannah 4:49

Shut up.

Greg 5:04

- onto the train back in U'duasha. He's very sick, but here in Severos he should be able to be cured by a proper Severosi magician, a miracle healer. It was agreed upon that Drix would meet up with Laudius, and he's probably gone before you guys head to Candace, but Candace, as she pays you your money and sends you on your way, she does inform you -

Candace 5:39

Hey, listen, I, I'm not gonna say anything to him about the kid, especially because it all worked out, but, um, you know, we're, we're spending a little extra time here. I got word when we were in Sunfall that Mr. Walker was coming to meet with us, and he's gonna ride our train and Mistport. He says he's got some business there, but I don't know.

Andrel 6:00

Okay. Is that, like, relevant to us?

Candace 6:03

Yeah, I mean, we're gonna, we're, you got a little, you got a little extra time.

Andrel 6:06

Oh, okay.

Candace 6:06

Downtime here.

Andrel 6:07

That's it though, right?

Candace 6:09

I mean, yeah. And your, our, my next direct boss is going to be on the train, so be on your best behavior when you come here.

Andrel 6:15

Okay. Candace, we're always on our best behavior.

Greg 6:18

She, her eyebrows furrow. She does, she does that meme that's been going around of, like, the normal eyes, angry eyes.

Pip 6:29

That's just my life. When Andrel asked sort of, like, how, how that's relevant, Pip sort of opens his mouth as if he's gonna say something and then stops himself.

Stefen 6:39

Can I notice that?

Guy 6:42

Yes.

Hannah 6:43

I don't think you're here.

Stefen 6:45

Oh, you're right.

Greg 6:46

No, no, no, he's here.

Stefen 6:47

No?

Greg 6:47

No. You've just been, Drix is going to meet Laudius later. You still need to get paid.

Stefen 6:49

Right, yeah.

Hannah 6:49

Oh, okay, Laudius is gone first.

Greg 6:52

Laudius is gone first, yes.

Hannah 6:52

Cool.

Candace 6:53

Get out of my office.

Andrel 6:54

Bye!

Greg 6:55

Let's describe yourselves physically here. Who wants to step out first, into the, it's not hot, it's not, like, really hot like Iruvia, at least not in the same way. It's a, it's a dry heat here. It's arid, because there's less of a, there's less smog cover and less rain than in Akaros. So it is, it is warmer.

Pip 7:14

Alright, well, Pippin McKeel steps out into the, I guess the the dust of Severos, on his four crab-like tendrils, as he can only be described as like crab centar. No -

Greg 7:33

Crantour.

Hannah 7:35

Guy, come on. That wasn't even, that wasn't even funny.

Guy 7:40

That was funny for me.

Stefen 7:41

He seems to be in stitches.

Guy 7:44

Pip is a rather pale, kind of long, greasy haired, English-looking lad with clothes that were probably once very very, like, high class and fancy that have since seen better days. Pip himself has sort of, like, darker hair and a long face and a kind of perpetual, like, gin blossom, like, flush nose and, like, face. He would be tall if he were not so hunched over, almost as if he's kind of just been beaten down by the weight of life.

Hannah 8:29

Hey, man who hasn't been?

Greg 8:31

Big mood. Next? Who, who comes out, maybe being suspicious of Pip from that look, I guess? If that's what we're doing here?

Stefen 8:39

Out steps a dark-skinned man with black, curly hair. He's tall and muscular, with, like, a bit of a barrel chest. He's wearing a -

Alexa??? 8:48

I can search web for that. Just tap that search chip below.

Stefen 8:52

What?

Greg 8:52

Search the web for a big man for you.

Guy 8:55

Professionals. Were professionals.

Stefen 8:57

Why? Why?

Hannah 8:59

Buy a himbo! Buy a himbo.

Stefen 9:02

Did I say okay, google or something? No, no -

Hannah 9:11

Oh, buddy.

Stefen 9:13

Okay. All right. All right. All right.

Greg 9:16

Carrying on.

Stefen 9:17

He's wearing a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a vest over it, he's wearing a black vest over it. Some, like, light materials, dark pants, and some, like, decently high boots with some spurs on them. Upon his head are, covering some black curls, a large black cowboy hat with a red band.

Hannah 9:41

I'm last! I'm Andrel. Andrel Anderson follows behind. A 13-year-old girl, Iruvian, so copper-skinned, dark hair, dark eyes. The hair is kind of short and messy, kind of boyish. I recently described Andrel to someone as, like, androgynous looking, which she is, like, kind of in a purposeful way and kind of in a child kind of way. She's got, like, Victorian orphan clothing of, like, little, you know, pants, little vest.

Greg 10:15

Little Oliver Twist.

Hannah 10:16

Little Oliver Twist, yeah. And eyes that shine of mischief. Oh, and she's got a dorg.

Guy 10:22

Dorg, dorg, dorg!

Ji'mani 10:23

Yorp! Yorp! Yorp!

Greg 10:24

A hairless, three-legged -

Hannah 10:26

Dog-like creature.

Greg 10:29

Dog-like creature, the physique of a German Shepherd but with two legs in the back, one leg in the middle in front, a single tuft of hair on the, like a lion on its tail, and a long, long, thin mustache.

Pip 10:43

In the shape of a friend.

Greg 10:45

The shape of a friend. Yeah, so you guys had outside the train. Somebody nearby is complaining to what at first doesn't read like a bluecoat, but you realize it is in fact just a bluecoat in its, in his Severosi, Severos, like, frontier gear, looking a little more ready to deal with the the dusty, arid plains of Severos. Which of course means I'm talking a, you know, wild west deputy looking motherfucker, but with blue.

Stefen 11:18

Yes!

Greg 11:21

And yeah, they're complaining. Somebody's like -

Citizen 11:24

Now listen to here. Coleman and his gang came through here not three hours ago, and I reckon they're still in town. Where's the law when you need them?

Greg 11:34

The bluecoat says -

Bluecoat 11:36

Well, I'm awful sorry there, but um, you know, we can only be so many places at once, so would you suppose that I leave the bank unprotected to check on your house? Or perhaps the general store? I'm sorry, sir.

Hannah 11:52

Greg's really going to stretch his fucking accent muscles during this one.

Greg 11:57

And the, the person -

Guy 11:58

Yeah, Greg has actually, like, a few cowboy voices, but he has one, like, cowboy voice in particular. Pay close attention, listeners, for that one.

Greg 12:07

Listen, I don't mean to brag, but senior year of high school -

Hannah 12:10

Oh, God.

Greg 12:10

- I was Colonel Thunder in Wild Oats.

Hannah 12:12

Oh my god, you were.

Greg 12:14

And we sold out every single night.

Hannah 12:16

That wasn't impressive.

Greg 12:17

Sold out every single night, somebody once, my English teacher said that somebody told them they pissed their pants, and half of the people who only sort of knew me that saw the show didn't realize I was playing Colonel Thunder. That's how fucking good I was.

Guy 12:32

Professional cowboy.

Hannah 12:34

He was, he was a lanky little nerd. You should not take any of this as anything impressive.

Pip 12:47

As soon as, as soon as the quarantine is over and Greg is fully vaccinated, he's going to be moving to California -

Hannah 12:53

No, he's not.

Guy 12:54

- to play a leading role in Knottsberry Farm.

Hannah 12:56

I need him to pay rent, he is not doing that.

Greg 12:59

But anyways, the first person, you know, shove their head along -

Guy 13:03

That was a reference for nobody.

Greg 13:05

- you know, sort of, sort of makes, like, an ah, to hell with you sort of motion to the bluecoat, sort of wanders by, sees you.

Citizen 13:12

Hey there! You just stepped off the train?

Andrel 13:14

Yep.

Citizen 13:15

Ah, you be careful. That no-good Coleman Kanatcher and his gang have been passing through here all willy-nilly.

Andrel 13:21

Oh, there's an outlaw?

Citizen 13:22

Yeah, he's got Dagger Isles blood in him, they say. And he can stop a train just by staring daggers at it.

Andrel 13:28

Oh, that's impressive.

Citizen 13:30

Yeah, it's awful, actually!

Andrel 13:32

I mean -

Citizen 13:33

I live here!

Andrel 13:36

I mean, why do you care if the trains stop, though?

Citizen 13:39

Because people rely on trains for supplies! And he's, he's always raiding them!

Andrel 13:43

I guess. Oh, he raids trains? I guess that's bad.

Citizen 13:46

Yeah. Anything that what comes from Thorne, or anywhere west of, west of here. He's all over it.

Andrel 13:53

Huh. Well...

Citizen 13:54

Your train from Iruvia is the first proper supply we've...

Bonus - Worldbuilding with James D'Amato

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 05:00:00 -0500

This week the GoaT gang are joined by James D'Amato, host of Campaign and One Shot as well as the author of The Ultimate RPG Game Master's Worldbuilding Guide! We're all fans of his work, and are so happy that he took us through not one but two exercises from this excellent book- and you can expect to find these worldbuilding details as part of an upcoming Ghost Job.

Find James on Twitter @OneShotRPG and find the The Ultimate RPG Game Master's Worldbuilding Guide here or wherever books are sold!

For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/bonus-worldbuilding-with-james-damato

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

We are a proud member of the Faustian Nonsense Network of podcasts! Join the Faustian Nonsense Network discord here, and support us by joining the FN Patreon!

Help the Show by Rating and Reviewing on Apple Podcasts

TRANSCRIPT:

Greg 0:20

Hello, welcome back to Ghosts on a Train, the podcast where we play Ghost Lines, an RPG by John Harper. But this time we're not playing it. And I'm your conductor Greg, who normally facilitates the game, but I'm not gonna be doing that this time.

Hannah 0:32

I'm Hannah, I usually play Andrel Anderson, certified rascal, but I am also not doing that this time. This is a special episode.

Guy 0:42

I'm Guy. The only certifications I have are IT-based. I usually play, play Pip. He's not going to be present for this.

Stefen 0:51

I'm Stefen and I usually play Drix, railyard cowboy. And, yeah, he's also not going to be here.

Greg 0:58

And we have with us a guest.

Guy 1:01

A very special guest.

Greg 1:02

If you have not heard, if you are not familiar with James D'Amato's work in the RPG space, he's got great podcasts, like the Oneshot podcast that I've enjoyed listening to for, like, games that I've wanted to try, Campaign podcasts, there's, like, Star Wars and Skyjacks right now. All the Oneshot network shows as well, in general, he has a hand in, and specifically, what he's here for today, another book in - would you call it, like, a series? Like, an Ultimate RPG series? That's what you seem to be framing it as, like, as far as books.

James D'Amato 1:33

Yeah, yeah, I'd say this is a line of books, for sure. Hello, heroes! Thank you all so much for having me. And they're all right. You know, we come here with different qualifications. And we usually do different things. I'm usually the host of Oneshot, and usually the host of Campaign Skyjacks. But today, I am here to join this crew to build a new part of their world, using an exercise from my newest book, the Ultimate RPG Game Master's Worldbuilding Guide, which is a collection of prompts, exercises and mini-games that break down the process of developing parts of an RPG setting to make it easier and more fun to do. So we're just going to show off how the book works by taking one of the exercises from it and showing you how it works by playing it together.

Greg 2:27

And we're doing worldbuilding, like, this is going to be in the actual show. Like, this is, this is present. This is GoaT canon, Ghosts on a Train canon.

James 2:36

Yeah, this baby is going to be able to fit so many ghosts. Y'all are going to be able to see how it got put together, and even more fun, you're gonna be able to see how it gets implemented. I'm really, really excited about this, and so grateful for the opportunity to show off, like, how this stuff works in a very real, practical sense.

Greg 2:58

Oh my god. We're so grateful you're here. Again, big, big fan. I'm a big fan. I'm gonna, I'm gonna have an energy this entire time.

Stefen 3:04

Yeah.

Hannah 3:06

Greg is, Greg is audibly nervous.

James 3:07

Hey, we love energy. We love nerves. As long as it makes you blurt out creative ideas, it's helpful and useful.

Stefen 3:15

That's valid.

Hannah 3:16

It's also always fun to hear you talk twice your normal speed.

Stefen 3:20

Hey, look, that's the thing that's great about not being visual right now. James didn't see what I did the same thing Greg did when he said "hello, heroes".

Greg 3:34

Alright, James. So we talked a little bit before we recorded about, like, the, the exercise. Does this exercise have, have a name?

James 3:41

Yes, this exercise is called Boom and Bust. This is one of the exercises that I developed for the horror genre. Essentially, it is a celebrated trope in horror fiction, but, you know, really lots of different kinds of fiction, to have a setpiece that is a abandoned business. Something that used to exist, but has, like, kind of degraded from its prime to be a spooky shell of its former self. And what we're going to do is develop this setpiece by kind of walking ourselves through the history of a business and how it came together, what problems it faced while it was in its prime, and what happened to it after it shut down so that we have a cool environment for you to, you know, have adventures in.

Greg 4:37

Excellent.

Guy 4:38

Love that.

James 4:39

All right. Now, normally one of the things that we'll have, we have to do is choose the business itself. But we actually already happen to know what business this is going to be. We know this is a zoo.

Greg 4:52

Yes.

Hannah 4:53

Yeah!

Greg 4:54

Somebody bought a zoo. It did not go well.

James 4:56

Somebody bought a zoo. The, the Blades in the Dark, the Duskvall version of Matt Damon and his family purchased the zoo, but in this movie, Rachel McAdams is more of a villainous figure and it doesn't quite work out. So we're going to go through the history of that. The fun thing about this, though, is this is somebody's dream. The reason this zoo exists is because somebody needed this zoo to exist somewhere deep in their soul. And they were willing to do anything to see that dream happen. Which means the land, the, the real estate on which this business is built, was purchased, you know, out of desperation, at a deal so that they could make this happen. So the first thing I will need is someone to roll an eight-sided die, and we're going to determine what this zoo was built on top of.

Hannah 5:57

I have a dice. Do you want me to roll the dice? Or Guy, do you -

James 5:59

Yeah. Anyone, anyone who's got it, roll it up.

Greg 6:01

Go for it, Hannah.

Hannah 6:02

All right. Ah, that's a one.

James 6:05

A one? This zoo is built on top of a former mine.

Greg 6:11

Ooh.

Hannah 6:11

Ooh.

Guy 6:12

Oh, boy.

Stefen 6:13

Very fun.

Greg 6:14

Lot of terrifying possibilities there.

James 6:16

Yeah.

Hannah 6:17

That's bad for a lot of reasons.

Stefen 6:18

Oh, yeah it is.

James 6:20

I'm thinking of the general Blades in the Dark setting, and, like, the things they mine. So that calls a lot into question already. And...

Hannah 6:31

It's also a capitalist hellscape, so there are definitely so many labor violations and dead people in that mine.

Greg 6:35

Oh, yeah.

James 6:37

Yeah. This, this is, like, we have a lot of exciting opportunities that we wouldn't have, you know, in another world where their mines. But right now we are concerned with some of the physical details of the mine. In the structure of the place that was purchased, there are a few things that just couldn't be removed. It might be due to the people who bought it, like, not having them budget, it might be, you know, how could you ever remove this particular feature? So we're going to talk through some of those. These are things that are left over from the mine that the zoo kind of has to deal with. The first is something that needed to be built around. This is an artifact of this place's darker history that was too large or unmanageable to be removed. Instead, it was awkwardly incorporated into the new space. It is a badly concealed reminder of what this place used to be.

Stefen 7:35

I've got an idea if no one else does.

James 7:38

Yeah.

Guy 7:38

I have an, an image

James 7:40

Yeah. Let's hear those pitches. Let's hear those pitches and see if we can marry them together.

Stefen 7:45

Okay. Okay. Um, so, so, minecart track, that originally, like, was extremely dangerous and led to a lot of people being tossed over, like, deep, into deep chasms. They've kind of and tried desperately to shut off all of those paths that lead to poor places, and instead build cages in places where you can take the minecart to different exhibits.

James 8:08

Ah, yeah, so it's just, like, they had these, these minecart railways all over the place, and instead of ripping them all up, they're like, "Well, we're gonna just leave some of them around, maybe we'll even make it a photo op or something. And we'll actually try to build our own little rail system here to take advantage of it." I can, I can see that.

Greg 8:31

Guy, you had an image.

James 8:32

What was our other image?

Guy 8:33

So the image I have in my mind is just, like, right in the middle of the big top, there's, like, a collapsed, I guess elevator? And that's sort of, like, what they use sort of, like, as the riser. So there is just kind of this pit in just, like, the center of the big top. And you've got basically, like, it's covered up a little bit.

Hannah 8:57

Okay, so, question, are we, is this zoo above ground or below ground? Because I would think that the minecarts, if we were going with that, would be... that I don't know that much about mines.

Stefen 9:09

That's a good point.

James 9:13

This is, this is a really, really good question. I mean, there, there are all kinds of different mines that we could be working with. Like, there are strip mines, like, quarries that we could be doing, there, there are the traditional subterranean mines. But the thing is, there are resources in the world of Blades in the Dark that, you know, we don't have. We could take advantage of that. Like, aren't there, like, big monsters that they, like, use resources from the bodies of those monsters?

Greg 9:42

Oh, yeah, yes. Leviathans. They just sort of cut parts off of them and then grind them up into ghost juice.

Hannah 9:50

Ghost juice.

James 9:50

This could be a Leviathan mine. Or even, like, a fossilized Leviathan mine.

Greg 9:55

I like that, actually.

Stefen 9:55

That's cool.

Hannah 9:56

That's super cool.

Guy 9:57

That's very good.

Greg 9:58

They're, like, famously kind of, like, deathless and unending, so you could probably mine it for a while, as it's just sort of, like, it's so big. Would the zoo be in the mine, though?

Stefen 10:08

I think we can answer that question with a question. Was this zoo illegal?

James 10:13

Oh.

Hannah 10:14

I mean, probably.

Guy 10:15

Illegal to who?

James 10:16

Yeah, illegal to who? Because, like, is this, are we then implying that this is a private zoo? Because that, that is the only thing I could imagine an illegal zoo.

Greg 10:23

Oh no, did we make Joe Exotic?

Hannah 10:27

No!

Stefen 10:27

Oof.

James 10:27

Or, yeah, yeah, it is open to the public. It just does shady stuff.

Greg 10:32

You know, it's, if we make Joe Exotic, you won't feel so bad for...

Hannah 10:36

Ruining his life, that's true. Well, okay, we can, I feel like we can find a middle. Leviathans are very big. And presumably, I feel like the way you would get, like, a quote-unquote fossilized Leviathan mine is, like... because they're also, they're water creatures, yeah?

Greg 10:52

Originally, yeah.

Hannah 10:53

So, like, one dies, and the ocean around it kind of dries up a bit. So I think probably, like, I'm just picturing how the land would look, you know, in a spot where there used to be ocean, I imagine there's, like, a pretty steep depression - you know, like, in the land, not emotionally. So maybe it's not underground, but it's in, like, kind of this pit.

Greg 11:17

Yeah, yeah. And then so there, then, there's parts of it that you would take those minecarts or the elevator to get to.

Hannah 11:23

Yeah.

James 11:24

Yeah, what if this is built into what essentially has become the hollowed out fossilized skeleton of Leviathan? And part of it peeks up over, like, underground, and, like, the rest of it has, like, been dug into and hollowed out below. So the map of the zoo, like, on whatever map that would help you orient where you are, it is just in the shape of a Leviathan's skull.

Greg 11:55

Oh, yes.

Hannah 11:55

That is pretty dope.

Stefen 11:56

That is so cool.

James 11:58

And so, like, part of the skull sticking up over, out of the ground is like, well, we can't get rid of this, so we might as well kind of go, "This is our welcome gate, or whatever!" You know, they just built around that. And yes, there are all of these carts as well that are left over and they've done their best to try and incorporate that. The next thing that we need is something that is hidden away. It's a perfectly preserved piece of the past that is kind of waiting to be unearthed. It was built over, boarded up, or sealed off, so that it wouldn't trouble people while they're having their zoo experience.

Greg 12:41

So it's got to be something that that Leviathan ate, right? That'd be really fun.

Hannah 12:45

Ooh, that makes sense.

Greg 12:47

If it's, like, it, because we built the zoo in the Leviathan, and they are kind of giant, horrible demon whales.

Hannah 12:54

You can't say any variations of I built or bought a zoo. It just makes me think of Matt Damon.

Greg 13:02

Keep that energy up.

James 13:04

What if it had a parasite? What if it had a parasite that, like, could survive being fossilized, so there are, one of the reasons the mine originally had to shut down is, like, if you go the wrong way, you open up a room that's just full of awful monsters. And, like, they'll wipe everyone out.

Greg 13:29

Horrible creatures from who knows when.

Stefen 13:34

That is pretty rad. I do like that a lot.

Guy 13:38

My mind immediately goes to Return of the Living Dead and Brain Dead, because zombie movies, they're just fun. And there's a scene of basically, like, even if they're zombies, like, all of their internal organs are also alive and also want to kill you. So maybe it's less of a parasite and more it's just a part of the Leviathan.

Hannah 14:02

Like a sentient Leviathan kidney?

Guy 14:05

Yeah.

Greg 14:05

Yeah, or maybe not sentient, but at the very least living, and, like, dangerous.

Guy 14:10

Something internal that is not happy about your presence there.

Hannah 14:15

I mean, yeah, they're also, like, Eldritch creatures and whatnot. Like -

Greg 14:19

We can do whatever we want with them. They're unknowable.

Hannah 14:22

Yeah.

James 14:22

Ooh. Yeah, yeah, I like that. So maybe there are just parts of the system of this creature that, that was trapped in the earth, that...

Ep. 32 - A Grudge Settled

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 05:00:00 -0500

As the Pride of Duskwall travels across the Void Sea with a burden that may lead to disaster, they cannot expect to venture unmolested over the water once again. On their last trip, the disturbed bones of an ancient spirit gave rise to a powerful foe that the crew barely escaped. Will a fresh spirit rise on board the Pride for this trip, as some dreaded curse from the Void Sea itself?

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For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/ep-32-a-grudge-settled.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

We are a proud member of the Faustian Nonsense Network of podcasts! Join the Faustian Nonsense Network discord here, and support us by joining the FN Patreon!

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TRANSCRIPT:

Andrel 0:00

Previously on Ghosts on a Train.

Greg 0:03

Been a while since you've read the arcane script, and it takes it takes you a while, but you know you want to get the spell exactly right. Confine the boy to within the luggage car. You do take long enough that one of the approaching passengers might have seen you.

Drix 0:24

Laudius Dalmore the Second smuggled a body onto the train.

Candace 0:27

If he does die you need to silence him, because we can't, we can't register him.

Greg 0:33

It crashes and, like, goes, recedes back into the water of the Void Sea, but as it recedes back in there, it doesn't fully, and it begins to rise again, coming back around. It appears the entity is some kind of liquid being of massive scale.

Andrel 0:52

Aren't the ghosts usually not on the train? Why are we -

Radio Announcer Greg 0:56

The Pride of Duskwall shines as a cool blue streak traveling across the endless blackness of the Void Sea. Back on land, any light the pitiable sun can yield is smothered by the smog of industry. And yet, it is only in the Inner Void Sea that one can understand a perfect dark. A clear night sky sits at its bottom, with strange stars unlike any in our sky, that are only muddled when the occasional locomotive passes over. Despite its untold fathoms, the Inner Void Sea is lacking the hordes of unquiet dead that plague the Deathlands, with two prominent explanations. Natural philosophy understands that a spirit, like an animal, would seek out land with there is more like to hunt, while those were more spiritual would remark that the Void Sea must be as peaceful for the dead as it is the living, and perhaps a spectre may reconcile by sinking to its depths. Regardless, any aggressive wraith in the Inner Void Sea can be assumed to seek a goal other than lifeforce and utterly divorced from peace.

Greg 2:24

Hello, welcome back to Ghosts on a Train! This is a podcast where we play Ghost Lines, an RPG by John Harper. I'm Greg, your conducter.

Hannah 2:32

I'm -

Greg 2:33

I run the game.

Hannah 2:35

I'm Hannah, I play Andrel Anderson. I don't know why you're laughing so hard.

Greg 2:41

You know, I just heard you, like, shuffling your feet when at first I was gonna start.

Hannah 2:45

Okay?

Guy 2:47

I'm Guy, I play, I play Pip. Barely. Sometimes Pip plays me. We're all one here.

Stefen 2:55

You should really see a doctor about that.

Guy 2:57

I should, but do you know how expensive it is to go to therapy right now?

Stefen 3:01

Ey, extremely.

Guy 3:04

Healthcare the United States, dab.

Stefen 3:07

What a way to start an episode. I'm Stef -

Greg 3:10

Healthcare dab.

Guy 3:11

Healthcare dab!

Drix 3:11

Yeah, I'm Stefen. I play Drix, who is not a wizard.

Hannah 3:16

Bullshit.

Stefen 3:18

I mean, he's not a wizard.

Hannah 3:19

No, he, bullshit.

Guy 3:22

I mean, clearly he is a warlock or sorcerer.

Greg 3:26

So the reason why we're here just talking about, like, what, what? He's not a wizard? Last time on Ghosts on a Train -

Guy 3:34

He did wizard shit.

Greg 3:35

The Line Bulls only really just got started on their line to Irondale, crossing the Void Sea. Drix was charged by Laudius Dalmore to protect the dying body of Gafou, his dogsbody, a young boy servant, 12 years old, who is currently in the freight boxcar in a box designed to both maintain his body and also hopefully try to keep his spirit inside. Drix took charge of this and used a small arcane trinket. Using the human magics left within, channeled through a spell in a scroll, text that only Drix could read, revealing some magical expertise that he claims to have learned from Severosi magicians. Trevor knows, as well as fellow Line Bulls Andrel and Pippin, about the boy. Candace also knows, while she is unhappy and gave the ultimatum that should Gafou's spirit escape to silence it immediately, as this sort of thing cannot be noted on any official registers for the Imperial Railways. And we will pick up there, as you guys are currently crossing the Void Sea, within the crew car.

Pip 4:04

Do you guys remember last time we came through here?

Andrel 4:56

Yeah. Hadn't fought a demon yet.

Pip 5:01

I mean, not, like, here specifically, but just, like, Void Sea.

Drix 5:05

Yeah, we haven't been over this this specific rail yet, but yeah, I understand.

Pip 5:13

If you would like to see the map of the locations that we have and have not been, please check our Twitter. I don't know who that's to. I just felt compelled to say it.

Andrel 5:24

I never have any idea what you guys are talking about, as usual.

Stefen 5:29

I mean, I feel like Twitter has come up before, but I'm still kinda lost on it.

Andrel 5:34

Anyway, feel like we should try and do something fun. But also, I can't stop thinking about the almost dead child in a box on the train.

Pip 5:46

Aren't we all, like, almost dead children, metaphorically speaking?

Drix 5:51

Well, at least you and I are not children. I would hope all three of us aren't almost dead. But Pip, would you like to tell me something?

Pip 6:01

Sometimes I can hear my liver screaming.

Drix 6:06

That is deeply unsettling and also completely expected.

Andrel 6:13

Okay, this line sucks so far.

Gafou 6:17

Andrel, out the window, you can see a placid surface of the Inner Void Sea, with those stars shining from their bottom that do not match the stars in the sky. But you also see bobbing along the top, something like shapes traveling. First one, then two, a couple. They all seem kind of uniform in shape, but it's too far away for it to be anything but, like, a weird blob or something. But something seems to be bobbing its way.

Andrel 6:49

Guys, do you see the bobbing thing? We, should we be worried about this?

Drix 6:54

Usually is the answer.

Andrel 6:55

Yeah, right.

Pip 6:56

Typically, yes.

Andrel 6:57

Okay.

Hannah 6:58

Do we have the Owl goggles out? Can I, like, peek through the Owl goggles and try to see what it is? Or I can just roll an insight. I always forget I can do that.

Greg 7:07

I mean, yeah, that can be that, the method by which you...

Stefen 7:10

Just pop on the Owl goggles.

Hannah 7:11

All right, yeah, I'll just kind of grab the Owl goggles and look through and try to, try to have some insight. Oh, I pass!

Greg 7:22

Which means you get two questions.

Hannah 7:24

Yeah!

Greg 7:24

With your, what is it, Sly?

Hannah 7:26

Yes I am. I rolled an eight. I think I will go with what's really going on here for the first one, in regards to blob thing.

Greg 7:35

Yeah, I mean, those are coming up spirit. There's at least... six.

Hannah 7:41

Goddamnit.

Greg 7:42

There's at least six of these blobs that are reading spirit from here.

Hannah 7:45

Hmm. Okay. I'll hold the other one. I feel like that's what I wanted out of this.

Greg 7:52

Okay.

Andrel 7:53

Um, hey, yeah, those are, those are, those are ghosties. Those are ghostie whosties. Should probably deal with them.

Pip 8:00

Is it time to suit up then? Already?

Andrel 8:02

Yeah.

Drix 8:03

Man, they wasted no time on this one.

Pip 8:06

I feel like we've wasted a lot of time already.

Greg 8:10

What roles are you going to suit up in?

Hannah 8:12

Classics?

Stefen 8:13

Yeah.

Hannah 8:15

Yeah.

Stefen 8:15

Classics works fine.

Guy 8:15

Classics.

Hannah 8:15

I'll go for Spider, then.

Stefen 8:17

Then I shall take the Rook.

Greg 8:19

Hell yeah.

Hannah 8:21

Who needs an Owl?

Greg 8:23

You guys, you guys gonna pop up through the freight car, or just, or any other particular exit point?

Hannah 8:30

I have nothing in mind in particular.

Greg 8:32

It'll just depend on who you, like, who you bump into. Theoretically.

Hannah 8:37

Maybe we should avoid Candace.

Greg 8:41

Yeah, you can exit through any of the little areas between cars.

Stefen 8:44

Yeah.

Greg 8:44

We've, we've established that. There are hatches between each car.

Hannah 8:47

Okay.

Stefen 8:48

Maybe we'll just go out between the passenger and the crew car.

Greg 8:51

Yeah, yeah. You guys start to climb out, and you see some of the passengers are looking on, some of the passengers are looking on with some amount of concern. Mr. McClaremont sort of waves away the concern of the Burned King priest, but the Elysian with the tower of silvery hair looks concerned, and in fact, looks specifically at Drix with some amounts of disdain.

Stefen 9:18

Fucking Polnareff.

Greg 9:21

And yeah, so you guys climb up top. You can see them now. From here, they look like bits of water. You see, like, they're, like, amorphous forms, but you see stubs that seem to definitely be, like, limbs, from each. They're maybe going to get more shape as they get closer. But for now, who wants to lead the Bulls against the supernatural?

Hannah 9:41

Anyone particularly - I feel like we haven't had Pip lead in a while.

Guy 9:44

I lead the last one!

Stefen 9:46

Oh, yeah. I guess I haven't lead in a while.

Hannah 9:48

Okay.

Stefen 9:49

You know what, I'll take it.

Hannah 9:50

I will follow your orders without hesitation.

Greg 9:53

Yeah, so the, the only, have you clean your apprenticeship, yes. You don't have the support of another gang. You don't have a Bulll in every other role, so that's currently a zero. Yeah, swear to follow his orders?

Hannah 10:04

Mm hmm.

Greg 10:05

Pip, you follow, swear to follow his orders?

Guy 10:07

Of course.

Greg 10:08

You have not worked this line before, so we're going to take a minus one. So a total minus one.

Stefen 10:13

Okay. Let's do it. Oof, that's a six.

Greg 10:18

Okay, so you don't get to pick any of the special things, but you can make the opening move.

Stefen 10:22

Okay. I think Drix is going to immediately, like, level his heavy lightning hook and try and blast the nearest one before it can, like, reach.

Greg 10:33

All right, go ahead and roll me force.

Stefen 10:36

That would be a nine.

Greg 10:38

Okay, which one do you pick?

Stefen 10:39

Um, I want to do great harm.

Greg 10:42

Hell yes.

Guy 10:43

Starting off strong.

Stefen 10:45

There's, like, six ghosts here.

Greg 10:47

There's, like, six ghosts here. Might as well go nuts. So yeah, extra, that's, like, five coming at this thing. You heft the heavy lightning hook, you level it. These things are sort of bobbing at a predictable pattern, bobbing together. You zap with the heavy lightning hook, one of these fingers, you see the water portion of it bursts, like, maybe whatever membrane might have been carrying it bursts. It splashes. The water that makes these things up doesn't have, like, the, the stars reflected in it, so you can sort of tell the difference. As you blast it like that, you realize that there's an entire area spread among these six blob things that also doesn't have the stars, and your watch as the all together slap sideways into the Void Sea, as emerging from the Void Sea is a massive water spirit, with many limbs, many wings, the horrible hurricane with teeth that you only cleared on your last Void Sea crossing.

Andrel 11:55

Ohhhhhhh.

Greg 11:55

That, by the way, only took half of that five because you were only aiming at one of its, one of its little hand-limb-things.

Drix 12:07

Dammit.

Greg 12:07

This thing has suckered you in. For Drix, it lets out a, you know, another horrible, horrible, "GUWOAH," that reminds you of your horrible flight, desperate flight, rather, to Iruvia. This thing seems determined to follow you until it is captured or silenced. It leaps out of the water -

Guy 12:27

That's new.

Greg 12:27

- this time with clear intention not to slam the train like before, but to knock you off of the train, Drix.

Stefen 12:36

Oh, no!

Greg 12:37

It's massive. You're the first receive its, its full weight. Go ahead and take a major manifestation attack, that's three.

Stefen 12:46

Oof.

Hannah 12:47

Yikes.

Greg 12:47

Andrel, Pippin, and Drix, you are all currently in danger of falling off the trail as right now this thing's sort of passing over you, like, like, like a wave, like a fierce wave. And you're, you've got your magnet boots on, but you might fall, fall off the train at this point as this thing sort of passes over you.

Hannah 13:07

Can I do a finesse roll to try and, try and get myself and the other two, like, stabilized? Like, grab arms and position, reestablish a center of gravity and all that?

Guy 13:19

It might be better if I did a steel roll for that, because I know you've got better, like, offensive stats.

Hannah 13:26

Yeah, I just, well, you can - I figure if I can help all of us then you two will still have free moves rather than you just doing yourself. If you want me to just grab Drix...

Guy 13:40

Well, I was thinking, like, if I could try and steel myself and, like, hang on to the both of you using my steel, that would still leave you open to attack because my fighting is no good.

Hannah 13:52

Okie doke.

Greg 13:53

That's possible. Also, Stefen, don't forget you do have that barrier.

Stefen 13:58

Oh, yes.

Greg 14:00

So subtract one from that three harm.

Stefen 14:02

Yes.

Greg 14:03

But,...

Ep. 31 - A Drawn Out Departure

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 05:00:00 -0500

The Pride of Duskwall prepares to once again embark across the Void Sea, this time to head towards Drix's homeland of Severos. But before the train can take on passengers, various members of the crew must make discoveries of themselves or others. And once departed, it shall be an uneasy ride regardless of any deathland horrors. Drix opens a box. Pippin is re-introduced to some coworkers. Andrel threatens to bite ankles.

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For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/ep-31-a-drawn-out-departure. We apologize that this week's transcript does not have timestamps, due to a technical difficulty.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

We are a proud member of the Faustian Nonsense Network of podcasts! Join the Faustian Nonsense Network discord here, and support us by joining the FN Patreon!

Help the Show by Rating and Reviewing on Apple Podcasts

TRANSCRIPT:

Radio Announcer Greg

The Pride of Duskwall prepares to leave the light of the Burned King, once again stepping across the inky darkness of the Inner Void Sea to travel on to the Isle of Severos. Before the heaving locomotive begins its journey, each member of the crew of the Pride must make a decision: to step back on to the metal behemoth and ride through the Deathlands, or to collect their things and retire. It is a repetitive decision, one made every trip, and yet the choice is always a crucial one. Will the engineer bearing a scar from the supernatural risk another one? Will the liaison who has witnessed terror unknown once more expose herself to horrors? Will the vagrants who have had their very wills subverted continue their service? And before all others, will the Line Bulls uphold their vow to face those dangers head on? None would be shamed should they choose not to return, and yet once more they do, showing their bravery and commitment when they report for duty on board the Pride of Duskwall.

Greg

Hello, welcome back to Ghosts on a Train! This is a podcast where we play Ghost Lines, an RPG by John Harper. I am your conductor, Greg, and I run the game.

Hannah

I'm Hannah, I play Andrel Anderson. Child, dorg owner, mystery solver.

Guy

I'm Guy, I play Pip, currently depressed boy who's dealing with backstory.

Hannah

Yay! I love, like, I love that you said currently, like Pip being depressed is a recent development.

Greg

Yeah, like, like Pip wasn't introduced as wasting away in a bar for ten years.

Guy

He wasn't actively depressed. He was more, like, passively, just like, I have accepted my fate and it's fine. And now he's just like, ah, fuck, I have to think about things.

Stefen

Fair. I'm Stefen, I play Drix, and Drix is a cowboy, rodeo enthusiast, and spurs wearer, which all are the same thing.

Greg

He's a cowboy! On a steel horse he rides. He's wanted, dead or alive.

Hannah

Is he?

Greg

No.

Hannah

Okay.

Stefen

I mean, wouldn't you like to find out?

Hannah

Ugh, I want the Drix lore!

Greg

Well, well, we might not be getting Drix lore, but Drix is about to make a discovery, as where we left off, the Pride of Duskwall stopped by the Iruvian city of Sunfall, so named for its active volcano that warms the place. Along the trip to Sunfall from U'duasha was, among a group of several Ministry of Preservation members, Laudius Dalmore the Second, the young... dilettante? Dilettante, that's a word, who Drix had a duel with in response to Drix making him suffer consequences to his actions by trying to pull love them and leave them in a brothel back in Akaros. It turns out that while, in addition to being the Lord Governor's son, he is going to be the, a new officer for the Ministry of Preservation, just like his father before him, as the Dalmores are apparently a Ministry family, bred up to be from there. Laudius Dalmore the Second came on board with a mysterious piece of luggage which Drix immediately noticed, and Laudius saved Drix from the threats of being hollowed. And when, when confronted about this, Laudius explained that he would, he would need something from Drix on the trip across the Void Sea into Irondale, a city in Severus. Severos. I, you know, I've been saying Severus, because we were like, "That's how you say it in Severus," and I think unfortunately I'm just gonna say it correctly. It's, I'm consciously trying to have NPCs that aren't Severosi say Severos, but now I've been reprogrammed.

Stefen

Good, good.

Greg

Yeah. So we'll pick right up from there. As Drix, you've arrived. You've arrived early to the Pride of Duskwall, because you know, especially with the city under a kind of martial law due to a volcanic dam mishap, it would have been suspicious to linger around, but now you're showing up to work early. You have gone on to the freight box car. It doesn't take you long to locate this large suitcase that seemed to be very heavy. It's bound with a lock, and there's also some, a couple strange symbols.

Drix

All right, all right. Can I roll an insight check to see if Drix is familiar with these symbols?

Greg

Sure. Sure. Roll it.

Hannah

If Drix gets possessed again, I'm going to laugh.

Stefen

That is a five.

Greg

Okay, ask me one right now. Do you have a particular question? And I'll focus in around that.

Drix

Yeah. What's really going on here? Pertaining to the symbols.

Greg

So, first off, I'll also toss in a thing about the lock. The lock itself doesn't seem to be, there's not, like, a key to it. It's more that, more like a latch, to be honest. But the symbols hum faintly with some electroplasm. The symbols themselves you've spotted, have... you've spotted them. Probably during your training. These are ghost related symbols and they are sort of to weakly contain things, weakly contain spirits.

Drix

Okay, uh, Drix is going to run to the crew car real quick and grab a spirit bottle, just in case.

Greg

Cool. As you re-enter with the spirit bottle, you see, with his frustratingly good hair and dressed like a Hamilton cast member, Laudius Dalmore the Second, the Akarosi nobleman, looking at you, seeing clearly that the suitcase is disturbed.

Laudius Dalmore II

Well, Drix, I see you couldn't wait until I explained things.

Drix

I'm going to level with your, Laudius. You haven't done a whole lot to inspire trust.

Greg

He, he demures for a second.

Laudius Dalmore II

Yes, I suppose I have not. But regardless, this is, was a matter that I was going to speak to you about, and we have some modicum of privacy here. You won't need that spirit bottle right now. These are for a last resort, should the machine not work.

Greg

And he undoes the latch. And there's some steam. Well, not steam, there's, like, some, some cool air escapes. And he opens it up. And this suitcase, this suitcase was child sized because there is a child in it.

Hannah

WHAT?

Greg

Inside is Gafou, Laudius Dalmore's dog's body who worked as a second in the duel. He is unconscious, and it looks like he's connected to some things. You see his shirt is open because there's, like, little diodes connected to him.

Drix

I thought you said you were taking care of the Third.

Laudius Dalmore II

I am, Drix. He's fallen ill, or apparently had fallen ill. A condition that had long been ignored, because, well, he was disposable. I... after you humbled me and my father further poured salt into that raw wound which you had given me, I realized that Gafou was the closest thing to a friend that I had. The reason... I need to save him. And you're... I'm enlisting your help not only because I helped you, but also I realize that I've endangered the entire train by bringing him here. And it is your fault for awakening these feelings within my noble heart.

Drix

I think that was a compliment, but honestly, it is really, really unclear.

Laudius Dalmore II

I feel unclear! It's, it's not as if Gafou and I are really friends. You know, we can't be. He's, he's a child and he's been my servant for, well, more than half his life at this point. He's called a dog's body because it's easier to think of him as an animal than a person.

Drix

So there is a real inherent power dynamic that you two are confronting, that you really should talk about when all this is over is what I'm understanding.

Laudius Dalmore II

Yes, well, I'll never get the chance if he dies.

Drix

I'm not gonna let that happen.

Laudius Dalmore II

Good. Because for a while, I used to tell myself that if he didn't work for me, he'd be dead on the street. And so, you know, I was helping him. But couldn't my father have just helped him without assigning him to serve me? He, he deserves to live because he's alive. Not because he's useful.

Guy

Oh, shit, actualization.

Laudius Dalmore II

I... well, I've clearly taken a drastic step here.

Stefen

Drix gives him a hug.

Laudius Dalmore II

But there is, there is, I have heard tell that there are magicians in Severos that can cure such, such ailments. And Gafou, right now, he is, well, he is somewhere between life and death. And I, this, this, this will keep his body a present vessel. And this, this case should, should keep him from leaving should his, his spirit come loose. And I need you to know about this. So you can help me keep it secret, and also so... also so if he does get loose, you can not eliminate him, if you can just get him back.

Drix

Okay, I'm not going to let Gafou... I'm not going to let him be silenced, and I will not let his ghost off of this train. Which is a wild thing to say, honestly.

Laudius Dalmore II

Yes, I realize it is a little ironic to ask of you, a Line Bull, to betray your creed and keep a ghost upon the train.

Drix

Eh, believe it or not, we've done... you know what, actually, I'm, I'm remembering who I'm talking to. Do you know who you're going to, for this magic?

Laudius Dalmore II

Well, I am not quite sure myself. I know that through Irondale, I can perhaps find a guide who will lead me to one of those Arcane Fortresses. You know, it's, the Empire, the Imperium doesn't officially recognize those that they do not control, but I can grease palms.

Drix

Okay. We'll figure it out. It definitely won't be easy, but we'll, we'll make sure we get Gafou the help he needs I... man, I'm glad you told me about this. I do want to help. And for what it's worth, I appreciate the change that you've gone through.

Laudius Dalmore II

Yes, well, I'm still mulling over how much I appreciate being changed. But I suppose, I suppose if this turns out well then I shall think naught but positive thoughts about you, Drix.

Drix

Thanks. This is gonna be a long trip.

Greg

Drix, you hear the sounds of a door closing. Laudius left the outside door to the freight car open. You came in through the crew car, and from the, from the crew car through the office car. This is one of the outside doors elsewhere, and Trevor, who sort of wandered on, looks like he was just dropping something off at the office car. Through the window between you he sort of looked and saw your conversation with Laudius. At the moment he's just sort of looking through, confused, but he's not approaching.

Stefen

Do I notice him?

Greg

Yes, that's what I'm describing. You notice this.

Stefen

All right.

Drix

It seems we're gonna have to... know what? Who do you want to keep this from?

Laudius Dalmore II

Well, ideally, everybody.

Drix

Well, that's no longer an option. So we're gonna have to pick and choose.

Laudius Dalmore II

Well, I suppose you can tell you Line Bull friends. But other than that, this is a secret to everyone.

Drix

Okay. Trevor is looking over at us right now.

Laudius Dalmore II

Blast!

Greg

And yeah, Laudius will lock up the case, puts it back. And then he goes -

Laudius Dalmore II

I shall go fetch my retainers, and we shall be in the parlor car.

Drix

All right, keep me informed, and I'll check on the whole situation every now and again.

Laudius Dalmore II

All right. I trust you, Drix. And thank you.

Drix

You're welcome.

Greg

He heads off.

Stefen

I'm gonna go talk to Trevor.

Greg

Hell yes. Yeah, Trevor... he welcomes you as you, as you, he waits for you to open it up.

Trevor

Hey there, Drix. What the hell is going on over there?

Drix

Uh, I don't know, Trevor. What did you see?

Trevor

I saw you with that customer. You know, one of the Ministry guys. With a boy in a box?

Drix

Ooh, yeah. Okay, so you saw... you saw the boy.

Trevor

Listen, we're, we're not human traffickers, all right? Like, I -

Drix

I swear, I swear to you that is not what this is. Um, let's, let's see. Let's see. You know what, there's already rumors flying over all around the train, right? You... I believe it was Georgie I mentioned it to, but Laudius and I kind of co-parent a boy.

Trevor

Wow, that's - you've been, have you been sending money? I mean, you must be pretty out of the child's life.

Drix

I try and check in every now and again. Look, I don't - I have to travel a lot for work. Laudius is rich, obviously, and can keep, can keep Gafou in good health and comfort, which is kind of what this is.

Trevor

I mean, listen, not a knock on you, not a knock on you, but it seems like, it seems like, you know, the kid's not really getting a lot from you. I don't know, it'd really mess, really messed a kid up to, you know, only half-see their dad, okay.

Drix

You're right. You're right. You're right. And I'm gonna try to be better. It's really, really tough right now. It's just a matter of -

Trevor

Wait, wait, hold on! Hold on a minute! Why was he in a box?

Hannah

I was wondering how long it was gonna take you to get there.

Drix

Gafou is sick right now. That box is what is keeping him alive.

Trevor

Drix, you can't, you can't, you can't have a dying kid on a train.

Drix

I -

Trevor

What if, what if he dies? What if he bites it? Becomes a ghost?

Drix

I'm not gonna let that happen. All right, come to the front with me real quick.

Trevor

No, no, no, no, hold on. We gotta, we gotta tell, we gotta tell Candace at least, right?

Drix

Wait, wait, Trevor, I'm going to show you something. And it's gonna blow your mind, okay?

Greg

As you're saying this, either Pippin or Andrel shows up.

Hannah

I can show up.

Andrel

Hey, guys.

Drix

Hey, um, okay, well, I guess -

Trevor

Andrel, did you know about Drix's kid?

Andrel

Drix, you have a kid?

Drix

It's Third! It's the Third.

Andrel

What?

Stefen

From the duel! It's the Third.

Andrel

Oh, you let your kid help? Help be in a duel against you?

Drix

Andrel, you were there! You talked with him!

Andrel

Yeah, I did! He's your kid?

Drix

No! Kind of. You know, I'm responsible, I'm responsible for him, because, you know, part of the deal of...

Bonus - The Story of the Burned King by Bennoni Thomas

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 05:00:00 -0500

EPISODE 31 WILL COME OUT NEXT WEEK.

The Burned King is a Forgotten God, still extended worship even among an Iruvia controlled by the Demon Princes. But the stories say that before he was Forgotten and before he was a God, he was a man. Enjoy the story of The Burned King, written by Bennoni Thomas.

Find Bennoni on Twitter @darcwizrd

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

We are a proud member of the Faustian Nonsense Network of podcasts! Join the Faustian Nonsense Network discord here, and support us by joining the FN Patreon!

Help the Show by Rating and Reviewing on Apple Podcasts

Ep. 30 - Layover: Tears of the Sunfall

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 05:00:00 -0500

The city of Sunfall was built around the volcano known as Rakhan, or "The Burned King". Worshipped as a now Forgotten God, Sunfall's volcano kept it warm through the dark nights after the cataclysm and the the city's people continue to be grateful to the deity they never truly got to know. The volcano is also a premiere spot for the flashy cremations of the nobility, and was the ultimate destination of the members of the Ministry of Preservation who have ridden the Pride of Duskwall. Pippin is alone with his thoughts. Drix makes an important delivery. Andrel gets a sudden proposal.

Find our sponsor Little Business Library on Twitter @lilbusinesses, and use our code "listen10" to get your business on their directory here!

For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/ep-30-layover-tears-of-the-sunfall

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

We are a proud member of the Faustian Nonsense Network of podcasts! Join the Faustian Nonsense Network discord here, and support us by joining the FN Patreon!

Help the Show by Rating and Reviewing on Apple Podcasts

TRANSCRIPT:

Radio Announcer Greg 0:00

While much of the Shattered Isles is made up of various peoples clinging to their culture within the confines of Empire, the Iruvian city of Sunfall is one place that even the Imperium cannot make homogenous. Rakhan, or the Burned King as he has known in Akarosi, is the massive volcano around which the city of Sunfall is built. The volcano both is and is not the Forgotten God that shares its name, and a temple to both is built along the volcano's top. Though the Princes maintain sovereignty over Iruvia and the Emperor makes his forces known, none can truly dethrone the Burned King, for he is a part of the land itself. Even with his Divine form forgotten, Rakhan's volcanic insides are used as a safe way to dispose of bodies, and throughout Sunfall, the king gives light and warmth where the pitiable sun fails. The Pride of Duskwall arrives, its own jet of fire and smoke meek and deferate in comparison, as it announces itself to Sunfall and the Burned King.

Greg 1:26

Hello, welcome back to Ghosts on a Train! This a podcast where we play Ghost Lines, an RPG by John Harper. I'm your conductor Greg, who runs the game.

Hannah 1:35

I'm Hannah, I play Andrel Anderson, dorg owner.

Guy 1:41

I'm Guy, I play Pip McKeel, who is dealing with some shit. I will never go first, either.

Hannah 1:47

I mean, I always go first.

Guy 1:49

Exactly.

Stefen 1:52

I'm Stefen, I play Drix who is... head empty.

Greg 1:59

No thoughts!

Guy 1:59

Head empty, heart full.

Andrel 2:01

Oh.

Stefen 2:02

Yeah, that reads.

Greg 2:03

Yeah, heart full! That's a good way to describe all himbos.

Stefen 2:07

That's true. Head empty, heart full.

Greg 2:09

Otherwise you're just a jock.

Stefen 2:11

Gotta put that on a shirt.

Greg 2:13

Head empty, heart full. Put that, you heard, you heard it here, Amie.

Guy 2:20

I think Jaci's probably gonna hear that first.

Greg 2:21

You heard in here, Jaci. Anyways, our Line Bulls have just said good - just, just said goodbye to Miss Genevieve Paquet, the Elysian reporter played by our friend Jolene, who is heading off now. You're on the Iruvian, in the Iruvian city of Sunfall, so named and famous for its large volcano that is within the lightning barrier, the source of this area's warmth and, probably not light, huh? But yeah, the source of this area's warmth. For the most part.

Guy 2:37

I mean, like, volcanic rock does glow. Like...

Greg 3:01

Actually yeah, what, for what I'm trying to do here, now I think about it, yes, there is actually a glow. You guys can see there's, there's a bright glow from around the volcano, actually. But, alright.

Guy 3:14

I just like volcanoes, okay guys?

Greg 3:16

No, no, no, I gotcha. So who departs the train? I think nothing particularly big about your chits and stash for this. Although maybe Candace, Candace as she hands you your pay for this line -

Candace 3:29

All right, yeah, Genevieve seemed to be pretty happy on her way out. And I see none of you guys are scheduled to be hollowed. So thanks a lot for whatever you did over the course of this, this ride.

Andrel 3:41

You're welcome. The hollowed thing is really... I'm happy about that, too.

Candace 3:46

Yeah, yeah. You know, it's personally why I hate the whole business of working with the Ministry.

Andrel 3:51

Yeah, it feels like they shouldn't be allowed to do that.

Drix 3:54

Yeah, the fact that that was a threat is kind of disconcerting, if you know what I mean.

Candace 3:58

Well, it is unfortunate, but by becoming Line Bulls you have offered your bodies in service of the Imperial Railways and His Majesty the Immortal Emperor. And he... well, let's just say he has eminent domain on those meal sacks yours, unfortunately.

Andrel 4:18

Cool, very normal. Extremely normal world this is.

Drix 4:22

Um...

Pip 4:23

I prefer flesh puppet, please.

Candace 4:27

Andrel, don't worry. This is why I, this is why I don't do a regular route. We, if we just keep moving, if we're all over the place, the less chance we have to deal with these people. I want you all three to know that you are on my train, and I will take care of you.

Andrel and Drix 4:42

Thanks, Candace.

Candace 4:44

All right, yeah, well, yeah. Take your pay, have fun in Sunfall. We're supposed to be heading to Severos next. So I guess you should be excited for that, eh, Colburn?

Drix 4:55

Yeah, should should be fun to visit home, you know.

Greg 4:59

So who would like to describe themselves first as they leave the train? I know Pip is doing something, so maybe he'll go last.

Hannah 5:07

Okay. Uh, Andrel, Andrel will hop off. She is a young woman - extremely young, 13 years old child.

Greg 5:20

A child, in fact.

Hannah 5:22

You know, woman was probably a misnomer. She's a, she's a little girl. She should turn 14 eventually. I say that every time you ask me to describe her. A young girl, 13 years old, from Iruvia. She is copper skinned, has short, kind of messy dark hair, a mischievous little grin. Recently someone asked me, like, what Andrel wears and I decided she wears, like, Victorian orphan boy clothing. Um, which -

Stefen 5:59

That is the best choice.

Hannah 6:00

Like, Google that if you want a, if you want a better description. It turns out there are lots of Victorian orphan boy Halloween costumes out there.

Greg 6:09

Oi mister!

Guy 6:11

That's, that's, there's something real twisted about that.

Hannah 6:13

And, yeah, she's also followed by a, a dorg, her dorg Ji'mani, who is a, he looks like a German Shepherd but he is hairless. And he has, uh, was it two legs in front and one in the back?

Greg 6:31

Two in back because he's built for speed.

Hannah 6:32

Two in back and one in front. And he's got a handlebar mustache. That is his only hair. He is a good boy.

Ji'mani 6:39

Yorp yorp!

Andrel 6:40

Yes, Gemini, yorp yorp.

Greg 6:42

Yeah, Andrel, as you're leaving the train, you smell something. It smells like, like a forest. Which is something that you, you haven't smelled much of naturally.

Hannah 6:53

Yeah, I'm not even sure I would recognize that.

Greg 6:55

Yeah, maybe not even, I'm not even one hundred percent sure you'd recognize it. But for listeners, it's like a forest, like a, like the woods. Not in a musky way. Also departing the train is Greta, dressed very nicely. She's got a vest on. She's got, like, a tie. But she's getting set, she, she sees you with, with Ji'mani. Gives a, gives a little nod.

Hannah 7:00

I nod back.

Pip 7:17

Hey guys, is this a legally appropriate time to give a slay queen?

Hannah 7:23

Slay queen indeed.

Guy 7:26

Slay, queen!

Hannah 7:27

Oh my god.

Guy 7:30

I had to make sure.

Greg 7:33

Ji'mani gives a little yorp, and Greta gives Ji'mani little pets.

Hannah 7:38

Yay.

Andrel 7:39

Are you going somewhere, Greta? You look, you look... nice.

Greta 7:44

Well, I was going to meet Miss Paquet.

Andrel 7:47

Oh!

Greta 7:47

And have dinner while we are here.

Andrel 7:48

That's fun.

Greta 7:49

Yes.

Andrel 7:51

I'm not going to ask any more questions about that.

Greta 7:57

Certainly, yeah. Oh, uh, that, yes, I... you're a good kid.

Andrel 8:02

Thank you.

Greg 8:07

And yeah, Greta leaves.

Andrel 8:11

I feel like I should start another, another conspiracy board. I don't know for what exactly, but for something.

Greg 8:23

All right. Next up, Drix.

Drix 8:26

All right, all right. So Drix saunters off the train. He is a tall Severosi man with a dark skin, black hair that's kind of curly, but most of it is hidden under a large black cowboy hat with a red band. He's broad shouldered and on those shoulders is a vest over a button up shirt. He's got a nice big belt with a gold buck bettle - belt buckle, not buck bettle, belt buckle, that says "yee". You can presume the backs of "haw".

Hannah 8:58

Oh my goodness.

Greg 9:01

Yee!

Stefen 9:03

And yeah, he's wearing some trousers and some boots. He's, he's got the whole cowboy gig. But yes, um, he's got his sleeves rolled up and he seems to be kind of, kind of really relaxed right now.

Hannah 9:16

Love that we're all having a very nice good time except for Pip, who is deeply - Pip just took all of the trauma this arc.

Stefen 9:25

He did. He did in fact.

Greg 9:26

Well -

Guy 9:26

It had to happen eventually.

Greg 9:27

Well, about that, about that. Yeah. So, so as you're heading out, Drix, so a ways away. There, it seems there's, like, a checkpoint outside of the train station. Like, the train station seems normal, but there's a little bit of a checkpoint going on. You see the I'Yalim, the Iruvian peacekeepers wearing leather armor with, like, falcons that are occasionally either, like, hanging somewhere, like, like, on them, or, like, flying back or from them, working with Imperial military. And it doesn't look like they're hassling anybody too much, but they're just sort of talking to everybody coming, coming in. And you see Laudius Dalmore the Second, who is passing through, along with the the party with a lot of the Ministry of Preservation members. And he does look back at the freight car as he heads, as he heads inside the city.

Drix 9:27

Well, that is going to, that's gonna be something.

Greg 10:21

But we'll do the little checkpoint explanation thing maybe after Pip's, this little bit of Pip. Pip, describe yourself and what you're doing.

Guy 10:29

So Pip, unlike the other two, has sort of, like, stayed back, like, on the train, he has not stepped foot off of it. He is a tall, fairly gaunt, fairly pale man with kind of a little bit of sort of, like, greasy, like, chestnut hair, and kind of a dower expression on him. He's got the beginnings of a gin blossom starting to form on his nose, and he sort of, like, normally looks a little bit flushed, mostly due to the alcohol in this system. In this particular instance, there is a... an added paleness, mostly because of the, the kind of grim determination that is present on his face.

Greg 11:17

Yes, and currently Pippin is still in the bullpen where the spirit bottles, which are normally, normally collected at some point, but some, one of you guys needs to bring them in. You'd normally sort of pass along that duty. So Pip is looking with that aforementioned grim determination at one of these spirit bottles, the most recent spirit bottle, of one spirit that attacked the train over the last last line, shouting hate towards someone named Crowl. Pip, what does it, what does it look like when you call forth this spirit?

Pip 11:54

So I think the first thing that Pip does is he rolls up his sleeves. In this particular instance, you can see now in sort of, like, full view at sort of, like, full glow, the tattoo that he has on his the inside of his wrist is a glowing kind of, like, pale, electric blue. The numbers are spinning, sort of, like, and shifting wildly. Three digits all the time, but they kind of just, like, shift and change, like, very rapidly one to the next, like an analog sort of, like, roll punch clock.

Hannah 12:34

Pip's on the Infinity Train.

Guy 12:38

By the way, watch check out Infinity Train.

Greg 12:40

Check out Infinity Train!

Guy 12:42

Not sponsored by Infinity Train. But if they'd like to...

Hannah 12:48

They're ending soon. I don't think they're giving out sponsorship.

Guy 12:51

It would be nice, though.

Hannah 12:53

It would be nice.

Stefen 12:53

Infinity Train AU when?

Guy 12:55

From one train to another.

Hannah 12:56

Infinity Train AU! That'd be great.

Greg 12:59

We could play Navigator. Navigator's the, Navigator, perfect little game on itch.io. I don't remember who made it. But it's called Navigator and it's the perfect game to simulate, like, either Cube or Infinity Train. Anyways...

Guy 13:14

Perfect. Pip goes to the spirit bottle and sort of, like, rolls up his sleeves, and with the sort of, like, grim determination of knowing what he has to do. This is a ritual that he's only ever seen done. It's not something that he's ever performed for himself. But there's, there's something sort of, like, nagging at the back of his mind, a ghost of a remembrance, if you could. Something telling him that this is what he needs to do if he wants to find out more. And in this moment, he wants to find out more.

Greg 13:49

So, yes, I can pick it up from here. Anybody can perform rituals, and sorcery. Anybody can interact with the the spirit world, as we've seen with our Bulls attuning to the Ghost Field. It's, it's, there's nothing inherently magical about human beings, not anymore. Nothing special about individual human beings from one to the other. Pippin, essentially taking one harm and one trauma as he gives up a part of his life force to call forth the spirit from the spirit bottle. It's not unknown that there's the spirit trade, and spirit bottles don't automatically liquefy any given spirit into plasm. But the spirit bottle has sort of, does sort of take the fight out of most spirits. Probably some amount of, like, hand cutting -

Guy 14:37

Oh, for sure.

Greg 14:38

But maybe instead of blood coming forth, something wispy and blue flying out, as Pip's lifeforce itself is what this ghost feeds on, and it, it sort of slips out of the bottle slightly, like a cartoon character being drawn by the scent of a pie, drawn to the scent of Pippin's life force.

Pip 15:00

See, I'm imagining, if you've ever sort of, like, given, like, a dog, like, a paper, like, a cardboard tube and their tongue sort of, like, just, like, kind of pops out at the edge of just, like, it's able to sort of like eke out just enough to, like, taste it, but

Ep. 29 - Exeunt (feat. Jolene Cotnoir)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 05:00:00 -0500

Feral spirits of the deathlands may sometimes possess wayward travelers, but they more often than not burn out the life force of their victim in days. The Line Bulls on board the Pride of Duskwall must coax out a spirit cunning enough to hide within a high ranking Imperial Official for an unknown period of time. The choice of target is effective, as historically the nobility have been less than understanding of Line Bull business impacting them personally. Andrel leaves Ji'mani with a strange man. Drix gets in a booth alone with Laudius. Pippin is confronted. Genevieve is denied.

You can find special Guest Jolene here, or on her podcast Wrong Bone Facts

Find our sponsor Little Business Library on Twitter @lilbusinesses, and use our code "listen10" to get your business on their directory here!

For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/ep-29-exeunt-feat-jolene-cotnoir

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

We are a proud member of the Faustian Nonsense Network of podcasts! Join the Faustian Nonsense Network discord here, and support us by joining the FN Patreon!

Help the Show by Rating and Reviewing on Apple Podcasts

TRANSCRIPT:

Pip 0:00

Last time with ghosts and trains and something...

Stev 0:04

There is a high ranking member of the Ministry of Preservation who may be possessed!

Hannah 0:09

Where's my dorg?

Greg 0:10

You hear -

Ji'mani 0:10

Yorp! Yorp yorp yorp yorp yorp!

Greg 0:12

As he's yorping at the the woman holding the kid.

Greg 0:16

Ji'mani is a ghost hunting dog. Ji'mani smells ghost.

Greg 0:20

So we have to get that lady alone, knock her unconscious, and then deal with the spirit

Guy 0:24

Pip holds up a finger.

Pip 0:26

I may have a solution.

Guy 0:29

And with that, in his other hand, he holds up a glass.

Greg 0:33

There is a spirit shouting at the parlor car for Crowl.

Drix 0:37

I think the Frog Knight was going to try to hollow me too, but Laudius stepped in?

Genevieve 0:42

I have some questions about your, your crewmate, the McKeel.

Pip 0:46

And today...

Greg 0:49

Ghost is the term for a spirit without a body, though spirit or spectre are used interchangeably. Regardless of the reason for separation, a ghost seeks the life energy its body provided, and to many such spectres, this hunger will dominate their existence. We call these ghosts feral, a word usually reserved for animals that have escaped captivity and gone wild, for these are spirits that have changed in order to survive in a never-ending unlife. When other options are exhausted, a ghost will go feral by losing its senses and developing powerful abilities in order to obtain life energy from any who still possess it. But before this transformation, a ghost is still a rational human being. And before going feral, a cunning human being may instead turn to a simpler solution: possession. Another's body may serve as the container that they so miss, and the possessing ghost siphons away the body's lifeforce that was meant for the original spirit inside. A possessed body may live this way for weeks at a time depending on how greedy the ghost may be, though the addictive act of possession often ends only in the death the one possessed. But perhaps even more sinister is a spirit that has the self control to keep its victims alive - and useful.

Greg 2:30

Welcome back to Ghosts on a Train, the podcast where we play Ghost Lines, an RPG by John Harper. I'm Greg, your conductor and director and extra for every character in this...play, this drama, this game.

Guy 2:49

Greg is all the bad guys.

Greg 2:50

Except for the others.

Hannah 2:52

I'm Hannah, I play Andrel Anderson, and I am fed up.

Greg 3:00

Andrel's gonna fucking snap.

Hannah 3:01

I'm - ugh.

Guy 3:02

She's gonna do something. I'm Guy, I play Pip. Pip, who has been on surprisingly good behavior, question mark?

Stefen 3:09

He has been, you know, handling himself. I'm Stefen, and I play Drix, who has just learned of his status as a boy toy.

Greg 3:19

That was, so that was actually a callback.

Hannah 3:21

Amazing.

Greg 3:21

I was explaining to Hannah, cuz she was like, "that was tense," and I was like, "I mean yeah, it was, but also it was a callback." In the duel note he says, "I'll stop toying - I could've continued toying with your life, for truly to me, you are naught but a plaything, but you can duel me or whatever." So it was, it was a callback.

Stefen 3:24

Yeah, yeah, no, that makes sense.

Greg 3:37

A sexy callback.

Stefen 3:38

It was a sexy callback. A sexy back, if you will.

Guy 3:40

The duel was very horny.

Stefen 3:42

The duel was so horny.

Hannah 3:45

We're getting very horny here on Ghosts on a Train.

Jolene 3:48

Sorry, that might be my presence. Hi, I'm Jolene. I get to play two characters, both Genevieve and the Harlequin, who are definitely -

Greg 3:57

Okay!

Jolene 3:57

- two separate people. Definitely.

Stefen 4:00

Who could the Harlequin be?

Guy 4:02

They could be anyone

Hannah 4:04

Why are you talking about this like we didn't cover it last episode?

Stefen 4:08

I don't understand.

Hannah 4:10

We all know who the Harlequin is!

Jolene 4:11

I'm just helping out the astute listener if they happen to skip a couple episodes.

Stefen 4:16

Greg, I can't believe you and Jolene managed to out black and yellow me and Yoshiko.

Guy 4:19

We do also, like, there is also you know, like, two weeks of gap. I'm forgetful, so it's, I'm sure it's -

Greg 4:30

So it might have worked. We might have fooled somebody.

Hannah 4:34

Genevieve's the Harlequin. We learned that - we have a fucking previously on!

Jolene 4:40

Oh, yeah.

Greg 4:41

But anyways. Oh gosh. So, currently in a soundproof booth, the Line Bulls of the Pride of Duskwall along with reporter and secret hero Genevieve Paquet, currently deliberating on how to find, extract the spirit possessing one of the members of the Ministry of Preservation. Signs point towards the Executive Officer of Kethryss, a woman with a cigarette holder and a child with a candy cigarette holder. The Pride of Duskwall is currently passing through Brightharbor on its nonstop trip from U'duasha all the way to Sunfall on the northwesternmost tip of Iruvia, so our Line Bulls just have one last leg of time with this, with this possessed Imperial. With that, leave it to you guys. You guys were thinking of some plans. Are we going to act on one of those?

Hannah 5:41

So the two pitches we had are enlist Laudius Dalmore for some sort of help, and, uh, drug her?

Greg 5:51

Or just get her drunk enough. That was my read of it. I don't know if you have anything to drug her.

Genevieve 5:55

Do you think you could out drink her?

Pip 5:59

Absolutely.

Genevieve 6:02

You kind of already smell it you've been drinking, already?

Andrel 6:04

Yeah. She, she'll have a head start.

Pip 6:07

It's my natural state.

Drix 6:10

Pip can definitely drink, out drink just about anybody in the world.

Genevieve 6:14

That is a useful skill to have. Especially, especially for a McKeel. That is a very useful skill to have.

Andrel 6:23

So you want to challenge her to a drinking contest?

Pip 6:29

Maybe. That's, that's certainly an idea. I was thinking of just, you know, find, like, regular freebies for a while. Because I don't think we'll get her, get her separated from the kid, really. We just need to get it, like, exhausted enough with everything that's going on and in a state where she falls asleep a little bit more easily. Isn't that the same as being unconscious?

Genevieve 6:57

And my, my other concern is that we do not want the other nobles to notice this.

Andrel 7:05

Yeah.

Genevieve 7:06

Because you can bet that they will complain.

Drix 7:08

Wait a minute.

Andrel 7:08

Also, if she just passes out in her chair, then we're gonna have a ghost in the parlor car.

Drix 7:12

So all we need to do is get her exhausted?

Pip 7:17

That seems about right.

Drix 7:18

Pip, you think you'd be pretty good at riling up a child? How good, how good is your peekaboo game?

Pip 7:23

It's pretty good.

Andrel 7:26

I don't think that's gonna make her pass out.

Drix 7:28

I mean, if she has to run around the cabin all day getting her child and then Pip offers her several drinks to cope...

Pip 7:36

If, if I may make a suggestion? So, we are currently traveling on the railway. From my past life experience, if you charge up the lightning barrier on the outside, you will make a high pitched whine that most, that adults cannot hear, but will cause children to cry.

Genevieve 8:02

That is devious. Do you really want the child to cry?

Andrel 8:05

That's still not gonna knock her out, though.

Genevieve 8:08

I mean, it would work.

Andrel 8:09

Also, she's not going to fall asleep if her kid is crying.

Greg 8:12

There is a magnetic tube message that comes into the booth. It's evidently from Greta, and it just says, "One of you, little help? Rowdy customer."

Stefen 8:24

I got it. I got it.

Greg 8:26

As, briefly when the, when the door opens up, you immediately hear the weeping old man, drunk -

Hannah 8:32

Oh my god.

Greg 8:33

- at the door.

Mourning Father 8:35

Please, let me see, let me see our son! Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I just, I thought the dorgs would be a good idea!

Guy 8:46

Oh.

Greg 8:48

And Greta's like -

Greta 8:48

I, listen, I, I can't, I cannot let you into the parlor car. I can, I can't even serve you drinks anymore because they're so drunk. I, please leave - Drix! Could you?

Drix 9:00

I've got this.

Hannah 9:01

Wait, is that her husband?

Guy 9:02

We have been presented with an opportunity.

Jolene 9:03

Oh my - do you think, do you think this child is the...oh, let's just ask. Let's just ask.

Mourning Father 9:14

Please, please...

Genevieve 9:16

Mounsior, please, please, calm.

Mourning Father 9:19

What, what?

Genevieve 9:19

Mounsior, what, what seems to be the issue? You cannot see your child, is your child here?

Mourning Father 9:28

My, my wife, Sarina. She's, she's... well, she was, well, she's the Executive Officer of Kethryss and I, I but a lowly viscount, and I, my home was broken into these past days, and my security system of dorgs proved to be the betrayal. And she, she has taken our son on her parlor car trip when I was going to take him, I bought tickets. And she bought him, she bought him these shoes! He's got these tiny little feet. I was, I said that I had them, which, they're much nicer when she bought them! She's toying with me.

Hannah 10:19

Okay.

Drix 10:20

Seems like she really wants to one up everything you do.

Mourning Father 10:24

Child, child, how are, how small are your feet?

Andrel 10:26

What?

Mourning Father 10:27

I have baby shoes for sale! They've never been worn!

Andrel 10:30

I'm thirteen. I'm not a baby.

Mourning Father 10:33

Your, your, your dorg, then. Have you ever seen a dorg in shoes? It might be cute!

Andrel 10:37

I mean...

Mourning Father 10:38

I love dorgs.

Andrel 10:38

His feet aren't human shaped. You can pet him, though, if you want.

Mourning Father 10:42

Oh, dorgs...

Greg 10:43

And yeah. Ji'mani, Ji'mani is, like, letting this dude pet him, but he's, like, looking to you a little, like, ngh.

Andrel 10:50

I'm sorry, okay?

Mourning Father 10:52

I love dorgs.

Andrel 10:55

All right. Hey, we're just gonna go in another booth for two seconds. Ji'mani, keep him, keep him comfortable.

Greg 11:04

Ji'mani, Ji'mani, was like, "hahaha". As you say that, the tail stops wagging, but, like, still letting them pet him.

Andrel 11:11

I, I'm sorry.

Ji'mani 11:16

Yorp.

Hannah 11:17

All right, everyone, everyone in another booth.

Andrel 11:21

How're we, how are using this?

Pip 11:24

So if this is in fact, the husband, we could probably reasonably potentially ask him to assist us in this endeavor.

Genevieve 11:39

That seems like a little bit of blackmail, don't you think? Why don't we just -

Pip 11:42

It's not blackmail. We'll just be like, hey, we got you all in the same place, oh, what will you do? And then it's...

Andrel 11:53

Alright.

Pip 11:54

Basically like, he probably knows is wife better than any of us here. So we could probably, you know, just get information.

Andrel 12:02

I mean, I don't think we have to blackmail anyone. I think probably if we tell him his wife or a kid is possessed by a ghost to want to get them unpossessed.

Pip 12:11

That's probably true, but it, that's kind of a big thing to drop on someone, don't you think?

Genevieve 12:20

Yes. I'm usually not one for reuniting families that do not wish to be reunited. But that child might want to see their father.

Andrel 12:30

Yeah, we don't know the deal.

Pip 12:31

Also like, you know, he seems already kinda hysterical. Do we really want to add, hey, your wife is possessed to mix?

Genevieve 12:44

No, no, you're correct.

Drix 12:47

All right. So we don't tell him his wife is possessed, but we could... maybe Georgie could upgrade his ticket because of some sort of promotion that he fulfilled, wink, wink?

Andrel 12:59

I don't see how that helps us.

Genevieve 13:01

What if we just bring them in here and see how it works out? You know, we give them both free drinks.

Drix 13:07

Oh. Yeah, yeah, we can...

Genevieve 13:11

That way we can observe them when they are - we can, we can hide in one of the booths. I don't - do you still have the spy camera I gave you?

Drix 13:19

Yeah, it's right here. Oh, no.

Genevieve 13:22

Oh no?

Drix 13:24

Nothing. Don't worry about it.

Genevieve 13:26

This is my this is my equipment. I think if there's something wrong with it, you need to tell me.

Drix 13:31

Your equipment is fine. I just forgot that I had on...

Ep. 28 - Genevieve, Aside (feat. Jolene Cotnoir)

Gregory Carrobis — Fri, 28 May 2021 05:00:00 -0500

The Ministry of Preservation is one of the most vital pieces of the Imperium, and the one that most people interact with throughout their lives. It should be a noble mission to carry on the life-saving works of the Emperor, but the Ministry will often use it's position as a launchpad for more power. And while the executives and chiefs play a great game amongst themselves, it is often employees like the Line Bulls that find themselves sacrificed pawns. Andrel struggles with Ji'mani. Pippin keeps his cool. Drix is saved by an unlikely ally. Genevieve's secret is exposed.

You can find special Guest Jolene here, or on her podcast Wrong Bone Facts

Find our sponsor Little Business Library on Twitter @lilbusinesses, and use our code "listen10" to get your business on their directory here!

For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/ep-28-genevieve-aside-feat-jolene-cotnoir

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

We are a proud member of the Faustian Nonsense Network of podcasts! Join the Faustian Nonsense Network discord here, and support us by joining the FN Patreon!

Help the Show by Rating and Reviewing on Apple Podcasts

TRANSCRIPT:

Drix 0:00

It's been on hell of a week. I sure could use a previously on to catch up on Ghosts on the Train.

Emelina Gemeli 0:07

I overheard that apparently in Southpoint, a Bull was hollowed for daring to touch a royal during a job.

Greg 0:16

Shadow crosses it suddenly.

Jolene 0:19

The Harlequin flips through the sky, carving a dark silhouette against the darker night.

Bull 0:24

Well, I guess that reporter lady wasn't lying!

Genevieve 0:27

I am the only one says the Harlequin will allow to photograph her.

Stev 0:31

There is a high ranking member of the Ministry of Preservation who may be possessed.

Georgie 0:37

Several members of the Ministry of Preservation are going to be, going to be taking the train. Taking the Pride of Duskwall.

Candace 0:43

Genevieve Paquet. She gave one of my trains a scathing review.

Greg 0:49

Laudius Dalmore the Second goes to the parlor car.

Drix 0:53

And you're not gonna believe what's coming up next.

Greg 0:58

The Ministry of Preservation is the governmental body that oversees all transportation between cities, as well as the disbursement of food and other vital resources. All action necessary to maintain life falls under the purview of the Ministry, and it is no exaggeration to say that they hold the lives of thousands in hand. Despite its purpose being to serve, the Ministry often punishes those that upset it cruelly, though its cruelty is insidious enough to avoid outright critique. The Ministry of Preservation has also historically been covetous, even once plotting to wrench the Leviathan Hunter fleets from Iruvia's hands. However, their unkindness to others does not compare to the abuse heaped upon those who work for them. No oath is made to protect the sailor or Line Bull, for such workers are mere brine, their purpose to help pickle and preserve for other's convenience.

Greg 2:08

Hello, welcome back to Ghosts on a Train! This is a podcast where we play Ghost Lines, an RPG by John Harper. I'm Greg, your conductor who is currently running the game, driving the train.

Hannah 2:21

Oh, hello! I And - fuck. I'm, I'm Hannah. I'm gonna take that again.

Greg 2:29

Sounds like you, like, just woke up.

Hannah 2:31

Yeah. I'm Hannah. I play Andrel Anderson, suspicious child. Suspicious of other people, not her, not suspicious herself. I don't know.

Guy 2:42

But it could be both.

Hannah 2:43

I guess.

Guy 2:45

She did used to be, like, apparently a leader of, like, a child gang.

Hannah 2:50

Not really. She just had friends in an orphanage and did minor crime sometimes for survival reasons.

Guy 2:58

As one does. I'm Guy, I play Pip. Pip is like a golden retriever. He is big, friendly, and dumb as a box of rocks. But mostly because he's very inebriated. He can also pierce the veil. Apparently.

Stefen 3:17

I'm Stefen. I play Drix, and he's currently trusting, busting, and now secret wrestling.

Jolene 3:27

And I'm Jolene and I'm the guest. I'm playing Genevieve and I am inscrutable.

Greg 3:32

She's a reporter. And also -

Jolene 3:34

I'm a reporter.

Greg 3:35

In game. Out of game she's the host of Wrong Bone Facts. A cool podcast you should listen to.

Jolene 3:42

Yeah, it's, I guarantee you can listen to most of it, like, in, in, like, two hours.

Greg 3:48

You got the time. You got the time.

Jolene 3:50

The whole, the whole, the whole 140 episodes, as of this. By the time this episode comes out, it'll be something like 170, I don't even know. That's a ballpark estimate. You'll have the time.

Greg 4:01

I can't wait for one year of bone facts.

Hannah 4:03

Yay!

Jolene 4:04

Oh my god.

Greg 4:05

I mean, it's gonna be a while. Maybe with half a year of bone facts. But right now, this is Ghosts on a Train. Ghost Lines. Okay, so, last time in the parlor car. There are several different members of the Ministry of Preservation, the Imperial body that directly controls the - well, not directly controls, but is in charge of the Imperial Railways, among other things, such as Leviathan Hunter fleets, plasm distillation. They, the Ministry of Preservation is in charge of preserving humanity. And currently, Genevieve Paquet, our reporter, is in the office car with Candace as the Line Bulls received a missive that there are supernatural happenings in the parlor car. Our Line Bulls suited up, but specifically Drix, not wishing to cross paths with Laudius Dalmore the Second, whom he dueled, is hanging behind, I believe to talk to Miss Paquet. Before we get started, though, which roles did you guys suit up for?

Hannah 5:01

I'll take spider.

Greg 5:02

Okay, you'll take spider. Also suited up is Ji'mani, your dorg.

Hannah and Guy 5:09

Yay!

Jolene 5:10

Oh my god!

Stefen 5:11

Precious.

Greg 5:11

Ji'mani. Ji'mani is, we're taking cues from Blades in the Dark, the hunting pet thing, where Ji'mani will be considered potent against ghosts, just like lightning or whatever. So if, if Hannah wants Andrel to do harm through Ji'mani, that's possible. Just in general though, he can more likely to interact with them. He's got a little doggy gas mask. And what was your, he, I believes he can sniff out ghosts just by default, what was your one - ?

Hannah 5:16

I think I gave him swift.

Greg 5:38

Yes. And Hannah picked swift, because Ji'mani is kind of, like, a larger dorg. At least large enough for a 13-year-old girl who's even a little tall for her age to ride. So she will be considered swift so long as she has Ji'mani, which in our game we've treated in the past as plus one on initiative and also nebulously, like, she could probably move, like, two train cars in one. Yeah, I think we had Jamu'kha could move to train cars in, like, one little action thing. Next! Who, what did you suit up as, Pip?

Guy 6:11

I think it makes sense for Pip to be the anchor.

Greg 6:15

Cool, cool. Drix?

Stefen 6:16

Drix was going to suit up as the rook.

Greg 6:18

Drix suited up as the rook. Not only that, Drix has that fancy new piece of equipment. A big chunky belt with, like, a power pack. Within the power pack is the chunk of Voldranai that is being siphoned. We'll see what it does when you activate it. But, you know, but.

Stefen 6:36

Yeah.

Greg 6:36

In the parlor car, Andrel, Pip, and suited up Ji'mani show up. There is a spirit shouting out the parlor car -

Hannah 6:44

- what the fuck are -

Greg 6:45

- for Crowl.

Hannah 6:46

What the fuck are these people talking about, only two Line Bulls? Ji'mani is right there.

Greg 6:50

Ji'mani! Yeah, Ji'mani, Andrel, is actually not right there.

Hannah 6:54

Oh.

Greg 6:55

Suddenly you hear -

Hannah 6:55

Where's my dorg?

Greg 6:56

You hear -

Ji'mani 6:57

Yorp! Yorp yorp yorp yorp yorp yorp yorp!

Greg 6:59

As he's yorping at the, the woman holding the kid. And she's like -

Executive Officer for Kethryss 7:04

Excuse me? Excuse me, please. My child's very small. Control your dorg.

Andrel 7:06

Hey, hey Ji'mani. Okay, okay, Ji'mani, come here. Come back, buddy.

Ji'mani 7:11

Yorp! Yorp yorp yorp yorp yorp!

Andrel 7:12

Okay, yeah, I get it.

Greg 7:13

You're gonna have to roll something.

Hannah 7:17

Um, um, hmm.

Guy 7:18

After a whole episode of not rolling.

Hannah 7:21

It's, it's not really gonna help the situation, but I have a guess at what's happening and I would like to roll insight to confirm it.

Pip 7:27

Sure.

Hannah 7:27

Okay. Um, I failed that but I get the one question. Well, what's really going on here?

Greg 7:37

Ji'mani is a ghost hunting dog. Ji'mani smells ghost.

Hannah 7:40

Yeah, figured, okay.

Greg 7:42

As, yeah, you fail to control Ji'mani, but you understand what's going on.

Executive Officer for Kethryss 7:46

Stop, stop that, please!

Greg 7:48

The frog knight picks up Ji'mani.

Hannah 7:50

The frog knight? Oh, the frog knight.

Greg 7:51

The frog knight, the knight with the frog, with the frog helmet who seems to be some sort of security officer, lifts up Ji'mani, tosses him your way. You can probably catch him.

Hannah 8:01

Okay.

Greg 8:02

And then he says -

Hannah 8:03

Wow, hate that guy.

Greg 8:04

He turns to you when he says -

Frog Knight 8:05

Young one! Know this, Dunvil. Bulls should be hollowed for less. Control your animal.

Hannah 8:17

Uh, fuck. I - that - the audacity.

Jolene 8:24

The frogacity.

Hannah 8:24

The audacity.

Andrel 8:27

Yeah, you can give that a go if you want. I'll kick your stupid knighted butt.

Pip 8:33

Apologies, sir. This is a professional ghost hunting dorg, sanctioned by the Imperial Railways.

Frog Knight 8:41

Evidently not so professional.

Andrel 8:43

Well, hey -

Frog Knight 8:45

And you, Dunvil. That's two strikes. Mouth off again, or fail to control your dorg, you'll find out the emptiness that awaits you at the third.

Greg 8:54

And the Chief of Operations, in his flannel trousers and the maroon button-up, says -

Chief of Operations 9:03

Yes, well. Yeah, yes, quite exciting. Oh, yes, young Bulls! Could you please handle that? Going on?

Andrel 9:11

Yeah, let's do that. Come on, Pip.

Greg 9:13

You deploy. Laudius looks to you, Andrel, and he just sort of, like, shakes his head.

Hannah 9:18

Andrel flips him off.

Greg 9:21

He, like, puts his hand on his head. Like, he puts his head in his hands, rather. So you deploy to the top! As you do that, bam, Drix, what are you doing? Back in the crew car? As they've left for the parlor car?

Drix 9:34

Step one is I'm gonna listen outside the door to the office car for a second, see if I can pick up on anything.

Greg 9:41

Genevieve, what was...after your conversation with Candace, is there any place you wanted to head, or?

Greta 9:48

I think, I think I'm gonna just head straight back out, because I think, I think I want to see the Bulls again. Did any sort of alarm or anything go off, or any sort of...?

Greg 9:56

Not an alarm, but you probably show up and see, like, a message arrive. And then also Drix suiting up, probably.

Greta 10:03

Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, so I come through with that, then. I'm kind of done with my conversation.

Genevieve 10:07

Oh, well, where are the other Bulls? What's going on?

Drix 10:11

They are dealing with a bit of an emergency right now, and I was actually headed out to join them.

Genevieve 10:17

Oh, do you mind if I accompany? I could use some good shots. I like the action photography. Will everything be okay?

Drix 10:25

Yeah - everything should, everything should be fine. I will be able to protect you. Just be absolutely careful. I'm - here, we have a spare encounter suit, I'll put you in it.

Genevieve 10:38

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, I do not, I do not wear the suits. They are a little too clunky for me.

Drix 10:44

Well, you do need a gas mask in order to leave the train.

Genevieve 10:49

Oh, I have some equipment that will allow me to take some pictures. Actually, hang on. I have a little - would you mind wearing this? It's a little tiny camera on a little, you could come up with it alongside your badge. If you see any good action, you could take some pictures. It's nothing suspicious.

Guy 11:05

I feel like Andrel has the feeling of someone walking over her grave right about now.

Jolene 11:10

It's, like, a little, it's, like, a little spy camera kind of thing. It's got, like, a little, a little wire that runs down like the length of your arms and kind of, like -

Drix 11:16

Yeah, sure I can. I can put that on.

Greta 11:20

Have you ever taken photography before?

Drix 11:22

Um, I dabble.

Genevieve 11:25

Wonderful.

Hannah 11:27

That's a blatant lie, isn't it?

Stefen 11:29

Oh, yeah, it is.

Genevieve 11:31

I have a good feeling about you. I should be okay. I, what I was planning on doing was finding one of the, one of the more private booths and, and kind of hiding up in there and, and setting up some of my photography equipment. Oh, um, did they say how severe is this, this thing is?

Drix 11:49

It seems to be fairly minor from what I can tell, but you know, everything could change once we get out there. So I do implore you to just stand back, get your action shots from a distance and let us do what we do.

Greta 12:03

Okay, um, well, since there's something I need to kind of tell you. Do you have a moment to discuss? It's very important. Before you go out you want to know this.

Drix 12:13

A moment might be a bit much, but we can try?

Genevieve 12:16

Please, please, please, please.

Drix 12:18

Let's, let's walk and talk on the way out, actually.

Greta 12:21

Oh, no. I prefer to keep this under wraps. Please understand. You see, I am, when I travel the rails, I am, I'm not alone.

Drix 12:32

I'm sorry, what?

Genevieve 12:34

A few years back, I picked up some kind of supernatural demon? I can't really quite explain it. She, she calls herself the Harlequin.

Drix 12:47

So you...you carry

Ep. 27 - Enter Harlequin (feat. Jolene Cotnoir)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 13 May 2021 05:00:00 -0500

The Spirit of Twilight pushes through mists that hide the Dagger Isles from the rest of the Imperium. Blind as they are, they fall hopelessly into the trap of one of the deathlands' many spirits- but a third party intervenes! A devilish figure with a Harlequin mask; but ultimately is she friend or foe? Days later, a journalist comes to write a review of the Pride of Duskwall on a trip full of particularly important passengers. Pippin conspires with a criminal. Drix hides from an old enemy. Andrel tries to put words to a feeling.

You can find special Guest Jolene here, or on her podcast Wrong Bone Facts

Find our sponsor Little Business Library on Twitter @lilbusinesses, and use our code "listen10" to get your business on their directory here!

For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/ep-27-enter-harlequin

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

We are a proud member of the Faustian Nonsense Network of podcasts! Join the Faustian Nonsense Network discord here, and support us by joining the FN Patreon!

Help the Show by Rating and Reviewing on Apple Podcasts

TRANSCRIPT:

Radio Announcer Greg? 0:00

The Spirit of Twilight slides through the mist surrounding the Dagger Isles. Despite its moniker, the spirit is no ghost, but a locomotive of the Imperial Railways. The people of the Dagger Isles have no need for the train's lightning oil, though their secrets of survival are clouded by the obscuring miasma. Apprehensive in the mist, three Line Bulls stand atop the locomotive to shepherd its freight safely to Irondale from the remote city of Mistport. They circle around the fourth Bull, who has experienced too much on this trip. His mind is shattered, and he will retire if he survives this line. A hidden vouyer watches as a specter emerges from the mist to finish them off, and their posture tenses as she prepares to intervene.

Greg 0:43

Jolene, do you recognize anything about this spirit?

Jolene 0:47

Yeah, I think, I think this spirit has, like, a longer cloak with, with an insignia. Probably some old industrial company -

Greg 0:57

Yes, yes.

Jolene 0:58

- that manufactured some small bits, pieces, here and there.

Greg 1:02

From this cloak, as it appears, it produces, like, a horrible spectral lantern. And as the light shines, a shadow crosses it suddenly. Jolene, could you please describe to us, the Harlequin?

Jolene 1:17

The Harlequin flips through the sky, carving a dark silhouette against the darker night, and, with a full front flip, onto her feet directly. The sharp lines along her arms and along her legs seem to glow with lightning oil being pumped through them. In her hands is some kind of web thrower tool, but not quite, something about it is a little a little off, a little different. And clad on her face, almost lit up by the service lights on the train, you can see one of those tragedy-comedy masks completely overlaid on her face.

Greg 1:48

Hell yes.

Jolene 1:49

And she looks over and she says -

The Harlequin 1:50

This is where you get off, buddy.

Greg 1:53

The other Bulls, one of them, one of them who is Elysian, is like -

Bull 1:57

Mon deau! The Harlequin!

Greg 1:58

And the, one of the others says -

Bull 2:01

I guess that reporter lady wasn't lying.

Greg 2:03

And the, the third says -

Bull 2:06

Oh man, she's gonna give us such a bad review.

Bull 2:09

If reviews are what you're worried about, kid, you're never gonna get out of here alive.

The Harlequin 2:13

You can get out of here alive if you just simply pay attention to your commands. Oh, and forget about this shot!

Jolene 2:20

And I'm gonna, I'm gonna, like, just launch my lightning thrower at the at the guy's lantern to kind of try to yank it.

Greg 2:26

Well, I was gonna say, I think right now you have taken command of the situation. You are leading these Bulls against the supernatural.

Jolene 2:32

Alright.

Greg 2:32

So you'll be able to make your opening move, but first, we're going to roll your 2d6, based on several questions. Have you completed your apprenticeship?

Jolene 2:41

Yes, yes.

Greg 2:42

We've decided you have not completed your journeymanship or the, or are you a Master Line Bull. You do not have the support of another gang. You have Bulls in every role. You have worked this line before, we'll say.

Jolene 2:52

Yeah, I've worked, I've worked lines all around.

Greg 2:54

Yeah, you've probably worked, like, almost everywhere. For reasons. You've been around. What do you say?

Jolene 3:01

I say -

The Harlequin 3:02

If you want to live, you will listen to me.

Greg 3:03

Yeah, they all snap to attention.

The Harlequin 3:05

And if you don't, I may have your souls for dinner.

Greg 3:08

The one, the one who was despairing about the reporter lady, like, shakes a little bit. You hear, like, the clinking of metal. But he'll, he'll listen.

The Harlequin 3:17

Beautiful.

Jolene 3:18

Alright, so what was that plus?

Greg 3:20

Roll 2d6, and it's a plus one total.

Jolene 3:23

All right, well, that was a four total.

Greg 3:26

Heck.

Jolene 3:26

Off to a resounding start.

Greg 3:28

Okay, you are not able to do any of the exciting new things. But you can make your opening move as this thing is...the, yeah, it waves that foul lantern about. You weren't able to seize the initiative, so go ahead and take two trauma for, like, approaching a ghost, as the lantern itself just sort of menaces everybody in the area. So take two trauma to start with, but then you can also make your opening move with finesse.

Genevieve 3:54

Okay, yeah. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to take my specialized web thrower and I'm going to target his lantern and kind of try to drag it down. He has to, like, either let go of it and lose control of this very valuable possession of his, or he's going to get dragged down to the ground with it.

Greg 4:10

Hell yes.

Jolene 4:12

So now that is going to be a...four.

Greg 4:16

Ooh, okay.

Jolene 4:17

So The Harlequin has a very tough start.

Greg 4:21

You open up - you go to yank the lantern, you yank it, and you watch as it flies from this thing's hands, the cloak sort of like falls off into the fog as thought there was, like, never figure inside of it. The lantern is pulled among the Bulls. And you see -

Greg 4:36

Well, I guess, I guess you really do know what you're talking about, Guardian De -

Greg 4:42

And the one Line Bull gets picked up as a spectral hand comes out of the lantern that is now among the Line Bulls, and the cloaked figures sort of steps out from underneath the lantern. Currently grasping the Anchor in one hand, it picks the lantern back up and now it's among you, all threatening to stuff you into its cloak.

Genevieve 4:59

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to run full speed, and do sort of a slide kick to try to knock the lantern far away from these people.

Greg 5:07

Hell Yes. I believe in you.

Jolene 5:10

Yeah, I switched up my dice. So that's plus finesse, that's gonna be a 10.

Greg 5:14

Fuck yes! Okay, that's two things. What do you want to do? Quickly, avoid trouble, compromise, or cost, or do it impressively, stylishly, to greater effect?

Genevieve 5:22

Impressively, stylishly and to greater effect, absolutely. Was that was that one thing or is that two things?

Jolene 5:27

You get two things, actually.

Jolene 5:28

Okay. And the other one is, um...

Greg 5:31

You could do it quickly, or avoid trouble, compromise, or costs.

Genevieve 5:34

I think I'm gonna do it quickly.

Greg 5:36

Hell yes. Okay, so the Anchor gets lifted up, and he's like -

Bull 5:39

Ah!

Greg 5:40

As this horrible ghost is just, like, breathing sinisterly at him, about to stuff him into the cloak, just haaaa, and, slide kick the lantern. You watch as the, the cloak, once again, it's, like, this thing's definitely tethered to this, like, spectral lantern, it gets knocked away. The Anchor goes flying and is dropped, but you have actually kicked the lantern over towards the, the despairing Bull. And, yeah, as the lantern light catches them, you watch. Their face goes white and this thing, the, the cloaked, the cloaked spirit once again bursts from the lantern and just entirely engulfs that Bull. The, the one Bull that was, like, shaking and scared shouts up -

Bull 6:22

Clermont, no!

The Harlequin 6:23

If you want to end up like Clermont, you will stay! Otherwise get your ass in gear!

Bull 6:29

Yeah, yeah. Oh!

Greg 6:30

They fire up their lightning hook.

Bull 6:33

You're a Spider, right lady?

Genevieve 6:35

Yeah! Yes, is, in a way.

Bull 6:38

All right. I'll catch it!

Greg 6:40

And they get their lightning hook. I'm just gonna need a roll from you to get that bad boy in.

Genevieve 6:46

There we go! A four. All right, these dice are also going in the pile.

Greg 6:52

Oh no! Oh gosh.

Genevieve 6:59

I just, I'm just gonna be going through all my d6s.

Greg 7:01

So yeah, you go, you try to, you try to pull it in. The lightning hook breaks, and he gets a pinned to the top of the train and sort of, like, scraped along by the hand that isn't holding the lantern as this thing - unlike that other guy that it absorbed, it, like, pushes this one to the side and sort of looms over you, Harlequin. It's realized that you're the one that's sort of, like, in control here.

Genevieve 7:25

Oh, mou senour, this is trouble!

Greg 7:27

The Anchor, from behind, fires up their electric field, sort of stands over you and, like, offers, like, a hand.

Bull 7:34

Now or never, lady!

Genevieve 7:35

Well, um, I guess we give it one more go! I did not expect this one to be so much trouble. I suppose that's the way things go.

Jolene 7:46

That would be a nine. I'll take it.

Greg 7:48

Yes! Hell yes! Which one do you want to do as you absorb this ghost?

Genevieve 7:54

I think at this point avoid compromise or costs, at this point. It's, there's, there's been enough of those.

Greg 7:59

Yeah, there's a lot of struggling, the one scared Bull with the lightning hook gets free from the hand as you start to catch the spirit into lightning bottle, and it lets out one final "haaaaa" as it goes into the bottle, pulled by the web. You, Harlequin, are pulled to your feet by this Anchor.

Bull 8:20

Thanks an awful lot! We got to thank that associate of yours, Genevieve, down by the way.

The Harlequin 8:26

Oh, yes, if you go back you should see her. But I must go now. I, my place is on the back of this train. Farewell!

Jolene 8:31

And I'm going to, I'm going to kind of do a very dramatic, like, fall off the side of the train.

Greg 8:37

Hell yes. The one scared Bull is like -

Bull 8:41

Whoa, wait, so, is she, like, always living on the back of the train?

Greg 8:47

And the Elysian who was the Owl is like -

Greg 8:51

Of course not, you idiots! I...

Greg 8:54

God, now I've got, now I've got a bad, I've got a horrible French accent.

Jolene 8:58

You're doing fine!

Bull 8:59

Of course not, you idiot. She merely means she has our backs.

Greg 9:05

And they clunk their way on down to the bottom of the Spirit of Twilight, and go into the inside of the Spirit of Twilight. And down there we find Genevieve Paquet, a reporter. As the train pulls into Irondale on the coast of Severos describe to me Genevieve.

Genevieve 9:23

Yes, so Genevieve is, she's got like long, long dark hair. She's kind of got a little, I think right now she's wearing a little, like, pageboy cap. She's got, like, very, like, light makeup on, a long, like, brown trenchcoat. She's kind of a tall woman with some pretty nice clinking boots. She's got, like, a bunch of camera equipment strapped around her and stuff. And she's, she's very eagerly thanking, like, the conductor of the train, like -

Genevieve 9:51

Ah, merci, beaucoup! It's such a lovely train. You never see the sights so much as you can from outside of the window and, oh, so sorry that, that some of your Bulls were a little injured but I'm sure they will be okay. Please, please send them my loveliest regards. They were, they were such peaches.

Bull 10:10

Well, way I see it, um, you know, all of us that, that got out there, it's just because of your friend. We all, we all know the dangers when we take this job.

Genevieve 10:19

She is always there when I need her. I cannot ask for more.

Greg 10:23

The Elysian tips, tips, a hat. The, the, the guy who's the Anchor leaves, pats the scared Bull on the back, and the scared Bull goes to awkwardly leave and I think, I think maybe bumps into Genevieve. And some some pictures fall to the grounds of Harlequin's battle, pictures of, like, underneath the cloaked figure, the, the appearance.

Genevieve 10:50

As you can see, I was a little busy while you were fighting.

Bull 10:54

Oh, wow. Gosh. Wow. These are really impressive pictures. Are you - ?

Genevieve 10:58

If you could help me...

Bull 10:59

Where were you?

Genevieve 11:00

I am the only one that the Harlequin will allow to photograph her.

Bull 11:05

Most Bulls wouldn't let reporters photograph on account of how dangerous it is! You, wow. You're a, you're a brave lady to take these.

Genevieve 11:13

You know, I have my trade secrets.

Jolene 11:16

I wink. You can't they can't hear my wink, but I...

Greg 11:21

Yes. Yeah, I think he leaves, and maybe Genevieve, as Genevieve, you, you put the pictures back. It's a good thing that he didn't rifle through them some, because the Harlequin mask is probably also underneath there.

Genevieve 11:35

Oh, good lord. Oh, boy. That was a rough one.

Greg 11:42

When you show up, there is Stev Ankhayat, who has just taken the train in from Sunfall.

Genevieve 11:48

Stev, mon ami!

Greg 11:50

Stev is an Iruvian reporter that was previously met by the crew of the Pride of Duskwall.

Stev 11:57

Genevieve! Genevieve, my girl, is great to see you! Ah, come over here! Mwa, mwa!

Genevieve 12:02

Such a darling! Oh, the line went not as great as expected. But I got the pictures! And I got the article. The food was actually not too bad. I actually had some delightful little stuffed fried mushrooms.

Stev 12:15

Let me tell you, let me tell you, those Severosi, they know how to fry a mushroom!

Genevieve 12:20

Mm hmm. So what do you got? You got another job for me?

Greg 12:23

Yes, yes. I have...

Ep. 26 Layover: Lady of the Lakewood

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 05:00:00 -0500

The Pride of Duskwall once again finds itself solemn upon approach to U'duasha. Though marked Lakewood on Imperial maps, the Line Bulls know that the Emperor is powerless here and they are guests at the leisure of the Iruvian Noble Houses. If the Demon Princes do exist, would it bring comfort to know that it was an inhuman hand guiding Jamu'kha? Or just a deeper dread? Andrel gets a mandatory invitation. Drix buys a shiny new toy. Pippin earns the gratitude of someone he doesn't respect.

For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/ep-26-layover-lady-of-the-lakewood

Find our sponsor Little Business Library on Twitter @lilbusinesses, and use our code "listen10" to get your business on their directory here!

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

We are a proud member of the Faustian Nonsense Network of podcasts! Join the Faustian Nonsense Network discord here

Help the Show by Rating and Reviewing on Apple Podcasts

Radio Announcer Greg 0:00

Once more, the Pride of Duskwall returns to the central Iruvian city of U'duasha. Much as the supernatural are drawn to the city by the U'du, its position as an inland capital in opposition to the Imperial City means that the living also find it difficult to avoid. This position also comes from the U'du, or rather, what human beings have done with the four obsidian pillars that surround the U'du's celestial fires. The city revolves around four Noble Houses, each devoted to a Demon Prince, working separately and together to advance goals attributed to the massive obelisks. Ankhuset, devoted to Khuset and keepers of the I'Yalim and half of the Leviathan hunter fleet. Ankhayat, devoted to Khayat, owners of the other half of the fleet as well as sponsors of the historic Vaasu school. Anserekh, devoted to Serekh and maintainers of industry in the massive construction hulls the Sualim. And Anixis, concerning themselves with diplomacy and espionage. These Noble Houses control Iruvia, as even if the Demon Princes exist, they would take no action from within their prisons - save Ixis, whose broken column is said to be proof that the cunning shadow mind slipped his bonds centuries ago.

Hannah 1:22

Who made that noise?

Greg 1:52

Smooth, sonorous. Oh gosh.

Guy 1:57

I saw an opportunity and I took it. No one can blame me for trying.

Greg 2:01

No one can blame you for trying. All right. Welcome -

Guy 2:06

Maybe they should, though. I don't know.

Greg 2:09

Welcome back to Ghosts on a Train! This is a podcast we play Ghost Lines, an RPG by John Harper. I'm Greg, your conductor. I facilitate the game and care for our players.

Hannah 2:22

Debatable. I'm Hannah. I play Andrew Anderson. I'm sad. And by that I mean both me and Andrel.

Guy 2:33

I'm Guy, and I just, I make weird noises sometimes. I play Pip, who also makes weird noises, but they're different from the ones that I personally make. Especially the ones that I do before recording. this is going to be a great bit for exactly nobody.

Hannah 2:51

Isn't that what podcasts are all about?

Guy 2:54

Yes, objectively.

Stefen 2:59

I'm Stefen. I'm still mad at Greg for having duped us for a full ass arc. Every time I listen to an episode I will, I will remember that, Greg, Greg kept us from the truth for so long.

Hannah 3:14

I'm also mad at Greg, and I live with him, and I'm gonna make his life a living hell.

Greg 3:24

I'm just so, it's very -

Guy 3:26

Joke's on us. That's just what existence is right now.

Greg 3:29

Episode 6, Hannah describes funny unicycle man. Twenty episodes later, the unicycle -

Hannah 3:35

I can't believe you've done this to me. I can't believe you've done this to me.

Greg 3:38

- the unicycle is the avatar of the One Within Many, the Forgotten God.

Stefen 3:43

Shout out! Shout out to the listener that made that suggestion that the unicycle was still on the train.

Greg 3:48

No joke, I'm gonna, like, I genuinely want to shout this, this dude out. Sean Lynch, thank you to Sean Lynch. Thanks for bringing the unicycle back and introducing the concept of a homeless person loving the unicycle. How do you like, how do you like the conclusion of the arc you made on Ghosts on a Train?

Hannah 4:10

Sean Lynch, I kind of hate you. I know we're not supposed to say that to listeners. But I hate you a little bit.

Guy 4:19

Sean Lynch come on our podcast.

Stefen 4:22

Sean Lynch, thank you for this arc. Also, I will find and destroy you.

Greg 4:29

Yeah, no idea where Sean Lynch lives. Anchor just tells us the front-facing name.

Hannah 4:33

Listener, sumbit a suggestion, and maybe you can earn my personal ire.

Greg 4:41

Listen, that's a hot commodity in some circles.

Stefen 4:43

Isn't that the goal?

Greg 4:47

Anyways. Hey, let's get started.

Hannah 4:51

Let's do a podcast.

Greg 4:52

Let's do a podcast. The Pride of Duskwall! Following a harrowing journey with the, with the guest Line Bull Jamu'kha, revealed to be a servant of one of the Demon Prince's Gua'ata, a type of, a special type of hollow in training to become a Gua'lim, the Pride of Duskwall returns from thwarting the plans of one Forgotten God, the One Within Many, who hoped to manifest, through the unicycle worshiped by the laborers, hoped to manifest once again into this world, but was thwarted by the Line Bulls. We re-enter U'duasha.

Hannah 5:34

Jack, if you're listening to this, you've also earned my personal - I mean, you've always had my personal ire, but even more now.

Greg 5:42

As our Line Bulls enter U'duasha, the U'du itself is covered by the dome. It is night, the warmth of the dome does little to warm the chill in your hearts.

Hannah 5:57

Poetic.

Greg 5:58

But now Line Bulls, who wants to describe themselves in their day clothes? And what are you off to do?

Pip 6:05

Pip, now that he no longer has to hide the plans for the Ghost Grabbing Gloves, TM, copyright, etc, blah blah blah.

Stefen 6:16

The Geist brand Ghost Grabbing Gloves, TM, copyright, etc, blah blah blah?

Guy 6:19

Yeah, that's the one. He is not wearing a jacket. He's still wearing, like, long sleeves just long enough that he can cover up the tattoo on the inside of his wrist. He looks just, damp. Mostly from, like, sweat and just sadness, and just exhaustion. Like, that particular brand of exhaustion where it's just a combination of just, like, heat and emotional exhaustion. But, you know, you got something else to do, something better to do right now. So you just, like, one foot in front of the other. And Pip is gonna go to the pub to drink.

Greg 6:56

That reminds me, Pip, or rather, Guy. Listeners may remember from the last layover, or I think was at the start of the last line, Pippin McKeel made the bold move to spend some favor to make a major request, that request being the assassination of one Taji the Tank Engine, the crime hirer for Iruvia. Now, I'm going to in secret right now make a roll - by, secret just to Guy, really.

Hannah 7:26

I'm gonna see it.

Greg 7:28

Make a roll, with a plus three for the extra favor that Pip spent, to see the fate of Taji the Tank Engine. By the end of this layover, we, the audience at least, will know what happens to Taji.

Hannah 7:42

I just want you to know that I'm gonna giggle whatever he gets. So, like, don't -

Greg 7:46

Don't read into it.

Guy 7:54

I don't like this. I don't like this one bit.

Greg 7:58

So we will discover Taji's state by the end of this episode. Pippin, you hear news as you step off the train, damp. It's not the news you hoped to hear. It still makes your heart sink, although not as deeply. There's a little paper boy being like -

Paper Boy 8:16

Extr,a extra, read all about it! Prison break in U'duasha! Prisoners at large! Be on the lookout for these men! Asek'raset the Cerrated Edge! Angry Ray! Stabbo! MacMurray the Piece of Shit! The Kuset Massacrer! Bowflex! And...Fishbone!

Hannah 8:42

Fishbone!

Paper Boy 8:46

Uh...forger?

Pip 8:48

You gotta be kidding me.

Paper Boy 8:49

If you have any information regarding these men, please contact your closest I'Yalim or Gua'lim!

Hannah 8:55

Stabbo.

Stefen 8:59

I'm so excited. The triumphant return of Fishbone.

Hannah 9:06

Stabbo.

Stefen 9:06

Stabbo's great.

Hannah 9:07

Hope we get to meet Stabbo. I hope he doesn't stab us. Actually I really hope he has nothing to do with stabbing.

Stefen 9:17

I hope he got the nickname from being stabbed, actually.

Greg 9:22

Andrel, you come out just as they say "And Fishbone the forger".

Hannah 9:27

Oh, Fishbone.

Greg 9:29

What does Andrel look like?

Hannah 9:31

Ah, Andrel is a young woman of 13. She is tall for her age, but, like, she's 13, so, you know. Copper skin, dark hair cut short and kind of messy. Usually a bit of a twinkle of mischief in her eye, but that is notably gone at the moment. She looks a little downtrodden, kinda, you know, looking at her feet and stuff. Not even hearing that Fishbone is at large has, has sparked life into her. Although she did have a slight reaction hearing Fishbone. We've run into Fishbone before and I care a lot about Fishbone.

Greg 10:20

Andrel, as you are heading out, you see another train headed south to Alduara, a city you have not been to, like, to visit, but waving from one of the windows is the white gloved hands of one Ismael Dava.

Andrel 10:39

Andrel waves back a little, probably more confused than anything else, but waves back.

Andrel 10:47

Did not expect him to still be conducting after we almost got him killed by a demon. Again.

Greg 10:54

Drix.

Stefen 10:54

Drix is a tall, broad shouldered, Severosi man. Normally you can see much more of his, like, dark messy hair, but his black cowboy hat with a red band is pulled down so you can only really see the bottom half of his face. His shoulders are a little slumped. He's, you know, wearing his typical short sleeve button up with a black vest over it. And then he's got some, like, darker colored, darker colored slacks on, and some boots. A rope sits hanging from his hip, but it doesn't look nearly as uniform and proper. It's kind of a mess.

Hannah 11:39

We've all had a fucked up time.

Guy 11:41

Sure have.

Greg 11:43

Yeah, as you guys are stepping off, some of the, some of the laborers, slightly patched up wounds, are setting off with you.

Vagrant 11:51

Bonjour, Drix. Pardon moi, but it has been a while since we have had the, the healthcare. Where is, ah Physicker? Where is the Physicker's hut?

Drix 12:06

I can lead you to the Physicker.

Vagrant 12:08

Oh, you should also go. Oh...

Andrel 12:12

We're all so injured.

Drix 12:14

I'm planning on it. Not, uh, I'm a little worse off for wear too.

Vagrant 12:20

Oh. Do you remember when, when you, Pippin McKeel, mentioned that we would be equals when we all fought the supernatural in the ghost suits? I do not believe is that we wish to be equal to you. You can, you can keep that, no?

Pip 12:41

You know, that's...sure. Fine. What? Whatever.

Andrel 12:48

Sorry, guys.

Vagrant 12:50

Oh, no, it is us who should apologize to you. Oh, we did not know that Singular Wheel was such a sinister entity.

Andrel 13:03

Yeah, a lot of us didn't know a lot of things. I don't think you have to beat yourself up about it.

Pip 13:11

Can we maybe stop referring to it, like, with the same sort of, like, reverence like that? The name that we gave it, it's -

Pip 13:19

Oh no, we hold no reverence for the Singular Wheel.

Greg 13:22

And they all, all, all about half a dozen of them spit on the ground.

Drix 13:28

Yeah, it did not feel great to be controlled by it. And I can't imagine you guys had any love for it either.

Andrel 13:35

Stupid unicycle.

Drix 13:37

I hate that unicycle so much.

Vagrant 13:40

Onto the Physicker, no?

Pip 13:42

Yeah.

Greg 13:44

Who wants to do their Physicker first?

Guy 13:46

Drix, Drix, Drix, Drix.

Stefen 13:49

Sure.

Greg 13:51

Drix. You open up the door to the Physicker's hut. The herbs hanging, potions and unctions brewing. The sweet sterile air from the moss that covers the walls. You, you stumble in some, and you see the physiker sitting back in a chair.

Drix 14:11

Hey, hey, Mx. Phys. How're you doing?

Physicker 14:14

Zounds! Thou has awakened me! It appears that I did, for a bunch of brief moment, acquire a microsecond of a nap.

Drix 14:24

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for waking you. I can come back later.

Physicker 14:28

Oh, worry not. The circumstances of my employment means that even were are you to leave, the door would simply open shortly after it close behind you with somebody else, some other time, perhaps, requiring my assistance.

Stefen 14:46

Man. It really sounds like you've gotten a raw deal through this whole thing.

Physicker 14:51

Thou art correct.

Stefen 14:52

I'm sorry.

Physicker 14:54

Tis not they fault. And it is my charge and my pleasure to aid thee with that stab wound.

Drix 15:03

Yeah, that would, that, that would actually be very appreciated.

Greg 15:08

They get you set up on their little table and then they're working swiftly.

Physicker 15:12

May I ask thee something, Drix?

Drix 15:14

Sure. Shoot.

Physicker 15:16

This wound...nay, it came not from something of this world. And I mean not to the Ghost Field, but a place beyond, correct?

Drix 15:25

Yeah, can't get anything past you.

Physicker 15:27

It is a gift and a curse to be so very aware as I.

Drix 15:32

How do you deal with...knowing all that's out there? It's, like, barely separate from you, but still able to reach it. And...

Physicker 15:46

Oft-times, I find myself overwhelmed by the activity outside of my hut's door. But it is, it is when Line Bulls and laborers and the like come through it with an immediate problem that I can solve that I am able to distract myself and feel that I'm doing some tangible good.

Drix 16:09

Good advice. Maybe I should just focus on what I can change.

Physicker 16:15

You are a Line Bull. You protect people.

Drix 16:19

I try.

Physicker 16:20

Even if it's just one person. You've done it.

Drix 16:24

Thanks.

Physicker 16:26

And now thou art healed! Look at that.

Greg 16:28

And there's a red cross mark where the stab wound was.

Physicker 16:32

How the time flies when thou art speaking with a friend!

Stefen 16:38

I mean, at this point, you've seen more of me than most, than most of my friends, so.

Physicker 16:44

Oh, Drix. I did not, I did not know that thou saw me that way, but...

Hannah 16:48

Ooh!

Guy 16:51

Saucy!

Physicker 16:53

I kid, I kid, please, please don't - unless, unless thou are not kidding, but I kid!

Hannah 16:59

I gotta...

Ep. 25 - And Hell Raised (feat. Jack Wisnosky)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 05:00:00 -0500

The One Within Many is a patient God. Nearly a millennia of neglect by humanity has left every Forgotten God patient, and when it took notice of the worship surrounding a forgotten unicycle it lay in wait for uncounted weeks. Spoke by spoke it ensnared those wayward souls who venerated The Singular Wheel, and a boon from the Demon Princes gave it the last boost of power it needed to make itself manifest on board the Pride of Duskwall. Pip imposes a will even more forceful than his own. Drix trips on some rats. Andrel has a horrible time. Jamu'kha feels regret far too late.

You can't find special guest Jack Wisnosky online... YET!

For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/ep-25-hell-raised

Find our sponsor Little Business Library on Twitter @lilbusinesses, and use our code "listen10" to get your business on their directory here!

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

We are a proud member of the Faustian Nonsense Network of podcasts! Join the Faustian Nonsense Network discord here

Help the Show by Rating and Reviewing on Apple Podcasts

Andrel 0:00

Previously on Ghosts on a Train.

Passenger 0:03

I don't knowhow to say this, but I saw this guy in the, in the back. And he had a unicycle.

Stefen 0:10

How can I enter this, er, this house on the ghost field?

Proctor 0:14

This is a summoned manifestation of the Lady of Thorns. It will not perish. There is no hope of defeating this as there is a ghost.

Andrel 0:25

Are you okay? Did something happen?

Jamu'kha 0:28

Many things have changed, Andrel. Many things.

Andrel 0:32

Okay, but, like, what does that mean?

Jamu'kha 0:34

You will know in time.

Andrel 0:36

I'm worried about you, though.

The Singular Wheel 0:38

I am the One Within Many. I accept this boon, and you shall be spared as I make myself manifest once more in this world.

Jack 0:51

I'm just taking it all in. I got nothing to say.

Andrel 0:55

Aren't the ghosts usually not on the train? Why are we -

Radio Announcer Greg 0:59

Before the cataclysm, some human beings had the natural ability to perform magic, bending reality and calling forth mind-shattering miracles. This trait has since been lost, leaving all people with the same simple capacity for the lesser ritual sorcery. Some objects from before the cataclysm still retain their magical power, although most of these have been confiscated by the Imperium, save the known arcane fortresses in the wilds of Severos. Though mankind may never make such wondrous items again, humans will always yearn to them, as though their old abilities are a phantom limb. However, this yearning is ripe for exploitation by entities seeking worship. The Forgotten Gods, still so desperate to be venerated by humanity, may take an archetypical object used in prayer or rituals as a symbol, pushing some of themselves within it. The object becomes the deity as the deity becomes the object, and their arcane power is accessible to human beings who may wish to wield it. But alas, the wielders of these objects eventually see that this power is not truly theirs, as the crew with the Pride of Duskwall discovers now, as the Singular Wheel reveals itself to be merely a tool of the One Within Many's own agenda.

Greg 2:36

Welcome back to Ghosts on a Train! This is a podcast where we play Ghost Lines, an RPG by John Harper. I'm Greg, I'm still your conductor, this, the puppeteer behind the, the grand little show that you witness here, running the game for my actors and actresses.

Jack 2:59

Ooh, promotions.

Hannah 3:00

I'm Hannah, I play Andrel, I am having a terrible time.

Guy 3:08

I'm Guy, I play Pip, and I, I'm sure I would discuss this in therapy if I had a therapist.

Hannah 3:19

Oh, you should get a therapist. Everyone should get a therapist.

Guy 3:21

That was, that was mostly, like, for Pip, but also, like, the...I don't think there's therapy in the Shattered Isles.

Hannah 3:25

This, there should be. This is a pro-therapy podcast.

Stefen 3:33

This is definitely a pro-therapy podcast.

Guy 3:35

Oh my god, who's that?

Stefen 3:36

This is Stefen. I play Drix, currently possessed, and wow, yeah, that's a, that's not something I ever expected. But hey, here we are.

Hannah 3:48

It was a ghost game. It's bound to happen eventually.

Stefen 3:51

But was it supposed to happen to me?

Hannah 3:53

Evidently.

Greg 3:56

And joining us as a guest, for perhaps one final episode...

Jack 4:03

Hello, I'm Jack and I'll be playing Jamu'kha again. And I believe I'm the one causing the trouble.

Hannah 4:08

Yes, you are. You've been a real bastard.

Greg 4:11

You've been a little scamp.

Jack 4:12

It's kind of my, it's kind of my thing, you know, just a little bastard.

Hannah 4:17

Real bastard man we've got here. Real bastard child.

Greg 4:20

The -

Jack 4:21

I'm just a dirty little bastartd...

Hannah 4:23

Oh no, don't do that. Don't do that. Please don't do that.

Greg 4:29

Oh, here on board the Pride of Duskwall, currently we are in the caboose. The unicycle, the Singular Wheel that all the laborers were cult-like worshipping, was an artifact of the Forgotten God the One Within Many. Jamu'kha was sent - he is a Gua'ata, a servant of the Demon Prince Ixis - he was sent to exchange a boon to get some knowledge from the One Within Many through this artifact. He has completed this exchange and retrieved some knowledge, but now the One Within Many is manifesting itself here in reality, manifesting as a summoned horror. The unicycle has, for lack of a better word, hatched, into a horrid monstrosity - brain matter where the rubber of the wheels normally is, taut sinew for the spokes, a spinal column for the, the neck of the thing, and a horrid eyeball for the seat. The laborers were possessed, but their connections were severed by Drix, who accidentally opened himself up to the understanding that we are all just one within many, and therefore he is, of a sorts, possessed of the, the entity, the Forgotten God, the One Within Many. Although this is not immediately apparent to those around him, perhaps. So I think there's no other way to start this out, gang, except you...you four, we'll still say you four, who is leading you four against the supernatural that is this summoned horror?

Guy 6:18

This...

Greg 6:19

The Singular Wheel is what we'll call it. It's a facet of the One Within Many.

Hannah 6:22

I mean, fuck it, it's me or Pip, I assume.

Guy 6:25

Yeah, it's - do you want this, Andrel? Or can I take it? Because I do have something in mind that I would like to do.

Hannah 6:32

Yeah, go for it.

Greg 6:34

Cool, cool. We'll just quickly go through the questions. And by questions, I mean, two questions. You got - technically, you're all Bulls in each, in the same roles. You've got your apprenticeship, you've worked this thing. Will all the other Bulls follow your orders without hesitation?

Hannah 6:48

Probably not!

Greg 6:49

I feel like probably not. So it's a straight roll for you, Guy.

Jack 6:53

No, definitely not.

Guy 6:54

Oh, boy. Here we go. These dice have not fucked me on this one. It is a 7 to 9.

Greg 7:05

Alright.

Guy 7:05

May choose one. I am going to seize the initiative and say this thing just hatched and hasn't sort of, like, fully come to terms yet. And there is something that I would very much like to do.

Greg 7:21

Go for it. What's your opening move?

Guy 7:23

My opening move is to turn to Jamu'kha, and I am going to impose my will. I will describe how this goes after the roll.

Greg 7:34

All right. And so, imposing your will is a thing that hasn't come up as much. But again, we just real quick check in, I don't know if you checked in with Jack separately -

Guy 7:43

I did check in with Jack separately.

Greg 7:45

Cool, cool.

Guy 7:45

He gave the approval. But basically, like, Pip come in. And, like, he heard the conversation between Andrel and Jamu'kha. He sees the chaos that is going on. And his first instinct was to wreck this thing. It has now fully manifested, or at least manifested enough. And, like, the only thing that he can think of is basically, like, you are responsible for this. You are going to help. So I will let you know how this goes after.

Greg 8:17

Cool. So -

Hannah 8:18

Jack needs to roll too, right?

Greg 8:19

Well, no, no, no, here's what it is. So what's - the, there's stuff to talk about. Steel? What's your steel scores? Whose steel is greater?

Guy 8:26

Plus two.

Greg 8:27

Okay.

Jack 8:28

Oh, I guess I'm zero, plus zero.

Greg 8:30

Okay, so, your level is the same. Pippin is a noble of Akaros, and Pippin, are you threatening, are you threatening bodily harm?

Guy 8:37

Oh, he's about to, yes.

Greg 8:41

Okay, so that's a total of plus three.

Guy 8:43

Cool.

Hannah 8:45

This does feel like a bodily harm situation.

Guy 8:49

That is a three plus four, that is a 10. So you get the choice of doing what I say or taking two trauma.

Greg 8:59

Or you could also take two harm if you call his bluff, although you are pretty beat up.

Jack 9:04

What happens with trauma? What happens if I take two trauma, and, like, I get full on trauma?

Greg 9:08

Trauma is basically a second, a second life bar, so to speak, for your mental well-being. So if it maxes out then you also, you, you'd also lose, but also you could take a horror. So, so trauma is like a second life bar.

Jack 9:23

Okay, can I take two trauma?

Greg 9:25

Ooh, so let's describe the scene. Pip, what do you do?

Guy 9:31

Pip, for the first time probably ever, at least as far as his friends have seen him, stands up to his full height.

Hannah 9:42

Oh my god, Pip's tall.

Guy 9:45

And just, in a bellowing voice, just - it starts off with normal, just like -

Pip 9:51

I don't know what you've done here. I don't know what you intended to do here. But you have currently threatened the lives and livelihoods of those on this train, amongst myself and the others. You have broken your vow as a Line Bull. You have broken your vow as someone who would come along this train and ride the Imperial Railways.

Guy 10:20

Pip's eyes, I've never fully described, apparently deliberately. Normally, they're kind of a lifeless, steely grey. But this time, staring into them as he stares back at you, you can see them glowing with the same blue energy as the tattoo that sometimes appears over his left wrist, crackling with electricity from deep within.

Greg 10:46

Yeah, and Jamu'kha, so obviously you've chosen to take the trauma, so you're not listening. But in a sense, but in a sense, you, you still feel coming from Pippin - you all, you all feel it from Pippin - a kind of like a deep spiritual authority that, like, you don't necessarily need to heed, but like, it's impossible to ignore. It's, it's different than when a noble of the house speaks to you, Jamu'kha. This is, like, a deeper, more human power.

Jack 11:22

Okay.

Greg 11:23

But it's, it's undeniable.

Pip 11:25

Whatever it be that you choose to do, know that you have been commanded as such, and if you do not heed my words, then you shall suffer the consequences of your choice.

Greg 11:44

Do you think Pip's accent is fake?

Andrel 11:45

What the fuck is happening?!

Stefen 11:49

Drix - no, Drix, Drix is possessed, he doesn't know!

Andrel 11:54

Oh my God, Pip's accent was fake the whole time!

Greg 11:59

I mean, that's not what I was going for, but okay.

Greg 12:02

No, I'm just joking.

Jack 12:03

I love it, I love it.

Greg 12:04

You're talking all intensely. Yeah, Jamu'kha, what do you do in response to this?

Jack 12:09

Okay, so I think, like, after the trauma, like, I'm assuming it's just, like, kind of like, willpower in my brain, like, to overcome this. To, like, not be compelled.

Greg 12:16

Yeah, exactly. That's exactly what it is. You overcome this

Jack 12:18

While, like, I let go of Drix for a second and, like, kind of like drop to a knee from, like, the pain, and, like, as I stand back up, like, I wipe, like, a little bit of blood from, like, under my nose, like, from, like, how I overcame - like, from my willpower. And, like, as I get up, I kind of just, like, look at Pip and just, like, smile and, like, glare at him. And then I turn back to Drix, grab him by the arm again, and I want to, like, kind of do, like, a judo move with my finesse and throw him into, like, the tricycle God and try and run.

Greg 12:47

Hell yeah! Unicycle God. But yes, roll finesse.

Jack 12:51

Unicycle, not tricycle, excuse me, excuse me.

Greg 12:53

Roll finesse.

Jack 12:55

Okay, it's an eight.

Greg 12:57

Ooh, which one do you want to do? Quickly, without cost, or impressively?

Jack 13:02

I want to do it without trouble or compromise.

Greg 13:05

Okay.

Guy 13:06

Hey, hey, Greg. So that was the opening move, right?

Greg 13:09

Yes.

Guy 13:10

I'd like to assist.

Greg 13:12

Well, the opening moves still counts...the, what it means is, like, it's before the supernatural entity goes. So all of your Line Bull actions, all four of you, your Line Bull action will happen before the Unicycle God does anything.

Hannah 13:25

I'll assist.

Greg 13:26

Yes, Hannah can assist.

Hannah 13:28

Hannah will assist. I'll also use finesse.

Greg 13:31

Okay.

Hannah 13:34

That is a 13.

Greg 13:35

Cool, cool. So what are you aiming to do? Not only can you give the minus two to Jamu'kha's, so - causing them to fail because he had an eight - but yeah, you got, like, 13 right? So that means you can do two other things.

Hannah 13:45

Great. I think I see him going to judo flip my boy and I just kind of straight, straight up, like, I think I dive and, like, grab him around the legs.

Jack 13:59

Me or Drix?

Hannah 14:00

You.

Jack 14:01

Okay.

Hannah 14:02

Which hopefully - the hope would be to at least hinder him from running away.

Greg 14:08

Yeah, yeah. So do you do - like, what's the thing? Do you, trouble, compromise, or cost, quickly, impressively, to greater effect, like, you, this is a whole action of yours.

Hannah 14:15

Oh, great.

Greg 14:15

Not only have you ruined his action, but you can effectively reverse it and take your own.

Hannah 14:19

Great. Trouble, compromise, or cost and greater effect.

Greg 14:24

Cool. So all - is all you want to do grab his legs? Or do you want to do anything else?

Hannah 14:27

Can I, like, pin them to the ground?

Greg 14:29

Yeah, greater effect.

Hannah 14:30

Yeah, sure. So you've been, you've been judo pinned to the ground by a 13-year-old who is, like, 90 pounds soaking wet.

Jack 14:38

Okay.

Hannah...

Totally (NOT) Ep. 25 - The Grind of Duskwall

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 05:00:00 -0500

Ghosts on a Train is an Actual Play Podcast taking listeners along on a story filled with danger and comedy. The Line Bulls and Conductor do their best to maintain a balance between the two, but there are times where a listener must beware; as the narrative might suddenly derail to serve one over the other. April 1st is one such time. Pippin's day drinking catches up to him. Drix has an uncomfortable encounter with a familiar face. Andrel gets into the hot tub.

For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/totally-ep-25-the-grind-of-duskwall

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta. Check out other great Faustian Nonsense Network shows here.

We are a proud member of the Faustian Nonsense Network of podcasts! Join the Faustian Nonsense Network discord here

Help the Show by Rating and Reviewing on Apple Podcasts

Drix 0:00

It's been one hell of a week. I sure could use a previously on to catch up on Ghosts on the Train.

Andrel 0:07

Okay, I'm not actually sixteen. You cannot tell anyone! I lied on my resume. I'm telling people that I'm short from age, I'm actually really tall for my age, I'm thirteen.

Pip 0:17

But wait, that's illegal.

Drix 0:18

How did we run out of beans? Somebody tell me how we ran out of beans!

Dunvil 0:23

Alright Andrel, just in case I can't make it. Here's my name tag. You can open the shop for us if I don't make it in that day.

Andrel 0:29

I have school.

Drix 0:30

I just want one day where my ex does not bother me at work.

Drix 0:35

And you're not gonna believe what's coming up next.

Radio Announcer Greg 0:40

The suburban district of Charhallow is blanketed in an all-consuming darkness until an incandescent light spills through glass walls. Like other Duskwall coffee shops, this cafe offers a laid-back space with modern electric charging stations, though a record-switching jukebox occasionally plays when a quarter is dropped inside, an aesthetic anachronism that marks it unmistakably as the Grind of Duskwall. Returning from a day of respite, the baristas and other staff open up the shop for a typical morning. But among the nearby office spaces and college buildings, tired gazes lock onto the closed sign for the moment it turns to reveal the invitation to retrieve their vital caffeine. Customers! Countless number of them, from which the employees make their wage. Should one of these regulars grow bold, what is an overworked barista to do?

Greg 1:53

Hello, welcome back to Ghosts on a Train. This is a podcast we play Ghost Lines, an RPG by John Harper. I am your conductor, Greg.

Hannah 2:03

I'm Hannah, I play Andrel Anderson, certified rascal. I've used that already. But I don't have an endless well of creativity. Get off my dick.

Greg 2:14

Yeah, get off her dick.

Hannah 2:15

Get off my dick.

Guy 2:17

I'm Guy, I play Pip, and he's working through the hangover right now. Normally, it's just implied, but this time it's explicit.

Stefen 2:28

I'm Stefen, I play Drix, and he is just way too tired for work today, actually.

Hannah 2:36

Honestly, same. It's Daylight Savings Time, which is dumb, and that means it's an hour earlier than it actually is and I did not want to wake up for this.

Stefen 2:45

Correct.

Greg 2:48

All right, well, we're just gonna pick up right where we left off. Okay, so Andrel, you're behind the register. There's a, there's kind of long line, and Dunvil still hasn't shown up for his shift. And we, right now we have - oh, we didn't describe the customer last time. We got a particularly mean customer talking to Andrel right now. Does anybody recognize them? And remember, it doesn't have to be like you personally know them. Just something recognizable about this customer.

Guy 3:13

I think they might be...you know, they've got sort of, like, big glasses, kind of long hair just because they've been inside a lot lately, and they're definitely from South America.

Greg 3:28

Is this Adrian?

Guy 3:29

This might be Adrian.

Greg 3:30

Is this our friend, our personal friend -

Hannah 3:32

This is our personal fr - I mean, Adrian -

Guy 3:34

He's not gonna listen to this! Who cares?

Hannah 3:36

- Adrian is kind of mean to me in real life.

Greg 3:39

Oh my god.

Guy 3:40

Adrian is mean to everybody, that's kind of -

Greg 3:41

This is Adrian, our friend who doesn't listen to the podcast.

Guy 3:44

He doesn't listen to podcasts period, so...

Drix 3:47

Hey, hey, that's not true, that's not true. He, he does now.

Guy 3:51

I don't believe you.

Stefen 3:52

He does, because he's, because he's been trained by Yoshiko to art, and the only thing to do while you're arting -

Greg 3:58

Yes!

Stefen 3:58

- is listen to podcasts.

Greg 3:59

Holy crap, Adrian! We - hey! Hey Adrian! Wink! You're here!

Stefen 4:01

He will not listen to our podcast. Let's be real here. But he does listen to podcasts. Eventually he may get desperate enough.

Greg 4:12

Okay, okay, Adrian, you're here, or rather, Jacob Iglesias is here. This is an inside joke that, for nobody listening.

Guy 4:19

Oh my god.

Greg 4:20

Jacob Iglesias. All right. The customer is looking to you, Andrel. He's like -

Adrian 4:27

Listen, I didn't - my croissant sandwich, I ordered it. I'm sure it's on the receipt. Like, how - why am I talking with you?

Andrel 4:34

Okay, can you show me the receipt?

Adrian 4:36

I threw it out real quick because I thought I had all my things!

Andrel 4:40

Okay, well, I don't know, maybe you should've checked first.

Adrian 4:45

How old are you?

Andrel 4:46

Sixteen.

Adrian 4:48

Yeah, okay, can I talk to your manager? Can you get your manager out right now for me?

Andrel 4:52

Sure. Yes, sir.

Greg 4:54

From the back comes a woman with red hair. She's in her 20s, she's got the uniform on, but it looks a little nicer. It's Georgie.

Georgie 5:04

Dinnea fash, Andrel. Listen, sir, I'm her supervisor. We won't have the manager out today. I just understand you got a problem with how Andrel's doing right now?

Greg 5:14

And the customer says -

Adrian 5:17

No, no, no!

Greg 5:18

- slams his fist on the table. That fist slamming, Drix, Pippin. You guys noticed this as well. Right now, I want to know which of you three are going to lead the team against the consumer.

Hannah 5:33

I'm right here.

Greg 5:34

Okay.

Guy 5:35

I feel like this is kind of, like, Andrel taking point.

Greg 5:38

Okay. Okay. So, um, questions, as we normally do. Have you completed your apprenticeship? Yeah, you're an apprentice barista. No, journeyman. No, no, master. You don't, you don't have the support of another, another group. Oh, yeah, what roles are you all? Sorry, I'm so sorry. Are we doing your archetypical roles?

Hannah 5:54

Yeah.

Guy 5:55

Yeah.

Stefen 5:56

Yeah.

Greg 5:57

Okay.

Guy 5:57

I think that makes the most sense.

Greg 5:58

So we do have an Anchor in Pip. We do have a Spider in Andrel and a Rook in Drix. We don't have an Owl, so that's one minus one. So we're currently sitting at zero. Have you worked this shift before, Andrel?

Hannah 6:13

Um, hm.

Greg 6:15

It's, like, the morning shift, right?

Hannah 6:18

Is it, what day the week is it?

Greg 6:21

A Tuesday.

Hannah 6:24

I'm gonna say I probably have on, like, school vacations.

Greg 6:27

Okay, okay.

Hannah 6:28

Or, you know what, I probably cut school regularly.

Greg 6:31

All right, so you don't take a minus one there. Do the other baristas swear to follow your orders without hesitation? Okay, so do, well, you, I'll give you guys time to, like, share, like, a knowing look or something, or like...

Hannah 6:41

We're in this together, fam?

Guy 6:45

I mean, like, Pip is, like, 100% devoted to "the customer is never right", so...

Greg 6:51

Hell yes.

Guy 6:53

Like he's, he's willing to throw hands if it comes to that, but he's probably just gonna throw, like, a fruit tart or something.

Hannah 7:01

All right.

Greg 7:01

Yeah, we've seen that on the last freaking layover, huh?

Stefen 7:09

As, you know, the audience knows, Drix always wants to be hospitable, but you know, hospitality goes both ways, so. It's, uh, it's time to handle stuff.

Greg 7:18

Speaking of hospitality, they were just mean to Georgie, who tried to defuse the situation.

Guy 7:22

Yeah, that's it. That's unacceptable.

Greg 7:25

Like, again, you guys are, you guys are sort of, you're, you're employees here in the Grind of Duskwall. But I, like, you are the players, so, like, certain things you need to deal with. I'm not gonnna have my NPCs do it. That's just how I roll as a, as a GM.

Hannah 7:39

Also, like, look at his stupid face. He looks like a real dick.

Greg 7:44

You hear that, Adrian?

Hannah 7:47

All right, so that's a zero?

Greg 7:49

Yeah, that's a zero. Straight roll.

Hannah 7:50

Okay.

Guy 7:51

Adding Hannah to my list of people I need to high five.

Hannah 7:54

That's a four.

Greg 7:55

Oh, okay, so you don't get to do anything special.

Hannah 7:58

Stupid fucking dice.

Greg 7:59

You can make the opening move, though. Do you want to tether the customer, like, so that way they don't storm out?

Hannah 8:05

Yeah.

Greg 8:05

Yeah, roll finesse to tether the customer.

Hannah 8:07

I'm gonna switch dice.

Greg 8:08

Okay.

Hannah 8:09

I have to take Greg's giant d100 out of the dice bag because it's in the way.

Greg 8:16

It's a good die.

Hannah 8:17

It's not. All right, uh, that's, uh, that's an eleven.

Greg 8:23

Oh, fuck yeah. Okay, so which, which two do you want to do?

Hannah 8:26

I'd like to do it quickly and without compromise.

Greg 8:30

Okay. Yes. Did you have, like, a vision in mind for how you, you get this customer to keep, like, engaging with you?

Hannah 8:37

I'm picturing, like, little Andrel kinda leaning forward across the counter, and she's like -

Andrel 8:41

You know what, I will go talk to our baker and if you just stay right there I'm sure she can get you that croissant sandwich real quick.

Adrian 8:55

All right. All right. I've already been here. I've already been here for a while, but I guess, you know, if...I, I'll just have to wait double the time for my croissant sandwich to go through that stupid toaster again.

Andrel 9:05

Well...

Adrian 9:06

I thought you'd do it with the hashbrowns, but whatever.

Andrel 9:08

It'll be worth it.

Greg 9:11

All right. The customer, so, so Andrel, presumably you're going off to talk to Greta.

Hannah 9:16

Yeah.

Greg 9:17

Who's working, who's working baking things.

Hannah 9:19

Greta, please help me.

Greg 9:20

At the moment, Pip, Drix, the customer is sort of, like, he's like, tapping his foot, and he's giving, like, nasty looks at, giving nasty looks at Georgie. You see he's starting to rile up the other people in the line because it's a pretty long line, and, like, at the moment this does kind of reflect poorly on you guys rather than just this guy being a dick, because the whole line's being held up. Any action from you guys?

Stefen 9:47

Yeah. I think Drix saunters up to him and is like -

Drix 9:51

Hey, I'm, I'm really sorry that this has been such a rough morning, and we, you know, we will do everything in our power to correct it. Now, if you wouldn't mind, would you just please step over here for a moment?

Greg 10:03

Oh, nice, nice, nice. So you're going to, you're going to tear him loose from the, like, the customer, like, line, right?

Stefen 10:08

Yeah.

Greg 10:09

Yeah, yeah, go ahead and roll force for me.

Stefen 10:11

Awesome.

Guy 10:13

I should have grabbed my dice. I'm a fool.

Drix 10:17

All right, that would be a nine.

Greg 10:20

Excellent, excellent, excellent. Which one do you want to do?

Stefen 10:25

Um, I think I want to create an opportunity.

Greg 10:29

Okay, I was gonna say, that's, that's probably, that's probably exactly what you're doing. So yeah, you, you get him, and at first he's, like, all indignant, but then you saw it, saw it off with the okay, maybe you should step aside. And he's like -

Adrian 10:39

Yeah, I guess I have nothing else to do today. I guess I'll, yeah, I'll get out of the way.

Hannah 10:45

Then what are you complaining about?

Greg 10:47

And Georgie, Georgie, mouths little thank you and then goes -

Georgie 10:53

I can take the next customer, please, while the, while the barista's over that way.

Greg 10:56

And yeah, she starts, she starts to sort of, like, ring people up. Pip, you see Greta, Greta is currently, she's got a big collection of food that she needs to give to a delivery person at the moment. Andrel's trying to get her attention but she's, like, really focused on this. Do you wanna do anything?

Guy 11:16

I think Pip's, Pip's been, like, working here, and he knows the back of the shop well enough, I think. He could, he could probably just sort of, like, take care of this, and just get, like, one of the, like, the frozen ones, or like, maybe one of the day old ones, just because, like, honestly, fuck this guy.

Hannah 11:32

Fuck this guy! Fuck you, Adrian!

Stefen 11:34

Fuck this guy!

Guy 11:37

Look, you put it through the toaster, no one can even tell, like, anyway. Like, who gives a shit? So Pip's gonna just, like, push it through the toaster, just like, real quick, just like, bing bang boom.

Greg 11:48

Hell yeah. What kind of roll do you think that'd be?

Guy 11:51

That's a very good question.

Greg 11:54

It could be, like, insight to find the right frozen things, or, like, honestly, I could see it being steel to just, like, to just be like, yeah, yeah, I got you the frozen one.

Guy 12:06

Yeah, no, I think -

Hannah 12:07

Look this man in the eyes and tell him this is a fresh croissant sandwich.

Guy 12:10

Yeah, Pip's gonna do exactly that.

Greg 12:13

Which one, which one don't want to do?

Guy 12:17

I think panic, disengage, or flee. I want Pip to just, like, stare him in the eyes, just like, here's your fresh sandwich, sir.

Greg 12:25

Yeah, yeah, go ahead and roll for me.

Guy 12:28

I'm gonna have to steal some -

Stefen 12:29

Go for it.

Guy 12:32

I'm actually gonna use one of the chocolate covered espresso beans to give myself plus one.

Greg 12:37

Very good, very good. Oh,...

Ep. 24 - A Horror Born (feat. Jack Wisnosky)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 05:00:00 -0500

The Imperium of the Shattered Isles is built upon the history of a world destroyed, of cultures broken. Survival is paramount, and the Imperial Railways is a resource aimed towards the preservation of the living now and do not stray far from their tracks to explore the people left behind in the cataclysm. The past will make itself known regardless as the spirits of the deathlands will jump at any chance to strike, even for a routine current collector realignment on the Pride of Duskwall. Drix wants Silence. Andrel worries for her friend. Jamu'kha meditates. Pippin smashes a unicycle.

You can't find special guest Jack Wisnosky online... YET!

For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/ep-24-a-horror-born

Follow @DiveCloudCast on Twitter and check here to find all the ways to listen to Dive Cloud

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

We are a proud member of the Faustian Nonsense Network of podcasts! Join the Faustian Nonsense Network discord here

Help the Show by Rating and Reviewing on Apple Podcasts

Greg 0:00

Hey there passengers. Before we start the episode, I want to draw attention to a new donation link we've added for the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum. Around the time of this episode's release, there was a racially motivated mass shooting in Atlanta that left eight dead, most of which were Asian women. The United States' long history of anti-Asian sentiment cannot be ignored, especially after the past year of racist discussion around COVID-19 in the media and from elected officials. Racism and sexism have intermingled with tragic results, and we urge our listeners to donate and stand with the Asian American community. This past year has been harsh for so many reasons, but this latest reminder of white supremacist terror in the US cannot be ignored. Please listen to and support marginalized groups and stay safe and healthy in your own lives. Thanks. Now onto the podcast.

Pip 0:51

Last time, with ghosts or trains or something...

Proctor 0:55

It has come to our attention that onboard of one Imperial locomotive, the Pride of Duskwall, there is an artifact of the One Within Many. The One Within Many will be able to give the Demon Princes some vital information. We shall give you a boon with which to negotiate.

Andrel 1:16

Pip, Drix, this is my friend from the orphanage! His name is Jamie!

Vagrant 1:21

It is always helpful to remember that we are all one within many, spokes in the Singular Wheels that is.

Pip 1:27

And today...

Radio Announcer Greg 1:30

The layer of reality known as the Ghost Field can be perceived by any living thing that is echoed within, as well as many supernatural entities that exists outside of it. It is called the Ghost Field because this is where spirits reside, and it is the place from which they manifest into the reality of the living. But the Ghost Field is far too simple a name for what this layer contains. All of humanity's actions are imprinted upon it, where they can be perceived by inquisitive minds, as one might peruse an album of imprinted leaves. And much like one might carefully remove a leaf from the safe storage of a book, it is also possible to whisper into the Ghost Field and create an opening into our reality for a bound spirit, or even for a summoned horror from beyond the field itself. Regardless of one's purposes for access, it is never safe to attune oneself the Ghosts Field, and the living who wade into its depths may soon find themselves dragged to their doom by the undertow. An example of this phenomenon is the Line Bull Drix, whose mind plummets through the Ghost Field as he stands with his Bulls against the supernatural, leaving him vulnerable and all too aware of the horrific possibilities.

Greg 3:00

Welcome back to Ghosts on a Train, the podcast where we play Ghost Lines, an RPG by John Harper. My name is Greg and I am your conductor, I run the game.

Hannah 3:10

I'm Hannah, I play Andrel. I have a friend this line, in addition to my coworkers who are kind of my friends? We're getting there.

Guy 3:21

I'm Guy, I play Pip, I am canonically not Andrel's friend. It's tragic.

Hannah 3:25

We're getting there!

Stefen 3:29

I'm Stefen, I play Drix, and I'm just along for the ride.

Jack 3:33

I'm Jack and I play Jamu'kha, and I guess I'm Hannah's friend?

Hannah 3:38

Yay. Wow. Okay. Four years of my life.

Jack 3:43

I meant in the game, Hannah.

Greg 3:45

Yeah, Jack is Hannah's real friend.

Hannah 3:47

Jack is Hannah's real friend, yes.

Guy 3:50

As opposed to us where we're all fake friends.

Stefen 3:53

Believe it or not, off mic we hate each other.

Hannah 3:56

I think we're friends!

Guy 3:59

This is news to me.

Stefen 4:04

The feud between our bloodlines will stretch across the ages, Hannah.

Greg 4:09

Oh, gosh.

Guy 4:11

Hold on, on the second day of Hanukkah, as a Jew, I'm not sure how I feel about that one, bud.

Hannah 4:17

It's the third day of Hanukkah, I think.

Guy 4:21

Eh, until sundown.

Hannah 4:22

I guess.

Stefen 4:28

So not cool to declare a blood feud during Hanukkah?

Guy 4:32

Generally -

Hannah 4:32

I think blood feuds are pretty in the spirit of Hanukkah, honestly. It's a war holiday.

Greg 4:35

If you're a rabbi and listen to this podcast, please tweet @ghosts_train about, about blood feuds during, during Hanukkah.

Guy 4:50

I think it's more appropriate during, like, Passover, personally, but, like, hey, so it goes.

Greg 4:54

You know what, I amend that. Tweet at us @ghosts_train about which High Holy Days are the best for declaring blood feuds and which ones are the worst.

Guy 5:07

Buzzfeed's Top 10 days to...

Hannah 5:11

I'm gonna text, I'm gonna, I'm gonna text Sam about this later. I feel like they'll have opinions.

Greg 5:15

I love it. So, getting back to the matter at hand, the Pride of Duskwall is stopped for some realigning of the contact shoe, the current collector for the train to the electric third rail. Meanwhile our Line Bulls are protect the - protecting the laborers from the horrors of the Deathlands, in this case, one ghost armored up in an Iruvian, an ancient Iruvian noble who seems to take umbrage with the I'Yalim-style armor that Andrel Anderson currently has. In this case, you all know what's up, so who would like to lead the Bulls against the supernatural?

Guy 5:57

I think this feels like either an Andrel or a Jamu'kha.

Hannah 6:03

Jack, do you want to do it? Or should I?

Jack 6:05

I believe you should. You've got more experience on this train.

Hannah 6:08

That's true, actually.

Greg 6:10

All right. So Andrel has completed her apprenticeship so that's a plus one. You've got a Bull in every single role, so you don't take minus ones there. You have worked this line or area before so you don't take a minus one there. Do the other Bulls swear to follow your orders without hesitation?

Pip 6:26

Yeah.

Drix 6:27

You know it, Little Spurs.

Jack 6:28

No.

Hannah 6:29

What!

Jack 6:30

I might hesitate.

Greg 6:32

Ooh, I like it!

Hannah 6:33

You absolute bastard.

Greg 6:35

So in total, you have a straight roll.

Hannah 6:39

All right. It's, it's two dice, right?

Greg 6:41

Two dice.

Hannah 6:41

Yeah, yeah, I know how to play this game. Well, it's a 10. So Jack didn't fuck us all.

Greg 6:47

So pick two.

Hannah 6:48

I'll pick...um, does anyone have a particular opportunity or advantage you want? Cuz I'm bad at coming up with those.

Guy 6:57

I have an idea.

Hannah 7:00

Yeah?

Guy 7:00

Because they got spat out by the earth, and things are starting to, like, still reform -

Greg 7:07

So no, no, no, no, no, no. To make it clear. The earth part was an echo.

Hannah 7:12

Okay.

Jack 7:13

So it didn't actually happen, okay.

Hannah 7:15

Maybe I'll just take seize the initiative and orderly disposition, I guess.

Guy 7:20

That's good.

Greg 7:20

Hell yeah. The Bulls are deployed exactly where you want them and are ready for action.

Hannah 7:26

Yeah, bitch.

Greg 7:26

So go ahead, you make the opening move. You are the Rook, currently. So go ahead, use your lightning hook.

Hannah 7:34

I'm begging you to stop making me do things. Yeah, I'll use my lightning hook. That's what I'm gonna do. That is an eight.

Greg 7:43

Which one would you like to pick?

Hannah 7:45

I'll inflict great harm. Fuck it up.

Greg 7:48

You shoot it with your heavy lightning hook, the heavy lightning hook, it's got a big, like, battery pack, and it's held, like, from overhand, there's like, a heft to it. But Andrel you're pretty strong for, like...

Hannah 8:00

For a thirteen-year-old.

Greg 8:00

For a thirteen-year-old. The electricity arcs from the lightning hook, grabbing this ghost. It's got, like, Falcon wings from its little backpack part of the armor, and as you zap it with the hook for a shocking four harm, with your extra harm, the bird wings start to, like, go haywire. He veers off course. But as he swings past you, extends one hand, and out of open palm a jet of fire bursts at you. Go ahead and take two harm.

Hannah 8:36

Reduced to one?

Greg 8:37

Reduced to one.

Hannah 8:38

Yeah. Still not great. But love armor.

Greg 8:42

You've maintained an orderly disposition and seized the initiative, so where are the others at? And who wants to go?

Hannah 8:49

I think, so it's flying towards us, right?

Greg 8:53

Yeah. Now a little bit to the side.

Hannah 8:55

Now a little bit to the side. I think probably it's conveniently been swung towards Pip, so he can do his Anchor thing and maybe hold it still. And Jamie is, like, lined up sort of perpendicular to that to, to throw a lightning web or whatever.

Greg 9:19

All right.

Hannah 9:20

I don't know where Drix is. You can do whatever, man.

Greg 9:23

So Pip, ready to deploy.

Guy 9:25

Yeah. I'm gonna roll insight, actually.

Greg 9:31

Like, like, like, you just want to roll insight, you like, your own dang self. You could outsource this theoretically to Drix because he's the Owl, but also then again, he is seeing things.

Guy 9:39

Yeah, he's, he's seeing things. I think I kind of want to know for myself.

Greg 9:43

Okay, be aware this will be your thing.

Guy 9:45

This is, this is my Anchor-related thing for, for this. So. That is a nine total, nice.

Greg 9:55

What's your question?

Guy 9:56

That gave me a hold one. So I think I'm actually gonna sit on it for a little bit.

Greg 10:00

All right.

Guy 10:01

As I try to, like, analyze the situation, it's like -

Pip 10:04

Oi, you...I don't know what's appropriate here.

Greg 10:09

Jack, I think you were the next one mentioned. It's perfectly ready for you to shoot it with the lightning web thrower, or your hook, but probably the lightning web thrower.

Jack 10:19

Where, like, where is it in like relation to, like, the train and us? Like, is it, like, in between us now? Like, it's in between me and Pip, right?

Greg 10:28

It's between you and Pip. You guys are effectively keeping yourselves between it and the train.

Jack 10:34

Okay. And, like, what's on, like, what's behind it? Or, like, what's, like, on the other side - like, it's the train on our one side, what's on the other side?

Greg 10:39

Andrel and Drix.

Jack 10:42

Okay. I think I'm just gonna grab it with my lightning web thrower and just try and pull it to the ground.

Guy 10:47

Yeah.

Greg 10:48

Hell yeah. Roll finesse.

Jack 10:49

Okay. So that's nine.

Greg 10:54

All right.

Jack 10:55

Do I get any bonuses with, like, swift?

Greg 10:56

So, so, swift would not give you a bonus on finesse, not in this situation.

Jack 11:02

Okay, so just nine.

Greg 11:04

Yeah, so pick one from the list. Doing it quickly, avoiding trouble, compromise, or cost, doing it impressively, stylishly, or to greater effect.

Jack 11:12

I'm going to avoid trouble.

Greg 11:14

Hell, yeah. You get them in the lightning web. As you pull him down, he's got time, he wriggles some and you see the backpack - he's a ghosts, so it's not like any of the stuff is physically real. The backpack turns into a large falcon, which then swoops around, doing, like, a big circle around everybody, whistling as it breaks into several falcons which whistle towards each of you.

Hannah 11:44

Oh, that's not great.

Pip 11:45

Bugger.

Greg 11:47

Drix, your go.

Stefen 11:48

Okay, so we're currently being attacked by whistling birds?

Greg 11:52

Yes.

Stefen 11:53

Okay. If I use an insight...no, no. I'm gonna steel myself against this attack.

Greg 12:00

Which is the one you don't want to do?

Stefen 12:02

I don't want to freeze up or leave myself - or no, I don't want to suffer more trauma or harm.

Greg 12:10

Okay.

Stefen 12:13

Oh, boy, well, I did that. I got a five.

Hannah 12:18

Oh, sweetheart. Oh, buddy.

Greg 12:20

Oh, boy, okay. These things whistle out, Jamu'kha, take one harm, as these things are relatively light, these like, spectral, whistling falcons sort of hurt you a bit. Andrel and Pip, they sort of just bounce harmlessly off of your armor. Drix...Drix, you see the birds come, and you blink and you see an echo, somebody that looks an awful lot like this man but with a slightly different dress sending out a stream of, like, just bullets. So you try to dodge those bullets and you end up, like, smacking into more of these whistling birds. Go ahead and take two harm.

Stefen 13:03

Okay.

Greg 13:05

Drix noticeably reacted to a spot that, like, was not where anything is happening.

Andrel 13:10

Drix, you good?

Drix 13:12

Yeah, yeah. That one, that one smarts a little, but I'll be fine.

Andrel 13:18

All right.

Pip 13:18

He can only have so many of those. I think it's...

Greg 13:24

It's only fair, right?

Pip 13:27

It's, it's supposed to be, like, uncommon and rare.

Greg 13:32

Yeah, so, the spirit, struggling against the lightning web from Jamu'kha, reaches, it reaches its hands by, where, like, a pocket might be and, like, an old flintlock style pistol appears in his hand as though withdrawn from some phantom holster, and he points it at Jamu'kha. Who's going to do a thing? We're at, like, the top of another round, so to speak. So Jack, you can do something if you'd like, or somebody else can do something in response to help Jack...

Stefen 14:01

Can I roll insight to try and, like, get a handle on the situation?

Guy 14:04

I was gonna roll steel to try and, like, take...

Ep. 23 - A Guardian Conceived (feat. Jack Wisnosky)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 05:00:00 -0500

Hadrathi chant made using the Hadrathi conlang by Ben Scerri, which can be found here .

Line Bulls are intimately familiar with ghosts: spirits lacking bodies and yet forced to persist. Inversely, it is possible to remove the spirit from a body and yet force the body to continue living. These living vessels are called Hollows after their emptiness, and their creation is often a punishment where one's flesh will be enslaved. But in Iruvia there is the practice of Hollowing willing individuals into Guardians, leaving some amount of the individual within so they may think and speak. These Gua'lim demonstrate supernatural abilities beyond a typical Hollow; a demonic nature remains unconfirmed by the Imperium but it stands to reason that what is empty can be filled. Pippin doesn't want to talk about the rats. Andrel finds herself comping up short in front of an old friend. Drix is haunted by the past (but not HIS past).

Content Warning for Child Death from ~00:07:11 to ~00:10:58, Four teens fight a Summoned Horror but only one survives.

For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/ep-23-a-guardian-conceived

You can't find special guest Jack Wisnosky online... YET!

Follow @whatrulespod on Twitter and listen to We Never Learned the Rules on Apple Podcasts here

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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We are a proud member of the Faustian Nonsense Network of podcasts! Join the Faustian Nonsense Network discord here

Help the Show by Rating and Reviewing on Apple Podcasts

TRANSCRIPT:

Radio Announcer Greg 0:00

In an ancient chamber that reeks of death, torches flicker as if shivering, they timidly illuminate the unnatural form sprouting from an arcane circle along the ground. But summons horror takes root in our reality as a coil of thorns, menacing with a snarling cry that comes not from any mouth, but from its own unnatural locomotion. Four youths surrounds the fiend, dress in Iruvian encounter suits and equipped with standard Line Bull equipment. They are Gua'ata, hopeful apprentices to become Gua'lim, or city guardians. Should they succeed this test, they will be granted a taste of the power of the Demon Princes. The tallest looks to be 16, though he is neither the oldest nor the youngest of the apprentices here. His name is Jamu'kha, and he wields a lightning web throw with the confidence of an apprentice spider. As the cursed coil draws near, the youths hear instruction from their Proctor, a member of the noble House of Ixis who is invisible among the shadows.

Proctor 1:05

This is a summoned manifestation of the Lady of Thorns. It will not perish. There is no hope of defeating this as there is a ghost, but one of you will surely be able to outlast it. That one shall go on to complete the task before you.

Jamu'kha 1:25

Master, can only one of us complete the task?

Proctor 1:27

I have hope that one of you will be able to.

Greg 1:30

We are going to roll to face off against the supernatural. What role are you, Jack?

Jack 1:38

So I'm just fighting a ghost right now. Right?

Greg 1:41

You're fighting a coil of thorns. It is a summoned horror.

Jack 1:45

Okay

Greg 1:46

You will fight this thing as though it were a ghost. But there is essentially no defeating it, only surviving it.

Jack 1:53

Only surviving it, okay. Am I armed with my spider lightning web thrower?

Greg 1:57

Mm hmm, mm hmm. So you are spider is what you said, correct?

Jack 2:01

Yes, that is correct.

Greg 2:02

All right. You have completed your apprenticeship. You have a bull in every single role, you have not worked this area before. So you'll take plus one for the apprenticeship, minus one from not working before. You will, however, take another plus one because you have the Iruvian homeland gift "swift". So right now you're sitting at a plus one. Before that, the one that I always like to ask is do the other bulls swear to follow your orders without hesitation? If not take minus one. So just here's an opportunity for you. What do you say to your fellow class? Before beginning this engagement.

Jamu'kha 2:40

We're going to have to work together if we want to get out of this alive. If any of us want to get out of this alive. The Master said he only hopes that one of us will make it, that means none of us can make it. We have to try, boys, we have to try.

Rook 2:53

Jamu'kha, I will stand behind you. But it will be me at the end of this.

Greg 2:58

Says one of them. They promise to follow your orders without hesitation. So roll 2d6 with a plus one.

Jack 3:04

2d6 with a plus one. Okay? So 10 total, a three and a six.

Greg 3:11

Hell yeah. So as you can see on the second page on there, against the supernatural, on a 10 or 11, you get to pick two of the following options: seize the initiative, maintain an orderly disposition, or seize a particular opportunity or advantage. So which two do you want to do?

Jack 3:24

I'm going to maintain an orderly disposition.

Greg 3:28

Oh, hell yeah.

Jack 3:29

And I think I'm just gonna seize the initiative right now. I don't think -

Greg 3:31

All right. So tell me how are they deployed? Like what's what's your plan? And also you seize the initiative, so you're, you'll act first and then your team will act first. What's your plan? What's your...

Jack 3:43

So in the front we're gonna, like, I'm gonna have the anchor kind of go up and, like, kind of position itself in front of the spiky thorn bush to act as kind of like our tank, or kind of like a distraction, sort of. Then me with my spider web thrower, I'm gonna, like, try and catch and sort of control it. You know, kind of like, hold it in place. Then using the Owl's, like, lightning oil canisters - it says there's four uses, right?

Greg 4:08

Yes, lightning oil for each use gives you a +1 to a roll, or just in general, it's like what powers - it's what powers things. It's what is electricity, so you can use it for anything you can come up with.

Jack 4:19

Like will the lightning oil do anything to it? Or was lightning oil just like, more for powering things? Like, it's like a Molotov cocktail kind of thing?

Greg 4:26

Lightning oil is kind of just power, but I suppose if you just sort of tossed the whole canister you could blow it up.

Jack 4:33

Okay, cuz I'm thinking maybe like, I use my web thrower to control the bush, and then I'm gonna almost have my Owl take their, like, canisters and, like, he just kind of uses it like as an explosive kind of thing.

Greg 4:44

Yeah, yeah. If somebody zaps it hard enough, yeah, I'm sure it would explode.

Jack 4:47

Yeah, so what I'm thinking is we take all four oil canisters, or if there's one canister just the big canister, put it into, like, the side, almost, like, have them put it in, like, a corner. And then I'm going to try and take my lightning web thrower and, like, drag them to, over it. Like towards that lightning oil canister. And then -

Greg 5:04

Oh yeah, and -

Jack 5:05

When it gets over there the rook is gonna zap it and trying to explode it to help destroy the bush.

Greg 5:09

Oh, I love it. I love it. Alright, so as you can see, still in the middle section of the second page, you make the opening move because you're the one who leads the team. So use your lightning web, roll 2d6 and and your finesse.

Jack 5:23

2d6 plus finesse. Where's my finesse? So I got another 10

Greg 5:27

Hell yes. Back to the first page, on the left. When you employ finesse, you get to pick two of the following. Do you do it quickly? Do you avoid trouble, compromise, or cost? Or do you do it impressively, stylishly, to greater effects? So pick two of those.

Jack 5:41

I'm definitely doing it without trouble and doing it quickly. I'm just all about business get this hedge shit done.

Greg 5:46

Hell yes, efficiency. You get everybody into position like this is a practiced motion. You have all been training for months, the better part of a year. Without any wasted movement, you shoot your lightning web thrower. It wraps around the coil of thorns, which is at the moment about the size of one of you. You wrap it up, tighten it; the anchor with their, like, electro field crackling, is able to help kite it, and then, like, as you swing it, he also helps to push the coil of thorns right towards where the owl has placed two lightning oil canisters.

Jamu'kha 6:21

Keep it going, keep it going, it's working!

Greg 6:23

It is at that moment the rook, the boy who said "Jamu'kha it will be me," gets forward and shoots it, blasts it with lightning. The coil of thorns crackles and twists along with the lightning around it. And then there's a greater, just, BOOM-CRACKLE as, like, the lightning oil canisters explode, unleashing some of the lightning inside. The coil of thorns is, like, standing up straight. Imagine it like a thorny tumbleweed, but if it just sort of, like, exploded, all stretched out and stuff. Still together, but just like, it's all stretched out, arced and bent like lightning. At that the rook turns to nowhere in particular, because you don't know where your proctors are.

Rook 7:07

There, the test is over. Only one of us? Easy!

Greg 7:11

And at that, there is a sickening grinding noise as thorns tear the neck of his encounter suit open, and there's, like, a squirt of blood as the coil of thorns, which has now grown a little bit larger -

Jack 7:26

Oh, shit.

Greg 7:27

- slits this boy's throat, leaving them on the ground, and you hear a voice.

Proctor 7:31

This is no common spirit. This summoned horror is a manifestation of the Lady of Thorns herself. As I said, there will be no defeating it. Only outlasting. Continue, Gua'ata.

Jack 7:43

Oh, no.

Greg 7:45

The coil of thorns lashes out, tossing the body of the boy towards you. It's, like, about to let it loose. It will hit you and probably hurt.

Jack 7:55

Okay, so can I just, like, try and roll out of the way, or just dive out of the way?

Greg 8:00

Hell yeah, that's - that's perfectly within your rights. That'd be - what do you think, finesse?

Jack 8:04

I would think so, yeah, just let me - I'm just diving, I'm not, like, trying to do anything else.

Greg 8:07

Hell yeah.

Jack 8:07

So 2d6?

Greg 8:08

Roll 2d6, add your finesse.

Jack 8:10

Oh, shit. Five.

Greg 8:12

Ooh, so on a six or below, that is a miss. You fail in what you're doing. So you try to roll out of the way, but this boy's body hits you. You hit the ground. Take one harm as it was thrown with some force, but even more horrifying than that, you shake your head and, like, sit up, and as you sit up, in your lap is the head of this boy that moments ago was sure that he was going to win, and months before that even, you'd maybe trained with him. Take three trauma, horrifying.

Jack 8:41

Ooh, three trauma. Oh, wow. That's a lot of trauma.

Greg 8:44

Mm hmm. So misses are punished a lot. But engagements are also very quick in this game.

Jack 8:50

Okay.

Greg 8:51

So you missed that. The Owl has fully decided to play dirty.

Jack 8:56

Oh, no.

Greg 8:56

And you see the Owl, like, did like a sliding kick, tripping the Anchor, and to add insult to injury, the Owl's like -

Owl 9:06

Kha'ish, Ki'ata!

Greg 9:06

- which roughly translates to "You blew it, maggot boy". He's gonna run past you, he's just running away from the coil of thorns. And you see the Anchor, entangled in these thorns, and then sort of, it's almost like - there's no stomach. There's nowhere for him to go. But this coil of thorns eats him and grows a little bit larger.

Jack 9:24

Jesus. So it's just me and the Owl left.

Greg 9:26

It's you and the Owl, and the Owl's running.

Jack 9:28

Okay. How does my lightning web thrower affect people?

Greg 9:31

Your lightning web thrower would work on people. But you do have a lightning hook yourself. It's not a heavy one. But you have a normal one. So you can do either of those if you want.

Jack 9:40

So it's about survival...

Greg 9:41

Mm hmm.

Jack 9:42

Okay, so can I use my lightning web thrower to like, grab the Owl, and almost like, pull them back to me? And like pull them in front of me?

Greg 9:50

Hell yes! Oh, that's, that's dark. That's the shit you've learned here. From the orphanage to here.

Jack 9:54

Yeah.

Greg 9:56

Jamu'kha, coldhearted, I love it.

Jack 10:00

It's all about survival, the orphanage taught me survival.

Greg 10:02

Roll me 2d6.

Jack 10:04

2d6. Oh, 12.

Greg 10:07

Oh my god! You do all three! You do it quickly, avoid trouble, comprise, or cost, and you do it impressively, stylishly, to greater effect.

Jack 10:14

Let's fucking go.

Greg 10:14

Do you have a vision of how this, how this goes? Do you want to narrate?

Jack 10:18

So, okay, so here's my - my vision is basically I take my lightning thrower, I grab the Owl, pull them in front of me, like directly in front of me, like a foot away. And as they're in front of me, I, like, grab their, like, spirit goggles off their face, put them on my arm - like, just off their face - and then I kick them into the bush.

Greg 10:36

Hell yes! Oh my god, they get - you grab them. And they're like -

Owl 10:41

Oh, Jamu'kha, I don't want, I don't wanna -

Jack 10:43

- and they kick, and then the the coil of thorns grabs, like, just assimilates into its body, and it grows huge and it starts to, like, rather, it starts to spread out and wrap around this, like, torchlit area. But then, although it hasn't touched any of the torches, it starts to burn at the edges. And you see when it burns, it leaves behind no ashes, just, like, this weird, unearthly ether. And the coil of thorns, it doesn't have a face or anything, but you swear the way these thorns move, it's almost, like, scared of this. And this, like just this fire just consumes it, leaving behind this strange, ethereal sparkle. And then you hear just a couple of claps.

I do a small bow.

Proctor 11:25

Excellent. As you can see, manifestations of Forgotten Gods can no longer survive in this world for very long, and you, Jamu'kha, have survived.

Jamu'kha 11:37

I did what I had to.

Proctor 11:38

And that is what makes a good Gua'lim. You will do what you have to, for Iruvia first, for yourself seconds.

Jamu'kha 11:46

For Iruvia, master.

Proctor 11:48

For this assignment, you may come into contact with another envoy of the Forgotten Gods. It has come to our attention that onboard of one Imperial locomotive, the Pride of Duskwall, there is an artifact of the One Within Many. The One Within Many will be able to give the Demon Princes some vital information. We shall give you a boon with which to negotiate.

Jamu'kha 12:15

Negotiate?

Proctor 12:16

Though we do not know where this artifact is.

Jamu'kha 12:18

Does someone have the artifact, Master? Must I take it from them?

Proctor 12:22

There is no need for theft. The artifact will simply allow you to communicate with the One Within Many, if you can find some time alone with it, whatever it may be. We do not know the shape of it. But we know that it has been consistently upon the train. So it is not a passenger's.

Jamu'kha 12:39

How will I recognize this artifact, Master?

Proctor 12:42

That will unfortunately be left to you. But know that is the One Within Many. One thing made of many things, or many things perhaps made of all one thing. The Forgotten Gods are...

Jamu'kha 12:54

Fickle, sir?

Proctor 12:55

Fickle, and contradictory. This is fortuitous that you were the...

Ep. 22 - Layover Part 2: Midnight in Kethrys

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 10:00:00 -0500

The city of Kethrys (also known as Cloudspire) yields little of value for the Imperium, but what little may be produced is promptly sent away so the inhabitants of the city must fend for themselves. The settlement around the spire's base is surrounded by children, and the older they are the more they may have to do to survive. Cities like this bode well for Line Bulls who are always looking for Side Jobs, as the lack of Imperial investment means someone always needs something done. Andrel meets royalty. Pippin lies to cops. Drix draws a crowd.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

"Gemelli's Wonder Wheels" lyrics by Stefen feat. Greg, kazoo instrumentation by Greg. Sebastian remains guiltless for Emeline Gemelli

Follow @ThornvaleCast on Twitter and listen to Thornvale at: https://anchor.fm/thornvale

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Ep. 21 - Layover: Cloudspire Atlas

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 10:00:00 -0500

The city of Kethrys, Imperial designation Cloudspire, is a scabbed over wound left on Iruvia from the Imperium's bolder days. Before the costly Unity War with Skovlan, it was the Immortal Emperor's belief that even sovereign Iruvia would eventually bend to his might as humanity's steward. An entire generation were worked into their graves, killed by Imperial Agents, or sent to die in the decades-long civil war; leaving behind the shell of a city populated by the children they left behind. Andrel is offered an out. Pippin gets to keep ignoring things. Drix sees some rats.

Content Warning for Thalassaphobia from ~54:00 to ~55:35, Andrel has less air than she thinks underwater but doesn't drown.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

Follow @TheGleeWatch on Twitter and listen to it here: https://directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/thegleewatch

You can listen to Sebastian's single "Might As Well Be Me" here. It's not new and Sebastian doesn't charge for it, but you all get to hear what his voice sounds like so that's neat.

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Bonus - Act 1 Break

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 10:00:00 -0500

THE NEXT MAIN EPISODE WILL BE NEXT WEEK, THEN WE'LL STILL BE ON ALTERNATING THURSDAYS FROM THERE.

Greg takes a break from any serious editing to be joined by Stefen and Hannah to just talk about the show so far and where it's going. We talk about why we don't use last names on the show, discuss Content Warnings, and encourage not just Reviews and Suggestions but criticism that can help the show grow. Then the back half is a somewhat self-indulgent discussion of how we expected things to go in the beginning vs. how the podcast is currently going (better than expected).

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 20 - Ana'Sukr'im el Vaa Vaas or "The Uncaring Treasure Lord's Tale"

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 10:00:00 -0500

Hadrathi title made using the Hadrathi conlang by Ben Scerri, which can be found here .

Miser was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatsoever about that. Mr. Ma'at knew this when he stepped onto The Pride of Duskwall headed towards Kethrys, and it was for this reason that he treated the Line Bulls to a meal. While Line Bulls must remain vigilant, it is not uncommon for clever Bulls to receive favors or tips from passengers if they go the extra mile to please them. Although in Mr. Ma'at's case, dinner might not cover the extra work. Andrel orders nachos. Drix gets some onion rings. Pippin gets some chicken tenders, but he has to share. After the main episode, Greta brings the Bulls some fan mail she was sent by mistake.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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Ep. 19 - A Normal One

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 10:00:00 -0500

The Pride of Duskwall leaves U'duasha for Cloudspire, also known as Kethrys, along one of the rare Lines with an end. This comes with the assurance that the locomotive will make a return, though for a return is never assured for a Line Bull. Regardless, after the Bulls have faced a Demon and prevailed a normal Line should prove no challenge. Drix smells "bon". Andrel learns that adults can be cool (gay). Pip wallows in anguish.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta

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Ep. 18 - Layover: Babes in the Lakewood

Gregory Carrobis — Fri, 18 Dec 2020 10:00:00 -0500

The Pride of Duskwall, having been torn and shredded by the Demon Voldranai, enters the Iruvian capital of U'duasha. This octagonal city boasts no lightning barrier, deriving protection from a massive burning spirit well known as the U'du. But the culture shock experienced by a Line Bull entering U'duasha is dulled by the trauma brought on from the demonic encounter. The cruel black wind swirls above the fires of the U'du, an uncomfortable reminder of the last day's events. Drix gets caught in the rain. Pippin makes a hat. Andrel meets a horse.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta

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Ep. 17 - Trapped With Us (feat. Bennoni Thomas)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 10:00:00 -0500

As the Pride of Duskwall approaches U'duasha, a Black Wind roars across the deathlands outside of the train. The supernatural energy in the air manifesting in this strange paranormal event ensures that no spirit could accost the train if it so desired, and yet the Line Bulls have sprung loose the Demon Voldronai inside of the locomotive. Nature itself, and by extension a Demon's power, are warped by the Black Wind, though the clueless Earth Demon is just grasping it's new metal surroundings. Pippin needs a bath. Andrel isn't here to make friends. Ismael loses his head. Drix makes this right. After the main episode, the Line Bulls get a Suggestion from an old man on the Spirit Box that leaves everyone angry.

Find special guest Bennoni on Twitter @darcwizrd

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta

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Ep. 16 - Spilling the Beans (feat. Bennoni Thomas)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 10:00:00 -0500

On the Imperial Railways it is a Line Bull's responsibility to protect the passengers and freight on board the train, from the spirits of the deathlands and in some cases the passengers themselves. In The Pride of Duskwall's case, the Line Bulls hunt a potentially dangerous demon cultist in order to bring forth their demonic master; a risky move that will escalate the danger in the short term but save lives in the future, if successful. Issmael does some explaining. Pippin's suspicions grow. Andrel hangs out with kids her age. Tears fall for Drix.

Listen to The Lucky Die wherever you get podcasts or check out their website at https://www.theluckydie.com/

Find special guest Bennoni on Twitter @darcwizrd

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta

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Ep. 15 - The Old Bull (feat. Bennoni Thomas)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 10:00:00 -0500

It's not often that a Line Bull survives to achieve the highest rank of master, and it's even less common for Master Line Bulls to stay in the trade for long afterwards. But exemplary Bulls are often called for exemplary service, such as leaving the safety of a moving train in order to destroy a spirit well. In Bright Harbor, the Pride of Duskwall prepares to leave for Iruvia's capital of U'duasha. Andrel learns to distract herself. Drix must keep a promise. Pippin spends some time on the floor.

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bail_funds_george_floyd?refcode=cwg https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race https://www.dismantlecollective.org/resources https://www.joincampaignzero.org

Find special guest Bennoni on Twitter @darcwizrd

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta

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Ep. 14 - Lavoyer Part 2: Brighter Lights, Bigger Harbor

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 22 Oct 2020 09:00:00 -0500

Line Bulls do not spend their entire lives on the Imperial Railways, and though the Downtime between Lines is often less exciting than the pulse pounding journeys between cities it is here that the people who work the rails get to be people. In Bright Harbor the Line Bulls of the Pride of Duskwall complete their side jobs as usual, but make use of their idle time in unusual ways. Pip stumbles into another horrid truth. Andrel reads some Hadrathi. Drix tests his valor.

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Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta

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Ep. 13 - Layover: Bright Lights, Big Harbor

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 09:00:00 -0500

After taking severe damage crossing the Void Sea, the Pride of Duskwall enters Iruvia. This Isle is an autonomous principality that is part of, but not ruled over by, the Imperium. While the locomotive is repaired, the Line Bulls have more Downtime than usual in the Iruvian city of Bright Harbor. Iruvians would know the place as Eldira, but the Imperium maintains a stronger presence in this port town than anywhere else on the island so both names may be heard. Mr. Walker reappears, to congratulate the Line Bulls on completing their apprenticeship. Drix accepts a challenge. Andrel finds herself upset with good news. Pippin is left alone with his thoughts for a moment too long. After the main episode, the Line Bulls receive a reasonable request from a concerned mother in the Suggestion Box.

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"Gemelli's Heating Pads" lyrics by Hannah feat. Greg, kazoo instrumentation by Greg. Sebastian is guiltless for this crime

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta

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Ep. 12 - Run Deep

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0500

To encounter a ghost, especially in the deathlands, is to enter a story that long since should have ended. The actions of these spirits are inexplicable to anyone from the present, as the longer a ghosts exists the further it's mind is unraveled. So the Pride of Duskwall must contend with spirits that burn with enmity that is undeserved but must be faced regardless. Drix is the center of a love triangle. Andrel finds out what's really going on here. Pippin saves the day with panache and flare.

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bail_funds_george_floyd?refcode=cwg https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race https://www.dismantlecollective.org/resources https://www.joincampaignzero.org

Follow @TheGleeWatch on Twitter and listen to it here: https://directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/thegleewatch

We apologize for the audio quality in this episode, we tried a new flow and it's not a good fit but we return to normal by the Layover in two weeks.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta

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Ep. 11 - Still Waters

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0500

The locomotives of the Imperial Railways go where they are needed, carrying whatever passengers and freight are currently in demand with a not insignificant weight given to payment. Line Bulls who can curry Favor in high places can indirectly leverage that influence and change their train's assignment, as Pippin Mckeel has in order to avoid a return to the Imperial City. Pippin is prickly to some newcomers. Andrel takes a moment to be thankful. Drix has a transformation sequence.

We apologize for the audio quality for this episode and the next episode, we tried a new flow and it's not a good fit so the quality will return to normal by the Layover.

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Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta

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Ep. 10 - Layover: South-Point Break

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 09:00:00 -0500

After saying goodbye to Camilla Wester, the Line Bulls finally have a chance to step off the Pride of Duskwall and enjoy some Downtime in Southpoint. All of the Bulls are physically and emotionally exhausted, but how long of a break they'll get is yet to be seen. Andrel finds a new conspiracy to unravel. Drix goes fishing. Pippin throttles some rats.

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Listen to the Iron Bound Chest on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2QkP7MkawXK6cwVwROMWge

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta

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Trailer

Gregory Carrobis — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 17:15:05 -0500

Curious about this show? Listen to hear about Ghosts on a Train from the mouths of the players themselves! Ghosts on a Train is a podcast where the cast plays Ghost Lines by John Harper, a roleplaying game about keeping ghosts off of trains in a dark world of corruption and supernatural danger. The Shattered Isles is a grim place under the thumb of an Immortal Emperor, and though that fact is never forgotten all of the players inject levity into the tone of the game.

Greg is the Gamemaster (or "Conductor" as he calls himself), who brings the locomotive called "The Pride of Duskwall" to life for the players who will defend it. Hannah portrays Andrel Anderson, a plucky young orphan who becomes a "Line Bull" and defends the train to pay off of a debt she incurred while stowing away. Stefen plays Drix, a slow-witted but good-natured man who's livelihood was destroyed so he turned to the rails. And Guy is Pippin, a bumbling drunkard who risks life and limb to escape a past he can't bear to remember.

Ep. 9 - Sun Sets in the West (feat. Yoshiko Agresta)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 09:00:00 -0500

The consequences of Camilla Wester's ill-fated journey on the Iron Mare have come to the Pride of Duskwall, endangering all aboard; but should Camilla alone shoulder this blame? In special guest Yoshiko's last appearance (for now?) the Line Bulls grapple with loyalties. Andrel gives her trust. Pippin dabs. Drix hardly recognizes his friend. Camilla cannot help but be who she is now. After the main episode, Candace reveals a new supplement to the Suggestion Box; the Spirit Box used for voice messages (link below; apologies for the audio quality, we tried a new recording method and it was convenient but wasn't a good fit)

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bail_funds_george_floyd?refcode=cwg https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race https://www.dismantlecollective.org/resources https://www.joincampaignzero.org

Find special guest Yoshiko at https://linktr.ee/yoyoyoshiko

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta

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Ep. 8 - Court of the Ravenous (feat. Yoshiko Agresta)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 09:00:00 -0500

Line Bulls fight ghosts, but only on rare occasions do they seek out and hunt them. Much of a Line Bull's job is simply to protect a train's passengers and freight long enough for it to be out of danger. As the Pride of Duskwall passes through Ravencourt, what can the Line Bulls do against a supernatural effect with no apparent source? Pippin fancies himself a philosopher. Andrel's suspicions reach their peak. Drix bites off more than he can chew. Camilla's dark secrets are revealed.

Content warning for Pica (the eating of inedible objects) throughout

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Find special guest Yoshiko at https://linktr.ee/yoyoyoshiko

Listen to the Iron Bound Chest on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2QkP7MkawXK6cwVwROMWge

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta

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Ep. 7 - Fraying Shadows (feat. Yoshiko Agresta)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 16 Jul 2020 09:00:00 -0500

A Line Bull's primary job is to clear ghosts that are entangled in the electric field of a moving locomotive, focusing on keeping ghosts away while the train moves to the next lightning barrier. The casualty rate increases whenever Line Bulls must guard a stopped train, as the time it takes to escape could mean life or death. Who may be at risk when the Pride of Duskwall stops at the behest of a natural philosopher? Andrel gets suspicious. Drix learns to never meet your heroes. Luck fails Pippin. Camilla makes the ultimate sacrifice. After the main episode, The Pride of Duskwall receives a strange missive from the suggestion box (email below)

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bail_funds_george_floyd?refcode=cwg https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race https://www.dismantlecollective.org/resources https://www.joincampaignzero.org

Find special guest Yoshiko at https://linktr.ee/yoyoyoshiko

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta

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Ep. 6 - Wild Camilla Wester (feat. Yoshiko Agresta)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 02 Jul 2020 09:00:00 -0500

The abandoned north railroad splits off between Duskwall and Wintercliff, leaving Akoros as it skirts across the surface of the Void Sea. The Imperial Railways are meant to connect the Imperium yet this track leads beyond the Immortal Emperor's sovereignty, where an unfamiliar train meets a grisly fate. Meanwhile, the Pride of Duskwall prepares to leave Wintercliff with a new train car. Drix has an unexpected reunion. Andrel shares a conspiracy theory. Pippin's still got it.

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bail_funds_george_floyd?refcode=cwg https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race https://www.dismantlecollective.org/resources https://www.joincampaignzero.org

Find special guest Yoshiko at https://linktr.ee/yoyoyoshiko

Check out our friends at Dice Shame: https://www.diceshamepodcast.com/

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta

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Ep. 5 - Layover: Edge of Winter(cliff)

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 09:00:00 -0500

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bail_funds_george_floyd?refcode=cwg https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race https://www.dismantlecollective.org/resources https://www.joincampaignzero.org

The Shattered Isles was once a beautiful fantasy land full of magic, though even the parts preserved by the lightning barriers show a wretchedness brought on by the destruction of the Gates of Death. The Line Bulls of the Pride of Duskwall have no time to imagine the world as it was, and so they busy themselves with downtime in the city of Wintercliff. Pippin poses a charged question. Andrel gets crafty. Drix almost leaves town without upsetting anyone.

Content Warning: (1:11:00-1:12:45) Law enforcement abusing power, Andrel is slapped and money is taken from her

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta

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Ep. 4 - Full Throttle

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 09:00:00 -0500

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bail_funds_george_floyd?refcode=cwg

https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race

https://www.dismantlecollective.org/resources

https://www.joincampaignzero.org

The Imperial Railways advertises that Line Bulls clear entangled ghosts from electrical fields in the way that one might bring a spider out of their home. The Pride of Duskwall must now grapple with the messy reality of a ghost that's made it's way onto the train itself, minimizing damage to the train and any persons inside. Drix makes things worse. Andrel swallows her anxiety. Pippin holds a friend tight. After the main episode, The Pride of Duskwall receives it's first complaint from the suggestion box (email below)

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta

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Ep. 3 - Questionably Unquestionable

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 21 May 2020 09:00:00 -0500

The employees of the Imperial Railways cannot afford to be discerning about the freight they carry or passengers they transport. Loaded with lightning oil, the Pride of Duskwall heads towards Wintercliff while the gang of Line Bulls deal with the demands of their customers. Issues from inside the train might distract from the dangers outside. Andrel spots a familiar face. Drix reads the good book. Pippin helps Trevor out in the locomotive.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta

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Ep. 2 - Layover: From Dusk til Gone

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 07 May 2020 09:00:00 -0500

The Pride of Duskwall safely enters the city of it's namesake, leaving the Line Bulls with a short period of downtime. While ghosts may not threaten their lives, the gang must navigate the more subtle dangers on this side of the lightning barrier. Mr. Walker makes a rare appearance, as Dunvil retiring means his badge name formally goes to Andrel. Drix finds brief employment with a noblewoman who may not share his sensibilities. Pippin drinks to forget a horrible realization.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta

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Bonus - Echoes of the Past

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 09:00:00 -0500

The deathlands is no place for any living soul, lest they wish for their bones to take the rest that their spirits will be denied. Ghosts cannot enter a city from without and any that may come from casualty within are prevented altogether through cremation. So why would Pippin, Andrel, and Drix leave this safety to face down the specter of death? Listen to the creation of our Line Bulls, and then hear how they separately ended up on the Pride of Duskwall from bars, orphanages, and distilleries.

We have continued the main story remotely and that will be up in two weeks, but for now we hope you enjoy this extra episode we recorded before episode 1.

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta

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Ep. 1 - All Aboard!

Gregory Carrobis — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 12:00:00 -0500

Take a ride on "The Pride of Duskwall", an electric train traveling through peril between cities domed in lightning! The Imperial Railways traverse the deathlands, a sunless expanse covered in rotting flesh where ghosts hunger for the living. But fear not, as for this trip you're protected by our own gang of Line Bulls: Pippin "McKeel", Drix "Coleburn", and Andrel the Trainee under the command of Master Line Bull "Dunvill".

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta

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