Call of Cthulhu: The Saturnine Chalice #1

[Music] Hey, guys! Hey, everyone. This is Ken. And Adam. From the Lourid Up podcast. If you're a fan of gaming and geek culture, we've got something for you to check out. Our show, Lourid Up, dives deep into the world of Pokemon Go, offering critical gameplay coverage plus exclusive insights straight from Niantic. We bring the community together on our weekly podcast live streams and our Discord, and of course, out there on the Game Board IRL. Our goal is to create positive content that has its finger on the pulse of the Pokemon Go fandom. If it's happening in Pokemon Go, it's happening on Lourid Up. Subscribe now at learnup.com and listen while you play. [Music] You trudge down the gravel path to your ancient family manner. You just inherited it. After your great uncle's mysterious death. The wind whips across the malls and stings your face. You withdraw the heavy I.N.K.s and you slowly push them into the rusted lock. You turn and the door creaks open. You hear a wailing on the wind. You look around. What's that up in the window? A shadow? Or could it be a face? Could that be the fabled ghost of Clark and Steinmana? Or are you on a mystery quest? [Music] And welcome everybody to mystery quest. Today we're playing Call of Cthulhu, seventh edition. And a mystery called the Saturnine Chalice. I hope you enjoy. Welcome everybody to mystery quest. Today we are playing Call of Cthulhu, a scenario called the Saturnine Chalice. [Music] My name is Tom and I am your keeper of arcane law. And I'm joined by four fabulous guests this week. Would you like to introduce yourself? My name is Lydia and I'll be playing the role of Maggie. I am so siloite. I'm quite of a class. My husband Dickie died and I'm looking for a bit of adventure. Got short curly blonde hair and beautiful clothes. And just up for a jolly good time really. I love her. Thank you. You're a pisser. I'm a little, I don't do love a tiffle. Do you love a drink? I do. It's a love a tiffle. It's prohibition and so technically. A secret tiffle. But you know, it's fine. Next up. I'm Ravs and today I'm going to be playing Welley Megan's who is married to Mrs. Megan's. He is a beloved mechanic member of the neighborhood watch. Coaches a little week team and just an overall swell guy. Kind of looks like Mr. Rogers. But like if Mr. Rogers was a mechanic a bit more, a bit more stocky, a little bit smaller. Just like a average guy. Just like a good old, good old, good old Welley. Good old Willey. Okay, love him. Hey, I'm Harry and I'm going to be playing Mrs. Biggins. A astute author from Boston who writes terrible horror books. Some terrible titles either that I'm not going to bore you with now. Obviously married to wonderful Willey by charming husband. And I also run the Boston Book Club. Big reader I am. Not in real life, I'm not. But Mrs. Megan's is a big reader. So this is going to be a big challenge for me. No, I love it because you love both horror. I love horror and I love books. That's what we're going for today. Exactly what I love. So excited to play. It's going to be good. Okay, and finally. Hello. I'm Simon and I'm Perry. Hello. I am a real piece of work. I am a scam artist, a con man. I trick old ladies out of their money by pretending to be a psychic that can talk to their dead husbands. That's how I met Lydia's character Maggie. I think she knows it was all bullshit and they were actually like besties. You've come good fast friends because you're divorced. She's looking for some adventure and you're just such good fun. And I look like a handsome rat. Handsome rats in our suits. Okay, great. I'm very much into that. Nice. Are you into handsome rats? Super rats. I'm right. It's very important for later on in this adventure. So the Saturday night, shallus call of Cthulhu is a spooky game. So I warn any listeners or viewers that we're going to be dealing with some spooky themes. It's going to be a little bit horror, a little bit of the unknown. And so if that sounds too much for you, maybe it's time to go to bed. And let's jump on in. So you four are currently tearing through the Massachusetts countryside. In Maggie's car, I'm assuming, as you are currently promoting the newest book that has been published by Mrs. Miggins on a bit of a book tour funded by Maggie. And you are kind of going from large bookstores place to place to promote it, do readings and things like that. Does that all make sense? That's what we've worked with. You're kind of. Yes, it sounds great. I love signing books. It's my favorite bit of writing. The book is where I get to sign it. You get to sign a book. This is Miggins. This is Miggins. That's your pen name or the only name I go by, Tom. You don't have no regular name in my prints, but in the 1920s and an author. It's like Prince Wait, so Mrs. Miggins just a symbol. It's a single word. Miss Miggins. Miggins. Hello. Miss Miggins. Okay, well, I love that. So who is driving? Who's driving the car at the moment? I'm driving, of course. Okay, such a good driver. Oh, I just love to ride really, really, really fast and close my eyes for a bit. I love this. I'm really little. Have you been drinking today so far? Oh, just a few swings darling. You know, it helps me get on the yuck and ready for the day. It does help. Oh, drive better off with you. I have a driver to my driving. If you haven't had a couple drinks. Okay, so you guys are kind of passing back and forwards a hitflask and just having just a few, a few sips. It's a absolutely beautiful summer's day in 1925, 1926. I've got as a note somewhere in all of my notes, which it's not that important. It probably won't be coming up again. And as you're driving along, because you've got a big long, a big long trip ahead of you. And you are heading out sort of west of Arkham. And right now, I'm guessing Perry, he's sat beside you in the front seat of your Rolls Royce. And the Miggins are sat in the back. Yes, we're canoeedling. Oh, no. Hello darling. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, my goodness. Still as handsome as the day I met you. Oh, sweet. Do you have pet names? Do you have pet names, three of us? Yes, of course. I'm calling my big willy. Why did that? Oh, okay. Well, it's his name is Willie. It was big willy. It was my baby doll, my girl. Okay. It's like baby doll. Baby doll. Oh, he makes me feel so young. Baby doll and big willy. Okay, great. I'm glad that we managed to just set this off to the right tone already. So you've been driving for a little bit. And Perry, you're sat there with the mat. And you're pretty sure you found a shortcut that can shave easily like an hour off your trip. That makes perfect sense. Maggie, Maggie, I'm looking at the mat here. It's kind of buffeting around in the wind. But I'm pretty sure that we need to get off the main road. We need to take this path out down into the countryside. And we can, it's much quicker. It's much quicker. It won't be hardly any traffic. What's this about a, what are you saying, Perry? What, where are you taking us? Why would I just drive in the straight there? Well, look, we're going around in like a U shape. We need to go in a straight line as the crow flies. Perfect, Perry. It's like off-road adventure. Is it a bumpy road? Is there no sort of tarmac or anything? I don't want to know why. I love a bumpy car, right? I'm like, God. Yes, if it's bumpy, then we said it should go. So you go, it's not fully off-road. You're not just driving through rivers and mud and fields. But you are driving for a little while. And you begin to see less and less cars on the road until it's been, you know, a good, good half an hour, 40 minutes since you've even seen a car. And all of a sudden your car just starts, the engine starts making some weird noises. It's kind of like spluttering. It's not sounding good. Maggie, you might want to stop the car there. look and see what's going on, please. This is good. This is delays. We can't have the lounge. What are we doing? Around the back and pretty surely the entrance to the front. Is it? I don't believe you know, Perry. I just drive the damn thing. When you put my suitcase and then cut some plastic. It's on a drive face. Roll luck. No, no, no, no. What we got? We got a 99. It's called bail. It's called. The worst I could roll. So look, if it makes you feel any better, it wasn't left on the driveway. As you are driving down a one of the big highways, it fell off the back of it fell off the front of the car. You guys drove over it. And now whatever was in your suitcase is droon across this highway and has been driven over for the last like three hours. Do you have anything important? Because that's gone now. I don't think so. I'm pretty sure I probably carry my gun in a little thing in my jacket. Packing heat. Yeah, because you never know. You never know. And shit's going to go down. Okay. Great. No, I love. So for anyone that doesn't know, call of Cthulhu is a percentile system. Everyone is going to be trying to roll underneath whatever their score is, whatever their stats are with a D100. And yes, I'm enrolled very badly. If you roll a 99 or 100, you are going to get a critical fail. High numbers are bad. No numbers are good. High number bad. Low number good. And yeah, so you pull over in a sort of secluded part of the side of this road. And there's like beautiful sunlight still. You're in quite like a woody, woody area. And yeah, you give the car a little little investigate. All right, everyone calm down. I got this honey. Give me some sugar. And I'm going to get my spigot's little peck. Oh, you see. Oh, he's so nice. I'm going to head out. He's so handsome. He's got a little wrench and go go to town on the engine and have a little work. See what's going on. I'm just like, I'm just like, soooning over him as he's working. Oh, yes, Willie. Oh, so you I don't think I'm even going to give you a role to work this out. The cars out of gas. You work that out immediately when you check the sort of the the fuelometer. Is that a word? The fuel gauge. Yeah, fuel gauge. You give that little tap. And suddenly the the needle just goes from full all the way down to zero. Like it looks like it got stuck or something. Maybe splashed with a bit of alcohol. You would have thought that someone would have noticed hours ago that this wasn't going down, but maybe they were distracted. And yeah, yeah, you are completely out of gas. I'm the the hood down is like, not really much I can do here. It's just a guess. I don't know if you guys got anything in that flask of yours. I don't touch this stuff. But you know, maybe I don't know. Maybe I wouldn't put that in this type of car. What how? I don't understand. I put all the petrol into the boot. Why? No, we can't open the boot. Can I open the boot? What's in it? It's just in the boot. So yeah, you guys have probably got some like like travel supplies. I'm sure. Well, he's just like in pain hearing that. Just like this is a roll slice. It's like a beautiful luxury car. Maggie has just been running into the ground. Yeah. It is. It is new. But yeah, you guys have been driving for several like multiple hours. I can say it's about midday and you set off early in the morning. So yeah, you've been driving for at least four or five hours and you probably should have stopped off to pick up some more gas at some point. The last town that you passed was a good good 40 minutes ago. And according to the map, you don't think there's one that you'll be able to reach on foot before nightfall. It will take you a good good eight hours. The time does the sunset and summer like eight or nine o'clock. Yeah, it'll be easily dark by the time you've even made it there. Oh, Perry, where are we going? What other one with a map? I guess I'll check the map. So yeah, you are deep in darkest Massachusetts. Well, Perry, come on. There are any farms nearby. Any town just little houses or small hamlets, perhaps something. So you're far west of Arkham. Where the hills rise wild and the valleys are deep with woods that no axe has ever cut. It kind of looks like where where the hills are riding wild and the woods are never been cut before. Yeah, well, you are definitely going to be stuck here for a little bit, but it's still like a pleasant pleasant enough day. We've got any food. If you're a little picnic, celebrate some of this sadness. Well, it's like probably a chaps. I put all the food in the boot. Just had to look at it. It's all a little bit soggy now. No, the sandwich is Maggie, Maggie, Maggie. Isn't that what you said? You put the petrol. You put that in with the food as well. I'm very sorry, chaps. My bad. Well, it's time for some rambling that I think. Should we get walking? Oh, no, honey, I can't walk. I'm going to my high heels and they're very expensive. I could start pushing the car if you want. Like we could try rolling in the town or we're going to have to find some. Take us some twice as long pushing the car. We're just going to have to make a nice nice ramble for it. You're pretty sure that if you just leave the car off to the side of the road by here, it's secluded enough that no one is going to come along and steal a little temperate with the singers you just haven't seen. Oh, help push it off the road. They're like seeing a vehicle. Yeah, you push it off to one side and it's super secluded and you start walking along a little bit. And very soon you see on sort of like a like a bear kind of like a hillock, there's like quite a large nice looking house. And you're pretty sure somewhere this far out, they must have fuel a car of their own or by the looks of it. Like it's a nice looking place. They even have a telephone that you could use to call up somewhere. Maybe we could like siphon there, get us or something exciting like that. Does anyone have like a hose pipe or something? Why would any of us have a hose pipe? What a name, peri? Our person walking around with a hose pipe. I mean, I do. I mean, it's a whole mechanic. My husband is a mechanic. Doesn't really carry his home. Yeah, as you're saying that a hose pipe falls out of your home. I don't need to explain myself why I just happened to have this. But peri, do anything that be exciting though, you can just take someone. I've seen it. I read about it in one of your books where they always could just ask. You can always just say, this little they might be reasonable people. I think you're I've been in situations like this before where you approach a fancy house. And the one thing you're thinking of sealing from them is petrill. Yes. Gazillion. Not some candle larbrace. It's a painting or two. Well, I guess we could do that as well. If you want peri, it could be fun. Good, isn't it? It's repenting and for a bad thing. Let's do it. Oh, I love that. So, I guess we're fused. Let's go. We're heading up to steal from this house. It's a bit fun, isn't it? Why not? So you head through kind of through the wooded area. It only takes you a few minutes to get there. And you head up this like quite long, nicely maintained, looking driveway. This place looks quite fancy, like fairly expensive. It's not huge. It's sort of like a maybe 100, 200-year-old farmhouse that has been maybe not 200 years old. Like a 100-year-old farmhouse that has been converted into a bit of a manor. Like it's definitely had some work done to it. And as you come closer, you can see the driveway splits and it runs in a big circle all around. Oh wow, this place is very nice. All around the building itself. And you can see there's like a, what looks like a kind of a garage or a shed-type thing. There's a lot of stone building. There's a well outback. And there's beautiful beautiful hedges and sort of rose bushes and things like that, all dotted around. And this place must have cast a pretty dime. Maggie, you should buy this place. It's lovely. It's quite clean, isn't it? It's quite clean. It's got a groff map just for you guys to look at. It's quite like nicely manicured. But yeah, it is this large circular driveway with a few off buildings and this, you know, quite large two-story building. It looks very, very pleasant. Which if you don't say hello or we go into Rob. Well, if you want we can just say hello. I guess if you're going to be boring. It looks like reasonable people. I'm fine, I'm fine. Come on Maggie. So yeah, as you are approaching, you can see that every, all the curtains are open, the lights are on in basically every room. And as you start heading directly up the path to towards the, there's sort of like a balcony over over render and you start moving up to there. And off to your right-hand side in, you can see through a large window, you get startled because there is this large face just looking out at you. And it takes you a second to realize that there's just this large bust of a man, just facing out of the window. This pure black bust of like a sort of older gentleman just staring ominously out of the window. And for a second it just, "Oh, it catches the off guard." And then yeah, you are at the front door of this building. That must be the fella who owns the place. It's a very strange art choice. Perry, you knock, you knock on the door Perry, you go, come on, come on, come on, Perry. Is that the wisest idea? You mean you get half a tube hanging out to Jacky? I'll just put it back. Oh no, boys. And of Betty Talon's. If anyone's kind of looking around at the building or something, can you give me a spot hidden or something? If anyone's super paying attention to architecture or something like that. Yeah, sure. Oh fuck. Okay, if you roll in on the floor, that means that your character will take D6 damage. Wow, D6. Oh, that's a lot of numbers. Yeah. Okay, an 88. I got 19, so that's a great success. Is that. I'm going to have a hard success. Yeah. No, can I not use the burettes? No, no, because. It's a hard success, Tom. And what's the other one? Critical success? All I can think of is great success. It's a success. Like, it's really minor. But where the top story of the building is, there are bits of eaves of the building, like, small. There are covered roof parts on the ground floor. And it looks like sand is like on the roof. Like you. It doesn't seem too bizarre, but it just is a little weird to you. You can just notice that there is sand just in the kind of trickling down between the tiles, not actually pouring down like a river at all. But there's just. For some reason, it's sand up there. And it just catches your fancy for a second. I probably wouldn't even mention it. It's just so inconsequential. Yeah. So, yeah, you are at the door with then you can see this big, ominous face looking out of the side. What motion is the face giving? Is it. Jones roll for that or.? No, I think. Nice psychology yet? Like, it's a blank face. This looks like a. Yeah, like a bust, a bust of a person. Then. Yeah, kind of. Stoic Stern is an older gentleman. He's got a beard and like a full head of hair. And he's looking just. Stern, serious. Strange. Strange. Like. I'm just pitching your face. Yeah, I like. I thought the exact. As soon as you said with a beard of like, "Is this you and your older?" But then he said full head of hair and I was like, "Oh, yeah, there we go. That's going back." So, it looks like me, but a little older with nicer hair. So less handsome. Less handsome. Thank you, Harry. Oh, what's that? Harry just found a gold bar! My free gold bar. We can go on hard, they are. Rich, I don't have to publish this shitty book in sucks. No, your book's now a best seller. Everyone loves it. Amazing. So you made it to the door. Who. You're not. You're not. Yeah, I'm going to be knocking. I am the one who knocks, Tom. Wow. I got one of the locks. Oh my god. Evangelion reference. So you are not at the door. And it's quite for a second or two. And then you hear. Come in. The door's open. Sorry, I've got my hand busy. I'm a little preoccupied of moment. Come inside. You're going to be able to reach the view. Come inside then. Come, Harry, I'll leave the way. Okay, off we go. You open the door very little. Although you're putting. I'll sound the fix person out of a job. Yeah, what the fuck? Kyle. I just think that money has saved us on production. Oh my god. Tom beats his crying. He's so sad. You open the door into this really attractive sort of hallway. lobby area. And there's like a. like beautiful paintings of landscapes on the walls. You can see like a coat and hackstand, some kind of console tables dotted around, including one that has a telephone on it. And in the middle of this, on a pretty precarious step ladder, is a sort of older gentleman who's dressed very much like a butler. And he is changing light bulbs on a very large chandelier. And looking a little bit. Can I like rush over and help steady the ladder for him? Oh yeah, you. 100%. Make him fucking roll. No, I think we fucking roll that ladder. He's gonna be careful going up on those stairs. I don't think I need help. No, I'm not. Push it, step ladder. Can you hold the ladder? You gotta be careful going up on those things. Yeah, he's like stood on the top step. And this guy, he's looking a little bit older, a little bit more frail, just super dangerous. Hey, you still got to spring in your step. And he's there. He's like, "Oh, oh, thank you very much." Sir, don't mention it, pal. So kind of you. Can you make me a spot hidden? Oh, or if your repair is all the zeros, that is 100. Yeah, you are sure this guy was just about to fall. But he finished his kind of screwing the light bulb in. And suddenly the whole whole of this, Shandlea is absolutely illuminated. And he climbs down. And he's like, "Oh, thank you so much for your help. What can I do for you? Are you here to see August? You're far too early for the party that we're having later. I don't believe you recognize it. I'm not see going on here tonight. Oh, yes, we're having a celebration later on. But that's not until this evening. It's only the middle of the day right now. Oh, apologies. We were heading into town to get some supplies first, but our car broke down. So I'm afraid we thought we'd just come round now. Apologies for us being here early. Oh. Uh, Oh, of course. Oh, come on in. Is your vehicle okay? August is in the, I mean, Mr. Wailand is in the, in the sitting room. I can, you know, just need some fuel. I don't know if you got any on yet to hand here. Maybe we can take it in the can or, you know, whether near a service station is I can, you know, maybe go ahead there. Oh, I'm sure undoubtedly we must have some fuel here. Yes, we've got the garage out back. Mr. Wailand is an avid driver. He's an enthusiast for driving his car around. Judging by the size of this place, he must have quite the collection of cars. Oh, he's got a real fancy one. I'm not too familiar with vehicles myself. I'm just the butler, you see. Please, my name is Jeremiah, by the way. Willie, Willie Megan's nice to meet you. So nice to meet you. Yeah, he sticks your hand and, uh, yeah, you can feel like he's taking a bit of a shine to you as he came and helped him. And he's like, please come through. The Wailand's there just waiting in the, um, the living room. Uh, come, come with me. Yes, of course. Maybe there'll be interest in some in your book, Sonny. Mariam, maybe we can sell a couple. Yeah. They are coming to know him, but an exclusive signing is quite a rare. Okay, right. So I'm going to give you guys a, um, a map of this building. Okay. Um, here you go. So you have entered in through the, the Southern, uh, across the Southern Veranda and you've gone into the hallway. Um, and, uh, you are led through into what is a large dining room that is connected to a living room. And this is like a really bright, really, um, really nice space. And the dining room has a table, like a really big table set up for about 20 guests, uh, maybe more 22, 23, um, like really big. Uh, there are candles lit. there's plates, silverware, all kinds of stuff. Redium weight, bowls with bread and kind of different accoutrements. - Boles of bread. - Boles of bread. - A bowl of bread. (laughing) Yeah, these guys, they go all out with their guests. But you're taken into the lounge where you can make out the back of this bust that was looking out of the window. And you see a sort of central coffee table with four large sofas surrounding it. And this older gentleman that you recognize from the bust is sat there, a smoking cigar in an estuary on the table. There's a piano in the corner, like a really large grand piano and this roaring fireplace, absolutely. Just going for it. And above that, these really large paintings kind of absolutely dominate that wall of a bunch of different figures. Wow, very warm fire and I love any Dave. Very toastier here. - Excuse me, sir. Hello. - One second. Can you give me an intelligence role? Give me, it's just a parry. - 25, that's, oh, it's a great success. - Oh, good success. - Okay, hard success. Something that seems weird to you. When you came in, there was no smoke coming from the chimneys or anything like that. And for how roaring this is like, woo, it's hot. Just odd. From the outside, you definitely saw there were three or four different chimneys stacks throughout this building. And does the place look lived in? Does that make sense? Does it look like there's children in the house? Or is it, yeah, it looks, it looks like a family. It's not kept like a man a house that someone maybe visits once a week. It's kept like a home that is lived in. - No, it, yeah, like there's definitely, it's not pristine. There are bits of scraps and stuff, right? It's clean, but it's not like, yeah, yeah. It definitely looks like people are living here. That, yeah, like it is a full time working house. Residence. And the, yeah, the, yeah, people live here and it's furnished in a way that, like dotted around, there's newspapers in a little pile under the-- - Yeah, it's active. - Yeah, the stuff is going on right now. - With the fire, is there a big log pile over side of the fire? - Yeah, I think there'll be, you know, after one side, a bunch of, you know, tools for maintaining the fire and a stack of logs, just for short term, but because if it's a place that has a butler, you would have imagined that they would, they would be tending to the fire and they'll probably store. - Is the butler with us as we're going in? - Yeah, the butlers. - Gosh, Jeremiah, this is a very, very roaring fire. Do you maintain that? - Oh, yeah, so I do, Mr. Wailand enjoys, enjoys a lovely fire. We want to keep this place warm. - Well, we would do. - Or when I get to get you round ours for Christmas. Gosh. - So that sounds absolutely lovely. Yes, me and my wife, we would love to do that. But unfortunately, we need to be here taking care of Jeremiah and who is. - Right, it was a passing comment Jeremiah. Not a real invite. - Oh, okay. - Well, that was a real fun. - Another Jeremiah here. It's a common name because you're Jeremiah as well, right? Then you said, I'm Jeremiah. I'm the butler. - I was doing Jeremiah. - Yeah, you were talking about that right? - Yeah, yeah. - Did you mean August in the children? - August, yes. August in the children. - That's what I fuck you, man. That's what I fuck. - Okay, yeah, yeah. The butler's Jeremiah, the man is August. - August, Wailand? - August Wailand. Yes, sorry, Liddy, you wanted to have a. - Yes, sorry, turn to August. Hello, Mr. Wailand, hello. My name is Maggie Van DeHold. You might have heard of my name. My husband's family, they invented the cigarette case. - Wail. - Yes, yes. Sorry to drop in. We, sorry, there's my friends, Perry. - Hello. - This is Megan. - And Megan. - My pleasure. - We were just wondering if we could maybe join your party you've got going on. - Well, okay, right, he needs a voice. - Well, he's got to be a bit more grand. - Well, well, hello there. - Well, well. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. He's got a little Southern. (laughing) Well, it's an absolute pleasure to meet you. He stands up beaming. Like he's got a smile on his face. He was, I'd been reading a book, and that's just kind of like-- - It was a bottom line. - Left to, not a big fan. Maybe she would shit to see if he was a-- - I would always peek at what he's reading. - Yeah. - Give me a, yeah. And then you all, you could probably just pick this up. Yeah, it is a book about the choirs of angels is a book that he's reading. Is the title of it. You can't really make out what it's about, but it's like an old leather bound book. - Cool. - I'm not gonna comment on it. - Yeah, and he's like, well, welcome very, you're more than welcome to come into my house. Yes, we are. We're having a bit of a party later. We're having a celebration of sorts. It's for my daughter. She's about to begin a great ritual of ours, going forwards. And yes, we just cannot, cannot wait. Oh, here she is now. And stepping through the door, this woman, she's maybe in her 30s. And she's absolutely beautiful. She's very, very dainty. And she's wearing this like a black morning dress, which seems quite like stark contrast to sort of like how British he is. Just sort of like how plain this outfit is. And especially how like kind of grandiose that August is dressed like he's very smart, quite fashionable for the time. It looks like quite an expensive outfit. And he says, please, my beloved daughter, come, we have guests. They are here for the, oh, you want to stay for the party? You're more than welcome to. We don't want to impose or anything. We just car broke down. We need some fuel. We'll get out of your hair. It's the earliest convenience. Oh, we are. But well, no, we definitely it is. It is pretty late at night, though, you see. I think my friends are looking for, you know, somewhere warm. We definitely can, we must have, we must have fuel. Jeremiah, maybe he can take you out. But we always will keep some kind of supply in the garage. Thank you so kindly, so very hospitable. More than welcome to go and go and check out. But yes, here's my daughter and she introduces herself. She's like, oh, hello, I'm Veronica. I see you've already met father. I hope he hasn't been boring you. He does, he does like to go on a little bit. No, not at all, though. At the other end of the dining room, you can see that there is an open door through to a kitchen and a maid comes through. And he's like, oh, please, can I offer anyone a drink? I'm so sorry. I've been so busy preparing, preparing the meal for later. And she's like a lot older, wearing a quite traditional maid's dress and has quite like a piercing smile on her face. Like a, like, she's really trying hard to smile and is there's something just slightly off, slightly unsettling about. Of course, there's a reason to keep the kitchen isn't there, will he? Jesus. I'm, I'm, I'm a, too. Oh my god. Please, refreshments, can I get you anything right now? Keep it on the slide. But do you have any martinis or anything in the bag? Martini, her like, I kind of twitches a little bit. Yes, I'll see, I'll see what we can put together. I won't tell if you don't. Oh, no, it's not a, not a problem at all. And August says, please, we, if there's nothing up here, there must be something, something down in the cell at Rosemary. We don't tend to drink a lot of alcohol ourselves, but we do keep a, keep a big stock here. I love this prohibition. I've never drunk so much before in my life. Let's get the wine in. Absolutely. What can I, is it just a, just a peppermint tea for me? Peppermint tea right away, sir. Yes. Just some water. Water would be great. Thank you. I can 100% get you a, a water. And for you. Do you have any wine? [LAUGHS] Yes, yes, we must have some wine. I'm sure. Okay, any red wine? Definitely. Yes, I'll be okay. Be right there, we really love. I'll be right back. And she kind of just hurries off into the kitchen. Textual salt, like, for better. So August kind of stood there just like hands behind his back. Well, so what happened to this car of yours? You're having some kind of car troubles? It's a real nice model. We got a Rolls-Rice out there. Just simply ran out of fuel. I'm not sure what happened there. I don't know what Maggie did, but the tank just went empty over sudden. Oh, well, I've got a Rolls-Off my own out in the. I do, you know, undergarage. It's my pride and joy after Veronica, of course. And he puts his arm around her and she kind of smiles dotingly. And whether stood. What the fuck? Take another D6 damage. She's a wild. That's so damn much. I think he's dying. I think he's dying dead now. I'm dead. And they're stood there almost mimicking this painting that is directly behind them. Oh, God. Or thinking of like airplane. Yeah, it's that sort of vibe. But these. All of these like large paintings that are absolutely dominating this wall. One of them is of August and Veronica, but as a much younger child, kind of like stood and he's got his hand on her shoulder. Well, hey, I've been so kind to us already. But if you ever get a moment when you're not busy hosting, I'd love to see this collection of cards you got. I'm a mechanic myself. So I got a real appreciation for the automobile. Oh, I'd be more than happy to show you the rolls. And you said you were out of fuel. Like I'm sure Jeremiah, he knows where that should be. There should be some in the garage. I can't use so. What color is it? What color is yours? It's silver. I can't say. I believe I have a picture of it somewhere. Yeah, it is silver. Oh, dashing. It's a picture of it. I prepared a picture of the cards. I wasn't sure if you'd know what a sort of like 19. I'm a fancy 1920s car would look like. And so I got a picture as extra reference that you might help. But I'm not showing it to you yet. So this painting on the wall is there a Mrs. Waland? So there's. This carer, Mrs. Waland. Mrs. Waland. Because Perry's feeling. So yeah, above the fireplace, there are five. These large paintings all on this one wall. And it's dominated by in the center is another woman, a younger woman. Maybe she's in her mid 30s or something. Very young. And wearing a. Well, compared to August. Very young. Actually, it was quite old Lydia. It's quite old to be mid 30s in 1926. But she's wearing this. She's wearing this like beautiful white dress. And it's like a really lovely portrait. Like big picture. The others are of August and this woman. They look about the same age in this other painting. He looks a lot younger. And then. They look about the same age in the other painting. Yeah. August and this woman who's in this central painting, there's this painting of them together. Yeah. And August looks about the same age as her. In that painting, but he looks older in the main one. No, no. So in the main. The main painting is of this woman in her 30s. Yeah. There is another painting of this woman in her 30s. Yeah. And. Right. Sorry, I forgot that August was in that one. You might infer that these paintings are from the past, which is when August is younger. I got you. But she doesn't also get younger as well. I see. Because that's not how time works. Could you make an intelligence for us? Just make sure she's good. Is it? Is it a riddle? I don't know if the stats go low enough. No! No, you're doing okay. You can call her Cthulhu. There's a lot of weird stuff going on. But I thought maybe it was all of us. What's his name? Old in the mirror in the attic. The mirror in the attic. No, the picture in the attic. The picture in the attic. Dory, I thought it was a Dory and Grace situation going on maybe. No. Or. Or. Or just no. August, do you. These paintings are wonderful. They are so joyous. Can you tell us more about them? Oh, well, of course. This is my beautiful. My beautiful darling, my wife. Oh, yes. Evangeline. Evangeline. Evangeline. Evangeline. It's an amazing name. Splendid name. Oh, but she's no longer with us. Oh, I am so sorry. Veronica looks so lean hand on his shoulder or something. Looks a little like sad. And like she can like. Like touch the dad's arm like comforting them. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have asked him so sorry. And the other paintings are. There's like another one of just August a little bit older in. Just like a nicely tailored suit. And there's one of Veronica wearing like a university gown. Holding. Holding like a diploma. But yeah, it's just kind of like paintings of the family. But there. You do notice that there's no paintings of. Evangeline and Veronica, Veronica together. It's either the. Oh no. I shouldn't have. You know, wouldn't feel that super odd. But you would notice it, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. This could just. It seemed that she died a long time ago, right? Yeah, I don't think that takes a smart. How much does she resemble her mother? You would say. Family resemblance. But. Evangeline, she has like dark hair. You would be able to. You could probably pinpoint. Yeah, this looks like. These people's daughter. Would make a lot of sense. They don't look identical by any means. But. Yeah. Yeah, there is similarities. There is resemblance. Well, Veronica got all of her wonderful looks. Your beautiful girl Veronica. Oh, y'all. That's very kind of you to say. I don't know what to do. I would. Do you have to ask about this bust if we gave her such a giggle on the way up to the house? It took us by such a surprise. We thought you were stood at the window or something. Tell us more. It's so intriguing. Oh, well, yes. That's a. As you can see, they. They did a very kind job and made me a far more handsome. Now I can see the busted person. Is there anything like odd about it? You know, now we're closer to it. Give me a spot hidden, Ralph. Sure. Ooh, 13. That is nearly a crit. So how near a crit? So free. If I could like it. So you can deduct points from your total luck score to reduce whatever number you have rolled, making it easier to pass test. So I rolled a 13 and I've got 60 luck. So I'm going to spend free luck to make it a 10, which would make it a critical success. Okay. Right, can I do that? Yeah, you 100% can. Cool. So I've used free up, but that's taken it down to a 10, which has made it a big problem. So yeah, you have now. I've got a crit success. I know everything about this bust. Yeah. It's really nicely. Yeah, so an extreme success. So as you look at the bust, you instantly notice that it looks like it has been painted. Okay. And you can see like a scratch or two on it, which has taken off this like top layer of paint. And underneath it, you think it looks like it's made of lead, this bust, which seems odd to you. Is it on a plump for anything? Yeah, so it is on a pedestal and on the tie of the bust. It's kind of the shoulders and head of August, wailand. On its tie engraved, which looks like it was done afterwards, is there's a symbol on there. The symbol doesn't really mean anything to you, but it just instantly strikes you as odd. Like, it's just. Yeah. You're not sure why. It's quite a small detail to force of the include on a bust of a person. Yeah. That's my pookie bear. She always had an eye for the art. Well, are you conveying? So Harry might not be conveying us to you guys yet. Oh, no, no. Just like, you know, you're asking about the paintings you're looking asking about the bust, you know, just. I'm just very intrigued. Interesting collection of items you have. Not that it matters, but here is a. It doesn't really matter what the actual symbol is, but yeah, so just give you an idea. Not at the tie, they kind of. On the Windsor of the Tie. Yeah, on the knot. It's not what that's called. He's a cultured person. - Oh, man. - I'm like my character. (laughing) - As he's quite like protected. I mean, I wouldn't imagine I'm like prusing over it, but I am like walking around and looking at the bus as talking about the bus. - Yeah, easily move around. - He's not like being weird or protective over it while I'm doing that. - No, no, he's just sort of just chatting away. He's talking a little bit about the house, a little bit about Veronica. You can see that he's like really a, like quite a gregarious person. Super affable. It looks like he's quite happy to be entertaining. - Yeah, yeah. - And he's quite like infectiously charming, like just talking away. It does seem weird to you why you would have this giant this bust pointing out the window. - So facing the wrong way, right? - For the room, it's like the right way. - That in the room you are just looking at the back of its head. - Yeah. - It seems oddly placed there. Just like anything I've seen before, is it just again weird? - You just say it's just bad, bad things we, why you would put it like that that it is staring out. - Back in the day, they used to have cardboard things to make silhouettes, so it looked like people were in the house. So it could be like maybe we would just assume so that it deters burglars. - Oh, so he's doing a classic hood. - It's a turmalone. - Yeah, exactly. - Exactly, that's all I know. - Well, Lydia's like, oh yeah, back in the day, the 1980s movie, Home Alone. - Oh, and it, well, also-- - I mean, like the 1800s or something. - It did not deter four people who just turned up to burglable them. - Yeah, well, yeah, that's true. - It's working terrible. - It's a terrible job, but I'm just maybe that sort of, you know, might assume. - What team is it about? - I'm gonna say it's like one o'clock in the afternoon. - Oh, okay, okay, okay. - Like, so there's a dark, there was no gas here, yeah, but what the fuck? - No, no, it's not. - No, no daytime. - Like it is, I'm gonna say, height of summer. - Oh, right. - Why they got the roaring fire on it? - Maybe a late May June. - Does the room feel warm with the fire on? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Like, it's like boiling, but it's-- - You would say like, sweltering, but it's definitely, it's a hot fire. - Gosh, you do like to run it hot in here, don't you? - Oh, it's just a force of habit. I just didn't, you know, we want to make things comfortable for when our guests arrive. You know these old buildings, they can get real drafty and cold. - Who are you entertaining tonight? I'm sorry, we've so invaded, who is it? - Oh, as he begins to tell you, suddenly, the maid kind of comes back in and she has a tray of drinks for you all. There's a glass of red wine. And what looks like a gin and tonic with a martini. She has a martini for you and there's a glass of water and a peppermint tea. She's like, oh, please, here, I hope this is to meet your expectations. I must be getting back to preparing. We have a lot of guests coming later and I've just so much to do. - Don't let us hold you up. Go, thank you very much. - Thank you very kindly. - As she sets that down, like she kind of goes to the mantel piece and pulls a little cloth out of her pocket and just kind of wipes a little bit. And she's looking a little bit, a little bit stressed, a little bit harried, but has this still just got this big grin on her face like, okay. And yeah, heads back into the kitchen and you can sort of see and loosely hear from the other side of the dining room, her like pottering around. - She's going to be all right. It looks like she's working a double time. - Well, Rosemary is an absolute expert at this thing. We entertain from time to time and she very much enjoys her doing doing this. - I'm just like you're doing a damn good job. - Well, yes. Well, you are more than welcome to stay later on and you can partake. We'll be having dinner and we'll have some guest round. Maybe. - Well, what's the celebration of? - Maybe some. - You're just a regular party goer. This is this special. - Well, we want to impose on a private do. - It's to celebrate my sweet daughter, Veronica. Veronica's kind of moved over to the corner and is slowly plinking away on the piano playing like a. - Chopsticks. - Play the Chopsticks. - Is it good or is it bad? - No, it's really nice. It's like really pleasant. You can tell that she's like, is. - Yeah, we're not cringing through it. - No, no, it's not. Just thanks for appreciating. - Plank plank plank plank. - My daughter loves to play the piano. - She's a narrator. - She's a wimp. - She's a faking wimp. - She's a wimp. - Well, I guess we're going. - Yeah, so like a. - I just a real gentle background. - She's soundtracking. - Yeah, she's soundtracking. And she's just kind of like smiling away, like loosely kind of like listening to what you guys are chatting about. But she's letting her father kind of do most of the talking. - I heard you say it was going to be like a ritual. That's some kind of party game you guys are playing. - Oh, I love party games. - Well, it's not. We're not doing any kind of ritual tonight. No, this is to celebrate Veronica. She's going to begin setting upon performing a ritual. And it's a great testimony to her, her force of will. - I'm like a piano recital or something then. - It is like a, it's, imagine a piano recital, but one that is going to take her along, a long time to perform. And I'll just just to her like getting her degree the painting, like, well, she's clearly a very talented, long girl. - Oh, yes, she is my beloved Veronica. Yes, she went off to university where she studied all kinds of things. And she's actually just returned from traveling around the world. - Oh. - She's gets up to all kinds of stuff. - This point, I'm like half the martini down. I've got to ask all this. When I will add, who's drunk that drinks? Just to make it sound really ominous. - I drunk half of it. - Peppermint, he's probably still about hot, probably born on it. - Okay. - I would have sipped it. - Okay. - When you first take a sip of your martini, it doesn't taste right at all. And the same with the wine. - Just caulked. - It doesn't even taste alcoholic. It just tastes like dirty water. And the red wine, it looks like red wine, but it just tastes like, you'd say old bathwater or just musky. - Oh, a game of girl. - Musky water. Yeah, Veronica is actually a game of girl. - And you're bright pink hair. (laughing) - Did I mention that earlier? - Whereas your peppermint tea, it tastes delicious. It tastes exactly like a really just nice peppermint tea is really well made. - Really nice tea you got here. - But yeah, you're, it's not alcoholic. - Okay. - You can definitely tell that. - Barry. - Barry, this martini is disgusting. - It's to be polite, Maggie, be polite. - I don't mention anything. - I'm going to pour it in the plant pot and then put some of my flour skin it. Do you want some? - I don't get away with that. I'm just gonna have to just nurse the wine and be nice. - Okay, all right, well I'll give it a shot. So I just sort of get into the plant pot, which is by my side. - And then the plant will smoke from the plant. - Oh god. - No, you can, hundreds of them throw it into the plant pot. Can you make me a stilthrol? - Where's my stilth? - Just a bit about to part. - It's a bit about to part. - 74. - My god. - Off she goes. - Down with this one. - Flash is a lot of wall. - So it's not like a critical fail, but as you do it, you think that you're being quite sneaky. But as you kind of like turn back, you can tell the August saw. You know, but he. - W.O.C.? - Yeah. - Okay. - Yeah. - As she goes over, it goes. - What? (laughing) - Yeah, you just notice that she kind of ditched her drink in there. - All right. - Best wedding, try and change the conversation. August, August's downing. So you're, you're just daughter Veronica. I notice she's wearing, I notice she's wearing a black dress. Did her husband die too? Cos my did, you know, Dicky, Dicky, I mentioned Dicky didn't I? He died in the Great Wall. How about your daughter? - Oh, no, no, she's never been, no, she's never been married. - No, oh. - No, no. No, she's had a recent bereavement though. Yeah, there's been a death. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm sorry. So this dinner party that we're having later on would absolutely love for you to stay. Oh, but I believe Jeremiah can show you to the gasoline you needed. Right. Well, I think we should get our car up here and sort it. And then, well, maybe we can stay over. I mean, the book talk can always be delayed. It doesn't really matter. It's just a silly book. Well, we can have you out of here as soon as you need to, where the dinner party is not until much later, we have a little bit of preparation still to do for for our celebration, but guests won't be turning up until much later this evening. Well, what's in you guys? You you sit and enjoy your drinks. OK, I can I can go with Jeremiah there and see see what you got. Oh, yes, I'm I I can I can take you to the garage. Please, sirs. Do you want to see the car? I want to look at the car too. It's silver. Didn't you say I love the silver ones? I want to get one too. Yes, it is. Lovely. August kind of sits back down and says, well, please help yourself to any gasoline. You're more than welcome to, you know, explore the grounds or feel free to have a wander through the house. Maybe you can go and taste some of Rosemary's cooking, but don't spoil your appetite. There's a bathroom on the second floor, but I'd request, please, what do you say out of our private, private rooms? But if you need to need to go, it's cool. Yes, you can have a little, all right. Little poop up there. And what you're saying is don't you the answer, I understand. I'm an entrant. Just from don't use my honest week. Don't you worry. And Jeremiah says, I'll write, write this way. Come come with me and says, walk this way and he's like hunched over. And then and then those two hunch over and he said, walk this right. Nice. Very good. Very topical reference. Still got it. That is playing on the gramophone the 1920s. Oh, yeah. No, no. No, no. Bronic was playing that on the piano. Oh, yeah. That's fair. And that concludes this episode of Mystery Quest. I really, really hope that you guys are enjoying this. And if you are, consider telling a friend or if you'd like to help our podcast, leave a review because that helps other people to be able to see it. And if you'd like to support us financially, you can go to patreon.com/mysteryquest where you get access to behind the scenes content and some little extra bonuses. And you get a feel good feeling knowing that you're helping to make all of this possible and allow us to keep doing it. Until next time, everybody. Goodbye. [Music]