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.

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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.

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Greg 0:00

Content warning for slavery, starvation, and mass graves. Check the description for timestamps and details.

Pip 0:10

Last time, with ghost and trains and something.

Reverend Declan 0:15

There's a certain island, we have had construction on a new church, and we do need to check up on it. So it is my understanding that you three shall be escorting us.

Mr. McClaremont 0:27

In the past decade, The Church of the Ecstacy of the Sacred Flesh has found nothing but more reason to hate those who are squandering what they consider to be our greatest gifts. They would not hesitate to deny somebody their body for the imagined sin of misusing it.

Greg 0:43

Something about this mist is impacting some kind of amnesia.

Hannah 0:46

Okay, that's crazy.

Greg 0:48

As light begins to fill this place, there are, thin people begin to walk out. They head over towards the bag with, like, the hard tack and the fruit and stuff. So the self flagellating guy turns his little cat o' nine tails little whip thing onto some of the grasping hands. They're Hollows. More than anything, they want some food and rest.

Pip 1:14

And today...

Radio Announcer Greg 1:18

Hollows are human bodies without spirits, their very life force scooped out, leaving their discarded flesh in a state of permanent shock. The loss of spirit without loss of life leaves the body functioning but the brain spinning its wheels, robbing the victim of most of their personality and enough of their willpower that they can be bullied into doing just about anything by just about anyone. Because the mere sight of a Hollow fills so many with an existential terror, the complicated ritual of Hollowing has been adopted by government officials and underworld bosses alike, to strike fear in those that might oppose them. In just as many, the wretched Hollow elicits instead a reaction of pity, and in some others, disgust. Sadly, as observers become tangled in their own emotions, there is one thing they rarely have space to feel - the desire to care for these empty human shells.

Brother Gerg 2:30

Hello, welcome back to Ghosts on a Train! This is a podcast where we play Ghost Lines, an RPG by John Harper. I'm your kind of a little loud there at first conductor, Greg.

Hannah 2:41

I'm Hannah, I play Andrel Anderson, outraged citizen at the moment.

Guy 2:48

I'm Guy, I play Pip. Play is a very loose sense right now, because I am just vibing with the whole... not... I don't know where I was going with this. I'm Pip. I'm Guy. One of those is true.

Stefen 3:04

I'm Stefen, I play Drix, and currently he is morally opposed.

Hannah 3:11

Just in general?

Brother Gerg 3:15

Morally opposed to, you know, all this.

Aurora 3:17

Just generally speaking.

Stefen 3:18

He is a morally opposed rope-throwing bro. That is, that's what he is.

Brother Gerg 3:23

Rope-throwing bro! Let's throw some rope, bro. Also with us yet again is our special guest, Aurora.

Aurora 3:34

That's right. I'm Aurora. I'm playing Hecla, who is a regular nun.

Brother Gerg 3:38

This is our friend Aurora and they're playing Hecla, who is a regular nun.

Stefen 3:41

With knives.

Greg 3:41

She's a regular nun!

Hannah 3:42

Just a nun with a lot of knives.

Aurora 3:45

Just a regular nun.

Stefen 3:46

Tons of knives.

Aurora 3:47

Normal, very normal.

Guy 3:50

I mean, hey, those knives are none of our business.

Stefen 3:53

Do you know, do you know -

Hannah 3:54

I'm, I'm about to make it my business.

Stefen 3:56

Do you know that the nuns you know don't carry a lot of knives? Have you, have you checked?

Hannah 4:02

I don't know any nuns, personally, so nuns could be anything.

Aurora 4:05

That's right!

Greg 4:05

You theoretically know that one Gleewatch guest, right? Isn't she in seminary?

Hannah 4:06

I don't, I, she's in a seminary but she's not a nun yet.

Greg 4:13

She's not a nun? Oh, she's a different - okay. Shows what I know.

Hannah 4:16

She's a nun in training, I think? I don't know.

Guy 4:18

Hey podcast listener, listen to Hannah's other podcast, the Gleewatch!

Hannah 4:22

Oh, don't listen to my other podcast.

Greg 4:24

Or do, or do, I'm not your dad. Anyways! Our Line Bulls, and Hecla the regular nun who happens to have the imprint of a Line Bull badge visible?

Guy 4:37

Don't think about it.

Greg 4:39

The Pride of Duskwall is stopped along the line towards Mistport from Irondale. However, the Line Bulls are a good hour's walk away, in a church set up in the Dagger Isles, as they were conscripted to accompany several members of the Church of the Ecstasy of the Sacred Flesh, an order that Hecla the regular nun is a part of, that believes that the spirit is sinful and the flesh is, is the truth.

Guy 5:09

Now, Greg, when you say it was an hour away, do you mean, like, it would take an hour to get there, or do you mean that we walked for an hour? Because those are two very different things in this context.

Hannah 5:21

I think he just means we were lost for a while.

Greg 5:23

That's fair. Yes, you did walk an extra half an hour before you realized you were lost and had the whole amnesia mist encounter and revelation before getting back on track. So it's been about two hours, but you're only an hour away from the train. So we're on this, we're on this church that has avoided the perils of this mist in this area of the Dagger Isles that seemed to have some sort of amnesiac effect on those that did not possess Line Bull badges. The church itself has been built by seven Hollows, bodies that have had their souls removed, reducing them to simple-minded... beings, people? I don't know. Simple-minded, simple-minded empty shells capable of the bare minimum of communication. They were seven, dressed in Dagger Isles appropriate clothing, all of them very tired and gaunt from neglect, as the Church just now is dropping off a collection of food for them, and building materials so they can continue on the work on this church. There should have been eight working on this, but it appears that one of the Hollows, as Hollows are, they are just living human bodies, they are living humans, one of them passed away, leaving behind no spirit as it's already gone. The Line Bulls, and Sister Hecla, who appears to be on the bottom of this pecking order for the Church of the Ecstasy of the Sacred Flesh, were told to dispose of the Hollow.

Guy 6:52

I just figured out the irony that the Church reveres the flesh and these guys are nothing but flesh, and they're being treated like shit.

Greg 7:02

There is Brother Gerg, who looks unfortunately just like me. There's a woman with a ring on each finger with latticework going up her arm from the rings. There's a seven foot tall, hook-nosed corvid type person that sneers, and I've been saying wretched a lot as them. And there's also just a little guy carrying a big old backpack with a bunch of censers and incense and stuff.

Stefen 7:24

Yeah.

Greg 7:25

But yeah. So, here we are. We're back. The body is there. You were told to dispose of it. You are in this other room. As you enter, your lamplight illuminates two words scratched near the dead body: hungry and empty.

Hannah 7:40

Andrel turns to Drix and says -

Andrel 7:42

So what's the game plan?

Drix 7:44

Yeah, step one would be to figure out whether or not we can fix them at all. And step two would be make sure this never happens to anyone here again.

Guy 7:53

Is this conspiratorially, or is this publicly? Because Pip and Hecla are, you know, dealing with the body.

Hannah 8:02

I don't think Andrel, at least, is making any attempt to hide the conversation from you. I don't know about Drix.

Stefen 8:09

Drix is also not.

Andrel 8:10

I mean, they're, they're Hollows. I don't think they can be fixed. But we can at least make sure they have food, right? We just have to, I don't know, figure out a way to get them out of here. We, can we take them on the train?

Drix 8:25

This would definitely be one of those things that Candace would be opposed to.

Andrel 8:31

Yes.

Drix 8:32

So we -

Andrel 8:32

However, if we put a bunch of Hollows on her train, I don't know what she's gonna do about it.

Drix 8:40

That's a good point.

Andrel 8:41

They'll be there. Like, we'll hide them in the freight car or something.

Drix 8:45

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's not like she'll ever go in the freight car. It's fine.

Andrel 8:50

Yeah, no one goes in the freight car.

Greg 8:52

Hecla and Pip.

Aurora 8:54

Yes.

Greg 8:55

What are you doing to deal with this body? It's curled up. It's very plain to see that this person, this Hollow, died agonizingly as their body ate itself. And as they are a Hollow - they say a Hollow either feels nothing, or as the Church of the Ecstasy of the Sacred Flesh says rapturously, without the burden of the spirit, they feel everything on a way that we can only dream. So this must have been horrible.

Guy 9:21

Starvation is a bitch, as they say.

Aurora 9:24

Yes.

Guy 9:25

I have a question for Greg that's almost certainly going to make this episode need a content warning.

Greg 9:32

Already there, bud.

Guy 9:34

Cool. Has rigor mortis set in?

Greg 9:36

Sure.

Guy 9:38

That makes things way more difficult. But it'll be cleaner.

Aurora 9:42

We're just drag, we're just burying this body, right?

Guy 9:45

Yeah, I think we just, gonna take them outside and just dig a hole.

Aurora 9:48

Yeah.

Greg 9:48

Can you both make me some steel rolls?

Guy 9:52

Steel rolls, you say?

Greg 9:55

Which one don't you want to do? This is a horrific thing, and while you two can steel yourself against it, you are still people.

I think panic, disengage, or flee.

Yeah, I would like to not do the same.

Cool, so yeah. Roll plus your steel, 2d6 plus your steel.

That is an eight.

I have a nine.

Okay, so both of you do one that you did not pick. I would say Hecla, you're going to take more trauma.

She's a guest character, it's fine.

Yeah, yeah, she's also a guest character. So go ahead and take three whole trauma.

Wow.

Okay.

Get some horror, get some horrors!

Well, oh yeah, that's a fun thing that I probably mentioned the last guest character, but what I am doing to curb the they're-just-a-guest-character thing is every guest character will have, like, the minimum amount of whatever scars and horrors are spread out amongst our Bulls.

Oh, okay.

So as, as you guys get more beaten up, your guests will come in a little pre-beaten up.

That's neat.

But, like, in time with you guys. So I think Hecla already does have, like, one horror.

I think Operation Sacrificial Lamb is just fine, though.

Yeah, yure, sure. So yeah, fill three. And Pip, you don't panic, disengage, or flee, I don't think. I don't want to make you quit doing this. But I do think I would like you to freeze up. It's not far to, to, like, go out behind the church. I think when Hecla is ready to set this body down, Pip, you carry it out, but you can't bring yourself to let go of it.

If I may, I actually have something else that I think might work a little bit better.

I'll hear it out.

So Pip and Hecla go out, and this is not Pip's first time gravedigging or burying a body, so he looks for, like, a nice, kind of soft patch of earth. And I think the first three attempts, he finds that these are already occupied. And that's, that's kind of what gives him pause and makes him freeze, when he realizes that it's not that there were eight workers, it's that there were eight left.

All right, all right. Just the two of you now.

Yes. When it, it becomes that there's a lot more bodies buried in, in the ground around here, I think Hecla just, like, finds one, find, finds a new, maybe not quite, like, the softest patch of earth, but you know, something, something that will just work and get, get the job done, get through this, and not take so much time.

Hecla, you probably didn't know about this.

Yeah, I mean, she's, like, pretty upset. She's kind of, like, at a breaking point already. But I think she's kind of, like, not speaking. She's sort of shut down verbally. Gone off to an internal place, if you will.

As the kids say -

As the kids say.

- big mood.

You, you probably have no incident as you dig. This church likely has some, if not outright repellent for spirits, it's, there's nothing here that currently would attract any spirits. The Hollows themselves don't have any of the kind of life energy that a spirit would want, because they are spiritually empty.

Who could have guessed?

And it's not like any of you are, like, running, like, a huge electroplasmic engine or anything like that. Inside, Drix and Andrel. Andrel you hear, kind of muffled that first outside of the doors, a familiar -

Yorp yorp yorp yorp yorp!

Oh my god. How - okay.

Yorp yorp yorp yorp yorp!

Did I bring Ji'mani, or did he follow us?

You did not make any mention of Ji'mani the entire walk.

Ah. So I don't remember if I brought Ji'mani?

No, I'm saying I'm pretty sure you, Hannah, forgot to ever mention Ji'mani.

Okay, sure, but you, Greg, tell me, since you've made the decision that Ji'mani is here, is Ji'mani here because he followed me or because I brought him?

I suppose you'd have to find Ji'mani to know why. You didn't bring Ji'mani.

Okay.

So yes.

That's all the information I wanted.

Okay.

Um, I will go outside and...

First, the corvid person is like -

What is that wretched noise?

Have you never heard of dorg before? Shut up.

Those horrible hairless creatures!

Oh my god.

I much prefer rats.

What?

They're fuzzy.

I'm gonna go find my dog now. Thank you.

Rats to eat?

Mmm, of course!

What?

This is terrible.

You open up the door to the church. Ji'mani gives you a good, hearty -

Yorp yorp yorp yorp!

Ji'mani, why are you here?

He's got a note attached to his little thing.

What? Okay, I will take it and read it.

Messenger dorg.

Hey, all. It's been a little bit longer than expected you to be. Send Ji'mani back if you're okay and just need some extra time, or if you're lost, hopefully Ji'mani can help you find your way back. Otherwise, you know, we're gonna give it another hour or two and then we're gonna go, we're gonna assume that you're all dead. Candace.

Holy fuck, okay.

Candace is metal.

I'll take Ji'mani into the back room so I can at least confer with, I guess Drix, about how we're going to play this.

While you were heading over there, into the back room came the poor little guy carrying all the censers, and he sort of just drags them and he's like -

Oh, ooh.

Hello, do you need something?

Just gotta move these, gotta move these censers over here.

To where? Where are you going?

Just putting them here in the back room.

Okay.

Just some incense will help the, you know, the Hollows. They'll like it. I think. What?

I...

Andrel, I assume, has doing the same thing as Hannah, staring aghast.

I just...

Hey, listen. Listen. Big guy. Big guy. Hey, yeah, you. Can you help me? Can you help me? With these?

No, he can't. We're busy. Go away.

I slam the door in his face.

Doh!

You the here the sound of a bunch of censers rattling and falling over.

Now, now that wasn't very hospitable.

I don't care.

Um, I show Drix the note from Candace.

Oh, man. All right. All right. You know, we've worked with worse timetables before.

Well, I mean, we, I can send Ji'mani back and ask, ask her to wait for us. I just, like... ah, I hate this. This is my, this is so awful. This is so awful.

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Well, worry not. LBL has a collection of shareable graphics that you can use how you wish. What are those for, anyway?

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Around now, Hecla and Pippin come back.

Pip, we have two hours maximum probably closer to one and a half, to get back to the train.

No, we can ask her not to leave. I just don't...

What else is there to do here? We came. We escorted them. Let's leave.

Hecla gives the dorg a little scritch behind the ears.

Yes.

Yorp yorp!

Did he follow you here?

Yeah.

Yeah. Well, no, no, the, Candace sent him with a note to ask if we were all dead, because we, we got lost, you know?

After a couple hours?

Yeah, let's just say our job has a high mortality rate.

Right. So are we being left? Is the train going? Can we send your dorg back?

No, the train's not, the train's not going! I just -

Okay. All right. Well, I need to get on that train, so.

Why do, why do you need to be on that train?

For church reasons. Obviously, it wasn't clear?

We can't leave her in the -

Knocking on the door now.

Go away!

I gotta, I gotta put these censers in there. The Hollows, they -

Oh my God.

Hecla goes to open the door and just grabs the censers, grabs the bag of incense, everything from him, and shuts the door in his face.

Oh!

Oh, so sick of those creeps.

First of all, I don't know how long it'll even take us to get back to the train because we walked the weird way in the first place, so we do need to send message to the Pride one way or another. And second of all, I'm not leaving here until we've done something about this.

I agree. We can't just walk away from this, no matter...

Hecla sighs a heavy, a heavy sigh, and puts her, like, hands on her hips and is like -

Well. How do we, as a group, feel about murder?

Aurora!

I am here. My job was to see them escorted to this church safely and delivered. We did that job.

This is your argument. Professionalism.

Yes.

Pip, I've seen you drink through dozens of train rides. You, this would not be threatening your professionalism.

Correct. And that job has been completed.

Correct.

But here's the deal -

No, no. No buts! That is everything we were asked to do, and we did it.

Well, I think we should do something that we weren't asked to do.

I agree. I think, I think sometimes you can't just go exactly by your job description, because then you end up letting this kind of stuff happen.

All right. Well, here's my, here's my take, is that you're not really going to stop the whole process of Hollowing until we bring down, you know, everything, but if it would make you feel better, right now, I just want to put it on the table - we could kill these people. Or at least, you know, whoop their asses.

Ji'mani gives out a -

Yorp yorp!

Like he doesn't understand what was just said, but he's very supportive of Hecla.

I'm gonna pet Ji'mani.

You, you just went to murder so quickly. Can we just, can we back up for just a moment?

I don't know. I like, I like that attitude.

No! What the, what are you suggesting, Drix? What, what, what exactly do you have planned? Are you going to get them to change their ways by being polite? Are you going to show them how wrong they are? No.

Look, we don't - murder or beating them up, I don't know what, but if we can, if we can get these, these people, these Hollows on the train and hide them, maybe.

Get these Hollows - ugh.

The vagrants hid on the train for months!

Yeah.

If one of us, if one of us, maybe you two, take the Church people back, and, and Drix and I stay behind a little and we can just sneak them on.

Listen, no. You're, you're making things more complicated than it needs to be, all right?

Are you - okay.

All I'm saying is it's very easy to get lost here. And all we need is some Church militants to come back on the train with us. That's it.

That's right.

All there any extra clothes here you brought along, Sister Hecla, per chance?

On me? No, I don't have any more clothes on me.

She demonstrates her tight, her tight-fitting Church attire.

Tight, but covering a lot of skin, as though it would be modest.

Yeah. It's very conservative, but also at the same time.

So no, I don't have any more clothes on me. But, um, if we're talking about sneaking Hollows onto - well, okay, so here, listen. So is your plan that we're going to take everybody else's clothes and put them on the Hollows and stick them on the train? Because listen, when I get off the train, I'm not taking any Hollows with me, regardless of how they're dressed. I'm not dealing with that. They're not my responsibility. I understand that that may sound harsh to you, but I have bigger things going on in my life. So -

We can, we can get them somewhere once... I don't think there's enough clothes on everyone else anyway, we can, we can get them somewhere safe once we dock in Mistport.

Okay.

And what kind of life would, would they have after that?

One where they're not be starved to death!

A better one than this.

You're making an awful lot of presumptions about Mistport.

Here's the deal, Pip. We know for a fact that here, they're going to be mistreated until they die like that one just did. So either we try and fix it, or we do nothing and we're complicit.

Why do you think you're so much more important than these people? Why do you think they're not worth your effort? Why do you think that, that - I know it's not going to fix them! They're still going to be Hollowed, but, but it's going to be something! They're, they're not going to be starving and, and scratching words into the floor! Why do you think that that is not worth a single inconvenience on your part? A single risk?

Listen here, Andrel. I'm gonna tell you something that you might not know about me. You think that I came from some high-born household, spent all my time being pampered until I drunk myself to near death.

I don't know why you sound mad at me for that, considering it's all you've ever told me.

I know what it's like being on the streets. It's not pleasant. What we'd be doing is trading starving in here for starving over there.

So we -

You got a lot of hopeful ideas about what's going to happen after.

Well, here's the deal. We can make something different happen. That's what we do.

Oh, is that what we do, then? Is it?

Yeah. Yeah, you know what? It is what we do. Our job is protecting people. And just because they've gotten part of them ripped out, doesn't make them stop being people.

You know what I think? I think that you're telling yourself that there's no hope for these people, that there's no possible way we can improve their situations, because that gives you an excuse not to do anything for them. I know what the world is like, don't talk to me like I don't! And I think that yeah, there is a chance that it'll all end poorly, and there'll be in the same situation somewhere else. But there's a chance that we can get them somewhere where they're at least fed. There's a chance, and I think you know, there's a chance! But it's way easier to rationalize leaving them here, if they, if there isn't. So you know what, if that's what you want to argue with me, if you want to say that it's not worth it to help them, that's fine. But be upfront about what you're doing.

Drix places his hand on Andrel's shoulder and gives Pip a look.

I've got a question for you, then. How long are you willing to look after them? Hmm? How much effort, how much time, are you willing to put in to make sure that they're going to be alright?

I took care of the other kids in the orphanage my entire life. I know what it is to take care of people, and I will look after these people as long as I have to.

Where I come from, we take care of each other. And that's rewarding.

I know it's a risk. I know Candace might be mad. Candace might kick us off the train. I don't care.

Then you understand what you're getting yourselves into, yeah?

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right. Where do we start?

Getting into what?

Oh my God!

You done with the censers?

All right.

There's been a lot of shouting, are you guys okay?

Hey, hey, hey, I'm just gonna need you to, like, leave the room right now.

You haven't even set these up! Like, you guys gotta - listen, I'm -

So this this guy has, like, a huge pack, right?

No, not anymore. Hecla took it.

I took it. I put it in the corner. I - Hecla's just, like, listening to you all have this argument. Just, like, one arm against the wall, just, like, listening. Very interested.

Unfortunate.

Listen, we just need to set these things up and then the Hollows will do their thing, all right? We gotta, we gotta head back, you know?

g I look at the group and I, I give them a look, like, ehh? Ehh?

He's moving in, going over to the censer, and the door's already sort of swinging a little closed.

All right, sure. Come on in.

I mean, are you guys gonna help me, or what?

Yeah, yeah. We'll help.

These are really heavy.

We'll help.

Okay, yeah, we just kind of got to set these up on these hooks over here.

All right, all right.

I close the door behind him once he's inside the room.

Oh, thanks. I can get the hook on the door. Thanks.

Like, okay, this is out of character. We did have a plan that didn't involve beating people up.

Yeah, I know.

We never really got to that part of the plan.

You spent 12 minutes talking dramatically.

We did talk about the world. Hecla's still been trying to get a gauge on, how do we collectively feel about murder? Because Hecla feels great about it.

Yeah, I can tell.

That's become abundantly clear.

Maybe we could just pin it all on Hecla.

Setting, he's setting it up on the censer.

Again, Pip has, Pip has exactly zero compunctions about, like, oh no, they got lost. Where did they go out in the mist? They could be anywhere.

Oh, hold on. Hey, hey, Hecla, can you pass me the, can you pass me the scrubber from the, the sander from my bag?

Oh my God, just fucking do it. Just fucking, just fucking do it. Just fucking do it.

I gotta, I gotta sand these words out. They're always writing nonsense.

All right, I'm gonna clock this guy.

All right, roll force!

Clock him.

Thank you. Thank you, please do.

Nobody, nobody has given me a hard yes or no on murder, so Hecla's just gonna start kicking ass. That is going to be a seven. I'm sorry, an eight.

Cool, what's one that you want to do? From the list on the left of the first page.

I would like to, I would like to create an opportunity.

Okay, do you have an idea of what that opportunity would be?

So I guess I want to, like, leave this guy, like, open to, for further hits. Hecla's leaving it open, whether anybody steps in is totally up to, you know, them, but Hecla's just gonna -

Bam! You punch him while he's reaching for the sander. And he bangs his head against the censer that he just hung up, and he's, like -

Ohhh!

He's, like, all starry-eyed, like, fiddling around the middle of the room.

Andrel will grab one of the censers and also clock him.

Of course!

Do I get, like, anything from Hecla's opportunity?

Sure, plus one.

Hell yeah. Great. Good thing, cuz that's, well, no, that's an eight.

Okay, what's the one you want to do?

Little harm in return, I guess?

Oh, yeah, I didn't do any harm in response, but no, it was kind of an ambush on Hecla's part, and also, Hecla, I'll just go back there real quick. He definitely probably accidentally, like, the sander thing sort of fell out of his hand and probably smacked into you, Hecla, but you're just naturally tough enough.

That's right.

Nice.

That you're fine.

Quick glance at the receiving trauma page.

Yes, I know.

So, yeah, Andrel, yeah, you knock him with the censer. I've decided that as three harm is the listing for deadly weapons, normal people probably can take about three harm. A punch does one harm, and moving up from there, clocking somebody with a censer is probably, like, a vicious beginning. So this guy's reached three harm, is defeated.

I do, I assume I take trauma.

Yes.

All right.

Go ahead and take one trauma resulting person.

Okay.

Okay. What do we do?

I guess we just kind of have to knock them all out, leave them here. Someone'll probably find them eventually.

We can leave them in the amnesia forest, maybe? They won't remember us.

Oh, yeah.

That'll do it. I like that idea.

Did I not say we could just let them get lost?

All right. Now I'm gonna, I need, we need to talk about this very literally and without any kind of, you know, like, couching. When you say let them get lost, do you mean we leave out in the amnesia fog and whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen, or are we talking about killing them and telling your boss that they got lost in the fog?

And she's doing, like, air quotes.

You are a lot more wild than I took you for originally.

Yeah, we're really gonna have a few more questions soon.

Yeah, great, definitely get to that later. But right now we need to have a literal conversation.

Yes, no, got it.

Just let them get out into the amnesia fog and let them walk off in the distance and it's not our problem anymore. Is that it? That simple. No effort. But listen, it seems like you're really, really gung ho about the murder. And, like, that's fine, but, like, I'm more comfortable with the culpable deniability.

That's why I needed to ask.

How do we get them into the amnesia fog? That, like...

Pretty easy, we just get them out of the church.

All right.

We say we're gonna head back and let them walk off into the sunset.

All right. Okay, I guess, let's, let's go.

Fair enough.

Yorp yorp yorp.

Hey, Ji'mani, yes. Oh, Ji'mani, I'm so glad you don't understand what's happening right now. I would not want to explain it to you.

Ji'mani is absentmindedly licking the head of the poor censer guy.

I'm gonna drag him out while he's out, so he's not still in the church when he wakes up. And just drag him out into the into the amnesia fog.

Yep.

Yeah, cause we, there is, like, a distinct, like, circle, you mentioned, where just, like, the amnesia fog starts.

Yeah, so I drag him out there.

Hecla, you're gonna need some kind of roll to not be discovered.

That does make sense. That, that sounds right.

So how might you approach this? I think honestly, the two options I really see are probably finesse or insight.

I'll probably roll insight, because I have, my insight is good. So that's gonna be my plan.

Oh, man. First time for everything.

Right? Damn, really shot our no insight run.

Alright, that is a ten.

Nice. That's two questions.

Two questions.

Should think there's one that's, like, what's the best way to blank, right?

Yeah, what's the best way to, what's the best way to, to get this guy out in the fog?

You remember, crucially, that a part of this is not only resupplying the Hollows, but observing their work. Somebody is going to be out there, probably observing the outside of the church. So you're gonna need somebody to run interference. Or at the very least, you're gonna have to be prepared to deal with somebody.

Excellent.

You can hold the other question if you'd like.

I don't know if I need to hold. I just want to get this guy in the fog and we can peace out. How, how, is there...

Or you can pop out there first yourself and deal with whoever's standing outside.

Yeah, I'm just gonna peek my head out and see what's going on.

Sure, sure, yeah.

See what the vibes are.

The, the woman with the rings on her fingers is writing stuff in, like, a little clipboard. She walks around. You know, she's got a mask on, but she's still within, like, the area around the church that the amnesia fog doesn't hit. She sees you.

Sister Hecla. You finished with that body?

Yeah, no, just getting censers set up, all the insence and whatnot. Just give us just a few, just a few minutes, you know, we'll just, I'll, I'll be right with you.

And I pop back inside.

Hey, Greg, can I - nah, this would be belated. But I would love to roll an assist for Hecla

In, like, to do what? Because Hecla is not trying to do anything. If you just want to do something that might help you can just do that.

I mean, that's, that's the thing. I'm trying to figure out a way of just, like, helping you cover up your tracks, basically, by... they saw you already moving a body out, so it's not like, like, you and Pip already moving a body out.

Yeah.

So that's not, like, super weird. So I'm gonna roll, I guess finesse?

So, so just so I'm clear, what's, what's, again, what's, what's your goal?

I guess this is an assist on the, the insight. Just, like, plus one. So you got an 11 for your insight, yeah?

They got a 10.

So it wouldn't matter. Never mind, then.

But if you just want to do something, you can, you can just do it.

I do have an insight question that I would like to roll.

Oh, you would like to do insight. Okay, go for it.

Yes. Cool, that is a five, so failure. I get to ask one question now.

Go for it.

Why is Hecla really here? So what's really going on here, I guess.

What's really going on here in regards to Hecla.

Because despite giving off the appearance, definitely not part of these, like, this specific group of churchgoers, because she was really easy to just sort of, like...

You are getting that sense.

Hair-trigger down with murder.

You are beginning to get some indications

Hair-trigger down with murder. Has the Line Bull badge, so is, like, kind of can't be amnesiaed.

Whatever it is, which it's definitely not Church business, whatever it is, it seems to definitely be on the train. You can't get enough of a sense besides it's definitely not this. This is not what she's here for at all, something on the train.

Alright. With that knowledge, I think while Hecla's taking the bodies out.

So that nun. Really okay with murder.

I mean, if anyone deserves it, it's these people.

That's my concern. Because she's, she doesn't want to be here either. She wants to be back on the train, I think. She, she just kind of jumped to, like, let's get this done with in the quickest way possible to get back. And that has, that has me concerned.

So are you suggesting that she may have some kind of ulterior motive?

Yes, Drix. Yes, in fact, I am. As would be fairly consistent for, you know, most of the people that we've met, or brought along with us, but this...

Well, I don't know about that. Well, let's see, I mean, well, okay, Camilla did, and Daava did...

No, I'm gonna stop you right there. They all did. Well, Daava didn't have an ulterior motive. He was just a robot man.

That's true.

In any case, I think we can worry about that once we're back on the train.

I have the sneaking suspicion that by the time that happens, it'll already be a bit late. A bit too late to do anything.

So what do you propose we do now? We can't put her in the amnesia fog.

No. No, we cannot.

You hear from the other side of the door -

Alright, you wretched things! You may take your meal, enjoy them! Back to your room! Back! Back!

The door opens up. The Hollows begin to shuffle in. As the corvid-looking fellow is carrying the bag and tosses it in, sees all you guys from the doorway and he says -

What are you still doing in here?

You got something else for us to be doing?

Oh, why certainly! Preparing to return back!

We just have to walk with you.

Yes, and we wish to walk soon. Isn't that right, Brother Gerg?

Yeah, I could walk.

Okay, well, I, finish up whatever you're doing and we'll go.

Yeah, we finished. Although I guess the censers look pretty shit.

I mean, it's up to that guy. Are all of you ready?

Uh, yeah.

All right, well -

Reverend Declan, we ready?

Yes, I do believe we are prepared to depart. The Hollows are enjoying their meal.

All right, well, I think Sister Hecla went to use bathroom. So we'll go find her and then we can go.

Hecla, you're probably - so do you just drop him off anywhere in the amnesia mist, or?

Yeah, I, no, I don't really, yeah, I just put him wherever.

You're probably heading back, the woman with the rings sees you and is like -

Well, Hecla, yeah, we've got, we've just got everything set here, I think, We're gonna, we're gonna head out.

Great. Let's, let's go.

And the two of them walk in.

Cool. All right, let's get going.

All right. Oh, Andrel, don't you need to, you know, take care of Ji'mani real quick first? The rest of us can go ahead and head forward while you do that.

Sure. Sounds good.

Yorp yorp!

Ji'mani cocks his head -

Yeah.

- and lets his tongue hang out like he doesn't know what's going on, because he doesn't.

Give him pats.

Funny how that works.

Yep, you guys just, you know, make sure the train doesn't leave without me.

Exactly.

Oh, shit, you have a dorg?

Brother Gerg approaches.

I didn't know you had a dorg! Hey, can I pet your dorg?

No.

Okay. Kid.

It's a service animal.

Hey, dorg. Hey, hey, hey dorg.

No.

What was his name? Jimothy?

I -

Hey, Jimothy! Jimothy! Come over here!

Hey, stay away from the dorg!

Ji'mani starts to walk over to him.

Ji'mani, sit.

Ji'mani sits, but, like, clearly wants to go over to the guy.

I thought you were in a hurry!

Brother Gerg, we should really get going, don't you think?

Yeah, it's real, I think we should definitely just go.

I'm gonna pet that dorg.

Don't want to get left by that train.

Should we be leaving this kid? Like, are we waiting for you to take care your dorg or whatever? He's gotta take a shit?

No, I'll be fine on my own.

Your dorg's gotta take a shit?

Yes, my dorg's gotta take a shit. I'll be fine on my own. And I don't want the train to leave before we get back. So go.

Yeah, clock's ticking, so we, Andrel will, you know, ride Ji'mani and meet us halfway. Dorgs are really fast, you know?

He's a very ferocious boy.

I mean, it can't take that long for a single dorg to take a shit. Like, I'll wait -

Why are you so on this?

I'm not gonna leave a little kid and a pettable dorg out here!

Hey, hey, that is a capable Line Bull!

He is a Line Bull!

Okay, well, I'm not gonna leave a person out in the middle of nowhere with, you know, these guys.

Looking at the Hollows.

Andrel, Andrel looks like she is physically biting back comments about the person in the middle of nowhere bit.

Hecla is visibly exhausted by all this.

Come on. Come on. Look, it's, it's fine. I, I trust Andrel with my life, and I'm sure that she will be just fine.

I am a professional Line Bull, and frankly, I do not appreciate that you are doubting my competence and my professional judgment.

Reverend Declan says -

Of course, we should never doubt that. Now, Brother Gerg, you and the others head out. I believe the surveying of the outside is done. I shall also join you in a few moments after my quiet contemplation.

As he heads into a booth.

Okay.

All right.

Brother Gerg goes -

All right, let's go.

Drix, behind his bag, breaks off a length of rope and tosses it to Andrel.

Pride of Duskwall is now arriving. Please allow all passengers to exit the train before boarding. This has been Ghosts on a Train, a podcast with the Faustian Nonsense network, where we've played Ghost Lines, an RPG written and designed by John Harper. All of our music by Sebastian Black. Our cover art is by Yoshiko Agresta. Your Line Bulls for this trip were:

Hecla, badge name Booker, played by me, Aurora Barksdale.

Andrel Anderson, badge name Dunvil, played by me, Hannah Levin.

Adric, AKA Drix, badge name Colburn, played by me, Stefen Lewis.

Pippin "Pip" McKeel, badge name McKeel, played by me, Guy Zwiebel.

And I have been your conductor, Greg Carrobis. For bonus contents as well as behind the scenes, become a patron of the Faustian Nonsense Patreon. Your support will help our podcast as well as the others on the network, and in lieu of monetary support, a review on your favorite podcatcher will help Ghosts on a Train maintain visibility. If you have any questions about the Pride of Duskwall or additions to suggest for the train, please email them to ghosttrainpod@gmail.com, or contact us on Twitter @ghosts_train, and I'll have Candace bring them to the Line Bulls. Thank you for riding with us, and please consider traveling with us again next time

Can Drix read?

Yeah. I mean, of course Drix can read.

Of course Drix can read.

Drix has read -

We all know Drix simply loves to read.

He read the dictionary once!

He read the dictionary once, and that would be great bit that wouldn't overstay its welcome whatsoever.

Never.

Definitely not a reference to anything else that all of us just kind of collectively share with our one brain cell.

If you did not come onto the Pride of Duskwall already literate, boy howdy, let me tell you, when you leave, you're gonna read.

You're gonna read.

Yeah, no, the Pride of Duskwall does have 100% literacy.

You're gonna -

Also, like, Drix has read tube messages before.

Oh, yeah.

Like, we've definitely established that Drix can read. Anyway -

This was a joke -

I can't believe we've established this.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai