<table class="table-horizontal"> <tr><th>Timestamp</th><td>8/5/26, 2:18:35 ~ 2:41:47/end</td></tr> <tr><th>Drive Link</th><td><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QI7cCDcXP6GFWmBPTdOn6aNtVv39eIE2bs_c1anJazc/edit?usp=sharing">Ch7 S45: Lenny loses his patience</a></td></tr> </table> **\[KRIS\]** You guys have just the last stretch of work to do before you're free to actually get dressed and attend the gala\! You see that they're starting to set up a bit of an auction. They're gonna be auctioning off some fancy Fideci manor arts and stuff for charity, but that's going on as you guys are starting to wrap up service and then clean up. So, let's see. Is there anyone who I haven't really put the spotlight on? I guess— Leslie, you're helping Isha look around while also dealing with serving? **\[LESLIE\]** Yeah… I do think if we're getting close to the end of the serving window, he’s probably trying to— he would love to wrap up this little issue before they're able to join the party. I don't know how feasible that is, but I think that's what he's going for. **\[KRIS\]** Okay, yes. **\[LESLIE\]** He's a little frantic. **\[KRIS\]** Okay, yeah, you’re trying to look around, trying to find something. It's just— there's so many people, and it's not much to go on. So you can spot a couple servers here and there who have brown hair and stuff, but it doesn't seem like they have keys on them. And they would probably be hiding them if they were really trying to steal it. So I think you have a bit of a lay of the land, of which Claude Van Dam employees you could probably talk to — it's just, right now, it's a bit of a dinner rush. You could pursue those leads later. **\[LESLIE\]** Okay, sounds good. I think that's good enough. Just for flavor, does it seem like Isha is affected by Morax's presence? Because she wasn't in the room when he arrived. **\[KRIS\]** Yes, she is. She notices Morax and her face kind of scrunches up. **\[LESLIE\]** (laughing) Like a dog eating a lemon? **\[KRIS\]** Yeah. **\[ISHA\]** **So *that's* the Jersey fucking devil. He really does look like a goat.** **\[KRIS\]** So\! Everyone, to wrap up serving, please give me an Act Under Pressure. There are just a lot of busy activities going on, and this will be the last roll of this part of the gala. **\[LESLIE\]** … (groaning) **\[KRIS\]** So what are folks' scores? And then we'll— people who succeeded… Okay, Emil succeeded. **\[LESLIE\]** … … …Leslie got a 13\. (sobbing laughter) Leslie's not doing so hot. **\[KRIS\]** (laughing) I think that's what happens when Leslie’s hanging out with Isha. **\[LESLIE\]** Yeah, when he’s hanging out with Isha, and also — this is the first time he's been in the presence of a Duke in… a *long* time\! Like, I don't— okay, I think he might have met Julian in person once, but other than that, if he's been in the presence of a Duke, it's only really been in passing, right? So I don't think he knows how to cope with this. **\[KRIS\]** Yeah. **\[LESLIE\]** It's not the same as talking to one over Zoom\! **\[SOL\]** And also, you're— you're in, like, a deep Devilish subspace right now because of Pris. **\[LESLIE\]** Yeah, yeah, Leslie— there's a lot going on. He's trying really hard to lock in. He's stressed about the keys. Pris has put a sub spell on him. He's hanging out with Isha and trying to stop her from attacking every brown-haired man they see… **\[KRIS\]** Yeah, this makes sense. Okay, uh, Emil and Sol, you both get XP. Oh, I guess Cherry and Aurelian are also— it’s just Rentboys that need to take stuff, I think. Okay, so\! What are you guys taking? **\[LESLIE\]** …Oh, Jonny go first… **\[CHERRY\]** (laughing) Should I twist fate for Leslie one die? **\[LESLIE\]** No, the 13 is funny. I think Leslie should take the 13\. **\[SOL\]** Also, he’s alone, right? You're alone with Isha? **\[KRIS\]** Yeah, that's true. **\[LESLIE\]** Oh, yeah — one, I'm alone with Isha. Two, I rolled a 5 and a 6\. So it's going to be quite— it's going to be hard to Twist Fate for me. I think he's beyond help. \[Table talk omitted; Jonny decides to take “Lose control of your magic.”\] **\[LESLIE\]** I think I will take the Stress, and I'm going to lash out at Isha. Um, and I think— what I think is probably happening is Isha is… maybe a little bit as part of the— as trying to— a little bit trying to be stealthy, and a little bit being unnerved by Morax, I think she's following a little bit *too* close to me, and every time I stop, she's, like, bumping into me. (laughs) **\[KRIS\]** Yeah, that makes sense. **\[LESLIE\]** Okay, yeah. And I think I'm just going to turn to her and be like: **Okay, if you're going to— a shadow on my shoulder does *not* need to be *literal*\!\!\! Can we just— our— it's almost 8 PM\! We just— we just need to find these keys\!\!\!** **\[KRIS\]** Let's see… Isha is not a PC, so I can't really mark 2 Stress in the same way. I guess, hmm… she definitely reacts and is like: **\[ISHA\]** **Hey, y— *you're* the one who keeps stopping\!\!\! We’re being stealthy, we need to move quickly\! We need to find this culprit before he does something\!\!\!** Um, and she’s kind of making a scene. **\[LESLIE\]** **I’m *trying* to keep an eye on people\!\!\!** **\[KRIS\]** Yeah. You yell, like, a little bit *too* loud, maybe? **\[LESLIE\]** Yeah, yeah, I think he's raising his voice. **\[KRIS\]** Let's see… … Lenny Lombardi— **\[LESLIE\]** (groans) **\[KRIS\]** —appears next to you and puts a hand on your shoulder. **\[LESLIE\]** **Oh—\! Uh—\!** **\[KRIS\]** And another hand on Isha's shoulder. **\[LESLIE\]** **I— I—** **\[LENNY\]** **Ladies, how about we go settle somewhere quiet?** **\[KRIS\]** And he'll grip both of your shoulders and push you back into the kitchen. **\[LESLIE\]** **Oh\! Uh, right—\! Uh, sorry, Mr. Lombardi, sir\! It's just… it's been a long shift…\!** **\[KRIS\]** As he grips you and brings you over back towards that room… Jonny, what did you choose as your consequence again? **\[JONNY\]** Uh, “Lose control of your magic.” **\[KRIS\]** And what kind of effect do you think your magic is going to do right now? What kind of magic do you think comes out of you? **\[JONNY\]** I mean, I'm just cooking food, I think. Um… while also occasionally, like, just pulling out my phone to see if I get anything from Marsha, and while also kind of— I guess, like, thinking over the— y’know, we saw Morax today, so, like, the new shit we've learned about this guy. **\[KRIS\]** Yeah. **\[JONNY\]** So maybe getting a little tired, a little distracted with the magic? **\[KRIS\]** Yeah, you’re stirring something, you're checking your phone, you're looking over at Emil, you're looking over at what's going on outside… and at some point you drop your fancy firewall-magically-encoded phone into the food, into a stew that's on a pot nearby. And there is the sound of something that explodes as the pot's— the ingredients that are in it just burst out. The flames seem to burn a little bit brighter, just as Lenny pulls Isha and Leslie into the kitchen, there's this burst of, like, a stew exploding. **\[JONNY\]** **Uh—** **\[LESLIE\]** I think Leslie just— his face just goes white. Like, paler than he usually is. **\[JONNY\]** I'm going to try to slam a lid on it. **\[KRIS\]** Uh… yeeaah, you kind of quickly slam a lid on it. I mean, the damage has been done, basically. You see Lenny lets go of *you*, Leslie, thankfully\! He starts walking over to Jonny very briskly. **\[JONNY\]** I'm hiding under the table. I'm avoiding— I'm avoiding Lenny. I’m arranging, like— I don't know, like, a piece of cardboard or whatever so that he does not see me. **\[LENNY\]** **Jonathan. Get back here. I know it was fucking you.** **\[KRIS\]** And he's standing in the kitchen. The kitchen staff go kind of quiet as he's looking around for you. **\[JONNY\]** If there's any, like, vents, I'm crawling into the vents. Goodbye\! **\[LENNY\]** **Leslie. Hey\! Hey, Fox\! Get your partner. Get your sniveling occultist out here right now.** **\[LESLIE\]** **…J— Jonny, come back\!** I'm— yeah, I'm gonna— I'm gonna try to grab Jonny's pant leg, I guess, if he's trying to crawl into the vents. **\[JONNY\]** I will continue trying to crawl into the vents. **\[KRIS\]** (laughs) You're gonna keep going? **\[LESLIE\]** Alright\! Is this our first opposed roll? **\[KRIS\]** Okay, I think— yeah, Jonny, you roll a Sneak roll, and Leslie, I guess you're trying to find him, so this would be… **\[LESLIE\]** Wait, or is this opposed Brawn? **\[KRIS\]** Well, let's see. I think Jonny was able to at least *hide*, and you're trying to, like, find him and grab him. **\[LESLIE\]** Oh, okay, I guess I'm thinking— I don't know what it would mean to *find* him if he's in the vents. **\[KRIS\]** We'll say Lenny has not spotted him. You were able to spot him because you know him. **\[LESLIE\]** Oh, okay, I see, I see. **\[KRIS\]** Maybe this is more of a Finesse roll for Jonny, and then a Brawn roll for Leslie. **\[JONNY\]** Exciting\! **\[KRIS\]** And then we'll just play out the consequences. **\[LESLIE\]** (weakly) Okay\! Let's roll Brawn\! … (sobbing) **\[JONNY\]** That's an 8 for me. **\[LESLIE\]** …That's a 4… **\[KRIS\]** Okay, with an 8 Finesse, Jonny: you can do what you want, but you get in a tight spot or there's a new obstacle. **\[JONNY\]** Um, I don't know the difference here. Give me something. **\[KRIS\]** You manage to get out of Leslie's reach, but this is, like— if you go further, it is too tight to keep crawling. You can't crawl into the rest of the vent system here. **\[JONNY\]** Okay, I think I'm just going to stay out of reach, just weirdly in the beginning of the vent. **\[KRIS\]** Yeah, you are out of reach, but it is a dead end. And Leslie: with a failed Brawn roll… what was it? **\[LESLIE\]** It was a 4\! **\[KRIS\]** Let's see… You suddenly feel a chain around your neck, as Lenny— out of his wrist, he kind of flings out a chain that clamps onto your throat, and he rattles it against the vent. **\[LENNY\]** **Jonathan\! I don't think this succubus is yours anymore.** **\[LESLIE\]** …I think Leslie is… frozen… in… place. **\[JONNY\]** Inside the vent, I'm like: **What?** **\[KRIS\]** He kind of peers in, and pulls Leslie— **\[LENNY\]** **You two have been causing just so much fucking trouble. And if you're not going to own up to your actions…** And he kind of just gestures and pulls Leslie down towards the vent opening. **\[LESLIE\]** **Y-You can't—\! Can you—?** —Does Leslie know if a contract can be transferred in this way? **\[KRIS\]** You don't know if this is a contract. He's just— doing *something* to you\! It doesn't feel great\! **\[LESLIE\]** Okay, so he doesn't know what's going on, okay. **\[KRIS\]** Yes. Take 3 Stress, Leslie, as well. **\[LESLIE\]** Um… okay\! I'm burning out\! **\[KRIS\]** You're burning out?\! Wait, already?\! **\[LESLIE\]** Yeah, I'm burning out. I'm at 6 Stress and 4 Conditions. So that amount of Stress… **\[KRIS\]** Ooh, interesting\! **\[LESLIE\]** Okay\! **\[KRIS\]** Before we resolve that— oh, fuck, this is not… I didn’t— um— **\[LESLIE\]** It's as good a way to burn out as any\! **\[KRIS\]** Interesting. Interesting. Jonny, you are in this vent. You see Leslie is on Lenny Lombardi's chain. What are you doing as you see this? **\[JONNY\]** …Do I have any sense of what's happening with the chain? Like what it would mean and what it would do? **\[KRIS\]** I don't know if you really— it seems like he uses chains as contracts, but you're not sure if this one is a contract necessarily. **\[JONNY\]** Okay, I guess I'm… I guess I'll… I’ll kind of peek out of the vent and go like: **I-it was an accident? He's not involved. I just had a bit of a mishap with the soup…?** **\[KRIS\]** …I would let you take 4 Stress and Leslie does not take the 3 Stress. **\[JONNY\]** …Sure. **\[KRIS\]** But then Lenny's going to do something to you, basically. Are you agreeing to my devil's bargain? **\[JONNY\]** Yeah, I'll take it. **\[KRIS\]** You take 4 Stress. You see the chain unclamps from Leslie. He slings it around your throat and drags you out of the kitchen into the cold outside. **\[LESLIE\]** **…** **\[KRIS\]** Just kind of treating you like a hellhound, pulling you along until the two of you are outside. Leslie, you feel like you almost saw your life flashing before your eyes, but the Stress pushed off onto your occultist instead\! **\[LESLIE\]** …Leslie is not following. Leslie is running out of the room and trying to find somewhere quiet. **\[KRIS\]** Right. You head off to somewhere quiet. And that's where we'll end our session for today\!