Ep. 29 - Exeunt (feat. Jolene Cotnoir)

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

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

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

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

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TRANSCRIPT:

Pip 0:00

Last time with ghosts and trains and something...

Stev 0:04

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

Hannah 0:09

Where's my dorg?

Greg 0:10

You hear -

Ji'mani 0:10

Yorp! Yorp yorp yorp yorp yorp!

Greg 0:12

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

Greg 0:16

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

Greg 0:20

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

Guy 0:24

Pip holds up a finger.

Pip 0:26

I may have a solution.

Guy 0:29

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

Greg 0:33

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

Drix 0:37

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

Genevieve 0:42

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

Pip 0:46

And today...

Greg 0:49

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

Greg 2:30

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

Guy 2:49

Greg is all the bad guys.

Greg 2:50

Except for the others.

Hannah 2:52

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

Greg 3:00

Andrel's gonna fucking snap.

Hannah 3:01

I'm - ugh.

Guy 3:02

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

Stefen 3:09

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

Greg 3:19

That was, so that was actually a callback.

Hannah 3:21

Amazing.

Greg 3:21

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

Stefen 3:24

Yeah, yeah, no, that makes sense.

Greg 3:37

A sexy callback.

Stefen 3:38

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

Guy 3:40

The duel was very horny.

Stefen 3:42

The duel was so horny.

Hannah 3:45

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

Jolene 3:48

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

Greg 3:57

Okay!

Jolene 3:57

- two separate people. Definitely.

Stefen 4:00

Who could the Harlequin be?

Guy 4:02

They could be anyone

Hannah 4:04

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

Stefen 4:08

I don't understand.

Hannah 4:10

We all know who the Harlequin is!

Jolene 4:11

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

Stefen 4:16

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

Guy 4:19

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

Greg 4:30

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

Hannah 4:34

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

Jolene 4:40

Oh, yeah.

Greg 4:41

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

Hannah 5:41

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

Greg 5:51

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

Genevieve 5:55

Do you think you could out drink her?

Pip 5:59

Absolutely.

Genevieve 6:02

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

Andrel 6:04

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

Pip 6:07

It's my natural state.

Drix 6:10

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

Genevieve 6:14

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

Andrel 6:23

So you want to challenge her to a drinking contest?

Pip 6:29

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

Genevieve 6:57

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

Andrel 7:05

Yeah.

Genevieve 7:06

Because you can bet that they will complain.

Drix 7:08

Wait a minute.

Andrel 7:08

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

Drix 7:12

So all we need to do is get her exhausted?

Pip 7:17

That seems about right.

Drix 7:18

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

Pip 7:23

It's pretty good.

Andrel 7:26

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

Drix 7:28

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

Pip 7:36

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

Genevieve 8:02

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

Andrel 8:05

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

Genevieve 8:08

I mean, it would work.

Andrel 8:09

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

Greg 8:12

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

Stefen 8:24

I got it. I got it.

Greg 8:26

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

Hannah 8:32

Oh my god.

Greg 8:33

- at the door.

Mourning Father 8:35

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

Guy 8:46

Oh.

Greg 8:48

And Greta's like -

Greta 8:48

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

Drix 9:00

I've got this.

Hannah 9:01

Wait, is that her husband?

Guy 9:02

We have been presented with an opportunity.

Jolene 9:03

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

Mourning Father 9:14

Please, please...

Genevieve 9:16

Mounsior, please, please, calm.

Mourning Father 9:19

What, what?

Genevieve 9:19

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

Mourning Father 9:28

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

Hannah 10:19

Okay.

Drix 10:20

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

Mourning Father 10:24

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

Andrel 10:26

What?

Mourning Father 10:27

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

Andrel 10:30

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

Mourning Father 10:33

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

Andrel 10:37

I mean...

Mourning Father 10:38

I love dorgs.

Andrel 10:38

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

Mourning Father 10:42

Oh, dorgs...

Greg 10:43

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

Andrel 10:50

I'm sorry, okay?

Mourning Father 10:52

I love dorgs.

Andrel 10:55

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

Greg 11:04

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

Andrel 11:11

I, I'm sorry.

Ji'mani 11:16

Yorp.

Hannah 11:17

All right, everyone, everyone in another booth.

Andrel 11:21

How're we, how are using this?

Pip 11:24

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

Genevieve 11:39

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

Pip 11:42

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

Andrel 11:53

Alright.

Pip 11:54

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

Andrel 12:02

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

Pip 12:11

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

Genevieve 12:20

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

Andrel 12:30

Yeah, we don't know the deal.

Pip 12:31

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

Genevieve 12:44

No, no, you're correct.

Drix 12:47

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

Andrel 12:59

I don't see how that helps us.

Genevieve 13:01

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

Drix 13:07

Oh. Yeah, yeah, we can...

Genevieve 13:11

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

Drix 13:19

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

Genevieve 13:22

Oh no?