Title: City Council of Darkness
GM: Brennan Lee Mulligan
Players: Emily Axford (she/her) as Vesper Childers (she/her). Zac Oyama (he/him) as Zaeth Bondana (he/him). Siobhan Thompson (she/her) as La Contesse Madelaine (she/her). Lou Wilson (he/him) as LaVonte Worthy (he/him). Ally Beardsley (they/them) as HJ Wingstreet (he/him). Brian Murphy (he/him) as Mitch Frederick(he/him).
Streaming Service: Dropout

LaVonte and the coterie continue their efforts to convince Helena to run. It’s a bit of a bait and switch beginning with the players making progress for just long enough for hope to build before chaos returned. This season might honestly benefit from an ‘on the record’ and ‘off the record’ symbology to mark what segments of their chaos actually are canon in universe and what is only joking around the table.

In most seasons, the players manage to keep the comedy above table and in-game very clearly marked just by their general attitudes and a respect for the mood of the world, but they’re mixing sides too much this season.

Tracking down Aaron, Mitch breaks into his car, destroying his crossbow. However, he doesn’t see the potential vampire hunter, so he has no choice but to get out of dodge fast.

HJ continues his SSRI-blood fueled mission of self-discovery. Heading to the gun range, he meets Martin Thornton there, and the whole interaction really shows how Brennan matches the table’s energy for better or for worse. Boyd Douglas is the owner and the son of Gene Douglas, who is on the council. Additionally, HJ manages to find Aaron, but when the other books it, he can’t keep up and hangs back, watching Aaron vanishes into the woods.

Madelaine returns to meet Kelly Sweeney, gaining her friendship. Thanks to this, Kelly reveals that she’s a leprechaun. According to her, leprechauns and vampires are at war. Faking she’s mortal, Madelaine flirts her way into Kelly’s hedge. Considering the lies involved, this relationship will likely explode down the line if Siobhan isn’t careful, but if anyone can pull off that delicate balance, Madelaine is.

Convincing LaVonte to buy him a carriage, Zaeth and Ghorse go about giving rides and bringing wonder to Purpee. Unfortunately, he has a run-in with Nancy. She absolutely trounces him conversationally, sending him home with his tail figuratively between his legs. LaVonte won’t have his investment wasted, so he sends him back to give rides around town to folks.

Vesper joins the dying order of the Knights Templar. Excitedly, she offers to take care of their go-karts and encourages them to pursue biking lanes for Purpee. This also gives her influence with Herb Melvin and a position as officer of the lodge.

LaVonte talks with Patty, Bingo’s owner, throwing HJ under the bus. He also talks money with him, using it as a way to encourage Patty to rethink the situation. His efforts end up only pushing Patty into considering creating social media accounts for his dog.

Madelaine meets Estelle, revealing the war that Kelly is a leprechaun. It turns out that Estelle is a huge fan of Nancy, and Estelle offers a favor for an introduction, making it clear she knows what Madelaine is. While the two talking, LaVonte breaks into Estelle’s computer, seeing an email about the full moon, which connects Estelle to the Crescent Moon Hostel and Maya Jayashtri.

And as our episode closes, Mitch catches a bolt, stopping an attack. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until next week to find out what happens next!

Highlights

I didn’t have Estelle as a fan of Nancy on my bingo card, but good authors know what they like, and game recognizes game. Similarly, any scene with Nancy is a win for me. I loved watching her absolutely screw with Zaeth’s head. Frankly, the chaos he causes, he deserved it.

Final Score (4 out of 5 Stars)

There were definitely painfully disruptive pacing moments in the beginning of this episode and a few throughout as the players seemed to lose the plot. Chaotic obsessions sometimes pay off, but they definitely feel more off the rails than most other previous series. That being said, any season with a vampire player character seems to have the ridiculous ramped up to almost unbelievable levels.

Overall, the coterie had forward progress. LaVonte has finally recovered from losing Bingo, so he can go back to slowly convincing Patty around to let him use Bingo. Whenever Zaeth’s plans go slightly sideways, it seems to go better for everyone. HJ is chasing the serotonin high, and Madelaine continues to be a femme fatale, turning the tides at just the right times.

Going forward, we’ll have to keep an eye on a few traps Madelaine set for herself though:

1. Kelly doesn’t know Madelaine is a vampire and is at war with vampires in general.
2. Estelle wants to meet Kelly, which could be seen as a betrayal of Kelly’s confidence.
3. Estelle wants to meet Nancy, which would definitely add to the pressure to give Nancy her cherries.
4. Madelaine got it on with Kelly, potentially causing havoc with her extremely lucrative relationship with Cal and Ana if it comes out.

We’ll have to wait and see if one of those threads pulls loose first or if Zaeth shoots the team in the proverbial foot again.

Let us know what you thought in comments below or go over to our Discord channel to join the conversation.

Featured Image: Dimension 20

The Boss Rush Podcast: The Flagship Podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network

The Boss Rush Podcast – The Boss Rush Podcast is the flagship podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network. Each week, Corey, Stephanie, LeRon, and their friends from around the internet come together with other creators, developers, and industry veterans to talk about games they’ve been playing, discuss video game and entertainment based topics, and answer questions solicited on social media and the community Discord. 

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