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

If you haven’t checked them out already, you can catch up on our reviews of prior episodes – one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, and eleven!

Our Intrepid Heroes return in this week’s episode ready to run shit. HJ and LaVonte take center stage first, turning Tyler into a ghoul. Considering how much Tyler has carried their success, upping his power threshold by feeding him vampire blood. Despite a boat load of chaos, mainly coming from Ally, they push forward with their Patty-Bingo recruitment plan. Four hundred thousand dollars is life changing money, but honestly, in this day and age, I’d be a little more paranoid than Patty. Then again, I was far more optimistic at twenty-one, so who knows.

HJ gets an invite to meet with Maya and Amelia, learning from Maya that she doesn’t trust LaVonte or Madelaine. She expresses trust in him, Vesper, and Mitch. Zaeth is an unknown. Of course, LaVonte is HJ’s business partner and the one to whom he’s closest, but frankly, Maya isn’t wrong. When confronted with Ermine’s return, HJ doesn’t warn Maya or Cody, and the whole of the coterie willingly puts Helena into the line of fire.

While the business men work their magic, Zaeth reveals Ermine is double-dipping. Though there’s some doubt, Zaeth digs deep and manages to convince Koschei to look into the betrayal.

Unfortunately, Ermine is already close by, demanding Madelaine bring LaVonte to meet with her. To their credit, the two immediately share it with the group. The group plots, planning for their counterattack. Though Ermine claims LaVonte owes her a boon, he returns fire by questioning how long she worked at Metr. She recovers quickly. Madelaine attempts to reason out of the situatoin, but Ermine won’t have it. Signalling for aid, LaVonte confirms that neither will fulfill their boon.

With Nancy’s encouragement, Vesper swallows Ermine into her mouth abyss. Her ghouls immediately open fire. HJ drives into them. As the rest fight, Madelaine spin the chaos, announcing Helena and Bingo running for office. However, Vesper gives into her hunger, almost killing Nancy until HJ and Zaeth intervene and redirected her at the ghouls. Definitely stepping up, HJ pivots to mesmerize the onlookers, convincing them its gang violence and not vampires.

The coterie brings Nancy to Elysium. She yet again proves how incredible her detective work is, revealing: 1) Ermine’s position at Metr; and 2) Ermine’s desire to kill her. With HJ’s enthrallment being flimsy, they need Nancy to help cover things up. Nancy also figures out that Beholdr is making an AI version of their dead CEO.

With the chaos behind them, LaVonte and HJ lay their cards on the table. The pair have disconnected over the series. HJ yearns for the family and self-actualization. LaVonte wants to be on a space ship, constantly accumulating more and more. At the same time, LaVonte wants to build something with HJ. Where HJ’s thirst is behind him, LaVonte’s remains ahead. On the other end, HJ is 100% in his friend’s court, but he accepts their differences more readily, promising to support LaVonte in his dreams while also returning to the calm of his own. Honestly, it’s a great conversation. They both have things to consider.

While Zaeth tries to lie to his sire, he fumbles, making it rather clear what has happened to Ermine. He owes his princedom. This is everything his sire has ever wanted, so it’s no surprise that Clan Bruja not just approves but fully supports his actions.

Highlights

Nancy writing Vesper’s obituary and admitting that she’s scared even as she reports and fights people with many more resources than she has. She’s incredible. I need to find more journalists in real life that are like her, so send all those recommendations my way.

Final Score (4 out of 5 Stars)

Ally saying, “You think I didn’t read the book” in a tone that 100% said they didn’t read the book makes this whole situation make so much more sense. Their entire goal this season seems to be breaking Brennan and making him regret his choices.

While we didn’t stay with Madelaine’s vision long, Ermine’s fear of the sun’s expansion is actualy incredibly long-term. If humanity doesn’t get off the planet, then there is a clear end date for all vampires. However, can an artificial day/night cycle work with these sorts of vampires? If they basically transform to corpses during the day, how will that work in space? From what we’ve seen, day/night variation throughout the year allows for extended and reduced active periods, so it really only matters if space is considered default day or default night. Leave your logic for that one in the comments. It’s a toss up for me.

On the Zaeth front, owning Ermine’s death actually cleans up a lot of mess. It would have been incredibly easy to prove she had been in Purpee just on the helicopter alone. Additionally, as it was his territory as Prince, he has the right of rule. It will be interesting to see how the politics play on that.

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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