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, eleven, and twelve!

This season has certainly been a wild ride. Though many of the bits remain, the pointless above the table chaos which often sank into the story in the first half of most episodes has fallen away. That isn’t to say it’s gone. The players are simply back to when they’re at their best, joking and having fun while not spending a half hour or more on a side bit that derails a ten minute plot vital conversation into the bulk of an episode.

HJ and Vesper meet with Maya and Amelia at the diner. Maya makes demands, interrogating HJ, but the immediate distrust and additional hurdles which cause the whole thing to blow up as Maya announces they’re done when HJ won’t move all his money into the credit union. It’s clearly very one-sided and an all-or-nothing proposition which is very much in line with Maya’s rationale for not trusting LaVonte, but HJ and Vesper call her out before leaving themselves. In an ideal world, they’d have left it there, but they follow it up with a text instead of letting sleeping dogs lie.

After consulting with the rest of the coterie, they elect to give the house back and invest in the credit union; however, Vesper now doesn’t trust Maya. This inspires them to focus on the other supernatural forces and not put all of their efforts behind Maya. Despite the uncertainty there, Mitch and Cody continue to get along.

LaVonte meets with Maya, and he owns the “run shit” that is written on one of the walls of the house they sold back. I would’ve personally cleaned up that before selling it back, but Brennan is all about running campaigns with the idea that anything not directly said didn’t necessarily happen, so any open doors left to him will be used. Our Intrepid Heroes know that, and they’ve not been paying as close of attention as they did in previous seasons. They’ve suffered for that. 100% a disaster of their own making.

That all being said, LaVonte blew it out of the park. Lou has carried this season on his back, and it has been a fun watch to see him take that role on. It made it all the more powerful when LaVonte informed Maya that the only thing she needed to apologize for was trying to come between him and HJ, making it very clear what would happen if she tried that again.

For their meeting of the supernatural minds, Vesper works with Mitch to gather the ghosts, and Madelaine brings in her leprechaun lover.

Unfortunately, while everything is coming together, a massive coordinated attack happens on HJ and LaVonte’s assets. A number of private equity and venture capital firms are working against them, and every single one is related to Beholdr. With this movement, it’s no surprise that the Camarilla has returned, and they arrive right in time for the party instead of calling ahead. Frankly, any risk to the masquerade that happens should be on their heads.

Highlights

Lou Wilson has been a treasure this season. Of course, he always holds his own, but between this, Misfits & Magic, and Cloudward Ho! I’ve loved seeing him take on more of a leadership position as a plot-focused character as he balances comedy and drama with a deftness that keeps to what makes Dimension 20 so enjoyable to watch without giving into the chaos to the point of distraction.

Final Score (4 out of 5 Stars)

It never rains, it pours, and in this week’s episode, the disaster trains that have been coming down the track have all aligned. Our chaotic coterie is set dead center, but even with a room full of allies, they haven’t exactly guaranteed loyalty or prepared them to fight against the Camarilla, and that definitely appears to be on the horizon with the reveal of Smiling Richard Nixon.

We’ve had insane final battles where there seems to be too much aimed at our players, but with secrecy of the masquerade and not enough allies guaranteed in their corner. While there is a chance that the majority will fall in line, there’s no guarantee that they won’t turn tail at the sight of one of the heads of the Camarilla.

We’ll just have to wait until next week to see how they dig themselves out of this potential cluster.

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. 

New episodes of The Boss Rush Podcast release every Monday morning on YouTube and all major podcast applications like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Patreon supporters gain one week early access. 

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