INTRO
SATAH: Welcome to Folio, a CRiT award nominated actual play podcast about solo and epistolary TTRPGs. I'm your host, Satah, and I'm showcasing multiple possible experiences of self-paced games by inviting guests to play them alongside me so I can compile our stories together. The day this episode drops, you have three more days to head over to critawards.org to vote for Folio to win best upcoming podcast and for me to win best tech/producer. Voting closes on June 30th.
June 30th is also the final day of the crowdfunder for print editions of Galactic & Going Rogue, which both me and the designer of the game we're playing in this series have done a bunch of work on.
This is the fourth and final episode of our games of Furyya, a solo journalling game in "A dystopian future where creatures of the night adapt to technology to survive" by Uoshi. The other two beautiful undead trawling the neon streets with me are Matt Orr and Alyssa. Check out wetinkgames.com for more of Matt's work and pick up Alyssa's games at adisasterqueer.itch.io.
GAME
ALYSSA: So! I am back off to the Gardens.
SATAH: Speck, like, puts her hands up and she goes like, "Hey… what seems to be the problem? You know, I didn't actually take any money out of that account…"
MATT: Log 009. The Charitable Praug file.
SATAH: And the Hoshi agent is like, "Oh, come on. Don't play– don't play with me like that."
And Speck is like, "I'm not playing. Isn't this because of–" uh, what was her name? 
ALYSSA: Um, the plan this time is actually just going through the front door. And I think that because I have support from the rest of the Calamity, I am going to be able to roll my sort of first set-up of this plan with advantage. That means that I get a Fury back, which is amazing, and it also means that I can add one die to the attribute tested until the end of the challenge.
And I think the attribute here is going to be Trauma, unfortunately, because it's both acting confident and non-suspicious and hiding my face well enough that I'm not recognised going into the building, and then it's also hacking into the unit itself. We want to notify Ferrous, but we don't want to notify building security. We don't want anyone else to know what's going on until the deed is done. And unfortunately, as the first person- as the bait for this little plan, I have to be the one getting us into the apartment, and so I have to be the one attempting to hack the door and the building security once again.
Um, I do get plus one die, so I'm actually rolling one instead of rolling at disadvantage, but let's see how it goes. I will call a one. [Die rolling] That is a one on the die! Let's go!!
SATAH: "This is all just because I went into Nocturne's bank account, right? Thing is, I really wanted to pay for this…" Gestures to the, like, shorting camouflage.
And this agent is like, "Come on. You know what you did."
And I think one of the things that is going to happen here is Speck is going to go like, "Do you know what I did? Or have they not told you?"
And I think this is going to be a challenge, and not one that Speck is super good at. [Laughs] Um… oh, wait! "Psychological capabilities." I was thinking this might be Insight because it's, like, wisdom, but I think actually, yeah, this is, like- this is Speck trying to get under this person's skin, and so I think I actually am rolling with T. Psychological and hacking capabilities. I love that. Absolutely. Okay, cool. Yeah.
So, like, the challenge here– Speck has said, like- is making a bet essentially that like this person is not important enough to actually know what's going on and that will hurt their feelings.
Am I gonna give myself advantage for this because they were in the hallway, which makes it more likely..? No. But I'm- I'm just gonna- I'm gonna. I'm gonna roll 3d6.
I would like to roll… [Exhales] oh my goodness. I got stressed out and put my dice down. I would like to roll a five. No. Yes. Yes. [Dice rolling] Fuck me. I nearly switched it to a three, which would have been nice because I rolled a one three and a six, which is a failure.
Let's see. How bad is this failure? [Die rolling] Six. Tolerable failure, no consequence. Great!
Yeah, then I think what that means is just that, like, this agent just rolls their eyes because yes, they do know exactly what I did. And they think it's stupid that, like, I tried that tack, but they're like, whatever. It doesn't get to them.
MATT, AS IMPERIUS: On my way back to the hall. This is not how I thought it would go. I had no idea.
I guess I can at least say I found Charitable.
Embracing's collective took me to a private residence above a vid parlour. Two of them went with me, Sol and Hush.
It's a cover. No one lives in the apartment, but she was there. In a stasis suite like I've never seen before.
Her limbs, the nerves, they were all spliced out right into the interfaces. It's all fluorescent glow and low hums.
She's alive on this side, but she really lives on the other side now.
Sol gave me a jack. She insisted. My signal is known and could be traced. I plugged in and had some trouble with the protocols– it's very archaic code.
Then I was in Charitable's world. Twilight light in a half-buried house, in a field of green grass, studded with yellow flowers. My eyeline was through the long, low windows across that field. It looked endless. Maybe it was endless.
I'm not sure we were on the network. A private network? Of course it's possible, but it doesn't make sense. You can't go anywhere. Why strand yourself on an island?
We didn't really get to that question. She was there– Charitable. Looking like an older, wiser version of herself than any of the profiles I've been working from, with a low voice, and strong.
She called me by name. I haven't felt named like that since before I was turned. How much of it was how she presents herself now and how much of it was how she wanted me to see her? I don't know.
We talked. We talked about the news from the hall, about my work, before, as a researcher. She told me about her life with Daring. The sun never got any lower. Night never came. It was endless orange light and warm shadows lancing across every surface.
Then we came to it. Power struggles. Big plans. Next year's Consuls. The future of the clan. She asked me about working under Daring. Do I think he'll become less ruthless as he rises up the curses?
No. Why would he?
Daring's plan has worked. My real task, without me even knowing it, has been to flush out his biggest threats. Embracing has people out of their enclave… the disappearance of Enlightened is being discussed everywhere in the hall. Virtuous is calling in favors that are making waves with the daytime folks.
And her too. She's also been pulled in. Pulled off of her island.
So be it. She's decided to put her finger on the scales.
Me. She's putting me on the scales. It's my penance, she said. I have to go back to the hall and report to Daring. He expects me. I'll be let in. I'm going to take a venom bug setup with me. I just dropped all my credits on it. I can feel it in my slot, eager, ready to expand. Ready to capture every moment, every sound, from every angle.
Even if I die, the venom bug will broadcast my conversation. I just have to get him talking. He loves to talk. He'll talk himself out of the job.
Calamity hasn't put a dictator in place in 400 years. He and Grieving will be the Consuls for next year. The clan will continue on.
That was her plan.
I couldn't tell her no. I didn't tell her no. I've got the venom installed. I'm walking to Calamity Hall. Almost there.
What will come of me, though? I'll smell as much a rat to Daring as I did to Embracing after this.
End log.
ALYSSA: So I am able– I think that, with a lot of instruction, maybe even a voice in my ear walking me through the process, I am able to get into what was Brahm's apartment, what is now… I think they have to do a full remodel because no one wants to live in a unit where someone was just murdered unless it's got, like, really nice kitchen counters. You know, all the latest tech integrated into this one specific unit. Then, you know, you can really sell it. So it's currently under renovation, and so I'm able to get inside past the building security, and then what's left is to trip whatever security that Ferrous would have left.
I think that the first step there is just looking around. Seeing, I mean– who knows really if he's watching this building soon. His apprentice is dead, so, like, what else is there to watch for, right?
But… he's a vampire hunter and he knows how vampires think. And after centuries of living, we can be a little particular, hold on to grudges. So I think that it's safe to assume that he is still having some watch on the unit.
And so I just go in and start breaking things. And I am going to roll a Vigor to see how successful that is in getting his attention.
[Shaking dice] Oh, I have to call something– I will call a three. [Dice rolling] That is two fives and a four. So! I fail on this. I'm checking how bad of a failure it is… [Die rolling] okay, a five is a tolerable failure with no consequence.
MATT: Clearly I've got to go talk to Daring and see what that is. Mostly I'm thinking about whether I draw this out or whether I just kind of go right for it…
I mostly think I've got to go right for it, and then there'll be maybe a denouement log or something. We'll see how much aftermath there is.
But I think it makes sense to do this as a combat… and I think I did the– when I used the adrenaline a few logs ago, I think I did it wrong. Because it says it adds 1d4 to Vigor, so I rolled a 1d4 and got four Vigor, and then I rolled four dice– I think it's probably supposed to be it adds a d6 to your Vigor, i.e. effectively makes your die one.
So I don't know. But the point is, is that… so for this encounter, I've got… the- the venom bug and the venom bug is 3d6 to Insight- or, um, Trauma, so I think that gives me a total of five dice to roll, because I've set up that I want to use sort of the camera system– the venom bug to kind of broadcast the nefarious plans of the, uh. The guy. Um, so using that as a sort of a combat maneuver, I think is what I'm going to do.
What a time to be playing this game where, you know, just bad guys talking about what they're going to do is going to bring them down. Like a… fantasy. It's a fantasy game. 
SATAH: Okay, and so now what? They're going to call in, of course, be like, "Hey, I got her." What am I– I could try and get away here, like… because they're- they might get distracted on the phone?
No… no. Especially since I think the camouflage skin is still off at the moment… be too risky.
MATT: So I've got two Trauma. I'm adding the venom bug, which is going to add 3d6, so a total of five. I'm gonna spend a Fury, obviously, to give myself two picks. And this is going to be, I think, a full combat, so do I succeed, and then what is the damage? A two-part roll.
Let's go with four and one. [Dice rolling] Four and one on 5d6.
Incredibly, I got nothing. [Die rolling] Punishing consequences.
But, uh– let's see about damage. [Die rolling] I did get a success there. So I think I avoid… I do some damage and don't take any myself.
ALYSSA: Breaking things doesn't work. If he is watching the building, maybe, you know, in a day, he'll check some camera feeds and see like, "Oh, hey, someone broke into this unit and sure threw a lot of construction material around," but that is not helpful right now for our plan.
And I think that the voices in my head- the voices in my ear, they realise that. And so instead of getting Ferrous' attention tonight, the plan shifts to making a date.
MATT: I inflict wounds with no consequences, but my combat is not successful, and I get punishing consequences as a result.
Alright, I think what makes sense then is for some sort of other enforcers to show up, so let's roll on threats.
[Die rolling] More vampire hunters. Perhaps the vampire hunters were with him all along. [Die rolling] Six! Six vampire hunters. Lovely. What- how is that going to go? I have no idea. I don't know what to roll to even… kind of bring this- bring this to the next obvious thing.
I do have the events table. Is there some other secret plan that might interrupt this? Or… I'm looking at the karma table again. I had only used it at the beginning. I do want to check in again with that one. Maybe now is the time.
ALYSSA: So in the mess I have made of this in-progress unit, I get to leave him a little note. And on it is just the symbol of the Calamity and a GPS point of where to meet.
And where is it that we do want to set our date with Ferrous? Gonna roll on the location table. [Die rolling] That is a six. That is the Gardens again. So we're asking him to come back. You saw us here. Let's meet. It's… neutral ground. It's not neutral, but, you know, it's as good a place as any and the poetry is calling to me, even if I don't quite understand why.
MATT: Three. "You're consumed by rage." I think that's right. Um, but do I… well, I already suffered a punishing consequence, so I think, um… yeah. I think this is- this is bad news. This is like– the vampire working with the vampire hunters doesn't seem great, but I failed to fully expose the situation, so I think I'm going to get memory holed somewhere, then… what makes sense for me to be talking about that later? I don't know. I'm going to have to think about that. When- what context is this actual record happening in? I'm going to think about it a little bit, and then I'll get something written up, and then you'll hear the log.
ALYSSA: So we set a date for the next night. Leave a message in the unit. Conspicuously leave the unit. Conspicuously don't set up watching devices within it. We want him to feel as confident as possible going into this.
And I go back to the unit that the Calamity is renting in the building and I wait. And because I have my technology back and am feeling a little bit spicy, I think that I am going to record a third log.
MATT, AS IMPERIUS: Log 010, the Praug file.
I don't know if this file is even relevant anymore. I mean… I technically have already reported to Praetor Halakarnassus.
I'm shielded here… wherever here is. I assume an oubliette under the hall?
I can't get to the network. Can't see if our ploy worked. I haven't heard anything in at least a day. That's how long I've been awake. I may have been out for a while before that. Who can say? Just darkness here. There's no door.
It all happened like Miss Praug said it would. I went in, got shown to the Praetor. He was well aware of the waves that I'd been making, but he hadn't heard that I'd actually gotten to see Miss Praug. That seemed to surprise him.
Put out my venom system, and I tried to draw him on what he wanted her for. What, really? This was never a welfare check, I said.
He was unimpressed with my questions. At a bell, he had hunters in the room. Wilson had a whole fresh crew, and they weren't going to let me get the drop on them this time.
I didn't make it easy for them. I went full rage. I didn't expect to live, sohere was nothing to hold back. I got a taste of one or two– nothing significant. There were too many.
And Holocarnassus at his desk, chuckling the whole time.
The hunters had UV truncheons.
I guess the venom bug got all that recorded and transmitted. The rest of the clan won't like the idea of a Praetor being friends with hunters… I mean, maybe. Maybe they'll love it.
The last thing I remember was seeing the Praetor crush one of the venom micro-drones right in my face. The other isn't here either. So…
My cyberware is down to 5%. I've probably been here a while.
I'll probably be here a while.
End log.
ALYSSA: Log 003.
They call us monsters, but how little humanity they must have to let this space be further despoiled. Does he feel so little for the student that he trained?
SATAH: They call it in and they're like, "Okay, I'll bring her in." And… still with that, like, device pressed to my body, they move me along the hall to an elevator.
Another elevator, huh? A lot of elevators in this story. [Laughs] Everybody should read, um, The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead for an insane, uh, incredible- fucking incredible speculative fiction book that heavily features elevators. It's– oh man. I have- I will talk about this book for a long time, but just go read it.
ALYSSA: I'm sitting at six Fury right now, which feels good. Initially, I thought that seven was a lot, and then I did my first encounter and thought that it was way too little and I was going to immediately die, but now I'm feeling pretty good about it. I think that I will survive. Uh, knock on wood– I totally just cursed myself. But we will see what happens.
SATAH: I'm pulled into this elevator.
I managed to disable the tracker, which means I know that if I can get away, I might actually be able to get away. But this is a- this is a rough situation that I'm in.
ALYSSA: The rest of the team is in hiding. We want this to seem like it is just me, and it's believable that it's just me because it was just me the first time.
While they are in hiding, we do have some affiliates outside, watching the building, and so I hear that Ferrous has entered.
SATAH: Oh, I think I know my angle here.
We're in this elevator. [Laughs] And I'm just going to start talking. Because they know why I'm here. They know that I overheard this conversation, and they know the conversation. Like we kind of established that with- with me trying to be like, "Are you important enough to know or are you stupid and suck?" And they were like, "No… I'm not. I'm not stupid and I don't suck. And that doesn't bother me." [Laughs] earlier. Um.
I think it's actually kind of fun for me that I get to talk out loud about the situation. Like, I've been- I've been occasionally messaging Klysm about it, right? But it always has to be encoded. And so it's, like, kind of exciting for me to be like, "Hey. So this fucking plan, huh?"
And I think the thing I want to do here is just start… I want to try and, like… make this person think that it would be bad for them if this deal went through.
ALYSSA: It's time for the final confrontation. And I go into Brahm's apartment. And I wait.
MATT: Alright. I'm about to make the eleventh log, and… I think I've accelerated through the second half of the story a little too quickly. You know, for better or for worse. And– certainly where I left Imperius was not really able to impact the story much anymore, so, you know, going back to the rules of the game, like, "You make your own fate," so, like– I set out to find Charitable, uh, and I did. And so I think this story is over. So I think this post eleven is sort of an epilogue.
So that being said, I was debating about whether or not to actually make any rolls for this one, but I think I do want to… just a little bit of guidance for, uh, some of the closing narration that I have in mind.
ALYSSA: I think that there are so many ways to do this more… efficiently. To make it so that I'm not just bait. I am the one who is able to catch the vampire hunter and prove myself to the Calamity. Prove that I'm still worth keeping around.
But that's really not where my head is at. I have been stewing in rage with nothing to do for god knows how much time. And all I want at this point is to face the person who killed Ayla and return the favour.
And I need him to know that I'm the one who did it. So rather than taking up any sort of tactical position, I wait in the center of the room, weaponless, ready to end this person with my own two hands, just like I did to their apprentice.
SATAH: We're in this- we're in the elevator, and we're- I'm like, "So, this sale… seems like it's really important that they keep it under wraps, huh?"
The agent kind of shrugs.
I'm like, "Yeah, I mean, I can see why. Like… they probably kind of don't want the rest of the company to know, huh? I assume that's really the problem; it doesn't really matter if other people figure out it's happening, but… you don't exactly want that to leak internally before you're ready, right?"
And they're like, "What do you mean?"
And Speck is like, " … Oh. Because you're going to lose your fucking jobs." And they kind of go still, and she's like, "I mean… you know that, right? They're not going to keep the whole team. They're barely going to keep anybody. It'll be a government program– can you pass a security clearance? [Chuckles] Because I don't think most– at this point, if you are as… important to the company as it seems like you are, I bet you've done some things that mean you can't. So… where do you think your place is going to be in all of this?"
And I'm going to roll. I'm going to roll with advantage. Because it's a bad, hard world, and the idea that- this person is suddenly dealing with the idea that they might lose their job and they're like, fuuuuuck. That's, like, a genuine threat.
ALYSSA: I'm going to go ahead and roll Vigor to see how that goes at the start. I have Fury, so I think that this is as good a time as any as to use it. I will call twos and threes for this roll. I'm rolling three dice. [Dice rolling] That is a four, a three, and a six. So that is a success.
Um, I think that it takes a moment for Ferrous to be processed through the building. Weird how he's on the guest list, not for this unit, but the one that we own.
And after a few minutes, the door creaks open… no, it doesn't creak. The door slams open and I immediately shot in the chest. Or– I would be if I didn't hear him coming regardless and managed to dodge out of the way. But it seems that Farrous is really not, um, waiting around to talk. He definitely expected danger coming in and he is coming in full throttle.
I think I will go ahead and roll Vigor again for this combat. Not going to spend anything, but this time I will roll- or I will bet, rather, a one. So we're going to try and see how the rest of this fight goes before the rest of the Calamity gets involved.
[Dice rolling] That is two sixes and a two, which is a failure. So I'm going to go ahead and roll for wound or for failure- how impacted I am. [Die rolling] That is a three. Failure, punishing consequence.
SATAH: So I'm gonna roll 4d6, and– you know what? I'm gonna spend… I'm gonna spend a Fury on it. Down to one… pretty- pretty rough. But if I succeed at this roll, I'll get it back. So.
I'd like to roll a three or a five. [Dice rolling] Nice. Rolled a one and a five… [Dice rolling] and a two and a two. Doesn't matter; rolled a five.
ALYSSA: I dodge the first attack but immediately, I think, get hit by the second. And I'm wounded. And I'm poisoned again, something a little stronger, a little faster acting than whatever it is that Brahm had on his bullets. But more than that is the fact that my earpiece is, I think, just shot right out of my ear, or rather my ear is shot and my earpiece goes with it.
Um, which means I don't have contact with the rest of the team. And in the scenario planning here, we had talked about communication jams and the solution was a timer, and so I'm now stuck in this room with a very angry vampire hunter on my own without support for several minutes, and I have to keep him here with me. I can't flee, and I can't be loud enough that I provoke other responses. I mean, we took out unit security for this unit, but you can't control neighbours, can't put a whole comms block on the building because then it would be obvious something were happening. So it's just the two of us, and… it's what I wanted, but it's really not working out how I wanted it to at all.
MATT: So one thing I think is going to happen is I think there's I think there's going to be a major time jump, so I'm going to roll on events to see, like, one thing that might have happened in that time.
[Die roll] The Valamity seeks vengeance. That seems appropriate and interesting.
ALYSSA: Let's go ahead and roll one last Vigor, sort of wrapping up when the rest of my team gets here. Um, this time I will call a four. [Dice rolling] That is two threes and a one! Uh, so, rolling for my failure… [Die rolling] that is a two. Failure with punishing consequence.
I am really getting hurt here. And I think that the biggest consequence I can have is, honestly, being knocked out of this fight. I built this conflict so much in my head and my heart, and I was convinced that if I could face them and let them see the hurt that they had did and then kill them for it, that pain would be… not soothed– I mean, nothing can replace the hole that Ayla has left in my life– but it would be mitigated, at least. It would be some sense of closure. And when you're an immortal being, you need all the closure you can get.
SATAH: The thing is. When you overcome a challenge with advantage, you "kill to feed. Kill someone and feed on them. Take note of the victim's name and describe the hunt." And I think we know who this is going to be, right? Let's get a name for this agent real quick.
Zane Vortex? Holy shit, what a name. Yeah.
ALYSSA: I don't even have the chance to be wrong, the chance to kill him with my own two hands and then realise, "Oh, revenge doesn't solve anything."
What happens is that I'm able to keep him occupied for a minute of the time that the Calamity needs, but I'm not keeping it quiet enough. And I'll learn later that someone from the unit below called building security, and that is what brought my team into action. That is what spurred them to join me, to save me. Because I wasn't good enough, because I needed them to jump in and rectify my errors. But it wasn't… concern for me and it wasn't me holding out. It was all because a neighbour tried to call security and they needed to take care of my mess.
So they don't wait the full time. They come into the room and by sheer force of numbers are able to overwhelm the vampire hunter and are able to do it in short enough time that they get out, get back to our unit, and bring me with them. But, of course… I'm bleeding out. Unconscious from the lack of blood.
MATT: I'm also going to roll on a location because I think, uh you know. Where has Imperius been? Where is he now? I think we'll see what happens there.
[Die rolling] I got Drip Nightclub again. That's not a perfect fit, but it is, I think, appropriate. Or I can make it appropriate. I can work that in. I can work that in.
SATAH: This is done in a pretty shitty way.
Zane suddenly is convinced. Realises like, "Well, fuck. Yeah. Why am I helping them get you when absolutely they will just fire me? I don't want to have to look for another job. This sucks."
And so they take this, uh, weird device off of my body. And I think they're, like, starting to be like, "Okay, so uh… just make it look real. Like, punch me in the face," And then, "Here's the code," like, "Here's how to hack this elevator to make it go back down–" Because here's the other thing. The elevator has been going up. I would like it to go down.
And she's, like, giving me this information. And I'm, like, nodding understandably and, like, "Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely."
And then, yeah, they're, like, "Okay! [Exhales sharply] I hate having to do this. Okay," and they, like, close their eyes for me to punch them in the face.
And instead, I, like– the device that they were holding to me, I turn on them, and they just– their 'ware gets fried, and, uh, I feed on them! Like, they- this, like, jolt of electricity runs through them, and I just, like, you know, very homoerotically catch them in my arms, tilt their neck back, and, uhh, drink- drink their corporate blood. [Chuckles] And I get a Fury back. Great. Two out of five.
MATT: And the last roll that I want to make is I want to kind of test– given the time jump, I'm going to make another wager and see sort of as, like, how did- how did Imperius fare being so out of the action, so to speak, for this extended period of time?
I think I'm going to test Insight. [Tapping the desk in thought] I think it is Insight. I think it is sort of, like, a sort of- a- can Imperius kind of get into a self-reflective mode to survive? And I think the karma that I rolled in the last session was that I got knocked into a rage. So I think that's kind of what I'm testing is that… can that be focused in a survival sort of sense?
So I've got two dice on Insight. I've got Fury to spend. I guess I'm going to spend a Fury to give myself… one and four. [Dice rolling, long exhale] I did it. It came up as a one. Alright.
SATAH: Great. I can take control of the elevator. I am going to do it. I'm going to roll– I think I can roll this with advantage. I'm going to roll to fill up my escape the tower clock. I'm going to roll 1d6… I'm gonna roll 2d6 take the highest, 'cause I- I'm home free. I have no tracker. Zane gave me the code before I killed them. [Laughs]
[Dice rolling] Four… and a five. I'm good to go, baby!
ALYSSA: As far as I know, the vampire hunter just disappears. I had done my part in this plan, acted as bait, but I have lost their trust, and so I'm not brought into the rest of it.
And that pattern… continues.
They don't know if they can trust me and feeling that disbelief, that lack of faith, and knowing that that is what this family is about and without that, am I even a part of the family anymore? That is what I'm having to live with as I have survived, somehow, with five Fury left… but, really, without a place in this structure.
SATAH: I take the elevator all the way to the floor and step out, wiping my mouth delicately and sexily. Zane is just collapsed dead on the floor behind me.
ALYSSA: Maybe that means that what it's really time for is for me to leave the Calamity as a whole, but… that would be another adventure.
MATT: Imperius has… not failed this psychological ordeal, so I think that's good.
SATAH: And I think I'm gonna– I'm gonna write one more log.
MATT: That'll definitely impact how I make the final epilogue narration.
SATAH: And I believe that that's going to be game. I'm going to be right back. It's a fast one.
MATT: All right. Well, I'm going to get to it.
ALYSSA: I think it is time to record my final log.
SATAH: Okay. So I wrote two more logs because I, uh- I don't like the number four, and so I didn't want to end on four logs, but I think this is perfect. So log 004 is: "Boss. Scratch last. All good. Want me to pick anything up on my way home?" [Laughs] And then log 005…
MATT: Log 011.
ALYSSA: Log 004.
SATAH: [Switching between a robotic voice and character voice] KT_SPECK transfer request: 50 credits. Accept?
KT_SPECK: My tab.
KT_SPECK: Plus inconvenience fee.
TRAINR accepted transfer request: 50 credits.
TRAINR: You've not heard the last of this from me.
KT_SPECK: Granted. Convo I wanted to have might make it up to you with the juice of the info… ping me tonight?
ALYSSA, AS TISIPHONY: We did it. I suppose. It doesn't feel much like victory… it doesn't feel much like "we", really, to be honest.
I think I have to abandon this inbox. Silver's been giving me looks, and… I don't know. I don't trust that I can maintain the security. Not without you.
I love you, Ayla. But I think it might be time for me to get out of this town.
MATT, AS IMPERIUS: Year 3137 of the Calamity. The year of Consoles Torino and Torino. End of the Praug file.
How many thousand thousand speeches and logs and books and reports have gone unrecorded while I laid forgotten? I stopped counting… and then I forgot most of them anyway.
Strange to make one last recording on this device. I am overdue for an upgrade. Clan leadership said I am owed a bit of compensation for the ills of the past few years. They said I'll have a flat above the Drip. Very fashionable. Seems it never closed. The party never stopped there, not even when we went to war with the other clans.
Revenge cost too much in the end. Under new management now… both the Drip and the clan.
I've become something of a folk hero in the meanwhile. I can only imagine it was Sol's– … Console Torino's doing.
Why was my story any more important than anyone else who was actually in the fight? Why is spinning my story working in their favour? "The first casualty of the new regime wasn't even really killed," they've been saying. "He was always a liar," they've been harping on. Doesn't seem like much of a winning story.
"Pioneering investigator with a famous name among former king's first victims!" Just new lies for a new age.
They are going to make me an Aedile, though… I'm overdue for an upgrade.
At least I'll remember that I'm not the first, and certainly not the only one he put in a hole. They're who I want to talk to– the ones who can still manage a conversation. They'll be my faction.
Seems Praug didn't make it. At least not physically. Most of her is on the network, though. I'd like to talk to whatever's left, if she'll meet me.
I thought about her twilight bunker a lot. Maybe I just imagined it. Imagined the orange light, the yellow sky, somehow walked that field of grass to its infinity's edge… maybe.
Or maybe I really went there.
End log.
SATAH: And that's it.

ALYSSA: And I think that's how we close.
SATAH: I think that's my game for today. I– certainly would like– I feel like I've built a nice web of fuckin' circumstances and situations, that Speck has certainly made some enemies, which is great. [Laughs]
ALYSSA: Tisiphony has kind of found revenge? Not really. There were some unnamed consequences for the object of her vengeance, but she had no part in that and got no catharsis from it. But, you know, sometimes that's just how it goes, I guess. She lives on and maybe she'll be out to join one of the other gangs someday.
SATAH: And so it would be really easy to keep going, do more sessions of this, do a whole campaign.
ALYSSA: Let's see. Let's look at 'em. I think that she could be a great Balthram. Not at all trustworthy.
SATAH: This is very, very fun. Just so stylish as a system. Like, it looks beautiful.
ALYSSA: Yeah, no, this was fun. It was a lot more open– open-ended, I mean– than a lot of games I play. Very, very self-directed. Unless you die, there's no distinct ending, and there aren't really prompts so much as there are a sort of set of lists through which you can build your own encounters. So that was interesting.
MATT: I get to the end and I'm happy with the story that I created, and I created it by responding to the scaffolding of the game. But, you know– it's only about three pages of typed material. You know, for the amount of content that it is, the theme is very strong with both the vampire shenanigans and the sort of cyberpunk trappings. It's dense in that way. Very dense. Very small, dense object.
SATAH: Sorry that I'm clicking in the background. My ADHD medication wore off while I was recording this, and I was keeping track of a bunch of my results in a table, and if I don't format the table right now… I don't know what will happen because it's apparently not an option. So! That's the game.
MATT: nd I feel like I prefer a game where I'm responding not to– you know, pulling stuff out of my own brain, but like, you know, legitimately responding to a world that the designer has created through the game. So I felt that less strongly here. But then, you know, I wouldn't have created this story that I like if it weren't for this game, so…
ALYSSA: I'm sorry that I took it to sad lesbian vengeance, rather than something more cyberpunk, like happy lesbian vengeance. But no, I had a lot of fun with it!
SATAH: Okay. Good luck out there, Speck. You're a fucking nightmare. [Laughs]
ALYSSA: But yeah, thanks so much for having me.
SATAH: That's it! That's Furyya. This has been Furyya.
OUTRO
SATAH: This has been Folio, an actual play podcast about solo and otherwise self-paced TTRPGs. As you're filling out your CRiT awards ballot before the end of June, I would deeply appreciate a vote for Folio as "best upcoming podcast" and Satah– that's me– for "best tech/producer."
Otherwise, to find where you can find the show, check out foliopod.carrd.co. Sign up as a paid member at patreon.com/foliopod to vote on games and get early access to the bonus feed with edited audio-only versions of livestreams a while after they happen and occasional other stuff, or join there as a free member to get slightly delayed access to the bonus feed.
You can follow Matt Orr on instagram at wetinkgames or check out all things Wet Ink at wetinkgames.com.
You can follow Alyssa on Bluesky at adisasterqueer.bsky.social and find their games at adisasterqueer.itch.io. Four days after every episode of this series, Tuesdays at 8 PM Eastern time, they are running Soothwardens, a two-player game about big feelings and big monsters, at twitch.tv/gamemastermonday
You can follow Satah– the aforementioned me– on Bluesky at posatahchips.gaygothvibes.online and check out my work at gaygothvibes.online.
This week, Matt and Alyssa and I finished our games of Furyya by Uoshi, the layout artist for the currently-crowdfunding print edition of Galactic & Going Rogue. Everything I mentioned here is linked, as always, in the show notes. Thanks so much for listening. Take care out there. Fuckin' stay cool. My god.
POST-CREDITS
SATAH, IN-GAME: [Same robotic voice from reading the messages earlier] TRAINR accepted transfer request. [Normal voice] Ooh, I'm gonna do it in that voice. One sec.