Ep. 35 - Clouded Judgement (feat. Asa Barksdale)

Ghosts on a Train

Content Warnings: Slavery: Hollows, human bodies without their souls are forced into servitude and neglected (~53:16, to the remainder of the episode)

Dehumanizing Violence: The Hollows are whipped when they reach for food before they work (53:28-53:46)

Starvation: The Hollows are hungry and overworked, one has starved to death (~59:19-1:00:50)

The Church of the Flesh use the Imperial Railways as though they were a formal Ministry under the Imperium, and Line Bulls must defer to them as many of the formal Ministries are full of high ranking Church members. Now the Pride of Duskwall must carry missionaries to the Dagger Isles, where the Imperium is unnecessary and the Church unwanted. Drix sends rope messages. Hecla struggles to find her destiny. Andrel blows something wide open. Pippin has a job to do.

Find special guest Asa Barksdale on their website here

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For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/ep-35-clouded-judgement-feat-aurora-barksdale.

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

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TRANSCRIPT

Greg 0:00

Content warning for slavery, dehumanizing violence, and starvation. Check the description for timestamps and details.

Pip 0:08

Last time with ghost and trains and something.

Greg 0:13

He picks up a badge. It's triangular, like the Line Bull badges, but it lacks the indicators of rank along the edges, it lacks the extra inscriptions. It is truly the same as a typical Line Bull badge, but unlike the other Line Bull badges, it has not been modified from its original purpose. Inscribed upon it is the name Booker.

Greg 0:33

There is not a lot physically significant about Hecla, perhaps, but Sister Hecla, unlike your fellows who believe that all spirits are inherently sinful, you know that some spirits are good, the spirits of your ancestors that have guided you to this very train.

Greg 0:53

There is a group of clergy of the Church of the Ecstasy of the Sacred Flesh.

Mr. McClaremont 0:59

Dear me, am I the only one that always gets nervous whenever my boss's boss shows up?

Greg 1:04

It's Mr. Walker, he's there to work with you from the Ministry of Preservation!

Pip 1:09

And today...

Radio Announcer Greg 1:12

The Church of the Ecstasy of the Flesh, often referred to as simply the Church. So ubiquitous is the Church that these two words alone immediately bring the so-called state religion to mind. A secret society in the most respectful sense, the Church of the Flesh would never deny their existence, but their higher teachings and true goals are impenetrable to those outside of the organization. Socialites and politicians alike see membership as the path to success, and so the Church has embedded itself into the culture of the Imperium. In recent years, the Church of the Ecstasy of the Sacred Flesh became truly ecstatic, with rumor that they were adopting practices and absorbing membership from demonic spirit cults. This is unsurprising, as the modern Church was preceded by the Cult of the Empty Vessel. Although where once only volunteers would be hollowed, the Church has begun to use hollowing as a way to help those they deem in need of salvation, regardless of their own thoughts on the matter.

Greg 2:35

Hello, welcome to Ghosts on the Train! And to those passengers that are returning, thank you for riding with us once again.

Hannah 2:44

You're just doing this because Guy via me dunked on you last time for saying welcome back.

Greg 2:50

Yeah, I am. It's called taking feedback.

Hannah 2:52

All right.

Greg 2:53

Which we do. Email suggestions for the train to [e-mail], you can be in character, you can not be in character, it's fun. We're gonna have fun with it. I'm your conductor, Greg, and I run the game.

Hannah 3:06

I'm Hannah. I play Andrel Anderson, a kid who is not a big fan of religion, apparently. I've made that decision.

Guy 3:16

I'm Guy. I play Pip. Pip is in a way. I don't have a follow up to this.

Stefen 3:27

Yeah, I'm Stefen and I play Drix, who is pretty thoroughly but vaguely uncomfortable around these people?

Greg 3:37

And our special guest.

Guy 3:38

Special guest!

Aurora 3:40

I'm Aurora. I'm playing Sister Hecla, and I'm one of, one of those people that makes Drix uncomfortable. And makes, kind of - well, I think, I like to think I'm making everybody uncomfortable.

Stefen 3:53

I would think so.

Aurora 3:53

I like to think it's a group effect.

Hannah 3:55

Always, always.

Greg 3:55

Just a classic flesh nun.

Aurora 3:58

Thank you, thank you.

Guy 4:01

You're welcome, I guess.

Greg 4:04

You're very unsettling.

Hannah 4:05

Yeah.

Aurora 4:07

Thank you all so much. I do, I do try.

Greg 4:11

All right. The Pride of Duskwall. Mr. Walker is on board, talked to Pip earlier -

Guy 4:19

He sure did.

Greg 4:19

- before anybody showed up, expressing some amount of concern after hearing that he encountered Crowl.

Guy 4:26

Which gave me a hecking concern.

Greg 4:29

Which gave Pip a hecking concern. He dropped it immediately after Andrel Anderson showed up, and he explained that his purpose on paper for being on this train is to check on the construction of a new railway from Mistport to U'duasha. On top of that, Mr. McClaremont, looking very upset, explained to the Line Bulls that the train is kind of being, well, not taken over, but his area, his space is being invaded by some reserved seats for some missionaries of the Church of the Ecstasy of the Sacred Flesh, the state religion if ever there was one, of which Sister Hecla is a part.

Guy 5:09

Woo!

Greg 5:10

Currently our Line Bulls have been told by the extremely Akarosi, derogatory, Reverend Declan, to leave them alone as they have their little prayer time. So being upfront, the passengers outside of the missionaries are not going to super matter, much like the time that the passengers outside of the Ministry of Preservation did not super matter. They're not exactly all coming onto the train right now. They might be returning from the dining car, they might be wandering about and you just notice something about them as they stand up from the seat, but these - one of these people was just extremely rude to you. Besides Reverend Declan and Sister Hecla, does anybody have any descriptions of these missionaries? You can go nuts.

Hannah 5:56

I got one. So he bears an uncanny resemblance to the Head of Operations from the Ministry of Preservation -

Greg 6:04

GOD DAMMIT.

Guy 6:04

Well played.

Hannah 6:04

He's wearing a green shirt and brown pants, and he's got curly brown hair, like, a little bit of stubble...

Guy 6:22

A very form fitting outfit, apparently. So have fun with that.

Greg 6:26

Off-mic, Hannah was like "Oh, I already use my bit where I just, where I put Greg in there." And now she has once again described what I'm wearing.

Hannah 6:38

I didn't, I wasn't saying that as a, as a misdirect. I said it because I actually thought it, and then it occurred to me, that's fine, I can just put another Greg in there.

Aurora 6:49

Can always put more Gregs in there.

Hannah 6:51

You said go nuts.

Guy 6:52

The Shattered Isles are just full of Gregs. Just -

Hannah 6:55

So many Gregs. The most Gregs.

Guy 6:57

- doppelgangers of Greg.

Hannah 6:58

They're all positions of power, which is crazy? I think there might be something going on there.

Greg 7:03

Yeah, Reverend Declan -

Guy 7:05

We're gonna bust this thing wide open.

Greg 7:06

Reverend Declan is like -

Greg 7:08

Sister Hecla, It's wonderful of you to take our seat. Say, Brother Gerg. You're my favorite. You're my favorite. I love you. You're so cool and strong.

Hannah 7:18

Oh, the terrible one likes you. I don't think that's the ringing endorsement you think it is.

Aurora 7:24

Hecla nods, but makes kind of a wincing face about Gerg.

Greg 7:29

Brother Greg canonically sucks, probably. He's a missionary of the Church of the Ecstacy of the Sacred Flesh.

Guy 7:34

Brother Gerg is fine, probably. He's just fine. Just kind of, like, harmless.

Hannah 7:38

He's problematic.

Guy 7:39

The best you can describe him is, he's there.

Stefen 7:42

In this house, we do not abide Brother Gerg's bullshit.

Aurora 7:46

He's been a cog in the machine.

Greg 7:48

So any other descriptions? They don't have to be expressly missionaries, maybe, just, like, part of, like, a retinue. By attaching them to this group, we will see them.

Stefen 7:58

Okay, I think there's one woman who is wearing a ring on each finger, and extending backwards from that ring and up her arm is a lattice pattern, starting at the color of each ring and then weaving together until they eventually come to a point.

Greg 8:16

That's pretty dope.

Aurora 8:17

Hell yeah.

Hannah 8:18

Yeah, that's metal as fuck.

Guy 8:20

I have one. I think they are one of the, one of the higher-ups on this retinue, and their nose can only be described as hook shaped. Which wouldn't be, like, too bad, except they're constantly just, like, sneering and looking down on people. They are also, like, seven feet tall, so there's, like, no other way to really view them.

Greg 8:45

Nyeh!

Guy 8:45

Just a constant, like, look of disgust, looking down their nose at them, and all you can think of is just, like, wow, I could, like, hang a hat from that nose.

Aurora 8:54

Remarkable.

Corvid Man 8:55

I say! Father McClaremont, your confession booth is downright wretched!

Hannah 9:01

This... Guy, if anyone, if anyone who wasn't Jewish had suggested that, I would, like, bend you over my fucking knee. That would be deeply offensive coming from anyone else on this podcast.

Guy 9:16

That's true. That's true.

Stefen 9:19

That's fair.

Guy 9:19

It was definitely not my intent. Yeah, I was just thinking of, like, a very kind of rude and mean and tall bird person.

Corvid Man 9:29

There is an utter lack of metal in here! Truly wretched!

Guy 9:35

I will also say that their laugh is kind of more like crows cawing.

Hannah 9:41

Greg, give us a laugh.

Stefen 9:42

Yeah, Greg, come on.

Aurora 9:43

Yeah, Greg. Come on.

Greg 9:44

Say something funny.

Hannah 9:46

Oh!

Aurora 9:48

Is there another missionary?

Greg 9:50

Sure.

Aurora 9:51

Um, great. Okay, so that missionary is, they're, like, I don't know if there's any kind of ceremonies or features or, I don't know, items that would be associated with the Church of the Ecstacy of the Sacred Flesh, but -

Greg 10:09

It's up to you.

Aurora 10:09

Somebody who has, like, a lot of incense or something that you might use, you know, in, like, a sense, or. It's, like, stacked in, like, a backpack. It's very heavy and they look to be in an amount of discomfort, but they don't take it off even when they sit. So they're kind of sat at an awkward angle

Greg 10:29

Clang, clang noises.

Aurora 10:31

Yeah, but this is their, this is their sacred duty and they will fulfill it.

Incense Carrier 10:36

Geh, ugh, uh, uh, uh.

Greg 10:41

And they begin to reach for some water, but Reverend Declan swiftly picks it up and takes a sip and says -

Reverend Declan 10:49

Temperance. Remember, temperance is the way. Your toil -

Hannah 10:54

Damn!

Reverend Declan 10:54

- your toil is what makes you sacred.

Hecla 10:56

Just gotta temper those urges, buddy.

Guy 10:59

I have one more. They are wearing, literally, a hair shirt, visibly, like, uncomfortable, and they have, like, a little, little something to just, like, whip themselves. And so just, like, every kind of, like, 90 seconds or so, like, kch! Just flange themselves.

Greg 11:17

That's how people, that's how they sing spirituals. They just, to the beat of the self-flagellating guy.

Aurora 11:24

He keeps time. Sister Hecla is sitting as far away from that guy as she can get.

Greg 11:30

What a colorful, weird set of characters. There's a couple other passengers that go on. Not a crazy amount. A bit of an empty train. Mistport isn't the only dead end as far as cities go, but it is one of the more remote ones. There's not a lot of reason to go to Mistport, unless you have business in Mistport. And not to mention passing through the Dagger Isles makes many people uncomfortable. As the people of Dagger Isles live without lightening barriers, and whether that means they have some superior way of defending themselves, or perhaps coexists with the unquiet dead, both of those things are probably pretty troubling for any Imperially minded citizen.

Trevor 12:15

Pride of Duskwall departing for Mistport. All aboard!

Greg 12:21

Do you spend any time doing anything before your appointment at the islands?

Hannah 12:29

I think Andrel is keeping a sharp eye on both Drix and Pip, as they;ve both been a little weird.

Guy 12:40

Yep.

Hannah 12:40

In the first episode.

Guy 12:42

Yep.

Hannah 12:43

I don't know that she's necessarily saying anything, but she's vigilant in case they want to talk or, or in case, like, one of them starts slamming their head against a wall or whatever.

Guy 12:56

Pip actually has, like, his, his anchor suit on. I guess I'm going to be the anchor this time because it's what I'm best at.

Greg 13:03

Makes him feel safe.

Guy 13:04

Makes him feel safe. Pip has the anchor suit on and the mask on just so, like, no one can really read his expression, which helps, but, like, inside is kind of panicking.

Greg 13:14

What's Drix up to?

Stefen 13:15

I think Drix seems a little distracted, generally. He's kind of laying on the bunk kind of staring up and occasionally, like, glancing between, like, Pip and Andrel.

Greg 13:26

Sister Hecla, how's your ride going?

Aurora 13:30

My ride is going great. Sister Hecla is sat away from the flagellation guy, and she is spending her time in what I would describe as aggressive, quiet contemplation. She's sitting very upright with her head back against the seat, eyes closed, her hands clasped in her lap, very proper. She is thinking. She is contemplating, presumably the teachings of the...