Bad Faith (audio story): Difference between revisions
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Spendlove asks Vienna to join Kendra on her mission to meet with [[Parsival]], head of the Old Church, in the [[Phantom Deserts of Ossuary]] and calls upon the inter-faith adviser [[Darrow Clancy|Clancy]] to confirm that this would not be an issue, only for Lili to find that he has been killed by [[micro-drone]]s released into his body by a [[grudge knife]] just as several other members of the church have. In his [[blood]] is written, "The Old Church will destroy all from within", a message which Spendlove believes implicates Parsival. Vienna deduces that Lili already knew that Clancy was dead given how little time she gave him to respond to the [[intercom]] and a [[memory scan]] reveals that she witnessed the [[murder]] whilst wearing forbidden faith-aiding [[miracle lens]]es which made it look like he had been killed by a [[demon]]. | Spendlove asks Vienna to join Kendra on her mission to meet with [[Parsival]], head of the Old Church, in the [[Phantom Deserts of Ossuary]] and calls upon the inter-faith adviser [[Darrow Clancy|Clancy]] to confirm that this would not be an issue, only for Lili to find that he has been killed by [[micro-drone]]s released into his body by a [[grudge knife]] just as several other members of the church have. In his [[blood]] is written, "The Old Church will destroy all from within", a message which Spendlove believes implicates Parsival. Vienna deduces that Lili already knew that Clancy was dead given how little time she gave him to respond to the [[intercom]] and a [[memory scan]] reveals that she witnessed the [[murder]] whilst wearing forbidden faith-aiding [[miracle lens]]es which made it look like he had been killed by a [[demon]]. | ||
Spendlove sends Lili to the [[confessional booth]] to expunge her [[memory|memories]], where she is later murdered, and tasks Vienna with [[assassination|assassinating]] Parsival for the sake of the New Church, giving her [[sunglasses]] which will allow him to monitor her progress. He edits Clancy's [[post-death confession]] to cover up the fact that the two of them sold faith to [[celebrity|celebrities]] to raise the church's profile and goes with Vienna and Kendra, whom he informs of Lili's death, as far as [[Ossuary City]]. On the journey, he gives Kendra a [[hip flask]] full of [[wine]]. Vienna and Kendra ride [[Chidnos]] to the [[Sacred Tunnels]], on the way to which Kendra recounts how he found herself with stigmata and faith in the New Church after meeting Spendlove for the first time. | Spendlove sends Lili to the [[confessional booth]] to expunge her [[memory|memories]], where she is later murdered, and tasks Vienna with [[assassination|assassinating]] Parsival for the sake of the New Church, giving her [[sunglasses]] which will allow him to monitor her progress. He edits Clancy's [[post-death confession]] to cover up the fact that the two of them sold faith to [[celebrity|celebrities]] to raise the church's profile and goes with Vienna and Kendra, whom he informs of Lili's death, as far as [[Ossuary City]]. On the journey, he gives Kendra a [[hip flask]] full of [[wine]]. Vienna and Kendra ride [[Chidnos]] to the [[Sacred Tunnels]], on the way to which Kendra recounts how he found herself with stigmata and faith in the New Church after meeting Spendlove for the first time. A [[robot]] at the tunnels' entrance sends to Parsival their request for a meeting and it is almost immediately granted, surprising Kendra as she expected it to take a week. | ||
Vienna and Kendra are given [[robe of shame|robes of shame]] to wear as they are led to the fifty-foot tall Parsival, but Vienna is able to use a hypno leech on a [[monk]] to take her place so that she can slip away as she immediately recognises that Parsival is a hologram. She finds [[Percival Kendric]], Kendra's former lover whom she wishes to care for since he lost his faith and had to be replaced with a hologram. Kendra explodes into [[light]], killing Percival as well, and Vienna is rendered unconscious until she wakes up on her ship with Spendlove. He admits to having put a [[thermal explosive]] in Kendra's wine and that he intends to destroy the entirety of the Old Church rather than just Percival. In turn, Vienna admits that she was never infected with faith and that her stigmata was fake and then gets Spendlove to listen to Kendra's post-death confession; in it, Kendra explains that she conspired with Percival to place his faith inside Spendlove to unify the churches. | |||
Bax suddenly goes split-personality. Vienna explains to him that he'd been committing the murders in his own Church for months without even knowing. Bax and Kendric are both surprised when who they assume to be Arlo Goodfellow speaks to them about his anger towards their actions. Vienna tries to get them to see that it isn't Arlo. She explains that she's used Lilitrick's rose-tinted contact lenses on them, hence the hallucination of Arlo. Arlo then transforms into the real figure of Kendra Spendlove, who is very much alive. Vienna explains that she has been using the sunglasses to feed him false information. Vienna had located and removed the thermal explosive long before they began their mission, and that the rest was just play-acting. They both explain to him that miracle lenses did the rest of the work, only showing Bax what he wanted to see, including Kendra's supposed explosion. | Bax suddenly goes split-personality. Vienna explains to him that he'd been committing the murders in his own Church for months without even knowing. Bax and Kendric are both surprised when who they assume to be Arlo Goodfellow speaks to them about his anger towards their actions. Vienna tries to get them to see that it isn't Arlo. She explains that she's used Lilitrick's rose-tinted contact lenses on them, hence the hallucination of Arlo. Arlo then transforms into the real figure of Kendra Spendlove, who is very much alive. Vienna explains that she has been using the sunglasses to feed him false information. Vienna had located and removed the thermal explosive long before they began their mission, and that the rest was just play-acting. They both explain to him that miracle lenses did the rest of the work, only showing Bax what he wanted to see, including Kendra's supposed explosion. | ||
Revision as of 22:22, 26 May 2024
Bad Faith was the second story of Vienna: Series One, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Nev Fountain and featured Chase Masterson as Vienna Salvatori.
Publisher's summary
Vienna Salvatori has seen the light.
Time was, if you lost everything, at least you still had your faith – but not any more. Faith stealing is the latest commodity to light up the criminal underworld – extract somebody's faith and sell it to the highest bidder.
On the trail of a faith stealing ring, Vienna Salvatori comes into the orbit of the charismatic Bax Spendlove, spiritual leader of the Church of New Wonderment, a breakaway sect of the Church of Old Wonderment. Bax has an important mission for his latest convert – and Vienna is a willing disciple.
But when Bax’s followers start to be murdered, it seems Vienna isn’t the only killer keeping the faith…
Plot
Hunted by the soldiers serving the Kreyfin on Karnos Delta, Vienna kills most of the soldiers and poses as one herself by attaching a hypno leech to Sergeant Lane's neck. She joins in the pursuit, confirming her suspicions that her mission to infiltrate the Kreyfin compound was part of a trap for her, and kills Lane and cuts off his hand to gain entry to the compound when the leech starts to go flat. Inside, she discovers that the Kreyfin are stealing the faith of their prisoners to sell to those who want to add spiritual meaning to their lives and promises to return for the apathetic Mylo of the Society of Euphoric Happiness when the Kreyfin demand that she leaves; when she bursts into the Kreyfin's room, they explode.
Vienna learns from her spaceship that the Kreyfin died thanks to her unwittingly depressuring their sanctum and wonders why somebody has paid her to do a job which was practically done for her. She visits the New Church of Wonderment on Hieronymus VI and explains to Lili, a secretary, how she became filled with faith in the church's founder Arlo Goodfellow after leaving Karnos Delta, which her ship informed her was due to faith stealing. Disagreeing, she had her computer update its personality and journeyed to Hieronymus VI after receiving a hologram message from Bax Spendlove, the church's pastor, and receiving Arlo's stigmata. Spendlove personally requests her presence and shows the miracle to Kendra, his wife and a former member of the Old Church who wishes to heal the schism between the two sects.
Spendlove asks Vienna to join Kendra on her mission to meet with Parsival, head of the Old Church, in the Phantom Deserts of Ossuary and calls upon the inter-faith adviser Clancy to confirm that this would not be an issue, only for Lili to find that he has been killed by micro-drones released into his body by a grudge knife just as several other members of the church have. In his blood is written, "The Old Church will destroy all from within", a message which Spendlove believes implicates Parsival. Vienna deduces that Lili already knew that Clancy was dead given how little time she gave him to respond to the intercom and a memory scan reveals that she witnessed the murder whilst wearing forbidden faith-aiding miracle lenses which made it look like he had been killed by a demon.
Spendlove sends Lili to the confessional booth to expunge her memories, where she is later murdered, and tasks Vienna with assassinating Parsival for the sake of the New Church, giving her sunglasses which will allow him to monitor her progress. He edits Clancy's post-death confession to cover up the fact that the two of them sold faith to celebrities to raise the church's profile and goes with Vienna and Kendra, whom he informs of Lili's death, as far as Ossuary City. On the journey, he gives Kendra a hip flask full of wine. Vienna and Kendra ride Chidnos to the Sacred Tunnels, on the way to which Kendra recounts how he found herself with stigmata and faith in the New Church after meeting Spendlove for the first time. A robot at the tunnels' entrance sends to Parsival their request for a meeting and it is almost immediately granted, surprising Kendra as she expected it to take a week.
Vienna and Kendra are given robes of shame to wear as they are led to the fifty-foot tall Parsival, but Vienna is able to use a hypno leech on a monk to take her place so that she can slip away as she immediately recognises that Parsival is a hologram. She finds Percival Kendric, Kendra's former lover whom she wishes to care for since he lost his faith and had to be replaced with a hologram. Kendra explodes into light, killing Percival as well, and Vienna is rendered unconscious until she wakes up on her ship with Spendlove. He admits to having put a thermal explosive in Kendra's wine and that he intends to destroy the entirety of the Old Church rather than just Percival. In turn, Vienna admits that she was never infected with faith and that her stigmata was fake and then gets Spendlove to listen to Kendra's post-death confession; in it, Kendra explains that she conspired with Percival to place his faith inside Spendlove to unify the churches.
Bax suddenly goes split-personality. Vienna explains to him that he'd been committing the murders in his own Church for months without even knowing. Bax and Kendric are both surprised when who they assume to be Arlo Goodfellow speaks to them about his anger towards their actions. Vienna tries to get them to see that it isn't Arlo. She explains that she's used Lilitrick's rose-tinted contact lenses on them, hence the hallucination of Arlo. Arlo then transforms into the real figure of Kendra Spendlove, who is very much alive. Vienna explains that she has been using the sunglasses to feed him false information. Vienna had located and removed the thermal explosive long before they began their mission, and that the rest was just play-acting. They both explain to him that miracle lenses did the rest of the work, only showing Bax what he wanted to see, including Kendra's supposed explosion.
Kendra opens up a livefeed and shows him what's truly happening - the slaughter of the Kreyfin and the demolition of the Old Church. Kendric takes over Bax's body and activates the airlock of the ship. Vienna and Kendra hold onto the ship while Kendric sacrifices himself/themselves. Vienna notes that Kendra managed to unite the Churches with the death of Bax and Kendric. Returning to the sacred tunnels, they visit Kendric's former body. Kendra, the new Pastor of the new Church, is unsure of what to do with him. Vienna suggests injecting him with one of Bax's many faiths. Kendra downright refuses, stating it unjust to cure him with someone else's loss.
On her ship, Vienna has used pieces of her own life to create her own synthetic religion, the Cult of Saint Viola Raven. With Kendra's permission, she injects the new religion into Kendric, who recognises Vienna as St. Viola. When Vienna tries to explain herself away as a vision, he states that he can help her. He states he knows the whereabouts of Crevo Finn. Kendric explains that long before working at the Church, he worked at the imperial kitchens on Kazbar. She takes this new knowledge on board and refuses his help, giving him a false mission to spread her equally false faith. She explains to Kendra that she will bring others in a few weeks' time, one of whom is Mylo, to act as his disciples.
Vienna reflects on her little rule and decides that Kendra can be spared a death. She then asks the computer to return its computing system to the previous one.
Cast
- Vienna Salvatori - Chase Masterson
- Bax Spendlove - Frazer Hines
- Kendra Spendlove - Rachel Atkins
- Parcival / Kreyfin - Mike Grady
- Sargeant Lane - ?
- Mylo - ?
- Lilitrick Raliaminopololis - ?
- Daryl Clancy - ?
Please leave this list uncompleted. I will research in my freetime and fix it.
Worldbuilding
Food and beverage
- Vienna, posing as a soldier, notes that the inside of her helmet smells like sushi.
People
- Kendra Spendlove is an inter-faith director for the New Church of Wonderment.
- Taz Becker is a holovid star.
- Winona Flack is a warpsled champion.
Religion
- Arlo Goodfellow, the founder of the New Church of Wonderment, nailed himself by his right hand to the steeple of the Church of Wonderment so that the soldiers could not reach him. He hung there for seven days and seven nights. Once the soldiers burnt down the church, Goodfellow died. The mark from his right hand, known as the stigmata, will only appear on the chosen. Vienna received such a mark.
- The New Church of Wonderment split from the Old Church of Wonderment roughly eight centuries ago due to differing interpretations.
- The Old Church pray for the departed from the faith and joined another religion.
- Vienna remarks on the lifelike wall carvings in one of the chambers of the Old Church. Kendra points out that they are real monks who have taken a vow of motionlessness to pray for Parsival. Only on death do any of them move.
Species
- The Kreyfin are referred to as the 'Lobster Mobsters'.
- Lane informs Vienna that it is against his religion to serve the Kreyfin.
- Vienna uses a hypno leech to make Lane believe her credentials as a soldier.
- Vienna states that Mylo is being milked like a Three Horned Quench.
- The Chidnos are a spiky, wild beast used for transportation. According to Kendra, the end that doesn't make the noise is the beast's head.
Technology
- The soldiers use Beta 3s to communicate with one-another.
- Kendra Spendlove has appeared in 'docuvertisements' and is known to Vienna.
- Mr. Clancy is murdered with a grudge knife.
- Lilitrick is wearing miracle lenses.
Notes
- This is the first story in which Vienna does not use an alias. In this context, this is due to her not having had time to fully prepare her identity before getting started on her mission.
Continuity
- Vienna states that her assignment crystal "got it all wrong". (AUDIO: The Memory Box et al)
- Vienna sticks to her main rule and is forced to shoot Lane dead when he learns her name. (AUDIO: The Memory Box et al)
- Unexpectedly, Vienna breaks this rule and makes an exception for Kendra, stating that she's already died once.
- When Lilitrick protests her innocence regarding the murder of Mr. Clancy, Vienna suggests that perhaps she should take a memory scan. (AUDIO: The Memory Box et al)
- Bax uses a thermal explosive to murder Kendra. Vienna threatened to do the same to Norvelle if he didn't do as he was told. It was also used by Vienna as part of her endgame strategy in the same adventure. (AUDIO: The Memory Box)
External links
- Official Bad Faith page at bigfinish.com
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