8/18/2025 Kick Recap - "What Are We Doing Here?"

Lang returns from camping and get's a recap of the weekend from Saab. Paulie accidentally shows Brian Knight his musket, but flees and it becomes a police chase. Luciano and Clark go to help, but they eventually catch him. Paulie is questioned shortly, but then is cut loose and allowed to return to New Babylon. On the way back, Paulie's armadillo blew up, they are unsure if it was related to Faceless retaliation or not. Lang remembers that they have a trial today, Saab is worried about Skipper's story as it seems inevitable. Lang has Saab read through the book of roles he's made, and Saab shows Lang a suspicious book of NB propaganda they found in the trash.

Lang checks out the admin trailer design that Fiona's made, impressed yet again with her work. He meets with Queenie shortly to discuss the trial. Arush interrupts to chat about Paulie getting caught over the weekend, they both agree that it was inevitable and less of an issue than it sounds. Lang and Queenie are unsure what punishment fits, but exile seems obvious. Queenie is confident that they'll go with the flow and handle things directly, learning from the previous trial. Lang checks on Ratatouille and how it's being managed, he yells at Yaya for not knowing the details and potentially losing his business going forward.

Saab and Lang discuss taxes they want to roll out, and how Saab made a mistake by having contracts give out too much BBL. Lang gets a really detailed recap again from CJ, edits her weekly recap, and then works through her business and loyalty plan for the library. It's time for Skipper's Trial, so Lang calls everyone over to begin. Yaya tries to speak with Lang shortly, but Lang yells at him in frustration about it not being more important than Skipper's trial.

Skipper and Lang work through the details of the story, eventually to determine what his thought process was and how his mistakes were made (intentional or not). Lang pulls a side bar between a few elders and Queenie to discuss the facts, and pick a consequence. Edgar tries to opt out of the discussion via bias, since he was the reason Skipper did all of it. Everyone agrees that exile is heavily weighted, and should be treated as such. Lang hears all of their suggestions and returns to the trial with a decision. Skipper is to be exiled temporarily for 3 days, and then he is exiled by voice for another 3 days (he cannot speak for 3 days, he must act like a ghost of the town). He will have to recite the entire codex by memory after, and if he fails he will be permanently exiled.

They all take a short break and return to the town hall meeting. Lang reminds everyone the exam is coming up, Beric and Jeff are excused because they're new. Lang reads the new ranking system to everyone, and the books detailing it will be available tomorrow via the library. Lang laments about the hospital policy, eventually banning going to the city hospital moving forward (unsure how serious this is). Lang reads a new story about mercy, and treating everyone equally.

Lang is pinged to a book left behind by Talon with instructions of an artifact rescue mission on friday. It also notes that someone close to him is a Faceless asset still feeding information to them in disguise. Lang meets with CJ and they discuss if Lottie and Fiona are also meant to be tested, but he doesn't think so. He gives CJ his book layout for the roles and meets with Eliza for the interview of her husband.

Eliza offers to unofficially separate for the sake of NB, but Lang and Saab remind her that they'd never ask her to leave her family behind. Lang asks about Eliza's opinion on Skipper's punishment, she found it lenient. Eliza wasn't expecting so much combat and hellfire, but otherwise enjoys the strange encounters and unique people of NB so far.

-
Edgar offers for Saab to lead the interview because he used to have Daniel in his crew, and knows that he can be a wild card. Saab agrees, after reading through his application, he was surprised that he injured people out of spite. Lang doesn't care and begins the interview. They stress the importance of joining NB for their vision, and not because he's chasing Eliza. Lang realizes during this discussion that he doesn't actually care if he leaves because Eliza leaves, that thought process is built into gang culture not the ways of NB. They learn that Daniel is a religious person, and that he has some experience working on mechanical parts. Eliza asks if he would kill her upon their demand, he answers yes, but Lang doesn't find the answer important since it's more than fine for him to refuse that decision. They welcome him in, Edgar asks if he's leaving the name Dartanion in the past, Lang gives him the 'leave the past behind' and 'take initiative' speech.

Eliza takes Daniel to get onboarded, Edgar clarifies that he's going to begin working closer with Beric on the landing field and more tasks that he wants. Saab leaves, Lang shows Edgar the book from Talon. Edgar asks about the symbol of Talon, noting that he's never seen it before. Lang needs Edgar for the mission, they clarify that the people of NB cannot know. Lang mentions that CJ would be included (as a failed protégé).

Lang meets with Zeek to go over his 'Bank of New Babylon' book, Lang loves the logo (thanks mae and dave). They're going to delay to loans for now, but love the idea of Babaloans later on. Lang wants to keep the book, Zeek has a different book for the citizens and businesses to see so they don't get all the details. Lang is willing to introduce his role at the next town hall after the short story. Zeek shares some snitching that Lang doesn't find important, and that Jeff had Eve fill out his application because he can't read or write.

Lang calls CJ to ask if she's killed Diego yet, she admits that she hasn't but that he hasn't been in Los Santos in some time. Lang runs into Sebas and reminds him to get caught up on today. Arush calls for the blueprint, but Lang remembers he left it in his other backpack. Lang heads to bed.