S4 E12: éna párti ston kípo

Kenzie Tartaglione:

Last time on Roseville Beach…

Alexander Christopher (GM):

We’re entering mid-scene into a heist at Kilndale to retrieve the broken pottery. Lou, you were told not to touch it.

You notice that not every part of this pot is as ancient as it should be.

Kenzie Tartaglione (Lou Well):

Well, Alyx, I might not need a little touch. I think what would be helpful was if I got my handy dandy sledgehammer and just hammered through the pipe.

Dan Pyxel (Alyx Cho):

You play at mortals’ affairs. And you don’t walk among them because you’re afraid.

Valiant Dorian (Arion):

My people are driven further and further from coasts! By who’s hands are their fates wrought. We shall not be playing that game, Alyx.

Alex (GM):

How willing are you to be possessed?

Val (Arion):

Lou?

Dan (Alyx):

What the fuck!

Alex (Donna):

I didn’t mean for them to get hurt.

Kenzie (Lou):

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s not your fault. It tricked you, it does that.

Alex (Donna):

What if we put it back?

Alex (Shadow):

Donna, there are consequences for these things.

Alex (GM):

And you watch as Donna’s shadow goes into the pot at well.

Kenzie (Lou):

I promised a little girl that we would put this shadow thing back in its pot, so we’re going to put the shadow thing back in its pot.

[“queeRPG’s Moonlight on Roseville Beach Theme” plays]

Alex (GM):

The weeks have passed and the day has come. It's June 21st, a beautiful Friday on Roseville Beach, and it is the day of the festival. You all head down to the festival together, or maybe separately, but you arrive around the same time.

Val:

Arion has been sitting on Alyx’s very right and honest accusations. He doesn't know. He doesn't understand. And it took Alyx telling him that he didn't know Odysseus' name for him to realize that he didn't. Oliver. Oliver is his name. And in the days and weeks leading up to this festival, Arion has done the thing that he usually does, which is swimming by the coast to see where Oliver would be. And finally, hearing about this festival is just like, and this talk from Lou about inviting people and realizes that's a human custom. You go, you find another human whose company you enjoy and you spend time with. He does not know how to ask anybody out on a date, but he will certainly try.

Alex (GM):

Do you make it all the way? Do you go? Do you ask him on a date?

Val:

What I want to do is hover so close to the area to the point where Arion starts singing in order to still his heart rate. Because as he stands a good five to six feet away from a beachside cabin where a lot of these sailors put equipment, sacks, crates, things like that. So it's almost like a storage facility. He kind of like hovers around there and just starts like singing as a way to like still his heart, this adrenaline that's coursing through his blood. He just goes...

Val (Arion):

(humming)

Val:

And he's just going to stare until Oliver shows up and disrupts him as he sings.

Val (Arion):

(singing) And nothing can console me

Alex (GM):

And it's actually very quickly, Arion. The door opens up as Oliver sort of pokes out his head and he looks to left, he looks to the right. And he's gonna go close the door.

Val (Arion):

Oliver!

Alex (Oliver):

It’s... oh, shoot. Aaaaarrrion, Arion, Arion, Arion! Yes, Arion, yeah! Is everything okay?

Val (Arion):

Yes, I'm, I'm Arion. I...

Val:

And he realizes.

Val (Arion):

I look different now. How are you?

Alex (Oliver):

I mean, I'm good. Is everything okay? Should I be concerned?

Val (Arion):

No, I just wanted to ensure that you were alright and weren't injured or hurt. I know it's been several weeks.

Alex (Oliver):

Nope, I'm... I'm good.

Val:

You see that Arion's kind of like tapping the inside of his pocket of these high-waisted trousers until he says,

Val (Arion):

That’s not the only reason I came.

Alex (GM):

And he shuts the door behind him as he sort of walks out in, he’s got like shorts on, he's got like a loose button-up shirt that's buttoned down more than - it’s pretty revealing, it's a little bit more than halfway. It's like tucked in, like, and has like one side out a little bit.

Val:

Color flushes in Arion's face where he wishes he could just dive into the depths of the ocean. And in this moment, he says,

Val (Arion):

Roseville Beach is having a fest soon. I believe it's custom to request the company of another during such events.

Alex (Oliver):

Request the company of another during such events. And are you requesting my company during this such event, the fest?

Val (Arion):

Yes. Yes. Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing. Yes.

Alex (Oliver):

Yeah, okay. I was about to head over right now, if you want to go with me.

Val:

Arion freezes for a moment and goes,

Val (Arion):

If you wouldn't -

Alex (Oliver):

I’m sorry.

Alex (GM):

And he looks down. He’s like,

Alex (Oliver):

Is it not fancy enough for -

Val (Arion):

Fancy?

Alex (Oliver):

I don't know, you give me like an ancient Greek vibe.

Val (Arion):

I am ancient Greek.

Alex (Oliver):

Okay, well -

Val (Arion):

Well, not in human race terms, but that was the time where I'm from.

Alex (Oliver):

I’ll meet you halfway, okay?

Alex (GM):

And he like puts out his hands to promenade you.

Val:

Arion accepts even though he is this this is a scene he has witnessed from the ocean. This is when the coasts would lap against the beaches in Greece. Lovers arm in arm sharing and whispering sweet nothings, something that he is he knew and understood from afar, but never got to touch. That's not the way of the Sirens.

Alex (GM):

Alyx, have you invited anybody?

Dan:

No.

Kenzie:

What about Auntie?

Dan:

Auntie’s got a date. Now she's doing that fucking thing where it - again to be clear not her real auntie but she is behaving in the manner thereof where she is like so you gonna get a girlfriend, you know, I don’t see you with anybody. And I'm just like “Yeah, you don’t!”

Alex (GM):

Auntie comes to the house where everybody is absent and has started pestering you and in fact has like taken you and is is dragging you to this festival.

Dan (Alyx):

Oh my god, can I- I'm gonna have to deal with all these fucking tourists later at work, like why do I gotta- Why do I gotta see them out and about? Fuck.

Alex (Auntie):

You- you- you- you can't stay here locked up in your beach house all day long.

Dan (Alyx):

Locked up in my beach house.

Alex (Auntie):

Locked up in your beach house, that's what I said.

Dan (Alyx):

Beach house, Imo.

Alex (Auntie):

And are you on the beach or are you in the house?

Dan (Alyx):

I can walk to the beach if I want to.

Alex (Auntie):

But did you do it? No! You didn't.

Dan (Alyx):

There’s not a good place to throw out my cigarettes.

Alex (Auntie):

Well…

Alex (GM):

And she like takes the cigarette out of your mouth and she puts it on the ground and says,

Alex (Auntie):

That’s a fine place for it.

Dan (Alyx):

Imo, I'm not going to litter.

Dan:

And she reaches into her pocket and pulls out another one, lights it with her fingers and just like stares at her.

Alex (GM):

Lou, did you end up meeting Samira?

Kenzie:

I think what happened is that Lou has been here all morning doing the setup. So she's in her usual white tank top, pants, work boots, sweating in the middle of the summer sun. And Samira said that she was coming. And so if they saw each other, they would see each other. So Lou doesn't think that means she has to go find her. Lou on the other hand though, told Annie that they couldn't go together because she had to work, but that she would meet up with her when she got there.

Alex (GM):

I don’t know how often the three of you have been to this community garden, but right along the top there's a gate made of iron. And in beautiful filigree, spells out the words, the Garden of Dionysus. And it has this fence that is wrought iron all along its perimeter. Just past it, there is this beautiful fountain that sparkles and it makes the place smell fresh. The salty air is dispelled the moment you cross this barrier, and the trees here always bear fruit, the garden here always tastes better than anything that could be imported to the island. There is a small little building where they host people that need shelter. The two people who sort of run this community garden live as well.

Amongst your activities, you have a nice little music jam, which is on a little blanket on the lawn. And there's some people that are like in full, like knotted, cut off and tied shirts with like a guitar that they're jamming to some music that they're playing. Off on the other end in one of the buildings, Arion, you notice this specifically, there's a little disco hall that's been set up for a dance floor. The people over from the quote drive-in, not drive-in, are setting up a projector for tonight with like a screen to show a film.

One of our hosts is directing all of these things.

Cai K:

Standing with relatively broad shoulders, but relatively short form, is a bronze skinned person who has dark hair, but in the sunlight it seems to almost iridesce not quite the right colors, almost like you're looking at an oil slick. He has a jaw that could cut. This very masculine face, but with the most beautiful 70s blown out beach hair you've ever seen. He has a bit of stubble, but he has glorious eye makeup on in greens and purples.

I think some of the first things that are notable besides his beautiful hair is that their hands are completely covered in just eclectic rings and the rings slide over beautiful tattoos of grapevines. And he also wears, for those of the persuasion to look at men, a shirt that basically isn't buttoned. It's buttoned to his belly button and that's it. And it's also a little see-through. So he's doing all this work out in the sun and his sleeves are rolled up on top of that in this sheer embroidered beaded cream shirt that is barely buttoned and in absolutely vacuform, skin-tight, bell bottoms that then explode at the hem into these kind of worn, you know, almost white fraying ends over very subtle just brown shoes. But the thing about these pants is that they are a floral explosion in purples and reds and greens. There's a little bit of yellow in there. And the longer you look, the more you realize that also tucked into all of that are serpents within the pattern. But don't worry about that.

On his rolled up sleeves, on each arm, he has a band of what looks like text probably from this distance as he's waving people that way to set out the giant cornhole set that they’ve got out, that was clearly made for this event that has like vines on one end and then an open mouth pig on the other. So maybe they were made, maybe they just bought one. They're kind of an odd match, but they've got all the bean bags and everything. And he's trying to get the people to put it not too close to the plants because if someone throws a bean bag, it will go in the plants and they'll have to step on the plants. And that is - we can't do that. It's a garden. Why would you step on the plants?

And he just continues to fluctuate between like frustrated, but also this like completely golden toothy smile that is almost annoying in this summer sunlight.

Alex (GM):

Standing next to them, sort of helping operate all of this is a famed drag queen from Roseville Beach. She's retired now, she's quite old, her name is Divine, and that's simply it. Divine. She says something to this person and then retreats into the disco hall.

Kenzie:

Lou used to work here. So Lou is, I think, coming out of like the equipment shed that they have here with a towel and like trying to wipe the dirt and sweat off of her, but this is just perpetually how she is after she's been working for a day.

Alex (GM):

Remind me how long ago it was you worked here and what specifically you did.

Kenzie:

I think it was before she got the job as a repair person at the hotel. So it was like really early on when she first came to Roseville Beach and she was just grunt work. So she carried the heavy bag. She pushed the wheelbarrows. She wasn't necessarily like gardening, though she did learn some things about that from working here. So it's been like bit of time, but I think she still like volunteers and helps out every now and again.

Alex (GM):

Cayo, you always have your thumb on everything, right? You have your eye on this place. You probably were the one who hired Lou, though it's been years since they've worked here. And you see them coming out of the shed, cleaning themselves, working, not partying.

Cai (Cayo):

Lou, is that you?

Kenzie:

Oh, hey, hi.

Cai (Cayo):

Come here.

Kenzie (Lou):

I’m like really sweaty.

Cai:

And Cayo comes running over.

Cai (Cayo):

Hi. That's all right. What are you, why are you, what's this? Why are you working?

Kenzie (Lou):

Oh, I was helping set up everything earlier. I was just finishing.

Cai (Cayo):

All right, but you're gonna go and have fun, right?

Kenzie (Lou):

Yeah, I'm supposed to meet my friend Annie around here somewhere. I don't know if she's here yet.

Cai (Cayo):

Oh, well, do we like Annie? Do we like Annie?

Kenzie (Lou):

I see where you're going. Multiple people have been asking me this in like the last couple of weeks, so it's apparently become quite obvious. I mean, we used to date.

Cai (Cayo):

Is this a used to we're done with that or used to like maybe…?

Kenzie (Lou):

I feel like it was neither of those for like a really long time, but now it might be the latter.

Cai:

Cayo reaches out and just like very delicately puts a hand on Lou’s shoulder. There's a strange effervescent-ness to Cayo that he just wants to gift a little bit with a touch to you. A little bit of joy that's a little infectious.

Alex (GM):

Cayo just always has this way of bringing out the fun side of you.

Kenzie:

There’s like a I think a sense of relief or like the anxiety and the worry and the concern about what they know is happening in town kind of fades away a little bit and then the anxiety and the worry and the concern that Annie and Samira are both here and Lou didn't realize Samira was into her like that and now she has to deal with that. But then Annie is also here and she needs Annie to know that like she didn't know about this and she's not like leading her on or anything. And so like that anxiety starts coming up, but it's a refreshing anxiety.

Cai:

Cayo just smiles.

Cai (Cayo):

Don’t work too hard.

Kenzie (Lou):

Right. I have, I think, things to do.

Cai (Cayo):

Including clean up if you're gonna go see Annie.

Kenzie (Lou):

I can't go all the way home. She's seen me like this. She's fine. It's fine. It's fine.

Cai (Cayo):

At least go splash some water on your face, please, for me.

Kenzie (Lou):

I can do that for you.

Alex (GM):

As long as you've worked here, everything is watered from the fountain, right? You think about, okay, I could maybe like get some water from the hose, but there's no hose. And you're like, well, maybe I could use the bathroom, but he bathroom itself is like an outhouse right it's separate from the building.

Kenzie (Lou):

Okay then yeah, Lou just goes over to the fountain, sets the towel on the edge of it, scoops some water up tosses it on her face, wipes it down with a towel. And then sticks the dirty towel in her back pocket

Alex (GM):

Lou, you feel so good. This is the day. All of your fears set aside. This is just, this is the place to be. And then you look up and you see Annie. And then you look over and you see Samira. And they're both coming from opposite directions toward you.

Kenzie:

I think there's a buzzing noise that starts in Lou's head, but then the water kind of like washes it away.

Kenzie (Lou):

All right, I guess it's time.

Alex (GM):

If you have a Scare, you can clear one. If you have an Injury, you can clear that instead.

Kenzie:

Bye bye, fear of heights.

Alex (GM):

Arion, you enter into the festival and you see everything we described before and you see Lou at the fountain and Oliver is still promenading you as he sort of takes your hand in his other hand. Blushes a little bit and says,

Alex (Oliver):

This is your first time at one of these, right?

Val (Arion):

Is it really that obvious?

Val:

Arion flashes back to the screwdriver moment when he said screwed-driver and like casts his gaze over and like internally chastising himself. I think the thing that especially clues Oliver in is how wide eyed Arion is at looking at everything. He drinks in every new space like he is a man in a desert seeing like an oasis for the first time.

Alex (GM):

Cayo, you see a young love just beginning to bloom, just beginning to bud, but being halted by indecision.

Cai:

Cayo kind of zips around. This is his domain. And so he feels so at home here. It’s like welcoming people into his living room. Near the gate, he just kind of props himself up with one arm up and looks at the two of you.

Cai (Cayo):

You know there's a dance, right? You can go and shake it.

Val (Arion):

A dance?

Val:

Arion turns to you and you see a slim, slender, framed male man. He does feel a little strange to you. He warm brown skin and a really loose top. Blue and slightly translucent with almost like a deep reddish brown high-waisted trouser. He hears dance and you see this strange ethereal creature turn over to you and takes you in. You are beautiful. And Arion has always been drawn to a beauty and like tries to memorize your features for a moment.

Val (Arion):

Hello.

Cai:

Cayo loving being taken in kind of gives a little spin. But what you see that is unique as he kind of like playfully turns on the gate a little bit, that he's just kind of draped his arm, and he kind of twists just to show off a little. You see on his arms those bands of text are an ancient Greek. One says, (speaks Greek). Which means he who saves himself may be saved. And on the other arm, says (speaks Greek). Death is no different than life. And you see that serpent climbing up his chest on top of that.

Val:

Arion takes all that ink in and says,

Val (Arion):

Ancient Greek tattoos.

Cai (Cayo):

You have good eye.

Val (Arion):

Death is no different than life.

Cai (Cayo):

Yes, spoken of the... one of the greatest minds of ancient Greece. I just had to get it tattooed.

Alex (Oliver):

Ahem. I think I'm gonna go grab a drink. Do you want one, Arion?

Val (Arion):

Certainly. Would you be interested in... in dancing later?

Cai (Cayo):

Don’t let me stop you.

Alex (Oliver):

Yeah.

Val:

There's a brightness, like he's nervous, but he does look at the glittering like disco ball, and there is an excitement that's like bubbling again. Cayo, you’re forgotten for the moment, the second, this alluring creature turns over to this mortal and delights in his presence.

Alex (GM):

Similarly, Oliver breaks eye contact with Cayo in fear of not having anything in common with you. And walks towards the bar.

Cai (Cayo):

You’re just gonna let him go.

Val:

Arion’s ears perk over.

Val (Arion):

He’s getting a drink…

Val:

And he like turns over to you and eyes you up and down.

Cai (Cayo):

Well, I know that look, and I just would hate for you to miss your chance. Just for little old me, I just work here.

Val (Arion):

You’re an alluring creature of vision. One that feels so familiar.

Cai (Cayo):

Thank you dear. I'll tell you what, I'd love to hear a little bit more about you, but don't let me keep you from -

Cai:

And he fully looks over at Oliver walking away unapologetically checking him out.

Cai (Cayo):

Miss out on that.

Val (Arion):

He is wondrous.

Val:

You see something really odd. There is a flash of something in Arion's eye when you say, “Lose your chance.” And his pupils widen, but not like humans would. They are slitted and widen in an opposite direction rather than vertically. It's horizontal.

Val (Arion):

Well then, Cayo was it?

Cai (Cayo):

Yes, and you are...

Val (Arion):

Arion.

Cai (Cayo):

Arion, well, I trust that you know how to find beautiful treasures of the sea.

Val (Arion):

How can I not in the Garden of Dionysus?

Cai (Cayo):

Ha ha, you understand me.

Cai:

Cayo fully like spins out like he's in his own TV show, just his own exit queue. He pirouettes right out.

Val:

Arion watches this flowing movement and then rushes towards Oliver.

Alex (GM):

And we're gonna cut to Alyx, who has been dragged onto the property of the Garden of Dionysus by Auntie as she begins to walk over to a little stall that's been set up with a handful of items on it. And this is somewhat of like an artist's alley. It's not art that she's selling. These are pungent little food items. You recognize this, Alyx. It is the smell of sardines. And it is unmistakably Granny's cooking as she pops out from behind the counter and Auntie joins her to work this little stall for food.

Dan:

Yeah, she's just gonna grab one and,

Dan (Alyx):

Granny.

Alex (GM):

Your hand is like held and Granny looks at you and she just puts out her hand.

Alex (Nana Rose):

Now Alex, you don't get something for nothing. You gotta pay just a little bit or the little green men are gonna come after you.

Dan (Alyx):

Oh, okay. How much?

Alex (Nana Rose):

Well, I mean, we're not really charging. It's whatever you think this is worth.

Dan (Alyx):

That’s a trap. I know that's a trap.

Dan:

And she points over at Auntie is like,

Dan (Alyx):

I have been here for two years. Do you think I don't know a trap when I see one?

Alex (GM):

And Auntie just puts her hands up and she she shakes her head and she she crosses her arms and disappointment of you.

Dan (Alyx):

I’m sorry. Have you been -? Oh, good Lord.

Dan:

She takes out like $10 and just puts it there for the little thing is just like,

Dan (Alyx):

Figure it out. Thank you.

Alex (Nana Rose):

Yes, thank you, this is gonna go a long way to help the little dog shits, you know? Thank you so much, Alyx. Please, please, go eat that one and come back.

Alex (GM):

Cayo, you see somebody out of place, preoccupied, their mind elsewhere.

Cai:

Cayo kind of walks up beside Alyx, almost like they're just traveling in the same direction, but he fully merges with the traffic lane.

Cai (Cayo):

Hey, you have a smoke?

Dan:

Looks you up and down for a minute, like trying to both piece together where the hell you came from and just like figuring you out for a second and like cocks her head to the side and just like.

Dan (Alyx):

Yeah, yeah, all right. Do I know you?

Dan:

And she like, does like a little shake and like one pops up.

Cai:

His very elegant fingers come and just snatch one up. And reaches into the jacket that he's got tied around his waist. When you look at it, it's like this army green jacket, kind of not with the vibe of the rest of his very floral and comfortable clothing. It's a military jacket from the 1960s. Covered in patches and pins, it has been painted and altered in every place that you could possibly imagine. With peace signs and doves. And he reaches into the pocket and pulls out a really unremarkable looking Zippo lighter and lights the cigarette.

Dan:

So, you’re standing next to a fairly smaller mixed Asian woman. She's got a body con like tank top on and she's got a plaid sort of flannel tied around her waist. Her pants are like these almost ridiculously oversized cargo pants. And you see her slip the cigarette pack back into one of the pockets on the side of her leg. You see that she's like reached out and in one hand she was like feeling around in her other pockets. She pulls out a small little lighter that she would have got from September and she puts it back into her pocket when she sees you've got one. Her entire left arm is a full like floral sleeve tattoo and you can see there's a much fresher one on the inside of her right arm that looks like a very ornate dagger. She's like looking at you like up and down.

Dan (Alyx):

I don't recognize you.

Cai (Cayo):

Oh, I’m Cayo.

Cai:

And when they extend their hand with the cigarette in it, it's a terrible way to shake hands. You also see those Greek letter tattoos on the forearms and the grapevine tattoos that kind of just wrap and kind of turn to nothing before it gets to the bands. But on his upper arm, you can also see a dancing skeleton on this side.

Cai (Cayo):

Nice tattoo.

Dan (Alyx):

You’re one to talk.

Dan:

She like takes a cigarette out of her own mouth and like takes your hand with her cigarette in her own hand. Just to meet the vibe.

Cai:

When your hand touches his, again, that almost like drinking champagne as a person, you can feel it in your fingers.

Dan:

She like looks down at her hand. She looks up at you. Narrows her eyes a little bit.

Cai (Cayo):

Come on, it's a party.

Dan (Alyx):

Yeah. Your party?

Cai (Cayo):

No. The garden's party. Anything it’s Divine's party.

Dan (Alyx):

What’s a party unless everyone's having a good time, right?

Cai (Cayo):

Absolutely. And given the name of this garden, it almost feels rude not to, right?

Dan (Alyx):

It would be blasphemy, wouldn't it?

Cai (Cayo):

We wouldn't want that.

Cai:

And there's a edge of seriousness in his eyes when he says that.

Dan:

Alyx like kind of knows that,

Dan (Alyx):

Well, you know, I’d like to think - I can't, you know, I don't know the guy. I'd like to think maybe he's got a little forgiveness in his heart.

Cai (Cayo):

Forgiveness. Sure. Somewhere maybe.

Dan (Alyx):

You can forget it after a really long time, I guess. You know, I got a friend. He’s got a really, really long memory and a really long life, but you know, he remembers some things like that from time to time.

Dan:

And she like looks pointedly down at your at your arm.

Dan (Alyx):

Think he'd like you.

Cai (Cayo):

I have that effect on people. Everyone likes me.

Dan (Alyx):

I bet!

Cai (Cayo):

Do me a favor, when you're done eating, what is that smelly fish?

Dan (Alyx):

Sardine, you want one?

Cai (Cayo):

Sure.

Cai:

And just full bare hand takes one, eats it.

Cai (Cayo):

Mmmm. Sneaky little fish. I like it.

Dan (Alyx):

They’re good.

Cai (Cayo):

Tell you what, when you're done with those delectable little things, why don't you go have a drink? Relax. Shake all that cool person energy off of you for just one evening.

Dan (Alyx):

Cool person energy, oh? Is that what that is these days.

Dan:

She is smiling. She's charmed a little bit.

Cai (Cayo):

I love the mystique, dear. Don't let it go.

Alex (GM):

The party begins to pass. Cayo, you meet a lot of people at this party, but these three you are especially drawn to. These three really need a good party tonight.

We flash forward as the sun is beginning to set and the three of you are, some of you very smoothly interacting through the party, some of you bumbling through it. We're going to just make some rolls to see how well we're doing. A roll with just Goal and if you were trying to impress anybody, Scare.

Kenzie:

Rolled a five for Goal and I'm not rolling for a Scare because I am not trying to impress Samira and I don't need, capital ‘N’ need, to impress Annie.

Val:

That’s a six and a four.

Dan:

I rolled a four. Alyx is not trying to impress anybody because she has no one to impress.

Cai:

It’s two fives, one for each.

Alex (GM):

So, Lou, the night? It's a weird one. It's a good one. It's a weird one. Annie's vibing with you. Samira's vibing with you. It's not like you're all three vibing together, but you've got two women vying after you, and they're both kinda fighting for you.

Oliver and you are connecting. I mean, you finally stepped out of your comfort zone to actually talk with them. And that's what most of the night has been, has been honest talking. You know, whether that's from the events of you saving their life or from Alyx’s lecture really at you or something else, Oliver and you opened up to each other. But it's a very scary place to be. Because you could be hurt. You don't know how long you're gonna get to stay here. And you don't know how long you're gonna get to be alive. Please take vulnerable as a scare.

Alyx, are you interacting with the festival at all? Or are you just kind of existing at it and drinking?

Dan:

I think she's got like a good drink. Like she's not like trying to get hammered. She took Cayo's art to heart and is like having a good drink and like watching the party. But she is absolutely wall-flowering. And I think there's like a moment where she's just kind of like leaning against a part of the fence or something and just seeing people like dancing and getting in that space, in each other's space, that four to six inches where people have from face to face. And she's looking at it, and for the first time in a really, really long time, probably because she thinks of literally just saying anything about it to Arion, is remembering dancing around the room with Estelle and walking into the air while they were doing it.

Alex (GM):

Over your shoulder, you swear you hear Estelle.

Alex (Estelle):

Alyx.

Alex (GM):

But when you turn, there's no one there.

Cayo, the party's going well. It's taking a little bit longer to set up the projector, taking a little bit longer to set up some of the full activities, but people are distracted by the drinking, they're distracted by the sun setting, right? There's not any bad energy at the party. It just is not going as well as it could be. And that's when you notice something out of place. Or rather, someone out of place. Everyone else is here to enjoy the party. But this man, dressed head to toe in a black suit and tie, walks into the building that is yours and Divine's.

Cai:

Having been mixing drinks just to kind of bide the time as things are set up that frankly he doesn't really have the attention span to even know how they get set up. So, he just started mixing drinks and having a nice time. And he catches sight of this man and his bright bubbly personality drops. And he sets everything down, very quickly excuses himself from any conversation that he's in, and makes a straight line to that, to where he's going.

Alex (GM):

b You disappear for maybe five minutes, maybe ten. And then there is a sudden disturbance in the party as from that same building out of a side door comes the man in black with a nineteen year old boy. Held by the arm, definitely dragging them out of the party. There is a disturbance between the two of them. All of you can feel and honestly probably hear the shouting and then suddenly there is a rupture. There is a displacement. There is a rumbling in the ground.

Cayo, will you please describe what you have done to this man?

Cai:

His feet stop moving as he drags this young man through the garden near the fountain. His first step, it's like he's stuck to the grass. And then the next step, his foot won't lift. And from the heel of his shoe, a root springs. His next step before his foot even touches the earth, shoots into the ground, seeking water in fertile soil. As with every movement, he almost lurches into the shape of a twisted oak tree until he stops, mid-step his arms disguised as branches of a tree. And the young man just has to pull away, not from a hand, but from a twist of leaves, verdant, hopefully one day able to bear acorns and do something better for this world.

Alex (GM):

And the party turned silent, Cayo, as everyone turns to look at you. And no one, not a single soul here in this moment likes you, instead replaced with fear and anxiety and joylessness. And one of them steps forward,

Alex (Partygoer):

: What are you?

Cai:

And he looks around bewildered. You can almost see memories across his eyes, shapeless, shadowed, and he turns heel and runs.

Kenzie:

I think Lou like steps out from the crowd a little bit and goes,

Kenzie (Lou):

Hey, everybody, everybody just calm down. Take a moment. Breathe. Everything's good. Cayo’s been here for forever. They've run this place for forever. I used to work for him. He's a great guy. I think everybody needs to just take a step back. We've been having a lovely night.

Val:

Arion is going to try and assuage the people's anxieties because all they saw really was someone turned into a tree and he is hoping to play this off as a magic trick, an illusion.

Val (Arion):

Everyone, your eyes deceive thee. It's clearly a trick of the mind, an illusion.

Val:

And he's going to march towards the tree and go,

Val (Arion):

A fine craftsmanship. Certainly there's no need to - there’s no need to panic.

Alex (GM):

You’re going to have to roll Goal and Injury and Scare as the crowd almost forms a ring around you, attempting to, maybe not consciously, but the very community of Roseville Beach, doesn’t know what to do about you.

Dan:

I will use Boon to grant one to Cayo.

Cai:

Okay, so I'll take the two sixes in a four.

Alex (GM):

The Scare you're going to take here is hated, as these three people, these three members of the community that you have got to know over the evening, maybe just briefly, stepped in to help you escape from this situation. The three of them are dealing with the crowd as you are able to escape back into the depths of the garden where the thicket grows dense. The sun sets its last bit of light on the island as the shadows grow long and yours begins to speak.

Alex (Shadow):

Cayo…

Cai (Cayo):

What do want?

Alex (Shadow):

That’s not your name. I prefer to know the name of those I'm willing to help. What should I actually call you?

Cai (Cayo):

Help! How would you help me? What is your name, shadow?

Alex (Shadow):

I have had many names throughout my life. Ones that you may know and ones that you definitely do not. None of them are quite accurate. But I did prefer one. You can call me Asmodeus. And what is your name?

Cai (Cayo):

Wonderful. Then you can call me... Ugh. Fine. You can call me... Epithatos.

Alex (Shadow):

Epithatos. Epithatos, you are in quite a predicament. You've remained hidden for a long time. You finally found a home you liked. But now you have to leave. Again. And where will you return to? There is no war for you to live off of.

Cai (Cayo):

Is there a point to this?

Cai:

He says with tears beginning to kind of pull at the corners of his eyes.

Alex (Shadow):

Of course. I apologize. I can help you. I can help you stay here.

Cai (Cayo):

How? They all hate me!

Alex (Shadow):

They simply fear you now. I'll speed it along. I'll aid them. They'll love you again. They'll love you again.

Cai (Cayo):

I just don't want them to look at me like that.

Alex (Shadow):

And they won't. They will never look at you that way again, Cayo. I can ensure that.

Cai (Cayo):

I’m so old and so tired of running.

Alex (GM):

As it stretches across the bramble, the hedges and the tree, it's like the tree bends down to you, offering you a hand.

Alex (Shadow):

I promise, Cayo.

Cai:

In most situations, wise gods would consider this moment. But like a man in a desert searching for an oasis, Cayo jumps at it.

Alex (GM):

You take the hand.

Cai:

Oh, yeah.

Alex (GM):

Before hearing anything else they say?

Cai:

He was caught up in the moment.

Alex (GM):

The branch twists around your arm and matches the vines of your tattoos. Will you describe your divine image when your glamour is cast off?

Cai:

The branches of the tree push into fur. And from that shadow, at first you see a leopard's paw with thick fur and long humanoid fingers. But from there, shadow begins to spill and devour the spots that lead up not to more fur strangely, but to scales. A divine figure of a serpent with long snake-like features, fangs, and a silver tongue with piercing, radiant golden eyes and a mane not of black hair but rather of gold and the iridescence wasn't the hair at all, but rather the scales of a green serpent that in any glimmer of light show the colors of soap bubbles, of effervescence, of joy. And down the chest you see the hair that is framed not in laurels, but in glorious grape leaves spun into a wreath that cover where there should be ears on a person, but this is a serpent. And then down the chest, you see where there was a snake tattoo, golden scales down the stomach that fade into leopard fur, leopard's legs with a long whipping leopard's tail that looks like it was dipped in ink at the very end.

Alex (GM):

As the glamour is cast off, and your light shines, the three of you, like a beacon, watch this image that pushes through all of the other foliage. It draws itself back to reveal Cayo in their true form. And then the light starts to fade as it draws into your arm, into the tree, into the shadow bit by bit, leaving you, Cayo, with just a drop of your divine essence and the shadow disappears.

The crowd suddenly disperses, in a way that is as if none of them even notice Cayo. But they don't go about the activities of the festival. In fact, they do nothing. They stand blankly.

Val (Arion):

Ollie?

Alex (GM):

And they do not respond. Samira and Annie, who had just been chatting with you suddenly go blank as they drop a glass on the ground and it shatters at your feet.

Kenzie:

I look at Samira.

Kenzie (Lou):

Fuck, this is not what September sacrificed herself for.

Kenzie:

And then I look at Annie. And I reach out, but I kind of hesitate. I don't want to touch her like this.

Kenzie (Lou):

Well, this just isn't gonna work. You have to come back because I have something to tell you. So we're need to figure this out and we're gonna need to figure out ASAP.

Kenzie:

And I turn around and I go,

Kenzie (Lou):

Alyx, Arion, we have a problem.

Val (Arion):

We certainly do.

Alex (GM):

Just as you say that, the fountain starts to spoil. The water bubbles a sickly green, and the center cracks, shifts in half, and out of the center begins growing a tree. Tall. Massive. Hundreds of years this would take to grow, but in mere seconds it grows to its full length. And you hear off in the distance as you look towards the west another tree began to grow in town. And then a third.

Val:

Arion sees all of this bullshit that is happening and runs to the fucking beacon because if there is a mess of this fucking proportion it has to be Greek god related. So he books it similarly to how he booked it after the Phoenix.

Kenzie:

Sorry to impose Lou’s knowledge of botany here, but what type of tree is this?

Alex (GM):

This tree is the exact species that grows on this island just west of here in the forest. The whole island used to be forest before it was cut down to create this little spot for Roseville Beach, this little safe haven.

Kenzie:

But it's not like a bearing food tree, it's just a leafy tree.

Alex (GM):

It’s just a leafy tree, it's not a bearing fruit tree.

Dan:

Alyx just like sees all this shit happen and she just takes like a long drag from her cigarette.

Dan (Alyx):

Ugh, gotta be fucking kidding me.

Dan:

Is Cayo still there? She's gonna walk up to them.

Cai:

As the tumultuous stuff starts to happen around the garden, he's just kind of locked in. And before anyone arrives, he just lets out this bestial yell of frustration and rage. And when you arrive, he is hunched and breathing heavily.

Kenzie:

Lou is like right behind Alyx.

Val (Arion):

Hero? Chosen? No, that's not quite what you are. Blessed offspring, that's what you are.

Dan (Alyx):

In modern that means?

Cai (Cayo):

Hello, child of the sea. Friends.

Cai:

And now you see as he speaks that silver serpent tongue lashes out a little further.

Cai (Cayo):

Yes. Pleasure to meet you all. Let me start again. Yes, I am Cayo. I do love that name. But I have been called many things throughout my prolific existence. Some people just call me the Grim Reaper. Boring. The Reaper's Lieutenant, the Last Cup. And yes, there is the name my father gave me. Epithatos, the gentle cup of death.

Kenzie (Lou):

I also go by a nickname.

Cai (Cayo):

Is it Lou?

Kenzie (Lou):

Yeah, yeah, because I have a full name. So Lou is just the nickname.

Dan:

Alyx just takes out her pack of cigarettes and just like does the same thing as before where she shakes one up to the top and like puts it towards your mouth.

Cai:

This blackened leopard paw reaches out to take it. His left hand is still leopard spotted, but this one is different now. And he just takes it and kind of hooks it beneath a fang.

Dan:

Alyx snaps her fingers underneath it and there's a small little flame collected amongst it.

Cai (Cayo):

Nice trick.

Dan (Alyx):

I’ve got a couple. You know, a couple of weeks ago, if I'd watched you do this, I probably would have just killed you right here.

Cai (Cayo):

Good luck.

Dan (Alyx):

Wouldn’t be the first time that I've been asked to do something like that.

Kenzie (Lou):

I have a magical hammer. I could do it. I'd help.

Dan (Alyx):

That’s true. She does have a magical hammer.

Cai (Cayo):

(laughs) I have survived wars more than the days that you have been alive, mortal. I would not…

Kenzie (Lou):

I didn't say I was going to. I just was offering.

Dan (Alyx):

Look, I'm not saying that as a threat. I'm just saying… I get it.

Dan:

She points down at your discolored paw and she's like,

Dan (Alyx):

I have seen that. We've seen that. He's a different kind of beast, whatever he is.

Dan:

He knows and she shoots like a look to Arion that is not hostile, but just sort of like understanding.

Dan (Alyx):

He gets under your skin. He waits.

Val (Arion):

What bargain have you struck?

Cai (Cayo):

Divine!

Cai:

Without explaining himself, he just starts running towards the garden to go look for Divine.

Alex (GM):

b Every step you take, Cayo, the garden does not die, but corrupts behind you. It becomes ill. Alive, but ill. The fruit grows poisonous, the water grows foul, the soil upturning itself, roots beginning to gnarled, and you burst into Divine's home. And what you see is a petrified Dryad.

Cai (Cayo):

No!

Cai:

And he falls to her feet, tears fall not of clear mortal tear but of wine. Grief. He pours out libations for Divine from his eyes.

Alex (GM):

When the entity, when Asmodeus took the divinity from you, most of it from you. So did he take your ability to keep the Dryad away from her forest. And now it is reclaiming Roseville Beach. There is no stopping this without your divinity or without a power that is extraordinary. They did not lie to you. This island will have one final moment to revel before their death if you can get them to do it.

In that thought, for the first time, you feel mortality approach you. And the same feeling, the same attraction Arion, Lou, Alyx gave you, that need to revel, is calling you, Cayo.

Cai:

He dries his tears. They soak into the shadowed fur that should be radiant and beautiful. He gets to his feet, afraid that the rot from the garden will touch her, will hurt her. And he leaves back to the garden to look for the only people that seem to actually look at him.

Cai (Cayo):

You all. Child of Poseidon, Lou with a longer name and Alyx, I need your help. Please. How do you all do this? This… feels sticky.

Dan (Alyx):

Yeah, it's a... We've never figured out how to fix that, honestly.

Kenzie (Lou):

I’ll help you. But, it’s not for you. I'm gonna be selfish this time. And whatever choice you made, whatever deal you struck, hurt a lot of people I care about. So we're gonna fix that. And if that means helping you, then I guess that's a side effect.

Cai (Cayo):

I can respect it.

Val:

Arion approaches you and you see that recognition in his eyes, that fear that sticks to you like tar. But in his eyes, it looks like seafoam and he approaches you and holds his hands out to you.

Val (Arion):

Brother, mà tòn Poseidôna, I will aid you. This should not be your state. I have bargained and bartered my word and oaths oft as of late. What's another one? One for one like I.

Cai (Cayo):

Brother.

Cai:

And that still leopard spotted hand reaches out.

Cai (Cayo):

I knew I should have been a dolphin.

Cai:

And he takes the other hand.

Val:

He grips your hands in his, chuckles and says,

Val (Arion):

There’s a man for whom I am bound to, who I'm certain whatever predicament that you have found yourself in will hurt less.

Cai (Cayo):

The trees!

Cai:

And he points to the new tree without even looking at it. And he then points to further away than we can see.

Cai (Cayo):

Trees.

Alex (GM):

Still growing trees. Now at first three, now seven, ten. Destroying Roseville Beach.

Val (Arion):

These are sprung from your Divine, right?

Cai (Cayo):

They’re looking for her, yes. She's been here for quite some time. Her trees are long, long, well, they're far away. They're a long journey. But I've been keeping her here because we were happy here.

Val (Arion):

Alyx? Is there perhaps a way to siphon the whatever energy is causing these things to grow back to Cayo?

Cai (Cayo):

They’re not mine. They're her trees. You can't siphon the life of a Dryad.

Val (Arion):

Well then back to her then, certainly.

Cai (Cayo):

We need... divine strength, brother.

Val (Arion):

The font of which I am currently looking at. But you are dried up.

Cai (Cayo):

(laughs) Then we find this Asmodeus and we, what, kill him? We drain him?

Dan (Alyx):

I’m... sorry. What did you call him?

Cai (Cayo):

Asmodeus. That's the name he gave. He said - They’ve had many names, but that's the one that they gave.

Dan:

May I reflect on my arcane knowledge? I want to know what he is. And more importantly, what I really want in the long run is his true name. And I don't know that this is it. But that's more than we've had on him at all. And now we know his patterns, we know his powers, and now we have a name.

Alex (GM):

The word you hear, Alyx, is Asmodeus, but it's as if it's in another language. One you don't know, but you know where to find out more. It is something ancient and older than any one of you. It is akin to what you saw at the Sand Bank, when Mr. War told you their true name.

Dan (Alyx):

Oh, fuck. Huh. I know where to start. Anybody got a check to cash?

Alex (GM):

With that, our camera's gonna zoom out as the four of you make your way over to the first bank of Roseville Beach and high in the treetops, stepping out from behind a branch is something that catches your eye, Alyx. A coyote. And when you blink, it's gone.

Kenzie:

This series stars Alexander Christopher as the Game Master, Valiant Dorian as Arion, Dan Pyxel as Alyx Cho, and Kenzie Tartaglione as Lou Wells. This episode’s guest start was Cai K as Cayo.

If you liked it, share, rate, and review. You can join our Discord. And make sure to check out our Patreon for this season’s character advancements, after shows, bloopers, and so much more!