S4 E3: Picture Perfect

Kenzie Tartaglione:

Last time on Roseville Beach…

Kenzie (Lou Wells):

I think there’s a fucked up dog in here.

Alexander Christopher:

As you’re thinking about this, you look right back to the figurine and it sort of strikes in your mind. Its a salamander.

Valiant Dorian (Arion):

What do you call yourself, little one? Or what did Mama call you?

Ashley Westover (Oh Shit):

Oh Shit!

Dan Pyxel (Alyx Cho):

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Kenzie (Lou):

I feel like Gabriela is not the only one who is ruining everything when they walk into places.

Ash (Oh Shit):

Danger. In danger. Mama in danger. Don’t know what.

Alex:

Bobby Johnson. Roseville Beach’s cryptid hunter.

Val (Arion):

It has imprinted on you, Gabriela, it thinks your its mother.

Dan:

But the second that he said, “Knowledge is a double edged dagger,” Alyx just started rubbing her collarbone, like really absent-mindedly.

Alex (Gabriela):

I have been following a string of arson cases that have broken out all over Roseville Beach. I bet you could help me figure that out.

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

Alex:

Welcome back to Roseville Beach. It is another nice bright sunny day. After the chaos of last week, we've all taken some time to relax and to develop our skills because Roseville Beach never stays quiet for long, whether that's fun activities or mysteries that need to be solved. But today, we were lucky enough to have a chance to unwind.

The Kinsdale Coffee Shop is hosting a new art gallery that Arion, you, are particularly interested in. Odie, or at least the man you've affectionately named Odysseus, they are holding, or they're at least hosting a whole art show there. A lot of paintings that they've made and their friends have made. They have saved up enough money. They have come together as a community. And they are hosting their art here. And it's in partnership with the coffee shop.

We've all kind of come here to check it out and see what's going on. It's a little strange. It's buzzing with activity, but everyone feels maybe just a little too... fake. People are genuinely interested, but they're not really talking about the art. The things they talk about are superficial. There's no real understanding of it. They don't see past the paintings.

Besides the art gallery, there are several other artifacts, several other kind of cool paintings and cool art pieces that have been collected over time. And as you approach right outside, there is a group of people who stop you on the street and actually try to push something into your hands, a flyer of sorts. One is holding a flyer, one's holding a clipboard, and they approach both of you and they say,

Alex (Activist):

Excuse me, do you - do you have a moment to talk about the injustices that the Kinsdale coffee shop is committing?

Val:

Arion this whole time walking up the sidewalk has been daydreaming about interacting with Odysseus, the things he would say, the outfit that Arion is wearing is so carefully picked out, these gorgeous little accessories. There's clearly a sheen to Arion's hair that's almost like sea slicked, kind of like windswept look that one would have at the beach. And as he is wistfully walking down the sidewalk, mumbling to himself,

Val (Arion):

My Odysseus, an artist, of course he is, of course he is.

Val:

Gets interrupted by this and is like,

Val (Arion):

Mm, huh, what, excuse me?

Alex:

And I think at this point they've already put the flyer into your hand and you can look down and it's this big sort of like honestly propaganda piece about how all of the art in the Kinsdale coffee shop is stolen.

Val:

How so? Is there a little info box that tells me why they're stolen?

Alex:

Its like a little political cartoon. And it shows people literally stealing from artists and giving them nothing, and then turning around and selling it for major profit. What they're giving them is exposure and they're profiting massive amounts of money off.

Val:

Arion sees this graphic and have they left already? The folks who have shoved this into my hand?

Alex:

The one who's handing out flyers, absolutely. They're making sure everyone who enters does not enter without a flyer. But there's one person who... The thoughts in your mind have muddled their words as you were daydreaming about Odie, but they've turned a clipboard around to you and they've put a pen in your hand and they say,

Alex (Activist):

Will you sign?

Val (Arion):

Forgive me. First of all, I just arrived to this whole thing. What does this mean? Stolen art? Are the artists here that are being featured being stolen from this and given this exposure? What is being exposed here?

Alex (Activist):

The people who are featured in here are having their art unjustly resold. in fact, some of them -

Alex:

And they like point out several pieces on their clipboard, you know, line A, line B, line C, all the way to like line F, describe which ones were just completely taken from groups throughout history without their consent. And this petition is to sort of seize that artwork and give it back to those people.

Val:

So would Arion's understanding be tha Odysseus has been stolen from or that Odysseus is committing the stealing? This distinction is very, very important to how I react to this person.

Alex:

What’s your experience with art?

Val:

I think in Arion's mind, art is... His exposure is the Greeks, right? The way the Greeks have done art. And there is this sort of like grandness to it. There's a sweetness and a great attachment to like art and how it endures through history. It is the artist, the writers, the storytellers that we celebrate even centuries on out. So that's how Arion feels like that. I don't think Arion is super well informed on like the process and bureaucracy of exhibiting art or things like - for Arion, it's instinctual. Art is art. And that's some of the most beautiful things about humanity is that you make art and you intentionally make art constantly.

Alex:

You probably are familiar with the idea of like artists in residence, you know, people who make art and don't necessarily profit off of it. It's just something that - it’s what they do, right? It's their life. They are taken care of, but it's not like they're given financial gain for it. And also like a lot of Greek art has been taken over time away from the people who originally owned it and has been used in other places. So this is a question only you can answer, Arion.

Val:

Arion sees this pen and this sheet of paper and knows better as a mythical creature from the deep than to just assign things without fully knowing what's going on. Smiles really, really sweetly and just says,

Val (Arion):

I will, how do you all say it? Do some digging. Thank you for this.

Val:

And shakes a little pamphlet with this bright little smile and daintily folds it and shoves it in a tiny little satchel that he's carrying and trot in.

Alex (Activist):

Excuse me, excuse me, you really should, you really should.

Alex:

As they trail off, right? Alyx, what is your experience approaching this gallery? Seeing sort of the same people and the same sort of petition going.

Dan:

I know that Alyx has like the most counterculture hippie vibe, but also what the fuck do these people think they're doing? Like, it's a coffee shop. They know shit. So as soon as she sees them out there, she is going to like,

Dan (Alyx):

Fuck.

Dan:

And then like try to get into the coffee shop anywhere but the front door. Like if she can get in the back door, she will do that. If there is a window, she will do that. She will do anything to avoid having to interact with these people who she just doesn't want to deal with right now.

Alex:

They are persistent. They are really on the watch. I mean, it's not just the two of them, right? The two of them are the ones that interacted with Arion, but they are posted. This is a big show that is being done, and there's a lot of attractions. There's a lot of influx of people coming to the coffee shop today. So this is their campaign. They're not leaving until they get all of their signatures. So you're going to have to roll to avoid them.

Probably honestly just Goal.

Dan:

Two, I'm going to take a trouble die. And that is a four, so that is much better. Two in trouble, why not?

Alex:

You are able to find a back door to slip in through and this leads through the kitchen. People, they're busy. I mean, they are busy here. They are catering. There's people going in with platters, out with platters, popping dishes into the sink, washing them. It's a fine-tuned machine that nobody really notices you.

As you slip out of the kitchen into the art gallery, you get a chill down your spine. And it's a familiar feeling. You lock eyes across the room with a painting. And it can only be one person. This image can only be one creature. Alyx, this is the person who taught you magic. Even just their image carries the weight of their power. Please describe what they look like.

Dan:

She looks a lot younger than she actually is. She spent a very long time practicing and growing her own power. And there's a lot that she was very coy or closed off with in regards to different parts of her own past. She kept her hair long and it was, it was dark, sort of like fell down halfway down her back. She had bright green eyes, the kind that you almost would sometimes think were blue. They would even sometimes show red, depending. She always would dress like she came from somewhere that was warmer. Like cold bothered her more than heat did.

She had smattering of freckles across her face, like she'd seen the sun a lot. And Alyx remembers when she first met her that her skin was like recently tanned, like she had been out more often. Over time, it faded a little bit, but not so much. She was always that kind of like tan tones. When she would smile, there were two different smiles. There was one that she could smile that had her whole face and her eyes in it. And it's the one that Alyx loved the most. And then there was the one that only was the teeth. And anyone who didn't know her wouldn't notice, but Alyx would. And those were maybe the first times that Alyx was afraid of her.

And it's been not long enough for her to see that again because in a painting you can't reflect the warmth. It's not possible. Anyone who would have painted it would have to know what that looks like and even if she painted it herself by some means she couldn't see it in her own eyes. It's been too long and somehow not long enough for Alyx to sneak in through a crowded kitchen to just avoid some intense shits and instead be met with the face of Estelle Queen.

Alex:

Do you approach the painting?

Dan:

No, absolutely not. She's gonna stare at it from where she is and she's sort of like waiting for it to move.

Alex:

Will you make a roll for me? Clues, I think Scares, and Goal to stay, to keep your wits about you.

Dan:

I'm not injured or scared. Sorcery background?

Alex:

Yeah.

Dan:

Doubt any of the other social ones are gonna matter. Is this a golden opportunity?

Alex:

Actually, think, yeah, I think this is a golden opportunity to prove to yourself that you can resist. That you can stand up.

Dan:

So that is a fail in Goal, fail in Scared, fail in Clues and another three in Trouble. That is straight threes.

Alex:

What is the last thing that she said to you?

Dan:

The last thing that would have happened would have been whatever the price that Alyx would have had to pay would be, and she would have left immediately. And I think you might know that better than I do.

Alex:

I think the Scare here is honestly very simple. It's very real. It's very threatening. Your due has come. As you feel all, and I mean all, of her power in this painting. The warmth that you described that can't be captured in a painting, it's in the paint, it's in the brush stroke, it's in the way that they captured her smile. Your eyes drift down to see that this was painted by a Roseville regular. Somebody who actually has quite a few paintings in the gallery today.

Arion, as you have entered, it's a party. It's festive. There's food. It's free. There's drinks. It's free. Everything has been paid for to show off the new talent on Roseville Beach. And there's a few artists here, but you know that Odie is supposed to be here.

Val:

And Arion's heart is a flutter. Picks up a mug of tea that he nurses in his hands and a couple of this cafe's, this coffee house's signature cookies and stuff. Arion is in a different genre of movie than Alyx is right now. Alyx is coming out of a horror movie. Arion's in a rom-com. And it's just like this is it. This is the day I don't make a fool of myself. This is the day I like stand appropriately and I introduce myself to Odysseus properly and we can start getting the ball rolling. And there's a moment I think where Arion is just like, my goodness, this is so many paintings.

Val (Arion):

Isn’t it Alyx? Alyx? They're always wandering off somewhere.

Val:

And I'm going to, very cool, very normal, go up to each of the different paintings and I'm going to look like a normal human patron that is patronizing the arts, but I'm looking for Odysseus’.

Alex:

You begin shuffling around, mimicking everyone else. You have a drink, you have some snacks. And you are looking at the paintings and you are making the same kind of judgments about them with the flyer in your back pocket too. And you realize you're not going to be able to find Odysseus's art. You don't know Odysseus's name. You would have to find it based off of the art and seeing through it to see what they have painted.

Val:

Arion is like looking through all the little placards at the bottom of pieces. Absentmindedly in his mind's eyes, just going “Odysseus, Odysseus, Odysseus”, and then realizes no one here has Greek names because no one hear is, no one hear is from the time that he is most familiar with. And Odysseus is an affectionate nickname that he had given because he does not know Odysseus' name, only what he looks like.

Alex:

You shuffle from placard to placard to placard and you eventually make your way past the art gallery into the rest of them, so focused on the placards, trying to find a Greek name, and you stop on something. It's not a name, it's a description. It's a little plaque that says, this artifact was dredged up from the bottom of the bay. We're unable to date it, but it is clearly of ancient origin. And when you look up, it is a piece of pottery. The lid has been broken and snapped off. The images on it faded away. But this is clearly something very old. It's been worn away, roughed down by the waves. The actual sort of clay that it's made of has been damaged by the salt water. There's even like scratch marks from things like crustaceans that I've like clawed away at.

That's when you notice this whole section of weird artwork. This art is strange. This art is unusual. For lack of a better word, magical. And you recognize this as one of the items on the petition to return.

Val:

Arion approaches this and places his face so close to the artifact and just peers and looks over at this and tilts his head and thinks to himself, “Oh, that reminds me of home.” And then looks at all of these other artifacts and strange paintings and thinking again of this flyer in the back pocket about these needing to be returned. And you said it felt magical, right? So may I use my Siren song to be able to get a feel for this magic, almost like get a frequency of it.

Alex:

What word of power are you using for this?

Val:

I’m using Boon. I'm trying to see if these grant anything. Typical thing with artifacts, right? Is that they grant something. So that's the assumption that Arion is working from, is that if this is magical, it'll grant me something, or someone something.

Alex:

And if this is connected to your nature as a stranger to Roseville Beach, you actually have a special ability. Once per session, you don't have to roll magic as long as you're not trying to harm someone.

Describe what it looks like when you call upon this word of power to investigate if these items have boons.

Val:

Arion twirls his wavy hair, tucks it behind his ear, begins to hum different notes. And it's like [hums] like a piano tuner finding the right tune. He’s hitting the same note and then going up, up, up, and then back down to make sure that the melody is correct. And that is what he's doing is he's like very, very elegantly, like maybe even tracing his hand on some of the tables that these artifacts are on, taking like a once over in the room. And there's a moment where like his eyes glitter a little unnaturally like a Siren’s would. It’s almost this alluring, seductive hum to convince, to charm, tease the boon out of these artifacts like they are hidden secrets, a pearl within an oyster.

Alex:

You prod, you convince, you tease the magic out of these items. The artifact in front of you, the shattered piece of pottery that has sort of been replaced together, at one time held a boon. It held some sort of magic that it granted at some point, but it has been long gone. There's no way of being able to track or trace how long it's been, but it's reasonable to assume if it was shattered on the ocean floor, it was opened then and used a millennia ago.

The rest of the artifacts, they have a distinctly different feeling to them. It's not a boon necessarily, but it is like a magical signature. It's love. Love has been poured into these paintings by people who work magic. The art in the back of the Klinsdale coffee shop is made almost exclusively by witches from around the world.

And we shift our camera back to Alyx as you are still locked in this moment. This singular moment, almost everything sort of fades to the side as your vision tunnels to just the painting. And as Arion begins to tease the magic out of things, the magic in the painting, the essence of your mentor begins to wake up.

Dan:

Anyone who can see Alyx right now would see her doing two things. One hand is in one of the large pockets on her cargoes. She's like feeling the unmarked brass coin that she keeps in there. And the other one is rubbing at the choker on her throat, like running her thumb over it, just like right on the front of her neck. It’s getting stronger?

Alex:

It’s not that it's getting stronger, it's that it's like being invited. Invited out. Invited to show its face.

Dan:

I’m going to use sorcery to stop it. The edge of the coin is like digging into the side of her of her thumb as she's like running her hand along it. She's gonna try and like freeze whatever is going on via Bind.

Alex:

Magic. Goal. Scares. And we'll throw a Clue in there too.

Dan:

Does my scare inhibit my magic?

Alex:

Yeah.

Dan:

Gonna make up for it by using all three of my words of power. It is Bind to stop it, Call because I know the source of it, and Bane because I know the source of it, and know how to bend it.

Alex:

It’s a special place if you approach close enough to touch it.

Dan:

I’m gonna use a five on Magic. That works the way I want it to. Six, six, five so successes across the board.

You asked me what was the last thing that she said to Alyx and I, Dan, don't know that. You know that. I do know what the last thing Alyx said to her was. As she approaches the painting and grabs the outside edges of it and just locks eyes with the portrait itself, you see the light, the way that light, her spells work is when they like extends out from her and the light bends around her. You see it encompass now the outside frame of the painting and you watch it expand before snapping in.

And the painting itself doesn't change. Nothing about the painting itself changes, but all of that energy that is going around goes from its rectangular outers down into the center where it collapses. And whatever energy was there has vanished and has gotten sucked back into the inks and cannot come out. And as she is gripping the side of the painting and charging it, she finishes the longer incantation with all three words of power in it and says the exact same thing she said before she left.

Dan (Alyx):

b Goodbye, love.

Alex:

This is a really hip coffee shop art gallery. It's got a second floor with like an open spot. That's where Arion has sort of wandered off to. And you hear this yelp as somebody has just backed themselves up against the balcony. And they've caught themselves. You actually, they're right above you. You lock eyes with them and they turn back around and they run away.

Arion, first of all, the wave that Alyx has just put out has definitely stopped it. But just before, just before it did, there was a boon that was accessed from that person. And the painting in front of them is different. Once just a scenic view of the ocean has a single sort of rocky shore island, now has somebody walking on the beach. It is a still image of something that wasn't there before, painted on top of this oil painting.

Val:

What sound does your magic make?

Dan:

Like a whine, like this kind of pitch that just sort of extends like it's an engine. If you hear it at all, which most people probably wouldn't.

Val:

Burdened by being a siren and Arion reacts and is like,

Val (Arion):

That’s very Alyx, something's happening.

Val:

And then I see that and Arion, once again, peers his head closer to this person that's in the painting.

Alex:

The painting here is almost like a period piece. It's from Roseville Beach, imagined in a different time. Before there was anybody living here. But the person in there is in modern clothing. They're wearing jeans, they have sort of rolled up their jeans to walk on the sand, they have like a very, I don't want to say modern cut, but this person has like brown hair that kind of goes just almost to their shoulders. This is none other than your housemate, Lou, trapped in this painting.

Val (Arion):

Alyx!

Dan:

Alyx has been like after closing it, she's just been kind of like leaning up against the wall on the frame, like just full weight on her hands and just like looking through the top of her eyes at the the still painting now back to being like cold and lifeless and like she's just staring at it when she when she hears that. At first she like starts back from the painting.

Dan (Alyx):

Fuck.

Alex:

Literally these two paintings are on top of each other. There's an open balcony you could look over and see each other.

Val:

Arion is like hovering over the balcony and it's just like,

Val (Arion):

I do not know what you have just done.

Dan (Alyx):

Me?

Val (Arion):

It's your magic, I felt!

Dan (Alyx):

That was...

Val (Arion):

Lou’s in the painting! Lou’s in the painting!

Dan:

You say that and she looks back at the one that's right behind her. And she is scouring the background for it instantly, like fucking horrified.

Alex:

Make me a roll. Definitely for Goal, definitely for Clues. And you said horrified? For Scares as well.

Val:

In this moment of like helping you is describing specifically what he saw in the painting so that you in your in your magical understanding, which is far more than Arion because Arion moves on instinct. That it's Lou - contemporary clothing, so it's Lou as we know her. In a painting that's clearly not the time of when she would be here.

Dan:

Let's take the three in Goal and the four in Clue. No matter what I take the Scare.

Alex:

The two of you are going to gain the Scare panicked. Alyx, as you look around, holy shit, all the paintings have people trapped inside of them. Almost every single one. And it's a consistent type of person. Except for Lou.

You would be able to place them if you had been paying a little bit more attention, but you were distracted by the painting of your mentor. And so these people you just know were visiting the art gallery. They were here today looking at the paintings and they all seemed to be nicely dressed. And they distinctly, each, do not have a flyer on them.

Dan:

She starts muttering at the paintings, she's like,

Dan (Alyx):

What the fuck did you do? What the fuck are you up to? Lou first. Look at the painting I'm coming up.

Val (Arion):

That’s all I'm looking at.

Alex:

Upstairs, same situation, magical artifacts, paintings, pottery, all having a touch of magic to them, clearly made by witches. All of these are ones that people are trying to get sent back to the original creators or sort of to their original home place. Only Lou is trapped in this painting. None of these other ones have people trapped in them.

Dan:

Who made the painting?

Alex:

You look down and it is a local witch actually that you would be familiar with Alyx. They are part of a local coven, not one that you are a part of. You know, you've kind of distanced yourself from the covens, ironically, to try to avoid your mentor. But this particular witch, their name is Aniya and they were pretty vocal about that a fact that they thought people were sort of taking advantage of witches here on Roseville Beach. How well do you think you would have known this person?

Dan:

Unless she shows up at the Sandbar after hours, it's very likely that Alyx would have just avoided her.

Alex:

How tuned in are you to people's gossip at the Sandbar?

Dan:

She’s a bartender. She hears all the shit. So then when she goes and knocks back with the other bartenders afterwards, it's a fucking whisper network. All of them know everything.

Alex:

You distinctly remember, a couple days ago, this person Aniya had entered with another member of their covenant. Somebody brand new that you don't recognize. They were a tattooed witch. They were sort of talking back and forth, having an argument about whether or not they should accept.

Dan (Alyx):

Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.

Dan:

I think she's gonna like reach into one of her pockets and pull out her cigarettes and just like - you see like as her hand goes up to her mouth, it's like shaking. And she like puts it and lights it with her hand.

Val (Arion):

Alyx, Alyx, thanks darling. Beloved, what’s going on here? You're... You are more stressed than usual.

Dan (Alyx):

Witches, man, why does it gotta be witches?

Val (Arion):

Oh, but that means they're just like you. Maybe we can talk it out!

Dan (Alyx):

They are not.

Val (Arion):

Oh, well, it was worth a try.

Dan (Alyx):

Not anymore.

Dan:

And she's gonna go up to the painting that Lou's on and she's gonna put her hand like right over near where Lou is. She's like,

Dan (Alyx):

All right, listen, just fucking hold on to something.

Dan:

And she's gonna utilize Call again to try and pull Lou back to this plane.

Alex:

You have just locked the magic in place with a very powerful spell. It is something which, whether or not it was intentional, definitely called on some more primal magic that you possess. You will need the aid of either a coven of witches, a spirit of the island, or the original artifact, the original magical artifact that was used to cast the spell.

Dan (Alyx):

You ever like, fuck yourself over by being too good?

Val (Arion):

All the time.

Dan (Alyx):

I thought you'd get it. We need to go see the painter. We need to go.

Val (Arion):

Is that all? Use the original signature to unbind this magic? That seems straightforward.

Dan (Alyx):

If we're very lucky,

Dan:

She’s going take another drag and just kind of like,

Dan (Alyx):

If you can hear me, hun, just like, don't, don't go too far. I literally don't know where your reality ends and don't go in the water. And don't, don’t - I know you're trusting, just don't, don't, don't trust anyone, please. You're not, you're not in, ah fuck it, she probably can't hear me anyway.

Alex:

Lou, your senses in this moment, it’s like you're dreaming, but not like you're having a dream, like you are awake, unable to move. It's like sleep paralysis. And also, everything around you is vibrant, is beautiful, everything is painted as brush strokes. It's like if a brush stroke could be painted in 3D.

Kenzie:

I think there's a bit of hyperventilating happening. Probably wide eyes at the paralysis and not being able to move, but... Just stuck and flooded with fear.

Alex:

You probably can hear the words that Alyx speaks to you as Alyx's magic is the thing that has sort of locked the spell into place. Whether or not you know that.

Kenzie:

The plan for the day was to go fix the air conditioning unit and she doesn't know what happened between that task and now.

Alex:

Arion and Alyx, right now, your leads are very few. You could contact the Coven. You could try to invoke some sort of magic if you were able to find a source of power. Or you could find this original artist. You know that somebody was here. Somebody did invoke magic before they escaped, but that was five, ten minutes ago now, they ran out the building to - sort of actually through the kitchen the same way that you would have come into the building, Alyx.

Dan (Alyx):

What do you want to do? We need help.

Val (Arion):

If I remember correctly, this room is full of things that the folks who are campaigning outside are requesting to be returned, which includes this painting. They might know where the artist is if they're campaigning for its return. Or at the very least gets us closer to where this witch is.

Dan (Alyx):

I think they’re local. You don't have to go too far. That's good, I suppose.

Dan:

Stick my head over the balcony. Are the demonstrators still there?

Alex:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Dan (Alyx):

Should’ve just walked through the front door. Should've just walked through the front fucking door. Should've just walked through the front fucking door.

Dan:

And she's just like muttering that the whole way down.

Val:

Arion is just like skipping behind you, turning on the Siren-like charm and as soon as we're outside like goes up to one of the demonstrators, probably the one with the clipboard because they seemed very, very keen to talk to him before. And it's like,

Val (Arion):

Oh, hello. Hello, hello. Hi. We just went through this and we agree that these paintings and artifacts ought to be returned. In fact, we - we might have a connection with one of the artists listed in the painting. And we're just wondering how they're doing right now. Do you know where they're located?

Alex (Activist):

Well, I mean, there's several artists that we're petitioning against. Sorry, not against, my goodness. That we're petitioning for.

Alex:

They flip the clipboard over to you and it has that list of everything. It has the painting that Aniya made on it. It has sort of that artifact that I told you earlier has several more paintings. It has some things that they believe were like bought and sold. Some stuff went to the country club. There was like a statue that went over to the Pearl Theater.

Val:

Arion like gestures Alyx over.

Val (Arion):

Do you see do you see her name here?

Dan:

She’s gonna like, with a cigarette in her hand, like tap Aniya’s name.

Alex (Activist):

Actually if you're looking for Aniya, they're the one who began the petition. You know, their art was stolen from them right here and they've been trying to get it back, but they have - they’ve been blocked by lots of different, honestly, just silly red tape and loopholes. But here, I'll tell you what, sign the petition and you can meet them at our next our next meeting.

Val (Arion):

When is your next meeting?

Alex:

Pull out a little black book from their pocket and to like flip through it. Like,

Alex (Activist):

Okay, yes, yes, yes. Let's see, we have a meeting, well, it looks like we have one tonight.

Alex:

And they kind of turn it over to you and it's a rally at the country club.

Val:

Arion wants that information, regardless of whether we're going to it tonight or finding a different way. Arion signs the name of Bobby.

Alex:

Do you sign?

Dan:

No, I don't because Alyx - Alyx is - enough of her brain has started functioning again that several other pieces are coming into focus. Like the fact that because Arion avoided them or sort of like just got the flyer on the way in, meant he didn't sign the paper before. And what are the odds that Lou would have just signed something put directly in front of her out of politeness?And finding out that Aniya organized all of this to begin with.

Val:

As soon as Arion signs, big bright smile, looks over to Alyx. Very softly like touches your wrist and like just pulls you in a very, very gay way. The energy I'm exuding is, I am a gay and I know exactly what I'm going to do. I'm dragging my friend with me.

Val (Arion):

Come Alyx!

Dan:

She’s going to keep staring at like the list, but if you you like drag her away, she's not going to resist you to stay at it. She's just like thinking about this in her head. If they don't if they don't try and like chase her down, she's not going to she's not going to try and do it. Figures like one signature is probably enough.

Alex:

You’re heading over to the rally tonight.

Val:

That’s the plan or - as soon as Arion does this, there's a little grumble that he lets out of like,

Val (Arion):

Of course the one - I was this close to seeing Odysseus and yet Odysseus is in trouble. Calm down.

Val:

Looks over to Alyx and goes,

Val (Arion):

So our only option really that doesn't require us, you know, kicking down a bunch of doors and making you smoke more cigarettes than the one that you're currently holding, is tonight. I don't know if we want to wait that long to save Lou? If I'm being completely honest here?

Dan (Alyx):

I agree.

Val (Arion):

So do you witches have some sort of witches call that you can like yell out across a tall precipice? Maybe a magical messaging system? I don't know! Don't look at me like that! The Siren see witches do.

Dan (Alyx):

Do you think we're like meerkats or something? Like...

Val (Arion):

What's a meerkat?

Dan (Alyx):

They’re- they- oh, right. No, you really wouldn't have a comparative, would you?

Val (Arion):

Because the thing though, Alyx, even beneath the waves, the sea witches have a way of contacting one another. Do you not have that? Do you not have a coven that you are in contact with?

Dan (Alyx):

I don’t, no. I mean, okay, you do understand how that thing works and there are covens that are here. I'm just not in them for ah, reasons.

Dan:

She pulls out another cigarette. Just like literally pack out just like, doesn't even like reach into it just like shakes it towards her mouth and just like pulls it pulls it out with her teeth.

Val (Arion):

Okay, we don't have time to unpack all of this. But can't you, I don't know, do a consultation meeting?

Val:

Arion starts going off about like, ancient Greek and like sea witch custom about like recognizing one another and the sort of like, in typical, Greek mythology, like talks about trials, a witch would have to go through to enter a coven.

Val (Arion):

Maybe you do not need to get to the trial stage. We just need you to -

Dan (Alyx):

Ah, what?

Val (Arion):

-express interest. I don’t know! Has that custom changed?

Dan (Alyx):

When’s the last time that you were like hanging out with a witch's coven, my guy?

Val (Arion):

Delphi.

Dan (Alyx):

As in like the age of the Oracle, like Delphi?

Val (Arion):

Oh, yes, Oracle is so pleasant. Honestly, undeserved reputation.

Dan (Alyx):

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Val (Arion):

Do you still learn about her?

Dan (Alyx):

Well, I mean, I did, but that’s. Witch.

Val (Arion):

Regardless, I still think it's worth contacting them.

Dan (Alyx):

No, you're right. You're right. Let's do that. Let's go.

Alex:

Do you think that you were familiar with them, that you were sort of on good terms with them until you sort of secluded yourself?

Dan:

I think that Alyx's relationship to the covens would have been identifying that they were covens, identifying they were there. Being like, ah, okay, you are a coven. By the time that they recognized her, which wouldn't have taken too long, they're like, come join us. And she'd have been like, pass. And she would have started polite. If they were insistent, she would have gotten more indignant about it until she would have like froze them out.

Alex:

It's an interesting time for the witches of Roseville Beach right now. It came as their previous sort of coven leader had passed away and there was several people sort of campaigning to be the coven leader. And so you were probably approached by several different people and that makes it even stranger that you don't recognize this witch, but you do recognize Aniya, who for sure is one of the major voices of the witch community here.

Dan:

We’re gonna go see her.

Dan (Alyx):

I don't know how many people around here, witches or not, like know your deal. Normal level of discretion, I think, until...

Val (Arion):

Certainly. Yes, I do not feel like having my scales plucked today, thank you.

Dan (Alyx):

As a society witches have evolved a little bit past that kind of barbaric behavior, but you know, I will admit that I don't know these covens that well.

Val (Arion):

Don't get any water splashed on me, we should be fine.

Dan (Alyx):

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Also, they're probably going to be resistant if you try and charm them. Not just because of the magic, most of them are also gay.

Val (Arion):

That's fine. I'm not discriminating.

Dan (Alyx):

I just want to make sure you're forewarned.

Val (Arion):

Absolutely. We Sirens have also come a long way since the ages of yore with the man-eating and everything.

Alex:

Lucky for you two, it's not far away. You turn and it's the building across the street. A little old bookstore that hosts the coven of Roseville Beach.

Val (Arion):

You need a moment?

Dan (Alyx):

Huh? No, I'm good. I'm fine.

Val (Arion):

Mm-hmm. Right.

Dan (Alyx):

Whatever, I'm fine.

Dan:

She’s on her third cigarette.

Alex:

Leading up to the building, you can see that the face of it, the sides of this building have been not restored, but they've been graffitied with really beautiful artwork, honestly. Like, commissioned graffiti, almost. And it is of a brighter future for Roseville Beach. It depicts one where the community is here for the community, where we are not focused on things that drive us apart. And it's honestly like, it looks like a good time.

Val (Arion):

How beautiful!

Dan (Alyx):

Yeah. Yeah.

Alex:

Inside as the door creaks open a little bell, almost like lost its shine lost its ring its tone from wear and tear, beckons your entrance. But nobody meets you here. In fact, there's like a draft. It's cold in here. People are distinctly absent. There are paintings everywhere, covering every inch of the walls and they all hold people. In fact, if you have been keeping up with what has been selling from across the street, a lot of this art has been selling. And a lot of this art is from out of towners, people who have money who come in to purchase art they know nothing about.

There is a creek from upstairs and a light that switches on and a shadow looms over the staircase.

Dan (Alyx):

Hello?

Alex:

There’s no response.

Dan (Alyx):

Please don't do the creepy thing. It's... I mean, the decor is really doing that for you.

Alex:

It’s like it hasn't been touched in years. Clearly, the upstairs is where the coven meets. This is a functioning bookstore, but with the library that opened up a couple years back, this place has been out of touch. In fact, a lot of the books are sort of on the ground, know, flopped over, pages bent, there's cobwebs building in the bookcases.

Dan (Alyx):

Guys heard of a feather duster? Like, do you want us to come upstairs or something? I really don't have the patience for this today.

Alex:

You hear like a shuffling of papers as it stops and the shadow stops moving. The shadow, it extends out of their arm. And it's almost like they're drawing, Arion, what you would recognize as a sword.

Val:

Arion immediately steps before Alyx.

Val (Arion):

We are not here to threaten or harm. We need not draw blade, friend.

Alex (Aniya):

I sense one of you is lying. The witch. You could approach. The other… stay where you are.

Dan (Alyx):

What do mean lying?

Alex (Aniya):

You come with bad company, Someone false. Someone who signs things that they know nothing about.

Alex:

As they step out onto the balcony, their sword, a paintbrush, a magic wand. They point down at you, Arion, and you feel like you've just been locked onto.

I need you to roll to resist succumbing to their magical spell. So the way this is going work is it's going to be Goal. It's going to be Harm.

Val:

I will give the six for achieving my goal. Five for the Injured and the four for Flues.

Dan:

The second I feel that zoning start to come in, Alyx is just going to grip the air a little bit and there’s just going to be kind of the same twisting of the light in the space between,

Dan (Alyx):

He wasn’t lying. He doesn not mean you harm. Get it together sister.

Alex:

b As she has pointed this out, she’s leapt down the staircase with her paintbrush in hand. And it's like a thick paintbrush, right? It's the kind that you would use to paint massive strokes. And she has painted almost like the air and is attempting to force you back into a blank canvas behind you.

Val:

Arion holds out a hand and I think a webbed quality appear in his hand from like his Siren form and he holds it out and he says,

Val (Arion):

Halt, witch. Thou art mistake. Indeed I had tricked thee with regard to my own identity signed upon thy parchment however, indicating and signing one without greater knowledge of contract, without forethought, a foolish endeavor, no? Does thou blame I for such a move. But I'm not here to harm thee.

Dan (Alyx):

Why are saying thou and they?

Val (Arion):

Just so that we're on the same page, my dear.

Dan (Alyx):

Okay.

Alex:

Lou, the moment that the magic has been invoked again, you have been unfrozen and you can start to move. You look around you and to your left and right, if you can get there, you can actually see beyond the painting. On one side is the gallery. And just to your left is Alyx and Arion.

You can't get out of the painting on your own sort of ability, but you can see where the other location is. In fact, you can travel to the other painting.

Kenzie:

And I've been able to hear previously what they were saying to me. And Alyx specifically said, don't move. So I think Lou looks around, sees the shift that has happened and goes,

Kenzie (Lou):

Okay, I've got my orders. I guess I'll stay right here. Oh, I don’t know if I can stay right here.

Kenzie:

I think her muscles have felt super tense from that paralyzing and they start to kind of like loosen. She's an antsy person. Her body is kind of looking for the next thing to do at this point. And she twists and turns on the spot and then goes,

Kenzie (Lou):

Okay, I guess it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Kenzie:

And Lou's going to take off towards the new scene.

Alex:

If you were looking down a hallway and it has partitions, you were jumping through painting to painting. And you come to the realization that all of them have to be opened, for any of them to be opened.

You pass out of yours, you pass into one that's sort of depicting like a lighthouse, you pass into one that's depicting - it’s like an abstract one and all the scene-shift is, you jump into one that shows a very beautiful young woman with a distinct smile. You jump into the painting in the bookstore and what you see is your two friends being confronted by the witch.

The camera like phases through and there's like a distortion as we zoom into the room. And this woman has not heard anything you've said, Arion. Her eyes are glazed over with this fierce determination and you see that everything that she paints, the swipe in the air, it struck the canvas behind it and it's left this shadow of a figure on it. She swipes again and strikes the floorboards leaving this shadow of a figure on it.

Val:

Arion like lowers herself, like assuming something's coming in his direction and like tries to like dodge out of the way and looks over to Alyx.

Val (Arion):

Alyx, my dear, it seems that she's not willing to listen.

Dan (Alyx):

Okay, we tried it the nice way.

Val (Arion):

Okay.

Dan:

I’m gonna keep it simple, she's channeling, I'm calling her one to me.

Alex:

Normally magic risk scares, but I promised you I wasn't gonna do that. So, Injury and Goal, and that's it.

Kenzie:

Can I use my strength to try to Alex pull the wand?

Alex:

Is it like a manifestation of your strength on the wand?

Kenzie:

I think so, yes.

Dan:

Five for Magic, four for the others.

I think she's gonna like twist her hand in the air like she did when she locked the first attack in sort of like place from hitting Arion. There is a bending of the light again and as it bends and stretches instead of her own arm going forward, it's actually Lou’s that reaches out and wraps their hands around it and yanks it.

Alex:

Yanks it out of their hands and the witch, she bends the light around it. She bends and warps your own spell and sort of captures it in this moment. And in our real world, it paints in three-dimensional oil painting. And it is locked between you and her in the middle of the air.

Dan (Alyx):

We could not do this. That would be preferable. I'm having a real shit day and I really just want to talk to you.

Alex (Aniya):

What - I have to.

Dan (Alyx):

What do you mean you have to?

Alex (Aniya):

I have to.

Dan (Alyx):

No you don't.

Alex (Aniya):

I have to.

Dan (Alyx):

Why?

Alex (Aniya):

The people of Roseville Beach deserve better.

Dan (Alyx):

Then what?

Alex:

And she lunges forward. She actually lets go of the spell. The wand snaps to your hand. Grabs a palette knife from her toolkit, and she sort of like pins you to the ground as you are now the one who is stopping her from her goal. And she has put this palette knife to your throat. You have the wand in your hand. This is incredible. This is like on the level of your mentor. This power that she's been wielding is far beyond the covens.

Dan (Alyx):

The throat? Been there, done that. So buy me dinner first next time.

Dan:

And I'm going to take her paintbrush wand and I think I'm going to channel through it and use that to just send the knife into the paint world.

Alex:

Yeah, roll Magic for this.

Val:

I’m augmenting the water from all the paints onto the brush so your power is augmented.

Dan:

I’m going to use Bane on this one. So I don't lose control of my magic. Four and four, so no Injury, but mixed success again.

Alex:

As you channel your magic through this, right, it is so powerful. You don't lose control of it. It almost is like it chains off of itself and the spell is reflected in extraordinary power. And you push up off of the knife, it and Aniya are thrown into the art world. Into the painting that she attempted to put Arion.

As a consequence, the paintbrush shatters. And almost like passing one and the other, it releases everyone from the pictures. Trapping only Aniya there.

Lou, you are now in this scene as you have stepped out of the art world. You can feel everything. The world is like blinding for a moment and as it focuses back into reality, you see the shapes and the colors hone back in.

Kenzie (Lou):

Holy shit!

Val (Arion):

Oh my god, you're back!

Kenzie (Lou):

You guys have looked better.

Val (Arion):

Don't look at me.

Val:

Arion looks over to Alyx, who's still on the ground, and like holds out his hands.

Dan (Alyx):

I’m going - I need a little more floor time. Thank you.

Val (Arion):

No, that's all right.

Kenzie (Lou):

I just want to say that before I met either of you, I never got locked inside of a painting.

Dan (Alyx):

You sure?

Val (Arion):

I'm so sorry that the events of our meeting led to this. It's good to see that you're okay.

Kenzie (Lou):

It was like getting hard to breathe in there, but I don't know if that was the painting or me. And it might have been a mix of both.

Dan (Alyx):

What the fuck?

Alex:

The painting that Aniya has been placed in, Alyx and Arion, this is a manifestation of your magic together. Please describe what you have painted.

Val:

It’s watercolor. The amount of water that Arion had like fueled into your brush made the consistency of the paint like watercolor, like gouache more like. There's a level of isolation to the piece. Like the broad strokes are that Aniya is placed in a intimate yet isolated place with these sort of like bright pastel-like colors. It's dreamlike, in a sense. Ethereal.

Dan:

I think she didn't mean to do it. Like her intention was not to throw her in there, but just to stop her from doing it by like throwing her implement in there. So I think when it came down to detail, she was just like going to put like a little, like just on a table, just like this little like stool was just going to have this brush on it. When she was like painting it in her head. And so now there's just this little stool in this sort of like empty space in the center of this and the shattered pieces of a brush in there.

Alex:

Do you take the painting with you or do you leave it here?

Dan (Alyx):

We can't fucking leave this here.

Val (Arion):

I didn't think so. We have too much unexplained, don't we?

Val:

And Arion looks to Lou.

Val (Arion):

I know you've just gone through a difficult experience with the painting and this is the person that did it, but I would like to know what's going on.

Kenzie (Lou):

So you're going back in the painting? I'm taking the painting off the wall and carrying it with us?

Kenzie:

And Lou yanks it off of the wall and puts it under her arm.

Val (Arion):

Thank you, my favorite lesbian.

Kenzie (Lou):

Hi ho.

Dan (Alyx):

Excuse you.

Val (Arion):

It’s a tie between the both of you.

Dan (Alyx):

I’ll remember that.

Kenzie (Lou):

I feel like I have paint all over my body, by the way, and I would like to take a bath or actually a shower.

Dan (Alyx):

Yeah, y'all head home. I need to check something real quick. I'll be right there.

Kenzie (Lou):

Don't get stuck in a painting.

Val (Arion):

Couldn’t say it better myself.

Dan (Alyx):

I'm probably good on that front.

Dan:

Alyx is going back to the coffee shop. You said that everyone who was locked in the paintings was pulled out. I'm going to the portrait. Is Estelle still the subject of the portrait?

Alex:

There is no paint on that canvas.

Dan:

You see her just rub her neck and you can actually see now because I think that sharp blade was at that choker like it's not in the same place and so you can see there is a thin straight scar right across her throat underneath the choker.

Alex:

And Lou, to close us out, I want to know where the painting goes in the Beach House. Is it hung? Is it presented? Is it left in the attic? Is it covered?

Kenzie:

Lou comes into the beach house and she opens that secret door into their quote unquote war room scenario with all of their investigative stuff and their mysteries they've been in or have taken care of and she puts it in there, she shuts the door on it.

This series stars Alexander Christopher as the Game master, Valiant Dorian as Arion, Dan Pyxel as Alyx Cho, and Kenzie Tartaglione as Lou Wells. If you liked it, share, rate, and review. You can join our Discord. And make sure to check out our Patreon for this season character advancements, bloopers, After Show, and so much more!

The first queer call of the season is here! This is where we thank our wonderful patrons for their support. We could not make the show without you! So, here’s to Burke, Jenine Florence Jacinto, Cheryl, Guggy, Lala West, Riley Manessa, Lisa Rae Bowman, Sky Ray, Jordan Vandiver, Alex Weeks, David Grzesik, and Brooke Fazarkerley.

We also have a lot of member in our free tier. We see you, we love you, thanks for hanging out!