S4 E5: Night Out! …Or Not

Kenzie Tartaglione:

Last week on Roseville Beach…

Alexander Weeks (Miss Cherry): It all started the night that I entered the Rosville Pearl [lightining strike sfx].

Alex (GM):

A statue, a beautiful, very well crafted statue of a sailor.

Logan:

Atticus remembers the sound of glass shattering and flames roaring as a theatre full of hundreds of people is razed to the ground.

Kenzie (Lou Wells):

I think I know how to fix this and we have to lay to rest all of these dead people.

Dan Pyxel (Alyx Cho):

I can’t believe I’m going to say this. I think Lou has the right idea.

Valiant Dorian:

He’s done it again, where he’s promised an aspect of himself to a mortal. It is a very, very bad habit he is forming.

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

Alex (GM):

Lou, you were contacted by friend from a former time, actually a mentor of sorts, Luis. Somebody who has given you lots of jobs throughout Roseville Beach, throughout your decade here. And Luis has been really needing help. In fact, he kind of contacted you and when he did, he sounded like he had been exerting himself. He's getting to an older age. Usually he has his team to kind of work on that. But for some reason, he has gone out of his way to personally be building and working on the construction for the new record studio opening on Vista Street.

Shafts of sunlight peer through the material that is covering up the workspace as you are aiding Luis.

Kenzie:

I mean, literally anything that Luis would ask for, Lou would be helping. But I think maybe specifically at this moment, she is building the record holder boxes that will slot all of the records for sale in.

Alex (GM):

As you're doing that, Luis kinda - he’s got like, measuring tape as he's figuring out the dimensions of space. He has chalk, he's marking up the area. He’s chatting with you, I'm sort of sharing a fun little memory.

Kenzie:

The first day on the job, which was not Lou's first time meeting Luis, but it did feel to her like the first time she had to make like a really big impression upon him. They were headed up to the fourth floor of the hotel to fix the faucet in one of the bathrooms. And as they were going up in the elevator, it malfunctioned. and Lou decided to prove herself as a mechanic that she was going to climb up the door in the roof of the elevator into the shaft to fix it. But about halfway up, the elevator started moving again. And she had literally completely toned out Luis saying this happens multiple times a day. It's just how the elevator works. It's fine. Get back inside. Don't do this. And like dropped back down and like had to realize that she had totally like just ignored his whole warning about how things work. And so I think that their relationship is based a lot off of this man who knows how things work versus Lou who assumes that she just needs to fix everything. And that was kind of the beginning of that sort of relationship that they had.

Alex (GM):

As you're remembering this time, Luis is laughing, he's kind of chuckling to himself. And you can tell that he's in quite a bit of discomfort and pain. You know, he's like rolling his shoulder back and out as he's going at a slower pace. I mentioned it before, but he is getting older, you know, he should have probably retired a while ago. And that's when somebody sort of parts through the sheets and calls Luis over. He disappears for a few minutes and comes back with almost like a disgruntled disposition as he sits down, he pulls over a chair. I think it's like a beach chair he actually kind of has in his arm, he folds out, he sits down in it, he reaches into the cooler and he takes out a drink and like cracks it open, right? As it sort of like fizzes over because it's been thrown around a little bit too much. He has to like hold it out for himself as the foam drips off and he wipes his hands off on his overalls.

Kenzie (Lou):

I could've got ice for you. We could've got ice.

Alex (Luis):

You know what, Lou, it's here, you can take this one, I'll get a different one.

Alex (GM):

As he's handing you this dripping drink.

Kenzie (Lou):

I think they're all gonna be the same, but I'll do it, I'll do it.

Alex (Luis):

You’re probably right. I’ll just wait a little bit.

Alex (GM):

As he pulls out this little black book from his pocket and the pencil from behind his ear. And he sort of like strikes out a name in it. He starts muttering to himself.

Kenzie (Lou):

I got two questions for you, Luis.

Alex (Luis):

(sighs) Hmm?

Kenzie (Lou):

First question is, what appointment are we not doing anymore?

Alex (Luis):

(chuckles) No, that's a... I wish it was an appointment, Lou. This is one of my guys working down at another site.

Kenzie (Lou):

They died?

Alex (Luis):

No, no, no. No, they didn't die. This is...

Alex (GM):

He kind of turns it over to you, and it's in big words. It says schedule on it.

Kenzie (Lou):

Oh, okay, okay. Sorry, sorry. You crossed the name out. I wasn't sure where this was going.

Alex (Luis):

No, Lou, you’ve always had quite an imagination on you. You're funny one. No, they didn't die. I just gotta take them off the schedule. They're heading over to the mainland to get a more proper hospital treatment. I guess they got injured on their last site. Makes the fifth one this month.

Kenzie (Lou):

Oh, well, we're actually… you might want to call that six. We're like pulling into my second question here, which is what the fuck is up with your arm?

Alex (Luis):

Uh, this is, you know, I just, I think I've just been, I think I've just been stressed. I think I've just been working a little bit too hard. You know, I think just a good night's sleep and I'll be fine.

Kenzie (Lou):

Too much of a coincidence if people on your jobs are getting hurt and you're kind of her right now. Can I just- Can I just take a look? I picked up some first aid training. I might be able to tell you if you need to go to the hospital or not.

Alex (Luis):

That’s how you know I'm getting too old is when you start to be the one telling me to slow down. Yeah, yeah, go ahead.

Kenzie (Lou):

Okay.

Kenzie:

And I'm gonna take a look at his shoulder.

Alex (GM):

Luis does need to take a break. He has injured his arm in such a way that if he keeps working, it's going to get worse, in a way that won't just be discomforting, but will actually seriously injure him. It's hard to diagnose where the injury came from, but you can definitely see some similarities with an injury you've been dealing with, too. I mean this is some sort of, like, pulled muscle or some sort of injury to their rotator, the ability to lift, the ability to maneuver, to rotate, to push is being hindered by this. Which building an entire record studio is gonna require.

Kenzie:

I think then Lou actually still has an arm, even though it was relocated, still has an arm in a sling at this point. And as she's checking over, Luis goes,

Kenzie (Lou):

Hey, listen, I think the best thing to do would for us to become twins.

Alex (Luis):

(chuckles)

Alex (GM):

He winces as he sort of like crosses his arms.

Alex (Luis):

Look, Lou, I gotta be completely honest with you. This is the fifth guy I've lost to injuries this week and I can't stop working. I gotta keep cash flowing in.

Kenzie (Lou):

Well, if you don't stop working, you'll be forced to stop working.

Alex (Luis):

Hmm. Hmph.

Kenzie (Lou):

I got you.

Alex (Luis):

You got me?

Kenzie (Lou):

Yeah.

Alex (Luis):

You’re injured too, Lou.

Kenzie (Lou):

Sure. Right, but I'm more healed than you are.

Alex (Luis):

I’ll tell you what Lou, I’m gonna take the rest of the day off. I'm gonna go home, I'm gonna rest. You are free to do whatever you want. I'll give you a total creative freedom with this project. Just don't go hurting yourself, okay?

Kenzie (Lou):

No, of course not. And when you come back tomorrow, you're not even gonna believe how much I got done.

Alex (GM):

He kinda chuckles himself as he walks off and he sort of like waves his finger into the air.

Kenzie:

Does Lou know any of the guys who have been hurt recently and what types of jobs they were on?

Alex (Luis):

You know a lot of people, and there are a few people on the island who you've kind of worked with, but there's actually been a lot of construction on the island recently. I mean, this record studio is a very special one because it is a Roseville Beach regular that is starting up a new label. But there are a few other job sites on the island. There is surf shop that's being remodeled and there is a new fancy hotel, honestly not too far away from the beach house, that is also being built. And you've heard about some accidents, maybe not anything super specific, but there is one person who probably heard through the grapevine is adamant about not returning to work. They have completely stopped working. They are telling everyone they're trying, they're organizing even like strikes against the company that they work

Kenzie:

And they don't work for Luis though, it's a different company.

Alex (Luis):

They used to work for Luis. They used to work with you, but they recently left working for Luis for a higher paying job.

Kenzie:

But that's not a necessarily like a thread Lou can draw from because there are people who are still working for Luis who are getting hurt.

Alex (Luis):

Everyone who was in Luis's book that was crossed off from the schedule had gotten injured and it was at least five people. One of them you know for a fact worked for Luis, but doesn't anymore.

Kenzie:

I think as she's kind of putting some plywood against each other and hammering nails in one arm up against it to hold it and the other one actually doing work, she's just kind of thinking that she could be next in like an out of hte blue, not normal, pessimistic thought from Lou. But, she’s been hurt before in this line of work so maybe it's nothing but there's like a itching at the base of her skull that it's too coincidental.

So I think she'll finish out that day working by herself until she's supposed to end. She's not gonna make Luis pay her overtime. And will leave at day's end.

Alex (GM):

Make me a roll to see how well he did- If you want to make the process go faster or with more special flair to it, can also roll on the trouble table.

Kenzie:

I think I might do that actually because I think I'm going to have a significant amount of dice so I feel okay doing that. So I'm gonna put four in goal. I'll put a three in trouble.

Alex (GM):

It's taking longer than you expected. The sun is going down and you've had to like set up lights in order to get the work done that was supposed to be done today so that you are at least kind of on track to get close to that deadline. Without more people working on it, you're not going to hit the deadline. But you were able to get enough done today. I want to know what the persistent thought in your head about you getting hurt is.

Kenzie:

The persistent thought in my head is that I'm gonna have to walk home and make a phone call to Annie because she's going to tell me what I actually should be doing to avoid further injury and maybe she'll also have advice on whether or not Luis should be going to a hospital. I don't know, she just seems to be maybe a little bit more tuned in to all of that than Lou is. And it's not that Lou doesn't like calling Annie, it’s just that like, she's not really supposed to just do it willy nilly. And this feels to Lou like a willy nilly phone call. So she's in her head - she’s like, I don't call her on the way home. I don't call her before I leave. I shouldn't do that, but I gotta know. But she's gonna be so mad if I just call her for nothing. And oh, my goodness.

Like, that's what's going through Lou's head. At the same time that Lou is like, Why are people getting hurt so much? That's odd. People get hurt on construction jobs all the time. People get hurt in the repair industry all the time. The fact that, like, Luis knows five guys who've been injured in, the last week? Weird. Too weird. But maybe Annie would have- would know what to do with them, too. Maybe we could get them all help.

Alex (GM):

As these thoughts are going through your head, as you're ending your work day, you're walking back home, pull out your keys, you step over the one broken floorboard on the wooden steps up to your raised beach house, and you of pull yourself up. You unlock the door, you enter in. The camera's gonna pass you and linger on Arion.

Val:

I am attempting to make pancakes in the beach house kitchen. And he is leaning against one of the like cabinets in the kitchen and it is - it is a mess. There’s like eggs in a carton that's opened up, there's like milk. There’s definitely like splotches of pancake mix on like the counter there is Arion looking at the back of a box trying to read through and see how to get the the proper coloration. You see there's plenty of other pancakes that he's made, but they don't quite look like the ones in the box. And that is infuriating him a little bit.

Dan:

If Arion is cooking, then I think she's there for like moral support.

Dan (Alyx):

No, okay, yeah, that’s - Mm-hmm, that's how you do that, yeah. You don't need to-

Val (Arion):

I want the really nice color like they have on the box.

Dan (Alyx):

The box is a lie. It's about what's in your heart.

Val:

b You see that his brows are furrowed in frustration. You can tell that he's like banked some sort of expectations, some sort of like grand experience to what these pancakes turn out like. He has set maybe a little too much of his pride into ensuring this comes up perfectly. And then you see him like take a little slice of a pancake to just give it a taste and goes,

Val (Arion):

It still tastes good. It still tastes really good.

Dan (Alyx):

Exactly.

Val (Arion):

Humans and your ingenuity.

Val:

And as soon as he says that he turns, sees Lou, they enter into the space, walk off, slam the bathroom door shut.

Val (Arion):

Good evening to you.

Val:

Looks over at Alyx.

Val (Arion):

Are you poking or am I? Am I entering Scylla's lair there?

Dan (Alyx):

You stay doing that, will make myself useful.

Val:

As soon as you say that, he goes over to the radio, turns it on, and disco starts playing as he continues cooking.

Dan (Alyx):

Don’t push your luck.

Val (Arion):

(laughs)

Dan:

It’s evening. She's got her like evening beer with her and she's just going to go over to the bathroom and like lean against the wall and like knock on the door.

Dan (Alyx):

You good, hun?

Kenzie (Lou):

Yeah, I’ll be out in a second.

Dan (Alyx):

Okay. Alright, Arion was just worried. Made a reference to an ancient Greek monster.

Kenzie (Lou):

What?

Dan (Alyx):

Day that ends in ‘y’. Listen, he’s been making pancakes for like four hours. He won't stop. He's gone through two whole boxes of mix. I - I - I don't - Please tell me you have literally anything else to do.

Kenzie:

The door opens and Lou’s face is just like dripping wet like she just splashed her with water and she was like,

Kenzie (Lou):

Yeah, no, I want pancakes

Dan:

I can count on you. Make sure to blot.

Kenzie (Lou):

Yeah, no, sorry. I just I got to make a phone call and I want to make sure I looked good.

Dan:

Her eye just like twitches just a little bit.

Val (Arion):

Is this your not girlfriend person you're speaking to again?

Kenzie (Lou):

Arion, I don't know what you're talking about. Just make your pancakes.

Val (Arion):

Okay.

Kenzie (Lou):

Cause I'm gonna eat all of them.

Val (Arion):

I have a full sack.

Dan (Alyx):

Oh, we're calling the not girlfriend.

Kenzie (Lou):

No, well, yes, but not. Oh my goodness. No, it's not like that. It's not like that. Annie's a She's not my non-girlfriend, she's just my friend.

Dan (Alyx):

Uh-huh.

Kenzie (Lou):

There was some shit going down at work today that I thought was kind of weird, actually.

Kenzie:

And Lou grabs one of the hand towels in the bathroom and just wipes her face and then hangs it back up. And walks out and shuts the light off and is like,

Kenzie (Lou):

Actually, you might be interested in this to be perfectly honest, because I thought it was a bit weird.

Kenzie:

And I feel like brings Alyx back into the kitchen with this conversation and then just like grabs one of this pancakes off the top of a stack and just like starts literally eating it with no butter, no syrup, just straight up like a cookie almost.

Val (Arion):

I have the jar of ambrosia on the counter.

Kenzie (Lou):

I didn't know what that was. That's some weird letters. The pancakes are fine. I mean, this one's a little burnt, but like, it's fine.

Val:

Arion’s eye twitches a little bit and then as soon as you say that and like takes a bowl, pours another and then stares at it like a hawk with an intensity you haven't seen from Arion since probably the first episode.

Kenzie (Lou):

Yeah, so I don't know, I was just gonna call Annie because she helps me out when... You know, she’s kind of a nurse, you know and I mean, I'm hurt obviously my arm, but that - she already worked on that a little bit. And she was like, ‘just don't do too much work, just rest.’ And like, whatever. But Luis was on the job today was like hurting. And then he had like a book full of his employees and like six of them were also injured in like the last week. And sure, sure, repair work, construction work, not the safest of jobs, but it just felt like a lot.

Val:

The pancake flips in the pan and Arion like turns to look at you.

Kenzie (Lou):

That looks perfect.

Val (Arion):

Thank you.

Val:

Eyes glitter. Arion is not above flattery. As he kind of like wipes his hand on like a kitchen towel while listening to you, it just says,

Val (Arion):

Sounds like one big accident. Unless you're saying it's not one big accident that's hurting all these guys.

Kenzie (Lou):

I think it all happened at different places.

Dan (Alyx):

Yeah, that's a little concerning. Could we just not find anymore cursed places. What have they been working on? Where were you?

Kenzie (Lou):

Well, I was working on the record shop.

Dan (Alyx):

Were the rest of them?

Kenzie (Lou):

No, it just me and Luis. They had all been hurt.

Dan (Alyx):

Working on the record shop?

Kenzie (Lou):

No, no, like some guy came in and like told Luis somebody was hurt. I didn't actually see the guy that was injured.

Dan (Alyx):

So they're also working elsewhere.

Kenzie (Lou):

Yeah. There's a lot of construction going on in town right now. Have you not noticed?

Val (Arion):

Humans build things all the time.

Dan (Alyx):

I mostly don't go into town when the sun is up.

Kenzie (Lou):

Sure, but like the buildings are covered up and like you would see like the works, whatever. Okay, that's fine. There's a lot of stuff going on, Alyx.

Dan (Alyx):

b I believe you.

Val (Arion):

So how is the not-girlfriend math thing into all of this?

Kenzie (Lou):

Oh my god, can you just call her my friend? Her name is Annie. Her name is Annie.

Val (Arion):

Fine, fine, fine, fine. How does Annie factor into all of this? Do think she has some greater insight into Roseville Beach's repair?

Kenzie (Lou):

No, I'm just going to call her to see if I like… if she thought my arm was doing well and then I was going to call her to see if I set Luis's arm right or if she could set Luis's arm right. And then I was going to call and be like, ‘Hey, do think this is weird? Have you seen any of these guys?’ And that's all.

Alex (GM):

You look over to the clock and realize it's getting late and Annie's probably going to go to bed soon.

Kenzie (Lou):

I got to do this now or never my friends.

Val:

Pushes at plate in your direction.

Alex (GM):

It’s a corded phone. It is one that is connected to its own receiver, right? So you would have to pick it up and it's connected to that, put it back down, it's connected to the wall. You can pick up the whole thing and travel as far as the cord will let you go, but it's not that far. If you want to try to separate yourself, you can walk into the bathroom and close the door with the cord sticking out. You can walk just to the right of the stairwell as you're trying to like go upstairs. Or you can go onto the patio.

Kenzie:

Lou glances at the phone that's on the counter and it's like takes the plate of pancakes and is like, I'm going to go call her in my room. Goes onto the stairwell and then when it tugs and she can't move it anymore, just like sits down on one of the stairs and like pretends that no one is in the room with her and like turns away from them and puts in Annie's number and holds the phone up and kind of like over her shoulder looking at them and trying to give them eyes of like, ‘Don't eavesdrop.’

Dan:

Alyx just leans against the table, looks over at Arion for a second and is just like,

Dan (Alyx):

Not girlfriend.

Dan (Alyx):

And then just looks directly at Lou.

Val:

Arion has spent centuries eavesdropping. You turning your face away is not enough to stop this bad.

Dan:

Baby I am a bartender. This is my profession.

Alex (GM):

And the phone rings once. It rings twice. And you hear sort of like the receiver pick up.

Alex (Annie):

Hi, hello.

Kenzie (Lou):

Hi. Oh sorry, it's me, Lou.

Alex (Annie):

Yeah, I got that.

Kenzie (Lou):

Oh, okay.

Alex (Annie):

Sorry, it's just a little late.

Kenzie (Lou):

Yeah, this is gonna be quick.

Alex (Annie):

Okay.

Kenzie (Lou):

Sorry, how are you? Are you doing okay today?

Alex (Annie):

Yeah, I mean, I guess I'm doing all right. I mean, I just didn't expect to hear back from you so soon.

Kenzie (Lou):

Oh, yeah. So my arm -

Alex (Annie):

Is your arm okay? Oh my god. Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry. Is your arm okay?

Kenzie (Lou):

No, no, it's still fine. It's still fine. You did a great job of wrapping it. It's great. I've kept it in the brace like you told me to. But I actually was wondering if you had seen the likes of Luis or any of his guys recently.

Alex (Annie):

That’s an interesting question. No, I mean, I don't really talk with Luis. I did, you know, the one summer. That was a long time ago. But, I mean, give me a moment.

Alex (GM):

And you hear the phone sort of like drops onto the table as you hear footsteps shuffling out. And then you hear a second voice, another woman. And the two of them kind of chat for a second. And then it trails off and the phone gets picked back up.

Alex (Annie):

Hey, Lou, you still there?

Kenzie (Lou):

Yeah.

Alex (Annie):

Yeah. Hey, actually, it's really interesting you called because I did treat somebody who used to work for Luis today. There was an accident down at one of the construction sites. I mean, it was kind of wild if I'm being honest, but the guy is fine. He just, I needed him to go like to a proper hospital. didn't have all of the equipment to make sure he was really okay. There was a accident with like the sort of saws and it went, I don't know. There was like a slip or something and they got cut.

Kenzie (Lou):

The sort of saws? Okay. So like went to Mainline County Hospital, is that where they went?

Alex (Annie):

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's where I had sent them.

Kenzie (Lou):

Okay. I'm so sorry I didn't know you had company. I’ll- bye.

Alex (Annie):

Oh, uh... Uh... Um...

Kenzie (Lou):

b No, no, don't... Just goodbye is fine.

Alex (Annie):

Oh. Okay.

Kenzie (Lou):

I’m sorry for interrupting your evening.

Alex (Annie):

Uh…

Kenzie (Lou):

Super helpful info though. So good.

Alex (Annie):

Yeah. Okay, goodbye.

Alex (GM):

And she doesn't hang up the phone.

Kenzie:

Lou stays on the phone as well.

Alex (GM):

There is a silence that you can only hear breathing on the other side of the line.

Alex (Annie):

(breathing)

Kenzie (Lou):

Right. Okay, bye.

Kenzie:

And then hangs up. After hangs up so abruptly like brings the phone in and stands up

Kenzie (Lou):

So she said it was kind of weird too.

Dan (Alyx):

Mmm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Val (Arion):

I’m getting the wine. Definitely not girlfriend.

Kenzie (Lou):

No, I think she might have a girlfriend.

Val:

You already hear the cork pop off the bottle.

Kenzie (Lou):

That’s just not really important right now. She said that she sent one of Luis's guys to the mainland hospital today.

Val (Arion):

That’s bad, right?

Kenzie (Lou):

Well, it's like the people - people go there when like the Roseville Beach Hospital doesn't have enough resources to help them. So obviously it's, you know, like not great.

Val:

Slides a glass of wine over to you, Lou. One over to Alyx.

Kenzie:

Lou takes it, sips it and makes the most like, ‘Oh, what is this?’ face.

Val (Arion):

Wine. Good wine.

Kenzie (Lou):

It's like, it's like, my, my tongue is like fully dehydrated on one sip.

Val (Arion):

Just how it's meant to taste.

Val:

And takes another like swig.

Dan:

Sniffs it and like, does it smell like vinegar or does it smell like actually like good?

Val:

It’s probably a really really sharp wine.

Kenzie:

I think Lou just doesn't like wine.

Dan:

And now, Alyx is like, sort of double-fisting a little bit.

Kenzie:

Lou takes a pancake and like, dunks it into the drink.

Kenzie (Lou):

So I mean, that's what I know now.

Val (Arion):

And does this mean you are about to look more into the fact that these lads are being…

Kenzie (Lou):

I think it's weird, I think it's weird, Arion, I think it's weird.

Val:

Arion looks over at Alyx.

Val (Arion):

She hasn't been wrong yet.

Dan:

Alyx is already having a weird moment of which one do I need to finish first to not make the other one taste bad. And she hears you say,

Dan (Alyx):

Oh, no, I agree. I guess the question is, do we go to the mainland to talk to that guy, or do we look for someone more local who's not as serious? What's the move here?

Kenzie:

The Mainline Hospital, is that on the mainland or is it just further into Roseville Beach?

Alex (GM):

No, no, it's on the mainland. The last ferry has already left for the day.

Kenzie (Lou):

b Yeah, no, I don't, I feel like that is, no, that's too far. That's too far. There's a guy who lives here who used to work for Luis and who stopped working for Luis and then got injured and then like stopped working at all. And I just feel like maybe he's who we should go talk to first. We can do it in the morning, I guess. I know it's kind of late and he might be sleeping, as I was told when I made a phone call about five minutes ago.

Val (Arion):

Oh dear.

Kenzie (Lou):

Oh dear what?

Val (Arion):

No, nothing. just think that you look so-

Kenzie (Lou):

It is late. I shouldn't be calling Annie after sunset. I get it. I understand the vibe.

Val (Arion):

Are you okay?

Kenzie (Lou):

Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?

Val (Arion):

This news didn't... how do you say it? Shock you?

Kenzie (Lou):

I guess it was like surprising but like not in a super surprising way Annie and I haven't dated for ten years.

Val:

Arion looks over and mutters over to Alex and goes,

Val (Arion):

Do you see why the lesbian title is given to Lou?

Dan:

Just like pinching the bridge of her nose and just like,

Dan (Alyx):

Oh, god. Checkmate. Hun, would it help you if we got out of the house and did something? Like, to take your mind off it?

Val (Arion):

We should go out.

Kenzie (Lou):

What are you talking about? I'm fine.

Dan (Alyx):

Yeah, okay, totally. But do you want to go out and do something that -? Anything else?

Kenzie (Lou):

I mean, I've just... I don't... I mean, if you guys want to, but like, I felt like Arion here was trying to like, perfect their pancakes.

Val (Arion):

b But I also love going out.

Dan (Alyx):

It’s totally perfect. It's been four hours. It's good. It's great.

Kenzie (Lou):

Oh, did I just have like one of the early ones and that's why it was burnt?

Val (Arion):

Yeah.

Kenzie (Lou):

Sorry. I'm a little tired, so I don't want to stay out late late, but you can go out.

Dan (Alyx):

It’ll be fine. Come on, we can go -

Kenzie (Lou):

Can we walk along the beach to wherever we go?

Dan (Alyx):

Of course.

Kenzie (Lou):

I want to go on the beach. don't want to go. just walked home on the main road. I don't want to go back on it.

Val (Arion):

I love the beach!

Alex (GM):

We step out onto the cool night air, onto the beach, right? Sand and everything. Do we walk east or west?

Kenzie:

Lou just starts walking west.

Alex (GM):

You begin heading west and the night is, like I said, it's a nice cool night. It's peaceful. Roseville Beach has a significant nightlife, but when you're here, when you're not in town, it’s meditative. It's a place where you can be, if you wish, alone with your thoughts or just to escape the real world. As you are walking down the beach, if you look to your left, you can see the waves crashing. You know, this is not the side of the docks. This is sand that goes directly to the ocean. And you look off to the right, you can see sort of lights in the distance as you can almost hear the distant hum of disco. In front of you is about four, five story tall construction site for an upcoming hotel. You hear a sudden sort of like generator start to hum.

Kenzie (Lou):

Luis just talked about this place today, but also it's after hours, there should be no power to this building. What's that noise?

Dan (Alyx):

At least this’ll take your mind off it, right? Maybe we try being a little quiet for a bit while we go in.

Kenzie:

When that noise comes on do any like lights come on as well or is it just the hum?

Alex (GM):

You hear the hum first, and this is a large construction site. They have basically just the skeleton of the building built. You can see like into some of the floors and then it gets a little bit too tall that you can't see into it. You can just see the ceiling, right? Its perimeter is a quickly put up fence. You would be able to easily climb it. Or if you had a key to the door, you could unlock the gate and like kind of go inside.

Along the gate are banners for Industrial Prospects, which is a offshore company that has been brought in to build this site. And actually you've seen this before. If you were to walk down the other way on the beach, the surf co, it went through an accident a couple months back is also being rebuilt by the same company. And it's also a company that helped build sort of like the renovations to the country club. So they have slowly had more and more influence on Roseville Beach.

There is a spot for sort of the generator to give power to like working lights and stuff. And then there is a mobile shack that's been constructed on top of the sand to house people for their breaks or whatever. And that does have a light on.

Kenzie (Lou):

This is just kinda weird, like everyone's gone. And I would say that if just the light was on for that trailer that would be fine because sometimes like the foreman sleeps at his work site. But I just don't understand why the generator for the entire building just turned on. Can I go ask this guy is that okay? Can we make a quick detour?

Dan (Alyx):

We can pop in and see if he's there.

Alex (GM):

The gate, which would be secured with large locks and chains, is not. It has warning labels on it, like, warning, don’t enter without proper equipment or without being hired by Industrial Prospects. It's a dangerous site. It has a long list of dangers that you could experience if you are not properly trained. But you can open the gate and enter.

Kenzie:

Lou pushes the gate open and strides across the sand towards that one smaller building with the lights on.

Alex (GM):

It’s a cool night. Now, sort of, your view separated from the ocean, separated from the village at large, leaves you with your thoughts. And you approach this sort of working shack. And the door is unlocked. And there's nobody inside. But the lights are on. The generator has been turned on. But there is set of keys on the desk. So clearly somebody has come inside and started working on some stuff. Inside of the building, there is a list of all of the people who are on Industrial Prospects, like, go lists. These people are allowed to be here, and these people need to sort of like check in when they come in. And you see the same name that was crossed out of Luis's book. Not just one, or two. But all of them.

Kenzie (Lou):

Yeah, so this is a fucked up construction company is the vibe I'm getting.

Dan (Alyx):

Yep.

Val (Arion):

Oh, that’s bad.

Kenzie (Lou):

I’m glad I never worked for them. Because I could have something worse than this lame arm.

Val (Arion):

You’re making it sound like our misadventures last time was a blessing in disguise. Did I use that right?

Kenzie (Lou):

I don't know if I would say that. I was hanging off a catwalk in a theater that was on fire. It was kind of crazy. But it wasn't my job that was like extracurricular, you know?

Alex (GM):

Right on the performance desk where the keys were, the keys are lying on top of the clipboard and it is a list of incident reports. And it has the most recent one on top, which was like mishap or like, like accidents with with saw. The injured employee had to be rushed off to the hospital in order to prevent like massive bleeding.

Alyx, you smell something that actually triggers a memory. It's the same kind of scent that you experienced at the Pearl last week. It is a noxious scent. It is a sickening scent that is starting to sort of come out of thin air.

Dan (Alyx):

We should get out of here. Right now.

Dan:

I’m just gonna kind of like cover her mouth a little bit.

Dan (Alyx):

Out, out, out, out, out, out,

Kenzie (Lou):

Okay, but we didn't find any. Okay.

Dan (Alyx):

Out.

Val (Arion):

Listen to the witch.

Alex (GM):

You’re able to sort of get out of the building and you smell it as well. Its like natural gas has been leaking into this place. Nearby there's like natural gas reservoir that would be used for some part of the construction, right? Some part of the maintenance and operation of this site. And you kind of can get everybody clear from it, but approaching it would be pretty dangerous, you know? It's gonna have a pretty explosive property to it if you don't deal with it properly.

And that's when you see a flashlight, three stories up, start to move around.

Kenzie:

Would I have been able to grab those incident reports and the keys before we ran out of there?

Alex (GM):

And you can even flip through them really quickly. these are wild incident reports and they all span within the past two, three weeks. We have an incident of somebody falling off of a ladder and ending up in a coma. We have an incident of electrocution where somebody nearly died. We have an incident of a runaway forklift where the keys were left in and somebody was trapped in between concrete and the forklift. There's another one of sort of chemical exposure where somebody was trapped inside of a room where two chemicals were sort of poisoning them. And then there's the most recent one of the sort of saw cutting through somebody.

Kenzie:

Seeing that flashlight, I go,

Kenzie (Lou):

It’s happening. It's happening here. It's happening here right now. Whatever the fuck is going on is happening here right now.

Val (Arion):

This is an outrageous level of bad luck.

Kenzie (Lou):

It follows me around.

Val (Arion):

Now I don't necessarily think that.

Kenzie (Lou):

Ahhh, I do. I do think it.

Dan (Alyx):

Yeah, no, I think there's something to that, but I don't think this one's on you. We gotta get them out of here.

Alex (GM):

And then suddenly the flashlight rolls off the third story and falls next to your feet.

Kenzie (Lou):

Somebody is dead. Somebody is dead. Somebody is dead inside that building.

Alex (GM):

You look up and see there is a man that is dangling off of the side. They are holding on to the concrete.

Kenzie:

How many stories up is this?

Alex (GM):

Three.

Kenzie:

Is there any ladders? Is there any climbing capability?

Alex (GM):

You can legitimately just pull over a ladder. think that there probably is some sort of system inside of the construction site so you can move between the floors. And there is probably some sort of heavy machinery you could operate to aid in this as well.

Kenzie:

She runs over to the crane. The keys are still in the ignition. She flips it on. And then she goes,

Kenzie (Lou):

One of you come over here. You got to drive this thing. Cause I got to go, I got to climb up there and I got to go grab him.

Val (Arion):

Do not make me drive that thing.

Val:

And then looks over to Lou, takes out the pearl necklace around his neck, and then taps you on your nose and like mentions an old incantation in a language you do not understand. And I would like to grant you a Boon.

Val (Arion):

b May the blessing of her Achilles bless you. May your arms be strong enough to save this life.

Kenzie:

She’s strong because of manual labor. She's not like a bodybuilder though. So she's like fairly like average build has a bit of a tummy but like has wide shoulders, wide arms, like it looks like she has useful strength. And I feel like in this moment, it's almost like those muscles just, in a weird like body horror vibe, grow twice their size. It’s not like un-painful I feel like - I feel like it hurts a little bit. But she is already so focused with Arion being like, I'm doing this for you to like succeed in your goal. And is like monkey climbing up this crane as Alyx runs across to drive it to get up higher. And I think just like with every grasp, there's like a [flesh moving sfx] as the muscles like formulate and get bigger.

Alex (GM):

Alyx, you are able to operate this heavy machinery surprisingly well. I mean, it's not too dissimilar to sort of other - you might have not operated a crane before, but you can intuit sort of what to do here. And you manage to rise the crane up, up, up, and then suddenly it's stuck. It won't rise anymore. And it's about up to two and a half floors.

Kenzie:

Lou is using her hands to pull herself up and then she gets to a point where she actually starts running up the crane and I think takes a leap off to this person to try to grab them.

Alex (GM):

The strength of Heracles is enough to push you forward. You have extraordinary strength in this moment, and it's not even your arm? You can't even feel the injury. You pull up this man with both arms, both hands, onto the platform, and he looks almost through you, petrified, aas there's a glow that starts to emanate. You turn your head and you see behind glassware, behind a mask, behind a hard hat, two glowing red eyes.

You can smell sulfur. In one hand, their left one, a sledgehammer, wrapped in clearly magical energy. As they raise the sledgehammer, they crash it down onto the floor, and you see it start to crack, and the open up beneath you.

Kenzie:

Do I have time to grab this man to me and jump off the building?

Alex (GM):

That will take a roll. Goal, Clue and I think Injury.

Kenzie:

Six for Goal. Five for Clue and four for Injured.

I've already pulled him up onto the floor that we're on. And I see this individual and I think Lou just goes,

Kenzie (Lou):

Oh, fuck no.

Kenzie:

And grabs this person to her side and turns around and does like, I feel like there's like a few feet between her and the ledge and does kind of this like running jump off of the building. I don't think she's attempting to actually like reach the ground with this jump. She is trying to reach like the top of the crane, which they can then climb down from. Not the top of the crane like arm, but the actual vehicle.

Alex (GM):

Alyx, what you see is suddenly the ceiling above you dent inward. It doesn't harm you, it doesn't injure you, but you do have to sort of move in order to not get trapped underneath here. As you are still able to sort of reach forward, stretch out your arm just enough in order to operate this this machinery. And as you do that, the figure takes their sledgehammer, they leap off of the building, hook it onto the side of the crane and slide down, land onto the glass, and you can see the burning eyes underneath that protective, that PPE, the protective equipment, sort of stare out at you, look up as they reach for their sledgehammer, attempting to strike down again.

Lou, this, something about the way they did this is familiar. It’s strangely a way that you were sort of trained to operate. A way that you were trained to get out of terrible situations. It is a move that is only to be implied - or used in like dangerous situations.

Dan:

Alyx will look at this dude, look up at the roof, figure out what's on top of the roof.

Dan (Alyx):

Are you fucking -

Kenzie:

She like gets on all fours and like piece her head over she goes,

Kenzie (Lou):

It’s just me.

Dan (Alyx):

b I can see that that's not being safe.

Dan:

And she's going to look at the evil firefighter from hell and I would like to Bind them.

Alex (GM):

Magic, Goal, Injury.

Val:

I will help you.

Dan:

While I don't lose control of Magic, we're going to get a partial success on the Goal, but we're going to take a Scare.

Bind and Command and she there's there's like the bend of light as she kind of reaches out and I think the problem that she's having is that she's still like like she's still over exerted from the Pearl and she's like - whereas she was able to back then do two separate things at once, she's trying to like hold them in place and then also get them to like do something else. But she's not clear on what the other thing was. She didn't think fast enough, which is a rarity for her. She was trying to like get them de-masked, run away, drop to your knees, let go of your weapon, like anything else, but she didn't come up with it past like the command itself. So, when the light goes out and bends one of them is like a clear sort of like extension translucent of her hand that like holds on to him. But then the other part that is like anything else, starts to take solidity and then sparks away until in a shower, not real sparks.

Alex (GM):

In this moment, I'm going to have both of you take the same scare here, which is going to be mortality. You reach out, you sort of half-cast the spell, and the firefighter from hell grabs onto the sledgehammer with their other hand, and they go to sort of bend down and pick it up again, and their right arm sort of winces as they are unable to sort lift it over their shoulder, your magic pulling it down, and they're not able to rotate it up enough. And they sort of let go of the sledgehammer as they reach for the man, not for you, Lou. And they pull the man off as he sort of like grabbing onto the crane, just try to stay on.

Kenzie:

I want to grab him as well, fighting for control over who has him.

Val:

Fun fact about evenings in general, folks, is that that is when the tide is high. Arion like sees all of this and I think initially when Arion assisted you, it was with like a little bit of water that joins into your binding spell, realizes that's not enough water to hold this thing down. So I would like to cast some magic to like hinder this entity, creature, person.

Alex (GM):

Magic, Goal, Injury.

Dan:

I think Alyx is going to just call water to you, understanding what you're doing.

Val:

Five to the magic, six to the goal, five to the injury.

At this moment, we hear the quiet, chill ocean breeze pull in. And with it is the sound of the pull and push of the high tide. And from there, we see the water move forward, then moves further and further up the beach until it is a thin tentacle-like whip that clings around this man's like lower half up to the middle of his torso and then pulls. The way that Arion is attempting to restrict this man is to pull him down to his knees so that he cannot lift. And as this is all happening, we see the blue siren scales begin to coalesce around Arion's forearm and up his shoulders as he's willing the water to bind this entity.

Alex (GM):

You watch as the water not only creeps up them, but spirals up their arm, up to their hand, prying their hand open and forcing their arm back. And the man, which you're holding onto, Lou, is able to free themselves. They get up onto here. You see the foreman badge on sort of their shirt. The firefighter from hell is forced to a knee and then their hand is forced to the ground and their other hand forced to the ground and they sort of look up the water has jostled their protective equipment as the glasses sort of fall down.

This is Luis. His eyes glazed over in a way that's like energizing, glowing.

Kenzie:

Lou looks over and sees this and just feels the weight and heaviness of a rush of disappointment. Not because she thinks Luis would ever do this on purpose, even if he has, she doesn't believe that. But a disappointment in that anybody in Roseville Beach, no matter who they are, can and will be affected by the strange happenings in Roseville Beach. And it just makes her so sad. Because Luis was just a guy. He was just a handyman at a hotel that taught her everything she knows, had his own family, had his own life. And it's almost unsurprising to her now, after all of these things that have happened that it's him. And she's gonna find a way to make it not him in the sense of she's gonna find a way to bring... We're not gonna defeat this thing if it means Luis is gone.

Alex (Luis):

Lou, never expected to see you here on this site.

Kenzie (Lou):

That’s not you. That's not you. I don't know who you are, but it's not you.

Alex (Luis):

Are you working for them too? Did you leave me as well?

Kenzie (Lou):

Luis, you're the only one in this construction site right now that's working for anybody else. I've only ever worked for you.

Alex (Luis):

No, no, no, no. That's not true. You're here. Why would you be here if you weren't working for them?

Kenzie (Lou):

Saving a fucking man's life that you tried to push off a construction site.

Alex (Luis):

Yeah, well maybe he deserves it. He took my friend's best life. He's sitting in the hospital, in a coma, right now.

Kenzie:

Is there any way for Lou to tell if this is Luis or if something is speaking through him? This is super important. I don't think that I have actually any way to succeed on that skill check. So I do think that I'm gonna have to tap into my two friends around me who for like the last three weeks have used more magic in front of me than I have seen ever. And it's like one of those things where it's like somebody who doesn't know what they're doing. And it's just like, blindly trying to pull from the ether into them to do this.

Val:

May I help by keeping this man pinned with my water?

Alex (GM):

Yes, of course.

Dan:

I don't know if this is a great idea, but sure. And she's going to put a hand on your shoulder. And she's going to call anything that's innate in you.

Kenzie:

I’m 100 % trying to take that sledgehammer. And I think maybe in the like pulling of this spell and in like the Alyx's calling of magic here, the sledgehammer like almost like comes into my hand. And I think to stop everything, I try to bring it up, pull it down and I smash it into the ground in front of me.

Alex (GM):

You smash down into the sort of crane, right, where he is being pulled down into. And it like lodges him in, not in a way that injures him, but in a way that sort of entraps him inside so he cannot escape. You feel the magic rushing from Alyx, from Arion, from the sledgehammer. And Lou, you have successfully casted magic.

Kenzie:

But also this feeling of like this everyday tool that is used in a lot of work Lou does, being embedded with something more is kind of like really energizing for her in a way that - in a scenario that isn't already adrenaline filled could become a little scary.

Alex (GM):

You are able to see behind whatever veil of magic is happening here. This is Luis. This is their choice. They made these choices. You can tell that they are angry. They are hateful. They are more than anything passionate about what they are doing. And then all three of you, in a burst of energy, receive a psychic feedback. And all you see is the shadow of something. Something very tall. Something lingering over Luis. The shadow looks up at you and the psychic vision breaks and all of you are knocked to the ground.

Luis looks up at you for a moment desperate for help, distinctly not regretting the actions he's taken, but scared that he will hurt you as well.

Kenzie (Lou):

Guess what, my friend? You either regret what you've done or you do hurt me because all of it sucks. And you've made those choices. I already don't disagree with them. And so you've already hurt me because you've hurt people I care about. So I guess pick your poison. Double down if you must. I'm right here.

Alex (GM):

Role to convince them. Honestly? Goal and Trouble.

Kenzie:

That’s fours across the board.

Alex (GM):

Luis looks up to you, Lou, and thinks on what you said.

Alex (Luis):

You know? I have done regrettable things. I’ve hurt a lot of people. A lot of my own guys. But I -

Alex (GM):

They take a breath.

Alex (Luis):

I would do it again. I would. So here's what we're going to do, Lou. Here’s what we're gonna do. You gotta take me out. You gotta stop me, because I'm not gonna stop. Hey, hey, hey. It's okay. I've seen you grow. I've seen you - I think it's just time for me to retire. You know, leave it to the next generation.

Kenzie (Lou):

Yeah, absolutely fuck you. You think you can stand up there and tell me that it's my job to take you out after all the fucking bad decisions you made just because maybe at one point in my life I thought something of you? Well, you lost all that credibility with me now. And you know what, honestly? Take yourself out. Cause I don't fucking care about you anymore. And I only care about the people that you've hurt. And one of those people is me. And one of those people is this man that you try to throw off of a building. So absolutely fuck yourself. I never want to see you again.

Kenzie:

And I think Lou takes hold of the guy that she had saved and starts walking out of the construction site.

Alex (GM):

Luis is trapped here.

Dan:

Do I have any sense that I know what that thing is?

Alex (GM):

There are a lot of things that prey on human ambition and human desires and passions. This is eldritch to you. It is unknown. It is not something that you could categorize fully. There's a partial match in a lot of places.

Dan:

I would like to try and break its hold on Luis. I would like to take the sledgehammer from Lou to do it.

Kenzie:

Lou actually on her way out drops this sledgehammer.

Dan:

That Scare is absolutely going to affect me. Yeah, I'm willing to take an inconvenient amount of time. I would like to use Bane, Bind, and Command. I'd like to use all three for that. I don't know its name, so I don't think I can get away with Call.

Alex (GM):

It’s going to be Goal and Magic and Injury.

Dan:

Six Goal, five Magic, five Injury.

I am taking the sledgehammer and I am using Bane and Bind combined with Command to push and visualize the thing. So it is like pushed back and out like the light stretches. And whatever it is has this shape now that is clearly visible, but it's like still there's - like the bent light is still attached to the man. And once it is fully out, there's going to be like a hand that just sort of grabs it and holds it in place. And now the sledgehammer itself at the head gains that same bending around it and seems to grow. And so she's going to lift it up and just smash it on the stretch between the thing and the man to shatter it.

Alex (GM):

You slam down with the sledgehammer and the ground does not crack, but the shadow cracks in the way that the ground would have as it crumbles like stone, this shadow cracks all the way up. And dissipates. Luis, passed out, does not wake up, breathing alive, but unconscious.

We're going to have a little stretch forward in time. Luis has been taken to the mainland hospital in a coma. Free from whatever was attached to him, but severely affected by that experience. Alyx, this sledgehammer is the same magical signature as the paintbrush.

Val (Arion):

I don't like that look on your face.

Dan:

Someone is causing trouble and they have an extremely powerful ability to do it. They're putting pieces of themselves in objects and it's got their will behind it, which is to destroy this place. And they're definitely way more powerful than we are. We have been very lucky so far. And I don't know how much longer that is gonna last. It's not just what they did to the people we've seen. I think they can do it on grander scales and I think they can do it to people's more powerful and more arcane than us as well. And whatever they want, they’re not going to stop. And they are beyond aware of us now.

Alex (GM):

The sun is going to begin to rise as we see your shadows cast themselves, all the way. And the camera zooms out, we see sort of this shadow cast over Roseville Beach.

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. 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!