S4 E8: Goodbye, September Brown

Kenzie Tartaglione:

Last time on Roseville Beach…

Candace McAfee:

There’s one tattoo shop on the island, everybody their vanished.

Kenzie (Lou Wells):

Who’s missing?

Alex (Bradley):

One of the people who were building up to lead our coven, the favorite, Aniya, she disappeared one day.

Dan Pyxel:

I think I’m going to channel through it and use that to just send the knife into the paint world.

Alex (GM):

It and Aniya are thorwn into the painting that she attempted to put Arion in.

Alex (Shadow):

September, you’re running out of time.

Alex (GM):

Emanating from the radiance of the grimoir, your shadow looks up to you.

Candace:

One fluid motion, just puts their name in.

Candace (September Brown): I’m afraid I’m just not good enough to be good.

Alex (GM):

The Keeper of the Tomes instructs them to form their coven.

Kenzie (Lou):

I do like carrying around a sledgehammer but I don’t really like having magic.

Candace:

It is the most cohesive piee that’s there. It feels like the people who put it together have a deeper connection and a deeper level of understranding of one another.

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

Alex (GM):

Your fennec fox does a little circle around the cave entrance, looks at you, looks back, points its nose and its head forward, and again, lifts its paw up like it's directing you inside and then sits in front of the cave. Next to it, there are three other familiars.

Candace (September):

So it looks like maybe other people are already here, which is fine. We're not behind or nothing. We're right on track and I'm not feeling very confident.

Kenzie:

Can we see anybody else?

Alex (GM):

There’s the four familiars which you can assume are the three other potential coven leaders. And inside there, it's dark and also like dimly lit. You go far enough in and there starts to be bioluminescent moss and other things that light the cave. It has a distinctly magical aura about it, which is heralded by a stone door in the center of the sort of main opening. It's a stone archway that is also a solid stone door. So it has like a keystone, right? And on that keystone, there is a magical rune inscribed on it. And it kind of goes all the way down from those stones to the bottom.

Valiant Dorian (Arion):

Right, more witchiness afoot. This cave is deeply magical, so we might have to keep our wits about us even more than before.

Candace (September):

Yeah, I don't know if they're joking about like nobody ever leaves, but I definitely don't want to go missing in this cave, you know?

Kenzie (Lou):

I second that.

Val (Arion):

Stay close. It's hard to be pulled away when you're close to one another.

Candace:

You feel September like wrap their arm in yours. It is on their right side, the same eye that is now clouded.

Val:

Arion stands steadfast by you and he like taps your forearm and says,

Val (Arion):

Trust me, I know what I'm talking about. I know the dangers of luring. Just stay close to all three of us.

Alex (GM):

Before you enter into the cave and approach this archway, your familiar puts a paw up, almost like offering it to you, September.

Candace (September):

Aw, yeah. Aw!

Candace:

I think she reaches down to take the paw.

Alex (GM):

And when you touch it, your vision begins to move quickly through the cave. You can almost see the edges of reality glowing. Not like dark, but glowing, radiant, and focused in the center. There is a pinpoint of an image. And you can see, twisting and turning through the cave, you arrive deep within its heart and there's a prize for you there. The grimoire. You can reach it and take it. The first witch to do so will be the coven’s leader.

Candace:

I think the rest of you see them straighten up and their eyes are wide.

Candace (September):

I know where we have to go. I've got it. Follow me.

Candace:

And she kind of grabs everybody's hands, like as many as she can, like trying to get everybody to come together. They set out as quickly as they can. Not an all-out run, but definitely like a speed walk.

Alex (GM):

You are stopped almost immediately, as the only way through is behind this stone door, which has no knob, it has no hinges. Almost as if it's part of the wall. But you know it's a door because of the archway.

Kenzie (Lou):

I don't know what the first choice of action to do in this situation is, but the second choice is to hit it with my hammer.

Candace (September):

I think you should do it. I mean, maybe it respects authority.

Kenzie (Lou):

I’ll give it a go.

Val:

Arion looks over to Alyx.

Kenzie:

I summon the hammer.

Alex (GM):

Instead of the hammer, you summon the shield that the four of you have created. Lou, you can do this. You can attempt to knock the door down. Do you do this with magic or with your brute strength?

Kenzie:

With my strength.

Alex (GM):

That’s gonna be Goal, Clue, Harm.

Kenzie:

We got a six for Goal, a five for Injured and a four for Clue. So I succeeded in all of them.

I hold the shield by the hammer of the sledgehammer that is embedded in the shield. Like kind of off my shoulder. I take a bit of a running leap, not a leap, but a little bit of a run, and I slam it with my shoulder, my whole body weight behind it, into the door.

Alex (GM):

The first time you do it, it puts a dent. The second time you do it, it puts a crack. The third time you do it, puts a crack big enough to put your arm through. And the fourth time you do it, the whole thing tumbles to the ground, including the archway, which falls bit by bit and the final keystone comes crashing to the ground, shatters against the now rocky rubble pile that you have created on the floor, and the enchantment disperses from it. Congratulations, you have avoided having to sacrifice a word of power each.

Val:

I think this happened so fast that Arion’s jaw hangs low.

Kenzie (Lou):

Listen guys, I don't think we're going to be stuck in here anymore.

Candace (September):

You know what? I'm so fucking impressed. Wow.

Kenzie (Lou):

Yeah, that's just how I do it.

Val (Arion):

(laughs) There you go. My favorite lesbian!

Val:

Smacks you on your shoulder.

Kenzie (Lou):

Ugh! It’s a little sore.

Dan:

Alyx has just been like finishing her cigarette this whole time. Like she did not even react. She's just like, yeah, this feels like the right thing to do.

Dan (Alyx Cho):

Let’s go.

Alex (GM):

As you step over the rubble, actually kinda have to like climb over it a little bit, the cave itself is completely lit by bioluminescent fungus and moss, and also those wisps that turned into your familiar, just natural sort of spirits of Roseville Beach. You walk for maybe twenty minutes, through this cave. It is easy to get lost in here. In fact, there are many times that you've sort of wrapped back around right to where you had begun. And that's when you hear Arion, deep in the cave, in a path you have not tread yet, there is a man calling for help. It is none other than Odysseus. And only you hear it.

Val:

I cannot describe to you how odd it feels as a Siren to be pulled and beckoned by a will other than your own. But the second that voice calls out to Arion, there is a pull, like the tides. And it just starts with a single footstep and then another as Arion looks toward that direction. I don't think he even computes if he's the only one that hears it. I think it's too instinctual. Whether knowingly or not, Arion has bound himself to this man and any clue or instance that he is somewhere, calls to him. I think Arion in this moment steps to the side and he doesn't fully dive into the darkness just yet, but he has definitely stood off the side in comparison to the rest of the moving party.

Alex (GM):

At the same time,

AR: September, you hear, September? September, September, where are you? It’s so dark, please... Please help me. I've been trapped down here for so long.

Candace (September):

Richie? I…

Candace:

I think September like immediately starts like, oh my god, this, I gotta get to them, right? I gotta get to them. They're here, my gosh. Samira might be with them. And then stops. And is like, you've made all these decisions tonight. The chances of this being real are slim. And just kind of holds back with the others.

Alex (GM):

Lou, there’s a phone ringing.

Kenzie:

She looks around at the walls.

Alex (GM):

It’s coming down another pathway. This is your phone.

Kenzie:

This phone is not supposed to be here, this phone is back at the house. What in the world?

Kenzie (Lou):

Okay, does anybody else hear that? Something is trying to pull us into this place. Are we going?

Alex (GM):

Alyx, you hear nothing. No one calls out to you. But you do feel like you're avoiding the person calling you. And maybe that is why you are not hearing anything. You can feel her presence here, but you cannot hear her.

Dan:

I look around at the others who are all like very clearly going through something I am not. I get a sense of that of all things. She's not in this cave. That's not real. There's no reason she'd be here. And if she was, this is not how she'd do this. Alyx sees the trap for what it is. I would like to try and counter what's being - whatever is like snaring my coven and I would like to do it by cursing it.

Alex (GM):

This is Magic. This is Scare. This is Goal.

Dan:

Six, six, five. That's a full sweep.

Alex (GM):

Immediately, you were on the money. You saw this trap for what it was and you are able to dispel sort of the voices of the cave using your connection to the others through the ley line and fusion, but you haven't been completely untouched. Your tattoos in the same way September had hers change invoking that curse are changed as well. The dagger starts to stretch. It begins to elongate. And it no longer resembles a blade and hilt, it’s shadow.

September, Lou, those voices disappear. Arion, it does not. Odysseus still is calling out to you for help.

Val:

Arion notices the magic take, like he senses it off of Alyx. Your magic is something he recognizes. And he smiles for a moment with pride, watching you silence and clearly pull September and Lou out. But he still hears Odysseus.

Val (Arion):

No. No.

Val:

Like on instinct, before reason or judgment could bring Arion back to all of you, you see his eyes turn into golden slits, gils flare on his neck and bits of scales appear on his forearm as he turns and rushes in that direction. Because this must be true.

Alex (GM):

You rush down this pathway and following the cries of help from Odysseus, you find yourself in the darkness. And there's a flash of light that illuminates a shadow. Another, that illuminates a second. Another, that illuminates one that you've seen recently. Hallie. The glow from the mushrooms takes form and you are alone in a room with Hallie, her three coven members, Odysseus, and several other men who work the fishing lines.

Val:

Arion takes a look at all of this in front of him.

Val (Arion):

What’s the meaning of this?

Alex (GM):

She's looking down as she is sort of weaving magic into the water, right? She's trying to divine the location of the grimoire and she darts her eyes, her yellow eyes up. And she says,

Alex (Hallie):

Ah, yes, you've come to help. Please join us. We've gathered them and once we have the grimoire, we can deal with them.

Val (Arion):

Let them go.

Alex (Hallie):

I’m sorry.

Val (Arion):

This is not the way. You know it isn't the way. Let them go.

Alex (GM):

The way she stands up… bends her legs upward, still doubled over, and she sort of unnaturally slithers up into a standing position as electricity falls off of her.

Alex (Hallie):

No. You can turn away.

Val (Arion):

I can't let you take him. I will not let you take him.

Val:

And Arion begins to unconsciously manifest more scales. Odysseus and the other fishermen here, they’re not conscious, arethey? They're like held here.

Alex (GM):

No, in fact, they're bewitched.

Val (Arion):

You will bring doom and death to us all. Release him. I am bound to him.

Alex (Hallie):

Then I'm sorry, Siren. You will die too.

Val:

This is a sea cave, yes?

Alex (GM):

Yes it is.

Val:

I’m rising the water in here. I'm attacking the sea witch.

The water begins to rise and I think there's a real threat with the water rising around the sea witch but then cuffs of them spin and whirl and attach to either wrist of hers so she can't spellcast.

Alex (GM):

She chuckles at you as her image, her visage becomes dark stormy water and she breaks apart. One, two, three, slithering on the ground as a school of eels that have now made their way into the water and have begun reforming sort of her body. The three coven members begin to twitch and contort, humans, but no longer. Now their spine elongates one vertebrae at a time as their teeth sharpen and their torso and head form into a shark. The other one has spines that come out of their back as they become sort of like this spiny creature with beautiful fins. The third one almost like disappears into the darkness and all you see is a single light as they've taken on the visage of an anglerfish.

Val:

Arion feels the danger. More of his fins begin to emerge from out of his body as he now jumps into the water and assumes his entire Siren form because he's not going to win this duel as a human. And when we finally see Arion’s Siren form, it is these beautiful, almost like angelfish- like fins. They are thin and flowy, black as the midnight sky. And we see him lithely moving between the currents of this undersea cave, hoping to find an opportunity to maybe save Odysseus. But he has to buy time for Alyx, for Lou, for September to get to the grimoire before she does.

Alex (GM):

Hallie, in her enlarged form, in this sort of nebulous, sea-nymph magic that she has used to shift into these eels, she uses a burst of electricity to attack the walls of this cave themselves as she crumbles the entryway, separating from you, from your allies. And everything goes dark. The only light [electricity sfx] flashes of your attempts to save the fishermen from the sea witch, Hallie.

Arion has just bolted down a hallway, you saw a flash of lightning, and then the cave crumbled behind them.

Candace (September):

I feel like we should be worried but also, we gotta fuckin' haul ass.

Dan:

Alyx is looking at you.

Candace (September):

Yes?

Dan (Alyx):

What is this?

Candace (September):

What did you do? Where did you get that?

Candace:

She seizes your arm. You can feel their fingers like a vice grip looking at you.

Candace (September):

Why do you have that?

Candace (September):

That’s not from me, honey. That's from him.

Dan (Alyx):

From who?

Candace (September):

You didn't even talk to him?

Dan (Alyx):

Talk to who?

Candace (September):

I don't like speaking his name, but... It's somebody that, um, well, he gets what he wants. Most of the time. I'm doing everything I can to get the fuck out of what I've got going on. And you took this willingly?

Dan (Alyx):

Took what?

Candace (September):

Did you add my word of power? You said it, didn't you?

Dan (Alyx):

What was it? What deal did you make?

Candace (September):

Nobody would help me. Nobody cared that she was gone. That they vanished. And so he came to me and he made me a deal. I'm supposed to get back to him about that deal and doing this keeps me from having to go any further with this contract.

Dan (Alyx):

What are you giving up?

Candace (September):

Well, I was giving up a little bit to myself. That's why my tattoos look like this.

Dan (Alyx):

There’s a cost. There's a very specific cost for something of that size. What are you giving up? Peacemeal isn’t it.

Candace (September):

I’ve sacrificed a couple of memories. But so far it's been small stuff. I know it's gonna get bigger. I know he's gonna ask for something I will be changed forever by, which is why I'm doing everything I can to make sure that I don't have to do that. Which is why I'm trying to stay focused in this moment. And here you are coming to me telling me that you got nosy and curious and did this to yourself.

Dan (Alyx):

What’s his name?

Candace (September):

Listen, I call him Mr. Shadows, but that's not his name. His name is something he protects, that he keeps hidden, that he holds onto like a secret.

Dan:

Is the description of a shadow man that does deals and body magic something that I would have learned about?

Alex (GM):

You not only learned about it, Alyx, you encountered this kind of entity recently with Luis.

Dan:

I look over at Lou.

Dan (Alyx):

On a side note we might have found a friend.

Kenzie (Lou):

I don't really like the sound of any of this.

Dan (Alyx):

I’m not one to put things off. So…

Dan:

She like cracks her neck both ways really quickly.

Dan (Alyx):

If this goes sideways, run for the grimoire.

Kenzie (Lou):

I think we should just... Okay, Alyx, whatever you're about to do, I think we should actually do that after we run for the grimoire.

Candace (September):

I agree! Can we please go?

Dan (Alyx):

This is holding you and me, I don't want it getting the grimoire.

Kenzie (Lou):

I’m really fast. I could go get it. And then it wouldn't be touching you or September.

Dan (Alyx):

Just ready the hammer, okay?

Kenzie (Lou):

Aye, yai, yai.

Dan:

And I am going to call this out from my tattoo. If I haven't made a deal, it doesn't necessarily hold any power over me.

Alex (GM):

It holds no power over you. That is correct.

Dan:

I at the very least want to expel it by Calling it, like bleeding it from a wound.

Alex (GM):

Magic, Goal, Injury, Scares. I'm gonna be nice and give you Clue as well.

Dan:

I have a five that I'm gonna put into Magic. I'm gonna use one of my sixes for Goal. I'm gonna use a five for Injured. I will use this five for Scared and I will use this six for Clues.

Alex (GM):

In order to rid yourself of Mr. Shadow's influence, you have to drain it like it is a poison from your body. Luckily, the poison did not take into your bloodstream. It was just merely on you. September is not so lucky. The poison is already there. And you, Alyx, you can tell through expelling this and through this magical insight that September might not have made a full deal with Mr. Shadow, but they are still under the influence of if they have. Not fully gone yet though.

Dan:

Is my tattoo back to normal.

Alex (GM):

The ink has like bled out of your skin like a poison. And when it falls onto the ground, it turns into a shadow on the floor.

Candace (September):

How did you do that?

Dan (Alyx):

I told it to fuck off.

Candace (September):

I can just tell him to fuck off?

Dan (Alyx):

They don't always -

Dan:

And she like reaches up and scratches at her choker.

Dan (Alyx):

They don't always like that. But yeah.

Candace:

September looks around. Are there any like cracks or crevices or like little alcoves in here.

Alex (GM):

Yeah, absolutely. Everywhere.

Candace:

I think she goes over to one and presses her arm that has the very first tattoo that was corrupted with the scepter and the sash. I think she presses it against…

Candace (September):

Maybe I can... Maybe I could trap him in here. They say you're not supposed to get out of here, like forever, right? They say that you're supposed to be trapped in here, and I know we like busted up the door and everything, but I mean, this place is magical. You can still feel it. I'm gonna try and get him out, okay? Worst comes to worst if I don't get out of this- Will you save them for me, please? Will you see it through? You could still take my place.

Dan (Alyx):

We’re not gonna lose you either.

Candace (September):

Yeah, but if you do, will you take my place? I don't want to go on out like that, you know? It's not fair.

Kenzie (Lou):

We’ll bring Samira back. You have my word.

Candace (September):

Okay.

Candace:

She closes her eyes and they focus. Their other hand clasps the tattoo that was corrupted in the tattoo shop last time. And she thinks about him.

Candace (September):

Mr. Shadows, I know that we, you offered me quite, quite a deal to try and get my beloved back but, well, you know, I think it's time I kind of face the facts that I... I need to handle stuff on my own a little bit. I think it's time for you to go. I don't... I'm not gonna need your services anymore.

Alex (Shadow):

September. September I don't need you.

Candace (September):

You don't!

Alex (Shadow):

No. I'm willing to leave.

Candace (September):

Okay.

Alex (Shadow):

But you do need me.

Candace (September):

I don't. I really thought I did. I'm not ungrateful for what you've done so far, but-

Alex (Shadow):

You what? Retrieve this... spellbook. You become the leader of a little coven and... then what? How do you save Samira? How do you do it?

Candace (September):

I don't know, I do everything I can. Maybe... Maybe I can't.

Alex (Shadow):

Yes. You did try that before, didn't you?

Candace (September):

Well...

Alex (Shadow):

All I have done is offer you the chance to try again.

Candace (September):

You- you have?

Alex (Shadow):

And I've been so kind, gifting you my power without even... making a true deal with you. I've given you a taste of my magic. I've been generous.

Candace (September):

You have! You've been a perfect gentleman! Honestly. And I don't mean to thumb my nose up at what you’re serving me, I just,

Alex (Shadow):

You just are. And I understand. And it's alright. September, if I walk away today, Samira will be lost.

Candace (September):

Are you saying you have her? It doesn't matter. I don't think she'd want me to do this. She only really wants me to rely on people who really care about me and… No offense, Mr. but I don't think you really care about me.

Alex (Shadow):

Well, that is a shame. But I'll find others to help me, in fact. There's one close by now. I'll see you soon, September.

Alex (GM):

You still have the curse. It's a gift that they gave you. You can choose to expel it by sacrificing something else.

Candace:

She looks at a tattoo that is on her upper thigh. It is a portrait of a cat that she had when she was younger. And Samira gave it to her. It was the tattoo that she was having done when she fell in love with them. They look at it for a long time and they touch it and they think about her.

Candace (September):

I think I'm ready. One last time.

Candace:

And they say the word Curse and touch that tattoo to do it over.

Alex (GM):

In the same way in which Alyx expelled the poison from their body, this spell that you have enacted collects all of the ink from this shadowy creature, and it pools, and it corrupts and distorts this true image of love and passion and desire. And it bubbles with an intense heat up into your skin, out of it, through the pores, dripping onto the floor, at first with an overwhelming deluge and then just a trickle dispelling into the shadows of the cave. And with it, your memories of Samira.

Candace:

I think September looks up at both of you.

Candace (September):

So, there’s something we're supposed to be doing. We gotta go get that fucking book. Oh my God, the coven, right?

Kenzie (Lou):

Yeah, that's what we're here for. You're good though? Like you're you're you're feeling okay?

Candace (September):

Yeah, I feel like there's a reason that we need this book.

Kenzie (Lou):

To make you the coven leader.

Candace (September):

Right, but like... I'm doing it for the... for Roseville Beach, but...

Dan (Alyx):

I’m sure it'll come to you.

Candace (September):

Have I talked to you guys about what I was trying to do with it? Like I-

Kenzie:

I look at Alyx.

Dan:

Alyx gives Lou just like the slightest shake of her head.

Kenzie (Lou):

Right, well I'm super fast, so...

Candace (September):

b Okay, I know the way, our baby down there, he totally ported it into my brain earlier and like showed me where to go, so let's just go, let's go - please, let's be quick, because you know, if that Bradley gets there first, like that's the last thing anybody really wants, right? Am I right?

Dan (Alyx):

Yeah.

Kenzie (Lou):

Yeah, that's the last thing.

Dan:

I’m gonna leave a mark so that Arion can follow us.

Dan (Alyx):

I’ll be right there.

Dan:

As they start going down, Alyx is going to crouch down at the floor where there's like any remnants of that ink that's on the ground. And she just whispers to it,

Dan (Alyx):

You’re going to give it back.

Dan:

And then she like etches a little arrow on the wall and follows after.

Alex (GM):

September. Your mind is now clear. You can think so, so clearly. It's like crisp crystal. And you were getting lost so easily before, but it seems so silly now. Like you knew the way the whole time. Just, I don't know, I guess you just got lost in the cave. Something about the way that everything looked the same. You you have a clearer head and you remember the thing, the reason, the leyline is going to explode. You need to get the grimoire because of the leyline, to save Roseville Beach. And you lead Alyx and Lou to the very heart of the cave. It takes another half hour. Just as you arrive, down another path, and a third, are May and Bradley.

All three of you enter equidistant from the grimoire. It has to be you that touches the grimoire, September. Only you can interact with it. Every other witch will be expelled from it.

Candace:

September positions themselves in between the other two witches. And holds out their hands, palms facing in either direction and brings their arms down and says,

Candace (September):

Push.

Alex (GM):

Roll Magic. And Harm and Goal.

Candace:

Got one six, one five. Do fours count?

Alex (GM):

A six, a five, and a four will be a success across the board.

Bradley collapses to the floor and you hear a crack on the stone floor as his head hits it. The eye that hit the floor like blood vessels have clearly popped in it. The other one, May, she falls down for a second, but she bounces right back up and she starts to grow younger. And she's going to use some magic against you. May has some of her coven with her, two of them. One you see behind her, collapsed, dead, on the ground, glowing green. May reaches out to another member of her coven, again, bewitched, and drains the life out of him, absorbing the radioactive energy in his body, and attempts to blast it out at you, September. But she misses, and it goes straight into the side of the wall and it has left this dissolved, bubbling, sulfuric rock, stone.

Kenzie:

Lou is going to administer first aid.

Alex (GM):

Goal and Harm, because he's going to resist you, and Clue.

Kenzie:

So I got two threes and a two.

Alex (GM):

You can roll a Trouble die if you want to.

Kenzie:

I’m gonna. I'm gonna get injured, so I'm gonna put a two in Injured. I'm going to put a thre in Trouble, a three in Clue, and a four in Goal.

I get down, I go,

Kenzie (Lou):

I am trying to help you!

Alex (GM):

Pulls onto your tank top and uses you to pull himself up.

Kenzie (Lou):

(groans)

Alex (GM):

You’re like bearing the resistance of that weight and he comes eye to eye with you. And you can see his eyes are glazed over.

Alex (Bradley):

I - I have to find her.

Alex (GM):

And he is going to, with his other hand, reach out to you. And there's almost like this burst, this building of energy on his hand, this kinetic energy, as he launches you across the room into a column. And the column breaks, it shatters, explodes behind you. We’re gonna do a big injury though, we're gonna do a big injury. I think we're gonna do broken leg.

September, Alyx, has been, he has made a deal. Bradley's made a deal with Mr. Shadow. And he is up and going to the grimoire.

Dan:

I am going to essentially like yoink him through the air. So there is going to be just like a bending and stretching of light. And then it's like, he is rubber band, like he's got a fucking bungee cord on his back and just like it snaps and he flies back into the wall.

Alex (GM):

You yoink Bradley, and he doesn't just like get yoinked back, he actually gets yoinked up and you sort of launch him into the ceiling as he drags down the wall and he lands on his feet and sort of collapses to his knees kneeling. And he looks back up at you, breathing heavily.

Candace:

I just launch myself at the book.

Alex (GM):

The grimoire is not far. You can get there now. But it has to accept you.

Roll Magic. And Goal.

Candace:

Two fives, one for each.

Alex (GM):

Midway through, the other two witches will get an opportunity to attempt to bind with it as well. It takes just a little too long, just a little bit too too much to work the magic quickly in this desperate situation. Bradley collapses from his injuries, spent, and goes unconscious. May, very agile for her age, drains her last coven member, a very different way of using her coven than the way you've used yours. She sees them as resources, as things to use instead of people to support. And she feeds off of this dangerous moment, similar to the way that the salamander did, which she had in her shop. She uses it to get up close to the grimoire, reaches out with her hand, and locks in a battle of magic with you.

Candace:

September looks at her and looks at the dead around her or the... maybe not dead, are they dead?

Alex (GM):

They are essentially radioactive corpses.

Candace:

She looks at them and she just stops with the grimoire of kind of floating between them.

Candace (September):

You still trying to get this?

Alex (May):

I wouldn't need it. I left a long time ago. I found - I found the answer to everything, but someone took it out of my shop. That damn Gabriella. So I need this now to stay alive. I've lived longer than any other witch. I've seen covens come and go. I can protect this coven. Why not me? Why you, half witch?

Candace (September):

Because you don't even have a coven anymore.

Alex (May):

Half experienced making packs with beings you barely understand.

Candace (September):

I don't have any packs. don't know what you mean or what you're talking about, but I can say this. My coven is still here. Yours is a bunch of husks on the ground. You're not doing that to the rest of our people. They deserve better than you. And maybe I'm not as good as you. You're right. But I'd never do that.

Candace:

And she goes to try and reach for the grimoire one more time.

Dan:

While they're tussling over that and having this sparring, I am running over to Bradley and first thing, do I see an obvious tattoo?

Alex (GM):

Not a tattoo. The only thing that is similar to the other victims is the glazed eyes. Is that sort of spark in their eyes.

Dan:

I don't know if this works or not, but I grab at his shadow,

Dan (Alyx):

I told you, you were going to give it back.

Dan:

And I want to call the memory back to September of Samira so she remembers what she's fighting for.

Alex (GM):

For the first time you hear the entity's voice, Alyx.

Alex (Shadow):

I will allow it. It will only cause her pain, and it will be your fault.

Dan (Alyx):

Pain is life. Get over yourself. Give it back.

Alex (GM):

Bradley is not freed from whatever deal they made with the entity, but you see the shadows sort of stretch and animate from them to September's shadow, and they drop a single little glimmer into it. And the memory that was restored is the fear of her being god and your love for her, but nothing else. You will have to build a new life with her.

Candace:

I think the second that September gets it, their eyes close for just a second.

Candace (September):

It’s not a word of power, but it's a powerful word. Love.

Alex (GM):

September. You've learned a new word of power. Word of power Love!

Candace:

September sees the grimoire floating and reaches out their hands.

Candace (September):

Come here, you deserve to be with someone who's gonna believe in you just as much as you believe in them. It's my power, it's your power, it's our power. Come to me.

Candace:

And just holds out her hands.

Alex (GM):

And May attempts one final time to try to pull it to her, and if she can't have it, then nobody can. And she attempts to blast it with radiation. But she has spent all of her energy, as she crumbles into ash, glowing in the cave, never to leave. And the book gently flies to your hand. September, you have become the leader of the Roseville Beach coven, with the power to fix the leyline.

But before you can celebrate, there is a spike of energy in your mind as you're still infused with the leyline. And it's the last coven leader. [radio tuning sfx]

Alex (Aniya):

Finally, finally somebody, yes. Hello, who, who, who? Who am I talking to? Who is this?

Candace (September):

It’s-it's September Brown, hello?

Alex (Aniya):

September. September. Yes.

Candace (September):

You’ve seen me at some meetings, I got tattoos.

Alex (Aniya):

Yes, I remember you, remember you. September, I’m glad I found you, but I'm afraid that our coven may be no more.

Candace (September):

What?

Alex (Aniya):

I was tracking the ley lines of Roseville Beach when I came across one that was unsteady. It is your responsibility to fix it. And the best way to do it is to return the energy to the leyline. The grimoire you hold in your hand, it is not just a book. It is a living piece of the leyline of Roseville Beach.

Candace (September):

Okay? Can I ask you something?

Alex (GM):

And it tunes in again. [radio tuning sfx]

Alex (Samira):

September?

Alex (GM):

Says Samira.

Candace (September):

Baby!

Alex (GM):

[radio tuning sfx] Back to the coven leader.

Alex (Aniya):

September, you have to focus. You have to throw the grimoire into the leyline.

Candace (September):

Will you come back? Will they - ? [radio tuning sfx]

Alex (Samira):

September! [radio tuning sfx]

Alex (Aniya):

No. No. Our time is spent. You can save the people of Roselle Beach.

Candace (September):

Okay. Okay.

Candace:

She looks at the other two with wild eyes. There is an impossible amount of dread behind them.

Candace (September):

We gotta get to the leyline. It's, it's unsteady and it's going to take everybody out.

Kenzie (Lou):

Well, we have to bring Samira back first.

Candace (September):

I don't think she's... oh… I don't think she's coming back. Not if we want to save everybody. So let's just go, okay? Before I change my mind, please, let's go. There has to be something for her to come back to, you know? And right now it looks like she either comes back to nothing or she doesn't come back at all.

Kenzie (Lou):

Then I guess we go save almost everybody.

Candace:

She just like squeezes your hand as tears run down her face and starts to sprint toward the exit.

Alex (GM):

The camera shifts up through the stone of Roseville Beach to the tattoo parlor. And September, you are standing inside. There is the leyline underneath your feet. And this is the beating heart of magic on Roseville Beach. There might be another way. There could be something in the pages. You could try again. It doesn't have to end this way.

Candace:

September looks at the two of you.

Candace (September):

It’s really meant a lot to me getting to know you. This has been really special and really important… Alyx, I know you don't want to be a coven leader and there might not be a coven after this, since the book is going to be gone. You’ve never needed a book to wield your power. That's inspiring and amazing. And even if it's not a coven, maybe you, maybe you help other people…who need it. The guidance that they are looking for. That's really all a coven is, right? Is community. So you're really good at creating community.

Lou, you and Arion, you guys are amazing. You're second to none. And it's been wonderful to meet you. If I don't make it out of this, do everything you can to just keep supporting Alyx, support them and stay in community with them. You are always going to be my coven, no matter what. Okay?

Kenzie (Lou):

Okay.

Dan:

Takes a cigarette out and puts it up to her mouth and she like holds it. She leans over to you.

Candace:

I think this time September snaps her fingers and fire appears and she lights her cigarette like that.

Candace (September):

God, this is cool.

Kenzie (Lou):

Hey listen, before you try this...

Candace (September):

Yeah?

Kenzie (Lou):

If you get sucked in there, I'm gonna figure out a way to come in after you, okay?

Candace (September):

Oh, please don't say that!

Kenzie (Lou):

I mean, not immediately, because I don't want to get stuck in there, but one day.

Candace (September):

You’ll find a way, all right?

Kenzie (Lou):

I’ll find a way.

Dan (Alyx):

She means it.

Candace (September):

Samira’s going to like you when she meets you.

Kenzie (Lou):

I want to meet her.

Dan (Alyx):

See you soon.

Candace (September):

Yeah.

Candace:

I think September sits in the circle, the focal point of where all the rooms are, and opens up the book. And after flipping through a couple of pages, shakes her head, shrugs and closes it again. And she just kind of speaks out loud, she closes her eyes and they hold the grimoire out in front of them like an offering.

Candace (September):

I don't need magic, I just, I just really need her. Take this book, take my magic, and just bring her back, okay? You need that extra power, and you're holding onto her, and you're holding onto her crew, and I can't save them, but maybe I can save her, so I don't need to keep this magic. I willingly give of my magic to you. If you just give it back to me, please. Please.

Candace:

And she throws it into the exposed light.

Alex (GM):

The magic of Roseville Beach, the living magic of Roseville Beach, it heard your plea. And you are perhaps the most worthy coven leader this island has seen. It will offer you one more use of magic, invoking your love for Samira and sacrificing everything to bring her back.

Candace:

She takes it.

Alex (GM):

You toss the grimoire into the leyline, which has the floorboards peeling up in a way where they are bent and curled unnaturally, warped around the arcane energy of Roseville Beach. The grimoire doesn't burn, it doesn't thud, it returns home to the magic. And a wisp of it, like a hand, grabs yours and invites you home as well. And we see you kind of begin to radiate and glitter. And it's not so much that you disappear, but like you're a wave returning to the ocean. And in your stead, the next wave that crashes is Samira.

Roseville Beach is now covenless. The witches here are less protected than they were before. Their magic difficult, if not impossible, to access for those who were in the coven. But all of them, including those here, gain a word of power. Love.

Kenzie:

This series stars Alexander Christopher as the Game Master, Valiatn Dorian as Arion, Dan Pyxel as Alyx Cho, and Kenzie Tartaglione as Lou Wells. This episode’s guest start was Candace McAfee as September Brown.

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