Shades of the West – Episode 5 – I’m Not Leaving

Kenzie Tartaglione:

This is a horror actual play. Viewer discretion is advised. The content warning for this episode includes breaking bones, death, explosions, ghosts, gore, harm to children, and misophonia.

Kenzie (Game Master):

Not a law, but a rule broken. The world around you goes silent. Temple at night is silent. Except an argument could be made that you are not in Temple anymore. The same argument could be made that you are. But either side of that debate that you would like to take, the Vast Basin is completely silent.

And then a cavalcade of sounds and sensations, each prevalent to only the person it reaches. To Bea the sound of rushing water, the turn of levers, the creak of a wooden wheel, then shouts and cries. And still the river rushes. You can feel it beneath your feet, the silt getting between your toes the icy coldness of the water seeping into your mind.

For Travis, the sound of clomping hooves racing, the clinking of a bag of coins exchanging hands, the low growling voice threatening you within an inch of your life, threatening to never let you leave, to always be right on your tail, the bruising of your ribs and the taste of iron in your mouth as your lip is split as a warning of your debt.

For Abner, the constant firing of a gun. One shot right after another into a sea of blood and bones as far as the eye can see. Letters and words carved through the years. Time's running out. The beginning of the last message you wrote quickly distorting into something adjacent, something for you. Time is running out, Slade. What do you have to be proud of?

And now it's your blood draining from a wound in your chest, not your brother's, not your mother's, not all of those sins that stood in for the family that you lost, but your chest, your heart thumping loud in your ears, but weakly in your chest.

And for Jeb, the present. Because with the passing of a lantern, the past has been brought into the present. And you see down the cliffside, across the desert, surrounding Temple, shades of white and green awaken and begin their halting and stirring movements toward the only living things that aren't protected. A light spreading out into the night. Luck by your side. The only luck you've had of late.

And then the silence is wrent by howling of winds, of coyotes, of creatures beyond imagination. High and low, in every place in between, coming from every cardinal direction. Your clothes are being ripped this way and that, dust and grit whipping into your eyes. The moon a deep, dark purple.

You've never been as tall as your shadows now seem, creeping up the side of the rocks, stretching and curving, and becoming something you aren't.

For years, a number of which has been lost to memory, Temple has never been alive. Temple has never been as alive as it is right now.

Everyone take a burden.

Stevie Faye:

Bea is currently feeling just a rush of overwhelming emotions of every kind. Fear, anger, hatred, and sadness. And it's just all kind of hitting like a wave, building up from all of the events of last session and from this feeling and these memories that are now hitting with that. She can barely think, she can barely see. It's almost like being trapped in the past, but one might be able to make the argument that she's been trapped in the past all this time out West. But now it's like a shackle that maybe it will never truly be able to shake.

Riley Maness:

All that Travis is really doing right now is feeling. As the least supernaturally inclined of the group and as the materialistic man that he is, feelings are what's been driving him in his world. Not emotions, but just the sensations of the world. Remembering the feeling of his ribs caved in, remembering the fur on his horses and that memory being corrupted by what happened to them back in town. Being forced into that kitchen and working with cookie dough of some unknown nature. The sound of Bea breaking down and Jeb breaking down and Slade breaking down and his own thoughts echoing in his head of trying to keep himself together. He's not really made peace with it, but he's made peace with the fact that for however much longer they're here, this is what life is like.

Brendan Hooker:

Abner is trying to be focused on the plan to find whatever it is making Temple the way that it is and destroying it one way or another. But he is really ultimately what propels him forward, keeps him going. amongst all of these events and everything that's going on is that he really desperately needs to get out of Temple and get back to what he was trying to do, exactly what he was trying to get in contact with Jebediah to be able to do. He can't fail here, he can't die here. He needs this to be taken care of so he can take care of what's important.

Linnie Schell:

I think Jeb has spent the past couple of years lying to himself and basically running away from things and I think in this moment he's sort of feeling like he's awake for the first time in several years and bizarrely sort of - this is very, very bad but this is something he understands what to do these are people that need help and these are ghosts that need something And I think he's feeling maybe a sense of personal responsibility rather than just a sense of duty. Things that moored him to duty have sort of completely unraveled. But I think he feels that he has like a true purpose in this moment. He's not just kind of going through the steps.

Kenzie (GM):

You turn to face the rest of your traveling members here back to the shades, but Luck is still watching them. And you see Beatrice drenched from head to toe as if it had just been dunked in a lake. You see Travis looking probably for the first time in the last couple of days affected by what is going on, truly and fully. And you see Abe with the past lingering in his eyes. All of you here together in front of this mine.Your fear of what's inside matching with your fear now that the night is coming for you and is hemming you in.

Linnie:

I think I look at everyone and everyone looks like they're least paying attention to me say,

Linnie (Jedediah Monroe):

Alright. I don't know if we... I'm gonna be honest, I don't know if we can make it out, but I do know the only way we can is to make it through. And we're not gonna survive out there. Not everyone's ghost is coming back to haunt them is... is kind. So I'm heading to the mine, but I think we can make it out together. Or, you know, die trying.

Linnie:

I think I'm gonna walk over to sort of the group and start just like if how depending on how they are reacting to that start moving them trying to get them to like come back to the present

Linnie (Jebediah):

Ab? Abe, you are you are you alright? Bea - come on. Travis, Travis, I need you to summon up that disbelief and just hold onto it like you have held onto nothing in your life. I need you to believe that nothing is wrong and that we are all insane. I just - can you do that for me?

Riley (Travis Black):

How do you always manage to talk nonsense at the worst possible goddamn time, Jeb? Belief is the thing that I need to have right now.

Linnie (Jebediah):

You're doing great. You are doing fantastic.

Riley (Travis):

I’m so fucking sick of you. God damn. my God, Jeb. I hate how resourceful you are, but God, I'm here. I'm here. Give me a give me a damn pickaxe so I can at least swing at this thing. If Slade's going to have his gun again and let's do this. Let’s get out of here.

Brendan (Abner Slade):

There’s only one way through all of this.

Kenzie (GM):

You can find a tool, Travis, easily enough, left over from when this mine was in working condition.

Linnie:

As - as I'm, patting everyone down, what are the ghosts inside of Abner doing?

Kenzie (GM):

Make me a Supernatural roll.

Linnie:

Fourteen.

Kenzie (GM):

The only thing that you can surmise because the ghosts have not made themselves, I suppose the word is present, since you saw them kind of swirl up inside of Abner. But this almost like cloudy film that you can see in front of his eyes, he doesn't seem to be bothered by.

Linnie (Jebediah):

Abner, let me know if you worse or differently worse, I guess. Like spooky.

Brendan (Abner):

Okay.

Linnie (Jebediah):

No no no, there's nothing spooky here. Keep holding on to me being batshit and we're gonna be fine.

Kenzie (GM):

The howling intensifies.

Stevie:

Bea is kind of shivering from the cold at this point and silently goes towards one of the little headlights that was lit up for warmth and then also just kind of a signifying that even if it's not quite in the moment, she's here and wants to move on. And then also kind of lifts up her skirt a little bit and pulls out just this very small delicate silver revolver. It looks so weak and so tiny in comparison to maybe Abner's gun, but it's something.

Kenzie (GM):

As you're pulling that gun out, you also feel one thing on you that isn't drenched and it is a recently gifted towel that the old woman, Judith, had passed to you with no explanation.

Stevie:

Kind of like rubs its fingers along that, just kind of feeling over the little embroidered patch and just starts to kind of maybe wipe off her face a little bit, dry its hands. It's very little, but it's something.

Ashley Westover (GM):

As you got up to retrieve the headlamp and you're drying yourself off with a towel that doesn't seem to be getting damp as you're using it, it's probably fine. You see in the mine there's a slight like greenish blue… Glow is a strong word. It's almost like the outline of some of the rocks is visible where the rest of it should be covered in darkness. There are... you can see sort where it curves around in the inside. And then as you look at the geode head victim that Abner had stumbled across… Out of curiosity, what was the last thing you saw Ben wearing?

Stevie:

Probably something fairly nice. The family was going for an outing in public to visit their factory. They wanted to establish themselves. Like a very nice white men's shirt, some trousers, a dark blue jacket over it. Something that's formal but appropriate for a young boy.

Ashley (GM):

In the low light of Temple's night and this weird greenish-blue glow and the lamps that you guys now have, you blink and the corpse of the small child that's just on the inside of the cave lip looks to be wearing exactly what your younger brother was wearing on that fateful day. And you blink and then it's just a normal, I don't know, like cotton shirt and pants, but the image from that split second gets like thrust into your mind.

Stevie:

Bea stumbles back a few steps, kind of staring at this, and then blinks like aggressively a few times, like when you're trying to clear your mind or get your eyes to focus again. And then, kind of with the shaking hand just kind of feels the warmth coming from the light and turns away so she's no longer facing this.

Kenzie (GM):

You all begin to walk into the mine. Almost surprisingly, suppose, this case, Travis, with his newly picked up weapon leading the way, and then suddenly, as if it happens an instant, your foot crosses that threshold, you forget where you are.

You've ridden horses before. You're comfortable riding horses. But you've never had the need to go this fast before. You're on the back of a horse. You lost your hat to the wind a mile back. The horse's flanks are sweating with exertion. The leather of the reins are sticking to the skin of your palms, threatening to break into your flesh with your white-knuckled grip. And over the sound of your own breath and the wind in your own horse's hooves, you hear the hooves of more. Behind you, you've managed to keep out of their reach for this long, hoping they'd give up, but they haven't. Would Travis chance a glance back?

Riley:

Absolutely not.

Kenzie (GM):

In the middle of the day, bright blue sky, not a cloud in sight. Lightning crashes to the ground near you. A cacti on fire, which should be burning and cracking and roasting, is instead melting into sand like it wasn't anything else to begin with. Sand falling and falling through space and time, through darkness through oblivion like an hourglass.

The desert is wide open in front of you. Home is behind you. And you have nowhere to go.

Ashley (GM):

Inside the mine, Bea, Jeb, and Abe watch as a hand, black as pitch, rises out of the ground and grabs Travis by the ankle. The clawed grip ripping into his pants and the skin , there's blood flowing freely and it rips him to the ground. Before he can even get a shout of warning out, his head cracks against the stone, his hand lets go of the pickaxe he picked up and he is unconscious.

There's a moment of pause, as if you're being dared. And then, in a flash, Travis's body is ripped down the shaft in front of you, further into the mine.

Kenzie (GM):

Travis, I need you to take two burden.

Linnie (Jebediah):

Yeah, I feel like I really should have seen that one coming somehow. Alright. Bea, why don't you get in between the two of us, and think invisible thoughts. And let's... Shall we?

Stevie:

Bea kind of... cautiously steps between the two of them. Still shaking a little bit. like,

Stevie (Beatrice Lebowitz):

This might have been presumptuous, but I was hoping we'd get more than maybe two steps in for... that.

Brendan (Abner):

I was really hoping for better odds. Gotta roll with the punches.

Brendan:

As we're chasing after Travis I want to see if I can do anything to find some explosives.

Linnie:

I’m sure that Jeb is also looking for dynamite if that's helpful.

Brendan:

Okay well let's hope you roll pretty good. I need some swaps.

Linnie:

I can give you a six and a two.

Brendan:

Eighteen.

Kenzie (GM):

You do find - we’ll say… we'll say there's a crate. So you have to take just what you can carry, which is, you know, gonna be three or four, I'd say. And you do know from looking at them that they've been here for quite a long time and are very unstable.

Linnie (Jebediah):

All right, so I have an explosive device in a Molotov cocktail form and a bunch of headlights. Now you are much better at shooting things. So how about I light them up and you take them down, as it were.

Brendan (Abner):

Sounds good to me.

Kenzie (GM):

I want everyone to make a physical roll for the running through the mine.I’m going to say that because of it being dark in here and you just having the headlights, you never having been here before, I'm going to make this instead of a tier one, I'm going to make it a tier two. So looking for a 10 plus.

Ashley (GM):

And Abner for you because of your injured leg, I'm going to say for you specifically, it's a tier three.

Stevie:

I got a 10.

Linnie:

I rolled a five.

Brendan:

13.

Ashley (GM):

Bea, you pull slightly ahead. of the two curmudgeons behind you. You're obviously not trying to go too far because you want to stay with the safety of the group, but Abner and Jebediah... There's a moment where Jebediah sort of like lands wrong on the side of a rock and then stumbles forward a bit and Abner, reach your hand out and grab him to keep him from falling, but doing that tweaks your leg a little bit and you go, oof! It's not enough to like hurt either of you, but there's a few steps as you guys are keep - as you guys keep moving forward where you have to lean on each other for a moment. When was the last time you had to lean on each other?

Brendan:

I think that the last time that they had to lean on each other was probably a little bit before Abner had to really come clean about his past, his violent past, back when he and Jeb were just kind of living well together. And some people had shown up saying some things and causing some problems and one way or another Abner got hurt and without wanting to really provide any context or explanation for why being attacked and hurt he came to Jeb and Jeb comforted him and then he in turn had to comfort Jeb because he was keeping secrets and so it was just kind of like a mutual kind of leaning on each other emotionally dealing with different, you know, kind of problems and ailments.

Linnie:

Yeah, I think that they've definitely run into each other a couple of times. We know they've run into each other many times after this, and I think there's definitely been opportunities where they have been forced to work together in some capacity or sort of who've gotten themselves into scrapes and the enemy of my enemy has sort of pushed them into proximity. But I think that in any of those cases that even if Abner had reached out a hand to help, the Jeb would have sort of pushed it aside or ignored it. And I think Jeb is just a little bit too tired. And... Even if he could have avoided falling into Abner, just doesn't.

Linnie (Jebediah):

Thanks.

Brendan (Abner):

No problem, Jebediah. Just gotta keep, gotta keep going.

Kenzie (GM):

Travis. You feel now in your back the strain of riding a horse this hard. Your muscles are tiring and sore. You feel sweat dripping down your skin in between your clothes you feel bruises deep within the muscle. Where is it in your mind that you are gonna choose to be? Where are you going on this horse?

Riley:

The only answer is forward. Anyway, but the way we came from.

Kenzie (GM):

Can you roll me a Supernatural roll?

Riley:

An 11.

Kenzie (GM):

Thedesert in front of you breaks. As in, what before you was endless, you realize is shortening. But there's nothing after it. You have to keep going forward, but you can't keep going forward here, because you'll run into nothingness. The same place that all of that sand from that cactus fell into, oblivion, that's where you'll end up if you keep going forward right here. Your horse slows as this realization hits you. And the riders behind you keep going as if nothing has changed. And as they pass, these debt collectors, these demons that had been chasing you. Red glowing eyes, spittle flying. They're more bone than they are flesh. As are their horses. And they do ride off into oblivion. There’s a really sharp pain at the back of your head. You feel on your neck coldness as blood begins to trickle down. Take another burden. But whoever was chasing you isn't behind you, where did that wound come from?

Riley:

Guess it's the way I came from.

Kenzie (GM):

Do turn around?

Riley:

Nowhere else to go.

Kenzie (GM):

You turn around and as you do, you wake in a dark cave. No lights, but brought back to consciousness. You hear something else in this space with you, though you can't see it.

Ashley (GM):

[monster, bird-like noises] There is a searing pain in your leg. Youhear slight clicking, circling you as your eyes try desperately to adjust to this darkness. What is Travis doing right now?

Riley:

Amidst the likely concussion and the severe leg trauma, he sticks to the sensations that he's only ever been able to feel. He thinks my leg hurts I'm gonna, I'm gonna take care of that and he takes off his coat and he tears off a sleeve uses the main body of it to to wipe up what's there can't see what's going on down there so… Grimace, you know, keeping his teeth clenched and fighting through the pain. The adrenaline's probably doing a little bit to help out, but he'll do what he thinks is best to clean up the wound while he can't see it and tie up just below the knee to slow down that blood loss.

Ashley (GM):

As you sit up and starting taking care of your leg, there’s that rush, like a blood flow of like a sudden like wave of pain and nausea as you move too quickly for your concussion to really keep up with. And then as that subsides, your eyes start to adjust to this very dim light weaving through the stone around you like veins. And it's very faint, almost kind of like those glow-in-the-dark stars that you could stick on your ceiling as a kid, providing about that much light. And there is a spot of darkness in front of you where there isn't any of that glowing capillaries or whatnot. And you realize it's not darkness, it's a silhouette. And your stomach drops as just a few feet in front of you, a creature comes into focus. It is hunched over, maybe two feet tall, three feet if it stands up, but its diminutive size does not make you feel any better about the long razor sharp claws that you saw dig into Abner's leg and that you’re pretty sure just dug into yours. Its body is gray and mottled like a very sick pig almost. And there are feathers like growing out of it in clumps along its back and then up towards its balding head. Its cranium looks more like a skull than it does anything else. are patches of skin sort of worn away with like blistered pus rings around the areas where its skull is exposed and a lot down its face instead of a humanoid face looking back at you there is a long razor sharp vulture like beak. And its two forward-facing eyes almost glow red in the dark as it cocks its head to the side and watches you.

Riley:

Travis is a logical using man and as seeing as he didn't do anything with ghosts or spirits or monsters or anything that the others have been had going on with their lives. He thinks as he works, because that's all he's ever done. He works with his hands, he thinks with his mind. He'll wrap up on his leg the best he can. It's covered, it's probably soaked in blood now, but he'll tear off the other sleeve of his coat to dab up and maybe tie up his head, and as he does, he'll talk to it.

Riley (Travis):

You understand me?

Ashley (GM):

[monster, bird-like noises]

Riley (Travis):

Can we do a head nod or head shake maybe? Do you understand that?

Ashley (GM):

It’s head sort of like jerks forward and then tilts to the other side in like a very mechanical stiff motion.

Riley (Travis):

Alright, that's fine. I didn't want to understand you anyway.

Ashley (GM):

The creature in front of you reaches one of its front legs? Hands? The joints? There are too many of them and a lot of them are facing the wrong direction but its front limb stretches out in front of it and then it pulls itself slightly closer to you.

Riley:

Do I get an idea of, in any context, if at all possible, of how long this thing has existed?

Ashley (GM):

Sure, give me... that would have to be a supernatural role. And based off of things you guys have seen… I'll say it'll be a tier three. it's a four.

Riley:

Oh, it's a four. It's okay. I didn't want to understand it anyway.

Ashley (GM):

It looks like it's been rotting in some places and regrowing in others just from what you know about like actual physical things and how they're supposed to work. Some of its flesh looks new and some of it looks very, very old.

Riley:

He's just thinking to himself now, what the fuck am I going to do this thing just I don’t know where I am. I can't talk. What am I gonna hold a conversation with a monstrosity I can't comprehend? I don't know. And he’ll just, I guess he'll work on himself. He'll pickaxe is gone. I mean my pocket tool kit's not gonna do much here. I mean, I guess we'll just look at it, stare each other down.

Ashley (GM):

It takes another step towards you, and even though its movements are jerky and slow, it seems extremely calm. Unnervingly so, I would say. And it gets right up against you, pressing you against the wall you'd been subconsciously trying to scoot yourself away from it and you didn't realize that until your back pressed against the cold stone behind you. And it cocks its head to the side and looks down at your injured leg. And then it takes a bite and blinding pain roars through you as you feel its beak snap your bone in two as it then lifts its head up and just starts chewing as it continues to look at you.

Kenzie (GM):

Is that a one or two burdens do we think Ash?

Riley:

I’d argue one in the context of he's, definitely passing out from the pain again and not seeing that. I would imagine.

Ashley (GM):

One is fair?

[ad break begins]

Kenzie:

Pardon the interruption, but here’s another show we think you’d like.

[Roll With Difficulty promo starts]

Alright Burke, here’s how it is. I’m not sure what burgh you’re from, but this is Sigil. This is the cage. Get it? It’s not just the city you can’t escape from, it’s your problems. If you’re thinking you can put your feet up and wait for law and order to solve if for you, well, quit it, you’re just aiming for disappointment. Oh sure, the factions keep the peace… once upon a time. Guess they thought the peace was boring though because then they went to war and what’s left of them only look out for them and theirs. Oh, gods help you if you think the Lady’s going to lend a hand. If she’s taken an interest in you, let’s just say I hope you’re not too attached to your skin. Here, if there’s something wrong you think needs righting, cutters gotta take it on themselves. Now, this is Sigil, there’s clink to be made off of it, there’s folks doing it. If you really want this taken care of, I know some people who can do the job.

Rolling with Difficult presents “Open and Shut,” the second campaign from our D&D 5e actual play podcast, folioing a noir inspired group of detectives in the City of Doors. You can catch that right now with the second season son the way later this year. Or if you’d rather enjoy a complete story, check out first campaign Per Aspera. You can also check out various one shots in systems outside of Dungeons & Dragons. And be sure to say tuned for more exciting projects with great guests, great systems, amazing adventures and as always, we’ll be rolling with difficult.

[Roll With Difficulty promo ends]

Kenzie:

You can find the link to Rolling with Difficult in the episode description.

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Kenzie (GM):

Bea, Jeb, and Abe are still running. Some slower than others. Bea has gotten a bit of a... a bit of an advantage in this situation on the other two. But the headlamps that you have, the lights, which, oddly enough, Jeb, for you this place is lit up a lot more than it is for the other two, because you can see by Luck’s lantern. But all of these lights cast shadows into corners, into crevices, into cracks in the walls of this mine. You see by the tracks in the dirt the way that something pulled Travis. So you are never taken off course. But the walls are also thrown into greater relief and it becomes apparent that it's very possible the people who once worked in these mines never left. Every so often, almost at intervals, you can see a hand sticking out of the wall in stone. A foot. Aside of a face, the whole front of a body, some with tools in hand, some looking as if they're defending themselves. It gives off the aura that they were collateral to something protecting its domain.

Mines can go deep. Mines can go to places that normal human beings weren't meant to be deep in rock, deep in caverns, too far into the earth. There's never knowing what you'll find. It's common enough, running water. A crystal cavern, stalactites and stalagmites. And sometimes it's something that decides you don't get to leave because of the offense. So you follow that trail of carnage until you hear this awful noise. Soft at first, but starting to get louder and then to echo against the rock. Again, could be confusing without Travis's trail of blood and tracks, clawed feet. Until you enter a larger space than this hall you've been traveling down, a cavern of sorts, and that awful cry of something you've never heard before.

Ashley (GM):

[monster, bird-like noise]

Linnie (Jebediah):

You ever heard that before?

Brendan (Abner):

I don’t know.

Stevie (Beatrice):

I can't say that I have.

Brendan (Abner):

I reckon that's probably what we're here to find.

Linnie (Jebediah):

At least before it finds us.

Linnie:

Is there like a... Do we think there's a way we can creep up on it or are we just visually going for it? Is there a... You mentioned it goes into a larger area, is there where I'd like sneak up on it essentially?

Ashley (GM):

It’s like the tunnel goes into a natural chamber, like someone dug into this chamber here that y'all are in and where Travis's trail leading looks to be in like a small alcove to the side that has like a slight dip in it and you can see like the top of a cowboy hat sort of over the lip, but you do not see whatever made that noise. You do know it's coming from over there.

Brendan (Abner):

Alright. We need to keep low. Keep your eyes sharp and feel. Watch out for whatever that making that noise was. Just make our way over to Travis. I say we all stick together and if anything go sideways take off opposite directions. If any of us needs to, maybe they can get out while the others are dealing with whatever this is. But hopefully we can all get out of here all right.

Linnie:

Is Bea still cold?

Stevie:

Yeah.

Linnie:

I think Jeb is gonna take his coat and drape it over Bea and say,

Linnie (Jebediah):

All right, there's a bunch of shit in the pockets, so you can throw it at it and it might help. but also if I die, it saves you the trouble of looting my body.

Stevie (Beatrice):

That’s not very comforting.

Linnie (Jebediah):

No.

Brendan (Abner):

Also, Jebediah, you're not allowed to die. Alright? We got... There’s something I need you to do for me when this is all said and done, so you're not allowed to die.

Linnie (Jebediah):

I -I suppose you're just gonna have to make sure I make it out alive then.

Brendan:

Gives him a big smile.

Linnie (Jebediah):

After all, I did make that promise. So I just... Are you sure I cannot use my ghost to fulfill the promise?

Brendan (Abner):

No.

Linnie (Jebediah):

Bea, I… Abner, I... Look, I... I made a promise and I've intended to fulfill all my promises. The ones that I have broken and the ones that have not. And I… I think we all go into here. Perhaps about to die, but… I think. Well, look… Time may be running out, but if I am going to try not to die, you have to do the same thing.

Brendan (Abner):

Maybe that's fair.

Linnie (Jebediah):

It's not fair, it's... It's just equal.

Bea… Now, I have been absolutely useless on your quest. Just... And I think we both know that. I think that I have tried, but that we are walking completely different paths. I think that the strength within you is a different strength that is within me or honestly Abner here and that you should not try to be like us, you should try to be like yourself. Just Bea. Back... Back outside the cave, when Everyone was going at each other's throats, you managed to summon a calm that That's not often found out here. And that's what I mean. I mean that you have something inside of yourself that... If you can just draw on, I think you can make it out. Not just of here, but out of whatever dark… dark well that you have found yourself in.

Stevie (Beatrice):

Thanks, I guess. I appreciate the sentiment, but I don't... I don't know if I could do that again if I tried. I guess it always happened because I was a mediator of a sense. I wasn't the oldest son, but I was the oldest. And so that still had its own responsibilities. I had someone to protect, someone to… Someone I wanted to take blame for, someone who I would get into trouble, but get right back out of it again. And… That's why I'm able to help people find that sense of calm, but I honestly don't know how it happened again.

Linnie (Jebediah):

Well there's nothing like the sheer fear of imminent death to bring it out from inside of you. That at least the West can teach you.

Ashley (GM):

You all hear the sickening sound of a crunch and then flesh rending from itself and then a low groan of pain coming from that alcove.

Brendan:

I think that Abner would say that he is sorry for being just the worst and that the context of his upbringing don't justify the truly ridiculous amount of violence he has committed in his life but that he wants to before the end of all of this maybe start making things right again? And that Jeb is the only person he can trust to make things right or to right his wrongs. And if he had time to explain all of this to Jebediah, he would let him know that in the bottom of a dry well of a little house that he often looked at whenever he went to, abandoned and unknown by anyone, there is a stash of ill-gotten gains and a list of names of people that over his life Abe had killed or harmed and their families and effectively the wishes to have these ill-gotten gains distributed to these harmed families as recompense for his transgression.

I think that Jeb would say that that promise of finishing unfinished business was not the first nor the last that he's ever received and he holds no judgment for the dead and so that he would do it regardless. But I think that you would look at Abner specifically and say that he was tired and that he has spent his whole life walking towards something, following something that he isn't even sure is real anymore and that he'd do this thing, but he's beginning to suspect that the only thing that matters are the choices you make in life, not the requests you fulfill after death. And that if Abner wants it done right, he can damn well do it with him.

Brendan:

I think that made the last thing I think that maybe Abner will tell Jeb after that exchange is just he'll say go look at him look him deep in his eyes put a hand to his face and say

Brendan (Abner):

I wish I could have been a different man. Spent a different life with you.

Linnie:

I think, Jeb's gonna grab him by the collar, and say,

Linnie (Jebediah):

Just one more goddamn ghost.

Linnie:

And touch his forehead to Abner's, and then pull away. And sort of gesture toward the hideous sound of crunching bones.

Kenzie (GM):

There is a little vignette here that all of a sudden, as if her eyes have been opened, Bea, can see. And she sees Jeb standing in the middle of two people. Two people that by the aura of this ghost, something that you have felt in passing but not understood, something that has always felt like a burden to you. But you feel in this moment an aura of love and care and respect emanating off of this individual that you do not know that is a stranger to you, that is a ghost, and that is holding up a lantern in the dark cavern.

Stevie:

Trying to remember what Jeb has taught it, we will turn and address this ghost directly.

Stevie (Beatrice):

It’s nice to meet you.

Kenzie (Luck):

Well, it's been a long time since I've been able to talk to anybody. Nice to meet you too.

Stevie (Beatrice):

I don't know if this is the best time. Perhaps we should talk again at a different moment.

Kenzie (Luck):

I'll always be right here.

Stevie (Beatrice):

Always?

Kenzie (Luck):

Well, for as long as I’m wanted.

Stevie (Beatrice):

By me?

Kenzie (Luck):

No dear.

Stevie:

Kinda does like a little small like head nod towards Jeff.

Kenzie (Luck):

Indeed.

Stevie (Beatrice):

I hope that's what you want.

Kenzie (Luck):

I'm keeping a promise.

Stevie (Beatrice):

That's good. Not enough of those out there.

Kenzie (Luck):

There's a lot of promises. Not enough of them are kept.

Stevie (Beatrice):

Not a lot that are kept. Agreed.

Ashley (GM):

Bea, as you can now see the lantern light from Lux Lantern, it sort of highlights and sort of makes like these pulsing veins in the rock brighten a little bit. And on the floor in this main part of the chamber, you and Jeb both notice at the same time, there is this sort of like etching and carved into the floor of an eyeball with two hands cupping it, which looks very reminiscent of if not exactly the same symbol that was the earliest piece of lore or religious accoutrement in Judith's museum.

And Bea, I’ll say for another environmental factor, you always have this subtle sense of water rushing around you, but you can now very clearly feel as if you were connected through the stones, through the spirits that are helping you. There is a underground river just below y all's feet that is rushing through underneath you all.

And Travis, you keep going in and out of consciousness, you tied off your leg, which was great because it means you're not fully bleeding out. But it sucks because the next time you come to everything from the knee down is gone. And you see this creature just sort of like gnawing on what is left of your calf.

Brendan:

Abe will separate from Jeb and stand, gun drawn, come around to get a better look at Travis. Hopefully, it's not just his hat sitting precariously on a rock. And when he sees what is occurring, he's just gonna do what he does best, scream and be violent. So scream and shoot this creature with a gun.

Can I use a bond between Travis and Abner for this, being the fact that Abner's gun actually has a great affinity for Travis, having been cleaned and repaired by him on multiple occasions in like a supernatural kind of, this item has a soul kind of way.

Stevie (Beatrice):

I think kind of as you're going to approach you, that Bea just kind of like looks at the two of you and is like, remember, nobody dies. That was the deal.

Linnie (Jebediah):

That was the promise.

Brendan:

Wow, that was pretty good. 17.

Ashley (GM):

You fire off a bullet towards this thing. Its back was to you when you first saw it and you couldn't quite see what was going on. You just saw that there was Travis and a lot of blood and then whatever this thing is sort of like hunched over. And you fire off a shot and then right as you do its head whips almost like a very speedy owl to look directly at you and it dives almost into the ground as your bullet rings off of the stone.

Brendan (Abner):

Oh shit it can dig! It can dig!

Ashley (GM):

To be clear it's not so much digging as it looks to just be melting into.

Linnie (Jebediah):

Abner, dynamite? and Bea, what we think - Bea, can you move Travis perhaps? Can we get him out? And dynamite. That's the plan. have we tried talking to it yet? Usually I do a talking bit, and we have just skipped past that.

Stevie (Beatrice):

I don't think we need to do that part.

Linnie (Jebediah):

Great, alright.

Brendan (Abner):

I don’t think it really wants to talk.

Riley (Travis):

I talked and it bit my leg off.

Brendan (Abner):

Yeah, it's not a talker.

Stevie:

Rushes over to Travis and kind of - tries to maybe even like take the towel and like kind press it up to soak up any of the blood. It’s been, you know, to make sure this is like fully like sealed off and he's not bleeding out. Like brushes over there, like kneels down.

Stevie (Beatrice):

Oh my god, that was... You can't... I can't... I can't lose you. need to stay here.

Riley (Travis):

I you kid, I'm not trying to leave.

Stevie (Beatrice):

I didn't think you were, but I need you. Everyone that I loved is gone or maybe they never really loved me and I was just their kid but I didn't. The point is you need to stay. I need you to fight.

Riley (Travis):

They're gonna have to take me from you.

Stevie:

And kind of like slips an arm under to try to help him to his feet.

Riley (Travis):

Ab?

Brendan (Abner):

Hmmm?

Riley (Travis):

Do you have dynamite?

Brendan (Abner):

Oh yeah.

Riley (Travis):

Come here.

Ashley (GM):

Jeb, real quick, I want a Supernatural roll from you.

Linnie:

Nine.

Ashley (GM):

Does anyone want to help Jeb? Can anyone help Jeb, do you think?

Stevie:

If I'm able to?

Ashley (GM):

I'll say yes, because I want you to.

Stevie:

Six, five and two 2s.

Linnie:

I will take the 6 and the 5, for...

Kenzie (GM):

4, 2, 6, 5, 17.

Ashley (GM):

As Bea is trying to staunch the blood flow and Abner is getting the dynamite out of his pack and sort of like looking around on the ground with his gun out, you see there's a small collection of lights that get slightly brighter on the roof or the ceiling, I guess, of the cave. And… the people that had their lives taken from them in here, their consciousness feels to be suffused into the walls and it is not... It almost feels like a warning when the lights suddenly flash up here to faint for really anyone else to notice. And then right after that happens, the creature falls from the ceiling and claws first lands on Abner, trying to sink its talons into his back.

Linnie:

Immediately I try to light the Molotov cocktail and throw it at the creature and not Abner, hopefully. I think Jeb's thinking is if there was no way to push Abner out, like being slightly on fire is a more fixable problem than being impaled through the heart is where that was going. Because I don't think there's any other guns or projectiles around.

Ashley (GM):

I want y'all both to give me a physical roll.

Linnie:

A five.

Brendan:

That's an eleven.

Ashley (GM):

I'll say that the Molotov cocktail lands at his feet. And similar to the the gun incident with Travis in the previous episode where these things happen so quickly and so congruently you're not sure whether the chicken or the egg or the ground on fire and the thing on your back happened first because Jeb saw it coming down and threw.

You stumble slightly, but you do not go all the way over. then the ground in front of you, or like the ground like around you is lit as the alcohol at your feet burns. Your boots are leather and sturdy, so you're not being injured by this, but you are going to take a burden from the creature digging its claws into your shoulders. Specifically, one of them, one of its hands wraps around your collarbone. It sinks into your flesh as easily as the creature sunk into the stone and it starts to pull.

Brendan:

The first course of action is just going to be trying to throw this thing off of me, ideally into the fire.

Ashley (GM):

I will let you choose between Physical and Supernatural for this role. The tier is going to be a tier three.

Brendan:

I will do supernatural. 19.

Ashley (GM):

You… had the dynamite in one hand but managed to like lift it up a little bit far away from the flames as you grab this thing but over your shoulder with your stronger arm and it's flesh feels like old leather that's been sort of set in like a brine of some kind.

It is tough but also kind of slimy and slick but you manage to rip very hard and yank this thing forward and as it falls onto the ground in front of you, its hand sort of like dislodges from your collarbone and it manages to not rip it out which is great for you. As you throw it to the ground, it lands in the fire and for a second it starts shrinking before it disappears into the stone again.

I would like to use my sabotage ability to identify the weakest point of this cavern, where a controlled explosion might bring the whole thing down. I don't necessarily want to blow anything up right this instant, but I want to diagnose where would be the best place.

I would like to use my special action of Genesis through sitting here and what's just happened to understand this creature's relation to the silver, to the mine itself, how it interacts with it and feels about it and why it's its home, essentially.

Brendan:

I got a 24.

Riley:

I have a 21.

Ashley (GM):

This cavernous space almost feels like just one pocket in a hive. If that makes sense, like you know how a lot of cave systems, it's not just like the one thing, there's a bunch of things. The very center of this room where the pupil of the eye is, looks to be the weak point, almost like a target. This area is older than the mine that you guys had been walking through. The area you guys had been walking through looked to have like - you only took like a couple steps before you got yoinked, like, you know - it had striations along it where pickaxes and other tools were very clearly marked. But in this chamber, there are a few stalactites on the ceiling.

The ground is flat, but it looks to be like a piece of single slate. Almost. It's not like a man-made sort of chamber. The walls are very bulbous almost in the way that certain rock formations happen if there's a lot of running water or things like that. The little nest pit that you were in looked to be the only thing that was created in here, as if the creature had like dug out its special little spot. From what you know of wild animals, they tend to be very protective of their domains and of their homes. But in the same way that wild animals, if it's like a bear and they just don't have anything else that's above them in the food chain, that was how it approached you. That was why it was so calm, is because it was like, you're just food. The silver seems to be just a part of its environment. It is not averse to it like other creatures that Jebediah has encountered, maybe because it doesn't fall into like the specific undead category that is affected by pure metals.

Brendan (Abner):

The damn creature tried to take my collar. But I'm alright. I figured out that I I might be able to bring this cave down on top of it. If I could blow that spot right there. One of the the pupil of the eyeball.

Riley (Travis):

I mean, doesn't it swim through the rock?

Brendan:

Damn. I was really hoping it would be easier than that.

Riley (Travis):

Still, get over here. We don't 0 we don't need you standing out there in the middle.

Brendan (Abner):

No yeah I'll definitely move over to, you know, with Travis and Bea.

Linnie (Jebediah):

Should we lay some dynamite just be prepared and is there a way to pin it in the center somehow? Destroy both the beast and whatever is in there in the center that seems to be as Travis is saying the middle of it.

Brendan (Abner):

If we can blow it up, while it's not swimming through the rock, as Travis put it.

Linnie (Jebediah):

Trying to get it to swallow the dynamite?

Riley (Travis):

I think that'll take someone putting it there.

Brendan (Abner):

We need try to get this thing to swallow this dynamite.

Ashley (GM):

As you say that, Jebediah, you notice a flash again, sort of how last time it preceded the appearance of this creature, happening right behind Bea.

Linnie (Jebediah):

Bea, watch out!

Linnie:

I think Jebediah's gonna try to grab the pickaxe that Travis dropped down and sort of attempt to not injure it so much as just pin it to something so they have a chance at getting to it. If he has a chance, point at the consciousnesses of people swirling around that has given warning and say to Bea,

Linnie (Jebediah):

Ask them for help.

Linnie:

As he swings this pickaxe down and then is pretty much consumed in doing that. Yeah, cause he's has seven, so he's not very good at the physical thing.

Ashley (GM):

You warning Bea, it jumped backwards just as the creature came up out of the ground. And so it looks kind of confused that it's in front of instead of behind its target. And then it sees that pickaxe coming down and it sort of like scuttles off.

Stevie:

Does like a little spin, kind of tries to get her bearings a little bit, even if it's only for a split second.

Stevie (Beatrice):

Hi, I haven't really done this before, but if you could help us, that would be great. We'd appreciate it a lot.

Ashley (GM):

Roll me Supernatural.

Stevie:

22.

Ashley (GM):

You're kind of like looking up in the chamber and you don't really see anything happening and you're like, fuck, did I do it wrong? But Travis, you feel something sort of swarm, I guess, around your injured knee and you look down and you see bits of this like lines of this silver like wrapped in the greenish blue glow start to form around below your knee and into almost like a, you know those bionic legs that people can get that just look super dope. You have one of those now that's sort of like silver and glowing and it ends in a point.

Kenzie (GM):

If Travis wanted to make a Tech roll about this new leg he could do so.

Riley:

It’s a 19.

Kenzie (GM):

This is not a piece of that was gonna be made out of your cart in the next year maybe. But this is a piece of tech that could help people. And while maybe it wasn't necessarily of your mind in the making, it was of you. And so whether or not you come out of here, there is a massive legacy that Travis Black can leave with the introduction of bionic legs into this world.

Ashley (GM):

But as this is happening, the creature starts to lunge at Jeb again, since you seem to be the one that is now causing the most trouble, and it tries to snap at one of your legs.

Linnie:

Can someone get that dynamite ready before I am sans a limb?

Brendan:

Yeah, I think, Abner is going to light the dynamite and push Jeb out of the way of the creature.

Ashley (GM):

I guess a physical roll?

Brendan:

Twelve.

Ashley (GM):

Which hand do you use?

Brendan:

Well, I always figured that Abner was left-handed, so I guess the left hand.

Ashley (GM):

You shove Jeb out of the way with your right hand as you shove this dynamite stick towards the creature with your left. And its mouth was already open as it was aiming for any part of Jeb as it lunges forward. And you manage to shove this in its mouth instead, sort of like vertical, almost, so it's kind of hard for it to close its mouth, which gives you just enough time to start retracting your fingers as it chomps down and...

The middle phalanges on your left hand have been severed. So you have like, from your first knuckle down on your left hand and your thumb is still intact, but your fingernails are currently acting as a snack for this thing.

Kenzie (GM):

Here’s the other problem. This was dynamite that wasn't at its most stable point. Doesn't explode in the normal sized blast radius that it would. It's smaller. But despite pushing Jeb out of the way, still close enough.

And so there's a hesitation as this creature stumbles backwards. This stick stuck to its mouth and its beak. And there's a second delayed fuse from the dynamite. And I want Jeb to make a physical roll.

Linnie:

That would be a six.

Kenzie (GM):

The edges of it swipe Jeb up off his feet, slamming him into the wall behind. And so I need Jeb to take a burden, which does bring us to 12.

That silver that is slowly forming into this leg, this new leg for Travis has to grow and attach into the nerves and the bone and the muscle and the leg already. And Travis has lost a lot of blood. Travis is a very pale man currently hanging off of Bea. And these ghosts that are swarming him, Bea, you can hear their almost as in like gasps and whispers and concerns, just small voices that only, you can only understand the atmosphere of. Travis kind of falls limp next to you.

Stevie (Beatrice):

Fuck, no, you said…

Stevie:

And kind of like quickly like goes down to catch him as best she can. You know, someone who's like much bigger.

Stevie (Beatrice):

Come on. You promised you wouldn't leave, you said…

Stevie:

Kind of like tries to feel for anything to get a sense of there's anything it can do. It's very, very frantic. It's trying to like focus on helping Travis and also keep like an eye out for whatever's going on with the creature is like being pulled in so many directions.

Kenzie (GM):

Travis, you don't necessarily feel like you're dying. It's just that there has been so much pain in such a short amount of time that your mind can't fully hang on to reality. And so you feel Bea over you, can hear its rushed words of trying to get you to stay. It's just really hard right now to be present. You also begin to hear rocks falling.

Riley:

I think the rockfall is what kind of snaps him out of the daze, at least just slightly. He comes to a little bit, maybe seeing spirits and lights and all the fancy doodads that all my spiritual folk here have been seeing the whole time. And understanding it all. The peace that the spirits are being gracious enough to give him and the support lets him have the clarity to say what he's about to say. He feels Bea's hands probably pressing on him to, not frustration, but just anger that Travis might be going and they can hear the sounds and I probably saw Jeb go before I fell over.

I'll take hold of one of Bea’s hands and kind of probably cough up a bit of blood myself from getting tossed around and all that and wounds are fine, but it's a bit too late for that.

Riley (Travis):

Bea I… I know. I know. I’m sorry. This thing did enough to take me. I don't want it to be this way, but I can't let it take you from this world either, because it needs you way more than it could ever need me.

Stevie (Beatrice):

No, no, don't say that I, I need you. So that's, that's gotta be enough.

Riley (Travis):

I can’t talk to ‘em like you can but I feel like these friends are trying really hard right now. There's no way we all get out of here with me and my condition. Maybe if these two were a bit younger, we'd be fine. But Jeb, Jeb's gonna need your help too. They can both still walk fine. I'm too big. And I don’t know how well I’m going to be moving anyway.

Stevie (Beatrice):

You can't... You told me that something would have to take you this… I can't have another person die not like this. It's the same thing.

Kenzie (GM):

Is there any circumstance here we're changing?

Stevie:

I really fucked with the like good natured spirits getting a little bit more power.

Riley:

I say we swing that then. We change the condition that they can be strong again and maybe they give us a leg up or at least a temporary one.

Okay, then I'm gonna need everybody to make this roll here. So we're shooting for 80. You all roll a 6d6

Linnie:

I got a 15.

Stevie:

I have 22.

Brendan:

19.

Riley:

I have a 25.

Ashley (GM):

That’s an 81.

Kenzie (GM):

You have seen the town of Temple and you have seen it wracked by this creature, apparently, but also these spirits that are stuck here and live here and can't do anything about their current predicament. And you have tried to bring them into your fold through bee calling on them just moments ago from… from that night, just the night prior, when one almost took Jeb and Abe stepped in to save him. And these were once people of the town of Temple. This was their home, where they grew up, where they lived their lives until something changed.

And in this moment, as this creature is hurt and dazed and confused, Jeb and Bea you feel a shift in the air. Abe, you feel a shift from within you, in the hand that was just blown off as almost your soul itself is joining with something adjacent to it. The hand begins to slowly grow back until it's full again, fully usable. And you feel yourself, you feel more than you inside of you. But just warm and it brings a smile to your face. Maybe someone else is smiling and just using your lips for it.

Luck, Bea and Jeb, you can see the outline of him start to fizzle almost and you see the shadows and the blackness of this individual start to clear until there's a clear eye appearing. This creature also feels something shift in the nature of the place it found to be its home. You can't tell what the effect it has had on the town itself, but it has had an immediate effect on you all.

Ashley (GM):

As these spirits sort of came together to heal and to set rights, the part of its beak that had been blown off, it started to sizzle and cauterize almost immediately with that same sort of like green and blue energy that you saw from your - that re-grew your hand and that attached the bionic leg to Travis's knee. And it is - it looks just sort of dazed. It's just sort of standing there swaying, and it's got its hands, which have too many knuckles and the claws are too long to really fit with the rest of its body, flat on the ground in front of it. Like, it's trying to steady itself, and it's like shaking its head slightly as the beak starts to like... slow - much slower than how you two regenerated, like, sort of piece itself back together again. And it's just sort of standing there swaying, shaking its head.

Linnie:

Is there something that Jeb can glean from this imagery of Luck's eye starting to glow and the eye on the floor and put together maybe something there that it still feels like he's been missing?

Kenzie (GM):

You think that the... that Luck's eye and the eye on the floor might just be coincidence? You just see Luck is coming fuller into the shape of a man you once knew rather than a shade. Not that he's becoming real in any sense like that, but just that he's more familiar. He's been given the boost that the rest of the spirits here seem to be currently receiving as well.

This is the only eye that you saw when you were coming into the mind. And it kind of brings back ideas of like circles and rituals and whatnot. And… While you recently learned that this somehow morphed into the religion you abide by, it very clearly… A ritual circle, a carving in a dark cave, a strange creature is not the religion that you follow. It may have morphed from that, but this was different. And it wrought destruction that has lasted in this place for a long time.

Linnie:

Take a look at Luck and then also look at Bea and Travis and say,

Linnie (Jebediah):

All right, put this thing to sleep one last time.

Linnie:

And I think it seems like that there's not a ritual to put it back. That the eye was unlocked and it's just... the only thing now is to do more of what seems to be working. At least that's what Jeb understands and sort of pulls the dynamite out and looks at Abner and says,

Linnie (Jebediah):

I think we got time for one more go.

Brendan:

Abner’s gonna do something insane. Being full of good, good, ghosts and good, good vibes. Abner is going to attempt to sympathize with this creature, killer to killer, and try to figure out and understand what it is and whether, like, is this something that needs to be put down or can it be fixed? Can it be changed? If it can be saved and made good, can I be saved and made good? You know, there's a lot of stuff going on here right now. Just a real quick, if I could, Supernatural role or something to...

Kenzie (GM):

I was thinking maybe social.

Brendan:

God, I keep rolling 19s.

Ashley (GM):

The spirits that are now inhabiting you and that are integral to this place and that what you realize the creature has been using as well to sort of lure and feed off of or whatnot. This thing, whatever it is, used to be some sort of protector. That's what it was brought here for in this summoning circle. You don't know if something went wrong during the ritual or if it just got corrupted over time, but all sense of reason and logic that it could have felt is now overcome with the intense euphoria that comes from taking a life and that is all this thing lives for if you can call what it does living.

Brendan:

I think Abe is gonna just is gonna is gonna put a hand on Jeb's dynamite to put the dynamite down and say

Brendan (Abner):

Maybe we don't have to kill it. I think this thing was brought here for a reason. It isn't doing what it's supposed to do anymore, but… I mean, it seems like it really likes killing and it seems real good at killing, but that doesn't mean that's all it's ever gonna be. It could be something different, something better. Again, it could be a protector, a defender. You put that violence to good use.

Ashley (GM):

It's just got this dead manic stare and like it's dazed, but you don't know how long it's gonna stay dazed.

Brendan (Abner):

Or maybe it's just a wild animal that we should put down.

Riley (Travis):

Abe, quit talking about yourself.

Kenzie (GM):

While this creature moved fast and things happened rapidly in there, there was a strange slowness to this altercation compared to what's happening now. And it was probably a really good thing nobody set off another stick of dynamite because the rocks are falling faster now.

And the one thing you noticed was this creature isn't... this creature can be physically hurt. If you were to throw something at it, it would harm it. And so there's a clearer objective here that if it's crushed by rocks and it dies before it can melt into the stone, it's dead. It is a thing that can die. But you are also things that can die, and you are about to be trapped inside this cavern.

Riley:

Travis will kick himself up a little bit. Again, tell Bea to go.

Riley (Travis):

But not, not out. Tell that thing to give up. The way you calmed us down, tell it to give up.

Stevie (Beatrice):

I don’t… I can try.

Riley (Travis):

That's all it takes. And Travis will kind of not push you, but help you up. And he's going to start getting himself adjusted to the new leg and standing up against the wall the best he can.

Stevie:

And then if I'm able to…

Kenzie (GM):

I would not say this creature is a friend.

Stevie:

And I can also oh! Discern if this has been physically or mentally poisoned and then use the purify action to restore it to a healthier state? Oh, whoo, 24.

Ashley (GM):

Desperately trying to figure out what is happening in this strange desert town and trying to figure out the best way to get this creature to stop. It halts its swing for a moment and turns its attention to you. And then it takes its clawed hands and it digs them into the earth this time, not passing through like it normally did. And it lets out a final shriek. As you can tell, it is resigned to its own fate now as it rips the ground open and a giant chasm swallows it and then rushes forward to swallow the four of you. Everyone is going to take a burden as they hurtle down into the darkness below and land hard into rushing water. I want to know what everyone's thought is as they're falling.

Linnie:

I think that I don't want to have Luck watch me die.

Brendan:

Abner just thinks that it can't end like this.

Stevie:

Bea, I think, as we fall, loses grip of Travis's hand and is just kind of sitting in that feeling of being alone as we fall. You know, not able to quite see any of her companions.

Riley:

Travis is not thinking and just desperately reaching for Bea.

Kenzie (GM):

As you slam into the water below you watch Travis shift from being a mortal man to being a spirit you can see. And as Travis is reaching out to you, so is this spirit.

Riley (Travis):

I’m not leaving.

Kenzie (GM):

Over the sound of rushing water you hear those words.

Stevie:

Yeah, Bea finds her way to the surface. The muscle memory from long summer days playing with Benny, sneaking out when their parents weren't around to go down to the stream kicks in and just tries to find some way to the shore and cling on to that voice, that hope.

Kenzie (GM):

There is unfortunately here no shore to be seen. Wherever this stream ends and leads to, none of you can see it. The lights that you've carried with you have gone out. So it is dark. And this river is fast moving. It exhausts you to stay afloat. But you can hear each other if you yell loud enough. One voice missing.

Where are you all headed? You don't know where this stream goes, but you all have somewhere to go.

Linnie:

I don't think Jeb's used any of his special abilities. Can he use Trailblaze? It's impossible for me to get lost. Even if it's a metaphorical, figuring out where we're going. 23.

Kenzie (GM):

There is no path here to find to follow. It is going to lead you where it chooses to lead you. But you're still connected to the spirits around here as much as you have been the whole time And you can feel this bolstering, this congregation of spirits. And you can feel that they are tugging you quicker and quicker through the water. They want to say thank you. And they're all waiting at home.

Linnie:

I think Jeb, drawing on the decades of work both with the living and the dead, reaches back out to that feeling and lets it really, really lets it in with sort of the understanding that doing so is kind of his last act as a shepherd of spirits rather than just as a person moving through the world because in order to do the kind of work he did and he does, you have to have a distance and… and he has one last job to do. But he's ready to be done. And in the same way that when you're drowning and a hand is reached out, you grab onto that hand even if you don't know where they're gonna pull you. He sort of surrenders to that feeling of home and tries to drag Bea and Abner along with him.

And whether that's Temple home or a small safe house somewhere, the dry well, he's sort of leaving it up to fate.

Ashley (GM):

You are able to find Abner's hand very easily, almost like there's a magnetic pull between the ghosts that you can communicate with and the ghosts that are in him.

And in a similar way, Bea, you feel someone grab your hand and lead you through this rushing water. You keep going under, you're not... The water isn't getting into your lungs. It's just sort of rushing past you and there's something holding on to you desperately. And when you finally resurface, the first thing that hits you is how bright the sun is. And you almost feel dragged up onto the shore, you can't quite see anything because it's so so bright out. It wasn't this bright in Temple, so you don't think they're there anymore. And as your vision starts to… come back, there's just this ghostly outline of Benjamin smiling down at you. And he just says,

Ashley (Benjamin):

I got to save you one last time.

Ashley (GM):

Before he looks over your shoulder and he says,

Ashley (Benjamin):

I think he'll do a good job from now on.

Ashley (GM):

And as your brother disappears, you see a ghostly outline with a very physical solid metal leg sort of like wash up next to you. Not sputtering like someone normally would because he doesn't really have lungs, but the spirit of Travis has latched on to you with all of the protective parental care that someone who just wants to make sure you're okay has. And the two of you sit on the shore in the middle of the desert in this random river that seems to have delivered you out of these cave and these the darkness and you still have each other.

Kenzie (GM):

Benjamin haunted you because he was too young and he couldn't make a choice when he left. But Travis isn't haunting you. He's just with you.

Stevie:

Bea is headed further west. In reality, the old version of her probably died back at that manor in East Haven. But… somehow has been born anew and she is going to take the love and loss and hope and everything that she has gained and everything that it has sacrificed and everyone who has come and gone and… However, she's able to just spread that throughout, help other places like Temple, help other people like the spirits Jeb worked with, help other people who might be a little bit too much like her. And never look back.

Brendan:

I’d like to say that river would take Abner wherever Jeb's going. And that probably is the case. But I think there's anywhere that Abner really needs to go and would maybe know that he needs to go now.

I think he'd find himself at a graveyard. Whatever graveyard it is that his brother is buried in. One way or another he washes up on shore and walks his way there or maybe through some supernatural nonsense he ends up there. I think he goes to his brother's grave on this little family plot. And I think there is another somewhat younger man there, probably in his 30s or 40s, also just looking at the grave and having some thoughts.

And I think they talk a little bit and Abner is able to learn, well not learn, but confirm that this other younger man is Henry Jr., his nephew. And he doesn't tell him that he's his uncle, he doesn't tell him that he killed his father, but they just talk and he learns that Henry's doing good. He's a good man with an honest job, two lovely children and a partner he treats very well. And I think that Abner resigns himself to. let that be the family legacy rather than himself.

Riley:

Travis was a man who, for the last 20 odd years of his life, lived as a man who had things. That was all he had. had a cart, he had horses, he had money. He had a past to run away from. And given the recent times, and especially now, he can finally give up the material things because he has someone rather than something.

Kenzie (GM):

Temple is a living place. No one returns to life, but memory seems to return to the inhabitants. And unfortunately, that does for a time mean that they are stricken with overwhelming grief for those that they had lost throughout the years when things happened to them and they weren't unable to stop it. But the clock on the town hall begins to move again. The time is wrong, but it ticks by. And there are things in the chairs and people in the wood that finally turn to dust, turn to ash as they are allowed to rest. And those people who weren't born in temple wake up one morning, and realize they can leave and they can find their place in their homes.

And the spirits here. now protect the village at night. It's still unsafe. There are wild animals. There's not a creature from the mind that will rip you apart. There aren't shades that will suck your soul. There are spirits and ghosts of loved ones to hold your hands in the dark road.

And a bird calls on a roost and a tumbleweed passes and time moves on.

That was Kenzie Tartaglione and Ashley Westover as your GMs, Riley Maness as Travis Black, Stevie Faye as Beatrice Lebowitz, Brendan Hooker as Abner Slade, and Linnie Schell as Jebediah Monroe. You can find out where to follow the cast as well as their own projects in the episode description.

We want to thank you so much for listening to or watching if your a patron, this queeRPG mini show. If you liked this series we’d love to hear from you so please leave us a rating or review. Thank you so much to scriv the bard for partnering with us to bring to life the first actual play for Bard RPG.

And make sure to keep an eye out, season 3 of queeRPG, coming to you soon.