Mayday Plays - Doomed To Repeat Ep. 24 – "Dead Calm"

Episode Date: March 29, 2024

The agents emerge from Yosemite battered and exhausted, grappling with the toll it has exacted. Most of them have hit their breaking points, and disorders are starting to strangle their progress. Seek...ing solace, the team reconvenes at their AirBnB, a brief respite amidst the chaos. Tuck clings stubbornly to her unnatural sister, Mia, refusing to see reason. Hyde and Merit philosophize about their purpose, while Boomer and Warp try to relax. Yet, just as a semblance of normalcy settles over them, a phone call from a former case officer shatters the peace, thrusting them back into the tumult of their reality. TRIGGER AND CONTENT WARNINGS: Violence, body horror, mental illness, PTSD, abduction, manipulation, panic attacks, gunshot SFX Published by arrangement with the Delta Green Partnership. The intellectual property known as Delta Green is a trademark and copyright owned by the Delta Green Partnership, who has licensed its use here. The contents of this podcast are © Mayday Roleplay, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property. CAST OF CHARACTERS • Lev (they/them) - Haley Moore, Agent Tuck (she/they) • Amanda (she/her) - Maxine Parker, Agent Boomer (she/her) • Caleb (he/him) - Orson Bradham, Agent Merit (he/him) • Eli (any/all) - Kona Morales, Agent Hyde (she/her) • Zakiya (she/they) - Gaze, Agent Warp (she/they) • Sergio (he/him) - The Handler MUSIC & SOUND EFFECTS • Post Sound Supervision: Sergio Crego, Eli Hauschel • Mixed: Eli Hauschel • Original Music: Aaron A. Pabst • Soundstripe (soundstripe.com) • Epidemic Sound (epidemicsound.com/) • Soundly (getsoundly.com/) DELTA GREEN LINKS • Delta Green (http://deltagreen.com/) MAYDAY ROLEPLAY LINKS • Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/maydayrp) • Ko-Fi (https://ko-fi.com/maydayrp) • Mayday website (https://www.maydayroleplay.com/) • Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/@Maydayrp)

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Doom to Repeat is a Delta Green actual play podcast with violent themes and adult language. Listener discretion is advised. Hello and welcome back to Doom to Repeat. I'm Sergio, your handler. I'm Lev and I play Agent Tuck. I'm Amanda Dominic and I'm Agent Boomer. I'm Caleb James Miller and I play Agent Merritt. I'm Eli and I'm playing Agent Hyde. I'm Zakiya and I play Agent Warp.
Starting point is 00:00:20 We are back from our holiday break, which means you can expect consistent releases of Dune to Repeat moving forward. For the rest of the year, expect a new episode at the end of each month. Those of you in the know about May Day are probably aware of the fact that Vince, of Black Project Gaming, joined our table about a year or two ago and has been participating as both a player and a GM. We're happy to have him, and Vince has also recently returned to running games for Black Project. But rather than put them out himself, he's decided to host the episodes exclusively through our Patreon. For $2 a month, you can access Black Project Gaming's new playthrough of God's Teeth and I can assure you it is great.
Starting point is 00:01:08 And like Doom to repeat, we'll be releasing that monthly as well. If you enjoy the show, please like and subscribe and leave a review where you can. It really helps. You can also join our Patreon at patreon.com forward slash Maydayp where for $5 you can get access to tons of behind the screen content from Mayday for all of our shows. And now at the $20 level you also get a sticker of a different Mayday character mailed to you each month. Tons of reasons to support us if you haven't already. A special thanks to our Operator Level Patrons, Advanced Wars Amy, Bimblewart, Cameron S,
Starting point is 00:01:50 Onk, OGPan, Ren, and WTF again. Now let's get back to our game. Second chances are always a good thing, for example. This is my second try writing in a journal. I've been out of therapy since I accused Dr. Byrne of being a homicidal zombie pretending to be my therapist, and we're on the road again anyway, so... journaling. Second chances are a chance for rebirth, but if you've ever seen a live birth, the
Starting point is 00:02:21 platitude kind of loses its whimsy pretty quickly, but it holds up. A second example. Perennial wasn't my first cell, and though we've had extremely colorful circumstances, I'm certain they'll be my last. I don't think I won a new team anyway. I mean we've been uprooted, but even though we don't quite know how to handle this new space, we knew enough, clearly. When Tuck called, there we all were, finally together again. And whenever those mucus creatures made themselves known in the ranger station, it was mostly handled.
Starting point is 00:02:58 Smokier than usual. Well, no, no, smoky as is normal, but handled. What I didn't expect were the giants. The Oolenn. The ones that keep children even after death, as servants or avatars of some kind. They don't fit into any protocol I've heard of before, and they also aren't fitting into imaginary boxes. The sounds that they make when they crush people make my teeth hurt. But Mia's okay. She came out of the woods with something
Starting point is 00:03:32 more than just extra time, hyper geometry, or something we don't even have a name for yet. I do know that it is too delicate to ask about now. The last thing you want after being away for a long time like that is a bunch of questions. But maybe I can ask about Tuck's new lung instead? You know, I think I saw Kytanus armor? I wear glasses and there was a storm, but something is new with her. Maybe after Ruhi's settled into her second chance, now that she's already seen the scope of the job, I can ask them both. It's hard to lose a god or a, I don't know, whatever anchors you here, but hope comes in other things. Like my knife that I now keep on my hip.
Starting point is 00:04:25 Wasn't my first choice knife, but it came with a new friend, someone expected, and wholly welcome. And I handled Joe. I handled... I handled the body this time. Even got the phone for Boomer, who will probably also need something to hone into for the next few days. I might as well be a whole new creature. I can see a crisis of faith from a mile away, and in the world Tuck has held up with pushpins. And the most... almost reverent way that Merritt knew himself only as an agent. I can see that in both of them. I can see that in both of them. I had like eight years to put myself back together after losing everything and I think
Starting point is 00:05:10 it's only been a few weeks for him and I know it's only been a few hours for Tuck. You know, Journal, this is absurd, but maybe we could switch places. Like I could be the security and they could be whatever I do. I haven't had to spin yarn in a few days and it would keep them both safe and they could learn a new trade. Until then, I want to look into Delilah in San Francisco, the contact we found on the body's phone. Hopefully she's far enough from all of this to meet a different end. But either way, this case is far from open and shut. It is Thursday, October 1st at 8.30 p.m. Agents, you have removed the bodies of children that you've never seen before off to the side of the road.
Starting point is 00:06:34 Warp you've let Merritt weep and dragged the corpse of retired detective Joe Dewant into a ditch. But very quickly, time is passing and at any, a new person can come and see the situation. You need to get going. I will say that seven people, working together, will be able to move a vehicle out of the mud, if that is what your intention is. Yeah, I'll help, uh, get it out of there. Yeah, want some done puke in.
Starting point is 00:07:02 Sure enough, it's back on the road. You have two vehicles. What's the plan? We should leave. Yes, obviously. Where are we going? I believe we checked into, didn't we have a place where we were actually lodging? I say we all reconvene there.
Starting point is 00:07:18 How damaged is the secondary vehicle after the child went through the door frame? There's no obvious damage to the car. It really just depends on how close someone is paying attention. The windows of the van are all blown out from Mia's psychic scream. So that's pretty noticeable. Okay. At some point we should ditch this car. Boomer's just going to go ahead and get into the,
Starting point is 00:07:43 probably the car that has the damage, not the one that she was almost killed in. I'll take I'll take the the car that the kid was crawling into and I'll put Mia in the back and Drew in the front and I'll wait to see if anyone else wants to get in. I'll get in that car. Then I'll drive the van. Before driving off, Ruhi who is in the back with the child speaks up and says,
Starting point is 00:08:08 I would ask politely that until we get to the Airbnb, we just remain calm and silent. You know who has closed their eyes and I'd feel a lot safer when they are sleeping. Anything you want, babe. Sure. She, you want, babe. Sure. She, you know, kind of slumps her shoulders and feels, or at least appears to be, a little more relaxed.
Starting point is 00:08:32 Tuck reaches a hand back and just like sets it between them. More, almost more for herself than for anyone else and just rested there close by. You do notice the reluctance. There's a moment where there is no hand meeting yours, but that hand does eventually come back and reach out to you. And, you know, more for solidarity than anything, and will eventually kind of let go, and you'll find when you look in the rearview mirror
Starting point is 00:08:56 that Ruhi is mostly looking out the window, and you'll occasionally catch her side-eyeing your sister. Yeah. Let's go first to Agent Warp in the van. Warp, in a moment when Merritt needed comforting, you chose to help him by doing his job. I get the sense that this is one of those nights where you wish you could have a little more control
Starting point is 00:09:21 over the situation. I do think this warrants a sanity check to see if your OCD disorder kicks in. That's a failure with a 66. Well that is a critical failure. If you'd like you can try to repress it. Yeah, I think I will. You will roll a D4 and the result is reduced from your willpower as well as a bond. Okay, I rolled a 2. So 2 willpower and 2 from a bond must go away and then you can make one additional sanity check
Starting point is 00:09:54 and if you succeed this time, your disorder will not kick in and you will have control. Okay, let's go. Oh my god, that's a failure with 835. Oh. So, you are going to feel the effects of your OCD disorder. You must maintain control of the things that your agent deems important,
Starting point is 00:10:17 or you will incur a minus 20% penalty to all roles until things are brought back into order, or a psychotherapy role. While we're in the drive though, I want to know what everyone is thinking. Not necessarily how you're feeling, but what is going through your head? How are you justifying what has happened in the last three hours? What were those things? Agent Warp, if I could hear from you. I think she's only thinking about next steps, what happens whenever we get to the Airbnb, because what's just happened is a mission has gone bad again,
Starting point is 00:10:54 and there's no other excavation to that. It is just that sentence in her mind, like spray-painted on the front of her mind, a mission has gone bad again, and she needs to secure perennial, and that's it. That's all there is to it. So it's actually the absence of thinking about what just happened is what's going on with Warped.
Starting point is 00:11:13 Yeah. Let's go back to Agent Tuck. On one side of you is Merritt. Behind you is your long lost sister Mia, sleeping soundly, her head kind of curled up on the side of the car. On the other side is Ruhi, your wife, the love of your life. Thanks to your bravery and your strength, you have brought them out of this safely.
Starting point is 00:11:35 What else is going through your head? Tuck's kind of replaying everything over and over in her head and trying to see everything over and over in her head and trying to see like what could have been done differently, why Mia was the only one who was okay, basically because all the other kids collapsed as soon as the last giant for all intents and purposes was killed. Also the fact that we both exhibited some kind of abilities that are... not normal in any way. All kind of under the fact that Mera and I just had another knockdown, track-out fight at the beginning of a mission again. Though you do replay the scenario in your head,
Starting point is 00:12:22 you can't help acknowledge the damn good feeling of getting what you wanted. In fact, all of you walked out of this together, regardless of how broken you are all right now. I'd like you each to roll 1d10, and you may add that back to your sanity. I will also applaud you for achieving one of the more difficult endings of this particular scenario. This is a success? Let's go, Ginn. Yeah, don't you find this successful? Winners.
Starting point is 00:12:49 I got a three. I did that, I also got three. I got an eight. A rocket. Agent Boomer, you have spent the last hour in almost total silence, save for the high-pitched ringing in your ears. You were holding Mia one second,
Starting point is 00:13:04 and then another second she was vibrating like a rocket, and on the next you were on the ground. You are one of the unlucky few who hit their breaking point last session. Yes I did. And we decided together that conversion disorder made the most sense for you. So from now on, if you fail a sanity test,
Starting point is 00:13:21 we will decide whether you lose your hearing until the source of the stress goes away. Okay. But as you drive away, the farther you get from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, the better you start to feel. And if there is music playing on the radio, you can finally hear it again. Right now, Boomer is... it's not emotional. It is literally just images of what's going on through the last couple of hours, because it's not even been a full day.
Starting point is 00:13:47 So the flash of Joe attacking, but more specifically the look, his eyes, the snarl, the sludge white slug, Mia's face, looking up directly at the sky, because they just see cloud and they're just like breathing, and then hide, running, like walking away, like kind of like everyone's back going into the car from the ground, Merit, car, and then demon. It's very image flash. It's just images, constantly playing. Agent Merit, you also hit your breaking point.
Starting point is 00:14:21 We saw a little bit of what that looked like. Tell me about Merit's car right back. I think that Merritt has reached a point in his life where he has exhibited all the hope that he really has as a person and he's found those reservoirs running the lowest that they ever have. Hope used to be brought by rules, by expectations, by results that he could bring about by rules, by expectations, by results that he could bring about, and that he could reliably bring about. But this, on top of everything else, is just a reminder that in every aspect, in every strategy, it ends up the same.
Starting point is 00:14:57 Whether you're listening to yourself, to them, or to anyone else, results are always going to hurt because the world's built so much bigger than us. And I think he's focused on that. That he is so absorbed with the moment that he had to kill Joe, the moment that he had to kill that child, the moment that he had to kill the man in the A-frame, the moment that he had to kill, that he had to kill, that he had to kill. And it all just replays in his mind with different gunshots and different locations, with different shocked glances on the other side of the barrel of his revolver,
Starting point is 00:15:34 and the same results each time. He's just lost, and every so often in the front of that car he'll drift from looking at Hayley to looking to Ruhi and then settling entirely on Mia and just wondering in his mind how long before we have to do this again. We have decided that for your breaking point you have gained the disorder of depression. The hopeless feeling begins to numb a little bit as the time goes on. Hyde, when merit broke down in a moment where, let's be honest, in the past you have failed to extend sympathy to another, you chose mercy. And even after recognizing a horror that you thought you had left
Starting point is 00:16:25 behind you in the deserts of Afghanistan you managed to pull yourself together and cradle Meredith in your arms what's going through your head right now I think hide is in a situational awareness point because we're leaving the danger and now we're heading to our relative safety I'm looking at everybody in the mirror or whoever, I don't know who's sitting next to me in the passenger seat, but I'm observing everybody who's in the van and I can just tell that everything's not okay, but you know, we'll figure it out.
Starting point is 00:17:00 Other than that, Haida is going through like, what they saw up in the cabin area. Those tall men, all those kids, and the goo, and particularly the goo. But until they can get to a relative, you know, where they can actually fully process it, it's now just more focusing on driving and getting us to that safety, now that we're out of danger. It does take several hours to exit Yosemite, but eventually you find yourselves out
Starting point is 00:17:33 of the national park and on a short highway. You know that your Airbnb is just outside of the park, so you have about a 20, 30 minute drive and you suspect that you will get there by about 10.45. You pull up to a spacious one-story home that overlooks some rolling hills and trees. It's secluded, it's private, and that's probably why one of you rented this place. Let me ask you very quickly, who did put a credit card down to rent this place? Or what was the procedure for that? I know Boomer would have just Airbnb'd and they can write this off later to the
Starting point is 00:18:08 program later with the receipt but yes I'm the one who put it down and have all the info. Inside you find a spacious one-story single-family home decorated like a family ranch you have lots of rugs, furs, quilts, even some handmade pottery. It looks like a lovely place to raise a family, if that were only the case. Ruhi carries Mia out of the car and into a bedroom, almost immediately kind of walks in, identifies where there is a bedroom,
Starting point is 00:18:38 and walks straight to it and closes the door. Boomer's gonna grab her bag and just kind of indicate to the rest, and going, I got the master bedroom, I'm gonna be in the shower, I'm taking a nap. And she walks off. I think Hyde is gonna go and, um, toss her bag down in like the dining room area and pull up a chair there. Do you all mind if we open her door? Whose door?
Starting point is 00:19:03 Mia's. Let me go in and check on them first. Okay. We just can't have anything happening under our watch. At that, Tuck goes to the door and knocks quietly. You don't get a response, but you instinctively, you know, kind of creep in and walk in, and sure enough, you can see Ruhii almost like if she's handling a bomb. You can see the tension in her face as she is quietly, softly putting the girl down hoping
Starting point is 00:19:31 that the girl doesn't move. Mia rustles a little bit as she kind of turns over but she seems completely asleep and Ruhi notices you, puts a finger to her lips and approaches the door to walk out with you. I put an arm out and I grab her hand and I stop her. I don't know what to tell you. How do we make this right? That is the question of this job, isn't it? Are they going to try to kill me?
Starting point is 00:20:00 I won't let them. If anyone asks, you are here to consult on the weather You are a weather consultant Okay You're saying I'm a part of this now. It's the best way to protect you Okay, okay. Yeah, I just I just want to let her sleep. Can we just get out of this room? Yeah Yeah, she's she slips like a rock. She always has I Felt on the stairs when she was taking a nap and she was like, too.
Starting point is 00:20:28 Didn't stir. Tuck, normally you would see Ruhi's defenses crumble a little bit hearing about your past. Ruhi is on the edge of her seat right now. She understands that behind her sleeps a child capable of vaporizing somebody. And in front of her are six trained killers. But she kind of pushes you forward to exit the room. I think during whatever is to transpire in the next couple of hours, Tuck is putting
Starting point is 00:21:00 themselves between Rue and anyone else. When Rue steps out, she does want to close the door. If there is any protest against that, she will kind of put her hand up, at least say, a crack, please, I just don't want the kid to wake up. We'll leave it cracked. Is that all right, Merritt?
Starting point is 00:21:19 Of course, I'm just looking out for her, that's all. I just want to be able to hear something if something should happen. You saw how badly those things wanted her last night. Tonight. Whenever it happened. I don't even know. If I leave it open, can you all promise to at least talk at a reasonable volume? We've made that promise before. We can do it again, but there's no guarantees with this group.
Starting point is 00:21:41 She lets the door open enough that you can see the bed that Mia is sleeping on, but she kind of sits down at a little chair that is not far from the door, but is kind of separated from you guys, kind of more in the living room area. At this point, I think Warp is just checking the doors and windows and making sure that they are closed and what they look like when they're open. Um, it's like clicking it a few times and going to the next window and clicking it a few times. You all notice Warp is on the top of her game. I mean, it's, you know, if while everyone else seems and appears exhausted, Warp is as if nothing has slowed her down or stopped her. Just to confirm, Boomer, you basically jump in the shower, huh?
Starting point is 00:22:31 Yes. So you can hear the five of you outside, the shower going off in one room. That seems to fill the silence in between everyone else not saying anything. If no one immediately says anything, Ruhi does speak up and Ruhi says... Do we have to worry about those people? I didn't think about that they might follow us outside of... Outside of the park. Hopefully not.
Starting point is 00:22:57 Who knows? It depends on how badly... They need Mia. The legend says that they exist in Yosemite Valley. We're not too far, but I think we're technically outside of it. I don't know. Maybe technicality is enough? I hope so.
Starting point is 00:23:14 If we want to be safe, we could just jump in a car and drive to the opposite end of the country. Well, that's if we're considering this a finished job. What else do you want to do? If those things are out there they're going to continue to abduct more children. We are not supposed to be here. I agree but I think it... I think there's a good conversation to have about what more can be done. Whether we, I don't know, take this to someone higher up than ourselves, we investigate personally or we try to find some solution. I mean, isn't that why we do this? If we take it to someone higher up, they're going to ask why we were here. They're gonna
Starting point is 00:24:00 learn about Mia and they're gonna- Is that a bad thing? They're gonna want something from her. They want things from all of us, Tuck. They're gonna turn her into a fucking science experiment. She's six. Is she though? You don't know that. Yes, she- She's tiny. She's a baby. She's- You think she's a baby. You think she's tiny.
Starting point is 00:24:19 We don't know what she is. I saw what I saw. And I know that we are above just taking care of some child or some being like that. I think you're thinking with your heart and not with your head. I mean, at the core of it, there's a chance that's not even her. And I'm not advocating for taking this back to the program because I agree with you, Tuck. I think the first thing they would want to do is cut her open and see inside. But we need to have an understanding that that is another piece of this puzzle we need to make a firm decision on. There are a lot of very, very dangerous things in mind here, not to mention the
Starting point is 00:25:02 risk that people have in this valley. We need to decide where we stand on all that, program or not. At this point, the longer we hold on to her, the more likely they'll find her. If you want her safe, then she needs to get out of U.S. jurisdiction, try and land her in an orphanage or something. She's already done more than one act that would She's already done more than one act that would put her exactly where Tuck is suggesting we keep her from. At least a few days of observation to get a better scope of what's going on, and then we... I don't know where she goes, but we don't know... we don't even... we haven't talked to her much. She hasn't had more than one day in one place that wasn't outside.
Starting point is 00:25:47 We're not just dumping her somewhere. Or I'm not just dumping her somewhere. How long are they talking that I would come out the shower and maybe hear some of this, or would I just miss everything entirely? I mean, I think you maybe come into the tail end of that if it feels relevant. Okay.
Starting point is 00:26:02 Are you like in your bathrobe, or have you changed into something else? I'm in a full bathrobe and fuzzy slippers. I'm going to be like, I know you guys are not seriously making plans. You guys are not making plans tonight. There are no plans done. Stop talking. Everyone go shower.
Starting point is 00:26:19 Relax. Y'all look like shit. I look like shit. Please. I think we should talk about things instead of having a carefree attitude about it. It's not my business anymore, right? We, I, as far as I'm concerned, Tuck, you won. You got your little sister. That's great.
Starting point is 00:26:38 So what's the problem? The problem is she vaporized a person. Oh, I'm very aware. Especially your sister. And you do. Nice glowing skin, by the way. That's... new. I didn't- I didn't keep that from you guys.
Starting point is 00:26:55 Well, yeah, that's a second topic, so maybe we should pin Mia away for a second and talk about what the hell is going on with you. Now, hold on. Ruhi stands up and she says, before you all start piling on Tuck, you call her, Haley, she had a surgery. There's other people involved in this. I don't know how, but, you know, she was on the verge of death and she got better. Who are you, by the way?
Starting point is 00:27:20 I'm a weather scientist. Consultant. Okay. I know one, two, three, four, five of us. I don't know you. Never met you. I'm I'm my name's Ruhi. I'm Haley's wife. Hmm. Fascinating. All I'm saying is, is it what's happening? And she kind of turns to Tuck more than anyone else, but something bad is happening to you. It's not normal. We should be able to talk to some... Let's talk to lawyers. Let's put this out to the press.
Starting point is 00:27:55 No, no, no, no. No, okay. Maybe we can't do that. Here's the thing. You did what I did. You got too curious, asked too many questions, and unfortunately you're just... in it. So, that's why I would recommend everyone take a brief...
Starting point is 00:28:12 take a breath, relax, let some people process. I don't know if we have the luxury of processing right now, Boom. Well, I'm giving her the reality, because it seems like we got a couple of very tense security people Hmm. I'm calm and I think people need to know the truth of the situation I just I just want to help my wife I don't think what happened tonight was normal and I there has to be some way of helping her. You're right and The best way is to never talk about it again but what if it keeps happening we have to figure out what's happening that is not your problem if
Starting point is 00:28:51 it's your problem then it's our problem it's my problem she's my wife I'm in the middle of this as you said I'm now a part of this listen we are going to try and find a solution that I can promise you we don't have one as of yet, and rarely do we ever find one very easily in this line of work, but it is something that we are going to have to discuss and look at at a case by case basis because we have no predication for this ever happening.
Starting point is 00:29:19 Okay, I just have to say, is it a bad thing? We don't know. No. Yes. Objectively, yes. Objectively, yes, we would be dead. There's no telling you won't be dead. We don't know. I can keep up again.
Starting point is 00:29:36 I didn't think I was ever gonna be able to take care of you guys again. I didn't think I was ever going to be able to do my fucking job again. And now I can. That can't be a bad thing, right? It's one thing for all of us to be surprised, but you are also surprised,
Starting point is 00:29:53 which means they didn't tell the truth. And that is what's scary. Not, at least for me, not any of this. I just don't understand it. It's that they're leaving things out and we don't have them around to ask questions. Look, the only people who need to know about this are in this room. I don't know. Last time I was in communication with Samuel, he was tailing Hooks. And maybe we reach out to her and maybe she's the only connection we have.
Starting point is 00:30:19 I mean, I can make a call. We are not engaging in any communication with Hooks after what we've learned. Hooks is something far beyond any of our comprehension. She works for the company that did my fucking surgery. Maybe she knows something? It's that company Ansel. They're the ones that did the surgery, right? Ansel leads to...
Starting point is 00:30:42 There's a whole underbelly of bullshit in the government, baby. You... Well, you're all secret agents that root out evil. Let's let's let's take this to the courts. Let's... Oh! Wait, wait, wait, no, no, no. Root out is...
Starting point is 00:30:55 You get that. This what this is. Our whole objective was just to collect information, which we actually have. We have info. We'll put it up in the files and we move the fuck on. Ruhi, unfortunately, this is usually the way it goes. We arrive, we think we can do more good, we choose not to, and then we move on to the next place.
Starting point is 00:31:17 It's not that we choose not to. We did not make a choice last night, today? We didn't make a choice a few hours ago? We did make a choice. And that choice was to neglect the lives of everyone in that ranger station. Let's not call it anything it's not. That was not us neglecting everyone in the ranger station. We knew what they wanted and we took it away from them. We have no guarantee they are alive. We have no guarantee they're not. Do you want to go back in there? I would love to go back in there. Absolutely. Great, go for it.
Starting point is 00:31:45 Have fun. Here are the keys. Go. We all need to stay here, at least for the night. We just need a day of consistent variables. Please. All right. I got some questions.
Starting point is 00:31:58 One, what's going on? Just break it down. Your guess is as good as mine. So you just woke up one day and said, holy shit, I got a new thing. I started feeling sick on the plane. And then. Why didn't you tell me that?
Starting point is 00:32:10 You were sleeping and it was a lot of stress and I felt fine. I went to the bathroom, I splashed some water on my face. I felt better. I felt good, actually. What does that have to do with the blue? That's all I can think of. That is the only thing I can think of
Starting point is 00:32:22 that would have gone with the blue. I felt shitty. I came out feeling better. That's the only thing I can think of that would have gone with the blue. I felt shitty. I came out feeling better. That's the only thing I can think of other than being shot in the fucking chest three months ago. Did you get a user manual or anything? No. They were like, here, we're going to make your lung better. Go to therapy. When it happened, when the armor took over, when that thing you did with the block in front of... what triggered it? There had to be something, maybe something on the conscious level, if not subconscious. I don't know, I... it was just instinct. I knew
Starting point is 00:32:59 something was coming and I moved. It was the same with the weird, the goo. It was moving, I reacted. It was, I didn't think, I didn't plan, I didn't know, I just did. Just like Mia. For all we know, this could be hereditary. Well, this must have happened down in the cave. She talked extensively about being fed by those things.
Starting point is 00:33:21 Yeah, the mushroom, was it blue mushrooms or something like that? Yes, it was mushrooms of some type, a fungus. But maybe if she doesn't eat it anymore, she won't have that ability or something. I think it has more to do with the transformation. I mean, she may be going through the same thing you are, a kind of surgery, a kind of change.
Starting point is 00:33:44 There's no guarantee that any part of her is her. We also have to remember she puked up a fucking flubber. Mm-hmm. That must have been, maybe they fed it, because when they threw the amulet thing, the same thing happened, so maybe they fed her some kind of, I don't know, seeds or... The amulet was trying to grow a person of sorts.
Starting point is 00:34:06 A person climbed out of that, not truly human, right? There was a clear dissension. There was the giants themselves, and then the children couldn't do everything the giants could do, and the slime couldn't do everything the children could do. There's a limit, and I think they're, I don't know, splicing their energy or something, but assumptions lead to wrong guesses.
Starting point is 00:34:30 So then the next steps are what? Do we just pack up and leave tomorrow? Do we just, because I'm okay with that too? Well, wait, but if we, I mean, what do we go back to? We, there has to, there is a second step. We don't just all go back to our lives. We also have to deal with the fact that we legally did not take a six-year-old.
Starting point is 00:34:57 There was almost certainly paperwork that needed to be signed before I took guardianship of her. And now the person who would have had that paperwork is in a ditch. So we, I at least, need to go find this Delilah. So we go to San Francisco. We at least figure out what Delilah's doing. And we decide from there. Is anyone opposed to going to San Francisco?
Starting point is 00:35:27 I don't mind going back to the motherland. Hi. Oh, I'm going with you guys to San Francisco, you fucks. Sure, let's go. In the morning, all right, not now. And we're gonna and no one's gonna make any let's can we just be like no one's gonna do any weird moves. Can we just do that? Can we just have a piece like a treaty for the night?
Starting point is 00:35:52 I'm gonna start looking for something to order for dinner. And warp goes to see if there's a menu like a takeout menu left somewhere. Usual late night fare pizzas, you can maybe get a cold sub. I assume the rest of you get ready for to settle down for the evening. I think at some point once I've got like, Rue settled in and she's in the shower maybe or laying down with Mia, I'm gonna go find Boomer, uh, and just pull her over somewhere private. Before you say anything, this isn't a weird move. Trust me, if there was ever gonna be weird moves that would happen way back when, what's going on?
Starting point is 00:36:38 Oh. Do you know how to forge documents? Yes. Am I looking at three? Two. Just two. Two? I'm not saying I need them. I'm just saying that, uh, Elisa Fields and her daughter Violet might need to take a trip by themselves at some point.
Starting point is 00:37:05 I always liked Elisa. She was so Elisa, she was very sweet. It's just, it's just a problem. Oh, no, no, no, no, I've already, I already, and don't worry, it inconsiderate early congrats on your finding your sister gift. I owe you guys more than I can say, more than I can ever give back,
Starting point is 00:37:27 even if everyone hates me after this, which I wouldn't blame them for because I'm a coward and that's fine. I don't hate that. First of all, it's... I'm not saying this to be woe is me. I'm saying this as a... You're talking to someone who is a big sister too.
Starting point is 00:37:44 I get it. I don't have a lot of family left. But the ones I do, I get it. They're all I got, so... Exactly, so. I understand. But I do have to ask. Your little surgery lung thing.
Starting point is 00:38:04 Like what else can you fucking do? I don't know. I meant it. I don't fucking know. Damn, it just fucking happened. I just thought you were kind of doing it in front of like Merid and... No, I... ...I'd warp and all that. I would have told you guys for sure if anything weird had fucking happened. This is literally the first time this shit's happened. And I hate it.
Starting point is 00:38:23 Just be careful because also I think your sister literally just fucked up my whole eardrum. Yeah, sorry about that. I wouldn't have passed her to you if I knew she could pull a full canary. Just be lucky that I have in-depth, like very bendy fingers for sign language, because I got a feeling I'm not going to have an eardrum. You have enough money for cochlear implant, right? Yes. Let me know if I win. I have to worry about Ruhi. You shouldn't have to.
Starting point is 00:38:50 I'll... We'll talk. She'll... She'll understand. And if she doesn't, she and Mia will go somewhere else. The only ones I know that are Elisa and Violet. Be trouble. You're good. You're a good person. I appreciate you. Oh, don't tell the others. I kind of like I can't because it's easier when people don't like you. Because then they kind of tell you the truth easier.
Starting point is 00:39:18 Yeah, that's fair. Tuck, eventually you do find yourself settling down. You are in the same bed as Ruhi. She pulls you close and she says, so it sounds like the rest of the team is going somewhere to San Francisco? We're going to San Francisco. Why are we? Why do we have to go? It's what I said. I illegally took a six-year-old. It doesn't matter that I'm a federal officer. I illegally took a six-year-old. There is no paperwork that says that she was transferred to my guardianship. There is no paperwork that says I am her legal guardian in any way, nor are you. I'm the only one legally in trouble because I am the one who took her, and it
Starting point is 00:39:54 will stay that I am the one who took her, even though she's my sister. But, Haley, you know what the right thing is. We have to go to the authorities and we'll sign those papers. It was a miscommunication. Someone else killed that man. It wasn't you. It was my team. I know this is really hard to understand. And you've seen a lot of shit today, not even having to do with me or her just in general. You've seen a lot today. And I never wanted you to see it like this. But if what Joe said is true, if Delilah knows the weird cases, like this kind of weird, she'll know better what to do than we will.
Starting point is 00:40:46 Authorities, if you go to the authorities with this, there will be other people coming to kill you. Not people I know, not people I like, not people I can convince. There is one woman in particular that I think actually has a very high likelihood of either being the one to come after us or sending someone after us. And I don't like our odds against her. So what we do is we put our heads down and we stay alive until that's not an active danger for us.
Starting point is 00:41:28 Haley, I... I went on this trip understanding, at least thinking I was understanding what you had warned me about and I... I'm... I'm staying with you because I... I want to take care of you but I... I don't know how useful I'm going to, but I don't know how useful I'm going to be. I don't know how I can help you if you won't even help yourself.
Starting point is 00:41:50 There's something going on with you. There's something going on with your sister, and I'm scared. I don't know how this doesn't end horribly. This isn't the time, but do you kind of understand why I was the way I was when I started this job now? Yes, absolutely, 100%. It's awful, and I never wanted you to know. I wanted to tell you because I didn't want to keep lying to you, but I didn't want you to know because.
Starting point is 00:42:21 It doesn't matter anymore. Listen to me, if we're in that much trouble, if this is really as bad as you say it is let's just go let's just let's just leave tonight they're all asleep let's just get out of here I don't want to lose you you won't I'm here I won't let anything happen to you or her or me if I can help it You can only say that so many times you can only say it so many times before something happens to one of us There are some things we can't control baby And my job is very very full of them
Starting point is 00:43:01 And I know you want to go to the authorities because that's what we've been told forever and ever, over and over in our lives. But there are some things the authorities can't help with. There are some things you know and you live with, or you know and you die. But I wanted you there so bad because I wanted you guys to meet so bad for my whole life. I knew you would've...
Starting point is 00:43:30 That doesn't matter anymore. We're here now, should'ves and wish and... Anything else doesn't matter. We... We have to at least talk to this woman, because otherwise we're going to be running for the rest of our lives. ROBBIE Fine, I'm going to stay.
Starting point is 00:43:52 I'm going to stay. I want to be with you. I want to protect you. I want to help you where I can. I just, I'm sorry. I'm just, I was scared and... AABRIA I think you were crazy if you weren't scared, if I'm being honest.
Starting point is 00:44:03 You should be scared. This is not a normal thing. I have been used to this for a long time in a way that I really, really wish wasn't the case. Let's just get some sleep. Let's just get some sleep. I love you. I love you. I love you.
Starting point is 00:44:26 Eventually, you fall asleep in each other's arms. Does anyone else want to do anything before bed? Yeah. Hyde wants to, I guess, wherever, whatever room Merritt's at will eventually just go and knock on the door. I think that it's a little harder to find Merritt, but you do eventually find him out on the front lawn with a chair posted up right outside the window
Starting point is 00:44:52 that leads to Mia's room. And he's bundled up in his winter coat and he's just staring out at the cul-de-sac. I think Hyde will eventually come down and just join you. Not get a chair, just sit down in the grass or wherever right next to you. Just kind of look up at the stars. It's nice when you get to see all the stars.
Starting point is 00:45:11 That's why I hate living in the city or being out in the mainline. Yeah. Under different circumstances I might even visit. This is somewhere my mother would have loved and my father would have hated. Hmm. I think my dad would like it out of here too. How you doing, Merit? Not good, Hyde. Not good. Wanna talk about it?
Starting point is 00:45:39 I don't know. What do you want to hear? Your honesty, honestly. Prefer it that way. He reaches into those little jogger slacks that he has, and from the supermarket, from where he got the first call itself, he had purchased this on the way out after the phone call, and he sets into his pocket a package of Parliament cigarettes.
Starting point is 00:46:04 And he undoes the packaging right there, pulls off the plastic and everything. He sets it neatly on the chair arm next to himself. He takes it out. He says, if you don't mind, I was going to go in and get a lighter myself, but I know you carry one. I do.
Starting point is 00:46:20 Comes in handy. And I think Merritt lights up a cigarette and has the worst coughing fit in the world, but manages to... New habit? Yeah, well, I tried once in high school and a little bit of weed, but nothing this... My brother used to smoke these. And he starts to drag. I just feel so full of questions all the time, and every day I wake up and I find more, and never anymore answers.
Starting point is 00:46:55 And the stars are nice, but in a few hours they go away. We sit up from these chairs and we go back inside and we take that kid somewhere that they don't want to go and place that we don't want to go and we continue that cycle. And I know that Sisyphus loved his toil in life to push that boulder up the hill, but he could hold the fucking thing. But Sisyphus chooses to pick the rock back up and keep it going up. It's about the choice you make. I don't know how much longer I can keep making this choice, Hyde. Don't you feel weighed down by all those people? I feel like I'm sitting here and I can hear them up on that second floor crying. They're in the dark because the electricity just went out because those things came out smashed up half, half the ranch, right? And they're sitting there in the
Starting point is 00:47:56 dark and they're wondering who's gonna help them. And we're downstairs running away to you hear them, right? away to you hear them right? Hear them. Sometimes when you face impossible situations, sometimes you just have to learn to drown that out. Leaving was probably the best choice when you really think about it at the end of the day. And we got to do whatever we have to do to keep our immediate situation safe, you know? Yeah. our immediate situation safe, you know? Yeah. And I know you.
Starting point is 00:48:26 I've gotten to know you. I've seen what you're willing to do to maintain that, willing to go above and beyond for this team. Yeah. Of course. Why is this any different? I think that I'm just... tired. I get that. We're all tired.
Starting point is 00:48:44 But I think you have a capacity to do something more given what you're willing to do if you're willing to make the choice to continue. Because you do have a quality. A quality I quite admire. That tenacity. You just got to learn how to separate this weight. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I've been thinking a lot about that since Marlene. I mean, you have to imagine that if there are so many things so below, that must prove some of the things above correct, right? There must be something of an equally good force to what we've been put against, right?
Starting point is 00:49:25 There are degrees of happiness and misery, I'll give you that. Merit, you can't wish for a better universe while living in the one you're in. Because in ours, monsters exist. Best we can be is tenacious. Beat it. It's what's keeping us alive, even if we're not happy with the results. I hope that in some world, some version of us were happy. But you chose to come to this program. You saw something more that you could do than just being
Starting point is 00:49:54 that little FBI agent. Why quit now? I think because they're not giving me what I was promised. No institution's gonna give you that. And if you thought the FBI was gonna give you that, man, man, I was promised things when I went into the military, when I went to serve wars. Did I get those? No. I got something far worse.
Starting point is 00:50:18 So why do we continue? Because we have questions worth answering. Because we're possessed with the knowledge that we can't get rid of because we're too good for the world and we need to keep it... safe as much as possible because you have the power to do it and the will to do it. And if nobody else is going to do it... Might as well be us. Thank you, Hyde. I appreciate it. Of course. I'm always here.
Starting point is 00:50:50 Sergio, can I employ my human intelligence score here to see if you're hide? Sure, go ahead and make a roll. Okay. And hide, if you are hiding something, feel free to make a... You can make either a stealth or a charisma roll. Persuade roll, I would also allow.
Starting point is 00:51:09 Why don't you guys message me privately that answer. Agent Merritt, the words of Hyde hit you and you're really thinking about them and then you just... You're thinking about Hyde's kindness towards you, their interest in you, and it does seem somewhat out of character. I appreciate it Hyde, really I do. Thank you. Of course, anytime.
Starting point is 00:51:41 At a certain point everyone will either attempt to sleep or not. If you are attempting to sleep, because you have all had unnatural experiences today, you've all made sanity checks today, I'm going to need a sanity check to see if you can sleep. Merit's going to forego sleep in the interest of defending Mia's window. Hyde will also not sleep. Okay, let me get a con times five roll from you, Hyde. That is a success. That's a fail.
Starting point is 00:52:11 I pass with a 15. 43, so I passed. The rest of you that failed or willingly did not go to sleep, please roll a D4 and you must remove that from your willpower. I remove three. One for me. Warp was trying to go to sleep.
Starting point is 00:52:27 I think, honestly, after that conversation with Merit, Warp has been under the couch cushions and just shakes her head, like, look at these weirdos, and just doesn't go back to sleep. But rolled a two. Tuck, eventually, you are able to go back to sleep. However, you have the strangest dream. It feels less like a dream and almost like a memory, which is why it's so strange.
Starting point is 00:52:55 You're in the body of a man. You have a family. You have a wife. You have a boy. And you're all together enjoying a barbecue of some kind. You're at an event, there's a lot of military personnel, and you're just getting these kinds of fragments of images, but you can feel the love that you feel towards your wife, the love that you feel towards this little boy. And when you wake up in the morning, you're left with that strange image. I do need you to roll a d20 though.
Starting point is 00:53:34 Why? You know why. You lose 20 sanity. A 12? You wake up with an extreme lethargy. It is difficult to open your eyes, it is difficult to get up, and although your character doesn't understand this as a player, for the next twelve hours, you are going to be at a level of exhaustion in which all skills are at minus twenty percent.
Starting point is 00:54:00 So Tuck and Boomer were the only two that get rest. If you would like to heal, you have to make a constitution times five roll. And if you succeed, you can gain one health. Amanda, you mentioned that Boomer is now proficient with first aid. If you want to add plus 20% to that constitution roll to do with the first aid, I'll allow you to roll a D4 if you succeed.
Starting point is 00:54:26 Okay. I got a 21. So roll a D4, and that is how much you will heal as you wake up in the morning. One point. Better than nothing. Tuck, your situation's a little bit different. You don't have to make this roll.
Starting point is 00:54:40 You wake up in the morning, and the side of you that was boiled burnt is now healed and you are back at full 12 hit points Not just one I feel like this is a shoe drop so hard in my face. You still you still feel like shit. You're exhausted You're at minus 20% on everything, but you are no longer weakened. Do I still have low willpower or do I still have willpower? Regaining willpower. When you get a full night's sleep, which Tuck and Boomer did, you may regain 1d6 willpower, please.
Starting point is 00:55:18 Oh, man! Please. I get one back. No one's at 2 or low, right? 2 or two or less hides at two. That's pretty bad. Oh An agent who was willpower hits one or two has an emotional breakdown The agent suffers a minus 20 penalty to all actions until willpower rises above two So we're going to kind of ignore the whole emotional breakdown. This is So we're going to kind of ignore the whole emotional breakdown. This is you deciding not to go to bed. So you will just say you're also exhausted.
Starting point is 00:55:49 You are at minus 20% to all actions until you get your willpower up to time passes. Tuck, you wake up in the morning beside Ruhi, except you are exhausted as if you didn't sleep at all. What do you do? I definitely keep it to myself. I don't think I say anything to anyone and I kind of kneel down next to Mia and start trying to get her ready for the day. Ruhi is fast asleep and Mia is not in bed. fully, like, as lethargic as they had been, I think that's the one thing that would propel them out of bed. And they are on the move through the house looking for me. Anyone that refused to go to sleep at about five 530 in the morning, a little Mia stepped
Starting point is 00:56:42 out of the bedroom and just began hanging out with you guys, walking around, asking for food. I'm hungry. Uh, warp slinks out from under the cushions. Uh, yeah, they have like, uh, cereal boxes or something. You like cereal? Mm-hmm. Okay, cereal. And starts to fix a bowl for a- and offers three bowls, or how many people are visible in the living room? Just starts laying them out.
Starting point is 00:57:14 As you lay them out, the child is kind of standing awkwardly in the middle of the room looking at the adults, but seemingly able to hold her own, and when the bowl is placed at the dining room table, she goes and she kind of starts eating quietly. How are you feeling today, Mia? Good. I like this. And she points at the cereal. Mia, what's your favorite food in the whole world?
Starting point is 00:57:40 My favorite food is pizza. Uh-huh. When was the last time you had pizza? She kind of just raises her shoulders up like she just doesn't actually know how to answer that question. Before the cereal, what was the last thing you remember eating?
Starting point is 00:57:54 The mushrooms, the gray stuff. Yeah? Do you remember who gave that to you? She nods her head and kind of looks at you as if to say, you know who I'm talking about Well, I bet cereals a lot better right she smiles Is this my new home now not we're gonna go see the Golden Gate Bridge. Do you know the Golden Gate Bridge? No, and Orson's gonna bring up a picture of the Golden Gate and showed off to her
Starting point is 00:58:24 and Orson's gonna bring up a picture of the Golden Gate and show it off to her. She seems more intrigued kind of by your phone than the actual photo. She touches it. That is pretty cool, huh? And he's gonna go through like the motions of... He'll bring out his little draw pad and Merritt is probably annoying enough to have a stylus for his phone and just draw a little smiley face for her on the front of the screen. She certainly will take it from you if you leave it around long enough to mess with it. Yeah, Merritt has no games on his phone. Kids would hate him, but she can mess with his like Excel Express app. And while she does, he kind of leans down and kneels next to
Starting point is 00:59:05 her and you know he's like oh well you're kind of screwing up my cells aren't you and you know trying not to micromanage too much but she does he does lean in and say uh you know Mia last night I had the weirdest dream that I was on a beach and a horse climbed straight out of the water it was insane um did you have a dream last night i slept good though that's good that's good it feels good to sleep huh i i've been asleep for a long time but this felt different it felt good. Can I go play outside now? Sure, I'm gonna come with you though, okay? So maybe we can play a game together.
Starting point is 00:59:50 Okay, you go outside. Do you take her to the front or the back of the building? The back has this lovely little patio that overlooks the hills, and it's also a little more gated in. It's away from the street. So I'm gonna sit in the patio decking chair while she is out there. And I think, you know, Merritt's pretty packed to begin with. And
Starting point is 01:00:14 because his mother was an artist, he keeps himself some like colored pencils and drawing materials. And he's going to take out from his very expensive little case a charcoal stick and give it to her to you know draw on the on the side of the patio. Eventually the rest of you that are inside see a panicked tuck tumble out of the room. Where is she? Where is she? Relax, relax. She's with Merit, they're playing outside. You can immediately see through the patio sliding glass doors, Merritt and the little form of Mia. Is this how you're gonna live your life?
Starting point is 01:00:50 Just constantly fretting? Isn't that, is that what all parents do? I don't think so, yeah. Well, it's my first time. What do you want from me? Merritt is trying to teach me a crosshat shading, and it's not going well. I think if I see him like leaning down
Starting point is 01:01:09 and trying to teach her something, I'm going to take pity on both of them and go outside. Hi. Hey, are you having fun out here? He's showing me how to draw. Yeah, the Orson's good at a lot of stuff. She's pretty good for a long hiatus, we'll call it, but she'll get there.
Starting point is 01:01:29 Yeah, she was the artist of the family. She's happily drawing some kind of stick figure on the ground. Well, Orson's a funny name. It's not very funny. It's just sort of a name, right? I think it's a name. It's a normal name.
Starting point is 01:01:43 I've never heard it before. Lots of people have different names, bud. A lot of people have names you've never heard of or sometimes people go by different names. It's my dad's name. I got it from him. I'm a junior. She pauses, stops drawing, and looks in the direction of the house and says, someone's here. How? Who? What? Why do you think that? Why do you think someone's here? Agent Merritt, your personal cell phone is ringing, buzzing in your pocket. I'm gonna reach down and take it out. It is an unknown number.
Starting point is 01:02:22 It's fucking hoax. It's fucking Hux. It's fucking Hux. I step away from Tuck and from Mia, but just to the threshold of the door, still keeping an eye on sort of both perspectives. Them outside and the living room door where Mia was looking. And I'll take out the phone and answer it. Orison. Hello, Agent Maher. It's Mallory. Oh, Mama? Are you alright? Well, as much as I can be, hello, Mallory. How are things?
Starting point is 01:02:55 It could be better. I try to say that as loud as possible so anyone around can hear I'm talking to her. Everyone visibly sees and hears that Merritt is on the phone and he has just mentioned Mallory. I pick up Mia and put her inside immediately. Do you step inside also Merritt or do you stay outside? If they're going inside I'm coming inside as well and shutting the door behind me. You come in you slide the door shut and Mallory continues. Is everyone all right? How is everyone doing? What is this about Mallory? Agent Merritt, do you understand what this is about?
Starting point is 01:03:29 How? How? Ever since Tuck was injured, ever since the break, I have had folks keeping an eye on you, making sure that you're alright. You're kidding. They're watching. They were watching. Now things are evolving. The point is, when Tuck personally called every individual member, it was obvious what was happening. You went to Yosemite. Yeah, we went to Yosemite, yes. Fuck! You don't need to be upset. I'm not here to hurt you. I don't want to do anything.
Starting point is 01:04:05 I need to reconnect with everyone for a very important reason. But we have to deal with one thing at a time. What is the situation? Is everyone okay? Does everyone seem like they're together? All agents are accounted for. Say for Samayel, which Tuck was never able to reach. We have one friendly on scene that would need to be taken somewhere before we continue, and we have Mia. We have the subject. Is anyone doing anything while Merritt is talking out loud in the living room?
Starting point is 01:04:40 Just watching him. And I don't know if Boomer woke up yet. Yeah, I think Boomer's up with everybody. Warp is looking out the front window of the house. Warp, you see a black van blocking the two cars. Fuck. And it appears like there's two people in that van. She turns to the group and motions to go. We need to go.
Starting point is 01:05:02 Mallory, before we go to speak, to have any sort of conversation, I need you to guarantee the safety of the Friendly that we have. If everyone cooperates, I will promise everyone safety. I'm not here to cause trouble. I just, we need to put things in order, and then I need to speak to everyone. The child, is there anything I need to know about? No. I'm gonna come to the front door.
Starting point is 01:05:30 Expect me in a moment. She's coming up to the door. Fuck. Great. Ruhi, just keep Ruhi safe. As long as we are all cooperative, she promises our safety as much as she can. I'll see you in a moment Mallory and I'll hang up. They knew, they knew from the start. Of course they did.
Starting point is 01:05:50 I'm an idiot. Well, I would have missed a little bit of that because I would have just gone straight to the kitchen and started making everybody pancakes. I'm not joking. That guy was literally like, because I wanted to make pancakes for everyone. I'll say that you were able to at least, you know, put down a couple of pancakes before this phone call happened. Yeah. If Mallory's already coming, I'll be like, there's already there's no point.
Starting point is 01:06:12 Everyone might as well just sit down and eat. Yeah, how's going to stand in a hopefully advantageous place in this space and have their hand near their gun? I'm taking Mia and I'm putting her in the room with Rue. Listen, I think if we put Rue and Mia in another room, they may be dragged out to the center anyways. Maybe it's just best if everyone in this house sits in the same room.
Starting point is 01:06:37 Then I go in the other room, and I... I shake her awake. She's actually, when you come in, She's actually awake. She's getting dressed She's kind of more like what's going on? What's up? we have a visitor our boss Should I be here? I mean I should we know we shot. I shouldn't be here, so they know we have a friendly
Starting point is 01:07:02 So what's gonna happen? Is I'm gonna put you and me on the couch and you two don't draw attention to yourselves Okay, and I'll crouch down next to me. I'm gonna be and I'm gonna say Mia I want you to sit with Rue and you guys can't color together or you can play with your stuffed animal But I need you to be I just need you guys to hang out there for a little bit, okay? She hugs her stuffed toy that you've given her in kind of, you know, agreement. Okay, thank you, baby. I'll turn back to Rue. It's probably gonna be fine. They want to have a conversation.
Starting point is 01:07:40 They've said that no one will be harmed, and that's all we can say about it. So... Well, that's all that can be said about it. Let's do this. Yep. I give her a kiss and then I reach into my bag and I pull out my gun too. Can I catch Tuck alone in that room as they're escorting back into the living room. And I'm going to come in, make sure for damn sure that Rue can't hear or Mia can't hear and go, listen, I lied for you on that phone call. And I don't know if they can hear right now,
Starting point is 01:08:15 or if they know or what they do or what they don't. But banking on the fact that they can't actually hear every word that we say, I said that she isn't what she is. If they find out. Yeah, I know. And I'll step back into the living room. Hey, I'll pull him back in. You're a good man. And I'm sorry that my personal shit
Starting point is 01:08:40 has put us in this position again and that I was a shithead to you. You're my friend. I'd do any of this ten times over if it meant that you could have even a slice of happiness. If that kid is truly what she is out there, then I want every moment for you. Thank you. You know I'd do the same for you. I hope you know that. I do. Okay. I'm gonna just clap him on the side of the shoulder and head out and position myself in front of my two. Merid, you take notice that Tuck is not feeble. They are not weak. In fact, that slap kind of hurt. I think that Merid is sitting in the room with it for just a moment thinking of how that is most likely his fault or his responsibility. He brought her this boon or maybe this curse. He can't rectify
Starting point is 01:09:34 it but it's rolling over in his head how much he has done for and to Tuck and he steals himself and walks back into the living room completely unsure of the right decision. Ruhi sits down with the child on the couch. Anyone that is looking back at them, you will notice that Ruhi separates herself a little bit from the child. Once Tuck is kind of focused on the door, the child will reach out to Ruhi to play along and Ruhi just kind of puts her to the side and is trying to distance herself.
Starting point is 01:10:14 There seems to be something where she feels uncomfortable with the kid. Is there a possibility that Tuck will allow, like, I can take the kid into the kitchen, so therefore, like, a little bit out of that way, like, here, I could have an assistant, so they're not in danger. Yeah, Tuck would for sure, if Boomer is, like, pulling her over, it'd be like, yeah, go play with Boomer. Go play with me.
Starting point is 01:10:39 There is a visible relief that seems to come from Ruhi Boomer. You notice it may be better than anyone when you get close. Once you bring the child away, she sort of sighs in relief. I'm not gonna wait around. I'm just gonna go open the door and say, have you got any goons with you? Yeah, you open the door and I would say about 15 paces to the door halfway up the driveway stands two
Starting point is 01:11:06 people. Agent Mallory who seems to have embraced her short hair. There is this kind of pixel cut that is salt and pepper and she is dressed in nice traveling clothes and beside her is a six foot five, heavily muscled, toned, Latin man. He has pockmarked cheeks that are covered by a thick heavy beard and it looks like he has never smiled in his life. He is dressed somewhat like Hyde in laid-back travel or military kind of minimalist gear. He has a weapon at his hip, but he does not appear to be concealing it. And he walks behind Mallory, and she stops when you open the door, and you're about 15 feet away from each other.
Starting point is 01:12:00 We've got one rule. No goons. Agent Hyde, this isn't a goon. It's a fellow agent. She gestures to the big guy and says, This is Agent Zia. Zia, this is Hyde, a perennial. He is here for everyone's protection. I don't know what I'm walking into,
Starting point is 01:12:19 and I'd simply like someone watching my back, that's it. I'm just gonna open the door wider and gesture for them to step in. She steps inside, walks past you, and Zia follows. She is acknowledging you all, nodding at you, saying your name, hide, warp, tuck. She looks into the kitchen and sees the child playing with Boomer and gives you a nod,
Starting point is 01:12:43 kind of looks at the child, looks to her left, notices Ruhi on the couch. And then she turns to Tuck and says, is there a place that she can go suggesting, and she's kind of gesturing towards Ruhi? Within this house? Yeah. Tuck, you understand that you are involving someone that is not a part of our organization. Do I have assurances that if she goes somewhere, she comes back here? Yes. If this were in any other situation, I'd be lying to you. But I'm not lying to you. Do I believe her?
Starting point is 01:13:19 Make a human intelligence roll. 23. That's success. She appears to have no interest in starting a fight or anything right now. She just seems to want a civilian gone. I'll turn to Rue and I'll take her over just in a corner. There was a coffee shop in town. Go have as normal of a breakfast as you can. And then what? And then I'll call you and I'll tell you where to go, where to come, okay?
Starting point is 01:13:55 Okay. You stay somewhere public, you stay somewhere people see you. Don't go anywhere by yourself. Be crowded places. Be in a diner, be in a coffee shop, be in a bookstore. Just do the right thing, okay honey? That is a moving target, baby. I'll see you soon. I'm gonna watch her, I'm watching her leave.
Starting point is 01:14:17 I'm watching her until the car is out of sight. Go past the other cars. As you go out with Ruhi, so does Agent Zia. At first, you become a little concerned, but what you realize is he goes into his black van, he backs it up enough, Ruhi gets into one of the cars, backs out of the driveway, disappears. Zia gets out of the van and comes back inside. Meanwhile, Mallory has been standing
Starting point is 01:14:44 kind of in the threshold of the kitchen and the living room or entryway and turns to the girl and says, Hello, are you Mia? She kind of is like, you know, hanging on to Boomer's skirt or, you know, leggings or whatever. And she just kind of nods and says, You're very pretty. The girl, you know, kind of shyly looks away She's the world's bestest helper. That's what she is Trying to give her a little spoon and bold to mix Flour and egg have you ever considered being a mother? boomer
Starting point is 01:15:22 Fuck I love boom Fuck I love boom. Best answer. I am not opposed to it. Something about this one though that bothers you? What? What? Are you talking... The child.
Starting point is 01:15:35 What? No! It's personal stuff. You know, emotional damage, you want to pass that on to a kid. That's where I was going in. No, this is nothing. Eventually Tuck returns and Mallory is now positioned where her back is to the patio doors. And she is looking at all of you.
Starting point is 01:15:55 You were all kind of in the middle dining room area, foyer area. And she says, you all are very good friends, but I think we need to be honest that a child returning from 30 years of God knows what, we have to check her out. What do you mean when you say check her out?
Starting point is 01:16:17 Everyone just how about we get around the table, sit down and making everyone sit and pass out food. Mallory kind of instinctively takes a position at the head of the table. Of course she does. And says, I don't want to hurt her, but I need to know how, why. Once I know that she's safe, once I know that she's not been affected by her 30 year absence, then we can talk about another option. We can talk about guaranteeing to put her somewhere
Starting point is 01:16:47 where no one will hurt her and she'll be safe. Like Cicada? Nancy was a different situation. Nancy had abilities, but you've all stated that this girl's perfectly normal, correct? How about, can we get a little bit of a, just you know for? mean shits and giggles for our
Starting point is 01:17:10 dynamic of everybody can we get a guarantee that Let's say if talk decides to Go somewhere with the kid that we can let them and You don't know. Don't follow. There is that option, yes, but I can't do that. Not now. Not... Why? They don't like us. One thing at a time. I need us to resolve this. Tuck, you know the protocol.
Starting point is 01:17:38 You know the dangers of bringing someone who has been gone back into this. We need to understand and make sure that she is safe to be around and to make sure that she is healthy. And if she's not either of those things, you're just going to put her in a cage. You know, take little samples off of her forever and ever until she's... The first thing we have to do is make sure she's OK. We have to quarantine her just for a little bit. You'll have to understand if I'm a little skeptical of that.
Starting point is 01:18:08 Could we be there for the quarantine if we were to agree to that? Not that we're saying anything, but could we go with her, be with her? If it will put you at ease, yes, absolutely. What are they gonna do to her? Make sure that she's human. I, you know, there are steps to this.
Starting point is 01:18:24 Where exactly do you plan on taking her? Make sure that she's human. You know, there are steps to this. Where exactly do you plan on taking her? There are options. We can go to Nevada or we can stay in California. Can we decide? Kat, wait, can we get a decision on that? And can we choose Tuck? Can make the final call on the medical doctor? All of that. I need to make some calls to make sure who's available, but yes, Doctor, all of that. I need to make some calls to make sure who's available, but yes, if it will put you at ease, yes. Just trying to give you some leverage, Tuck. Thanks.
Starting point is 01:18:50 Do you have an idea where you'd be taken? There are march facilities that we can have access to. They'll have the proper equipment to give them, give her a thorough exam. And when they give the green light, then we'll figure out her living situation. We can be skeptical all we want, but at the end, I think Tuck, sister to your call, just make a choice. Agent Tuck, you know what Mallory's game is. They're going to do an exam in the hopes that she is normal, but you know the answer, and you know what they do to things that they find useful. You're going to make a sanity roll right now. If you succeed you have control over yourself and your
Starting point is 01:19:34 decisions but if you fail I'm gonna say your megalomania kicks in and you have one choice which is to protect your sister and to refuse these fucks. Fuck get away from any of them. Oh boy. You know how Lev does with roles. We do. Everybody get ready for the shit. Everybody, I did leave knives out on the table
Starting point is 01:20:00 for a reason. Warp tries to carry every knife at once, just by sweeping the knives on her lap. Alright. Fuck, I'm so scared to roll. Sergio! Got this! I don't know. Alright, alright, alright. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.
Starting point is 01:20:18 This is... Oh no. Okay, I think, wait, wait. Take a second. Maybe they're fucking with us. It's the face of the... It's a 73. It's for sure a failure. It's almost 20 points of a failure. If you'd like, you can attempt to repress this disorder. I'll do that.
Starting point is 01:20:35 Automatically roll a D4, and you're gonna subtract that from your willpower and from a bond. Okay, it's just a one. Which bond are you reducing? Oh, I had all my goodbye ones, all my ones that I wanted to fuck with are gone. Now I just have people I don't wanna fuck with. One more sanity check, and if you succeed,
Starting point is 01:20:57 you can hold it back. Is Rue on that list? My wife is on that list, my wife is not being touched until I have to. Are you sure? She seems pretty touched. I'm gonna say, we walk away.
Starting point is 01:21:13 Mia die, Ruhi die. Sarah, I spoil bra, can't lose. 48. Success! God, I wanted to go off though. I wanted you to. I know you did, you fucker. Don't worry, you'll keep poking.
Starting point is 01:21:32 I know we will. For a moment you look and there's like a vanity mirror and you can see your reflection and it is begging you to fight back, begging you not to let them get away with this but you look away and you control yourself for now. But, you're not going begging you not to let them get away with this But you look away and you control yourself for now, but Mallory has stated her intention. She continues by saying
Starting point is 01:21:54 We simply need to put the girl in the van. We will drive her to the location I'm hoping within 24 hours. We'll get the green light. Well, we're gonna be in charge of her transportation 24 hours, we'll get the green light. Well, we're going to be in charge of her transportation. Merit will be. Like, I'm trying to establish, like, you're not taking the kid. Like, she'll be in our vehicles. She's going to be with us, not with her at any, like, really kind of laying down everyone's roles,
Starting point is 01:22:17 saying, no, no, no, no. We got the car. We have the kid. That's what I'm trying to tell her. You know, technically, Boomer may be correct in this situation in that there's still an ongoing investigation into what's happening in Yosemite Valley. What we discovered there is in no uncertain terms something pertaining to the unnatural and removing Mia may be a central piece to solving what's going on. I just don't want to make any rash decisions, Mallory. I know that you and I both understand what happens when we make rash decisions. Hey, Jemara, can I speak to you in private for a moment?
Starting point is 01:22:51 Ooh. Hmm. Ooh. Absolutely. May I bring my pancakes? Yes, please do. Pick up my plate and shoot a look at all of the other agents and then back to Agent Zia and then follow Mallory into a separate room. Merit she leads you outside to the to the back patio area, closes the door.
Starting point is 01:23:16 The rest of you are left in the room with Zia standing silently looking at all of you. Hyde's been making eye contact, yeah. So how do you how do you spell that? Z-I-A. You want pancakes, Zia? Here. I'm not hungry. Mia runs over to Tuck and she grabs your hand.
Starting point is 01:23:33 It's gonna be okay, baby. Mia whispers and says, I don't like him. Yeah, me neither. Now look at Zia. Merit, the sliding glass door shuts behind Mallory and she takes a step away before turning to face you. And she speaks in hushed tones to you and she says, Merit, this is a sidebar, but I want to apologize to you.
Starting point is 01:23:57 I didn't know about somersault. I became aware of it recently and had I known I would have done something about it. Oaks went above me, she went above everyone. This was something, I guess, just between her and the director. Merit, help me with Tuck and I will do what you need to be yourself again. I can get you back in the FBI. I can get you in a position like me where you're protected, where you're safe. But we have to make sure that this girl is safe and that protocol is followed. Can you do that for me?
Starting point is 01:24:49 Right. So if I do this, I'm back in the FBI, I'm back in the program's good graces, and you'll work with me? We'll go higher this time. If you help me in the way that I need you to help me, the sky is the limit. I will be in a position that I have not been in before. I haven't been able to explain it to all of you yet, but the situation is complicated. So complicated. And I just need this one piece solved before I can continue, before we can continue moving forward as a team.
Starting point is 01:25:26 Right. It's just this one piece and then when you get higher, I get higher and they get higher. Eventually we're just like them, right? Eventually we're safe. Right. And when we're up there, we'll make different decisions than she did. We'll try. Mallory, when we had our last conversation, I was very harsh on you. So you apologize to me. I'd like to apologize to you.
Starting point is 01:25:51 You don't have to apologize because I'm going to ask you to do something that I know is difficult. But I'm telling you, there's a rainbow at the end of it. What is it? It's your job back. It's your job back. It's your life back. It's whatever you want. Just if I give you the girl.
Starting point is 01:26:10 It's not actually the girl. It's something else. Something bigger. Like the others? No. Before she finishes speaking, let's resolve what's happening inside. You can all see that Mia is getting angrier and angrier. She's staring daggers at Zia,
Starting point is 01:26:27 and Zia totally notices this and says, hey, tell the kid to stop looking at me. She's just a kid and she's scared of you. Mia says, you're a bad man, and you should be in timeout. And something happens. Zia's eyes roll in the back of his head and he begins to fumble backwards.
Starting point is 01:26:46 It looks like he's going to fall. Can I break his fall by pulling the chair out and he sits in it? Absolutely. Seeing him back up like that, tuck his little surprise and we'll go for his gun and try to disarm him. And then I wanna just hide it in the back of my pants
Starting point is 01:27:03 and pull my shirt down so that it still looks like I have my gun, but no one else's gun. Do we have anything that was obviously in the forest with us yesterday? Just like a jacket. I have an idea if this doesn't work. Uh, yeah, I'll whip off my flannel and pass it over. I put that jacket in the seat where we sit him down. If he shakes it off, we say that it's an effect to being exposed to the forest. And if they find something in Mia, we say that it's an effect to being exposed to the forest. Now one of theirs will witness the same thing, right?
Starting point is 01:27:35 You're brilliant, Warp. A moment later, six seconds later, he kind of comes out of it. He's looking around. And he immediately throws a hard punch at Boomer. A Boomer? She's standing over him. She's just put him, she's just sat him down. He is suddenly conscious again and he is going to attack her.
Starting point is 01:27:56 Oh god, can I dodge out the way? Or am I just... You can attempt to dodge, yes. Yeah, thank you. Let me first, one thing at a time. Let's roll his attack. Okay, he fails. Yes. Yeah. Let me let me first one thing at a time. Let's roll his attack. OK, he fails. So he swings at you wildly and is now back up on his feet. I'm going to draw their gun. What the fuck, man? Yeah, same.
Starting point is 01:28:15 Oh, my God. Jesus Christ. You homophobic bastard. What the fuck? He reaches for his weapon, reach realizes he doesn't have it. And he's going to go for you, Tuck. He's going to swing a punch at you. Uh, dodging. Go ahead and let me roll first. I don't have that plus anymore, yeah?
Starting point is 01:28:30 You don't have that plus. You are actually at minus 20 because you are exhausted. Oh, that's right. That's fucking right. Mmm, I say I fail. You are hit for three points of damage as he locks you across the face and starts wrestling you for your gun, for your weapon. For my gun? Oh, you shithammer. Hi, what are you doing? I immediately shoot him. Make that attack.
Starting point is 01:28:57 Oh, fuck me, I was going to see another person get shot. God damn it. Where's the kid in all this? The kid is basically a few steps away from Tuck. She jumps when the gun is fired. It's traumatizing. It's a success for the 38. Roll your damage, please. That's three points of damage. Yeah, you shoot him squarely in his back and he tumbles to the ground from the strike. I come like immediately over him and I tell him, I promise I will not miss the second time. Outside, Merritt and Mallory, you both hear the gunfire and the screaming and she turns and she's like,
Starting point is 01:29:35 what have they done? And she starts moving towards the door. If she's moving for the door, do I see what's happened inside? Do I have a- You certainly see the muzzle flash. You see the movement of bodies because you're basically at that door.
Starting point is 01:29:51 Yeah, you can see it all. Okay. I am going to move behind Mallory and put her in the best choke hold that I have and cover her mouth with one hand. Interesting. This isn't even a contested role. You are going to be stronger than her.
Starting point is 01:30:08 Maybe if she puts up a fight. But in this first round, you grab her and you cover her mouth. The problem is, you do know, standing outside, that that gunshot was still audible. I mean, you guys are relatively secluded, but it only takes so long before somebody hears these gunshots going off. Here's the thing, I need everybody in the room, including Mia, to make sanity checks for witnessing this act of violence. Oh fuck. Is she gonna pop off again?
Starting point is 01:30:40 Failure with a 44. Fail. It's a failure with a 66. Failure with an 83. Failure with a 44. Fail. Failure with a 66. Failure with an 83. Failure with a 67. Hyde, you enacted this violence. Roll a D4. Uh, that's a 3. Everyone else, if you failed, you're going to lose one sanity. Tuck, did you fail your sanity check?
Starting point is 01:31:02 I did indeed. Please roll a D10. 10! What's going through Tuck, did you fail your sanity check? I did indeed. Please roll a d10. 10. What's going through Tuck's head right now? What's... how do you solve this problem? Okay, so Tuck is going... in Tuck's mind, she's seeing that her plan to protect Mia is falling apart almost immediately. And I think she's going to put a boot into the bullet hole essentially, and just hold him there, and wait for the rest of the team.
Starting point is 01:31:39 Increase your strength score by that number that you rolled. By 10? Oh, fuck. You're gonna go straight through his chest. What is your current strength score? Twenty. But I have exhaustion.
Starting point is 01:31:52 You do have exhaustion for the foreseeable future. Only I know when. You have, because of your exhaustion, minus 20 remains. So you now have only 20% bonus to the associated skills of strength, which are athletics, melee weapons, and unarmed combat. You see the rest of you, see Tuck stand up and almost kind of Hulk out. Suddenly their arms and whatever piece of flesh is visible on them flares. And suddenly it's almost as if they grow two times bigger
Starting point is 01:32:32 than they were a moment ago. These blue veins coursing just under their skin and she in a rage puts her foot down on this man. You have the advantage, just roll a d4. The first shot from from hide did three damage but it didn't hurt him because as you put your foot down you realize under his clothes he's wearing body armor but you push further past it and you can feel sure enough one two ribs crack He is going to take that damage
Starting point is 01:33:10 Starts squealing in pain as you do this to him hide it pop it off You've just witnessed tuck crush this man a little bit. He's screaming under her You can see tuck is now suddenly flared with power. What are you doing? I think Hyde is just gonna stride over to a position where I can have the gun point blank at Z's head. And I'm just gonna hold the action to pop the gun off if he intends to do anything but stay put. Tuck, you succeeded on that previous megalomania roll, so I'm not gonna force it.
Starting point is 01:33:43 But you are coursing with strength. What do you do? I have to turn off my vampire brain because my vampire brain is like, reach into his chest, pull his ribs out. Nope, that's not this one. I'm dead. It's possible. There's not a whole lot of coming back from this. I mean, this man, as far as you can tell, is threatening the life of your sister.
Starting point is 01:34:03 Threatening the life of your friends? I'm going to grab him by the throat and just start dragging him across the floor so that he can't see Mia anymore. And I'm just gonna like literally hand on his throat, not crushing his throat, not trying to kill him, just holding him there. Still in line with hide, but away like as far as I can get from Mia. So I'd like to imagine Tuck like grabs this guy by the throat and like slides him across the kitchen floor.
Starting point is 01:34:36 He smashes into the refrigerator and you grab him and you pull him into kind of the recessed part of the kitchen where Mia can't see and he's trying to cry out but the air has been kicked out of his stomach. But yes, Hyde is able to still kind of point her weapon at his head. Yeah, I just don't want her to see if we do have to make some paint. Roll another d4 to determine if you damage him or how much you damage him at least. You're not being careful with him. Okay. No I'm not. He made this guy poppy puck.
Starting point is 01:35:08 Yeah, I mean his face is bloody from smashing into the counters and the refrigerator and you drag him and you can feel his leg pulling in an awkward way that probably really hurts when you pull him further away and he's starting to ask for your pity that you don't kill him. Warp, you are witnessing this. What are you doing? It seems like they have him handled. I'm gonna go back to doing what I was doing before,
Starting point is 01:35:39 which was being a creeper and looking out the window. Go ahead and make an alertness check. That is a fail. You can still see Merritt and Mallory outside. He has grabbed her, is bear hugging her and covering her mouth, but that's it for now. Can I, do I, I don't see anything else. I can just see the two of them.
Starting point is 01:36:01 It is panicked and intense right now, and unfortunately you're not able to completely look over the space without being distracted by the insanity that is going on inside. Okay. Do I know if Mia has an eye line to the front door? Mia is in the living room. If you look back at her, she's holding the stuffed animal in one hand and she's witnessing this violence in the other her eyes are wide and she looks to be
Starting point is 01:36:28 Disturbed by what's happening. Okay, then I'm gonna scoop her up and move to probably a closet You're going to have to fight her on that because she does not want to lose sight of tuck Okay, so if you want to make a we'll make opposed athletics checks Okay. So if you want to make a, we'll make opposed athletics checks. Oh boy. Let's see if you can beat a six year old. I rolled a 19.
Starting point is 01:36:50 She did not roll that well. And I will say that you are able to grab her, but she starts to kind of cry out like, Haley, no! And she's starting to act very agitated by the situation. But I'll say that you've used your actions. So the best you can do is get to the closet, but you're not in the closet yet. Okay, that's fine.
Starting point is 01:37:09 Actually, quick question about the closet. Is it one of those like cinematic closets where there's like slits that if we were in the closet we can look out of? Because... Yes. Praise God. Yep, great. And I'm good.
Starting point is 01:37:22 Stand by. That's a lot of dice, great. And I'm good. Stand by. That's a lot of dice, bud. Agent Hyde, you are standing in the threshold of the kitchen aiming the weapon at this man. You are the only one visibly with a weapon drawn and anyone around Hyde, Hyde, you noticed it at the last second, but there's a red dot on your chest. No, no, no, no, no, hide. You notice it at the last second, but there's a red dot on your chest. No, no, no, no, no, no. There is a smash of glass, a shattering of glass,
Starting point is 01:37:51 the sound of air burning as something flies into the space. I will allow you a dodge roll only because there is so much in this home that you can take cover in. So if you'd like to make a dodge roll, to see if you don't get shot by a sniper rifle, you can take cover in. So if you'd like to make a dodge roll, to see if you don't get shot by a sniper rifle, you can do that now. Yes, I will.
Starting point is 01:38:10 What the fuck? I did call sniper. Thank you. 18 out of 50. Ah, yes. You jump out of the way, and one of those clay pots shatters into a million pieces, and left is a smoldering hole in the wall
Starting point is 01:38:27 everyone in the room including Merritt outside becomes instantly aware of The gunfire that just occurred I immediately call sniper as I roll into a better piece try to roll into a better position if I can boomers just more mad that How much damage is happening to this Airbnb like alright let the kitchen is in, fucked up, this just got shot. You are not getting that deposit back. I am paying for so many fucking damages right now Boomer's just like what the
Starting point is 01:38:57 no. It's okay you're a millionaire it's fine what is this money It's nothing to you. Just laughing. Boomer, go ahead and what do you want to do on your turn? Oh, drop it. You're just dropping to the ground. I will drop and try to get cover as best as possible. I'm going to hold, like go as, I would ideally like to get to the closet, because honestly that seems like the best spot to be. Okay, so you're gonna try to go to a closet to get cover.
Starting point is 01:39:30 I think that's easy enough for you to do if that's what you wanna spend your turn doing. Hell yeah, I'm gonna write some move over war with the name that you're gonna keep me in there too. I'll say that you're too far away for that. You can get into the pantry, the kitchen pantry. All right, that's fair. Outside, with you, Merritt, you hear this suppressed gunfire,
Starting point is 01:39:50 but it comes from somewhere in the tree line, maybe 50, 60 meters away from you. You don't have a moment yet to take the time to try to find somebody, but Mallory, covered by your hand, shouts, so that as clearly as you can hear, Merritt, get down, I have snipers, I don't want this to happen, but you have to tell the others to relax, and she's just going to spend her turn
Starting point is 01:40:12 trying to convince you to call this off. Merritt, it is your turn, what do you want to do? I'm gonna let her go, and immediately rush to that door, I'm gonna slide it open, fall prone immediately. Everyone down, there's more than one. We need to call this off. We need to admit we fucked up. He started swinging at us.
Starting point is 01:40:33 We didn't do shit. Another one shooting up the house. Listen, we're gonna fucking die. This is the last. It is Zia's turn. He simply puts his hands up and he's trying to defend himself from You if you attack him at all
Starting point is 01:40:47 He will attempt to block it and possibly even redirect or hit you back But he is screaming for his life and he's saying somebody did something to me somebody attacked me No one attacked you you looked like you were about to pass out So we put you in a chair and then you freaked the fuck out That from the closet warp is gonna yell We all felt weird after the mountain yesterday. None of us got any sleep last night. You've been in here for a few minutes.
Starting point is 01:41:10 Maybe something happened. Clearly something happened. On Mia's turn, Mia is simply too concerned with what is happening. You feel her trying to rip out of your arms, Warp, and it almost feels like every time you grab her again, there's a little bit of like a static electricity that is getting more and more intense,
Starting point is 01:41:30 the more and more aggravated she becomes. Nothing happens in this round, but Nia is losing control as she did as the time you saw her do it once before. We're going back to the top of the initiative with Hyde. What do you want to do? Senzi is settling down and what Merritt said, Hyde will put their gun down and in a position where, you know, it seems neutral.
Starting point is 01:41:55 Tuck, what are you doing? You've got this man in your arms. What are you doing? If Merritt's calling for us to cease to like chill out and I can hear Mia scrambling. I'm going to lock eyes with Hyde and wait until like I get a signal that she's gonna keep a cover on him. And then I'm gonna get up and go get Mia because I know that otherwise she's going to lose control and I can't have that happen
Starting point is 01:42:27 Okay, so you're gonna stand up and you're gonna make your way across the house to warp who has the child Yeah, I think I'm I'm staying low, but I'm moving across the house and I'll I'll set my weapon down On the counter so I'm not traveling with a weapon invisible I think you can get about as far as just past the patio door. You're not yet to Mia, but you are on your way and she is starting to make the corner. I'm talking to her and just so that she knows I'm coming over. What, you get in the closet?
Starting point is 01:42:58 If, yeah, yeah, still, if I feel like I'll let Mia go and just close the closet door. Mallory is going to step into the room, and she's going to see Tuck crawling, their body engorged, their skin covered with blue iridescent veins. Her eyes are going to go wide, and she's going to press her neck and say, one of them's compromised. One of them's compromised, and she starts walking out of the home. Start moving backwards. Boomer, it's your turn.
Starting point is 01:43:30 Where, is she ahead of me or far away? Cause I don't know where, I'm gonna- She is at the sliding glass door. She is backing up into the backyard. Okay, I'll just get to the sliding glass door because I feel like she's gonna be our ticket to not getting whacked. I think that you can get as far as just outside the sliding glass door.
Starting point is 01:43:47 You are now outside with Mallory. It's not like, it's not as, it's not as dire as what you might think it is. I'm not doing well, but I'm trying to get her to stop. If you would like to try to persuade her, that's an action you can take, otherwise you've spent your turn just kind of calling out to her. I'm gonna try to persuade her I really am that there's more to it there's more to it than she thinks sadly I just failed okay she presses her fingers to her neck where obviously some kind of surveillance system is just under her collar and she says leave the rest alone take out tuck I need the girl
Starting point is 01:44:32 go it's over it is Zia's turn he is going to get up and he is going to charge at you hide you were holding in action to shoot at him if you'd like to do that oh yeah if he the moment he comes to me, I will pop him. Go ahead and make that attack. That's a success with a 50. Excellent, please roll the damage. That's four points of damage. He takes another one to the chest.
Starting point is 01:44:58 And although it seems to hurt, it seems like that vest, which becomes apparent to you now is Taking some of that damage and he's gonna come up to you and he's going to strike you He succeeds and he is going to deal you some damage He cold clocks you for two points of damage and he is now embroiled with you Attempting to get that weapon out of your hand that weapon out of your hand. Tuck, you are dragging yourself towards where you know Mia is and that's when you hear another gunshot, another shattering of glass, another burning of air and your cat muscle explodes from a gunshot wound. You're going to sustain three damage. Anyone who is paying attention, it seems as if a secondary sniper has just fired a tuck.
Starting point is 01:45:51 Tuck, you've been hit. Give me a sanity check. This is reminding you of the days when you lost your lung. Success for the 41. I am single-minded on getting to Mia and keeping her safe. It is Mia's turn. She is going to make it to you, Tuck. She's going to see that you are clearly wounded in the leg,
Starting point is 01:46:14 and she's going to see a big, scary man wrestling with Hyde. And she is going to put her hand out and scream at him. Yep. Can I try and at least get her down so that the snipers can't get her? and scream at him. Yep. Can I try and at least get her down so that the snipers can't get her? No. I hate it here. Yep, all right. She is going to succeed bigly at her attack.
Starting point is 01:46:40 She begins to scream and all of you recognize the echoing like- In a moment I'm gonna ask Boomer to make a sanity check, but you all witness as this concussive wave of sound, of energy, of something flies from her over Tuck's head and at the man, at Agent Zia. Hyde, I need you to make a dodge roll if you don't want to be caught in this. Certainly not.
Starting point is 01:47:11 That is a dodge. That is a 38, which is a success out of 50. You leap over the table, the rest of you drop to the ground, and this man is hit by this concussive wave. And just as the impossibly tall strangers that you found in Yosemite, what happens to them when they get struck by this, Agent Zia disintegrates in the middle of the space, as well as most of the kitchen cabinet and some of the tables and chairs in the space
Starting point is 01:47:46 the sliding glass door explodes behind you Glass flying at you and towards Agent Mallory. If you don't want to get hit by glass, I will ask for a dodge roll You're gonna take two points of damage as you are concussed by a wall of glass and sound and wind. Agent Mallory crumples to the ground, flying back several feet.
Starting point is 01:48:17 And I think this is a good place to bring the session to a close for now. Okay. All right. Mia has managed to clear the air and now it's a matter of are you going to take this opportunity to do something? Get out of here? Whatever that is, we'll find out. But we know we lit something that cannot unlight and it's about to... Yeah, I really hope the cowboys like us Thanks for watching!

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