S2 Ep10: Howlin' For You

[00:00:30] Speaker A: Hello, I'm Aubrey, and I play Isabelle. [00:00:33] Speaker B: Hi, I'm legacy, and I play Rosanna. [00:00:38] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Scott, and I play Arthur. [00:00:41] Speaker D: Hi, I'm termite, and I play Piper. [00:00:44] Speaker E: And I'm bloodied porcelain. I will be your storyteller for the evening. The the lives of mad Men are often short, brutal, and full of darkness, only occasionally punctuated by moments of levity and light. Mad Men may find companionship, purpose, and even love while on their wayfaring journey. But they may also learn other lessons. They may find that at times, pursuing the darkness and danger with an arrow, a blade, or a bullet may actually cause more harm than good. Or they may find that too much passivity and peaceful negotiation can lead to disastrous results. Above all, however, the lucky ones find the truth, that the difference between mad Men and hunters is, above all else, temperance. Tonight we find out if our cell are still mad Men or if they've become hunters at last. Good evening, players. Last episode, we had some things happen. It was an emotional time. Arthur read Katie Lynn in on everything. Rather than walking away, maybe giving her a chance at a semi normal life. He told her everything he'd been trying to hide from her for nearly a year. She didn't take it well. The speaker, Loki, backed up this revelation by demonstrating just a fraction of his power to her. At the end of a long day, after telling the MC the truth as well, you all sat down and had a meal cooked with love and not a small amount of consternation by Arthur's darling wife. We pick up the next morning. Remember that you regain willpower if you've lost it. And Ophelia has told you that this evening is the perfect time for the ritual. The moon will be in its proper phase. The planets, as they say, are in alignment, something that she says with complete gravity, despite how ridiculous it might sound. And you guys have the day to prepare. Now, we are going to give you guys a moment to talk amongst yourselves, to roleplay. You are downstairs at Katie Lyn's house. She is out running errands because she knows that if she is here for any of this, she won't be able to stay away. So she is going to go out and run errands with some of the other wives while you all prepare and take care of what you have to take care of. And she will see you when you return. If you return. I'm just going to say that everybody is up. We're not going to do the staggered wake up. You guys know that this is a big day. You all set alarms, and you are awake at an appropriate hour. [00:04:50] Speaker D: Whenever Ophelia. [00:04:51] Speaker E: Asked me to be early. Was what she told you. Yeah. You guys have a lot of prep, and especially Piper has a lot of prep and a lot of setting up to do. Talk amongst yourselves. [00:05:11] Speaker C: So when the group is fully assembled, Arthur's gonna, like, stand up and look at them all. And you can tell that he's awkward and he's uncomfortable, but he just stares at his hands for a second and then he goes, um. I'm. I'm sorry about the way it handled yesterday. Sincerely and honestly, it not my best moment. But I. Well, I realized that I shouldn't have spoke to you all the way that I did. And after last night, after talking with Katie, and after evening that I had with her, I realized that what you all had said was right. And if we had done things the other way, then we would have definitely made it very bad for the people here. And so I just wanted to clear the air and hopefully let all of you understand that I am humbly expressing this feeling of my mistake to you. [00:07:02] Speaker D: And we could have reacted better, too. [00:07:07] Speaker B: Yeah. I think we owe it to ourselves and to each other to maybe wipe this slate clean and start over. Maybe with better set expectations. [00:07:34] Speaker A: Probably a good idea to base level go back to what are we here for? What do we expect? That kind of thing. [00:07:48] Speaker C: Yeah. And I admit that some of this problem about being on the same page comes from the way that I approached both of you, Piper and Isabelle, when you joined us. And so I recognized that we could have been better when we started. So coming clean last night made me really think about how I approached both of you. And I'm sorry about that. [00:08:21] Speaker D: I just hope you know that you doing that is essentially the most insane thing I've ever seen. [00:08:26] Speaker E: Well heard. [00:08:28] Speaker A: Yeah. Kind of wish. It's not something I ever expected to hear you say. And I kind of wish I had recorded it just for later down the line. Like two weeks from now, when we're all arguing. I could just play it back. You just saying I was wrong? I'm sorry. [00:08:43] Speaker D: Oh, I was talking about him telling Katie Lynn about. [00:08:53] Speaker C: Mean. [00:08:54] Speaker D: Imagine it was something you put thought into. I hope it was something you put thought into. [00:09:00] Speaker B: Oh, God, me too. [00:09:04] Speaker C: Yeah. When I walked in to talk with her, I actually thought that I was going to be telling her how I couldn't be with her and annulling my marriage and letting her vaughn with her life. But she. She's too smart for that. And she broke everything down. [00:09:37] Speaker D: There are some things we can't let go of. [00:09:39] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:09:40] Speaker A: I think it's also kind of called love. This kind of strange thing that I've vaguely heard about. [00:09:51] Speaker C: Yeah. And I know it wasn't the wisest choice. And he looks at Rosanna when he's saying it. He's like, I know that it wasn't the best course, but it seemed to be my only option at the time. [00:10:07] Speaker B: Listen, I told you when we had that talk that I was going to support you no matter what you decided to do. You know that there are risks. You and I talked about that. But at the end of the day, you made your decision, and that is okay, too. We just got to make sure that we leave her with the proper supplies to protect herself, just in case. [00:10:43] Speaker C: Yeah, she mentioned that she was going to be around people and select people. I didn't realize how kind of wild she was. She's got ideas that are, I don't know, maybe worse than any ones that I've had. But she actually has the ability to plan behind them, so could get interesting. [00:11:11] Speaker A: It might be unstoppable, given the ability to plan. [00:11:14] Speaker D: Doesn't mean anything. It's the willingness to do it. Yeah, and I think that's what she has, that at least. I don't. [00:11:23] Speaker C: I mean, she didn't really tell me what her plans were. She just had ideas. And I think if she gave them any of her mental capacity, it would turn into something. [00:11:34] Speaker B: She's also got resources and plenty of them. [00:11:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:45] Speaker B: If she stays here, she could really do some good in protecting the people around her. [00:11:52] Speaker D: Let's hope she does that and doesn't do what we do. She can do a lot more good here than running around. She at least has resources at her disposal. Unlike. [00:12:10] Speaker E: Us. [00:12:12] Speaker B: But either way, I think I owe you an apology, too, Arthur. I know I've been really hard on you recently. And part of it's because I'm still a little hash strung over this whole week. Part of it is because I didn't want you getting hurt. And I think in my desire to keep you, and you guys, too, as safe as possible, I think I kind of might have come off as a. Bitch. [00:13:03] Speaker A: Overprotective? [00:13:05] Speaker B: I was going to say bitchy, but I like your word better. [00:13:10] Speaker D: I wasn't going to say it. [00:13:12] Speaker C: I would never say it. [00:13:14] Speaker A: It's been a stressful time for all of us. Has been more than anyone should have to deal with in one single week. [00:13:25] Speaker D: And the week's not over yet. [00:13:27] Speaker A: And it's not. [00:13:30] Speaker B: Hey. And I think that we need to kind of establish a couple of things now while it's just the four of us. What's after this? What are we doing after this? [00:13:51] Speaker C: Yeah, what's next? That's the real question to ask. [00:13:58] Speaker D: I have to go back to California. [00:14:03] Speaker E: Fair. [00:14:07] Speaker A: I should probably go back to California, at least for a bit. I have an actual job that is going to wonder where I am eventually. I only have so much vacation time. [00:14:25] Speaker D: What, you don't want to become? What was it? One of your weird, unemployed friends? [00:14:34] Speaker A: Not yet. I like having health insurance. [00:14:38] Speaker B: Would also like to point out that I am not unemployed. [00:14:44] Speaker D: Depends on who you ask. [00:14:45] Speaker B: No, I actually do have a real job. None of you all have ever asked about it. How do you think I have money on top of the side business? [00:14:56] Speaker A: I actually do have a real job business. [00:15:02] Speaker C: I just thought you made plenty of money from the side business. Yeah. [00:15:05] Speaker A: No, I thought you were, like, top .2 creator or something. [00:15:10] Speaker B: I'm a well established librarian within my field. I've actually got, like, research papers and everything. Did you guys only think that I did. [00:15:21] Speaker A: Never mind. [00:15:23] Speaker C: Is librarian like that term like accountant that I've heard before were. [00:15:34] Speaker D: Making progress? Arthur, don't go and ruin it. [00:15:38] Speaker E: Was. [00:15:39] Speaker C: I was sincerely asking. I wasn't a euphemism. I didn't know. [00:15:45] Speaker E: No. [00:15:47] Speaker B: And the other thing that I think we need to talk about, I don't want to do it in here, per se, because trickster God probably listening in on our conversation as we speak and all of this other fun jazz, but. [00:16:09] Speaker D: Especially considering this is where he lives. [00:16:13] Speaker B: Yeah. Right now, I found something interesting. [00:16:20] Speaker A: You want to discuss this out in the rV? [00:16:23] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm sure that he's able to kind of latch on and listen in on our conversation there, but I feel a little bit safer there because then I can hide it and we can look into it later. [00:16:43] Speaker C: Does this have something to do with your sister? [00:16:45] Speaker B: No, it has something to do with Zephyr. At least I think. [00:16:51] Speaker C: Oh, okay. [00:16:54] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, I have things that need to get done in the rv anyways. Prep for whatever ritual. So we can all just pretend that we're doing that. Go out to the rv for a nice, lovely conversation. [00:17:09] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:17:14] Speaker D: All right. [00:17:16] Speaker B: And Rosanna's gonna get up, and she's gonna start heading to the rv. But before she opens the also, she just takes a quick pause and turns back to Arthur. By the way, I gave Katie Lyn my number. I hope you're okay with that. [00:17:37] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:17:37] Speaker C: I mean, yeah. Why wouldn't I be okay? With that. [00:17:41] Speaker E: Okay. [00:17:43] Speaker B: And then she's gonna shrug her shoulders and walk out the. [00:17:46] Speaker D: I kid you not, like, looks over at isabelle like, huh? What did he just. [00:17:54] Speaker C: I mean, she needs to get a hold of us and she can't get hold of me. I mean, it makes sense to have a second person in the cell that she can get a hold. Mean seems prudent. [00:18:05] Speaker A: And mean, if anything. If you can't get a hold of that, just ask Patty or Tov. They could probably get a hold of me. [00:18:14] Speaker C: Yeah, sure, it makes sense. Also, Isabel, as we're walking out to the rv, your friend that is in need of help, if I can help you in some way, please let me know. [00:18:45] Speaker A: Yeah, I will. I guess I got to figure out what my way forward is with that. [00:18:57] Speaker D: I mean, I'll be in California for at least a while after this. [00:19:05] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:19:05] Speaker D: Need anything from me, feel free to call. [00:19:15] Speaker E: Okay, you all make your way outside and into the rv. You're not stopped. The boys said that they'd give you guys your space until you called them and said you were ready. [00:19:30] Speaker C: Are they outside or are they off? [00:19:34] Speaker E: Not like directly outside. They're kind of out doing stuff around. [00:19:38] Speaker C: It's all good then. Arthur's not going to hunt any of them down for any reason. Not yet, anyway. I was just wondering if they were right outside. [00:19:48] Speaker E: Right. [00:19:53] Speaker C: Okay, so I guess we're here. What's going on with Zephyr? [00:19:59] Speaker B: Okay, so, I don't. Arthur, do you remember when we were in that bookstore collecting information? When we were getting ready to go on a hunt and I kind know made you carry on my book? [00:20:17] Speaker C: Yep. [00:20:23] Speaker B: Do you remember how Zephyr was acting a little bit dodgy when we were in that store? [00:20:32] Speaker C: Yeah, I vaguely remember that. [00:20:36] Speaker B: Do you remember how Loki pointed out that he'd been gone around and tormenting supernatural torturing? [00:20:50] Speaker C: Yeah, I think. Didn't gun shop say something like that, too? [00:20:54] Speaker A: Yeah, I remember that. [00:21:00] Speaker B: You ever get a weird vibe about something that don't feel right? [00:21:06] Speaker D: All the time? Yeah, I usually have. Things kind of tell me when things are wrong, but, no, I just live. [00:21:16] Speaker C: In a constant state of that. [00:21:20] Speaker E: Okay. [00:21:22] Speaker B: When we were at dinner last night, I was kind of minding my own business and looking around and I saw something that drew my attention, but I can't tell if it's a good or bad intention. And she takes out the. [00:21:40] Speaker E: She. [00:21:44] Speaker B: She goes into a side drawer that she has locked and takes out the book. [00:21:55] Speaker E: Okay. I was wondering if this was going to come up this season. [00:21:59] Speaker D: Here it is. [00:22:02] Speaker E: Yeah. Let me find my notes because I was not necessarily anticipating this coming up. Okay, what you all see in front of you is a thick, leather bound book with a sunburst embossed on the COVID as well as some further embossment like filigree and things like that. That kind of go around it. And the spine of it says darksome anatomies spelled oddly. [00:22:49] Speaker F: Yes. [00:22:51] Speaker D: Thing number one, sense the unnatural. [00:22:56] Speaker A: I would also like to, I don't know, roll a cult. [00:23:00] Speaker E: Yeah, hold on. There's multiple people here who can do things. I'm down for all of them. Let's do sense the unnatural. First. [00:23:14] Speaker D: Bit. Science. [00:23:22] Speaker E: You it. [00:23:27] Speaker D: Three successes. [00:23:29] Speaker E: Do you have to hit a certain threshold? [00:23:31] Speaker D: It's between three and five, typically. [00:23:35] Speaker E: Okay, it's definitely weird. It's magic. You don't know what kind of magic, but it's magic. It is unusually strong magic, but it doesn't feel good or bad. Just present. Uh, Isabelle, I actually would like you to roll me. Ba ba ba. Of course. I tabbed away from the thing to look at the other thing, and now I have to find your stuff again. Hold on. Sorry, sorry. [00:24:16] Speaker A: If I can use medicine, that's great, because that's my best. [00:24:20] Speaker E: You cannot use medicine for this. [00:24:24] Speaker D: So it's not bound in human skin. [00:24:27] Speaker C: Dang. [00:24:31] Speaker E: She'd have to get up close and personal with it. Other things would happen before that. Roll me. Resolve and occult. [00:24:45] Speaker A: Cool. My spec. Do anything speck and kidrid. [00:24:50] Speaker E: No. [00:24:51] Speaker A: Cool. Just checking. Is this something I could apply desperation dice to? I'm entrepreneurial. [00:25:11] Speaker E: I will allow it. [00:25:14] Speaker C: Cool. [00:25:14] Speaker A: And we've got, what, four desperations? [00:25:17] Speaker E: You do? [00:25:18] Speaker A: Cool. [00:25:22] Speaker E: Let's hope this goes better than almost every other desperation roll that's been made this season. [00:25:26] Speaker D: Desperation has never caused any problems for us. [00:25:29] Speaker C: None. [00:25:31] Speaker E: Hell yeah. [00:25:32] Speaker A: And I'm going to spend a willpower to reroll three of those ones that I can go for. [00:25:38] Speaker E: It just hit the reroll failures button. It should let you. There you go. [00:25:43] Speaker A: Successes. [00:25:44] Speaker E: Yeah. Okay, so, Isabelle, you don't see anything specific, but you are immediately aware of the way your curse was changed and adapted to be less overwhelming for you. You don't see a spirit, but you could tell that there's a spirit tied to this item. Like it's inside of it, or is it? It's hard to tell. [00:26:15] Speaker A: Okay. [00:26:21] Speaker C: So, yeah, there's. [00:26:25] Speaker D: I remember I mentioned this. [00:26:28] Speaker A: I think that there's a spirit associated with this item. I don't know if it's part of the book or just hangs around the book. [00:26:40] Speaker E: Rosanna, I know you usually see spirits. There is a reason why you don't specifically get that hit from this. I can't tell you what it is, but there is a mechanical reason for why you're not picking up on it. You know, is that there's something weird. [00:26:57] Speaker D: Yeah, there's definitely magic. It's another one of those things where it's not inherently good or bad. [00:27:10] Speaker C: So it's how you use the information inside of it. [00:27:14] Speaker A: Yeah, inside of it. I'm just seeing a book. [00:27:19] Speaker B: That's the thing is. Listen, part of the reason that I do what I do when I'm here is I'm a bit curious about the world around us. There has been something about this book that kept me up pretty much all night. I don't know what it is. I want to open it, but I am afraid to do it because I just get a weird vibe from it. [00:27:54] Speaker D: I can take a look. [00:27:55] Speaker A: I can also take a look. I don't know. Maybe figure out something about this ghost. [00:27:59] Speaker D: Probably best if I take a look first. Given fair. [00:28:08] Speaker C: I will be here in case something happens. [00:28:17] Speaker E: Okay. Are you planning to open the book? [00:28:26] Speaker D: Piper is willing to. [00:28:33] Speaker E: Yes. [00:28:33] Speaker B: Before we open the book. I should have thought of this last night. Do you guys mind if I try something? [00:28:42] Speaker D: Depends on what you're going to try. [00:28:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I want to see if I can maybe see a little bit deeper without putting ourselves into potential danger. [00:28:58] Speaker D: I think if you try to do that, that will still put you in danger. [00:29:02] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, as eager as I am to look in and dig through the book and figure out what it is, it's a strange, weird puzzle. We have a puzzle box from a very specific film. [00:29:15] Speaker D: I hope to God it's not. [00:29:20] Speaker A: I feel like I have to be the voice of reason and say, maybe we should let this sleeping dog lie for a little bit longer until we're done with the ritual. [00:29:34] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:29:36] Speaker C: Hellraiser. Got it. Sorry. Yeah, that's the one. [00:29:39] Speaker A: Yeah, that's the one. [00:29:41] Speaker D: Open the box, they show up and it's not a fun time for anybody except for them. [00:29:46] Speaker C: Sorry. Forgot I'd seen that movie. [00:29:52] Speaker B: But, yeah, I kind of took it from Loki's house. [00:30:01] Speaker C: You went into Loki's house? [00:30:03] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:30:05] Speaker B: Not Loki's house. Sorry. [00:30:07] Speaker C: For some reason you need to talk about. [00:30:15] Speaker B: I. My mind's a bit of a. Katie Lyn's house. [00:30:21] Speaker D: She said she found it at dinner last night. [00:30:22] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:30:23] Speaker C: Okay. [00:30:24] Speaker B: Yeah, my mind's a little bit foggy. I've been. I haven't been feeling all that. [00:30:38] Speaker E: Great. [00:30:39] Speaker B: Or confident in my abilities, especially after having to just dump our friend. [00:30:47] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:30:52] Speaker B: My mind's been a little bit foggy on. That's. [00:31:05] Speaker E: So we're not opening the book. [00:31:09] Speaker A: I mean, I just suggested that if the rest of them want to take that suggestion to heart, I just need. [00:31:16] Speaker E: To know what to narrate. Guys. [00:31:19] Speaker D: Rosanna, as much as she said, I will at least look briefly. [00:31:31] Speaker E: Okay, so we are looking. [00:31:35] Speaker D: Just a little. Yes. [00:31:41] Speaker E: Okay, Piper, you take this book in your hands. The first thing you notice holding it is that your fingers move over the edges of the page. Most big leather bound books that you have found have guilt pages. These are not guilt pages. These are rag paper. It's soft and weird. It's almost like a vellum, but not quite as nice. Does that make sense? Yeah. And there are parts of it when you kind of pass your fingers along the edges, that feel kind of soft and almost cloth like. And other parts that feel, like, crunchy, like they've aged and have started to dry out. Can you please, with the. Just the basic dice roller, roll me a d 100, please. [00:32:48] Speaker C: Oh, no, that does not sound obvious at all. [00:32:56] Speaker E: Wenching k. Cool. [00:33:01] Speaker D: That's the DC I got to roll again. [00:33:04] Speaker B: 99. [00:33:06] Speaker E: It wasn't about a DC. It was about seeing about how much control you had over where the book was going to go when you opened it. So you're holding this book, spine down in your palm, and you have a loose enough grip that you allow the pages to kind of fall open, and it opens to a page that you didn't even know could be a thing in any book. You've never seen anything like this. You are staring at an anatomical drawing of a humanoid creature with long, thin arms and legs and kind of knobby, spindly digits for fingers and toes that seem too long on normal sized feet. And it takes a moment for you. Once you've looked at this, you can't look away. That's the first thing you recognize. Whatever this is has you completely locked in, and it takes you a minute, as you are staring at this image, to realize that this thing doesn't have weird skin. It's that its skin looks like it's bandages, but the bandages look like they may have been cut apart in places. And peeking through them are eyeballs, dozens upon dozens of different colors and sizes. They're looking in different directions, and where it should be a mouth is just a black, gaping maw. And you realize that there's nothing in the mouth because there is an eyeball that has been removed, drawn next to. [00:35:30] Speaker D: That's fun. [00:35:35] Speaker C: What in the hell is they? [00:35:38] Speaker E: You guys can't see it? [00:35:39] Speaker A: Oh, I was about to ask if. [00:35:42] Speaker E: Looking over, Piper specifically said, I will look at this so that nobody else has to. Piper is going upon looking at this, you know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, a few things. Number one, this thing is called an I thief. Okay? [00:36:06] Speaker D: That explains some things. [00:36:10] Speaker E: Another thing that you have been told, or that you can tell from looking at it, is that when it meets a hapless human, it can just touch them and take their eyes from them. They will still be alive afterwards. You know, that's. The eyes seem able to reposition and move at will so that it can't ever be surprised. And that whoever drew this managed to get one. But it was dead or on the verge of dying. And as it was dying on the table of the, you assume, doctor or scientist of some sort that was looking it over, it stole one of the doctor's eyes just before it died. [00:37:30] Speaker D: Interesting. [00:37:38] Speaker E: And you can't. You can't force yourself to look away for long, long moments. And when you finally do, you slam the book shut in your hand. [00:37:57] Speaker D: Yeah, cool. That was what I was going to do anyway. Potentially using thwart the unnatural to tell. [00:38:04] Speaker E: It to fuck off. [00:38:05] Speaker D: But yeah, going to slam the book shut. [00:38:15] Speaker E: And just like I need everybody but termite to deafen themselves. Please. I will ping in the bot channel when you are allowed to listen again. [00:38:31] Speaker C: This is if. [00:38:32] Speaker E: No spCs. You do not have to mute your deaf at yourselves. You're fine. Okay. Piper, reading this book has done something to you. Number one, the first thing you recognize is that you might be particularly bad for magic casters, but you are not immune. [00:38:56] Speaker D: Oh, yeah. [00:38:58] Speaker E: Number two, you have the desire suddenly to understand supernatural creatures. [00:39:15] Speaker A: Great. [00:39:18] Speaker E: From now on, once you guys have taken down any kind of quarry, or if you find quarry, whether you guys took it down or not, you are compelled to collect trophies that you can later study. [00:39:38] Speaker D: I take it this is not an effect that I can potentially avoid. Be thwart the unnatural. [00:39:47] Speaker E: You can spend a point of willpower to resist having to do it in the moment, but no, forthea, natural does not allow you to just not have it. This is a curse. Okay, there are more details, but I will give them to you later because they're not super important for this. That was the only thing you needed to know for tonight. Cool. Um, and I have to let them know that they can come back. Nowhere. Got still deafened. There we go. [00:40:45] Speaker C: I was in the bot channel, and then I saw. [00:40:47] Speaker E: Yeah, no, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That was the chat I happened to have open. [00:40:54] Speaker C: I was like, wait, hold on. I see that everyone else is undefened. Oh, it's just me. Okay. [00:41:01] Speaker E: All right, Piper, you could talk. [00:41:07] Speaker D: Don't touch the book. Nobody opened the book. [00:41:13] Speaker C: Okay, what did we say? [00:41:17] Speaker E: You saw Piper open the book, stare at it for a very long moment, and then slam it shut. [00:41:29] Speaker C: Something terrifying inside? [00:41:34] Speaker D: Not exactly. [00:41:39] Speaker B: You all right? [00:41:43] Speaker D: I mean, are any of us ever. [00:41:45] Speaker B: You know what I mean. Your long pause isn't giving me any sort of positive affirmation right now. [00:42:01] Speaker D: Yeah, it shouldn't. [00:42:04] Speaker B: What did you see? [00:42:08] Speaker D: It's not what I saw that bothers me. [00:42:11] Speaker B: It's. [00:42:13] Speaker D: Well, the fact that I couldn't look away for one. But what I saw isn't important. [00:42:28] Speaker B: Okay. [00:42:30] Speaker C: What is bothering you, Piper? [00:42:39] Speaker D: I don't know. Something is wrong. [00:42:46] Speaker A: I take a medical look at Piper, just, you know. Can I tell if Piper's about to go into shock? [00:42:54] Speaker E: Intent medicine. Check. [00:42:56] Speaker A: Cool. [00:43:12] Speaker E: As far as you can tell, there is nothing wrong with her. She looks shaken by something, but this does not look like the early onset of shock or anything. Yet. [00:43:27] Speaker A: The book is strange, but it is a problem for another day. [00:43:33] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:43:35] Speaker A: There'S something about it. I'm curious, but I'm not curious to that point yet. [00:43:45] Speaker C: I just need to know if we should burn it. [00:43:48] Speaker A: I don't think burning it's going to do anything. [00:43:50] Speaker D: I don't think burning it's a good idea. [00:43:52] Speaker A: Yeah, if there's a ghost trapped in it. If we burn it, it may set the ghost free. I think it's a ghost that we at least want staying there. Can we create any kind of magical Faraday cage to put it in? [00:44:09] Speaker B: I can see what I can do. [00:44:11] Speaker A: I think that's a pretty good idea right now. [00:44:13] Speaker D: If nothing else, just hug it all the time. No, lock the thing away. [00:44:20] Speaker B: Yeah, and she takes the book back and puts it in the little storage container that she had it hiding and locks it back up. [00:44:34] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:44:37] Speaker A: I can also take a look and see if not the book itself. But maybe I can figure out the history of the book. That might be helpful. [00:44:47] Speaker B: I think I could probably look into that, too. [00:44:50] Speaker D: Just don't open it. [00:44:52] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:44:53] Speaker B: Understood. [00:44:56] Speaker C: Okay. [00:45:02] Speaker E: Well. [00:45:08] Speaker C: So we have some prep we need to do. I feel really useless because I don't know that I have a whole lot of prep to do. So if you need anything for me, just let me know. [00:45:18] Speaker D: Think most of the prep you need to do was done in the conversation we had earlier. [00:45:27] Speaker A: I. I can talk to the MC and get with them about what they need to be doing and all of that. I'm not sure what else I am going to be contributing, other than the fact that I am now teetering on life and death. [00:45:49] Speaker E: As you guys are discussing this, there is a knock on the rv door. [00:45:57] Speaker C: Security is working out great. [00:45:58] Speaker B: Oh, I'll get it. [00:46:02] Speaker E: Rosanna, you get to the door. And it's Ophelia. [00:46:06] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, that's morning. [00:46:10] Speaker E: Wonderfully morning. How's things? Are we ready? [00:46:18] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I think as ready as we can be. [00:46:24] Speaker E: Excellent. Well, then we should probably get going, don't you think we need to go set up? [00:46:32] Speaker B: Are the MC coming with us? [00:46:37] Speaker E: That's on you, honey. I don't pay their bills. [00:46:43] Speaker B: Technically, neither do we. [00:46:47] Speaker E: No, but my understanding is that he's about to. And she'll point at Arthur. [00:46:50] Speaker C: Arthur's starting to work it out, being like, I think maybe I actually do now. [00:46:55] Speaker A: You will in the future. [00:46:57] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:46:58] Speaker E: What I was told is that they will be available to you if you guys want to bring them. But it is really up to you. [00:47:05] Speaker A: What do we think we're going to be going up against? [00:47:08] Speaker C: What should we be expecting? [00:47:11] Speaker E: Well, hopefully nothing, if you've taken care of all the potential things breathing down your necks. [00:47:20] Speaker C: Sure, there's a lot of things breathing on my neck. I think it would take us a week for me to clear that up. [00:47:26] Speaker D: It would take us more than a week. [00:47:28] Speaker A: Like a month. [00:47:29] Speaker E: Listen, I'm just here to be the conduit for the spell. As far as I know, nobody knows I'm here to be able to come after me so you won't have to deal with any of my baggage, but. [00:47:45] Speaker C: All right, we should probably have the MC then. If it sounds like our baggage might show up. [00:47:51] Speaker D: The more people we have, the better. [00:47:53] Speaker E: I don't know. How easily tracked are you guys? [00:47:58] Speaker A: Easier than I think we mean to be. [00:48:00] Speaker C: Easier than I thought we were. [00:48:05] Speaker E: Okay, well, then, yeah, maybe you should come prepared. [00:48:11] Speaker A: Yeah, I can round them up. Do we think that? [00:48:18] Speaker C: I'll go with you. I need to apologize to them, too. [00:48:25] Speaker B: I can go get quiet. [00:48:33] Speaker D: Keep in mind, we're on a bit of a time limit. [00:48:35] Speaker E: Yeah, we do have to hurry. [00:48:42] Speaker A: So I will mention werewolves, probably because there's a small chance that they might show up. That's about the only thing I can think of, other than there's a lot of things, but I think werewolves are the only one likely to show up. [00:48:59] Speaker B: I know Jesse and Briggs are going to be meeting us at the location. Hopefully Jesse finally got his truck fixed. [00:49:09] Speaker D: I can almost guarantee you he didn't. [00:49:11] Speaker B: Well, I gave the money to hopefully, you know, Briggs bullied him into getting it fixed. [00:49:17] Speaker E: Okay. [00:49:18] Speaker B: That's what I'm saying. I don't need them breaking down on a very special and important day. [00:49:26] Speaker E: The way you talk, it's like it's your wedding or something. All right, let's go. People need to talk. Then go talk. Go get the people so that we can get the show on. [00:49:36] Speaker C: The mean. I would like to talk to them all at once, but I'll go with. [00:49:43] Speaker E: And why don't we just say that Isabel and Rosanna split off and go get their boys, and then they're all here so that you can have that conversation? [00:49:51] Speaker C: Oh, sure, that works. [00:49:54] Speaker E: So that we don't spend an hour role playing out getting the boys y'all have. [00:49:59] Speaker C: I was just going to have him talk to whomever and then be like, tell the rest. [00:50:02] Speaker E: Right. [00:50:02] Speaker C: And that was how Arthur was going to handle it, but, yeah. Okay. [00:50:09] Speaker E: Rosanna and Isabel, do you guys have anything in particular that you need to talk to your respective boys about? Because you guys have already kind of told them what's up with the supernatural stuff. [00:50:20] Speaker A: Yeah, I'll mention specifically werewolves and what I know about werewolves and how to fight them. Usually the answer is don't, but just in case. [00:50:34] Speaker B: Fire. [00:50:35] Speaker A: Silver. Both those good. So, yeah, I have some dragon's breath rounds, so those should come in handy. [00:50:44] Speaker E: Okay, good. [00:50:46] Speaker B: Rosanna, kind of, kind of the same. Basically giving him the warning that he's going to be seeing a lot of weird stuff, potentially werewolves, definitely changelings. And to not be afraid when a giant woman comes up in a puff of smoke. [00:51:15] Speaker E: She's not giant. For reference, she's actually pretty small. But he kind of looks a little confused for a moment, and then he turns and he goes to that gun safe where he keeps his rifles and everything, and comes out with not just the case that, you know, his rifle is in, but a second one that is slightly smaller. And he opens it, and inside are, like, those foam interiors with placeholders cut out of it. And there are a number of different types of rifle rounds, and they look like they're made from different materials. I don't really know what all of these are. I was told that I would need them if there was an emergency. Like, I don't know, almost a year ago there, when we first got hired. [00:52:15] Speaker B: Do any of the bullets in particular stick out as silver? [00:52:19] Speaker E: There are some that definitely look like they could be silver. [00:52:22] Speaker B: All right. She's going to point out the ones that she can definitely tell her, silver, and be like, I would keep those, those, and those. [00:52:30] Speaker E: I'm just going to take the case. But if you say silver is important, then I will make sure that I have silver to hand. I guess. [00:52:44] Speaker B: That'S if you want to come. [00:52:46] Speaker E: Wait, did my boss give me, like, monster killing rounds and not tell me? Yeah. Good thing this job pays well. That's an asshole move. [00:53:04] Speaker B: Your boss is kind of an asshole by nature. [00:53:08] Speaker E: Yeah, no, I've picked up on that, but this is different. Anyway, yeah, I'll get the rest of the guys. Text me an address, and we will follow. [00:53:23] Speaker B: All right. [00:53:26] Speaker E: And he will walk with Tov and Patty. You also see that he, like, taps something into his phone, and a few minutes later, people start to. You hear the rumble of motorcycle engines. Probably more than just the three of them are coming. [00:53:53] Speaker B: Okay. [00:53:54] Speaker E: Back at the RV, Tov, Patty, and quiet are there. They park their bikes. They kind of sit and look like they're waiting. [00:54:07] Speaker C: Hey, all three of you. I already talked to them, but I realized that I was also kind of off the handle yesterday when I spoke to you guys, and I wanted to clear the air on that one. Yeah, that was wrong. I realized that I could have handled that with a little bit of softer touch. I mean, I really don't. Not angry about how it ended up with finding out that you all got told what was going on, but I do apologize. The way that I approached that. Sometimes I could be an asshole. And I'm beginning to realize that. You know how it is sometimes where you're going into a situation. You think it's going to be one way, and then it goes a different way, and you have no idea how it got there or why someone else made a decision for you in a certain way. Does that make sense? [00:55:05] Speaker E: Yeah. Arthur, don't take offense to this, but has anybody ever suggested therapy? This is Patty. When you flew off the handle yesterday, I'm not even sure that you were, like, seeing straight. You remind me of guys that I knew in the service that were on the brink, so to speak. [00:55:36] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, that's a pretty good assessment of where it was last night. [00:55:44] Speaker E: Therapy. [00:55:46] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, I mean, you're probably not wrong. Katie. Lyn really helped out. She brought me back, so you're probably right. [00:56:00] Speaker E: Well, I'm glad that she brought you back. Baby steps. But PTSD is no fucking joke, man. [00:56:10] Speaker C: Yeah, that's true. Yeah, well, I just wanted to clear that up with you guys, just make sure that you understood that's not normally how I am, but lately I've been under a lot of stress. So I hope that we can move past that. [00:56:27] Speaker E: No hard feelings. [00:56:30] Speaker C: Great. But I think that they probably told you to expect werewolves, right? I'm a little concerned. This is just between me and you guys. I'm a little concerned that there might be a few other things, so just keep your eye out for anything weird. [00:56:49] Speaker E: What else do you think there could be? Because Rosanna mentioned werewolves and changelings. I don't know what those are. [00:56:59] Speaker C: Oh, she mentioned changlings. Yeah, they're kind of like a faye think of fairies, but like the bad ones, but not really the bad ones anyway. Yeah, like that. They can do things that are weird. Don't give them your name, just start with that. [00:57:20] Speaker E: Okay. [00:57:22] Speaker C: But what we're doing today might involve more of that magic that I mentioned before. And I'm a little worried that maybe some kind of space might open and people might get possessed by ghosts, potentially or something. So that might be a thing. Just something. I'm thinking about it. I don't think the rest of them are even thinking about it, and it may not be. I hope that it is. [00:57:46] Speaker E: Okay. [00:57:47] Speaker C: Yeah. Spirits of people are. They can be real. They can sort of come back into our world, as it were. That's ghost something. [00:58:01] Speaker E: Okay. How do I shoot ghosts? [00:58:09] Speaker C: You don't. However, that's why I want you to keep your eyes out. If you see something or notice one of your friends doing something weird, maybe. [00:58:19] Speaker B: Mention it to me. [00:58:20] Speaker C: Because Rosanna and I have history with them and we know that we can hurt them or take them down or subdue them or whatever the case is. So if we know something is up, we can see if that's something, we'll assess what's going on and we can deal with it. [00:58:40] Speaker E: Okay, cool. Don't shoot the ghosts. Do shoot the werewolves. Are we shooting the changey things? [00:58:54] Speaker C: Maybe. I don't think there's at least one that I don't think that we should be shooting. So I think maybe lay off on that. And once again, we can assess. The four of us can assess whether or not that's a thing that we need to take care of. Essentially five of us that are doing this thing here. [00:59:13] Speaker E: Cool. I guess. All right, well, okay. Quiet sort of straps, cases to the back of his bike. And that's about that time that Ophelia sticks her head out of the bus or out of the RV and goes, are we doing this or not? [00:59:34] Speaker C: Yes. Sorry. Just making sure everyone was good to go. Looks like you guys are good to go. [00:59:40] Speaker E: Okay, cool. All right, you guys load up into the rv and make your way to an area that is part of a farm. In all technicality, it's a big open field. What you were told by the speaker is that he had kind of bought the farm, like when he first made contact with you guys as a group. And, yes, pun intended. [01:00:18] Speaker C: Okay. [01:00:20] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:00:21] Speaker E: You get the feeling he used that exact phrasing on purpose, but he bought it specifically for this purpose when he made contact with you. It's remote, it's open. The ground is mostly level in the field that you're going to be working in. It's the perfect place for what Ophelia has in mind. It takes a while to get there. You guys are no longer in Louisiana. When you get there, you have crossed state lines into Mississippi. [01:01:03] Speaker A: This was our first mistake. [01:01:07] Speaker E: Listen, unfortunately, Louisiana is a lot of swamp, and there are, thankfully, parts of Mississippi that are far enough north that are not. So you all set up in this field, you park the rv a bit away so that it doesn't potentially get wrecked, but only after kind of pulling in and giving Piper and Ophelia a chance to unload all of Piper's stuff, and the guys will stop and help out. By the time the MC shows up, you realize that there's a good six of them. They did not bring everybody, Arthur. You know that there are more than that. Yep. But they brought enough to be an effective force. [01:01:59] Speaker A: I realized that. [01:02:00] Speaker C: I forgot to mention that maybe they should keep a few people back, but. [01:02:02] Speaker A: It seems like they already thought of that. [01:02:03] Speaker C: Because they're clever and good. [01:02:05] Speaker E: Very good. Because they have a job. They know how to do their job. [01:02:11] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:02:11] Speaker C: Good. [01:02:14] Speaker E: You Guys know that the speaker will be joining you later, but not long after you arrive. And Ophelia and Piper have kind of stepped off to the side to start working on her stuff. Briggs and Jesse pull up in Jesse's truck. It's later than it should be. [01:02:50] Speaker F: As we climb out. Just who knew you could use ketchup to fix that spinny bit? [01:02:57] Speaker C: You can't any bit. [01:03:00] Speaker D: No, I mean, it didn't. [01:03:04] Speaker G: Rosanna fell off drive. Really? [01:03:09] Speaker C: Arthur wall? [01:03:10] Speaker G: Really? [01:03:10] Speaker C: Offer a cigarette. [01:03:14] Speaker G: So that money, where did it go? It went into the truck. It went into the. You know. Remember that? [01:03:25] Speaker C: Like, into the truck. [01:03:28] Speaker G: So, Jesse, remember that check that I showed you that I told you to keep in your. [01:03:34] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:03:35] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:03:36] Speaker G: So when you use that check and that mixture of ketchup around that lug nut to keep it tight and then told me. [01:03:44] Speaker D: That's how you fixed it. [01:03:46] Speaker G: That's when I started to almost cry. Do you remember? [01:03:48] Speaker F: But we need a rag. [01:03:50] Speaker G: It wasn't a rag. This is a rag. And points like a piece of shirt. But that was just a piece of paper. An important piece of paper. [01:03:58] Speaker F: Like that one. It's like a one time thing. You don't got to clean or anything. You just throw it away when you're done with it. [01:04:03] Speaker G: No, you don't throw it away. You give that to a bank, a banker at a bank, to cash for that. [01:04:10] Speaker F: Brought the money to the bank and then you take it when you. [01:04:13] Speaker E: No. [01:04:14] Speaker C: Rosanna, how much did you give him? [01:04:17] Speaker G: It doesn't matter. [01:04:22] Speaker C: Arthur reaches underneath the driver's seat of the RV and then pulls out a lot of cash because how much do I give him? [01:04:27] Speaker B: Gave them a check. [01:04:32] Speaker C: Okay, you don't need to do that. [01:04:34] Speaker E: It's too much money. You need to fix your truck, little. [01:04:37] Speaker B: Man, before I make you fix it myself. [01:04:40] Speaker D: It works. [01:04:42] Speaker E: Before I make you fix it myself. Okay? [01:04:47] Speaker F: Yes, ma'am. [01:04:50] Speaker C: Arthur Hans Griggs. A roll of money that has, like, rubber bands around it. Just like a big roll of money, I think. [01:04:58] Speaker G: No, it's. Please, I have money. I have money I could use to fix his truck. [01:05:03] Speaker D: I begged him to let me fix. [01:05:05] Speaker G: This truck myself, which I can do. It's precious to him, and I've learned to accept that. We should all learn to accept that. [01:05:15] Speaker B: But if it is precious to you, you should put the effort into maintaining it, or it will no longer be precious to you because it will no longer be functional. [01:05:25] Speaker C: She's right on this. Trust me, she's right on that. [01:05:28] Speaker F: It's like a theses shifting. If we keep replacing parts, eventually it's. [01:05:31] Speaker E: Not the truck anymore. [01:05:33] Speaker B: It will still be the truck. It'll still be the body of the truck. It'll still have all of the fun memories that you had in the truck. It will be functional. And you won't go crazy on listening to Abba on loop. [01:05:48] Speaker C: I feel like at this point, that's intentional. [01:05:53] Speaker B: Jesse, my dear, my friend, my buddy. And she's going to go up and wrap an arm around him and pull him in close, and she's just going to whisper. I know that it probably means a lot to you, this thing, but how are you going to keep the memory if one day you wake up and you go to start that truck, and no matter what elbow grease you put in, into trying to fix it, your at home remedies don't work anymore? [01:06:32] Speaker E: Ah. [01:06:35] Speaker F: Let'S not. Think about that right now. We got. We got a job to do, right? [01:06:39] Speaker G: Yes, we do. [01:06:42] Speaker B: I do. Because. [01:06:47] Speaker C: I'm just glad to hear that the truck didn't get sucked into his air conditioning or anything. But it sounds like Arthur. [01:06:53] Speaker G: Just real quick. And he won't take a lot of money. Thank you. But his pockets. [01:06:57] Speaker E: Appreciate it. [01:06:58] Speaker C: Yeah, it's fine. I've got more of it hidden around the rv and elsewhere. Squirrel. [01:07:06] Speaker B: Okay, so I guess we're just sharing that information. [01:07:08] Speaker G: I need to feed him. [01:07:10] Speaker E: At least. [01:07:12] Speaker C: If they want to find it, they're going to have to figure it out. It's going to be a whole. I can't even find it half the time. [01:07:17] Speaker F: I ate a slim gym earlier. [01:07:20] Speaker G: That wasn't a slim gym. [01:07:21] Speaker B: You know what, though? At least he ate last night. [01:07:25] Speaker G: It wasn't a slim gym. There was one of those, like, 50 cent dog treats on the side of the slim gyms that you just grabbed, and the cashier let you have it. You were enjoying it, so I didn't want to say nothing. [01:07:35] Speaker F: You let me eat dog food. [01:07:37] Speaker G: You're enjoying it. [01:07:38] Speaker F: I mean, it was good. [01:07:39] Speaker G: Yeah, they go, see, I want you. [01:07:42] Speaker E: He's not a werewolf. [01:07:44] Speaker C: High in sodium content. [01:07:46] Speaker G: He did drink a lot of water afterwards, so it kind of bounced it out. So I think we're okay. [01:07:51] Speaker F: Just in case I have to try to pee later. [01:07:54] Speaker G: Yeah, absolutely. [01:07:55] Speaker F: Like on command. [01:07:56] Speaker E: Absolutely. You see? [01:07:57] Speaker G: You're getting it now. [01:07:58] Speaker E: See, I'm trying. [01:08:00] Speaker G: 100%. I'm proud of you. [01:08:02] Speaker D: Thank you. [01:08:03] Speaker E: Yeah, of course. [01:08:05] Speaker A: Well, we do have a ritual to do. [01:08:10] Speaker B: Shot of whiskey to drink. [01:08:12] Speaker F: I'll go get the army one. Pull the road camera. [01:08:17] Speaker E: Oh, okay. Every time Jesse is on my screen, I feel a little bit worse for him. [01:08:28] Speaker C: At this point. [01:08:28] Speaker A: I think it's like his fault, because we keep offering to fix the truck and to give him food, and he keeps saying no. [01:08:36] Speaker E: That's fair. [01:08:37] Speaker C: Like I said, it's intentional. [01:08:39] Speaker B: At this point, misery is self inflicted. 100%. [01:08:43] Speaker E: That's very fair. Okay, you check in on termite, because technically, we were supposed to do her thing next, but she's not here right now, so I guess we will transition. Let's go with. She's back. Perfect timing. [01:09:18] Speaker B: She's like you say her name three times, and she appears. [01:09:26] Speaker E: While Jesse and Briggs are talking to everybody else. Ophelia has pulled Piper to the side. Piper, your part of what is to come is to create the heck that will help to amplify and stabilize the power going into this. Ideally, you want to be able to design it in such a way that it will kind of do its thing on its own so that you are able to focus on other things and. [01:10:03] Speaker D: Not be close to where it's happening, because who knows what will happen? [01:10:09] Speaker B: Correct. [01:10:11] Speaker E: Originally, your plan had been to try and get cricket to come and help with this, but cricket was not all about leaving the house. So you are going to roll me some int and technology roles, right? [01:10:56] Speaker D: Was there more after that? [01:11:00] Speaker E: Yeah. Sorry. I'm going to need a series of intent technology rolls. Ophelia will be there to help you so that you will have two extra dice. Um, I need five roles in total. If you get more than ten successes, these will be able to operate mostly on their own. You'll still have to keep an eye on them, but you shouldn't have to interact with them very much unless they get messed with. [01:11:39] Speaker C: All right. [01:11:41] Speaker E: If it is. Holy shit. Well, all right. [01:11:46] Speaker A: Well, there's one. [01:11:47] Speaker E: There's seven. [01:11:52] Speaker D: Okay, cool. [01:11:54] Speaker E: Yeah, make me the next three rolls anyway, because that's 17 successes. 22. 26. All right, 31 successes. Sweet. So apparently it's Piper's turn to pull in Arthur from season one finale. [01:12:28] Speaker C: Yep, very much. [01:12:30] Speaker E: Jesus. Okay, Piper, this goes so incredibly well that even Ophelia is impressed and a little confused. So you have managed to design something that will not only amplify and stabilize the power being used in this, it's not 100% going to help ensure that nothing goes wrong, but it is so incredibly stable. And you've managed to make it so intuitive that you have built, like, cuffs that go around her wrist specifically to channel her energy, like, directly. You have effectively made her, like, a VR rig without the headset, so that it is all, like, reactive to every little minute movement and fluctuation in her power. You have also created cuffs for your friends that should help them with their part of the ritual. What Ophelia explains to you is that they're not just going to be able to kick in at the beginning and then step back and watch it happen. They are an active part of the ritual. They have to be a part of it the whole time. Um, they will be able to, you know, look at other things and occasionally interact outside of that, but they have to, to some degree, keep some measure of focus on the ritual. So you create cuffs that will help them to channel the energies that they are bringing to this a little bit easier and a little bit more directly, so that if the. If they somehow have a lapse in focus or whatever, they have a chance to make up for it. All right. By the time this is put together, Piper and Ophelia have built what is effectively like a raised platform. And it's not sleek and slick like something you would see in a Marvel movie coming out of Tony Stark's warehouse, where everything looks perfect. Didn't have that kind of time. It is rough and looks like it might be held together with rubber bands and glue, but somehow thrums with power and electricity pulsing through it. And having overheard the conversations happening between them and the occasional exclamation from Ophelia, as things work a little, like, better than she thought they would, you're pretty sure it seems to be going well. This seems to have been the goal. It is much bigger and much more elaborate than anything I think any of you could have imagined it was going to be. But there is a spot specifically for Ophelia in the middle. There are spots for the three of you around the edges. And Piper has effectively set up, like, a little perch. It almost looks like an archer's nest or something, but it's up on top of the rv, which is parked slightly away, so that she has, like, a view of everything and can do stuff with her drones, but she's not going to be directly in the line of fire. [01:16:19] Speaker D: What can I say? I'm good at what I do. [01:16:21] Speaker E: You are. Would you like to give your friends their toys? [01:16:25] Speaker C: Yes. [01:16:26] Speaker E: Go for it. [01:16:29] Speaker C: So, yeah. [01:16:29] Speaker D: Piper doesn't really try to explain it, because she's only vaguely sure of how it works because she built it, but, yeah, gives everybody cuffs, essentially walks up to each person individually, puts them in their hands, and it's like, do not break these. I will kill you. [01:16:54] Speaker C: Did you borrow these rubber bands from my money rolls? [01:16:58] Speaker G: This is more important. [01:17:00] Speaker D: You have a bank account now? [01:17:03] Speaker C: I do. I was actually just asking because I was hoping maybe you found all of the money. So I was just hoping that you could tell me what it was. [01:17:13] Speaker E: So the cuffs that you guys are looking at are like, circular metal. They look like rings with a section cut out so that you can slot your arm into them. And the rubber bands, odly enough, are actually used to, like, you could tell that they are used to tighten the space. You know what I mean? To cross that space so that they don't fall off your arm, you see a mixture of circuit boards, like circuitry and wires, and all kinds of weird techie stuff that you do not understand. Some of the metal looks like it's got, like, magical symbols etched into it, interspersed with, like, binary code. It's very weird. It looks like something out of an old Sci-Fi movie. [01:18:07] Speaker D: It looks like it was put together in an afternoon because it was. [01:18:12] Speaker E: Exactly. [01:18:14] Speaker A: I'll slide them on something joke that I'm not going to make. [01:18:23] Speaker D: There will be plenty of time for that once we're done here. Those should help you with your part. [01:18:32] Speaker A: In the know what it. [01:18:37] Speaker E: So we're getting there. Ophelia will kind of show you guys the three places that you need to stand. Arthur, your spot is kind of front and center where you're actually going to be facing Ophelia as she is casting. And Rosanna and Isabelle will be to either side of her. You've got some space between you and her. You're going to be about 5ft away. Each of you. Rosanna is to her right, Isabelle is to her left. Arthur is going to be directly in front of her. Mechanically, here's how this is going to go. When the ritual starts, we are going to be dealing with rounds. Every round. Each of you has to give me three successes on a given role that I ask for. In the event that you fail, you have the option to either burn a willpower to reroll three like you normally do, or you can burn two willpower for two auto successes. If I get enough successes to have nine per round between the three of you, that round goes off successfully. In the event that you are interrupted and decide to do something else, or you have to do, I don't know, you have to make some other check at the same time. You also have to make this check. You have the option to take a point of aggravated willpower damage in order to do both without any negatives. Does that make sense? If you do not spend the aggravated willpower damage to do both, you will be at a disadvantage for both. Everybody good? We all clear on the rules? [01:21:01] Speaker D: Yep. [01:21:03] Speaker E: Very cool. Arthur, you will be rolling resolve and performance. Your specialization in sermons will count. [01:21:23] Speaker C: Very good. [01:21:28] Speaker E: You'll be using that basically to channel all of that faith into a tangible piece of. Into tangible energy. Very similar to how you do it when you're in combat. Rosanna, my love, you will be rolling. Sorry, looking at your sheet. Composure and occult. Unfortunately, your specialization in race does not count. Isabelle, you will be rolling intelligence and occult, and you will have a plus one because of your curse. [01:22:30] Speaker A: Cool. [01:22:36] Speaker E: Everybody good? Everybody understand how this is going to work? [01:22:42] Speaker A: Yes. [01:22:42] Speaker E: Now, okie day, this is your last chance at a scene. Or I can jump forward because the speaker should be arriving shortly. [01:22:56] Speaker D: I'm good. [01:22:58] Speaker A: I'm not going to call Alison about this very stupid decision. I'll tell her later and then she can yell at me then. [01:23:07] Speaker E: Okay. [01:23:08] Speaker D: Take a picture of the thing piper built to send later. [01:23:14] Speaker F: So I'll just stand kind of nearby. [01:23:17] Speaker C: Yeah, we should have a few of you guys posted around the outside. Keep an eye on anyone that might try to interrupt this whole thing. [01:23:28] Speaker E: Yeah, bricks can probably get on a perch or. [01:23:31] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. [01:23:32] Speaker F: And then stay closer in case they get past that perimeter or something. [01:23:36] Speaker A: It's probably a good idea. [01:23:38] Speaker E: AV and Patty will also set up nearby. They're going to go out and kind of mark a perimeter, basically, before they go, they both have a moment with Isabelle where they kind of pull her in. She gets a long hug, she gets a kiss. Tov kind of looks at you and pushes his fingers through your hair so that he can look into your eyes. [01:24:04] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:24:07] Speaker E: Shit gets hairy, you run. [01:24:14] Speaker A: Yeah. We'll nod and say, yeah, I will. [01:24:24] Speaker E: He looks like he's not entirely sure that he believes you, but he's also not going to press the issue because he doesn't want to worry more than he already is. Patty sort of kisses your forehead, gives you a really long, slow squeeze. You'll be fine. You're a badass. You've proven this. You can handle us. You can handle anything. And then do you want to say something? [01:24:56] Speaker A: Is, well, just saying. Yeah. And we can celebrate about it tonight. [01:25:04] Speaker E: You are damn straight. [01:25:08] Speaker D: That remains. [01:25:10] Speaker E: And they pull back and they make their way off in separate directions to go start marking the perimeter. So do the other three that came with them. Quiet goes and finds Rosanna. Are you. [01:25:37] Speaker B: Okay? Is an interesting word right now. I've only ever done this once and. [01:25:57] Speaker E: I. That. [01:26:00] Speaker B: I'm afraid. Yeah, I'm a little freaked out. I'm sure that it will be fine. I'm sure that everything will go off with the hitch and totally nothing is going to come back and buy me in the ass and totally knock on them. Totally. I'll totally be fine. And she's easily getting. [01:26:23] Speaker E: Look at me. Deep breath. You got this. You're okay. I don't think any of you have ever done this particular thing before. And that's probably for the best. This seems like something that shouldn't have to happen frequently. But if I were going to entrust this sort of thing to anyone, you guys seem like the best option. And you are fine. You are stronger than you realize. You have seen and been through some shit lately from what you have told me. And if you went through all of that and are still able to get up and smile for your friends, and make sure that people get those stupid fucking candies because they make everybody feel better. You've got this. Being afraid before something big is normal. It is not a reason to freak out. Take a deep breath. Trust yourself. Trust the people around you. You keep going into stupid, dangerous situations with these. With these people. So I'm assuming that you trust them. [01:28:03] Speaker B: Yeah. My only fear is I've. I'm not particularly equipped to do what they're asking me to do. [01:28:29] Speaker E: Listen, I've only spoken to that Ophelia lady, like, twice. Once was today. She doesn't seem like the type of person to ask you to do something that she doesn't think you're qualified for. Especially because she's taken this shit real seriously. You notice she hasn't smiled since we got here? Not once. You. And according to you and your friends, she's a what? A wizard? [01:29:06] Speaker B: Sure. [01:29:07] Speaker E: The wizard believes in you. Then you got no reason not to believe in yourself. Wow. [01:29:16] Speaker B: That was oddly very wizard of. Yeah. [01:29:23] Speaker E: Um, okay, I will be right up there. And he's gonna turn and point towards the old farmhouse in the distance, watching you the whole time. And I'll be in your ear the whole time. Okay. All right, good. He is going to go, or he is going to lean down, give you a very long kiss, pull a peach and cream candy out of his pocket and hand it to you. Strawberry is your thing. [01:30:23] Speaker B: Our peach is yours. [01:30:26] Speaker E: That was the only other flavor I could find. These things are really hard to find in stores. [01:30:32] Speaker B: This will be my good luck charm. [01:30:36] Speaker E: Okay. [01:30:44] Speaker C: As he leaves, Arthur's just going to lick a Rosanna and go, hey, Xana, I'm happy for you. And then he's going to try to empower his thing and just focus on what they have to do. [01:31:02] Speaker E: All right? Roll your empowerment roll. [01:31:08] Speaker C: I got to check every fast, okay. [01:31:12] Speaker E: Yes, it. [01:31:21] Speaker C: No, wait. [01:31:23] Speaker E: Spend the willpower. [01:31:24] Speaker C: Should I? [01:31:27] Speaker E: Yes. Oh, hey. [01:31:28] Speaker C: There we go. [01:31:30] Speaker E: All right. There you go. You are empowered. [01:31:33] Speaker C: Sweet. [01:31:35] Speaker E: Okay. [01:31:35] Speaker C: Thank you. [01:31:37] Speaker E: You're welcome. Our group is getting ready for the ritual. The sun is going down. We are literally in the twilight hours. You guys are watching as the sky over this Mississippi farm turns shades of orange and purple. And the barest faint twinkle of starlight can be seen peeking through the wisps of cloud above you. It's not overcast, but there's, like, cotton candy floss clouds in the sky. And Ophelia kind of looks around at all of you and looks at the sky, takes a deep breath. Okay. He should be here any minute, and it is about that time that a sleek two seater sports car in a deep, deep midnight blue pulls up nearby. Probably terrible for the suspension that he is driving it on the grass. But you get the feeling that he's leaving anyway. So he doesn't particularly care what condition the car's in. [01:33:05] Speaker A: Good evening. How is everybody? [01:33:11] Speaker D: He's playing Valhalla. Calling at the highest possible volume. If you don't know what it is, it's just Viking as hell. Just blasting across the whole area. You know, I'm pretty sure once you get back there, they're not going to want you up there. [01:33:34] Speaker A: Oh, Valhalla. [01:33:36] Speaker D: I'm not super worried about that. I suppose they might be calling for your head. [01:33:44] Speaker A: Well, what they call for and what they get are not usually the same thing. [01:33:48] Speaker D: That's why they send me to fuck horses. [01:33:52] Speaker F: What? [01:33:56] Speaker A: We all have to fill him in. Long story. Jesse, we don't have time. [01:34:01] Speaker D: We don't have time. [01:34:02] Speaker A: We don't have time. [01:34:03] Speaker D: We don't have time. [01:34:06] Speaker C: We'll explain later. [01:34:09] Speaker E: Okay? [01:34:13] Speaker A: Don't worry. [01:34:14] Speaker D: Yeah, we will. That guy got fucked by a horse. [01:34:19] Speaker E: Willingly. Yeah. [01:34:22] Speaker D: Moving on. [01:34:23] Speaker C: We really don't have time. [01:34:28] Speaker F: I'm not here to judge. [01:34:29] Speaker B: I'm here to stand around context. Horse sex. [01:34:35] Speaker E: Jesse, she kind of looks at you and how close you are to the platform for a moment, and then kind of like steps down off of the platform and takes like four or five big steps away and then kind of points at where she's standing. You need to be at least this far. Okay. For right now? [01:34:55] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:34:56] Speaker F: Go stand where I'm pointed to. [01:34:57] Speaker D: I'll be honest, I'm confident that this thing will work. I'm not confident how well it's going to stick together. [01:35:06] Speaker F: I mean, you're made out of some pretty sturdy stuff. [01:35:11] Speaker A: I do see an interesting amount of wood involved. [01:35:16] Speaker D: Yeah, I didn't have much time. Naturally. It looks fantastic. [01:35:22] Speaker E: Honestly, she did a really good job. I know it doesn't look like it, but we were dealing with some rustic options for materials we weren't working with a lot. I am pretty sure that the speakers people rated like the last radio shacks in the southern United States over the past few days for this stuff. So we are literally where all this shit came from. [01:35:53] Speaker D: Yeah, but we had to source it from places that wouldn't come under a lot of scrutiny. See, if I started grabbing top notch. [01:36:00] Speaker A: Electronics, we'd have more interest. [01:36:05] Speaker D: So, yeah, there might have been a radio shack involved. [01:36:08] Speaker E: True. And honestly, the amount of the extra wood is helpful because Rosanna has a companion I think if what I'm getting off of you is correct. And she's looking at Rosanna with her head tilted to the. [01:36:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:36:34] Speaker E: Your connection to the dreaming, dear. [01:36:38] Speaker B: Yeah, she prefers grass. [01:36:47] Speaker E: Yeah, the wooden grass is probably for the best. Just don't let her touch any of the metal. And she should be okay. Do you need help calling her? Can you just. You got this. [01:37:09] Speaker B: I think I should be okay. [01:37:13] Speaker E: All right. Far be it for me to argue. Go for it. [01:37:24] Speaker C: I trust in your zena. [01:37:29] Speaker D: I trust you to know how important this is. [01:37:33] Speaker E: That was not helpful. She's looking at Loki with her hands on her hips. I don't think you're trying to be helpful. Thanks. [01:37:42] Speaker C: I was thinking the same thing. Thank you. [01:37:45] Speaker E: No problem. [01:37:50] Speaker B: Okay. All right. [01:37:55] Speaker E: You are. Okay. [01:37:56] Speaker B: Start taking out rocks and kind of sporadically putting them out. And she takes lavender petals and kind of sprinkles them out. And she's trying her best to focus. And her prayer is very quiet this time. Like, you would have to be dead silent to hear her. Partially because what the speaker said just freaked her out. Partially because this is a very. To her intimate moment and she has a bunch of people who are just looking at her now. So I'm going to go ahead and make that role to summon. [01:38:57] Speaker E: Wafla. You don't pronounce the th. Two a fla. Yeah, that. I've got to stop giving you companions with names you can't pronounce. It's so funny. [01:39:18] Speaker F: Her name is Derek. [01:39:19] Speaker E: Derek. Yeah. [01:39:22] Speaker B: All right, so that is charisma in hole. Yeah, I'm fine. [01:39:40] Speaker E: Nine successes. [01:39:43] Speaker D: Yeah, that might do it, if we're lucky. [01:39:46] Speaker F: I'll cover it. [01:39:48] Speaker E: Okay. All right. So you guys watch as Rosanna sets up this summoning circle. And she's casting. And it's quiet. She is barely whispering. And there are moments when it almost looks like nothing is happening. But Ophelia's look never seems to waiver. It's like she knows this is going to be fine. And then suddenly, in the grass next to this podium that has been built or this platform that has been built, massive trees spring up. They are vibrant with their color. Somehow the bark seems more real and more alive. The trees are dark and healthy and shining. Glossy, almost. And she is standing in the middle of what is effectively a glade. But the air around all of you tastes and feels like magic and imagination dreams. You are all suddenly distinctly aware that you never knew what that tasted and felt like. Not really. Until you were standing in a place where even the cell, having witnessed this before you guys were surrounded by city and technology. And you're realizing here, away from all of that, where the only thing that's tech wise is Piper's weird contraptions. This is far more intense than you guys ever realized. And Rosanna stands there, and it's just her in the middle of this glade for a moment. And then her image flickers slightly. And you could see her hair go from, like, strawberry blonde to ginger curls to strawberry blonde to ginger curls. And then this woman, who is slightly shorter than her, beautiful in an otherworldly kind of way, kind of steps away from her. And it's almost like she's stepping out of Rosanna. And she kind of looks around, and she's got long ginger curls down to her hips, and her eyes are bright, and she's looking around at all of you. And Loki, specifically, this woman is somehow both diminished from what you know she should be, and regal in a way that you have not seen on this world. Not even Ophelia carries herself with this kind of grace and status in every movement that she makes. [01:43:09] Speaker D: My, aren't you a unique thing. It's an honor to meet you, ma'am. [01:43:21] Speaker E: It kind of tilts her head and looks back at you. It's a lot of magic on you, but it's not all yours, is it? [01:43:35] Speaker D: Not nearly enough of it. [01:43:41] Speaker E: She'll kind of turn and look at Rosanna. And it's that turning, that movement, that kind of takes her slightly to the side. And you guys all see a golden chain that links the center of Rosanna's chest to one of this woman's wrists. Didn't think you'd call me again after the last time I saw you. Are you okay? [01:44:15] Speaker B: Are you? [01:44:18] Speaker E: I'll kind of shrug a little bit. Forgive me, but this is not the first time your sister's been a cunt. [01:44:27] Speaker B: I don't know. Grass? I remember that you wanted grass the last time that I saw you. And here. I hope that this is more comfortable for you. [01:44:50] Speaker E: It's perfect. [01:44:56] Speaker B: We need your help. It has nothing to do with my sister. [01:45:02] Speaker E: Well, everybody's looking at me expectantly, so I kind of figured that much. Except that one. She points at Loki. He looks like he might want to eat me, which is a little unsettling. [01:45:13] Speaker D: I'm not sure if that's what he wants to do. And I would be far more concerned about what he's actually thinking. [01:45:18] Speaker F: I'm looking at birds. [01:45:21] Speaker C: I mean eat. [01:45:27] Speaker B: Can you stop making innuendos at her? [01:45:31] Speaker C: What? [01:45:32] Speaker D: I was talking about extracting. [01:45:34] Speaker E: I meant it literally. [01:45:37] Speaker C: Yeah, I was talking about extracting souls. [01:45:40] Speaker B: Sorry. [01:45:41] Speaker D: Do not intend to eat or consume in any way, shape or form at the moment. Though it is a shame we meet so soon before my departure. I should like to have met you sooner. [01:45:54] Speaker E: Guy. [01:45:54] Speaker D: Keep it in your pants. No. [01:46:02] Speaker B: Yeah, that's the top of. [01:46:08] Speaker C: We really don't have time for this. [01:46:12] Speaker F: I didn't get it either. Arthur. [01:46:16] Speaker E: She's going to look at Arthur, then lean over to Rosanna, and kind of murmur to Rosanna very quietly. Your friend's not very bright, is he? [01:46:27] Speaker B: He's like a golden retriever. Very pretty to look up. And not a whole lot going on up there sometimes. And then she looks at Arthur and smiles and waves. [01:46:42] Speaker E: All right, so what am I helping? [01:46:50] Speaker B: So that man right there, and she's going to point to Loki. Needs to go back where he came from. And apparently, in order to do that, we need somebody who's got a little bit of the dreaming in them. [01:47:08] Speaker E: I see. [01:47:12] Speaker D: Believe I crossed the dreaming when I came here and have to cross it back. Guide or necessary. [01:47:22] Speaker E: Ophelia kind of lifts a finger. Not exactly. These two, and she's pointing at Arthur and Rosanna are providing a compass. They're going to be my compass rose. She's going to keep things in balance. She's pointing at Isabelle and, well, she built this. And she'll gesture at Piper in the contraption. And I am very smart, but I don't have the time to explain that those two are here to make sure that nothing and nobody tries to kill everyone. And if they do, they deal with it. And toafla kind of nods a little bit. I can't have a direct effect. Like, I can't do any casting, but. [01:48:24] Speaker B: I think I'm going to be doing the casting on your behalf. [01:48:29] Speaker E: I see. I'm here to provide the energy and the direct connection. [01:48:38] Speaker B: If you're okay with that. [01:48:42] Speaker E: Kind of look at Loki. Remember looking at me like a fucking meal. I'll send you home. She'll kind of. [01:48:55] Speaker D: Thank you. I deeply appreciate it. [01:49:00] Speaker E: She'll turn back to Rosanna. Whatever you need. [01:49:04] Speaker B: And remember, with me, you have the choice. [01:49:08] Speaker E: I know. Before we begin, there's something I want you to do for me. She's looking at Rosanna. Give me your hands. And she'll kind of take your hands and she will cup them so that they're palm to palm with your fingertips touching, like the heel of your hand. And your fingertips, honey. And then she will lower them down to the ground and have you spread them so that your thumbs and forefingers are touching and your palms are just above the ground. And she puts her hands over yours, and she kind of whispers to you and prompts you to follow in the whisper with her. And as you do, you can feel this kind of raw, life giving energy kind of pulse through your fingers and an image of a flower. And it can look like anything you want. It can have any colors, even if it's not a real flower, it coalesces in your mind. And when your eyes open, you have grown that flower. It doesn't do anything, but you need to see that you're capable. All you've got to do is trust and believe in yourself. All I do is provide the magic. You wield it. All right? [01:50:55] Speaker B: And she takes the very bright pink rose in her hand, and she kind of whirls it in her fingers, and she turns back and tosses it to Arthur, just as a reminder that even though it's unexplainable, it does not mean it's a bad thing. [01:51:46] Speaker D: Are we ready? I think we're as ready as we're going to get. [01:51:51] Speaker E: Ophelia nods. Come here. She's looking at Loki. [01:51:59] Speaker D: Use man hops up on the pedestal. [01:52:03] Speaker E: And she reaches out and she grabs your hands and kind of pulls you into this circle of glass and metal. And under the glass is all the circuitry. You could tell this is the one place where they kind of went all out and used as much material as they needed to to make it as stable as possible. And you can feel the magic thrumbing through this. It's already started. It's familiar magic. This feels like Ophelia because nobody else has really thrown their lot in just yet. [01:52:39] Speaker D: I'm a little impressed. [01:52:42] Speaker E: Piper didn't send. [01:52:43] Speaker D: A last text message. Would it be now? [01:52:45] Speaker E: Yes. You should toss that away. Thank you. And she will take your hands and close her eyes, and she'll kind of take a deep breath. Okay. Arthur and Rosanna, just the way we talked about. Whenever you're ready, we will start with Rosanna, and then we will have Arthur do his role. [01:53:34] Speaker B: All right. Composure and occult. [01:53:40] Speaker E: Yes, please. [01:53:49] Speaker B: I'm going to spend a point of willpower to reroll three of those. [01:53:53] Speaker E: Holy cow. Yeah, it's probably for the best. Okay, that's two. That's fine. Seven more, Arthur. [01:54:03] Speaker C: In the beginning, God created heaven and the earth. Arthur starts in with a sermon about darkness and void and movements on the deep, and gets five successes. [01:54:15] Speaker E: All right, that puts us at seven. Isabel, you're next. [01:54:24] Speaker A: Guess I just focus on this precipice. [01:54:29] Speaker E: That you stand up. [01:54:30] Speaker A: Yes. I'm going to spend a willpower. [01:54:40] Speaker E: Okay. All right, cool. That puts you guys at eleven total. No. Yes. Math is hard. I write for a living. [01:55:01] Speaker A: I can't do math. [01:55:02] Speaker E: I'm gay. Sorry. [01:55:06] Speaker B: I'm the gay that can drive, not the one that can do math. [01:55:09] Speaker A: Exactly. [01:55:12] Speaker E: All right, you guys all take deep breaths and you center and you focus yourself. Arthur. You focus on the faith that has kept you going in the worst moments since you became a hunter. The thing that flows through you every time that righteous fury comes up inside of you. Fire and brimstone and also light. And you think of Katie Lynn and you can feel. Perhaps you've always been able to feel it to some degree when you activate your gauntlet. But this is different. It's the same energy, but there's more of it. And it feels more potent. And you can feel as it goes to that cuff around your wrist. Your gauntlet glows brighter. Your skin seems to be almost like it's taken on a golden glow. Very, very faint. But it's there, Rosanna. You reach out and you take Tuafla's hand and she steps in close to you and she begins to whisper to you about dreams that you've forgotten that you used to have as a child. Happy dreams, things that made you wake up believing in magic every day. And you hold a hand out and it's the hand with the cuff on it. And you know you don't really have to hold it out, but it just feels right. And you can feel that pulse of the same power that you use to grow the flower, but bigger, more potent for those who are watching. For Briggs, Jesse, Piper, Loki, Rosanna starts to look slightly ethereal, not unlike the woman standing next to her. There is a fresh, healthy glow to her skin. It is like she has stepped out of a dream rather than reality. It's faint, but it's there. Isabel, you focus on the precipice that you have been living on since you were first cursed. And it was a terror and a burden at first. It left you exhausted and tired and terrified all the time. And now, while you're not completely comfortable with it, you have learned to look at it as a tool. And almost like a doorway that you can open and close when you choose to. And that's what you do. You envision an arched doorway and you reach out and you tap on it and it opens and you imagine ghostly figures beyond it and a gray, like inverted version of your world. And it's cold. Half of your body feels ice cold, and the other half feels warm and vibrant and healthy. And you have two cuffs. You have one on each wrist, one for life and one for death. And you can feel those energies pulsing into these cuffs. And you watch as a bluish gray and sparkling energy kind of flows from your hand for death. And something that is a little bit more green and yellow and shining coming from the hand for life. And they flow and they connect with these two sensors up on the platform. Neurophilia. Who is chanting and gripping Loki's hands with white knuckles. Loki, there is energy going on here that feels different from the day that you arrived. This is much more controlled, but also potent. And you can tell that Ophelia is putting everything that she has into forming and weaving this spell and dealing with energies that she does not normally deal with, especially not all at once. And, darling. [02:00:28] Speaker D: It'S working, isn't it? [02:00:31] Speaker E: Think so. Hold on to me. She's shaking. [02:00:38] Speaker F: All right. [02:00:40] Speaker D: I place my hands on her shoulders. [02:00:46] Speaker E: Whatever you do, don't. [02:00:47] Speaker D: Wonderful woman, to betray me, but please don't. [02:00:51] Speaker E: If I betray you, I blow us all up. So, not planning to do that. Just do me a favor. Whatever happens, don't let me fall. All right? [02:01:02] Speaker D: What happens if you fall? [02:01:06] Speaker E: No, don't want to know. Just don't let me fall, because my legs are going numb. She looks like she's holding on, but looks like the energy that is going through this may be more than her body was necessarily built to handle. And she's described this to you really big. Particularly potent spells can sometimes have weird effects. Like some of the nerves in your body can just shut down for a week. And she's just like, I need to not fall because I have to focus on the spell. So don't let me fall. [02:01:43] Speaker D: All right. Loki will step up and wrap his arms around her, and as he kisses her on the forehead, just breathe a little extra. Just breathe a little healing across her body. [02:01:58] Speaker E: Okay, sounds good. All right, that was round one, ladies and gentlemen. You guys watch as a swirl of energy lights up the platform underneath of Ophelia and Loki. And we're going to have another round of rolls from you three, please. [02:02:29] Speaker C: Waiting for Rosanna, right? [02:02:32] Speaker E: Everybody just roll, okay? Please. Shit. [02:02:39] Speaker B: There we go. Critical. [02:02:42] Speaker E: Well, that's a five, an eight and a four. [02:02:47] Speaker C: I think we're good here. I don't need to. [02:02:49] Speaker E: You're fine. You guys watch as that glass platform that they are standing on pulses suddenly with bright light. And it is all the colors of the rainbow, and it shines up, and the shine is so intense that it's like Loki and Ophelia have been like a tube of this rainbow light has surrounded the two of them. You can't fully see them anymore. You can kind of see their figure standing there, but you can't see their faces. You can't hear what they're saying. Another round, please. And four. Okay, that is 17. [02:03:57] Speaker A: Same number as last round. We're consistent. [02:04:06] Speaker G: Jesse, I want you to know I'm so damn proud of you, son. Good work. [02:04:16] Speaker F: Right? Thanks. [02:04:22] Speaker E: And. [02:04:24] Speaker F: Upon hearing that, I'll turn to look at everyone. I know it's not about to matter, but just want you to know that I vouch for you guys pretty hard. And that is when it begins. My bones and tendons begin to crack as my arms and legs elongate. My muscles begin to swell and grow, and I become far broader. My clothing banging to rip and tear into tatters. The colors of my eyes bleeding to a deep yellow as this dark brown and ruddy, rust colored fur to sprout from my pores. The chin and mouth and nose beginning to elongate and forge together into a jaw that's full of sharp teeth that are dripping with saliva. And I fully enter my krainos form. [02:05:46] Speaker C: Arthur goes, Rosetta. [02:05:47] Speaker E: I knew I never trusted that guy. I need everybody to roll. Unspent willpower, please. Everybody includes willpower. Unspent willpower. [02:06:03] Speaker A: This is where I asked, does my flaw come into play? [02:06:08] Speaker E: Which flaw, specifically? [02:06:10] Speaker A: We quilled. [02:06:17] Speaker E: Yes, it would. Thank you for being honest. [02:06:21] Speaker A: Yeah, we remember exactly what that does real quick. [02:06:25] Speaker D: It's not good. [02:06:26] Speaker A: Not good. [02:06:31] Speaker D: Is this something that exists to affect my mind in a way that I would be able to just spend a willpower with fort the unnatural to resist it. [02:06:41] Speaker E: Cool. [02:06:41] Speaker D: Yeah, I'm going to just do that. [02:06:43] Speaker E: Okay. [02:06:46] Speaker C: I know I just made a role, but I realized I probably shouldn't have because I think that Arthur is thinking about the last thing Katie Lynn said to him was, come home and we'll kind of want to use that soulmate thing. But I did get four successes. [02:07:10] Speaker A: It doesn't remove any dice, but it just means I cannot supernaturally fight against something like that using, like, an edge or something. [02:07:22] Speaker E: I will say that if you want, I will allow you to spend. How many dots is that flaw? I will allow you to spend one temporary willpower to resist it. Really weak willed is about mind control, and this is a fear effect. So I'm going to cut it down to one instead of two. [02:07:49] Speaker A: It does specify terrify in there. [02:07:53] Speaker D: Not use the active resistance system to avoid those effects. [02:07:56] Speaker E: Okay. Yeah, no, sorry then. I thought we were talking about the old weak willed, but that's fine. [02:08:04] Speaker A: You said unspent willpower. Yeah, I don't have a lot. [02:08:13] Speaker E: Rolling. Let's see what happens. [02:08:22] Speaker A: I have a success. Okay, I had two unspent willpower. [02:08:28] Speaker E: Arthur and Rosanna. You two feel terror start to build up inside of you. The impulse to scream bloody murder is there. You feel like you are losing your mind just watching this change happen in front of you. And you muscle it down. Arthur calls on the memory of Katie Lynn. Arthur, you have used that ability because four wasn't quite enough. Rosanna, you also got four. Do you want to spend a willpower and drawflot to see if you can get extra? [02:09:17] Speaker B: Yes. [02:09:19] Speaker A: Do it. [02:09:27] Speaker E: Yeah. Okay. You feel like you're losing your mind. And Tuafla reaches out and wraps her arms around your shoulders. And it's like every dream of Christmas morning that you ever had as a child is pushed into you physically. It's joy and excitement and the promise of good things. And it pushes all that fear and madness down. And as it fades, you realize you're looking at a werewolf. Isabel. Unfortunately, darlin one's not going to cut it. No, it's not. Okay, Jesse, you have the effect of a surprise round. You can only attack one of them. Who are you going for? [02:10:36] Speaker F: I'm going to dive for Isabelle. [02:10:40] Speaker E: Okay, let's see. I will be doing the rolls for Jesse. Just so you're aware, budy, that's not what I wanted. Actually, you know what? Before Jesse goes after Isabel, something else happens because I almost forgot that these guys were here. Please. And have been watching this whole time. Please. [02:11:25] Speaker D: Hikers roll and all run away in fear. [02:11:30] Speaker E: H roll. I already checked the fear stuff. Most of them are okay. This is whether or not quiet can get a round off before Eden hit Jesse. He is at a disadvantage because there is a lot going on and that light show is really distracting. But it's still a decent pool. [02:11:59] Speaker A: Four successes. [02:12:01] Speaker E: Sorry, is this you are not aware? New development. No. You cannot see or hear exactly what is going on outside. You know something's going on, but you don't know what it is. Jesse gets hit by a bullet in the shoulder. It's not a deep wound, but it is a wound. Thankfully he got it off before you finished the turn. [02:12:37] Speaker B: Did quiet take Rosanna's advice and put the silver bullets in? [02:12:43] Speaker E: You don't know. [02:12:47] Speaker C: We will see what happens. [02:12:50] Speaker E: Pain, tears through your shoulder. It's like acid. There is the equivalent of a 50 cal silver round in your shoulder. Now, thankfully, he didn't manage to hit you anywhere super vital, so it didn't do as much damage as it should have. [02:13:19] Speaker B: Briggs. [02:13:21] Speaker G: Yeah? [02:13:23] Speaker E: Are you going to come out of hiding or are you waiting for a minute before you join? [02:13:34] Speaker G: Yeah, he will. Will eagle do what he was trained to do all those years ago? He's going to take a shot of Piper. [02:13:59] Speaker E: Oh, shit. Okay. Not prepared for that, but that's fine. [02:14:08] Speaker C: It's fine. [02:14:10] Speaker E: All good. I just had to pull up your. I had to pull up the full sheet instead of just the notes that I took on it, that's all. You are also going to be at a disadvantage because of the light show and guns going off. Piper, roll me. Decks. And where are decks and athletics? Yes. [02:14:49] Speaker D: To dodge normal minus two, because I'm trying to dodge a bullet. [02:14:59] Speaker E: Let's just make it a minus one. [02:15:02] Speaker D: You had some warning and a bit of COVID I imagine. Going to just one. [02:15:14] Speaker E: Okay, this is going to suck. Yeah, it's a bullet, so that's three. Okay. [02:15:29] Speaker G: After that firing, he will come out of fighting. [02:15:34] Speaker E: All right, cool. [02:15:36] Speaker D: How much damage do I take? [02:15:44] Speaker E: Well, he beat you by three, right? [02:15:46] Speaker D: Yeah. [02:15:48] Speaker E: Where are my notes? Sorry, guys. Do you have any soak whatsoever? [02:15:57] Speaker D: This is fifth edition BP. [02:16:01] Speaker E: I'm sorry, do you have any armor is what I meant. [02:16:05] Speaker D: I believe we all have body armor, which is you do, I believe reduces two aggravated damage to superficial. [02:16:15] Speaker E: Cool. Yeah, sounds good to me. So you take two superficial and one egg. All right. We are firmly in turn order. [02:16:47] Speaker F: Dive off on Isabelle. Or was that interrupted by being. [02:16:50] Speaker E: Oh, yes, yes, you do. I'm sorry, you do. That's my bad. [02:16:54] Speaker A: And I don't get to dodge that. [02:16:58] Speaker F: Well, I want to do something a little bit specific. Instead of going for Isabelle directly, I want to try to get the shotgun and destroy. [02:17:09] Speaker A: Dragon thrust around. [02:17:10] Speaker C: She just told everybody. [02:17:14] Speaker E: Yeah, she did. You are at a disadvantage. You are not at your full die pool because you just got shot. Isabelle, make me. Dex and athletics, please. [02:17:28] Speaker A: Any penalty to that? [02:17:31] Speaker E: No. You are fucking terrified. You don't want him anywhere near you. You're going to fight extra hard to not have to deal with him. [02:17:39] Speaker A: Cool. [02:17:40] Speaker E: You can't fight back, but you can certainly run. I'm using my normal dice now because the die roller is driving me crazy. I've got too many things open. Where's your. Make your roll. [02:18:05] Speaker A: One success and I can't spend willpower on that, right? Because I want to keep this shotgun? [02:18:11] Speaker E: You can if you want to. [02:18:13] Speaker A: I really want to keep the shotgun. [02:18:16] Speaker E: Okay. [02:18:19] Speaker A: No. One success. [02:18:23] Speaker E: All right, I am rolling, rolling, rolling. Okay. Sorry, Jesse. My luck is kicked in. You got one on eight dice. [02:18:45] Speaker G: Savage. What is this? [02:18:53] Speaker E: This is BP's rolling. All right, so you reach out to grab this thing, and Isabelle screams and she has the gun, and you have the gun, and she's screaming and you're growling, and it's almost a moment out of a comedy film. Or it would be if this wasn't a matter of life and death for the both of you. [02:19:18] Speaker A: I mean, whatever. I know what I'm going to do when I get a chance. [02:19:24] Speaker E: All right, we are now in order. The way we are going to handle this is we are going with Melee and then ranged. I'm not doing roles and all that stuff. It's just too much to keep track of. So anybody who is going to be fighting Melee, tell me that you're going to fight Melee, and anybody who's going to be ranged, tell me that you're going to fight ranged. Okay. [02:19:48] Speaker A: I'm like, I should shoot, but also I'm just like, boop, the snoot. I don't think anyone's fully thinking right now. [02:19:56] Speaker E: You and Jesse are both holding the like. If you shoot, you're just going to be, like, shooting to the side. It's not going to hit anybody. [02:20:05] Speaker F: I'm going to be ranged. [02:20:09] Speaker G: Don't worry. [02:20:10] Speaker D: My first drone, the spider, is going to get his first time in action. [02:20:16] Speaker B: Okay, we'll be going ranged. [02:20:19] Speaker E: Yes. [02:20:19] Speaker A: I'll be going. [02:20:21] Speaker E: Arthur, Isabel, Jesse Briggs, where are you going to be? Are you joining the fray? [02:20:30] Speaker G: Yes. He was going to transform shortly out of coming out of fighting. [02:20:35] Speaker E: Okay, cool. [02:20:38] Speaker G: So I will be melee. [02:20:39] Speaker E: Okay, so the four of you will be Melee. Rosanna and Piper will be ranged. Very cool. We will start with Arthur. Because you've had the least amount of shit happen to you so far. You are slightly less on the back foot than everybody else is. [02:20:58] Speaker C: So I guess two questions. Okay. First thing was, when Ophelia was describing to us this ritual, how strict was she on when we needed to, like, we could walk away from this? Like, do I still need to keep standing right here and wait for shootout? [02:21:12] Speaker E: You don't have to stand right there, but you do have to keep focusing. [02:21:17] Speaker C: Fine. [02:21:17] Speaker E: That's why we talked about you have to spend willpower in order to not take minuses. [02:21:25] Speaker C: Okay. [02:21:27] Speaker E: If you want to both roll to focus and to fight, you can do that without spending willpower. It just means that both of those rolls is going to be at a negative one. Die. If you don't want negatives, you spend two willpower or. No, you do the aggravated willpower damage. Sorry. [02:21:48] Speaker C: Right. All right, so I can do both rolls at a negative one, or do aggravated willpower damage and just do both rolls. Is that right? Okay, I'm understanding. Cool. Seeing the stress that Isabelle is under as this monster is trying to get at the shotgun, Arthur is going to rush to her to help fight Jesse and swing on him if he can. [02:22:19] Speaker E: All right, make me a roll. [02:22:23] Speaker C: All right, hold on. I got a minus one going on. Okay, so just trying to do the math. So I have a minus one. So that dressing down might pull down to ten. But he is a werewolf, so that's plus two. Correct. [02:22:35] Speaker E: Okay. [02:22:36] Speaker C: And then I can't see what our desperation dice are, but I believe that that applies for Arthur right now. [02:22:41] Speaker E: Four. It does apply four. [02:22:44] Speaker C: All right, so 16 dice. Oh, wait, no, it's not 16. It is twelve plus four, desperation. Yeah. Holy shit. [02:23:05] Speaker E: Four. Would you like to reroll? [02:23:09] Speaker G: Damn. [02:23:10] Speaker C: I guess so. [02:23:12] Speaker G: Damn. [02:23:13] Speaker D: There we go. [02:23:14] Speaker E: Much better. [02:23:15] Speaker C: Seven. Yeah. [02:23:18] Speaker E: Okay, you come running up behind her. Your skin is still glowing with that power. By the way. Did you spend the ag to roll unhindered or are you just rolling normally? [02:23:33] Speaker C: I am actually rolling at the negative. Yeah, I'm rolling at the. Yeah. Okay, that's one die less than I could have. [02:23:44] Speaker E: Yeah, that's fine. So you go charging in and swing on Jesse, and you connect with the side of his huge, wolfish jaw, and his head sort of snaps to the side. Jesse, this hurts more than it should. In fact, you might have just lost a couple of teeth. That fucking hurt. And you could feel the rage building up inside of you. This shouldn't be difficult. They're just humans. You're stronger than them, you're bigger than them. Even if you like them, they're the enemy. They tried to kill a member of your pack. Okay, Jesse, what do you want to do? [02:24:53] Speaker F: Not happy about what just happened to me, but I really don't like this shotgun. I'm gonna have faith that a friend is going to come to help me out here, and I'm going to, since I have, like, a grip on the shotgun, just see if I can crush it and break it within my hand now. [02:25:19] Speaker E: Interesting. Okay, that's fine. That's interesting, I guess. Yeah, that's fine. [02:25:33] Speaker A: Isabelle, can I literally just pull the trigger? [02:25:37] Speaker E: Yeah. [02:25:38] Speaker A: It's not like facing him directly, but this thing was going to put out a jet of flame that's going to be close enough to him that I at least hope to singe his fur. [02:25:48] Speaker D: At this point. It's more out of spite than it. [02:25:51] Speaker A: Yeah. And, I mean, if anything, there's going to be a hell of a kickback on this thing. I'm not securing it at all. [02:25:58] Speaker E: You know what? I will allow you. Yeah? To make a firearms role firearm is what? Composure. [02:26:12] Speaker A: Either decks or composure. And firearms resolve. [02:26:16] Speaker E: It's composure. It's composure and firearms. [02:26:18] Speaker D: It is theoretically five different steps. [02:26:21] Speaker E: Theoretically, yeah. It depends on what you're trying to do, but we're just going to call it composure firearms, because you're mostly just trying to keep your shit together enough to pull it off. I will let you do that and see if you can give him some negatives to his role. [02:26:38] Speaker A: Can I use my entrepreneurial. Can I use desperation dice? [02:26:45] Speaker E: Are you in despair. [02:26:49] Speaker A: Or is piper the only one? I succeeded on my role earlier. You're right, and I overreached the last time. [02:26:59] Speaker E: Rather than calling it despair, I will allow you to use desperation dice if there was ever a fucking time for it. [02:27:05] Speaker A: Cool. We're at what, desperation? Four. Well, four successes and I will. I don't know what it means to overreach, but I will overreach more danger. [02:27:34] Speaker D: Not that that matters right now. [02:27:35] Speaker E: Not really that matters right now, doesn't it? That's fine. Go with overreach. Okay, cool. I have to roll something to see. Oh, wow. Well, on the bright side, his mental stuff is not great, so there's that. You're really smart. [02:28:09] Speaker G: Don't you worry about take it. [02:28:11] Speaker D: That's not a good role from him. [02:28:13] Speaker E: No. Okay, so that's two successes on that role. Yeah. That's great. So he's going to be at even more of a disadvantage. Great. [02:28:29] Speaker A: This cone of flame erupts and probably wrenches the shotgun out of his hand and probably dislocates my shoulder. [02:28:43] Speaker E: Okay, so the shotgun is damaged, but you don't think it's unusable. Jesse's claws kind of rake against it, and you could see places where the metal is definitely in not amazing shape. It's slightly warped. You might be able to use it for the rest of the fight, but you probably should get rid of it after this and replace it. Cool. So basically, what's going to happen is anytime you try to use that, you're at minus one dice, because there's a chance that it's not going to fire properly, but it's not in his hand anymore. So that's something, I guess. Jesse, that was your turn. Isabelle used her turn for that, too. I also need Arthur and Isabelle to. Well, no, we'll do that at the end of the round. Let's just take care of everybody else first. Rosanna, it's time for the. [02:29:51] Speaker B: Try to. I want to try to throw Jesse for a loop before I summon the bow. [02:30:00] Speaker E: Okay? [02:30:04] Speaker B: You hear. Jesse hears Roseanne scream out. What about Dakota? [02:30:14] Speaker G: Can I do my melee thing in response to. [02:30:22] Speaker E: Hold on. Briggs, will you please describe what they see? Come charging. And nobody has to roll against us. You've already done one roll against the fear effect, so I'm not going to make everybody do it again. Jesse, I need you to roll me four dice, please. [02:30:48] Speaker B: As he's rolling those dice, she's going to say no. [02:30:50] Speaker C: Desperation. [02:30:51] Speaker B: Do you want the cycle of violence to continue? Especially because what happened with her. [02:31:02] Speaker E: It. [02:31:02] Speaker B: Doesn'T have to be like this. [02:31:05] Speaker E: Jesse. Jesse, that hurts. But instead of crumbling, you manage to bolster yourself and stoke your own. And it stokes your rage higher, makes you angrier. How dare she use her name? How dare these people who killed someone that they didn't know just because they thought maybe they were something bad, invoke her name. [02:31:46] Speaker B: Now. I'm going to prepare my bow. [02:31:49] Speaker E: Okay, you summon your bow. That's your turn. Briggs. You come charging out of the thing. Please describe what you look like. [02:31:59] Speaker G: Well, he had a different plan, but then he heard the name Dakota. So I think you see the shadow of Jesse's poor truck. You see a kind of, like, dip and landing with a shattering thought. Not a few feet, but a cup, like a good distance away from Arthur. You see this massive, shaggy brown werewolf with a clear chunk missing out of the left side of his jaw and going all the way up to the side of his head where he's missing an ear. And he just has massive scarring going down his left side, and it's just matted fur and in this two wild golden eyes, and he's just snarling at Rosanna. Don't you dare tell me their name. He was going to go for Arthur. No, he's going to go after. [02:33:04] Speaker B: Okay, my bow has a big reflective purple shield. [02:33:15] Speaker E: Okay. All right, Rosanna, are you using? [02:33:23] Speaker B: What are you using? I activated it already. I got seven successes critical. [02:33:29] Speaker E: Okay, remind me how that works, because I'm trying to keep track of too many mechanics at once. [02:33:38] Speaker B: So if he tries to, I have to pull up the ruling of it. [02:33:45] Speaker E: I know. He has to roll against it, right? [02:33:48] Speaker B: Yes. [02:33:49] Speaker E: What does he have to roll specifically. [02:33:53] Speaker B: Let me try to pull it up. [02:33:55] Speaker E: I have to open up the book. [02:33:56] Speaker B: Gun. [02:34:00] Speaker C: I have the book. What are you looking for? [02:34:03] Speaker B: The shield aspect of artifact. [02:34:05] Speaker D: Oh, it just has all damage. [02:34:08] Speaker C: Damage? Yeah. [02:34:09] Speaker E: Okay, cool. [02:34:11] Speaker B: Top of that, I'm wearing my armor. [02:34:14] Speaker C: Yeah, I have the same thing. So we have to work out the math on the order of operations. Yeah. [02:34:25] Speaker E: It. Okay, Briggs, roll me twelve dice, please. [02:34:31] Speaker G: You got it. Oh, discord, don't do that to me, okay? Don't you do that right now. Discord is not friendly at all. [02:34:55] Speaker E: Hey, Rosanna. Dex and athletics, please. It. [02:35:08] Speaker B: Shit. Makes sense. Can I reroll those? [02:35:22] Speaker E: You only have two dice between decks and athletics? [02:35:26] Speaker B: Yes. I don't fight up close. [02:35:31] Speaker E: Jesus. Okay. Yes, you can reroll one. Cool. [02:35:41] Speaker B: All of that gets halved, and then our armor, I believe, converts a couple of those aggravated to superficial. [02:35:50] Speaker C: Yeah, it kind of depends on the order of operations as to whether it goes one way or another way. It's weird. [02:35:55] Speaker E: We're going to do this the easy way. Okay, so the nine goes down to an eight. Eight gets cut in half. Two of those four are superficial, two are ag. Okay. That's the easiest way to do it. I'm doing. Yes. I hate the combat mechanics for fifth edition, but it is what it is. Okay. Yeah. [02:36:25] Speaker G: As he just finishes breaking his bloods, he will take a step back, lean way back, and rip a hollow into the sky. [02:36:36] Speaker E: Lovely. Okay, Piper. [02:36:52] Speaker D: So first, Piper is going to go to the fucking floor because she just got shot. And then Spider is probably going to go after breaks. [02:37:08] Speaker E: Okay, let's do it. [02:37:10] Speaker G: Which, heavens. [02:37:19] Speaker D: Double check. And it's going to, like, close on him now that he's next to Rosemary. [02:37:32] Speaker E: Hmm. [02:37:34] Speaker D: Four successes on the brawl. Check from the robot. [02:37:42] Speaker E: Okay, so this isn't really going to do anything, unfortunately, because it's a big fucking werewolf. Would you like to describe what it looks like anyway, because we've never seen the robot in action before. Yeah. [02:37:58] Speaker D: So it's like, not little, but like a big four legged spider drone. And then one of its claw legs comes up and swipes at him, if nothing else, just to get his attention and pull him away. [02:38:14] Speaker E: Got you. Cool. Yeah. Unfortunately, it doesn't really do any damage, but it will provide some distraction because he's now got a big thing that he can't really hurt that is going to constantly be in his face and causing problems for him does cause problems for defense. It does, yes. All right, we have some other things that I have already rolled. While everybody else was doing their thing, Briggs you leap at Rosanna, rake her with your claws, kind of push her back a couple of feet at least. This massive, weird drone thing comes out of nowhere, out of the shadows, and takes a swipe at you. And you kind of turn back slightly to look at it. At the same time that a bullet hits you, it embeds itself in your clavicle right up on the right side. Any lower and it would have hit a lot. And you take a significant amount of damage because he rolled criticals and a success on every fucking die. He. [02:39:42] Speaker D: Don't mess with Rosanna. [02:39:44] Speaker A: Quiet. [02:39:44] Speaker E: We'll get just. You basically just dropped. [02:39:48] Speaker C: You don't hear anything? [02:39:52] Speaker E: Yeah. No. You heard nothing? Well, no. You're a werewolf. You would have heard, like, a whistle, and then it would have hit you and you could feel. It's like acid has been buried inside of your body. It feels like it's burning you from the inside out. You just dropped from twelve to eight. [02:40:11] Speaker G: We got it. [02:40:13] Speaker E: Okay. We lost somebody. The werewolves took piper. [02:40:26] Speaker G: Yes. The hacking werewolves have attacked. [02:40:28] Speaker E: We made it. [02:40:32] Speaker A: The bone nodders are here. [02:40:38] Speaker E: Welcome back. Cricket was concerned and tried to remove piper from the fight. [02:40:51] Speaker D: No, please get out of there. [02:40:53] Speaker E: What are you doing? Okay, you guys hear the rattle and cracking and popping of gunfire in the distance? You hear screams and howls and roars. In fact, as soon as Briggs's howl goes off, you hear answering calls. I need Isabelle, Rosanna and Arthur to all make your ritual rolls. You are all at one die penalty because you all did something else this round. Two. [02:41:43] Speaker C: Can I reroll? [02:41:45] Speaker E: Hold on. Three. You're fine. You don't need to. That's nine. That's the minimum that you needed. [02:41:51] Speaker D: Only eight. [02:41:52] Speaker C: That's only eight. Two, three. [02:41:57] Speaker E: You're right. Sorry. Yeah. Burn a roll. Power. [02:42:00] Speaker D: No, did not burn a willpower. [02:42:04] Speaker E: Okay. [02:42:08] Speaker C: There we go. [02:42:10] Speaker E: Rosanna. Coming in. Clutch. [02:42:12] Speaker C: Thanks, Rosanna. Love you. [02:42:15] Speaker B: I'm bleeding from my innards. [02:42:18] Speaker D: Actually, that's my line. [02:42:19] Speaker E: Thank you. [02:42:19] Speaker D: Rosanna. [02:42:23] Speaker A: Please, Loki, do something. [02:42:27] Speaker G: There's so much blood. I don't know, guys. [02:42:31] Speaker F: No, I don't think I will. [02:42:34] Speaker E: Loki, inside of this tube of light, you are holding Ophelia, who is not clinging to you. She actually has tools for casting in her hands, which you have never seen her use before. You've never seen her need to use them before. But in the middle of this, when it's clear that the energy from the outside is waning a bit, she reaches into her pockets and pulls out a wand and an orb. Crystal. A crystal orb. And is still feverishly chanting. And her eyes kind of open and they are glowing. Especially the golden one is bright. And it reminds you of icar. It reminds you of the thing that pulses through your veins that you can pass on to your children when you are in your own world, that source of your divine power. She is. Yeah, go ahead. [02:43:46] Speaker A: For a split second. [02:43:47] Speaker D: Loki sees it and it's like, I ate that. No, I need her. Gross. I need her. I do think he'll try tentatively, just. [02:44:04] Speaker A: Like an empathic telepathy. Be like, hey, is everything okay? [02:44:10] Speaker E: With who? [02:44:14] Speaker A: I mean, strongly with her, but generally with everyone. [02:44:20] Speaker E: Okay, yeah, I'll let it happen. She's the conduit. She's like a direct line. She's like a live wire. So essentially, you connect to her mind, and it is like grabbing a live wire of magic. It's a lot. It does not necessarily feed you. You just become a part of the circuit. And it's a little painful, if we're being honest. It's been a while since you felt this kind of power. It's not entirely pleasant. And everybody hears. Is everything okay? Ophelia is just like, don't break connection. Please don't break connection. You guys can hear and feel how ragged she is. [02:45:08] Speaker A: Kind of have a problem is what you get back. Things are not okay. [02:45:14] Speaker B: Things are bad out here. [02:45:17] Speaker C: There's a silent, just whisper of get out. But he's trying not to say it. [02:45:25] Speaker E: Fucking love, Arthur. [02:45:28] Speaker D: Yeah, it's from Piper to just get focus on the ritual. I'm not doing anything. [02:45:36] Speaker E: Yes, you are. You're keeping me from falling over. Right. And her forehead leans forward. Loki. And kind of rests on, like, your chest, right under your chin. [02:45:56] Speaker D: You're doing well. And you don't have to stop chanting. [02:46:00] Speaker E: She's clearly exhausted. Okay, next round, we will start with Arthur again. [02:46:09] Speaker C: Yeah. Seeing that Jesse is still here, taking the penalty, I'm going to try to swing at him again to at least get him unconscious and not trying to kill Isabelle, as far as I can tell. I am worried about Rosanna, but I'm right here, so I have to deal with one problem at a time. [02:46:35] Speaker E: Okay. [02:46:39] Speaker C: Ten. No, it's 1212 and desperation. [02:46:44] Speaker A: Four. [02:46:49] Speaker D: Well, that's unfortunate. [02:46:52] Speaker E: That's a lot of dice. [02:46:57] Speaker C: Take the overreach. I have to do the overreach because I need to succeed in it. [02:47:01] Speaker D: Do you want to reroll for that crit? [02:47:07] Speaker C: I think that I will. [02:47:12] Speaker E: Oh, jeez. No crit. But you're at 1111 successes. Pretty good. [02:47:18] Speaker C: Eleven successes? [02:47:21] Speaker E: Yeah. That's a lot. Okay, Arthur, you watch as the gun goes off. Your ears are ringing. You are hearing these voices in your head. You are in furious, righteous fucking fury. Did you remember to short yourself a die? [02:47:38] Speaker D: Yeah, he did. [02:47:39] Speaker E: I did. Okay. I'm just making sure. I was just like, that's a really big die pool. [02:47:45] Speaker C: Yes. [02:47:45] Speaker E: And you haul backwards. [02:47:47] Speaker D: That's what she said. [02:47:51] Speaker E: You haul backwards in, in the. Like it, you've been told, never hit a man with a closed fist. However, comma, this is one of those situations where it feels prudent and you summon up every bit of divine fury that you have and you throw out one of your favorite lines from scripture. And you haul off and you pummel Jesse in the ribs. He's taller than you. [02:48:28] Speaker F: Can I say something as I see him winding back? [02:48:31] Speaker E: Yeah, hit me. Okay. You haul off and you drive your fist into his ribs, and you hear bone crack under the force of. Oh, okay, so that's five. Jesse has just dropped a four. Jesse was at twelve at the start of this, just for reference. Thankfully, he got silver pumped into him earlier, so his healing is not happening the way that it should. Okay. It's one of the most satisfying hits you've ever had, Arthur, to be quite fucking honest with you. The only thing probably more satisfying than this was when you punched somebody so hard that you knocked a ghost out of them. [02:49:29] Speaker C: Yep. [02:49:31] Speaker E: Literally separated a soul from a body is the only time that's come this close. [02:49:36] Speaker C: Arthur's fighting form, for anyone who may be watching is much better this time around, too, because he's taken boxing lessons. It looks like he knows what he's doing now. [02:49:47] Speaker E: He's like, all right, isabelle, you have the gun in your hands. [02:49:53] Speaker A: Yep, I do. I will cock it and shoot again, this time actually aiming at Jesse. [02:50:03] Speaker E: You are at a negative because you are terrified and you are staring up into the face of the thing that scares you right now. Um, hold on. I wrote it down. You were at negative two, dice. [02:50:26] Speaker A: Two. [02:50:27] Speaker D: Okay, that's negative four total. [02:50:32] Speaker E: Because two. [02:50:33] Speaker D: From that, one from focusing on this and the ritual, and then one from the gun being busted. [02:50:42] Speaker E: Yeah, that's true. What's your total die pool? [02:50:48] Speaker A: It would be five. I was also going to use desperation. [02:50:55] Speaker E: Okay, that's fine. [02:50:56] Speaker D: Yeah. [02:50:57] Speaker A: So it'll bump my actual die pool down to one, right? [02:51:02] Speaker E: You get your desperation dice, so you're not completely fucked. [02:51:05] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:51:07] Speaker E: Oh, your desperation is at five now, by the way. [02:51:13] Speaker C: Did it go to five after I hit Jesse? [02:51:15] Speaker E: Yep. [02:51:16] Speaker C: Okay. Very good. [02:51:17] Speaker E: I forgot that you guys were covered up on the screen. I'm sorry. You guys covered up the desperation thing. [02:51:26] Speaker A: I am going to overreach as well. [02:51:28] Speaker E: Jesus, you all just keep tacking on the problems. [02:51:35] Speaker A: Now is not the time to fall into despair. [02:51:39] Speaker E: That's fair. [02:51:40] Speaker D: You know, now's not a good time to be in despair. [02:51:43] Speaker C: Yeah. [02:51:45] Speaker E: Unfortunately, you don't do much to hurt Jesse, but he is forced to kind of rear back because of the explosion of fire. And that is going to provide more negatives to his defense against Arthur, which was already pretty significant. So you've just made it even better. [02:52:08] Speaker A: Also, how far along am I in training? Gozer? [02:52:15] Speaker E: Oh, no, you can use Gozer, honey. You paid for him. Do it. [02:52:19] Speaker A: Yeah. I would like to whistle. To summon Gozer. [02:52:24] Speaker E: Okay. [02:52:25] Speaker D: You whistled a summon gozer and you gave him incorruptible. [02:52:30] Speaker A: He's incorruptible. [02:52:32] Speaker E: That's true. And we are still in melee, so go for it. He gets his own turn, so let's do it. [02:52:43] Speaker A: Yes. Do I roll for that again? I've never. [02:52:54] Speaker E: Believe it's like charisma and animal Ken or something. [02:52:56] Speaker A: Yeah, I believe it's charisma, Animal Ken. [02:52:58] Speaker D: Charisma, animal Ken. To give. To give a command. [02:53:02] Speaker A: Yeah. All right. Charisma, animal can. And I still have that minus four. No, it's not less than that. [02:53:17] Speaker E: It's minus one. Minus one. Because you're not acting against Jessica. [02:53:26] Speaker A: Yeah, and just for now, I'm not. [02:53:30] Speaker E: Going to use desperation maybe. Okay. [02:53:38] Speaker A: No, I am going to use desperation because it's just like, we need it. We need it. I was like, no, we need it. [02:53:47] Speaker E: I'm just going to give up on tracking what your danger is at at. [02:53:49] Speaker A: This .4 successes currently at command goes. [02:53:56] Speaker D: We'Re at desperation five. [02:53:59] Speaker A: Desperation five. Okay. [02:54:02] Speaker E: Four successes. Okay. And because of all the negatives to his. [02:54:10] Speaker D: Well, it might be better because there's one more die. [02:54:13] Speaker A: There is one more die. I forgot we were at desperation five, not desperation four. We'll do. [02:54:18] Speaker E: Just roll. A normal die is fine. [02:54:24] Speaker D: That's a three. [02:54:25] Speaker A: It's not a one. [02:54:26] Speaker E: The four successes, Jesse, you hear a snarl and a sound that is very familiar. It's what a wolf would make charging into a fight. And for a second there, you think your pack might be here to back you guys up. And your head turns to kind of look over and instead of seeing any members of your pack, you see Gozer, massive and just doglike enough to not be pure wolf. And he barrels into you and sinks his teeth into the shoulder where you took the bullet. And you take two more because you fucked up, bud. You're at two now out of twelve. Okay, Briggs. [02:55:26] Speaker G: Um. I don't know what the position is on the battlefield, but do I kind of see him digging all that shit on the side? Like, at the corner of my eye? [02:55:36] Speaker E: Kind of. You're also busy. You've been shot. You've got a massive fuck off drone in your face. [02:55:41] Speaker G: How big is that drone? [02:55:43] Speaker E: Like, person sized? [02:55:46] Speaker D: Yeah, it's fucking big. [02:55:48] Speaker G: Like human person size? [02:55:50] Speaker E: Yes. Cool. Not a small person, but a person. [02:55:54] Speaker G: Right. Can I pick that thing up? [02:56:03] Speaker E: You can certainly try. [02:56:06] Speaker G: And then throw it at the enemy. [02:56:12] Speaker E: Piper, roll me your drone. Check. [02:56:16] Speaker G: All right. [02:56:19] Speaker E: Riggs, roll me nine dice. Yeah. Okay. [02:56:35] Speaker D: No spending willpower for me anymore. [02:56:44] Speaker E: It. [02:56:45] Speaker A: That's unfortunate. [02:56:46] Speaker G: For me. That is ten successes. [02:56:50] Speaker E: Yeah. Okay, Piper, you see what he's doing, and you control your drone, and you desperately try to have it ward him off. And he's just too big, and he's really fucking. Nobody should be able to lift this thing. It took you and a couple of guys from the MC to load this thing into the RV earlier, like when you first built it. Briggs just lifts it like it's a. [02:57:19] Speaker D: Child, and I would like to throw it at Arthur. [02:57:25] Speaker E: Okay. That's an interesting dipole. Hold on. [02:57:30] Speaker D: Strength athletics. [02:57:32] Speaker E: Hold on, hold on. It's Dex athletics. So just roll me, because you're at negatives. So roll me. Yeah, roll me the same dipole. [02:57:55] Speaker G: You got it. That's three. [02:58:04] Speaker E: Three is not bad. It's more to get out of my face. Are you aiming at somebody specific? [02:58:14] Speaker G: It's at Arthur. Like, if it doesn't reach him, it's getting thrown regardless, which is kind of what he wants, because it's in his face. [02:58:23] Speaker E: Arthur. Dex athletics, please. [02:58:28] Speaker G: That would be the worst. No, that wouldn't be funny, but it'd be worse. [02:58:36] Speaker C: Dex athletics. [02:58:37] Speaker A: A. [02:58:40] Speaker C: Cool. [02:58:42] Speaker E: I will give you two extra dice, because Piper has enough control over this thing to try to tuck its limbs in and things like that to keep it from doing too much damage to just. [02:58:55] Speaker C: Yeah, okay, that's fine. I'll take it. I was just thinking, this is a situation that I have not encountered in my mind, Canon at all. Would desperation apply to Arthur at this point? Not that I'm rolling it now, but because it is opposition. No, I didn't think so. That's why I wasn't sure that was what I was just thinking. But anyway, here's those five dice. [02:59:20] Speaker D: That's unfortunate. [02:59:21] Speaker C: Yeah. [02:59:22] Speaker E: Do you want to burn willpower? [02:59:25] Speaker C: I don't have much left, but sure, screw it. I will. That didn't help, so I just burned it. [02:59:36] Speaker E: Thankfully, Piper, again, is controlling it, has made sure that the limbs are tucked in, so any of the things that could do, like, real damage to you are not actually going to hit you. It's just something big and heavy that's going to hit you. So you're going to take two. Superficial damage. [02:59:55] Speaker C: I'm sorry, was that halved because of the Shielding? [03:00:01] Speaker D: I mean, it'd be halved. [03:00:02] Speaker E: One superficial. [03:00:03] Speaker D: Superficial, but yes. [03:00:05] Speaker E: One superficial, then. Sorry. [03:00:06] Speaker C: Okay, very good. [03:00:08] Speaker E: Yeah, I keep forgetting about the fucking armor. [03:00:13] Speaker C: Yeah. Armor shielding, however, whatever we want to play here, that's fine. [03:00:17] Speaker D: Well, yeah, because realistically, it's a fucking 300 pound chunk of metal being thrown at you. [03:00:23] Speaker G: Yeah, and given what happened at the end of the last thing that he did, he's actually going to close in on the other group, knowing that quiet's still on Overwatch, and wants to get himself some cover. [03:00:46] Speaker E: So who are you going to. [03:00:49] Speaker G: He's going to throw the drone at Arthur and start running towards him to try. Okay, but he's, like, dodging and weaving because he knows it's like doing. [03:01:02] Speaker C: Standing. [03:01:03] Speaker G: In the same spot. [03:01:05] Speaker E: Well, Rosanna, the good news is you're not melee anymore. Do I get to go, or am. [03:01:11] Speaker F: I too busy being bombarded to have a chance to. [03:01:13] Speaker E: Yes, I'm so sorry. Yes, you absolutely get to go. Roll me your drastically reduced dipole. Roll me seven dice. [03:01:30] Speaker A: Who are you attacking? Is the question. [03:01:32] Speaker E: Oh, yeah. Who are you attacking? [03:01:35] Speaker F: I am going to attack Arthur. And as I turn to him, it was the only way they could accept me. I'm sorry. I'll raise my claws to just rake into him, but then hesitate and then change and go to bite. Like, the upper arm that has his gauntlet that he's been pummeling me with to hopefully weaken that arm. [03:02:02] Speaker E: Okay, Arthur, I'm assuming you're going to try and dodge. [03:02:11] Speaker C: I wasn't sure if I could block this. I could have maybe blocked the hand, but not so much the bite, but sure, let's. [03:02:19] Speaker E: Dex athletics, you do get your desperation. Oh, great, because this is to avoid damage from a supernatural, not just an object trying to hit you. [03:02:30] Speaker C: Yeah, fair. All right, so, Dex athletics. That's what I thought. So it's this number of dice, five. [03:02:40] Speaker E: Okay, you take one egg, and as. [03:02:46] Speaker F: I kind of bite down, or finish biting down into him, and I pull back, I'm just going to kind of say into his ear, run. Does not matter if you kill me. They're all coming. [03:03:00] Speaker C: Got a ritual to finish. [03:03:04] Speaker D: Okay. [03:03:06] Speaker F: Can I burn a willpower to Heal, like the non silver damage? [03:03:10] Speaker E: That's something I can do. Sorry. As long as the silver is in you, you're healing at a much, much slower rate. I am having you heal. It's just very slow. [03:03:24] Speaker F: I'll take what I can get. [03:03:26] Speaker E: Okay. Rose. [03:03:27] Speaker G: Silver or acid? [03:03:29] Speaker E: You were hit with silver. It feels like acid is how I was describing it. Sorry. [03:03:34] Speaker B: Okay, I'm going to back up a little bit more to give myself some space between myself and Briggs. I'm going to raise up my bow, and I am going to take a shot at his ass. [03:03:54] Speaker E: Okay. Are you burning? [03:04:00] Speaker B: I'm going to be at the minus one. [03:04:02] Speaker E: Okay. Go for it. [03:04:03] Speaker B: Which leaves me with ten dice. [03:04:10] Speaker C: Same sitch. [03:04:16] Speaker E: Piper, as an aside, you shouldn't be in despair anymore. [03:04:22] Speaker B: Seven successes. [03:04:24] Speaker E: Seven. Very good. Very good. [03:04:28] Speaker D: Not being in despair doesn't help me out. [03:04:30] Speaker E: Lost. No, but you get out of despair by fighting the supernatural, right? Like that's your whole thing. Revenge or whatever. [03:04:37] Speaker C: Damaging them. [03:04:38] Speaker E: Yeah. [03:04:39] Speaker D: Must hurt their quarry, either directly or by proxy. [03:04:43] Speaker A: You could argue it. [03:04:44] Speaker E: Yeah, I'd count it. I'd count it. [03:04:46] Speaker B: Do I learn anything in this fight? That's how I get out of despair. I got to learn something. [03:04:58] Speaker C: You learned Jesse was something else. [03:05:00] Speaker B: Learned Jesse was a fucking traitor. And to think I fed you. [03:05:07] Speaker G: Shame. [03:05:09] Speaker E: Actually, no, you did. You did learn something. You watched a werewolf shift in front of you rather than just being present. You know how the process works. Okay, that was against Briggs, who is lessened on because you got hit. [03:05:37] Speaker G: I thought it was if I was around somebody. I don't know how this combat works. [03:05:41] Speaker E: Think of it as onslaught rules. The more attacks you get, the worse it is for you to try and defend against it. Got it. Okay, you guys hear more gunfire, more screaming. There is an explosion somewhere in the distance. And you see the glow of fire at the back end of the field where there is like a tree line. You don't know exactly what's burning, but it's probably not good, whatever it is. Okay, we have some more distant stuff. Piper, you. Your drone is not unusable. It's just not where it was supposed to be. [03:06:34] Speaker A: Yeah, it's fine. [03:06:36] Speaker E: It has been relocated, but thankfully, he chased it. [03:06:39] Speaker D: It's fine. It has a gun. [03:06:48] Speaker E: We're going to try to shoot at Briggs. [03:06:50] Speaker D: Yeah, it's less good at these. [03:06:54] Speaker E: Hold on, hold on. What kind of gun is. [03:07:01] Speaker A: Like? [03:07:01] Speaker D: I didn't specifically figure that out. [03:07:04] Speaker E: Okay, did you and Isabelle make sure that you have at least a couple of dragonfire rounds is what I need. [03:07:11] Speaker A: I would have given you. I had six. So you would have it like Isabelle would probably have four. [03:07:17] Speaker D: Probably? [03:07:18] Speaker A: Yeah, for one clip for the shotgun, and then you'd have two at least. [03:07:22] Speaker E: Okay, roll me enough dice for desperation. Okay, technically speaking, those weren't entirely legal rounds. [03:07:45] Speaker D: Well, no ones. [03:07:47] Speaker E: No ones. It's not much, but it's something. [03:07:49] Speaker D: So five total. [03:07:52] Speaker E: You clip him, Briggs, that was fire. Fire really fucking hurts. It's not as bad as silver, but it hurts. [03:08:01] Speaker D: You're singed from this robot that you just fucking threw at the other group. It just kind of rolled over and shot you. [03:08:11] Speaker G: There's a camera hole in that thing where you can see me, right? [03:08:13] Speaker E: Yeah. [03:08:14] Speaker G: You just see him turn and you see the fucked up left side of his body where you see he has dealt with fire before and you just see him growl directly into it. [03:08:23] Speaker E: That's terrifying. [03:08:25] Speaker B: Okay, cool. Oh, my God. Caught in 4k. [03:08:32] Speaker G: Become a good side. [03:08:35] Speaker E: All right, Briggs, you hear another whistle of a bullet, it grazes you. It hurts, but it's not as bad as it could have been. You could tell it wasn't silver. Seems like quiet. Might be out of his silver rounds. Cool. That is the top of the round. I need Isabelle, Rosanna, Arthur. [03:09:14] Speaker C: Please do good. Please, please do good. [03:09:19] Speaker A: I got four. [03:09:20] Speaker D: You hear me. [03:09:24] Speaker G: Say Briggs? [03:09:26] Speaker E: Yeah, he did. [03:09:28] Speaker A: Thank God, Rosanna, for carrying us. [03:09:35] Speaker G: And this is at his, yes? [03:09:37] Speaker D: Yeah. [03:09:39] Speaker E: This has nothing to do with you. [03:09:41] Speaker F: Our agreement was they would die after they were. [03:09:45] Speaker D: After I was gone. If this ritual fails and I'm still here, I will wipe you out. [03:09:53] Speaker E: Race, roll me six dice, please. [03:09:58] Speaker G: May I have someone to respond? [03:10:01] Speaker E: You can respond if you want. This is more about seeing if you can control his access to your mind, because you're not technically a part of the ritual, which is how he was doing that. [03:10:10] Speaker G: You got it, Hal. Kicky, over here. [03:10:15] Speaker E: Six, six. [03:10:19] Speaker G: Five. [03:10:20] Speaker E: You can respond. And then, if you would like to, you can shut him out. [03:10:24] Speaker G: Okay. You see, we're the impatient kind. We waited, we watched, and we're taking our opportunity. [03:10:35] Speaker C: They will all burn. [03:10:37] Speaker E: Just like I did. [03:10:39] Speaker G: Just like she did. [03:10:42] Speaker E: Okay. Should I assume that you've shut the door on your mind so he can't get in anymore? [03:10:51] Speaker G: Not a little bit. [03:10:53] Speaker E: Okay, that's cool. [03:10:55] Speaker D: He's cute, I think. All right, the response that you get. [03:11:00] Speaker A: Is just glances down at his lighter and you have the sense that Loki's. [03:11:07] Speaker D: Control over fire is substantial. [03:11:14] Speaker E: Okay, back at the top of the round, Jesse heals, breaks heels. All right. Bye. Arthur, you are first. [03:11:35] Speaker C: Jesus. Run, he says. Gozer's here. Briggs is right there. Briggs is being shot by an arrow. I think since Gozer has joined the fray with Isabelle, Arthur's going to turn to the new threat that just threw something at him and has now turned on him. And he's going to haul off and swing. [03:12:03] Speaker G: Swing. [03:12:04] Speaker E: Better. [03:12:08] Speaker C: Make sure do this right. Twelve of those days. Five of these days. [03:12:20] Speaker E: Yay. [03:12:21] Speaker F: It's too late. I was going to ask, but it's too late now. Was me trying to bite his arm do anything to help lessen his effectiveness? Or was it just damage? [03:12:29] Speaker E: It was just damage. Unfortunately, you didn't do enough to be able to fuck up the artifact. Oh, good. [03:12:36] Speaker F: Well, it's not so much the artifact. I was just trying to go for his arm to make it harder for him to swing. With an injured arm. [03:12:44] Speaker E: He would overreach. [03:12:46] Speaker C: And I'm going to use some willpower, by the way. There we go. [03:12:51] Speaker E: Okay. [03:12:52] Speaker D: That felt unnecessary. [03:12:55] Speaker A: Yes. [03:12:58] Speaker C: Ten successes, Briggs. [03:13:02] Speaker E: Maybe it was the distraction of the conversation with Loki in your head. Maybe it was the fire that nearly engulfed the side of you that's already fucked up from fire. You're not sure what it was, but you didn't expect Arthur to turn and meet force with force, quite the way that he does. Because what he does is he looks at Jesse and then, in one very smooth movement, rotates his hip so that he's on 1ft. And brings his fist from all the way back, full force, into your face. And you see that divine, radiant glow. And then you realize it's not going for your face, going for your chest. And it passes through your rib cage. Breaks the skin. And his fingers open and grab your heart and squeeze. And the last thing you feel, or the last thing you see is that glow coming off of Arthur as your heart stops. He overcame all of your defense, man. You didn't have much left in you because you've got silver buried in you. Thank you for joining us, Arthur. The body of this massive wolf crumples, and you were left standing there with a chunk of his heart in your fist. [03:15:00] Speaker C: Since Arthur is still kind of sermoning, because he has to for this ritual, he just sort of says something like, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness shall not overcome it, as he continues to just keep sermoning. [03:15:17] Speaker E: Love it. Isabelle. It's your turn. [03:15:24] Speaker A: I've been trying to think of a way I can use medicine. And I don't have a lot of ideas on that. [03:15:32] Speaker E: You could maybe use medicine to try and make an incredibly. To try and make like a called shot. [03:15:41] Speaker A: I mean, a medicine. Yeah. Especially if I know that if I can see where the bullet is buried. [03:15:49] Speaker E: Oh, yeah, you can see it. It's like a big ass acid mark. Skin and his fur. [03:15:57] Speaker A: Yeah, something like that. To see where this is. And then just concentrate the fire on that side. [03:16:11] Speaker E: Composure and medicine. [03:16:15] Speaker A: Okay. And still the minus four. [03:16:19] Speaker E: Yes. [03:16:20] Speaker A: Cool. Theoretically, could I do an all out attack. [03:16:29] Speaker D: That'S making an already complicated combat system even more complicated? [03:16:37] Speaker E: I'm going to say. No, that's fair. [03:16:39] Speaker A: I just thought they would ask because I was like, those two extra dice for an all out attack would be really great right now. [03:16:48] Speaker E: No, I'm going to say that you have so many negatives at this point that you couldn't summon up what it would take to pull that off. [03:16:55] Speaker A: Okay. [03:16:56] Speaker E: You do, however, get your desperation dice. [03:16:58] Speaker A: Yes. So I'll get three dice from that and then we're up to five. Desperation. Yes. Oh, come on. I'm going to burn that willpower I got. [03:17:14] Speaker E: That's your last willpower, isn't it? [03:17:15] Speaker A: It is my last willpower. I'll be going into ag if I do anything else, but I need this to succeed. [03:17:20] Speaker D: Also means you lose two dice from all social and mental roles. [03:17:25] Speaker E: Yes. Hope it works. [03:17:28] Speaker A: I haven't gone into ag yet. [03:17:31] Speaker D: Once the track is full. [03:17:33] Speaker A: I just thought it was once it was half full of ag. Okay. [03:17:36] Speaker D: Once the track is full, you're considered impaired and lose two dice. [03:17:40] Speaker A: I think that fits the situation right now of feeling very overwhelmed. It's three successes. [03:17:47] Speaker E: Okay, before I tell you, if that helps, let's go ahead and roll Gozer's stuff. Going to say that you two are probably working in concert because you have been training him to do so. [03:18:04] Speaker A: Yeah. Then I actually should have had this penalty a lot more because I've been pretty full on my willpower tracker most of the season since the curse, you weren't completely full. Literally over half the season, I have spent at least half an episode with a full willpower tracker trying to stave off this curse. I didn't say anything because I thought it was once it was half full of ag that I took that penalty because it's fine. [03:18:45] Speaker E: It wasn't hugely relevant at the time. It's cool. It's not like you were making a ton of social roles. So roll Gozer's attack, please. [03:18:54] Speaker A: And I'm also going to use desperation for that. [03:18:57] Speaker E: Yes. [03:19:02] Speaker A: Overreach. [03:19:06] Speaker C: So much overreach happening tonight. [03:19:10] Speaker D: Now we're officially at ten danger. [03:19:13] Speaker B: Fantastic. [03:19:14] Speaker C: We're at the. Everything supernatural knows that you exist, where you are, and I want to kill you level of danger. [03:19:19] Speaker A: That's fine, it's fine. [03:19:22] Speaker D: There was already a pack of werewolves outside. [03:19:27] Speaker A: We might as well be signing a fucking bat signal at this point in the fucking sky. [03:19:32] Speaker C: Big, glowing guys. [03:19:38] Speaker E: So here's what happens, Isabel. You bring the gun up and level it at the spot where you know, that bullet. [03:19:48] Speaker A: Uh oh. [03:19:49] Speaker E: And you squeeze the trigger. Oh, we lost somebody. [03:19:54] Speaker C: Yeah, we lost grizz. Camera went out and it shifted. Everyone. [03:20:01] Speaker E: Okay, man, welcome back. [03:20:05] Speaker C: Okay, there we go. [03:20:06] Speaker E: Friggin discord, man. You level the gun on the spot where that bullet wound was, and you pull the trigger. And it's at the last moment, right after you've squeezed the trigger, that you remember. That's the same part of his body that Gozer went for. Between you and Gozer, you take Jesse out, Jesse falls, Gozer's hurt. You hear Gozer Yelp, and he darts for the rv. Just takes off like a bat out of hell. [03:21:00] Speaker A: That's fair. [03:21:04] Speaker E: But for the moment, you all are battered and bloodied and bruised, but you're still up. I need one more round of ritual rolls, please. [03:21:20] Speaker B: Do I get my full dipole because I didn't get a chance to act this round? [03:21:25] Speaker E: Yes. Okay. [03:21:45] Speaker B: I will spend a willpower. [03:21:49] Speaker C: I will probably also do the same if we need it. [03:21:58] Speaker B: I got five. [03:21:59] Speaker D: Only eight. [03:22:00] Speaker C: I guess I will. Okay, BP once more. Was there something about if I. [03:22:07] Speaker D: You can turn willpower for two automatic successes. [03:22:10] Speaker E: Correct. [03:22:14] Speaker C: I can do that. I would take aggravated willpower damage because I would run out my willpower track with the first one. Is that all right? [03:22:21] Speaker E: Yes. [03:22:22] Speaker C: Okay. Then I will do that, giving us those two successes, because I don't want to risk rolling and not getting anything. [03:22:31] Speaker E: Okay, you all turn, and in a desperate final moment, all of you call up the most poignant thing you can think of that is related to the role that you play in this ritual, the thing that you are adding to it. I would like each of you to tell me what you are picturing, starting with Arthur. [03:22:58] Speaker C: What I'm picturing in the ritual. [03:23:03] Speaker E: What are you thinking about when you summon up the faith to add to this spell, this last final, desperate push? [03:23:10] Speaker C: Oh, I'm thinking about all of the people that were in the cult, all of the faces of all of the people that supposedly were ascended or whatever, and thinking about how all of them are better off with the speaker back. It belongs. [03:23:39] Speaker E: Okay, Rosanna. [03:23:46] Speaker B: Rosanna's thinking about cherry blossoms and how they kind of wisp around and the peace and calm that it brings you. Much like when you're sitting in a field and just allowing yourself to daydream and feel that little bit of peace and that little bit of joy. [03:24:14] Speaker E: Okay, Isabel. [03:24:19] Speaker A: I'm thinking of every person who has ever been on my table. The people who I have prepared for Burial, the times I have helped someone get answers to what happened to somebody. Just every single face that I have ever seen there flashes through my mind in that moment. [03:24:54] Speaker E: Arthur, Rosanna and Isabel lift their hands. Piper crawls to her console, feverishly typing, desperately trying to make sure that all of the calibrations are still correct. Everything is still working properly. You, Piper, from where you are, your readouts, it is a miracle that this thing hasn't flown apart with the amount of energy that's going through it. And you were desperately just trying to keep things level long enough for the spell to go off. The three of you extend your hands. Arthur. It is that divine, radiant glow swirls around your hand and your arm as you are preaching and praying and sermonizing. And it hits the nearest sensor to you, which seems to suck it in. And the glow in all of the little lights and screens all around this odd contraption that Piper has built pulse with that golden glow. Rosanna, you reach out your hands, and tuafla reaches up and she wraps her hand around yours so that she is standing next to you. And you watch as cherry blossoms form in the air around the two of yours. Arms flow and swirl and fly over to hit the nearest sensor. And you all smell cherry blossoms in the air. Isabelle. You reach up and you don't even notice it at first. Probably Piper, because she's watching, notices it before you do. A ghostly figure steps out of where you're standing and walks towards the nearest sensor. And then gets sucked into it and disappears. And then another. And then another. And then another. These people, these faces that you have seen, these memories that you have been carrying with you of death, of life's lives, snuffed short lights that have been put out too soon. Going into making this ritual work, you all can feel that the area is at a critical mass for the amount of energy that is pulsing through it inside of the tube of rainbow light, which, Loki, you now realize, looks an awful lot like the Bifrost. Ophelia's eyes open and look up at you. It's time. [03:28:20] Speaker D: Well, certainly seems that way. Glad you got to see it. [03:28:27] Speaker A: Bifrost is a beautiful thing. [03:28:31] Speaker E: Yeah. [03:28:34] Speaker D: Going to miss you. [03:28:36] Speaker E: No, you're not. [03:28:40] Speaker A: I'm going to miss some of the fun that we had. And if you ever get the idea to gather up a bunch of idiots and call me back. Could be fun. [03:28:57] Speaker E: She gives a weak smile. One more go. Close your eyes. Think of where you want to be. And her hands come up, and she places her palms to your temple. All of you are aware somehow that this is happening. You can't physically see them, but it's like it's playing out in your minds. She puts her palms to your temples and her head. Oh, go ahead, author. [03:29:31] Speaker C: Get out of my head. [03:29:34] Speaker A: I was just going to say good luck. You got your work cut out for you, and. [03:29:44] Speaker D: I don't know, believe in something. [03:29:49] Speaker A: Also, I stick the IRS on the whole account, so y'all are gonna have. [03:29:53] Speaker D: To find the new source of revenue. [03:29:56] Speaker E: Damn it. Stop talking and close your eyes. Ophelia's head falls backwards. Her eyes stare up at the sky, which all of you glance up, and you realize that it looks like the Aurora Borealis is over Mississippi. Except that it's brighter and more vibrant than it ever was, than you've ever seen in pictures, than you've ever seen in paintings that have been done of it. And you watch as stars begin to move in the sky in real time. And they swirl, and it's like they form a whirlpool of light above you, directly above that tube of light that is beaming into the sky. And you watch as a hole opens up, and on the other side, you can all see Loki. What do they see? Where are you going? [03:31:05] Speaker D: London. [03:31:07] Speaker E: You all see London, like yours, but somehow just a tiny bit different. You can tell it's not here. Feels different. Loki. You get your first taste of the overworld's power that you've had in 30 plus years. [03:31:27] Speaker A: Oh, there it is. I am whole again. Hallelujah. [03:31:35] Speaker E: And at that, Loki's form seems to stretch and extend. And then you realize that it's not him. It's just the light and the energy getting sucked upwards. You watch as Ophelia's hair flies up and swirls above her, and her hands are extended towards the sky, and she lets him go. And he's gone. And then the light suddenly goes black. The hole snaps shut, and Ophelia collapses. She is unconscious. And you hear a roar above, and a dark shadow blocks out the moon for just a moment before a golden dragon settles down near the platform and moves over and extends his neck over her body protectively. And weirdly, for everything that just happened, for all of the chaos that you all have been standing in the middle of. It is peaceful and silent. And you can hear crickets. [03:32:59] Speaker B: Ow. [03:33:01] Speaker A: Fuck. I'm going to immediately rush over, start trying to patch up Rosanna. [03:33:11] Speaker D: Thanks. [03:33:16] Speaker E: Okay, we're going to call it there for the evening, with everybody scrambling to recover, to patch up wounds, address pains, think about what was managed, what you just did, and how you did it. Thank you for joining us, everybody. We are so glad that you were here for the season. It's close.