Episode 14
Episode 14 - Paternal Instinct
The remnants of Cell P meet the remnants of Cell R. The new team sets out together to finally put a decisive end to the terror that stalks Detroit.
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Transcript
Hello?
Speaker A:What time is it?
Speaker A:Who is it?
Speaker A:I don't know, I.
Speaker A:Situation Green Egg Ear.
Speaker A:Sorry honey, I have to take Agent Prentice.
Speaker A:Agent Paris.
Speaker A:You've been running ops for what you know is the program.
Speaker A:Neither of you know the name Delta Green, but you've been running ops for what you know is the program for about eight years now.
Speaker A:Work for this shadowy but absolutely necessary organization has taken you across the world.
Speaker A:The last mission that you were both on was with your fellow agent of many years.
Speaker A:Her name was Agent Prairie.
Speaker A:It was a gut wrenching blow.
Speaker A:When she was killed.
Speaker A:Her body evaporated in thin air as it seemed to float and be pulled towards the night sky.
Speaker A:You watched as her skin and her muscles disappeared into the other, pulled away from what was left.
Speaker A:Intricate spider web of nervous tissue ganglia that stayed there, floating above both of you as you stared in horror.
Speaker A:Soon it was gone as well.
Speaker A:This enraged both of you.
Speaker A:It again was a grave emotional blow.
Speaker A:You three were incredibly close as you left the stone circle where it happened in ruins.
Speaker A:And the thing that slept below it, a crater.
Speaker A:You still felt empty.
Speaker A:Prairie was gone forever.
Speaker A:Like part of the world had been taken with her.
Speaker A:And so, eight months later, when you both are contacted by a new handler, one with no idea what you had seen, most likely what you had been through, most likely both were reluctant to answer, but you both did.
Speaker A:Maybe out of a feeling of duty necessity, or just to distract from the mundanity of your day to day.
Speaker A:Now your personal lives have become gray shadows of what you do in the dark for the program.
Speaker A:Agent Prentice, tell us how you're contacted by a new handler of the program.
Speaker A:Tell us how this happens for you and how you respond.
Speaker B:Prentice has just finished another stellar surgery.
Speaker B:You know, doing the final touches on cauterizing clothes, some.
Speaker B:Some delicate places and hiding the stitches in the hairline where only the most discerning eye can find the scar tissue.
Speaker B:And this 80 year old woman now looks a good 40 years younger.
Speaker B:He goes into the ANTA room where the wash stations are, tears off his gloves, throws them in the biohazardous waste container, takes off his cap, throws that away and turns his phone on to an immediate message from someone in his contacts that he never put there as Dr.
Speaker B:Green.
Speaker B:This text message says a long encoded number and he immediately knows he's likely being contacted by the program.
Speaker B:He takes a deep sigh and walks himself back to his office.
Speaker B:Doesn't turn the lights on, closes the door behind him.
Speaker B:Sits behind his desk in the darkness, uncorks a bottle of Scotch and takes a long swig and then dials the number to get the information for the next operation.
Speaker A:You've never spoken with this handler before, but he seems firm, severe, not at all like the scatterbrained, absolutely lovely Agent Carter who you're used to speaking with.
Speaker A:Seems military.
Speaker A:You're used to that.
Speaker A:So you kind of settle into a rhythm, answer the questions that are posed to you and ask your own.
Speaker A:You end up on a train towards, well, Detroit.
Speaker A:It's not difficult to extract yourself from your practice.
Speaker A:Got full control over it.
Speaker A:After all, you've done this many, many times.
Speaker A:You've just never done it without Agent Prairie, Agent Paris, how does the Special Access Program, how does it contact you in particular?
Speaker A:Where are you and how do you respond?
Speaker C:Well, right now he is.
Speaker C:Agent Paris is taking some time.
Speaker C:Normally he's.
Speaker C:He's out in California near Camp Pendleton.
Speaker C:It's one of the Garrison HQs for the Marine Raiders.
Speaker C:So he's out in California near Camp Pendleton, but not at camp.
Speaker C:And he's been taking some time, leave off base, heads back to his house he keeps there on base.
Speaker C:And when he walks in on his kitchen table, there's a nondescript manila folder, opens that up and sees the information about his next mission with the.
Speaker C:With the company.
Speaker C:The organization reads through it and then promptly burns.
Speaker C:Burns everything that came with it, gets his gear together and starts moving.
Speaker A:You actually grab an Air Force lift out of the city towards Detroit.
Speaker A:You're very used to riding in the cargo bays of these giant planes.
Speaker A:This is no different.
Speaker A:You sleep well, but something gnaws back of your mind.
Speaker A:This is going to be different.
Speaker A:This is not going to be like before.
Speaker A:She's gone.
Speaker A:She isn't coming back.
Speaker A:The agents will meet in Detroit proper.
Speaker A:This means the remnants of SELAR have returned from Kunkol and entered the city.
Speaker A:I'm going to ask Agent Roizen to guide the scene.
Speaker A:Where would Agent Roizen feel most comfortable meeting with the special operatives who have been dispensed to them by Delta Green?
Speaker D:She's going to find some little coffee shop, nondescript, family owned, definitely off the beaten path.
Speaker D:Not your typical Starbucks or whatever that's going to be super crowded, but one where she can find a small table out of the way and hold a relatively private conversation.
Speaker A:It's a small franchise called Hug in a Mug, locally owned.
Speaker A:We're on the.
Speaker A:We're on the western side of Detroit.
Speaker A:We're still in the city proper, though.
Speaker A:Before long, two men together enter this small shop which is Lined with old coffee bean burlap sacks and various merchandise for the locally owned shop.
Speaker A:But they're unmistakably part of the program.
Speaker A:One obviously military bearing, black duffel bag on his back.
Speaker A:The other looks like he's been through a lot, but seems to be very comfortable in his skin.
Speaker A:They both notice you two sitting off to the side a small round table.
Speaker A:They seem to recognize you for who you are as well.
Speaker A:And they walk over.
Speaker A:It's a good time to describe the physicalities of your new characters.
Speaker C:Agent Paris.
Speaker C:Fairly nondescript, hair is cut short, clearly military build, carries himself with confidence, but not in a boasting manner by any means.
Speaker C:Just if you weren't looking too closely, your eyes would probably just slide right past the guy.
Speaker C:Hair is somewhere between blonde and brown, dirty.
Speaker C:And has a mustache, not quite blue eyes, sort of faded.
Speaker C:Stands at about 6, 2, 6 3.
Speaker C:Clearly strong, but not like overly built or anything.
Speaker C:Just.
Speaker C:It looks a little.
Speaker C:A little uncomfortable in the place he's at.
Speaker C:A little, little uncomfortable where he's standing.
Speaker B:So Prentice is medium height, lithe.
Speaker B:His hair is light brown, his eyes are a icy blue.
Speaker B:He does have a confidence almost exactly nothing like his partner Paris.
Speaker B:He's.
Speaker B:It's brash.
Speaker B:It's kind of almost malicious, like he knows he's smarter than you.
Speaker B:His clothes are very expensive, well manicured, and just right on the edge of a smirk at all times.
Speaker A:You two walk up to the obviously seated program agents and take your own seats.
Speaker A:You both nod Roizen into Ryan actually, before Roizen speaks.
Speaker D:So after snydergar left, she would have cut her hair really short.
Speaker D:We're talking almost pixie cut.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker D:And bleached it.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker D:And then pulled out some colored green contacts so she looks nothing like she did before.
Speaker A:Okay, I'm gonna roll.
Speaker A:I've been waiting for this, so I'm gonna roll something for you real quick.
Speaker A:One sec.
Speaker A:Yeah, actually, this is a good time to like.
Speaker A:So you've got this, this blonde pixie cut.
Speaker A:Is there anything else physical about Roisin you'd like to describe?
Speaker A:Since we're just kind of going around the table with.
Speaker A:With character descriptions that's different.
Speaker D:She would have changed up her clothing a bit more too.
Speaker D:She would have stopped by the local Target or Walmart or whatever and picked up something that's very brightly colored and girly.
Speaker D:Whereas before she was very much cargo pants, tank top.
Speaker D:Now she's got this pink flowy dress, purple purse hanging off her shoulder.
Speaker B:New look.
Speaker B:New you.
Speaker D:Really?
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:I like how I already established that the two new agents just recognized you as another Delta Green agent though, still.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:That's kind of funny.
Speaker D:I like that there's that military bearing that just never really.
Speaker B:That soul death that just hangs on your body as a Delta Green agent.
Speaker A:Agent Ryan, anything different about your appearance that we should note?
Speaker E:Still in a well tailored suit, slicked back hair.
Speaker E:But Ryan looks tired.
Speaker E:Usually he's a little bit more outwardly charismatic, but he's tired and.
Speaker E:Sorry.
Speaker E:Do we have an understanding of whether or not Snedger has onboarded these guys at all, or like what they know?
Speaker A:Your understanding is you've been sent very experienced operatives to end this fucking mission.
Speaker E:Okay, Amber.
Speaker E:Do you want to go first or do you want me to?
Speaker D:I can take point.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker D:Please rise on a look up.
Speaker D:Gentlemen.
Speaker D:We've been expecting you.
Speaker D:Would you like coffee or anything?
Speaker B:Prentiss wrinkles his nose and says no, I don't like the look of this place.
Speaker B:I'll pass.
Speaker C:Paris.
Speaker C:I don't drink coffee, but thank you.
Speaker D:All right.
Speaker D:Brazen'll pick up her hot chocolate, take a sip before continuing.
Speaker D:So knowing Snedeker, he hasn't exactly told you guys what you're walking into.
Speaker C:No, ma'am.
Speaker B:Details have been light, but if we get on with it, that'd be great.
Speaker D:We were.
Speaker D:Four of us were called in a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker D:Now, originally started out dead body washed up in the sewage plant, missing its head.
Speaker D:They couldn't tell if it was claw marks, teeth marks or whatever on his neck, but it was not pretty.
Speaker D:The coroner, one of ours, also found some rather unusual bacteria on the body, which send up some red flags.
Speaker B:Unusual how?
Speaker D:Unknown.
Speaker D:Entirely unknown.
Speaker A:Royer.
Speaker A:I remember you have some of those slides.
Speaker A:He seems very interested.
Speaker A:His brows furrowed.
Speaker D:I.
Speaker D:I do have slides back at the hotel.
Speaker D:Didn't exactly want to carry those around in public.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:Not like anybody out here would know what they are, but go on.
Speaker D:We've.
Speaker D:We've had a lot of trouble.
Speaker D:In addition to this, when we arrived, there were two preteen girls missing.
Speaker D:One disappeared from her school, the other disappeared from the local park where she had been playing chess with the elderly.
Speaker D:Both of them were not troublemakers.
Speaker D:High achieving, popular.
Speaker D:Ish.
Speaker D:Definitely had a lot of friends.
Speaker B:Look, what went wrong?
Speaker B:And what do you need us to do?
Speaker B:We can fill in the details later, but like, let's get to the point here so we can get moving.
Speaker B:So I can get back to.
Speaker B:What?
Speaker E:Easy there, easy there.
Speaker E:We just lost two of our agents.
Speaker E:This is a serious shit.
Speaker E:The details matter.
Speaker E:The details matter.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:Agent Paris puts a hand on Agent Prince's shoulder and looks over at Agent Roizen.
Speaker C:There's a look of recognition in his face, like he knows her.
Speaker C:And he says, agent Roizen, so what happened to your.
Speaker C:What happened to the rest of your team?
Speaker D:The reason I bring up those two girls.
Speaker D:They led us to a teenage boy.
Speaker D:Some calls determined that his father had disappeared approximately two weeks before we were called in, so we went to talk to him.
Speaker D:He had connections to both missing girls, so.
Speaker D:Red flag.
Speaker D:On arriving at the house, we found the boy and his younger brother alone.
Speaker D:They did not know where their father was either.
Speaker D:Ryan, I wasn't in the room.
Speaker E:Would you tell them shit went south?
Speaker E:The boy was possessed by some kind of creature.
Speaker E:Shots went off anyway as we fled from the scene.
Speaker E:Sounds like the other two went in a different direction from me.
Speaker E:And it didn't.
Speaker E:Didn't end in their favor.
Speaker E:I got away.
Speaker E:Anyway, we.
Speaker E:We've got a.
Speaker E:A lead on another place that we should be checking out.
Speaker E:Clearly, this isn't over yet.
Speaker E:So whatever was destroyed in that house wasn't alone.
Speaker E:Or wasn't the only of its kind.
Speaker E:So we need to move on to the next.
Speaker E:The next target.
Speaker E:We were led to the school by a map from some dude who disappeared, who seemed to know a lot more than he let on.
Speaker E:And there's another place there that.
Speaker E:That we might want to check out.
Speaker D:The map was from the guy missing his head.
Speaker D:So in addition to this, the school where the two girls went missing from after we had gone to ground, another girl was found floating in the pool.
Speaker D:Her head was missing.
Speaker B:Okay, so we got a head eater.
Speaker C:Okay, Agent Ryan, I.
Speaker C:He looks pointedly at him.
Speaker C:I need you to describe exactly what you saw when you say the boy was possessed.
Speaker E:Tentacles.
Speaker E:She.
Speaker C:Paris glances over the boy.
Speaker E:The boy turned.
Speaker E:The boy turned it.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker E:Ryan looks around, clearly uncomfortable, but tries to.
Speaker E:Tries to have some kind of steel face.
Speaker E:He turned inside out.
Speaker E:Tentacles came out.
Speaker E:It was up.
Speaker E:What else you want to know?
Speaker B:Turned inside out.
Speaker C:Paris just looks over at Prentice and, like, cocks an eyebrow.
Speaker B:Prentice just shakes his head and says, okay, well, I can't go on anything medically there.
Speaker B:I guess we'll just have to look at this next body and.
Speaker B:And go from there.
Speaker B:Maybe.
Speaker C:All right.
Speaker B:Maybe.
Speaker B:Look at this.
Speaker B:This inside out kid.
Speaker E:There's no inside out kid.
Speaker E:We didn't go back to the house and clean it up.
Speaker B:I wasn't asking that.
Speaker D:There were.
Speaker D:There were a lot of cops.
Speaker D:A lot of.
Speaker D:The body is not in our Control.
Speaker E:Why do you need to look at the inside out kit?
Speaker B:Do we have official clearance here on this mission or we just go in rogue?
Speaker E:Official clearance?
Speaker E:You think that's what we do here?
Speaker E:We need clearance?
Speaker E:No.
Speaker D:They give you guys clearance.
Speaker D:Sure.
Speaker E:That's real cute.
Speaker D:We had that.
Speaker E:That's real cute.
Speaker E:You over there with your fancy shirt and clearance.
Speaker A:I would.
Speaker A:I would like to step in.
Speaker A:It was very funny.
Speaker A:I will edit.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So, Prentice, Paris.
Speaker A:You have never not been cradled by some sort of official cover.
Speaker A:Not once in your eight years.
Speaker A:And so when you're hearing this and you're hearing their laughter, and they're.
Speaker A:Honestly, they seem exasperated and very, very exhausted.
Speaker A:You may soften, you may not, but it's sounding like they have been out in the field, out in the cold.
Speaker A:And you've.
Speaker A:Even though you've been under formal jurisdictions, when you've operated for the program, sometimes you've had to operate like that, too.
Speaker A:And you realize these two have been at their wit's end for a very long time.
Speaker A:And you both understand that feeling.
Speaker C:Hey, it's okay.
Speaker C:Why don't we head back to the hotel and take a look at these pictures that you mentioned, and then we can start formulating a.
Speaker C:A plan of attack, some sort of strategy here.
Speaker D:We can do that.
Speaker D:I warn you, accommodations are not the best.
Speaker D:We had to go to ground quick.
Speaker E:I'm sorry, guys.
Speaker E:And.
Speaker E:And look, we'll show you the pictures later.
Speaker E:I don't think the pictures are going to tell you much.
Speaker E:Some gruesome, messed up, and we've got clearly a very active monster going on here.
Speaker E:I genuinely think that we should check out that other location.
Speaker D:Ryan, they.
Speaker D:They need to be prepared.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:The program decided to bring us in for a reason.
Speaker C:And Prentice here is very good at what he does.
Speaker E:So what is it you do?
Speaker E:Ryan looks over at Apprentice.
Speaker B:I take faces off and put them on other bodies.
Speaker C:Jesus Christ.
Speaker A:Jesus Christ.
Speaker A:I don't have enough whiskey for this game.
Speaker C:Paris is like, hell, yeah, he does.
Speaker D:Well, that'll be useful.
Speaker D:Maybe we can give the dead girl a new head.
Speaker A:Whoa.
Speaker C:That might work.
Speaker B:Your kid's just fine.
Speaker C:Look, case closed.
Speaker D:Meanwhile, Roizen said that as sarcastically as possible under her breath.
Speaker E:Ryan looks over at Paris and how about you?
Speaker D:He kills things.
Speaker C:I work for the military.
Speaker E:Ryan's gonna look over to Royson and kind of throw his brow in question back home.
Speaker E:He lets it go.
Speaker E:So we've got Creepy McGee and.
Speaker E:Sounds like one hell of a weapon over here, pointing towards Paris.
Speaker C:Hey, Chris.
Speaker C:Actually, would he.
Speaker C:There Wouldn't be any reason he would hide the fact that he's a Marine with there or he just.
Speaker A:He probably would only if you wanted to.
Speaker A:Is your character kind of cocky or is he secretive with what he doles out to these types of agents he may encounter?
Speaker A:Now, the last set of agents he encountered were actually Canadian.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:They were part of a group called.
Speaker A:And he knows this, called M.
Speaker A:Epic.
Speaker A:And he was very open with them.
Speaker A:They were friendly Canadians, after all.
Speaker A:So, you know, if he wants to continue that with Americans with whom he knows are part of the special access program that he is working for right now, it's up to him.
Speaker C:In that case, he says, like, I'm a Marine, active duty.
Speaker E:All right.
Speaker E:Finally got some muscle around here.
Speaker C:He just kind of looked.
Speaker C:He just kind of scowled at him.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker D:Bryson's gonna reach over and smack him on the arm when he says that.
Speaker C:Paris is kind of scowls at him for.
Speaker E:Look, guys, to be candid here, you're.
Speaker E:You're new in this op.
Speaker E:We've been through a hell of a lot.
Speaker E:We don't have time for.
Speaker E:For beating around the bush.
Speaker E:And I'm sorry that we can't fully onboard you to everything we know, but times of the essence on this one.
Speaker E:Let's get moving.
Speaker E:Ryan's going to go to stand up in the hopes that that confidence will allow others to follow.
Speaker A:Princess size moves to get up as well.
Speaker A:But Paris looks to Roizen.
Speaker D:Ron's gonna reach in that oversized purse in her.
Speaker D:On her shoulder, pull something out just far enough that he can tell it's a manila folder.
Speaker D:And then gesture outside.
Speaker D:She may not have the slides on her.
Speaker D:She does have photos.
Speaker C:Paris nods and just follows Roysen.
Speaker A:Before long, you're in an old station wagon.
Speaker A:It's a heap of junk.
Speaker A:Let's be clear.
Speaker A:You open up the manila folder.
Speaker A:Paris, take a look.
Speaker A:What did you hand him, Roisin?
Speaker D:The autopsy photos from Darren.
Speaker D:As well as a few printouts of photos she'd taken of the random paper scraps, maps and whatnot that had been pulled down from Darren's hideout.
Speaker A:Paris, you're looking through this.
Speaker A:You see evidence of a man obsessed.
Speaker A:But you also see obvious, unnatural, predatory activity.
Speaker A:Something that you are very familiar with.
Speaker A:You feel firmly set that whatever they tell you next, it's gonna involve your rifle.
Speaker C:Agent Paris keeps reading through the documents and hands the autopsy photographs over to Agent Prentiss.
Speaker C:Doesn't say anything, just hands them to him.
Speaker A:Agent Prentice, the first thing you flip to are what look like blown up slides.
Speaker A:First of all, they're genuine.
Speaker A:There's nothing doctored about this second.
Speaker A:It's alien, 100%.
Speaker A:This is not terrestrial.
Speaker A:You can communicate that however you'd like, if at all.
Speaker B:Well, I can confidently say that this is not terrestrial biology here.
Speaker D:No shit, Sherlock.
Speaker B:That's why they pay me the big bucks.
Speaker D:How big you're getting paid for this shit?
Speaker A:You don't.
Speaker E:Ryan's driving.
Speaker A:Yeah, you are driving.
Speaker A:Maybe.
Speaker A:Towards where?
Speaker E:Do we know where?
Speaker E:That.
Speaker E:It was a warehouse.
Speaker E:Right.
Speaker E:The other place on the map, grand.
Speaker A:River in the rain, is what Darren Hinn had marked as a spot that he was looking at.
Speaker E:Those are cross streets.
Speaker A:Correct.
Speaker A:South side of Detroit.
Speaker E:That intersection, I guess you know in the.
Speaker E:In the maps app.
Speaker A:Well, as you enter this zone of Detroit, it's clear that this was hit very hard by prior recessions.
Speaker A:They've never really recovered.
Speaker A:Large gutted concrete structures dot the horizon.
Speaker A:You drive between between falling down fences, large oxidized and rusted tanks emptied of whatever they used to contain.
Speaker A:Make your way to grand river in the rain.
Speaker A:It looks like some sort of abandoned equipment wholesaler, maybe restaurant equipment.
Speaker A:Bright red bricks, chipped green paint.
Speaker A:Everything seems fairly lively, except that there's no activity at all.
Speaker A:The otherwise hollowed out building almost seems inviting.
Speaker A:It's roughly three stories tall.
Speaker A:It's covered in mostly intact windows.
Speaker A: e is a Testament to classical: Speaker A:There are gates flanking the edifice.
Speaker A:They're topped with intermittent barbed wire.
Speaker A:Some has been torn down purposefully.
Speaker A:There's an intact fire escape that can be seen protruding from the backside of this giant building.
Speaker A:As you pull into an overgrown and empty parking lot, you can see that there's a padlock on the front double doors and it's visibly broken.
Speaker A:Agents, tell me more about your approach, what you'd like to do.
Speaker A:Here it is the middle of the day.
Speaker A:It's not 2:30 in the morning, but 2:30 in the afternoon.
Speaker B:So we're not going to bother anybody in the middle of the night is what you're saying.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:I can't promise that.
Speaker C:Oh, Eric, we need to figure out whether we should take our no pants stance for these new characters.
Speaker C:Yeah, because Lenny was very anti pants off, but I think yours was pretty pro pants, so.
Speaker E:Oh.
Speaker B:Prentice is all about getting them pants off.
Speaker C:All right.
Speaker E:Hey, John.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker E:If Paris doesn't take his pants off, Ryan's gonna shoot him in the fucking head.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's it.
Speaker C:I'm just kidding.
Speaker A:That's the end.
Speaker D:Ryzen is still not taking your pants Off.
Speaker E:Ryan, in his head, just.
Speaker E:Just shakes it, looking at the ground.
Speaker E:Not a team player.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker E:Ryan looks out his window at this and assumes that he.
Speaker E:You know, it seems fairly deserted.
Speaker E:Is that right?
Speaker A:It is very deserted at this time of day.
Speaker A:Nobody around at all.
Speaker A:You see a ship passing by in the harbor.
Speaker A:Looks like an empty barge ship that's just unloaded, but otherwise there's no activity at all on the horizon.
Speaker E:He looks out the window and says, great, nobody around.
Speaker E:Should we take a look around?
Speaker B:That's what we're here for, right?
Speaker D:Just as a heads up, boys.
Speaker D:We're probably going into the sewers.
Speaker B:Oh, great.
Speaker E:Chris, is there like an obvious entrance?
Speaker E:I guess.
Speaker A:I talked about the front door that had a padlock on it.
Speaker A:The padlock is open and visibly damaged.
Speaker E:Ryan's gonna, you know, start heading towards that.
Speaker A:You walk up to the large doors of this obviously abandoned warehouse and yank on the chain that loosely sits atop the front door handles.
Speaker A:It clatters to the ground.
Speaker A:You open the doors and motion to the others, shrugging slightly.
Speaker A:All of you see, before even entering, that the first floor of the warehouse is in disarray.
Speaker A:But surprisingly, there are many large rusted pieces of restaurant equipment here.
Speaker A:Some quite pricey.
Speaker A:Large mixers, for instance.
Speaker A:You see various stoves, cooler frames, dishwashers that lay stocked.
Speaker A:They're all covered in dust.
Speaker A:Ancient grime.
Speaker A:Oxidation light from the roof above streams in through what is a large and empty warehouse frame.
Speaker A:Dust floats in the air, spinning about in its own silent reverie.
Speaker C:Agent Paris starts scanning for anything out of the ordinary or anything that needs to be concerned about.
Speaker A:Agent Paris, you were about to walk in because honestly, this just seems like an abandoned structure to you.
Speaker A:But you stop in your tracks because you see an unmistakable dusting of phosphorescence.
Speaker A:Something that glitters in the streaming sunlight.
Speaker A:It's right in front of you.
Speaker A:It's like somebody cast away pixie dust onto the ground.
Speaker A:Little tiny sequence of scintillating light.
Speaker A:It looks alien to you.
Speaker C:Everybody hold.
Speaker C:Agent Paris crouches down to try to get a better look.
Speaker A:Bluish green.
Speaker A:It again scintillates in the streaming sunlight.
Speaker A:It looks like maybe spores or dusting.
Speaker A:You really depend on Prentiss to help you with these types of things.
Speaker A:But it's.
Speaker A:It's wrong.
Speaker A:That much you know.
Speaker C:Agent Prentice, you should come take a look at this point out to you.
Speaker B:The Dustin Prentiss from his briefcase pulls out a pair.
Speaker B:Pair of gloves and a swab and a slide.
Speaker B:And he doesn't have.
Speaker B:He didn't bring with him his microscope, but he does have a jeweler's loop that is fit with a few options that'll give him a little closer look at what.
Speaker B:What might be there.
Speaker A:Princess bins down.
Speaker A:Take a swab of what is obviously some sort of phosphorescent gel that clings to the concrete floor in front of the entryway to this seemingly abandoned warehouse.
Speaker A:Obviously, you are not able to see this at a microscopic level, but from what you can see, it's reminiscent of fungal spores.
Speaker A:The fact that they catch the light streaming in again from above you is curious, but to you, well, it causes a nausea to start to build in your bowels because, you know, this is not.
Speaker A:This is not terrestrial.
Speaker A:Agents Rai and Roizen have led you directly into something that they don't understand, and you don't have the time to understand it.
Speaker A:And you start to feel very anxious.
Speaker A:You look at Agent Paris.
Speaker C:What is it?
Speaker B:Look, this.
Speaker B:This isn't terrestrial.
Speaker B:The closest thing it resembles is fungus, but again, it's.
Speaker B:It fits the program.
Speaker B:You know what I mean?
Speaker C:Agent Paris checks his.
Speaker C:I am.
Speaker C:I should have said this.
Speaker C:Agent Paris does have his rifle on him.
Speaker C:He checks his rifle.
Speaker A:So in.
Speaker A:In my mind's eye, Agent Paris has a giant black duffel bag over his right shoulder, which contains his rifle.
Speaker C:Agent Paris sets his duffel bag down, opens it up and.
Speaker C:And pulls out his rifle.
Speaker A:What kind of rifle would he have?
Speaker A:Is it a sniper rifle, an automatic rifle or something in between?
Speaker C:Probably just an automatic.
Speaker C:I don't think he's a sniper in this case.
Speaker C:He's more demolitions.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:That's kind of his training and heavy weapons.
Speaker A:He is a.
Speaker A:Yes, he is a breacher.
Speaker A:In the Raider.
Speaker A:Yeah, in the Raider group.
Speaker A:He is not a sniper.
Speaker C:All right, so he pulls out his rifle, drops it across this.
Speaker C:You know, so has it ready.
Speaker C:Ish.
Speaker C:And then picks his duffel back.
Speaker C:Back up and says, this is the right place.
Speaker C:I think.
Speaker C:Or not this.
Speaker C:I think he says this is the right place.
Speaker C:Agent Paris looks around and tries to tactically assess the.
Speaker C:Based on the phosphorus that he's.
Speaker C:Or the phosphorescent fungus that he's seeing on the ground in the entrance of this place.
Speaker C:What the best approach might be just in case something is immediately inside waiting for them.
Speaker A:Go ahead and roll your military science, lan.
Speaker C:Success.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:I like this guy already.
Speaker A:All right, so you take stock of who's next to you.
Speaker A:Agent Roizen can handle herself.
Speaker A:Agent Ryan or also looks like he's ready to fight, but he looks Exhausted.
Speaker A:Agent Prentice is not meant to ever take point, and you know that he knows that you're both comfortable with that.
Speaker A:So you know that you will need to take point in any strategy that you commit to.
Speaker A:What you see is a phosphorescent trail coming from this entryway, going to a nearby concrete staircase in the middle of this restaurant supply warehouse to your left.
Speaker A:This is the path that you have to take, because you don't see another easy way up to the next story of this three story edifice.
Speaker C:Oh, it goes up.
Speaker A:Mm.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker A:But what you need is for those who you can depend on to take your flank.
Speaker A:And so if you are to command or attempt to command those with you, what you think is the best approach is to have Agent Ryan panning your left, Agent Roizen panning your right, with Prentiss taking up the rear.
Speaker A:Agent Prentiss, you do have a sidearm.
Speaker A:It's small caliber.
Speaker C:Agent Paris looks over.
Speaker C:Agent Roizen, do you see the trail here?
Speaker C:Leads up that stairwell down the way we need to approach.
Speaker C:Assuming that it's still here.
Speaker D:Yeah, I see it.
Speaker D:Rosen by this time has her firearm out, pointed down, and is definitely trained on the trail in front of them.
Speaker C:Agent Paris sets his back down and.
Speaker C:And I guess, checks to make sure he's got his.
Speaker C:His rifle ready and ammo.
Speaker C:Just looks at Roysen and says, you know, I'll take point, you take my right.
Speaker D:Copy?
Speaker D:Roizen knows him well enough to trust him, at least.
Speaker A:He just seems to have that sort of military bearing where he.
Speaker A:He trailblazes.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You've never been trained to be a trailblazer.
Speaker A:You're more of an intelligence operator narrative.
Speaker A:So, yeah, you do trust his experience.
Speaker C:He looks over and says, Agent Ryan, you stay to my left.
Speaker C:Keep me in your sight.
Speaker C:And Princess hang back and follows up.
Speaker E:Ryan gets in position.
Speaker A:As he indicated, you four begin to move across the dusty floor of the warehouse, following the strange gleaming leavings that continue toward this staircase leading upward.
Speaker A:Before long, you're on the second story, having quietly crunched your way across days, weeks, months, dust and debris.
Speaker A:You can see here that there's this light phosphorescence, and it trails again down a hallway covered with broken glass, tracking beyond offices here to a third floor.
Speaker A:Agent Paris motions you carefully with two fingers to follow him as he takes you for up this additional staircase to a third level to your left.
Speaker A:When you finally step pawn this heightened story, you see a window.
Speaker A:Now, this is nearest the fire escape that you saw protruding from the outside.
Speaker A:The window here has not Been shattered.
Speaker A:It's been removed.
Speaker A:Carefully set aside internally next to the open window frame.
Speaker A:All four of you kind of look and scrutinize this.
Speaker A:Someone has taken the frame of a window out of a brick building with little damage and placed it to the side, apparently, recently.
Speaker D:Odd thing the rest of you are going to notice right about now is while we're standing here, Rosen kind of glances off at the side, says something in not Hebrew, but Farsi, pauses for a second, says something else, almost as if she's talking to.
Speaker E:Out of curiosity.
Speaker E:Ryan is proficient in Arabic.
Speaker E:Is that close enough to Farsi that he can piece together?
Speaker E:I genuinely have no idea.
Speaker A:Roll Arabic.
Speaker A:Minus 20%.
Speaker D:Actually not.
Speaker E:I failed anyway.
Speaker A:You don't have any idea what she said?
Speaker A:There's.
Speaker D:There's a few words that correlate.
Speaker D:Not many, but a few.
Speaker A:He doesn't even get the grammatical structure.
Speaker A:He just hears what sounds like a string of curses in unfamiliar Farsi.
Speaker E:He's actually gonna.
Speaker E:He's gonna turn to her, hearing that.
Speaker E:And again for his brow and.
Speaker E:Everything okay?
Speaker D:Yeah, everything's fine.
Speaker B:What would do that to a window?
Speaker B:Says Prentiss, kind of musingly.
Speaker A:Does anybody have craft masonry or craft construction?
Speaker B:Lol.
Speaker A:Lol.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:It just seems strange to everyone.
Speaker A:Ancient Paris.
Speaker A:You notice a thicker strand of this phosphorescence, this powdery substance leading over to what looks like, at least according to the faded stencil, a manager's office.
Speaker A:Agent Prentiss, you've suddenly realized this is bacteria.
Speaker B:And this is.
Speaker B:On what again?
Speaker A:This is huge globs of bacteria.
Speaker A:These are giant colonies of bacteria.
Speaker A:You just.
Speaker A:It suddenly hits you, oh, shit.
Speaker B:That's not fungus.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:That structure is very.
Speaker B:That's bacteria.
Speaker C:Paris looks back at Prentiss like, what did you say?
Speaker C:It's bacteria.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:Yeah, look at the way it's growing.
Speaker C:I mean, we're gonna have to sterilize this entire building.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:With fire, as it turns out.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:I will also tell all four of you that you're feeling.
Speaker A:It's very hot on this level.
Speaker A:Too hot.
Speaker D:Oh, God, not again.
Speaker E:Should we.
Speaker E:I don't want to be breathing in any of this shit.
Speaker E:Should we just break some windows?
Speaker E:Get a.
Speaker E:Get some air in here?
Speaker C:No, no, it's in.
Speaker C:It might be in that office right there.
Speaker C:And he points to the.
Speaker C:Where the trail leads.
Speaker E:What might be in the office, he.
Speaker C:Says in a quiet voice.
Speaker C:Paris just looks at him.
Speaker C:Do you see the trail?
Speaker E:Oh.
Speaker B:Let's commence the magic.
Speaker C:The question, I guess, is do we just sneak back and take the building out or take it out first and then take the building and hopefully survive all of this somehow, magically.
Speaker A:Go ahead and roll your.
Speaker A:Hey, roll your military science land plus 20%.
Speaker C:Got it.
Speaker A:Without the 20, you need your crew to stay right here at the top of the stairs while you follow in and look to see what's in that room all by yourself.
Speaker A:That's the right strategy here.
Speaker C:Everybody stay right here.
Speaker C:And Agent Paris starts slowly moving towards the office door.
Speaker A:You're doing basically what's called a monkey crouch as you very quietly and slowly make your way to this opening.
Speaker A:Before long, you're able to bring your peripheral vision to see what's in that room.
Speaker A:Your head's about at hip height.
Speaker A:Inside is large open room.
Speaker A:Apparently, the manager here at this restaurant supply warehouse was doing pretty well.
Speaker A:It's nice, it's open.
Speaker A:It's got light streaming from above.
Speaker A:You see that?
Speaker A:That light, though, is due to the fact that most of the roof has fallen in, caved in behind a large oak desk.
Speaker A:It's carved with massive gargoyle like feet.
Speaker A:Well behind it is something that is not to be taken in, something that is to be exterminated for you, Agent Prior.
Speaker A:Large, fleshy being that seems to be shuddering, hunched over something.
Speaker A:Long strips of flesh cascade over one another.
Speaker A:Pile of skin, of muscle you're not sure you can see, though, as it breathes, as it undulates, as it slowly rises and falls.
Speaker A:It doesn't notice you peering at it.
Speaker A:You've never seen anything like it.
Speaker A:And it's far.
Speaker A:It's far away, across this manager's office, against the wall.
Speaker A:It sits over something.
Speaker A:It seems to be protecting something.
Speaker A:It's back towards you.
Speaker A:You think you see a spine, or at least a ridge underneath those slimy tendrils.
Speaker A:There is a creature in this room.
Speaker A:It is large.
Speaker A:It is strange.
Speaker A:You duck your head back.
Speaker A:You look toward those behind you, huddled at the head of the stairs from which you came.
Speaker A:What do you do, Agent Paris?
Speaker C:Agent Paris signals for everybody else to be silent.
Speaker C:And I don't have to roll sanity on that one.
Speaker C:Do I have to roll no sanity on that?
Speaker A:Not yet.
Speaker C:Not yet.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker A:Not yet.
Speaker A:Hey, you don't have to, like, ask me to ruin your day.
Speaker A:Let me ruin my.
Speaker A:Your day on my time.
Speaker C:So I assume he would have brought some explosives with him.
Speaker A:You do have Simtek in your duffel bag, correct?
Speaker C:Which I believe is downstairs right now.
Speaker A:Correct.
Speaker A:You left it in the intro.
Speaker A:That's absolutely correct.
Speaker A:You just have Your rifle right now.
Speaker C:With the breach, runs Agent Paris, very carefully and quietly moves back over to the group and motions for them to go back downstairs.
Speaker E:Ryan follows.
Speaker A:You're now in the stairwell between the third and the second floor, all four of you.
Speaker C:So, yeah, what you're looking for is in there.
Speaker C:We need to sterilize this space, this building and whatever's in that room.
Speaker C:Agent.
Speaker C:Agent Prentice, do you think fire would work on this thing?
Speaker B:It's difficult to say.
Speaker B:I mean, I'll have to do some tests with what I've got.
Speaker E:What did you.
Speaker E:What did you see in the room, Agent Ryan?
Speaker C:Do you really want to know?
Speaker E:Tell me.
Speaker C:Agent Paris relays.
Speaker A:No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker A:You can't just fucking hand wave that shit.
Speaker A:How does Agent Paris describe this to Agent?
Speaker C:Right, it looks like something that's not supposed to be here and that we need to get rid of now.
Speaker B:Well, then get back in there, cowboy.
Speaker C:Do we know the fire is gonna work?
Speaker A:Can we test this?
Speaker B:I have not said that.
Speaker B:So Prentiss takes out that slide that he took with the swab and pulls out a lighter and just checks to see if the residue burns.
Speaker A:Roll your sanity, please.
Speaker B:Oh, sweet.
Speaker C:Oh, fuck yeah, go.
Speaker D:And here, listeners, is where it all went wrong.
Speaker A:Excellent, Agent Princess.
Speaker A:You run your lighter, let the flame lick at this sample, and you watch as the orange yellow brightness avoids at all cost, touching the phosphorescent globules on your swap.
Speaker B:This is going to be a problem.
Speaker A:You gulp visibly to all three agents cool.
Speaker A:And you go ahead and reach your hand out, hoping to find Agent Prairies.
Speaker A:And you.
Speaker A:You catch yourself knowing Agent Prairie is no longer among the living.
Speaker A:Feel more alone than you have in your entire life.
Speaker E:Because we know how that sanity roll went.
Speaker C:So the flame is literally staying away from it.
Speaker B:Kind of like how hydrophobic material avoids.
Speaker B:Yeah, getting hydro.
Speaker B:I guess.
Speaker E:So fire won't work.
Speaker E:Well, if it's anything like the monster at the house, gunshots sure worked.
Speaker C:So when you say phosphorus, are we confident this is actually a phosphorus based.
Speaker C:Well, phosphorus is very.
Speaker A:I'm saying phosphorescence.
Speaker B:You said phosphorescent, not phosphorus.
Speaker A:So very, very different property.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker E:So I guess Ryan will say that.
Speaker E:Though Ryan will say if it's anything like the.
Speaker E:The monster at the house, bullets did seem to do the trick.
Speaker E:I don't know what else we could do to.
Speaker E:He turns.
Speaker E:Apprentice, you don't happen to have any acid in your creepy doctor kit?
Speaker B:I'm a doctor, not a chemist.
Speaker C:What all do I have in my duffel bag?
Speaker C:Other than a few semtech explosives, you.
Speaker A:Don'T have acid, but you do have aluminum foil.
Speaker A:You definitely have aluminum foil.
Speaker A:You also have an electronics kit.
Speaker C:It's like, well, we could try to take the building down.
Speaker C:We could try a frontal assault.
Speaker C:Its back was to the door so we would have the chance to surprise.
Speaker C:I like the acid idea, but I don't think we have any acid.
Speaker C:Any other ideas?
Speaker B:Oh, I got an idea.
Speaker B:How about we just stand here in the stairwell talking about it?
Speaker B:Let's just do this.
Speaker D:I mean, if fire's not going to.
Speaker C:Work, maybe bullets will.
Speaker D:I mean, we killed the other thing.
Speaker B:With bullets, so maybe it'll die of old age by the time we make a decision.
Speaker C:Chris, do I have anything in that duffel bag that I could like, Explosives that I could throw into the room ahead of an assault?
Speaker C:Like how that Semtex stuff works?
Speaker C:I'm not entirely sure.
Speaker A:Semtex is something you're going to want to set up on, like a door to breach it.
Speaker A:You're a breacher.
Speaker A:What you saw in there was a large, fleshy mass pulsating over something that was important to it.
Speaker A:You don't know what it is.
Speaker A:You didn't get a good glance.
Speaker A:You could go in there and get a better glance if you think you could be stealthy enough.
Speaker A:And I'm happy to entertain such an approach.
Speaker A:But what you know now is limited.
Speaker A:The ARSO agents think that bullets and ballistics end this thing.
Speaker A:Well, you have that, so does Prentiss.
Speaker A:You trust Prentiss.
Speaker A:You actually also trust Roizen.
Speaker A:You don't know much about Ryan just yet.
Speaker A:That's where you are mentally.
Speaker C:All right, let's do this thing.
Speaker C:Okay, So I said, I'm like, look, it's set up about this far from the door.
Speaker C:I think its back is to us.
Speaker C:It's huddled over something.
Speaker C:Seems important to it.
Speaker C:That's what I've got.
Speaker C:Best way for us to breach is my character has military knowledge.
Speaker C:And I have none.
Speaker A:So I understand.
Speaker A:Here's how this works.
Speaker A:You've already passed your military science on land.
Speaker A:I need all of the folks here to roll their intelligence.
Speaker A:Apprentice succeeds.
Speaker E:Jesus Christ, that's some good intelligence.
Speaker A:All three of you, all three of you listen carefully to what Agent Paris says, and you watch his body movement and make your way towards the front of this office.
Speaker E:Ryan's going to draw his gun.
Speaker B:Oh, I thought we were all armed.
Speaker B:Like an out.
Speaker A:Before long, you're in the entryway of this large, expansive Dilapidated office.
Speaker A:Paris is in front of you, his rifle aimed at this heaving, hot, strange, undulating body of fleshy tendrils.
Speaker A:He doesn't fire.
Speaker A:He continues to walk forward.
Speaker A:And you walk with him, matching his movements.
Speaker A:Before long, you're off to the right, the barrels of your weapons unimpeded by the oaken desk.
Speaker A:The thing doesn't notice you.
Speaker A:Agent Paris does not look composed.
Speaker A:He looks frightened.
Speaker A:But he turns toward each one of you, sweat lining his brow.
Speaker A:He points at the thing.
Speaker A:He fires.
Speaker A:I need everyone to roll firearms, please.
Speaker E:Oh, fuck.
Speaker C:Fails.
Speaker E:Ryan succeeds.
Speaker D:Poison got a critical fail.
Speaker E:Oh, fuck.
Speaker E:Everybody in the Apprentice?
Speaker E:Me.
Speaker E:God damn it.
Speaker C:Everyone failed except Ryan.
Speaker C:Kidding me?
Speaker E:How is Paris's firearm so low?
Speaker B:60 is pretty good.
Speaker C:60 is pretty good.
Speaker E:He's for a fucking military guy.
Speaker E:Okay, whatever.
Speaker E:All right?
Speaker C:I mean, that's.
Speaker C:That's.
Speaker E:Yeah, I know, I know.
Speaker C:It's still good.
Speaker B:That is more than half the time he hits his target.
Speaker B:That's pretty good.
Speaker C:How did I fail?
Speaker A:I need Ryan to roll damage for one bullet and Princess to roll damage for one bullet.
Speaker E:Two.
Speaker A:Okay, cool.
Speaker A:So two damage.
Speaker A:I need Roisin to go ahead and roll a 1D100 for me.
Speaker A:Roisin, when you fire at this undulating mass of flesh, you watch the slide of your pistol fall back in.
Speaker A:A cartridge, lodge itself in the slide and stop the action.
Speaker A:You can't believe that your Jericho has failed you in such a way.
Speaker A:Everybody begins to fire at this mass.
Speaker E:Real quick.
Speaker E:Chris, what's more narratively interesting here?
Speaker E:A2 or a10?
Speaker A:A2.
Speaker A:You watch your bullet race off of one of the protuberances of this mask.
Speaker A:It flies through a nearby window into the distance.
Speaker E:Does it make a wow sound?
Speaker A:This thing turns around and it looks at all of you.
Speaker A:You watch as what could be a head or a face splits open, makes a terrible gasping sound.
Speaker A:Within seconds, it's on the ceiling.
Speaker A:No longer there on the ground.
Speaker A:I want to describe the situation before the next round.
Speaker A:You have all fired at a being that was huddled over something on the floor.
Speaker A:It has now jumped up.
Speaker A:It is no longer there.
Speaker A:The speed at which it moved is unnatural.
Speaker A:It is on the ceiling.
Speaker A:Horrible hanging tendrils splayed out as if it shot up and just exploded.
Speaker A:All of these raggedy feelers across the ceiling.
Speaker A:But on the ground, you see a small nest behind the oaken desk.
Speaker A:It's covered with the phosphorescent clumps Agent Prentiss had already examined.
Speaker A:You see four ovoid shapes here, translucent.
Speaker A:Inside are little fetal Silhouettes with strange tentacular appendages.
Speaker A:Roll your sanities, everyone.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:I need one more from Prentice.
Speaker B:He's gonna project onto Rodrigo Pastor.
Speaker A:Lovely.
Speaker A:Does anybody want to project?
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker E:Fuck, yeah.
Speaker E:I'm projecting.
Speaker E:I just shot a kid in the head.
Speaker E:I'm projecting.
Speaker E:From now on, don't want to face that shit.
Speaker A:Got it.
Speaker A:Okay, so I need everyone who's projecting to roll a 1D4, please.
Speaker E:I swear to God, Chris, if this is a one, I'm gonna be so furious.
Speaker E:Two for me, two for.
Speaker E:Goddamn, Ryan.
Speaker C:I don't know who I'm projecting on yet, Chris, but I'm doing a roll on your bonds.
Speaker C:Yeah, I don't have.
Speaker C:I don't.
Speaker C:Oh, my God.
Speaker D:I mean, can I project onto relic.
Speaker A:No delta green bonds.
Speaker A:No good for that.
Speaker A:You know the rules.
Speaker E:Romeo died recently enough.
Speaker E:Can we lemmy for.
Speaker A:Think of it as.
Speaker B:It has to be somebody you can have a mild outburst at.
Speaker A:Okay, so the folks who have.
Speaker A:So, Prentice, take two off of your willpower and a bond of your choice.
Speaker A:Roisin.
Speaker A:One off of your willpower.
Speaker A:A bond of your choice.
Speaker A:Ryan, two off of your willpower.
Speaker A:A bond of your choice.
Speaker A:Paris, three off your willpower.
Speaker A:A bond of your choice.
Speaker A:The flesh begins to explore every crevice of the ceiling.
Speaker A:Running across.
Speaker E:Can you say flesh?
Speaker E:Slower, please.
Speaker A:Flesh?
Speaker C:No, thank you.
Speaker A:Running across every.
Speaker A:Every seam of the ceiling.
Speaker A:You hear a horrific scream.
Speaker A:These are not human vocal cords, but something else.
Speaker A:There's a metallic twang as tendrils begin to fall down from above in an aggravating, frightening configuration.
Speaker A:Everyone roll their firearms again as you raise your guns up and shoot at the thing that has now spread itself across real quick.
Speaker D:Chris, mine jammed.
Speaker A:You cannot roll your damage, but you can roll your firearms to try to dislodge the bullet that is now in the sled.
Speaker E:Oh, wait.
Speaker E:Ryan succeeded.
Speaker A:Looks like you succeeded in that.
Speaker D:Oh, good.
Speaker D:Rising got a success.
Speaker A:Royston, you thumb the bullet out of the way.
Speaker A:You the slide back six or seven times as fast as you can, and you aim back up at the creature.
Speaker A:You'll get the fire again soon.
Speaker A:Not yet.
Speaker E:Ryan succeeded.
Speaker C:Should I be reloading also?
Speaker C:I failed my firearms roll anyway.
Speaker A:Prentice and Princess fails as well.
Speaker A:You fire.
Speaker A:No damage roll for you.
Speaker A:Harris, you need to.
Speaker A:You need to go in and roll your lethality, even though you failed.
Speaker A:Ryan, roll your damage.
Speaker E:I had already rolled my previous damage roll.
Speaker A:This is a new damage roll.
Speaker E:Oh, but there was two there.
Speaker E:Fine, I'll take six.
Speaker B:If only you could pre roll your damage, huh?
Speaker A:Ryan.
Speaker A:You fire through the thing's strange ganglious head.
Speaker A:It falls down upon you and you feel part of it move through your stomach.
Speaker A:Under its substantive weight.
Speaker A:Your knees collapse.
Speaker A:Your back slams against the concrete floor.
Speaker A:Something stabs into the lower left of your abdomen.
Speaker E:Do you want to explain why I was underneath it?
Speaker B:Chris?
Speaker A:Something stabs at the lower left of your actor, and you feel it begin to course through your body.
Speaker A:Hundreds of different fingerlings make their way through your body, touching every aspect of your being.
Speaker A:You're part of it now.
Speaker A:You look up into its eyes.
Speaker A:It's distended eyes that fall from a.
Speaker A:A withered cerebrum.
Speaker A:You hear a slaking thirst, an abnormal breathing as it sends itself through you.
Speaker A:Agent Paris, roll your firearms, please.
Speaker E:Do I experience arousal?
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker C:Hey, I succeeded this time.
Speaker A:Well, your lethality.
Speaker A:Got it.
Speaker A:You fire again.
Speaker A:Your M4 continuing to just explode.
Speaker A:Fire out of the barrel.
Speaker A:The thing stands on top of Agent Ryan, continuing to seemingly eviscerate Ryan Prentice.
Speaker A:Fire.
Speaker B:And a critical failure.
Speaker B:Which is perfect.
Speaker D:Oh, that's two.
Speaker B:This combo, okay?
Speaker B:Two character sheets, one game.
Speaker A:Go ahead and roll a luck for me, please.
Speaker B:I'm just all over the place.
Speaker B:That's a success.
Speaker B:On my luck.
Speaker A:The bullet whizzes past Ryan.
Speaker E:Oh, my God.
Speaker E:All right.
Speaker A:It slams into the barely intact glass behind him.
Speaker A:You realize you almost killed Ryan.
Speaker E:That's the luck roll.
Speaker B:You hear a quiet oop.
Speaker E:The tiny squeak of another butthole.
Speaker A:Royston, roll your firearms, please.
Speaker A:You have cleared the chamber.
Speaker A:You fire again.
Speaker A:But it goes wide, slams into the concrete.
Speaker A:The thing goes ahead, and it seems to engulf part of Ryan's body.
Speaker A:See what it does?
Speaker C:See what it does?
Speaker C:Jesus.
Speaker A:More and more pours out of this tendril covered band and enters Ryan's abdomen.
Speaker A:Ryan looks from side to side.
Speaker A:He looks terrified.
Speaker A:Something is expanding his abdomen to the point of.
Speaker B:You're gonna be a mommy.
Speaker E:Is this like some mpreg shit Chris we're about to get into?
Speaker E:Because that's a little weird for me.
Speaker A:Agreed.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker E:I'm joking.
Speaker E:I'm joking.
Speaker E:I'm joking.
Speaker A:Paris, roll your firearms, please.
Speaker C:Oh, before I do that, though, I glance over.
Speaker C:Are those eggs?
Speaker C:Like on a chair?
Speaker A:Still looks like there's a few glistening eggs there with fetal silhouettes.
Speaker C:So fucking gross.
Speaker C:The ovoid.
Speaker A:Ovoid was.
Speaker A:Yes, adjective used earlier.
Speaker C:And what do I do?
Speaker C:Does it look like this thing is even remotely slowed down from what we're pumping into it?
Speaker A:No.
Speaker E:Come on, we're missing a whole lot.
Speaker C:I'm gonna aim at the eggs instead.
Speaker A:Roll your damage.
Speaker A:Okay, you go ahead and let loose with URIM4 at this phosphorescent nest.
Speaker A:And you see them explode in a sparking yellowish spray.
Speaker A:Immediately, the thing that's on top of Ryan withdraws, the tendrils flowing into his abdomen.
Speaker A:It screams and jumps towards you, Agent Paris.
Speaker A:However, Agent Roisin, you have another chance.
Speaker A:Roll your damage, Agent Roisin.
Speaker D:Well, that one was a success.
Speaker A:You fire.
Speaker A:You fire.
Speaker A:Finally.
Speaker A:Finally clearing.
Speaker A:It ricochets off the strangely hard skull of the being.
Speaker A:Doesn't seem to notice.
Speaker A:Apprentice.
Speaker A:Fire, damn it.
Speaker B:Failure.
Speaker A:The shot ends up going wide.
Speaker E:Can I fire again?
Speaker E:Sus.
Speaker A:Roll your damage tab in.
Speaker A:The thing falls, heaving loudly.
Speaker A:The thing shudders, barking up a phosphorescent cloud out of its darkest fleshy crevices.
Speaker A:As the being crumples on top of Ryan's chest.
Speaker A:Withers, stops moving.
Speaker A:Before long, it looks like a straight, rigid piece of bark, strips of dried husky material in the vague shape of what it once was.
Speaker A:There's no sound in the air, but you see outside that there's another cargoless barge drifting by in the harbor.
Speaker A:Paris, Prentiss, Ryan, Roizen.
Speaker A:You look around and you realize that this thing, this protector, this mother or father, it's non responsive.
Speaker A:There are actually a few of the things.
Speaker A:Embryos.
Speaker A:Its eggs somehow having survived Paris's onslaught and having rolled away from the remains of the bacterial nest.
Speaker A:Inside, you see the silhouettes of something.
Speaker A:Something not entirely human.
Speaker A:Everyone roll your sanities, please.
Speaker B:Projecting again.
Speaker A:Anyone?
Speaker A:Projecting?
Speaker A:Roll a 1D four, please.
Speaker E:Four, baby.
Speaker E:I'll fucking destroy my bonds for my.
Speaker E:For my sanity.
Speaker E:Are we going to get a chance to take an action, Chris?
Speaker A:Yeah, this is it right now.
Speaker A:What would you like to do when.
Speaker E:Ryan, when the thing kind of withers on top of him, he's gonna be kind of.
Speaker E:I don't know what I'll describe as a traumatic scream of get it off me.
Speaker E:Get.
Speaker E:Go.
Speaker E:Fuck.
Speaker E:Give me.
Speaker E:And then fucking turn around, looking at the the eggs and shoot at them.
Speaker A:You begin firing over and over again at the eggs, shooting through what looks like, again, small silhouettes of human fetuses.
Speaker A:Roll your sanity again.
Speaker A:Do you want to project any potential loss?
Speaker E:You bet your sweet ass I do, Chris.
Speaker E:Rolling a three, baby.
Speaker B:Seems like a clutch.
Speaker A:Looks like four eggs.
Speaker A:However, now they are all mincemeat, spread across the floor.
Speaker A:The third level of this restaurant supply warehouse.
Speaker A:The heat in the air begins to dissipate, begins to give way to the weather that is more natural to the Detroit area at this time of year, all four of you would look to one another, look down at the corpse of the strange being, look at the mutilated nest of its bizarre offspring.
Speaker B:Let's have a look at that wound you got there.
Speaker B:Agent Ryan.
Speaker B:Prentice, you had success on medic.
Speaker A:On your way through.
Speaker A:Now, Ryan, do you let him take a look at you?
Speaker E:Yes.
Speaker E:And Ryan is actually very grateful in.
Speaker A:Response, Prentiss takes a look.
Speaker A:And to be clear, this thing shoved its tentacles deep into his abdomen, but his internals, from what you can see, are curiously unaffected.
Speaker A:You think you can take care of damage that is visible?
Speaker A:Assuming there's no internal injury, which there doesn't appear to be.
Speaker A:But you think you can take care of it with a simple needle and thread Roll a quick intelligence times five, and I succeed very quickly.
Speaker A:You place him on his back.
Speaker A:You're like, hey, everybody, kind of back off here.
Speaker A:Make sure there's no other weird things around.
Speaker A:And you give him local painkillers from your kit and get to work.
Speaker E:Ryan's going to ask what's wrong.
Speaker E:What happened to him?
Speaker A:Prentice, we're dealing with something on the caliber of a through gunshot.
Speaker A:Nice and clean.
Speaker A:But what do you want to say to him?
Speaker B:You got it pretty bad, man.
Speaker B:But I think I can.
Speaker B:I can do this pretty quickly.
Speaker B:And we should just get you on bed rest after this.
Speaker B:Hang tight.
Speaker E:Okay?
Speaker A:Ryan, you feel stronger than you ever have in your entire life.
Speaker A:Very strong.
Speaker E:Really?
Speaker E:I.
Speaker E:I feel great.
Speaker E:I go to try to.
Speaker E:I go to try to, like, lean up, get up.
Speaker A:And you see blood start to well from his bowels.
Speaker B:And apprentice pushes him back down on the ground and says, don't move while I'm trying to work on you, man.
Speaker B:Now, it may just be adrenaline.
Speaker B:It may be something that thing put into you that you are feeling fine because of whatever properties.
Speaker B:Some kind of toxin, I don't know.
Speaker B:But believe me when I say it's.
Speaker B:I gotta do some work here.
Speaker E:All right, you joker.
Speaker A:Ryan's gonna let him know you feel very good.
Speaker A:Ryan, you don't eat this at all.
Speaker E:I feel that way.
Speaker E:But I do lay back down and let him.
Speaker A:Paris, Roizen, you.
Speaker A:You both look over at the crumpled corpse of this being.
Speaker A:This set of strips of flesh.
Speaker A:What do you do?
Speaker D:Well, Roizen's gonna walk over and fire a few more rounds into it, just to be safe.
Speaker A:Paris, what do you do?
Speaker C:No, I was gonna ask how big the corpse is for this thing.
Speaker A:Seven foot tall, about £300.
Speaker C:Are you for real?
Speaker A:I'm for Real.
Speaker C:Holy shit.
Speaker C:All right, how for real?
Speaker C:I start.
Speaker C:Honestly.
Speaker C:Agent Paris starts walking the area just to make sure there's nothing they may have overlooked.
Speaker C:Any more little creatures or more eggs hanging ancient?
Speaker A:Paris, you find small clusters of similar silhouetted eggs with little fetuses in them in every corner of this room.
Speaker C:I say, we're going to need to bring this building down.
Speaker C:There could be.
Speaker C:There's eggs over here.
Speaker C:I found more of it there.
Speaker C:There could be more throughout this whole building.
Speaker B:And as.
Speaker B:As Prentice is finishing up the last few stitches, he says, well, you're gonna have to take care of that.
Speaker B:I gotta make sure Ryan here takes it a bit easy.
Speaker B:Royston, are you.
Speaker B:Are you okay to cover him?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:All right, well, I will cover.
Speaker B:I'll cover Ryan while y'all take care of things and then we'll get the fuck out of here.
Speaker B:How does that sound?
Speaker D:Works for me.
Speaker D:You get my partner down to the car safe.
Speaker D:We'll be right behind you.
Speaker B:You got it.
Speaker B:Even though Ryan probably isn't going to be too ameniable to it, Prentice is gonna take his left arm and drape it around his right shoulder.
Speaker B:Across the shoulder.
Speaker A:And kind of one thing that you notice, princess, is that there are veins that are at a.
Speaker A:At a level of vascularity you're not comfortable with.
Speaker A:Up near the surface of Ryan's skin.
Speaker A:You're looking over at him and so.
Speaker B:He'S saying he's gained some vascularity.
Speaker C:He's.
Speaker B:He's very vascular.
Speaker A:You are disturbed by what you continue to see across the skin of his face.
Speaker B:Oh, his face too.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:However, before long, all four of you are near your vehicle, this broken down station wagon, and Agent Paris is walking back towards you.
Speaker C:And he goes, it'll be seven minutes.
Speaker C:We shouldn't be here for it.
Speaker A:As you drive toward the center of the city, Agent Paris smirks because he knows that that exact moment, his well placed charges have detonated, leaving everything inside that cursed building buried under rubble and rust.
Speaker A:Sa.
