Episode 29
Episode 29 - New Ritual Needed
The Agents soon discover that there are grave consequences to disturbing history best forgotten.
Based on a scenario by Thomas DiPaolo.
Want to read along? Transcript available here: https://sorryhoney.captivate.fm/
Support The Work at: https://ko-fi.com/sorryhoney
Want to advertise with us? See our Sponsor Kit and Rate Card.
Visit Us At: https://sorryhoney.captivate.fm/
Join our Discord to tell us all the things we did wrong: https://discord.gg/xuQdfzJMfa
Follow us on Twitter for additional content: https://twitter.com/SorryHoneyCast
Likewise, Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sorryhoneypodcast/
Published by arrangement with the Delta Green Partnership. The intellectual property known as Delta Green is a trademark and copyright owned by the Delta Green Partnership, who has licensed its use here. Illustrations by Dennis Detwiller are reproduced by permission. The contents of this podcast are © GiggleDome Productions, LLC, excepting those elements that are components of Delta Green intellectual property.
Transcript
Hello?
Speaker A:What time is it?
Speaker B:Who is it?
Speaker A:I don't know, I.
Speaker C:Situation green Ghost hands.
Speaker A:Sorry, honey, I have to take this.
Speaker C:Real quick out of character question.
Speaker C:And I'm asking, for the sake of podcast storytelling, would you say that the radio premonition that we heard where Ryan was, where the guy was talking about drowning, was that foreshadowing for this setting?
Speaker C:Because if so, then I could.
Speaker C:I like the idea of mentioning something like Ryan remembers that and you know, wants to leave or something because of it.
Speaker C:Unless you don't.
Speaker A:I don't think he feels that way.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But there is definitely a link in his mind.
Speaker A:I think that's.
Speaker A:That's a very reasonable link to make that he was threatened with drowning and that he is now underground in a very damp.
Speaker A:Basically a cave.
Speaker A:Okay, so based on your role, Prentice, I need to have a quick little chat with you.
Speaker A:Could my other three agents please deafen themselves for just a minute or so?
Speaker A:Prentice, as you realize that these ancient words using something akin to Middle English, were written by Benjamin Stockton, or at least someone identifying himself as such, and he has drawn his own impossible family tree going hundreds of years into the present.
Speaker A:Now you're starting to put together some of the other things that you had skimmed over and you flip back and you start reading furiously through these scribblings, somehow flipping back and forward to spots that are showing you names.
Speaker A:And you're starting to kind of get chills because this reminds you of looking through the shorthand, Clemson Mallory's shorthand, that drove you to such, such despair.
Speaker A:You see things like Abreu Geist at the time had been sticking slivers of lodestone in the Pioneer Valley settlers mouths while they were drugged so that Stockton could speak throughest that metal from anywhere in the valley.
Speaker A:It looks like Stockton and the rest of the coven, they had predicted that the townsfolk would uncover their plans, that this was just a dry run, and that they would be subject to the most violent of fates.
Speaker A:They had plans even back then to return centuries later to seeth the next seteth of the stars in the sky.
Speaker A:And you can see, finally, as you flip to the end of the family tree, it looks like Stockton wrote of a sacrifice needed in the place of his buried remains.
Speaker A:A sacrifice to be killed during the full moon of an All Hallows eve night.
Speaker A:Even though it's rather cool down here, sweat begins pouring from your brow and you can start to hear something scrabbling and scratching in the back of your mind above you in the rafters.
Speaker A:You quickly shut that away.
Speaker A:And at the same time, you shut the book.
Speaker A:Agents.
Speaker A:You are standing, you're trying to coax some information out of Agent Ryan.
Speaker A:And you suddenly hear that giant, musty book slams shut in Prentiss lap.
Speaker A:And you look over at him.
Speaker A:He is pale as a sheet.
Speaker A:Even though it's cool down here in this basement.
Speaker A:He is covered with perspiration.
Speaker A:His eyes are wild.
Speaker B:Prentice.
Speaker B:Sugar, you okay?
Speaker D:Prentiss.
Speaker B:Kane's gonna walk over and do the hand to the back of the forehead.
Speaker B:Mom checking the temperature thing.
Speaker B:You all right there, sugar?
Speaker A:He's clammy.
Speaker B:You're not looking so good.
Speaker C:Gross.
Speaker A:It was.
Speaker C:They.
Speaker E:They saw it all.
Speaker A:They.
Speaker A:They did it before.
Speaker E:Like a test.
Speaker E:It was like a test.
Speaker A:Now.
Speaker E:Now that tomorrow they're gonna sacrifice more.
Speaker D:They're gonna sacrifice what?
Speaker D:Sorry?
Speaker D:Who?
Speaker A:The.
Speaker E:The coven.
Speaker E:It's.
Speaker E:They're still here, that they plan to come back.
Speaker E:It's all right.
Speaker B:Maybe we should get you back to the hotel.
Speaker A:You hear the door slam shut at the top of the stairs.
Speaker A:It's incredibly loud.
Speaker A:You look down and you see that the water, it's at your ankles.
Speaker A:Steadily rising.
Speaker D:Swim faris runs for the top of the stairs.
Speaker C:Fucking bastard.
Speaker A:Kane's got her entering what is called combat.
Speaker A:So let me interrupt you right there.
Speaker D:We're gonna fight the water.
Speaker D:Wait, I thought Ryan already kicked its ass earlier when it was like he was kicking at it.
Speaker D:Remember?
Speaker D:Splish, splash.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Then I scared away.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:He showed the water his boss.
Speaker A:Is that what he did?
Speaker A:The water is rising.
Speaker A:Parrish, you've made a beeline towards the stairs because you just heard the door shut.
Speaker A:You're running as fast as you can, Ryan.
Speaker A:You're actually in a position to move faster than the others.
Speaker A:You look around, you see this water rising quickly.
Speaker A:That your ankles.
Speaker A:It's almost rising up to your knees.
Speaker A:It's impossible.
Speaker A:How quickly that this cool and murky water is rising in this small room.
Speaker A:What would you like to do?
Speaker C:Is there any role I can make that's insightful based off of my recent weirdness?
Speaker A:You feel like if you had time to put more things together, piece them into a collage to bring you closer to perhaps what informs what is below reality again?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:But you've gotten an answer from your previous work.
Speaker A:It only had one answer for we.
Speaker C:Then just so Michael's not this up.
Speaker C:That was like a no.
Speaker A:You are done with insights from your.
Speaker C:I just wanted.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:There's no roll.
Speaker A:You're done.
Speaker A:You're finished.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker A:Ritual complete.
Speaker A:New ritual needed.
Speaker C:Ryan.
Speaker C:Is going.
Speaker C:Ryan is going to.
Speaker C:Ryan is going to follow Paris up the steps.
Speaker C:If he gets there first, he's going to shove his body weight into it, see if it will open.
Speaker A:You're sprinting your way up there as fast as you can.
Speaker A:Agent Kane.
Speaker B:Kane is.
Speaker B:Well, the gun's back out.
Speaker B:She's in front of Prentiss between him and the stairs, but she's gonna reach back and kind of tug him into a standing position.
Speaker B:We don't care about the book anymore.
Speaker A:Is that what you say out loud?
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker B:Leave the book.
Speaker A:Let's go, Prentiss.
Speaker E:Prentiss will toss the book onto the chair and follow you.
Speaker A:Stand up, toss the book onto the chair.
Speaker A:Now she hasn't moved.
Speaker A:She's just tugging you up off the chair.
Speaker A:Are you gonna run past her towards the other two or stick with her?
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker E:He's gonna run towards the stairs.
Speaker A:You're looking down at this rising water as well, and it's befuddling how quickly that it's making its way to the bottom of your knees.
Speaker A:Parrish, you're already on the way, sprinting to these stairs.
Speaker A:You basically meet Ryan.
Speaker A:Both of you start sprinting up these stone slabs, steps as quickly as you can, and you actually both make it to the door at the same time.
Speaker D:Okay, try to open the door.
Speaker A:You don't have time to do that for this route.
Speaker C:I try to open the door.
Speaker A:You did make it up the stairs, though, so I assume that's going to be your action for next turn.
Speaker D:Hell, yeah.
Speaker C:Roll for danger.
Speaker E:You're in it.
Speaker C:You're in it.
Speaker D:No, roll for witches.
Speaker D:We got to roll for the witches.
Speaker C:It's more of a coin flip.
Speaker C:It's binary.
Speaker C:You're either in it or you're not.
Speaker E:Right?
Speaker A:Prentiss, Just as you are pulled up out of the chair and you throw the book down, you are brought back down into the chair.
Speaker A:And then your knees slam into the floor through the water.
Speaker A:Great jolt of pain through your entire body as your kneecaps just are sharply wrapped against this stone foundation.
Speaker A:And your head immediately splashes down underneath the water.
Speaker A:Kane.
Speaker A:You see this happen?
Speaker E:I'm slammed into the chair and toppled over.
Speaker A:You stand up out of the chair, you throw the book down because Kain has helped you do that.
Speaker A:That was part of your turn.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:Immediately afterwards, you are brought down to your knees.
Speaker A:Your knees wrap against the stone floor, and then your face falls into or is pushed into.
Speaker A:At least that's how it feels to you.
Speaker A:To the rest of y'all, it just Looks like he passes out, but you're face falls with a slap forward underneath the water.
Speaker C:And that happens immediately.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:This is our first round and we are now onto round two.
Speaker A:Ryan, Paris, Kayn apprentice are down there behind you in the darkness.
Speaker A:You're not aware of what I just described.
Speaker A:Kane and Prentiss are fully aware.
Speaker A:So knowing this, Ryan, what do you do?
Speaker C:Tries to open the door.
Speaker A:Go ahead and roll.
Speaker A:Versus me.
Speaker A:Now, Price is right rules, right?
Speaker A:If we both pass, it's the one with the hire who wins without going over.
Speaker C:Is that the prizes?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker D:Can assist.
Speaker D:Can Paris assist in this?
Speaker C:Wait, what am I rolling?
Speaker A:You're rolling your strength.
Speaker C:Oh, okay.
Speaker D:Is Paras able to assist?
Speaker A:You're just a little bit behind him in the combat order, so no.
Speaker A:Now, if he wants to hold back, his turn for you to make your way behind to also position yourself.
Speaker A:I'm totally down for that.
Speaker D:Yeah, I.
Speaker D:I don't think that.
Speaker C:I wouldn't do it.
Speaker D:If he's there, he's go for it now.
Speaker C:Failure.
Speaker C:95 of a target.
Speaker C:50.
Speaker A:I passed.
Speaker C:No, you didn't.
Speaker C:That's a lie.
Speaker A:Yes, I did.
Speaker C:Take a screenshot and post it in here.
Speaker B:Now, now, children, behave.
Speaker C:That's.
Speaker D:We can't see that.
Speaker A:You go ahead and I believe you.
Speaker C:Inside to worry about it.
Speaker A:Yeah, I'm not cheating.
Speaker A:It's not fun to cheat.
Speaker A:It is fungi.
Speaker C:You go ahead and 100% fungi.
Speaker A:This is so fun.
Speaker A:You slam your shoulder into this door as hard as you can, knowing that it of course, opens outward.
Speaker A:It doesn't budge.
Speaker A:You don't even hear a crack.
Speaker A:Not even a vague splintering.
Speaker A:It's like there's concrete now behind that door, that old, shitty wooden door.
Speaker A:You blink, you're surprised.
Speaker C:The meager silver lining I have here is that that's not a 100.
Speaker C:Because I feel like I would break my arm or something with a 100.
Speaker A:I would have had a fucking blast.
Speaker A:Honestly, any critical fail would have been just.
Speaker C:Yeah, you can go absolutely yourself if that happened.
Speaker C:But it didn't.
Speaker A:Agent Kane, Princess has fallen into the water next to you.
Speaker A:It's now at your mid thigh.
Speaker B:I'm reaching down, pulling him up.
Speaker B:Don't leave a teammate behind.
Speaker A:You reach down and you are trying to get him out of the water.
Speaker A:It's like he's got a leaden weight strapped to his chest.
Speaker A:He's so heavy, you can't get his head above the rising waves.
Speaker A:Agent Prentice, it's your turn.
Speaker A:Something is holding you down under the water, and you Open your eyes in this murk, and it is not clear water.
Speaker A:And you are doing your best to struggle against this unseen force.
Speaker A:And you feel hands around your neck starting to squeeze and squeeze and squeeze.
Speaker A:Extremely strong hands, and instinctively, your own move to your neck, but you feel nothing there.
Speaker A:You feel nothing there at all.
Speaker A:And you roll your sanity.
Speaker E:Okay.
Speaker D:I will project, listeners.
Speaker D:That was three question marks out of one question mark.
Speaker A:So to project, you're going to roll a 1D4.
Speaker A:You're going to subtract that from your bond.
Speaker A:You're going to subtract that from your current willpower.
Speaker A:Now you are at 2 willpower.
Speaker A:So this is a risky, risky bit of business.
Speaker E:Yeah, I can't.
Speaker E:I won't even bother projecting.
Speaker E:I'm just going to take it.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I've got a little work to do on my end.
Speaker A:One second.
Speaker E:Oh, that's not.
Speaker E:That's not good news.
Speaker A:Just, you know, there's work to be done.
Speaker D:I was gonna say.
Speaker D:I'm proud of you, man.
Speaker D:Take it.
Speaker D:Take it like a boss.
Speaker E:Just raw dogging that sanity check.
Speaker D:Let it.
Speaker D:Let it in.
Speaker D:I'm sorry.
Speaker D:I'm sorry.
Speaker A:You are about to have an issue.
Speaker A:Let's see how interesting it might be.
Speaker A:Go ahead and roll your sanity again, please.
Speaker E:Mm.
Speaker A:You began screaming.
Speaker A:You let all the air out of your lungs, and you are now struggling against what is an impossible force.
Speaker A:And you know it's what Ryan said.
Speaker A:He was right.
Speaker A:You know, your death is coming.
Speaker A:This is it for you.
Speaker A:You're in a vice grip underwater, and you just start screaming and struggling, your hands going in a flailing motion as your entire body looks like it's convulsing under the waves.
Speaker E:Yikes.
Speaker A:Paris, it is your turn.
Speaker A:You run up to the door.
Speaker A:You see Ryan has slammed into it, didn't budge.
Speaker D:I tried to open the door.
Speaker A:Same idea, right?
Speaker A:You're gonna do a strength, no problem.
Speaker D:Same idea.
Speaker A:Go for it.
Speaker A:It's gonna be.
Speaker A:It's gonna be opposed.
Speaker A:Same.
Speaker C:Price is Right Rules.
Speaker A:Price is Right Rules.
Speaker D:Price.
Speaker A:Price is Right rules.
Speaker E:Natural.
Speaker D:Oh, my good God.
Speaker D:That was a 97.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I passed up with a 9.
Speaker D:Failure.
Speaker D:Failure.
Speaker D:That's what Chris says.
Speaker D:He really got three question marks.
Speaker A:You run as fast as you can and slam your body into the store next to Ryan again, just like I described.
Speaker A:It's like running into concrete.
Speaker C:You're like running into concrete.
Speaker D:I look at Paris looks around like, let's try together next time.
Speaker C:Next time.
Speaker C:What do you need?
Speaker D:Around the next combat turn, let's combine.
Speaker E:Our efforts don't you realize this is just a game?
Speaker B:And there come the sanity rolls.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker D:Wait, why'd Chris roll again?
Speaker A:Feel fingers and fingernails just ripping against the flesh of your neck?
Speaker E:That's no good for me.
Speaker A:We're in round three, Agent Ryan.
Speaker C:I'm so tempted to try again because, like, now I just want to know if I can roll low.
Speaker D:But you're fucking trying again.
Speaker C:No, no, no.
Speaker D:Of course.
Speaker C:So low.
Speaker C:But I'm not gonna.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker C:Yes, Ryan is going to.
Speaker C:I believe the term is hold his action.
Speaker C:But he's going to wait to.
Speaker A:The way you do this is like, I'm going to wait until I see this happen.
Speaker C:And I'm going to wait until I see.
Speaker C:Ryan is going to wait as he watches Paris, you know, fling himself into the door as well and kind of like grab his shoulder, like in a gesture of, okay, let's do this together.
Speaker A:Perfect.
Speaker A:And so if that doesn't actually.
Speaker A:The way the rules work, if that doesn't actually end up happening, let's say Paris explodes because he's been gestating a mold baby.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker A:Before it's his turn, then you lose your turn.
Speaker D:I'm not doing.
Speaker A:That's how the mechanics work.
Speaker C:That's fine.
Speaker C:I'm okay with that.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker D:Not gonna do that.
Speaker A:Just.
Speaker E:You don't know that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:To get it out there.
Speaker A:So rolled it back.
Speaker A:You've been gestating a mold baby, Paris.
Speaker A:Oh, fuck.
Speaker A:I mean, we all are now.
Speaker A:Can you deafen for a second?
Speaker A:Paris, I have a something to tell you.
Speaker D:No.
Speaker A:Okay, cool.
Speaker A:You're holding.
Speaker A:Your turn.
Speaker A:Nine.
Speaker A:Great.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Kane, you see Apprentice flailing under the water.
Speaker A:You also see bubbles exploding out of his open mouth.
Speaker A:Even though there's this murk, you can see him trying to get his head up as he screams.
Speaker A:Underwater, the water is now up to your ribcage.
Speaker B:So first thing she's gonna do is yell at the other two that, fuck, we're in trouble down here.
Speaker B:Second, she's gonna dive under the water and try to get under him to push him up.
Speaker A:Beautiful.
Speaker A:Go ahead and roll your.
Speaker A:You can roll swimming.
Speaker A:Uh huh.
Speaker A:Or your strength.
Speaker A:Both will be an opposed roll.
Speaker A:You may choose the highest, of course.
Speaker B:Neither of those is good.
Speaker B:I'm sorry, Prentice.
Speaker B:I'm trying.
Speaker A:Well, one's gonna be higher than the other, so which one are you gonna do?
Speaker B:We're gonna go with strength.
Speaker B:My swim is only a 20.
Speaker B:Strength is a 45, so.
Speaker A:All right, that's not bad.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker B:47 over 45.
Speaker A:I passed with a 23.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah, sure.
Speaker D:Close.
Speaker A:You go ahead and dive under the water, and you try your best to start pushing Prentiss up towards the surface.
Speaker E:Man, we're giving this ghost freak a two for one.
Speaker A:He's fighting against you.
Speaker A:He just.
Speaker A:He's, like, not having it.
Speaker A:It seems like he's just knocking you away as hard as he can.
Speaker A:You can't get a good angle at his body.
Speaker C:Out of character just for Amber.
Speaker C:You're welcome to call out to us.
Speaker A:She did.
Speaker A:She did.
Speaker A:She did.
Speaker B:I said, guys, Got it.
Speaker A:You have now been called out to that.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:That did happen during that.
Speaker D:So in this round, we heard that.
Speaker A:Agent Prentice, you are all out of air.
Speaker A:You have screamed your last breath, and it has escaped to the surface, which is very quickly getting higher and higher.
Speaker A:Above your head, you see Agent Kane dive down and begin pushing and almost kicking at your stomach to bring you up.
Speaker A:But whatever has its vice grip nails in your neck will not let you budge.
Speaker A:You cannot find it, no matter how much you move your arms.
Speaker A:Where.
Speaker A:Where this force should be, whatever it should be attached to.
Speaker A:Paris, you hear Agent Kane scream down below that we're not in good shape.
Speaker A:We're not doing well.
Speaker D:Parris looks at Ryan's like, hit this one more time and goes for it.
Speaker A:Okay, which one of you has the higher strength?
Speaker D:We have 50, 14.
Speaker D:15.
Speaker C:Oh, sorry.
Speaker C:10.
Speaker A:Sounds like Paris has higher.
Speaker D:Okay, I got 14 strength.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:Paris, go ahead and roll.
Speaker A:Your strength plus 20.
Speaker A:I'm gonna even give you a bonus.
Speaker A:It's opposed.
Speaker C:Hey, Chris, did you pass?
Speaker D:I was.
Speaker A:I did pass.
Speaker C:Yeah, I bet you did.
Speaker D:I succeeded with a 71 out of 90.
Speaker A:That's a win.
Speaker D:That's a win.
Speaker A:Price is Right rules.
Speaker A:You didn't go over.
Speaker C:Oh, my God.
Speaker C:That was a.
Speaker C:Oh, that's good.
Speaker D:71 out of 90.
Speaker D:I was a successful roll.
Speaker A:You both together, slam into the door, and it explodes outward.
Speaker A:Fuck.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:It hits part of the shelf that you moved to the side with a loud shelf comes slamming back shut, and it lands back shut and knocks both of you down the stairs.
Speaker A:And you Both roll.
Speaker A:Damage.
Speaker A:1d8.
Speaker A:One of you.
Speaker D:All right.
Speaker A:Just kidding.
Speaker A:You guys have opened the door onto the floor of depths.
Speaker A:You don't see anyone there.
Speaker A:There's no surprises.
Speaker A:It's just the darkened floor of the store.
Speaker D:Dope.
Speaker A:All right, I need to roll two things.
Speaker A:One.
Speaker A:One second, please.
Speaker C:I would like to acknowledge that I'm glad that John did that, because without his extra 20, he wouldn't have passed that by one.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Princess something lets go of your throat.
Speaker E:Yay, air.
Speaker C:No, you're still underwater.
Speaker E:Yeah, go for the.
Speaker C:Takes a big breath in of water.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker C:I need breath of Water.
Speaker C:Sounds like a good, like, indie album.
Speaker A:I need both Ryan and Paris.
Speaker A:I need you both to roll your dodges.
Speaker C:Chris, we need you too.
Speaker A:This is gonna be opposed.
Speaker C:Our dodges.
Speaker C:Oh, plus how much, Chris?
Speaker A:Actually, it's just straight up dodge.
Speaker A:This is an opposed roll.
Speaker D:Ooh, Ryan, 28 out of 50.
Speaker D:Pretty good, pretty good, pretty good.
Speaker D:And Paris, a 14.
Speaker D:Paris, you're gonna be out of 30.
Speaker D:Success.
Speaker A:Also mad.
Speaker D:All right, we're gonna be mad.
Speaker A:I gotta.
Speaker A:This is an opposed roll.
Speaker A:I passed as well.
Speaker A:So you got like a pass.
Speaker C:Oh, by the way, it's so interesting that you've passed every single roll, Chris.
Speaker A:I got an.
Speaker C:I'm just gonna point that out to the listeners.
Speaker A:I got an 18, so I got a 14.
Speaker A:I know, so.
Speaker A:So unfortunately, with an opposed roll, that means you lose.
Speaker D:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:You both feel hands grab onto the back of your necks and yank you backwards.
Speaker C:I passed.
Speaker D:It's basically not.
Speaker D:It's not as bad as it could have been, right?
Speaker D:Is that what that means if we pass?
Speaker A:Don't interrupt me while I'm narrating.
Speaker C:I'm so sorry, Chris.
Speaker C:You're right.
Speaker A:How dare you take umbrage before there.
Speaker C:Was a pregnant pause.
Speaker A:I have to put my frickin thoughts together, motherfuckers.
Speaker A:I have to make this shit up out of whole cloth.
Speaker A:That's my job.
Speaker A:You gotta give me some moments.
Speaker E:That pregnant pause is because Chris is the mommy of the story.
Speaker A:The mommy of the story.
Speaker C:I am so sorry to rush your birth.
Speaker A:You both feel hands grab the back of your necks and pull you backwards.
Speaker A:Back towards the stone slab steps Ryan.
Speaker A:Instinctively you duck down and pitch yourself forward and the hand loses grasp of your neck and you spin around to see nothing there except Paris form his eyes wide fall backwards into the darkness.
Speaker A:He has no time to even scream.
Speaker A:You just hear kind of a sad gasp as he disappears from view.
Speaker B:As Chris said that, he stepped back away from his microphone into the darkness and almost disappeared on us.
Speaker E:Yeah, that was pretty cool.
Speaker A:Paris, I need you to roll another dodge.
Speaker A:This is not a post.
Speaker D:Yeah, bro, let's do this.
Speaker D:That was a 56 out of 30 failure.
Speaker A:Go ahead and give that a check, please.
Speaker A:Now I need to roll something.
Speaker D:Check my dodge.
Speaker A:You pitch backwards and you just feel the back of your head tingle.
Speaker A:You feel your stomach shoot up into your throat.
Speaker A:But the fall isn't very Far.
Speaker A:Because you hit water before you hit anything hard, but you pitch beneath the waves.
Speaker A:The impossibly rising, murky waves.
Speaker D:Do I get to roll?
Speaker D:Swim?
Speaker D:Oh, fuck, yes.
Speaker D:So excited.
Speaker A:Ryan, roll your sanity.
Speaker C:You roll your sanity.
Speaker D:That seems fair.
Speaker D:That seems fair.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:This is from unnatural.
Speaker C:You bet your sweet ass.
Speaker C:I want to project.
Speaker A:Are you sure you only have three willpower?
Speaker A:That is a risk.
Speaker A:I just want you to be aware of it.
Speaker A:You're welcome to take that risk.
Speaker C:They didn't know I had three willpower, by the way, so thanks for giving that.
Speaker A:Well, anybody who looks at your character.
Speaker C:Can we look at each other's character sheets?
Speaker E:We can't see stats.
Speaker C:Yeah, we can't see stats.
Speaker A:Chris, you have very low willpower.
Speaker A:Are you sure you want to make that choice?
Speaker C:No, I don't.
Speaker C:Yes, I do.
Speaker C:Oh, fuck.
Speaker C:What's the willpower?
Speaker C:I know, I know, I know, I know.
Speaker C:Is it 2 or is it like, 0?
Speaker A:It's a.
Speaker A:It's a minus 1D4.
Speaker A:If you get down to 2, you start to have a nervous breakdown.
Speaker A:You lose 20 on all your skills.
Speaker A:If you get down to 0, you go unconscious.
Speaker C:Okay, now I don't.
Speaker A:Here's your breaking point.
Speaker A:Let's check that out real quick here.
Speaker C:It's super high.
Speaker C:It's super high.
Speaker E:So super.
Speaker C:But we've also been eating for, like, 20 sessions, so.
Speaker A:That's correct.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:You spin around, there is nothing there, but, oh, no.
Speaker A:You watch your.
Speaker C:What's going to happen.
Speaker A:You watch your.
Speaker A:Your.
Speaker A:Your laddie disappear from view, and you hear a giant splash.
Speaker A:What would you like to do with your turn?
Speaker C:I'm not.
Speaker C:I'm not crazy.
Speaker A:You still have control of Ryan.
Speaker C:Oh, okay, right.
Speaker C:That's a good way of saying it.
Speaker E:Run.
Speaker C:Thinking about it.
Speaker A:No worries.
Speaker A:Take time.
Speaker C:Thinking about running.
Speaker B:You could leave us.
Speaker B:You could come back for us.
Speaker C:I know it's not a super Ryan thing to do.
Speaker B:You can just stand there and stare.
Speaker A:When you get back, you have three bloated drowned corpses.
Speaker D:Whoa.
Speaker D:I have not rolled my swim yet, bud.
Speaker D:Slow your voice.
Speaker A:I know that some hot dice are coming my way.
Speaker C:Ryan doesn't see necessarily the point of going down into the scary cave.
Speaker C:So he is going to stand and stare.
Speaker C:Yeah, I think he's going to flash his light down.
Speaker C:But while doing so, look around, understanding this is an impossibility for a long rule like yardstick, a rope, any length, the flush pull thing.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Anything that he could use as, like, a raft mechanism within his immediate surroundings.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Roll your luck, please.
Speaker C:Or if the door fucking is fully off the hinge.
Speaker A:Are you thumbs downing me with emojis because I said roll your luck?
Speaker D:No, I'm thumbs downing Eric and his flesh pole.
Speaker A:Oh, I didn't read a fleshpole joke.
Speaker D:Damn, I do not want to see that thing.
Speaker E:I did not say flesh pole.
Speaker D:What'd you say?
Speaker A:Pole.
Speaker A:Flesh.
Speaker D:I heard flesh pole.
Speaker E:Like the, you know, like the old timey toilets.
Speaker D:No, I heard flesh pole about it.
Speaker A:Got it.
Speaker E:U, L, L.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker E:Oh, it does sound very similar to flesh pull.
Speaker A:I heard flesh pull and I was like, I'll have to look that up later.
Speaker A:What is that?
Speaker B:I don't want to know.
Speaker D:I just got.
Speaker D:I just got real bad.
Speaker D:I just got real bad.
Speaker A:You just rolled luck, Agent Ryan.
Speaker A:How'd you do?
Speaker C:I got a 19 out of a target 50.
Speaker C:So a success.
Speaker C:I am a lucky man.
Speaker A:You are.
Speaker A:It hasn't been touched in a long ass time.
Speaker A:It's covered with dust itself.
Speaker E:Is it his penis?
Speaker A:God damn.
Speaker A:Hasn't been touched in a long ass time.
Speaker A:It's covered with dust itself.
Speaker A:But there is a wood handled pretty sturdy looking broom that is tucked behind a few piles of.
Speaker A:Of books here.
Speaker C:So Ryan is going to grab that and Chinese light down the steps, put the broom down in front of him, and we'll go down enough steps if it's like two or three, to reach like the water where Paris just fell in.
Speaker A:So about 12 steps down to the floor, the stone has gone.
Speaker A:The stone slab steps.
Speaker A:Correct.
Speaker A:The water has gone all the way up to step number five.
Speaker C:How many steps long is the broom?
Speaker D:You sure it's not step six?
Speaker D:Couldn't be the slippery stone.
Speaker C:There's been five turns.
Speaker D:Step six.
Speaker C:He's being real direct with this.
Speaker B:Too much.
Speaker C:We get 12 thirds to get out of this.
Speaker A:It's pretty decent.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's got some good reach you could get if you like.
Speaker A:Really gave it a long reach there.
Speaker C:Is it six steps?
Speaker A:It's like eight steps worth.
Speaker C:Eight steps worth.
Speaker D:Great.
Speaker A:It's a big one.
Speaker C:Great.
Speaker C:Then he's at the top of the steps putting that into the water.
Speaker A:You're like, oh, hope I can find my boy Paris in these murky depths.
Speaker C:Fingers crossed.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker A:Got it.
Speaker C:Is exactly his sentiment.
Speaker E:Okay, good.
Speaker A:All right, that's your turn, Agent Kane.
Speaker A:You're still under the water and you see Prentiss above you and he's just flailing and there's no more bubbles coming out of his mouth, but he's still screaming.
Speaker A:His eyes are very wide open.
Speaker A:You can even see this because you're close to him in this murky water.
Speaker A:What would you like to do?
Speaker B:We're gonna give it one more push.
Speaker B:And if I can't get him up, I'm gonna have to surface for error and try again.
Speaker A:So that's correct.
Speaker A:Actually, go ahead and roll your athletics or swim, whichever is higher, please.
Speaker B:That was almost a success.
Speaker B:I saw a 37 and then the dice rolled, and it is a critical failure at 77 out of 50.
Speaker A:Oh, no.
Speaker A:So I have your plan, which is to try to get him up there.
Speaker A:And then if it's just not going to work, you've got to get some air.
Speaker A:That's your plan.
Speaker A:I will get back to what happens to you after we find out what happens to Prentiss.
Speaker A:Prentice.
Speaker A:I have to roll for you now.
Speaker A:Can you see what I roll when I actually click on your character sheet, or does it still do?
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:I rolled your swim.
Speaker A:I rolled a 12.
Speaker A:Success.
Speaker C:Oh, nice.
Speaker A:You go ahead and you kick as hard as you can into the person beneath you.
Speaker A:This body, something you can finally feel.
Speaker A:And you start fighting against it and push yourself off as hard as you can.
Speaker A:And you crest up into what is a very quickly narrowing gap between the top of this basement and the surface of this murky water.
Speaker A:And you take a much needed breath into your near burnt lungs as you kicked as hard as you possibly could.
Speaker A:All right?
Speaker A:And I'm sorry to say, Kane, that critical failure is gonna happen.
Speaker A:A little bit of damage is coming.
Speaker E:Your way because you were the thing I kicked off.
Speaker B:The good news there is an unarmed strike is only a D4.
Speaker C:Swim it off.
Speaker A:A1.
Speaker A:D4 minus one.
Speaker A:Unless our boy Prentiss is a big, big lad.
Speaker A:But now he does not have a damage bonus that would put him higher than that.
Speaker A:You take a just an extremely painful kick to your stomach.
Speaker A:It knocks all the air that you had conserved out of your lungs.
Speaker A:As he gets you right in the diaphragm, Agent Kane.
Speaker A:And you feel something snap inside at the same time.
Speaker A:You grit your teeth as bubbles just explode out.
Speaker A:Prentiss, you'll be able to resume control, if you survive, of your character next round.
Speaker E:If I survive?
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Agent Parrish, you have just been pulled back very disorientingly right into this water.
Speaker A:And you feel now not just one hand on the back of your throat, but another one.
Speaker A:Come around and grab the front of your trachea and begin squeezing with what feel like sharp, jagged nails.
Speaker A:And begin pulling your deeper and deeper down the steps.
Speaker A:Towards the floor of the basement.
Speaker A:Please roll your sanity.
Speaker A:You see nothing.
Speaker A:You cannot feel anything as you move your hands around.
Speaker D:I got a three question marks over one question mark.
Speaker A:Do we like the veiled sanity?
Speaker A:Should I get rid of that for our next scenario?
Speaker B:Oh, no, I love it.
Speaker E:I like it a lot.
Speaker C:Yes, keep rid of that.
Speaker E:Definitely fun way to play.
Speaker C:I hate it.
Speaker D:No, no.
Speaker A:Do you really hate it as much as I'll talk about it?
Speaker C:You know, people.
Speaker D:I mean, I guess for those of us who've had.
Speaker D:Who like know what our sanity losses is beforehand, it's pretty fun not having any idea what it is.
Speaker A:Well, did you want to project anything?
Speaker A:Poor Connor.
Speaker D:In this situation, I don't.
Speaker D:I can't think of a good reason that I would project.
Speaker D:So no, I'm not going to.
Speaker A:Okay, cool.
Speaker C:Preserve sanity, dude.
Speaker C:Yeah, Chris, I don't think John understands.
Speaker D:I can't think of a good narrative reason that I would project on any of my former, you know, guys that I would surf with in the desert.
Speaker D:Same drowning.
Speaker C:Guess who's still alive.
Speaker A:What would you like to do with your turn here?
Speaker D:Well, he gets it.
Speaker D:Paris gets this gleam in his eye reminiscent of Clint Eastwood and his classic Fistful of Dollars and says, get your hands off of me, motherfucker.
Speaker A:So you lose all your air.
Speaker A:Okay, got it.
Speaker A:So now we have empty lungs.
Speaker A:All right, what else do you do?
Speaker C:Reach for the broom.
Speaker A:Gloo Glob is what he says.
Speaker A:What's his action?
Speaker D:Were the ghost hands intimidated by my area?
Speaker A:They squeezed tighter and it's extremely painful.
Speaker A:You don't know if you're going to be to take another gulp of air again if this vice grip remains as tight as it is.
Speaker D:All right, real talk.
Speaker D:Real talk, Paris.
Speaker D:Real talk.
Speaker D:Paris has.
Speaker D:So he's being pulled into water by ghost hands.
Speaker D:Creepy.
Speaker D:I am going to attempt to swim.
Speaker D:I'm going to try to attempt to keep my cool as best I can in this extreme situation.
Speaker D:I'm going to fall back on my training.
Speaker D:Oh, that could have been a good usage of my.
Speaker D:Whatever.
Speaker D:It's fine.
Speaker D:Too late for that.
Speaker D:I fall back on training and I'm going to attempt to swim back towards the surface.
Speaker A:Roll your swimming with.
Speaker A:It's going to be a post.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's a posed by me.
Speaker D:All right, a 42.
Speaker A:I rolled a 35.
Speaker A:You win.
Speaker C:Yeah, baby.
Speaker C:Swim it up.
Speaker D:I wait.
Speaker D:I win.
Speaker A:You.
Speaker A:We both succeeded, but you rolled higher.
Speaker A:Price is right rules.
Speaker A:You win.
Speaker D:Oh, nicely done.
Speaker A:Chris.
Speaker C:Your success have been amazing.
Speaker A:With all of your strength you jettison from the floor that you've been dragged down toward forcibly back up towards the surface.
Speaker A:You feel one of the hands kind of lose its grip.
Speaker A:There's something there.
Speaker A:It's not an all powerful force.
Speaker A:You feel it slip.
Speaker A:You slip away out of this grasp, and you find yourself all the way at the surface of the water.
Speaker A:Based on where you are, that's pretty much the stairwell.
Speaker A:So there's plenty of air here up into depths itself.
Speaker A:And you take a big gulp of air, but you realize behind you, where the other two agents are, they probably don't have any.
Speaker A:Any space left.
Speaker A:You just clicks in your head with all of your calm, going back on training mindset.
Speaker A:That's your turn.
Speaker D:All right, so.
Speaker D:So my character did in fact say, I ain't got time for this.
Speaker A:You said, stupid glob.
Speaker A:And then, yes, you were able to regain physical control.
Speaker A:For now.
Speaker A:Speaking of for now, hands are grabbing at your clothes, at your arms, at your legs, and at your ankle as you make this movement up, but you break free.
Speaker D:Oh, it's a bad time.
Speaker D:Not a fan.
Speaker A:Okay, now I need to pull out the drowning rules.
Speaker B:First player on.
Speaker C:Is the ceiling the same height around this whole place, Chris, or is it like if they're not near the stairwell, they're going to hit a ceiling?
Speaker A:The ceiling is.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Lower than the stairwell, which does come up and follow kind of a.
Speaker A:Do you know what I mean?
Speaker A:Like a diagonal path passageway up.
Speaker A:Ryan, it is your turn.
Speaker A:Top of the combat round.
Speaker C:Ryan is going to hold strong with his broom.
Speaker C:You see Do I see Paris near.
Speaker A:Explode up out of the water next to your broom and take a huge breath of air.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So I'm basically going to put the broom as close to him like, so his arms are falling onto it, if possible, you know, so he just needs to grab.
Speaker A:You're gonna brace yourself.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:So that you have all preparedness that you can possibly have.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:To pull this giant Marine out of the water.
Speaker C:Okay, so my turn is preparing to pull him on his turn.
Speaker A:Agent Kane, your lungs are empty.
Speaker A:You have just been kicked brutally by your fellow agent, who seems hell bent on using you as a way to buoy himself up out of these murky depths.
Speaker A:What would you like to do?
Speaker A:Oh, before you do, please roll a con.
Speaker A:I'm sorry, we got to do those suffocation rules first.
Speaker B:Yep, yep.
Speaker B:Oh, this is not good.
Speaker B:Actually, it is good.
Speaker B:Success.
Speaker B:17 under 50.
Speaker C:Nice.
Speaker A:If the contest succeeds, your agent suffers 1hp damage.
Speaker A:I got you taken care of there.
Speaker A:You're so constituted, you are currently at six hit points.
Speaker B:Yes, I am.
Speaker A:For our listeners, if you're following along.
Speaker B:We are gonna kick for the surface.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:It's no longer there.
Speaker A:Okay, that's perfect.
Speaker A:Swim is appropriate now.
Speaker A:Please roll your swim.
Speaker B:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker B:19 under 20.
Speaker C:Hell yeah.
Speaker E:Damn.
Speaker D:Wow.
Speaker A:You go ahead and with all of your strength, despite the fact that that something's kind of grading against your internals as you move.
Speaker A:You go ahead and begin making your way to the surface.
Speaker B:Pretty sure it's not the first time she's had a broken rib.
Speaker A:I'm going to roll for you here.
Speaker A:You are able to get a tiny lung full of air before as you get to the surface, that gap closes completely and it's gone.
Speaker A:It's not going to be enough for you to not have to do a con.
Speaker C:This is why the books are wet.
Speaker A:That makes another con next time, unless you can get your get yourself out of this situation.
Speaker A:Speaking of folks who need to get out of a situation, apprentice, you took a big ol after using Agent Kane, but really, in your feverish mind, it was just whatever was hurting you, using that as a.
Speaker A:As a buoying effort.
Speaker A:You've taken a big gulp of air.
Speaker A:Your lungs are full again.
Speaker A:But that is a short lived moment as the gap just is gone.
Speaker A:And you are now trapped under murky water.
Speaker A:You're not sure which way is what.
Speaker A:It's very, very dark.
Speaker A:You can see spinning in the distance, slowly disappearing in the murk.
Speaker A:Your cell phone, the light still on, goes out of sight.
Speaker A:There's movement around you.
Speaker A:Everything sounds like whooshing, but you're not sure what's happening.
Speaker A:It's your turn.
Speaker A:You have full control of Prentiss again.
Speaker E:And I have no sense of where the stairs are.
Speaker A:I am willing.
Speaker A:Despite the fact you were in an insane referee, I'm willing to give you a navigate if you have it.
Speaker E:I don't have navigate.
Speaker A:See, why don't you just give it navigate a good old roll.
Speaker A:You got 10% in it.
Speaker A:Let's give it a go.
Speaker E:Okay.
Speaker E:Navigate.
Speaker E:I'll do.
Speaker E:Oof.
Speaker E:That's a critical fail.
Speaker A:Maybe I should have had you roll that.
Speaker A:Well.
Speaker A:You get to check navigate, Dude.
Speaker A:You have absolutely of.
Speaker E:Joyce.
Speaker A:You have me absolutely.
Speaker A:You bullied it into your absolutely no idea.
Speaker A:You are lost.
Speaker A:You were in a moment of complete violence where you wanted to fight against this thing that was unnaturally holding you underwater.
Speaker A:That red rage is still there, and you're still kind of shaking with the adrenaline.
Speaker A:Yeah, you have no idea where you are.
Speaker E:I'm going to pick a direction and swim that way.
Speaker A:I have to roll that luck for you, so give me a second.
Speaker C:How big is this room, Chris?
Speaker A:Oh, I'd say it's like a pretty small room.
Speaker A:So we're talking about like 12 by 16, right?
Speaker C:So if you kicks, he'll hit a wall or something, right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:You start swimming as fast as you can.
Speaker A:I need you to roll a swim now, please.
Speaker E:That is a success.
Speaker E:9 to 20.
Speaker C:We are a swimming little group.
Speaker A:You go ahead and you feel your hands hit a wall.
Speaker A:It's that brick wall.
Speaker A:It has like some sludge or algae or something over it.
Speaker A:Something.
Speaker A:Something very sludgy that you don't quite.
Speaker A:What could that be?
Speaker A:You think to yourself, that's your turn.
Speaker A:Okay, Paris, your arms come down as you take this breath, and they fall upon this push broom.
Speaker A:And you look up to see Ryan trying to pull you up out of the water with this wooden push broom.
Speaker D:So I heard.
Speaker D:My arms are flinging down upon a push broom.
Speaker A:That is correct.
Speaker A:You look up and see Ryan is holding the other end of it.
Speaker A:He looks like he's ready to yank you up out of the murky water.
Speaker D:The depth, in fact, for this round, do I have time to kind of evaluate my situation?
Speaker D:And then Paris would.
Speaker D:Would dive back in in an attempt to save his at least apprentice.
Speaker D:And sorry gain, no offense, but, you know, is what it is.
Speaker D:Would attempt to save his fellow, you know, his fellow soldiers.
Speaker D:So that would be his fallen back on his training.
Speaker D:So this is what his training would dictate.
Speaker D:So do I have time to, like, process all that and then dive into the water and attempt to save them?
Speaker D:And here's an out of character question.
Speaker D:I have no idea how a marine would attempt to save someone.
Speaker A:You don't have to.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I'm here for help.
Speaker A:You're not a Marine.
Speaker D:Awesome.
Speaker A:I'm.
Speaker A:I'm your hand.
Speaker C:All right, well, Chris is a Marine.
Speaker D:Paris is going to evaluate situation and go to rescue his.
Speaker D:His helmet.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker D:Here we go.
Speaker D:Hey, that'll be an 18.
Speaker A:Really, really good on this.
Speaker D:Out of 50.
Speaker C:We're doing so good on this.
Speaker A:This is like the time to do great on swims.
Speaker A:And you all are.
Speaker D:It's.
Speaker A:It's phenomenal.
Speaker D:Swim, swim, swim, swim, swim.
Speaker C:Paris, Ryan's gonna jump back in.
Speaker A:You look, you lock eyes with Ryan holding onto the broom, and you push backwards in a way, performing a quick broad stroke and disappear under the.
Speaker A:Under the waves.
Speaker A:You begin swimming through this merc holding your phone in one hand, a phone that you did not let go of.
Speaker A:Even despite all of that struggle.
Speaker A:You feel hands again, grasping at your arms, at your chest, and at your neck, for that has not stopped.
Speaker D:Cool.
Speaker D:Chris is rolling.
Speaker D:We don't know what happened.
Speaker A:We tied both.
Speaker A:Succeed Ty goes to the defender and Delta Green.
Speaker A:So you are the defender.
Speaker D:Me or fuck, yeah.
Speaker D:All right.
Speaker A:This thing can't get a grasp on you, but it is not stopping.
Speaker A:You are swimming deeper into whatever it is.
Speaker A:Whatever it is, it's lair.
Speaker D:It's that Clint Eastwood eye, right?
Speaker D:That's what scared it off.
Speaker D:Just enough.
Speaker D:I got just enough of an edge with that.
Speaker A:Ryan, he just disappeared.
Speaker A:Let go of your push for him.
Speaker A:He had it.
Speaker A:You could have gotten him out of there.
Speaker A:He's gone.
Speaker A:He's gone under the waves.
Speaker C:Ryan's gonna mutter idiot under his breath and then take his phone light and put it under the water near the stairs in the hopes that there is a beacon effect there that will then cascade almost like a boon into the next, I don't know, Minutes.
Speaker C:Some might call them turns.
Speaker A:Seconds.
Speaker A:Seconds.
Speaker A:But yes, perhaps.
Speaker A:We shall see.
Speaker A:Agent Kane, you had a brief moment where you could fill your lungs with a tiny bit of air, but it wasn't enough.
Speaker A:You need to roll your con again.
Speaker B:Failure.
Speaker B:61, under over 50.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:What's appropriate?
Speaker A:Should the handler roll the suffocation damage or should the player?
Speaker A:How do we feel about that?
Speaker C:The player.
Speaker E:I mean, I think.
Speaker A:I think people I know, but how do y'all feel?
Speaker A:What do y'all want to do?
Speaker C:I would want to suffocate.
Speaker A:Control over the dice, or do you want me to have control over the dice?
Speaker B:I feel like you should roll it.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:Like you've railroaded enough here, Chris.
Speaker A:Ch.
Speaker A:Ch.
Speaker C:I'm sorry.
Speaker C:That's all the only way.
Speaker A:You are down to 4 hp.
Speaker C:You got this.
Speaker C:You can make it at least.
Speaker B:I am not low enough that I had to do a second con roll.
Speaker B:One more point and I would have been.
Speaker A:Go ahead and roll your swim.
Speaker A:Since you had a success last time, I'm going to give you a boon of 20 this time.
Speaker A:That goes for evaluation.
Speaker B:Did not need it.
Speaker A:Didn't need it.
Speaker B:Success.
Speaker A:Let me know.
Speaker A:What do you want to do?
Speaker B:I'm still above that chair.
Speaker B:I'm gonna dive down and use that to orient myself towards the stairs.
Speaker A:You have you.
Speaker A:You're oriented.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:You don't have.
Speaker B:We're swimming stairs.
Speaker A:Yeah, that was.
Speaker A:Prentiss lost it.
Speaker A:Because he lost it.
Speaker A:Prentiss.
Speaker A:Is no longer around you.
Speaker A:What do you want to do?
Speaker A:Do you want to go back to the stairs?
Speaker B:I have to.
Speaker B:If I drown, I'm not gonna do anybody any good.
Speaker B:I need oxygen.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:You start swimming towards the stairs.
Speaker A:And as you jettison yourself through this murky water, your phone's still in your hand and giving you a little bit of light.
Speaker A:As motes swim before you, you see in the distance, another light close to where you thought the stairs were.
Speaker A:It's quite bright.
Speaker B:Well, we're.
Speaker B:We're swimming towards that.
Speaker B:And it was actually my Glock that I was using with the flashlight attachment, so I am glad I did not lose that.
Speaker A:You've got your tac light.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's perfectly fine.
Speaker A:You got a light, Agent Princess.
Speaker A:You got goop on your hands.
Speaker A:Your phone's gone.
Speaker A:What do you want to do?
Speaker E:I guess swim.
Speaker E:Kick off the wall and.
Speaker E:Or whatever that is and swim the opposite way.
Speaker C:Do we establish that you swimming in the wrong direction?
Speaker A:You as Eric don't know what clue.
Speaker A:I was handy you.
Speaker A:Is that correct?
Speaker A:Let's see if Princess knows.
Speaker A:Go ahead and roll your intelligence.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker E:Okay, cuz.
Speaker E:Yeah, I must have.
Speaker A:No worries.
Speaker A:No worries.
Speaker A:We'll see if your character knows.
Speaker E:Oh, definite no.
Speaker E:It's a critical failure.
Speaker A:So close, Prentice.
Speaker A:You kick off away from this wall to go to the other side, searching desperately for that stairway.
Speaker A:All right, go ahead and roll a.
Speaker E:Wow.
Speaker E:I got a critical success.
Speaker E:1.
Speaker A:Okay, the best roll in the game.
Speaker D:So, yep, back to back.
Speaker C:It's a helpful antidote to the critical fail.
Speaker E:Yeah, it's sort of.
Speaker A:Sort of helpful.
Speaker A:I hope.
Speaker A:I hope it helps.
Speaker C:All right, we'll tell you if it does.
Speaker A:Harris, you are swimming through the murky water with your gun in one hand, cell phone in another, looking for either of the agents lost in this murky morass.
Speaker A:There are hands grasping, actually trying to pull you deeper and deeper into the basement.
Speaker D:Do I need to.
Speaker D:Do I do something?
Speaker A:Paris, you should probably decide what your character does during the game.
Speaker C:Fight back.
Speaker D:Dude, I thought he was still trying to rescue.
Speaker D:Still trying to rescue the other people.
Speaker D:Sure, still trying to do that.
Speaker A:If that's what you're trying to do, just tell me.
Speaker A:That's fine.
Speaker A:Things change between rounds.
Speaker A:So I got to check in with everybody every time, right?
Speaker A:So if that's what you're still doing, you don't have any idea where they are.
Speaker A:You're gonna be kind of looking for them, searching for them.
Speaker A:You can roll a swim.
Speaker A:I'm gonna give you a plus.
Speaker A:20% boon, just like everybody else since you passed last time.
Speaker D:All right, so, yes, Paris is still.
Speaker D:So he dove back in.
Speaker D:He fought off the OR tied with the ghost hands, and is attempting to locate his fellow investigators.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker A:Roll.
Speaker A:Swim plus 20.
Speaker D:Okay, well, I succeeded.
Speaker D:62 out of 70.
Speaker C:Nice.
Speaker A:I got to roll, huh?
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And now I gotta roll one other thing.
Speaker D:Oh, man.
Speaker D:Shif.
Speaker A:Shiff.
Speaker D:I believe I said.
Speaker D:Shit.
Speaker D:Fuck.
Speaker D:It was exactly what I said.
Speaker A:As you swim forward expertly, you see in the distance, Kayn doing her best and actually with good form, coming through the water towards you.
Speaker A:What would you like to do?
Speaker A:You still have time.
Speaker D:What would I mean out of character?
Speaker D:What would be the.
Speaker C:Grab her hand.
Speaker D:Grab her hand.
Speaker D:Would it be grab her hand or, like, point or something?
Speaker A:Or what do you want to do?
Speaker A:And I'll tell you, if she looks.
Speaker D:Like she's in control, I would likely try to make sure she knows which way she's going, which is back towards the stairs.
Speaker D:So I would.
Speaker D:Paris will likely point back towards the.
Speaker A:Stairs, so you do your best.
Speaker A:As she gets closer, you use your light to direct her in the direction of the stairs that you just came from.
Speaker D:And then I'll continue on to get to find Apprentice.
Speaker A:You're looking for Prentice.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker C:John, I don't want your character to die.
Speaker D:Yeah, but he can't leave Prentice behind.
Speaker C:But it would be awesome if he did.
Speaker D:Narratively, not sure how to take that, but all right.
Speaker D:Oh, narratively, yeah.
Speaker D:It'd be pretty wild to be the.
Speaker A:Hand stop grasping at you, Paris.
Speaker A:This frees you up to move around a little bit more, more flexibly.
Speaker A:Kane.
Speaker A:A hand.
Speaker A:A hand grabs you, but you don't see what it's attached to.
Speaker A:It starts to try to pull you down.
Speaker A:You slip out of its graph.
Speaker A:You're continuing to kick towards past Paris, towards where you know the staircase is.
Speaker A:You're not sure what that was.
Speaker A:You try not to think about it.
Speaker A:You still have to roll your sand.
Speaker D:Still get fucked.
Speaker A:Same question.
Speaker A:Any potential loss, you want to project or you just on a mission like the others?
Speaker B:You know what?
Speaker B:I am going to project.
Speaker A:Roll a 1D4.
Speaker A:Take that away from your willpower and the bond of your choice.
Speaker A:Just announce who it is.
Speaker A:Mark down that individual so we can incorporate that in a home scene.
Speaker C:If you survive the cool kids project.
Speaker A:All right, that's a hefty four.
Speaker A:The big one it is.
Speaker C:Ooh.
Speaker A:I've got your willpower down to 10.
Speaker A:Who are you going to take a ding out of?
Speaker A:Who are you Tapping into.
Speaker A:To give you strength.
Speaker B:This is gonna come off of Gareth Collins, my previous case officer, friend, mentor.
Speaker B:Right now, she is blaming him for her being here in the first place.
Speaker A:So good use of your bond.
Speaker A:I like that.
Speaker A:Very cool.
Speaker C:You're cool.
Speaker A:Appreciate that.
Speaker A:I guess I won't kill your character.
Speaker C:You can try.
Speaker A:That's all it takes, y'all.
Speaker C:You can fucking try.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I did try.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Several times.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:As blue goo speak.
Speaker A:Speaking of your character and dying.
Speaker A:It's your turn.
Speaker C:Ryan is going to.
Speaker C:Can Ryan see Kane's movement?
Speaker C:Is she near enough thinking that, you know, this.
Speaker C:This broom is, you know, six feet.
Speaker A:Long, eight feet long, at this exact point, just because of the.
Speaker A:The order.
Speaker A:The ordering.
Speaker A:It just looked like.
Speaker A:Looks like Paris is kicking a whole bunch of waves up and.
Speaker C:Oh, I understand, you know.
Speaker A:Yeah, you're just not.
Speaker A:Kane is there, Meta.
Speaker A:But to you as Ryan, it's just like movement under the water.
Speaker A:There's no reason to believe it's another agent at this time.
Speaker C:Ryan is going to continue his beacon bullshit of kind of bracing strongly with one arm.
Speaker C:The umbrella.
Speaker C:Umbrella.
Speaker C:Jesus Christ.
Speaker A:The push broom, although much more dapper.
Speaker C:I don't even know where the fuck that came from.
Speaker C:I'm like, having a stroke.
Speaker B:The broom's longer.
Speaker C:And then flashing his light with the other hand, but not getting in.
Speaker C:Into the water to the best of his ability.
Speaker A:Agent Kane, you burst out of the water, taking a fresh breath of air.
Speaker A:As you emerge in the stairwell, another hand grasps at your shirt, another at your ankle.
Speaker A:Something's trying to drag you back in, but you're able to slip, at least for now, from its attempts.
Speaker A:What would you like to do?
Speaker B:I'm gonna drag myself up a couple of stairs and just sit there, one hand on my ribs, holding them in place as well as I possibly can, trying to breathe as deeply as I can without puncturing a lung.
Speaker B:She's.
Speaker B:She's just got to get her head about her, get some oxygen in there before she figures out what's next.
Speaker A:Apprentice, you are cannonballing again through this murky, murky water towards the opposite wall.
Speaker A:You're doing your best to remain conscious.
Speaker A:Feel this air starting to.
Speaker A:It's getting a little stale in your lungs, but you're.
Speaker A:You're not quite there yet.
Speaker A:Right where you need to roll another constitution for me.
Speaker A:You find yourself touching another wall.
Speaker A:You look from side to side.
Speaker A:You don't even see your phone plummeting through the darkness anymore.
Speaker A:You don't see anything but kind of green, dark.
Speaker A:Nothing.
Speaker A:What Would you like to do with your turn?
Speaker E:So with the realization that that sludge was probably Ryan's goopy drawing with the fungus and that he's on the opposite wall, he's going to try to orient himself towards the stairs.
Speaker A:From that memory, I got to take into account the prior critical failure, because that's.
Speaker A:That's Eric putting together that clue after the fact.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Prince didn't.
Speaker A:So, yeah, I can't.
Speaker A:I actually think it's something else.
Speaker A:That critical failure.
Speaker A:Princess doesn't know.
Speaker E:That's fair.
Speaker E:Yeah, no, that's fine.
Speaker A:If it was a failure, we could have had done a role.
Speaker C:He's gonna take a shot in the dark and go the opposite direction.
Speaker E:Well, he's gonna pick a.
Speaker E:I'm gonna do a luck roll.
Speaker E:Pick a direction.
Speaker A:Pick a direction that.
Speaker A:That is not these other.
Speaker A:These directions.
Speaker A:I'll take care of that for you.
Speaker A:Since really shouldn't see what the result is, you go ahead and again jettison yourself off of the wall towards the direction you hope to goddess is that stairwell.
Speaker A:You can roll a swim plus 20% for me, actually, with that critical success last time.
Speaker A:Let's do a plus.
Speaker E:Well, that's not the right.
Speaker A:But well done.
Speaker E:Yeah, that's a success.
Speaker A:You begin swimming as fast as you can, Paris.
Speaker A:You are swimming and looking for Prentiss.
Speaker A:Gun in one hand, phone in the other with your light.
Speaker A:And you feel this wave of relief as you see Prentiss start to come through this murk straight towards you, eyes wide.
Speaker A:He sees you.
Speaker A:Your eyes meet in this murk.
Speaker A:He begins going faster and faster towards you.
Speaker A:You reach your hand out to grab him, and you both start propelling each other back towards the stairs.
Speaker A:Is that what you'd like to do for your turn, or is there anything else you'd like to add or do?
Speaker D:No, no.
Speaker D:Paris explicitly went down there in order to rescue the teens, but especially to go after Princess.
Speaker D:That's exactly what he would do.
Speaker A:Okay, bad news, Kane.
Speaker A:A hand grabs your hair and begins yanking you back into the water.
Speaker A:You go ahead and she on the broom.
Speaker A:Not on the broom.
Speaker A:She crawled up on her own and took a breather on, like, I'm on the stairs two steps above the water.
Speaker A:And so you see her head get jerked back towards the water.
Speaker A:You see her, like, use all of her strength.
Speaker A:And she grits her teeth as she's obviously in pain and pulls back away from it.
Speaker A:She starts very quickly crab walking, despite the discomfort, up the stairs, away from the water with eyes full of fright.
Speaker B:What the fuck?
Speaker A:Agent Ryan.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:Ryan is going to grab Cain under her like, shoulder and her arm, upper arm, and pull her up the stairs.
Speaker A:You go ahead and take hold of Kane.
Speaker A:Kane's not gonna fight you, I assume.
Speaker A:And you start helping her up the stairs.
Speaker A:She's obviously in great pain.
Speaker A:She's also coughing, and you see water indeed coming out of her mouth as she coughs.
Speaker C:So however far back up into the.
Speaker A:Store, both of you are now out of the stairwell.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker A:And in the store floor of depths.
Speaker A:Okay, Kane, you go along with him.
Speaker A:Are you okay with that being your full turn, or is there something you'd like to add?
Speaker B:I am.
Speaker B:I am definitely, like, I'll be using my feet to help me follow along.
Speaker B:When you first grab her, she definitely screams because that hurts.
Speaker B:But once we're up there, she's gonna motion for you to go back, get the other.
Speaker A:It kind of comes out as a.
Speaker A:As a.
Speaker A:A quiet gurgle more than a scream.
Speaker B:Coughing.
Speaker A:Walking out of her lungs in great pain.
Speaker A:Prentice, you and Paris are now working in tandem to make your way in the direction that you were going.
Speaker A:You guessed right.
Speaker A:You feel.
Speaker A:Because Paris obviously knows where he's going, you hope you both propel each other together towards the exit of this flooded basement.
Speaker A:But you feel something tug at your ankle.
Speaker A:Something familiar, something strong.
Speaker A:I'm not going to require swims this round, but I am going to move past you, Paris, assuming that you are continuing on your way to get you both the hell out of this death trap and move to our friend.
Speaker A:Our invisible friend.
Speaker E:That's fair.
Speaker A:Okay, I need both of you now to please roll Dodge.
Speaker A:This is a post.
Speaker D:Bad times failure.
Speaker E:68 to 30.
Speaker A:As you are doing your best, and you can even see a glimmer of light ahead of you, these hands grab both of your necks, one hand per person.
Speaker A:And you both feel yourselves propelled downward with great force toward the floor, the stone floor of this basement.
Speaker A:The force is extraordinary.
Speaker A:It's like vice grips on your spines.
Speaker A:Ryan and Kane, you are gonna be gasping up in the floor of depths for now, eyeing the surface of the water warily, hoping to see your agents reappear.
Speaker A:Unless you have something else you'd like to do.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:That makes sense.
Speaker A:Three seconds.
Speaker A:No, that's a very short period of time.
Speaker A:Prentice, would you like to kick free of this extraordinary force?
Speaker A:If possible?
Speaker D:Just don't kick me this.
Speaker D:Yeah, don't kick me this time.
Speaker E:We'll see how this goes.
Speaker D:Keep your kicks to yourself.
Speaker B:That was almost a player on player.
Speaker A:Athletics, Swim or strength?
Speaker A:Whatever's.
Speaker A:Higher.
Speaker A:We're gonna do a post roll.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker E:Okay.
Speaker D:I guess.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker E:Strength is my best one.
Speaker A:Out of all this.
Speaker A:Seven.
Speaker E:And I.
Speaker E:I got success.
Speaker E:36.
Speaker A:John, you too.
Speaker A:Athletics, swim or strength, Whichever is higher.
Speaker A:Please oppose.
Speaker A:Roll.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:Roll again.
Speaker A:That's pretty fucking good.
Speaker B:For Price is Right rules.
Speaker E:Wow.
Speaker A:I have good news for both of you.
Speaker A:You both succeeded.
Speaker A:I failed both.
Speaker A:Paris and Prince, you go ahead with.
Speaker A:Since you're being forced down to the floor, you use the floor to both push against it.
Speaker A:You've done this before.
Speaker A:Both of you have to push against this force and you feel it weaken and you slip from its vice like grasp.
Speaker A:You both continue swimming towards this light, which is getting brighter and brighter.
Speaker A:It's not like a flashlight, right?
Speaker A:But it's better than this, Merc.
Speaker A:Both of you break the surface, taking in the musty air of depths as you scramble up the wet slab stone steps as quickly as you can.
Speaker A:I have to roll one more time.
Speaker E:Should we just go ahead and roll that dodge?
Speaker A:Yes, you should.
Speaker B:Oh, no, wait.
Speaker D:For real?
Speaker A:I rolled What?
Speaker A:I rolled.
Speaker D:All right.
Speaker A:I'll give you plus 20% on this one since you guys are now wise to the tricks.
Speaker C:Don't let them suck your dick like that, Chris.
Speaker A:Hey.
Speaker A:I feel what I can get, man.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's tough over here.
Speaker A:Lonely.
Speaker C:I rolled a 7.
Speaker D:7 out of 30.
Speaker E:Feeling good and I got a failure.
Speaker E:That'd be a 50.
Speaker E:Eight of 50.
Speaker A:Paris.
Speaker A:You shrug this off.
Speaker A:You are powering through as fast as you can.
Speaker A:And you realize Prentiss is not next to you.
Speaker A:You watch him slam down to the stone slab steps and he begins falling backwards, almost slipping back down into the murky water.
Speaker A:He looks at you.
Speaker A:He doesn't say anything.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:He doesn't have a time to do it.
Speaker A:His eyes just meet yours.
Speaker A:He almost looks resigned.
Speaker A:Apprentice roll.
Speaker A:Either your strength, athletics or swim.
Speaker A:Actually, I'm sorry, Strength or athletics.
Speaker A:Whichever is higher, please.
Speaker A:Got an opposed roll here.
Speaker E:Okay.
Speaker E:That's a 15.
Speaker E:Success.
Speaker A:I failed.
Speaker E:15 of 50.
Speaker E:Wow.
Speaker D:Take my hand.
Speaker A:You are dragging yourself back out of the water.
Speaker A:Paris reaches his hand down and he pulls you free of whatever this force is.
Speaker A:And you both stumble back onto the floor of depths.
Speaker A:Next to Kane, who is gasping but starting to normalize.
Speaker A:And Ryan, who is bewildered by what he's just seen.
Speaker A:Combat's over.
Speaker A:That's it for tonight.
Speaker D:Holy.
Speaker D:Let's get the fuck out of here.
Speaker D:How did we do that?
Speaker C:That was great.
Speaker D:Wow.
Speaker E:That was.
Speaker E:That was Woof.
Speaker D:Out of a movie right there.
Speaker D:Yeah, like, holy.
Speaker E:La.
