Episode 7
Episode 7 - Fire and Powder
The Agents face down something ancient beneath the village of Mechanicsburg, the words of an otherworldly Intelligence guiding them into a desperate situation.
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Transcript
Hello?
Speaker B:What time is it?
Speaker A:Who is it?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker A:Situation Green Fire and Powder.
Speaker A:Sorry, honey, I have to take this.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So, yeah, where are we starting?
Speaker A:Was.
Speaker A:Was, I think the question before we started rolling.
Speaker A:And that is top of round four, which is three more rounds than most Delta Green Combats.
Speaker A:Go.
Speaker A:Go forward.
Speaker A:So, well done y'all, for breaking some records tonight.
Speaker A:So just.
Speaker A:Just to remind y'all, once again, the large entity moved through this 30 foot wide chamber at a brisk and unnatural pace.
Speaker A:Its strange body coiling and uncoiling, springing and dragging itself across the dusty floor here in a near blink of the eye.
Speaker A:And as it disappeared down yet another dark and twisting tunnel out of the chamber, you all noticed it had these kind of long whip like trailing appendages, tails maybe.
Speaker A:And one of them, as the thing completely disappeared from sight, whipped out and slashed across Agent Ryan's body.
Speaker A:All of you look to see in this brief microseconds, blood beginning to well up across his chest and his right side, just starting to soak very quickly, his shirt and suit.
Speaker A:In fact, the amount of blood is incredibly disconcerting to all of you.
Speaker A:With that being said, we are top of the round with Agent Ryan himself.
Speaker A:You have just started to register that you have been struck.
Speaker A:You're watching droplets of blood pool and fall from your clothes, dappling against the dirty floor.
Speaker B:Ryan, I imagine, is.
Speaker B:I mean, these don't sound like shallow gashes, unless I'm understanding you incorrectly, Chris.
Speaker B:Is that correct?
Speaker B:Or is this like a superficial scrape just very far along me?
Speaker B:Or is this like a gash into flesh?
Speaker A:So it's hard for you to examine yourself in this brief moment, but the amount of blood is utterly disconcerting.
Speaker A:You are starting to feel this creeping pain.
Speaker A:And again, this is across your.
Speaker A:Your neck, your chest, your right side.
Speaker A:And you're actually starting to feel some pain on your face as well.
Speaker A:Wetness is.
Speaker A:Is apparent there.
Speaker B:Ryan clutches at his neck wound and stares, eyes very wide open towards Royson because she's the closest to him, but is at a loss for words.
Speaker B:He's.
Speaker B:He's in shock.
Speaker A:Gotcha.
Speaker A:And he was momentarily reaching towards that stone and then realizing that it was, well, for lack of a better phrase, fused with the desiccated corpse upon the slab here in this alcove.
Speaker B:Yes, he did so.
Speaker A:Your heart skips a beat.
Speaker A:You grasp at your.
Speaker A:At your wound and you take a.
Speaker A:A long swallow as you can feel this wetness trickle down your side and again splatter against the dusty stone.
Speaker A:Floor Romeo, we're going to you this time after Ryan, this is what you have witnessed.
Speaker A:This very fast moving, coiling and uncoiling beast move into this chamber, and then just as fast disappear down another tunnel.
Speaker A:You can see even in the dark alcove what's transpired regarding Ryan.
Speaker C:Fuck.
Speaker C:Gonna open fire again on the creature.
Speaker A:Okay, negative 40.
Speaker C:Negative 40.
Speaker A:Yeah, I said it's disappearing into a dark tunnel.
Speaker A:You really can't see it, so you're firing into a dark tunnel.
Speaker C:Okay, I misunderstood.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker C:I'm gonna help Ryan.
Speaker A:So that means you run.
Speaker C:Run?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Away from the side of Relic, leaving Relic where he is, and make it to the alcove where the pastor and Ron are also located.
Speaker A:Is that correct?
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:You sprint as fast as you can, thinking only of.
Speaker A:Of Agent Ryan, as this thing disappears from your vision entirely down that dark tunnel.
Speaker A:Agent Relic, you just had unloaded again into this creature, hoping that your slugs found purchase, but you haven't slowed it down, not even a clip.
Speaker A:It's disappeared from view down a dark tunnel after.
Speaker A:Well, what looks like fatally wounding Agent Ryan.
Speaker D:I'm gonna.
Speaker D:Hold on.
Speaker D:I'm actually trying to look up a rule here about prepping for.
Speaker A:I can help you, but, yeah, basically.
Speaker D:I just want to basically take a knee and prep for him.
Speaker D:For this creature to come back out one of the doors while they're helping the other agent.
Speaker A:You are basically waiting.
Speaker A:You don't have anything to really aim at, but you are holding tight, waiting for any movement to appear from one of these other tunnels in order to hopefully fire.
Speaker A:Is that correct?
Speaker D:That is correct.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker A:Okay, you've got it.
Speaker A:I will let Relic know when he sees movement.
Speaker B:Now.
Speaker B:I'm just kidding.
Speaker A:Agent Roizen.
Speaker E:So I'm gonna do something a little different.
Speaker E:I am gonna turn around and point my Jericho at the center of that stone and fire straight into it.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:Okay, that doesn't.
Speaker A:Take a roll.
Speaker A:I just need you to go ahead and roll the damage from the weapon, please.
Speaker A:God damn it.
Speaker E:Of course I roll a one.
Speaker A:You turn and point your firearm at the stone that is again, strangely fused to this ancient corpse in fire.
Speaker A:The report, as all reports underground have thus far been, is quite loud, but the agent's hearing is.
Speaker A:Let's be honest, it's destroyed by this point.
Speaker A:And you see a very bright flash as you assume the projectile from your weapon strikes the stone.
Speaker A:However, you do hear the telltale sign of a ricochet and then another nearby to your left, though you're not sure from where or to where.
Speaker A:That projectile, or the pieces of that projectile ended up.
Speaker A:Your heart is now beating doubly fast.
Speaker E:Yeah, I think I'm going to be the only one of us left with hearing when we get back, too.
Speaker E:I did put in earplugs before we came down.
Speaker A:You can actually fire.
Speaker A:Fire again.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker E:I.
Speaker A:That's not a problem.
Speaker E:You know what?
Speaker E:I'm going to give me another damage.
Speaker E:Oh, that's better.
Speaker E:6.
Speaker A:You fire again and again, a bright flash this time.
Speaker A:You think maybe greenish, but it's.
Speaker A:It's just hard to tell.
Speaker A:And you hear the ricochet once more, this time to your right.
Speaker A:You look at the viridian stone and does not appear that the damage that's already present has been exacerbated or there's any real change to the surface of the stone.
Speaker E:Well, that's unnerving.
Speaker A:One moment.
Speaker A:We have a friend who is going to perform a task.
Speaker D:A lot of privately rolled dice happening right now.
Speaker A:The pastor looks up from the body, which he has exclaimed he believes is Mordecai Kemp.
Speaker A:And he turns to meet Uriah's Agent Ryan.
Speaker A:You can just see the desperation, the.
Speaker A:The absolute lack of, well, wherewithal in his eyes as his demeanor pales.
Speaker A:He says again, oh, my God.
Speaker A:He reaches forward to you, Agent Ryan, and he places his hands on your neck.
Speaker A:You feel the grasp against your skin.
Speaker A:It's, it's.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's quite firm.
Speaker A:And he moves with purpose away from the body and towards you.
Speaker A:You're a little confused why he is so upset, because you really feel fine.
Speaker A:You just know you've been well cut a bit.
Speaker A:It's your turn.
Speaker B:I grasp at.
Speaker B:Okay, so I hear what you just said, but I sort of feel like unless you're telling me this isn't the case.
Speaker B:Ryan understands at this point, like, what is going on if he's got blood dripping from his neck.
Speaker B:I mean, how long does it take to register like this is.
Speaker B:This is very bad.
Speaker B:Is that fair?
Speaker A:He's.
Speaker A:He's bleeding, but he's not like blacking out, falling down.
Speaker A:The pain is significant.
Speaker B:Okay, so I'm gonna.
Speaker B:Ryan is going to grasp at the pastor's sleeve and kind of pull it the.
Speaker B:The shirt sort of signifying like, you know, help.
Speaker B:Use this to help staunch the.
Speaker B:The wounds.
Speaker B:But my movement or his movements are.
Speaker B:Are.
Speaker B:Are frantic, trying to both cover up his own.
Speaker B:Hold his own wounds together, as well as scrambling at the past her for.
Speaker B:For help as well.
Speaker B:Eyes still wide.
Speaker A:So you.
Speaker A:You two are.
Speaker A:Are trying to basically Attend to your wounds in a confused and grasping manner.
Speaker A:Got it.
Speaker A:Romeo, you run up to this alcove.
Speaker A:You see the pair doing their best to staunch the bleeding.
Speaker A:What do you do?
Speaker C:Seeing that there's two people.
Speaker C:He and the pastor are worrying over his wounds.
Speaker C:Romeo does a 180 and prepares for the return of the Crosswick monster.
Speaker A:Gotcha.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Return of the Crosswick monster.
Speaker B:Definitely should be the second arc.
Speaker C:It's the sequel arc.
Speaker C:Yeah, the Revengeance.
Speaker A:It's the revenge and scene, actually, we'll call that.
Speaker C:Yeah, I like that a lot.
Speaker A:That works.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:It's all planned out already.
Speaker A:Agent Relic, your eyes are set on every tunnel that's in front of you right now.
Speaker A:Your shotgun leveled.
Speaker A:Anything you'd like to do?
Speaker D:Reload.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:You reach into.
Speaker D:I think I've lost.
Speaker D:I think I fired off two and five rounds.
Speaker D:Shotgun, two slugs.
Speaker D:Going to go ahead and reload now.
Speaker D:Tibets.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:As you do so, you reach into a pouch on your belt and pull out a couple of slugs and carefully reload them into the chamber of the weapon.
Speaker A:Roizen, you stare with disbelief at this stone.
Speaker A:You think maybe there might be an additional scuff or crack on its surface, but otherwise it's fairly untouched.
Speaker E:That's just not right.
Speaker E:Groyzen's gonna rip off her scarf and throw it at the boys, hoping they get the point to use it to help some of the blood.
Speaker E:But then she's actually gonna step closer to the stone and fire again.
Speaker A:Gotcha.
Speaker A:Roll some damage for me, please.
Speaker E:Sex.
Speaker E:Again.
Speaker A:You fire again.
Speaker A:That flash of green light.
Speaker A:You're sure of it this time.
Speaker A:Lights up the whole alcove for just a moment.
Speaker A:This time, you don't hear a ricochet.
Speaker A:But you also don't see any real change on the surface of the stone.
Speaker A:The pastor stumbles and grabs scarf being hurled at him by Roizen.
Speaker A:Snatches that out of the air and he wraps it around your neck and part of your cheek and face.
Speaker A:Agent Ryan, with your compliance and help, he ties it very tightly like a tourniquet.
Speaker A:The pain really starts to.
Speaker A:To cut now.
Speaker A:Really feel it.
Speaker A:What would you like to do?
Speaker B:Ryan's breathing is.
Speaker B:Is really, really hard.
Speaker B:But he's, I guess, to a degree, come out enough of the shock to be able to speak.
Speaker B:Turns to Royson, points to the puddle of.
Speaker B:Was it kerosene that was spilled on the.
Speaker B:When she tried to throw the rum bottle?
Speaker A:It's something that.
Speaker A:That has a very powerful.
Speaker B:It smells flammable.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker A:It's not gasoline.
Speaker A:And not kerosene either, but it definitely has a very strong turpentine esque flavor to it.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:So I'm gonna point towards that puddle and look to her and say fire.
Speaker B:And hand her the lighter that I was reaching into my pocket for.
Speaker B:Or try to hand it to her.
Speaker A:Gotcha.
Speaker A:So she's firing at the stone over and over again.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Next to me.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Cause I'm on the ground.
Speaker A:She grabbed her scarf and threw it back at you, too.
Speaker A:So you're grabbing her left shoulder to get her attention to hand her a lighter.
Speaker A:Sound good?
Speaker B:That works.
Speaker A:Romeo, look side to side from tunnel entrance to tunnel entrance.
Speaker A:You don't see any movement yet.
Speaker A:What would you like to do?
Speaker C:Romeo is going to cross the room to the puddle, and he's going to point, put it in that and light it.
Speaker C:And then he's going to aim at the nearest tunnel.
Speaker A:You're now basically in the middle of the chamber.
Speaker A:Is that your intention?
Speaker C:I would cross.
Speaker C:I would.
Speaker C:If I were Romeo, I would cross the room to the next.
Speaker C:To the nearest wall.
Speaker C:With his back to it.
Speaker A:It's a little bit too far for.
Speaker A:For one, for one, for one.
Speaker A:Go.
Speaker A:Unless you're, like, sprinting at full speed.
Speaker C:Well, he doesn't have much else to do, so.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:So he sprints as fast as he can.
Speaker A:He points as he's passing the puddle.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And yells back behind him.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:To the others.
Speaker A:Okay, agent relic, your shotgun is now fully loaded.
Speaker D:Just going to maintain watch.
Speaker D:Just if there's a chance to give everybody an opportunity to react to this monstrous thing coming through a door, he will provide that.
Speaker E:Agent roizen, she's going to grab the body with the stone by the shoulders.
Speaker E:There's obviously something with the stone that's not quite right.
Speaker E:So at this point, she really doesn't want to touch it.
Speaker E:And she's gonna start trying to drag the entire body over to where the puddle is.
Speaker A:So you grab this corpse off of the slab as best you can.
Speaker A:It's very dry and brittle to your touch and surprisingly light.
Speaker A:In fact, there's hardly any heft to it at all.
Speaker A:And you throw it off the slab, onto the ground and grab it again by its shoulders and begin to drag it across the floor towards this puddle.
Speaker E:Just to make sure the stone's going with it, Right?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:It stays clasped to the thing's sunken chest.
Speaker E:All right.
Speaker E:I figure it's going to take me at least another turn to get it over there.
Speaker A:Absolutely, Agent relic.
Speaker A:To your left.
Speaker A:You hear a horrific bellow down One of the tunnels.
Speaker A:Go ahead and roll.
Speaker A:Your alertness, please.
Speaker D:Fail.
Speaker A:You turn.
Speaker A:You turn towards.
Speaker D:Huh?
Speaker D:What's that?
Speaker A:That tunnel.
Speaker A:Ready to level your weapon and fire at anything that comes through.
Speaker A:Unfortunately, directly to your right, a fast moving fleshy shape, large enough to fill the entire entryway, pours forth towards you.
Speaker D:Gross.
Speaker A:There's a terrible snapping sound as you start to turn back into that direction.
Speaker A:And you do get a chance to fire, but at a negative 20%.
Speaker D:I'll take it.
Speaker A:Something is rushing towards you at a maddening speed.
Speaker A:A wall of strange mottled flesh and flashing teeth.
Speaker D:All right, all right.
Speaker D:Well, hey, Dada.
Speaker A:I'm gonna play down.
Speaker D:My three and a half year old has decided to join us.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker E:Say hi.
Speaker D:Say hi to everybody.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker B:Hi, everybody.
Speaker D:All right.
Speaker D:Thank you.
Speaker D:This is gonna be firearms, right?
Speaker D:Is that the.
Speaker A:That is correct.
Speaker A:Firearms minus 20.
Speaker D:All right, Arden, give me.
Speaker D:All right, she's.
Speaker D:I got my kids.
Speaker D:Luck.
Speaker D:Here we go.
Speaker D:One, two, three.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:Hey.
Speaker C:Nice.
Speaker A:I need you to roll your damage as you pivot on the balls of your feet towards this rushing sound.
Speaker D:Here we go.
Speaker D:8.
Speaker A:You fire, lighting up this side of the chamber and revealing more of this thing's disturbing form.
Speaker D:Oh man, is it gotta be more.
Speaker A:It's very large, 4 to 5 foot wide.
Speaker A:Maw is what's emerging from this tunnel towards you at a breathtaking pace.
Speaker A:Terrible pseudo pods with tiny little finger like protuberances at the end propel its bulk forward towards you.
Speaker A:You fire directly into its center mass.
Speaker A:And you watch your eyes steady, your hands calm as there is a blossoming of mottled grave like flesh on its right side.
Speaker A:Underneath its mouth, long strips of destroyed material falls away, splatters against the stone floor.
Speaker A:And the thing shudders and moves off of its trajectory straight towards you and kind of wavers.
Speaker A:Part of it slams against the stone floor.
Speaker A:You can hear its teeth scraping along as it tries to right itself.
Speaker A:There's a thick ichor that oozes from what you know is a terrible wound.
Speaker A:That's your turn.
Speaker D:Gross.
Speaker D:Also.
Speaker D:Hell yeah.
Speaker D:All right.
Speaker A:The pastor turns, his neck snapping around at attention, finally seeming to notice his surroundings.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:The gunfire going on in the room.
Speaker A:He levels his own shotgun towards the sound where this thing is pouring into the room.
Speaker A:And where Agent Relic has fired himself.
Speaker A:And he readies his weapon, bringing it up against his shoulder.
Speaker A:Agent Ryan, what would you like to do?
Speaker B:Do I have enough strength to stand or move well enough to help Amber with the body or Roisin with the body?
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker B:So I.
Speaker B:I Do that.
Speaker B:I help.
Speaker B:I help Royson drag the body towards the puddle of fluid.
Speaker B:And yes, am I able to do that within this single turn?
Speaker B:Can I.
Speaker A:With both of you grabbing.
Speaker A:Grabbing parts of this.
Speaker A:Of this desiccated corpse.
Speaker A:It's, it's.
Speaker A:It's a very quick hustle across the stone floor of the chamber to get it a little bit moist from this spilled.
Speaker A:Not Bacardi.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I'll kind of arm in arm with the corpse on my right arm to drag him and then with my left while we move.
Speaker B:Can I light the lighter?
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Ryan lights the lighter.
Speaker A:In fact, when you get there, you can throw it down.
Speaker A:You even have that much time because Roizen's helping you.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:So Ryan loops his arm under one of the corpse's arms to help Royson drag him to the puddle while moving across, lights his lighter and throws it down.
Speaker B:As soon as they get the body into the puddle in the hopes that the fluid lights on fire as well.
Speaker A:You throw down the lighter and you hope Romeo, it's your turn.
Speaker C:Romeo hopes.
Speaker A:Okay, roll for hope.
Speaker C:Romeo is going to fire at the.
Speaker A:Crosswick monster with your back against the wall.
Speaker A:After sprinting across the chamber floor in.
Speaker A:In a very lucky direction, away from where it was going to emerge.
Speaker A:You turn, you take aim, and you fire.
Speaker A:Go ahead.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:We've got a success.
Speaker C:And I will.
Speaker A:Yes, please.
Speaker C:And a four.
Speaker A:You fire.
Speaker A:You think your bullet must have hit it, but it doesn't seem to have reacted in the same way to the.
Speaker A:Well, shotgun.
Speaker A:That relic is leveling at it right now.
Speaker A:In fact, it doesn't seem to notice at all as it rights itself.
Speaker A:Its strange flailing appendages starting to quiver in a predatory manner almost.
Speaker A:It's hard to really understand, but it's pulsating and quivering with these anemone like appendages, and it really cat kind of.
Speaker C:Does the ready before it pounces.
Speaker A:Really seems fixated on relic right now.
Speaker C:Oh, do I have time for another round?
Speaker A:No, you spun around, took aim and fired.
Speaker A:Next round, though, if you stay in this position and you aren't murdered by something with your pistol, you'll.
Speaker A:You'll be able to get two rounds off.
Speaker C:Okay, well, what a relic.
Speaker C:I'm gonna roll hope.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, roll hope.
Speaker A:You failed.
Speaker A:So, relic, you.
Speaker A:You know that you hit this thing?
Speaker A:It reacted.
Speaker A:And despite the horror in front of you, the flailing tendrils and the impossible anatomy of this bear, you.
Speaker A:You think you've got can bleed now?
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:The ichor is not red.
Speaker A:It is A blackish brown brackish fluid that's.
Speaker A:That's pouring forth, but you've wounded it.
Speaker D:Good to go?
Speaker A:Yeah, you're good to go.
Speaker A:What would you like to do?
Speaker A:It's very close to you, and it does seem very angry.
Speaker A:Just to be clear.
Speaker D:I'm gonna.
Speaker D:I'm gonna do my best relic accent here.
Speaker D:You crawl back into whatever hole you crawled out of.
Speaker D:Cosmic scum.
Speaker D:And fire.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:Roll your firearms.
Speaker A:This is a plus 20% for point blank.
Speaker A:There's enough light here where there's no detriment.
Speaker A:It's really next to you.
Speaker D:So here comes that crit fail.
Speaker D:Y'all ready?
Speaker D:Let's go.
Speaker D:Get the fuck out.
Speaker B:Oh my God.
Speaker D:Oh, my God.
Speaker E:You did that to yourself.
Speaker D:It's.
Speaker D:I.
Speaker D:It's just not my day.
Speaker D:It's not my.
Speaker D:It's just my mission.
Speaker D:So he tried.
Speaker A:Hold on.
Speaker D:There you go.
Speaker A:Hold on.
Speaker A:Hold on a second here, Relic.
Speaker A:So your firearms.
Speaker A:Let's.
Speaker A:Let's follow the rules here.
Speaker A:Your firearms is 70.
Speaker A:And I said plus 20%, so.
Speaker A:So you're rolling under 90.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:So if you had.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Clicked firearms and added 20%, it would have done this for you, but it would have said critical success, not critical failure.
Speaker D:Wait, for real?
Speaker A:For real?
Speaker D:No way.
Speaker A:So go figure it out.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I thought 70 was your plus 20.
Speaker A:Yeah, I did too.
Speaker A:And so I just wanted to double check.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:If you had.
Speaker A:If you had.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Clicked and put in the 20, the.
Speaker A:The system would have said, hey, this is a critical success.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker D:Finally, when it.
Speaker B:When it's clutch, y'all, what an exciting little.
Speaker A:Little twist it is.
Speaker A:It's sa.
Speaker A:All right, go ahead and roll your damage, please.
Speaker D:16.
Speaker C:Nice.
Speaker A:For this particular weapon with a critical success, you double your damage.
Speaker A:Roll.
Speaker A:You don't have to roll anything else.
Speaker A:But we know that you have landed quite the shot with this point blank munition from this shotgun.
Speaker A:So you just watched this thing drag its face partially across the stone floor.
Speaker A:It's teeth creating a horrific scraping sound.
Speaker A:It righted itself, began to.
Speaker A:To really turn around and begin bristling its.
Speaker A:Its strange body towards you.
Speaker A:Horrible shuddering sound began to emerge from its gullet.
Speaker A:As it poised itself to strike, you swiveled around and shoved your shotgun straight into its mouth and fired immediately from the sound.
Speaker A:The sound was actually quite suppressed.
Speaker A:Almost anticlimactic.
Speaker A:But the amount of material that sprayed out the back of this thing's head knob is truly breathtaking in its.
Speaker A:In its own right.
Speaker A:Grayish brackish ichor now covers the wall behind this thing, dripping down in great, chunky gouts.
Speaker A:You feel the whole thing shudder.
Speaker A:Part of it's still emerging from this nearby tunnel, but the whole thing just rattles, and you can feel the floor underneath you shake.
Speaker A:Its anemone like appendages aren't really moving right now.
Speaker A:In fact, everything's standing on end for a better.
Speaker A:There's really no other way to describe it.
Speaker A:It's almost frozen in time for this brief moment.
Speaker A:You watch as smoke begins to curl from inside its incredibly large, gaping maw.
Speaker A:Agent Roizen, what would you like to do?
Speaker D:Oh, yeah.
Speaker E:Well, as we drop the body and stone in that puddle and the lighter right behind it, I am gonna grab Ryan and shove him as far away from it as I can, because if that goes boom, I don't want to be standing over it.
Speaker A:So you watch this lighter basically fall into the puddle.
Speaker A:Ryan, I'm assuming you're just dropping it at this point in the heat of the moment.
Speaker B:Correct.
Speaker A:And there's a quick blue flash.
Speaker A:Flame that immediately sparks and covers the breadth of where this liquid has spilled, like parchment paper.
Speaker A:The corpse catches on fire.
Speaker A:It's like it's been waiting to be burned.
Speaker A:The flames overtake the body so quickly that you barely have time to get away.
Speaker A:And the heat is extraordinary.
Speaker A:Too much for such a small, small accelerant fire.
Speaker A:You do your best to get Ryan back.
Speaker A:Anything else you'd like to do during this turn, Agent Rosen?
Speaker A:I think you have a little bit more time.
Speaker E:I think getting us out of the path of burning inferno is what all of my focus is on right now.
Speaker E:I can deal with the monster next turn.
Speaker E:Let's just not burn to death before we get there.
Speaker A:I think that's wise.
Speaker A:I'm going to give you any.
Speaker A:For any skills for next turn that involve escaping, you've got a little bit of a preparatory bonus that will apply as context allows.
Speaker A:For a brief moment, as you survey the damage that you've caused this enormous creature relic, you.
Speaker A:You feel like it's frozen, and maybe a rictus.
Speaker A:Maybe it's.
Speaker A:Well, maybe it's dead.
Speaker A:But all that goes out the window because it slams its jaw shut.
Speaker A:You fall backwards because of the violence of the action, and it wrenches the weapon out of your hand as if it's a twig.
Speaker A:You have no hope to grasp it.
Speaker A:It flies through the air, Clatters.
Speaker A:Somewhere in the darkness against part of the chamber's walls, all of you hear a great bellowing roar.
Speaker A:It seems to come from all of the tunnels at once.
Speaker A:But certainly the loudest source of it comes from the now quite injured body part that is emerging from the tunnel nearest relic.
Speaker A:It's deafening.
Speaker A:There's no hope of being able to yell over this sound.
Speaker A:And it fills you all with a terrible horror and terror.
Speaker A:The pastor fires his weapon.
Speaker A:It's almost a reflex at this point as this thing bellows, screams and shudders.
Speaker A:The pastor lets loose with his shotgun.
Speaker A:Another splatter of gray ichor as it reels from yet yet more gunfire from across the room.
Speaker A:The noise begins to rise in pitch.
Speaker A:Instead of this deep reverberatory bellow, it becomes more of a thin and high buzzing.
Speaker A:But the volume does not change.
Speaker A:It is still an incredible cacophony.
Speaker A:Ryan, you watch as this corpse goes up in flames.
Speaker A:Almost immediately, a flash fire.
Speaker A:For a moment.
Speaker A:It burns hot, it burns blue, the whole thing.
Speaker A:And you watch the body just fall apart.
Speaker A:Within seconds, the stone rolls into the middle of the flame on its own as the arms turn black and twist away.
Speaker A:What would you like to do?
Speaker B:So Roizen pulled me away.
Speaker A:Roizen, yes.
Speaker A:During her turn, is pushing you, pulling you away from the incredibly hot fire.
Speaker B:I see that the stone is not burning.
Speaker B:Correct.
Speaker A:The stone has rolled into the center of this small blaze, which is now really being accelerated by the presence of the corpse.
Speaker A:But you don't see it necessarily changing.
Speaker A:You just see the stone has rolled into the middle of the fire.
Speaker B:Ryan is going.
Speaker B:Wait.
Speaker B:Is the sound the scream still going on or did that stop?
Speaker A:That horrific scream is rising in pitch right now, but the volume is still overwhelming.
Speaker B:Okay, so Ryan's gonna cover his ears and start to stumble towards the alcove where the body used to be and just kind of take cover basically behind.
Speaker A:The slab where maybe the body was lying moments ago.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:Agent Romeo, you've just fired off a round and you have your weapon aimed high and this thing's still in your crosshairs.
Speaker A:As you've noticed, the pastor is also taking a shot at it.
Speaker A:And it's landed.
Speaker C:Time to pop.
Speaker C:Pop.
Speaker C:Got an 8.
Speaker C:Success.
Speaker A:Roll that damage.
Speaker C:And second shot.
Speaker A:You fire again and again.
Speaker A:You don't think your weapons caliber is nearly as effective as the long arms that both Agent Relic and Pastor Kemp are wielding.
Speaker A:Because the thing doesn't seem to notice.
Speaker A:It's as if peas are being flung at its very thick hide.
Speaker A:Despite its obvious injuries, Romeo makes note.
Speaker C:To upgrade his caliber on the next if there is a next mission.
Speaker A:I like the qualification you added in there, Agent Relic.
Speaker A:Your weapon has been most likely irreparably damaged and tossed across the room as this thing chomped down upon it with unnatural and overpowering strength.
Speaker A:Your hands are empty.
Speaker A:In fact, they're a little sore because of the.
Speaker A:Well, quickness and utter brutality with which it wrenched it from your hands and fingers.
Speaker A:What would you like to do?
Speaker D:Sorry?
Speaker D:Remind me exactly where we're at with the fire.
Speaker A:There's a fire behind you, but you are really focused on the enormous monster in front of you that you just unloaded into.
Speaker A:If you turn around, away from this terrible visage, you will see that there is a corpse burning in the middle of the chamber.
Speaker D:Am I aware of the fire?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:Probably not.
Speaker A:I don't think I would be if I was in your situation.
Speaker A:You did feel your alertness earlier, so we'll just say that Relic is very focused on what's in front of him.
Speaker D:Gotcha.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:So not aware of the fire.
Speaker D:All right.
Speaker D:In that case, I.
Speaker D:I immediately draw my pistol, which I also have because I am armed to the fucking teeth.
Speaker D:And if I can draw and shoot, I'll do that.
Speaker D:I don't know if I can or not.
Speaker D:This not gonna have the same effectiveness, obviously, but we're gonna do our best.
Speaker A:There's no.
Speaker A:There's no bonus.
Speaker A:It's just gonna be straight firearms for this shot.
Speaker D:And somewhere there I shout, you know, we need to bring this place down on top of this fucking thing.
Speaker A:No one can hear you over the strange, tinny, but overwhelming, an unyielding sound that's emanating from this enormous beast.
Speaker A:Oh, I'm sorry, my mistake.
Speaker A:He was gonna say enormous.
Speaker A:Enormous bear.
Speaker A:Enormous bear.
Speaker A:I need to be clear for Relic.
Speaker D:Okay, in that case, Relic just goes.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker D:And two.
Speaker D:Very good.
Speaker A:That's a good roll.
Speaker A:Yeah, give me some.
Speaker A:Give me some damage.
Speaker D:See if I do anything at all.
Speaker D:And kerplop 10.
Speaker D:Hey, 10 out of 10.
Speaker C:Spicy.
Speaker D:I'm nailing it tonight.
Speaker D:Finally.
Speaker D:Feels good for once.
Speaker D:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:You fire at this thing.
Speaker A:And the proximity to the creature makes it simple to find purchase in its already wounded.
Speaker A:Well, surface area.
Speaker A:Large blossoms appear on its mottled hide as your bullet finds purchase and lodges deep within it.
Speaker A:More brackish ichor flows forth, splatters against the stone floor.
Speaker E:Agent Roizen, looking around, can I see where that bottle I threw ended up?
Speaker A:Roll me a search.
Speaker A:Minus 20%, please.
Speaker E:Oh, that's not gonna happen.
Speaker A:If that brings you to zero, then it's an impossible task at this.
Speaker E:Well, it brings me to one.
Speaker E:So.
Speaker A:Well, you can give it a go, and then you get a check mark if you fail.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:So you're looking as best you can.
Speaker A:Keep in mind, it's a fairly large chamber.
Speaker A:It's got very dark corners.
Speaker A:We're not well lit here.
Speaker A:You don't see where this thing rolled in this brief, you know, three to five second moment.
Speaker E:It was worth a look.
Speaker E:I mean, I know I got some of the fluid on it, but with as big as it is, there's no telling where on it that landed to set it on fire.
Speaker E:So I guess my best bet is to turn and shoot at it.
Speaker A:To shoot at the creature?
Speaker E:Yeah, sure.
Speaker A:You turn and raise your weapon.
Speaker A:Go ahead and roll your firearms.
Speaker A:Oof.
Speaker E:Critical failure.
Speaker A:You don't hear this because you're wearing earplugs.
Speaker A:And again, this buzzing vibration is so loud that you can feel it across your skin.
Speaker A:But the weapon misfires.
Speaker A:You see the slide cock back.
Speaker A:And you can even see in the low light that a bullet has lodged cattywampus in the chamber itself, inhibiting the.
Speaker A:The firearms mechanisms entirely.
Speaker E:Well, I guess I know what I'm doing next turn, throwing the pistol.
Speaker A:Three black tendrils.
Speaker A:They almost look a.
Speaker A:Like gigantic hair follicles.
Speaker A:You think to yourself, relic.
Speaker D:Oh, come on, man, that's gross.
Speaker D:Do we have to go there?
Speaker A:Whip around, bristling across the surface of the creature's skin and slam to your right, to your left, right in front of you.
Speaker A:Almost blindly, you think to yourself in this sort of calm state that you're in right now.
Speaker A:Too calm.
Speaker A:They cut through the air with whistling shrieks.
Speaker A:Obviously incredibly dangerous.
Speaker A:But it does not find purchase on your body.
Speaker A:As you kind of set back in your firearm stance, your pistol raised, the pastor fires again and again.
Speaker A:The creature doesn't seem to react to this.
Speaker A:As if it's adapting to these mad projectiles coming towards it from the agents.
Speaker A:It seems to be rearing itself up again, focused on relic.
Speaker A:Agent Ryan.
Speaker B:So we've got a burning corpse in the middle of the room.
Speaker A:Yes, in fact, the fire is burning very hot.
Speaker A:It's still rather bluish.
Speaker A:The stone has fallen from the desiccated corpse, withering and immolated.
Speaker A:Now limbs and is in the center of this flame.
Speaker B:How far from the monster is the corpse?
Speaker A:A good 10ft, actually.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:The creature is near, relic, against one of the other sides of this chamber.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I'm thinking of doing something kind.
Speaker A:Of crazy that I say.
Speaker A:No risk, no reward, my friend.
Speaker D:I want to go, man.
Speaker B:I don't know if Anybody else is gonna like this, though.
Speaker A:Well, you know, you're not here to make friends, Michael.
Speaker B:I guess that's fair.
Speaker B:How far away from the, from me is the priest, Pastor?
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So, yeah, he's actually still kind of close to the alcove where he was hanging out.
Speaker A:He's moved to the entrance of the alcove so he can get a good shot lined up towards this, this, this beast.
Speaker A:You went and you crouched down behind the slab in that alcove.
Speaker A:So, yeah, you've made your way.
Speaker A:You've made your way into that alcove and you're using that slab now as cover.
Speaker B:So I'm gonna come out from COVID and grab the priest from behind and use my momentum pushing him forward towards the monster.
Speaker A:Gotcha.
Speaker B:As hard as I can.
Speaker B:As far as he can go.
Speaker A:Okay, this is not a real roll to see if you can accomplish this.
Speaker A:The accomplishment is understood here.
Speaker A:I do need you to roll though, so that I can understand what happens based off of your momentum, your expertise in this crazy heat of the moment.
Speaker A:So please roll just your strength.
Speaker B:40.
Speaker B:That is a success.
Speaker A:Ryan, you sprint out from behind this slab and barrel into the back of the pastor, propelling yourself and him towards this flailing and strange wall of beastly flesh in a near straight line.
Speaker B:He doesn't happen to go through the fire on his way?
Speaker A:No, that's not in the.
Speaker A:In the line, unfortunately, towards our large and multi limbed friend.
Speaker D:I love it.
Speaker B:Okay, I imagine that's my turn.
Speaker A:That is your turn, Agent Romeo.
Speaker C:Fire again at the creature.
Speaker C:I mean, he has little else he could do at this point.
Speaker A:That's not true.
Speaker A:You could win the game.
Speaker C:Oh, I could win.
Speaker D:Go, Eric, go.
Speaker D:Go.
Speaker D:You got this.
Speaker A:There's plenty you could do.
Speaker A:But yeah, if you want to fire, if that's what you then fire.
Speaker C:That's what he would do.
Speaker A:Success.
Speaker A:Okay, roll your damage.
Speaker C:10.
Speaker A:All right, failure.
Speaker A:You let off another two shots.
Speaker A:This time, you know, one of them hit it.
Speaker A:You can see a spray explode out of part of its body, but doesn't seem to really change what it's doing.
Speaker A:It's rearing up to attack.
Speaker A:Relic.
Speaker A:It seems quite angry, quite fixated upon him.
Speaker A:Speaking of agent Relic, you're in front of it.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's coming for you.
Speaker A:It's got strange tendrils whipping about, smacking into the ground, inches from your.
Speaker A:From your boots.
Speaker A:What would you like to do?
Speaker D:So many things.
Speaker D:So I've lost my shotgun.
Speaker D:I got my pistol out.
Speaker D:Creepy, creepy crawly is trying to get its hair tendrils into my body.
Speaker D:I mean, I'm just trying to.
Speaker D:I'm just trying to stall for time at this point.
Speaker D:Think about this.
Speaker D:Where am I located in the room?
Speaker D:Am I like the middle of the room or near one of the doors?
Speaker A:You're actually, you're actually near one of the tunnels, which is where this thing has emerged from.
Speaker D:Okay, I'd like.
Speaker D:Well, I'd like.
Speaker D:I'd like to.
Speaker D:Is there a tunnel nearby that I could back into?
Speaker A:Yeah, to your right.
Speaker A:You could move away from this bristling creature.
Speaker D:Yeah, I'd like to.
Speaker D:I'd like to move.
Speaker D:Fire.
Speaker D:If.
Speaker D:I don't know how much time I have in the.
Speaker D:In the turn, but I'd like to move and fire if possible, but at least move towards a tunnel.
Speaker D:Trying to.
Speaker D:Because it's clearly it's attention on me.
Speaker D:You know what?
Speaker D:Fuck that.
Speaker D:Since it has its attention on me completely.
Speaker D:I'm gonna, I'm gonna charge down whatever the closest tunnel is.
Speaker D:I'm gonna sprint for that.
Speaker A:So you're gonna turn away from it and sprint down a tunnel?
Speaker D:Yeah, it's probably gonna get me anyway.
Speaker A:But yeah, I think that's a safe bet.
Speaker A:But I like, I like, I like your, your, your, Your martyrdom here.
Speaker A:How heroic.
Speaker D:No, let's take it back.
Speaker D:I'll.
Speaker D:I'll.
Speaker D:Let me look if.
Speaker D:Do I have enough, like, action points to split between moving towards an exit and firing at the same time?
Speaker D:Or is that too much for one turn?
Speaker A:No, that's fine.
Speaker A:You can.
Speaker A:You're not going to sprint.
Speaker A:You're going to be, you know, in a moving and shooting stance as you do.
Speaker D:So let's do that.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker D:I'm basically trying to pull it away from the rest of the group while also shooting at it.
Speaker A:Makes perfect sense to me.
Speaker A:I've got exactly where you're located, in which direction you're moving.
Speaker A:Go ahead and fire.
Speaker A:This will be at your base firearms.
Speaker A:No bonus, no detriment.
Speaker D:All right, let's see success roll.
Speaker D:Your damage and damage is going to be 1d10, 8 damage.
Speaker A:You fire as you move to the side and away from this creature and away from the others in this chamber.
Speaker A:Making your way towards one of the other tunnel instances.
Speaker A:Agent Roizen.
Speaker E:Well, I'm.
Speaker E:I need to work on getting my gun unjammed, but while I'm doing that, I'm going to move away from the monster, try to get my back against a wall again.
Speaker A:You can go back towards the alcove or go the opposite Direction from the the monster towards a different tunnel.
Speaker E:Let's head towards a different tunnel.
Speaker A:You back up, looking at your gun and pulling back the slide as you do so.
Speaker A:Flicking away the jammed bullet, you rack the slide a few times and find your back against stone.
Speaker A:I've got bad news for John.
Speaker A:As you back away, these horrible black whipping tendrils seem to follow you.
Speaker A:In fact, the sound that your boots make, well, seems to attract them despite the again overwhelming high pitched buzzing that now fills the chamber.
Speaker A:One of them whips across your legs, the other whips you across the chest.
Speaker A:The pain sets in moments after you watch as blood blossoms on the front of your clothing.
Speaker A:You stagger, nearly fall with the pain.
Speaker A:The bulk of the creature, the destroyed features of its head knob and mouth, yawns silently and begins to follow you, facing you, coiling up to strike the pastor.
Speaker B:Would him being pushed towards the monster have any bearing on what the monster did?
Speaker A:No, he's no that.
Speaker A:No bearing on that.
Speaker A:You are just pushing him as fast as you can towards relic in this creature.
Speaker A:And before long, he basically tumbles to the ground.
Speaker A:He loses his footing.
Speaker A:Go ahead and roll your dexterity for me.
Speaker B:Hell yeah.
Speaker A:He reaches back reflexively and tries to grab at you.
Speaker A:You're not sure if he's trying to retaliate or if it's just again a reflex, but he falls to the ground.
Speaker A:His grasping hands miss your clothing and your in your flesh and he just kind of rolls and lands really, really kind of plants it on the stone floor.
Speaker A:You don't hear this, but he makes a sound of intense pain as his jaw smacks against the flagstones.
Speaker A:It's your turn.
Speaker B:Am I able to pick him up?
Speaker B:Not like overhead and stuff, but.
Speaker B:Okay, let me explain what I'd like to do.
Speaker B:You tell me if it's possible.
Speaker B:Ryan, you know, avoids his retaliatory grips and maintains his hold on the back of his shirt that he's effectively using as a shield handle for this human shield.
Speaker B:While he's on the ground, still is able to drag him up, back onto his feet and continues to push him forward towards the monster.
Speaker A:Yeah, so you're gonna basically try to pick him up and keep him going in that direction.
Speaker A:It's gonna be a tougher one, but I'm going to need another strength here.
Speaker B:And Ryan knows that.
Speaker B:Or yelling, this is all your fault.
Speaker B:Move your ass.
Speaker B:Get over there.
Speaker B:And just is taking out his anger and frustration on this guy.
Speaker A:Roll.
Speaker B:A critical failure.
Speaker A:I saw that.
Speaker A:I saw that big old red text there.
Speaker A:This Will be fun.
Speaker A:So typically, we would be in the grapple rules territory here, but the pastor doesn't really.
Speaker A:He's not really fighting you.
Speaker A:He's.
Speaker A:He's confused.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So we're just doing basically, you moving an object.
Speaker A:However, with that particular role, you have really lost your grip here as he really tripped over himself with the surprise attack and has fallen awkwardly all over again, all over himself onto the ground.
Speaker A:As you try to reach over and pick him up, the.
Speaker A:The clothing is twisted in a way that it just rips, and you stagger backwards and fall onto your duff.
Speaker A:You feel something snap in your rear and you wince in pain against the stone floor.
Speaker D:Dude, did you break your butt?
Speaker B:I critically failed.
Speaker A:Agent Romeo.
Speaker C:Romeo pulls his.
Speaker C:His kerosene thermos out and unscrews the top and throws that on top of the.
Speaker C:The burning stone.
Speaker A:So you put your gun away, you holster your gun or drop your gun.
Speaker C:He's gonna try to do it one handed if he can.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:So you're gonna try to keep your gun in your hand, unscrew a thermos top, and then chuck it towards the flame in the center of the chamber.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So this is pretty awkward.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's not an easy maneuver.
Speaker A:So you're.
Speaker A:You're kind of shuffling through, I guess, are.
Speaker A:You are wearing a duffel bag that has this thermos in it?
Speaker A:Like how.
Speaker A:Talk me.
Speaker A:Talk me through this a bit.
Speaker A:Backpack.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:So you swing, gun in hand, you swing your backpack to the front of your body and unzip it.
Speaker A:You pull out a thermos and you start to unscrew the top.
Speaker A:That's as far as you get.
Speaker C:That's good enough for me, Chris.
Speaker B:I don't know how this is so complicated.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:It is not an easy maneuver.
Speaker B:Joke.
Speaker B:You just described, like, the most ridiculous thing.
Speaker A:Yeah, it was.
Speaker B:Eric was like.
Speaker A:Yep, yep, I do that.
Speaker A:Okay, cool.
Speaker D:I believe in you, Eric.
Speaker D:You got this.
Speaker C:I roll my hope.
Speaker B:I roll my hope.
Speaker A:All right, one second here, agent relic.
Speaker A:Roll your con, please.
Speaker D:Happy to.
Speaker D:Let's do this.
Speaker A:Good.
Speaker B:Can he also roll his pro?
Speaker B:Lovely.
Speaker D:That's for you, Chris.
Speaker A:All right, well, you know, you're just.
Speaker A:You're just rolling.
Speaker A:Good man.
Speaker A:I mean, that's what's up.
Speaker A:So that was a critical success.
Speaker A:A zero one.
Speaker A:A good roll.
Speaker A:We call that in the game's rules.
Speaker D:It's all right.
Speaker D:It's an okay one.
Speaker D:It's okay.
Speaker A:I'll take one.
Speaker A:You shrug off this terrible blinding White pain.
Speaker A:As these things whip across your body, drawing blood immediately.
Speaker A:You can actually see arcs of your own blood trailing behind these incredibly fast whipping tendrils.
Speaker A:What would you like to do?
Speaker D:That's a great.
Speaker D:That's a great question.
Speaker D:I don't feel like.
Speaker D:I feel like I'm kind of pigeonholed to do a.
Speaker D:An action here, but it is what.
Speaker A:It is, so I'm not pigeonholing anything.
Speaker A:You do whatever you want, man.
Speaker A:You can get this thing a big old sloppy wet kiss if you want.
Speaker A:This is your game.
Speaker D:All right.
Speaker D:I'm gonna roll romance.
Speaker D:Let's see here.
Speaker D:Where's.
Speaker D:Where's my romance?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:That's charisma.
Speaker A:It's charisma.
Speaker A:Just right Christmas.
Speaker B:Hi.
Speaker B:I should have tried to just make out with this thing.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I don't know why anybody isn't doing persuade or social skills versus this thing, but whatever.
Speaker D:Oh, we all.
Speaker D:We completely fucked up.
Speaker C:We forgot to roll Friendship.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:We all came in with guns blazing.
Speaker D:We could have tried love.
Speaker D:It might have worked.
Speaker D:I don't know.
Speaker E:I am not a Care Bear.
Speaker C:We would all expose our bellies and Care Bear stare them.
Speaker D:Relic pulls up his shirt and underneath you see a tattoo of a heart and then.
Speaker A:Nah, this is Delta Green.
Speaker A:It would be a total recall quado.
Speaker A:That would be on your stomach.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Open your mind.
Speaker D:Well, if I put it to my mind, but shooting a thing, it's trying to kill me right now.
Speaker D:So I'm trying to back away, keep his attention and keep shooting.
Speaker D:So, yeah, that's what I'll do.
Speaker D:I'll just keep backing away and keep shooting.
Speaker A:Sounds good.
Speaker D:One move towards moving.
Speaker D:I guess.
Speaker D:Like, instead of shooting twice, shoot once and also move away from it.
Speaker D:Is that right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker D:Okay, then.
Speaker D:That's what I do.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:Now that you're in your stride, you can shoot twice.
Speaker A:You're basically just in this.
Speaker A:In this constant smooth movement backwards as you.
Speaker A:As you step away slowly and fire.
Speaker A:Okay, so you can shoot twice.
Speaker D:Success.
Speaker D:So we roll for damage on that one.
Speaker D:Hell, yeah.
Speaker D:Wow.
Speaker D:I am hitting it tonight.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:10 out of 10.
Speaker D:Damn farm.
Speaker D:Second shot.
Speaker D:Success.
Speaker D:Okay, what's up?
Speaker D:And then 8 out of 10.
Speaker D:Come on, let's go.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker D:Not that it matters, because it's a weird creature from some other dimension, so it doesn't matter.
Speaker A:You keep firing at this thing and it continues to rear up and you think it's flinching almost, but it does not stop its purposeful, slow draw up.
Speaker D:At least it's focused on me.
Speaker D:It's so Rest of the crew.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:It's just like flaying you alive right now.
Speaker A:Your blood is flying through the air, Agent Roizen.
Speaker D:Wait, Chris, should I track.
Speaker D:Oh, you did just.
Speaker D:I see you already changed my hp.
Speaker D:Okay, cool.
Speaker D:There we go.
Speaker A:Yeah, no problem.
Speaker A:I'm on top of that.
Speaker D:I see it.
Speaker D:God damn it, Dave.
Speaker E:Roisin's about to do something else completely insane.
Speaker E:How far away from it am I?
Speaker A:So let's see.
Speaker A:You're actually on the opposite side of the chamber, so nearly 30ft away.
Speaker E:All right, I'm gonna burn this turn.
Speaker E:Sprinting towards it.
Speaker A:Okay, that's the full turn.
Speaker A:Okay, you, let's go.
Speaker A:Set your teeth, take aim, and begin sprinting as fast as you can across the chamber floor towards this roiling figure in the darkness.
Speaker A:Speaking of the roiling figure in the darkness, this may be it.
Speaker A:Let's see what happens.
Speaker A:You're fucking kidding me.
Speaker A:Critical fail.
Speaker A:Absolute bullshit.
Speaker A:Absolute dog shit.
Speaker A:Dumb crap.
Speaker D:What do you got?
Speaker A:I popped it in Discord, if you want to see it.
Speaker A:Yeah, And Foundry even made, like, a disturbing sound when I critically failed.
Speaker A:Does it do that for y'all?
Speaker A:Does it, like, make fun of you?
Speaker D:Okay, Chris, I'm doing my best here, man.
Speaker A:Like, you got it made, like, a very kind of mocking sound at me when I did that.
Speaker A:It really twisted the knife.
Speaker E:Yeah, I don't think any of us have fumbled yet, is what it is.
Speaker B:That seems right.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker A:The creature continues to move the remainder of its bulk out of the tunnel from which it's emerging.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:Is that what it does?
Speaker D:Sorry.
Speaker A:Tapers down into more and more strange little tendrils.
Speaker A:Another one of these whipping appendages flies through the air, screaming and relic.
Speaker A:You slap it out of the way, angrily continuing to bear down on it, your sights locked as you fire over and over again.
Speaker A:This seems to really throw it off kilter.
Speaker A:You're not sure how, but it twists a bit, and for a moment, you realize that something's wrong with the appendages underneath it as it's trying to move its bulk.
Speaker A:The top half of it, as it was inchworming its way in, slips.
Speaker A:And you hear a very loud.
Speaker A:And feel a very loud thump as its skull and teeth again slam against the stone.
Speaker A:More ichor flows forth from not just these gaping, blossoming wounds on its mottled flesh, but also its open mouth.
Speaker A:Pastor Kemp, he is trying to get up off the ground.
Speaker A:He's struggling.
Speaker A:He turns, and he faces you, Ryan.
Speaker A:He looks confused and questioning.
Speaker A:It's your turn.
Speaker A:He's on his Feet.
Speaker B:Now, Ryan, still in his rageful energy, is angry at the chaos, is angry at.
Speaker A:Oh, you have to tell me.
Speaker A:What does he do?
Speaker B:You're right.
Speaker B:I forgot.
Speaker B:We don't do that.
Speaker A:I don't need any of that motivation shit.
Speaker A:Just action, action, action.
Speaker B:Ryan gets back up, obviously wincing, and is still really angry.
Speaker B:So is gonna continue to push at the priest.
Speaker B:He's gonna be yelling the whole time, gesturing for the.
Speaker B:The priest to go after the monster, but I don't know how much of it the priest can hear, if anything at all.
Speaker A:Gotcha.
Speaker B:But he's still sure.
Speaker A:Roll your unarmed, please.
Speaker B:Is that strength?
Speaker A:No, no, this is unarmed now.
Speaker A:Now we're.
Speaker A:Now we're gonna deal with some pushback here.
Speaker A:At this point, someone's aware of what you're trying to do.
Speaker B:Success.
Speaker C:Nice.
Speaker A:All right, give me a moment.
Speaker A:So you again run towards him, and his confusion turns to a furrowed brow.
Speaker A:And in anger, as he meets your hands and you're grabbing part of his shirt, he's grabbing one of your wrists.
Speaker A:You're both now really fighting with each other.
Speaker A:His gun still slung across his chest, falls down to his hip, but remains attached to him.
Speaker A:Agent Romeo, you're still fumbling with your gun in your kerosene.
Speaker A:You are able to get the lid off.
Speaker A:What would you like to do?
Speaker C:I'm gonna tump that right on that burning.
Speaker A:Are you.
Speaker A:Are you throwing it from across?
Speaker A:Zoom.
Speaker A:Or you.
Speaker A:Are you sidling up to it and pouring it on?
Speaker C:Gonna do a saddle and a pour.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:As you continue to twist off the top, finally getting it off awkwardly, you walk up to this again, very hot flame, and pour this kerosene atop.
Speaker A:Flares up, turning a bright orange.
Speaker A:Agent relic.
Speaker A:This thing has just slipped, fallen, and crashed against the stone in front of you.
Speaker A:It's trying to get back up, but it's having trouble.
Speaker A:What would you like to do?
Speaker D:All right, let me just.
Speaker D:Let's.
Speaker D:Let's recap the scene here.
Speaker D:So we've got a nightmare thing on the ground.
Speaker D:Romeo's open a canister of something, trying to throw it at it.
Speaker D:And Ryan and Roisin are dealing with a pastor.
Speaker D:Is that right?
Speaker D:No, no, sorry.
Speaker D:Roysen is full, full tilt charging the nightmare.
Speaker A:Correct.
Speaker A:You're not super aware of that, but that is what's happening.
Speaker C:Okay, Is Royston gonna announce her move?
Speaker A:No, Royston is sprinting.
Speaker A:She's not gonna start.
Speaker A:She doesn't have.
Speaker A:She doesn't have anime names for her moves.
Speaker A:And yells them before she does them.
Speaker C:Well, that's A shame.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Well, that needs to be something you guys figure out for next.
Speaker A:Next session, if you live.
Speaker D:That's actually a good point, Chris.
Speaker D:What is Relic aware of at this point?
Speaker D:Is it really just him and the monster at this point?
Speaker A:Yeah, he's.
Speaker A:He's not face.
Speaker A:He's not facing the rest of the chamber.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So he's not really understanding the dramas that are unfolding behind him.
Speaker A:In fact, he has no idea, really, that Romeo has fumbled over with some kerosene and dumped it onto an already burning fire.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So those are the types of things that he is not paying attention to as he unloads over and over again into the flailing giant bear in front of him.
Speaker D:All right, well, since the constant unloading into this weirdly oversized grizzly bear seems to be having an effect, he will continue to do that.
Speaker A:Okay, does he continue to move backwards?
Speaker A:He's basically sidled up into a tunnel entrance at this point.
Speaker D:No, at this point, I think.
Speaker D:I think he would.
Speaker D:It sounds like, from what I'm understanding, the creatures stopped charging forward and stopped rearing.
Speaker D:It's now.
Speaker A:Yeah, it slipped in, fell.
Speaker D:Yeah, definitely take advantage of the moment and just.
Speaker D:I'll hold position at this door and then keep shooting.
Speaker D:Yeah, I guess.
Speaker A:Plus 20.
Speaker A:Both shots.
Speaker D:All right, first shot.
Speaker D:Success.
Speaker D:Two whole damage.
Speaker D:That's a good one.
Speaker D:All right.
Speaker C:Spicy.
Speaker D:And a success again.
Speaker D:And then.
Speaker C:Damn, dude.
Speaker D:10 whole damage.
Speaker C:For the rest of us, there's another.
Speaker D:12 heading its way.
Speaker D:There you go.
Speaker A:The creature immediately stops emitting that terrible buzzing sound, that all encompassing shriek and wail.
Speaker A:Everything goes strangely silent, leaving only a ringing in your ears.
Speaker A:Except for Roisin.
Speaker A:Roisin's fine.
Speaker D:Earplugs.
Speaker A:Speaking of.
Speaker A:Agent Roisin, your turn.
Speaker A:You are sprinting full ahead at this collapsed horror.
Speaker A:What would you like to do?
Speaker A:You're basically right up next to it.
Speaker A:If you'd like to be, that's great.
Speaker E:And if it's collapsed, it'll make it that much easier to climb on top of it.
Speaker A:Are you going to ride the.
Speaker A:The Sandworm rodeo style?
Speaker D:Let's go.
Speaker A:So you're going to grab onto it and try to hoist yourself on top.
Speaker A:On top.
Speaker A:Help me understand.
Speaker E:Roizen's gonna climb on top of it and scramble towards its head.
Speaker E:You know, if.
Speaker E:If a bullet down the throat isn't working, maybe a bullet straight down from the top will.
Speaker A:All right, athletics.
Speaker E:Well, at least it was only a regular failure.
Speaker A:You jump on top of this thing after your full sprint.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:It is far more pliant than you expected squishy, perhaps.
Speaker A:And as your boot finds first purchase, a brackish ichor sprays up from entry and exit wounds you assume from all around it and you almost slip and fall.
Speaker A:You throw your hands out and grasp an anemone like protuberance and with incredible disgust let go of it at the same time as finally purchase and these little knobs and multi articulated appendages begin grasping at you back, tugging on your clothing and your skin.
Speaker A:Suddenly, your full sprint into what was going to be a very athletic feat of jumping on top of this thing turns into an act of retreat and revulsion and you stop yourself and try to brush these strange hands off of you.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker E:Before this turn ends, I'm just going to yell at the boys that I think I made a really big mistake.
Speaker C:We can't hear you on account of death.
Speaker D:Relic gives you a nod of approval if he's able.
Speaker C:Round 57.
Speaker C:We've run out of ammo.
Speaker C:The creature continues.
Speaker A:The thing finally uses one of its looks like four articulated limbs to prop itself up and right its head knob.
Speaker A:It lurches, looks like in great pain towards one side and begins to move itself back into the tunnel from whence it was emerging.
Speaker A:It inches quickly, half of it disappearing in the darkness of that tunnel.
Speaker A:All right, Pastor is going to.
Speaker A:The pastor knocks both of your hands away and backs and starts backing away from you.
Speaker A:He fumbles for his gun until it's in his hands.
Speaker A:That's his turn.
Speaker A:Agent Wright, what would you like to.
Speaker B:Do now that the screeching has stopped?
Speaker B:As the pastor are we.
Speaker B:Is he able to hear me?
Speaker B:Maybe Ryan is going to.
Speaker B:Ryan's gonna lean on his charisma, continuing to yell at the pastor.
Speaker B:What are you gonna do?
Speaker B:Shoot me?
Speaker B:Shoot the fucking monster.
Speaker B:Get down there.
Speaker B:We're down here to save your ass.
Speaker B:Your family did this.
Speaker B:And whilst doing that, still kind of kind of continuing towards him.
Speaker B:I wouldn't even say affecting confidence, but you know, just leaning on, effectively bullying the pastor into doing what he wants.
Speaker A:I'm with you 100%, Agent Romeo.
Speaker A:You have dumped the last drop of kerosene on this now knee high orange flame in the middle of the chamber.
Speaker A:What would you like to do?
Speaker C:With the creature retreating, he's going to train his pistol back at the retreating monster and back himself up against a wall again.
Speaker A:Okay, so you start backing up from the way you came.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker A:Agent Relic.
Speaker D:Oof.
Speaker D:All right, so the creature's backing out and I fired off this pistol.
Speaker D:I fired what, four, I think is it.
Speaker A:Four or six, I believe.
Speaker A:Six.
Speaker A:Agent Roizen has a run up beside you, and it looked like maybe she, like, kicked the creature and then kind of backed away, brushing pieces of its grasping tendrils off of her.
Speaker D:There's a supportive nod in there somewhere.
Speaker D:So there's a fire.
Speaker D:Bur am I aware of the fire yet, or am I still totally focused on the.
Speaker A:Since the creature has started to retreat, it's now moving away from you as quickly as it can possibly muster, despite its lurching gait.
Speaker A:And yeah, if you want to take a look around of your surroundings.
Speaker A:Now, if you're not going to just continue shooting at it, I think it's fine to.
Speaker A:To say that, you know, he.
Speaker A:He starts taking in what's going on.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:Relic's gonna take a moment and look around the room, see what's going on.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:He's watching Romeo finish.
Speaker A:Finish up pouring something on a bonfire in the middle of the chamber.
Speaker A:You can see that the pastor and Agent Ryan nearly behind you, but screaming at each other.
Speaker A:And the creature itself is retreating.
Speaker D:Cool.
Speaker D:Channeling, Relic.
Speaker D:Here we go.
Speaker D:Can anyone set this goddamn thing on fire?
Speaker D:And then he keeps shooting at it.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker D:That'll also do his relic, unfortunately.
Speaker A:Go for it.
Speaker C:All we hear is.
Speaker D:Yeah, sure, that's fair.
Speaker D:We all have our ears are fucked.
Speaker D:Right?
Speaker D:So do I get a lot of time?
Speaker D:Do I get one?
Speaker D:Or do I get like, one shot?
Speaker D:Because it took a partial turn to like, get a sense of my bearings.
Speaker A:Yeah, you're not really trained on it.
Speaker A:On what's going on.
Speaker A:So you re aim and you fire.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:All right, so just one shot then.
Speaker B:It's like asking the homework.
Speaker B:Do I only get one shot?
Speaker D:Sorry.
Speaker D:At my 70.
Speaker D:There you go.
Speaker D:Success.
Speaker D:All right.
Speaker B:Hell yeah.
Speaker D:Damage and kerplop 8.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:You fire at its retreating form.
Speaker A:You're certain you met purchase Agent Royson?
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's seems to be moving away from you.
Speaker A:But you remember what happened the last time it, quote, unquote, retreated to Agent Ryan.
Speaker A:What would you like to do?
Speaker E:I mean, last time it retreated, it took someone out with him.
Speaker E:So I'm.
Speaker E:I'm going to grab Relic and start trying to pull him backwards away from this thing before it gets one of us.
Speaker A:Gotcha.
Speaker A:So you start backing up and trying to pull Relic away.
Speaker A:Now he's firing over and over again at this.
Speaker A:At this creature.
Speaker A:We'll see what he does.
Speaker A:Anything else you want to try to do or say?
Speaker E:Duh.
Speaker E:No, no, My.
Speaker E:My first concern is staying Alive.
Speaker A:Gotcha.
Speaker A:The creature is gone in an instant, disappearing into the darkness of the tunnel.
Speaker A:The pastor yells back at you, Ryan.
Speaker A:But you, you realize the ring in your ear is just all you can really bring in.
Speaker A:He's, he's yelling something.
Speaker A:You think he's saying something about his son?
Speaker A:He raises his right hand in the air and points up.
Speaker A:That's about all you can get.
Speaker A:But it is your turn now.
Speaker B:Is he still pointing the gun at me?
Speaker A:Yeah, it's, it's relatively pointed at your stomach.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:I'm a bit stumped on what to do, but are we still in combat?
Speaker A:Yeah, you're still in combat?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Cuz the thing, the fucker could come back.
Speaker A:Certainly could.
Speaker A:Certainly could.
Speaker B:So Ryan's yelling at the priest.
Speaker B:The priest is yelling back.
Speaker B:And Ryan's realizing that the priest, he can't hear anything, assuming the priest can't hear anything he's saying, diverts his attention over to the rest of the, the group and sees the, the fire, I assume still burning in the middle of the room.
Speaker A:Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:If you take in the room, that's hard, hard to miss.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:He looks around for anything that he can use to, you know, in lieu of basically a pool cue to knock the stone out from the middle of the fire without any, you know, anything with reach.
Speaker B:I don't know, is there bones, is there wood?
Speaker A:Is there, there's, there's all sorts of stuff.
Speaker A:So number one there is the pastor in front of you.
Speaker A:He has a long arm that could be used to knock something out of fire.
Speaker A:He also brought a sharp spade down here with him that he apparently to pry up flagstones up above.
Speaker A:That's still in the alcove where the corpse was dragged from.
Speaker A:And yeah, there's another long arm somewhere in the darkness that was flung, you don't know exactly where it is, by the creature out of relic's hands.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:The priest is yelling back at Ryan.
Speaker B:Ryan's yelling at the priest and just kind of ends with a, as he, as he looks towards the spade, kind of a fuck you hand air slap, if that makes sense.
Speaker B:Not like a full flick off, but just kind of like, get out of here.
Speaker A:But okay, okay, get out of here.
Speaker B:Yeah, like a angry fuck you turns his back on him and heads to grab the spade to try to knock the stone out from the middle of the fire.
Speaker B:I don't know how much of that I can do.
Speaker A:You make your way back into the alcove and put your hands on that spade.
Speaker A:That's where we are okay.
Speaker B:And then he rolls for hope.
Speaker A:Failed Romeo.
Speaker C:Romeo shouts, We've got the fire.
Speaker C:Where's the powder?
Speaker A:Does he do anything else?
Speaker C:Yeah, that's it.
Speaker C:That's all he does.
Speaker C:Like, he's looking at everybody, hoping they hear him because he can't hear himself.
Speaker A:Okay, Agent Relic.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker A:It's your turn.
Speaker D:Great.
Speaker D:All right.
Speaker D:So at this point, the creepy monster thing has disappeared.
Speaker A:You don't see it or hear it.
Speaker A:You're bleeding profusely.
Speaker A:Your clothes are in tatters.
Speaker D:Who is standing closest to the fire?
Speaker B:I did move further away from it, but it's still probably.
Speaker A:Yeah, I.
Speaker A:I think the closest is the pastor.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker D:All right, good.
Speaker B:That dweeb.
Speaker D:Oh, someone's gonna lose a hand.
Speaker A:Whoa.
Speaker B:We can throw it.
Speaker D:I mean, that's.
Speaker D:I'm gonna toss it to the pastor.
Speaker D:I grab.
Speaker D:So Relic grabs two shells out of his.
Speaker D:His.
Speaker D:I wish he was wearing a bandolier.
Speaker D:He's not.
Speaker D:So I don't know where these shells are coming from.
Speaker D:I guess a big, bulky cargo pant pocket that he's got.
Speaker D:It'll be so much cooler if he had a bandolier, but he doesn't, so it's not that kind of.
Speaker D:Not that kind of game.
Speaker D:So he pulls out two shells out of the cargo pants pocket, looks at the pastor dead in the eye and says.
Speaker D:Tosses these shells at him.
Speaker D:It's like, hey, this is the.
Speaker D:Well, let me.
Speaker D:Before I toss them, am I.
Speaker D:I assume I'm not close enough to him or within range to walk to him and hand them to him.
Speaker D:I.
Speaker D:I'm.
Speaker D:Or am I?
Speaker A:Let me see here.
Speaker A:So, yeah, you check that you want to throw two slugs at the pastor.
Speaker D:Well, I want to.
Speaker D:I want to.
Speaker D:I want to get to.
Speaker D:To.
Speaker D:I forget what they're called.
Speaker D:The full.
Speaker A:He seems like he's in a straight up argument, or at least he was moments ago with Ryan.
Speaker A:As Ryan leaves after giving him a.
Speaker A:A Get out of here.
Speaker A:And he's just not facing you at all or really paying attention to you in any.
Speaker A:Any capacity at all.
Speaker D:Okay, gotcha.
Speaker D:And then am I.
Speaker D:Am I within, like half a turn or one turn from this fire myself?
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:You can get to the.
Speaker A:You can get to the fire right now if you'd like.
Speaker D:Oh, okay.
Speaker D:In that case, fuck the bastard.
Speaker D:I will.
Speaker D:See the monster's gone.
Speaker D:So I pull up two shells.
Speaker D:I will toss them at the.
Speaker D:You know what?
Speaker D:Fuck it, man.
Speaker D:I'm gonna.
Speaker D:I'm gonna take him in my left hand and just dive in and slam them down on this fucking piece of rock.
Speaker A:You're gonna take your hand.
Speaker D:Yep.
Speaker A:With two slugs in them.
Speaker A:And in.
Speaker A:Reach.
Speaker A:In at that.
Speaker A:At that stone with.
Speaker A:Okay, I got it.
Speaker D:I'm gonna.
Speaker D:I'm gonna bready the fuck out of it, man.
Speaker D:Let's go.
Speaker D:I don't want to miss.
Speaker D:I don't want to miss, so.
Speaker A:I hear ya.
Speaker A:So the pain is extraordinary.
Speaker A:Fire's hot.
Speaker A:And this particular fire seems hotter than most.
Speaker A:Almost immediately, as your hand passes through that first lick of flame, it begins blackening.
Speaker A:The searing reaches up your arms and crisscrosses.
Speaker A:And what looks red at first quickly becomes peeling black.
Speaker A:That turns to floating ash.
Speaker A:All in the blink of an eye.
Speaker A:Go ahead and roll your.
Speaker A:Gosh, I guess you need to roll your sanity for this shit, man.
Speaker D:Well, you know, I don't.
Speaker A:Would you like to project anything onto your bonds?
Speaker D:Yes, I would.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker D:I like.
Speaker D:I like this because it.
Speaker D:It implies that there's some.
Speaker D:There's some outcome where I survive this roll.
Speaker A:Roll a 1.
Speaker A:D4.
Speaker C:This fire is too hot.
Speaker B:Hotter than most.
Speaker B:Rolled a 3.
Speaker D:There you go.
Speaker C:Ay, it's a spicy one.
Speaker A:Relic, you do your best to power through this incredible pain.
Speaker A:And you do have to roll your constitution.
Speaker C:Dude's gonna make us roll all our sanities watching him die in this fire.
Speaker D:There you go, Chris.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker D:Have fun.
Speaker A:You wince and you cringe and you fall forward in pain, passing out almost immediately as your arm instinctively reflexively clasps to your chest and you collapse.
Speaker A:The shells fall into the fire out of your blackened and destroyed limb and hop around for a moment, almost dancing, until one of them explodes in a bright flash.
Speaker A:The other soon follows suit.
Speaker A:To those without earplugs, it's.
Speaker A:It's almost like fireworks.
Speaker A:But the explosions are quite large, quite loud.
Speaker A:One of them lands directly at the base of the viridian stone.
Speaker A:And you see after the explosion, the stone crack in half, Two sides, falling apart like a great petrified egg.
Speaker A:The flame almost immediately dies down.
Speaker A:In fact, all those watching, it almost seems like the flame retreats inside of the center of one of the halves, the broken stone.
Speaker A:All of you look around, Hands shaking, firearms still held, looking from tunnel to tunnel back to the smoldering ashes in the center of the chamber.
Speaker A:Relic lies chest down, stomach down on the floor.
Speaker A:Pastor breaks the silence.
Speaker C:Where is it?
Speaker A:Where has it gone?
Speaker A:He raises his rifle.
Speaker C:I think that did it.
Speaker C:And Romeo walks over to relic and checks his pulse.
Speaker A:It is quite weak.
Speaker A:Quite weak.
Speaker D:I'll take it We've got to get.
Speaker C:Him out of here.
Speaker C:Help me.
Speaker C:Pastor.
Speaker C:Ryan, you can walk.
Speaker C:Come on.
Speaker B:Ryan follows Royston.
Speaker A:Grab his legs.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker E:Royson will come up and help.
Speaker E:And keep an eye on the wall for the marks she made.
Speaker A:Gotcha.
Speaker A:So, taking the collapsed form of Relic, sharing the weight between you, the group begins to hurriedly move through the tunnels from whence you came.
Speaker A:The pastor doesn't say much, but confirms that as you follow Roizen's markings that you're heading back the way you came.
Speaker A:Before long, all of you are straining to get Relic's body out of this hole, this excavation at the bottom of the church.
Speaker A:Before long, you're all sitting, or standing, as the case may be, in the vestry, panting, covered with dirt, blood, and a brackish, unrecognizable fluid.
Speaker A:Your hurried retreat, carrying the form of your collapsed colleague, was dogged by strange grunting and breathing sounds that seemed to echo throughout the tunnel complex.
Speaker A:But now, up above that nightmarish subterranean world, how much of that was real?
Speaker A:How much of it was exaggerated?
Speaker A:It was like stepping into another world, being down there.
Speaker A:Agents, you're taking a beat, but what do you want to do next?
Speaker A:You're here in this vestry.
Speaker A:Relic is still unconscious.
Speaker E:Well, Romeo, do you want to call Snedegar, or should I?
Speaker C:You call him.
Speaker C:I'll put Relic in the back of the truck.
Speaker C:I don't have the skills to help him.
Speaker E:Yeah, neither do I.
Speaker E:I don't know if we should take him to the hospital or have Snedeker send us a specialist.
Speaker C:I think we're going to be the specialists on this one.
Speaker A:His arm is a withered and completely burnt to a cinder mess.
Speaker A:The pastor looks to each one of your faces.
Speaker A:We have to get him to a doctor now.
Speaker A:He's.
Speaker A:He's going to die.
Speaker A:His.
Speaker A:His arm, it's.
Speaker A:He shakes his head.
Speaker C:No doctors.
Speaker A:What do you mean, no doctors?
Speaker A:He needs.
Speaker A:He needs help.
Speaker E:We're getting help.
Speaker C:Pastor, we've got someone.
Speaker E:At this point, Reisen's already got the phone up to her ear.
Speaker A:You hear the pastor speaking under his breath.
Speaker A:Snippets of it sound like prayer.
Speaker A:You hear Snedegar on the line after three rings, Agent.
Speaker E:Well, good news and bad news, sir.
Speaker E:Good news.
Speaker E:Fairly certain it's been dealt with.
Speaker E:Bad news.
Speaker E:We've got a man.
Speaker E:Well, he's not dead yet, but we're gonna need some help fast.
Speaker C:We need that tunnel down.
Speaker A:I'm sorry.
Speaker A:An agent?
Speaker A:Are you telling me he's one of the agents?
Speaker E:Relic's taking quite the beating.
Speaker E:I don't know how long he'll last without medical interference.
Speaker A:Well, get him to a doctor as soon as you can.
Speaker A:Sounds like it's an emergency.
Speaker A:I can't get anybody down there faster than you can get him to a nearby hospital or clinic.
Speaker E:Do we have anybody read in at a nearby hospital?
Speaker A:The nearest I have is Dr.
Speaker A:Baker, but she is a medical examiner.
Speaker A:That may not be appropriate.
Speaker A:You're going to need to do what you can if you believe his life is truly hanging in the balance.
Speaker E:Yes, sir.
Speaker E:Can you get a couple of construction experts and a lot of cement at the Presbyterian church in Mechanicsville?
Speaker A:I will not be able to do that, Agent.
Speaker A:You are my construction experts.
Speaker A:For all intents and purposes.
Speaker E:Yes, sir.
Speaker E:Expect our report soon.
Speaker A:He hangs up.
Speaker B:What did he say?
Speaker E:We're on our own.
Speaker B:Alright, let's get him to the hospital.
Speaker B:Ryan points angrily still to the priest.
Speaker B:He's doubling down on that energy.
Speaker B:Help us get him into your car.
Speaker E:Brian, Romeo, you guys take him.
Speaker E:I'm going to stay here and deal with the hole.
Speaker A:Okay, so I think the next couple of scenes we don't necessarily need to roleplay, but I just want the agents who take the pastor's vehicle and the form of relic.
Speaker A:Tell me what your approach is when you get to the nearest hospital between Mechanicsburg and Columbus.
Speaker C:We're gonna tell him he got in a car accident.
Speaker C:We pulled him out.
Speaker A:Got it.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:We didn't have cell phones.
Speaker B:I was in the accident too and got cut up.
Speaker A:Gotcha.
Speaker A:So do you receive medical attention?
Speaker C:We could just drop him off at the front.
Speaker C:Like in the front area.
Speaker A:I just need to know the drive off useful.
Speaker A:It has been staunched by Roysen's scarf.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:However, there is a jagged, wicked looking scar.
Speaker A:And I mean, it's something that's going to need stitches, maybe staples.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Starting at the corner of your mouth.
Speaker A:So the left corner of your mouth down your neck, across your chest and halfway across your back.
Speaker A:So you've got this long deep line.
Speaker A:Now the part where it's very wicked is of course the bit on the bottom left part of your mouth.
Speaker A:Because he has opened up or the creature has opened up your mouth even wider with this injury.
Speaker B:Are you saying he's put a smile on my face?
Speaker A:He's put a smile on your face, that's correct.
Speaker A:And you know, do you get medical attention for this?
Speaker B:I do.
Speaker A:So you do receive care here.
Speaker A:The doctor asks you about your teeth.
Speaker A:She looks a little bit stricken when she brings it up.
Speaker A:She says, your palate.
Speaker A:Your lower palate in your teeth.
Speaker A:Can you tell me a little bit more about that?
Speaker B:What about it?
Speaker B:I guess.
Speaker C:How did you get so many?
Speaker A:Well, the.
Speaker A:I've just never.
Speaker A:Is it a congenital condition?
Speaker A:I've just never seen.
Speaker A:I've never seen that before.
Speaker A:She seems apprehensive.
Speaker B:Ryan looks around for a mirror.
Speaker A:Yeah, you grab a mirror and open your mouth.
Speaker A:It's painful because of the new stitches and the work that has already been performed despite the local anesthesia.
Speaker A:But you see inside your mouth, your lower set of molars.
Speaker A:Well, there's two rows of molars there, up to the lower cuspids.
Speaker C:We've got a jaws situation in his mouth, sort of.
Speaker A:They're parallel.
Speaker A:They're lined up.
Speaker A:They're also kind of splayed out at angles.
Speaker A:It doesn't look great.
Speaker A:You can roll your sanity.
Speaker B:So if I hadn't gone to the doctor, would I not be so insane?
Speaker A:Doctor wouldn't have stopped this from happening one way or another.
Speaker A:This was coming your way.
Speaker A:You drop the mirror and your hands shaking, your vision goes tunneled, and all you remember saying before you pass out is, it's not me.
Speaker A:It's not me.
Speaker A:This didn't happen to me.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I need to know, Agent Roizen, what your plan is.
Speaker A:Just give me a general idea of what you want to do.
Speaker E:Well, the first thing we're going to do is put as much of the rubble that they got from breaking this hole open down in the hole.
Speaker E:Once we've done that, I'll have a better idea of how much we need to fill in.
Speaker E:And we're going to have to go to the local hardware store.
Speaker E:Store.
Speaker E:And buy every bag of cement they've got and probably another one.
Speaker A:Fair enough.
Speaker A:Well, you're on your own for this.
Speaker A:And so you pack up one of the SUVs with as much cement as you can and make your way back to the church.
Speaker A:What are you wanting to do now?
Speaker E:Well, we're going to start mixing cement and pouring.
Speaker E:It's going to take me a while.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's already quite late, and you spend hours mixing this up in what you can find.
Speaker A:And there is a wheelbarrow from the shed outside where the pastor had originally brought out spade and wrecking bar tools.
Speaker A:And you're able to mix a lot of the cement there.
Speaker A:Before long, you have poured mixture after mixture into this hole until there's a wet, sloppy, and really, you know, this is not an artisan's work here, but a wet, sloppy mess Here, that's.
Speaker A:That's starting to set.
Speaker A:What else would you like to do?
Speaker E:Once I've done that, I'll call the boys, see where they're at and go catch up with them.
Speaker E:The only thing left to do with the cement is wait.
Speaker A:About 24 hours later, all four of you are in a hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
Speaker A:You're on the seventh floor, and you are around a bed in the icu, where Relic has still not come to consciousness.
Speaker A:The pastor has just left with his wife.
Speaker A:They left flowers for the man.
Speaker A:The pastor himself was not very verbose, but he made sure to thank each one of you.
Speaker A:Looking you in the eyes for helping avenge his son, keep the village of Mechanicsburg safe for another generation.
Speaker A:The doctor and the nurse left moments ago as well.
Speaker A:You three silently stand over the prone form of Relic.
Speaker A:What do you say?
Speaker C:Good night, sweet prince.
Speaker D:Thanks, Bud.
Speaker C:And then I.
Speaker C:I plug his nose and cover.
Speaker C:Smile.
Speaker D:Thanks, bud.
Speaker A:What the fuck?
Speaker B:Ryan picks up a pillow and says, well, shall I do it?
Speaker B:And then places it slowly over Relic's mouth and face.
Speaker C:Why does everybody want to sound like you're asking permission?
Speaker D:Why does everybody want to suffocate me with.
Speaker C:I've always wanted to do this.
Speaker B:Maintains that eye contact the entire time.
Speaker B:And Romeo just stares back, unblinking, unwavering, almost giving him strength to continue.
Speaker B:Sorry, I just got lost in the moment.
Speaker C:No, no, go with it.
Speaker D:Relic just gives a very slow nod of approval.
Speaker B:Ryan feels the nod from.
Speaker B:In terms of realness, I don't know what Ryan says, and there may be.
Speaker A:Nothing to be said.
Speaker A:That's totally fine, but this is.
Speaker A:This is your final scene for this scenario.
Speaker B:Have you guys seen my teeth?
Speaker A:And then he might keep that to himself.
Speaker A:Oh, okay.
Speaker A:Straight up.
Speaker A:Never mind.
Speaker B:No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I think he.
Speaker B:I think he keeps that to himself.
Speaker B:Himself?
Speaker A:Yeah, I would think so.
Speaker C:Romeo quietly says.
Speaker C:So are we gonna retire him or wait for the program too?
Speaker B:I don't think that's on us.
Speaker E:Not our call.
Speaker D:If I could still get out of.
Speaker C:Here before any more questions, I still.
Speaker D:Got one hand that can pull the trigger.
Speaker D:God damn it.
Speaker D:Sorry.
Speaker D:I'm sorry.
Speaker D:I'll stay out of it.
Speaker A:It's all good.
Speaker A:It's all good.
Speaker E:Come on, boys.
Speaker E:We've got paperwork to do.
Speaker A:You three, with that file, out of the room into the SUVs, your way back to drop them off at the FBI motor pool.
Speaker A:Before long, after having given your report to Snediger in person, find yourselves on planes back home.
