Original subtitles

(tense mysterious music)

TALIESIN: A lonely road lies ahead

for those whose minds have been cracked asunder.

Echoes of past deeds, swirl and bubble to the surface,

seeking to fracture the grail of our existence.

A wary investigator must stay headstrong and resolved,

for this treacherous path may falter judgment,

if not careful.

A voracious hunger stalks the shadow-filled streets,

feeding on the impulses of both ne'er-do-wells

and those of the strongest moral fiber.

Candela and their circles often serve

as the last line of defense,

putting themselves in harm's way to contain, comprehend,

and contend with the horrors that lie in wait.

The Circle of The Vassal and the Veil:

Assignment Number 442: Ravage of Red Lamp.

(tense mysterious music continues)

MATT: Welcome to Candela Obscura,

here in the country of Hale, within the city of Newfaire.

The evening grows late here

in the Red Lamp District.

(gasps) ROBBIE: Ooh.

MATT: As the parties roll on, the music and revelry

echo throughout the city streets,

the occasional tinging of the cable car carousing through,

grabbing those who are too drunk

to stumble their way home safely

and hopefully not too drunk

to hold themselves safely on the cable car.

You see people stumbling through the streets.

You hear the music blaring out of various open doors

of briefly available clubs before they shut once more.

The fog itself thicker and thicker as the night goes on,

giving this orange-red ambiance

to the entire district of the city.

As we pull up to the bottom

of The Getaway Grand Hotel,

drifting up floor after floor after floor,

above the thick blanket,

the thickest blanket of the fog,

until just a bit of that mist still remains,

we come to the sixth floor.

Here through a window, we push in

to see a middle-aged woman, hair pulled up high

in tightly bound curls looking into a mirror.

As she begins to pull her hair back

you see she, well made up, necklaces,

the beautiful little emerald necklace that hangs

around her clavicle, and other chains,

as she continues to undo her hair before sighing out loud,

"(sighs) This entire day has been a strange problem.

"So many voices from so many distant individuals."

As she pulls a pin out and the hair begins to tumble

past her shoulders.

"(sighs) If another one of these labor unions

"would stop crawling up my ass

"and I could get some actual work done for this town."

Throws down the pin onto a dresser.

"Maybe I could unwind just a little bit."

Behind her, you see sitting on the edge of a bed,

a younger gentleman, in probably his late 20s or so,

handsome square jaw, short brown hair,

gently curled,

lays back with no shirt and just his pants,

these long brown trousers, looks to her and says,

"My dear, but isn't that why you come and visit anyway?"

She smiles a bit and takes her blouse off

before setting her bracelets down on the side.

Turns to him, her neck jewelry glittering

in the middle of the bit of moonlight

that's coming through the fog.

(woman) "Indeed it is.

"And it's been such a tough day.

"It looks like you'll have to help me relax."

He smiles and reaches up and grabs her hand

and pulls her towards the bed

as we pull away from the window,

back into the red lit fog of the night,

here amongst the revelry and music and shouts

and laughter and coughing.

The sounds of pleasure begin to take the night

beyond this window,

and then screams.

Two voices screaming shatter the night.

Come the morning,

you, Auggie, up early--

ASHLEY: Me. (laughter)

MATT:-- having been here,

spent a number of weeks here within The Gilded Rainbow,

your new established homestead here,

you step out from your now private quarters,

something you've not quite really had officially

for some time, to the smell of fresh coffee,

as Reggie is sipping from his mug

and currently going through the morning paper.

As you step out of the room,

looks over her shoulder towards you and goes,

"Morning, Reggie."

ASHLEY: Good morning, Reggie. (laughs)

What's going on? MATT: Did I say my own name?

(laughter) MATT: I totally did.

Sorry, that was my brain.

"I like to say good morning to myself as well sometimes."

(laughter)

MATT: "Keeps you on edge. Good morning--" ASHLEY: I was going to say.

I thought you were correcting me or something.

I'm going to say hello.

MATT: No, you're good.

"Good morning to you as well, Auggie."

(laughter)

MATT: "Glad we're both present."

ASHLEY: What's going on in the stories today?

Anything good?

MATT: "Honestly, nothing quite eye-catching.

"Currently, it seems like there's a bit of discussion

"of, well, unrest down in the Groundswell.

"Looks like there is talk

"of an incoming heavy shipment to the Hallowharbor.

"They're currently keeping some of the naval guardians

"near the Vastchasm to be doing inspections

"of some sort of expected shipment from Otherwhere.

"Beyond that, it looks like there are a number

"of performances to be happening from local musicians

"as well as one who's traveled quite a bit

"from the Scarlet Wood above.

ASHLEY: (gasping) Oh! MATT: "But beyond that,

"nothing that catches the attention

"that we normally look for, at least.

"Would you like some coffee?"

ASHLEY: Well, yeah!

MATT: Puts his cup down and goes over--

ASHLEY: Oh, I will go get it.

I thought you were going to-- MATT: "No, no, I'm already up.

"It's fine." ASHLEY: Let me go get it.

I'll go get it, I'll go get it.

I know the drill, I know the drill.

I've been here for a few weeks now.

MATT: "Fair enough."

ASHLEY: Ooh.

MATT: You go over and-- ASHLEY: Yum.

(laughter)

MATT: Just how you like it.

ASHLEY: Just how I like it. MATT: Just a little bit too sweet.

ASHLEY: (laughs)

Six lumps.

(laughter)

MATT: Right as you take in that first morning sip,

feeling the warmth wash through you,

you hear the familiar sound

of the bell on the front door jingle.

(bell jingling)

Coming through in the morning,

you see pulling the hood of their jacket back,

the familiar sight of Lightkeeper Alexandra walks in.

(Alexandra) "Hi. Good morning, Auggie.

"Reggie, not talking to yourself again are you?"

(Reggie) "No, what are you talking about?"

(laughter)

MATT: "It's a long night."

Looks back to you.

(Alexandra) "(sighs)

"How are you getting on here in your quarters?"

ASHLEY: I love it.

It's really cool.

At night, you know,

I go out and I'll grab a book

and immerse myself in stories.

I like it.

Thank you, again. Truly.

MATT: "I believe that.

"Reggie, you don't mind, do you?"

She pulls a cigar out of her jacket.

He's like, "No, I mean (laughs) you're the Lightkeeper."

She lights it up a little bit.

You can see the flame, as it sparks up the edge.

Her one-- ASHLEY: Do you have another

one of those?

MATT: "It's a bad habit.

"I'm not about to spread it to you."

ASHLEY: I've been smoking since I was eight.

MATT: "Then you can find your own smokes."

ASHLEY: All right.

MATT: The flame of her lighter lights up

and you can see that golden gleam

out of her one altered pupil as she takes a bit of a puff.

As the smoke and it drifts around her face, turns back,

"I assume you understand my presence here

"means it's business.

"There's been... There's been an event.

"I think we're going to have to call your circle together

"to take a look into it.

"So enjoy what bits of the morning you have left.

"The others will be up soon enough.

"We're going to have a talk."

She walks out the front of the library. ASHLEY: Yeah, all right.

MATT: Reggie's currently grabbing his coffee again

and looks back towards you.

ASHLEY: She's a piece of work.

I'll tell you that

MATT: (Reggie) "Indeed she is. She's...

"She's seen some things."

ASHLEY: I can tell.

MATT: "Well, I guess I'll go ahead and--"

He turns the sign in the front of the shop

over to "closed" out front.

The rest of you, throughout your morning experiences

receive familiar missives with the symbol

of Candela Obscura sealed atop it,

calling you back to The Gilded Rainbow bookstore.

In the short order, in the next hour or so,

the three of you begin to shuffle in one after the next

until you have all arrived.

As you all gather within the center, Auggie,

you greet them as you do.

ASHLEY: Hello, hello. Ma'am, sir.

Charlie.

ROBBIE: Doctor. ASHLEY: Come--

Doctor, excuse me, we're not there yet.

I understand.

Please come to my beautiful humble abode.

ANJALI: (laughs)

LAURA: What a beautiful home you have, Auggie.

ASHLEY: Thank you. ANJALI: I take it

you're getting on rather well?

ASHLEY: I do, it's pretty great.

It's pretty great.

Yeah.

MATT: (bell ringing) The bell rings once more

and you watch as Lightkeeper Alexandra steps back in,

closing the door, and latching it behind her.

She unwraps a small taffy, pops it in her mouth.

"Good morning, everyone. Thank you so much for coming

"on such short notice.

"It's going to be likely a busy day."

Nods over to Reggie who closes the curtains,

giving the darker ominous interior

of this bookstore even further shade.

One of the lanterns is given a bit more oil

and then placed on the center cabinet

as you all circle around it.

"Word has gotten around here

"that a Primacy Chamberwoman's

"hotel room was attacked last night.

"Her chamber was apparently left an absolute disarray.

"She is nowhere to be found.

"A handful of folks who were wandering the streets

"at that hour recall seeing something massive

"rushing to or from the scene

"in shadow,

"like some beast.

"Whatever took her is likely not natural

"and has definitely garnered Candela's attention.

"We would like you to investigate this,

"discover where this thing came from,

"where this chamberwoman is,

"and if she can be returned safely.

"I may not necessarily agree with the politics,

"but whatever this is,

"we can only assume she's not the only one in danger

"the longer it's out there."

ANJALI: Do we know anything more about this chamberwoman or not?

If she may be particularly controversial,

if she may be someone who garners lots of enemies?

MATT: "Yes and yes." ANJALI: Mm.

MATT: "Her name is Onette Ferris,

"and while not a upper level chamberwoman herself,

"she is deeply involved in the political circle

"that approves guild and import tariffs,

"both local and abroad.

"She is deeply steeped

"in many unhappy business ventures

"within the city

"and is responsible

"for putting a bit of a bottleneck

"on opening wider trade with Otherwhere.

LAURA: Oh? ANJALI: Hmm.

MATT: "So this may be politically motivated,

"and if it is, then what are they using

"to get their vengeance?

"These are important questions to answer.

"Do you need anything for your journey?"

LAURA: Do you have anything that will defeat

shadow beasts on you?

MATT: "(laughs)"

She leans back in her pocket, thinks for a second.

Pulls out a small, corked vial glass.

The interior of it, she shakes it a little bit,

and it looks like it has a thick, syrupy-like,

molasses-like, dark liquid on the inside

that coats the the interior of the glass.

Tosses it to you.

(laughs)

"Good thing it didn't break.

"Won't last long.

"But you put that on the edge of any sort of blade or weapon,

"it will liable leave an impact on something between worlds."

LAURA: Oh,

thank you.

MATT: "You're welcome.

"Anything else?"

LAURA: Do you know the name of the

institution where she was attacked?

MATT: "It is referred to as The Getaway Grand Hotel in Red Lamp.

"I believe a few of you may be familiar with it.

"Maybe you've passed by, maybe you've used its services."

ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. ANJALI: Of course.

ASHLEY: I've never used it, but I know the place pretty well.

MATT: "I'd recommend checking soon,

"for the longer we wait, the more interests will be garnered

"from other such factions within the city."

ANJALI: Was there anyone known to be with her there?

MATT: "I do not know, we've not quite investigated ourselves.

"You're the first line of learning this info.

"I do believe the Periphery

"has already begun to scope out

"the location, as it is a crime scene

"of a very high profile individual.

"So prepare yourselves to rub shoulders

"with the local police."

ROBBIE: Have we closed the establishment

or merely cordoned off the room?

MATT: "As far as I can only imagine, just the room.

"It's still a place of business,

"and it wasn't a murder scene that we know of.

"I think that would've changed circumstances."

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: "But who knows.

"If they find something more dangerous,

"they might just do that. So time is of the essence."

ANJALI: Right.

LAURA: We should go?

ANJALI: We should.

I can't help but--

The Getaway Grand is known for

charging by the hour.

I don't mean to assume anything

about the chamberwoman's predilections,

but if that is the case,

then there's a witness somewhere.

ASHLEY: Mm. LAURA: Yes. Oh.

ROBBIE: A prostitute. LAURA: Yes.

ROBBIE: She means a prostitute.

LAURA: Of course.

ASHLEY: Yeah. That's what it is.

(laughter)

ASHLEY: (refined) Whores.

MATT: "Well." ASHLEY: All kinds.

MATT: "I'll leave you to it." ANJALI: Yeah.

MATT: "Good luck and once again, stay safe.

LAURA: Thank you. MATT: She exits. (bell dinging)

ANJALI: You know, in all my years-- LAURA: We're in The Varnish, right?

Okay. ANJALI: Do you know in all my years

here at Candela,

I have never seen someone ask that question.

LAURA: What question?

ANJALI: Do you have something to defeat shadow demons?

LAURA: (laughs) Oh.

I didn't think she really would.

ROBBIE: Speaking of which, I'll certainly give it back,

but I'd love to take a look.

LAURA: Of course.

I don't carry blades,

so-- I know you do, though.

ANJALI: (chuckles) Your directness

is absolutely a-- That is a bonus.

MATT: You get a closer look at it, Howard, and as you hold it

up to the light, now that you put it there,

it definitely has that dark semi-translucent,

almost molasses texture to it

when you hold it between the light and you.

But there's almost slivers of metal in there,

like a liquid metal,

like there's a mercury mixed in with it somewhere.

ANJALI: Do you still have your bleed detector?

LAURA: Always.

ANJALI: I'd be interested to see what's in that vial.

ROBBIE: Oh, certainly.

ANJALI: Hmm.

MATT: As you detect the exterior of it,

it does not have any bleed signature on it,

which is welcoming. LAURA: That's good.

ANJALI: Hmm.

ROBBIE: Well, could be any number of things.

A chemical mixture.

There appear to be elements of metal inside.

The world has a rich history of lycanthropy

and therianthropes, half-human monsters.

Legend says usually some sort of metal

works against them.

It's just an idea, but why don't--

ASHLEY: That's not fucking real.

Is that real?

That's real. That's real? LAURA: Shadow beasts are real, Auggie.

Why couldn't werewolves be?

ROBBIE: I've never seen one,

but history is history (chuckles),

and there's always a little bit of truth to every myth.

That's quite interesting.

LAURA: Oh, keep it.

ROBBIE: Oh, all right.

I'll put it in my pocket

ANJALI: Shall we?

ROBBIE: Let's.

ANJALI: How far is The Getaway Grand from The Sight Unseen?

MATT: Maybe about a five minute walk down the road.

It's a little more central.

There's, you know, when you go through the Red Lamp,

there are a number of streets that divide

and quarter off as it goes.

Right towards the center, there's a massive segment

where four main streets converge

into one large marketplace.

It's not quite on the corner there,

but it's just off the side one of the main streets there.

It faces outward, but it's, yeah,

it's definitely a prominent establishment,

though it is a little sunken back from the main street.

There's a little bit of a tiny courtyard

that's built there. It's not really well kept.

ANJALI: Well, it is the Red Lamp District.

Not every proprietor is as exact--

ASHLEY: You mean the fun district?

ANJALI: Yes, the fun district.

Why do you think I have my place there?

(sighs) I am interested in finding out so many things.

I'm interested in finding out

exactly why she chose to be there.

I mean, the chamberwoman obviously has her own home.

LAURA: Well, true.

But most likely, she has a family.

ANJALI: Yes. LAURA: Mm-hmm.

ROBBIE: Yes, and-- ANJALI: I'd like, yeah.

LAURA: Or maybe she has a hard time finding anyone

to be intimate with.

Maybe she's very shy in her everyday life

and she looks forward to finding someone

who will let her be herself for a moment.

ANJALI: I like you more and more the more you talk, you know that?

LAURA: (laughs)

ROBBIE: Who's typically in charge of establishments such as this?

A madam, or a--?

ANJALI: Well, would I know the Getaway Grand?

MATT: Yes, you would actually know the owner.

The owner, his name is Simon Terefon.

ANJALI: It's not the same Simon that we spoke about last--

LAURA: That's actually-- ANJALI: A police officer.

MATT: Different Simon.

ANJALI: Simon Terefon?

MATT: Simon Terefon.

ANJALI: And--

MATT: It does operate primarily as a hotel,

publicly. (laughs)

ANJALI: Publicly. ROBBIE: Oh!

ASHLEY: Okay.

ANJALI: But

do I know him personally?

MATT: You know of him.

You may have had a passing conversation with him,

but he stays to his establishment.

Occasionally wandering out.

So you haven't had many crossing of paths in the past,

but like anybody who does a lot of business in this town,

and you make it your business to know

who does business in that part of town,

you know of him. ANJALI: Okay, all right.

LAURA: Well, we're walking there right now.

ANJALI: Yes. LAURA: Right?

ANJALI: Okay. ROBBIE: Yeah.

MATT: So you gather your things,

traverse down into Red Lamp,

which, at this time of day, this early morning,

which now it's late morning, 10, 11 or so, you know,

pushing noon in the next hour or so,

the majority of the street does not carry

the same liveliness it does in the evening.

There are people sobering up.

There are individuals

who are just traveling through,

some that are emerging

from some of the various places of business

and hoping to not be noticed as they skitter off

like insects when you turn the lights on.

Trying to find their business around--

Pardon the squeaking of the device behind me.

ASHLEY: (laughs)

MATT: But eventually, following your trail,

you head to the exterior of the Getaway Grand,

the eight-story complex,

a little bit recessed from the main street,

and where you can see the red brick and the fine stone work

that's built to look like it once held some esteem,

but it has definitely fallen into a bit of disrepair.

There are pockets of dirt and grime

that have built up through the rains

that nobody's really had the time or funds to tend to,

but nobody necessarily comes here

for the grandiose presentation of the establishment.

It's definitely not terrible,

but it's no Varnish-type establishment.

The little courtyard here has some bushes,

some that are, you know, well kept.

The grass here is mostly mud these days due to the weather

and the little gate

that closes off the interior is open.

The front double doors, you see,

with fine brass pullers to open it up are there,

but there is a Periphery officer

standing at the door,

looking around with their familiar, dark hat

with the two points, the horseshoe shape of the front.

Stands there, arm in arm glancing up.

LAURA: Do you think he'll let us in?

ANJALI: Let's find out.

Good day, Officer.

MATT: "All right, good day, huh?"

ANJALI: Yes.

I don't know if you know me.

I'm a proprietress nearby of The Sight Unseen.

I'm here to take a meeting with my colleagues

and a new potential business partner.

May we pass?

MATT: Make a Sway roll. This is low stakes.

He's more just gleaning your business.

ANJALI: No. LAURA: What'd you roll?

ANJALI: Double ones. LAURA: Ooh.

MATT: Double ones, oof. LAURA: Whoa, rough.

MATT: He goes,

"Unfortunately, there's been a bit of an event

"the night before.

"If you come back in about an hour or two,

"we'll be done with our business

"and you can tend to it

"or find another venue out and about, but--"

LAURA: What kind of event?

MATT: "Oh, it's Periphery business. Hmm."

LAURA: Oh. ANJALI: Well,

as our partner is probably already here,

they've come in from out of town,

we'll return in an hour.

May we send a missive?

MATT: "Oh," reaches into his jacket

and pulls out a small pad of paper and a little pencil.

"I can see what I can do." ANJALI: Yes.

Would you,

if the GM would let me,

would you write a letter to the front desk for me

and let Matthew know that (laughs),

yes, let Matthew know that--

LAURA: (laughs) ANJALI:-- Miss, what's my name?

LAURA: (laughs)

ASHLEY and LAURA: Charlotte. ANJALI: Charlotte.

I just-- It's a lot--

ROBBIE: Wow! ASHLEY: Charlotte Eaves!

It happens to me every day.

ANJALI: There's a lot of--

As soon as I realized Matthew, ah, great!

I need more caffeine. MATT: Everything else just

shot out of the head, yeah.

ANJALI: I just (tongue rolling). ASHLEY: (tongue rolling)

ANJALI: As soon as I realized.

(laughter)

ANJALI: Right. It's very serious business.

Would you please let Matthew know that Ms. Eaves came by

and had been looking to meet in the regular room

with their colleague?

If he would possibly stay put and keep ready,

that we would be by

in approximately one hour and 15 minutes.

MATT: "Okay, I'll do what I can."

ANJALI: Mm, thank you.

MATT: "Now, go on your way."

ASHLEY: During this time--

MATT and ANJALI: Mm-hmm.

ASHLEY:-- I will try to see, because I'm sneaky.

MATT: Yeah. ASHLEY: I'm going to try

to sneak on past. ANJALI: Yeah!

MATT: Sneak past while they're having this conversation?

ASHLEY: Yeah. MATT: Okay, okay.

Go ahead and make a Hide.

ASHLEY: Because I have Born in the Shadows--

ANJALI: Yeah.

ASHLEY: "When attempting to avoid security or detection,

"you gild an extra die."

MATT: Ooh!

ASHLEY: You gild an extra Hide die.

ANJALI: That's-a my boy.

ASHLEY: So we got this one, we got this one, so--

LAURA: How many? How much?

MATT: So for Hide-- so it's two dice,

but they're both gilded for you,

unless you want to spend a Drive.

ASHLEY: Oh, they're both gilded?

Okay, so--

ROBBIE: I'm also a sneaky beeper,

so I'm going to give you some help,

because I'm going to immediately clock

that you're about to make a sneak.

ASHLEY: Okay. ROBBIE: So I'd like to just

help by doing a little distraction.

So I'll spend a Drive-- MATT: You go for it.

ROBBIE:-- to give you an extra die.

ASHLEY: (gasps) MATT: You got it.

ASHLEY: All right. MATT: So--

MATT: Y'all!

ROBBIE: We have rolled like

bad doo doo! MATT: You guys have rolled like--

ASHLEY: On the gilded, I rolled a one and a two,

and then on the other one I rolled a two.

Well, you get your Drive back, right? LAURA: Oh no! Yeah.

Well, that's good. ASHLEY: You get your Drive back.

ROBBIE: That's our circle ability?

MATT: Yeah. LAURA: Yeah, we have--

MATT: You intervene behind her-- LAURA: Trauma Bonding.

MATT:-- to get the attention.

As you're doing so (laughs)--

ROBBIE: Fucking trip on my shoelace?

MATT: Yep. (laughs)

You stumble for a bit

and hit her back in the shoulder,

who knocks into him slightly,

who pushes him back and his arm goes out to catch himself,

which also blocks your entry as you're passing by.

As you bump into his arm he goes,

"Hey, hey, hey, hey."

ASHLEY: Sorry, it's a tussle.

I don't know what I-- MATT: "That's right,

"come back in an hour."

ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. ROBBIE: Sorry.

ANJALI: Thank you, Officer.

LAURA: Are you all right?

MATT: "I'm fine."

ANJALI: Oh, all right.

I'm walking away fast and shaking my head.

I don't know what's--

LAURA: Charlie, is there another entrance?

ASHLEY: There's got to be. LAURA: A service entrance or something.

ANJALI: I'm more frustrated about losing my cool there.

LAURA: You forgot your name for a moment.

ANJALI: Yeah, I have a lot on my mind.

There should be another entrance.

LAURA: Yes. ANJALI: The service entrance,

of course, and--

Well, there would be a fire escape of some kind.

MATT: There are. You do know and you can see from,

as you back away from the entryway,

there are two alleys that run to the right and left of it.

Because it is buttressed against

two other larger buildings,

not quite as tall as the Getaway,

but definitely on each side,

about three stories on one and five on the other.

There are buildings behind it, as well.

So you would assume, and you know this area pretty well,

from darting through the alleys here,

there are alleys that wind

in the back of a lot of these businesses as well.

ASHLEY: All right. MATT: So--

ASHLEY: I kind of know this area.

LAURA: Oh?

ASHLEY: I can take us to the back

and see if maybe there's another entrance?

LAURA: Wonderful.

ROBBIE: We're going to have to-- ASHLEY: Or a basement entrance.

ROBBIE:-- sneak into the room, anyway,

so I don't see why sneaking into the premises

would be any different.

ASHLEY: I agree, Doctor.

ANJALI: Lead on. ASHLEY: For once.

Yeah, let's go.

MATT: All righty. ASHLEY: (quick footsteps)

MATT: So-- (laughter)

MATT: Following your lead, you head around,

turning left from exiting the front of the Getaway,

darting into another adjacent alley about two buildings down

to make sure that you're both out of sight,

and also finding a nice spot

where you're not being noticed

as you dart into one of the dark, shaded gaps

between this presentational street front.

You head backwards to the back alley.

There's a bunch of garbage and refuse and empty boxes

and it definitely has a

musty, hard water meets old trash smell

that permeates the back of this region.

As you curve to the left and begin to head further down,

you see, eventually, the back of the Getaway.

Indeed, there is a fire escape that runs towards the back.

There are some piles of trash,

and as the four of you approach,

you see one of the numerous vagrants that wander back here

is balled up near one of the trash bags.

Sees you approach and gets up and grabs his stuff

and starts walking away.

But you are--

ROBBIE: Did Alexandra tell us what room it was?

ASHLEY: On the sixth floor. ANJALI: Sixth floor.

ROBBIE: Sixth floor.

That's all we know? ANJALI: That's all we know.

MATT: That's all you know. ROBBIE: It's the sixth floor.

ANJALI: Mm-hmm. ROBBIE: Okay.

LAURA: That's a lot of stairs. ASHLEY: Probably should have asked--

MATT: You look up the fire escape towards the sixth floor

when you're making this notion,

and you do see a window that is blown out.

LAURA: (gasps) ANJALI: Oh.

MATT: There is a hole. It is broken and shattered.

You can see now to the ground where you're standing,

right beneath it, there are glass shards

all over the alleyway right here.

There, looking back up at it,

you can see the actual brick is damaged.

There are chunks of brick on the floor.

It looks like something

bashed its way out of this chamber.

ASHLEY: The guy that just ran off?

MATT: Mm-hmm. ASHLEY: Hey, hey, hey, hey!

Hey, hey! MATT: "(grunts)"

ASHLEY: Hey, what's up?

MATT: "Hey."

ASHLEY: Were you here last night?

Like in the morning? Were you here all night?

MATT: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, but you didn't see nothing.

"You didn't see--" ASHLEY: No, no, no, saw nothing.

Saw what?

MATT: He looks to you, he's missing a few teeth, kind eyes.

The gentleman looks like in his 60s or so

with these tufts of hair on the side of his head

that come into these greasy points at the end.

He's wearing couple layers of gathered clothing

and he grabbed a large sack of some kind

that he's tucked under his arm.

"Yeah, why?"

ASHLEY: Did you hear anything? Did you see anything weird?

MATT: "Yeah." LAURA: Does he have any glass on him?

MATT: (laughs) He does not have any glass on him.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: He seemed holding something

tightly under his arm and he's like,

"Well, I mean, yeah,

"you see weird stuff around here all the time."

ASHLEY: You know what I'm talking about.

I know we see weird shit,

but I'm talking weird fucking shit.

MATT: He shifts from foot to foot for a second, thinking.

LAURA: Can I roll a Read on him to see--

MATT: Yes, you may. LAURA:-- what he's trying to hide?

MATT: Make a Read test for me.

ROBBIE: One of us has to self-actualize here.

ANJALI: Yes, sorry, sorry. MATT: (laughs)

ASHLEY: I'm going to--

ANJALI: I can't remember my name, so don't look to me.

ASHLEY: I'm going to-- LAURA: Okay, this is fine,

but I rolled a four.

Mixed success on the gilded. So.

MATT: On the gilded, okay. ROBBIE: All I saw was that one.

ANJALI: Yes. LAURA: Yes.

MATT: So yeah, so watching him,

he looks two layers of startled.

One, he's definitely trying to get out of sight

with something under his arm.

And two, he looks like he's rattled.

As you're asking him these questions,

and he's rattling off,

his eyes are off in the distance a bit

and he looks scared,

and he's like, "Yeah, yeah, no."

What did you say you were going to do?

Okay. He's like,

"Yeah. (laughs) I--"

He looks up and you can see

a Periphery officer steps out of the large, holed window

onto the fire escape

and he's now keeping an eye on this area

as soon as that happens. ASHLEY: Out of my pocket,

I'm going to pull out a wrapped piece of bread

and little snacks and look up at the officer.

Here, have some food. Have some food.

MATT: He looks up at the officer.

"Thank you so much.

"This is a kind gift."

LAURA: As he holds his hand out,

did I catch a glimpse of what he had under his arm?

MATT: Go ahead and make a Survey test for me.

LAURA: Just a shit fuck surge Drives fuck.

Oh, I don't have-- I'm going to spend--

Do I want to? Just low stakes.

This is low stakes? MATT: Low stakes.

LAURA: All right. MATT: You're just glancing at him.

LAURA: I got the-- I failed because it's a lower.

I rolled a two on the low.

ROBBIE: Aw. MATT: No glance at it.

LAURA: Okay. MATT: No idea.

He's holding it close under his layered jacket.

He goes, "Thank you, I'll go eat this over here."

Gives you a-- ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah, yeah. ANJALI: Mm-hmm.

MATT: You follow him over, underneath

so the officer isn't able to see both of you

in the overhang of what you now see is a back door

that does seem to lead into the inside.

He goes,

"So,

"it was a real foggy night last night.

"Me and Skiddy and Enom

"were just out here, you know?"

ASHLEY: Yeah. Yeah.

MATT: "We got ourselves a stash,"

and he references the thing under his arm.

LAURA: (softly) Oh.

MATT: "We were just enjoying it, you know?

"Just having a night out.

"There's not much to do sometimes, this part of town.

"Then we heard this terrible noise,

"big crash, like something was breaking

"all the glass in the windows.

"The metal was creaking and shit,

"and we spooked

"and we all stood up and started to scatter,

"thinking maybe they were upon us,

"maybe some of the officers saw us

"and was going to try and bust us for, you know,

"having stuff. Then--" ASHLEY: I get it.

MATT: Then I saw something.

"Something big, something real big moved through the shadow.

"I think Skiddy got a good look at it.

"Enom, we haven't seen since.

"I think whatever it was, it got Enom."

LAURA: What was the--

MATT: "Oh! Ah!"

They've been only talking to you this whole time,

and you approached him, and he's like, "What?

"Wait, I got nothing. It's fine."

LAURA: No, I-- ASHLEY and ANJALI: No, no, no.

ASHLEY: They're all with me.

She's my woman.

LAURA: Oh yes, Auggie and I have been dating.

We are quite betrothed.

ASHLEY: It's fine. It's fine.

You can tell her anything you want.

MATT: "Well, you're moving up.

"I says." ASHLEY: Yeah, well, you know.

MATT: "That's a good find." ASHLEY: It's what I do.

Don't worry about it.

LAURA: The beast that you spoke of,

he was flying or he was walking?

Did it fall out of the window and land on the ground

or did it fly through the air to the next building over?

MATT: "I don't know about no flying beast or anything,

"but whatever it was, it was moving through the alley.

"It was on the ground."

LAURA: Got it.

So walking, then?

MATT: "Sure, yeah."

ANJALI: When you say it got Enom,

it got him as in took him?

MATT: "We haven't seen him since.

"I think Skiddy mentioned that he saw Enom get pulled away

"when it ran through."

LAURA: Pulled away where?

MATT: "You'd have to ask Skiddy."

LAURA: Where's Skiddy?

MATT: "I mean, he's probably sobering up

"at The Good Gravy Eatery right about now.

"He's had a rougher morning than me. (chuckles weakly)

"I'm trying to think if it's still safe

"to call this place our grounds, you know?

"After last night.

"Stuff's getting weird these days."

ROBBIE: Well, you may want to--

MATT: (startled) "Ah!" ROBBIE: Hello, how are you?

You may want to find a new place to rest,

at least for a few days,

and especially until the Periphery

are finished with their investigation.

MATT: "Oh, you're right, you're right."

ASHLEY: Hey, if you go to The Gilded Rainbow,

I've got a bed back there.

Maybe get a little hair of the dog, sleep it off.

Get a good night's rest.

MATT: "You're kind.

"You're real kind. I appreciate that."

ASHLEY: Ask for Reggie. Say I'm friends with...

(laughs) almost forgot my name, too.

Auggie. (laughs)

MATT: "Friends with Auggie.

"You Auggie?" ASHLEY: I'm Auggie, yeah.

MATT: "Auggie, Terry."

ASHLEY: Hey, nice to meet you. MATT: "Terry Bode."

ASHLEY: Yeah, Terry Bode. MATT: "You know, I--

ASHLEY: I feel like I know Skiddy.

I feel like I've met Skiddy in the past.

MATT: "You probably have.

"He's pretty loud, that one.

"Bit of a prankster." ASHLEY: I think I know

what you talking about.

ROBBIE: Once the pleasantries begin,

Howard totally disengages.

MATT: (laughs)

ROBBIE: I want to see if I can bop over

to the refuse on the ground, the glass,

and investigate pieces.

If it's glass, I'm looking specifically for--

LAURA: Oh, maybe something--

ROBBIE:-- blood or bits of some--

MATT: Yeah, yeah.

Make a Focus test for me-- ANJALI: Blood bits of bleed.

MATT:-- if you don't mind. ROBBIE: Focus?

I want to spend a Drive on this one,

and I got a gilded,

so I get three.

Okay, mixed success at four.

MATT: Mixed success at four. Okay.

While you're having this conversation

and Terry's like, "You know, I used to be a banker.

"You know, I always dressed up nice like these folks, too.

"You know, and then things just change so fast sometimes."

As this conversation's happening,

you're going through the-- (laughs)

(laughter)

MATT: (laughs) You-- LAURA: You've been waiting.

How long have you-- ANJALI: (laughing) Yes!

ROBBIE: A game and a half!

(laughter)

MATT: Hell yeah. ROBBIE: Excellent.

(laughter)

MATT: As you-- LAURA: Amazing.

MATT: You begin to-- LAURA: I've got to search something!

MATT:-- look amongst the broken glass

and the chunks of fallen brick and masonry

that have fallen free from whatever happened up above.

You glance through

and you don't see any blood--

ROBBIE: Mm.

MATT:-- at all.

But you see a couple of odd things

that don't look like they should be here.

You see, they look like almost gray--

You ever see what boiled bacon looks like?

ROBBIE: Oh yeah, okay. LAURA: Ew.

MATT: It's awful. It's gray, somewhat slimy strips

of some sort of flesh.

Something inhuman, something that looks unnatural.

Looks like it was either carved off, sloughed off.

It's sitting there on the ground.

As you look towards it and

at first, it blends in with the rest

of the the chaos that's fallen on the ground here.

You see it and recognize the texture

as it glistens from a little bit of sunlight

that's coming through as the last bit

of the fog is burned off in the morning.

Look at it and it twitches.

ANJALI: (sharp inhale)

MATT: It twitches and you feel yourself like,

"What the fuck is that?"

As you pull away for a brief second,

you feel your heart jump into your throat

and you do take a brain.

LAURA: Oh no, do we have bleed containment vials?

ANJALI: We do. We do indeed.

LAURA: Don't you have one? ANJALI: Yes, I do.

Do we see this happening?

MATT: You're having this conversation.

You do hear probably an audible gasp

as you turn around and watch as Howard

is backing away a couple steps.

ANJALI: Would you two excuse me?

Continue talking. ROBBIE: Unique, interesting thing.

Some sort of flesh.

LAURA: Are you--

ROBBIE: What's that then? LAURA: Are you all right, Howard?

ROBBIE: Oh, certainly, certainly. LAURA: Professor, doctor?

ROBBIE: I have moments where the new information

makes me somewhat uncomfortable.

ANJALI: I'm watching his gaze.

ANJALI and ROBBIE: What?

ANJALI: Point to what you're looking at.

ROBBIE: I think we can all see it.

I'm going to-- ANJALI: Don't, don't, don't, don't.

ROBBIE: I'm going to touch it. ANJALI: Don't do it!

LAURA: Don't touch it. MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: Touch it. ROBBIE: (slurps)

MATT: You grab it, and it makes that horrible slimy sound.

ROBBIE: Yeah, yeah. LAURA: Why would you do that?

MATT: It twitches twice in your grasp.

ROBBIE: All right.

MATT: And then begins to climb your finger.

ROBBIE: Oh, this was a mistake. ANJALI: No, no, no.

I'm getting the bleed containment vial

and putting it right underneath it.

MATT: You put it underneath it and it's not coming free.

As you look,

it's pushing into your skin. LAURA: (gasps)

MATT: It's pushing into your hand. ASHLEY: Oh my god.

ROBBIE: Ah! That's a unique sensation.

ANJALI: I pull out my jack knife and start,

without touching it, start to try

to carve it off the finger part.

MATT: Okay.

ROBBIE: You're cutting my finger right now?

ANJALI: No, off the finger part, that's what I'm saying.

MATT: I need you to make a Control test right now.

ANJALI: ♪ Yes, you do. ♪

MATT: As this is now slowly burrowing its way

into the top of your hand. LAURA: I'm going to give you

a Drive point from my Nerve. ANJALI: Okay, and am going to,

because I'm Cool Under Pressure,

I'm assuming this is a high stakes roll?

MATT: This would be relatively, yes.

ANJALI: Yes, yes, yes, okay. MATT: (laughs)

ANJALI: I may always spend Cunning instead of the Drive

the roll would normally use.

So I am going to spend a Cunning Drive

instead of a Nerve Drive for Control,

so I will take another, which means I'm rolling three.

Please don't be stupid.

LAURA: (gasps) ANJALI: Three sixes.

ASHLEY: Oh my goodness. LAURA: Three!

MATT: I mean-- ASHLEY: Let's take her to Vegas.

MATT: (laughs)

ASHLEY: Winner winner, chicken dinner.

MATT: You managed to expertly pull your blade forth

and carve it, snatch the front

of where this weird strip of flesh is

and pull it from his hand leaving no wound behind.

It looked like it was burrowing in,

but when you pull it away, there's no sign of burrowing.

There's no pain and no bleed.

LAURA: Wow.

MATT: Barely.

LAURA: Triple sixes.

ANJALI: I'm telling you I feel like, thank you, thank you.

That'll never happen again, but hey.

MATT: As you grasp and contain it within your vial,

you can see it as you lock off the lid

and glance at it, it (twitches).

LAURA: That's unpleasant. ROBBIE: That was very interesting.

ANJALI: Indeed.

MATT: "Hey, what's going on down there?"

You see the Periphery officer

is now glancing over the top of the fire escape.

ANJALI: Don't worry, officer, we're simply good Samaritans

taking care of this young unhoused gentleman.

We're trying to find him new home,

and trying to find him somewhere off the streets.

MATT: "Okay."

ROBBIE: We'll be on our way.

ASHLEY: What's going on?

Is there a problem up there or something?

MATT: "Nothing you got to worry about, get moving on."

ANJALI: All right then.

Let's go and let's take Terry with us.

ASHLEY: If I didn't give him shit,

he wouldn't have believed us, you know?

ANJALI: It's true, true, true, true.

Let's take Terry and leave here. ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, let's go.

ANJALI: I'm going to keep an eye on him. LAURA: Do you see any more of those gray,

twitchy, fleshy things around here?

ROBBIE: Well, certainly. LAURA: On the ground,

that would be bad if somebody else picked one up.

ANJALI: Do we see the other one? LAURA: Are there any more?

ANJALI: Can it fit in my--

MATT: I'd say there are two of them,

and you can probably get them both up,

now that you know what you're in for

and you do gather it up.

You don't see anything else here

beyond the the back door to the hotel.

Couple of windows that are closed from the inside

and the alleyway that goes to the right and left

with a couple of offshoots to lead other complexes.

LAURA: Should we try to get to the room now

or should we head to the Good Gravy?

ROBBIE: I am certainly hungry after that experience.

LAURA: Professor, why did you pick it up with your fingers?

ROBBIE: Oh, well, I suppose it was an experiment of sorts.

LAURA: With your own flesh?

ROBBIE: Well, that's-- some of the greatest scientists

of all time have used themselves as their--

ANJALI: Howard. ROBBIE:-- guinea pig. Yes?

ANJALI: This may not be a time to worry about your reputation

as a professor or aggrandizing yourself

in terms of-- you have to be more careful.

ROBBIE: Oh, well--

ASHLEY: Yeah, I thought you were the smart guy over here.

Even I wouldn't have touched that fucking thing.

Would a genius? ROBBIE: It all worked out, though,

didn't it?

The variables were in place, everyone played their part.

Good gravy, I'm hungry.

MATT: (laughs)

ANJALI: I'm going to walk off to The Good Gravy.

LAURA: I'll follow behind and talk to Howard.

I understand the lure of such unknowns,

but don't put yourself on the line if unnecessary.

The payoff isn't worth it, trust me.

ROBBIE: I thought I was the lecturer here.

Duly noted, thank you.

Oh, duly noted.

I'll actually note it.

MATT and ANJALI: (laugh)

MATT: A short jaunt later, you come to The Good Gravy Eatery.

The exterior of it, it's a small little cafe

at this time of morning, definitely seems to be

a place of those who sober up here in the Red Lamp

just a few blocks away.

As you step within the interior,

you could smell the freshly-cooked sausages

and the smell of breakfast foods and meats and eggs

wafting through the air.

You can see a couple of business folk

that themselves are finishing their coffee

and getting ready for the day,

probably within the district or just beyond.

As well as a number of other folks that look like

they've had a rougher night

and they're still in the process of recovering.

It doesn't take too long

for you to see a person that you recognize as Skiddy.

You see this gentleman in his early 50s,

red hair, mostly receded, and the rest of it

is this large bush of red hair,

like a vibrant flame of a head.

Very, very pale skin, looks gaunt and shaken

and is currently by himself in one booth in the far corner.

Just clutching a mug that is steaming,

looks almost untouched

as he's staring down at the table.

ANJALI: Shall I come with? ASHLEY: I think that's him.

ANJALI: Okay. ASHLEY: Do we all go?

ANJALI: I think after our experience with Terry,

it might be best if it's you.

ASHLEY: Right, all right.

ROBBIE: We don't want to frighten the poor man.

ASHLEY: Okay, I'll give him a hello

and then I'll invite you guys over?

ANJALI: Yes, and why don't you order yourself a meal, Howard?

ROBBIE: Oh, sounds good. Bacon, bacon, bacon.

ASHLEY: Oh, get some bacon and some--

ANJALI: Some coffee. ASHLEY: Some coffee.

ROBBIE: All right, yeah, sounds good.

I'll go sit at the counter and order a bite.

MATT: You got it.

ANJALI: Oh no, I think we might want to keep an eye

on the good professor for a little bit, yes?

LAURA: Of course.

I'm going to stand in the middle of the room.

MATT: Just stand there. Perfect.

(laughter)

ANJALI: Darling, feel free to order something.

Perhaps a coffee for you, too?

Yes?

LAURA: Pie.

MATT: (laughs)

All right. ASHLEY: All right,

I'm going to walk over.

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: Hey. MATT: "(startled stammerings)"

ASHLEY: Oh, Skiddy, right?

MATT: "Yeah, that's my name. Why, who are you?"

ASHLEY: Auggie. I feel like I've seen you in passing.

Don't worry about it.

MATT: "You look familiar." ASHLEY: Do you mind if I take seat?

MATT: "I-- What?"

ASHLEY: Do you mind if I take a seat?

MATT: "Okay, yeah, that's fine."

ASHLEY: What are you drinking?

MATT: "It's coffee.

"I haven't really started drinking it yet.

"I'm going to get to it and probably...

"(slurps)

"Oh, it's cold, it's cold."

ASHLEY: Let's get you a--

Hey, can we get two fresh cup of coffees, please?

MATT: Waitress says, "Sure, get you some coffee,

"hang on just a sec." ASHLEY: And maybe some pancakes.

MATT: "Pancakes and coffees coming up."

ASHLEY: Maybe some bacon and eggs and--

MATT: "Bacon, eggs, pancakes, coffee, coming right up."

ASHLEY: Yeah, that'll be good.

MATT: Goes off and Skiddy's just watching.

"Thank you for that. It's going to be tasty."

ASHLEY: So hey, I ran into Terry.

MATT: "Oh yeah, talk to him?"

ASHLEY: Yeah, we was talking

and he said you guys kind of had a rough night.

MATT: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we did, so fucking crazy.

"(laughs turning to crying)" ASHLEY: He told us that--

Oh no.

MATT: "(whimpers)"

ASHLEY: Here. MATT: "Thanks."

There's a full on honking nose evacuation

into whatever scarf you just handed him.

ASHLEY: You can keep that.

MATT: "I will."

ASHLEY: So did you see something? You saw something right?

MATT: "Yeah, we saw something all right.

"I don't know what to tell you.

"We were all kind of fucked up at the time, you know?"

ASHLEY: Sure.

MATT: "But we were just laughing it off,

"having a night of jokes and everything,

"and then we heard a crash and we all went for cover

"and then something heavy hit the ground behind us

"like a big boof, and then we heard a scream,

"and we turned and then something big moved.

"It was wrapped in torn cloth and grime.

"It looked like it was just awful, nightmare of a thing.

"It had so many arms.

"I was really fucked up. I think I may

"have misremembered it, but it fucking grabbed Enom

"and took off with him, and I don't know where he is,

"and I don't know if he's safe."

ASHLEY: All right, well, me and my friends

we're going to try to find him.

MATT: "How?"

ASHLEY: Do you mind if I invite them over to sit down?

Or do you need some space?

MATT: "Who are your friends?"

ASHLEY: Well, we got, over there, pretty one in the purple.

MATT: "Okay, yeah."

ASHLEY: We got that dummy over there. He's a doctor.

He's eating whatever he's eating.

That's Charlie. You probably heard about Charlie around.

She's kind of like-- She's family.

MATT: "Okay, yeah."

Coffee arrives, pancakes arrive.

Immediately goes into scarfing.

Just automatically going into survival mode and just--

ASHLEY: Yeah.

So this is Skiddy, my friend Skiddy.

He's been telling me about his night

and everything that he saw and I told him

that we were going to try to help him look for Enom.

ANJALI: Yes, is there anything you can tell us

about your friend Enom?

MATT: "Yeah, he's been under my wing

"for a couple years now.

"He's about 30 or so.

"Long scraggly blond hair, a bit of a beard.

"He tries to keep it pointy.

"When he wakes up it's all crazy usually.

"He's a nice fella, been a musician.

"Keeps his guitar with him, or he did."

He points to the back of the booth you're in,

and you can see there's a partially damaged guitar

that's set up on the back of the booth.

"He left it behind when he got taken.

"So I'm holding onto it for when he comes back."

LAURA: Was he playing it when the creature arrived?

MATT: "Not at the moment, we were telling jokies.

"I don't remember a whole lot,

"I'm real sorry. I was real fucked up."

ASHLEY: Did you, not to--

A man of your age, did you all fight in the war together?

MATT: "I mean,

"me and Enom did, but Terry was too old.

"It wasn't a good time.

"Once it was over, they just stopped helping us

"and set us on our ways and..."

ASHLEY: Yeah, they seem to be pretty good at that, huh?

MATT: "It's hard to come back,

"and when you've seen some of the things that we have

"and just told to move on like nothing's changed,

"come back and the city's all bright and shiny and

"people don't remember who you were or what you've done."

You notice this point, he keeps scratching

the side of his forearm

and you glance into the sleeve

and you can see there's a gash

that's starting to darken a little bit.

ANJALI: Skiddy, what happened to your arm?

MATT: "I scraped it last night at some point.

"I don't know what happened."

ANJALI: Doctor.

ROBBIE: Yes?

ANJALI: Might you have any salves or something

that would work on something--

LAURA: Like a gray, wormy flesh thing

that's embedded itself in someone's arm?

ROBBIE: Oh, it seems unlikely that I would have

that specific medication.

ANJALI: (laughs)

ROBBIE: Also PhD, not MD.

May I take a look at your arm, please?

MATT: "You're the doctor, right?

"You said he is the doctor?"

LAURA: Yes. MATT: "Okay, yeah, okay."

ASHLEY: He's a doc.

ROBBIE: I'd like to examine the arm

and see if there's any movement within his arm.

That is not the muscles of his arm.

MATT: Sure, make a Focus test for me.

ROBBIE: All right, I should be good at it.

Hey, that's a five on the gilded.

LAURA: Nice. MATT: Great, great.

Inspecting it, it looks like it's a rapid gash

like somebody who just ran into something sharp

like a corner or an edge and tore across,

and it looks like it's likely on a path to infection

if it's not treated sometime soon.

But none of the flesh looks like

it's out of the ordinary, thankfully.

ROBBIE: Oh, okay.

Well, this seems like a relatively ordinary-type of--

LAURA: Are you winking because you mean it's not ordinary?

Or are you winking because it is?

ROBBIE: It is because it is ordinary.

LAURA: Oh, great.

ROBBIE: It is ordinary, why would it not be

anything other than ordinary?

ANJALI: Of course. ROBBIE: Of course.

LAURA: It's ordinary. ROBBIE: It is very ordinary.

But I would suggest that perhaps if there's a shelter,

you could go to on the Shriveline,

a doctor, or a nurse,

you might want to have that looked at.

MATT: "Okay, I can do that." ROBBIE: Perhaps,

and when I say "might want to,"

you must or you'll die of

sepsis within a few days. ANJALI: Oh goodness, doctor. Skiddy.

MATT: "Yeah, okay, I'll make sure

"I get it taken looked at. Thank you, doctor."

ROBBIE: Yeah.

ANJALI: If you need any help finding someone

after you finish your meal,

stop by The Sight Unseen.

The gentleman there, Stinson,

tell him that Charlie sent you and you need a doctor.

MATT: "Okay, I can do that."

ROBBIE: Speaking of shelters and hostiles,

pardon me, I'm usually not very good

with the interview portions,

but is there a place where Enom would go

when he needed a night away from the cold?

I shan't assume that you're all without home.

Is there a place where he would frequent?

MATT: "I mean, most of us gathered

"outside of The Getaway.

"There's a back storeroom

"that they usually don't pay attention to

"that we go in and nap at night.

"That's usually where we go."

ROBBIE: So you can't think of anywhere he might be

since his disappearance?

MATT: "No, I mean, we all hop between

"the different hostels, if need be,

"and get ourselves some soup or a meal

"and meet up with friends if we need

"now and then, so-- but not particularly

"one place or anything."

ROBBIE: I have a lot of questions.

LAURA: Which side of the alley was he pulled from?

If you're standing in front of the hotel in the alley,

did he go to the left or the right?

MATT: "That would be on the right-hand side where we were,

"but it moved so fast and that's when I reached out,

"try and grab him and he was just gone."

LAURA: Did you see his body being pulled away

or did it seem like suddenly he was part of the creature?

MATT: "No, I just saw him yelling and being pulled away."

ROBBIE: When we say "creature" we mean most likely a creature

escaped from the local zoo.

I'm sure it was some sort of...

MATT: "It's kind of what I figured."

ROBBIE: Yeah. MATT: "A bear or something."

ROBBIE: Yeah, so a bear.

MATT: "It was about a bear size."

ROBBIE: A large, scary bear.

MATT: "With a lot of arms."

LAURA: The scarlet does that.

MATT: "Yeah.

"I got to get off this stuff."

Just stuffs a big old chunk of bacon and pancake

in one fistful into his mouth and chews.

ANJALI: Seeing that, and as he says that,

Charlotte's face falls a little bit,

thinking about the ramifications

of some of the dealings that she has been

making in this town.

ROBBIE: Well, unless

we have some more time we'd like to spend

with Skiddy here, my belly is full. (chuckles)

Perhaps we should return?

Should certainly be an hour and a half

at this point, correct? ANJALI: Yes, exactly.

ROBBIE: All right. ASHLEY: Sure.

ANJALI: Skiddy, do stop by the Sight Unseen, yes?

MATT: "Yeah, I will." ANJALI: Stinson.

MATT: "I will, I'll talk to Stimson."

ANJALI: Stinson. MATT: "Stinson."

ANJALI: Yes.

MATT: "Charlie, right, was what you saying your name was?

"All right, yeah, I'll tell him."

ANJALI: Good.

ASHLEY: I'm going to take out some coins,

put them on the table.

MATT: "It's very kind of you, Auggie. Very kind."

ASHLEY: Hey, I remember what you did.

I know that was a hard time.

Thank you for fighting for us and

we care about you.

MATT: "Appreciate that.

"Anybody else going to finish this?"

LAURA: Oh, I thought-- No, it's all yours.

Coin as well.

MATT: "Oh, okay."

Starts filling his pockets with

the stuff he hasn't eaten.

ANJALI: Take care, Skiddy.

Shall we?

ROBBIE: Let's. ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: All right, where are you off to now?

ANJALI: I think we should find that store room.

LAURA: Yeah, go to the store room and try to get up.

ANJALI: It might be worth,

and I hate to do this every time, not every time,

but I hate every time that I have to do this.

It might be worth me continuing the ruse

to see if I can distract from the front.

ROBBIE: If you'd like another date,

you're more than welcome to try.

But I believe he said we could just come in

in an hour and a half, did he not?

ANJALI: Ah, yes, that's true.

ASHLEY: We could just try and walk right in.

ROBBIE: But if you fancied him,

I would be delighted to be, what's the term?

A wing man?

I'll be your man,

I'll be the man on your wing if you--

ANJALI: Let's go.

ROBBIE: All right.

ASHLEY: All right.

MATT: So you return to The Getaway Grand?

ASHLEY: Yes. MATT: Okay.

As you you approach the familiar exterior

street-facing side of the building complex,

the door is no longer guarded by that Periphery gentleman.

ROBBIE: Perfect.

ANJALI: Shall we?

Open the door.

MATT: So the steps and enter the main entry,

pushing the doors aside.

It is, you know, it's a relatively nice hotel interior.

You can see there's some gold painted detailing

across the dark, almost purple, black wallpaper

that hits the entryway on both sides,

with some archways,

all showing a little bit of age,

but still a little bit of, you know, low-end decadence.

The carpeted floors.

The carpet has a little bit of a stained texture, too,

but it also gives it some character.

You step in a little bit,

passing a few offices on each side.

Doors closed.

There is a bellman's desk and a number of cubbies,

as well as a key hanging arrangement wall behind.

There is a middle-aged clerk gentleman

who is currently sitting there, pair of glasses,

short hair on the sides, smooth bald head,

bit of an ascot and a jacket who you can see

is the current desk man for the establishment.

He's in the process of writing within,

looks up, gives you both a look

and then goes back to his business.

ANJALI: So I don't recognize him as Matthew, then.

I'm just checking.

Perhaps one of the bellmen.

LAURA: Yeah, let's just go to the elevator

and see if we can just go straight.

ANJALI: That's a great idea, shall we?

ASHLEY: Just go straight up?

ANJALI: Just go straight to the elevators.

MATT: Okay, the elevator, the cart as it arrives

you can see the great (squealing)

squeaks as it pulls open, the lattice work push on one side,

and there is this, I can only describe him

as a lump of a man.

About 4'6",

his shoulders, in his older age,

have merged to the back of his neck,

and he wears this coat that almost frames him

in the back collar with how far forward his head is.

He wears this little square bellman's cap on top.

Has this Droopy dog sort of expression to his face

as he sits there and says,

"Enter."

ROBBIE: How big is the elevator?

MATT: Oh, it can fit the four of you and him

very uncomfortably.

ROBBIE: (laughs) ANJALI: Excellent.

MATT: So you all (grunting). ASHLEY: Tight fit?

MATT: Push in. ANJALI: Yes.

MATT: You all squeeze in, he gets pushed against the wall

and goes, (shifting) (squealing) (thuds)

(shifting) begins to rise up.

You can see the floors begin to (whooshes),

until eventually he takes you, at your request,

to the sixth floor before

(squealing) it opens once more,

and you step out into the main hall

of the sixth floor of The Getaway.

The smell here is pretty consistent.

It has aged perfume

that has long set into the interior, mixed with that,

never-able-to-get-out smell of ancient water damage.

ALL: Hmm. MATT: You can see

there are paintings on the walls.

There is a window that faces out towards the street.

There are small tables with small vases,

and plants that probably haven't been kept that well

and are starting to brown.

But you can see to the right and left of you,

the hall continues both directions

and there are doors all across the hallway.

ANJALI: We don't see anyone

from the Periphery in either direction?

MATT: On the left side, you do see,

towards the end of the hall

a Periphery officer who is currently sitting

in the corner on the outside of a room,

the door partially ajar, to a somewhat lit interior,

and is looking out.

Hasn't quite marked any of you yet,

but you can see is just sitting in space.

The same Periphery cap on, looking to the side.

LAURA: It's not the same gentleman

that was downstairs from before, is it?

MATT: It is not the same gentleman.

LAURA: That's good.

ANJALI: Is it Matthew? No, sorry.

(laughter)

LAURA: Damn it, I will find a Matthew!

ANJALI: I'd like to meet Matthew, please.

I'm here for Matthew; have you met him?

(laughter)

ANJALI: Right, here we find ourselves again.

ASHLEY: Okay, yeah. LAURA: We've got a--

Is he sitting at the end of the hallway--

How is he blocking the door?

MATT: He's not necessarily blocking the door,

but if you go down the hall, you see it spreads out

into another T separation where other rooms are.

There is a door that's partially blocked

by the left hand turn.

You can see part of it open before it goes away,

and he's to the right of it, visible to you,

because he's almost in the middle of the T-intersection,

before both ways it goes,

standing next to where the door is partially open.

He's looking down at the ground.

Hasn't noticed your arrival yet,

or seems to care.

ROBBIE: Ah, interesting. One way in.

LAURA: I'll try something this time.

ROBBIE: Oh.

ANJALI: Be my guest.

LAURA: I'll walk down the hallway

and try to walk, try to walk past him

to where his view would be turned away from the door,

if that makes sense.

I'll keep walking down the hallway

and then I'll go: Oh!

And I'll fall to the ground.

ANJALI: Oh!

(laughter)

ROBBIE: Like you got the vapors?

ANJALI: Amazing. ROBBIE: Okay.

ASHLEY: The vapors. MATT: Sure enough.

Yeah, make a low stakes Sway roll on this.

This is to sell just how deeply

he believes and rushes to your aid.

LAURA: (laughs)

Six! ANJALI: Ah!

MATT: Six.

You, boof, on the ground.

"Oh dear, Miss, Miss, you all right, Miss?

"Miss, you all right?"

ANJALI: Go, go, go, go, go.

MATT: Comes over and looks to you and starts, "Miss,"

and lightly taps you on the cheek.

"Oh, oh dear.

"Hold on, I've got something for this."

Ah, so he's going through his pouches

while the rest of you dart by

and head into the room.

ROBBIE: Yeah, oh yeah. ANJALI: Yes, definitely.

MATT: Three of you into the room,

and he's like, "I've got one here,"

and he pulls out a small capsule

and opens it under your nose.

LAURA: Oh!

MATT: "Oh, it worked!

"I've always wanted to use one of those, ha.

"Are you all right, Miss?

"I saw you took a mean spill there.

"Are you all right?" LAURA: What happened?

MATT: You look up and see this round-faced

young potato of a man.

ANJALI and ASHLEY: Aw.

MATT: Brown hair poking from beneath his cap.

He looks like he's a younger officer

who was probably just put on watch duty for this

and is looking at you.

A bit taken aback by your beauty.

This proximity is, "Oh, are you feeling all right?

"Do I need to get help?"

LAURA: My hero.

What happened?

MATT: "Oh, you just walked right by and passed out here

"on the floor and I just, I hope everything's all right.

"Are you feeling well, ma'am?"

LAURA: Oh, I,

I should be. Do you have any water?

MATT: "Oh, I-I, not on me, but I can get you some water."

LAURA: I would love some, thank you so much.

MATT: "Sure, sure.

"I'll go and get you some water,"

and he puts his arm out.

LAURA: Oh, thank you.

Actually, if you don't mind, I'll stay on the ground.

I feel a little unstable.

MATT: "What, oh, no, of course.

"I'll be right back. I'll be right back."

"(panting) Oh my." LAURA: Maybe the kitchens.

MATT: "Right, kitchens, right."

You hear him (quick footsteps) down the hall,

and his footsteps down the stairs.

He's taking the stairs.

ANJALI: Aw. LAURA: I get up

and run into the room.

MATT: While the three of you-- ANJALI: Well, that was brilliant.

MATT:-- rush into the room.

The first thing you see as you enter is the light

that is filtering from,

the interior is pretty dark,

aside from the small oil lanterns

that line the walls that are low set

for, you know, good fuel usage,

but also to give the warm interior here.

Even in the middle of the day,

there isn't a lot of windows along the halls,

except for the one that you saw when you came in.

This room, same vibe,

but because the wall is smashed in that opening,

quite a bit of light is coming through.

The first thing you see

is this room is in complete disarray.

The furniture is destroyed.

There is an armoire that is broken in half.

There is a desk that's shattered.

The bed itself is torn apart.

Bedsheets shredded.

It looks like there was a fucking fight here.

There was a scuffle.

And the window is blown out.

It is like a violent scene, but no blood.

ROBBIE: No blood?

MATT: No blood. LAURA: Oh, uh.

MATT: The second thing you see is a man,

about 6'1"--

LAURA and ROBBIE: Uh-oh.

MATT:-- who is standing on the threshold

of the bathroom of this room,

himself dressed in Periphery uniform, hat off,

with a captain's badge on his shoulder

a captain's badge on his shoulder

and turns and goes,

"Excuse me, may I ask who this is

"and what the meaning of this is?

"This is a crime scene."

ANJALI: Oh, Officer. ROBBIE: Yes.

ANJALI: Hello.

I didn't know that they had actually sent you here already.

You must know me already.

Charlotte, Charlotte Eaves.

MATT: "No idea who you are."

ANJALI: Right.

MATT: "I'm sorry, miss, hold on just a second."

You see him referring to, in the bathroom,

there is a woman who's sitting on the edge

of the toilet, not using it.

(laughter)

LAURA: Taking a shit. MATT: She's just taking

a huge dump. (laughter)

ROBBIE: Sick!

ANJALI: I mean, when in Rome. ROBBIE: Let's go!

(laughter)

ROBBIE: Our first Victorian shit!

(laughter)

MATT: You see a young woman in her late 20s or so,

mousey brown hair that's done in a single braid

down the back.

She's wearing a green flower dress with a shawl over it.

She's holding an umbrella in one hand,

and she looks like she's a bit frazzled as well,

and is a bit confused by everyone looking around.

But nevertheless, the officer looks back

at the rest of you.

"I have no idea who you are,

"but I would like to know

"why you're in the middle of this scene.

"Do you have any connection to Miss Onette?

ROBBIE: I'm going to turn to the group and very--

How far away is he?

MATT: At this point? ROBBIE: A room away?

MATT: Five feet from you.

ROBBIE: Okay.

MATT: You burst into the room, saw the room,

and then turned and he's right there going.

ROBBIE: I'm going to turn to the group.

LAURA: Have I, I haven't entered yet.

ROBBIE: Oh, you're not there yet?

LAURA: No, because I'm still in the hallway

ROBBIE: Are either of you two averse to violence?

(gasping)

ANJALI: That is a bad idea,

bad idea. ASHLEY: You mean like,

taking this guy on?

ROBBIE: (laughs) Yes or no?

ASHLEY: No, not at all. ROBBIE: Okay.

(chuckles) I am going to reach--

LAURA and ANJALI: Don't, don't.

ROBBIE:-- into my pocket

where I carry my hand weapon--

ANJALI: Oh no. LAURA: (gasping)

ROBBIE:-- which is a set of brass knuckles in my pocket.

MATT: Okay.

ROBBIE: I'm going to put them in my pocket.

As I reach out to shake his hand.

ANJALI: Oh god.

LAURA: Oh, he's-- ROBBIE: Hello.

Professor Howard Margrove. Nice to meet you.

MATT: "Ah, I'm Chief Teren Roakes of the Periphery."

LAURA: Don't you fucking--

ROBBIE: Excellent. ANJALI: No, no, no.

ROBBIE: I am going-- LAURA: Don't do it.

ANJALI: No, no, no.

Don't do it, don't do it,

please don't do it.

ROBBIE: I am going to pull my hand out of my pocket!

And I'm going to try to put one right between his eyes.

ANJALI: No! MATT: Okay!

(laughter)

ASHLEY: I love it.

MATT: I need you to make a Strike test for me.

ROBBIE: Sure. MATT: This is--

ROBBIE: I'm going to spend a Drive.

MATT: This is a high stakes roll!

This a pretty high stakes roll.

You're punching a chief of the Periphery.

ROBBIE: I know! ASHLEY: All right,

I Saw This Coming!

I Saw This Coming. ROBBIE: Don't be mad at me.

ANJALI: Oh, that's right.

MATT: You Saw This Coming. ASHLEY: I Saw This Coming.

MATT: You saw him reach into his pocket.

ASHLEY: You were looking over at me,

and you were saying you were going to do something,

so I'm going to help you,

you get an extra Drive.

ROBBIE: (gasps) Thank you.

I hope this goes well.

ASHLEY: We're egging you on.

LAURA: You're not going to use your extra?

ROBBIE: What? LAURA: You know you have an extra--

ROBBIE: I already used one. LAURA: No, no, no.

ROBBIE: (gasps) And, I've got my training die!

I just spit a lot.

MATT: That's all good.

ROBBIE: Now, if we fail this five-dice roll,

we deserve it. LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: Yes, you do. LAURA: Well, you deserve it.

ROBBIE: I definitely deserve it.

ANJALI: This is a terrible idea.

ROBBIE: Oh good.

That is two sixes.

MATT: Two sixes. ASHLEY and ANJALI: Woo!

MATT: All right, so two sixes.

I'm going to consider that a critical success,

which means you get a little fun on top there.

LAURA: Oh, thank god.

ANJALI: I'm almost crying.

(laughter)

LAURA: Don't do it! ANJALI: Slow motion.

LAURA: Tell me I walk in right as, (punches).

MATT: The other hand's still behind his back.

There's this moment of, he looks at you

with a curious glance, aware of the strange change

in demeanor as you lift it from your pocket.

He begins-- LAURA: (laughs) Slowly.

ROBBIE: The punch-- ANJALI: The punch is like this.

ROBBIE: The punch isn't like an "Indiana Jones" punch.

He just goes boink and between the eyes.

You know, it's just a straight jab.

MATT: Yeah. ASHLEY: This is like a cartoon.

MATT: If you've never heard a person punched

straight square in the face, in the nose,

it isn't like the fun video game movie, dah, ooh!

It's (grunting), it's a horrible honking sound

as he just, (grunting) his eyes cross a bit.

You can see a little blood trickle from the nose

and he full on flat board,

boof-- ANJALI: Howard!

MATT:-- onto the wooden ground of the inside

right as you walk in! ASHLEY: Oh shit!

LAURA: What happened?

ROBBIE: Hello, Arlo.

ANJALI: Howard went rogue.

ASHLEY: Mad respect.

This one's got a pair on him.

ANJALI: The young lady, the young lady--

MATT: The young lady who is now standing

holding the, like, "Oh, oh my god!"

ANJALI: It's all right, darling.

It's all right, you're all right.

ROBBIE: Oh, he'll be fine.

He'll have quite the headache and maybe a stitch or two.

MATT: "Who are you, what the fuck are you doing?"

ANJALI: No, no, it's fine.

It's fine, darling, we're friends--

LAURA: Bleed detector! ANJALI: We're friends.

Yes, yes. Just go, just go.

Go, go, go, I'm just going to.

(laughter)

LAURA: His nose, his nose is definitely bleeding.

(laughter)

MATT: As you let the space around you,

this chamber has quite a lot of bleed residue

all throughout, a lot of the broken furniture,

the exit of the door entryway.

There's no thick, soupy amount of concentrated bleed,

but there is visible bits of residue.

So there is definitely, definitely some sort of

magick and corruption has been afoot.

LAURA: Okay.

Does it look like any of the bed linens are missing

or the curtains are missing or anything?

MATT: It looks like they're not missing,

but they're definitely torn apart.

LAURA: Okay. MATT: The bed linens

have been shredded.

ANJALI: Okay.

ASHLEY: Someone's having a good time in here.

ANJALI: Can I search for anything that seems--

I mean, I don't even know what I'm looking for,

but something that looks like it's out of place

in a disheveled place.

Like something specific that looks like it's been

either placed or something that is out of the ordinary

given the class--

MATT: Go ahead and make a Survey test for me.

ANJALI: (teasing laugh) Six.

ASHLEY: Dang! ROBBIE: Nice.

It's turning around for us!

LAURA: Don't say it! Knock on-- ANJALI: Not anymore!

Thank you, Robbie.

MATT: You notice two things. (laughter)

MATT: One, this is a crime scene

that's already been pretty heavily picked over

by the Periphery.

Unfortunately, that time period, that hour that took

gave them enough time to pretty much clear up anything

that may have been of importance in this crime scene.

The other thing you--

The only thing you do note is

there is one piece of fallen jewelry

underneath the broken armoire-- LAURA: Yes.

MATT:-- which looks like a simple gold chain.

ANJALI: Can you use your, just on this, before I take it?

LAURA: Just take it.

ANJALI: Is there anything on the chain?

MATT: No bleed on the chain. ANJALI: Okay, good.

MATT: But you do see that.

ANJALI: I'm going to grab the chain

and pocket it and turn back to this young lady.

Young lady, do you work here?

MATT: "No, I don't work here, I'm, um--

"Who are you?

LAURA: We're here to help.

MATT: Make a Sway roll.

LAURA: Oh god.

ANJALI: I will-- Well, yeah.

I can't help you with that-- MATT: You just punched the police!

ANJALI: No, no, no, no, no, no, no! I should've said that

I should've done that one!

ROBBIE: We're here to help.

ANJALI: It should've been me! It should've been me!

LAURA: I don't know why-- ASHLEY: You-- What?

LAURA: You got the Sway.

I don't know why I jumped in! ANJALI: It's okay! It's okay!

MATT: Well, to be fair, you are all

currently trying to get her attention.

ANJALI: So, can I-- MATT: If you would like to make it--

ANJALI: I would very much like to make a Sway.

MATT: Okay. LAURA: I'll give you a Drive

just so it makes sense.

I'll give you a-- MATT: There you go.

I respect that. ANJALI: I love that!

So then I'll take another. MATT: I respect that.

ANJALI: A mixed success at four.

MATT: Got it. ANJALI: Hey, three fours.

ROBBIE: Four. ANJALI: Interesting.

Oh, and also, I'll take the gilded die,

and get back my Drive.

MATT: Great. ANJALI: ♪ Da da da da da ♪

LAURA: Do I get back my Drive, too?

ANJALI: Not unless I've failed.

LAURA: Okay. MATT: Yeah. She succeeded.

So unfortunately, no. LAURA: Okay.

ANJALI: Sorry. ASHLEY: (laughs)

MATT: But good looking out.

ANJALI: (laughs)

ASHLEY: Not unless it fails. MATT: Hey.

ANJALI: Good looking out for yourself.

LAURA: Good looking out for yourself.

(laughter)

ASHLEY: Good looking out. ROBBIE: You're the best

friend you could have.

MATT: Laura, I've been gaming with you for a decade now.

I only expect negotiation every time.

(laughter)

ROBBIE: Well, if we fail, we get our points back.

ANJALI: I mean, hey.

MATT: I love it! I genuinely love it!

LAURA: (laughs)

MATT: She calms down slightly.

"My name's Kara, Kara Belmon.

"I'm Chamberwoman Onette's assistant."

ANJALI: Mm.

LAURA: Oh!

MATT: "I was brought here a short time ago by the chief

"for questioning about what might have happened here.

"I don't know what would've done this.

"This is insanity."

ASHLEY: She was with someone, yeah?

MATT: You can see there's this immediate internal tension

in her head, this moment of her going, like.

ANJALI: Kara, if there was someone here

who could see what had happened...

MATT: "Aye, there was someone here with her.

"Aye, it was some...

"Damn it all!

"The chamberwoman had a bit of a paramour."

ANJALI: Hmm.

MATT: "His name was Wayland Threed."

ANJALI: Wayland Freed?

MATT: "Threed." ANJALI: Threed.

MATT: "He was a horn player who--"

ROBBIE: I bet he was. (laughs)

Bad timing-- ANJALI: Doctor! Doctor, stop!

ROBBIE: Bad timing. I'm sorry.

ASHLEY: I mean, I was ready to say it, too.

MATT: "He worked in The Varnish mostly,

"and they've had a few dalliances here in The Getaway.

"I was responsible for just making sure it stayed here.

"And that's all I know."

ASHLEY: Wait, you were making sure he was staying here?

ANJALI: Is it-- MATT: "I was making sure

"that nobody else found out about it."

ASHLEY: Oh, yeah, yeah. We're not going to say anything.

ANJALI: Yeah, don't worry.

We understand discretion is key.

MATT: "Well, it's not anymore.

"Periphery know."

LAURA: Oh!

Oh! ANJALI: About him?

MATT: "Aye.

"They've been looking for him, and he can't be found neither."

LAURA: Oh.

ASHLEY: Oh, they didn't find him?

ANJALI: This is good.

It may sound like a strange question,

it is a strange question,

but in addition to obvious comforts

that perhaps a paramour provided,

did he ever play her music?

MATT: "I mean, it's kind of hard

"to romantically play someone a horn

"in a private hotel room--" ANJALI: No, no, no, no...

MATT: "-- if that's what you mean, but--"

ANJALI: I just mean--

ROBBIE: Sexual. ANJALI: There's another musician.

ROBBIE: Sexual intercourse.

ANJALI: There is another-- ROBBIE: Sexual intercourse.

ANJALI: There is another musician, if you all remember.

LAURA: Yes!

ANJALI: I'm wondering if that might be related.

ASHLEY: Mm. LAURA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: (gasps) Because he knew how to play, too.

LAURA: Yeah. ANJALI: Thank you.

It's not so strange, is it?

ASHLEY: No. I see the connection.

ROBBIE: Oh, you were being literal. LAURA: I believe there's--

ANJALI: I was being literal, yes. ROBBIE: Oh.

LAURA: There are a couple concerts coming in town.

ANJALI: (gasps) That's right! ASHLEY: That's right!

That's right!

LAURA: Maybe we should check that out.

ASHLEY: Performances.

ROBBIE: That's clever.

ANJALI: Kara, do you need anything from us?

Any help? Any?

MATT: "Not particularly.

"What I do ask though is, whatever you're doing,

"just don't tell her husband that I knew."

ANJALI: Of course not.

ASHLEY: Who's her husband again?

MATT: "(sighs)"

ASHLEY: Just so we know not to tell him.

MATT: "Her husband is Aaron, Aaron Ferris.

"He's probably at their estate."

ROBBIE: Do they have children?

MATT: No children, just their home in Briar Green."

ROBBIE: Oh. LAURA: Oh.

MATT: "I'm sure he's not happy about all this,

"because I'm sure the Periphery have told him."

LAURA: Oh.

MATT: "So, just don't tell him that I knew.

"Please?"

ANJALI: We should go. We should go.

LAURA: There's another place that they're coming.

ANJALI: Yeah, that's right. Okay.

ASHLEY: No, no. Go ahead.

ANJALI: Kara, we'll happily keep your secret for you.

If there's anything you might be able to do

when this captain comes to...

ROBBIE: Oh, I did-- ANJALI: To help cover our tracks.

MATT: "Well, I...

"What am I supposed?

"Well, I've already kept too many secrets!

"I'm not going to--" ANJALI: All right, it's fine.

MATT: "You punched an officer in front of me!

"I don't even know you, really!"

ROBBIE: He won't remember much for about an hour

before we got here, if I had to guess.

ANJALI: Hmm.

ROBBIE: Not that I've done anything like this before.

What does Aaron Ferris do for business?

Just one more tiny little question. LAURA: I know the Ferrises.

Let's just go. ROBBIE: You know them? All right.

ANJALI: Mm.

It's okay.

MATT: "He used to be a writer,

"but he's just mainly a house husband these days."

ANJALI: Hmm. MATT: "Look,

"I don't want to be here anymore."

She pushes past and steps over the--

ASHLEY: One more question, real quick. MATT: "No, I can't answer any more questions!

"This has already put me in a bad place!"

ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah. MATT: "I've got to go!"

She leaves the door right as a officer

steps out of the way with a glass of water.

ANJALI: I'm going to grab her arm.

LAURA: Oh!

ANJALI: I'm going to grab her arm immediately, and go:

Darling, I'm sorry that we brought you in,

obviously, a terrible place to rest.

Can we guide you perhaps to your room?

MATT: "I brought you water."

LAURA: Oh, thank you. MATT: "What?"

ASHLEY: I know! He fell over! LAURA: Thank you!

ASHLEY: I'm going to just act like I'm waking him up.

MATT: (laughs)

ASHLEY: Just patting him, but I also want to take his badge.

MATT: "What happened?"

ANJALI: Yes! Lift it!

MATT: Go ahead and make a Hide test for me.

ASHLEY: All right, I get an extra gild.

MATT: I'll say Hide or Control.

Those would be the two you'd get to pick from.

ASHLEY: Okay, I'm going to do Hide because I get an extra gild.

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: Then that's gilded, so I do...

Oh, wait!

So it's two? ANJALI: Two gilded.

ASHLEY: Two gilded?

ANJALI: Do you need a Drive?

Are you good?

I'll give you--

ASHLEY: You know what? I'll do a Drive.

I'll do a Drive. ANJALI: Okay,

and I'll give you a Drive. MATT: I mean,

if they're both gilded-- ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: You get it back regardless of what you roll.

ANJALI: Yeah, and I'm going to give you a Drive.

Oh!

ASHLEY: Okay, let's just do that. ANJALI: But you still need

the extra dice, don't you? ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah.

ANJALI: All right, never mind.

MATT: The only dice you can pick from are gilded,

so you get it back regardless.

ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah.

Five. ANJALI: All right.

ASHLEY: Rolled a five and a two.

ANJALI: Get your Drive back. ASHLEY: Wait.

So I go. Okay.

MATT: Okay, so indeed, you swipe the badge,

and pocket it as he's like "(stutters)

"What happened around here?

"Did he just fall over?"

ROBBIE: He slipped and fell.

MATT: (laughs)

I need you-- ANJALI: No!

ROBBIE: No, it's the one I'm worst at!

MATT: (laughs) ANJALI: No!

LAURA: Why did you talk? ANJALI: No!

MATT: I need you to roll Sway for me right now.

ANJALI: Slow motion!

MATT: Roll Sway for me. ANJALI: No!

ROBBIE: Sway? ANJALI: Why?

ROBBIE: Well, I've got one in Sway.

MATT: Okay, so that's one dice. ROBBIE: I've done a few lectures.

MATT: (laughs)

ROBBIE: I'm going to spend a Drive to give myself two.

LAURA: Smart. MATT: You got it.

ANJALI: I'm going to spend a Drive to give him

one as well. MATT: So three.

ROBBIE: This is for "He slipped and fell."

MATT: Get one more dice. LAURA: One more.

ROBBIE: Ooh, who gave me help?

ANJALI: I did. LAURA: Charlie did.

ASHLEY: Yep.

MATT: Burn those Drives, y'all.

ROBBIE: Hey, I got six! LAURA: (gasps)

ANJALI: All right, all right. MATT: You got a six.

ANJALI: Excellent, excellent. MATT: He goes, "Oh!

"Oh, goodness! I need to make sure he's all right!"

(grunts) Starts patting him, too.

You see him starting to come to a little bit.

ANJALI: I will take the water and get her down to safety.

ROBBIE: We'll be on our way. ANJALI: Sure.

LAURA: I take a sip and then I'll give it back.

ASHLEY: Take care of him because he was talking about some nonsense

about people coming in. LAURA: You can always

throw it in his face! MATT: "Oh! That's right!"

ANJALI: Let's get out of here! Let's get out of here!

MATT: Splashes it right into his face.

ANJALI: Let's just get out, get out, get out!

LAURA: Walk faster.

ANJALI: Speedy McDeep.

MATT: You rapidly exit. ROBBIE: (laughs)

MATT: Do you take the elevator or the stairs?

LAURA: Stairs. ROBBIE: Stairs.

ANJALI: Stairs, faster. LAURA: Probably quickest.

ANJALI: Yeah, stairs, stairs, stairs, stairs.

MATT: So you (chugs)

and rapidly exit The Getaway Grand

back into the street of Red Lamp.

LAURA: Oh no! ANJALI: Oh, Howard!

MATT: (laughs)

ASHLEY: Should we go to the storage room while we're here?

ANJALI: We should definitely get farther away from here

than we are right now.

LAURA: How well do Candela lighthouse keepers cover up

things like punching Periphery officers?

ANJALI: It's a good question.

I've never experienced that before.

ASHLEY: Oh yeah! You guys are

above the Periphery, ANJALI: I suspect that they--

ASHLEY:-- or samesies?

ANJALI: It's not exactly a hierarchy.

LAURA: It's not that they don't really know about--

ROBBIE: Or we. MATT: As you are exiting

The Getaway Grand. ANJALI: Yeah, we've left.

We've left! ROBBIE: We're having this

conversation in the middle of a hotel lobby!

MATT: As you are exiting The Getaway Grand--

LAURA: Uh-oh.

MATT:-- as you head out into the street,

you see three figures approaching The Getaway Grand

in their navy blue long coats.

ROBBIE: (groans)

MATT: A few field officers of the OUP,

one of which is a familiar, thin, gaunt fellow

with short dark hair, about six and a half feet tall,

a rail of a man who looks past,

and eyes you, Auggie, as you both pass each other.

You remember this gentleman from a few weeks back

as the first that interrogated you

when you came to consciousness in Donald's place.

Doesn't stop, but just--

ASHLEY: I'm going to try to just

not make eyes at him.

MATT: Well, you see him--

As soon as you first notice he's there,

he's already looking at you. ASHLEY: Fuck!

MATT: Then you continue moving, and he keeps moving,

and you both pass as he heads toward the hotel.

Nevertheless, what do you want to do?

ASHLEY: That was the guy! That was the guy!

That was the one that when I woke up,

he was there.

He's the bad guy.

He's one of the bad guys. LAURA: Yeah.

ROBBIE: Would this be someone that we would've encountered

in Candela like this, or--

MATT: Some of you may have encountered Officer Aaron Weimer.

ROBBIE: Weimer. MATT: Yes.

ROBBIE: Yeah.

MATT: He's a head of a number of investigations with the OUP,

and takes his job very seriously,

and is often considered one of the biggest thorns

in the side of Candela's work.

ANJALI: Oh, a nightmare!

Well, it's not good if he clocked any one of us.

ASHLEY: I feel like we made eyes at each other.

Not in a good way, but it was just a quick,

and I was like, "Shit!"

LAURA: He seemed to be staring at you the entire time, actually.

ASHLEY: He did? LAURA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Oh shit! All right.

ANJALI: All right, whatever we do then, we should go fast.

Should we to the storeroom?

LAURA: Store? ANJALI: Or you mentioned

that you know-- ASHLEY: Should we check

that storage room in the back, or we should get out of here?

LAURA: I don't think the creature stopped into the storeroom,

but we can always look.

ANJALI: Oh, you mentioned you knew the Ferrises.

ASHLEY: Oh, oh. LAURA: Oh yes.

They live in the Briar Green.

My family knows most families.

ANJALI: Oh.

Do you know anything about Mr. Ferris?

LAURA: I know he used to be a writer,

but he mostly stays at home now.

(laughs) ANJALI: Hmm.

ROBBIE: Some sort of house husband?

(laughter) LAURA: Yes.

ANJALI: Hmm.

LAURA: And I know that-- ANJALI: Yeah.

LAURA:-- Onette Ferris is a Chamberwoman for the Periphery.

ANJALI: Wonderful. ROBBIE: If it's just

as well with you, I'd personally

prefer to leave this area. LAURA: For the Primacy, I mean.

Just kidding. For the Primacy.

ANJALI: Just in general.

yes, yes, yes, yes. ROBBIE: Posthaste.

ASHLEY: Let's walk and talk.

ANJALI: Wait, aren't we walking and talking?

I thought that's what we were doing.

MATT: I assumed you were, but where are you heading to?

Where are you walking?

LAURA: That's a good question.

We could either go to their house.

ROBBIE: Yeah. LAURA: We could go

try to follow the trail of whatever creature pulled--

ROBBIE: Yeah. LAURA:-- pulled Enom down the street.

ANJALI: Mm-hmm.

ROBBIE: We could go looking for Wayland.

LAURA: We could go looking for Wayland.

We could look for where Wayland performed.

ANJALI: I'm interested in the music side of these things because,

I'm sorry, but the fact that there's a guitar,

there's a horn player,

I feel like there's some kind of connection.

ASHLEY: Does that name sound familiar to you at all?

Did he ever play because he played a lot in The Varnish.

That's what she said.

LAURA: I know there's a couple concerts coming up.

Musicians have been coming in town.

ANJALI: Could we grab a paper to find,

is there an entertainment section?

ASHLEY: You need a paper? ANJALI: You have a newspaper?

ASHLEY: I got paper, baby. ANJALI: Of course you do.

ROBBIE: Hey! ANJALI: Thank you.

Apparently, I have a paperboy here!

Oh, wonderful!

Can we flip through and get the information about who?

MATT: Yeah, sure!

Go ahead and make a Focus test for me.

ANJALI: Don't make me roll for it.

MATT: Well, this is going to be, I mean,

perusing the information, we're looking for anything

that might pertain specifically to what you're seeking.

ROBBIE: Mm.

ANJALI: I need help!

ASHLEY: I am going to assist because--

MATT: It's a low stakes roll, just so you know.

ANJALI: Okay.

Then if you want to save your Drive, you can.

ASHLEY: All right, I'll save it, because--

ANJALI: Although, if I fail, you get it back anyway.

ASHLEY: Then it's fine.

I'll do it.

ANJALI: I got a two, so I failed.

ASHLEY: Okay. MATT: Okay.

So you're doing it anyway, then?

ASHLEY: Yeah. ANJALI: Oh.

MATT: You roll one more, so if you fail, then you get it back.

ANJALI: A five!

LAURA: Yay! ASHLEY: Yes!

MATT: That's good enough. ANJALI: Thank you, Auggie.

ASHLEY: You're welcome.

MATT: Glancing through, there are a number of performances

that are publicly printed within the newspaper.

ANJALI: Mm-hmm. LAURA: What is it?

MATT: In particular, the paper that you have on you

would be the paper of--

ASHLEY: The Herald Star.

MATT: Yep, The Halen Star. ASHLEY: Halen Stars.

MATT: Halen Star, indeed. ANJALI: Yeah.

MATT: This does have a small entertainment section

for those who are looking for things to see.

There are singers, there are bands playing.

You do catch note of what's called The Revisionary,

which is an amazing restauwant, restaurant.

ANJALI: Mm. MATT: You know,

that's phrase, with the restauwant.

ANJALI: Wovewy, wovewy! MATT: (mumbles) And the westauwant.

ANJALI: I wove that westauwant.

MATT: A restaurant in The Varnish

that had a recent grand reopening

naught but about six or so months ago,

and has been trying to ramp up its entertainment schedule

to be competitive with others

that stayed open during the war,

as this was closed down during the war.

You do see in one of the notes there

that mentions a small trio band,

one of which, Wayland is noted as one of the trio.

ANJALI: Well, that's remarkable, isn't it?

ASHLEY: What are they called again? LAURA: I think we should go there.

ANJALI: The Revision?

MATT: The restaurant's called the The Revisionary.

ASHLEY: Did that say what the band's name was?

MATT: No, it just had the trio of names.

ASHLEY: Okay.

LAURA: Let's go. ANJALI: Let's go to The Revisionary.

ASHLEY: Yeah. ANJALI: We're going to

have another meal.

ROBBIE: Oh, delightful!

MATT: (laughs) All right.

As you-- ASHLEY: Did--

Sorry. MATT: What's your question?

ASHLEY: Did Reggie say that someone...

There was a few concerts, right?

Reggie said someone's coming in from out of town?

Is that what you were talking about?

ANJALI: That's not the same as The Revisionary, though.

That's-- MATT: No.

ANJALI: Yeah. ROBBIE: We probably shouldn't

be looking for out-of-towners either, right?

Like a touring band, if they're local musicians?

I don't know. ANJALI: I think either one

is a good lead.

ASHLEY: Something. Let's start here. LAURA: It's attracted to music.

It seems odd. ASHLEY: Yeah, it's weird!

ANJALI: There is--

Yes, but there isn't anything else about that

out of town band coming in?

MATT: Nothing in particular at the moment, no.

ANJALI: Okay, all right. ASHLEY: Okay, okay.

MATT: So, you feel clear on that path.

As you're mentioning this

to the rest of the folks, Auggie,

you glance over your shoulder,

and you can see one OUP coated figure is trailing back

about two blocks behind you,

following you as you journey.

LAURA: Maybe we should not want to keep too close.

MATT: And that's where we're going to take a break.

(groaning)

MATT: We're about at that time.

So we'll take a little break. ROBBIE: We got a tail?

MATT: You got a tail. We'll pick up from there.

ASHLEY: Got a tail.

ANJALI: I'm going to spend this break trying to find my name.

It's wonderful. (laughter)

ANJALI: Have any of you seen Matthew?

He might have my brain with him.

(laughter)

MATT: Ah, yeah.

The problem with fail rolls is sometimes

that letter doesn't make it to the intended person.

LAURA: Oh, right! ANJALI: Yeah.

ASHLEY: (sighs)

ROBBIE: But I love that there's cost to the fails in this game!

It makes it so much more,

even when it's kind of a success,

you could still get a creepy beeper in your skin.

ASHLEY: Yep. MATT: And like here,

succeeding in finding information

to clarify what you want out of the newspaper,

but now you're being tailed.

ANJALI: Yes. MATT: Nevertheless,

we'll be back here in a few minutes.

We'll see you shortly.

MATT: And welcome back.

So, as you are looking to wherever your next

destination is here in Newfaire,

you have just discovered

that you are being tailed by a member of the OUP.

What are you doing?

ASHLEY: Psst, psst, psst, psst.

ROBBIE: What? LAURA: What?

ASHLEY: The guy is following me.

LAURA: Oh. ANJALI: Which guy?

ASHLEY: The Aaron Weimer.

LAURA: Is it Aaron or is it some other person?

ROBBIE: Is he a tall, lanky boy or is he a normal man?

MATT: No, he's a normal man.

ROBBIE: All right.

ANJALI: We should split up. LAURA: Oh, let's get on

a cable car.

ANJALI: That's an option, or we split up.

I like staying together.

Do you think we can lose him?

ASHLEY: I mean, a cable car's not a bad idea

because if he gets on, then it's going to be weird.

We could just meet him head on.

LAURA: Plus, the cable cars come by so quickly,

maybe we could just hop on before

he can do it. ASHLEY: Before he can even get on.

ANJALI: It's worth the effort.

ASHLEY: Yeah, let's give it a go.

MATT: All right, so.

In this region of the Red Lamp,

there isn't a massive

juncture for the cable car.

Most of those are established for the more esteemed

and affluent areas of the city.

But there is one area

and you begin to saddle up along the side,

picking up your pace a little bit.

As you glance over your shoulder,

you can see that he's picking up his pace

a little bit as well,

trying to stay within a specific distance.

Eventually, you begin to saddle up alongside

one of the cable car junctures,

like the single one that rides the main center street

of the Red Lamp and one of the other ones

that curves into it.

As you begin to lean in that direction,

seeing one of the cars, now beginning

to catch up, LAURA: Act like we're not

going to take it, act like we're not going to take it.

Then we hop on at the very last minute.

ASHLEY: Oh, good idea, good idea.

I'm just standing here.

Just standing. MATT: All right, so you're

standing there. ASHLEY: I'm not doing anything.

MATT: Going by. LAURA: Having a conversation.

MATT: Going by.

Then you hear the

(bell ringing)

as it begins to approach from the adjacent road

that's connecting here that will curve up northward

and head towards The Varnish.

With that being said,

you begin to see the sparks fly from it as it comes up by.

Right about the time that you feel it's best to do so,

you rush up and leap onto it.

As you rush over, grabbing onto the edge,

you watch the sparks fly off the top of it.

You head up and leap onto it.

As you see the figure begin to

(running) go into a run to try

and catch up-- LAURA: Terminator style?

ASHLEY: T-1000? LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: Yep. Goes running towards the cable car behind you.

As it is turning, it's not going maximum speed,

as it is curving and adjusting its tracks

to head onto the central main street road

and head northward through the city.

As you're all on the side, you can see him.

He's getting closer and closer and closer

and is going to catch up with you

and get onto the cable car with you.

ANJALI: Oh, is this worth it?

ASHLEY: Maybe we just meet him head on.

You know, and be like, why are you--

What?

ANJALI: It's a bold day, right?

All right, so as a practitioner of--

A practitioner of the

entertainment art of magick, I--

ROBBIE: Magick. ASHLEY: Oh!

ANJALI: I reach into my pocket,

and I pull out a hand of--

A handful of flash powder.

MATT: Okay.

ANJALI: Right as it's beginning to turn,

I throw some flash powder down near the wheels

near where he's running so it looks like something

went off and hopefully will distract him.

MATT: Okay.

So you grab the flash powder and right as he's rushing

and jumping for the cable car to get ready to leap

and grab onto the outside railing.

(flashing) This massive (flashing)

flash explosion blasts next to you.

This light goes wide and people nearby go (gasps)

People in the cable car pull away.

Go ahead and--

ANJALI: Oh no! ♪ (nervous noise) ♪

MATT: We'll make this a Control--

ANJALI: ♪ Control ♪ MATT:-- test for me.

ANJALI: All right. ANJALI and ASHLEY: ♪ (sing) ♪

MATT: To see if you can manage to hit in just a way

that it's going to throw him off.

ANJALI: Excellent. So, high stakes?

MATT: Medium stakes. He's just following you.

ANJALI: All right, in that case,

I am going to--

Oh, boo.

MATT: You asked me. ANJALI: Question.

It says here that on a high stakes roll,

any high stakes roll, you may always spend Cunning

instead of the Drive the roll would normally use.

But this doesn't count.

This doesn't count, it's like when you said this--

So can't do that here.

MATT: Sorry, repeat that for me.

ANJALI: "On any high stakes roll, you may always spend

"Cunning instead of the Drive

"the roll would normally use." MATT: Correct.

Right, this would not be considered high stakes.

ANJALI: Okay, all right, in that case,

normally, you could spend Cunning if you fail.

It's not Cunning. All right, I'm going to spend

a Drive to get a die.

I'm going to spend a ♪ Nerve Drive ♪

to get a ♪ Control ♪ Drive.

If anyone wants to help me?

I could certainly use-- ASHLEY: Yes, you know what?

I'm going to use-- ROBBIE: What's it from?

ANJALI: Nerve. ASHLEY: I'm going to use

Saw This Coming again.

MATT: Okay. ASHLEY: So--

ANJALI: We've done this before.

ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yes.

We've done this magick move before.

MATT: All right, so how do you help with this,

the flash powder toss on this?

ASHLEY: I see--

Do it right there.

(laughter)

MATT: Perfect. Perfect.

Especially as the one who's used to jumping trolley cars,

you know exactly where the optimal stepping point is.

ANJALI: Please be good to me.

They're not being good to me.

There was a two, a two, and a one.

LAURA: Oh no.

MATT: A two, a two, and a one.

ROBBIE: Jeez, that's a--

ANJALI: That's a bad roll. Wait!

I have a Resistance.

So I'll spend that Resistance.

MATT: All right.

ANJALI: Which means I get one die

back. MATT: One die to throw.

LAURA: Okay, okay, okay.

LAURA: Oh! ANJALI: Oh no!

Doesn't count, it's not in my box.

That's what she said.

(laughter)

ANJALI: (groans)

It's a three. LAURA: They didn't want it

to happen, the dice did not

want that to happen. ROBBIE: Damn!

ANJALI: They did not want that to happen. MATT: Wasn't meant to be

for this one. ANJALI: Damn it!

MATT: You throw the powder down, it flashes.

But the figure cloaks the front of them,

as they leap on and grab the edge of the trolley car,

as it begins to pick up speed and cruise upward.

Right as you back away,

the figure's standing there now

and you can see it's

a man in his 30s or so,

a bit built in the shoulders,

wide, wearing the familiar coat.

His hair's longer, it's slicked back

behind the ears, curling forward slightly,

long thin nose and an intense stare.

As he's holding onto the edge, goes,

"You must be careful with such dangerous materials

"in a public space, Charlotte."

ANJALI: I can't imagine what you're talking about.

Do I know him?

MATT: You do not know this person,

but they seem to know you.

ANJALI: I can't imagine what you're talking about, Officer...?

MATT: "Don't worry about it. Continue your business.

"I'm just here to keep an eye."

ANJALI: And pray tell,

what exactly are you here to investigate?

Obviously, since you're

a member of such an esteemed organization.

MATT: "None of your business. Just go about yours."

ASHLEY: I mean, we were going to church.

So if you're going to come with us to a service,

is that what you want to do?

MATT: "Apparently. Take me to church, then.

"Teach me of The Ascendancy's majesty."

ANJALI: Hmm.

ASHLEY: Shit. ANJALI: You want to go to church?

(laughs)

ASHLEY: That didn't work. I thought that was going to--

MATT: Just quietly rides alongside you,

as it cruises up the street.

LAURA: So how long have you worked for the OUP?

MATT: "Who said I worked for the OUP?"

LAURA: Your blazer, your peacoat.

I only see them wearing that particular shape.

MATT: "So you deal with them often?"

LAURA: Hmm?

MATT: "The OUP, to recognize the attire."

LAURA: Oh, I'm just

a bit of a fashion girl.

MATT: "Interesting.

"Well.

"Long enough."

It's now heading into The Varnish.

Cruising up a bit of the incline.

Where are you looking to get off?

LAURA: Well, not where we were going to.

ASHLEY: Mm-mm.

ANJALI: Go pay a visit to your--

LAURA: How about--

Oh, no, I don't want him to know where I live.

ANJALI: That's true.

LAURA: What if we all get off in different places?

ANJALI: Yes, that's a wonderful idea.

Meet back at the--

Where would you-- LAURA: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

At the place.

ANJALI: (mutters) At the-- LAURA: (mutters) Yeah, that's what I'm--

ANJALI: Okay.

I'll stay on.

He seems to suspect me more than anyone.

LAURA: Okay, but Auggie's really good at--

ANJALI: We're saying this quietly.

MATT: I understand, but the nerves are getting to you

and as it begins to build and the anxiety of him

staring straight at you out of recognition

of who you are, you do take a Brain,

as the stress begins to build up within you.

ROBBIE: Oh no!

ANJALI: It's fine, it's fine. Everything's fine.

My name is Gertrude. I mean, Ethel.

I mean--

MATT: (laughs) ANJALI: Charlotte.

LAURA: Auggie's really good at slipping out of sight.

So maybe Auggie should be the last one to get off.

ANJALI: Wonderful idea.

Yeah, I'll stay here and meet you--

Where?

LAURA: At the restaurant.

ANJALI: Yes.

LAURA: I'll hop off.

MATT: Okay.

Doesn't follow.

LAURA: Okay.

ANJALI: Yeah.

I'm going to stare politely at him.

LAURA: Where am I?

MATT: (laughs)

You're scattered somewhere in the middle

of The Varnish, at the moment.

LAURA: Okay.

ROBBIE: The restaurant is in The Varnish?

MATT: It is. You actually just passed it.

I'll say, about a block ago.

LAURA: Okay. MATT: So you're not that far away.

LAURA: Great.

ROBBIE: Oh no, I feel faint!

Then I'll step off the back of the--

MATT: Gives a little movement

and then holds tight looking back at you.

Okay.

Halfway through The Varnish now.

ASHLEY: Do you want to get off?

MATT: It's going to be

shortly curving into either--

Probably towards Hallowharbor before

heading over towards

The Shriveline.

ASHLEY: Well, I guess I'm going to go

to say my prayers.

(laughter)

ANJALI: You're such a pious boy.

MATT: You start off, watch as you go.

Clocks you for just a moment.

ANJALI: That's all right.

MATT: He gets back to looking at you.

ANJALI: So tell me about you, Officer.

MATT: "I'd rather not."

ANJALI: I know you'd rather not, but it's going to be a rather

long trip, if you're going to join me

as I visit my former mentor.

MATT: "I'm not much of a conversationalist."

ANJALI: I can see that.

ASHLEY: I'm going to chase after the car.

Try to, at least. MATT: Okay, it's a sprint

to keep up with it. ASHLEY: Okay, okay.

ANJALI: Hang on a second,

let me take a look at my geography.

Where are they?

Would this actually go to The Eaves?

Or is it going up?

MATT: This particular line would...

No, this particular line is going to curve around

on the north and eastern side.

It's going to head from Hallowharbor

into The Shriveline

and then back through The Steam.

So this one line is moving away

from The Eaves, actually. LAURA: Hallowharbor would be here.

Hallowharbor goes across.

ANJALI: So I'm going to go over and look at--

I'm sure there's a map on the side of the--

Just like we have in our trains.

I'm just going to look at the map.

Oh no.

I've picked up the wrong line.

Officer, would you care to accompany me?

I need to skip lines because you see,

I have to visit The Eaves.

MATT: "You go where you need to be."

ANJALI: I shall.

So I'm going to skip whatever line I have to,

to be able to get back onto something

that would go to The Eaves.

MATT: Okay, so you step off the trolley.

He steps off with you,

and just stays five feet from you.

Just an attached accompaniment.

ANJALI: Wonderful. MATT: You, like,

(pants),

watch as she steps off and the figure steps with her.

ASHLEY: Okay, I'm just watching from afar.

ANJALI: What can I do to lose this fellow?

Where am I?

ROBBIE: I've tried to work my way back around

toward where Arlo got off since I've hopped off.

MATT: Yeah. ROBBIE: I'm trying to make

my way to them.

MATT: Not a problem. ANJALI: And where am I?

Where have we gotten off?

MATT: You would be right on the cusp of Hallow Harbor.

On the northwestern end. ANJALI: Hallow Harbor-- here?

Right. All right.

I'm going to briskly walk towards whatever line

I would get to, as I'm trying to think of what I can do.

Is there...

Ah, damn.

Are there any of my

little

folks like young Auggie.

Would I know of anyone in the area,

who I might have in the area?

MATT: Unfortunately, no.

Your network is--

You know.

Effective in the spaces where you do work,

but you're also one of many purveyors in this town.

You're--

ANJALI: I'm off at the border of one to five?

I mean, of Hallowharbor to the Shriveline?

MATT: Of The Varnish to Hallowharbor.

ANJALI: Varnish to-- ASHLEY: So you're probably

pretty close to your place.

ANJALI: I'm right here. No, my place is way over here.

ASHLEY: Closer to Sight Unseen.

ANJALI: But The Shriveline is where the churches are, isn't it?

ASHLEY: Mm-hmm. MATT: Mm-hmm.

ANJALI: Right.

I'm going to hop off.

You know, I think I will pay a visit to church.

Would you care to join me?

MATT: "Be my guest." ANJALI: Wonderful.

I'm going to move into the

closest church.

In our particular religious tradition at this church,

do we have, say, a confessional?

MATT: Yes, I'd say there would be.

ANJALI: All right.

I'm going to head into the confessional.

MATT: He stays back about 10 or so feet,

as one of the vestment wearing caretakers

of this particular cathedral

greets you as you enter.

"Welcome, welcome to our establishment.

"Please do put your mind at rest

"and bring your piety and how best it suits your

"arrival upon our doorstep."

ANJALI: Thank you so much, Father.

I need to--

I'm here to absolve myself. May I?

MATT: "But of course. Yes, please.

"You, of course, are also welcome to join us

"in prayer or wait if you'd like."

The gentleman just, "I'm fine,"

and gives a fake smile.

ANJALI: Okay.

I'm going to go into the confessional.

Oh god, help me for what I'm about to do.

Come to confessional. ASHLEY: Is he staying outside?

MATT: No, he's inside,

he's about 10 feet from the confessional,

just waiting.

ANJALI: No, it's not a hot priest.

We're not going Fleabag.

(laughter)

ANJALI: I'm not going there.

That would be a high stakes roll.

MATT: (laughs) ANJALI: Very high stakes.

MATT: "Please, I'm very lonely."

(laughter)

ASHLEY: We have different rules in this world.

ANJALI: Forgive me, Father.

I have definitely sinned and I have

many transgressions to report, but--

(whispers) Right now, I need your help.

The gentleman you see outside has followed me.

I don't know him.

I don't know why he's following me.

But I'm scared.

Is there any place that I can go,

perhaps, to sit and wait him out?

MATT: Make a Sway roll. ANJALI: Thank god.

All right, with a Sway roll,

this one, I am going to spend a Drive.

LAURA: And we can't help if we're not around.

ANJALI: I have two. MATT: No.

You have no means of helping her.

ANJALI: No.

Two and a--

Wait.

Two, one is gilded, plus--

Oh, why the fuck not?

Roll two dice.

Just get me the fuck out of here, Father.

MATT: Dang!

ANJALI: Get me the fuck

out of here, Father. MATT: Big spender.

ROBBIE: Boy!

ANJALI: Five.

MATT: Five, okay.

The priest on the other side of the confessional booth goes,

"Very well, my child.

"When I escort him from the room,

"the far back door on the right leads to my office.

"There should be a door behind that that you could use

"to escape out the back of the cathedral."

ANJALI: Thank you, Father. MATT: Of course.

ANJALI: Is there somewhere that I can donate to the church?

MATT: "Feel free to come by any day

"and we'll be happy to take any donations you wish."

ANJALI: Thank you, Father.

MATT: "Ah, just a moment."

Exits, and you hear him go,

"Ah.

"My child, here has seen

"quite a terrifying day

"and requires a direct consultation

"with a higher power.

"As such, we're going to be exiting the chamber

"for the time being, it is a very--"

And hear some voices go like, "Oh, okay."

It's like, "you as well, sir."

"Sorry, that's not going to work."

The Father says, "I believe it is.

"By the power vested by me and The Ascendancy,

"you are within our jurisdiction

"and you have to exit at the request

"of a man of the cloth."

There's a long pause.

"Very well."

You hear (footsteps)

(door creaks shut)

ANJALI: So he said exit out the back, is what he said?

MATT: He said there was a--

ANJALI: Like a back room. MATT:-- an office in the back.

Yeah. ANJALI: Office, okay.

Is there a sneaking option?

Because I don't trust that that guy really left.

I feel like he's like, Sneaky McSneakerson.

MATT: I mean, you can try and make a Hide test

if you want to go for all of them!

Spend all the Drives,

come on! ANJALI: No, I can't.

I'm not spending all the Drives, okay.

Right, so I'm going to-- MATT: You won't need them later.

ANJALI:-- sneaky, sneaky, I'm going to just go.

I'm just going to go as fast as I can.

LAURA: Yeah. MATT: Okay.

You dart out and you can see pushing the doors closed,

with the help of a few other hands,

you do not see the other gentleman within the room.

ANJALI: It's a mixed success

so what the fuck is going to go wrong.

I'm going back into the office, and in the office, there is a--

MATT: You see inside here,

it looks like a very modest office quarters.

There's a desk, there's some furniture,

and there is a back door that leads out of there.

ANJALI: Do I have anything with me like that?

ASHLEY: Did I see him walk out? LAURA: She doesn't trust anything.

MATT: You do see him walk out. ANJALI: No, I don't.

ASHLEY: Okay, is he standing there waiting?

MATT: He's currently, like, he gets pushed out

and starts looking through the windows,

which themselves, they're too opaque

with the darker interior to see any daylight

in the mid-afternoon.

ANJALI: The duder's looking through the windows?

MATT: You don't know.

ANJALI: Okay. ASHLEY: I'm outside watching him.

ANJALI: Oh, oh, oh, sorry, sorry, I didn't see that.

MATT: Nope, what're you doing?

ANJALI: Just real quick, I'm looking around the office.

Is there anything, a cloak, vestments,

anything that I could potentially put on?

MATT: Yeah, it looks like a heavy cloak

for rain and weather that is currently set upon a coat rack

towards the back door.

ANJALI: Excellent, what's the weather out right now?

MATT: I mean, it's not raining.

The recent storms have passed.

It's been foggy in the evenings, but it's a chilled afternoon.

ANJALI: Is the Father coming to the office,

or is he just out front?

MATT: You don't know. You just walked into the office.

ANJALI: Okay.

Fuck.

I'm going to start grabbing the raincoat

and definitely acting as if I am nervous and afraid,

which I kind of am.

And take a look behind me to see

if the Father's coming or not.

MATT: You can see him walking towards the office.

ANJALI: Right.

ROBBIE: Steal the man of the cloth's cloth!

ANJALI: No! I just want to,

just want to peek out and say: Thank you, Father.

May I borrow these?

MATT: "If it aids you to stay safe, yes, of course."

ANJALI: Yes, thank you so much.

Put it over, cover myself up

as much as physically possible and--

Do I go out that door or do I go out the front?

Go, go as fast as I can out that back door.

MATT: Okay, right as you are leaving, the Father goes,

"And as a reminder, please,

"a donation would be greatly appreciated."

ANJALI: Oh, well, Father, right now I'm happy to donate,

but I can get you more if I can come back.

MATT: "Both would be appreciated."

ANJALI: Wonderful, absolutely, Father.

I take out a full pouch.

I pop it on his desk.

MATT: "Thank you." ANJALI: Thank you.

MATT: "Your initial donation has been accepted."

ANJALI: Yes, of course, that's fine.

If you only knew how I was making my money.

Great. I put everything on-- MATT: (laughs)

ANJALI:-- and I bust a move out.

MATT: Okay.

You exit out the back and in a rush

as you're charging out, darting around,

making a big wide corner around the nearby alleys

in the outside of the cathedral,

you do, looking over your shoulder

to make sure he's not watching like (crack),

the edge of your shoulder along the side

of one of the outside shop signs as it hits,

you feel a pop and you're like, "Ah, that hurt,"

but it's not going to stop you and you keep running,

feeling the warmth begin to flow through your arm.

You do take a body.

ANJALI: Did you guys know that my shoulders are double jointed

and I can pop them out at will?

It's fun facts no one tells.

That's not for me, that's me, not Charlotte,

that's not a special skill.

That's not on the sheet.

(laughter) ANJALI: Just so you know.

I know that feeling intimately, it's a wonderful feeling.

MATT: There you go.

Happy to keep it visceral.

ANJALI: Yes, thank you.

MATT: But after a short time, with the help of those vestments

and the bit of chaos at the cathedral,

it seems you've lost the OUP officer.

ASHLEY: Nice.

MATT: About a half an hour later, you begin to reconvene

with the rest of your friends here, back in The Varnish,

on the outskirts of The Revisionary restaurant,

Which, at this point in the afternoon,

seeing a bit of business.

It's maybe about eight or nine individuals

that are currently seated inside

amongst four different tables.

It's not bustling, but it definitely is a nice

afternoon lunch period.

As you come to it,

you can see the beautiful, big glass arched windows

with multiple panes in them.

Everything has this smooth

polished brass look to it

alongside the pillars and the doors as you go in.

Definitely is a beautiful establishment and many windows,

so a lot of the sunlight comes through,

but you can see there are many lamps and lanterns that hang

from within that will glow as they're being lit.

As the day gets on, you can see the top

has like tin panels all across the upper roof,

giving a nice art deco vibe to the interior.

There's a bar to the farther back and there is a stage,

a number of stools, and it's a nice place.

ANJALI: Are there people there right now or is it--

LAURA: Yeah, there's a few.

ANJALI:-- full? ASHLEY: Okay.

ANJALI: Sorry, I was still--

LAURA: Are there any tables available, though?

There are, right?

MATT: There are, yeah.

LAURA: I guess while it took time to get back to us,

the professor and I will have grabbed a table,

waiting for everyone.

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: Hey, hey, how's it going?

LAURA: There's a stage.

Is there a stage for musicians? MATT: There is indeed a stage there.

LAURA: There's a stage for musicians.

ASHLEY: Okay, we are in the right place.

ROBBIE: What time was the show supposed to start?

Does anyone recall?

LAURA: Excuse me.

MATT: "Yes?"

LAURA: You have musicians here, correct?

MATT: "Occasionally, yes."

LAURA: Are any playing tonight?

MATT: "They're supposed to be tonight, yes."

LAURA: Who are playing tonight?

MATT: They reach in their pocket

and pull out this crinkled note and unfold it,

set their tray to the side for a second.

"That would be Kara, Wayland, and Theodore."

LAURA: Wonderful, thank you. MATT: "You're welcome."

LAURA: Are the musicians here preparing already?

MATT: "No, they usually come here just after sunset."

LAURA: Thank you.

MATT: "You're welcome."

ASHLEY: Did he say Kara?

ANJALI: He did say Kara.

It was also the name of the assistant.

I don't know if that's a, I mean, it could be a potential--

ASHLEY: A coinkydink?

MATT: Could be a coinkydink.

ANJALI: I don't know if I've made it here yet.

Have I made it here? ASHLEY: She was lying to us!

I was trailing and making sure.

LAURA: What if she was actually his lover

and she came to check on him?

ANJALI: And she's be-- No.

LAURA: No, that would be weird.

ASHLEY: Oh, she was lying.

ROBBIE: Sounds like just conjecture at this point.

ANJALI: It is. ROBBIE: All good ideas.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

ROBBIE: But just ideas, unsubstantiated.

ANJALI: Do we see--?

LAURA: Are we wasting time at a restaurant?

ROBBIE: Absolutely. ANJALI: It was just their first names.

It didn't have their last names?

MATT: No, they were just known as the first name trio.

LAURA: How long until sunset is it?

MATT: About four hours.

ASHLEY: Oh. LAURA: Oh, jeez louise.

MATT: About three to four hours.

LAURA: We're not waiting here until they come.

ROBBIE: Yes. ASHLEY: All right.

ANJALI: ♪ A next step ♪

Excuse me, how often does this trio play here?

MATT: A different waiter comes by.

"Oh, the performing trio?"

ANJALI: Yes.

MATT: "They've only been here for about two or so weeks.

"Take three nights out of the week."

ANJALI: Oh, wonderful.

I'm intrigued by the fact that one of them--

I'm a dabbler in music myself

and there are very few women that I know who do the same.

I was wondering if this Kara,

if you know anything about her?

I'm a bit a fan.

MATT: "I've just seen them around here when they perform.

"That's about it.

"We don't really,

"don't engage with the musical guests that often."

ANJALI: Right, and what instruments do they play?

MATT: "Oh, well, there's a horn, there's a bass,

"and there's one of those

"small pianos that they bring in."

LAURA: They bring in a piano?

MATT: "Well, no, we have a piano on premises.

"We bring it up there and they play it."

ASHLEY: What time do they usually get here

to warm up and stuff, you know?

Sound check.

MATT: "About sunset, I think."

ASHLEY: Oh, they get here about sunset, I'll start then.

LAURA: Maybe we should spend some time

in another location until they get here.

ANJALI: I think that is a great idea.

ASHLEY: That's a great idea.

ANJALI: Thank you so much.

We will finish our drinks and pay up and we'll come back.

MATT: "Of course, yeah.

"My shift ends in hour, so I won't see you."

LAURA: I pay it and we should go immediately.

ASHLEY: Should we pay Ferris a visit?

LAURA: Yeah, I mean, the house is close by.

ROBBIE: The Eaves are a short trip across the bridge.

ASHLEY: Yeah, it's not far. ANJALI: Yes.

I definitely know my way around The Eaves.

LAURA: But they don't live in The Eaves, they--

ANJALI: They live in the Briar Green, right?

ROBBIE: They live in the Briar Green?

ANJALI: They live in Briar Green. LAURA: That's how I know them.

ASHLEY: Do you live in the Briar Green?

ANJALI: She does. LAURA: Yes.

ROBBIE: I do as well. ASHLEY: Oh shit.

ANJALI and LAURA: Oh.

MATT: Briar Green's right next to The Eaves,

so it's a short jaunt from there.

ANJALI: Might as well, it's a journey around the city.

It's a sort of hop on, hop off tour.

ASHLEY: What's on your mind?

ROBBIE: Oh, nothing.

I just don't know how much I glean

from walking around talking to people,

but I suppose it's the only choice we have at this point.

ANJALI: Other than going back to that store room,

speaking again to Skiddy, I don't know what else.

I don't know where else to go.

ROBBIE: I think we've tapped Skiddy out.

Well, suppose we should talk to the husband.

ANJALI: Yes, I agree. LAURA: Yes.

Maybe he gifted her some jewelry

that was left behind and there was something in the jewelry.

ROBBIE: Magickal jewelry?

LAURA: Maybe.

ROBBIE: All right. ASHLEY: Should we check it out?

Do you have the jewels?

ANJALI: I have the chain.

ROBBIE: Have we taken a closer look at that?

It's the only evidence we've actually taken, isn't it?

LAURA: There was no bleed on it, but we haven't looked to see,

does it have an engraving or anything?

ANJALI: Take a look at the chain.

MATT: Doesn't have any engraving on it.

It looks like a loose wrist chain.

Looks like it's gold.

Probably worth a decent amount of money

for a piece of jewelry that was left behind.

ROBBIE: Hmm.

ANJALI: We punched this guy.

The assistant could be the musician angle.

I'm going through all of my notes to see

if there's anyone else we can possibly lean on.

We are still looking--

ASHLEY: Didn't someone say that there was a thing coming in?

Like something's coming in from--

ANJALI: There was a shipment coming in from port,

and we did learn that she,

that the chamberwoman

had been sort of stopping up the works

in terms of import/export from--

LAURA: The guilds.

ANJALI: From the outer areas.

ASHLEY: Import tariffs, local and abroad.

ROBBIE: Her area of expertise, I believe, was taxes and tariffs.

ANJALI: Yes.

ROBBIE: Never friendly with people

trying to execute free commerce.

Also, perhaps came nose to nose with trade unions,

typically another portion.

I believe there are some form of teamsters

or something down at the docks.

ANJALI: Yeah, the docks.

ROBBIE: But, again, it depends on what we're looking for,

motives or witnesses?

If we're looking for witnesses,

I suppose we should continue on

and try to wait for Wayland to come back.

But if we're looking for motive,

typically within the politics of a politician.

But again, just pure conjecture.

ANJALI: Yes.

MATT: It's about this time that the initial--

LAURA: I was about to sneeze.

MATT: I was like, she's having an idea

and it hurts. ASHLEY: It's an idea

or it's a sneeze.

MATT: (laughs)

ANJALI: She's overcome.

LAURA: It went away.

MATT: The original server comes by and goes,

"Ugh, I'm sorry, I regret to inform you.

"I was just checking in the back,

"and they were notified a short time ago

"that the band will not be playing tonight."

ANJALI: The whole trio?

ROBBIE: Why not?

MATT: "No reason, we were just told they--"

LAURA: Who told you?

MATT: "I was just notified.

"I don't know who told them."

ANJALI: Who told you?

MATT: "Told me, my manager."

ANJALI: Right, let's go to the manager.

I'm just going to walk up to the manager.

Excuse me.

We heard that the trio isn't performing tonight.

Is that true?

MATT: This is a much older woman in her early 60s or so,

very well put together and holding her hands

together, clasped to her chest.

"That is correct."

ANJALI: Are any of the musicians coming?

I so very much wanted to see one of them.

MATT: "Unfortunately, no.

"One of them told me that

"they're canceling the performances

"for the foreseeable future." LAURA: Was he here?

MATT: "She was--" LAURA: She.

MATT: "Came by."

LAURA: Oh, where did she go?

MATT: "This was a few hours ago.

"I don't know where she went.

"It was the one named Kara."

LAURA: Kara, what's her last name?

MATT: "Belmon."

LAURA: Thank you so much.

ASHLEY: Thank you very much.

LAURA: (gasps) She did it. ASHLEY: That lying.

ANJALI: All right, so.

ASHLEY: Piece of trash.

ANJALI: She said that she worked for the chamber.

Well, we can leave, right?

LAURA: Yes.

ASHLEY: What if she wasn't wanting to

answer any more questions?

ROBBIE: It would be odd to leave out the information

that she played in a band

with the potential accomplice of her boss's disappearance.

ASHLEY: Yeah, that's a little weird.

ROBBIE: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Methinks she's hiding something.

ANJALI: Oh, you think?

We have to find her.

LAURA: Maybe the manager knows where she lives.

ANJALI: Oh, okay.

LAURA: Do you know where Kara lives?

MATT: "I do not."

LAURA: Well, thank you very much.

Can I read her and see if she actually is trying--

MATT: Yes, you may. You may make a Read roll, if you'd like.

Test that Read.

LAURA: A mixed success.

MATT: Mixed success with the five.

Best you can tell, she--

LAURA: Does not.

MATT: She doesn't--

She has enough to worry about

with this business and establishment

than to worry about wherever the occasional bands

that come through reside within the city.

You see she actually looks pretty perturbed

that the evening's entertainment

has suddenly canceled

a few hours before they were supposed to arrive,

which means either she has to find a replacement,

or they are just not going to happen.

ANJALI: Where would the chamberwoman,

where would her office be?

Where would the chamberwoman's office be?

MATT: That would likely be in the--

LAURA: Where the Primacy is.

MATT: Yep, which would be--

ANJALI: Silver Slip.

MATT: Silver Slip.

LAURA: Yes.

ASHLEY: Okay.

She said she was an assistant to--

LAURA: To the chamberwoman. ASHLEY: To the chamberwoman

and to not talk to the husband about it.

So maybe we go talk to the husband

because maybe he'll tell us a different story?

LAURA: Maybe, or maybe she didn't want us to,

she didn't want her secret to be found out

that she didn't actually work for her.

Let's go. ANJALI: Let's go.

I like it, let's go.

LAURA: Okay.

We're going to find something.

(laughter)

ANJALI: Going to Briar Green.

ROBBIE: Sounds like a plan. ASHLEY: To Briar Green.

LAURA: Would I know where the Ferrises reside?

MATT: You would know, actually.

Very nice estate as you approach,

eventually riding the trains across the bridge,

and coming to Briar Green.

You find, amongst the very opulent homesteads

that scatter this area

amongst the clusters of bright verdant parks

and tree clusters and the well-kept bushes and ferns

that mark the corner of every major street,

it is definitely one of the most

beautified areas of Newfaire.

Amongst these, you come to the estate of

the Ferris estate itself.

You can see the high iron fence that surrounds

the beautiful rising hill of green grass

and well-kept hedges that lead up to the front

of the two-story, pretty much a mansion.

It's painted mostly in grays and whites

with bits of a deep blue

in the awnings and the edges of the windows.

It's very, very nice.

LAURA: Very, very nice.

MATT: It's very nice.

ALL: (impressed sounds)

(laughter)

ASHLEY: Jeez louise.

LAURA: Is there any officer around or--?

MATT: Currently, you don't see any officers around.

It is getting later in the afternoon.

You're probably about an hour and a half

from sunset at this point.

LAURA: All right.

MATT: Two hours from sunset.

LAURA: Okay, let's go knock on the door.

MATT: Okay.

The door, you knock a few times.

(knocking)

Eventually, a little window opens up

and you see these tiny beady eyes looks at you,

look through and open the doors (squeaking)

and you see this gentle-in-the-face

woman in maid attire,

probably in her 50s or so, peek through.

"Can I help you?"

LAURA: Hi, is Mr. Ferris home?

MATT: "Yes, he's had a very hard day."

LAURA: Will you tell him that Arlo Black

of the Black Estate is here to pay a visit?

MATT: "All right, I, I--"

Closes the door, wanders off for a bit.

A few minutes later, the door opens again.

"He'll greet you in the study."

LAURA: Thank you so much.

ANJALI: Anything we notice other than the fact

that it is very, very opulent around us?

MATT: Yeah, walking through, as you come to it.

It is long, marble floor hallways,

high-reaching, white-painted walls

with little paintings and sculptures.

The paintings, in particular, in this area are beautiful.

You see many landscapes and coastlines.

Occasionally, there's a slightly off painting

that has deep shadows and unique architecture.

Kind of a stark contrast

to some of the more bright displays here.

But as you continue down the long hallway

across the gray paint and the wainscotting

that tends to mark the edges of the walkway.

To the right, you see there's an open archway

that leads into a fireplace that is currently

crackling in the corner.

A large painting of a man and a woman

sitting together, a portrait.

You can see there's bookshelves on the sides,

there's a sitting couch on one side

and a couple of other large chairs on the other.

Across the way, you see a man resting

his hand on the fireplace itself.

Turned back, looks at the rest of you.

You see a man here in his early 50s,

thinning black hair that's turned to gray on the sides.

He is wearing a white button up shirt,

but it's mostly unbuttoned at the top.

Tie is dangling around on the side.

His sleeves are rolled up past the elbows.

His left hand is bandaged.

He's wearing slacks and in the other hand

you see him holding an open container

of some sort of brown, brackish liquid.

He looks back to the rest of you.

"Arlo, welcome.

"It's been some time.

"What are you doing here?"

LAURA: Um, well,

I know you and I haven't had many interactions.

MATT: Pours into a glass that's on the mantle,

sets it to the side, and takes the glass.

LAURA: But you may have heard my experience

with the Eastons a few years back?

MATT: "Mm-hmm."

LAURA: I'm sorry to say I've heard through the--

Through talking today, about what happened with your wife.

MATT: "Word's getting around, isn't it?"

LAURA: It happens fast.

MATT: "Yeah, doesn't surprise me.

"What all'd you hear?"

LAURA: Mixed stories.

Um--

What all did you hear?

MATT: "Hm."

He scrapes his chin a little bit,

takes a big sip, and walks up.

"Well, she's missing.

"And she might be missing with someone."

LAURA: Right.

MATT: "I can see on your face you already knew this.

"So, that's getting around, too.

"That's great, that's fucking great."

LAURA: You know, when Eddie went missing,

people said all sorts of things.

We can't believe the rumors, can we?

MATT: "(chuckling)

"Not unless it makes a lot of sense.

"Who are the rest of you? What are you doing?

"Who'd you bring with you?"

LAURA: After Eddie went missing, I--

I didn't want anyone to have to suffer through that anymore.

I wanted to find answers.

So these are my compatriots.

They help me find answers.

MATT: "Well, great.

"I hope you find them."

ANJALI: We'd like to help you find some answers, too.

MATT: "Cool.

"What can I do to help?

"I've been answering a lot of questions today,

"so let's just put them on the pile."

ANJALI: When you said that it makes a lot of sense,

and forgive me for being indelicate,

but could you expand on that?

MATT: "Well, you know, we've been married for

"the better part of 15, 16 years.

"Work keeps her very busy

"and doesn't come home a lot of nights

"because she has a lot of work to do.

"Emotional distance that continues to grow

"like the fucking Vastchasm between the two of you.

"And then you disappear the day,

"a couple days after your anniversary.

"Then.

"You know, it all just kind of makes sense

"when you put it together, right?"

LAURA: Oh.

ANJALI: Are there any people that you know

that she works particularly close with

that might, um, we might be able to speak to?

Who might know, I don't know.

ASHLEY: Like assistants or anything like that?

MATT: "Maybe Kara."

You can see he fidgets with the bandage

on his hand a little bit.

"Yep."

ANJALI: What happened to your hand?

MATT: "I just, I got some sort of weird infection thing."

LAURA: (gasps)

ANJALI: Our friend here is a doctor.

ROBBIE: PhD.

MATT: "Oh, I'm already taking pills, don't worry about it."

ROBBIE: Oh, well, we've actually been researching

a strange occurrence in the area.

I teach over at Briarbank and there have been

some interesting cases coming to our medical department.

I would love to see your hand to make sure

that you might not be infected.

Just a glance. LAURA: Oh, we could show him.

Just to say if he's ever seen anything like it.

ROBBIE: Well--

We have some medical samples that we took recently

from some other test subjects.

A strange parasite.

Have you heard about the recent shipments coming in

from across the Vastchasm?

MATT: "Yeah, I know well.

"That's what my wife was trying to keep control of.

"Why? Is this the kind of shit that people

"are letting creep into the town now?

"Is this some sort of like, after the war subtle

"cold war warfare against our people?"

ANJALI: All we know is that this--

pull out the bleed container-- this--

This.

ROBBIE: Maybe a foreign parasite or a--

MATT: "Oh god!"

ROBBIE: Or some sort of worm perhaps.

It was found in a shipment of plantains.

MATT: He pulls his bandage off and holds it up to you.

ROBBIE: Thank you so much for your cooperation.

MATT: You look at his palm,

right there in the palm,

the skin is black.

ANJALI: Oh no.

MATT: For about the size of a heavy coin

and you can see there's black veins

that spider out from it in the middle.

LAURA: Uh-oh.

ROBBIE: How did you get such a wound?

MATT: "I have no idea.

"It only just started about a day, day and a half ago."

ROBBIE: A stigmata (chuckles).

LAURA: Did you notice if your wife had anything similar?

MATT: "Not that I saw."

ROBBIE: Have the two of you

done anything outside of the ordinary?

Perhaps for your anniversary.

Go on an exotic evening out or do something

you've never done before to celebrate the occasion?

MATT: "I mean. (chuckles)."

He takes his bandage and holds it

and looks at it, he goes like, "Well,

"Onette's very particular about her presents, you see.

"So, to make sure that I don't get her the wrong thing,

"I tend to take her shopping for what she wants.

"So we, yeah, we went out and went shopping.

"Went and got her something nice.

"Went and had dinner and then came home, and that was it."

ANJALI: What did you get her, by any chance?

MATT: "I had this necklace commissioned by,

"it was a person that was a friend of hers named Dorna.

"Dorna--

"What was the name?"

He thinks to himself for a second.

"Dorna Ashefar.

"She runs the Alizarin Gallery in The Varnish.

LAURA: That's right.

ASHLEY: I was going to say, yeah, your artwork,

is any of this like--

MATT: "Yeah, most of the stuff." ASHLEY: Oldfairen.

Is this all from that gallery?

MATT: "Probably, some of the creepier shit.

"I mean, I don't pick this.

"This is all Onette's thing.

"She's been going to that gallery

"for the past six or so months.

"So, I figured that be a good place to ask."

LAURA: What did the jewelry look like?

MATT: "Oh, it was--

"Heh."

He catches himself for a second.

"Ironically, imported from Otherwhere.

"This beautiful emerald that Dorna showed us

"and presented as an intricate and rare piece.

"Technically illegal and contraband,

"because of the source, which of course, enticed Onette.

"So I paid a healthy sum to have it crafted

"into a necklace and held unto it until

"it was time to go ahead and give it to her,

"the night of the anniversary."

LAURA: Had Kara, her assistant,

ever seen the necklace?

MATT: "I don't believe so."

ROBBIE: It was a type of pendant, this emerald,

worn around a necklace?

MATT: "Yeah, it was around a--"

ROBBIE: Huh.

MATT: You see him scratching the dark spot on his hand again.

He goes, "Well, if I recall, Kara's the one

"that I think introduced her to Dorna originally."

LAURA: Oh.

ROBBIE: Well.

Do you have any plans for this upcoming Thursday?

Anything on? I know you're an aspiring writer.

My office hours are open.

I would love to take a look at your work

to say thank you for this information.

Maybe you could bring your hand by, too,

and I'll see if there's a few doctors

in the community who might want to take a look.

MATT: "Do you think this is like that thing you showed me?"

ROBBIE: Uh-- LAURA: Can I look at the hand?

MATT: "Yeah."

LAURA: Is there any wiggling under the skin?

Can I see any kind of movement?

MATT: You can make a Sense roll, if you'd like.

LAURA: A Sense roll.

ANJALI: She has a thing for bleed. LAURA: Yes, oh yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

Oh yeah, I guess I could pull out the bleed detector, too.

MATT: Just whip out this massive device. (laughs)

ANJALI: It's so tiny. MATT: No, I know, I know.

Well, it's definitely, it's not subtle.

ROBBIE: The room's going to glow blue! LAURA: I'm spending an Intuition die

to get an extra die here. MATT: Okay.

LAURA: Mixed success with a four.

MATT: Mixed success.

There is a strong source of bleed on his hand.

Whatever sat there definitely left an impression.

And it looks like it's not spreading.

LAURA: It's localized in the hand?

MATT: But it definitely has corrupted the flesh in his palm.

ANJALI: A bleed containment vial wouldn't

just suck that up, would it?

MATT: As you concentrate on it,

and look towards it,

you feel this strange hunger pang

in your stomach.

Like this sudden urge to just,

just grab and pull his hand towards you

and like, this horrible sudden urge

filters through you, and you pull away.

As you do, you feel that bleed

drift into you for just a moment

as you process that it had briefly moved

from his hand and then spread into yours.

You take a bleed.

LAURA: (exhales)

MATT: How does the bleed affect you

when it spreads into your body?

LAURA: Well, I still have a hole

in the middle of my hand from before

that has not been fixed.

ROBBIE: (laughs)

LAURA:-- at all, so.

What before felt like numbness

that would move into cold,

now is like sharp pains of

glass shooting up my arm.

MATT: Hm, so you instinctually (grunts) pull away.

He's like, "Uh.

"Is everything all right?"

LAURA: Yes, but--

You should definitely, um--

Do something about that.

MATT: "All right, I'll definitely come by."

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: "I've been working on this really great YA novel--"

LAURA: Howard. Oh. MATT: "-- I think you'd really enjoy."

ROBBIE: Oh, my absolute favorite.

LAURA: Have you felt different at all?

Lately.

MATT: He takes his glass and takes a big old drink.

"Yeah, a little bit." LAURA: Before, I mean.

Before you heard the news.

MATT: "I'm not quite following you."

ROBBIE: You know what, Mr. Ferris,

I know I said Thursday, but please feel free

to stop by anytime.

My door is open to you.

I would love to read your young adult novel.

MATT: "Thank you.

"It's about this couple that meets outside

"of the Scarlet Wood." ROBBIE: Oh yes.

MATT: "Over a horse." ROBBIE: Excellent.

I'm slowly backing toward the door.

(laughter)

MATT: "But the horse is a metaphor.

"Oh, I see you're, mm.

"Well, thank you for coming by.

"You're trying to find her, right?"

LAURA: Yeah.

Yes.

MATT: He's a little tipsy, but he's sobering up a little bit

and he starts re-bandaging his hand

as he sets his glass down.

"Just bring her back safe, all right?

"At least, we've got some things to work through.

"Obviously."

ROBBIE: Sounds like a plan.

ANJALI: Do you by any chance know

where we might be able to find Kara?

MATT: "I actually don't."

ANJALI: Ah.

LAURA: I know where we can try.

Let's head to the gallery.

ANJALI: Okay. ROBBIE: Oh yeah.

ASHLEY: How long has she been working for you guys again, Kara?

MATT: "Kara, maybe five years."

ASHLEY: Mm, okay.

ANJALI: Thank you. We thank you for your honesty

and apologies for any difficulty we caused you

asking more questions.

We know it's a hard time.

MATT: "Well, just bring her back."

LAURA: Okay.

You should cut your hand off.

And then we leave.

ROBBIE: I think that we should be--

(laughter)

ASHLEY: Oh boy.

ANJALI: Right, remember when I said

that your directness was an asset?

Perhaps just among us.

LAURA: He should, though, he should.

ANJALI: Yes, but perhaps just among us.

To the gallery?

LAURA: Mm-hmm.

ANJALI: As fast as we can.

LAURA: He could turn into a monster.

We should cut his hand off.

ROBBIE: Oh, I'd be delighted!

ANJALI: Eh.

LAURA: Who knows what that burrowing thing could do?

ROBBIE: I think he has some time.

LAURA: How do you know?

ROBBIE: Well, it's been a few days,

and it's only in his hand.

It hasn't even, you've seen what happens

when it takes over.

He should be fine until we figure out

the more immediate problem.

LAURA: Howard, if he turns into a monster,

I'm blaming you.

You should've cut his hand off.

ASHLEY: Is that--

Is that what's on your hand?

LAURA: Oh, no, no, no.

I have a weird void inside of mine.

MATT: You go and look an see

there is a split in the middle of the palm

that is about the size of a nickel.

It is just this black darkness.

ASHLEY: What?

ROBBIE: It's quite something, isn't it?

ASHLEY: Why is that there?

LAURA: I don't know.

Well, I do know.

But I'd never seen the void before our last assignment.

ANJALI: What happened to your hand?

LAURA: As we walk to the gallery.

ANJALI: As we walk to the gallery, walk and talk.

LAURA: Um--

My fiance

was taken.

ASHLEY: Eddie? LAURA: Eddie.

You know, he was quite interested in Oldfaire relics

and he may have done some bad things.

And, well,

I came to see him and he was

being pulled through some sort of doorway,

or portal.

Or hole.

And I tried to save him.

My arm went through.

And--

Well, I pulled my arm back out

and Eddie did not come back out.

ROBBIE: I have a theory it's some sort of a

parallel dimension.

A physical space you can enter and re-enter,

but since only part of her body went in--

Well, I can't proclaim to know.

But poor Eddie is--

I'm sure he's fine.

LAURA: He could still be there.

ROBBIE: He could. Anything's possible.

LAURA: The creature who took him had gray skin.

Maybe I'm turning into one.

ANJALI: Charlotte's just staring off into space

with the shock of this news.

ASHLEY: So, are you single now?

I don't know what you're doing.

It's not for me.

I'm just wondering, just seeing if like--

LAURA: Well, I'm not single, Auggie. We're engaged.

ASHLEY: You're engaged, you're engaged.

LAURA: You and me.

Don't you remember?

ASHLEY: Oh, that's right.

That's right.

ANJALI: I would very much like to talk with you

about that sometime.

Not the engagement, the hand.

I'm very curious about exactly

what this experience looked like.

ASHLEY: Speaking of hands, have you ever heard

of the Red Hand, or a Red Hand?

Any tell of Red Hands in the Red Lamp District?

MATT: Now, you would know, not because of any citywide knowledge

or urban street smarts here in Newfaire.

You would know because you are one

of the more experienced members of Candela Obscura.

What you do know of Red Hand,

though you've not encountered them yourself,

is they are known as a faction of

procurers and dealers of Oldfairen artifacts,

as well as scavenged and found things

that exist from history, long buried and forgotten.

Operating by some of the same avenues and networks

as Candela once and sometimes still uses,

but definitely for the purposes of self-enrichment

as well as selfish curiosity and power.

ANJALI: Why do you ask?

LAURA: Eddie had some dealings with them.

I've never been able to find out more.

ANJALI: Hmm.

Curious.

Perhaps this Dorna will be able to shed some light.

We're going to the-- LAURA: Yeah, we're

going to the gallery. ROBBIE: We're going to the gallery.

MATT: All right.

About this time, the rest of the journey

you take into The Varnish to the outskirts

of the Alizarin Gallery.

The sun is beginning to set,

the sky falling to the purples and oranges.

The fog is beginning to settle in

as the temperature begins to drop.

You can hear the clatter of horse hooves and carriages

and the occasional

electric-based horseless carriage

pass its way through the street.

The trolley comes scooting by,

the familiar bell and crackle,

but The Varnish is now coming to life

as it does every evening.

As you approach the exterior of the gallery,

it, too, is quite busy, as it is a showing tonight.

Specifically, the gallery entitled "The Shadows of Memory."

As you begin to step into the warmer interior

of the Alizarin Gallery.

ROBBIE: Hmm!

MATT: There are about four dozen people throughout,

and everything from respectable

to extremely extravagant attire,

couples and clusters of friends that are wandering about

and talking carrying glasses of champagne

and other bits of liquid merriment at small tables.

Some of them are in the process of meeting,

some of them are discussing various art pieces.

You can see on display,

there are dozens and dozens of incredible

odd pieces of art.

You can see representations of surrealist

to harsh, brutalist architecture.

Not too different from some of the pieces you saw

within the abode you had just left.

But you can see there are heavy towering archways

that seem to come to angular apexes,

where there is a perpetual push of shadow

that tends to spin as it vanishes.

You can see long leafless petrified trees

wrapping around the exterior of extensive pillars

that seem to vanish into the horizon.

You can see clambering stairs

almost in an M.C. Escher display that seem to defy geometry.

And in times, you swear you can see eyes

and faces amongst the distant shadow.

It gives this unique unsettling macabre sense

to the surrounding light and laughter and conversation

as people begin to discuss and whisper

about what feelings it evokes,

what mysteries it draws from their imagination.

A number of historians, one in particular

that you recognize in this space

to be Professor Errol Dennings--

ANJALI: Ah, yes. MATT:-- who is the

professor of Halen history,

is currently walking about

with a very young woman on his arm

in a long dark dress, long straight blonde hair.

ROBBIE: Do I recognize her as a TA?

(laughter)

MATT: She's an ex student.

ROBBIE: Of course.

MATT: But nevertheless, the room is yours.

LAURA: Do we see Kara here?

MATT: You do not see Kara here.

ASHLEY: I can make that. I can make that.

(laughter)

ASHLEY: Scribbles.

ANJALI: I've been thinking about what she described

about how Eddie was taken,

and your question about the Red Hand.

I'm looking around at this art and the artifacts,

and I'd like to pull you aside and say:

I'm sorry, I didn't answer your question.

The Red Hand is an organization not unlike ours,

but with completely different motives.

If your Eddie had any dealings with the Red Hand,

it's possible his disappearance

was not entirely an accident.

LAURA: Oh.

ANJALI: Just like I'd like to find the woman

we're looking for today for him,

I'd like to find your Eddie for you.

And that might involve us getting involved

with some people who are dangerous,

but I'll be here with you.

LAURA: Thank you, Charlie.

He's been missing for quite a while,

as well as his entire family,

as well as his staff.

ANJALI: Oh.

LAURA: But yes, I believe there were powerful people involved.

It was swept under the rug.

ANJALI: Let's unearth that rug, shall we?

LAURA: At another time?

ANJALI: Do we see Dorna?

Because I now, with all of these things coming out,

I want to know, I want to see Dorna.

MATT: All right. You glance around the room.

I'd say make a Súrvey-- Survéy test

for me, if you don't mind.

To look throughout the interior of the chamber,

to look for somebody that you might even perceive

to be the curator of this event.

You do not know what Dorna looks like.

ANJALI: I don't realize which ones these are.

LAURA: Oh, which one did you roll? ANJALI: Was it the two,

or was it the four? LAURA: The four.

ANJALI: Fuck me.

Oh, sorry. I shouldn't curse.

Why not? MATT: It's fine.

It's our channel. ANJALI: I'm cursing.

MATT: (laughs) If that was a problem,

we would've been wrecked a long time ago.

LAURA: Just reroll.

ROBBIE: Reroll it, reroll it.

ANJALI: If it was that four.

I want that four.

Five on the gilded die.

MATT: Okay. So that's still a mixed success.

ANJALI: And I get my Drive back!

MATT: So you glance around the room,

and looking through the crowd,

seeing the absolute lack of concern

for the troubles of the city of Newfaire

on some of these elite faces,

some of these individuals that you actively

sometimes provide them comfort for their money,

but also at times lament their exploitation

of the structures that they sit atop.

That sense of conflict sits within you

that you've once experienced even just this day.

In that, that pain in the heart kicks in.

You do take a brain,

as the stress of the ethical conflict

begins to swim deep within your mind.

Then you force it out and glance out across the crowd.

You see there is a woman, about six-foot

with long black hair that comes just past the shoulders

that comes into these curls at the end,

is wearing a deep red scarlet dress

that goes all the way up to her neck

and is semi-sheer past the shoulders

before it turns into a solid dress all the way down

and drags about a foot and a half behind her.

The dress ends at the shoulders,

and then long gloves begin down,

like opera house style gloves, come to the point there.

You see rings on her hands,

jewelry around her neck and her ears,

a smooth brown skin, wonderful makeup.

She holds a single champagne glass in her hand.

You watch as she is gesturing different pieces

and explaining to one of the groups around

the finer points and reasonings for these chosen pieces.

You immediately tell from the other people

that are listening in and paying the attention

that she is likely the curator for this event.

ANJALI: Just a quick scan around her.

Any of the items that are on display,

I know we have paintings.

Are any other items on display jewels of any kind?

MATT: On display? No jewels.

You see mainly paintings.

There are a couple of pieces of broken stone.

At a glance, you can see they're sections of statues.

It looks like they're recovered artifacts

or sculptures that are replicating

or giving the image of historical artifacts.

You're not sure if they're legitimate

or if they're just recreations

for the purposes of the atmosphere of the exhibit.

ANJALI: I feel that we need to talk to her,

but I'm not sure the angle.

ASHLEY: I can always put on my badge and say,

I'm captain here and--

ANJALI: Auggie, I believe in your power.

I believe in your powers of deception, my dear,

but even you have limits.

ASHLEY: I know. It's true. It's true.

Doesn't make sense.

ANJALI: The jewelry she's wearing. What's she wearing?

MATT: What she's wearing, looks to be a series

of a small sapphire beads.

Five of them that are set into this beautiful

golden neck piece that's actually a solid band

of multiple chains that cross between.

It's like a small mantle

that sits upon the top of her dress.

LAURA: Duh!

Do I see Eliza here?

Farrington?

MATT: I would say you do not see Eliza here.

LAURA: Okay. ASHLEY: ♪ Eliza! ♪

(laughter)

ASHLEY: Sorry. (laughter)

ANJALI: Well, there's no time like the present, right?

I'd like to just walk up

and join the crowd listening to her and--

MATT: Anyone else doing anything while-- ASHLEY: Same.

MATT:-- you're doing-- Oh, you're following? ASHLEY: Just going to--

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY:-- get in the crowd and just listen

to what she's talking about.

MATT: Okay.

As you begin to approach, she points out,

"This piece here is representative

"of the deep annals of lost knowledge.

"For those that once upheld this entire society.

"Through their own arrogance, vanished and fell

"to their inability to see the limits of their ambition.

"Let this be a lesson to all of us

"to gird our own limits and be well aware

"of how high we should climb."

Some of the folk in the crowd are like

(scattered clapping)

One guy's like, (posh) "That's a fancy idea.

"That sounds like very common thought,

"but it is fascinating to look at.

"It kind of has a nightmarish feel to it."

She goes, "Well, yes.

"There was lots that the Oldfairens

"constructed their day-to-day interests

"and beliefs around, their faiths,

"within their selves and capabilities.

"That itself borrowed visions,

"visions of all sorts of things."

She looks back at the individual and says,

"Visions of what eventually wiped them out."

Then she smiles a bit.

The gentleman shrinks down a bit.

"Well, (laughs nervously) that's certainly--

"I'll take one. I'll take that one."

They all clap around a bit.

ANJALI: Is she very much holding court?

Is there any way to like--

MATT: She was holding court for that conversation,

and then when the man said he's going to buy something,

she sends another assistant over

to close the deal with him.

She goes over and shakes his hand

and then turns to another figure.

ANJALI: Excuse me.

MATT: "Hmm."

ANJALI: Charlotte.

I'm very interested in this

Oldfairen history that you speak of.

MATT: "I am intrigued to see you

"come to our establishment, Charlotte.

"I am aware of you and I've not seen

"you within our fine gallery before."

ANJALI: No.

I've been taking an interest in the arts much more lately.

Music, paintings,

even fine jewelry and stones, pottery,

really whatever I can take in

from the culture in our city.

I am intrigued to hear more

about this theory on how they were wiped out.

MATT: "Oh. (laughs quietly)

"These are all theories that many individuals have.

"We have no recorded knowledge of what happened.

"All we have is the shaded echoes

"and the stories we choose to make up.

"That's what this represents.

"Each of these is an artist's idea

"of what those final moments might have been."

ANJALI: Ah.

MATT: "Fascinating, isn't it?" ANJALI: Yes, fascinating.

So, just to be clear, none of these items

were actual artifacts that were taken from anywhere?

MATT: "Oh, no.

"That is for the college and museum to handle.

"This is all representation."

ANJALI: I suppose if one were to be interested in procuring

something a little bit more special

than what you have out here,

what then would be the way for them to do so with you?

MATT: Make a Focus test for me, if you don't mind.

ANJALI: Okay, in that case.

LAURA: Can I give you--

ANJALI: You sure can. LAURA: I'm going to give you a Drive.

ASHLEY: I'll use one.

I'm going to use a Drive.

ANJALI: Okay. ASHLEY: I'll give you a Drive.

MATT: An Intuition Drive?

Got it. ASHLEY: Yep.

Yes. ANJALI: You did one, too?

Is that what you said? LAURA: Yes,

I did an Intuition Drive as well.

ANJALI: Okay. So it's not a gilded.

So then I have one, two, three.

That's how you count.

LAURA: Make sure you know which ones are used.

ANJALI: Yes. Get out of the way.

I don't want to see you.

That is a failure.

LAURA: Gosh, we get our Drives back. ANJALI: Three.

You're welcome. MATT: Okay.

ROBBIE: Hate it, huh? MATT: You get your Drives back. (laughs)

ANJALI: We hate it. LAURA: I used to make the joke--

ANJALI: Good looking out. Good looking out.

Good looking out. ROBBIE: It's so funny.

MATT: There's something about the Red Hand

that you can't recall.

It's driving you nuts.

As she looks towards you,

as you carry this conversation on, goes,

"Well, I'm certain there are those that could be of service,

"perhaps the museum or if you have an interest in these."

Just looking for some sort of a sign.

ANJALI: Secret word, a sign.

God, how blunt can I be?

Yes, I don't suppose anyone would've taken anything directly

from the museum or somewhere else.

They wouldn't want to be caught red-handed with something.

MATT: "(laughs)"

ANJALI: That would be ridiculous.

MATT: Make a Sway test now.

ANJALI: Please, for the love of god!

LAURA: Come on! ANJALI: Come on! Come on!

Don't mess with me!

ASHLEY: I'm going to spend a Drive. ANJALI: Do I do it?

You are? ASHLEY: I'm going to give you a Drive.

ANJALI: Come on, you guys.

You were so good to me before.

LAURA: You can do it.

ANJALI: Be so good to me again.

Okay, mixed success.

No, no! Six!

Six, six, six! LAURA: Yep.

ANJALI: Sweet! ROBBIE: Nice.

MATT: Six is a success.

ANJALI: Whew!

MATT: She,

you can see,

puts a hand up like this,

looking past you.

The rest of you watch

as two rather relatively thick looking gentlemen

in suits who are approaching, stop,

and walk off a bit, but keeping a close eye.

She goes,

"Ah, of course that would be absurd.

"Well..."

She takes you by the arm

and pulls you away from the crowd

and whispers in your ear a bit.

"I have some contacts that

"have recently come into some very interesting pieces.

"What are you looking for?"

ANJALI: Perhaps something that could,

oh goodness, this is going to sound

particularly vain of me.

I'm looking to impress a certain gentleman friend,

but he's a very knowledgeable one

and takes interest in the meaning of things.

I was wondering if there might be a, I don't know,

a piece of adornment or jewelry of some kind.

MATT: "Unfortunately, the only such piece

"that I've had was recently sold."

ANJALI: Ah. MATT: "But,

"should you have interest in, let's say,

"statuesque collectibles,

"perhaps ancient writings,

"iconography,

"things of unique history."

ANJALI: You wouldn't happen to have anything here

I could take a look at, would you?

MATT: Gives a look to one of the gentlemen

off to the side.

"Wait here just a moment."

She walks off back to her office.

While that's happening,

she looks over and looks at you,

and her expression drops a little bit.

She glances past you and heads over to the office.

ANJALI: Did I see that?

MATT: You saw her look over her shoulder for a second.

You definitely see it.

A short time later,

one of those coated,

coat-wearing, heavy-looking, muscular individuals

approaches, this jet black beard.

It looks like it's been colored with ink almost,

and very, very short hair that has a widow's peak

on it approaches.

Puts his hand on your shoulder and goes,

"Ms. Black, I'm afraid you need to leave."

LAURA: Well, whatever for? MATT: Begins to turn you

and push you towards the door.

LAURA: Oh, I just love to look at art is all.

MATT: "I understand, but you need to leave."

LAURA: Oh, all right.

You're very tall.

MATT: Doesn't respond,

but starts ushering you out of the room.

ASHLEY: Excuse me.

Do you? Sorry, ma'am.

Where's the bathroom? LAURA: (laughs)

MATT: Looks at you and looks at your clothing

and says, "You too," grabs your shoulder.

ASHLEY: Whoa, hey! Judgy, judgy. MATT: And begins pushing you

both towards the door. ASHLEY: No, no, no, no.

LAURA: It's all right, Auggie.

ASHLEY: What, what, what, what?

Does this guy-- I look like this on purpose.

MATT: "You are not the clientele

"that Miss wishes to see,"

and throws you out onto the street.

(impacts)

LAURA: Now, that is very unkind.

ASHLEY: Yeah, it's very unkind!

MATT: "It is also my job."

LAURA: Don't you throw me as well, Sir!

MATT: "I would not do such a thing,"

and gently pushes you outside

of the front. LAURA: Careful of the placement

of your hands.

ASHLEY: (gasps) Did you just touch her?

Did you just touch her somewhere

that you shouldn't have touched her?

MATT: "No, I touched her shoulders. What, I--?"

LAURA: All right.

ASHLEY: Do I need to make a report here, ma'am?

Do I need to go on inside and get mad at this--

LAURA: It's fine, Auggie.

ASHLEY: Where's his boss? MATT: Put his arms behind his back

and leans in towards you.

ASHLEY: Come on, lean a little further.

What do you want?

ROBBIE: Excuse me. (chuckles)

LAURA: Oh. ROBBIE: Hello.

Thank you for getting rid of this rabble.

I would love to thank Dorna for the,

what was your first name again?

What's your name?

MATT: "Tecan."

ROBBIE: Thank you, Tecan.

I'll step outside here

and have a smoke and I'll see you in a minute.

ASHLEY: Hey, screw all you rich people, anyway.

This is all hoity-toity bullshit!

MATT: A couple people outside are like-- ASHLEY: This is not even real!

MATT: "How'd they even get in here?"

"I saw them, was wondering how they walked around here."

People start whispering. ASHLEY: It's fake art, it's fake!

ANJALI: I'm just going to-- LAURA: Please, Auggie.

ANJALI:-- move closer to the office. ROBBIE: I'll walk outside with the--

I'll walk outside with the gang.

Well, I believe that Charlie's in there doing her thing.

She's still in there, right?

Anything that we should do to lend her aid?

As I'm talking, I pull out a little notebook

out of my jacket and write the security guy's name,

in my jacket and put it back in.

MATT and LAURA: (laugh) ASHLEY: Good job, okay.

Did I see where they walked off?

Where she took her and they walked off somewhere?

LAURA: It's like a back office.

MATT: Yeah, there's a back office area.

You're currently waiting outside of it as she's in there.

ASHLEY: We could go around.

LAURA: Sure.

I'm sure the gallery is quite secured.

This is a very expensive place.

ROBBIE: Well, certainly-- LAURA: What time is it?

It's starting to get quite late.

[booming explosion] ASHLEY: Jeez, my god.

MATT: Boom, you hear this heavy-- LAURA: You dick.

MATT:-- explosion.

Some sort of a loud impact from the far end of the room.

ASHLEY: I just peed.

MATT: Everyone in the room goes, "(gasps) What?"

You hear it again. [rumbling booms]

ANJALI: Is it moving...

MATT: Screams from inside the room as everyone

goes running out the front door.

Everybody in this entire gallery begins to filter out

screaming and running, pushing each other out of the way.

The man you were just talking to gets pushed out

in front of the street-- ASHLEY: I run inside.

MATT:-- knocks over. You run inside.

ASHLEY: I duck and then run inside.

LAURA: I'm going, too. ROBBIE: I run as well.

MATT: All right.

It is challenging and you hear this heavily

on the other side of the room.

ASHLEY: Charlie? MATT: You see the door

(heavy impact) and you hear screams

from the inside of the office,

as well as what sounds like heavy bricks falling,

and another breaking and thrashing of materials.

LAURA: No, no, no, no. ANJALI: Give me the bacon!

The-the-the-- Give it back!

LAURA: You have two of them. There were two.

ANJALI: Do have it? LAURA: Yes, you have it.

ROBBIE: You have them all. [booming]

MATT: (scraping) ASHLEY: Oh!

LAURA: I know. It's so scary.

ASHLEY: It's so scary.

ANJALI: Come in.

Oh god, this is crazy, but let's do it.

I'm going to start kicking the door

to try to kick the door down.

MATT: (booms) Go ahead.

I need you to make a Strike roll for me,

if you don't mind. ANJALI: I suck at Strike.

Anyone want to be beefy boy?

ASHLEY: I'll come over there and-- ANJALI: Beefy boy?

MATT: You push into the crowd, but--

ROBBIE: This is not a judgment, that you bought when we--

MATT: You're fighting upstream

as people are screaming and rushing out of the room.

ASHLEY: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. ANJALI: All right, I'm going to try.

I'm going to try. I'm going to try to Strike.

(whiny cries) MATT: A Strike, yeah.

ROBBIE: Do I sense her trepidation

about trying to kick this door down?

MATT: You do. I'd say you do catch up as she's gearing herself up.

ANJALI: Oh, thank god, please. ROBBIE: May I?

ANJALI: Yes, please. ROBBIE: All right.

MATT and LAURA: (laugh)

ROBBIE: ♪ I'm not good at a lot ♪ ANJALI: I'm going to unleash the bacon.

ROBBIE: Cool, let's do it.

I'll spend a Drive.

ASHLEY: I'll do, I'm going to help out,

so you get an extra one

because I'm going to kick, I'm going to help kick.

ROBBIE: We're going to kick together?

ASHLEY: Yeah, one, two, three. ROBBIE: Let's go, kicking buddies.

Hey, that's a five.

ASHLEY: Woo! MATT: That's a five.

Mixed success. LAURA: That's good because

everything else sucked. ROBBIE: Yeah, it did. (laughs)

MATT: (booms) You kick the door and both of you,

it slams (impacts) onto the inside.

Just as you step into the chamber

following the momentum of the kick,

you see inside the office.

The entire right hand side of the wall,

the wood is splintered and pushed open.

A hole about eight or eight and a half feet is open

there as wood is pushed inward.

There's a single lantern hanging in the ceiling,

a low-lit oil chandelier that's hanging

and swaying as the light flickers around

from what you can see is a massive shape.

This shape looks like it is,

what you can make out elements of gray, bulbous flesh

with arms, many arms.

LAURA: It's absorbed other body parts. MATT: And many legs.

LAURA: It's absorbed people.

MATT: And strips of cloth, and brick,

and materials all been pushed into this thing.

You're uncertain exactly what this is

with the little bit of light that you have,

but you hear screaming on the other end

before you notice that there are multiple heads

that all can turn and look in your direction.

The mouths "(groaning gasp)."

ANJALI: Do they look like people, or do they look it?

MATT: You both take a brain at staring

at this terrifying entity.

With that mixed success. ROBBIE: Oh, because we're

first in the door? MATT: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Oh my god, oh my god.

ROBBIE: Mixed success.

LAURA: Oh no. MATT: At which point,

it immediately turns back

and leaps out of the hole

that it just bashed through the door.

Taking chunks of the wood with it.

You can see, as it smashes through,

bits of its body catch the edge of the splintered wood

leaving strips of gray flickering flesh.

LAURA: Oh no. MATT: It then turns

into the alley.

You hear more screams from the hallway

way from beyond where you can see

as people see this thing that goes charging,

(fast heavy footsteps) down the hall, past the alley,

and out into the night

of the city. LAURA: Can we chase after it?

MATT: If you'd like to, yeah.

ANJALI: Yeah, real quick, I'm going to do survey around.

We don't see Dorna, I'm assuming.

MATT: Do not see Dorna in that room. ANJALI: Do we see anything broken into,

anything specific that looks like it took it?

MATT: It looks like there was a desk

that is shattered there.

Most of the furniture's been pushed to one side

from the explosion of the wall

and there is rubble scattered around the room.

ROBBIE: Does the portal remain?

LAURA: The portal remain? ROBBIE: Does the portal remain?

Didn't it come out of a portal of sorts?

MATT: No, not a portal. LAURA: No, an opening in the wall.

MATT: It bashed through the wall. ROBBIE: Oh, literally a physical opening.

MATT: A physical opening. ROBBIE: Oh, I thought we had

a tear of metaphysical space,

but it's just a hole in the wall, got it.

MATT: It just blasted through the wall.

ASHLEY: Did, in the blob,

did we see any flashes of red?

LAURA: Was Dorna in the office when?

MATT: Dorna was in the office,

but you didn't see Dorna, you just heard a scream.

LAURA: Heard screaming. MATT: Then the creature

leapt out and then just cruised down the hall.

ANJALI: All right. MATT: You do see

there's a strong smell, a strong immediate smell of

sewage.

ASHLEY: (yells) LAURA: Ew!

MATT: Within the room. ROBBIE: It probably smells like poopy.

LAURA: Going down in the-- ASHLEY: Poopy.

ANJALI: Excellent.

ASHLEY: What do we do? What are you supposed to do

with something like that?

LAURA: We chase after it.

ASHLEY: And then what?!

LAURA: I don't know.

ANJALI: If there's anything that looks remotely,

not shattered or whatever, I want to grab it.

Even if it's a big stick, I don't care.

I want to grab something that can be used

as some kind of a big weapon.

Like if there's a shattered--

MATT: Oh yeah. Okay, yeah. ANJALI:-- piece of wood or whatever.

MATT: You look over at the desk and

the desk is this intricately carved wooden desk

with these four long, smoothed,

long legs in each corner.

As it's broken, one of them you can easily pull off

and it's like a really nice looking bat.

ANJALI: Excellent.

ASHLEY: But near the desk.

This is Dorna's office?

MATT: It was. ASHLEY: Okay.

Are there any logs, you know,

things of, sales,

books, booking, or anything like that.

MATT: It'll take you a few moments to inspect,

but you can do that.

If you want to make a Survey, if you'd like to.

ASHLEY: Can anyone look for this kind of stuff?

ANJALI: I'll do it.

LAURA: I wanted to take off after it.

ROBBIE: I'm already in the alleyway. ANJALI: Yeah. Let's go.

MATT: (laughs) Okay.

ASHLEY: I'm going to give you an extra Drive.

ANJALI: Okay.

MATT: So you're staying behind the look throughout?

ASHLEY: Yeah. ANJALI: I hate this idea.

I feel like I want to go after the thingy.

ASHLEY: I do, too. I do, too.

Maybe we'll just real quick-- MATT: It's up to you.

ANJALI: We'll go after the thingy.

ASHLEY and ANJALI: Ah!

MATT: Choices, choices, choices, choices.

All right, you're staying behind.

We got it, party is split.

ANJALI: Gilded die.

Okay, gilded die, and we got my Drive back.

MATT: Okay, gilded die, and what'd you roll on gilded die?

ANJALI: A five. MATT: A five?

Great. Okay.

As you're looking through the room,

you start pushing through the space

and you can see two things.

On the broken desk,

it looks like there was a locked lower shelf

that is broken open.

On the inside, you see there's a small snapped and locked

side briefcase.

As well as a pair of black gloves

with red interior stitching on the gloves.

ASHLEY: Take it all that shit. ANJALI: Take it all.

MATT: Okay, you grab all that

and as you grab that, you pull it up,

you put it on and you go to start running.

As you do, you feel this weird tingling sensation

on your arm, and you look down-- ANJALI: Oh, no no no no!

MATT:-- and there's a strip of flesh

that was left behind in the middle of the rubble

is now trying to embed itself

into your arm. ANJALI: My knife.

I'm using my knife to get this. MATT: Well, you take a bleed

by it beginning to push its way into you.

You didn't notice it until it was already

trying to merge with your body.

ANJALI: Okay.

MATT: You do manage to pull it off and throw it,

but how does the bleed affect you

as you're trying to run in this dark alley?

ANJALI: As it's going in,

I feel myself almost almost sucked into a memory,

sucked into the past.

Because we've just talked about

what we talked about there,

I'm standing in what looks like an open field

and I'm starting to see

a crack in the sky, like the sky was a painting,

and feeling a vacuum,

feeling like a vacuum is sucking me towards it.

And just as I start to go through it,

I snap back.

So it's terror.

It's just completely discombobulating.

MATT: Yeah, you come back and, Auggie,

you've watched as-- ASHLEY: Charlie!

ANJALI: (gasps) Let's go, let's go.

MATT: All right, in the interim,

you guys spend a little bit of time loot grabbing,

smashing and grabbing on the inside,

both of you are charging down after this creature.

You see in the distance down the hall,

people are leaping out of the way screaming,

some are falling to the ground,

losing their minds at what just whizzed past.

The low fog that has filtered

into the city now is obscuring part of its form,

but you now know what you're looking for,

and it is slamming into walls and skidding

as you see now it's running on

seven or eight different pairs of legs.

ASHLEY: Oh my god. MATT: (skittering)

Some of them are facing forward.

Some of them are flicking in the air behind it,

trying to go through the motions.

LAURA: Does it look like the limbs are all separate

and they're all part of a blob,

or does it look like lots of bodies shoved together?

MATT: Hard to tell this distance in the fog,

but as you go charging after it

who is keeping tabs on trying to follow its path?

LAURA: That's probably you. ROBBIE: Yeah.

LAURA: Are either of us good at this?

Yes, you should, that's a tracking thing.

ROBBIE: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. LAURA: So you should do that.

ROBBIE: Yeah, I'm sprinting after it,

and seeing if I can see where it's going.

MATT: Okay. I'd like you to make a Survey test

to continue to follow it.

LAURA: I'll add an Intuition Drive for you.

ROBBIE: You're going to give me one? LAURA: Yeah.

ROBBIE: Is that an extra dice for me?

LAURA: Yes, it is.

ROBBIE: And that's Survey?

MATT: Survey. ROBBIE: I'm good!

I'm bad!

MATT and ROBBIE: (laugh)

ROBBIE: That is a fail.

MATT: That's a fail.

ROBBIE: Two and two threes.

MATT: Okay, you see it dart down an alley

and it squeezes in the small area passing you,

and you're like: That's exactly where it's going.

You run and you turn the corner

and as you do you watch as it's stopped and turned

right there waiting for you.

Right as you turn the corner and spin, you see this mass

of seven or eight arms in front of you,

and you see multiple heads staring at you.

Two heads in particular that are facing each other

that turn and face you,

a woman's head and a man's head,

as they both pull apart their bodies like a mouth

and you can see their torsos facing each other,

like they were locked in the process of making love

and where their waists are, their hips are fused,

and out of their bodies these teeth have grown

beyond their torsos and chest to form-- ASHLEY: (shouts)

MATT:-- a massive, crocodile-like mouth of flesh.

As they both go-- LAURA: That's disgusting.

MATT: "(gasps)"

It reaches out to try and grab and pull you

into its mouth.

The arms grab you and begin dragging you in.

You watch as Howard is now being pulled--

LAURA: Howard! MATT:-- into its mouth.

You take a body as it begins to pull you

across the teeth, and the weird jagged parts

of its extended fingers are--

LAURA: Punch it. ANJALI: Let us get there.

LAURA: Punch it the faces.

ANJALI: Ah! MATT: You took a moment.

We'll get there in a second.

ASHLEY: We got a little bit of time. ANJALI: (sobs)

MATT: So what are you doing?

ROBBIE: Am I restrained in any way?

MATT: You're not restrained, but you're certainly being hurt.

ROBBIE: I'm being pulled and hurt and I've taken a body.

What'd you scream? Punch it?

LAURA: Punch it! ROBBIE: All right.

(laughter)

ROBBIE: I'm going to reach in my pocket.

LAURA: You've got your-- ROBBIE: No, no, no, no,

I'm doing it.

LAURA: Okay, good. ROBBIE: I'm pull my pocket out

I take the little vial out as carefully as I can.

MATT: As you're being Audrey II'ed into its mouth.

ROBBIE: Exactly. (laughter)

ROBBIE: I'm going to do my best-- LAURA: Howard!

Quickly, faster. ROBBIE:-- to sprinkle

half the vial,

half the vial onto my knuckies.

MATT: I will say, (laughs)

given the circumstances-- ROBBIE: How's it going?

MATT:-- you can't be that careful--

ROBBIE: I know! MATT:-- to do just half the vial.

The vial is used,

but nevertheless, you sprinkle it

onto your knuckles. ASHLEY: Don't attack me yet,

give me like two seconds!

(laughter)

ROBBIE: As thoughtful as I am, I will splash it on there.

Yeah, it's just a smeary thing full of smear.

MATT: All right, make a Strike check for me.

ROBBIE: Sure. MATT: Strike test.

LAURA: Hurry, Howard! ROBBIE: Am I doing a punch?

ANJALI: Give him all the Drive.

ROBBIE: No, I have one.

I got one left.

LAURA: No, I'm going to give you another one.

ROBBIE: You're going to help me, you've got moral support?

LAURA: Yes. ROBBIE: All right.

LAURA: Because I'm saying, punch it.

(laughter)

LAURA: I'm going to pick up a rock

and throw it at the same time.

MATT: Perfect. LAURA: Try and distract it.

ROBBIE: All right, I got three. ANJALI: Come on, baby, come on!

ROBBIE: Unbelievable. LAURA: Oh, you failed?

ROBBIE: It's what I'm supposed to be good at. Three threes.

LAURA: (sighs) Thanks for giving my Drive back.

ROBBIE: Three threes.

I will reach back, and out of stress,

take the biggest haymaker,

even though I know that's the worst punch you can punch,

and what happens to me? MATT: (laughs)

One of the hands,

one of the many arms that are lining

the outside of this awful flesh amalgam creature

snatches your wrist,

the knuckles unused, but grabbed in place,

as another face emerges and goes (unearthly screams)

into you, and you take another brain.

ROBBIE: Another brain?

ANJALI: Oh boy. LAURA: Uh-oh, uh-oh.

ASHLEY: Is that your third?

ROBBIE: My mind snaps-- LAURA: (gasps)

ROBBIE:-- absolutely beyond the realm of comprehension,

and I believe I'm out?

MATT: You're out. You're out for this scene right now.

ASHLEY: (gasps) ANJALI: That was your fourth?

ROBBIE: That's it, baby. LAURA: That's his third.

ROBBIE: I'm going to have a scar. ANJALI: No, but three?

You take it on the fourth, right?

ROBBIE: That was my fourth. MATT: He just took his fourth.

ANJALI: Oh. LAURA: That was your fourth.

ROBBIE: That's a scar at the end of the night for your boy,

if I'm still alive, you nerds! Help me!

ANJALI: We're trying! We're running! Don't die!

MATT: At the end of the scene, at the very least.

ROBBIE: (laughs) MATT: Both of you

rush around the corner

as you see Arlo throwing a rock and then draw back.

As you turn, you see this massive, terrifying creature,

the multitudes of limbs twitching,

multiple heads going

(unearthly groaning)

all together, and as you turn around the corner,

you see it sees the rest of you swarm,

and you can now notice that it's clutching on the side,

partially pushing into

the side of the bright red dress of Dorna,

who is like, "Help me! Somebody!"

At which point, other people start shouting, "Help, help!"

And other people start yelling in the road.

The creature (slobbery panting), it spits you out

as you start freaking losing your mind,

and then darts down the hall behind.

LAURA: Was Dorna taken, too, or is she still stuck?

MATT: Dorna's taken, too.

LAURA: Ugh. ANJALI: I just go.

I'm going after it because I have the suitcase

and I have the gloves and I have a crazy Hail Mary thing,

and I'm sorry.

I just run after it. LAURA: Howard! Howard!

Smack, smack, smack.

ROBBIE: Catatonic.

ASHLEY: I'm going to...

(sighs) Goddamn it!

I'm going to take Howard's arm, and as we're going,

I'm going to try to carry him.

MATT: Okay. LAURA: Is there a car around?

MATT: You are in the roads between the different buildings here

just off the main road of The Varnish.

You can try and go to The Varnish, if you want.

You're just running after this thing.

ANJALI: I'm running after it, and, yeah.

I'm running after it,

and as I'm running, I'm putting on these gloves.

MATT: Okay, so you put the gloves on.

You continue to dash, directly following it, and it is fast.

It's like (quick skittering)

and you can see it's running up the wall for a second

before it slams back down and slides for a second

from its own viscosity before it gets back up

on its multitude of legs that are all at different angles,

trying to get a grip as it pushes its way forward

until eventually it turns into a large alley opening.

There's this a breadth between the alleys,

where you can see there's a big drain grate

and what looks to be-- LAURA: Yeah,

it's heading to the sewers. MATT:-- a sewer entrance way

as it immediately rushes over on top of it

and flings the top of the sewer grate,

(metal grate clanging) up into the air

as it begins to push its way down.

ANJALI: Oh god. Suitcase or flash powder?

LAURA: Does anybody have any toilet paper?

MATT: (laughs)

ANJALI: Can I open this briefcase?

Can I open it? Can I get it open?

MATT: Yeah. You open the briefcase.

Looking inside, you can see there are

a number of small, obsidian-like shards

that are about an inch and a half long.

It looks like they're set intently in a row,

but they're all different shapes,

like they're all naturally pulled,

like these weird obsidian nails, I guess you could say.

ANJALI: I don't know what the F I'm doing.

I have the gloves on.

I'm going to grab, what, a handful of them

and throw it at him. LAURA: No!

MATT: Okay. I need you to make

a Strike throw for me. ANJALI: Right. So,

with a Strike throw, I am going to use,

because I have that Cool Under Pressure,

which this is pressure,

I'm going to use my Cunning Drive to get a Drive,

and do I have...

I don't have a Resistance.

Nobody can help me because no one's with me, right?

ASHLEY: Nope.

Jeez louise.

ANJALI: I don't have enough.

Oh, wait! I can also use this Drive!

Okay, cool, cool, cool.

I'm going to use this Drive as well.

MATT: Okay. ANJALI: And--

Don't be a dick.

Oh, no, no, no. That doesn't count.

Five.

MATT: Five. Mixed success.

Okay, you throw them as hard as you can,

as the creature is beginning to pull its way down,

and you can see the opening to the sewer

is a little bit smaller

than its weird, oblong, torso-like mass,

and it's having to squeeze through.

As you throw them,

they all stick into the side of the flesh

and seem to vanish beneath it,

and all the heads suddenly, "(unearthly screaming)"

scream out in some sort of pain

or agony in unison at once.

As it does, you can see where they entered,

the flesh seems to darken slightly,

and as it opens its mouth angrily,

you can see the two bodies of the two lovers

that form the large, alligator-like mouth

screaming as well, the teeth opening.

You see the glittering of a greenish emerald

that still sits upon the front of her chest

before it angrily turns around

and lashes over in your direction

with multiple arms that scrape.

As they do, you get thrown into the wall,

and take a heavy body hit

as you crumpled down, your bell is rung.

You also take a bleed.

ANJALI: Mm-hmm, wow. LAURA: Oh god.

MATT: As you kind of--

This is your first time

really hitting and encountering this entity,

and as you try and come to for a moment,

blinking your eyes and catch your breath for a moment,

you hear the final (slurp) as you glance over where it was,

and it is no longer present,

the opening to the sewer below.

As the rest of you have managed to catch up.

LAURA: (panting)

ASHLEY: W-W-What happened?

ANJALI: It went-- The nails, they hurt it.

It's gone.

She's gone.

LAURA: Well, we have to go down into the sewer.

ASHLEY: What?!

LAURA: Well, it'll come back out. It'll keep attacking.

ANJALI: She's right.

She's right.

LAURA: Are there any of the weird little

gray, fleshy things on the ground

as it tried to get into the sewer?

MATT: You do see there are maybe two or three of them

that are twitching on the outside of the sewer entrance

where it pushed itself through.

It seems to be losing bits of its mass

when it catches on something. LAURA: Squeezes through.

Do the bits seem to be thrashing more now

than they were when we first saw

the bits at the other place?

MATT: They are curling and thrashing,

freshly shorn. LAURA: Freshly--

But it's not that-- If we take one of the vials out,

are are they thrashing more now or are they thrashing less?

ASHLEY: By being in proximity? MATT: You take a moment

to examine and compare.

The one that's in the vial is still an occasional twitch,

so it seems like it's just

the immediacy-- ANJALI: The fresher-- Yeah.

MATT:-- of them being shed is showing more vibrance.

LAURA: Okay.

ASHLEY: Hey, maybe poke it with one of those things.

ANJALI: Yeah. ASHLEY: Poke the pieces.

LAURA: Yeah, with one of the obsidian pieces.

See if it does anything. ANJALI: So with my glove on,

I'm going to poke one of the thingies with the glove on.

With one of the obsidian nails, I'm going to poke

one of the gooey pieces. MATT: Okay.

You poke it and you hear a sizzling sound,

(searing) and you see it bend and flex and flex,

and as you pull the stone away,

the point where the stone was has now eroded,

like it melted upon contact,

but the strip of flesh begins to come to rest.

LAURA: Okay. ANJALI: Does it look like,

in any way-- I know they're shards,

but does it look like, in any way,

they can be fixed to this glove?

Do they fit into the glove as nails at all?

MATT: No. The gloves just look like gloves.

ANJALI: They're just-- Okay.

MATT: But the nails do seem to have some sort of property--

ANJALI: Yes.

MATT:-- that interacts with the flesh.

LAURA: Is it possible to...

The bleed damage that I took earlier

from touching Mr. Ferris' hand.

MATT: Mm-hmm. LAURA: Can I look

at one of the little gray bits and

put my hand near it and Let Them In?

MATT: If you'd like to. LAURA: Take knowledge

from taking bleed from that thing?

MATT: Okay. I'll say yes.

In focusing on

the earlier sensation of this corruption,

and now looking at

a source of this sort of similar corruption,

you suddenly feel this hunger once again in your stomach,

this awful, terrible hunger,

this ancient, undying hunger,

this being

older than anything you've seen or known

that wants to eat and become everything,

and then was broken

into many, many pieces and forgotten.

LAURA: Am I allowed to ask a question about it?

MATT: Yeah.

LAURA: Does anything scare me?

Can I sense a fear in it from anything?

MATT: The entity, no.

But you do sense that whatever this creature is

that has been born from its hunger and corruption

is extremely scared.

LAURA: Hmm.

ASHLEY: Anything? LAURA: We have to go after it.

Yes. MATT: It's about now, Howard,

you begin to regain your composure.

You can decide right now what your scar is--

LAURA: Ooh!

MATT:-- and how your points change.

ROBBIE: I have.

Howard comes to, looks about,

doesn't say a word to any of his friends.

He pulls his little kit out of his jacket.

It's his laboratory equipment.

He sets it on his lap and he removes a scalpel,

and he removes his hat,

and he makes a small incision in the top of his own head,

about three inches or so wide,

parts it with his fingers--

LAURA: (gasps) Howard.

ROBBIE:-- sets it back down.

He pulls out a small hand saw

with a crank, like a drill.

It's got a circular drill bit in it,

and he puts it on the top of his skull

and begins to crank.

LAURA: (gasps) ANJALI: Howard.

ROBBIE: And crank.

ANJALI: Howard, Howard! ASHLEY: What's he doing?

Is this normal thing? ROBBIE: And crank.

ANJALI: Howard! LAURA: No, of course it's not!

ROBBIE: You sort of smell that powder,

that earthy powder of bone mixed with blood,

and then you hear a (slurp and pop)

and a tiny piece of his skull comes out.

He puts it inside of his surgery equipment,

blinks his eye, squeezes his skin back together.

It's bleeding pretty good.

Puts his hat back on and says:

Ah, well.

Sometimes, you just have to expand your mind.

Then he's going to lose

some Focus for Inspect and Analysis

and get his first ever point into Sense,

which is Attune, Channel, and Reveal.

He just gave himself his own hand pan in his skull.

ASHLEY: That's fucking cool.

MATT: That's fucking rad.

ASHLEY: That was cool.

ROBBIE: That's his scar! MATT: That is.

LAURA: That's a bit of a scar, yeah.

ANJALI: I feel like all of us took a bleed from that.

ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah. ANJALI: I'm not saying that.

ROBBIE: We're in a horror show, right?

ASHLEY: Yeah. ROBBIE: All right.

LAURA: Holy. ASHLEY: God, that's cool.

ROBBIE: All right.

ANJALI: Right.

ROBBIE: Yes.

ANJALI: So that happened.

ROBBIE: An ancient cultural tradition.

It's been around for millennia.

I never thought I'd try it myself, but

it was in the moment.

What's happening? ANJALI: Arlo, what did you--

What did you learn? ASHLEY: There is so much going on

at this every moment. ANJALI: Yeah, yeah.

We don't have time to get--

LAURA: We need to go. ANJALI: We have to go find--

ROBBIE: Catch me up. Give me the book jacket.

LAURA: We have to go into the sewer.

ROBBIE: Okay. LAURA: The creature went

down into the sewer. ROBBIE: All right.

LAURA: It's very scared, as am I,

and it's hungry.

It's always hungry.

ANJALI: Is there any way for us to sate its hunger,

for us to stop it, for us to save it,

for us to do something to it?

LAURA: How do you feed a beast?

ASHLEY: Wait, what's the music thing? Do we need any music?

Should we be playing some music or something?

LAURA: Maybe we should try to play--

ASHLEY: Bring it to the surface? LAURA: Maybe the music was a--

ROBBIE: Music calms the savage beast.

You ever heard that one? LAURA:-- a false thread.

ASHLEY: Uh-oh.

LAURA: I'm going to go down into the sewer.

ANJALI: I'm following her.

ROBBIE: Okay. MATT: All right.

ASHLEY: (sighs)

LAURA: I avoid the gray flesh.

ANJALI: Yes, likewise.

MATT: Okay.

You climb down

into the darker, subterranean space beneath Newfaire.

The scent of refuse and rot

and earthen mold

catches your sinuses

as you step (splashing) down

into the damp, damp dark.

Do you know which direction it went?

As it goes in two different ways.

ANJALI: Can we smell more...?

Oh, yes, follow the bleed.

ASHLEY: Oh, yeah.

MATT: As you place the bleed detector--

ASHLEY: (whispering) It's adding to it now.

MATT:-- into a gathering order,

you look around and can see, indeed,

there are streaks of corruption and bleed

across the sides of the walls

and you know precisely the direction it went.

LAURA: Okay.

ANJALI: Do we have a plan as we're following?

LAURA: We have nothing.

ASHLEY: Then what the fuck did we come down to the sewer for?

ANJALI: We have this.

This obsidian has some effect on it,

but I don't think that it's--

LAURA: We know it came from that emerald,

and--

ANJALI: Is there anything else in this case, briefcase thingy?

MATT: No, it's-- LAURA: Did you--

MATT: I will say, as you look at them,

based on how it's affected flesh,

you've only worn the gloves when holding them.

You're uncertain if it just affects dead flesh or any flesh,

so you probably get the sense

that you should probably keep the gloves on.

ANJALI: Yeah.

MATT: But that's all you see.

LAURA: Did you see the emerald?

ANJALI: I did.

LAURA: It's still inside of the creature?

ANJALI: Yes.

LAURA: Maybe if we can damage the emerald,

the creature will no longer be able to

accumulate.

ANJALI: We can try.

What other weapons do we have on us?

LAURA: He's got a--

ASHLEY: I got a--

Okay, so you can choose your gear.

MATT: Yes. ASHLEY: In the moment.

MATT: Mm-hmm.

ASHLEY: I do have, as a possibility, a hand weapon.

MATT: Yeah, as long as you don't have

all three of your objects for the assignment filled.

ASHLEY: No, I have a hand weapon.

Maybe I got it from the captain.

ANJALI: Mm-hmm. MATT: Okay.

What did you pull from the captain?

ASHLEY: A gun! MATT: All right, you got the gun.

ANJALI: That's exactly-- I was hoping someone had it.

ROBBIE: Say it out loud!

ANJALI: I was hoping someone had it.

MATT: You got the Periphery captain's handgun.

ASHLEY: Oh, who, me? ROBBIE: Mm-hmm.

MATT: (laughs)

ANJALI: Excellent. LAURA: Now

that I have seen this creature up close and personal,

I'm going to take out my occult text

and look through it and see if I can find

any research, any knowledge about a creature

with this description from ancient times.

MATT: I would like you to roll Focus

to see if you can go through this book

to find something that could be specific to this.

ROBBIE: I think I could be able to help on this one.

MATT: Sure, sure. LAURA: Okay.

ROBBIE: I'll give you one.

LAURA: Thank you. ROBBIE: Spend a Drive.

LAURA: All right, that gives me four,

because I spent a Drive as well.

ROBBIE: Oh.

LAURA: I'm going to use my Resistance--

ROBBIE: No way! LAURA:-- to reroll that.

MATT: You guys are rolling shit. LAURA: Rolling real poor.

ANJALI: I rolled three sixes at one point!

We did have lucky moments! ASHLEY: Yeah, you did, you did!

MATT: You did. You did. ROBBIE: You used it all up.

ANJALI: To save your hand.

LAURA: A four. A mixed success.

MATT: A four. ROBBIE: Oh, nice.

MATT: All right. ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: You go through the book, quickly scanning, and you--

LAURA: Oh, but we Shared Trauma!

We got one of our Resistances that we used back.

MATT: If you failed.

LAURA: Which I did, and then I used Resistance.

MATT: Oh, but then that made the roll a success.

LAURA: Fuck! ROBBIE: Oh!

MATT: But good looking out.

LAURA: (laughs) MATT: It's the final roll.

LAURA: Okay. ROBBIE: (laughs)

MATT: You've read through this book many times.

You spend a lot of time in your room,

especially since everything happened with your fiance

and you recall there's something you read about this.

There is an Oldfairen myth that

to punish those who were the most heinous of criminals

in Oldfaire,

they would bind them to a shard of Gredarn.

Gredarn was only referred to as a demon of endless hunger.

What worse than binding a criminal to a space imprisoned

where they could not eat,

and could not be free,

when all they wanted, more than anything else,

was to devour and grow.

That's what you find.

LAURA: Okay.

Okay.

MATT: But you do know that these shards

were what were affixed to these prisoners.

LAURA: I bet that's the emerald.

ANJALI: Then what are these?

LAURA: Flesh eating shards of dark something?

I don't know.

ANJALI: Well, they obviously have some effect on the creature

so we have to use them wisely. LAURA: Mm-hmm.

ANJALI: But they don't seem to kill it, per se.

MATT: How many did you throw, by the way?

You said you threw a few at it.

LAURA: Three. She said three. MATT: You said three.

ANJALI: So we have-- You said how many were there?

MATT: Five. So you have two left.

ANJALI: Oh fuck.

ASHLEY: Well maybe it starts an infection. You know?

Maybe when we happen upon it,

it's going to be dead.

LAURA: Maybe if you get it

directly in the the mouth of the creature.

ANJALI: That's what I was thinking.

I was originally going to just throw the briefcase

in its mouth, but I didn't get there in time.

Right.

Well, we have these. Don't anyone else touch them.

LAURA: All right.

MATT: Okay.

Following the path of bleed with the detector before you,

you trudge down the descending sewer tunnels,

curving to the left and further down

until you begin to hear screams,

but screams in unison. ROBBIE: Oh no.

MATT: A half dozen or more mouths speaking in once,

slightly offset from each other.

(discordant rasping) "Sara, stop it!

"Get it to stop!

"Stop this!

"Free us!"

ANJALI: Oh god.

MATT: As you come to the edge, you see the tunnel stops

and the rainwater of the recent storms

that's still draining from the upper parts of the city

flows down into an open connecting antechamber

where multiple of these tunnels descend

and join, this large cylindrical space

about 80 or so feet across.

Here in the center of it, you can just barely see

with what little light you may be able to bring,

or the grate above,

about a hundred feet at the top of this chamber,

a little bit of street light coming through.

You can see the massive shape,

all heads shouting as it's holding Dorna in its arms

as she's slowly being pressed into it.

She's screaming and fighting and saying,

"I don't know! I'm just a dealer for Lycus!

"Look, just let me go!

"I'm a lone-- a lone member on the whole of that.

"Just let me go!

"Please!"

They start pulling and screaming at her.

LAURA: I feel like we should run in and save her.

ASHLEY: Yeah. I-- ROBBIE: Is--

ASHLEY: Sorry, go ahead. ROBBIE: No, you go ahead.

ASHLEY: I have an idea.

What if I start singing?

ANJALI: That's exactly what I was thinking, too.

LAURA: I think that's a good idea.

But we should do it now

before she's devoured. ANJALI: Let's go before she gets eaten.

ASHLEY: Okay.

ASHLEY and ANJALI: ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

ANJALI: Of all songs?

ASHLEY: It's the only one I think would make sense for this time.

ANJALI: I don't understand it at all.

ASHLEY: ♪ Birthday to you ♪

♪ Happy ♪ ANJALI: I start walking.

ASHLEY and ANJALI: ♪ Birthday, happy birthday ♪

MATT: (intense skittering)

It whips around in its space

and you can see now, Dorna,

up to her waist is now pushed into the body

as she falls limp, looking confused and disheveled.

All the heads look in your direction--

ASHLEY: ♪ Happy ♪ MATT: "(eldritch rasping)"

ASHLEY and ANJALI: ♪ Birthday to you ♪

MATT: (lunging) LAURA: Ah!

MATT: Goes charging towards you, rushing up the side

and beginning to climb up to the front.

What are you doing?

ANJALI: I'm throwing the other two shards--

LAURA: At the mouth! At the mouth!

ANJALI: In the mouth. In the mouth.

MATT: In the mouth? This is a very high stakes roll.

I need you to roll a Strike for this. ANJALI: It sure is!

I'm going to use all my Cunning. LAURA: What is it?

I'm going to assist you with my--

MATT: Actually, this would be,

I would say Strike or Control, your choice.

Strike is the impact of it, the focus of it,

but Control is more about finesse.

If you're going for the mouth,

actually this would be more Control. ANJALI: Okay.

So I'm doing Control. ASHLEY: I'm going to give you--

LAURA: I'm going to give you a Drive as well.

ASHLEY: This is the time to spend. ANJALI: Two, three--

ASHLEY: Oh my god, I have no Drives.

ANJALI: Four.

Is that all the stuff that I have?

♪ Come on, lady ♪

LAURA: (gasps) ANJALI: Four!

MATT: A four.

Great, that's a mixed success.

LAURA: How are we rolling so lousy?

MATT: This is rough, y'all. ROBBIE: It's big poop.

MATT: It begins to climb up and you can hear

the shrieking of all the heads in unison-- LAURA: You have a hole in your head.

MATT:-- their eyes almost reflecting the faint bits of light

in the shadow here as it scurries up at the top,

reaching for you.

You throw them into the middle of the mouth, the two--

(striking)

It shrieks in pain.

"(unearthly shrieking)"

Super loud, it echoes through the chamber

and you can hear voices up from above starting to question,

"What? Did anyone hear that?"

echoing down from below as it pulls back.

As it does, it grabs your leg and pulls you with it

and throws you across the room.

You get flung about 25 feet.

LAURA: Oh god. MATT: (bouncing thuds)

MATT: Take another body. ANJALI: Yeah, I'm out.

LAURA: Oh no! ROBBIE: You're out.

ANJALI: I'm out. That was my fourth body.

MATT: You watch as Charlotte gets thrown,

hits the side of one of the heavy pipes of the sewer,

and just lies limp.

LAURA: Charlie? ASHLEY: Charlie?!

ROBBIE: Was there only one way into this chamber?

MATT: From where you are now?

Yeah, the tunnel comes down

and then opens into the chambers.

ROBBIE: Right, and-- MATT: There are other entrances around.

ROBBIE: There are other entrances?

MATT: You just don't know where they're coming from.

ROBBIE: Oh okay.

LAURA: Oh god.

ASHLEY: The creature's still writhing and screaming and all that?

MATT: Yeah, it's pulled back into the chamber now,

it's back on the ground,

and the weird alligator-like mouth of the two lovers' bodies

is like-- (hungrily snapping)

LAURA: Can we see the emerald when it opens its mouth?

MATT: What's that? LAURA: Can we see the emerald

when it opens its mouth at all?

MATT: You certainly can occasionally see a glimmer.

Knowing where it is--

She's the upper body of the mouth,

so when it pulls open, you can see on the clavicle,

the glitter of the green emerald.

ASHLEY: I'm going to try to shoot it.

ROBBIE: Yeah! ASHLEY: I'm going to try to shoot it!

MATT: All right. As it's writhing back, shrieking,

you take that Periphery-man's weapon

and take an aim.

This is going to be a Finesse-- Or a Control

which is a Finesse type roll. ASHLEY: Okay, okay, okay.

LAURA: I can't help you, I don't have any Drive left.

ASHLEY: Okay, I got a Gilt,

I'm going to use my last Drive,

so that's another, that's--

ANJALI: Anyone want to help him?

LAURA: I don't have anything to give! ROBBIE: I'm saving

one Drive in case it doesn't work.

ASHLEY: Keep it, keep it, keep it. ANJALI: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

ASHLEY: Wait, so I'm rolling-- ROBBIE: We just glass cannoned it

and it didn't work. ASHLEY: I'm having a brain fart.

I'm rolling three?

ANJALI: You're rolling two and one is gilded.

Plus, you've used a Drive then--

ASHLEY: And I use a Drive, okay.

MATT: It's certainly put it on its back foot,

whatever you did to it. LAURA: So you should only have

three dice that you're rolling.

ASHLEY: Yeah. LAURA: Okay.

MATT: You can see now as it's backing up,

an arm falls off inside of it. ANJALI: Yes.

ASHLEY: Ah, ah, five. ANJALI: Five.

MATT: That's a mixed success. That's good.

So you go ahead and fire!

(sparking)

You watch as the emerald suddenly shatters across the torso.

LAURA: Oh! MATT: All the heads scream,

and as the mouth clamps shut,

(heavy charging)

it charges towards you and gets up into the chamber,

filling the entryway of this.

As you begin to back away holding the gun,

you instinctively try to fire a second time into it.

It doesn't seem to bother it,

as the arms reach out and grab you

and begin to pull you into its body.

ASHLEY: Oh no! No!

MATT: You take a bleed.

As you pull on it, what are you doing?

LAURA: I'm going to run forward and try to grab ahold of Auggie.

MATT: Okay, you grab onto Auggie

who's now being pulled in the mouth like you were earlier,

but now it doesn't feel cornered, now it feels--

Well, no, now it feels more cornered than ever

and it's panicking.

ROBBIE: I feel like we got to lock this thing away

and let it starve.

LAURA: Oh god!

Can we at least get Auggie out of its mouth?

You pull on Auggie,

I'm going to try something else.

ROBBIE: Okay. I'll pull.

ASHLEY: I'm trying to push and kick my way out

and try to help--

MATT: Okay. ASHLEY:-- any way

that I can. MATT: So you're trying to move?

ASHLEY: Yeah. MATT: It's a Move roll

to try and squeeze free from its mouth at the moment.

Unless, what are you all doing?

You just did an action, so what are you guys trying to do?

ROBBIE: So you're pulling yourself out?

ASHLEY: I'm going to try. I'm trying to push

and I'm trying to help in some kind of way.

MATT: But what are you two doing in the interim?

LAURA: I'm removing my glove.

ROBBIE and MATT: Okay.

LAURA: Oh gosh.

MATT: What are you doing?

LAURA: I'm going to look at my hand

and I'm going to start--

ROBBIE: Oh no! LAURA:-- drawing

some runes in the dust on the ground in the sewer,

on the cement.

I'm going to slam my hand down onto it.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: I'm going to try to change the environment.

MATT: Okay. This is--

LAURA: This is Forbidden Ritual.

MATT: Forbidden Ritual here. ROBBIE: What is it? What is it?

What's Forbidden Ritual? What's it do?

ANJALI: What does it mean? LAURA: I'm trying to shoot up

some pillars in front of it--

MATT: Okay. LAURA:-- to trap it in.

MATT: As you slam your hand down,

the runes that you carved into the ground,

or drawn onto the ground suddenly

(energy pops)

glow up in a circle around your hand,

and you feel like your arm is sinking in because it is.

Your hand is now sinking into the ground.

The ground is almost stretching as you push down

and your arm is pushing into the matter.

You're all watching as Arlo is slowly pulling into it,

the ground is bending around.

As it's bending,

you watch as the surrounding space

of the entryway to this tunnel from the chamber from behind

begins to push inward,

like it's extending and pinching

and holding the creature in place.

It's actually closing in and holding it there.

As this is being done, it's being pushed,

and it's at this point you notice

that its body is starting to fall apart.

The limbs and bodies are coming loose.

LAURA: How do we know if it worked?

MATT: Whatever magick was holding this creature together

no longer tethered to this realm and broken by a bullet.

It is slowly falling apart.

As you pull out of the mouth and begin to back away,

it's trying to pursue you with its last bits of strength,

but it is held in place by this tunnel.

It is unable to escape.

Then as another piece of its body pulls off of it,

large chunks, whole half bodies and multiple limbs

are being left behind

to try and give it more room to pursue you,

the tunnel closes in again and holds it in place

as you focus, falling deeper

and deeper into this this drawing funnel beneath.

Your vision begins to blur

as you're now concentrating on closing,

closing this tunnel.

You pull away just enough to where it slows further,

pulls itself, loses a few more limbs and body parts.

It closes in tighter

and it's fighting the slowly closing

"Merrie Melodies"-like (laughs)

Porky Pig closure around it,

until eventually it's just the two lovers left.

As the arms reach out,

and both heads facing opposite directions

fold out towards you.

They look sad and scared.

They both look at each other

and you hear Onette's voice independently say,

"I'm so sorry,"

to the face of Wayland,

and they both collapse there

in the middle of this tunnel,

in this tiny crushed tunnel

as all the skin begins to melt away.

You draw your hand back

and it's just solid ground.

Like it was illusion, like a thing that didn't happen.

But the rest of you definitely saw--

Oh, except for Charlotte.

The rest of you definitely saw that.

ASHLEY: I run over to Charlotte.

MATT: Ah, you can't. The tunnel is closed off.

Actually, there's just enough space now

where the two bodies were,

you could probably squeeze through.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: It's now pincered to this small hole about this big

and you just manage to crawl through

and you rush over to Charlotte.

She's unconscious. ASHLEY: Okay.

I pick her up, put her over my shoulder

and I try to start getting out.

MATT: Okay.

ROBBIE: Is there a ladder up to that street?

MATT: On the opposite side of the room,

there is indeed a ladder that clambers up to a small walkway

that encircles underneath where that exit grate is.

ROBBIE: Let's go. ASHLEY: Okay.

ROBBIE: I'll help Auggie lift her.

Lift Charlie up. MATT: Okay.

All right.

ASHLEY: Arlo?

Are you okay?

LAURA: Arlo goes to stand

and immediately falls to her knees.

ASHLEY: I got her, I got her. ROBBIE: Yeah, I'll set her down,

and I'll run down and help put an arm under Arlo.

LAURA: Thank you. ROBBIE: Yeah.

Come on. It's been a heck of a night.

I'll start helping her up the steps.

MATT: Okay.

Slowly,

you clamber back up, push the grade aside

and emerge the final ladder to get back to street level,

covered in grime, blood, whatever else,

as you see about a dozen or so bystanders in the street

back up.

Some of the well-dressed Varnish out-and-abouts

all looking aghast at what they see

step from the sewers below as a few other folks

turn their nose away from the smell.

There's an immediate sense of judgment from some

as well as general confusion and awe.

One of them, this older looking businessman

who has his hair parted in the center

and greased at the sides with a mustache walks up.

"I do ask, what was the commotion down there?

"What were you all doing?"

ROBBIE: Gas leak.

MATT: "Right, right. No, that--

"That it's been a problem around these parts here."

He covers his nose with a scarf

and everyone else begins to give you a wider berth.

ASHLEY: Keep walking, keep walking.

MATT: Someone goes

"I'll go get the Periphery!"

ASHLEY: No, no, no! It's all right,

it's all right, it's all right.

LAURA: Arlo looks down at her arm

and the gray that has stopped here before

has traveled all the way up her shoulder

and is bleeding up onto her neck.

MATT: Hmm.

LAURA: She takes an immediate bleed scar from doing the ritual.

ROBBIE: Eee. MATT: Right. Okay.

You're moving what point to which?

LAURA: (flaps lips) ROBBIE: Oh yeah.

LAURA: Balls.

She is going to lose a point in Sway

because she's even less--

MATT: (laughs) That's valid.

LAURA:-- able to talk to people now,

and she's going to take another in Sense.

MATT: So her Sense is now three? LAURA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Cool.

MATT: Great.

ASHLEY: Are we close to The Gilded Rainbow?

MATT: You are--

ASHLEY: Where were we at again? MATT:-- not that far.

Yeah, it's in The Varnish, so it's--

Once you gather your bearings,

because now that you've come up through the sewer,

you weren't quite sure where in the city you were

for a minute, but then you find a few familiar streets

and head over to The Gilded Rainbow.

Heading into the bookstore, closing the doors behind,

Reggie's immediately like,

"My goodness! What--" ASHLEY: Get a doctor, please,

get a doctor, please.

MATT: "Right, no, of course,

"I'll fetch a doctor immediately."

Throws his coat on and rushes out the door.

ASHLEY: I set Charlotte down on the bed.

LAURA: Oh, Charlie.

ASHLEY: I cover her up.

MATT: It takes about another 15 or so minutes

before you begin to regain consciousness, Charlotte.

But the first thing you do see,

a welcoming sight are the faces of individuals

you call friends looking upon you with concern.

ANJALI: Did we do it?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

ANJALI: Is anyone else alive?

LAURA: Dorna, did she make it?

MATT: You don't remember.

LAURA: Huh.

ROBBIE: Do we? Everyone but her?

Do we remember?

MATT: Go ahead and make a Focus test for me.

ROBBIE: (laughs)

ASHLEY: Should I make a Focus, too? To see if--

MATT: No, you were predisposed.

The only person that wasn't immediately focused

on the chaos at the moment was you.

ROBBIE: Things are still a little fuzzy.

ASHLEY and ROBBIE: (laugh) ROBBIE: It's a three.

MATT: It's at this moment, you realize

nobody had eyes on Dorna.

She may very well have melted

with this terrifying tragic creature

and all that came together to make it.

Or she may be out there still.

Who knows?

Maybe time will tell.

ANJALI: I go to try to get up and I realize

that my arm is completely out of its socket.

I think my scar ends up being that this arm

is it doesn't have function really anymore.

So I am going to take,

in terms of a scar,

is that about the right size

or can I mitigate that a little bit

with half her arm doesn't work, or forearm doesn't work?

MATT: As my mom used to say, choose your own punishment.

ANJALI: Right, thanks, Mom. ASHLEY and MATT: (laugh)

ANJALI: Well, if I get to choose my own,

then it's her hand is dislocated

and so she doesn't have the right hand, but she has the arm.

MATT: Okay, and how is that presented within the change of?

ANJALI: I'm going to take away a Move.

MATT: Okay. ROBBIE: Oh.

ANJALI: I will add it to...

Because she doesn't have the reflexes that she had before,

I'd like to add it to Survey,

because she'd be keeping her eyes out for more danger.

MATT: Sure. ANJALI: All right.

MATT: All righty.

Eventually, Reggie brings back

a medical professional who comes

and helps see to your injuries best that she can.

But you've sustained a lifelong injury.

Moderate as it is, thankfully,

compared to others that could have been possible.

Not long into your evening's scattered rest,

your Lightkeeper comes in with bit of a huff.

Closing the door is Alexandra.

Stops slowly and closes the door behind her.

"You all look like you're a little

"worse for wear this evening."

LAURA: (laughs)

ROBBIE: We got our asses kicked.

MATT: "And...

"how much danger still exists out there?"

ANJALI: From this beast,

I don't know that there's any.

We do have-- I use my other hand to reach

and get the bleed containment vial.

We do have some samples of what it was before we--

before they vanquished it.

LAURA: I pull out my text.

It was this creature.

MATT: She takes the book for a moment and...

"I recall this.

"I've not encountered anything adjacent to it,

"so that's unique and a bit frightful."

ANJALI: We can also be sure that,

and I realize I still have the Red Hand gloves on.

We can also be sure that these folks

are the ones who released it.

MATT: She grabs them and holds them

and looks at them with this very cold stare.

You swear for a second, you almost see

some sort of a spark in her golden eye.

"I am very sorry for the hardship you've encountered tonight.

"It looks like in some ways,

"we all have a little more in common.

"I wish that wasn't the case."

ROBBIE: You might want to come up with a cover story

for what happened at the gallery.

I'm sure you'll see it.

Preemptive strike,

how about a bear escaped from the zoo?

Perhaps with mange.

Might be a plausible story.

MATT: "I'll inform a few of my associates

"who are currently on the cover."

ROBBIE: I know a good writer, maybe he can help you.

LAURA: How much power does the Red Hand have?

MATT: "We don't know.

"We're still trying to pull the threads

"and sadly, they're just one of a number.

"They're at least the most artistic.

"Regardless, we thank you tremendously

"for the work you've done tonight,

"and for those that were lost, there are many, many more

"that would've seen far darker ends,

"were you not there to make these sort of sacrifices.

"Now,

"I know that's little consolation

"in the shadow of this,

"but you also now know

"truly what we're up against,

"and sadly what it takes

"to stop all of them.

"I don't ask anything more of you unless you

"feel it's right,

"should the time come again.

"But for now,

"you have our resources,

"you have our thanks.

"Whatever else you need to recover."

LAURA: Howard. ROBBIE: Mm-hmm?

LAURA: You have some blood dribbling down your head.

ROBBIE: Oh, thank you.

MATT: "I'm proud of you all,

"as much as I'm sorry, I'm proud of you.

"Sometimes what we do seems to be thankless.

"Believe me, I've thought about walking away

"many times myself from my earlier years.

"But then I remember...

"what terrible things may have happened if I had.

"It's the challenge of sacrifice,

"sometimes you don't get to see the good you've done,

"you just have to assume.

"You're heroes, and all of us at Candela thank you.

"You know what?

"Take what time you need.

"We'll leave you from any investigation duty for a bit.

"Might even show some of you the Pharos.

"In time.

"Made of stern stuff there, Auggie."

ASHLEY: Thank you, ma'am.

MATT: "Oh, I think I need a drink."

As your Lightkeeper leaves,

take in the memory of what transpired this night,

what you've done, what you've endured.

We'll close this investigation

and finish the second dark episode

of "Candela Obscura." LAURA: Oh man, was that a success?

ROBBIE: That was a dicey one.

MATT: (laughs) ASHLEY: Dicey, that was rough!

ANJALI: Remember that time we said we would save everything

so that we could use it after this one?

Thank fucking god. ASHLEY: That was rough!

MATT: That was a rough one, y'all.

Them rolls were not in your favor tonight.

ROBBIE: I couldn't do shit. ASHLEY: I have two Drives left.

One in Cunning and one in Intuition. ANJALI: I've got zip!

LAURA: I've got three.

ROBBIE: Is this the moment when we--

MATT: Now, we are finished with this investigation.

For the next episode, we'll pick up

whatever the next moment's got.

We can discuss then, but let's fill in--

ANJALI: Our circle sheets. MATT: Your circle sheet

with successes here.

So going back to the questions here.

Did you contain or destroy a source of bleed?

LAURA: We did! ROBBIE: Yeah!

MATT: Did you provide comfort or support for those affected?

ANJALI: Sure did, we tried to comfort Duder.

Duder being the husband and Stinky.

ROBBIE: Stinky? LAURA: Skiddy, Skiddy.

MATT: Skiddy. ROBBIE: Skiddy.

Old Stinky. ANJALI: Skiddy.

MATT: Good old Stinky.

All right. ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah.

MATT: Did you bring something of importance back

for Candela Obscura to study?

ANJALI: Yes, we brought them the samples.

LAURA: Flesh. ROBBIE: And the gloves.

ANJALI: Bacon, gray bacon.

MATT: And XP triggers, did everyone hit one?

Starting from here, what did you trigger?

ANJALI: Deceive. MATT: Mm-hmm.

LAURA: Okay. ASHLEY: Oh, okay, I got three.

I had Do Something Illegal, Make a Deal, or Deceive.

Did I do any of those?

LAURA: Yeah, you took a police officer's badge.

ANJALI: Yeah, you fucking-- LAURA: And stole his gun.

MATT: (laughs) And stole his gun.

ASHLEY: Oopsie, I did something illegal.

ANJALI: That's pretty illegal, dude.

ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I forgot about that.

MATT: That's kind of on the top of the list,

from a lot of people's perspective.

ASHLEY: Yep. MATT: Arlo?

LAURA: Consulted My Text and Acted Bizarre.

MATT: Yeah, you got that. ANJALI: Bizarre is pretty--

ROBBIE: Mine's close, I definitely Made a Plan

to punch that man in the face.

LAURA: You sprinkled stuff on him.

ROBBIE: I did, I did some sprinkles

and when we were at a fork in the road,

I suggested which way to go.

ANJALI: That's true. ROBBIE: I felt like

I was being more planny,

so yeah, I'm going to say Make a Plan.

MATT: Okay, there you go.

So that's four XP down the track.

LAURA: All right. MATT: All righty.

LAURA: All right, now we have three Stitch left,

three Refresh left, and four Train left.

ANJALI: Well, we should definitely take the four Trains.

ASHLEY: I don't need Stitch.

ANJALI: I don't need Stitch either. LAURA: So we should all Train up

because we've all got one game left,

so everybody take a Train.

ROBBIE: Everybody gets a die. ANJALI: Choo choo!

ROBBIE: Are you tracking our hits along with us?

I got twisted up, do you know if I have two bodies or one?

Do you recall? MATT: You had two body.

ROBBIE: I have two body, right? MATT: Yeah.

LAURA: Okay, so you should Stitch up, take a Stitch.

ROBBIE: Yeah, but I don't want to be Greedy McGreedy

because I need a Refresh for sure.

LAURA: Here's the thing, we've got three,

so three people get to take Stitch

and three people get to take Refresh now.

ANJALI: I do not need Stitch, but I definitely need Refresh.

LAURA: So take the Stitch, Robbie.

ROBBIE: Okay, I'll take the Stitch.

ASHLEY: I have one brain and one bleed, I think that's okay.

ANJALI: I have two brain and two bleed.

ROBBIE: I still have--

ANJALI: So wait, is that Stitch? Stitch is what?

MATT: Stitch wipes them all out.

LAURA: So yeah, you need a Stitch too, okay.

ROBBIE: All right, I'm taking a Stitch. I'm clear.

ANJALI: I thought it was just body, sorry.

ROBBIE: A Stitch and a Scar. ANJALI: Okay, I'm clear.

LAURA: So Refresh.

ANJALI: I will definitely, I don't--

LAURA: You should take the last Stitch, Auggie.

Do you have any marks?

ASHLEY: I have one brain, one bleed.

LAURA: So take it, I've only got one bleed

and I can use a ward on the next game

to mitigate that, so--

ASHLEY: Okay. LAURA: Okay.

MATT: All righty. LAURA: So now we've got

three Refresh. MATT: Spent all Stitches.

Okay. LAURA: Spent all Stitches.

MATT: Refreshes, how many do you have?

LAURA: We've got three Refreshes.

ANJALI: Damn. MATT: Okay.

ROBBIE: I am sauced out on stuff I'm good at.

LAURA: Yeah, because you didn't take one the last time,

so take a Refresh. ROBBIE: I didn't take anything

but I don't want to be greedy.

LAURA: Take it, Robbie. ROBBIE: Okay!

ANJALI: I'm sauced out.

LAURA: Okay, you take one too, Anji,

and then who needs it more?

You, how many Drives do you have left, two?

ASHLEY: What do you have? LAURA: I've got four Drives left.

Two in Cunning and two in Intuition. ASHLEY: Can we split them?

LAURA: Nah, so you take it.

ROBBIE: I get my Resistance back as well?

MATT: You do.

LAURA: I took a Train.

Take all your Drives back.

ASHLEY: Okay. ROBBIE: Fun.

ASHLEY: Okay. ROBBIE: So a Refresh and a Stitch.

MATT: Now that we've spent the resources--

ASHLEY: You get them all back?

LAURA: We'll get them back when we upgrade our--

MATT: Yeah, you get all your Resistances

and Drives back because

you're using a Refresh. ANJALI: Oh right, I forgot

about those guys.

ROBBIE: So who didn't get one, you?

LAURA: I didn't take a Refresher,

but I have almost no marks.

ROBBIE: Oh, you're looking good. LAURA: I've got four Drives left.

MATT: Okay, here's the fun bit.

Normally, when we do this,

we would wait to fill the Illumination track

before we get to level up the circle,

but because we only have one more episode of this arc

and for this circle's advancement for now,

we're going to just show an example of this

and get to play with it.

We're going to at least choose an ability.

LAURA: A new circle ability?

MATT: New circle ability. ASHLEY: Oh my god, fun.

ANJALI: Oh fun. ROBBIE: Yay, okay.

LAURA: Okay, okay, okay. MATT: You don't get to spend

any more resources because even if you got them all full,

you wouldn't be able to use them before the next one,

which is our last episode, anyway.

But you still go into the last episode, with what we have.

LAURA: Okay, so--

MATT: When you fill the Illumination chart,

which would be like one to two sessions from now,

depending on what transpired.

LAURA: But we do get to choose another circle ability?

MATT: You get to choose one more circle ability.

LAURA: Okay, okay, okay. ANJALI: What are our options?

LAURA: Okay, "Stamina Training:

"At the beginning of an assignment,

"check out how many milestones are filled.

"Your circle has that many gilded die

"at the beginning of that assignment

"that anyone may add to any roll.

"Once a die has been rolled, it is expended."

ROBBIE: So that would only be one?

LAURA: Yep, check the milestones are filled.

One, yeah.

ROBBIE: Because we only have one milestone filled out.

We're one short, I think you max out one shy per session.

ASHLEY: Yeah. ANJALI: Got you, well, that's no fun.

ROBBIE: So we got one on this round.

LAURA: So we would all get one gilded die?

ROBBIE: I think one to share. ANJALI: One total to share,

or we would all get one?

LAURA: Oh no, it's just one.

MATT: It'll give one, that one person gets it.

ROBBIE: That's doo-doo. I don't like it. What else we got?

LAURA: "Nobody Left Behind: When a member of your circle

"takes a Scar and drops incapacitated--"

which has happened, you guys. ROBBIE: Twice.

LAURA: "-- any rolls a player makes in that scene

"to protect them or get them out of danger have plus 1d6."

MATT: Plus one die, yeah.

LAURA: Plus one die. ANJALI: Okay, that's a decent one.

LAURA: "Interdisciplinary," I can read. Don't look at me.

"When choosing a new ability during character advancement,"

okay, no.

Oh wait, "Once per campaign, each character

"chooses an ability from Character Specialty."

Oh, so when choosing a new--

No, we don't get that, right?

MATT: You know what, since this is an example of this,

let's level you up on this as well.

ANJALI: So what does that mean?

MATT: Just because we only have one more episode in this.

Both to show it off and to try it for fun here.

So you get to choose two different options

at Character Advancement. They're on the circle sheet.

They're add one stat point, add two Drive points,

take a new ability, or gild an additional stat.

You got to choose two of those.

LAURA: So we can take two in anything--

Or wait, say that again.

MATT: One stat point somewhere.

LAURA: Okay, one circle. MATT: One in one action.

LAURA: Okay, one action.

MATT: You can add two Drive points to any of those.

You can take a new ability on your character sheet

or you can gild an additional stat.

LAURA: Oh shit. ANJALI: Oh wow.

LAURA: These are all really good options.

ROBBIE: But two of each of those options or just one?

MATT: Two of each of those.

LAURA: So knowing that that is what leveling up looks like,

now let me reread that one.

"When choosing a new ability during Character Advancement,

"once per campaign, each character may choose an ability

"from a character specialty outside of their own."

So we could choose somebody else's specialty.

ANJALI: We can choose two from these four options, you said?

MATT: Correct. LAURA: Oh, two?

ROBBIE: Two! MATT: Yeah, choose two different options.

Now mind you, you don't have to decide right now

because some of these especially

might take a little time to read and look through.

We can call them out before we begin the next session,

if you would like to.

ROBBIE: If that's what we pick.

MATT: Yeah. ROBBIE: Okay.

ASHLEY: We would all have to take the same thing, or can--

MATT: No, you choose.

ASHLEY: Be like, "I'm going to do two Drive,"

and "I'm going to do--"

LAURA: Yeah, we can all choose different things.

Resource Management.

"When your circle hits a milestone

"in the Illumination track," which we haven't,

"earn back one stitch refresh or train resource."

Okay.

And One Last Run.

"When you select this ability,

"the next time you fill your Illumination track,

"your circle will retire from service."

ROBBIE: I think that's going to happen anyway.

LAURA: "Everyone takes all four options

"during this character advancement."

Ooh.

ANJALI: Oh, so we could take all four options,

but we're going to retire anyway, so.

LAURA: But we're going to be done.

MATT: If you think you're going to retire. LAURA: But we don't have to retire.

MATT and ROBBIE: You don't have to retire.

MATT: There might be options down the road

to bring you back. ANJALI: It took

10 whole years for Charlie to get a scar.

I feel like their luck is pretty good.

LAURA: Yeah, yeah, yeah. ROBBIE: Let's do the good one.

ROBBIE: Let's do the OP one.

ANJALI: Yeah, No Man Left Behind. ROBBIE: I want somebody--

ANJALI: No One Left Behind, No One Left Behind.

LAURA: Nobody Left Behind? ROBBIE: That's not a value judgment.

MATT: No, no. ANJALI: Nobody Left Behind.

Nobody Left Behind. I like Nobody Left Behind.

We could've used that this time.

LAURA: Yeah. ROBBIE: Nobody Left Behind?

ANJALI: It's a great one. LAURA: Which one did you want?

ROBBIE: I want somebody else's powers and extra stuff.

LAURA: Oh, you want to do Interdisciplinary?

ROBBIE: Yeah! ANJALI: Oh, is that what--

Wait, I'm sorry-- MATT: Interdisciplinary

means that as you're leveling up now,

you can choose an ability from other sheets.

ROBBIE: Yeah, it's like-- ANJALI: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

LAURA: That one? Okay. That's the other--

ROBBIE: We can look at all the other sheets and--

ANJALI: I wholly misunderstood.

So I guess that. MATT: Okay.

We'll research that a bit

we'll decided what your levels up,

and we'll work towards that for the next episode.

LAURA: All right. MATT: Just playing around for fun,

because it's our first outing on this system.

ASHLEY: Yeah, we got to. MATT: Let's mess around a little bit.

ANJALI: Y'all. ASHLEY: I want to see where this can go!

MATT: Exactly. ANJALI: There's so much

story to share. LAURA: Oh man.

MATT: All right, now that we have all the resources spent,

the circle resources, let's start over here.

Auggie, how do you get stitched up and refreshed?

ASHLEY: Oh, okay.

I...

am going to

go over to Arlo's house.

And, yeah.

(knocks)

MATT: "Oh, Mr. August?"

ASHLEY: Yes, August James.

MATT: August, yes.

Arlo's in her room. ASHLEY: Okay, great.

Oh, hey.

ANJALI and LAURA: (laugh)

ASHLEY: I didn't see you there.

ANJALI and ASHLEY: (laughs)

LAURA: Auggie, what are you doing here?

ASHLEY: I actually, I just...

I wanted to see, if this is too forward you let me, know.

May I take a bath?

LAURA: Auggie, of course you can.

ASHLEY: Okay. LAURA: Here,

take my room. ASHLEY: Okay.

LAURA: Yes, of course. ASHLEY: Thank you so much.

LAURA: In fact, why don't you get cleaned up,

and then we can go on a fun little trip.

ASHLEY: Okay. Okay.

LAURA: I'll step out while a bath is drawn for Auggie.

ASHLEY: I get in the bath, just full bubbles.

Bubble beard, bubble hair. (blows)

ASHLEY and ANJALI: (laugh)

ASHLEY and LAURA: (laugh)

ASHLEY: I'm just having a lot of fun right now.

(laughter)

ASHLEY: Yeah, then I get out, all fresh and clean.

MATT: Cleanest you've been in a long time.

ASHLEY: Hair's looking all nice.

Shiny cheeks. (laughter)

MATT: You'll come back and-- LAURA: Both sets.

(laughter)

ASHLEY: Pink cheeks. MATT: Immediately

approached by one of your handmaid being like,

"Would you like some new clothes?"

LAURA: Oh!

Oh, wonderful.

Ms. Thomas, this is Auggie.

MATT: "Hello, Auggie." ASHLEY: Very nice to meet you.

LAURA: I was going to take Auggie shopping for a new suit.

MATT: "All right, of course." LAURA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Thank you very much for the offer.

LAURA: You know what, though?

You should take Ms. Thomas up on her offer.

Maybe put on some of my father's clothes in the meantime

and we can get you something that fits better at the store.

ASHLEY: All right, that works for me. MATT: "They might be a bit large."

ASHLEY: Thank you very much.

It's big, but it works.

LAURA: (laughs)

ASHLEY: Oh, it fits.

LAURA: I'll take Auggie to the suit maker

and buy him a suit.

MATT: Aww. ROBBIE: Aww.

MATT: I love that. ASHLEY: Whoo-hoo.

MATT: Quite refreshing. LAURA: Looking very nice.

ASHLEY: Very refreshed. MATT: All right.

As part of the process, too,

you get sewn up in a little bit

of the bumps and dings that you've taken,

the same way that you get

help at the abode as well. LAURA: Yes, Mr. Tellbrook.

MATT: But-- ASHLEY: The best.

MATT: But indeed, a refreshing day out on Newfairen streets

to get yourself a new suit.

I love it.

Charlotte, how do you get stitched and refreshed?

ANJALI: That's a good question.

Charlotte is uncharacteristically demoralized

at the end of this experience.

It's taken 10 years before she took

any kind of serious damage of any kind,

and really hasn't since she was a child.

So rather than going back to The Sight Unseen,

she goes directly to The Eaves

and to the Danbury Estate and walks in,

sort of staggers in,

and sees Sherman.

Tell me she's clear today.

MATT: "Yes.

"She's somewhat present today,

"if you'd like to visit."

ANJALI: Would you...

Would you call me a doctor?

MATT: "Of course, yes."

ANJALI: Again, she goes up to Gertrude,

and knowing how much Gertrude has seen

and that she is present today.

Ma'am.

MATT: "Charlie, wonderful to see you.

"Thank you for coming by. (laughs)"

ANJALI: Gertrude, ma'am.

MATT: "Oh dear, you...

"You've walked to a threshold, haven't you?

"I'm so sorry.

"Little part of us goes away each time we do."

ANJALI: I can't help but remember what it was like

when I first came to you,

when you took me in.

And while this is terrifying,

I think of that young man that I took in,

and I don't want anything to happen to him ever.

When you were scared, how did you keep going?

MATT: "I just did.

"What other choice is there?"

ANJALI: True.

MATT: "The longer you live this life,

"the more you realize,

"if you don't make the sacrifice,

"who else will?"

ANJALI: I'm so sorry you sacrificed so much for me.

MATT: "I'm not.

"I'm not at all."

ANJALI: You'd be proud of me.

This young man is...

Well, you'd be proud of him.

MATT: "I already am."

She reaches out and grabs your hand and is like,

"Oh.

"Mm.

"Mm-hmm."

ANJALI: Shall we...

Shall we take a walk in the garden?

MATT: "I think I would love that.

"I would."

Sits up and puts her arm around yours.

You both walk down

and walk through the beautiful garden,

the flowers that she has pruned and kept

since she reached the end of her journeys with Candela.

Hears the stories,

or how much you wish to convey from your experiences

and offers what sort of backseat wisdom

she might've offered if she were in the same situation.

ANJALI: I'd also like to ask her any advice she has.

This time I'm giving her exactly the story

and not the fairytale version,

and anything, any bit of advice,

any bit of information that she might be able to give me

that might help me.

I feel like that's partly

where my new Survey skill comes from.

MATT: She stops and turns to you with a big smile

and takes both of your hands in hers,

and turns very serious.

"Whatever you're willing to give,

"they're willing to give more.

"So give everything.

"(laughs)"

(pats softly)

"Come.

"I think I can put some tea on for us. (laughs)"

ANJALI: Yeah.

So I'll spend the few days there reading books.

My version of refresh is learn more, learn more, do more,

because now I know I have a handicap

that I need to work with. MATT: Indeed.

ANJALI: So I want as much knowledge as I can possible glean

in the next few days.

MATT: I love it.

Dr. Margrove, how do you stitch and refresh yourself?

ROBBIE: Oh.

Well, I suppose I'll head back home.

(laughs) And I do.

I go to Howard's house, and he walks in the door.

No one to greet him, no pets, no wife. (laughs)

No kids, no nothing.

It's quiet.

He goes in and slowly turns on the gas sconces.

He doesn't quite like electricity yet,

and he likes reading by firelight.

Gets comfortable,

takes off his coat and finds his way into his office/study.

And just sort of silently stunned

about the evening's events.

And walks past his desk,

and as he does, there's a small device on the corner.

It looks technical, but in an old way.

There's a little switch on the top,

and he (clicks) flips it.

As he does, this sort of blue iridescent mist

sort of starts to come out of it,

but he doesn't pay any mind to it.

He grabs his pipe,

and he grabs his little box of tobacco,

and he walks to his chaise by the bay window

where he's been reading his book,

and he sort of leans back and thinks to himself

as he opens up his tobacco box

and takes out some very normal tobacco, stuffs it in.

In the side another little secret switch.

(clicks) A little side thing slides out.

Inside of it, if-- Auggie would know this,

it's just a little bit of scarlet shake,

the doctor's only vice.

He sprinkles a bit on the top of his tobacco.

As he does, that mist starts to form behind him

over his shoulder in this sort of featureless

but very clearly

shape of a face.

He leans back, lights his pipe,

takes a big hit and says:

Well, Dean, into the unknown.

Let's find Arlo's beau.

(inhales) As he takes a big puff,

that blue smoke goes (inhales) straight into his--

LAURA: No! ROBBIE: Newly-panned head.

His eyes go wide as saucers.

And I guess the rest is up to your imagination.

MATT: (laughs)

And I think that concludes our second episode

of Candela Obscura.

Awesome.

That was intense, y'all. ASHLEY and ANJALI: Oh my god.

LAURA: What? ANJALI: That's amazing!

MATT: Big love to my wonderful players,

Robbie Daymond, Laura Bailey,

Anjali Bhimani, Ashley Johnson.

I am your GM, your Game Master, Matthew Mercer.

Thank you so much, and we'll see you next time.

(clapping) (cheering)