0:00

Greetings, investigators.

0:03

My name is Taliesin Jaffe, and

0:06

welcome to the podcast version of our tabletop

0:08

roleplaying show, Candela Obscura,

0:11

created by Critical Role Productions. If

0:13

you accept the supernatural risks and

0:15

dare to stream Candela Obscura as

0:17

it airs, you can join us on the last Thursday

0:20

of the month at 7pm Pacific on

0:22

twitch.tv slash criticalrole,

0:25

or on youtube.com slash criticalrole.

0:28

Otherwise, you can find the podcast

0:30

version of the show

0:30

right here on our Candela Obscura

0:33

show page, and the video version on our

0:35

YouTube channel two weeks after the initial

0:37

stream.

0:39

Now then, investigators, with

0:41

these formalities settled, let

0:43

us begin

0:43

this chilling tale.

0:50

Obsession

0:52

is a corruption that shrouds the mind.

0:55

Its tendrils grow beyond the influence of

0:57

bleed, as if natural to

0:59

the soul. Though,

1:02

the unique skill set a circle of investigators

1:05

bring forth to each assignment, stand

1:07

guard against this vice. Relying

1:09

upon the strengths of your allies is the key

1:12

to survival. For deep within

1:14

the rubble of a city long forgotten, the

1:16

red hand roots itself within the fathomless,

1:19

unleashing a faceless behemoth

1:21

of smoldering greed. The

1:24

Circle of the Vassal and the Veil, Assignment

1:27

number 447, The

1:29

Collectors.

2:33

About where we

2:36

are and where we want

2:38

to be

2:44

at. We

2:47

feel like we reached this level, we

2:49

feel like we are going to Apple Claw! So

2:55

how embarrassing can Kyle show them? The

2:59

sound of dripping water echoes

3:01

endlessly into a cavernous space. A

3:04

faint orange glimmer begins to

3:06

grow, alighting the cracked stone

3:09

floor, the climbing pillars and harsh

3:12

angles of the ancient architecture that

3:14

rises beyond the radius of the now

3:16

visible lanterns. A

3:19

half dozen figures enter behind these

3:21

lanterns, stumbling through the craggy

3:23

rock and ruins.

3:25

A man in his late fifties walks confidently

3:28

within his fine emerald suit, his salt

3:30

and pepper hair well slicked above his well-groomed

3:32

goatee.

3:34

This group ascends a mass of stone

3:37

steps before stopping

3:40

at a risen pedestal, where

3:42

an oval arch of dark marble stands

3:44

about 10 feet tall, nearly

3:47

unbroken, but for a foot gap

3:49

on the upper right of the ring. An

3:52

older man steps forward along with

3:54

him, sheepishly, his

3:57

liver-spotted head and missing nose

3:59

showing up. one who has delved

4:02

in darker arts and has paid

4:04

for it. This

4:06

is one of the viable gates, Lycus.

4:09

As you requested, it is untested,

4:12

but as far as we know, we are

4:15

the only ones who are aware of it.

4:19

The well-dressed gentleman nods and smiles.

4:23

Good. I

4:25

myself am eager to see if there is merit

4:28

in my investment.

4:29

Dona, I

4:32

see Sogden help

4:34

clean your mess. You

4:37

now watch as a woman steps out from the

4:39

rest of the group behind. Long,

4:42

dark purple dress, lengthy,

4:45

drags across the floor. She walks with a cane,

4:47

and you get glimpses of some sort

4:49

of mangled

4:53

tip of where her feet would be

4:55

as she lurches forward to join the

4:58

older gentleman. The

5:01

two procure and open

5:04

a withered tome before them, casting

5:07

handfuls of ground materials into

5:09

the area around the archway. As

5:13

they read in unison from this book,

5:16

a dull purple glow begins

5:18

to fill the oval space. It

5:25

expands and

5:28

encompasses the void. Splitting

5:30

like a curtain of purple fireflies,

5:33

revealing a shadowed realm beyond. Bogdan,

5:39

the elderly man in Dorna exchange, nervous

5:41

glances, close

5:43

the tome and read from a secondary book, a

5:45

smaller, more damaged, leather-bound

5:49

collection of ancient tattered

5:52

parchment. They

5:54

continue to read, and

5:56

the dangling lanterns held by these

5:59

subterranean.

5:59

The

6:11

MATT

6:17

and its in this dying light, something

6:19

steps from the gateway,

6:22

tall and thin and

6:25

shadow like a spider crawling from a keyhole.

6:29

It steps up out of view as

6:32

Lycus immediately pulls an amulet from

6:35

the inside of his breast pocket and holds

6:37

it aloft towards its entity. He

6:40

goes some, Dominoes II, at

6:43

two pachiris. Lycus

6:46

looks behind them to the other figure standing by.

6:49

Two of them, heavier-looking,

6:53

muscle-like figures nod and grab

6:55

a third and push them towards the gate. The

6:57

third figure suddenly screams and stumbles forward,

6:59

falling onto their knees as they glance up. Scream

7:03

loudly as something thrusts out from the shadow.

7:05

You watch as a long, extended

7:08

limb, something looking like it's

7:10

twisted from a mass of hair or root,

7:12

wraps around the head of this fallen goon.

7:15

Long wisps of the hair-like shadow,

7:18

just dangling and drifting from it. They

7:21

struggle but for a moment, before

7:24

the limb lets loose and pulls away, revealing

7:28

the smooth, featureless skin surface

7:31

of the now faceless head. Unmoving.

7:39

A warm light suddenly fills

7:42

the space of the onlookers, uncertain

7:46

where it comes from, but they all pull

7:49

back as this glow breathes them in reflection.

7:54

Lycus, the only one smiling. Good.

8:00

The airy's much work to be done. Well.

8:09

We come back. To

8:14

a morning about a week past the events of

8:16

the last investigation. You've

8:21

had a brief bit to breathe, to process.

8:25

Some more than others, some maybe not at all. But

8:30

you've been wound down from the experiences

8:32

and trying to find some semblance of a return

8:35

to your day-to-day life in the interim.

8:40

We begin now in this foggy midday

8:42

air.

8:45

As I stop the cave sound as it is no longer necessary

8:47

for the sequence. LAUGHTER Gentle

8:50

wind blowing through.

8:51

What do you think about that leak? I know, it's been a problem around

8:53

here. We're outside, where's that even going?

8:56

LAUGHTER And

8:59

it is once again following Augie

9:02

as you return from Aye. The

9:05

morning route that you keep up, if anything, out of

9:08

being a creature of habit and a means

9:11

to connect with the number of the people that you've found friendship

9:13

with over the years of growing up in this city. Still

9:15

gotta make some dough? Exactly. You

9:18

return to the Gilded Rainbow, return

9:20

to your quarters, well-dressed

9:23

and finding yourself a much more respectable member

9:25

of Neufehr. And

9:27

it isn't too long

9:29

into the morning before the

9:31

door opens and you hear the familiar

9:33

jingle of the bell. Ting, ting, ting, as

9:36

it closes. You hear Reggie

9:38

go,

9:39

oh, morning, Edmund. I'll

9:42

have for particular reason. You

9:45

glance out of your chambers and you

9:48

see an unfamiliar

9:50

gentleman, Uncle Fester,

9:52

in appearance, rounded shoulders,

9:54

bald, smooth head, a long, deep

9:56

navy.

9:59

a dark pea coat and a fedora

10:02

that he pulls off and puts onto

10:04

the rack. No

10:06

worries, I'm actually here

10:09

on behest of Alexandra. Is

10:12

young August available?

10:16

Hey, I heard the bell come

10:18

in. Good morning, Reggie. Good

10:21

morning. Should

10:24

I skedaddle, make myself scarce?

10:27

You all know it's quite fine for you to be

10:29

around as a

10:32

periphery member of the Candela Obscura

10:35

organization. Okay.

10:41

What'd you say your name was,

10:43

Edmond? Edmond Hornsby. Edmond Hornsby,

10:46

all right. Yes, I'm an associate

10:48

of Candela and a longtime

10:50

friend of Alexandra who is currently focused

10:53

on another endeavor.

10:56

Would your

10:59

circle be interested in some

11:01

information regarding the previous investigation

11:04

that's come to light?

11:06

Yes, of

11:08

course. Very well,

11:11

would you like me to retrieve them? Yes,

11:16

I mean, I can help you to save time. That

11:18

would be greatly appreciated, yes, yes, come.

11:22

Perhaps we

11:24

could learn more about each other on the way.

11:26

Excellent, excellent. Takes

11:28

his hat, puts it back on. It's a little

11:30

bit too big and almost like rests just

11:33

over his eyes, kind of casting the shadow. Makes

11:35

him somehow even creepier, but there is a warmth to him

11:37

that contrasts the somewhat

11:41

staggering intensity of his presence. After

11:45

you. Thank you very much. We're

11:48

pretty

11:48

close to Miss Charlie. We

11:51

can pick her up first. Very well.

11:53

All right. Doesn't

11:56

take too terribly long before each of you are

11:58

visited by the...

11:59

two compatriots to gather you.

12:02

Should there be any particular challenges to

12:04

the morning's call, please do speak, and

12:07

we could take it from there, but...

12:08

I

12:14

actually think that perhaps when

12:16

you come to the sight

12:18

unseen, you discover that Charlie

12:21

is not there, and Stinson

12:24

would have informed you that she

12:27

would have been at a particular address in the

12:28

eaves. My apologies, she hasn't

12:30

been around for a few days. She's... Is

12:33

she all right? She's visiting family. Oh.

12:39

She has family here? More or less, yeah.

12:42

In the eaves here, I'll pull

12:44

a napkin from the side of the bar and begin sketching

12:46

out directions across the district. It goes, that's

12:49

about where you find her. Good luck.

12:51

Yeah,

12:51

all right. Thank you. I won't give this to anybody, obviously.

12:54

Mom's the word. She trusts you?

12:56

I trust you. All

12:58

right. All right. So you follow over to this

13:01

beautiful, beautiful homestead in

13:03

the eaves, brought

13:06

inside by an elder servant,

13:10

from what you can grasp at least, well-dressed

13:12

and happy to guide you upstairs,

13:16

talking to you, says, I was informed that

13:18

should you ever come by to immediately

13:20

bring you to Charlotte.

13:25

This way, please. Oh, all right. And

13:28

whereabouts are you in the

13:28

above? I am in the library, where

13:31

I have been on and off for the entire

13:33

time that I have been here. You

13:36

would find Charlotte in

13:39

a corner, hunched, like her posture,

13:41

way more hunched over than you would ever have seen

13:43

her, very intensely taking notes

13:46

and leafing through books

13:48

and a

13:50

strange fervor

13:54

in her studies that

13:56

you're noticing. You'll also notice that

13:58

she is slightly less...

13:59

put together

14:02

as she normally is. Everything's just a little

14:04

bit looser, as if she hurriedly

14:06

did everything to put herself together and then

14:08

just went straight to the library

14:09

today. Miss Yves, you have

14:12

visitors. Hey.

14:17

Oggy. Hi. How

14:19

are you doing? How's your

14:22

hand? It

14:24

is,

14:27

it is as it was. I've

14:30

tried over the last week to

14:33

retain some kind of function in it, but it seems

14:35

unwilling to compromise with me. So

14:38

for now,

14:38

we let it rest. What

14:42

a home you have. Ah. That's

14:45

amazing. Well, my

14:47

dear, this is actually not my home. Oh,

14:51

I,

14:54

I suppose it's time, isn't it? This

15:00

is the home of my

15:02

mentor, my friend.

15:06

And he was Gertrude.

15:09

She is the one who brought me to

15:11

Candela. After

15:14

a particular incident when I was about

15:16

your age that I mentioned to you years and

15:18

years ago. Yeah. I

15:21

found myself without family. And

15:25

she took me in. Well,

15:28

what, how did

15:30

you find yourself without family? What do you

15:32

mean? Well,

15:38

and she flips through a few

15:40

pages kind of absent-mindedly. You

15:45

heard our

15:47

dear Arlo talking about

15:49

what happened to her betrothes.

15:52

Yes. Something

15:55

very similar happened to me at a young

15:57

age. I

16:00

had just met Gertrude and she was fascinating

16:06

and everything I thought

16:08

a grand human

16:11

should be. She was kind and generous and

16:13

I wanted to spend

16:15

more time with her than

16:18

with

16:18

my own family. You

16:21

see, my family is a little

16:24

more the kind of people that you and I are used to

16:26

spending time with, except

16:28

not as clever as you or

16:30

me. They

16:32

may do with what they could and

16:35

I found it frustrating

16:37

to watch them, to

16:40

watch them be fine with scraps

16:43

and bits that were thrown in the town

16:45

every time they sent me to go find something. I

16:48

was resentful, resentful

16:50

that

16:50

that was all that they aspired to. I

16:54

was young and as

16:57

young people often do, I found

17:01

myself saying awful things in my head to them, imagining

17:05

arguments, imagining how I would stand up to

17:07

them if I could someday.

17:08

And

17:12

I remember walking home one

17:16

day ready

17:19

to have

17:21

it out with them, to tell

17:24

them how awful they were, how they had taken such terrible

17:26

care of me, how I aspired to be so much more

17:28

than what they could be and what they could make me.

17:32

And as I crossed the field toward

17:38

the small house where we lived, a crack

17:47

began to form in the

17:49

sky,

17:52

as if

17:55

the sky above us was a snow globe

17:58

that had suddenly been punched.

17:59

and shattered. And

18:04

through that crack,

18:07

a wind came pulling,

18:10

pulling Vardar. I found myself

18:12

drawn towards it and I hung on to

18:14

a tree nearby. But

18:15

that

18:17

little house, that

18:20

little house, began

18:24

to move. The whole thing

18:28

gradually crumpling

18:30

like a house

18:32

made of paper mache stuck, sucked through

18:35

a straw.

18:36

The

18:40

whole home sucked through the crack and

18:44

then it's disappeared

18:47

as if nothing had happened. Oh

18:54

my god. I

18:56

don't remember how I got there, but I

19:00

went back to Gertrud's and

19:04

I told her that my parents had abandoned me.

19:09

And she took me in. Did

19:12

you ever tell her what you saw? I

19:15

did. But

19:17

not of my own volition. One

19:20

day I walked into this library and

19:23

I saw her pouring over a book and candlelight

19:28

and

19:30

she had some

19:32

strange device

19:35

that I'd never seen before.

19:39

And in that device, there

19:42

was a crack that looked awfully like the

19:44

sky that night when I

19:46

had come home.

19:47

And immediately

19:50

the memory of it came back. I

19:52

had pushed it down. I had forgotten

19:55

everything that had happened, or at least tried to, and

19:57

everything

19:59

came out like this.

20:00

like a tumble. She

20:04

shut off the machine, and

20:07

she told me, if

20:10

you could survive that without

20:14

losing your mind, then I think

20:16

it's time I

20:18

show you something.

20:19

And

20:22

then she brought me to Candela. And

20:24

then she said, I

20:27

thought when I found you

20:28

that

20:30

my goal was to protect you from ever having to have

20:33

an experience like that before, ever

20:35

in your life. But now I see that

20:37

you are flourishing.

20:39

And

20:42

that to me means that my mission now is

20:44

to remind you how important you are. How

20:51

important it is for you to

20:53

stay strong for those who cannot. Indeed. Great

20:56

sacrifices are made by

20:59

all of us to ensure that what

21:02

we have experienced befalls

21:04

for you to come. I'm

21:08

sorry for your loss. And

21:10

I am happy for my gain. Well,

21:14

Missy,

21:17

I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sorry for your

21:19

loss. Well,

21:22

Miss Yves, we

21:24

have some news to share with your circle if you would

21:27

come with us for a bit. Ah, well

21:29

then, we should go.

21:33

She closes the book, but she takes

21:35

her notebook. And

21:38

lead on? Many well. This

21:41

way. Within

21:43

a short walk later, you find yourself outside

21:47

of the Black Estate where Arlo resides.

21:51

Beautiful homestead. After

21:53

a brief conversation with

21:56

the servants of that abode, eventually...

21:59

You, Arlo, find

22:02

your door opening.

22:05

And the familiar sight of compatriots

22:07

coming to join you. Hi.

22:12

How are you all? Well.

22:17

I

22:18

appreciate the, uh, the

22:20

goodness that you've shown young Ogi. Of

22:23

course. You look wonderful. Thank

22:25

you. I took a bath and I stayed

22:27

in there till I was like a prune. We've

22:31

taken a few days to clean the tub out. Mm,

22:34

it was pretty, it was pretty foul. You

22:37

know, you go years without a bath, that's gonna

22:39

be real interesting.

22:44

Regardless, Miss Black, hello.

22:47

Sorry to bother you this afternoon. We

22:52

have some news to share with your circle, if

22:54

you would come with us. We have to

22:57

yet retrieve the doctor.

23:01

Do you have a few moments?

23:03

Of course, nothing but time. Wondrous,

23:07

grab yourself a coat. It's still a bit of a chilly afternoon

23:09

with the fog. We'll be along

23:12

shortly. All right.

23:13

Grab

23:15

a little hat. All right. Leads

23:18

are beyond. Now, heading

23:21

over to the Briarbank College.

23:24

I believe if that's where you're currently residing at this midday. Yeah,

23:27

yeah, his home is right next

23:30

door. Campus housing. Campus housing,

23:32

that's a beautiful thing. More or less. Okay,

23:35

so you're not in the office, you're at your home. We'll

23:37

say this is maybe a weekend morning.

23:40

Okay. All right. Within

23:43

a short time, you hear a rap at the door. Oh.

23:45

Snap

23:49

to myself, look around. House

23:52

is somewhat disheveled more than it usually is,

23:55

and I've just been sitting in the dark

23:58

just staring at a...

23:59

candle wick, just

24:02

a single candle, trying

24:05

as hard as I can

24:06

to get, to

24:09

make the candle move the way I want

24:11

it to, and failing miserably.

24:14

But still,

24:15

oh, sorry. Turn

24:20

the lights on. Oh.

24:25

Good afternoon, Doctor. Afternoon. Oh,

24:29

hello, everyone. Hello.

24:32

Oh, come in, yes, yes, I'm sorry, so sorry, so sorry.

24:36

Now, what does the inside of your boat look like? Normally

24:39

very, like

24:42

a bachelor, like a 50-year-old bachelor lives

24:44

there. But now

24:46

there's scraps

24:49

and food and clothing studs. It's a little

24:51

bit messy and Howard's embarrassed. But

24:53

it's a well-appointed place, covered with

24:55

books and oddities, looks

24:58

nice. It looks like someone who has disposable income,

25:00

and there are plenty of places to sit. And

25:02

as I sort of sweep away the week's worth

25:04

of messy mess, I, well, come

25:07

in, sorry, apologies.

25:10

It's just my, I'm

25:12

just gonna move away. Put stuff away.

25:14

Wow. Well.

25:17

What were you doing, Howard? Ah, experiments.

25:23

Nothing intense, just, I

25:25

hope to show you sometime. I

25:27

think I've almost got it cracked. Cracked,

25:30

right?

25:30

No, yes, don't

25:33

actually bang. I think you might do some more damage. Have

25:36

you had it looked at? I've looked at

25:38

it.

25:38

Wonderful. Oh,

25:41

fantastic, appreciate your kindness

25:44

in allowing us into your home, unexpected.

25:48

So I'm here on behalf of Alexandra,

25:51

who is currently indisposed on another assignment.

25:55

But I wanted to inform

25:57

you that we have managed to...

25:59

Clean up and cover for the

26:02

chaos of the previous week. Should

26:04

anyone inquire, there was a

26:06

sickly bear that escaped from the

26:09

Stone Grove Zoo in the saddle.

26:13

But Candela has since kept

26:15

an eye out since you were all recovering.

26:19

It seems a number of

26:21

our suspected red-hand

26:24

movers and shakers have gone rather quiet

26:26

this past week.

26:28

Was Dorna ever discovered? The

26:33

Allesaran Gallery has been closed this

26:35

past week since the incident.

26:39

Dorna, you reported as possibly

26:42

slain, but was

26:44

sighted recently leaving the gallery.

26:47

So we do know that she is

26:50

still amongst us. Yes.

26:55

However, based on your reports, what

26:58

you would find very interesting, and

27:01

the one lead we do have, should you

27:03

be interested in perhaps

27:05

following this thread a bit further, Cara

27:09

Bellman has not returned

27:11

home since the events of last

27:14

week, but this

27:16

morning, we received word

27:18

from her bandmate, Theodore, that

27:22

she reached out yesterday. She

27:25

has been staying with her uncle in

27:28

his cabin by the train

27:30

tracks right before

27:32

they pass

27:33

through the scarlet woods. He

27:36

apparently keeps a small orchard there

27:38

on the outskirts, and

27:41

I, on behalf of your formal

27:44

lightkeeper, invite

27:46

you for both good and closure

27:49

to find Cara, and

27:52

persuade in whatever safe means

27:54

you can, any

27:56

info regarding her ties to

27:58

the Red Hand.

27:59

and perhaps where its leadership

28:02

may reside within Newfair. Do

28:06

we know this uncle's name? I

28:08

believe the uncle's name. He pulls out a small slip

28:11

of paper and reads through. Maynard

28:14

Van Halper. So, sorry, wrong

28:16

note here. He pulls the page over.

28:18

Different

28:21

sheet. Vincent Bellman.

28:31

And what does he do for

28:33

a living ostensibly? As far

28:35

as I know, he

28:38

keeps an orchard, mostly

28:42

providing for locals in ships somehow

28:44

to Newfair on occasion. That's

28:47

as much as we have. He's an outlier

28:49

within the city's records. But

28:55

that should be enough. Maybe

28:58

contacting individuals in transit

29:01

or at your destination could guide

29:03

you further.

29:04

You

29:07

had a little flavor when you said

29:09

cabin. Is it just

29:12

the way you said it, or is it a weird

29:14

thing?

29:15

Not

29:17

weird. There's not many cabins

29:19

here in the city, and I have been

29:22

told on more than one occasion that I have

29:24

an off-putting, presentational

29:26

quality to my speech. My

29:29

apologies. It's just how

29:32

I am. I run an excellent

29:35

summer seminar on public speaking. If

29:37

you'd ever care to come by. Do you have

29:39

a pamphlet? I most certainly do.

29:42

Oh, wondrous. Thank you.

29:45

That's

29:47

not inexpensive. For

29:50

you, you may certainly audit. How

29:54

very kind, doctor. Appreciate it. He

29:57

folds it and puts it into his coat.

29:59

But nevertheless, your

30:03

time is yours, should you wish not to look into

30:06

this. Just notify a

30:08

member of Candela and we'll send another team.

30:11

But Alexandra insisted

30:13

that you had first opportunity

30:15

given the rather personal

30:17

nature of your previous encounters.

30:20

Is Alexandra all right? Alexandra's

30:23

fine. There's just

30:26

other phenomenon being looked into, unrelated

30:29

with another circle.

30:32

Can I

30:34

read him to see if it is definitely unrelated?

30:36

Yes, you may. Go

30:39

ahead and roll read for me. Where's the

30:41

boss? Five

30:45

on the gilded. Oh, I

30:48

get a drive back. If you have an empty space,

30:50

you get a drive back in that area, yeah.

30:52

Oh! Look at that. Oh, what a strat.

30:54

Roll the hell out of those gilded. It's

30:57

I refill the drive if you need to. All

31:00

right, so make success. Yes. He

31:04

doesn't seem to be hiding anything. Okay.

31:06

This is more of just a formal, the

31:08

boss is busy, so I have to be here.

31:11

They wish they could be here, but I'm here on their behalf. Got it.

31:14

Doesn't seem to be worried or

31:17

of a divided mind over

31:19

anything. Okay. Do we know where the Scarlet

31:21

Woods is? Or is that? You

31:24

do. The north, northeast

31:26

of the city. I mean, the

31:28

roads are pretty extensive and there's a river crossing

31:31

there, but the train does travel

31:33

from the city of Newfair to and

31:35

through the Scarlet Wood. And you do know that there is a number

31:38

of stops along the way. There is one stop

31:40

at the base of the Scarlet Wood as well.

31:45

How long of a ride is

31:47

it on the train? Oh,

31:50

from here, maybe no more than a few hours.

31:53

It's not too terribly. It's

31:55

not very far. Is it particularly

31:57

populated, or would it be particularly-

32:00

obvious if someone was to get off a train there that they

32:02

might be coming to this particular cabin. Particularly,

32:05

can I say particularly any more times? Particularly.

32:08

Particularly. Or I'm

32:10

talking about trains. Particularly, pellet de la

32:12

vie. There it is. I

32:14

don't think so. There's a vibrant

32:17

rural community around

32:20

the stop-off

32:22

point, the station there, as well as

32:24

many outlying farmers

32:27

and cultivators of the land and

32:29

the scarlet wood itself. So I

32:31

don't think it would be odd at all. But,

32:34

you know, always

32:36

keep a glance over your shoulder. Anyway.

32:42

Right. Well, thank you. Best

32:45

of luck. We'll head out immediately.

32:48

Maybe. Very well, so we can count on you to

32:50

investigate. Yes. Wondrous,

32:53

I'll let Alexandra know next I see her. Should

32:56

you require any specific monetary

32:59

aid from Candela, just

33:02

let us know.

33:02

All right, thank you. What's like with the

33:05

usual, so I know since I'm

33:07

new here, what's the usual? What,

33:09

are you just giving money

33:12

out? Or if you need it, I'm just asking.

33:13

With an itemized list of, I guess,

33:16

the various requirements and things that you

33:19

are looking to possibly require as part of

33:21

this endeavor, we could go through an approval process with our

33:23

internal auditors with everything

33:26

properly stamped formally. We can go ahead and provide you with the

33:28

necessary funds. I see, I see. There

33:30

we go. But I appreciate

33:32

the hustle. You know,

33:35

just check it. Of course. Thank

33:38

you for your kindness

33:41

and allowing us into your home. Should

33:43

you need us for anything,

33:46

feel free to find the nearest telegraph

33:48

station or send a

33:51

letter via page. Good

33:54

day, everyone. Good day, Evan. He takes

33:56

his hat off the coat and turns around. I

33:59

love him. They know. Wanders

34:02

off into the afternoon air. Potato

34:04

man. No.

34:06

Well, it seems that this situation that

34:11

we thought was over is not particularly, particularly,

34:13

why am I saying particularly so much? This one is not

34:15

over. I don't know if I'm all right. After

34:18

the last, I'm a bit rattled since our last endeavor, apparently.

34:22

Is it all right that I said we would head

34:24

out

34:25

and look into it? Well, certainly.

34:28

All right. Nothing else to do. I enjoy farms.

34:32

I grew up on a farm, actually. Oh, yeah. I

34:34

certainly did. We didn't have an orchard,

34:36

but a few small crabapple trees. I'd

34:39

love to go back.

34:40

Did you have chickens? We did have

34:42

chickens. I've always wanted to see a chicken. They're

34:44

very enjoyable, very easy to kill. Just

34:47

grab their necks, a little twist, and

34:49

you have dinner. Oh, wonderful.

34:53

That said, I'd be

34:56

willing to go. The city's a bit

34:58

stuffy these days. It is. I'm

35:00

just trying to think if there's anything

35:03

else, any other information we might be able to glean from

35:05

the town. We know Carol was playing

35:08

with Theodore, who's her bandmate. I

35:10

don't know if speaking to him is necessary,

35:13

or if we just

35:14

should. We should have that information. We should

35:16

just head on out on the train and go.

35:19

I mean, we just are going to talk to her.

35:21

We're just going to talk to

35:23

her to see if she can lead to anything new, right?

35:26

Yes, and I don't suppose she knows

35:28

our involvement

35:29

in the

35:31

previous endeavor. I mean, not

35:33

anymore than us showing up at

35:36

the investigation.

35:39

Howard, no. She did watch you

35:41

punch out the chief of the periphery

35:43

there. It was that. It was that.

35:46

Ah, yes, I'd block that out.

35:50

Is she going to accept us?

35:54

You know, like if she sees

35:56

us, she'll be like, no, no, no, you were the ones.

36:00

It's quite hard to run away in

36:02

an open field, if it's just a

36:04

cabin. That's true. Our

36:06

nearest neighbors were miles away. Not

36:11

to say that she would be screaming for

36:13

any reason as if we were trying to get information out

36:15

of her or frightening her, only

36:17

that

36:19

I think we should be okay. Just

36:22

keep the brass knuckles in your pocket for this one,

36:25

I think. Certainly. How's

36:28

your head?

36:28

It

36:31

is just fine, I think.

36:34

Can we see it? My head? Is

36:37

your head attached to it now? Oh. It's

36:43

rather private, actually. Oh. Would

36:46

you mind if I keep it on? I didn't have time to comb

36:48

my hair this morning. Mm, sure. Thank

36:51

you. Well

36:54

then, I suppose off we go. All

36:59

right. Okay.

37:02

Yeah. Isn't that it? We're not like preparing. Well,

37:04

no, let's say it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

37:07

You don't think she's summoning anything at the

37:09

cabin, do you? We're not gonna walk in and

37:11

she'll have brought a demon forth in the cabin

37:14

or

37:14

whatever creature. Well, from

37:17

a previous discovery, it seems

37:19

like she was more of a tool, more of

37:21

a donor than necessarily someone who conjured

37:24

herself. What if she's the leader of everything?

37:27

Well then, we'll have tripped upon quite

37:29

a find, won't we? Maybe she's hiding out from

37:31

the red hand as well. Now

37:33

that is very possible.

37:37

Well, she is the red hand. I don't know

37:39

how that would make a decision. If Donna

37:41

has been seen,

37:43

I wonder how conscious she was of our

37:45

presence at that final battle.

37:50

Probably very. Very. She was screaming

37:52

directly at us, help me, call me

37:55

from him. I'm being

37:57

eaten. And we did have hope. box

38:01

and red hand gloves and obsidian.

38:05

I think the long and short of it is we won't be

38:08

incognito with pretty much anyone

38:10

on this particular assignment. For

38:13

the time being.

38:15

Then, as Edmond said, best to keep our wits

38:17

about us and walk in proudly.

38:21

Let's go. Are there any particular items?

38:24

To the steel! No, to the steam! To

38:26

the steam! To the steam, yeah. To the

38:28

steam. I think I have my

38:30

standard bleed containment vial with

38:32

me. Select any items you want to bring

38:34

that you can choose up to three, but you may

38:37

leave one. Leave a few open if you'd

38:39

like to choose in a moment what makes sense.

38:40

Oh, right, because we don't need the same

38:42

ones that we got. Not the same, but I like

38:45

my... If you like your spread, stick with it. I

38:47

like my spread. All right. I still

38:49

have the captain's gun, or do

38:51

you think I'd probably give that back? Where

38:54

would you have given the captain's gun back? No!

38:57

Then you still have it. Dude, it's pretty

38:59

good. Then you still have a periphery

39:02

handgun. I'm strapped. An

39:04

illegal police officer's gun. And

39:08

badge. And badge!

39:11

Get rid of it. Well,

39:14

we could probably use it. You

39:19

know, you see someone with a badge

39:21

and you instantly listen to him. I'm all for

39:23

it. More firepower, the better,

39:25

am I right? It's true. I'll

39:28

keep it hidden, I'll keep it safe. All

39:31

right. Gathering your things,

39:33

you begin the trek to the steam. This

39:36

beautiful way station district of

39:39

New Fair has a number of small

39:41

scattered neighborhoods, as well as a few

39:44

outskirt industrial buildings, but primarily here,

39:46

this is the crossroads of land-based

39:49

interaction within the city. There is the

39:51

massive train station

39:54

itself, the steam train station that sits here on

39:56

the far eastern side of New Fair. And

39:58

as you approach, you can see the steam station.

39:59

small crowds gathering. It doesn't look like it's going to be

40:02

a full load of people

40:04

making their way northward along the tracks, but

40:07

within a short conversation and some

40:09

quick tickets

40:11

purchased, you are led on

40:13

by the conductor onto one

40:15

of the numerous passenger-carrying carts into

40:18

the comfortable deep

40:20

maroon velvet seats that are set

40:22

in. It is a nice

40:25

way to travel, and I'd say probably for you, Augie,

40:27

it's maybe the first time you've been on the steam train. Oh yeah.

40:30

Ooh! Whee!

40:31

MATT and LAURA, and a brief

40:34

kick-off of heavy, pfft,

40:36

shh!

40:37

MATT and LAURA, and a quick kick-off

40:40

begins to pick up steam, literally.

40:43

Within a short time, the train

40:46

takes off, and you find yourselves traveling

40:48

on and away

40:52

from the city of Noof here. You can see the glistening tall

40:54

buildings and the daytime, somewhat

40:57

fog-obscured skyline, though now as the

40:59

fog begins to burn off, you can see

41:01

the glittering tops

41:03

of the multi-glass and metallic-topped

41:06

spires that mark the beautiful city. LAURA

41:09

and MARISHA, and LAURA, and MARISHA, and MARISHA, and MARISHA, and MARISHA, and MARISHA,

41:11

and

41:12

MATT, and you. I

41:15

love you.

41:21

Carrying onward, it's a beautiful journey,

41:23

rocking a bit as it goes. Eventually,

41:25

the final bits of the outskirts

41:28

begin to vanish on the horizon as

41:30

you begin to approach the rolling hills

41:32

and beautiful grass and grain

41:34

fields that mark the northern side of

41:38

the Helens here around the city. Eventually,

41:41

the bridge comes up and you traverse over

41:44

the river, coming to across

41:46

the way into another wide hilly

41:49

valley.

41:50

There you can see beyond the

41:52

bridal-born mountains that rise up to the north,

41:55

the climbing crags themselves, a

41:58

brown-red in their own color.

41:59

and there, clustered around their base,

42:03

all around where they meet the

42:05

landscape, you can see the vibrant

42:08

crimson color

42:10

of the Scarlet Woods, home to

42:12

numerous natural creatures

42:15

that create the semblance

42:18

of nature that still holds this side of

42:21

the healing countryside, as

42:24

well as a number of people that live on the outskirts

42:26

and throughout, as well as a

42:28

handful of illegal stills that extract

42:30

the sap from the trees to make the Scarlet, a

42:33

hallucinogenic substance that has long

42:35

been outlawed within the city. Not

42:37

that it stops the flow of it in the evening hours,

42:41

but while you have this time in the journey,

42:43

if there's anything you wish to discuss, clarify,

42:45

curious, curiously bring

42:47

up or not, you may. Otherwise, we will bring you to

42:50

the next

42:52

stop.

42:53

I think just at some point,

42:56

Charlotte is looking out over the fields, and she catches

42:59

a reflection of herself, and she just touches

43:02

her hair, where

43:06

a shock of gray has appeared over the course

43:08

of the week, and

43:11

then she shakes it off and looks at Augie's

43:14

delight. You

43:16

look smart. It does,

43:18

it looks quite lovely. Thank

43:20

you. It wasn't intentional, but there

43:23

it

43:23

is. It's very distinguished. It's

43:26

everything a woman wants to be, distinguished.

43:30

Why wouldn't she want to be distinguished?

43:35

You're right, Arnold. I

43:39

suppose I've been used to using

43:41

other assets to my advantage,

43:43

why not that? Not

43:48

but a few hours of travel later, the

43:51

city is a distant blip, as

43:55

the scarlet woods grow closer and closer,

43:58

but the afternoon also begins to draw.

43:59

to a close, as you see the

44:02

sunset begins to kick in at about

44:04

the time you approach the station here

44:06

on the southern side of the Scarlet Woods. A

44:09

number of passengers, as well as you, as

44:11

it slowly, shh, pff, pff,

44:14

the screeches to a slow halt,

44:18

and as the train comes to a rolling stop at the

44:20

edge, the doors open, shh,

44:23

pff, people begin to shuffle off of it,

44:25

just a handful, and you get your first

44:28

breath of the fresh countryside here. Mmm.

44:33

Whoa.

44:33

It's

44:36

clean, isn't it? It smells so different. There's

44:39

no smell, there's no shit

44:41

smell. It's like clean and

44:44

fresh and... Do

44:46

we want to disembark here or further in? Is

44:49

this the last stop before the border? This

44:51

is the last stop before it goes straight

44:54

through the forest. Oh yes. And the cabin is on

44:56

the edge, so. Yes. Off we go. Although

44:58

we didn't exactly plan

45:00

to spend the night here, did we?

45:03

Right.

45:04

Just clocking the time? The

45:06

conductor is just finishing up checking out his

45:08

pocket watch as you guys are leaving, if you

45:10

have any questions. When is the last train back? Oh,

45:13

last train here tonight's about, about

45:17

three hours from now. Who?

45:19

We've got two more coming through in the next hour, a few shipments, his

45:21

name mainly a shipment-based train heading

45:24

southward, but the last one, there should be a few more

45:26

spots, if you're only staying for a bit.

45:28

I should buy four

45:31

tickets now for the train

45:33

back. Oh, very well. What

45:36

are the shipments that are going south? Do

45:38

you know what they are? They're just a bunch of shipments.

45:41

Oh, we have the Tristian

45:44

Lumberyard up on the north side of the woods there. We're

45:46

taking in a whole series of shipments for new construction

45:48

out there in the city, as well as a

45:51

number of other imports coming from

45:53

the north side of Hail. So that's

45:55

about all I'm aware of. I don't really hold

45:57

the deep ledgers. I'm not responsible for that. I'm mostly

45:59

for the passengers here. Would

46:03

I have an awareness

46:05

of where my sources

46:07

come from in terms of

46:09

shipments? You

46:12

would know that there are two

46:15

farmsteads deep within the woods

46:17

that themselves

46:20

primarily work in lumber, but

46:24

there is one of the younger family members, a

46:27

young cousin named

46:30

Reginald, who he's

46:34

actually more like a Reginald.

46:39

You've not met him

46:41

in person, but you've seen the name used, and he's

46:43

the one contact

46:45

that you originated with, and

46:47

then he went dark for about a year,

46:50

because there was a bust in one of

46:52

the stills, but he's up and running again,

46:55

and you've been eager to

46:57

have the returning flow of Scarlet into

46:59

your establishment.

47:04

All right. Yeah. Can

47:07

I contribute a few extra dollars for the tickets?

47:10

Perhaps so. We'll take

47:11

young August on business class on the

47:14

way back. What a wonderful idea,

47:16

that way it'll be special.

47:18

Sir, I did

47:20

have a question. Yeah, yeah. Someone in, you said the

47:23

ledger book and all that, that's somebody else that

47:25

takes care of that. Who takes care of that? Just

47:27

to know.

47:31

I

47:35

flash my periphery badge. Yay! Go

47:38

ahead and make a sway-tapping

47:40

lead. Yeah, yeah, and first aid and periphery officer.

47:44

Let's go. Do I help

47:46

you? Yes, I do. I

47:49

got a six. Yeah! A

47:51

six. All right.

47:54

Star of the Academy. Okay, say that. Oh,

47:57

gosh. That's the chief. Yeah, yeah.

47:59

My apologies,

48:02

officer. I wasn't aware that you were, yeah,

48:06

that'd be Torrylinds. Torrylinds

48:09

was the one that'll be running the evening, Ledger's

48:11

passing through here. We've

48:15

been doing our best to try and make sure that nothing

48:17

illegal passes through here. We do have a rather

48:19

extensive inspection process before it makes

48:21

its way into the city, but you're more than welcome to go

48:24

ahead and give a once or twice over

48:26

if you're feeling

48:27

you and your very freaking patriots

48:30

here want to. Sure we may. Thank you so

48:32

much. Of course, of course, Torryl. What a wonderful citizen of our

48:34

city. Hey, want

48:36

nothing but the best for our folk here, and I hate

48:40

the idea that people

48:42

are breaking the good laws

48:44

of our township, so me

48:46

too. Indeed. If

48:50

while we were in town, I wanted

48:53

to visit an old family friend. His

48:55

name is Vincent Belman.

48:58

I know he lives around here, but I'm not

49:00

sure which

49:01

direction. I don't know Vincent, but I do know there's the

49:03

Belman and Chappelle Orchard. Oh,

49:05

yes. Follow the main street here, and

49:07

the town just beyond here is maybe

49:09

about six or so blocks before the town comes to an end. There's

49:11

two roads that lead out. Follow the

49:14

northern road. It'll lead into

49:16

the scarlet wood and hard

49:18

to miss the orchard. It's a patch of green in the midst of the red.

49:21

But unless they moved it or something happened,

49:23

that's where you'll find it. Thank you very much. Thank

49:26

you. Yeah, no worries. Safe travels, officers.

49:28

Sorry. Safe travels. Yep.

49:31

Run the cover. Absolutely normal citizens

49:34

of the environment. Whatever

49:36

you're doing, I hope it goes well and

49:39

is legal.

49:42

Anyway, we're about to shove off

49:44

here in a minute. We'll walk high, see you a little later. All

49:46

right. Get back up into the stupid tree.

49:48

That guy has moved so much drugs. Oh,

49:52

man. So much. So

49:57

much.

50:00

Amateur, the amateur. It's

50:03

so cool to see, I mean, to see

50:05

the woods in person, all

50:08

the stuff that we, you know, move

50:12

throughout the city, to see

50:14

like the real where it comes from. This

50:17

all says it right? Yes. Can

50:19

I make a confession? As we walk.

50:23

I've never tried, Scarlet.

50:25

Oh. Oh. Heavy,

50:28

heavy. I wanted to, but Eddie

50:30

said I shouldn't. But I know he spent a lot of

50:32

time over in the Red Lamp district.

50:35

Ah, did he? Wait,

50:37

have you ever tried it? Oh,

50:40

right. Have you ever tried it? Probably

50:42

not, you two, you two, you two. What

50:46

was that? Have you ever tried Scarlet? Scarlet?

50:48

Why, of course,

50:48

of course. I'm

50:51

gonna read. Yeah, I read all

50:53

of us read. Every single

50:55

one of us reads. And

50:59

we all mixed success. Oh, the gilded.

51:01

Okay, I have a question. If

51:04

I take the gilded, do I have to take

51:06

a drive back in that, in cunning?

51:09

Yes. Oh, man. It has to be

51:11

of that section. All right. So

51:15

mixed success? Mixed success. Mixed

51:17

success. Mixed success, okay. Then I'll take a low stakes roll. With

51:19

a four. You

51:22

glean a little bit of truth from the

51:24

good doctor here. What does she? Every

51:28

chemical compound has its purposes

51:30

in this world. After all, we are just all

51:32

born of the primordial soup. And

51:34

if you choose to partake of what nature

51:36

provides for, you can have myriad experiences

51:39

throughout this world. And Scarlet is simply

51:41

one of those. So if you choose to partake, it is

51:43

a personal choice. But. So

51:46

you have. Yes, absolutely. I enjoy

51:48

quite a bit. A voice over your shoulder goes. You

51:50

best not be bringing

51:51

that in our town now. Excuse me?

51:54

I heard y'all talking about Scarlet. Don't you be trying

51:56

to bring that shit in here. We got too many kids.

51:58

And you see this like. older woman,

52:00

like this motherly looking figure, bit

52:02

of like a hood cap on, on like a simple dress, and

52:06

you see she's holding a small child in her arm

52:08

that's like kind of just mewling. Yes,

52:12

ma'am, we do not recommend Scarlet

52:14

for

52:15

infant children. Now I see y'all dressed well,

52:18

you've been running a business, kind of throwing the stews out here,

52:20

we don't want them coming into our houses to take it. Ma'am,

52:25

we're doing a little undercover work. We

52:27

may be doing a little more because y'all seem to be stopping

52:29

nothing. There's been violence and shit going on there, been

52:31

hearing about people and firing and getting in gunfights and stuff

52:34

up north. I have a cousin who

52:35

recently all got hit on the head by somebody who was

52:37

trying to go ahead and sell that around here. You don't bring that

52:39

up in here with our kids. Ma'am, ma'am, ma'am, ma'am, what's your name? Shut

52:42

up. What's your name? I see

52:44

people like nearby in the street are like walking. Tell

52:46

me, what's your name? And I

52:49

reach over and I take her hand in between

52:51

mine. Virginia? Virginia.

52:54

Yeah? My name is Charlotte. I

52:57

understand caring so much about the environment,

53:00

particularly when you're raising a little one like this. But

53:03

do believe me when I say we

53:06

are doing everything in our power to

53:08

make sure that none of this scarlet

53:10

goes into the wrong hands or the wrong bodies,

53:13

including those of your families. Sure,

53:16

whatever. You shitty folk do what you do whenever you

53:18

come through here. Walks off. Hey,

53:20

Pam. He kind of like wanders off right

53:23

into the table. Come

53:25

on. What is that? Oh,

53:29

that's hilarious. Hey,

53:33

wah! But you have made

53:35

a little bit of a scene here in the middle of the street.

53:36

We made a little bit of a scene. Well, I mean, you're

53:39

your accessory to

53:41

a bit of a scene. I think perhaps it's time for

53:43

a nice walk

53:44

in the woods. Shall we? Shall we? Let's go. Let's

53:46

go. Let's go. I

53:48

really didn't like that woman. She

53:51

was a bit intense. I don't know why she was screaming.

53:53

As we're walking away, can I just survey the scene

53:56

and see... We're looking

53:58

for you. I'm just looking for anyone.

53:59

oddly paying attention

54:02

to us. We know there was a scene, but I just want to make sure

54:04

that there's no, I'm

54:06

looking for anyone following us or any

54:08

kind of nefarious something-something.

54:10

MATT, sure, go make a survey test for me. Mix

54:17

success with a five. Mix success with a five, okay.

54:21

Glancing around as you're now coming to the end of the

54:23

main street that divides into the two roads

54:25

in the far end. I mean, most

54:28

of the folk here are a little more, I'll

54:32

say a little less dressed up as

54:35

your band, so by the nature

54:37

of your presence, both being this

54:39

far into the town and wandering in the direction

54:42

of just open, scarlet

54:44

woods right on the cusp of night, there

54:46

are a few odd glances and a few individuals that

54:48

walk as you go and you can see that look of judgment,

54:51

that rise of the lower lid. You

54:54

definitely don't feel necessarily

54:57

welcome by some, though

54:59

others just seem to pay no mind as you pass through.

55:04

As you head to the edge of the town, you can see

55:07

one gentleman who has a bit of

55:09

a, like a newsies

55:11

cap on the front, pair of suspenders over

55:14

a billowing white shirt with sleeves rolled up past,

55:16

like where the shoulders are, dirt-covered hands,

55:19

big overalls, kind of over

55:21

that, and it's just kind of in the process of dig

55:23

in with a shovel, looks to be just kind of turning

55:25

over either fresh-tilled dirt or freshly

55:28

buried grave, you're uncertain, but

55:30

as you all pass by, just kind of sticks a shovel in

55:32

the ground and looks over and just watches

55:34

you as you all continue

55:37

walking beyond the town. Can I

55:39

read him to see what that look means? You

55:41

may, go ahead and read. We didn't

55:43

read people enough, we have that skill. He is, I

55:45

know we're gonna read everything. We only have one, so I

55:47

don't really have that.

55:50

Four. Makes a success. He's

55:53

taken note. You don't

55:56

see him pursuing, but

55:58

you certainly.

55:59

You

56:02

haven't kept

56:05

yourself below the radar. But

56:08

these seem

56:08

to be simple to do. I'm going to take him back as

56:11

we walk by. This

56:17

goes back to work. Right.

56:21

The faster we move, I think the better. Okay. And

56:25

now going to see Grandma!

56:30

Only about 30 or so minutes later,

56:32

and the sun has begun to set, the

56:35

dark of night begins to creep in, but the sky

56:37

still holds a fair pink

56:41

coloration. You still have another 30 or so minutes

56:43

before full sunset really kicks

56:46

in and night begins. But as you enter

56:48

the secondary northern road, it curves into the

56:51

exterior of the scarlet woods, and

56:53

within a short time, you are stepping into the far darker interior

56:56

of the canopy of the forest itself. It

56:59

is beautiful. It is serene.

57:01

You can see there's that gentle blanket of fallen leaves

57:03

and multicolored ferns

57:06

that gather around chunks of moss

57:08

and rock that emerge from these massive

57:11

scarlet

57:11

trees. There are thick trunks of

57:14

deep brown burgundy wood and

57:17

these extremely deep red

57:19

and orange leaves, these

57:22

plumes that rise up and gather against each

57:25

other to create this beautiful canopy,

57:27

like a reverse

57:30

blanket that sits above you with small sections

57:33

where shafts of light begins to break

57:35

through. It's beautiful. And

57:38

it also becomes a little more ominous, the

57:40

darker it gets as you travel.

57:41

You begin to hear the change

57:44

in the sound. It begins to fade, and

57:47

the nocturnal beings that live

57:49

here

57:50

begin to emerge. You hear the crickets first,

57:53

and then the owls.

57:55

You hear

57:58

the occasional, I'm

58:00

not gonna ever. Just

58:03

various critters coming out to hunt for the night. Did

58:09

anybody bring a lantern? I

58:13

mean, they couldn't. No. No.

58:18

Do we leave, Evan, it's getting pretty dark?

58:20

It's gonna be dark

58:22

in the next, let's say, 15 minutes from where you are now. Well,

58:25

maybe, maybe there will

58:27

be a lantern at the cabin. I'll take it

58:29

real quickly. If you don't expose

58:31

your eyes to unnatural

58:34

light sources, your vision

58:36

will slowly adapt to the dark. If

58:38

you spend

58:39

a lot of time in the dark. I'm gonna hold on to

58:41

Howard's arm as I close my eyes and walk.

58:44

Well, not. Just so my eyes adjust.

58:47

All right, well, okay,

58:48

I'll do your best. Uh, uh, uh, uh, do

58:51

we see anything remotely?

58:55

No. No, uh, uh. No. No.

59:01

So good, so good. Like,

59:06

a road where we're looking for this patch. Yeah,

59:08

as you follow the path through, it

59:10

isn't too long before you begin to, with

59:12

the light that still remains, see the

59:15

shift where a number of, a

59:18

number of trees begin to fall away into

59:20

a grove that's been carved here on the, kinda

59:22

near the outskirts of the scarlet woods. And

59:24

within this space, you can see, planted

59:27

in rows, beautiful, beautiful

59:29

apple trees, tall and grand

59:32

in their presentation. You can see they're well-kept, and

59:35

a number of fallen apples sit amongst

59:38

the base of the trees that may have either been

59:40

a little too, a little too past

59:42

after they fell, and have just been left to

59:44

become part of the

59:46

earthen and sustenance

59:49

for the trees themselves. But

59:51

nevertheless, the

59:52

orchard is here, and you can just

59:55

see a little ways in from

59:57

there, the warm light

59:59

from the interior.

59:59

through the windows of a cabin. The

1:00:02

last time we saw Kara, I believe you were

1:00:04

outside of the room for the most part,

1:00:07

yes? Yes.

1:00:10

I was. So then, wait, no, you

1:00:13

were. We were inside and

1:00:15

you had got a... Yes,

1:00:19

I... With the gentleman who was getting you water.

1:00:22

I walked in right as Howard punched the, off the,

1:00:24

ah, the periphery of the city. I was hoping that she might

1:00:27

not recognize at least one of us. No,

1:00:29

I definitely saw her. Right.

1:00:34

Well, maybe, maybe, maybe

1:00:36

we'll be a nice face to see. I

1:00:40

don't know why,

1:00:40

I don't know what that means. I

1:00:43

don't know why we wait. Perhaps we can convince her

1:00:45

we are allies. Just

1:00:48

don't know how, knowing not...

1:00:50

I'm assuming that she's somehow

1:00:53

in league with Dorna,

1:00:55

but I don't know how. Well,

1:00:58

she could be, most certainly. She

1:01:00

could also be, as we mentioned,

1:01:03

perhaps running from her as well. It's

1:01:06

one of the other, I suppose,

1:01:08

it's a coin toss.

1:01:10

She did seem genuinely frightened when she

1:01:13

was in the hotel room. This is true. I

1:01:15

wonder if it was an actor if... Well,

1:01:18

if we can find her... She lied. Sure,

1:01:21

but she might have realized she was responsible

1:01:23

for murder. Yes.

1:01:27

Good boy, good boy. Well,

1:01:29

we've almost lost all daylight. I suppose we should at

1:01:31

least get on and head

1:01:34

towards the cabin.

1:01:34

If she's hiding and we found her this

1:01:37

easily, someone

1:01:39

else might be able to find her as well. Very true.

1:01:41

Hey, goes there. Orchards

1:01:44

closed, it's night. Hello,

1:01:49

good sir. You see a

1:01:51

gentleman who's stepping away from some of the trees, the

1:01:53

large basket by his side. This, probably

1:01:56

man in his mid to early

1:01:59

50s or so. Big,

1:02:01

curly plume of reddish-brown

1:02:04

hair, big bushy beard that encompasses

1:02:06

the entirety of his clavicle in the space under

1:02:08

his chin. He's wearing work

1:02:11

clothes, the sleeves up, some work gloves on

1:02:13

top of that. Looks to be a bit sweaty and is

1:02:15

finishing a day of work and approaches with

1:02:17

his thick boots pushing through the soft

1:02:20

earth. Sets the basket down. Come

1:02:23

back tomorrow and it's late.

1:02:24

Mr. Bellman? Eh? Is

1:02:28

your niece here? Way.

1:02:34

Oh, couldn't we talk to her? Okay,

1:02:38

sorry, tennis. Oh. I'm gonna

1:02:40

give you a drive. Oh,

1:02:43

I'm gonna give myself a drive too. So

1:02:46

I should've waited for you. How

1:02:50

many does that give you? That give me two. I'll give you

1:02:52

one as well.

1:02:53

All

1:02:58

right, four.

1:02:59

Four? Four, okay. Aye,

1:03:03

she's here, aye. She's just taking

1:03:05

a few days to visit her old uncle. Why,

1:03:08

what's your business with her?

1:03:10

How do you know her? Well, not

1:03:13

to be indiscreet, but her

1:03:16

friend Theodore was concerned for her safety.

1:03:19

He asked us to check in on

1:03:21

her.

1:03:23

Me and Bea my guest, she's

1:03:26

kind of just kept to herself. And

1:03:29

to be honest, it

1:03:33

kind of be strange for a while. I wasn't, uh, I

1:03:36

was a bit of a surprise to have her suddenly show up, so,

1:03:38

um, man, still

1:03:41

family, still blood, so you have where you can, but

1:03:43

you know, she is more of a,

1:03:46

more of one of them city politics

1:03:48

folk. It's

1:03:50

funny how they can crawl them back to their old family

1:03:53

when they need a little help, aye? Mm-hmm. Yeah.

1:03:56

When's the last time you, you seen her before, this time? That'd

1:03:58

be yesterday. Last

1:04:01

night? Before she came here,

1:04:03

like a couple years? Oh, five,

1:04:06

six years. Oh! Well...

1:04:09

Did she seem sad or frightened?

1:04:14

I don't know, she just kind of came in and told me she was staying

1:04:16

for a bit. Didn't give me much of a chance

1:04:19

to rebut. You friends of hers? In

1:04:23

a manner of speaking, we're friends of Theodores, and

1:04:25

Theodores are a friend of hers.

1:04:29

All right, I mean... Yeah? Thank

1:04:32

you. Thank you. Don't stay too

1:04:34

long. I've only got

1:04:37

the one guest room, and she's already in it. It's going to have

1:04:39

room for the rest of you. We want to be out in the next couple hours.

1:04:41

We need to catch the train back. All

1:04:43

right, all right. I'll finish up my business. When

1:04:47

you see her, tell her dinner will be down for an hour.

1:04:51

I picked up another book for her while I was in

1:04:53

town, so... Does she like to read? She

1:04:56

does. As do I. I'm

1:04:58

a reader. I know I might be surprised... No,

1:05:00

no, no, no. What are you reading? Elegant folk.

1:05:03

No, not at all. I'm always intrigued

1:05:05

by what people... What, the lesser

1:05:07

folk read? No, no, sir.

1:05:10

I am an eager learner. I'm

1:05:13

always intrigued by what fascinating people are reading,

1:05:15

particularly people who may not come from

1:05:17

the same upbringing as I have. I

1:05:20

didn't always live in the city myself. Would

1:05:24

you tell me what you're reading? Pinkest

1:05:27

sweetest. Yes. He's

1:05:30

very much like... Mixed

1:05:35

success and I will take the gilded die, so that's

1:05:37

a four. OK. Oh,

1:05:39

wait, do I need the gilded die? No, I don't. Mixed success,

1:05:41

I will take a five. OK.

1:05:45

The four and five are the same. No, I know, but isn't it a

1:05:47

little bit better? It does feel a little nicer. It

1:05:50

is the exact same. Oh, you don't. They're

1:05:52

both mixed successes, but yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think I... Five

1:05:56

just feels better. It does. Yeah, it's

1:05:58

a higher number. It's a little bit less mixed. There you go. LAURA

1:06:00

and LAURA and MICA smell the Undertale. MATT

1:06:05

I continental. LAURA

1:06:08

and

1:06:08

MICA smell! TALIESIN

1:06:11

and LAURA can taste the many levels of

1:06:13

lava and over Again. LAURA

1:06:16

and TALIESIN probably might have got in method.

1:06:20

MICA and LAURA but still by themselves, like you

1:06:22

don't have dreams of changing entertainment.

1:06:24

TALIESIN and MICA come together, instrumental

1:06:26

in hardware manufacturing and Ank Time and over-young

1:06:30

folks who worked their way into a fine

1:06:32

education and started to unravel the secrets

1:06:35

around society. LAURA

1:06:37

I love those stories. MATT Spooky stories, but

1:06:40

all ghost things, you know that fun stuff.

1:06:42

LAURA I absolutely know. I myself

1:06:45

am a fan of a particular author who

1:06:47

does the same with young ladies. One

1:06:49

young lady in particular, she's red-haired, she's

1:06:51

a wonderful story, and it makes me feel

1:06:55

like anyone from any background, from any

1:06:57

place, can be someone to solve

1:06:59

the problem. MATT

1:07:01

I couldn't have said that bit to myself. All

1:07:04

right. I

1:07:07

misjudged you. You were all red, and I

1:07:10

may have an extra copy of the Variety Boys in

1:07:12

there if you want me to grab it for you. LAURA I would love

1:07:15

it. MATT Certainly. I cannot finish my work. LAURA

1:07:17

Should we take her book into her when we see her?

1:07:20

MATT What was that? LAURA You said you bought another book

1:07:23

for her. MATT No, I have an extra if

1:07:25

you want to read it. I can listen to you. LAURA Oh. Right. MATT

1:07:28

I feel

1:07:31

free to go inside and just don't stay too long. LAURA

1:07:35

Thank you. MATT You're welcome.

1:07:37

He goes off, grabs his basket, and starts finishing up

1:07:39

his work. LAURA

1:07:42

Right. Shall we? MATT

1:07:47

Just walk right in. LAURA When we see the

1:07:49

cabin, the lights are on. I mean, lanterns,

1:07:51

what's

1:07:51

the look inside? MATT It's warmly lit on the inside, both

1:07:53

bottom and top floor. It's a two-story cabin,

1:07:56

made from the same scarlet woods strip.

1:07:59

wood

1:08:02

material in itself. It's dark

1:08:04

coloration, beautiful, simple, but

1:08:06

elegant in that kind of world. TALIESIN

1:08:09

and K

1:08:11

snort

1:08:25

apart. ASHLEY and LAURAamsa vanish back into the room,

1:08:28

playing around the door. MARISHA

1:08:30

and LAURA SAM

1:08:34

and MATT and As

1:08:44

LAURA

1:08:53

and MATT and LAURA are standing next to the door, and they're

1:08:56

standing next to the door. The

1:08:58

door is open, and the door is locked. You can see a stove in the corner,

1:09:00

a stovepipe

1:09:00

heading out of

1:09:04

the side of the cabin. It looks like there is one set of switchback stairs

1:09:06

that heads to a secondary floor. LAURA

1:09:09

and ASHLEY do we see anything that might be a portable light

1:09:11

source? MATT and

1:09:11

LAURA make a survey roll for us. There are two oil lanterns.

1:09:15

LAURA and ASHLEY do they do

1:09:17

large? MATT and LAURA do they do large?

1:09:20

No, O friend. No ringing indicated head of metal or nobody

1:09:22

there. LAURA and ASHLEY approved

1:09:24

the Eda. LAURA and MATT. MATT

1:09:26

And that looks like now that anybody feels the right size. MATT And

1:09:36

Arctic

1:09:39

and AfricanFROMA do their stuffed corn, American

1:09:41

Hero do, or somebody else does. LAURA, MATT, and I thank check

1:09:43

for all the measures

1:09:46

which are enjoyed with the education for

1:09:48

the ages set aside from an earlier meal. You

1:09:52

look at the niddle, they're maybe actually

1:09:54

a little older.

1:09:55

They're not from this morning, probably from a day ago. It

1:10:00

looks like some of the tools have been set aside

1:10:02

for a day's work. There's some tracks of

1:10:04

blood and dirt by the front way entrance

1:10:08

to the cabin itself, but nothing seems necessarily out

1:10:10

of place or odd. Nothing's catching you strange

1:10:13

about the floor.

1:10:13

Can I sense anything magically

1:10:16

out of tune? Is there any bleed? Go

1:10:18

ahead and make a sense test for me. Okay.

1:10:27

Oh, that was, it's a fail. That's

1:10:30

a failure. Should've

1:10:32

used my bleed detector. As

1:10:35

you close your eyes and try and find that

1:10:37

one, that one

1:10:39

tugging thread of

1:10:41

the flare that is now burned on the

1:10:44

inside of your body from crossing, partially

1:10:46

crossing that threshold not

1:10:49

too long ago, you feel

1:10:51

that like ping within you, not

1:10:53

evoked from your surroundings, but

1:10:56

the flashing of memory of losing

1:10:58

your fiancee, of nearly

1:11:01

losing your friends, and the cold,

1:11:03

buzzing sensation of

1:11:06

that gray corruption crawling

1:11:09

its way further up your arm and body. And

1:11:12

you go ahead and take a brain

1:11:15

from the stress of recalling this.

1:11:17

Fudge.

1:11:21

Are you all right?

1:11:24

Of course. Okay.

1:11:30

When no one answers the door and

1:11:32

after they've done their quick scan and she

1:11:34

says don't startle her, I go, all

1:11:36

right. Don't startle

1:11:38

her. And

1:11:41

then I'm

1:11:41

just gonna slip out the front door and

1:11:44

throw my overcoat hood on and just

1:11:46

sort of creep around the outside

1:11:49

of the house. I don't wanna be all together.

1:11:52

Yeah, no. I don't wanna be a big target. You're

1:11:55

always a big four-person target. And

1:11:56

also, especially since you're the one who knocked out the

1:11:58

police officer, it's probably best for you not to. to be the first

1:12:00

face she sees. Good point, bye-bye.

1:12:04

What are we doing, Syall? Into the dark. Holding

1:12:08

that before we left the city, I had a piece of bad

1:12:10

news. I had moments since there's nobody in the immediate proximity that you're

1:12:12

testing against, but should you enter

1:12:14

a scene at some point, then we'll take it from there.

1:12:16

Okay.

1:12:16

Howard

1:12:19

is going to start? I'll be in that bush. It's quite a

1:12:21

rag. No bathrooms

1:12:24

on trains, I've been holding that in, I had to go butter

1:12:26

my ghost toast. If

1:12:29

you know what I mean. Hi,

1:12:32

Ray. I don't know if

1:12:34

you want to share that with the rest of us,

1:12:36

bathroom activities. Howard

1:12:40

is going to stay out of sight for the time being, so he doesn't

1:12:42

startle the young lady. Perhaps

1:12:45

you and I should go. Sure. Yeah,

1:12:48

where's Howard? You guys are gentle. He

1:12:51

slipped out, so as not to startle, Kav. Oh.

1:12:59

Shall we?

1:12:59

I'll

1:13:01

stay out here. I'll just stand by

1:13:03

the door. If you need something, you can tell me. Be close.

1:13:05

Yeah, yeah, be close.

1:13:08

So the two of you are sitting in the stairs and you're staying back

1:13:10

on the first floor? Yeah. Okay. Oh,

1:13:12

it's pretty good. We're going upstairs

1:13:15

now, this way. The two of you climbed

1:13:17

the stairs to the secondary floor. It's a smaller

1:13:19

floor, there's a little arrival 10

1:13:23

by 10 foot area there, which

1:13:26

has a little table of ores with

1:13:28

some kind of flowers, like

1:13:30

they're starting to wither a bit, not

1:13:32

well kept. There are two doors here to

1:13:34

two different rooms.

1:13:35

We both open at the same

1:13:37

time. No,

1:13:40

Nok? Well, no.

1:13:42

I don't know why

1:13:45

I'm terribly suspicious of this young lady. I'm

1:13:47

sure she's fine, I'm sure she's running, but do

1:13:51

you have your bleed detector handy?

1:13:54

Can we use it? Sure.

1:14:00

MATT and LAURA, and a beep-bop,

1:14:02

doop. MATT and Blythe detector

1:14:04

begins to slightly glow

1:14:06

across the interior of this

1:14:10

waiting space here on the second floor.

1:14:12

No sign of Blythe. Pretty

1:14:15

solid. LAURA

1:14:18

and MATT, and LAURA, and MATT, and LAURA, and MATT, and MATT, and LAURA, and MATT, and MATT,

1:14:20

and LAURA, and LAURA, or you

1:14:23

need to go to the home. eyes.

1:14:26

LAURA, and MARY, are standing there all their respective pieces,

1:14:29

too? MARY, and

1:14:32

MARY, are sitting there all enormous

1:14:34

pieces of junk, afresh, and

1:14:47

walls that look like older

1:14:49

family portraits. It looks like there's a

1:14:51

shotgun leaned up against the side of the bed. This

1:14:55

is likely Vincent's

1:14:57

bedroom, but it is empty.

1:15:00

LAURA, and MARY, and MARY, and MARY, and MARY, and MARY, and MARY, and MARY,

1:15:02

and MARY, and MARY, and MARY, and MARY, and MARY, and MARY,

1:15:04

and MARY, and MARY, and MARY. Is it good to know? Well,

1:15:11

Kara, Kara,

1:15:16

your uncle sent us with your book

1:15:18

from the city.

1:15:19

May I come

1:15:21

in? MATT,

1:15:25

in response,

1:15:27

we should just go in. I open the door, but

1:15:29

I stay on the threshold. MATT, locked. We

1:15:32

should just push the door open. It's

1:15:36

locked. I

1:15:39

don't

1:15:43

have any strikes, so I'm not the person. Oggy!

1:15:45

Oggy! Captain,

1:15:48

come! This

1:15:51

door, it's locked, and we're not

1:15:53

hearing from her now. I'm

1:15:56

going to go into Vincent's room. Keep

1:15:59

talking.

1:15:59

Okay, you go into Vincen's room. He's

1:16:03

locked. Do you have any, you

1:16:05

know, skill to? I have

1:16:07

burglary equipment. Whoa!

1:16:11

You know what? He's got a particular, this

1:16:15

young man has a particular set of skills.

1:16:17

Why do you think I took him

1:16:19

in? Yeah. I can

1:16:21

get into places where you need to be. All

1:16:23

right, so go ahead and make a hide

1:16:26

test for me or control

1:16:28

your choice. So

1:16:29

I also have Born in the Shadows. So

1:16:31

when attempting to avoid security or detection,

1:16:34

you guild an extra hide die.

1:16:36

Okay, okay. So you wanna roll hide

1:16:38

on this and you get an extra gilded die on this. So

1:16:40

I got one. Extra gilded? Mm-hmm.

1:16:43

Well, pretty good. Doesn't mean

1:16:45

an extra dice, it means one of the dies. This is a plus

1:16:47

one die or is it plus, does it say a die, additional

1:16:49

die is gilded? Additional die is gilded.

1:16:52

Okay, so it's whatever your hide is. Guild an

1:16:54

extra hide die. So

1:16:56

I think it's not gilded. Wait. Guild

1:16:59

an extra hide die. Which means you, how many points

1:17:02

do you have in it? So I have in hide, I have two and one

1:17:04

gilded. Right, so both of those

1:17:06

would be gilded. So it's two dice and they're both gilded. But you could

1:17:09

use drives if you want to add more. I'm

1:17:12

slowly catching. That's okay, it's a new system.

1:17:15

Let me use a drive. Okay,

1:17:19

so that's two gilded and one die. Yes. Do

1:17:21

it. Oh, it's

1:17:24

getting caught in mine.

1:17:25

All right, a five. Yeah.

1:17:27

A five, that's great. You take that, is that on the gilded? It's

1:17:29

not on the gilded. Okay, so you still lose the drive. But,

1:17:36

the door opens up and within, you

1:17:38

see the gentle, warm light of a low oil

1:17:40

lantern that's in the cusp of burning out. Just a

1:17:42

very, very faint bit of light. As

1:17:45

you enter, you can see the bed to the right and across

1:17:47

the room in a chair, you see a woman

1:17:50

sitting facing away from you.

1:17:57

You're in the other room. I

1:18:00

was just going to go in and see if

1:18:02

Howard had any drawers I could open to

1:18:04

see if there were keys or anything. Open some keys.

1:18:07

Yes, Vincent, sorry. Vincent.

1:18:09

You start going through drawers? Yeah, just

1:18:12

to look for a shiny key. Okay,

1:18:15

go ahead and make a survey.

1:18:17

This is at disadvantage, so I'm rolling

1:18:19

two at each. Okay. They're

1:18:21

both equally shit. Fair enough.

1:18:24

Threes. Okay. You

1:18:26

do go ahead and start

1:18:29

pulling some of the drawers and

1:18:33

within them is clothes, tools,

1:18:36

no sign of any keys. As you slam

1:18:38

one of the drawers closed, what you don't

1:18:41

realize is the shotgun

1:18:42

tumbles from the side of the wall and you

1:18:44

back away just as it hits the ground and

1:18:47

fires off. All of you here collectively,

1:18:50

the sound of a shotgun

1:18:52

blast from the top floor of the house.

1:18:56

Sorry. I've run around

1:18:58

to see if she's okay. I'm watching

1:19:00

Kara.

1:19:02

No, it's not. Oh, that

1:19:04

was very loud. I

1:19:06

need your lead detector now. I come

1:19:08

out of the room. I can't hear anything.

1:19:11

Don't go in, just reach out. I'm

1:19:14

going to go over to the light source and I'm going to try

1:19:16

to turn it up a little bit. Turn the

1:19:18

little knobby, so the little.

1:19:19

You realize it's turned up. It's

1:19:21

just almost completely out of oil. All

1:19:23

right, I'm going to peek around

1:19:26

to the front of her to the side so I

1:19:28

can get a little profile. You come around

1:19:30

to the side where she's just sitting, facing

1:19:32

away from the door where you came from as you begin

1:19:34

to enter with your bleed detector. As

1:19:37

you come in, you see

1:19:39

the interior of this chamber

1:19:42

is suffused

1:19:45

in bleed. There is just

1:19:47

scattering, smatters,

1:19:51

of magic corruption across

1:19:53

the interior of this room, just

1:19:55

as you cross the threshold of view

1:19:58

to see Kara sitting within the chair.

1:20:02

and above her chin, just a flat,

1:20:05

blank, faceless

1:20:09

wall of skin, bereft

1:20:12

of any features. MARY and

1:20:14

LAURA and MARY. Okay, come back. I

1:20:20

just don't want you in the bleed. MARY. She

1:20:25

doesn't.

1:20:27

The part of

1:20:30

her face is gone. Her fucking nose is gone. Her fucking

1:20:32

everything is gone. MATT You heard the shotgun

1:20:34

go off, and at which point you immediately see Vincent,

1:20:38

like, what the hell is that? What

1:20:40

are you doing? It starts running back to the house. MARY

1:20:42

Vincent.

1:20:45

LAURA and

1:20:50

MARY Don't do it. MARY I'm

1:20:52

absolutely going to do

1:20:55

it. I did leave my brass knuckles at home, but

1:20:58

as Vincent runs toward the house, I pop

1:21:00

out from behind one of the trees in the grove,

1:21:03

fully clothed, and I pull out from my pocket.

1:21:05

I have a little blackjack with me, and

1:21:08

as he runs toward the

1:21:09

house, I pop out and say, sorry,

1:21:12

and I'm going to try to bonk him on the dome

1:21:14

with a blackjack. MATT and LAURA go ahead and

1:21:16

roll a strike test. LAURA and MARY What's a blackjack? Because I literally

1:21:19

just picture a little... MATT and

1:21:21

LAURA not lethal, it's

1:21:23

like a little smacky club to make you go to sleepy

1:21:25

time. Not overly

1:21:28

horrible, but

1:21:30

a comfortably carriable bludgeoning

1:21:32

instrument. MARY I'll spend a

1:21:34

drive. That's

1:21:37

a full six. MATT and

1:21:40

LAURA which is going to him! I thought you were... MATT

1:21:44

and LAURA just hits the wood hard, and there's

1:21:47

this unconscious pile of man. You can hear that sound,

1:21:51

that horrible breathing sound. MARY He went to sleepy

1:21:53

time immediately?

1:21:53

MATT and LAURA on to his face,

1:21:56

where the air passage right now is

1:21:58

a little obscured.

1:21:59

So I'll tilt his head

1:22:02

back and put his neck back into alignment

1:22:04

so he stops snoring and just sort

1:22:06

of lay him out. Oh my. And

1:22:08

then I'll run up the stairs toward the

1:22:10

shot where I heard the shotgun sound. All right. In

1:22:13

the interim, what are you doing? Is she breathing?

1:22:16

How am I supposed to tell

1:22:18

when there's no face? I'm gonna

1:22:20

walk up to her and put

1:22:23

my hand on her chest to see if there's a rise and fall.

1:22:25

Oh. She's warm,

1:22:29

but there's no breath. There's no

1:22:31

nostrils. There's no mouth. It's

1:22:34

just a blink. Like

1:22:37

the skin's been pulled off and everything's... It's

1:22:40

just skin? It's just skin. It's just

1:22:42

skin. Like someone erased

1:22:45

the features. It's... Is

1:22:47

there like a... Where the nose bone

1:22:50

was? Like where it's raised or is it just smooth?

1:22:52

No. It's just smooth. There's

1:22:54

no eye sockets. Awful. There's no

1:22:57

cheekbones. It's just

1:22:59

a blink. It's... Would...

1:23:02

In my studies, would I have heard of anything of this

1:23:04

in my library of studies in Gertrude's library? Would

1:23:07

I have heard of...

1:23:07

Nah. You've

1:23:09

heard all manner of odd things, but this one...

1:23:12

This one's new. Don't, don't,

1:23:14

don't, don't, don't, don't.

1:23:15

Oh, you found her. Stay back.

1:23:17

Stay back. She's warm. Oh.

1:23:21

And it was recent. I... They

1:23:24

must be... Nia?

1:23:27

It was recent. I'll try

1:23:29

to take her pulse. Oh no. Okay. On

1:23:31

her carotid. There's a heartbeat. Oh.

1:23:38

She is alive. In

1:23:40

a manner of speaking. Her heart

1:23:42

is

1:23:42

beating and she is most certainly

1:23:45

warm. No, she's breathing. I

1:23:48

do not know. Do we, do we, should

1:23:50

we cut it off? No. I'm just

1:23:52

going to... I just want to look around the room and see... You can certainly try.

1:23:55

I don't see why not. If there's anything in the room

1:23:57

that looks like...

1:23:59

or a cult or anything

1:24:02

that seems not. Sure, go ahead and make

1:24:05

a survey test for me, if you don't mind. And

1:24:07

her body isn't responding when we touch it or anything,

1:24:10

like she's not like turning her shoulders or anything

1:24:12

at that point. Nope. That is

1:24:14

a, do I wanna say, I'll

1:24:16

take a six.

1:24:17

Okay, so you take a six and a success.

1:24:20

Glancing around the chamber, you can see there's

1:24:23

two of her bags unpacked, you can see this pile

1:24:26

of clothes, looks like she's settled in

1:24:28

here in recent days. You

1:24:31

can see,

1:24:35

you do notice that there

1:24:38

is a somewhat, not

1:24:43

I say crumpled, but like a weathered envelope

1:24:45

that sits on the side

1:24:48

of the bed that's tucked in the drawer in

1:24:51

a small bedside

1:24:53

table

1:24:54

with no label

1:24:56

on it. Sorry,

1:24:59

I didn't mean to knock that over, I'm so loud. What,

1:25:02

what, what? I,

1:25:07

if there's anything like a letter

1:25:11

opener or anything, anything that I can just pull that

1:25:13

out with. Yeah, the envelope's open. Okay, and

1:25:15

I'd like to see what's inside it. It

1:25:17

is blank. Ooh, it's

1:25:19

a blank. It is a blank sheet of paper. There's

1:25:21

no way. Poops. It's

1:25:24

a blank sheet. Do you still have your lighter? Oh,

1:25:28

thank you, thanks, sure. I

1:25:30

can take this and sort of check a bit,

1:25:33

like you know how invisible ink does the thing, if you

1:25:35

like, I just wanna try to do that.

1:25:38

Okay. Doesn't

1:25:40

seem to be having immediate effect. I will say if

1:25:42

you want to go ahead and make a, make

1:25:45

a control test for me to try and hold the flame

1:25:47

to the paper without igniting it.

1:25:50

You sure you don't wanna make a different role? Like

1:25:54

a survey role, since I'm

1:25:56

searching for things? Nope, nope, that's

1:25:58

a. That's specifically what

1:26:00

this needs. I'll give you a drive. Yep, yep,

1:26:02

yep. Six.

1:26:06

Six, okay. You do

1:26:08

not manage to ignite the letter. You

1:26:10

do darken it in places, but you do not

1:26:12

see any

1:26:14

text. What about the bleed? What

1:26:16

about the bleed detector? Do you think there's like, can

1:26:18

you try it or something? Do you? You

1:26:21

go ahead and ignite the bleed detector.

1:26:23

Oh! Oh! Oh, yeah!

1:26:25

Oh, yeah! And

1:26:27

indeed, some text begins to arise, which

1:26:30

gives you an interesting perspective, as

1:26:35

this would be ink mixed

1:26:38

with bleed. Intentionally

1:26:42

so. Cara, the Tharos

1:26:44

is on us. These recent missteps

1:26:47

have cost us and myself greatly. Your

1:26:49

ignorance cannot be left a weakness.

1:26:52

Give it six weeks, then find me at the Brine

1:26:54

Wash Seven. I will appeal

1:26:56

for your forgiveness. Dorna.

1:27:02

So she, you were right. You

1:27:05

were right, she's working with her? She's

1:27:07

working with her, but. Do

1:27:10

you think Dorna did this? I

1:27:12

think one way or another she was involved. Oh,

1:27:16

no!

1:27:17

I'm gonna put it back for you. Ha ha ha! That's

1:27:20

so cool. Six

1:27:23

weeks, give it six weeks, then find me. At

1:27:26

the Brine Wash Seven. Did she want to go to the Brine Wash Seven?

1:27:28

Did she bring her instrument? Yes.

1:27:32

Tharos. A few, few

1:27:34

Tharos. Look at this.

1:27:36

We need to remember how to write Dorna's

1:27:38

name. We

1:27:41

don't know when this letter was from.

1:27:43

Tharos, who's the Tharos? Oh,

1:27:47

would I, would it look secret? I'm gonna. Who would know? I would

1:27:49

know the Tharos.

1:27:49

Indeed. Fourth

1:27:52

Tharos is the term and

1:27:54

the title of the

1:27:58

base of operations for Candela Obscure.

1:28:02

They know we're onto them. It's

1:28:08

about this time that

1:28:10

the last bit of that oil lantern liquors

1:28:14

out. Oh, it's dark in here. And

1:28:16

in that shadow, you

1:28:19

hear. Back,

1:28:26

back, back, down. Yeah, back away, back away,

1:28:28

from out of the room, out of the room, out of the room. You go to

1:28:30

exit towards the room, and the door closes

1:28:33

right as you're about to get to it. As you see

1:28:36

this long, thin,

1:28:39

stretched hand that

1:28:41

now currently reaches down from above,

1:28:44

and as you follow it up the outstretched

1:28:47

arm, the thousands and

1:28:49

thousands of strange, wispy,

1:28:53

hair-like roots that all encompass

1:28:55

this extended limb. Like

1:28:59

a massive shadow beard that just

1:29:01

fills the entirety of its body. You follow

1:29:03

it up to this massive,

1:29:05

hunched creature that currently

1:29:08

stands at an angle,

1:29:11

defying gravity against the arched

1:29:14

ceiling of this guest room.

1:29:16

From beneath, this long veil

1:29:20

of scraggly black root, this

1:29:23

dull orange glow just barely

1:29:25

pushes from within a singular

1:29:27

source of light.

1:29:32

How at the door, how

1:29:35

at the door? It's closed.

1:29:38

The window, the window, the window.

1:29:40

There's

1:29:44

a window in the room. There's a window in the room, but is it

1:29:46

opposite her, or is it? She's facing

1:29:48

towards the window currently. She's facing the window,

1:29:50

and this thing. This creature is just above, it just closed

1:29:52

the door, and it's standing in just. In

1:29:54

front of the door? I guess it's

1:29:57

the end of the door? It's in front of the door.

1:29:59

the room above you and it just slammed the

1:30:02

door above you. Backwards, back to the window,

1:30:04

back to the window. I am going to... It

1:30:07

steps down from a ceiling, almost like it just descends.

1:30:10

As it rises up, it stands 12,

1:30:12

13 feet tall, hunched

1:30:14

against the ceiling itself, pushed and curved.

1:30:17

And as you begin to step, it seems to almost quickly

1:30:21

approach and loom over you. It

1:30:24

seems as quick as you be in this small

1:30:26

space, it's in

1:30:29

a very pointed bit of interest just

1:30:31

follows

1:30:32

and looms. It's

1:30:36

not doing anything, it's not doing anything. Get

1:30:39

to the window, get to the window, get to the window. I'm

1:30:42

going to use

1:30:44

an ability. Mm-hmm. And

1:30:46

I'm going to try

1:30:50

to make eye contact

1:30:52

with the creature and I'm going to play the bait.

1:30:57

So I'm going to, you

1:31:00

know how to draw phenomena out of hiding or get

1:31:02

them to reveal themselves. I just have to play the bait. I

1:31:04

can roll a sense to bring nearby phenomena

1:31:07

toward

1:31:07

me. Yes, go ahead and roll

1:31:09

a sense test for me as the creature's

1:31:11

arms, like, both kind of hang at the sides,

1:31:15

almost scratching the ground with

1:31:17

their length as it kind of inspects you all. You

1:31:19

look towards that glow in its face,

1:31:21

that weird orange light that seems to be buried

1:31:24

beneath the cluster

1:31:27

of hanging roots that just drip

1:31:29

off of it, like a weeping willow

1:31:31

tree.

1:31:32

Yes, that is, I'm going

1:31:35

to take the full success on that. Full

1:31:37

success? Okay. Instead

1:31:39

of the mixed success, because I don't want to risk this right

1:31:41

now, so. Immediately,

1:31:44

it looks towards you and that glow

1:31:47

brightens. You all watch as

1:31:49

Arlo seems to have cut its attention

1:31:51

and as it brightens, that orange glow kind

1:31:54

of just lights the room ever so faintly in the direction

1:31:57

of its facing, centered on Arlo.

1:31:59

I'm going to pull my glove off

1:32:02

and hold my hand out. Go!

1:32:05

I'm going to try to open the window. Try to foot through

1:32:08

the window, trying to get it open. Okay. Window.

1:32:12

Just break it. Lifts up, you

1:32:15

feel like the cold night air begin to rush in.

1:32:19

Go.

1:32:19

I'll start backing towards the window too. You guys get

1:32:22

out. I want to be right behind her. You

1:32:25

begin to back towards the window.

1:32:27

It interposes.

1:32:29

As you step, it steps. And

1:32:31

as you step again, it steps. It's not focused

1:32:33

on your friends, but it's focused

1:32:36

entirely on you. Both

1:32:38

of you. Both of you get out the window. Oggy,

1:32:41

Howard, get out the window. Go,

1:32:43

go, go, go. I'm down and out first, so

1:32:46

I'm gonna try to catch them when they come. We're second story,

1:32:49

right? You are second story. I'm down and out

1:32:51

first. Okay.

1:32:52

I'm going to also just

1:32:55

not flank her, but move a little bit since

1:32:57

it's coming at her directly, move

1:32:59

slightly over to the right, and

1:33:03

reach down and

1:33:06

pull out my new

1:33:09

and improved knife. It's a

1:33:11

little bit longer than it was, and it has a

1:33:14

set of strange markings on it.

1:33:15

Okay. As you're doing

1:33:17

this, and you're attempting to then leap beyond

1:33:19

this window, I'd like you to make a move

1:33:22

test for me. Howard's strong,

1:33:24

but he ain't exactly nimble. Oh

1:33:26

no. Bad knees.

1:33:28

I'm gonna, this is important, I'm gonna

1:33:30

use my train, extra, my extra train

1:33:32

die, and I'm gonna spend a drive, spend

1:33:34

my extra drive to have two. Okay.

1:33:37

That's a full

1:33:39

success. It's a six. Full success. Six

1:33:41

and a five. The creature doesn't take notice

1:33:44

of you as you quickly leap out the side. You

1:33:46

catch the window cell as you fall over the side, and just

1:33:48

as you're hanging on, give yourself just enough

1:33:51

of a buffer to drop, and catch

1:33:53

hard onto your feet. You tumble onto your back, but

1:33:55

you don't break or injure anything other than a bit of

1:33:57

a sprain that you may feel in the morning. A little bit

1:33:59

of.

1:33:59

Your brain leaks out. Oops.

1:34:06

I'm gonna hop out. You okay,

1:34:08

you okay? Everything's fine. All right,

1:34:11

you better come out this window. I'm underneath

1:34:13

to catch, or help, help

1:34:16

down. Yeah. Okay, so go

1:34:18

ahead and make a move test for me. I have

1:34:20

nothing. Right, so it'd be roll twice, take

1:34:22

the lowest.

1:34:23

Or use a dragon. You know what, I'm gonna

1:34:26

use my train. Okay, go for it.

1:34:29

Do I still take the lowest? No, with a train you just

1:34:31

roll one dice. Train.

1:34:33

I'm also just rolling one dice. Certainly it'd

1:34:36

roll twice and take the lowest, and now it's just roll a single

1:34:38

dice. Oh, why are you gonna roll six? You gotta roll a six.

1:34:41

I'm gonna roll a two. Catch

1:34:45

me, catch me! I got you! Got

1:34:49

a foot off!

1:34:53

That's

1:34:55

some loony tunes, bitch! I

1:34:57

suppose my eyes did not adjust as well as

1:34:59

I thought they would. You were not even close

1:35:02

to where I was jumping! It's foggy

1:35:04

in here. You do mark a body from the

1:35:07

impact. Now

1:35:09

back to the two of you in the room. It's slowly

1:35:12

approaching you and looming over you. You find yourself

1:35:14

glancing up at it. Charlotte, you look

1:35:16

over and can see that orange glow across

1:35:18

Arlo's face getting brighter and brighter as

1:35:20

it begins to close. Its long arms dragging

1:35:23

on the ground. The arms slowly...

1:35:26

Are you the one that steals the features? Arlo,

1:35:29

out the window. No, you're the one that takes faces. Go, go,

1:35:31

I'm just gonna back fall out of the window. And

1:35:33

as she does, I am going

1:35:36

to...

1:35:37

Say

1:35:40

a series of words that no

1:35:42

one has ever heard before, and my knife is

1:35:44

going to glow with orange symbols on

1:35:47

it, and my ghost blade is

1:35:49

going to come out and I am gonna strike at the

1:35:51

creature. Okay, so you go ahead and mark a body

1:35:54

from initiating

1:35:56

that ability. Simultaneously, I want you to go

1:35:58

ahead and test for move to...

1:35:59

and dodge from this creature that

1:36:02

is focused entirely on you. This isn't even trying

1:36:04

to land properly. This is trying to land properly

1:36:06

and trying to keep this creature, which is on

1:36:08

the verge of closing

1:36:11

in on you.

1:36:12

This is a high stakes roll. Can we assist and

1:36:14

try to make a basket catch? Sure.

1:36:18

You've got to get away from the batty first, right?

1:36:21

You've got to get away from the batty before

1:36:23

I fall out the window. And you've got to talk to them. But

1:36:26

let's do it. I'm using my train dice

1:36:28

on this, too. Sure.

1:36:29

So you'll get an extra drive? Oh,

1:36:32

I will. Or an extra, yeah. This is trying

1:36:34

to dodge the creature. Oh. And

1:36:36

well-encompassed the landing. Yes, okay. I

1:36:39

can't help you. Never mind. Five!

1:36:41

Five. Nice. Okay. So

1:36:45

you pull back and

1:36:48

leap out the side just as

1:36:50

the creature's arm reaches

1:36:53

out. I grab ahold of Kara's

1:36:57

body to grab

1:36:59

something and end up throwing her over me as

1:37:01

I go out the window. So she ends

1:37:03

up out the window with you. As

1:37:06

you go flinging overhead, the creature reaches

1:37:08

and strikes out towards you, but catches nothing but

1:37:10

air as you tumble backwards. While

1:37:13

you try to catch her, the sudden

1:37:15

arrival of two bodies being flung from the window here

1:37:17

in the low light of the night, you're uncertain who

1:37:19

you're supposed to catch. And you end up catching

1:37:22

Kara's body. And you, while

1:37:24

you escape the clutches, this creature impact hard

1:37:26

on the packed dirt of the farmstead, taking

1:37:28

a bottom arc as you do.

1:37:30

The wind is knocked out of you, and for a brief

1:37:32

moment, you just make that sucking sound trying to

1:37:34

catch it. Yes. Yes,

1:37:37

just like that.

1:37:41

You

1:37:46

can roll to strike.

1:37:47

God help me, it's my worst

1:37:49

skill. All right, I'm going to

1:37:51

use, can I help, can I give her

1:37:53

a drive?

1:37:54

You are outside and downstairs. This

1:37:56

is a high stakes roll. This is very much a high stakes roll. I'm

1:37:59

very cool under pressure. on any high stakes roll,

1:38:01

I may always spend cunning instead of the drive the roll

1:38:03

would normally use. So I

1:38:05

will use two cunning to

1:38:08

give me one, two, two, two die.

1:38:10

You got it. And I will use my

1:38:13

train, and I

1:38:15

will pray to the great gods that this works. You

1:38:17

got this, you got this. Five. Got a five, okay,

1:38:19

that's a mixed success. You do

1:38:22

manage to strike into this creature, and as you

1:38:24

swipe with your blade and push past the kind of

1:38:27

heavy coat of tangled dry

1:38:29

swamp-like vines that just wrap

1:38:31

its long sinewy body, you

1:38:34

strike within and feel that burning,

1:38:37

runic power just begin to singe on the inside

1:38:39

and the creature immediately

1:38:42

gives this horrible sucking sound and

1:38:45

reaches back and grabs your arm and pulls you

1:38:47

from it. You can see now this

1:38:49

kind of like cinder-like flame now

1:38:51

currently burns deep within like the

1:38:54

embers deep on the inside of a mostly

1:38:56

burned chunk of wood, and that gives

1:38:58

that continuous like pain-sucking sound.

1:39:01

Grrr! I'm out the

1:39:03

window! But it has grabbed you, and

1:39:05

as it does, you feel this

1:39:07

kind of like

1:39:09

sense of darkness begin to come over your eyes

1:39:11

as one of its arms wraps around your

1:39:13

face, encompasses your head, and

1:39:15

you take a bleed.

1:39:19

But it has now held you, your vision is

1:39:21

now dark, and you feel like you

1:39:24

are being slowly smothered

1:39:26

by the forest floor. I still have my knife, yes? You

1:39:29

do.

1:39:29

I just start prying,

1:39:32

like trying to pry whatever is around

1:39:34

my face. Okay, you

1:39:37

can make a strike or a control

1:39:39

test on this. You

1:39:43

all hear that horrible grrrrrr

1:39:46

sound, like it is deep and

1:39:49

vibrating the very wood of this entire house.

1:39:52

Have

1:39:52

we woken up yet? Have I

1:39:54

like done? Oh yeah, you're starting to catch your breath here,

1:39:56

but all of you are like looking to see where Charlotte's

1:39:58

going to come. Can I have my gun out of the red, up to the

1:40:00

window. MATT This container, all you see is shadow within the interior of this

1:40:02

window. You hear the sound. And

1:40:04

start running back into the house. MATT. All right, so you

1:40:06

dart back into the house. BRIAN, MARISHA, and SAM. Can

1:40:09

I be pulling towards, even if it's got a hold

1:40:11

on me, can I be struggling towards the window?

1:40:13

MATT You can struggle towards it, but this creature, you weigh

1:40:16

whatever you weigh. This is

1:40:18

a massive

1:40:22

entity from beyond the flare,

1:40:24

so you get the sense

1:40:26

you probably don't have the advantage of

1:40:29

weight on this, but you do have that dagger still.

1:40:31

You may go ahead and you can roll Strike or Control,

1:40:33

your choice, to try and see if you can maneuver

1:40:35

the blade in a way to carve yourself free

1:40:37

from its wrath. LAURA and BRIAN

1:40:41

I'm going to do Control, Control!

1:40:44

And I'm

1:40:46

going to use a two

1:40:49

drive, which gives me three dice.

1:40:56

Four. MATT 4. Okay. So

1:40:58

you manage to cut yourself free,

1:41:01

but in order to do so, because it's clasped around your face,

1:41:03

your blade cuts up your own cheek

1:41:05

and you feel the blood begin to run, but it's just

1:41:08

enough to find where that

1:41:10

inhuman knuckle

1:41:13

that currently grasps the center of your head

1:41:16

sits, and as you carve it free, the voice once

1:41:18

again, it finds itself being pulled

1:41:21

slightly free and you yank

1:41:23

from its grasp. You do mark a body from cutting yourself

1:41:26

free, but you can still run and leap

1:41:28

from the window. LAURA and BRIAN I

1:41:30

know, we have a nut! Okay. Right, okay. MATT

1:41:33

Now, I would like you to make a move test.

1:41:34

LAURA and BRIAN Of course you would, and I'm going to spend my...

1:41:37

MATT I will give you an extra die on this because you now have

1:41:39

two friends below that are waiting for you and have been patiently

1:41:41

expecting your drop. LAURA and BRIAN I am also

1:41:44

going to take a drive, which is a two.

1:41:50

She says convincingly.

1:41:53

Let me make sure that this is nothing. Yeah,

1:41:56

that's nothing I can do.

1:41:59

I'm going to use a resistance. Oh,

1:42:03

no. You can do this, you

1:42:05

can do this. Five. Yes. Five.

1:42:08

Okay.

1:42:10

You hit the ground, both of you catch

1:42:12

her, and you don't

1:42:13

mark your body. You catch

1:42:16

her, your foot sprains a little bit, but you catch

1:42:18

yourself, and you hear her impact from behind, just

1:42:20

as you enter the house and turn around, you see her drop just

1:42:22

beyond that window.

1:42:23

I'll

1:42:26

grab one of the lanterns that was next to the door,

1:42:28

inside the cabin, and come running out.

1:42:30

Okay. You come darting out to the rest

1:42:32

of you. You all catch her, and

1:42:34

right as you look up, you can see the

1:42:38

arms of this creature itself, this tiny

1:42:40

window. It's like watching a

1:42:43

full nightmare jack Skellington emerge

1:42:46

from the outside of this window. It's limbs, almost

1:42:48

like ten feet long on their own, and

1:42:50

you're uncertain if it's limited to just two. It's

1:42:52

just this massive, kind of twisted beard of

1:42:54

black roots, and that one glowing source

1:42:57

of orange light at space that's like flashing with

1:42:59

intensity as it crawls out onto

1:43:01

the roof, staring down at you. Fire,

1:43:03

fire, fire. Is

1:43:06

he coming after us, or just staring? What

1:43:09

are you doing? I want to search the

1:43:11

back of the farm as quickly as

1:43:13

I'm running, of course, to see if they

1:43:16

keep animals, and if they might have

1:43:19

a surrey or horses,

1:43:21

by any chance, is specifically what I'm looking for. Go ahead and make

1:43:23

a survey test for me.

1:43:24

Here are his bodies out here, too, right? Yeah,

1:43:27

everything's out. Yeah, we got two bodies, one in

1:43:29

front, one in back, and I'm going to see if they got horses and

1:43:31

a surrey. I'll

1:43:35

spend a drive. For

1:43:38

three. Okay. Mad

1:43:42

fail. Was 0-1-1-3. Ooh.

1:43:47

Do you have a resist? I don't. No,

1:43:49

I don't have one. You glance around off the side,

1:43:52

looking around, and you know

1:43:54

for orchards they often have

1:43:56

some beasts of burden to help both with carrying

1:43:58

or... people that want

1:44:01

to come through and toward the orchard and such. But

1:44:03

it's too dark at this point and you're too frazzled, and

1:44:05

right as you're glancing over,

1:44:07

cutting

1:44:09

off your vision, the entity drops

1:44:12

down like this small cluster. It almost

1:44:14

seems to widen out onto the ground

1:44:16

like a batch

1:44:19

of dried swampland that just spills out

1:44:21

and then rises once more, its face turning back towards

1:44:23

you.

1:44:24

Did you

1:44:26

want me to shoot it or are we running? I'm

1:44:29

going to take the lantern and throw it at its feet to try

1:44:31

to catch it on fire. Yes.

1:44:33

All right. For

1:44:35

this, I will say you can roll a strike or control depending

1:44:38

on your going for it. I will definitely use

1:44:40

the control. I will

1:44:42

throw or? I

1:44:44

will help. How are you helping? I'm

1:44:47

helping by... It's

1:44:53

right there! Don't you see

1:44:55

it? It's right there! Thank

1:45:01

you, Margaret! I can touch my gun trained

1:45:04

on him.

1:45:05

And I'm

1:45:07

helping out in case... Five?

1:45:10

There we go! Five. Okay. As

1:45:13

you pull back the lantern and throw

1:45:16

it in the air, walking

1:45:18

forward, you begin to back away as the

1:45:20

creature from the inside of its like

1:45:22

metal mass of a torso, its arm

1:45:25

reaches out and grabs you in the face and

1:45:27

begins to wrap around. You take immediately

1:45:29

a bleed.

1:45:29

Immediately! That's right in

1:45:32

the face! May I? Maybe

1:45:36

in helping, shooting the lantern so

1:45:38

it maybe tries to get bigger. Yes, you may.

1:45:42

As it grasps you, the lantern in the middle

1:45:44

of the air, you take aim here and

1:45:46

just a little bit of the moonlight that hits you like...

1:45:48

You breathe out. Fire,

1:45:51

the heavy sound of the gunshot, eliminates

1:45:55

the silence that surrounds this chaos

1:45:57

here in the center of the field and you watch the lantern

1:45:59

suddenly burn.

1:45:59

and the oil ignites

1:46:02

as it spills onto this entity.

1:46:04

The flames begin to whip around it and immediately

1:46:07

you hear,

1:46:08

it withdraws and pulls its hand away

1:46:11

from Howard and immediately darts off and

1:46:14

crawls away behind the farm.

1:46:16

This fire began to

1:46:18

catch on the outskirts of it. What are you doing? We

1:46:21

have to

1:46:21

get away? We have to go. Run.

1:46:23

Fire. Are there any more lanterns that we can grab on

1:46:25

our way out? You can go back in the house and grab some

1:46:27

if you want. We should go and grab all

1:46:29

the fire candles, anything we can find. Any

1:46:32

fire sources. Okay. You

1:46:34

all rush in and go ahead and there are two

1:46:37

more oil lanterns in there. There's the two

1:46:39

that you saw when you first walked in and there's one that's over by the fireplace.

1:46:42

That feels like it's a lot more empty, but there's some in

1:46:44

there. Some. Just grab it all. All

1:46:46

right. You go ahead and grab that. That's three oil lanterns at

1:46:48

your disposal. And

1:46:51

you have two bodies, one that's unconscious and

1:46:53

one that's not responding. What do you do?

1:46:55

Is it possible to try to

1:46:57

drag them with us? That's God. That's how it's hard. I'll run

1:46:59

around the front. Vincent's a big

1:47:02

boy. Vincent's a pretty, he's a solid 200.

1:47:05

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1:47:07

Howard's gonna do like a dead man's

1:47:09

carry, dip his arm in, put his arm

1:47:12

over arm and put this guy on his back.

1:47:14

Okay. Out of guilt and necessity.

1:47:17

And as I do, I'm mumbling to myself, certainly

1:47:20

I would think that that orchard of his size would have

1:47:23

some sort of beast of burning. And I'll use

1:47:25

well read from my previous role that

1:47:29

says when I'm highly educated and retain knowledge better than

1:47:31

most, when I use an intuition to make a role, if I fail

1:47:33

the role, which I did miserably, I get my,

1:47:36

any intuition I use back.

1:47:38

So I get my drive back. You get your drive back, yeah.

1:47:40

That's great. I grab Kara,

1:47:43

same. Okay, Kara's on your back. Slow.

1:47:46

And you all begin to trek in the direction where you

1:47:49

came from. How far was this from the train depot

1:47:51

to the house? It

1:47:52

was about a 20, 25 minute walk. Okay.

1:47:57

Okay, so mile, mile, mile.

1:48:01

I'm assuming we're on an orchard, there will

1:48:03

be sticks. Oh, yeah, easy

1:48:06

to grab. Then I'm gonna grab a couple sticks and light

1:48:08

them on fire, try to make a,

1:48:10

you know, a torch.

1:48:13

Okay, it's gonna be a little challenging to do on the go, but

1:48:15

you are carrying two bodies, which is about the space to

1:48:17

be able to do it, so I'll allow it, yeah. Okay. So

1:48:20

now we have like an extra light source. I'm

1:48:22

gonna hold the torch out behind us as we're walking

1:48:25

just in case it is trying to follow. Okay,

1:48:29

you all continue forward, trudging

1:48:31

through back the scarlet woods beyond the orchard,

1:48:34

this darkened space, exhausted

1:48:36

some of you feeling the remnants of the bleed. Really, we have

1:48:38

that shot done right now. Yeah, yeah. Now,

1:48:40

as you've come into this moment, that

1:48:43

remnants of the bleed begins to really seep in.

1:48:45

I believe the two that really

1:48:48

took it were you two, correct? Yeah.

1:48:51

I would like you both to explain how the bleed

1:48:53

begins to affect you now that you've had a moment

1:48:56

to think on the experience.

1:48:59

I immediately start seeing again that

1:49:02

crack in the sky, and

1:49:07

I can't tell what's happening now and

1:49:10

what was happening then, but I'm seeing

1:49:12

the same kind of, I'm just seeing

1:49:15

the reliving the house being sucked

1:49:17

through, but this particular creature with its

1:49:19

hair like tendrils being the one grabbing the house

1:49:21

and crumpling it in

1:49:22

its hands. Alrighty, Howard. If

1:49:25

you've known Howard, you would've always thought that

1:49:28

he had a twitch in his left eye, but

1:49:30

he doesn't until now, and he's,

1:49:33

just occasionally he's blinking

1:49:35

something out, not pervasive, not all the time, blinking

1:49:38

something out of his eye and it's just this little

1:49:40

phosphorescent blue glow

1:49:43

that he just can't seem to get out of the field of his vision

1:49:45

and it's really

1:49:47

irritating. Got it. But it's not there all the

1:49:49

time, but it's annoying. You

1:49:51

have roughly at the pace

1:49:53

you're going, about 10 or so

1:49:55

minutes before you exit the scarlet

1:49:58

woods themselves, and now,

1:49:59

With the entirety of the daylight

1:50:02

gone, the once beautiful

1:50:04

redwood is imposing

1:50:06

and frightening. You can hear

1:50:09

the sound of the crickets now amplified

1:50:11

in the middle of this tension. Other creatures

1:50:14

and birds of prey occasionally talking,

1:50:17

speaking to each other, the hunters of the night communicating,

1:50:21

and while that's stressful enough, nothing prepares you,

1:50:24

for they all go quiet. Hmm.

1:50:31

Run, run.

1:50:34

Where is it coming from? In

1:50:37

front of us or behind us? You are uncertain

1:50:39

the direction of where it comes from. It just seems to be emanating

1:50:42

from the nearby trees. Can we pick up our pace? Yep,

1:50:44

yep, yep, yep. Okay, who's

1:50:46

leading? Who's got

1:50:48

the good survey? I will, I'm

1:50:51

leading. And me? I'm assuming.

1:50:53

I'm in the back. You're leading? Yeah. Okay.

1:50:56

Are you trying to keep everyone running quickly,

1:50:58

or are you trying to keep an eye out for any danger?

1:51:01

Oh fuck. Trying

1:51:03

to keep an eye out for any danger, and also

1:51:07

making sure we're going in the right direction.

1:51:08

Okay, go ahead and make a survey test, I still

1:51:10

don't mind. Five.

1:51:17

Five, okay. Glancing around,

1:51:19

you can see now, especially at this time

1:51:21

of the night, the path is less visible

1:51:23

without the colors to really help you hear. Beyond

1:51:26

just the firelight you have, the

1:51:29

various pops of vibrant reds

1:51:31

and browns all just become a dull

1:51:34

gray with an orange hue. And at times

1:51:36

you fear, in the midst of this stressful journey,

1:51:38

you almost lose the path a few times, but you make

1:51:41

sure you get back onto it. You

1:51:43

also can hear the breaking of sticks and

1:51:45

branches to the left

1:51:46

of where you stand. And at the corner of your

1:51:49

eye, you see just the faintest bit of that orange

1:51:51

glow, as suddenly something

1:51:55

strikes out from the side of the wood, try

1:51:57

to grasp you. You see it just in time dodge out of the way.

1:51:59

but you feel something claw at your shoulder and

1:52:02

you almost tumble to the ground as you take a mark to

1:52:04

your body. Dude, guys, that's three. That's

1:52:07

three? Three for you, three body? Oh, god.

1:52:10

One more to do.

1:52:12

Can I, as that happens, I grab

1:52:14

one of the lanterns and I. You would have

1:52:17

one in your hand, because there's three lanterns. And I

1:52:19

just lash out at it with

1:52:22

the, like as if to break the fire.

1:52:25

So you're just, are you. Well, I'll just throw it, yeah. Throwing

1:52:27

it in that direction, like towards a tree. Towards