Critical Role - Cinderbrush: A Monsterhearts Story (A Critical Role One-Shot)

Episode Date: February 21, 2020

Welcome to our special Valentine's Day Monsterhearts one-shot! Four teenagers take on the horrors of high school - hormones, social cliques, teen angst... Oh, and they're also monsters.Meet the Cast:Master of Ceremonies Matthew Mercer: https://twitter.com/matthewmercerTaliesin Jaffe as Jamie Wrenly: https://twitter.com/executivegothAshley Johnson as Cameron Solomon: https://twitter.com/TheVulcanSaluteErika Ishii as Sasha Murasaki: https://twitter.com/erikaishiiAlly Beardsley as Abigail 'AF' Flowers: https://twitter.com/agbeardsleyCheck out Monsterhearts creator, Avery Alder: https://twitter.com/lackingceremonyGet the physical version of Monsterhearts 2 here: https://gumroad.com/averyalder#UMJzMDownload the Monsterhearts 2 PDF at: https://critrole.com/monsterheartsThis is an affiliate link and Critical Role may be compensated for purchases made. Thank you so much for your support! And don't miss out on our official Cinderbrush logo sticker: https://shop.critrole.com

Hey there, Critters! Welcome to Cinderbrush, a Monster Hearts story. This is Matthew Mercer, the Master of Ceremonies, for this special Valentine's Day one-shot on the Critical Role podcast network. This one-shot uses the Monster Hearts 2 system, and if you'd like to learn more about how the game works, you can find our special Handbooker Helper episode at youtube.com slash criticalrole. If you're interested in running your own game featuring monster-enhanced teenage angst, download the PDF version of Monster Hearts 2 at critrole.com slash monsterhearts. Word to the wise, this is an affiliate link, so Critical Role may be compensated for purchases made. Thank you for your support. And without further ado, let's jump into Cinderbrush, a Monster Hearts story.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Critical Role's Monster Hearts One-Shot, here for this Valentine's Day celebration. Ah-woo! There you go. We got some house in the room. So welcome, welcome. Before we jump in, a couple things to go over. If you hadn't seen the handbook or helper that we just previewed before the livestream of this, you can check out on our YouTube channel for all the details and in-depth elements of the rule set for Monster Hearts.

But to give you an overview of what the game's about, Monster Hearts is a tabletop RPG created by Avery Alder that is designed to tell stories about the messy, angsty lives of teenagers. Teenagers who are struggling with social identity, gender identity, sexuality, and the pressures of a body that is changing beyond their control, teenagers who also secretly happen to be monsters, an allegorical web spun between all these various themes to create a nice, messy, chaotic narrative. Much of tonight's story will likely be very funny. Much of it will likely be delightfully awkward. Some of it may go very, very dark. And some of it may be very raw and real,

in the same way that the best kind of young adult fiction, and sometimes the best worst young adult fiction can be. But, well, we all trust each other at the table, and we will not cross any lines that are uncomfortable between us. Any themes or any moments that require you to step away, that's totally okay. Just letting you know. Cool.

So before we jump into the specifics here, we also have a seating chart that we arranged. It's part of the rules of the game in which the players got to create a number of NPC students that are part of their class. We'll get to that as part of this, but we did it ahead of the game so we can jump further into the narrative.

But if you ever get a chance to play the game, it's a cool part of the setup that I think is pretty rad. Let's go ahead and introduce our players who are at the table. Beginning with the left here, we have our wonderful Ashley Johnson. Yay, hello! We have Eriki Ishii.

Hello! A little show for you. Taliesin Jaffe. Hello! Thank you. Oh. Taliesin Jaffe. Ow! Thank you. Oh my god, look at you! And joining us for the first time

in the Critical Role family, we have Allie Beardsley. You know them from their amazing work with College Humor for a number of years, as well as Dimension 20, and we're so happy to have you. I'm thrilled to be here. So. I love that this is your first game here. Yeah.

It's a way to dive in. I was reading the rules and I was like, hmm, are four people coming on to me? We'll find out. Yes. That turns out, yes. So let's not delay this too much, for there is a lot of narrative angsty story to tell.

So let's go ahead and jump into tonight's Cinder Brush, A Monster Heart Story. We'll be right back. Thank you. Welcome. My name is Matthew Mercer, and I will be the emcee or master of ceremonies for tonight's game of Monster Hearts. Welcome to Cinderbrush Hills, a sleepy town in the middle of nowhere, Arizona, born from the arid desert highways that pass between the neighboring cities. Cinderbrush Hills is a small, insular community of nearly 7,000 people that straddles the line between taking pride in its slower, isolated way of life since its founding in the 50s, and its desperate struggle to catch up to the 21st century. Much of the local economy subsists on the nearby oil fields, the local quarry, and the menagerie of small businesses

that maintain the town between the tract housing and the strip malls. 25 miles away from the nearest major city of Vertuga, most of the locals spend their time distracting themselves with drink, small-town gossip, and drama. And nowhere is drama more persistent than at Cinderbrush High. Here, within the stretching quads of browning grass and recently renovated school buildings, the morning homeroom bell sends students rushing to their first class of the day. It's been a week since summer ended,

and the students are still rapidly catching up on what adventures, rumors, and debauchery colored their vacation. Some stayed local, lamenting the drudgery of this desert town on social media. Others now touting their driver's licenses and secondhand cars privately tell tales of their underage mischief in the big city. And others still carry darker secrets they wish to keep hidden from the light. It's here in this mix of social anxiety, raging hormones, and the messy want to discover one's true self that our story begins. As the bell rings out across the quad,

students rushing, grabbing their packs, going to the lockers and grabbing their books for their first class, bumping past each other, you can already see the wide array of people, tall, short, all manner of colors and all manner of personalities in that weird, tumultuous incubation period of figuring out who they're going to be as a person

and all the conflict that entails. As we step into Mr. Kempler's homeroom classroom, students start washing in and finding their seats, beginning with Sasha, if you'd like to describe and introduce yourself and what we see. Sasha Murasaki is a first-generation here in the town of Cinderbrush.

She is perfectly perfect in every way. School president, captain of the debate team, very involved in all the school activities. She has long silver ombre hair. She usually wears something very conservative on the surface, nothing that would break the school code, but skirts are a little short, thigh highs are a little high. Just something fun, if you're looking. As Sasha finds her seat at the front of the class, you also see that she is flanked by three other figures.

Cory Brooks, who is this incredibly statuesque model of a high school student who is well known for actually beginning her modeling career at the age of 15 in the nearby city of Vertuga, who has a very strong social media presence and is one of what students refer to as the Hive, the collective of three friends that are never seen far from following the footsteps of Sasha Murasaki. You also see Lexi Wembles, who is the salutatorian of the class and was the formal rival of Sasha's until, through some strange moment last year, she instead became her best friend and has aided her in all of her endeavors.

Best aides. Mm-hmm. Trailing, then, is Jesse Zimmerman. He's known as the bored playboy of the school, rich parents that constantly travel in and out of town to one of the other major cities in Arizona, he's left to his own devices with a fair amount of money and no oversight. They all find their seats as other students begin to rush in and find their places here amongst the whole room of Mr. Kempler's class.

Yes. Wow. Behind there, we see a figure rush quickly to try not gather too much attention, lost in thought, Cameron. I am Cameron Solomon. Really fucking handsome. Like, just super fucking hot.

All-star quarterback, straight-A student, at least used to be, come from the Solomon family, which they sort of run the quarry a little bit outside of town. Was kind of, used to be the quintessential poster child for Cinderbrush, but something happened over the summer and he used to date Sasha for two years, but they broke up recently. He's not star material anymore. As you sit down, you take a moment to take in the students as they rush in.

You can look across and see Sasha discussing amongst her hive some heightened energy conversation, but hush enough where you can't catch it. You're not entirely sure, but you're pretty sure it probably has something to do with you and the recent breakup, and you sink a little deeper into your seat.

I catch Cameron looking, and there's just a split second of direct eye contact where I cross and uncross my legs. And I go back to my conversation. All right. Towards the end of the final moments of the Home Bell catching the beginning of class, we see a darker figure in clothing and presence enter.

Jamie. Jamie Renly enters. They've got, that's right, I'm attempting a they. They've got better shit to do than to be here. Jamie's from a divorced family. Their mom works at the local police station. Their dad lives in New York and they spend time there, which is why they have good shit

and everybody else has shitty shit. If you need something, they can definitely get it for you. And they don't really have friends, they have associates. Jamie takes their place in the far, far, far back corner of the classroom. Not far after, the fourth of our group of characters enters the newer student, having arrived here just last week with the first week of school,

to a couple of stares and some hushed whispers as they step into the room, you see Aph, or Abigail Flowers. Yeah, my name's Aph. I'm brutally lost, but I'm not letting anybody know. I'm just kind of trying to, I walked into two of the wrong classrooms before this, but I'm pretty sure this is my actual classroom. And my name's not fucking Abigail,

okay? It's Af. Those are my initials. Call me Af. And yeah, so far school's been kind of a nightmare, but maybe it'll be cool. Hi. I run to my seat. As Aph runs over and sits down and finds your seat, you get down kind of in a similar way to Cameron, slink down a bit, both recognizing Cameron with a quick glance of recognition. Yeah, I know Cameron.

I look over, give a quick smile over my shoulder. And out of the peripheral, you see a familiar face just dart in and go, hey! You see the familiar look of student Amanda Beltman, this sweet, excitable, no other better way to describe her than the horse girl of the class. She has this dark brunette hair that's pulled into a tight braid

that goes over one shoulder, a denim button-up shirt that's tucked into her high jeans. She wears riding boots to school, and you're like, we're in Arizona. But she knows what she likes, and she was the first person, when you came here last week, for the first week of school, to introduce herself

and excitedly show you around, for whatever that means. Yeah. Kind of my only friend, so hey, what's up? Hey, I've been hearing rumors about something that happened last week, but I mean, it couldn't possibly be. What do you mean? About me?

Yeah, yeah, I mean, I'm just curious, because, and at that moment, the door opens about 30 seconds after the homeroom bell kicks off. Walking through, you see, wearing the cinder brush high letterman jacket, the somewhat tall, handsome, square-jawed figure of Jason Buckner. He has dark short hair,

a little bit of scruff going on, in a way that some boys in school at this age get beards way too young. But what everyone's looking at is the large purple welt on the right side of his face that wraps around his eye that has been poorly hidden by concealer as he heads straight to his seat. As he does, he stops for a moment and looks directly to Aph, and then sits down. Okay.

There's an awkward silence, and then immediately the room just rushes into whispers as everyone begins talking amongst themselves. The door opens at that moment of silence once again, as Mr. Kempler enters the room. After all, this is his home room. You see a tall gentleman, tanned, younger. This is his second year teaching,

and like ever, let alone at this school. He went ahead and went to college on the East Coast. He seems to be from the Greater New York area and relocated to Arizona. He has a little bit of a sore thumb as a teacher, but he seems nice and honest and generally trying to help these kids out and I don't think was at all prepared for what was waiting for him when he moved here.

So he steps in. Students, hey. Good morning, thank you for being prompt. I, uh, I'm going to go ahead and do some roll call here. Hope everyone had a good weekend. He goes and finds his seat and sits down. All right, so,

U.S. history, right, that's what I'm doing. Got your books. Hope you did your reading over the weekend. And I'll roll call, right. He starts going through the list here and starts calling people's names. All right, we have... Cory Brooks.

Present. Jason Buckner. Just raises a hand quietly. Amanda Beltman. Oh, Amanda turns around from looking at you and, Here. We have Abigail Flowers. I throw my book.

Hey! Hey! I'm sorry. I'm sorry. My name's Aph. That was a mistake. That was a mistake. That was a bird. Everyone in the class looks at all the closed windows on the left-hand side of the room. The bird was in here overnight.

I was just trying to get it. I saw it, too. Thank you. All right, Aph Flowers. And continues to go through the roll call. The droning of names goes on and on, at which point, Amanda turns back. So you did that?

Yeah. I was watching a lot of prison documentaries, and they said you just got to hit the biggest guy when you get in if you want any respect. And so I did that, yeah. That's so cool. Oh, thank you. What did it feel like?

It was crazy. I've never hit somebody before. Oh my god, I've hit so many people. I won't hit you though. Thanks. I don't hit friends. I don't. We're friends?

Yeah, I mean, you're really cool. You're really, yeah, you're really cool. You're really into your stable, and I think that's cool. Awesome. Yeah. Awesome. At this point in time, the Hive has turned and are fixated. After hearing the different rumors

about what transpired at the weekend, the confirmation of Jason entering the classroom, adorning his shiner, definitely sets a wave of chuckles throughout the surrounding troupe. Jossie leans in and goes, I can't believe this shit. New girl just takes him out in one hit? What a football team Cinderbrush High

fucking holds onto, right? This is very interesting. F flowers, hm? I think that, according to what they were saying there, yeah, he puts his fingers through his hair and looks back. We'll have to do our entrance exam. Right. Lexi leans into Fick thinks, that can be arranged.

When do you think's the best way to make that happen? Hmm. Lunch. You're not sitting with anybody yet. All three heads turn at once and look towards Af, and then back to each other with a nod. Jason. You know, Corey could probably help with the Foundation work there.

And she sits there and stews, which points for you, Cameron, Amy Reyes, the really sweet loner girl of the class, keeps to her own and sits in front of you, spins around, not really taking in the information around her. You can see that, of all the people, she's probably one of the least connected socially

at this place and likes it that way, but you've been paying her to do your homework for her for some time. She spins around and just. I'm fucking busy at night. Slips you. So much stuff. Slips you a couple of pieces of notebook paper under the table. I got you.

Hey, thanks. How much do you want? It's the beginning of school, you know? It's just, uh... I'll just say you owe me a favor. Come on, come on. I get... I have money.

Okay. Forty bucks. Forty? Here. How about fifty bucks? Okay? She thinks it. Just make sure you don't tell anybody. Here. How about 50 bucks, okay? She thinks so. Just make sure you don't tell anybody.

No. Uh. You just said you do. Cool. Amelia turns back around as Mr. Kempler stands up and begins going into his U.S. history beginning. All right, everyone, so since we've done a bit of our reading on the turn of the century growing of challenging warfare

in the European front and how that affected the American entrance in the World War I, we're going to go ahead and begin to discuss the elements of trench warfare, and immediately, people begin to phase out a bit. Kids are looking at their phones under their desk. You get the sense Mr. Kempler has no grasp of how to control the students in his class quite yet,

but also doesn't want to broach that issue. Jason turns around to you, Cameron, after a moment glancing over. Just trying to make a bit of a look in your way, nudging towards Aph. That's a pretty big shiner. What the fuck, right?

What'd you do? Nothing. Fucking nothing. What happened? Talk later. Why are you covering it up like a fucking weirdo? Shut up. He goes back to looking down. Is there anything you guys wish to do

during the class period? Mary Raho is sitting in front of me. Correct. And I don't think we have a thing, but I just, I know she's really anti-violent, so I just want to talk to her just really quick. Okay. Hey.

It's okay. Sorry if I scared you when I threw my book at that loose bird. You know, it's fine, as long as the bird's okay. I'm sure it's fine. Yeah, I'm sure. All right, all right, all right. That was crazy, right?

I was just trying to help the bird, actually. It wasn't an outburst. It was charity, and it was humanitarian. Look, that's pretty amazing. I love charity. Me too. I do a lot of charity work. So did you actually hit him?

Yes. Yeah. It was, it was, it's a long story. He, honestly, I was just trying, I'm not a violent person, okay? I just sometimes am violent. But you know what I mean?

Like, I'm really good at being violent. So sometimes I kind of, you know, like lean back on that. But in my core, I'm not violent. There are, I'm pretty sure, some counseling classes that you could take as part of the school here. I just don't think. Yeah, I'm in youth anger management. Okay, good.

I look at Cameron briefly. I just look out the window. It's really helping me, and I love going to it, and I can't get enough of the counselors and the staff that are there. I think they're doing good work with me. I snap my pencil. Oh, god! Just talk about it next time.

If you need to talk to somebody, I'm here. Oh my gosh, I would love that, yeah. That's so crazy. I got a flower for you. That's crazy, right, yeah. It's kind of squished. Yeah. But yeah. Just from the front quad?

Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Awkward moment fades a bit. I pick up my pencil pieces and try to fit them back together. Perfect. I text. I mostly am very engaged in the lecture, but I'm just taking all the right notes,

asking all the right questions. Oh, go on, please. What about economic support? Oh yeah, no, no. Well, it was a bit scattered at the time. There were a lot of out and just goes on. Right, but underneath, I text Jamie, Fresh Meat, that's it. I text back on it, and then I'm going to text to Cameron,

need to confirm, did New Kid fuck up Jason? Question mark. I text back, confirmed. New kid fucked up Jason real good. I turn to Evan. New kid, man. I think there's maybe a possible school paper entry waiting to happen.

Talk to your sister. Let's make it happen. Talk to your sister. Let's make it happen. He looks over and sizes up a bit, looks back at you. I text to Sasha. Definitely interesting. Entrance exam at lunch. Blackheart. Homeward class eventually comes to a close.

The bell goes off, and the first, this is a blocked school, so the two-hour class periods heads into an early recess. Brief pass out in the center of the streets. Second class goes on with, this would be Miss Neera Patel, your biology teacher. At this point, everyone's more focused in the trying to catch up over elements of the summer

and recent events, so by the end of the biology class, nothing seems to have really sunken in necessarily for at least this trip. What are we learning in biology? Currently right now it would be probably deep ocean. Tight. Uh. Various creatures without spines.

Squishy things. Ocean shit. Ocean shit, there you go. Cool bioluminescence. Yeah. It's a beautiful topic if you pay attention. And then the lunch bell rings. Students scatter and find their places

amongst the quads in the lunch area where their standard social cliques go and sit and prepare themselves. I walk up to Aph. Hey, how you doing? Good, how are you doing, man? I'm good. How's it feeling?

Yeah, this place is pretty crazy, but yeah, how are you? I mean, I don't know that much, but I heard you went through, like, a crazy breakup or whatever. Yeah, it's okay. I mean... Women, am I right? Yeah. I get it.

Yeah. Yeah. She's cool. Yeah, cool. She's good. I think, uh... I don't know. I think we were just together for a long time

and maybe just needed some time apart. Mm. Do you have anybody to sit with at lunch? Um, no, not right now. Well, I have a couple options. I could go sit with Anna and talk about Syria, or I could go out on the grass where Amanda's picking grass to feed to horses.

Yeah, she's like a horse chick. She's super into horse shit. At this point. Not like horse shit, but like horse stuff. Yeah, horse shit. The click, and I swoop up around to Af and Cameron. Hey. Hi, Af, right?

Yeah, that's me. You're new. Yeah, I am. Where we fucking go? I'm Sasha. Hi. Cameron. Hi, Sasha.

How you doing? I'm great, how are you? Great then, excellent, good. Af, do you wanna sit with us today? Yeah, come on, excellent, good. Do you want to sit with us today? Yeah, come on, sit with us. Um, it can be hard, you know, learning the ropes at school,

and you know, as student body president, it's sort of my job to be outreach. It's important to make friends. Okay, I would actually really like that, because I've been hanging out with Amanda Beltman, and she pretends like she knows all the gossip of the school, but almost all of it has been wrong. Yeah.

It's very sweet of her. I appreciate that she's kind of the welcome wagon, but yeah, if you want to know what's really happening, we can get you all sorted out. Yeah, I'm honestly so confused. Yeah, I would really appreciate that. Yeah, you're very good at sort of getting people where they need to go.

I walk over. The hell, I thought we were getting some shit done over lunch, I thought that was the fucking plan. What's this? Busy right now, meeting new friends. Oh, I'm so sorry. Do you not want to get shit done then? That's fine.

I have other things I could be doing. In fact, for that matter, hi, and I'm going to sit down next to you. Have a good lunch. Kisses. You'll have fun. You'll learn a lot from them. Um, okay. I just want you all to know

that there wasn't actually a bird. Oh. What the fuck did I see then? I just, I wasn't sure if you were lying for me, but I wanted to say thank you. Oh, I was lying, not for you, but I'm glad you got something out of it, too. Okay, cool. All right, well, we're off to a great start.

As Jamie begins to talk more intently towards Af, you can watch as Corey Brooks, the model of the troupe, reaches forward and just takes Af's hand and goes, Come on, and drags you along to pull you away from this little social circle. Cool. More later.

Fine. Oh. Cameron. Sasha. And I sweep off with the rest of the click. Gross. Okay. Holy fuck. Wow.

How was your weekend? Uneventful, apparently. How was your weekend? Did you see that shit go down, or are you just hearing about it? No, I just heard about it. Fuck. It took me good money to see that. Yeah, I can't believe they did that. Someone filmed it. Really?

How can someone have not? Did Jason say anything? I haven't talked to anybody. I don't know anything. I've just been— What prompted it? Did he say anything? I haven't talked to anybody. I don't know anything. I've just been... What prompted it? Like, did he say something to F and then... I mean, it's Jason. He was going to get punched eventually.

God, I know I've had my fair share of fights with him. I mean, we don't hang out much anymore, but... I didn't see you much this weekend in you know where. Yeah, my mom needed help this weekend, and I wanted to come out there. I just couldn't. That's cool, that's cool. My parents are being kind of weird.

Fuck that shit. Yeah. Well, if you have time this weekend, I'm going back Friday night, but if I can get away again, if it's up to you, honestly, if you want to try and make a thing of it, I'll make a thing of it. Yeah, I'd like to make a thing of it. Yeah.

Yeah? What else is there to fucking do? That's fucking right. It's right about this point, that at the corner of your eye, you see a familiar figure step up and begin walking across the center of the lunch quad area. You can see Jason Buckner, fists clenched, beelining over towards the table where Ath is currently now being sat, along with Sasha and her hive. Dude, here we go. Shit. currently now being set along with Sasha and her hive.

Dude, here we go. Shit. I should sit back, arms folded, watch. Sasha, she, her. Cool. Cory, she, her. Lexi, she, her. Jessie, he, him. Awesome.

Af. They, them, actually, yeah. Really? It's not, I haven't told a lot of people, but yeah, I feel more comfortable with that. So this is new for you? Yeah. Congratulations.

Hey, thanks. Since this is a new school, new start, we'll spread it around. Oh my god, that would mean so much to me, honestly. I barely talk to anyone, you know, so pronouns are kind of hard to get out there without like a pin or something. Yeah, maybe we should institute a policy about that. It'd be nice. Wow, you are incredible. Sometimes.

Watch out for me, though. Okay. Okay. Af, what makes you happy? What? What makes you happy? What? What makes you happy? I'm sorry, I hope that's not too forward. I just find it's better to cut out

with all of the extraneous garbage. Oh, well, I, yeah, what makes me happy? You know, I had a... Right at that moment, you see the large, wide-shouldered shape of Jason Buckner begin to approach from behind Aaf as a big hand goes onto their shoulder and goes,

Hey. You turn around and look up and you can see the familiar face, kind of eyes tense, jaw clenched. So what was that about, bitch? Huh? Jason Buckner, mind your manners. You're telling that to me? Yes, I said your full name and everything.

I just want answers, all right? This came out of fucking nowhere. Aph? Yeah, well, you seem pretty big, pretty intimidating, and I just wanted to show that so am I. I feel like there are more constructive ways of doing that than just, you know, decking someone, I didn't do anything to you.

Okay, yeah, sure, I... At this point, a bigger dude comes up, wearing the same football jacket over, and gets between you two and goes, hey, hey, this is completely uncalled for, This is a way to perpetuate violence against women, Jason. Back down. You know this to be Terrence Michaels, who is the largest and probably dumbest of the football team. He is what you would call dumb-woke. He pushes back and says, Just hang off, okay? All right? Personal space.

Consent. And he pushes back and says, Just hang off, okay? All right, personal space consent. That's super nice of you, Terrence. I don't necessarily identify as a woman, but your heart was in the right place. I was unaware. Oh yeah, yeah, it's a new thing, actually. We were just talking about maybe spreading it around a little bit.

If we ever want to talk about it sometime, like, just let me know. With you? Well, yeah, I mean, I'm open. I'm cool, I'm hip. Yeah. My older sister, she's one of them gay girls. She went to college, and I listen,

and I'm all about just whatever makes people happy. Oh, that's shockingly open. An exemplary ally. Wow, that's great. open. An exemplary ally. Wow, that's great. Thank you, I appreciate that. Yes, thank you, Terrance. I do appreciate that. Jason, I'm terribly sorry.

It seems like there's some sort of misunderstanding here. Aph is new in town, and you're just so big and strong and kind of intimidating, so you can understand why F would feel a little threatened. Yeah, I guess, I get it, but. You know, you pick the biggest, toughest, baddest guy in school and you pick a fight and it's a way to protect yourself. Just don't do it again, okay?

For sure. If you've got a problem, just say it in my face. Yeah, I'm really good with using my words and not just going straight to physical altercations. All right. He shrugs off Terrance's hand on his shoulder. That is so tragic. Yeah, I know.

Oh my god. Hence the change. This is, I almost missed this. I don This is, I almost missed this. I don't, but I almost missed this. Yeah, but we get to be around it five times a week. I got to get out of here, god. Yeah, me too, man. Terrence turns back and is like,

all right, well, you know, anytime, I'm not a card-carrying member of the patriarchy. I'm a welcome space to discuss feelings. Wow. Have a good day. Yeah, honestly, you too, man. Good luck at practice, Terrence. Thanks, Asha. Welcome to Cinderbrush High.

Thanks. Yeah, I really didn't know anyone coming in besides Cameron, so it's been... You knew Cameron. Yeah, yeah. We've met. Where? How could you possibly know Cameron? Oh, just, like, you know, out in the world at meetings and stuff, you know.

Meetings? No, nothing. Anyway, my astrology app today said to take a chance. Are you single? I am. Cool. That's all I needed to know, I run. You guys watch us, App just like arm sprints,

T-1000s it away from the table. Yes! So what do we think? Jessie's leaning back in the chair and goes, man, there, pretty fucking weird. Lexi goes, I, you know, I'm not going to lie, I think she's sweet. They're sweet.

And see, Kory sits back, looking at her phone. Eh. Mm. Lots of follow-up questions for that one. Interesting. When's the next party, Jessie? Jessie thinks, I don't know, my usual contact got arrested a couple weeks back, so I'm trying to reconnect a little bit, see what I can muster. Parents are still in town, but I'm thinking maybe

mid-October. Okay. All right. Gives me some time. Great. And you know we can always go to Jamie for anything. Jamie, you're going to go to Jamie? Oh, yeah. You trust that creep? I absolutely do not. But he operates, as long as I say he operates, in this school. They all glance over.

You're starting to get the odd sensation that whenever they all turn, it's in almost unison to a specific direction, and they all glance over back towards Jamie and Cameron across at their table. Excuse me, I'm going to go finish up some business with your terrifying axe. Have fun. She's a blast. Don't I know it.

As Jamie begins to approach and takes a seat at your table. Now that you've finished terrorizing the new meat. Terrorizing nothing, I'm just getting to know a new face. Please don't break this one too quickly. Hmm, I don't ever do anything too quickly, Jamie. Just gonna remind you I have my eyes on you. Who doesn't?

Do you want to do this with your little group, or do you want to go talk privately? Let's go chat, shall we? Excuse us. They all just sit and patiently wait for you to leave with a look of, Pod people. They all have one's turned their head. That shit's gross, but that's not why we're here. Why are we here, Jamie?

Just making sure that you're taken care of. You said that we needed to have a little talk, so I'm making myself available. I always make myself available. You and Cameron have been hanging out a lot lately. What have you done with his head? Sasha, there is nothing I can do to that boy's poor fucking head that you haven't already done. I am just enjoying the company of a disaster. A disaster that, from what I can tell, you created.

Well done. No, this one wasn't me. Bullshit. No, this is a whole different kind of mind fuck than I usually give. Hmm. Are you lying to me? Jamie, I would never lie to you.

I lied to everybody, but never to you. Shit. I just assumed I wasn't working with a broken heart then. Never mind. Don't know. Trying to take my mind off things. Trying to take his mind off things. I'm trying to take his mind off things.

It's been working out. But no, nothing you need to worry about. Okay. Anything else cooking? Always, but. Anything I really need to know about? Be careful with the fresh meat. I get the sense it might be more than you bargained for.

Just a vibe. I'm always careful. And if you need a refill of anything, I could use a few things. Okay. In fact, if you have the urge, anything personal of Jason's might be very valuable. Yeah, I think I can arrange something.

Is it at the clubhouse this weekend? I'll be there. Great. All right. Scattering and finishing up your lunches, you head yourselves to your final class of the evening, Sure. Great. All right. Scattering and finishing up your lunches, you head yourselves to your final class of the evening, which is English II with Miss Laura Meyer. Miss Meyer, who is the more theatrical of the class,

teachers bouncing between English and drama, and very much, you can see, one saw herself as the top of the community theater, not too far outside of the city in Arizona, and she begins to go into the review of the themes of the book that you all failed to really begin reading, called Lord of the Flies. She goes on about the conflicting human yearning

for social structure and order with the rational and emotional minds that can easily disagree and sunder it all from the inside? Whatever, they were just fucking hungry. Cameron, did you even read it? Yeah. Did you interpret it? I interpreted it that they were out there

and they were just wanted food. Actually, Cameron, it's more about how man will almost always succumb to his more animalistic urges when left to his own devices without the structure of law and order. An interesting perspective, Sasha. Sasha, I felt that Cameron had the conch there, so he would not be so rude.

Oh. Thank you, Jamie. Excuse me. Sucks to your asthma, Jamie. That's a good point. Is society required to enforce morality? Or is society a construct of enforced morality? That is the point of our conversation in today's class.

She begins to go up to the chalkboard and begins writing a question on the board. Honestly, flies kind of scare me. So I'm always like, is there a dead body around here? What have you heard? What? What? What? Aimee Reyes turns around to you, Cameron,

again and goes, If it's easier, I can tutor you. If you actually wanted to learn, as opposed to just turning in the work. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that would actually be, I mean... Yeah.

Yeah, you want to come over later? Yeah, yeah, I could probably do that. Okay. You know where I live, right? Yeah, do you want to come over later? Yeah, yeah, I could probably do that. Okay. You know where I live, right? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I can also come to your house. You can pick me up? I actually don't have my car right now.

I'll ride over on a bike. Yeah, okay. Okay. And she turns back around quickly. You can see, even with her cold, loner, general demeanor, there's a bit of a risk take here for her reaching out. At this point, there's quiet amongst the conversations. The last bit of the chalk marks are

on the board board and you hear a wave text go through and everyone is looking for their phones. Most nobody, but you see four people that begin to read something on their phone. Jesse Zimmerman of your hive. Jamie, you receive this text. Tyler Thorne, who is the local pseudo-stoner DJ

of the classroom, and Cam. The text reads, What? Oh, what? Stop it! Says, hey fuckers, it's Susie! Escape Shitterbrush tomorrow night and come say hi. Pop-up rave at St. Marin Refinery, 11 p.m. Bring candy, miss you.

Now Susie Moreno was a graduate from last year's senior class here at Cinderbrush High, was well-connected in the Cinderbrush Party scene before moving to Vertuga, and was never socially interested in going against you, Sasha, and for an older classman, just you had an understanding. There was a brief flirtation while you guys were dating

that caused some tension, but mostly just because your family's so well-connected and because you do have money, there was definitely a situation in the past where you've both partied together and she utilized your connections to help get proper locations for parties and elements like that.

Jamie, you know exactly why you guys know each other. But as this goes around and these texts begin to go off, Jamie turns to you, Sasha, and goes, Um, there's some shit going down tonight. And puts the text over towards you. Ooh, roll out in style, then. I, uh, I don't have any candy.

You were mentioning that, you know, freak over there could probably hook us up. Jamie's got whatever we need. Okay. We can go ahead and talk to them. We can put some things together. As, Cameron, you get your text at that point, behind you, you notice at that moment

that Amanda, who sits behind you, is looking over your shoulder and reading it. What the fuck? No, nothing, I was just, I, you know, was watching what Thjis was writing on the board. Yeah, I can feel you breathing on my shoulder. I'm sorry, I'm a heavy breather. It's a condition.

Just get that looked at, dude. At which point, immediately, Amanda turns to you. She goes, Ev, Ev. Yeah, what's up? There's a party happening tonight. What? I just read it on Kim. Kim's phone. party happening tonight. What? I just read it on Kim.

Kim's phone. Oh, cool. I've never been to a party. Actually, me neither. I've barely done anything. Should we? I don't know, it sounds really exciting. Um, okay, I'm feeling wild.

Do we know anything about it? I thankfully have a photographic memory. Oh, cool. Which is kind of what happens. I got the detail. I don't have a car. I have a car. Okay. I have a big truck.

It's stick shift. That is so cool. Thanks. That is so cool. Okay, okay. Cool. Okay, have you heard of this shit? Take your mic.

I don't know, are you gonna go? I don't know how the fuck I'm gonna get there, but I've gotta go. There's work to be done. Is there anyone we know that has a car right now? Anyway, my truck is four horsepower. Which is pretty low. Is that low? four horsepower. Is that low? 90 horsepower.

And, um. You're talking my language, horsepower. It's giant. Right now, it's currently filled with crates of stuff that I didn't want in my room anymore. Oh, okay. Do you think it's possible to kill Amanda? Okay, okay.

Yeah, I can do it after school. Make it look like a stampede. Done. As soon as that moment of excitement kind of settles between the two of you, F, you realize that you do have a three-hour shift at Diamond Liquor for your father. I turn around.

Hey, so... Yeah, I know you saw the text. That's okay. Um, you gonna go to this party? Yeah, I feel like I'm in a weird game of telephone. Well, yeah. I was thinking about that, actually. Are you?

Yeah, I... You have a car, yeah? It's got like four horsepower. Oh, is your car? I've got a four horsepower truck. Are you? Yeah. You have a car, yeah? It's got like four horsepower? I've got a four horsepower truck. That's fucking fast. Yeah. I change the oil myself.

You do? I lay down on a skateboard and it pours all over me. But I'm going to get to a point where it stops pouring. I start running my hands through my hair. Maybe we can, I mean, if you're going to go, maybe we can all go together. I don't know. Yeah, totally. I got you. My car is in the shop right

now, so I can't grab it. Cool, yeah, it'll be you, me, and Amanda. That's great. I think Jamie might tag along with us, too. Is that okay? Do you have enough room? Yeah, honestly, I really like that guy. Dude. They seem really fucking stiff.

Amanda gets extremely stiff. Jamie's rad. Yeah. He's good people. He lied about the bird. Something you never forget, I would follow my sword for him. Yeah.

All right. I look at him and I'm like, what? This is crazy. I text Jamie a lollipop emoji and a party popper and a question mark. Excuse me, I've got to take care of a few things. I text back just a pound sign with a question mark.

I send back a 100 emoji. Okay. Yeah, and a flying money emoji. Or no, the one with the face that has the money tongue. Yeah. All right. Oh, do you have an Apple Watch? Is that what this was? I was just... You got it.

Got it. Apple Watch, Jesus Christ. I'll be there, I'll pick you up at 8 p.m. So tonight or tomorrow? Tonight. Tonight. At 11 p.m. Okay. It's a rapidly thrown together event. Class does eventually come to a close

and the school day ends with the ring of the bell. The campus becomes energetic as students scatter to the rest of their business throughout the day. You all find you grab your bags, head back out into the hallways, and what would you like to do? I guess we should get each other's numbers, right? If we're all carpooling. Yeah.

Sure. Yeah, I'll tell you, what's your number? Yeah, I give you my number. Okay. To the group chat. Yeah, do you want a group chat? Yeah, let's start a group chat. All right. Amanda, do you want to give your number

for the group chat? Oh, yeah, yeah, totally. What's your number? Fuck. Just don't text me a lot, please. Because I've heard you text, like, you know, you're one of those people that checks, like, that sends texts, like, five at a time. Okay, I'll be sparing.

Okay. I'll send you my number. 555. You give it one of your numbers, it's fine. We don't have to role play the entire social distribution. Three texts that don't end in a question mark and you're blocked. Just an understanding.

Of course, thank you. Honestly, good rule. Thank you. It's a very good rule. I've got to run by you-know-where to take care of a few things. Which number are you going to go by there? Right now, honestly.

Unless you have a reason not to. No, I can go with you. Cool. Yeah. Oh shit. I find Amy. You're a black heart. Let's just see you at the show. Hey, Amy, what time did you want to come by tonight? I don't know, it's good for you, like six, seven?

I have a couple extra activities to take care of, but I can swing by whenever. Yes, yeah, what time is it right now? At this point, I'd say it's about three o'clock. Six o'clock is good. Okay. All right. All right, I'll see you there. Bye, Amy.

Bye, Cameron. Yeah. Can I see any of this? You would. You are very constantly radar scoping everything around you. Especially when it comes to Cameron. Sweep.

Since you did hear the buzz of the phone in that direction of the classroom and based on the conversation with them all, you gather that they probably got a similar And since you did hear the buzz of the phone in that direction of the classroom, and based on the conversation with them all, you gather that they probably got a similar connection. Okay. I saw Amy talking to Cameron. Briefly, yeah. Okay.

Okay. You want to do anything, or just? Oh. Or are you just clocking it? I... You want to do anything or just? Oh. Or are you just clocking it? I, uh... I think, um... I think I'll have, I think I'll have Jessie swing by around six-ish.

Okay. Evening, just do a lap. Go to check in? Yeah. Okay, okay. That can be done. Anything anybody else wants to do in the after school? Preparation needs to be done? Yeah, actually, Amanda, I need your help.

Yeah, of course, whatever you need, let me know. I'm supposed to work at the liquor store today, which means I could not go to this party. So I need you to go to my house with me and convince my parents that we have a huge project due tomorrow and that I need to stay at your house and work on this project. You need me to lie to your parents?

Yeah, and I need you to wear these fake glasses so that you look smart. It's 90% of our grade. You're a good liar, right? I don't know. Okay, well, we're gonna have to work on that on the ride there. Let's go.

Oh shit, okay. Just practice saying, that's 100% true. That's 100% true. Okay, yeah, we'll get there, we'll get there. Okay. Oh wow, that's never. Great. So you guys head to your truck.

Yep. Make your way after the parents' folk. What are you doing? We're going, are you coming with me, or we're going to the hideout. Okay. In the mine. All right. So the mine. All right.

So the two of you walk to? If you've got a bike, I've got a scooter. Yeah, I have my bike. That's why I'm getting around. All right, so you guys make your way over to the quarry, the outside of the Solomon quarry. A BMX? Yeah.

Sick, with pegs. With pegs. Bunch of cool tricks and shit on the way. Saw shoes to ride on those pegs. Yeah, she did. All right, you approach the outskirts of it. You head down the broad ramps to the furthest back pit of the quarry,

the familiar space where you keep a little private area for yourself. You come up to the door that you have hidden off to the side with the sheet over it. There's the padlock that you keep on it. You pull out your key. Wind it. Wow, this is looking really good.

Yeah, it's not bad. God. You all right? Yeah, I'm okay. It was a weird day at school. Do you know New Kid? Do you have any, like, I don't know. You had a, you've been weird today.

Yeah. Yeah, we actually know each other. We go to a meeting. It's like a little bit outside of town. It's like a youth anger management meeting. Oh fuck, I've been to meetings, yeah. Yeah. I don't know, my parents put me in it, and it's...

Well, obviously, it's really helping, because you seem like you're doing really good. Thanks, Jamie. I don't know, I'm just doing it to appease them, I guess. But I actually knew half before that. No shit. Yeah. I went to summer camp,

like in middle school, you know? Right before high school, and we met there. Yeah, I mean, it was a cool summer. It was a cool summer? Like, what the fuck does that mean? You went to summer camp where you bunk makes or whatever the fuck that is? Ugh! Well, we kind of maybe, like,

it was kind of my first kiss. Oh, shit. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, you're doing that weird hair shit you do. Oh, no. Yeah. It was kind of fun, because, you know, like the whole summer we were kind of just flirting

with each other, but we were kids, you know? And then, I don't know, I guess kind of towards, like, the end of the camp, we kind of just were, we all were, like, swimming and shit and, like, doing, you know, the stupid, like, bouncy thing, you know? And we were kind of just in the water, and we, like, got under a canoe and then just started, like, making out. Oh, for fuck's sake. Yeah. For fuck's sake. It was kind of sweet, though.

Oh, this is so good. Anything to get Sasha out of your fucking system. Yeah, but that was a long time ago. Yeah. I don't know if you can ever get Sasha out of your fucking system. Yeah, but that was a long time ago. Yeah. I don't know if you can ever get Sasha out of your fucking system. I'm pretty sure you can. She's a lot, but, I mean,

I'm enjoying this, don't get me wrong. This is great. Please don't tell anybody. I won't tell anybody. Unless they offer me something really, really good. Okay, fair enough. Like super fucking juicy. You know, Aph is new at school, and I want them to be comfortable.

And I don't want to spread that information if they're not comfortable with that. Oh no, I like Aph. I don't want to spread that information if they're not comfortable with that. Oh, no, I like Aph. I don't entirely know why, but I dig the dopey puppy vibe. Yeah, me too. It's nice. It's unthreatening.

Like, yeah. Oh, my God. Oh, God, this is so gross. I don't know. I'm kind of into it, too. But I mean, that's a whatever. No, I'm here to take care of your ex right now, anyway, so we're going to need to fix things.

I start assembling a magic pouch, which has a Hunter S. Thompson collection of a good Thompson's worth of Vegas essentials. In a secret pouch, it's one of those magician's hide-a-pouches. So it's, ah, there's no rabbit in here. There's a rabbit in here, kind of thing. So it's got the little half-lap. Then with the rest of it, I just fill a bunch of my stuff from New York, a little bit of some herbs, a small, sharp razor blade, a little bit of chalk, a little bit of sulfur, a little bit of salt, just in case shit goes down. All my tools. All right. As you're assembling all these elements here. And some cash.

You hear what sounds like a handful of rocks tumble and crack from the entrance to this little hidden hideaway. Fuck. Hey, we'll figure out where we're meeting and everything. Yeah, I'll text you. Yeah, you better text me. Yeah. Yeah, I got to go.

I mean, I'm just- You know I'm not going to tell anybody. Yeah, I know. Holy shit. You turn around and you can see Evan Harris standing there, cell phone up, recording, going. How long have you been standing there? For like five minutes.

You guys are ridiculous. I go up and. Is this some sort of weird cult hideout or some shit? Are you serious? No, it's just... Oh. I'm going to go up and lash out physically. And I'm going to go try to punch him in the face and take his phone.

Okay. Go ahead and roll 2d6. Oh, come on, Kim. Okay, that's a 10. Ew. Oh, minus one, so it's a nine. A on, Kim. Okay, that's a 10. Fuck you. Minus one, so it's a nine. A nine, okay, okay.

So, you get to choose one of the three elements there. You do manage to harm them, so you rush up and immediately, and it's like, wait, wait, wait, what are you? And delt in. That's how the video ends? Yeah. So sick. Delt in the face, the video spins. It has that rapid, and then

like End of Blair Witch style, it just lands on the bottom of the cave floor. Evan's nose is rushing blood from the front. You choose one of the options there for the success but complicated aspect there under lash out physically. They can learn something about your true nature and they gain a string on you.

I'm going to let you decide how bad the harm turns out. How bad the harm turns out? Yeah. Okay. I trust you. You see the phone clatter to the ground and Evan grabbed the front of his face and he bends down. What the fuck?

You can't just film people without asking. He looks up and he's missing three of his front teeth. Shit! What did you do? What did you do? That's what you fucking get, dude. You can't just come in here and start filming people like that.

I grab the phone. Give that back! It's actually locked at this point. Now it's unlocked? Yeah. It's on my phone. Yeah, the missing teeth wasn't enough to blanket the missing teeth. What an insane upgrade that was.

Somebody, it's the worst thing to ever happen. I was just, you know it's me. I'm deleting and I'm scanning through all the photos to just forward myself a couple things. You're fucking crazy, you know that? I'm crazy? I'm crazy? You fucking came in here and didn't even,

we didn't even know you were there. Look, you two, who have been, you've been always weird, you've been really weird for a while now, just wandering down the middle of a fucking quarry? My family owns this quarry. I worked here over the summer. It's perfectly acceptable that I'm fucking here.

Totally, and you have this amazing kind of Halloween store cave here. What the fuck? Jesus fuck, Cam, are you going to make me deal with this? Just give me my goddamn phone. You tell anyone about this place. You tell anyone. Anyone.

You're going to be missing more than your fucking teeth. I'm actually, I'm going to toss missing more than your fucking teeth. I'm actually going to toss the phone to you and I'm going to try and grab a chunk of his hair. Oh. Okay. Okay. I need a token.

I will say, go ahead and make a shut someone down roll for this. See if I can pull this fucking shit off. This is going to be to intimidate and act quickly enough to not have resistance. I have a seven. A seven, okay. As he goes and reaches for the phone as you toss it,

you reach up quickly and grab a chunk of the hair and pull it away. He turns around, ah! I immediately start casting a spell. What do you do? I'm going to cast Delusions. Okay. Oh my god. What transpires?

I want fucking bats. I just want him to get attacked by bats as long as he's in the cave. Oh my god. Okay. As soon as you turn, you see him looking at you with his eyes wide, both in incredulous pain. Then as you begin to. What the fuck are you?

Spitting blood and spittle from the missing front teeth. Then something goes. He goes running outside of the cavern, off into the afternoon sunlight. Fucker. Did he take his phone? No, you have the phone. All right, well, now they can fucking trace the phone.

So if he's looking for it, then he was here. All right. Wipe it and get rid of it. We'll just get rid of it. Leave it out front. Everyone will know he's there. Is it still unlocked or did it lock? It locked. It locked.

Shit. Okay. You still sound like an idiot for leaving. Yeah, I mean, who, who, who? He's not going to tell the, hopefully he doesn't tell anybody. What, that he got attacked by bats? About this place.

Hide it for now. What time is it? At this point, I'd say like 4.30, 5 o'clock. I had to go home pretty soon, but I'm going to go check and make sure everything's okay down the line, okay? I'm going to grab anything that, just in case, I'm just going to grab anything I don't want to be found here. Like anything really problematic out of this place. Okay. So it takes you a little bit, So you probably leave in advance. Yeah.

And you cloak text and I clear up as much as you can. I'm going to just leave the phone like maybe at the other entrance of the. Yeah. By the way, thanks for that. Thanks for punching. I'll see you later. Okay.

Well, you finished that up. Sasha, what are you doing? I had to stay late to help with some debate team stuff and student council stuff. Study hall, volunteering work. It's exhausting. I'd probably wrap up by around five or so. Okay.

Is there anything you want to do after five? I text Jesse to stop by, keep an eye on Cam. Text back, you got it. I'm going to ask, I'm going to ask Lexi to, Lexi, do you think you'd be able to pull New Kid's records in the office? I expect, possibly. If there's no risk, go for it. Just happen to see it. I don't need hard copies, just info.

On the new kid. Yes. All right. Okay. While you're finishing up those activities, you, within your truck, Abigail, sitting in the passenger seat as you drive away from Sewell, going like, oh wow, I haven't even got my license yet.

Yeah, it's great. Okay, pop quiz. Yeah. Is there really a test tomorrow? Tomorrow? Mm-hmm. There is a brief quiz. Okay. On top of it, but there isn't a full-scale test. We're just getting into the school year, so it should be okay. Okay. no, I'm being my parents,

and I need you to just really sell it, okay? Sorry, sorry. It's a huge test, there's a huge project. There is a huge project. Everyone knows Tuesday, usually that's the day when the big stuff is due. 90% of the grade. Thank you.

Yes, okay, got it, got it. It's super important and absolutely 100% true. Yes, right? Right. Good job, okay, we're getting there. We're getting there. Okay. You pull up to the liquor store, Diamond Liquor, where your dad, Samuel, is out back. They have a truck open and they're currently

loading up the stock room in the back. As the truck pulls up, it gives a hand wave. He's a middle-aged man, a bit of a gut, but you can see he was handsome in his younger years. He has a bright smile, but looks a little dopey in the face, but overall sweet. Hair's thinning a bit, tight jeans that are pulled up a little too high, and you can see he's probably doing a little bit of back pain as he's pulling these boxes out. This liquor store is small and doesn't have a lot of hands on deck, so it takes a little bit of challenge

to get the business going. But as you step out of the truck, he gives you a wave over. Hey, what's up? Hey, Dad! Yeah. I give him a big hug. How's it been so far today? Oh, it's been good.

We're just trying to get stock back up again. It's hard getting the trucks to come as far out as often as we need to. It's actually been selling pretty well, which is great. I'm still getting used to how the numbers here were compared to how we were back in the old home. That's great. Well, you know what?

I got some bad news about today, actually. Oh no, what happened? It seems like, you know, I'm still going to work tonight, but I have to just completely ignore this huge project that's worth 90% of my grade. What? Doesn't that suck? Well, anyway, where's my apron?

Is it still in the back? No, no, no, no, no. That is just, and Abigail sits forward with glasses on and goes, it's 100% true. Oh no. Worth 90% of the grade. Yeah, yeah, this is my partner. It's due tomorrow.

This is, yeah. Oh, sorry, this is Amanda. Yeah, yeah, this is my partner. I brought her along because I'm just going to buy her a Coke to say sorry for making her fail the whole semester, too. 100% true. No, no, I mean, you don't look... Honey, we're new to this school,

and getting back in town, and it's a little, you know, it's tense, and I know you're trying your best to kind of get caught up in a little, you know, it's tense. I know you're trying your best to get caught up and everything, so you know what, I'll take it. I know I can, it hasn't been an intense day, I can go ahead and just extend the shift I've been running. You go and you take care of this project, the two of you. Oh my gosh, are you serious?

Of course, of course. Well, I guess I'm going to have to go stay at Amanda's house to pull an all-nighter Well, I guess I'm gonna have to go stay at Amanda's house to pull an all-nighter, so I guess I'll see you tomorrow evening. Okay, yeah, no, please, just if you need anything, give me a call. That's so, and you know what else is crazy?

We have a lot of supplies that we have to buy. 100% true. And so, I don't know if I can maybe get an advance on the next check that I would be getting here, but we just have to, we're studying deep sea animals, so I have to make a lot of slime to show what they're like. All right. How much, full check advance?

Yeah, if I could get $250. All right, he pulls out his wallet and starts counting through. A lot of singles, okay. Amanda's just like, Great, yeah, yeah, thanks. I only got like 210 on me, is that enough, you think? Of course, Dad, yeah, thanks.

Gosh, thanks so much, okay. Got it. All right, I love you. Love you, too. I give him a quick hug and a kiss. Pleasure to meet you, Amanda. You seem really cool. Take care of her and we'll,

yeah, let me know how it goes. I totally will, hey, fingers crossed. If you need snacks or anything, just give me a call. Thanks so much, Dad, yeah. Plenty of chips just came in, too. Ah, great! The Hot Cheetos, too. We got a bunch of them in, so just let me know.

That's great, Dad, dude, thanks so much. Yeah, okay, all right, too. We got a bunch of them in, so just let me know. That's great, dude. Thanks so much. Yeah, okay. All right. Good. Okay. Bye. Bye. He goes back to loading. Boxes in. We hop in the truck. Oh, I'm such a bad person.

Oh my god! Oh, my soul is burning! I didn't even take money, too! How can you drag me into this? I need to pray! I don't believe in God. I need to baptize myself. It was exhilarating. We have to go, we have to go now. Oh my god.

Oh, I have to make it up to him. I have to buy him like a something, like a $500 gift card to Sharper Image, or something, I don't know what he likes. Okay, okay, let's go. I speed away. You speed away, I was like, I have tunnel vision, that was so exciting.

That was awful. That was the worst thing I've ever done. And I can't tell you the things I've done. Oh my god. This is bad. This is really bad. Am I going down the bad path? Am I going down the dark path? The path less traveled is maybe the bad one.

It's full of lying to your perfect father. Okay. No, it's fine. It's fine? Yeah. It's full of lying to your perfect father. Okay. No, it's fine. It's fine? Yeah. It's fine. It's for good cause. It's for having adventures and experiences. Yep, I bet at the end of tonight, I'll be like, that was worth lying to my dad and making him work 20 hours. Okay, all right, good.

Okay, great, yeah. We transition over to the knocking of our front door outside of the Solomon estate. There is a bike freshly parked out front, and the door opens, and we see immediately Theresa Solomon, the mother of Cameron, open the door. Hello? And there stands Amy Reyes, who's there, books in hand.

Hi, don't even bother, I'm here to tutor Cameron. Theresa turns, oh! Cameron has a tutor now! Cameron! Cameron, you hear your mom, ever so slightly agitated, call your name throughout the house. Okay, all right, I come downstairs.

Oh, hey, what's up? Hey. Your tutor's here. Yeah. Come in, dear. Closes the door behind. Beautiful house. Well done interior.

Weirdly spacious, almost intimidating so. This is Amy. She's going to tutor me today for some stuff. Yeah, we'll just go upstairs. All right. Pleasure to meet you. You guys head upstairs. Do you want anything to drink or anything?

Water. Water would be wonderful. Yeah, okay. I'll get that water for you. You two go. It's okay, Mom. I got it. I'm gonna get some waters. She goes off to her. I mean, unless you're gonna make, like, sandwiches or something. Would you like me to make sandwiches? You want a sandwich? I already ate, but that's... You can have one.

No, that's okay. It's okay, Mom. All right. You head upstairs, and tutoring session begins. Starts awkward tension, kind of energy in the room a little bit before it kind of calms a bit. You two haven't really hung out outside of class before, and one, it's nice to have interaction with

a girl with a rapport that isn't your ex, but is genuinely also eager to teach and show you the ropes a bit of this curriculum. Okay. Is there anything specifically you'd like to do during the tutoring session? Hey, are you still able to do during the tutoring session? Hey, I mean, are you still able to write my paper tonight? I know, I'm learning, obviously,

but I just feel like I'm not quite good enough yet to write this paper. Have you tried? Yeah. I mean, maybe not enough, but... Well, what will you give me if I do your homework for you? You find yourself strangely enticed by Amy.

I'm going to go ahead and take a string on you. No, she takes a string on me. She begins to flirtatiously look you in the eyes. What are you doing tonight? Tutoring you and then going home to finish my homework and yours now, apparently. I mean, this paper isn't due tomorrow, necessarily. We could just turn our stuff in and

turn it in the next day, you know? I mean, you ever done that before? You're like, oh, sorry, last night was so crazy. I'll bring it Wednesday. No, I haven't, but I've seen many people do it. There's a party tonight. Are you asking me to go to a party with you, Cameron? Yeah.

All right. Yeah? Yeah. All right. Wait, what's your, oh wait, I have your number. Yeah, you have my number. Sorry. Okay, I'm gonna text you the info.

It's a rave. So bring your glow sticks. It's at the same Marin Refinery at 11 p.m. Bring some candy. All right. Behind the window, as the bushes push apart, you can see Jesse just glancing in with his cell phone, taking pictures, and texting them one by one to Sasha.

Sasha, you take a string on Cameron. Oh. Oh. The green, Cameron. Oh, god. It's the green, yeah. Oh my gosh, your string collection. Damn. Gotta start spending some strings and doing some moves, guys.

Before she leaves, because I've had such a good time with her, I'm going to push her up against the door and kiss her. Oh shit. You're going to try and turn around? Yeah. Okay. Let's see.

Happy Valentine's Day. Okay. All right. What do I get? Ten. Ten. Nice. Okay. Nine, do I get, 10. 10. Nice. Whoa. Okay. Wow. She immediately tenses at the momentary action, but then eases into it.

Time slows for a moment until you both break apart. Just looking up at you, Mal is slightly parted, laughs and smiles and not really knowing what else to do, pulls away from you and grabs her books and goes, So when should I come back to leave for the party? You want to meet us there? Or? I can meet you there.

Yeah? Yeah. Okay. Because I'm driving with some people and I don't know if there's room. I mean, there might be room. Let's just meet there. Okay. Yeah. Okay. See you there?

Yeah, I'll see you there. She leaves. You, Sasha, get a zoomed in, somewhat pixelated, dirty fuzzed picture of Cameron and Amy both pressed against a familiar wall in his room. I have a dummy account on Snapchat not attached to me and that picture appears in the feeds of or of most of the people in the school strategic people in the school. With a little caption, Heartbroken boy takes advantage.

Ooh! Ooh! Lonely girl. You shutting someone down with this one, Dan? Oh, this game is amazing! The strings grow! Yeah. Jesus. You could spend a string if you want to to get a bonus to the roll.

Up to you. Oh, I gain a string. Yeah? From turning her on? From turning her on? Yes, you do. So you can just take one of the red ones and mark down that it's for Amy.

I'm catching up! Since the click sends it out to me, do I get a plus one? I will say yes, because you have one. Okay. I'll just keep it at that, then. Okay. Ooh, four.

Wait, plus anything? Oh, five. Five, five, five. Still not great. You get an experience point, because it is a failure. Right, okay. So you can mark that down. You send it out. Damn.

And immediately, the responses are, that's so fucking chopped. Fake, yes. And you actually watch the follower count on that account begin to slowly drop by a handful. Not enough to destroy it, but you've lost a little bit of that edge in that instance. You stop the ground for a moment angrily. by a handful, not enough to destroy it, but you've lost a little bit of that edge in that instance. Oh shit!

You stomp the ground for a moment angrily. One of them even says, Nice try, Sasha. Oh! Oh! Oh! That would be something I would do. Wow, got to go home. That would be something I would do. Damn. Wow.

Gotta go home. Okay. Anybody else want to do anything, or do we begin to gather for the evening's festivities? I just do my hair and put on my best flannel. I'm wearing a slinky red fuck you breakup dress. Okay. Fuck yeah.

I'm wearing my uniform that says that I am in business. So lots and lots of pockets, lots of flowy stuff, lots of places to hide shit. You got it. I'm wearing what I wore to school. Yep. Oh, is this something that you would change for? Shit. lots of places to hide shit. You got it. I'm wearing what I wore to school. Yep. Yeah! Oh, is this a thing that you would change for?

Shit. Perfect. Your temperature is going to vary wildly as the evening goes on. Yeah, yeah. Lots of layers. All righty. So, as the evening progresses on, pushing to about 9.30, 10 o'clock or so, people get in to gather.

Jesse swings by and picks you up, the rest of the hive already in tow. They've adorned themselves with what they assume would be rave attire. These type of things are not common in this part of Arizona, let alone openly invited to high school students, and there's a lot of, oh yeah, I know what that's about, and haphazardly throwing together what they assume it's shitty elements of neon vinyl. But nevertheless, everyone grabs their seats and Jesse's car, his nice car,

and you begin to peel off into the night desert, heading towards the facility. You, having been the one that offered your vehicle, with Amanda in tow, Amanda is also dressed in the exact same stuff that she wore to school that day, go ahead and, are you meeting at Cameron's place? Yeah, yeah, I pull up at Cameron's place.

Okay. You pull up and you hear the car. It's been about an hour since your father got home, and Hank has had a really bad day. He came in shouting and complaining, turned into a shouting match with your mom. The two of them ended up just going to a tense separation to their opposite sides of the house,

and you've sat there. In that silence, you begin to hear the whispers again. You begin to hear the calls of something that's not quite English. Then words would come through and be like, You can do more. So much more. Rise beyond them.

You hear the car approaching. Yeah. Park in the driveway. Go to the door. It's a really nice house. Oh, hey, oh, yeah, I mean, it's not really mine, but I live here. Yeah, totally.

Yeah, I mean, you want anything to drink? I can have my mom make you a sandwich. Um, I'm not super hungry, but I'll take something to drink, yeah. Yeah. Open the fridge, and there's just a fridge for just drinks, and it's all like, amazing. Whoa. Yeah, orange crush. Holy shit.

Got some Fanta. Cotton candy Faygo? Yeah, oh my god. You know what that is? This is the best soda ever. Yeah, it's my favorite! Oh my god. Holy shit, I didn't think anybody would know that! I crack it open

and I drink it so fast, it's like inhuman. That, you chugged that so fast. You must be really good at chugging. I was really thirsty. Your mom walks in and goes, Um, Cameron, who's your friend? This is Aph. Hello. Hi, Aph.

Hi. Why are you in my house? What do you mean? This is my friend. Right, and it's late. I didn't know you were having friends over. I'm, yeah. Just a couple friends over is no big deal. Have you tried the cotton candy figure?

Without saying a word, just leaves the kitchen. She's kind of a bitch. Have you tried the cotton candy figure? Without saying a word, just leaves the kitchen. She's kind of a bitch. Should I go? No, no, no, no, no. We're going to leave anyway. Okay. It's fine. Anyway, I'm really glad you're going to the party. Me too.

Yeah. I didn't say this before, because so many people around, but it seems crazy that Jason Buckner was such an asshole to you, about how much you've changed, and then you got fucking decked, huh? Yeah, that was, I actually, I didn't hate it. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, we used to be really good friends, but we didn't really hang out that much anymore. Yeah, you talked about him a lot in the meetings. So, yeah, when I found out that that's who he was, I was like, I'm going to fuck that guy up. Yeah, that was kind of cool. Yeah, I mean, he's a good dude. I think he just kind of... I don't know. We just don't hang out anymore. Yeah, totally.

But, I mean... Is he going to be at the party tonight? Probably. But that's okay. I mean, it seemed like you guys talked it out. Yeah, kind of. I mean, yeah, totally. I mean, he's kind of... If it happened again, if you ended up hitting him again, I mean, who seemed like you guys talked it out. Yeah, kind of. I mean, yeah, totally. I mean, he's kind of, if it happened again,

if you ended up hitting him again, I mean, who cares? Cool. No, but I am trying. I am trying to use the tools that they teach us. You know, when I get really angry, I count backwards from 10. And if that didn't work, I kill the person. Yeah, I mean, it's pretty fast progression. Yeah, yeah.

You just gotta know automatically you gotta count to ten. I can't. Usually when I get to, you know, five, I can contain it. That's great. I'm not there yet. I have maybe contained it like once

in my whole life. Yeah? Yeah. So, is there anybody, I have maybe contained it like once in my whole life. Yeah? Yeah. So is there anybody, I mean, this is kind of a dumb question, but is there anybody you're kind of into in school? Oh, like girls? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, there's so many beautiful people. Yeah, it's really, a lot of people are very beautiful there. Yeah.

Yeah. Mary Raho was the first person that was super cool, but she's very peaceful, so yeah, I just feel like I'm constantly hiding my rage from her, which, I mean, a lot of people do that. It could be a good balance for you, you know? Maybe, yeah. How they say opposites attract or whatever. Dude, yeah, totally.

But then, yeah, also, like, Sasha is so hot. I feel like I'm going to maybe turn to sand every time she's around. She seems to have that effect on people. Yeah, totally. Yeah. But sorry, that's your ex. I don't mean to be weird. No, it's okay.

I mean, we're not dating anymore. Yeah, totally. You? No, not really. I mean, I, I kind of don't want to be with anybody right now. Cause we just like recently broke up. So I kind of just want to play the field and whatever. I don't know. I feel like that's something that people do after they break up. Yeah. And you know, I don't, I'm not a super good matchmaker, but I think you have a shot with Amanda. Oh man, I feel like.

I didn't say anything, okay? But she really likes horses, so if you wanted something to talk about with her. I could tell. She always has those pants on and those boots. I always got tips for you. There's always a smell, not a bad smell, but it always just smells like outside. Oh yeah, it's earth.

It's earthy, yeah. It's deep earth. Yeah, I feel like she needs to loosen up a little bit. Like maybe she just needs, I don't know. So you're intimidated by her. Yeah, I get it. Yeah, maybe a little bit. Yeah. Well, you know what, I have faith in you.

I think you could do it. Yeah? Yeah, if you just loosened up a little you. I think you could do it. Yeah? Yeah. If you just loosened up a little bit, I think you could ask her out. You remember this moment that Amanda is waiting in your truck outside. Oh shit! Which, by the way, after you go inside the house

and the door closes, Amanda waits in the car. Waiting. He's waiting. Then you see this little scooter. It stops. Amanda looks out the window and looks right towards you. Jamie? Oh, you're so tragic. I'll go get them. Hi. I hide my scooter in the bushes. I'll go get them.

Hi. And I hide my scooter in the bushes. Okay. I've done this before. Push it to the side. Right as you get to the door and are about to knock, it opens up. Yeah, I mean, we can go. Okay, this is what we're wearing, apparently.

That's fine, all right. Yeah, oh wait, you all changed. Okay. Do you want to borrow something? I mean, you look really good, but you look great. I didn't mean that in a weird way right now. No, thanks, no, I'll, like. Cam, you turn around, everyone glints over,

and you can see, standing at the top of the curved stairway, button-up shirt, front undone, tie loosened and open, just standing there. Hey, Dad. Cameron's father, Hank. Where you going? We're just going out. Where?

We're just going to go out for a drive, nothing crazy. In whose car? Aph's car. It's a really nice, safe, four-horsepower car. It's a truck, and it's Dig Chef. Yeah, Aph is new to town, so we're actually, we've become friends because we're in that program together. So Aph's been like a super positive influence

and I kind of wanted to show them around. What about that? Mr. Solomon? Jamie? Jamie came to hang out, too. I need positive influences. Be back by one. Okay.

He turns around and leaves. Do you have an ascot or something I could borrow? We could fashion you one. Cool. I run in the kitchen real quick and get one of my mom's napkins. It's a table napkin? I love it.

I love those napkins. I'm not going to pretend this ever happened. Your dad's got a dick. Jamie O'Paul. Yeah, he sucks. Wow, dang. Honestly, your dad should be in those meetings with us. Fucking tell me about it.

Okay, so should I use one of these wooden circle things to hold it on? Yeah, make it like a... It's so cool it came with one of these. It's meant to be worn. Yeah, I think it's pretty cool. It's like a weird new look. I'm into it, I'm fucking into it, dude.

Okay, cool. Well, as long as I look good. Okay, we'll hop in the car. Okay, you head back in. Amanda's there waiting excitedly as you turn the corner. You shut me down on accident. I was just like, ah. Like the puppy that's been waiting in the car for its owner, Amanda's like.

Oh, I should have cracked the windows. You all cluster into the truck. There's that little gap in the back between the front seat and the back seat where two more people can sit. As you all begin to approach, Amanda goes, I can sit in the back. Cameron, if you want to sit back here with me?

Yeah, yeah, okay. And immediately looks right to you and is like, Good luck hanging out with that bridle. And I'm going to hop in front. I sit as close to the window as I can. Fair enough, yeah. It's one of those, it's hard to turn. It's like, and it just cricks outward a little bit

to leave a little gap. It's a little triangle window in the side. I can't fully. Flashbacks. Oh, yeah. I'm taking really hard turns to push you guys together. Perfect.

All righty. You guys take off and head out, and you glance out the window, and there you can see, up in your parents' room, the silhouette of your mother, just watching as the car drives away. You guys on the road, your posse sitting together, Jamie, there's a little bit of silence

as you're past the gas station and head off into the main highway. Then Jamie turns, so what do you think about the pictures, huh? He's having fun. That's nice. Everybody deserves to have a little fun. Okay.

Taking the strange to the well, I'm not gonna lie. Yeah. It's um, fine. Everything's fine. Gotcha. Fine. Everything's fine. Gotcha. Mom and dad don't know, though, so, you know, maybe keep it under your hat? You see Corey leans over and goes,

Don't worry, we got you. We're fine. I know you got me. Also, and Coraline's back over from the backseat. Let me handle the post next time. That was really amateur. I'm not going to lie. Yeah. Fucking amateur hour. Fine. Everything's fine.

Just flew off the handle a little bit there is all. I feel you. Eventually, you all, at different times, the two vehicles begin to convene towards the turnoff, which is just a single sign and a dirt road that curves for about 10 miles off of the main highway. There is a fence that is normally locked, but you can see the chain has been brought loose,

and there are recent tire grooves leading through. So you have to step out and move it aside. And there, as you pull through, you can see the darkened shape of the old Gasco refinery. It is dark, the shape silhouetted against the clear sky. It's very bright out right now. The moon itself is not quite full, but it's starting to, in the next day or two, it'll probably hit there. And you can see there are a number of cars just parked off to the outside. You get there first, Sasha.

And as you step outside of the car, you can immediately hear the beat kicking up in the distance, and you can see a lot of, maybe 10 or 11 people outside smoking, chatting. They're all dressed in very, very chic dance, EDM attire, probably from the main city. They don't pay any mind as you all step out

of Jesse's nice car, you fit in nice and well. Step out of the car and do the slow-mo, all four walking into the venue. You can see three people out there smoking. Do the slow-mo exhale as they all catch themselves caught in the tractor beam that is the Hive. I do, as always, a scan.

Anybody of note? Anybody interesting? At this moment, no, but you do see there is a bouncer at the front door. There is a six-foot-four, gangly-looking pale dude who is a long coat on, and he's just sitting there looking around. He's keeping an eye both on who's present and the horizon.

Okay. Is he checking IDs? You go and approach. Yeah. He looks at all of you and goes, and just lets you in. Okay. Thank you.

You guys approach shortly thereafter, less quite as put together with the arrival. The doors open. You step outside. I think Abby trips a bit and falls a little bit and then gets back up as you all exit and see this same perspective. You can hear the music.

There's that creeping excitement, but also not quite sure what you're going to find, especially those of you that haven't been involved in much of the party scene, let alone in this area. As you begin to step closer towards it, people are looking over and take a note of the, well, namely you and the ascot. I think I made a great choice.

I think you did, too. I lean over and fix it. You got a little smushed. Thanks. Yeah, there you go. It's cool that it has pumpkins on it. Yeah, it's kind of like... Different various gourds. Yeah, I think that's a pretty cool touch.

I don't know if I told you all this, but I actually have never kissed anyone before, so it kind of seems like maybe this is my night. Oh boy. You know what I mean? Me neither. That's what we have in common. Yeah. Wait, you haven't kissed anyone before?

No, I mean just like in my adult life. Of course as kids when it doesn't mean anything. Yeah, yeah, it doesn't mean anything when you're like a kid. Yeah. It kind of means something. I mean, on a technical level it means something. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, I think so too. Because it still kind of like sticks with you sometimes. It does, it absolutely can. Yeah. I'm gonna I think so, too, because it still sticks with you sometimes. It does, it absolutely can. Yeah, I'm going to get a drink. I'm going to get a drink. I'm going to go and get a drink. I'm going to have a drink for the first time. Are we even through the front door yet?

No, you're not yet inside. Hold up. As you head towards the front, the bouncer stands there. IDs. Oh, definitely. I pull out my fake ID and I'm going to, we're on Susie's list and we really need

to be in here right now. Didn't have time to change. All right. He steps aside and looks very intently at you and Amanda as you guys walk past. What? The what squeaks out, less of a proclamation and more of a creaky door hinge.

What? What? What? But you make your way into the interior of the desert raid. Immediately, the lights and the sounds and the beat. This is unlike any energy you've experienced definitely in your time, but it is an entire warehouse

filled with people of all ages, beyond your ages. Adults in their 20s and up, all dressed in the middle of these throes of expression and letting themselves go. Maybe close to 100 people in this room, which isn't huge for such an event, but it's a small space, which makes it feel massive. There are lights and lasers.

There is a large DJ table set up over one of the platforms where you can see they have one of the light arrangements. There is just splattering light and beams of green and red and purple all across the chamber. The air itself is musky and muggy. The sweat and the heat of the interior

giving this human sauna-type feel. It's uncomfortable, but it's also unlike anything you were expecting to run into on a Tuesday night. That's where we're going to take our break. Ooh! The crescendo's happening. We're going to go ahead and take a quick break here for a second to kick in for the next part of this narrative.

See what sort of fun chaos shall ensue as all the pieces are coming together. So yeah, we'll be back in just a little bit. See you guys shortly. You're listening to Cinderbrush, a MonsterHearts story, on the Critical Role Podcast Network. If you're enjoying the game and want to play it yourself, you can download the PDF version of the MonsterHearts 2 system

at critrole.com slash monsterhearts. This is an affiliate link, and Critical Role may be compensated for any purchases made, so thank you for your support. And now, back to our teenage monsters. And welcome back. So, last we left off, you had all made yourself into the interior, the pop-up desert rave outside

of the town of Cinderbrush Hills. Inside the chamber, it's bodies moving, music thumping. Up on the stage, you can see, for those of you who would recognize it, it would probably be you two, maybe you, DJ Darkstar, who is actually a fairly decently known local celebrity is up there, is in the process of spinning. It's exciting, it is intense, and also,

you don't recognize most anybody here as you begin to walk through the floor. A lot of older folks, and everyone is on some sort of wavelength a little separate from yours. Little ways in, your group, as you're getting, taking in the atmosphere around you, Amanda kind of just grabs your hand a little bit. She's like, this is crazy.

This is crazy. Yeah, definitely. How do you feel? Really stiff. Yeah, definitely the same. Have you ever drank alcohol before? No. Me neither.

Maybe we should have a big vodka. Sure, did you bring a vodka? No, I didn't bring a vodka. Shit. I mean, they gotta have stuff here, right? Let's get, let's win enrollment. Win enrollment. Yeah. Okay.

Hey, you know what, I bet Cameron, Cameron. Yeah, what's up? Hey, um, we were probably just gonna go head off and get a big vodka, but we're wondering where we should do that. Yeah, I mean, there's a couple different places. They have alcohol, I mean. You do?

Yeah, I mean, they probably supply that here, I would imagine, Sammy. You're the only person that would know what they supply here, and they do not supply alcohol. There is sadly no alcohol at this event, save what you chose to bring. Oh. On the other hand, everything else is available.

Oh, like cotton candy Faygo, Coca-Cola, Cheetos. Sure, I brought candy. She pulls out a handful of lollipops. Awesome, I'll take one. Junior mints. Well, maybe I'll just get a sugar high then. I'm sure that'll be enough. Oh god, I'm already feeling guilty about this.

Yeah. Juice. You know everything I have. Did you bring anything? I brought everything. Oh, what do you have? Pez. Yes. Werther's.

Some very good Werther's Originals or Rolos. So I have to work tonight, so I'm being very, very basic with just a little bit of a moon rock candy flip with a little bit of LSD just to mark the whole thing down. So I'm flying, but I can keep my cool and keep counting and get all my math done right, so I know who's paid and what. But I'm a little out of it. What else are you doing?

Everything's a little interesting. What else you got? Standard array. I've got a little bit of pot, a little bit of acid, a little bit of mushrooms, a little bit of pot, a little bit of acid, a little bit of mushrooms, a little bit of... Touch out of the corner of your eye, across the dance floor, the hive has taken note of your arrival. And a little bit less of everything, excuse me all. And I'm going to just dive right over there really quickly.

Which of those things is closest to a big vodka? I feel so bad about this. That's a good question, because it just depends on your body chemistry. Okay. You know what I mean? Have you ever had anything outside of, have you ever had alcohol? Totally, all the time.

100% true. Really? Because you strike me as someone who has never had it, but you surprise me continually. My dad keeps the scotch in the cabinet. The stuff that tastes like an old man. Yeah, yeah. It does taste like an old man. Yeah, I'm not really into that yet.

Maybe when I get older. Yeah, maybe. Okay, look, technically I haven't drank or done any drugs before, but yeah, I'm just trying to loosen up and have a good time at this party. Okay. I think Jamie can steer you in the right direction.

Okay, cool. I would be, I feel, I don't want to be the bad guy here and sort of make that decision for you on that journey. Amanda, I feel like you as well. I trust you? Yeah. Hey, can I talk to you for a second? I don't know if you should. Okay, I pull you to the side.

So, okay, I was saying I haven't been kissed before, and then you said you do count, do you count? I mean, I guess it's up to you. That's a crazy memory, right? No, it's totally crazy. Like, it was weird, because, you know, like, I knew whatever. I feel like. I haven't thought about that every day in forever.

You haven't thought about it? What? I have not thought about that every day. You have not thought about it every day. I think about it, just being fully open and honest. Yeah. I think about it a lot. Maybe just because it was weird circumstances. I mean, I've never made out with anybody

under a canoe before or something. Holy shit, I know what I. You look and you see Tyler Thorn, the class DJ who has one foot out of the school since the day he got here, who sits at the front left of the classroom, goes like, I had no idea you guys were going to make it. This is crazy.

Hey! Hi, I'm Tyler. I don't think we've met. Hey, what's up? I'm Aph. Hey, Aph. Nice, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, too. Amanda? What?

She's like, I know, crazy, right? He's like, yeah, okay. Dude, you're right. Anyway, it's all good. Have a good time. Yeah, we're with every, one of us came together. Yeah, cool, no worries.

I'm going to go talk to Jamie. Yeah, okay, I'll find you later. Hangs off that one. Amanda's up right there. Do we dance now? Is that how this works? I guess so. Yeah, we can go dance.

Oh, that's a cool move. Is it? I guess so. Yeah, we can go dance. Oh, that's a cool move. Is it? Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Yeah. We transition over to, as Jamie approaches, kind of pushing through the bodies that are thrumming. Ah, the witch doctor.

Have everything you asked for, and a little something extra. Pay them in, Jesse. I also have a favor to ask. A favor? Intriguing. Evan became a bit of a problem earlier today. Ah, interesting.

Poking his nose where it doesn't belong. He found me in my special place. I would just like to make sure that if he is stupid enough to start telling people where I'm doing business, that that gets shut down really quickly. We'll take care of it. Oh. What front?

I want a you'll take care of it, not a will. Me? Darling, you know I don't get my hands dirty. I don't talk to them, you know the rules. What do you want? I'm sure you already have something of his that could do you fine. Uh, I burned what I had. What could I possibly do?

I don't want something of his, I want some dirt. Okay. Anything you dig up. All right. In turn, what dirt do you have? For you? Honestly, not a lot right now. I know, you've been talking with Cameron.

Come on, Jamie. For old time's sake. Burning it? You're burning us. And I run my finger into his harness and pull at the ring. Fuck. Okay. So you're trying to turn him on?

Oh my god. Oh, fuck. That works. Your toast is 13, 14? 14. Something like that. How do you react to this? How does this go down within the interior of Jamie's conflicted self?

I grab her hair, go over to her ear. He's got a history with the new kid. What kind of history? Be specific. Something about a canoe. Canoe kiss person. Yeah. That's apparently this.

And... I think everyone's gonna get a little fucked up tonight, so just be gentle. Ooh. I don't think they've ever been fucked up before. Mm. Really? It's the vibe I get.

Well, they got to start living a little. Didn't hear that shit from me. Never. Right as you hear that, you glance over Jamie's shoulder and see entering through the front door, Amy Reyes, who has stepped through, and a purse on the shoulder, looking around, a little tense. Fuck, I forgot about her.

And just glancing through the crowd looking for someone. Oh shit. Amy Reyes. Tonight's gonna get complicated. When is it ever simple? Keep that shit to yourself and keep your fucking flunkies away from the new kids. No promises.

Ah, I think the drugs are kicking in. Okay, I'm going to. I distribute the goodies amongst everybody. I keep a couple of tabs for myself. Okay. I'm not taking anything. Okay. But I have them handy. All righty. You return to the rest of the crew here,

who are awaiting your guidance on how the evening should go. Okay. I'll take nine ecstasies. That's probably just the right amount of ecstasy. That seems excessive. And expensive. Um, I actually have a ton of money right now.

I have over $200, so I'll buy mine and Amanda's. And if you want some, too. You don't have to buy mine, I can pay for it. No, you're really special to me, I'll buy you something. Okay. Cam's got Nick. All right, let's do this the old-fashioned way. Let's pick a seven dwarf.

You wanna be happy, grumpy, sleepy, dopey, sneezy, bashful, or doc? I wanna be sleepy, dopey, sneezy, bashful, or doc? I wanna be doc. A little bit of LSD it is. All right, I guess I'll eat this stamp. Bless you that you think I have blotter. Okay. Since the 90s, it'd be black gel caps.

Whoa, too much information. All right, just a gentle moon rock. Wow, I know too much about drugs. Yeah, there we go. I'll do some of that, too. Fair. Fair. Okay.

You can split it. All right. I'm going to give you a little bit of the concoction I was taking. Yeah. Cool. Keep with a buddy. Check in if you need anything. If you start to freak out,

you can ask any questions you want. Unless you see me talking to somebody else, then don't fucking bother. Cool. Fair, harsh, but fair. Wow. This is crazy. This is great.

While this is happening, Amy is looking at the crowd. Do you interfere or you just watch what happens? Amy. Okay, so you do, okay. Oh, hi Sasha. Hi. Welcome to the club.

Thank you. It's not your usual scene. No. It's nice to see you branching out. Thanks, yeah, I was invited by a friend. That's nice. Is this who you're seeing normally? Well, you know, I have to know what's happening, all of the coolest things in the cinder brush. You're certainly dressed for the occasion.

Thanks, you like it? I do a little spin. It's cute, yeah. I could never wear anything like that. Oh, that's nonsense. Look at you. And I sort of run my hands over her hips. This is meant to be in something skin tight. Fuck. Are you rolling to turn her up?

Sure. Go for it. Because that sounds like what you're doing. Ooh. With your bonus move? Seven. Seven, that is a success, but complicated. Yeah. So you do this,

and Amy stiffens, and yet also gives into it a bit. So as part of this, they get him, no, actually, strangely is giving into your touch a bit. You can see a look of confusion and surprise in her face a bit.

Hey, is this okay? Yeah, I just, I didn't. Hot and concerned with consent, Jesus Christ! The complication is that you definitely see this from across the room. Yep. It's okay. Like, you're new to this scene.

Let me give you a little party favor to get you a little more comfortable. Yeah? What exactly? Just a little something to loosen you up. It'll be okay. I promise. She now glances over and sees Cameron. You guys make eye contact.

Do you do anything? You just come in? I just kind of wave and nod and continue dancing a little bit. Sure. Puts her hand out. I slip her a tab. She takes it and then immediately beelines over towards Cameron. Hey.

Hey. Your ex is really aggressive. Yeah, she is. It's kind of hard to not give in to that a little bit sometimes. I feel so weird. Hi, guys. Hello.

Hi. Amy, I don't think we've met. We haven't. Maybe it'll stay that way. And I jellyfish away. Just fishing in the crowd. Oh my god, my favorite person. In my mind, I'm like, that was a success, yeah.

He's keeping us curious. You jellyfish away, and then behind you, kind of in a trail, I'm like, that was a success, yeah. He's keeping us curious. You jellyfish away, and then behind you, in a trail, you see Amanda, who is just rubbing your hair from behind. Amanda? Wow, I wouldn't have. Amanda? Amanda and Nukehead, okay.

Yeah, yeah, I don't know. I think they're just, yeah, they're just hanging out a lot, I guess. Yeah, I'm I don't know. I think they're just, yeah, they're just hanging out a lot, I guess. Yeah, I'm really glad you came. Thanks for inviting me. You good, you need anything? Yeah, I'm good. You good? Yeah.

Do you want to dance for a bit? Since that's what we came for. I'll go over at Sasha, what's she doing? Sasha, what are you doing? So right now, I'm just watching Cameron and Shami. Blocked, tractor beam eyes from across the room. Yeah, let's go dance over here. I try to find a spot where we're not as visible. Okay. I give a little wave. I'm gonna try to find a spot where we're not as visible. Okay. Okay.

I give a little wave. And then you make a beeline over towards the jellyfishing Ath. Me and Corey and Lexi follow me. All right. Jamie maintains kind of watching you as you progress over to keep an eye on Cameron. Ah.

Hey. Hey. You made it. Yeah. It's awesome to see. Are you wearing an ascot? Oh my gosh. You noticed.

I did. Do you like it? I love it. Yeah. It's, yeah, it has multiple gourds on it. Very festive. Thanks. Yeah, I mean, you know, Halloween and November

just around the corner, so. Yeah. You look so hot, I feel like I'm melting. If I'm being completely honest. Your hair is melting as Horse Girl Amanda is just running her fingers to the back of your head. Oh, Amanda, thank you.

That is so, you know what? Do you want to get us some water, if there is any? Yeah, god, water sounds, I am so thirsty right now. I feel like maybe I've never drank water in my life. Yeah, I'm going to go, do you know where water is, Lashna? I think it's somewhere in the back.

Really? Oh my god, I'm talking to Sasha Murasaki. And I turn completely towards Amanda, and I take her head in my hands, and I was like, I'm so sorry, darling. We really should remedy that. It's so good to finally talk to you. You look like you're having the time of your life.

Yeah. Go get us some water, sweetheart. Okay. It's around near the back of the club. Okay. And she wanders off. Oh my god. Bye!

So, ah. Yeah. I start running my finger down the ascot. You seem to like. I start toying with the wooden ring. Yeah, it's got its own ring, it holds it in place. That's super good. Yeah, it's got its own ring. It holds it in place. That's super good. Yeah.

It's very clever. Yeah. Can you tell that it's a napkin? Do you want me to tell it's a napkin? I'd prefer you don't. Then no. Great. It was never a napkin.

Oh my god, yeah. This was made to be worn by a human. Yeah. So earlier I asked you what makes you happy. Uh-huh. And you really kind of hesitated there. Uh-huh. I think what makes you happy is people accepting you.

You don't know who you are yet, but you need somebody to figure out who you are for you. Let me yank a little bit. Oh my god. I know. On the escutcheon. That really resonates, actually. You know, I was reading on Tumblr,

there are a lot of different identities in there, a few that I'm toying with, and it's kinda a la carte these days, you know? It's not so binary. No, it's all a sliding scale. Your breath smells really good. It's like minty and sweet. It's like a sugar mint.

I take it you're attempting to turn the moth? Yeah, and the hive is there with me. Yeah. So there's that. In fact, as this is happening, you are flanked by Corey and Lexi, who are also just running their fingers along your shoulder. Oh my god.

Too real. Oh god. Six. Plus. You do. You do have a spring. Technically speaking, have your. Oh wait, I get plus, hmm.

Oh, I forgot about that. Plus seven, no it's seven. It's seven, because I am plus two for that. You also have your, this counts as your posse too, right? This does, yeah, so that's., too, right? This does, yeah. So that's three. Three, yeah. That's an eight, so that is a success.

Yeah, so seven. So you can choose. Do you want a string on Aph, or do you want to choose one of their reactions? Or actually, you choose. You choose if you want to give a string to Sasha, or do you want to choose one of the reactions? I think I'd choose the fucking sex reaction.

I give myself to you. Okay. Uh, hi! It's so crazy to meet someone who likes fashion and trying to find a deeper knowledge of yourself. I'm pretty good at knowing what people want. And I tilt Aph's chin up.

And I put my mouth on theirs and just drink. About this moment, Amanda comes back with two bottles of water. You're just like, I think. I'm in it. I don't even know anyone else is in this warehouse. Nope, at all. Jamie, what are you doing?

I was trying to hunt down Tyler, but everything has apparently gone to fuck. Have I seen any of this happen? You do find Tyler. Tyler, while this is happening, you find Tyler, and what's your intent with Tyler? Apparently, I was supposed to do a cash drop off. Oh, right, right, yeah.

So deal goes fine. You end up making 200 bucks from him and his connections here. You turn around and find both, you eyeball Cameron and Amy Raes dancing, dance floor on this end, and on this end, you immediately see Af, the new kid, and Sasha in a dynamic battle.

Dynamic battle? Round one. Ooh, tough call. I'm going to head over to Cam. Okay. Hey! I hate to interrupt whatever the fuck this is. No, no, no, it's fine.

What's up? Do we need to deal with this? Deal with what? And I point out the dynamic battle. Oh, wow. Deal with it how? Okay. And I'm going to head over.

Okay. Amy's just, what is going on over there? Maybe I should actually go check. You okay? Yeah, I'm fine. Yeah, I'll find you in a little bit, okay? Okay, I'll be here. All right. Follow Jamie. All right.

I just want to get a little closer to hear what's going on. Okay. It's hard to hear with the music. You have to get close to hear. Okay, okay, I'll get close. Okay. So as you both break away from what seems, especially from your perspective,

a endless time of canoe kisses washed from your memory practically in one fell swoop. And as you pull away, the color's brighter, the senses heighten to the grin on Sasha's face as she pulls away, and then you just see Cameron and Jamie approach to the left. That was great. That was, oh yeah, really nice.

Whoa, my napkin's like soaking wet with sweat. That's crazy. Your ass got, it was never a napkin. Yeah, right, right. Right. You're so funny. You're seriously so funny. Aw.

I'm gonna put behind Sasha. Can I have a second with you? If you're done with whatever the fuck this is. You have great timing. Hey, Aph. Mm-hmm? What does your horoscope say about Geminis? Um.

And I push Aph into Corey and Lexi. And they sort of involve them. Oh my god. Um. Um. Hi, Jamie. What could you possibly have to ask me right at this moment? Can you call that off for a moment?

This is about to get very ugly very quickly. I didn't think you would move on, whatever the fuck this is, quite this quickly. It's a party. Everyone's entitled to a little fun. What's wrong? You trying to start shit tonight? I don't start shit, Jamie, I end it.

I'm going to need you to back off this one for right now. What investment do you have in Ath? It's personal. Really? And none of your fucking business. Hmm. Everything's my business, Jamie, you know that. I do.

And unless you want that business everywhere, I'd recommend backing the fuck off right now. You're threatening me. I'm pulling a string. Okay. And what are you doing with that string that you're pulling? Shutting down. Oh, so you're tempting them. So you pull a string, you can tempt them

to do what you want, give them a condition, or add a plus one to your roll. So if you already have to shut to help your shutdown. Yeah, help my shutdown condition, or add a plus one to your roll. So if you, I don't have to shut, to help you shut down? Yeah, I'll help my shut down. Go for it, so go ahead and roll cold. Three, four, 10. 10, all right. So you get to choose one of the below.

They can lose a string. If they have no strings on you, which they do, unfortunately, they can gain a condition or you can take one forward. I'll take one for now. You'll take one forward, plus one to your next roll. Yeah, I'll take one forward. I'm not done with this one yet. So just give me a little time. Fine.

We can share. I feel like I'm a sailor. Lost at sea. Anything for my pal Jamie. As you turn around, Sasha, immediately, there's Amanda right there with a bottle of water. Oh, thank you, darling. Of course.

Can I touch your hair? You washed your hands recently, Amanda. I should go wash my hands. Yeah, you should probably go wash your hands. Okay. She leaves to wash her hands. Yeah, you should probably go wash your hands. Okay. She at least washed her hands. That's so creepy. Hey, Aaron.

Hi. Hi, Sasha. In the water to Jamie. What's up? You okay? I thought you were having fun with Amy. What's up? You okay? I thought you were having fun with Amy. Yeah, she's tutoring me.

How studious of you. Yeah, just trying to get my grades back up, you know. Let's go talk somewhere. Yeah, okay. Where do you take me? We move somewhere. Somewhere in the warehouse or outside? Outside, it's a little quieter.

Okay, so you exit the way for a bit. You look really nice. Thanks. I did it for you, you know. I remember that dress. I wanted you to notice me. And you always liked this one. I remember what happened when you wore that dress. Pretty unforgettable, huh?

Yeah. Cameron... even when you wore that dress. Pretty unforgettable, huh? Yeah. Cameron. Don't you miss me? Yeah, of course I do. I'm just trying to figure some stuff out. We could do it together. Yeah, well, you've been making me feel kind of weird because you've been telling everybody

that you broke up with me, so. What was I supposed to do? I'm letting you have it because I don't care about the shit that you care about? About being the cool kid in school? It's not being the cool kid in school, Cameron. It's about power. It's about the ability to escape.

We are only as important as our roles here. I don't think any of this means anything. What means something to you, then, Cameron? I thought I knew. Was I wrong? No. You weren't wrong. Then what's so important? You have to figure it all out on your own.

I can't tell you. I can't tell you, and... I'm just trying to fucking keep you safe. Fucking goddammit. What? Keep me safe? You're not going to understand, so... Ugh, fuck, I feel so fucking weird.

I'm all like, vuh. It's hard to try to have a conversation with you right now when everything's like fucking moving. Ugh. Do you still have that water Amanda gave you? No, no, I shoved it onto Jamie. Ugh. What's happening to you? I don't think...

Cameron. And I run my hands up inside the jacket. Sasha, please don't. Please don't, Sasha, fucking please don't. Are you willing to turn on Cameron, then? Yeah. All right. Pull the string. Ooh. And... Please don't. Are you willing to turn on the camera then? Yeah. All right. You're going to roll. Pull the string.

Ooh. Yeah. Let's see. That's three. Plus two to that, technically, because you don't get your gang bonus, right? Yeah, well. Oh no, sorry.

Well, the string is two, so. So, 10. 10, all right. So you gain a string on them, and you choose a reaction to this. I choose a reaction? Correct. Oh. Okay, good, I'll burn the strings.

Burn it, you get it back. Okay, so because I am a teenage boy, I respond back, I slip my hand underneath her skirt, her dress, just really slowly, upper thigh, and I keep going, and just start making out with her outside. Okay, all right. How long does this go on for?

I don't know time in this moment. You're aware enough to know that just around the corner, though Cameron may not notice, Amy has come looking for Cameron. And good. That was an impulsive decision. So proud. You can acknowledge or just keep it going. Um. It's really hot and heavy, but at some point,

when I pull up for air, I look over and I make eye contact with Amy. Have a good night. Oh, fuck. Have a good night. Fuck. Cameron. She leaves to her car. I love you, girl. She didn't mean anything to you. You're just trying to figure your shit out with her.

But I get you. I've always gotten you. I know. That's why this has been so hard. But listen. Just trust me. I can't do this right now, and I think... A lot of shit happened this summer,

and I really care about you, and that's why I'm... I don't know how to make you understand this, but... I'm sorry. My parents have gotten worse. They cut me off, Cameron. What do you mean? I...

No, you know... You're not gonna let me in? And I guess that's it. I would have gone anywhere with you, Cameron. Maybe we still can. I just need a little time to figure this out. Well, figure your shit out! Because I don't have that much time. And you pull him in for a long kiss.

I push him away, and I walk back inside. Okay. Okay. I just stay out there for a second. I fucking punch the wall, and then I go back inside. In the meantime, you could never have imagined the skin soup you found yourself in right now. Skin soup?

You are being bookended. I'm just a little carrot. You're witnessing this. You watch as, after some time, and things have gotten blurry and fuzzy and the lights have gotten bright and your body is tingling and at points, you just feel this interconnectivity between the people dancing around you

and then the individuality. It's a really wild, some points almost too much, but just a very different experience. And you don't know how long it's been. You don't know how much time has gone by. but just a very different experience. And you don't know how long it's been. You don't know how much time has gone by. I need you out of that. What? I need you out. It's all energy.

We're all one frequency. Oh, for fuck's sake. The butterfly and the president share a frequency. Oh, for fuck's sake. The butterfly and the president share a frequency. Okay, you're just dragging me so down right now. Okay, sorry. Okay, you need to be fucking careful, because I cannot handle this right now. What?

Stay the fuck away from Sasha. What? No, she's so beautiful and she liked my outfit. Take this for someone who's been here for a very long time. There is some Cam Sasha thing that you are not fucking prepared for and she is using you for this shit and you need to just put a fucking wall up.

Okay. Put a fucking wall up. Okay, no, yeah, I trust you. Because Ash just already started some shit. Damn. That now I'm gonna have to deal with. Okay, so. And it was cute at first, but this shit's gotta, I can't have this right now.

Okay, yeah. What if we, yeah, what if we just did that one more time? She's just fucking using you for this goddamn fucking. No, no, you're right. Is this what you want to be? I'm more pride than that, you're right, thank you. You've got enough shit to fucking worry about. You know what, Jamie, I really appreciate this.

Thank you for shooting me straight. Do you want to make out? I mean, I'm high, but like, you know. Are you rolling to turn on? I'm rolling to do it! Go for it! Look, Jamie, look, I like how straight you're shooting me. Oh, for fuck's sake. That's an 11.

Jamie, you suck. There's something about the glistening sweat and the unexpected confidence and just the surrounding vibration of light that is a familiar space that. really appreciate you telling me that. So you get a string on Jamie. Fuck, love it. Oh my god.

You put a blue up there, and how do you react? I'm going to fight it at first and attempt to keep having a conversation through making out for 10 seconds before I just fucking give up. Toilet, you're right, yeah. No, no, mm., you're right, yeah. No, no. You know, Toilet, yeah.

Yeah, just. You're the butterfly, I'm the president. Shit. I've lost my train of thought, totally. As you join the party, time stretches. Same thing to walk in on. The tension there, you jump in with the rest of your crew. You push off a few harassers and hold your space dominantly.

You lament the events of the evening and the fact that you can't leave because your ride is currently making out with the drug dealer. But it takes a while before you have a moment of clarity and realize you haven't seen Amanda in a while. Oh yeah. Has anyone seen Amanda?

I guess I go look for Amanda. Okay. He looks at the crowd. Check for the bag. You have to focus a bit and steady yourself moment to moment, but you look around and after about, I don't know, 10 minutes, three hours, who knows how long, Amanda's not in the room.

Anywhere? No. Oh no, no, no. Are there any horse stables around here? Do I know? No. Okay. Actually, none. It is an abandoned oil refinery. I go outside to look for Amanda?

Okay, you push outside, and you guys notice Aft just goes ahead and goes out to the front door. You're still in the midst of your dancing. I'm recovering. You're recovering. Fuck, that did not go the way I was expecting that to go. I'm going to go over to Tuckershini real quick. Okay. Wow, so that happened.

I don't know what the fuck is happening to me tonight. It's fine, you're high. Where'd they go? Fuck. Shit, they're all right. Okay. You okay? No.

You want to make out? Don't fuck with me. Pretty people don't get to fuck around like that. It's not funny, it's not funny. All pretty people get to do is fuck around with people like that. Jesus Christ, let's go find our people. Okay. There's some things happening.

I'm going to keep an eye on this. Okay. You watch as they both exit after their conversation. Yeah, I think I might actually go along. Do you join them or just trail behind? I'll trail behind. Okay. In this time, you've stepped outside and looked around a bit. There's no sign in the immediate vicinity of Amanda.

People are smoking. There's one person outside who's having a rough night and is rocking back and forth. They have a friend who's rubbing their back. There's somebody else who's mostly passed out against the outside of the warehouse. A few of the cars are starting to get up and leave. You have no idea what time it is.

I talk to one of these people and I'm like, hey, have you seen a horse girl? Horse girl? With the... It's like riding pants. Yeah, yeah, braid, long braid. She was fucked up. Dude, yeah, right?

Aren't we all? Where is she? Yeah, no, there was this, she went off with this person like that way, like, I don't know, half an hour ago. Half an hour ago, jeez. Okay, take out my phone and I try to call her. Okay.

Hi, this is Amanda. I can't make my phone right now. Please leave a message. Bye. I call it again just in case it's on Do Not Disturb and I can push through. Same message. Fuck. Like, we probably come outside.

At this point, you guys have found out. So Amanda's gone. I guess she left with someone a half hour ago, but we don't know who. Left this place? Yeah. He pointed further into the refinery. All the cars are parked out in the front. Oh, good, good. He pointed deeper into the bush.

She's still here, but she's somewhere outside. We should probably go find her. I was thinking that, too. All right. That's her first, let's fucking go find her. Just the three of us. For sure, anyway. Sasha catches up at this point. Smarter.

You'll look very concerned. Where? Amanda's. Yeah, my good friend is gone. Amanda. Yeah. Horse girl. Horse girl. Okay. In my phone, I text out to the group,

need a location on Amanda. Thank you so much for doing that. Beltman. Beltman equals horse girl. Right. Horse emoji. Horse emoji, girl emoji. Yeah, yeah, horse emoji.

We won't tell her about any of this. We'll tell her that we all knew her name. What's her last name? Beltman. Beltman. Yeah. Is that the first time you're hearing that? Yeah, I always thought it was Smith.

No, no. That's way so different. Okay, never mind, let's go. You're so connected, that's really cool that you're able to ask about that. All right. No. So how do you guys go about the search? Are you going as a group,

or are you splitting up to more ground? I like strength in numbers, personally. Let's do it, let's go as a four. Yeah. Okay. So we just go out into the mine. This area, there are a number of other buildings that appear to be, there are some derricks off

beyond the location, but there are some large tower-like almost silo cylinders with doors, there are sheds, and there's warehouse pieces that are like smaller versions of the major warehouse where the actual rave is taking place. Dang it. Are we near the quarry? Near the car?

The quarry? Oh no, you guys are way out of town. Okay, okay, okay. It's like, oi. Yeah, you're about 20, 25 miles at this point. Let's just go building to building. See if there's some fresh footprints. I start calling, Amanda!

Okay. No responses. You go from one place, although the doors appear to be locked in different buildings. Amanda! She couldn't have gone too far. No. Amanda!

How long has it been since you guys noticed she was not around? Someone outside said that she lived a half hour ago. Fuck. Okay. Did she drive away? It sounded like she left with someone and they went over this way.

Who's taking? There's quite a bit of buildings in this place, so it's gonna take you a while to move through the full place, but you move from one small warehouse to the next cylindrical building. The door's locked. The next one you go into, it is unlocked,

and you open it up and it's inside. No light. It is pitch black on the inside, and there are stairs that lead up. Because you're all fucked up, you're having a hard time focusing on any fresh tracks. Sure. I'm doing okay. Actually, you're all fucked up? You're having a hard time focusing on any sort of fresh tracks? Sure. I'm doing okay.

Actually, you're doing okay. Can we go get a search party together or something? Jamie, isn't there something you can do about this? Not at the moment. What do you mean? I don't have what I need for that. You keep looking? Yeah. Yeah.

Switch the way I was. I can start running up ahead, sort of in the vicinity to not check the same door. We're all going door to door. Yeah, we can start to split up. Stay in eyeshot. Okay, okay, so you guys are covered, okay. All right, so you break up a little bit.

You're still staying in a similar space, where you're within earshot at least, but you're checking out different elements there. Before we leave, is Jason at this party? Jason Buckner, you did not see Jason Buckner. You did pass by, you saw Tyler, Amy briefly, though she appears to have left. My bad.

You think at one point you caught sight of Terrence Michaels, the dumb woke jock. Oh yeah, nice. Other than that, the crowd's been chaotic. Those are all the people you saw in passing, but that's it. Okay, I would like to gaze into the abyss and try to find answers on maybe where she is.

Okay, it is a nearly full moon, and you just take a moment to let that instinct take over and your senses begin to grow. Go ahead and roll a dark. Okay. I was going to say my dark is not good. Oh, that's really bad. Oof.

It's a two. Two. Your senses, as you sniff the air, are so radically altered by what substances wash through your system at the moment that you pick up the scent of everything within a mile of vicinity. Whoa! It is overwhelming,

and unfortunately, in this instance, not very helpful. You do get an experience point for that. Oh yeah, thanks. Okay. If I can get into an area that's away from everybody, like maybe around the corner of one of the buildings. Okay. If I can get into an area that's away from everybody, like maybe around the corner of one of the buildings. Okay.

I would like to gaze into the abyss as well, but just whisper to Anukirai. Okay, go ahead and roll dark for me. Nine. Oh, eight. It's a little dark for me. Nine. Oh, eight. Eight, okay. Eight. And what are you asking?

Hey, so I don't want to fucking ask you for help. But we're missing one of our friends, so if you could steer me in the right direction, that would be really helpful. You? Yes. Of course. Thank you. Yes, of course. Thank you.

The shadows take your eyes in sight and you reach out to put your hands on the wall to stop yourself from what feels like falling into oblivion. And you see flashes. Darkness. Darkness again. Movement. Candles, candles, candles. Hands pushing.

Black cloth. A blade. And you're back in vision. What the fuck does that mean? And right as your eyes open, there you see Sasha standing there looking at you. You watched as he stood there, and you went to go check on him,

and this greenish smoke was just pouring out of his eyes for a few seconds, and you were about to scream until it vanished. Hey. How long were you standing there? Are you okay? What the hell is going on, Cameron? Did anything happen to you, are you okay?

No, no, what is happening to you? I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I just, I asked for help and from home! You guys hear the raised voices. Yeah. Did you find her? What's up? No, I just, I had visions of maybe, I asked where she was,

and I saw visions of candles and darkness and a blade, and... Wait. Where the candles were, did that look familiar to me at all? No. No. What? I promise I'll talk to you about this.

I just... You did feel something near. She's not far. You did feel something near. She's not far. I feel like we should keep searching. Let's do it. Okay, I fucking rage out. I'm getting, can I, can I start to werewolf out,

but not attack anyone here, just start attacking the ground? I can say you can begin to give in They start to werewolf out, but not attack anyone here, just start attacking the ground. I can say you can begin to give in a little bit to your Lufa on yourself to just like, No! Find her! You watch as Aph angrily starts slamming the ground

in a way that's unexpected, like a tantrum, but also weirdly brutal. And with each impact into the dirt and dust, you swear for a second, the limbs tend to elongate a bit. You don't see too much of anything beyond that until you find that intensity and then rush off. And for a quick second, you swear you see

a shine in Aph's eyes. Let's go, and I bolt off alone. Well, that was unexpected. Maybe we all have a little bit more. Okay. We've all got some secrets. Let's go. I reach out and I just put my hand on her shoulder. And I just keep walking forward.

Okay. You guys are... Oh, full speed. Full speed. All right, you cannot catch up to Af. They have a very quickened gait. And uniquely, as they're running and sprinting, they begin to fall into an all-four animalistic run.

Just the little bit of moonlight that's pushing through the open space in this refinery, it's a surreal visual, but not as important as finding where Amanda is. You rush around the corner, head into this one area where you can see all these hallways, and you see a faint yellow glow, a little crack of light between doors. I go straight there.

You and rush in. As you go inside, immediately you can see the room itself is filled with dozens and dozens of lit candles, wax melting freshly. You glance around and across the room, in the center, there is a table set with four figures standing, black robes, and these odd golden masks.

Oops. Just like a projector. Just like a projector. Honestly. Is it not working right now, of course, which is how we see it. Is it plugged in? I thought it was, but... Is it not working right now, of course, which is how we still remember. Is it plugged in? I thought it was, but... Easily enough.

That's all right. That is exactly like a projector. That is exactly like a projector. It's super, super accurate. I guess we could just watch a movie today, then. Yeah. This will never make it in. That's okay.

The National Geographic special. These are the masks you see being worn by them. Oh no. As they all stand around, silently, quietly, muttering beneath their breaths in unison. As soon as the door you push open slams in, they all at once look upright towards you.

You can see one of them is clutching like a big silver ring on a finger, holding this long, hooked blade itself that's dripping with crimson. On the table, you see sprawled out between them, recognizing the jeans and brown boots. Amanda. I attack the one that has the weapon.

The weapon, okay. You suddenly lunge forward across the room, growling, giving into that. Do you, you're not fully into it, but you're just lashing, you rush in and go for the one clutching the blade. Go ahead and, if you want to lash out physically, make a roll. Yes.

Oh! Double ones. Ah, fuck. So that's a four. You get an experience point. A four. You dart forward, and the one that's holding the dagger actually lifts it upward in your direction, and in that instance,

your animalistic survival instinct kicks in, and instead you roll out of the way, slamming into the table, causing it to crack. The legs fall, the body hitting the ground, softening your blow as you roll out and land on the dust next to them, at which point all of them spin around. Another one looks at the others

and makes a loud whistling sound, and they go and grab the body. Is she alive? You don't know. The one that has the dagger is going to attempt to strike out at you with the blade, now that you are off balance. I start running forward. Yeah.

Okay, okay. Do you wish to attempt to, let's say here. I'll say for this, go ahead and roll another volatile check to see if you can manage to. Jesus, we're really not rolling well. That's only a five. Five.

Goddamn, I'm racking up my experience. The blade digs into your torso, and the pain breaks through the sense of fear and the altered substances that are been battling for control over your experience. You take two harm. Oh. battling for control over your experience, you take two harm. Oh! Ooh. You guys are hearing something,

but you could not possibly keep up with this. So you're just now trying to chase as fast as you can. The figure that whistled and sent the other two to go raises a hand towards you. Do you want to try and keep your cool? Yeah. I will try to keep my cool. Okay.

Go ahead and roll cold. Come on. Hey, there we go. Oh no, but I have minus one, so that's a seven, but it's still a success. Okay. So you manage to maintain your composure here. You gather at this moment

that whatever it is that's looking at you still feels confidently in control of the situation and is in the process of doing something you don't understand. If you were to continue this aggressive action against this entity, you have no idea how this would go. Jesus Christ.

Um. Fuck, I attack once more. Okay. I attack once more. Go for it, so make me a bird. Oh, fuck! Good, good, good. Okay. We did it, we hit.

That is a 10 even. A 10 even, okay. So you go ahead and do two harm, or one harm unless you have a string on them. Or any benefits of it. Just one harm, but I do take a string on them by harming them with my Primal Dominance. So you strike through on that one, lash out physically, and you choose one of the two.

Do you want to learn something? So you chose the string out physically, and you choose one of the two. Do you want to learn something? So you chose the string on them, so you. Oh, oh, oh right, because I can choose. You know what, I will actually choose to learn something about this true nature instead of taking a string. Actually, this would be,

they choke up momentarily before you can react. That's something they would learn on you if you had rolled lower, so. Oh, god. So on this, you take the string. Got it. And they withdraw. You find out they had rolled lower. Oh god. So on this, you take the string. Got it. And they withdraw. You find out they weren't,

in the momentary fucked upness, you thought they were casting a spell or something. They were pulling a gun. Just pulling a straight gun. Fuck. But they balk at it, and this lashing out that you give, and the nature of your physicality itself

shifting into something unhuman, and they just turn and run with the nature of your physicality itself shifting into something unhuman, and they just turn and run with the rest of them. Goddamn it. Okay, I run to get my friends, because this is crazy, I'm going to die. Okay, so you're not giving chase to them, you're going for your friends? Oh, goddamn it!

Can I try to have my cake and eat it, too? Can I run to see if they're getting in a car or where they're going next before running to go find my friends? They're running the opposite direction down the hall where you're in and where your friends are coming, so you have to pick one or the other. I follow them.

Okay. Okay, yeah. Okay. You hear all these sounds happening in the distance you're catching up, and then the sounds continue to get more and more distant. This weird guttural growling that's echoing as you enter this hallway. You see the open door with the light,

and you see a shadow rush out and continue down the hall. You have no idea what it is. Oh, do we see the body? No, you don't see anything. It is jet black shadow in this room, except for the light coming from that one open door in this hallway, and you just see this shape of something almost beast-like leap out of that chamber

and then head down the length of the hallway. Following that. One, two, go. Okay. You guys run and run into shadow. Hearing footsteps and growls, you catch up to the back of one of them, who is currently holding what looks like the legs of Amanda,

as they get to a door that exits the opposite side of this hallway to the outside of night. What do you do? Okay, is that the person that I've already hurt? No. Goddamn it. Is that person also within reach? They would be within reach of you right now.

Okay, I'm going to attack them because I get a one added to those rolls. Yeah. And then I'm also going to burn my string, so I have a four added to whatever this roll is. You got it. Hey, that's a 14 total. Yes!

I kill this motherfucker. All right, so this is not the one that you hurt previously. No, no, I was going for the one I hurt previously. Okay, well, you were going for that one. Yeah, I added the string and everything. They weren't in reach at this moment. Oh, then never mind, okay, yeah,

I go for this person right in front of me. Cool, I keep the string, and that was only a 12. Yeah, no worries, only a 12. You lash out and do another harm to this individual. This time, your hand, as you reach, as opposed to a punch or a slap, it is a clawed motion, and you arc down, tearing through the black cloth of this robe,

and the individual, they're big, and they scream out in pain and continue forward, pushing through, slamming the door behind them as they exit the hallway in your face. I get a string on them, too, probably, if I cause damage? Yeah, you do. All right. So I'm at a closed door, but I hear footsteps behind me.

Yes. I turn to you guys. You guys can't see anything. It is pitch black in this room now. They have Amanda. Who's they? I don't know, they're masked. Cell phone flashlight. They were killing her.

Yeah, yeah. Cell phone flashlight, you can see now, Aph is standing there, breathing heavy, strangely taller. Whoa. We have to help her. Is the door open, is it locked? You go ahead and go for the door. The handle turns, but it's wedged and rusted a bit.

Let's all hit this door together? Yeah, let's try to get you open. Three, two. One. You all slam into the door. It slams into the back part of it, the metal creaking as it impacts, sending this reverberating echo of metal

throughout the interior and the space. As you guys emerge out into the night moonlight, you glance over and can see a car and peeling off into the desert. I pull out my phone and I take video. Okay. As you record it, as it vanishes into the desert night. Fuck.

Let's pull. Yeah. Whoa. So you were talking earlier about how you didn't have what you needed for something. What do you need? I would need something of, something I can't get.

What is it? What is it? We need something of hers, I would need time, I would need things we just don't have. Well, I have something, like I would probably have like cloth or skin from whoever I just scratched, right? Like under my nails, technically? You would have probably skin and blood beneath your nails.

I have something of theirs. I'm going to try something, I don't know if this is going to work. What are you tempting? Would this be counted as a token? It's not really a token. It's not really a token, unfortunately. Unless they left, I suppose rummaging through the room

to see if there's anything of theirs that they left behind. Okay, okay. Anything personal. The dagger was abandoned in the fight. This'll do. Really? I'm going to start setting up a ritual real quick. Okay. Whoa. That's a token.

Set up a ritual. I am going to hex the owner of this dagger. Okay, what kind of hex are you placing on? What's the technical term for hallucinating insects crawling all over you, crawling inside of you, and able to scratch them off? Weirdly don't have that information. There's a technical term for it.

But with any luck, they're the driver. Ooh, yes. So that's a dark roll? Dark roll with a plus one. Plus one for the token, if I recall. The token's what allows me to do it from a distance. Correct. I have a plus one for my previous roll, though.

Oh yeah, nice. So that's two. So go ahead and roll. Nine. Yes. Nine. If I have a plus one or have I a plus two? For which one? I only have the plus one from the previous roll.

The token doesn't give me a plus one, does it? It does not. The token allows you to use it, and I think it can be, sympathetic tokens can be used. Nice. They count as strings. Yeah, so it's just my ability to hit that person. Correct.

All right, nine of that. You could have if you wanted to expend that string and use up the token before the roll, but you've already used it. For the future, you can do that. Okay, so you sense the hex does take effect into the individual who previously held this dagger. What do you choose of the list of drawbacks?

I'll take the harm, fuck it. Okay, you guys watch as Jamie finishes muttering beneath breath, clutching this dagger, and eventually the dagger itself seems to rust over in a matter of seconds. And with that, Jamie, you're clutching it, you open your eyes, and it's heating up, and heating up, and heating up, and you can't let go,

and it's burning into your flesh, and you begin to grit your teeth and scream out, and eventually you drop it on the ground, and your hands are burned badly. No! Jamie! I'll be fine, I'll be fine. and you actually drop it on the ground and your hands are burned badly. No. Jamie. I'll be fine, I'll be fine. What happened, what'd you do?

I fucked with them. Should we get the car and try to go follow them? Yeah. I think so. Yeah, right now. Are any of us okay to drive? Yeah, I'll drive. Can you drive fucking stick? She can drive stick.

What? Yeah. Okay, great. Okay. Can I sit in the back and try to heal myself a little bit? Yeah, you guys notice, by the way, that as they're having this conversation, it reverts a little bit back to,

if you remember, and you're like, man, these, whatever I took for you remember, and you're like, man, whatever I took for most of you, you're the one who's really freaking out about this. You're like, this is really messing with my head. You're like, this is different. Then you notice the blood that is pouring out of Aph's abdomen.

Oh my god, I'll be okay. But if you can drive, I just need to heal a little bit. I grab the Asgai and I wrap around their torso. Thank you. Okay, well, this will take a little bit. We'll go in the car. Which vehicle are you taking, your truck or Jessie's car? Which, by the way, your posse now catches up to you

and is like, what's going on? Okay. Cultists, maybe, took Amanda, and we got to go get her. Amanda's horse girl. They all look at each other and they look at me. What did you take? Nothing. You know I never roll at parties.

They all get really serious suddenly. Okay. Corey is in the process of texting and for a minute you're pissed off. She's like, yeah, nobody's seen her. Like, nobody that was here. Okay. I know. Find out about, I guess, cultists with, or, yeah.

I explain the mask as best I can. And then I text them the video of the car. Nice. Yeah. She goes ahead. Send it out. Okay. You guys get in your truck? No, we can take your car since. Well, it's Jamie's car.

It's Jessa's car. Or Jessa's car, sorry. It's Jessa's car. We can, let's take your car and then follow us. Okay. Okay. You guys jump into your vehicles and you can see parties died out for the most part. People are starting to leave. some folks are just closing down,

or they're worried that maybe word got around that it was happening, and they got to close out before it gets busted. You jump in the truck and begin to peel out in the direction and. Can you be driving? Who knows how to drive? I have to focus on trying to heal a little bit.

I can drive and then you can help. Okay, I'll drive. Okay. So you can tend your wounds. Okay. You can heal one harm. If someone helps me, I can. I'll help.

Okay, great, because then I can. She can help delicately. Yeah. And intimately. Perhaps with erotic subtext. To heal an additional harm, but. I can get us on this whole goat. Oh.

Really? Ow, ooh. It's okay, you've been hurt. Okay. It's okay. Try to stay still. Okay, yeah. I want it to be dull, thudding pain, not sharp.

Okay, yeah, great. Ah. Bandaging. I'm watching in the rearview mirror. Eyes on the road, eyes on the road! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ow, ow, ow! It's okay, you're going to be okay.

That was really brave of you. Thank you. Yeah, we almost got her. Fuck. It's okay, we'll get her next time. Can I explain to them what was happening, just in case they might have any ideas? There was a finger with the ring. There was a scythe. There was...

blood. I don't know if she was alive yet. They just took her body. They clearly need it. You couldn't see if she was still... It's just her hair was in her face. I couldn't really tell. One of them pulled a gun on me. What? Yeah. Fuck. So this is like. Guys, we don't have any, we don't have any, how are we supposed to go up against someone with a gun? I don't know.

They probably don't know we're coming. Nobody would be that stupid. True. You see any tracks, anything we can try to follow? Unfortunately, at this time of night, driving quickly in a truck, you spend about an hour or so before you finally come to the realization

that you have no idea how to track where this car went. The desert brush, the heavy dust, and patches of cracked land don't really carry the signs of vehicular travel as well as you had hoped, especially with such low light. Wasn't lucky enough that the car went off the road or anything like that? No.

It was worth a try. Thanks for trying. Try and bandage up my hands. Should we go to the police? Should we go talk to your mom? Oh, fuck. I mean, I'm sober enough to talk to people. I believe that.

I feel like we could all get to a place where we're kind of normal. Okay. Even though we're not, but you know. I think my dad has a gun that he pretends he doesn't have. Do you want to talk to my mom? She likes you. Yeah. Let's talk to my mom? She likes you. Yeah. Let's talk to your mom.

Okay. Fuck. Your mom's a cop? No, she works at the police station. That's crazy. Yeah. The first time you check the old clock on the dash of the truck, it is 3.30 in the morning.

Okay. What? No, I forgot I had a curfew. My dad said I needed to be home by 1. It's okay, this is more important. Are you going to be okay? That's fine. I put in an order for a bunch of number one dad mugs

to thank my dad and you can have one for your dad if you wanna make it up to him. His dad is not a number one dad. Oh, okay. I think you could save that for somebody else. Okay, yeah, I'll just give them all to my dad. Thanks, though. No problem.

Yeah. Let me know if you end up crashing at the place. Maybe we just should. Fuck. What's the plan? Go to the station? I think we should go tell your mom. All right.

Yeah, fuck. Your mom, you know, has the afternoon reception shift, so she's probably sleeping right now. Oh shit, that's true. Should we just go? Actually, if she's not there, yeah. Should we just go to your place? I mean, the hideout?

We could just go to the hideout and figure shit out. I mean, shouldn't we try to tell the cops? You did something before where you were able to kind of know that there were candles, right? That's the only way I was able to find her. Can you do that again? I can try. Is it okay? I can try.

Yeah, it's okay, I just. Are you praying to, like, Jesus? Not quite, but I think it's the same idea. Okay. I don't think Jesus answers by smoke, green smoke coming out of your eyes and visions. Oh, whoa. Um...

Yeah, I pull over. Just don't be scared, okay? Okay. I try to gaze into the abyss again. Talk to Anuqirai again. Okay. What do you ask? We're still looking for her.

We're trying to figure out where those people went. If you could help maybe be a little bit more specific, We're trying to figure out where those people went. If you could help, maybe be a little bit more specific, that would be awesome. 10. 10? Okay. You take one forward towards addressing them, so any roll that pertains to this in the future, you get a plus one on that roll.

A plus one? Yeah. You just mark that. What did you say to Markov right before you said that? Oh, just note that you have a plus one on the next roll that pertains to these visions. Got it, got it, got it, got it, got it. Whatever is seen in them. You see shadow as your eyes darken over once more.

You all begin to see this same visual, this odd, frightening visual. Darkness, flashes of movement and pain. And then light, evening light, moonlight. It's bright compared to the shadow. Figures coming and lifting something out of a trunk. Can I see anything specific in the surroundings? The visions show you

broken rock. Okay. I think I know where she is. That was fucking crazy. I mean, I'm not saying what I do isn't fucking crazy. I mean, I'm not saying what I do isn't fucking crazy, but that was fucking crazy. Well, I guess. Seems like we're all a little fucking crazy.

Yeah, I was going to say. Just fucking crazy. You're perfect, but. I start driving to the mines, to the quarry. The Solomon quarry? Yeah. Okay. You all continue to peel off. Jessie's been following a bit from behind,

and is a bit confused. You make your way back to Cinderbrush Hills, and you can see the blue on the horizon is beginning to rise as daylight is maybe about an hour or so off. You come to the exterior of the Solomon Quarry, the familiar standing elements of chain link, broken and bent and folded in places.

Where the front gate is locked, you know the way's in. Both of you know it very, very well. You glance around and here it's easier to trace in places vehicular movement, as there's not many vehicles that move around the exterior of the quarry, both for safety reasons and most of the equipment is heavier with bigger tires.

You do eventually find the tracks of a car that stopped abruptly with the skid in the dirt. As you step out, you can see where it stopped and then drove off and the trail goes cold on where the car is, but there is no car there. You are standing at the lip of the further back quarry pit where you keep your hideout. As the little bit of blue light begins to crest

over from their eyes and you glance down to see what looks to be the unmoving body of Amanda Belman. Ugh. Jump down there. Yeah. Oh shit. Absolutely jump down there. Check pulse, check eyes, Amanda.

She's gone. Stab wound in the torso. Is there anything missing from her body? Currently, no. Can I... Can I try to use a bargain... for her. What are you attempting, bargain-wise?

I have Numbing it Out, which you can give the dark power a string in order to remove a condition or up to two harm. Unfortunately, this is beyond harm. This is beyond healing. This is just straight up. She is dead. Okay. You also hear the front gate beginning to open at the front of the compound.

People are starting to show up for the first shift of the quarry. Fuck. Dude, can we take her body with us so it's not just there? Oh, God. I'm not, we are out of here right the fuck now. We are out of here right the fuck now.

We can't, I can't get, we cannot, we cannot get caught like this, F. There are people now coming to the quarry. I'm so sorry. They're now, as you know, the security has started to do the perimeter in the early morning to check. I'm already in the car.

Yeah. I sit her upright and say goodbye. Should we go to the hideout or should we go to the car? No, we are not going to the hideout. There are people here. We have to get the fuck out of here entirely. Okay? Okay.

You jump into the truck? Yeah. And you leave. The sun rises, a normal, cool morning. You're in Cinderbrush Hills. Where do you go? Diner? Is there a diner that we can go to? There is a diner. Yeah. Diner.

If you'd like to. We can head to the Haven's Diner, which is more the family meal place, but it's open 24 hours. Just get coffee, regroup. Yeah. You go and get coffee. Oh god, I'm so angry. Okay. Okay.

What's the plan? We either tell somebody, we go to school. I don't know. The only nice person to me at school is dead. Ah, fuck. We have to tell somebody. You start hearing police sirens in the distance.

Two cop cars rush past the diner in the direction of the quarry. They're going to ask an awful lot of questions, questions that we can't answer. I guess we have to go to school. Yeah. Fuck. We should have known this.

We've seen enough fucking television and listened to enough podcasts to know that you should immediately go to the fucking police. Don't be stupid, it wouldn't have done anything. Barely any time. Dad is literally going to kill me. My dad's probably literally going to kill me. Okay. Okay.

It's okay. It's okay. We go to school. We go to school. We go to school. We go to school. We act like nothing is wrong. We don't tell anybody about this. Uh-huh.

And we try to move on with our lives. Everything is fine. Oh, you're so good at that. Everything is fine. Oh, you're so good at that. I don't have any compartments to compartmentalize into, so I'm gonna have a rough day at school. We're gonna figure this shit out. Yeah, we're gonna figure it out, and everyone just keep your ears open at school, I guess?

There's, yeah, fuck. Can I go, or I guess I'll wait until we go to school. I'm not going home. I don't want to have my parents see me. Ditto. Exhausted? You all eventually make your way back to Cinderbrush High.

The familiar homeroom bell carries with it a ringing dread. We can't walk in together. Yeah. I've gone home and changed. Okay. Pull me through the glass. You somehow look amazing and you rested.

We're all like. You know how to sneak in and out of your house pretty well. You all make your way back to class. And tense and quiet, in some ways uncharacteristically so, you try and head into the new day to think amongst yourselves and wait for a moment to regather your thoughts. About an hour into your homeroom class,

you begin to hear commotion in the hall. Suddenly, news alerts start hitting your cell phones about a body that was found this morning in the Solomon Quarry in Cinderbrush Hills. Does it say a name? A body that was found this morning in the Solomon Quarry in Cinderbrush Hills. Does it say a name? Doesn't say a name. But the man didn't show up today. Eventually, Officer,

this would be Sheriff Michael Dobbs, the police station. Steps into the classroom. Looks about at all the students in the room and just says, Good morning. We, there's been a tragedy here in Cinder Hills. We're just asking if anybody has seen anything

strange at all. In the city, around the Solomon Quarry, we'll be leaving contacts at the front of the school. But for the time being, until we figure things out, we're setting a citywide curfew. Nine o'clock. Thank you.

He leaves. Nine o'clock. Fuck. I think, well, we're flanking this sad, empty desk. Do we call the cops? Do we talk to the cops? I don't know. Whatever we have to do, we have to get our story straight.

Yeah, true. Can I, or we're still in class, right? Correct. Okay, I just stay in class, but at some point I want to go to the computer lab or something. Okay, you can probably arrange that. The recess might be a little short, but at lunchtime. Cool. You could do that. Jamie.

In class, you notice about 20 minutes in that Terrence is fidgeting a bunch and scratching his face and having a rough time before he eventually raises his hand and goes, Mr. Kempler, I need to be excused, I'm feeling sick. I'm really just distraught about the emotional state. Can I go to the nurse's office?

Mr. Krempler's like, Yeah, Terrence, you can go ahead, please. And he gets up and leaves. A couple of students be like, can we leave, too, for the distress? And Mr. Krempler's like, no, we can't all leave. We don't have all the information. Just hold off, maybe one at a time.

Lunch eventually rolls around, class finishes, and you guys can reconvene. The second the bell rings, I am going to go. We need to find Terrence right now. Really? Right the fuck now. Is he involved? Right the fuck now.

Okay, we go to the nurse, I guess. We pass by the nurse's office to see if he's in there. Okay. You head to the nurse's office. I'm not there. Check the bathrooms. I'm going to go in the boys' room, see if he's in there. Okay.

You head into the boys' room, and the first thing you hear is like and then quiet. I look under, see which stall is occupied. You glance under just to see one foot lift up. As taken. Terrence? Yeah? You okay?

Yeah, just, you know, really distraught. Kind of, you know, kind of triggered by the whole thing today. Just need some time to myself. You peek out and open the door to them and just say, Come in, he's in here. Okay, we pile in. I'm going to block the door with something. It's one of those swinging doors.

Yeah. I'm sure there's the door with something. It's one of those swinging doors. Yeah. I'm sure there's something that we can quickly rig to keep the door from opening. Well, there is a latch on it. Oh, we're locking it. Okay. With my scent of blood, I get a plus one to all rolls

against those that I've harmed. Would I be able to sense that in this? You certainly smell familiar blood in the air at this room. Hey, Terrence, come out here. Whoa, whoa, how many people are in here? Last I checked, this is... Well, I mean, are in here? That's not checked, this is... Well, no, I mean, it can be gender neutral. The bathroom, sure.

You just come out and talk to us. We just have some questions. All right, hold on a second. Toilet flushes. What can I do for you? You seem like sweating. You okay, man? You don't look so good, Terrence.

Feeling rough, I got to get going. No, no, no, no. We're going to have a little chat. No. What's the matter, Terrence? Feeling a little buggy? We're going to have a chat about everything, and I'm going to cast another hex. Okay.

Which one are you casting? I'm casting Ring of Lies. Okay. Go ahead and roll your dark. Come on. Seven. Yes. Seven, okay. So it works, but you get to choose one of the side effects. I'm taking my darkest self.

Oh my gosh! All right. My darkest self is interesting my gosh! All right. My darkest self is interesting. So, Terrence, as you're saying this, Terrence goes, I can't play with you guys, I'm having a rough day. And he pushes you back and you don't move. It's just like a saw goes, what the fuck?

And you watch as Jamie's eyes blacken over and every word and whisper of this unfamiliar tongue that escapes their mouth, you hear it echo and reverberate around it as it does, at which point Terrence goes, What the fuck is that? It's okay, F, don't worry. He's safe. Where were you last night? There you see him. The f. Where were you last night? There's the end.

The f? Where were you last night? I was out. I always knew you were some fucking black magic demon shit. Where were you last night? Tell him. Stanson?

And then what? Then I went and it reaches back and is pulling something from the back of his pants. I go and I keep his hand down. Hold it in place. Try to disarm him. Okay. What are you trying, you're just reaching out? I feel like he's reaching back for a gun, so just instinctually, I'm just trying to reach out

and possibly disarm him. I guess I'll lash out physically. Oh, you're actually attacking, okay. Like, if you're just reaching to stop his arm, you can try and do so. Okay. I don't think I'm taking any chances on this person. I'm lashing out physically,

and I think I get a plus one to this person. You do, because you've hurt him, go for it. Yes. All right. Get it. Hey, that's an eight plus two, that's an 11. 11, all right, and you have a string, if you want to spend it. Yeah.

On this individual. Oh, you know what, actually, it's probably just a 10, because it's, if I harm them in this scene already. So I guess it's, yeah, yeah. But still, you have 10. Okay. They immediately, as you reach out and jam your hand, claws forward into the chest, and lift him up against the back of the bathroom stall wall.

. Look, I... We've just been hanging out a bunch and she, she made a lot of promises and we, she talked about this. Who's she? She glances over and tries to speak, and the magic that you had wailed

holds the mouth open for a second. I mean, you can lie, it's just going to hurt a lot. Yeah, and it begins to really emphasize the heavy pain there. Sick. Susie. Susie made some friends out in the city and was saying that they found this book that could just really change tides of luck for us, you know,

and she'd find somebody nobody would miss. That makes me so angry that I twist my claws. She's missed. I'm going to quietly reach into my back pocket and just start hitting record on my phone. I've taken the gun, too, I think, and I just throw it in the trash. Okay. Hey, what's the drawer closed?

I got to take a piss! In a minute! I fucking... You're storming away. What did you do? I just did what I was told. You know, I've seen a couple of things. I didn't believe her at first, you know?

We were just fooling around and having fun over Matuga, and I saw some shit and I was, and she, she's very persuasive. Where is she? Where is she? Right now, she's a, she's staying at the Saints Path Church. Who else is involved? Some friends of hers.

Damien, Jenna. It's just us. It's just us for now, directly. Nobody else that we know here from school? No. That I know of, at least. Terrence, you're not going to tell anybody about what you told us, and you're not going to tell any of your friends

that we know about this, right? Because if you do, I'll kill you. All right, I'm not going to tell anybody. You're not going to tell anybody either, right? He's not lying. Your secret's safe with us, Terrence. Yeah. You can put me down. It really hurts. He goes ahead and takes his,

because he's bleeding now in the chest, and he takes some paper towels out of the dispenser and stuffs them inside for a second, and buttons together his varsity jacket. He's like, Do you want this to go? No. Fuck you.

I up it. Four, five, six, seven, but it automatically has unexpected results and is much stronger than I intend it to be, no matter what, because I'm currently in my darkest form. Oh, yeah. Oh my god. This is on the illusions? Yeah, I'm adding, I'm just going to up them.

Okay, he unlocks the door and pushes out and the hallway goes and everyone in the students start looking at him, screaming, people who were waiting in line to get in, a bunch of other students were holding their piss, back out of the way, he's like, what the fuck is this? Starts pushing kids over in the hall

and goes charging through the hallway and people are following. In that moment of distraction, nobody is paying attention to the bathroom. We get out of here. You guys dart out from that point. As you head out, you can see now there are news vans starting to line up on the outside of the campus.

A lot of attention is not making its way to Cinderbrush High right now. Fuck. So we leave separately, and we meet somewhere. Do we deal with this? Is this our problem? Yes!

The faster we deal with this, the this our problem? Yes! The faster we deal with this, the faster it's not our problem. I can't get caught doing anything that is going to jeopardize my future. The only way you're not going to get caught is if it's taken care of. Be a fucking human for five fucking minutes. Yeah, well, why don't you be a human?

Why don't any of us be human? Oh, fuck off. I, um. Yeah, I don't do anything. Okay, we'll meet back later. Yeah. I guess, your place, since you have the car, unless you have the car?

We find out if they found our- Well, I can't go home. I don't know where I'm going to go. I'll probably just drive around for a little bit. Can we find out if we can get into our place? Yeah. We can try. They haven't found it by now,

they're not going to, I don't think. If you can find out if they've discovered something. Why were they going there? I don't know. I mean, I have some ideas, but... Okay, what are we doing? What are we doing? Going to find...

We're going to go home and then meet back up? Or do we just go there? Let's just get seen so that everything's as normal as it can be. Yeah. Is word out that it's her, like in the news? Not yet. Okay. So I, okay.

There are rumors spreading quickly. It's been long enough, I think. I'm going to try and dispel the hexes. If they will dispel, they might not. You believe you might have. Oh, we'll see. Might be enough just to make people less suspicious. Okay, so I don't really know

any of you that well, so I guess I leave on my own. Yeah, I can't take you to my house. Yeah, it's okay. Sasha. Sasha. Oh shit. Yeah? Actually. Do you want to come with me to my house? Yeah. Is my mom at work?

By the end of the school day, yes. You can come to my house, my mom's not home. Cool, thanks. Fuck. All right, I grab my bike. Sasha knows the drill. Okay. There we go.

Thanks. All righty. It'd be nice to have a buffer with my dad. Okay. You go ahead and make your way towards your house. You can put your scooter in my car. Wow.

Okay, that brought me back. Okay. Here we go. You guys hear on the way out that apparently the police are starting to ask around if anybody knows where on the way out that apparently the police are starting to ask around if anybody knows where this Jamie Renly is. I text Jamie. Let him know everything I do. So should we go to your house?

If they're looking, then no. So we just drive around? I'm going to go by the quarry, see if we can go find my sanctuary. Okay. You drive over towards the quarry, and before you even get too close, you can see the place is Swamped. Swamped.

Fuck. Okay, so... We can go church with Suzy out again? This would be a... Saints. Saints Path Church. So should we? You can head that way,

stick it out for a little while. Let's start heading that way, yeah. Let's look from afar. Cool. I have my dad's bird watching binoculars, so we can just kinda use those. Yeah, we should probably head there too, so. I think, okay.

How is your dad? My dad? Your dad. Your dad. Like, as a person, great. Probably the best man I've ever met in my life. How's he doing? What do you mean?

Like, good? Yeah, he's just a normal guy. Fuck, you don't remember, do you? What? Shit. What? Three. What? Three years ago, we were having one of your fits

in a courtroom. I remember everything about the divorce court. Why? What? Why the fuck were you at my parents' divorce? I haven't, well, I suppose I have changed quite a bit. That's fair. It's been a while.

What do you mean? That was my dad. Fucking Greg. Our dads had a thing? Fuck, when you put it that way, Jesus fucking Christ. Oh my god. That's so crazy. Wait, that was your dad? Yes, it was my dad. that way, Jesus fucking Christ. Oh my god! That's so crazy. Wait, that was your dad?

Yes, it was my dad. Oh my god, that's so nuts. Yeah, yeah, that was fucking nuts. Whoa. I feel like I really regard them as a like, a fucking, like, we're really close now. I, uh. I was going to fuck with you. Uh, I'm not.

Thanks, yeah. Um, so you, yeah, so you saw what an outburst of mine looks like. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I couldn't tell at the time if I felt bad or if I... I was pretty fucking pissed off that you got to do that and I didn't. Yeah. Got some steam out.

That's so crazy. Yeah, did you have any idea about your dad? No. That was the most shocking thing to me ever. I mean, I knew. I mean, I knew something was up. I didn't know that was up. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. I was honestly pretty proud. I was like, damn, Sammy. I was not. Oh, really? damn, Sammy. I was not. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah, I told, well, I didn't know everything. My mom found out because I was reading my dad's phone, but I didn't know, and then I told my mom,

and then everything. Gosh. Yeah. I told my mom, and then everything. Oh gosh. Yeah. That's crazy. I've always been close with my dad, so I, that seemed, I was almost like, get it. Greg and I are not that close. Oh yeah, totally.

Woo! Rearview mirror, lights. Fuck. Okay, okay. That's fine. Would runaway work in a car? We can certainly try. Whoa.

What do you think? I'm trying to see, can I see who's getting out of the car? And if it's a state? Are you pulling over? Oh. They're right behind you. Oh, I thought we were pulled over. We're about to pull over.

They just turned on their lights, should I pull over? Fuck, I guess we fucking pull over. Okay, all right, yeah, so I start to pull over. Officer Baron. Do they know me? They do. You don't have a good rapport. Fuck. You don't have a good rapport pretty much with

Anybody. Anybody in this town, let alone the law, so. You've been arrested a couple times. You hear the door close in the rear view, you can see them walking, sauntering over to the edge of the truck. What do you think? Oh, fuck.

I have a plus two to run away. I'm not going to tell you what to do. They're getting close to your window. You just going to say hi, or? Jesus Christ. I'm trying to gauge your body language on this side. I have gone, I mean, am I still in darkest or just at fate?

No, it's permanent. Or you do something down here to get rid of it. You must offer peace to the one you have hurt the most so you are still in your darkest self and you are, yeah. Okay, because I suppose that was almost a little conversation of peace offering at that point, but I don't know if that was the hurt. Hurt me most is definitely a stretch there.

Up to you whether or not I've chilled or not. I'm fine either way. It's just going to change my reaction to what happens next. Yeah, I'll say... That's not the one you've hurt the most, so you're still in a place of focus and wanting to get this taken care of.

So the glasses are up to cover the eyes right now? Yes. Okay. Good morning, officer. Good morning. Afternoon. Officer Barron. Jamie. Where are you two off to? We were about to go to church.

Youth group. Really? We're talking about my anger issues, which apparently I have. They've been so helpful. Yeah. Really getting me to, I don't know, what is it, be a good influence? Yeah, I just thought I would try to bring this one to youth group.

I mean, it's not all Bible stuff. It's also fun, it's like games and stuff, too, so I think Jamie might like it. You could come, too, if you want. I know I've been a problem lately. No, I'm all right. I went on Sunday. Oh, cool. all right. Went on Sunday. Oh, cool.

Good on you, Jamie. Make your mother be proud. Feel free to tell her. When you see her. Well, you two stay safe. There's been some shit out there. Passes out of the truck and turns around. Great.

In the rear view, you see them call something in. They take a string on both of you. Oh fuck. Jesus Christ. Holy shit! Should we have run? I'm not quite sure. No. Okay. Running's always worse.

It's easier to bullshit your way through that shit than run. I guess, I don't know. Okay, we should go, we gotta go. We need to start driving. Driving to the church. All right, what are you guys doing? Okay, so, I'm going to go to my house, and then,

just to show that I'm alive, try to make things as normal. Okay, you pull up to the house, and there is a cop car in the driveway. It was the Solomon Quarry where the body was left at. You can continue to interact. Walk in the house. Okay.

You walk in and you can see there is an officer who is currently talking with your dad, who looks frazzled and furious and is currently signing paperwork. Your mother is not present, but as soon as you enter, the cop turns. Is this him? Hey, what's up? Your father, Hank, turns and goes,

Cameron. I know, I know. Listen, I'm really sorry. I'm really sorry. Last night, we were together. You knew we were broken up, and last night, we just kind of, it. We had to sit and talk some things out.

We stayed together. I'm sorry, Dad. Officer, could you give us a second? The officer right away, walks past you both with a very untrusting eye and then walks out front. As he leaves and the door closes, Hank turns to you and goes, Do you know how hard it is to try and talk to the officers that my son, who's been gone the entire night,

the same time that a fucking kid was murdered, in our company? How hard it is to try and pass that off? I didn't know a cop was going to be here. I certainly didn't know either. We're sorry, Mr. Sullivan. Things are just so crazy in town, and we were scared.

But I'm sure everything's going to be fine. We're good students, and, you know, he has a fine upstanding family. I'm sorry. Maybe a night in jail would do you good. No. Please, he didn't do anything wrong. I didn't do anything.

Good. Then I guess you have nothing to worry about. Can I just get some things upstairs? You want to come with me? Yeah. Go upstairs. Do I know where the keys to the car are hidden? You're not supposed to,

but you probably know. Okay. Probably in my dad's bedside table. Yep. Go grab the keys. Okay. If we go out the window and make our way into the garage, we just got to go. We got to go, way into the garage. We just gotta go. We gotta go, we gotta go, we gotta go to the fucking church.

That's a stupid idea, is that a stupid idea? That's the dumbest idea that you've ever got. Yeah, because there's literally a cop right outside. Okay, you go out there. Talk to your dad. Okay. Go up, grab the keys, try to see if I can somehow... Is the garage separate from the house,

like one of those, you know, where it's like... No, it's attached. So you sneak out through the window? Sneak out through the window. Okay. You make your way, like, carefully across the roof, is it both of you? As you're doing so, the police officer.

I go around. Oh, you go. I say goodbye to Mr. Solomon and I go around to the cop. All right, cool. Yeah, because you know as you go out the window, the cop is down right outside the front door just waiting. You hear like, Roger, I'm just checking for one of the missing kids.

He's here, we're going to take him in for questioning. Fuck, this is so stupid. You slowly, carefully make your way over there. You head around back. Officer? Officer? Oh, uh, Jared. Jared Thar. Jared? Officer Jared?

Um, hi. I'm Sasha Murasaki, and um, what's happening? What's going on? Hi, I'm Sasha Murasaki, and what's happening? What's going on? Um, there was an incident last night and we're just having to ask some questions. Okay. Can I help with anything?

Did you see anything weird or strange last night? No, my boyfriend and I, Did you see anything weird or strange last night? No. My boyfriend and I, that's my boyfriend, we've been going through it, and now we're back together, and we just stayed up all night talking, and we watched the sunrise, and it was really great, and now we're really scared. Is there any way that we could just

have a little bit of time, and then we'll come back and talk to you? Yeah, unfortunately, we've got to bring him in for questioning, just standard procedure. We need to make sure that there's nothing untoward in that regard, even for his safety. So you can go ahead and reconnect

day after tomorrow, probably. Hasn't there been anything you can do to convince you. I don't know. You trying to turn on the office? Roll the dice. Oh my god. Oh, shit just got real.

Like I said, my kind of girl. I'm going to say, god, how do I do this? My friend, Corey, and I, you know... Over there, Cory Brooks, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um... Sometimes maybe, I don't know, we can offer dinner or something? Oh, uh... How old are you?

Old enough. Oh my god. Make it roll. Yeah. 13. Oh for fuck's sake. You notice the officer is fidgeting and conflicted. On his left hand, there is a little bit of lighter skin

around his ring finger, having been probably himself recently out of a long-term relationship, and he goes like, Oh no. I mean, it's important to stay connected with today's youth and understand how to best keep them safe. You know, you could really up your social media game on the force.

It's all about optics now. We'll show you. Okay. I'm in the garage smiling. I got a Facebook. Oh, good. We'll show you. Okay. I'm in the garage smiling. I got a Facebook. Oh! Good. We'll set up a tech talk for the forest.

I think that'd go over really well with the youths. I take it you, okay, yeah. I can't. All right, well, take some time and when you're ready, just go ahead and bring them by the station and then we'll take it from there. I really appreciate it, officer. Of course, some four-door chat.

Okay. Cinderbrush PD TikTok. Ah! Yo, what up, all my friends on the internet? We're just filling paperwork. Oh my god. My god. I'm so sorry, I was like, I just couldn't hang.

No, that was incredible. That was too much. Does he stay there? No, he basically said, if you wanted to take some time together, just bring him by the station. Okay, so. So he's there, but he's allowing you to go. Okay, so I quietly try to open the garage,

and I peek out. I'll get it all clear. Get in here, come on. Hopped in today. Yeah, the officer, as you're doing this, the officer sees you. You're not expecting to see him, and he's right there, and he goes,

just, you know, not too long. We'll see you in a little bit. We'll be right back. All right. Yeah. Just, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Take care. Fuck. He's still parked there?

The car is parked, but there is space. Should we go? Yeah. Let's go back. All right, so get into my 71 Barracuda. I put my hand on her thigh. I drive out. Okay, okay. All right.

Oh my god. This is so ridiculous. That hurts so much. All right. You... The familiar rum, it's been a while since you felt her purr and it feels nice. You also know your dad probably heard it?

Yep. So you deftly make your way out. The garage door open and the cop waves as you guys leave. We give him a wave as we pull out. And you head off towards? St. Paths. All right. You guys got there a little bit early, and glancing out there, it's a small church. It's maintained by two people, and they're going about their business, looking and they're just cleaning

the place and tending to the small garden. It has little bird keychain that says, I just love birds. I'm looking for any clues. You got it. There is, in the small parking lot behind the church, where when services are held, people go ahead and park their cars there, there is a pair of vehicles that are there that are,

because normally the people that run the church are parked in the actual garage behind it where they have, for the people that keep it. There are two vehicles that are there. Okay. Do we recognize these vehicles? Can we look at the, yeah, are the tires, do they look like they were in the quarry?

Do we see any dust? Certainly dusty. Certainly dusty. One of them is a nondescript black Mustang. The other one looks to be a beat up Acura. And they're both dusty as fuck. I send Cameron a text like, we're at the church. What's your guys' ETA? Just text back, here.

What? Sick. Or well, I guess we probably pulled out at that point. Let me see your last car pull into the church. Oh. Yep, it just pulls up next to you guys. Okay, so we're doing this. We find out who they are, what they are. See if there are any other sweet kids in there.

Yeah. Okay. Let's walk up to the cars. You walk up to the cars. I start laying on my hair. We look at each other, start laying on my hair. I'm going to walk up to the cars. I'm going to knock on the trunks. Do I hear anything inside? We look at each other, start laying on my hair.

I'm going to walk up to the cars. I'm going to knock on the trunks. Do I hear anything inside? Mm. Okay, well, two things. One, as you guys are walking up, you get a text from Lexi. Lexi says, I ran the plates on that car.

It belongs to Terrance Michaels. Oh. Thanks, Lex. Great job. I got Lex. Great job. I got you. Now? As you approach the cars, one of the doors opens,

and you see a foot step out, and a tall man, probably mid-20s or so, shaved head, sunglasses, leather jacket, steps out and turns. Can I help you? Do I get a sense I would have a plus one on this person? For? Or I guess actually more accurately,

if I have a string on this person from damage. You do not. We're looking for a Damien. Why? We don't know, we were told to meet here. We heard he and us had a party. This is all four of you have approached now at this point? Yeah. Okay.

Were you all at the rave last night? Yeah. Thought you all looked familiar. Yeah, let me get Damien. I watch as I remove. Okay. Well, we can just come with you. Yeah, let me get Damien. I watch as I remove. Okay. Well, we can just come with you. We're good right there. He walks around to the other car

and just gives a knock. A gunshot from inside the vehicle. The glass in the back window shatters outward. Sasha, you take two harm. Oh shit. From being shot in the upper thigh. I lunge, I lunge through the fucking glass to whoever's in the backseat. Okay.

And I lash out physically. You do, you dart past with lupine agility, leap into and through. As you brush through the broken glass against the leather seats on the inside, you see a shorter squat man in what looks to be a white tank top, another matching leather jacket

to the other gentleman on the side. He has what looks to be a pretty hefty-looking gun. And you rush in, go ahead and roll for your volatile. And I would like to spend a string if I perhaps have a string on him? This one you can, yes you may. All right, so. Okay, it's five, six, seven, eight, that's an eight. Eight, all righty.

So yeah, that's a harm on him. Ooh. Oh, so I get that string right back. You do. Okay. And you get to choose whether how, any of the three there. Become your darkest self, they gain true nature and gain a string on you,

or I decide how bad the harm can be. I'll let you decide how bad the harm. Wait, hold on. They learned something about my true nature? Yes. And gained a string on me, hmm. Yeah, I'll let you decide how bad the harm is. Okay.

I'll say because of the closed quarters, the harm, it's difficult to get a full charge on him. You manage to push him off to the side, and he's like, now trying to get the gun back to you, and you are just bearing down, and he gets hurt, but not as much as you may have intended to be. All right. I rip off my top, my shirt,

and I hold her thigh. I'm like, it's okay, it's okay. Hold on, hold on. and I hold her thigh. I'm like, it's okay, it's okay. Hold on, hold on. I start wrapping her leg. Okay. Delicately and intimately. I will say it's a little hard to do a delicate, intimate bandaging situation

in the middle of a shootout in the parking lot. Okay, okay. Okay. Then, um. There's still a wall up in there, it's fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's okay, it's okay. I remember this area pretty well. Okay, so I try to wrap it up as much as I can, tie it off. So that's what you're doing this turn?

Yeah. You're probably eating in that. Yeah. What are you doing? Can I make eye contact with any of these people? Yes, the one that was outside the car that knocked is also in the process of pulling a gun and about to turn in your direction. I am going to try and hex him as quickly as possible.

Okay, all right, go ahead and roll dark. Yeah, that'll do it, nine. Nine, okay, that'll do it. Nine. Nine? Okay. That is a success, but you get to choose which of your drawbacks occur here. Actually, it has to be a weird side effect. Well, that's true. Full speed. Yes, you are. It's always more, it's ultra effective whenever I...

Which hex is this? I want him to be, I'm going with more just rats crawling all over him. I'm doing rats and snakes, let's do rats and snakes. I'll say as he pulls the gun, suddenly, he begins to freak out, like, pat towards his chest, and he takes two shots in your direction, but because the illusions have grasped his face, both shots go wide. He screams and begins to run in the opposite direction.

The gentleman who's fighting with you is going to attempt to fire back at you. Oh god. I'll say does get a shot off at point blank. You take two harm from him. Fuck! get a shot off at point blank. You take two harm from that. Ooh. Due to the proximity, you guys see the muzzle flash inside the car, and you feel the pain,

but your fury and the look, the last look that you saw from Amanda's eyes to you before she vanished into that night fills your mind, and the bloodlust is there. Yes. What are you doing? I attack again, and this time I burn a string. I have Scent of Blood, which is plus one, so I have plus four to this roll.

Oh! Yes. Yeah! All right, that's a 10. Okay. And I will turn into my darkest self. Do I also have a side effect to this one? Or 10 is a success, I guess. No, 10 is a success, you don't need that.

Okay, great. So yeah, all right, you go ahead and lash out, and this time you begin to growl and bite as you strike and just start scraping your fingers and claws into him. He starts screaming out in pain and cannot, he's reacting to this and cannot seem to get the gun ready and in the place. He goes to try and pull it up again

and you just slash the hand out of the way. Ah! And it's. Can I take the gun on that success or is that too much? I will say you would probably have to try that for your next turn. Okay, yeah, no worries. So. Grab the gun. Grab the gun.

Yeah, so this is, that's who's in the car, this is Damien? Correct, that's one vehicle. Yeah, okay. You assume it's Damien. The other guy is running the other way this is Damien? Correct, that's one vehicle. You assume it's Damien, the other guy is running the other way and is screaming and shooting wildly. Okay, so I'm going to go rip the car door open and try to grab the gun.

Okay, so you set Sasha aside and rush over. You pull the door open, and it is a bloody mess on the inside. All you see is Aph there on the ground just tearing into this. As they're doing so, their body itself is expanding and rippling with muscle and bits of hair and fur beginning to show up at the edges of the wrists

and the neck and the face. There is definitely the elements of a transformation here. Oh, that's fucking cool. Ah! Okay, for a seven. You go ahead and I will say, I will say just go ahead and roll a volatile for me.

Yeah. On the purposes of trying to get this gun out in the middle of the battle. A six. That's a failure to gain an experience point, but unfortunately, there's too much chaos happening in the moment, and you have no way of getting to that gun that is still being held.

What are you doing, Sasha? So there's a guy running? Mm-hmm. Where is he? Is he going towards something, or is he? He's running towards the church, it looks like. Okay, I'm going to follow. Okay. I'm going to follow. Okay. I'm going to pick up Sasha

and help you towards the church. I text the address of the church to the... Your hive. The hive. Okay, you got it. As you begin to give chase to this guy who's running towards the church, you are still in this situation where, in the middle of fighting in the backseat of this car,

he's hurt very badly. What are you doing? I try to get the gun away from him. Okay. Let's see, go ahead and roll volatile on that for me. Volatile? Okay. You still have a string on him, too.

Yeah, I have plus four. Ooh, baby, that's a 14. Oh, damn. That's where all those rolls were. Yeah, exactly. You go ahead and manage to wrench the gun from his grasp. He's on his back, legs up, you're pounced on him. He's

Who are you? What do you do with kids? He's unable to make words at this point because he's in so much pain, and then he's just spattered with his own blood. As you're saying this, it's less coming out like, what do you do with kids, and more, what do you do with kids?

This is a full Batman monster-ist. Puberty has hit me pretty hard. My voice dropped. Yeah, cool. So he's too scared to even answer? At the moment, he's not answering. He's just like, in pain and whimpering.

And I see my friends going towards the truck. You would need a moment to calm him to try and get any information. Okay, can I pick him up and restrain him and pop the trunk? Yeah. I'm still there. Can I put him in his own trunk? You're still there, too. Yeah, I'm still there.

Help me, yeah, yeah, yeah. Throw him in his own trunk and slam it. You got it, okay. Perfect. You guys are rushing off. The other guy runs towards you and he's like, So they! Two more gunshots.

People are fleeing from the front of the church now, the two people that are keeping it. They're just running into the field, like screaming from the gunfire. You are fleeing from the front of the church now, the two people that are keeping it. They're just running into the field, like screaming from the gunfire. You see a woman in shape step out from the back of the church. You're not quite sure where or what door, and she's like, what the fuck?

Susie, what the fuck is going on? So he catches up and fires back another time. I'm going to, we're going to try and. Yeah. Right, get low. Oh yeah, we are free again. We're not following that close. Correct. Yeah. You can see Susie now plants out.

Susie, call him off. She puts a hand up and he pulls the gun there. You guys begin to rush over with him. She puts her hand up. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, there is some confusion here. What's going on? You were trying to sacrifice somebody? Dark cult shit?

What is going on? What are you into, Susie? What has the big city done to you? I make sure I position myself between Susie and her. Mm-hmm. It doesn't quite see you yet as you're approaching, since they're catching up, but you guys are starting to come close, because like, It doesn't quite see you yet as you're approaching, so they're catching up, but you guys are starting to come close, because like,

there's a whole world out there that you don't quite understand. Try me. Well, Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. What do you do? I'll say, given the circumstance, if you want to, you can go full Darkest Elf if you'd like. I'll go for it.

I'd let him. What remnants of humanity had previously been there, you watch as the somewhat fresh-faced, eager to meet and figure out life in the city, Aph becomes this monstrous, masculine, hair-covered, muscle-ripping, tooth-filled, full-on werewolf. Fuck yeah.

Clutching on the back, a bleeding man in what is now a blood red stained tank top going and is just yelling in pain. At this point, Susie goes like, All right. I didn't realize we walked in similar circles. I don't think we walk in similar circles. What does that mean?

We don't kill people. Not yet, but I had a feeling you were going to show up that night. Me? Yeah. What are you talking about? She takes a step towards you and says, Well, there are dreams I'm sure that you share. talking about? She takes a step towards you and says, Well, there are dreams I'm sure that you share.

Familiar whispers. I start grabbing my head. I mean, you're the one who woke him, didn't you? You, yeah, yeah. What is she talking about? I didn't wake him. I didn't wake him, he was already there. Well, you're not the only one who was visited. And there's a lot that we can do together.

Um, um, um, um, um, um. I don't know your friend. And to be honest, Taris is a fucking idiot. So for whatever that means, I am sorry. So Terrence killed her? Terrence brought her. I didn't know her. I tend to think any of you barely knew her as well.

I fucking knew her. So do you have a way of bringing her back? Maybe. I probably don't want that. There's a lot of unique things at our disposal now. Okay, okay. You just cut the mystical bullshit, Susie. As soon as you cut the fucking werewolf bullshit.

Sorry, you were saying? So what, there's a demon, and you have to sacrifice to gain great power? There's a reason those tales have standed as long in human history as they have. Mythology is not as fiction as it is strange. You don't really need to, again, talk like that with us.

We know full well what is going on. Susie, you're clearly abusing that power. Maybe. But it's working for me so far. She snaps her fingers. And the man you're holding on your back suddenly goes from whining and screaming to silent. I pick him up like a little baby, because I'm so big now. and screaming to silent.

I pick him up like a little baby, because I'm so big now. Is he dead? He apparently is not moving. Oh my god. Fuck. I set him down. Right as you set him down, his eyes flicker open. He lunges towards you, and you take a harm as he begins to bite towards your neck.

I'm so close to dying! I absolutely fight back. Okay. Go for it, go for roll. Oh, baby, double sixes, my man, with a plus four. That's an 18. 18, okay. I'm sorry, that's a 16. A 16, Jesus Christ.

Okay, you definitely take, definitely gut him. Is there a way for me to hurt him so bad I get life back? Sadly, no. But if you do have, if, well, no, you would have sent the string beforehand, unless you wanted to use the string to add additional harm to that, which you could do. Yeah, I think I'm bloodthirsty in my darkest self, so I probably would do that, yeah.

Okay, so use the string. You tear out the middle of his body, and organs spill out, but it doesn't slow him down. You can see this dull green light in his eyes that wasn't there before, and then he stops. You stand still and she goes, There is so much, so much that can be done. You hate this town. You hate how small it is.

We all do. All you have to do is broaden your horizons and step out, and there is so much opportunity. Do you have any idea the crazy shit that I've seen in the past few months? Any idea how much there is to experience outside of this fucking godforsaken town? Yeah, you sound like you studied abroad. You don't have to kill people to do that.

Yeah, you fucking went to Rome, bitch. We get it. Roll to shut her down. Oh, interesting. Hmm, that's a four. But I do get experience points. Okay, we're close. So full of shit. I'm going to try to use

Bargain, Uncanny Voices. Okay. Which I give a string to the dark power in order to realize a secret about someone you're talking to. Okay. Owner of that character will reveal

one of their secret fears, secret desires, or secret strengths, and they choose which. Okay, get a string on you and I'll say, secret, hmm, secret desire is to live without rules.

A deep-seated need to just have nobody telling them what to do, which is ironic given the bargain they apparently made. In a sense, they probably don't realize that. Hmm. Susie. Tell me more. I hate this town.

I hate my parents. I hate how they're always telling me what to do. Telling me I'm nothing. Mm-hmm. It's not like that beyond here. I move up towards her. Okay. The guy with the gun still has a train,

keeps it squared on you as you approach. This is all I've ever wanted. I was meant for more than this. More than these small people in this stupid backwater town. What do you want? I'll give you anything. I move up to her,

and I walk a finger up to her. I walk a finger up her chest and slide my fingers at the side of her face. I bring her ear down to mine, and I breathe into it. Anything. Roll to turn around.

Come on, come on, come on. In the middle of a church parking lot standoff. Weird her shit go down. Yeah. Six plus eight. Yes. Eight, okay. That I can provide.

She whispers back in your ear, you just need to make a promise. When she says that, her voice changes a bit. It's this weird, deeper whisper, a voice layered over hers, a familiar voice to yours. In fact, it's the same voice. Anukirai offers much. Boons for a gift.

Will you take him in? You can see now a familiar dance of green smoke around the outside of Susie's eyes. I reach out and I grab her hand. You can be so much more. I kick her down the stairs. Towards ass. Okay.

Whack! Go ahead and roll a lashing out. Okay. Burn a string. Can I, this is, these are other people's strings. Yeah, you don't have a string on her. Oh. Eight. Yes. That's an eight. I don't have a string on her. Oh!

Eight. Yes! An eight. That's an eight, okay. Okay. What do you want them to... Do you want to become your darkest self, decide how the harm turns out, I decide, or they learn something about your true nature? I mean, I told her.

I told her, and she knows it was true. Okay. We'll say you kick her down the stairway, where she is, she stumbles down right in your path. The guy who's being held by the green force there is in its open, falls to one side a bit, the magic briefly faltering, at which point she is prostrate on the ground there before you.

The guy who has the gun is going to spin and shoot towards you. I was already making a jump for him. Also, you go ahead and make a lash out physically as well. Lash out physically, that's volatile? Yeah. Yep. Well, that sucks. Eight. Yes. Yep. Well, that sucks. Eight.

Yes. Okay. Holy shit. That's great. I was hoping to jump and then get him down long enough to curse him, so. Yeah, with this, it's so fast. That's all I get is just the jumping.

Yeah. You push the gun out of the way, and it does go wide and fires. The bullet hits nobody, thankfully, that you know of. You are going to do anything? Flash out physically. Let's turn into a fighting wolf combat.

Yeah, do I get wolf pack points for this? Yeah. It's like we're all fighting together. Ooh, do I get wolf pack points for this? It's like we're all fighting together. Ooh, eight plus two, 10. Jesus. Yeah, that's a success. You guys have been rolling really well this whole game. Yep. Free game was terrible.

Yeah, there you go, you got it out of your system. As she stumbles and turns, looks towards you, and goes to begin to make some sort of a speech. In that same echoing tongue, you reach out and jam your claws right across the throat. At which point, it bleeds a bit, but it's more the vocal cords that have been temporarily separate.

At this point, you hear the familiar sound of distant echoing. SAM and LAURA make a noise. Cops are on their way. Can I get down to Susie and... Fuck. Can I try to just restrain her until the cops get there?

Yeah, yeah. You can definitely do that. I will say. That doesn't do anything. Didn't work. Oh. What'd you roll? One total. That would be, yeah, it's one total.

Okay. She's now fighting and you watch as the wound quickly begins to seal. Ugh. Hey, Cam, what are we dealing with here? It seems like it's in your wheelhouse. What are the capabilities? Everything.

Great. Yeah. Okay, cool. I don't know the full capabilities, but it's not good and obviously very, very strong. The guy who has the gun goes ahead and after being pushed away, The guy who has the gun goes ahead and, after being pushed away, and his reaction comes back and shoots you.

Yep. Where you at? Did I heal from the previous night or no? You took the time to heal yourself? I took the time to heal, oh yeah. That's right. Thank you. So that's two harm to you. Two harm. It's a grievous wound.

You take it and you fall onto your side and it is a large gunshot wound to your stomach and upper torso area. If it weren't for the fact that you have fully embraced this understanding that, how dare they stand up against someone as powerful as you? Your will pushes through, it would be agonizing pain, but you're pretty rough.

The sound of the cops arriving is getting louder and louder. You can run if you want. No, I'm going to stay here. I turn to my darkest self. It's going to be real fun when the cops arrive. Fuck. All right. What is your darkest self? All the strings.

Wait, what? Yeah, all of you guys who went to your darkest selves, your strings are gone, by the way. Okay. Oh, I keep these, though. These don't go away. Wait, no, that's, sorry. Darkest, you lose them, that's what it is.

Yeah, I know. Oh, yeah. Sorry, that's my bad. Oh my god. I got all my guys' back. Okay. Hmm. Little mix up there.

I think you lose all the strings when you are escaping death. Ah, that's right. Okay. I was like, where did I read that? That was it, that was it, that was it. Okay, keep on with my strings. New mechanics.

But you have embraced your cruel side. And I just go for her. You just? I pile on top of her, and I start whispering in her ear, you are nothing. You've always been nothing. You will never amount to anything,

no matter how many dark bargains you make, how much power you have. You'll always be serving somebody else. You were never meant for anything good in this world. Shut someone down. Come on, let's go. Roll cold. Jesus. Nine.

Hey! Nine, okay. So which do you choose from that list? Oh shit. They don't have a string on you, so you can take a string on them if you want. The condition. What condition do you give her?

She's broken. Oh. I know what makes people happy, and I know what they fear the most. She's terrified. She knows she's always going to be serving somebody else. She's never going to have true power. You watch as her fight or flight

that has kicked in begins to waver, and her eyes go cold and distant for a moment. The man who's wrestling you for the gun kind of himself loses a bit of his resolve. Go to therapy, you fucking bitch. Yes! At which point you hear, Lay onto the ground with your hands behind your head.

Fuck. I watch to make sure that the gun guy is doing that. What is he doing? Did he put the gun down and is he? You are also a wolf. Interesting. So, as in hearing the cuffs begin to arrive and this shout, what do you do?

I'm sorry, but Cam, I have to hurt you. Oh gosh. Just really quick. It's okay, go for it. I can take it. I lash out physically at Cameron, because that's the only way to shed my darkest self and go back to myself. Go for it.

Okay, okay. I have to harm someone I really love. Aw. Go for it. Okay. I hope I fail. Hey, that's a, it's only a nine. All right. So you I fail. Hey, that's it! It's only a nine. All right. So you take a harm. Okay.

And in that instance of the wound that is received, we'll say it's you lashing out angrily, like the bloodlust is there, and as everyone puts their hands behind their head, you look out of the corner and see Cam, you slash out that way, and. After they slash, I grab the wrist. Yeah. It's okay.

The look in the eyes. I'm so sorry. It's okay. Your form reverts. I become myself again. Mm-hmm. Oh, okay. Huh? Oh, okay. I, um.

Hey, Cam? Yeah? I, um... You can help? Yeah. You, uh... It's okay if you know you can do an aft, or... Um... Good, it's... It's fine. I don't know.

I just... We'll figure that out. Okay. Um... I'll help. You know, um... We'll figure that out. I'll help, you know. And it's okay if you want a thing with Aph, too. I mean, I've been reading Mating in Captivity, so. Maybe we can make this work. I think we can. I've heard.

I go back to my true self because I've given some of my, offered some of my power to somebody more deserving. Aw, cute! All righty. I was about to cast a spell on the guy with the gun. He's putting his hands up. He has nothing he can win at this. You're going to tell them what happened?

Nice. Roll dark. Hmm? No, I'm nothing he can win at this. You're going to tell them what happened? Nice. Roll dark. No, I'm not casting, I'm asking. Oh, you're asking. If you tell them some version of what you did, I won't hurt you. He looks back at Susie, and Susie's like, and he goes,

I mean, this was all her idea anyway, right? Right. Mm-hmm. Right. Right. Technically, that is making peace with somebody who hurt me. Yep. Technically, that is making peace with somebody who hurt me. Yep. I'm really revving.

Yeah, I know. Sure, sure. I'll allow it. 11th hour, Hail Marys. I'll allow it, I'll allow it. As the cops swarm in from the parking lot, one by one, you are put into cuffs and taken to the station.

Tumultuous drama breaks out at the sound of your arrests along with these individuals. You spend days incarcerated and questioned, and word begins to spread throughout Cinderbrush Hills that in some ways you are all responsible for the death of Amanda. It isn't until a thorough search is done on the cars involved, eyewitnesses,

blood found at the scene at the refinery, and the copious amounts of blood found in the trunk of a car that is in the name of Susie that match Amanda's, as well as the rather intense, this word escapes me for some reason, the gentleman spills the beans. Confession, there you go. Intense confession.

Most everything gets put upon Susie and the compatriots, Terrence as well. You are all eventually released, though you are convicted of some delinquent behavior during this time. Checkstone.

In which case, all of you have to attend specifically doing public service. You have to take anger management classes, which is very familiar to two of you. We'll show you guys the ropes. I actually have really good coffee. Yeah, it's not crazy. It's really good.

Shock. Weirdly, a lot of strange lessons learned about yourselves. The secrets you now carry for each other. It's pretty fucking cool. And the fact that the weird things that make you particularly weird here in Cinderbrush, there might be more weirdness out there beyond just you. It's really weird here in Cinderbrush. There might be more weirdness out there beyond just you.

That's where we'll finish today's game. Hey! That was a fun little path down a CW high school trail. Totally CW, so good. Oh my gosh. Thank you guys so much for diving into this. That was crazy! That was a fucking command. Oh my gosh!

That was so, yes, my baby. That was so good. Oh god. Holy shit. What are all your spells? That's so sick. That lying one was epic. Lying one's awesome. You can unlock more of them as they go.

Oh yeah, the same thing. If I had enough failures, I could have gotten a new ability. Yeah, I was one way. So many failures. So yeah. That was our first time with it. I know we probably fucked the system many ways.

It's our first time running it. My first time running it, our first time playing it, but we had a lot of fun. Hope you guys had fun watching this. Happy Valentine's Day. Thank you all for joining us. Thank you to the amazing cast of players coming on board to join in this insanity.

Hope you're having a wonderful day. You all take care, and we'll see you on the next crazy game. Bye. Bye. Thank you for listening to Cinderbrush, a MonsterHeart story on the Critical Role Podcast Network.

If you enjoyed the episode, please leave us a review on whatever podcasting app you're using. Your review and support means a lot. To stay up to date on special episodes and one-shots like this one, keep an eye out on CritRole.com. Thanks for listening to the Critical Role Podcast Network. Remember, follow your MonsterHeart.