Mayday Plays - Doomed To Repeat, Ep. 24 – "Dead Calm" | Delta Green

Episode Date: March 29, 2024

The agents emerge from Yosemite battered and exhausted, grappling with the toll it has exacted. Most of them have hit their breaking points, and disorders are starting to strangle their progress. Seeking solace, the team reconvenes at their AirBnB, a brief respite amidst the chaos. Tuck clings stubbornly to her unnatural sister, Mia, refusing to see reason. Hyde and Merit philosophize about their purpose, while Boomer and Warp try to relax. Yet, just as a semblance of normalcy settles over them, a phone call from a former case officer shatters the peace, thrusting them back into the tumult of their reality. TRIGGER AND CONTENT WARNINGS: Violence, body horror, mental illness, PTSD, abduction, manipulation, panic attacks, gunshot SFX Published by arrangement with the Delta Green Partnership. The intellectual property known as Delta Green is a trademark and copyright owned by the Delta Green Partnership, who has licensed its use here. The contents of this podcast are © Mayday Roleplay, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property. CAST OF CHARACTERS • Lev (they/them) - Haley Moore, Agent Tuck (she/they) • Amanda (she/her) - Maxine Parker, Agent Boomer (she/her) • Caleb (he/him) - Orson Bradham, Agent Merit (he/him) • Eli (any/all) - Kona Morales, Agent Hyde (she/her) • Zakiya (she/they) - Gaze, Agent Warp (she/they) • Sergio (he/him) - The Handler MUSIC & SOUND EFFECTS • Post Sound Supervision: Sergio Crego, Eli Hauschel • Mixed: Eli Hauschel • Original Music: Aaron A. Pabst • Soundstripe (soundstripe.com) • Epidemic Sound (epidemicsound.com/) • Soundly (getsoundly.com/) DELTA GREEN LINKS • Delta Green (http://deltagreen.com/) MAYDAY ROLEPLAY LINKS • Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/maydayrp) • Ko-Fi (https://ko-fi.com/maydayrp) • Mayday website (https://www.maydayroleplay.com/) • Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/@Maydayrp)

Doom to Repeat is a Delta Green actual play podcast with violent themes and adult language. Listener discretion is advised. Hello and welcome back to Doom to Repeat. I'm Sergio, your handler. I'm Love and I play Agent Tuck. I'm Amanda Dominic and I'm Agent Boomer. I'm Caleb James Miller and I play Agent Merritt. I'm Eli and I'm playing Agent Hyde.

I'm Sequea and I play Agent Warb. We are back from our holiday break, which means you can expect consistent releases of Doom to Repeat moving forward. For the rest of the year, expect to... a new episode at the end of each month. Those of you in the know about May Day are probably aware of the fact that Vince, of Black Project Gaming, joined our table about a year or two ago and has been participating as both a player and a GM. We're happy to have him, and Vince has also recently returned to running games for Black Project.

But rather than put them out himself, he's decided to host the episodes exclusively through our Patreon. For $2 a month, you can access Black Project Gaming's new playthrough of God's Teeth, and I can assure you it is great. And like Doom to repeat, we'll be releasing that monthly as well. If you enjoy the show, please like and subscribe and leave a review where you can. It really helps. You can also join our Patreon at patreon.com forward slash Mayday RP, where for $5, you can get access to tons of behind-the-s. screen content from May Day for all of our shows.

And now, at the $20 level, you also get a sticker of a different Mayday character mailed to you each month. Tons of reasons to support us if you haven't already. A special thanks to our operator-level patrons at Vance Wars Amy, Bimblewort, Cameron S, Ong, Ogeypan, Wren, and WTF again. Now, let's get back to our game. Second chances are always a good thing. For example, this is my second try writing in a journal. I've been out of therapy since I accused Dr. Byrne of being a homicidal zombie pretending to be my therapist.

And we're on the road again anyway, so journaling. Second chances are a chance for rebirth. But if you've ever seen a live birth, the platitude kind of loses its whimsy pretty quickly, but it holds up. A second example. Perennial wasn't my first cell, and though we've had extremely colorful circumstances, I'm certain they'll be my last. I don't think I won a new team anyway. I mean, we've been uprooted, but even though we don't quite know how to handle this new space,

we knew enough, clearly. When Tuck called, there we all were, finally together again. And whenever those mucus creatures made themselves known in the ranger station, it was mostly handled. Smokier than usual. Well, no, no, smoky as is normal, but handled. What I didn't expect were the giants, the Uelan, the ones that keep children even after death as servants or avatars of some kind. They don't fit into any protocol I've heard of before, and they also aren't fitting into imaginary boxes. The sounds that they make when they crush people make my teeth hurt. But Mia's okay.

She came out of the woods with something more than just extra time, hyper geometry, or something we don't even have a name for yet. I do know that it is too delicate to ask about now. The last thing you want after being away for a long time like that is a bunch of questions. But maybe I can ask about Ducks New Lung instead. You know, I think I saw Kiteness armor. I wear glasses, and, There was a storm, but something is new with her.

Maybe after Ruhi's settled into her second chance, now that she's already seen the scope of the job, I can ask them both. It's hard to lose a god or a, I don't know, whatever anchors you hear, but hope comes in other things. Like my knife that I now keep on my hip. Wasn't my first choice knife, but it came with a new friend, someone expected and wholly welcome. And I handled Joe.

I handled... I handled the body this time. Even got the phone for Boomer, who will probably also need something to hone into for the next few days. I might as well be a whole new creature. I can see a crisis of faith from a mile away, and in the world, Tuck has held up with pushpins.

And the most, almost reverent way that Merritt knew himself only as an agent. I can see that in both of them. them. I had like eight years to put myself back together after losing everything and I think it's only been a few weeks for him and I know it's only been a few hours for talk. You know, journal, this is absurd, but maybe we could switch places. Like I could be the security and they could be whatever I do. I haven't had to spend yarn in a few days and it would keep them both safe and they could learn a new trade. Until then, I want to look into Delilah in San

Francisco, the contact we found on the body's phone. Hopefully she's far enough from all of this to meet a different end. But either way, this case is far from open and shut. It is Thursday, October 1st at 8.30 p.m. Agents, you have removed the bodies of children that you've never seen before, off to the side of the road. Warp. You've let Merrick weep and drag the corpse of retired Detective Joe DeWant into a ditch. But very quickly, time is passing, and at any moment a new person can come and see the situation you need to get going. I will say that seven people working together will be able to move a vehicle out of the

mud if that is what your intention is. Yeah, I'll help get it out of there. Yeah. Let's some dump you can. Sure enough, it's back on the road. You have two vehicles. What's the plan? We should leave.

Yes, obviously. Where are we going? I believe we checked into, didn't we have a place where we were actually lodging? I say we all reconvened there. How damaged is the secondary vehicle after the child went through the doorframe? There's no obvious damage to the car. It really just depends on how close someone is paying attention. The windows of the van are all blown out from Mia's psychic.

scream, so that's pretty noticeable. Okay, at some point we should ditch this car. Boomer's just going to go ahead and get into the, probably the car that has the damage, not the one that she was almost killed in. I'll take the car that the kid was crawling into, and I'll put me in the back and Drew in the front, and I'll wait to see if anyone else wants to get in. I'll get in that car. Then I'll drive the van. Before driving off, Ruhu, who is in the back with the child, speaks up and says, I would ask politely that until we get to the Airbnb, we just remain calm and silent. You know who has closed their eyes, and I'd feel a lot safer when they are sleeping. Anything you want, babe.

Sure. She, you know, kind of slumps her shoulders and feels, or at least appears to be a little more relaxed. Tuck reaches a hand back and just, like, sets it between them. More, almost more for herself than for anyone else and just rested there close by. You do notice the reluctance. There's a moment where there is no hand meeting yours, but that hand does eventually come back and reach out to you.

And, you know, more for solidarity than anything and we'll eventually kind of let go. And you'll find when you look in the rearview mirror that Ruhi is mostly looking out the window and you'll occasionally catch her. side eyeing your sister? Yeah. Let's go first to Agent Warp in the van.

Warp in a moment when Merritt needed comforting, you chose to help him by doing his job. I get the sense that this is one of those nights where you wish you could have a little more control over the situation. I do think this warrants a sanity check to see if your OCD disorder kicks in. That's a family.

with a 66. Well, that is a critical failure. If you'd like, you can try to repress it. Yeah, I think I will. You will roll a D4, and the result is reduced from your willpower, as well as a bond. Okay, I rolled a two. So two willpower and two from a bond must go away, and then you can make one additional sanity check, and if you succeed this time, your disorder will not kick in, and you will have control.

Okay, let's go. Oh my God. That's a failure with 835. So you are going to feel the effects of your OCD disorder. You must maintain control of the things that your agent deems important. Or you will incur a minus 20% penalty to all roles until things are brought back into order or a psychotherapy role. While we're in the drive, though, I want to know what everyone is thinking. not necessarily how you're feeling, but what is going through your head?

How are you justifying what has happened in the last three hours? What were those things? Agent Warp, if I could hear from you. I think she's only thinking about next steps, what happens whenever we get to the Airbnb because what's just happened is a mission has gone bad again, and there's no other excavation to that.

It is just that sentence in her mind. like spray-bated on the front of her mind, a mission has gone bad again. And she needs to secure perennial, and that's it. That's all there is to it. So it's actually the absence of thinking about what just happened is what's going on with Warp. Yeah.

Let's go back to Agent Tuck. On one side of you is Merritt. Behind you is your long-lost sister Mia sleeping soundly. Her head kind of curled up on the side of the car. On the other side is Ruhi, your wife. the love of your life, thanks to your bravery and your strength, you have brought them out of this safely.

What else is going through your head? Tuck's kind of replaying everything over and over in her head and trying to see what could have been done differently, why Mia was the only one who was okay, basically, because all the other kids collapsed as soon as the last giant for all and purposes was killed. Also, the fact that we both exhibited some kind of abilities that are not normal in any way, all kind of under the fact that Merritt and I just had another knockdown trackout fight

at the beginning of a mission again. Though you do replay the scenario in your head, you can't help acknowledge the damn good feeling of getting what you wanted. In fact, all of you walked out of this together, regardless of how broken you are all right now, I'd like you each to roll 1D10, and you may add that back to your sanity. I will also applaud you for achieving one of the more difficult endings of this particular scenario. This is a success? Let's go, Ging?

Uh, yeah, don't you find the successful? Winners. I got a three. I did, thought I also got three. I got an eight. Agent Boomer. You have spent the last hour in almost 12. Total silence, save for the high-pitched ringing in your ears.

You were holding Mia one second, and then another second she was vibrating like a rocket, and on the next, you were on the ground. You are one of the unlucky few who hit their breaking point last session. Yes, I did. And we decided together that conversion disorder made the most sense for you. So from now on, if you fail a sanity test, we will decide whether you lose your hearing until the source of the stress goes away. Okay.

But as you drive away, the farther you get from the Hetch-Hetchy reservoir, the better you start to feel. And if there is music playing on the radio, you can finally hear it again. Right now, Boomer is, it's not emotional. It is literally just images of what's going on through the last couple of hours, because it's not even been a full day. So the flash of Joe attacking, but more specifically, the look, his eyes, the snarl, the sludge white slug, me is. face looking up directly at the sky because they just see cloud and they're just like breathing and then hide running like walking away that like kind of like everyone's back going into the car from the ground merit car and then demon it's very image flash it's just images constantly playing

agent merit you also hit your breaking point we saw a little bit what that looked like tell me about Merritt's car right back. I think that Merritt has reached a point in his life where he has exhibited all the hope that he really has as a person, and he's found those reservoirs running the lowest that they ever have. Hope used to be brought by rules, by expectations, by results that he could bring about, and that he could reliably bring about. But this, on top of everything else, is just a reminder that in every aspect, in every strategy, it ends up the same.

Whether you're listening to yourself, to them, or to anyone else, results are always going to hurt because the world's built so much bigger than us. And I think he's focused on that, that he is so absorbed with the moment that he had to kill Joe,

the moment that he had to kill that child, the moment that he had to kill the man in the A-frame, the moment that he had to kill, that he had to kill, that he had to kill. And it all just replays in his mind with different gunshots and different locations, with different shocked glances on the other side of the barrel of his revolver. And the same results each time, he's just lost. And every so often in the front of that car, he'll drift from looking at Haley to looking to

Ruhi and then sebling entirely on Mia and just wondering in his mind how long before we have to do this again. We have decided that for your breaking point, you have gained the disorder of depression. The hopeless feeling begins to numb a little bit as the time goes on. Hyde, when Merritt broke down in a moment where, let's be honest, in the past, have failed to extend sympathy to another, you chose mercy. And even after recognizing a horror that you thought you had left behind you in the deserts of Afghanistan, you managed to pull yourself together and cradle merit in your arms. What's going through your head right now? I think Hyde isn't a situational awareness point because we're leaving the danger and now we're

heading to her relative safety. I'm looking at everybody in the mirror or whoever. I don't know who's sitting next to me. in the passenger seat. But I'm observing everybody who's in the van, and I can just tell that everything's not okay, but, you know, we'll figure it out. Other than that, Haida is going through, like, what they saw up in the cabin area,

those tall men, all those kids, and the goo, and particularly, the goo. But until they can get to a relative, you know, where they can actually fully process it, it's now just more focusing on driving and getting us to that safety now that we're out of danger. It does take several hours to exit Yosemite, but eventually you find yourselves out of the National Park and on a short highway. You know that your Airbnb is just outside of the park, so you have about a 20, 30-minute drive, and you suspect that you will get there by about 10.45.

you pull up to a spacious one-story home that overlooks some rolling hills and trees. It's secluded. It's private. And that's probably why one of you rented this place. Let me ask you very quickly, who did put a credit card down to rent this place? Or what was the procedure for that? I know Boomer would have just Airbnb and they can write this off later to the program later with the receipt. But yes, I'm the one who put it down and have all the info.

Inside you find a spacious one-story single-family home decorated like a family ranch. You have lots of rugs, furs, quilts, even some handmade pottery. It looks like a lovely place to raise a family, if that were only the case. Ruhi carries Mia out of the car and into a bedroom, almost immediately kind of walks in, identifies where there is a bedroom, and walks straight to it, and closes the door. Boomer's going to grab her bag and just kind of indicate to the rest and going, I got the master bedroom. I'm going to be in a shower,

and taking a nap, and she walks off. I think Hyde is going to go and toss her bag down in, like, the dining room area and pull up a chair there. Do you all mind if we open her door? Whose door? Meas. Let me go in and check on them first.

Okay. We just can't have anything happening under our watch. At that, Tuck goes to the door and knocks. quietly. You don't get a response, but you instinctively, you know, kind of creep in and walk in. And sure enough, you can see Ruhi, almost like if she's handling a bomb. You can see the tension in her face as she is quietly, softly putting the girl down, hoping that the girl doesn't move.

Mia rustles a little bit as she kind of turns over, but she seems completely asleep. And Ruhi notices you, puts a finger to her lips, and. approaches the door to walk out with you. I put an arm out and I grab her hand and I stop her. I don't know what to tell you. How do we make this right? That is the question of this job, isn't it? Are they going to try to kill me?

I won't let them. If anyone asks, you are here to consult on the weather. You are a weather consultant. Okay? You're saying I'm a part of this now. It's the best way to protect you. Okay, okay, yeah. I just want to let her sleep.

Can we just get out of this room? Yeah, yeah. She sleeps like a rock. She always has. I fell down the stairs when she was taking a nap when she was like two. Didn't stir. Tuck, normally you would see Ruhi's defenses crumble a little bit,

hearing about your past. Ruhi is on the edge of her seat right now. She understands that behind her sleeps a child capable of vaporizing somebody and in front of her are six trained killers. but she kind of pushes you forward to exit the room. Yeah. I think during whatever is to transpire in the next couple of hours, Tuck is putting themselves between Rue and anyone else.

When Ruhi steps out, she does want to close the door. If there is any protest against that, she will kind of put her hand up, at least say, a crack, please. I just don't want the kid to wake up. We'll leave it cracked. Is that all right, Merritt? Of course. I'm just looking out for her.

That's all. I just want to be able to hear something if something should happen. You saw how badly those things wanted her last night. Tonight. Whenever it happened, I don't even know. If I leave it open, can you all promise to at least talk at a reasonable volume? We've made that promise before. We can do it again, but there's no guarantees with this group.

She lets the door open enough that you can see the bed that, uh, Mia is sleeping on, but she kind of sits down at a little chair that is not far from the door, but is kind of separated from you guys, kind of more in the living room area. At this point, I think Warp is just checking the doors and windows and making sure that they are closed and what they look like when they're open. It's like clicking it a few times and going to the next window and clicking it a few times. You all notice Warp is on the top of her game. I mean, it's, you know, while everyone else seems and appears exhausted,

warp is as if nothing has slowed her down or stopped her. Just to confirm, Boomer, you basically jump in the shower, huh? Yes. So you can hear the five of you outside the shower going off in one room that seems to fill the silence in between everyone else not saying anything. If no one immediately says anything, Ruhi does speak up. and Ruhi says, do we have to worry about those people? I didn't think about that they might follow us outside of, outside of the park.

Hopefully not. Who knows? It depends on how badly they need Mia. The legend says that they exist in Yosemite Valley. We're not too far, but I think we're technically outside of it. I don't know. Maybe technicality is enough. I hope so.

If we want to be safe, we could just jump in a car and drive to the opposite end of the country. Well, that's if we're considering this a finished job. What else do you want to do? If those things are out there, they're going to continue to abduct more children. We are not supposed to be here. I agree, but I think there's a good conversation to have about what more can be done. Whether we, I don't know, take this to someone higher up than ourselves. we investigate personally,

or we try to find some solution. I mean, isn't that why we do this? If we take it to someone higher up, they're going to ask why we were here. They're going to learn about Mia, and they're going to... Is that a bad thing? They're going to want something from her. They want things from all of us, Tech.

They're going to turn her into a fucking science experiment. She's six. Is she, though? You don't know that. Yes, she... She's... She's tiny. She's a baby. She's...

You think she's a baby. You think she's tiny. We don't know what she is. I saw what I saw. And I know that we are above just taking care of some child or some being like that. I think you're thinking with your heart and not with your head. I mean, at the core of it, there's a chance that's not even her. And I'm not advocating advocating for taking this back to the program because I agree with you,

I think the first thing they would want to do is cut her open and see inside. But we need to have an understanding that that is another piece of this puzzle we need to make a firm decision on. There are a lot of very, very dangerous things in mind here, not to mention the risk that people have in this valley. We need to decide where we stand on all that, program or not. At this point, the longer we hold on to her, the more likely they'll find her. If you want her safe, then she needs to get out of U.S. jurisdiction. Try and land her in an orphanage or something. She's already done more than one act that would put her exactly where Tuck is suggesting we keep her from.

At least a few days of observation to get a better scope of what's going on. And then we, I don't know where she goes, but we don't know. We don't even, we haven't talked to her much. she hasn't had more than one day in one place that wasn't outside we're not just dumping her somewhere or I'm not just dumping her somewhere how long are they talking that I would come out of the shower and maybe hear some of this

or would I just miss everything entirely? I mean I think you maybe come into the tail end of that if it feels relevant. Okay. Are you like in your bathrobe or if you change into something else? I'm in a full bathrobe and fuzzy slippers and I'm going to be like, I know you guys.

are not seriously making plans. This, you guys are not making plans tonight. There are no plans done. Stop talking. Everyone go shower. Relax. You all look like shit. I look like shit.

Please. I think we should talk about things instead of having a carefree attitude about it. It's not my business anymore, right? We, as far as I'm concerned, tuck you won. You got your little sister. That's great. So what's the problem?

The problem is she vapor, a person. Oh, I'm very aware. Especially your sister and you do. Nice glowing skin, by the way. That's new. I didn't keep that from you guys. Yeah, that's a second topic. So maybe we should pin Mia away for a second and talk about what the hell is going on with you. Now, hold on. Ruhee stands up and she says, before you all start piling on tuck, you call her, Haley, she had a surgery. There, there's other people involved in this. I don't know how, but, you know, she was on the verge of death and she got better.

Who are you, by the way? I'm a, I'm a weather scientist. Consultant. Okay. I know one, two, three, four, five of us. I don't know you. I never met you. I'm, my name's Ruhi.

I'm Haley's wife. Hmm. Fascinating. All I'm saying is, is that what's happening, And she kind of turns to talk more than anyone else. Something bad is happening to you. It's not normal. We should be able to talk to us.

Let's talk to lawyers. Let's put this out to the press. No, no, no, no. No, okay. Maybe we can't do that. Here's the thing. You did what I did. You got too curious, asked too many questions,

and unfortunately, you're just in it. So that's why I would write. I recommend everyone to get brief. Take a breath, relax, let some people process. I don't know if we have the luxury of processing right now, boom. Well, I'm giving her the reality, because it seems like we got a couple of very tense security people. I'm calm.

And I think people need to know the truth of the situation. I just want to help my wife. I don't think what happened tonight was normal. And there has to be some way of helping her. You're right. And the best way is to never talk about it again. But what if it keeps happening? We have to figure out what's happening here.

And that is not your problem. If it's your problem, then it's our problem. It's my problem. She's my wife. I'm in the middle of this. As you said, I'm now a part of this. I tried. Rue, turn her way.

Listen, we are going to try and find a solution. That, I can promise you. We don't have one as of yet. And rarely do we ever find one very easily in this line of work. but it is something that we are going to have to discuss and look at at a case-by-case basis because we have no predication for this ever happening. Okay, I just have to say, is it a bad thing?

We don't know. No, yes. Objectively, yes. We would be dead. There's no telling you won't be dead. We don't know. I can keep up again. I didn't think I was ever going to be able to take care of you guys again.

I didn't think I was ever going to be able to do my fucking. working job again. And now I can. That can't be a bad thing, right? It's one thing for all of us to be surprised, but you are also surprised, which means they didn't tell the truth. And that is what's scary. Not, at least for me, not any of this. I just don't understand it. It's that they're leaving things out and we don't have them around to ask questions. Look, the only people who need to know about this are in this room. I don't know. Last time I was in communication with Sam I.L.

He was tailing hooks. Maybe we reach out to her. Maybe she's the only connection we have. I mean, I can make a call. We are not engaging in any communication with hooks after what we've learned. Hooks is something far beyond any of our comprehension. She works for the company that did my fucking surgery. Maybe she knows something.

It's that company, Ansel. They're the ones that did the surgery, right? Ansel leads to... There's a whole underbelly of bullshit in the government, baby. You... You're all secret agents that root out evil. Let's take this to the courts. Let's...

Wait, wait, no, no. Rude out is... This what this is. Our whole objective was just to collect information, which we actually have. We have info. We'll put it up in the files and we move the fuck on. Ruhi, unfortunately, this is usually the way it goes. We arrive.

We think we can do more good. We choose not to, and then we move on to the next place. It's not that we choose not to. We did not make a choice last night. Today? We didn't make a choice a few hours ago? We did make a choice. And that choice was to neglect the lives of everyone in that Ranger Station.

Let's not call it anything it's not. That was not us neglecting everyone in the Ranger Station. We knew what they wanted and we took it away from them. We have no guarantee they are alive. We have no guarantee they're not. Do you want to go back in there? I would love to go back in there. Absolutely. Great. Go for it. Have fun. Here are the keys.

Go. We all need to stay here at least for the night. We just need a day of consistent variables. Please. All right. I got some questions. One, what's going on? Just break it down. Your guesses as good as mine. So you just woke up one day and said, holy shit, I got a new thing.

I started feeling sick on the plane. And then... Why didn't you tell me that? You were sleeping and it was a lot of stress. And I went to the bathroom. I splashed some water in my face. I felt better. I felt good, actually.

What does that have to do with the blue? That's all I can think of. That is the only thing I can think of that would have gone with the blue. I felt shitty. I came out feeling better. That's the only thing I can think of other than being shot in the fucking chest three months ago.

Did you get a user manual or anything. No. They were like, here, we're going to make your lung better. Go to therapy. When it happened, when the armor took over,

when that thing you did with a block in front, what triggered it? There had to be something, maybe something on the conscious level, if not subconscious. I don't know. It was just instinct.

I knew something was coming and I moved. It was the same with the weird, the goo. It was moving. I reacted. It was, I didn't think, I didn't plan. I didn't know. I just did. Just like Mia. For all we know, this could be hereditary. Well, this must have happened down in the cave. She talked extensively about being fed by those things. Yeah, the mushroom. Was it blue mushrooms or something like that? Yes, it was mushrooms of some type, a fungus. Then maybe if she doesn't eat it anymore, she won't have that ability or something.

I think it has more to do with the transformation. I mean, she may be going through the same thing you are, a kind of surgery, a kind of change. There's no guarantee that any part of her is her. We also have to remember she puked up a fucking flubber. Mm-hmm. That must have been maybe they fed it, because when they threw the amulet thing,

the same thing happened. So maybe they fed her some kind of, I don't know, seeds or... The amulet was trying to grow a person of sorts. A person climbed out of that. Not truly human, right? There was a clear dissension. There was the giants themselves,

and then the children couldn't do everything the giants could do, and the slime couldn't do everything the children could do. There's a limit, and I think they're, I don't know, splicing their energy or something, but... Assumptions lead to wrong guesses. So then the next steps are what? Do we just pack up and leave tomorrow?

Do we just, because I'm okay with that too? Well, wait, but if we, I mean, what do we go back to? There has to, there's a second step. We don't just all go back to our lives. We also have to deal with the fact that we legally did not take a six-year-old. There was almost certainly paperwork that needed to be signed before I took guardianship of her. And now the person who would have had that paperwork is in a ditch. So we, I at least, need to go find this Delilah.

So we go to San Francisco. We at least figure out what Delilah's doing. And we decide from there, is anyone opposed to going to San Francisco? I don't mind going back to the motherland. Hi. Oh, I'm going with you guys to San Francisco, you fucks. Sure. Let's go. In the morning, all right, not now.

And we're going to... And no one's going to make any... Can we just be like no one's going to do any weird moves? Can we just do that? Can we just have a piece, like a treaty for the nights? I'm going to start looking for something to order for dinner. And Warp goes to see if there's a menu, like a takeout menu left somewhere. Usually late night fare pizzas.

You can maybe get a cold sub. I assume the rest of you get ready for to settle down for the evening. I think at some point, once I've got, like, Rue settled in and she's in the shower maybe or laying down with Mia, I'm going to go find Boomer and just pull her over somewhere private.

Before you say anything, this isn't a weird move. Trust me, if there was ever going to be weird moves that would happen way back when, What's going on? Oh. Do you know how to forge documents? Yes. Am I looking at three? Two. Just two.

Two. I'm not saying I need them. I'm just saying that Elisa, Fields, and her daughter, Violet, might need to take a trip by themselves at some point. I always liked Elisa. Elise. She was Elisa. She was very sweet. It's just a proclosure. Oh, no, no, no. I've already, already. And don't worry.

It inconsiderate early congrats on your finding your sister gift. I owe you guys more than I can say, more than I can ever give back even if everyone hates me after this, which I wouldn't blame them for, because I'm a coward, and that's fine.

I don't. First of all, I'm not saying this to be woe as me. I'm saying this as a... You're talking to someone who is a big sister too. I get it. I don't have a lot of family left. But the ones I do, I get it. They're all I got, so.

Exactly. So, I understand. But I do have to ask your little surgery lung thing. Like, what else can you fucking do? I don't know. I meant it. I don't fucking know. Damn, it just...

I just thought you were kind of doing it in front of, like, Meriden. No, I... I would have told you guys, for sure, if anything weird had fucking happened. This is literally the first time this shit's happened. And I hate it. Just be careful, because also I think your sister literally just fucked up my whole eardrum. Yeah, sorry about that. I wouldn't have passed her to you if I knew she could pull a full canary.

Just be lucky that I have in-depth, like, very bendy, fingers for sign language, because I got a feeling I'm not going to have an eargram. You have enough money for cochlear implant, right? Yes. Let me know if I win. I have to worry about Ruhi. You shouldn't have to. I'll... We'll talk. She'll...

She'll understand. And if she doesn't, she and Mia will go somewhere else. The only ones I know that are Elisa and Violet. Be trouble. You're good, boom. You're a good person. I appreciate you. Oh, don't tell the others.

I kind of, like, I can't. Because it's easier when people don't like you. Because then they kind of tell you the truth easier. Yeah, that's fair. Tuck, eventually you do find yourself settling down. You are in the same bed as Ruhi. She pulls you close and she says, so it sounds like the rest of the team is going somewhere to San Francisco?

We're going to San Francisco. Why are we? Why do we have to go? It's what I said. I illegally took a six-year-old doesn't matter that I'm a federal officer I illegally took a six-year-old there is no paperwork that says that she was transferred to my guardianship

there is no paperwork that says I am her legal guardian in any way nor are you I'm the only one legally in trouble because I am the one who took her and it will stay that I am the one who took her even though she's my sister but Haley you know what the right thing is

we have to go to the authorities and we'll sign those papers it was a miscommunication Someone else killed that man. It wasn't you. It was my team. I know this is really hard to understand. And you've seen a lot of shit today,

not even having to do with me or her, just in general, you've seen a lot today. And I never wanted you to see it like this. But if what Joe said is true, if Delilah knows the weird cases like this kind of weird, she'll know better what to do than we will. Authorities, if you go to the authorities with this,

there will be other people coming to kill you. Not people I know, not people I like, not people I can convince. There is one woman in particular that I think actually has a very high likelihood of either being the one to come after us or sending someone after us. And I don't like our odds against her.

So what we do is we put our heads down and we stay alive until that's not an active danger for us. Haley, I went on this trip understanding, at least thinking I was understanding what you had warned me about, and I'm staying with you because I want to take care of you,

but I don't know how useful I'm going to be. I don't know how I can help you if you won't even help yourself. There's something going on with you. There's something going on with your sister, and I'm scared. I don't know how this doesn't end horribly. This isn't the time, but do you kind of understand why I was the way I was when I started this job now? Yes, absolutely 100%. It's awful, and I never wanted you to know.

I wanted to tell you because I didn't want to keep lying to you, but I didn't want you to know because... No, it doesn't matter anymore. Listen to me, if we're in that much trouble, if this is really as bad as you say it is, let's just go. Let's just leave tonight. They're all asleep.

Let's just get out of here. I don't want to lose you. You won't. I'm here. I won't let anything happen to you or her or me if I can help it. You can only say that so many times. You can only say it so many times before something happens to one of us. There are some things we can't control, baby.

And my job is very, very full of them. And I know you want to go to the authorities because that's what we've been told, forever and ever, over and over in our lives. But there are some things the authorities can't help with. there are some things you know and you live with or you know and you die but I wanted you there so bad because I wanted you guys to meet so bad for my whole life

I knew you would have that doesn't matter anymore we're here now should ofs and wishes and anything else doesn't matter we have to at least talk to this woman because otherwise we're going to be running for the rest of our lives.

Fine. I'll do I'm going to stay. I'm going to stay. I want to be with you. I want to protect you. I want to help you where I can. I just, I'm sorry. I'm just, I was scared. I think you were crazy if you weren't scared if I'm being honest. You should, you should be scared. This is not a normal thing. I have been used to this for a long time in a way that I really, really wish wasn't the case. Let's just get some sleep. Let's just get some sleep. I love you. I love you. Eventually, you fall asleep in each other's arms. Does anyone else want to do anything before bed? Yeah. Hide wants to, I guess, wherever, whatever room merits at will eventually just go and, like, knock on the door.

I think that it's a little harder to find merit, but you do eventually find him out on the lawn with a chair posted up right outside the window that leads to Mia's room. And he's bundled up in his winter coat, and he's just kind of staring out at the cul-de-sac. I think Hyde will eventually come down and just join you. Not get a chair, just sit down in the grass or wherever right next to you. Just kind of look up the stars. It's nice when you get to see all the stars. That's why I hate living in the city or being out in the mainland.

Yeah. Under different circumstances, I might even visit. somewhere my mother would have loved and my father would have hated. I think my dad would like it out here, too. How are you doing, Matt? Not good, Hyde. Not good. Want to talk about it?

I don't know. What do you want to hear? Your honesty, honestly, preferred that way. He reaches into those little jogger slacks that he has, And from the supermarket, from where he got the first call itself, he had purchased this on the way out after the phone call. And he sets into his pocket a package of Parliament cigarettes. And he undoes the packaging right there, pulls off the plastic and everything.

He sets it neatly on the chair arm next to himself. He takes it out. He says, if you don't mind, I was going to go in and get a lighter myself. But I know you carry one. I too. Comes in handy. And I think Merritt lights up a cigarette and has the worst coughing fit in the world

but manages to... New habit? Yeah, well, I tried once in high school and a little bit of wheat, but nothing this... My brother used to smoke these. And he starts to drag. I just feel so full of questions all the time. And every day I wake up and I find more and never any more answers.

And the stars are nice, but in a few hours they go away. We sit up from these chairs and we go back inside and we take that kid somewhere that they don't want to go. A place that we don't want to go. And we continue that cycle. And I know that Sisyphus loved his toil in life. to push that boulder up the hill, but he could hold the fucking thing. But Sisyphus chooses to pick the rock back up and keep it going up. It's about the choice you make.

I don't know how much longer I can keep making this choice, Hyde. Don't you feel weighed down by all those people? I feel like I'm sitting here and I can hear them up on that second floor crying. They're in the dark because of them. the electricity just went out because those things came out and smashed up half the ranch, right? And they're sitting there in the dark and they're wondering who's going to help them. And we're downstairs running away. You hear them, right?

Hear them. Sometimes when you face impossible situations, sometimes you just have to learn to drown that out. Leaving was probably the best choice when you really think about it at the end of the day. And we got to do whatever we have to do to keep our emotional. immediate situation safe, you know? Yeah. And I know you. I've gotten to know you.

I've seen what you're willing to do to maintain that, willing to go above and beyond for this team. Yeah. Of course. Why is this any different? I think that I'm just tired. I get that. We're all tired.

But I think you have a capacity to do something more, given what you're willing to do if you're willing to make the choice to continue. continue. Because you do have a quality. Quality I quite admire that tenacity. You just got to learn how to separate this weight. Yeah. You know, I've been thinking a lot about that since Marlene. I mean, you have to imagine that if there are so many things so below, that must prove some of the things above correct, right? There must be something of an equally good, force to what we've been put against, right?

There are degrees of happiness and misery. I'll give you that. Merritt, you can't wish for a better universe while living in the one you're in, because in ours, monsters exist. Best we can be is tenacious. Beat it. It's what's keeping us alive, even if we're not happy with the results. I hope that in some world, some version of us, we're happy.

But you chose to come to this program. You saw something more that you could do than just being that little FBI agent. Why quit now? I think because they're not giving me what I was promised. No institution's going to give you that. And if you thought the FBI was going to give you that, Mare, mad. I was promised things when I went into the military when I went to serve wars.

Did I get those? No. I got something far worse. So why do we continue? Because we have questions worth answering, because we're possessed with the knowledge that we can't get rid of because we're too good for the world and we need to keep it safe as much as possible because you have the power to do it and the will to do it. And if nobody else is going to do it. Might as well be us. Thank you.

Hyde. I appreciate it. Of course. I'm always here. Sergio. Can I employ my human intelligence score here to see if you're hide? Sure, go ahead and make a roll. Okay.

And hide, if you are hiding something, feel free to make a... You could make either a stealth or a charisma role, persuade role I would also allow. Why don't you guys message me privately that answer? Agent Merritt, the words of hide hit you and you're really thinking about that. them and then you just, you're thinking about Hyde's kindness towards you, their interest in you, and it does seem somewhat out of character. I appreciate it. Hyde, really I do.

Thank you. Of course. Anytime. At a certain point, everyone will either attempt to sleep or not. If you are attempting to sleep, because you have all had unnatural experience, experiences today. You've all made sanity checks today. I'm going to need a sanity check to see if you can sleep. Merritt's going to forego sleep in the interest of defending Mia's window. Hyde will also not sleep. Okay. Let me get a con times five roll from you, Hyde.

That is a success. That's a fail. I pass with a 15. 43, so I passed. The rest of you that failed or willingly did not go to sleep, please roll a D4, and you must remove that from your willpower. I remove three. One for me. Warp was trying to go to sleep. I think, honestly, after that conversation with Merit Warp has been under the couch cushions and just like shakes her head, like look at these weirdos, and just doesn't go back to sleep.

But rolled a two. Tuck, eventually you are able to go back to sleep. However, you have the strangest. dream. It feels less like a dream and almost like a memory, which is why it's so strange. You're in the body of a man. You have a family. You have a wife. You have a boy. And you're all together enjoying a barbecue of some kind. You're at an event. There's a lot of military personnel. And you're just getting these kinds of fragments of images. But you can feel the love that you feel towards your wife,

the love that you feel towards this little boy. And when you wake up in the morning, you're left with that strange image. I do need you to roll a D20, though. Why? You know why. You lose 20 sanity. A 12?

You wake up with an extreme lethargy. It is difficult to open your eyes. It is difficult to get up. And although your character doesn't understand this As a player, for the next 12 hours, you are going to be at a level of exhaustion in which all skills are at minus 20%. So Tuck and Boomer were the only two of the get rest. If you would like to heal, you have to make a Constitution times five role. And if you succeed, you can gain one health. Amanda, you mentioned that Boomer is now proficient with first aid. if you want to add plus 20% to that Constitution roll

to do with the first aid, I'll allow you to roll the D4 if you succeed. Okay. I got a 21. So roll a D4 and that is how much you will heal as you wake up in the morning. One point. Better than nothing.

Tuck, your situation's a little bit different. You don't have to make this roll. You wake up in the morning and the side of you that was boiled, burnt, is now healed. And you are back at full, 12 hit points. Not just one.

I just have... I feel like this is that a shoe drop so hard in my face. You still feel like shit. You're exhausted. You're at minus 20% on everything, but you are no longer weakened. Do I still have low willpower or a willpower? Regaining willpower.

When you get a full night's sleep, which Tuck and Boomer did, you may regain 1D6 willpower, please. Oh. I get one back. No one's at two or low, right? Two or less. Hide's at two.

That's pretty bad. Oh. An agent who has willpower hits one or two has an emotional breakdown. The agent suffers a minus 20 penalty to all actions until willpower rises above two. So we're going to kind of ignore the whole emotional breakdown. This is you deciding not to go to bed. So we'll just say you're also exhausted. Yeah.

You are at minus 20% to all actions until you get your willpower above two. Okay. Time passes. Tuck, you wake up in the morning beside Ruhi, except you are exhausted, as if you didn't sleep at all. What do you do?

I definitely keep it to myself. I don't think I say anything to anyone. And I kind of kneeled down next to me and start trying to get her ready for the day. Ruhi is fast asleep and Mia is not in bed. Fully, like, as a lethargic as they had been, I think that's the one thing that would propel them out of bed and they are on the move through the house looking for Mia.

Anyone that refused to go to sleep at about 5.5.30 in the morning, a little Mia stepped out of the bedroom and just began hanging out with you guys. walking around, asking for food. I'm hungry. War slings out from under the cushions. Yeah, they have like cereal boxes or something.

You like cereal? Mm-hmm. Okay, cereal. And starts to fix a bowl for it, and offers three bowls or how many people are visible in the living room, just starts laying them out. As you lay them out, the child is kind of standing awkwardly in the middle of the room,

looking at the adults, but seemingly able to hold her own. And when the bowl is placed at the dining room table, she goes and she kind of starts eating quietly. Oh, are you feeling today, Mia? Good. I like this. And she points at the cereal. Mia, what's your favorite food in the whole world? My favorite food is pizza.

Uh-huh. When was the last time you had pizza? She kind of just raises her shoulders up, like she just doesn't actually know how to answer that question. Before this cereal, what was the last thing you remember eating? The, the mushrooms, the gray stuff. Yeah? Do you remember who gave that to you? She nods her head and kind of looks at you, as if to say, you know who I'm talking about. Well, I bet cereal's a lot better, right? She smiles. Is this my new home now? We're going to go see the Golden Gate Bridge. Do you know the Golden Gate Bridge?

No. And Orson's going to bring up a picture of the Golden Gate and showed off to her. She seems more intrigued kind of by your phone than the actual photo. She touches it. That is pretty cool, huh? And he's going to go through, like, the motions of, like, he'll bring out his little draw pad. And Merritt is probably annoying enough to have a stylus for his phone and just draw a little smiley face for her on the front of the screen. green. She certainly will take it from you if you leave it around long enough to mess with it.

Yeah. Merritt has no games on his phone. Kids would hate him. But she can mess with his like Excel Express app. And while she does, he kind of leans down and kneels next to her. And you know, he's like, oh, well, you're kind of screwing up myself, aren't you? And, you know, trying not to micromanage too much. But she does, he does lean in and say, you know, Mia, last Last night I had the weirdest dream that I was on a beach and a horse climbed straight out of the water. It was insane. Did you have a dream last night? Mm-mm. I slept good though. That's good.

That's good. It feels good to sleep, huh? I've been asleep for a long time, but this felt different. It felt good. Can I go play I'll say now? Sure. I'm gonna come with you though, okay? Maybe we can play a game together. Okay.

You go outside. Do you take her to the front or the back of the building? The back has this lovely little patio that overlooks the hills, and it's also a little more gated in. It's away from the street. So I'm going to sit in the patio decking chair while she is out there. And I think, you know, Merritt's pretty packed to begin with. And because his mother was an artist, he keeps himself some, like,

colored pencils and drawing materials. And he's gonna take out from his very expensive little case, a charcoal stick, and give it to her to, you know, draw on the side of the patio. Eventually, the rest of you that are inside, see a panicked tuck, tumble out of the room. Where is she, where is she? Relax, relax.

She's with Merritt. They're playing outside. You can immediately see through the patio, sliding glass doors, Merritt, and the little four of Mia. Is this how you're going to live your life, just constantly fretting? Isn't that what all parents do? I don't think so, yeah. Well, it's my first time.

What do you want for me? Merritt is trying to teach Mia cross-hat shading, and it's not going well. I think if I see him, like, leaning down and trying to teach her something, I'm going to take pity on both of them and go outside. Hi. Hey, are you having fun out here? He's showing me how to draw. Yeah, Orson's good at a lot of stuff.

She's pretty good for a long hiatus, we'll call it, but she'll get there. Yeah, she was the artist of the family. She's happily drawing some kind of stick figure on the ground. Orson's a funny name. It's not very funny. It's just sort of a name, right? I think it's a name. It's a normal name.

I never heard it before. Lots of people have different names, bud. A lot of people have names you've never heard of or sometimes people go by different names. It's my dad's name. I got it from him. I'm a junior. She pauses,

stops drawing, and looks in the direction of the house and says, someone's here. How, who? What? Why do you think that? Why do you think someone's here?

Agent Merritt, your personal son. cell phone is ringing, buzzing in your pocket. I'm going to reach down and take it out. It is an unknown number. It's fucking nox. I step away from Tuck and from Mia, but just to the threshold of the door, still keeping an eye on sort of both perspectives,

them outside and the living room door where Mia was looking. And I'll take out the phone and answer it. Orson. Mama? Well, as much as I can be, hello, Mallory. How are things? It could be better. I try to say that as loud as possible so anyone around can hear I'm talking to her.

Everyone visibly sees and hears that Merritt is on the phone and he has just mentioned Mallory. I pick up me and put her inside immediately. Do you step inside also, Merritt, or do you stay outside? If they're going inside, I'm coming inside as well and shutting the door behind you. You come in, you slide the door shut, and Mallory continues. What is this about, Mallory? How? How?

You're kidding. They're watching. Yeah, we went to Yosemite, yes. All agents are accounted for, say, for Sam I.L, which Tuck was never able to reach. We have one friendly unseen that would need to be taken somewhere before we continue, and we have Mia. We have this subject. Is anyone doing anything while Merritt is talking out loud in... the living room.

Just watching him. And I don't know if Boomer woke up yet. Yeah, I think Boomer's up with everybody. Warp is looking out the front window of the house. Warp, you see a black van blocking the two cars. Fuck. And it appears like there's two people in that van. She turns to the group motions to go.

We need to go. Mallory, before we go to speak to have any sort of conversation, I need you to guarantee the safety of the friendly that we have. Have everyone? No. She's coming up to the door. Fuck. Great.

Just keep Ruhi safe as long as we are all cooperative. She promises our safety as much as she can. I'll see you in a moment, Mallory, and I'll hang up. They knew from the start. Of course they did. I'm an idiot. Well, I would have missed a little bit of that because I would have just gone straight to the kitchen and started making everybody pancakes.

I'm not joking. That guy was literally like, Because I wanted to make pancakes for everyone. I'll say that you were able to at least, you know, put down a couple of pancakes before this phone call happened. Yeah. If Mallory's already coming, I'll be like, there's already, there's no point.

Everyone might as well just sit down and eat. Yeah, Hyde's going to stand in a hopefully advantageous place in this space and have their hand near their gun. I'm taking Nia and I'm putting her in the room with Roe. Listen, I think if we put Roe, and Mia in another room, they may be dragged out to the center anyways. Maybe it's just best if everyone in this house sits in the same room. Then I go in the other room and I...

I shake her awake. She's actually... When you come in, she's actually awake. She's getting dressed. She's kind of more like, what's going on? What's up? We have a visitor. Our boss.

Should I be here? I mean, we know we should... I shouldn't be here. They know we have a friendly. So what's going to happen is I'm going to put you and Mia on the couch and you two don't draw attention to yourselves. Okay? And I'll crouch down next to me.

I'm going to be, and I'm going to say, Mia, I want you to sit with Rue and you guys can color together or you can play with your stuffed animal. But I need you to be, I just need you guys to hang out there for a little bit, okay? She hugs her stuffed toy that you've given her in kind of, you know, agreement. Okay, thank you, baby. I'll turn back to Brew.

It's probably going to be fine. They want to have a conversation. They've said that no one will be harmed. And that's all we can say about it. So... Well, that's all that can be said about it. Let's do this. Yep.

I give her a kiss, and then I reach into my bag, and I pull out my gun, too. Can I catch, tuck alone in that? room is they're escorting back into the living room and I'm gonna come in make sure for damn sure that Rue can't hear or Mia can't hear and go listen I lied for you on that phone call and I don't know if they can hear right now or if they know or what they do or what they don't but banking on the fact that they can't actually hear every word that

we say I said that she isn't what she is if they find out yeah I know and I'll step into the living. Hey, I'll pull him back in. You're a good man, and I'm sorry that my personal shit has put us in this position again, and that I was a shithead to you. You're my friend.

I do any of this 10 times over if it meant that you could have even a slice of happiness. If that kid is truly what she is out there, then I want every moment for you. Thank you. You know, I don't. do the same for you. I hope you know that. I do.

Okay. I'm going to just clap him on the side of the shoulder and head out and position myself in front of my two. Merritt, you take notice that tuck is not feeble. They are not weak. In fact, that slap kind of hurt. I think that Merritt is sitting in the room with it for just a moment, thinking of how that is most likely his fault or his responsibility. He brought her this. or maybe this curse, you can't rectify it, but it's rolling over in his head how much he has done four and two tuck, and he steals himself and walks back into the living room, completely unsure of the right decision. Ruhi sits down with the child on the couch.

Anyone that is looking back at them, you will notice that Ruhi separates herself a little bit from the child. Once Tuck is kind of focused on the door, the child will reach out to Ruhi to play along, and Ruhi just kind of puts her to the side and is trying to distance herself. There seems to be something where she feels uncomfortable with the kid. Is there a possibility if Tuck will out? Like, I can take the kid into the kitchen, so therefore, like, a little bit out of that way. Like, here, I could have an assistant. so they're not in danger? Yeah, Tuckwood for sure.

If Boomer is, like, pulling her over, I'd be like, yeah, go play with Boomer. Go play with her. There is a visible relief that seems to come from Ruhi Boomer. You notice it may be best than anyone when you get close. Once you bring the child away, she sort of sighs in relief. I'm not going to wait around. I'm just going to go open the door and say,

have you got any goons with you? Yeah, you open the door. And I would say about 15 paces to the door, halfway up the driveway, stands to people. Agent Mallory, who seems to have embraced her short hair. There is this kind of pixie cut that is salt and pepper, and she is dressed in nice traveling clothes. And beside her is a six-foot-five heavily muscled, toned Latin man. He has pockmarked cheeks that are covered by a thick, heavy beard, and it looks like he has never smiled in his life. He is dressed somewhat like Hyde in laid-back travel or military kind of minimalist gear.

He has a weapon at his hip, but he does not appear to be concealing it. And he walks behind Mallory, and she stops when you open the door. and you're about 15 feet away from each other. We've got one rule. No goons. Agent Hyde, this isn't a goon. It's a fellow agent. She gestures to the big guy and says,

this is Agent Zia. Zia, this is Hyde, a perennial. He is here for everyone's protection. I don't know what I'm walking into, and I'd simply like someone watching my back. That's it. I'm just going to open the door wider and gesture for them to

step in. She steps inside, walks past you, and Zia follows. She is acknowledging you all, nodding at you, saying your name, hide, warp, tuck. She looks into the kitchen and sees the child playing with Boomer and gives you a nod, kind of looks at the child, looks to her left, notices Ruhi on the couch, and then she turns to Tuck and says, is there a place that she can go suggesting, and she's kind of gesturing towards Ruhi. within this house, yeah. Tuck, you understand that you are involving someone that is not a part of our organization.

Do I have assurances that if she goes somewhere, she comes back. Yes. If this were in any other situation, I'd be lying to you, but I'm not lying to you. Do I believe her? Make a human intelligence role.

23. That's success. She appears to have no interest in starting a fight or anything right now. She just seems to want a civilian gone. I'll turn to Rue, and I'll take her over just in a corner room. There was a coffee shop in town. Go have as normal of a breakfast as you can. And then what? And then I'll call you, and I'll tell you where to come, okay?

Okay. You stay somewhere public. You say somewhere people see you. don't go anywhere by yourself be crowded places be in a diner be in a coffee shop be in a bookstore just do the right thing okay honey that is

a moving target baby I'll see you soon I'm gonna watch her I'm watching her leave I'm watching her until the car is out of sight go past the other cars as you go out with Ruhi so does Agent Zia at first you become a little concerned but what you realize is he goes into his black van

he backs it up enough. Ruhi gets into one of the cars, backs out of the driveway, disappears. Zia gets out of the van and comes back inside. Meanwhile, Mallory has been standing kind of in the threshold of the kitchen

and the living room or entryway and turns to the girl and says, hello, are you Mia? She kind of is like, you know, hanging on to Boomer's skirt or, you know, leggings or whatever, and she just kind of nods as you're very pretty.

The girl, you know, kind of shyly looks away. She's the world's bestest helper. That's what she is. Trying to give her little spoon and bowl to mix flour and egg. Have you ever considered being a mother? Boomer. Ooh. Fuck, I love boom.

That's answer. I am not opposed to it. Something about this one, though, that bothers you? What? Are you talking? The child. What? No, it's personal stuff. You know, emotional damage.

You want to pass that on to a kid. That's where I was going in. No, this is nothing. Eventually, Tuck returns, and Mallory is now positioned where her back is to the patio doors, and she is looking at all of you. We were all kind of in the middle dining room area,

foyer area. And she says, you all are very good friends, but I think we need to be honest that a child returning from 30 years of God knows what, we have to check her out. What do you mean when you say check her out?

Everyone, just how about we get her on the table, sit down, and making everyone sit and I pass out food? Mallory kind of instinctively takes a position at the head of the table. Of course she does. and says, I don't want to hurt her, but I need to know how, why. Once I know that she's safe, once I know that she's not been affected by her 30-year absence,

then we can talk about another option. We can talk about guaranteeing to put her somewhere where no one will hurt her, and she'll be safe. Like Cicada? Nancy was a different situation. Nancy had abilities. But you've all stated that this girl is perfectly normal, correct? How about can we get a little bit of a, just, you know, for shits and giggles for our dynamic of everybody? Can we get a guarantee that, let's say, if talk decides to go somewhere with the kid, that we can let them?

And you don't know. Don't follow. There is that option, yes, but I can't do that. now, not... Why? They don't like us. One thing at a time, I need us to resolve this. Tuck, you know the protocol.

You know the dangers of bringing someone who has been gone back into this. We need to understand and make sure that she is safe to be around and to make sure that she is healthy. And if she's not either of those things, you're just going to put her in a cage. You're going to take little samples off of her forever. and ever until she's... The first thing we have to do is make sure she's okay. We had to quarantine her just for a little bit.

You'll have to understand if I'm a little skeptical of that. Could we be there for the quarantine if we were to agree to that? Not that we're saying anything, but could we go with her, be with her? If it will put you at ease, yes, absolutely. What are they going to do to her? Make sure that she's human. You know, there are steps to this. Where exactly do you plan on taking her?

There are options. We can go to Nevada or we can live. stay in California. Can we decide? Can we get a decision on that? And can we choose Tuck? Can make the final call on the medical doctor, all of that? I need to make some calls to make sure who's available.

But yes, if it will put you at ease, yes. Just trying to give you some leverage, Tuck. Thanks. Do you have an idea where you'd be taken? There are March facilities that we can have access to. They'll have the proper equipment to, Give her a thorough exam, and when they give the green light, then we'll figure out her living situation. We can be skeptical all we want, but at the end, I think Tuck, it's your sister, to her call.

Just make a choice. Agent Tuck, you know what Mallory's game is. They're going to do an exam in the hopes that she is normal, but you know the answer, and you know what they do to things that they find useful. you're going to make a sanity role right now. If you succeed, you have control over yourself and your decisions. But if you fail, I'm going to say your megalomania kicks in, and you have one choice, which is to protect your sister

and to refuse these fucks to get away. Oh, boy. We know how left us will roll. We do. Everybody get ready for the shit. Everybody, I did leave knives out. on the table for a reason. The warp tries to carry every knife at once

is sweeping the knives on her lap. All right. Fuck, I'm so scared to roll. Serio! Got this. Got this. I don't know. Okay. All right. All right.

Cool, cool, cool, cool. This is... Oh no. Okay, I think, wait, wait, take a second. Maybe they're fucking with this. It's the faces. It's the face of the same. It's the 73.

It's for sure a failure. It's almost. 20 points of a family. If you'd like, you can attempt to repress this disorder. I'll do that. Automatically roll a D4, and you're going to subtract that from your willpower and from a bond. Okay, it's just a one. Which bond are you reducing?

Oh, I had all my goodbye one. All my ones that I wanted to fuck with are gone. Now I just have people I don't want to fuck with. One more sanity check, and if you succeed, you can hold it back. Is Roo on that list? My wife is on that list. My wife is not being touched until I have to. Are you sure she seems pretty touched?

Mia die. Rue, he die. Theroyeroy's full of rock. Can't lose. 48. It's a success. I kind of wanted to go off, though. I wanted you too.

I know you did, you fucker. Don't worry. You'll keep poking. I know we will. For a moment, you look and there's like a vanity mirror, and you can see your reflection, and it is begging you to fight back, begging you not to let them get away with this, but you look away and you control yourself for now. But Mallory has stated her intention.

She continues by saying, we simply need to put the girl in the van. We will drive her to the location. I'm hoping within 24 hours we'll get the green light. Well, we're going to be in charge of her transportation. Merits will be like I'm trying to establish like you're not taking the kid like she'll be in our vehicles. She's going to be with us, not with her at any like really kind of laying down everyone's role saying, no, no, no, no, no. We got the car.

We have the kid. That's what I'm trying to tell her. You know, technically Boomer may be correct in this situation in that there's still an ongoing investigation into what's happening in Yosemite Valley. We discovered there is in no uncertain terms something pertaining to the unnatural and removing Mia may be a central piece to solving what's going on. I just don't want to make any rash decisions, Mallory. I know that you and I both understand what happens when we make rash decisions. Hey, Mayor, can I speak to you in private for a moment? Absolutely.

May I bring my pancakes? Yes, please do. pick up my plate and shoot a look at all of the other agents and then back to Agent Zia and then follow up Mallory into a separate room. Marriott, she leads you outside to the back patio area, closes the door. The rest of you are left in the room with Zia standing silently, looking at all of you. Hyde's been making high contact, yeah. So how do you spell that?

ZIA. You want pancake, Zia? Here. I'm not hungry. Mia runs over to tuck and she grabs your hand. It's going to be okay, baby. Mia whispers and says, I don't like him. Yeah, me neither.

Now look at Sia. Merritt, the sliding glass door shuts behind Mallory and she takes a step away before turning to face you. And she speaks in hush tones to you and she says, Merritt, this is a sidebar, but I want to apologize to you. I didn't know about Somersault. I became aware of it recently. And had I known, I would have done something about it.

Oaks went above me. She went above everyone. This was something, I guess, just between her and the director. Help me with Tuck. And I will do what you need to be yourself again. I can get you back in the FBI. I can get you in a position like me where you're protected or you're safe.

But we have to make sure that this girl is safe and that protocol is followed. Can you do that for me? So if I do this, I'm back in the FBI. I'm back in the program's good graces. And you'll work with me. We'll go hire them.

in the way that I need you to help me. The sky is the limit. I will be in a position that I have not been in before. I haven't been able to explain it to all of you yet, but the situation is complicated. So complicated. And I just need this one piece solved before I can continue, before we can continue moving forward as a team.

Right. It's just this one piece. And then when you get higher, I get higher, and they get higher. Eventually, we're just like them. right? Eventually we're safe. Right. And when we're up there, we'll make different decisions than she did. We'll try. Mallory, when we had our last conversation, I was very harsh on you, so you apologize to me. I'd like to apologize to you. You don't have to apologize, because I'm going to ask you to do something that I know is difficult, but I'm

telling you there's a rainbow at the end of it. What is it? It's your job back. It's your life back. you want. Just if I give you the girl. It's not actually the girl. It's something else. Something bigger. Like the others? No.

Before she finishes speaking, let's resolve what's happening inside. You can all see that Mia is getting angrier and angrier. She's staring daggers at Zia. And Zia totally notices this and says, Hey, tell the kid to stop looking at me. She's just a kid and she's scared of you. Mia says, you're a bad man, and you should be in time out. And something happens.

Zia's eyes roll in the back of his head, and he begins to fumble backwards. It looks like he's going to fall. Can I break his ball by pulling the chair out and he sits in it? Absolutely. Seeing him back up like that, tuck is a little surprised and will go for his gun and try to disarm him. And then I want to just hide it in the back of my pants and pull my shirt down. that it still looks like I have my gun, but no one else's gun. Do we have anything that was obviously in the forest with us yesterday?

Just like a jacket. I have an idea if this doesn't work. Yeah, I'll whip off my flannel and pass it over. I put that jacket in the seat where we sit him down. If he shakes it off, we say that it's an effect to being exposed to the forest. And if they find something in Mia, we say that it's an effect to being exposed to the forest. Now one of theirs will witness the same thing, right? Oh, your brilliant warp.

A moment later, six seconds later, he kind of comes out of it. He's looking around, and he immediately throws a hard punch at Boomer. At Boomer? She's standing over him. She's just sat him down. He is suddenly conscious again, and he is going to attack her. Oh, God, can I dodge out the way? Or am I just...

You can attempt to dodge, yes. Yeah, thank you. Let me first, one thing at a time. Let's roll his attack. Okay, he fails So he swings at you wildly And is now back up on his feet He's gonna draw their gun

What the fuck, man? Yeah, same Oh my God, Jesus Christ You homophobic bastard What the fuck? He reaches for his weapon Realizes he doesn't have it And he's gonna go for you Tuck He's gonna swing a punch of you

Uh, dodging Go ahead and let me roll first I don't have that plus anymore You don't have that plus You are actually at minus 20 Because you're exhausted Oh, that's right. That's fucking right. I fail.

You are hit for three points of damage as he blocks you across the face and starts wrestling you for your gun, for your weapon. For my gun? Oh, you shith hammer. Hyde, what are you doing? I immediately shoot him. Make that attack. Fuck me. He's going to see another person get shot. God damn it. Where's the kid in all this? The kid is basically a few steps away from tuck.

She jumps when the gun is fired. It's traumatized me. It's a success for the 38. Roll your damage, please. That's three points of damage. Yeah, you shoot him squarely. He's back and he tumbles to the ground from the strike. I come, like, immediately over him, and I tell him,

I promise I will not miss the second time. Outside Merritt and Mallory, you both hear the gunfire and the screaming, and she turns, and she's like, what have they done? and she starts moving towards the door. If she's moving for the door, do I see what's happened inside? Do I have a... You certainly see the muzzle flash,

you see the movement of bodies because you're basically at that door. Yeah, you can see it all. Okay. I am going to move behind Mallory and put her in the best chokehold that I have and cover her mouth with one hand. Interesting.

This isn't even a contested role. you are going to be stronger than her. Maybe if she puts up a fight, but in this first round, you grab her and you cover her mouth. The problem is you do know standing outside that that gunshot was still audible. I mean, you guys are relatively secluded,

but it only takes so long before somebody hears these gunshots going off. Here's the thing. I need everybody in the room, including Mia, to make sanity checks for witnessing this act of violence. Is she going to pop up? off again. Failure with 44. Fail.

The failure with the 66. Failure with an 83. Failure with a 67. Hyde, you enacted this violence. Roll a D4. That's a three. Everyone else, if you failed, you're going to lose one sanity. Tuck, did you fail your sanity check? I did indeed.

Please roll a D10. Ten. What's going through Tuck's head right now? How do you solve this problem? Okay, so Tuck is going, in Tuck's mind, she's seeing that her plan to protect Mia is falling apart, almost immediately. And I think she's going to put a boot into the bullet hole, essentially,

and just hold him there and wait for the rest of the team. Increase your strength score by that number that you rolled. By 10? Oh, fuck. You're going to go straight through his chest. All right. What is your current strength score? 20.

But I have exhaustion. You do have exhaustion for the foreseeable future. Only I know when. You have, because of your exhaustion, minus 20 remains. So you now have only 20% bonus to the associated skills of strength. which are athletics, melee weapons, and unarmed combat.

You see the rest of you, C-Tuck, stand up, and almost kind of hulk out. Suddenly their arms and whatever piece of flesh is visible on them, flares. And suddenly, it's almost as if they grow two times bigger than they were a moment ago.

These blue veins coursing just under their skin and she in a rage puts her foot down on this man. You have the advantage. Just roll a D4. Two. The first shot from Hyde did three damage, but it didn't hurt him. Because as you put your foot down, you realize under his clothes, he's wearing body armor. But you push further past it, and you can feel sure enough.

One, two, ribs, crack. He is going to take that damage. But he starts squealing in pain as you do this to him. Hyde, pop it off. You've just witnessed Tuck, crush this man a little bit. He's screaming under her. You can see Tuck is now suddenly flared with power. What are you doing?

I think Hyde is just going to stride over to a position where I can have the gun point-blank at Z's head. And I'm just going to hold the action to pop the gun off if he intends to do anything but stay put. Tuck. You succeeded on that previous megalomania role so I'm not going to force it but you are coursing with strength. What do you do? I have to turn off my vampire brain because my vampire brain's like

reach into his chest, pull his ribs out. Nope, that's not this. It's possible. There's not a whole lot of coming back from this. I mean, this man as far as you can tell is threatening the life of your sister, threatening the life of your friends.

I'm going to grab him by the throat and just start dragging him across the floor so that he can't see Mia anymore. And I'm just going to like literally hand on his throat, not crushing his throat, not trying to kill him, just holding him there. Still in line with Hyde, but away, like as far as I can get to Mia. So I'd like to imagine Tuck, like grabs this guy by the throat and like slides him across the kitchen floor. He smashes into the refrigerator and you grab him and you pull him into kind of the recessed part of the kitchen where Mia can't see. And he's trying to cry out, but the air has been kicked out of his stomach. But yes, Hyde is able to still kind of point her weapon at his head. Yeah, I just don't want her to see if we do have to make some paint.

Roll another D4 to determine if you damage him or how much you damage him at least. You're not being careful with him. Okay. No, I'm not. We made this guy's a hockey puck. Yeah, I mean, his face is bloody from smashing into the counters and the refrigerator, and you drag him and you can feel his leg pulling in an awkward way that probably really hurts when you pull him further away, and he's starting to ask for your pity that you don't kill him.

Warp, you are witnessing this? What are you doing? It seems like they have him handled. I'm going to go back to doing what I was doing before, which was being a creeper and looking out the window. Go ahead and make an alertness check. That is a fail. You can still see Merritt and Mallory outside.

He has grabbed her, is bear hugging her and covering her mouth. But that's it for now. Can I, do I, I don't see anything else. I can just see the two of them. It is panicked and intense right now. and unfortunately you're not able to completely look over the space without being distracted by the insanity that is going on inside. Okay.

Do I know if Mia has an eye line to the front door? Mia is in the living room. If you look back at her, she's holding the stuffed animal in one hand, and she's witnessing this violence in the other. Her eyes are wide, and she looks to be disturbed by what's happening. Okay, then I'm going to scoop her up and move to probably, a closet. You're going to have to fight her on that because she does not want to lose sight of tuck. Okay. So if you want to make a, we'll make opposed athletics checks. Oh boy.

So let's see if you can be a six-year-old. I rolled a 19? She did not roll that well, and I will say that you are able to grab her, but she starts to kind of cry out. Like, Haley, no! And she's starting to act very agitated by the situation. But I'll say that you've used your action so the best you can do is get to the closet, but you're not in the closet yet. Okay, that's fine.

Actually, quick question about the closet. Is it one of those, like, cinematic closets where there's, like, slits, that if we were in the closet we can look out of, because Yes. Praise God. Yep, great. And I'm good. Stand by. That's a lot of dice, bud. Agent Hyde, you are standing in the threshold of the kitchen

aiming the weapon at this man. You are the only one visibly with a weapon drawn. And anyone around, hide, hide. You notice it at the last second, but there's a red dot on your chest. No, no, no, no, no. There is a smash of glass, a shattering of glass, the sound of air burning as something flies into the space.

I will allow you a dodge roll only because there is so much in this home that you can take cover in. So if you'd like to make a dodge roll to see if you don't get shot by a sniper rifle, you can do that now. Yes, I will. What the fuck?

I did call the sniper. Thank you. 18 out of 50. Ah, yes. You jump out of the way, and one of those clay pots shatters into a million pieces, and left is a smoldering hole in the wall. Everyone in the room, including merit outside, becomes instantly aware of the gunfire that just occurred. I immediately call sniper as I try to roll into a better position if I can't. Boomer's just more mad that how much damage is happening.

to this Airbnb. Like, all right, the kitchen is it and fucked up. This just got shot. You are not getting that deposit back. I am paying for so many fucking damages right now. Boomer's just like, what the, no?

It's okay. You're a millionaire. It's fine. What is this money? It's nothing to you. It just not. Boomer, go ahead and what do you want to do on your turn? Oh, drop it.

You're just dropping to the ground. Yep. I will drop and try to get cover as best as possible. I'm going to hold, like, go as, I would ideally like to get to the closet, because honestly, that seems like the best spot to be. Okay, so you're going to try to go to a closet to get cover. I think that's easy enough for you to do if that's what you want to spend your turn doing. Hell yeah, I'm going to move over warm and you're going to keep me in there too.

I'll say that you're too far away for that. You can get into the pantry, the kitchen panning. All right, that's fair. Outside with you, Merritt, you hear this suppressed gunfire, but it comes from somewhere in the tree line, maybe 50, 60 meters away from you. You don't have a moment yet to take the time to try to find somebody. But Mallory, covered by your hand,

shouts so that as clearly as you can hear, Merritt, get down. I have snipers. I don't want this to happen, but you have to tell the others to relax. and she's just going to spend her turn trying to convince you to call this off. Merit, it is your turn. What do you want to do?

I'm going to let her go and immediately rush to that door. I'm going to slide it open, fall prone immediately. Everyone down, there's more than one. We need to call this off. We need to admit we fucked up. He started swinging at us. We didn't do shit.

I'm not one shooting up the house. Listen, we're going to fucking die. This is the last. It is Zia's turn. He simply puts his hands up, and he's trying to defend himself from you. If you attack him at all, he will attempt to block it and possibly even redirect or hit you back. But he is screaming for his life, and he's saying, somebody did something to me. Somebody attacked me.

No one attacked you. You looked like you were about to pass out, so we put you in a chair, and then you freak the fuck out. That from the closet, Warp is going to yell. We all felt weird after the mountain yesterday. None of us got any sleep last night. You've been in here for a few minutes. Maybe something happened. Clearly something happened.

On Mia's turn, Mia is simply too concerned with what is happening. You feel her trying to rip out of your arms warp, and it almost feels like every time you grab her again, there's a little bit of like a static electricity that is getting more and more intense, the more and more aggravated she becomes. Nothing happens in this round, but Mia is losing control as she did.

as the time you saw her do it once before. We're going back to the top of the initiative with Hyde. What do you want to do? Since Z is settling down and what Merritt said, Hyde will put their gun down and in a position where, you know, it seems neutral. Tuck, what are you doing? You've got this man in your arms. What are you doing?

If Merritt's calling for us to cease to, like, chill out, and I can hear Mia scrambling. I'm going to lock eyes with hide and wait until I get a signal that she's going to keep a cover on him and then I'm going to get up and go get Mia because I know that otherwise she's going to lose control

and I can't have that happen. Okay, so you're going to stand up and you're going to make your way across the house to Warp who has the child. Yeah, I think I'm staying low but I'm moving across the house and I'll set my weapon down on the counter, so I'm not traveling with a weapon visible.

I think you can get about as far as just past the patio door. You're not yet to Mia, but you are on your way, and she is starting to make the corner. I'm talking to her, and just so that she knows I'm coming over. Yeah, yeah, still, if I feel like I'll let Mia go and just close the closet door. Mallory is going to step into the room and she's going to see tuck crawling, their body engorge,

their skin covered with blue iridescent veins. Her eyes are going to go wide and she's going to press her neck and say, one of them's compromised, one of them's compromised and she starts walking out of the home.

Start moving backwards. Boomer, it's your turn. Is she ahead of me or far away? Because I don't know where. I'm going to She is at the sliding glass door. She is backing up into the backyard. Okay. I'll just get to the sliding glass door because I feel like she's going to be our ticket to not getting whacked. I think that you can get as far as just outside the sliding glass door.

You are now outside with Mallory. It's not as, it's not as, I'm going to, it's not as, as dire as what you might think it is. I'm not doing well, but I'm trying to get her to stop. If you would like to try to persuade her, that's an action you can take. Otherwise, you've spent your turn. just kind of calling out to her. I'm going to try to persuade her. I really am.

That there's more to it. There's more to it than she thinks. Sadly, I just failed. Okay. I failed. She presses her fingers to her neck where obviously some kind of surveillance system is just under her collar.

And she says, leave the rest alone. Take out, tuck. I need the girl. Oh. Go, it's over. It is Zia's turn. He is going to get up.

up and he is going to charge at you hide. You were holding an action to shoot at him if you'd like to do that. Oh, yeah. If he, the moment he comes to me, I will pop him. Go ahead and make that attack. That's a success with a 50. Excellent. Please roll the damage.

That's four points of damage. He takes another one to the chest. And although it seems to hurt, it seems like that vest, which becomes apparent to you now, is taking some of that. damage and he's going to come up to you and he's going to strike you. He succeeds and he is going to deal you some damage. He cold clocks you for two points of damage and he is now embroiled with you attempting to get that weapon out of your hand. Tuck, you are dragging yourself towards where you know Mia is and that's when you hear another gunshot, another shattering of glass, another burning of

air and your calf muscle explodes from a gunshot wound. You're going to sustain three damage. Anyone who is paying attention, it seems as if a secondary sniper has just fired a tuck. Tuck, you've been hit. Give me a sanity check. This is reminding you of the days when you lost your lung. Success for the 41. I'm single-minded on getting to Mia and keeping her safe. is Mia's turn. She is going to make it to you, Tuck. She's going to see that you are clearly wounded in the leg, and she's going to see a big scary man wrestling with Hyde, and she is going to put her hand out and scream at him. Yep. Can I try and at least get her down so that the snipers can't get her? No. I hate it here. Yep, all right. She is going to succeed bigly at

her attack. She begins to scream and all of you recognize the echoing like the sound. In a moment, I'm going to ask Boomer to make a sanity check, but you all witness as this concussive wave

of sound, of energy, of something flies from her over Tuck's head and at the man, at Agent Zia. Hide, I need you to make a dodge roll if you don't want to be caught in this? Certainly not.

That is... Daj. Daj. That is a 38, which is a success out of 50. You leap over the table. The rest of you drop to the ground and this man is hit by this concussed way. And just as the impossibly tall strangers that you found in Yosemite, what happens to them when they get struck by this, Agent Zia, disintegrates in the middle of the space, as well as most of the kitchen cabinet and some of the tables and chairs in the space.

The sliding glass door explodes behind you, humor and merit. Glass flying at you and towards Agent Mallory. If you don't want to get hit by glass, I will ask for a dodge roll. Shit, I failed. You're going to take two points of damage as you are concussed by a wall of gunshot. glass and sound and and wind. Agent Mallory crumbles to the ground, flying back several feet.

And I think this is a good place to bring the session to a close for now. All right. Mia has managed to clear the air, and now it's a matter of, are you going to take this opportunity to do something? Get out of here, whatever that is, we'll find out. But we know we lit something that. I cannot unlight and it's about to...

Yeah, I really hope the Cowboys like us.