Mayday Plays - Doomed to Repeat, Ep. 36 - "One Night in Innsmouth" | Delta Green

Episode Date: August 1, 2025

The investigation into Innsmouth comes to a harrowing close as our team makes a desperate bid for escape. With damning photos in hand, their only hope lies in contacting Headquarters in Boston—but first, they’ll need to find a phone. A risky encounter with a local splits the party, and what follows is a slow, agonizing unraveling of their chances. Each step forward demands a sacrifice, and every mistake tightens Innsmouth’s grip. It’s only a matter of time before the town swallows them whole. In this episode, we continue our playthrough of the scenario “Escape From Innsmouth” by Kevin A. Ross and others, and published by Chaosium. TRIGGER AND CONTENT WARNINGS: Language, Madness, Gore, Body Horror, Violence, Spirituality, Death. 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) - Cora Loquillo (she/they) • Amanda (she/her) - Arthur Clark (he/him) • Caleb (he/him) - Kennedy Newell (he/him) • Eli (any/all) - Dr. Theodore Rooke (he/him) • Zakiya (she/they) - Freddie Thurman (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 • Join Our Newsletter (https://tr.ee/We5xVbEvUK) • 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)

Doomed to Repeat is a Delta Green actual play podcast with violent themes and adult language. Listener discretion is advised. Hello and welcome to episode 36 of Doomed to Repeat. I'm Sergio, your handler. In case you miss it, last Sunday, July 26th, we premiered our new live game, Heroes of the Doom. We're playing Inevitable, a doomed Arthurian Western, where prophecy is foretold and hope is in short supply. If you like the hopelessness of Delta Green and the drama of Mayday, I think you should give it a watch. Our first episode is out now, and our next session will be live on YouTube and Twitch, August 9th at 11 a.m. Pacific Standard Time.

As always, you can also catch the audio version wherever you harvest your podcasts. If you love what we do here, please be sure to like and subscribe, leave a comment to let us know. And if you want to enjoy all of our content completely ad-free, then consider joining our Patreon at patreon.com forward slash Mayday RP, where at any level, you can not only get ad-free episodes, but tons of behind-the-screen content, including Black Project Gaming's exclusive run of God's Teeth. This episode, we return to the ominous town of Insmouth to see how things play out for our entree. intrepid investigators. As we play through our final three sessions of Escape from Insmith by Kevin A. Ross and others, and published by Chaosium. Now, let's get back to the show. Last session, you all woke up in the small village south of Innsmouth called Falcon Point. You had rented a room for the night, but none of you got any sleep.

after what you had experienced the night before. You were up and about very early the next day. After befriending the locals by offering them some liquor, they invited you to a game of cards, which you all happily obliged. Your morning was burned away like so much morning fog, and when you had gambled to your heart's content, you decided it was time to take a small vessel

in order to explore the supposed sea caves, north of Insmouth. It is now Wednesday, November 9th, around 9 p.m. You find yourselves exhausted, soaking wet, some of you bleeding badly, all in an abandoned warehouse by the harbor. It looks to be a cannery of some kind, at least it was a dozen years ago. Perhaps worst of all is you have no shiny black sedan to quickly get you out of Insmith. Until you come up with a plan, you are stranded. It stinks of the sea and here, and looking out the window, you can see the foggy harbor to the east

and the city of Insmouth towering over you to the west or to your right. Are we in the, is this the refinery? I'm going to look for, not like old mail, but I'm looking for signage, anything around. that looks familiar, like, tops of buildings I can see outside. Yeah, as you come to one of the windows, you know, they are bordered by wood, but not so intensely that you can't peer through. And sure enough, you can see.

Give me a navigate role to truly understand where you are in InSmith. Navigate. Okay. It's a 98. Oh. What you can tell is that you are not in a area of the city that you have been before. And you see the water of the Insmouth Bay, and you see the town slowly sloping up into the hill and into the fog. Well, it's top of the sea caves, USA, until we can figure some more things out. Does everyone okay?

Good as we can be, I guess. Sergio, can we do a search around the room for any kind of, like, dry clothing or anything that could, because I figured we look like, hot messes, that if we're going to be watering town. If you're looking for dry clothing, make a search roll. Yeah. Oh, 15. You are able to find some old factory

jumpsuits, these old kind of denim jumpsuits that folks probably wore. There's enough sizes and variety that if you wanted to, you could change out of your clothes, which is sopping wet and soiled, and there's even some blue black blood on it.

Saving that for evidence. Does everyone change? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, please. Kennedy probably needs help changing. He's bleeding profusely.

I'll help Kennedy. I should try to stop the bleeding. We will say you have a first aid kit, but unless you can make that role, he's not going to get any better, and most of his back is pretty serrated. We should patch him up. Yeah, the best we can do is tie shirt around and keep booze on it, but even then I have my first of my first. flask. That's a failure with a 45. You are able to wrap the torn shirt around Kennedy.

It's mostly around his back, so you're kind of just covering a small section. It's really not as helpful as you wish it could be. You know, as you press against it, the blood kind of pours out from the wounds. It looks like a lion attacked him. The tears in his back are pretty bad. You don't know how long he has, but he's still alive. Their hands were like knives. We just need to get out of this town, no?

I'm good to keep moving, but I don't know how many more of those I can take and still keep us alive. I'm sorry. It's fine. I'm more upset that thing got me. Fucking flash took my eyes away. And then when I saw it, I didn't believe it. I thought it would be good to see what we were fighting, but I didn't. No, no, no, the first one, you didn't know what you were doing.

You saved my life the second time. I think we all did exactly what we needed to down there. Yeah, you got the photos, Cora. Yeah, we could stop if we want to stop. And we have evidence of everything. I mean, whatever skeevy shit, the marshes are doing down here, we have photos of that, but we also have photos of whatever the fuck they were. We can call it.

What do you mean the whole thing or the day? Yes. We got what we came for, which is a photograph. We can come back when we have more people and not us that are busted and bleeding like you everywhere. You need medical intention, Kennedy. Well, I get today, sure, but you all want to call quits to this whole operation. I mean, I think we all saw the same thing down there, didn't we?

Oh, yeah. Yeah. We saw it, and four of us almost came out, and that's being optimistic. We are not qualified. This is something for big, big, scary groups to handle. This is five people who kind of know each other. I'm all for going back to home base and saying, hey, we found something, now give us more money and guns.

But, I mean, you all sound like you're out. There was more than fish down there. There was more than just whatever's happening down here. There are victims. We played cards with them this morning. What are we going to do about it? Genie. I'm not saying we close this, but this chapter, we have to go to the next one. You've got a picture of them, right?

Yes, there are one for sure, maybe two. I'm not really certain how many of them are going to. Speaking of which, and she's going to start rummaging in her bag and pull out all the little light cases that the film is in to keep it safe and kind of like shuffle through. them there's like 10 or 11 by now um i was thinking maybe we should separate them out between ourselves in case something happens to me and then someone else makes it out and then i'm going to be honest of all people here you are the most important one to get out of here yeah i'm going to be a little more brutal if we hand it to more of us there's more chances we lose the photos okay okay i i i'm afraid of keeping all of our resources in one place you know because But if you think it's for the best, then I'll follow the group.

I don't know anything, really. If one of us is holding the bag, then at least that gives us a few chances when that one drops to pick it back up. But that's not going to happen, so... No, that's not going to happen. No. It's just numbers, though. Okay, all right, yeah, I'll keep it in the back. And she'll kind of stuff him kind of deep down in and tighten the strap, whatever that may be, and kind of hold it closer.

While they're talking, I'm going to go to the window and see if I can find a path out. You can see that there seem to be individuals walking in the street carrying lanterns, and they seem to be coming from all different parts of the town, and they're all heading to what appears to be kind of the central area. And you recall that there was a church, a graveyard, there was the esoteric order of Dagon, the Sonic Hall was in that area. But it seems like people are congregating towards a specific place. You're too far to really see a lot of detail.

If you stay by the window long enough, you'll see one person on the road that is on the same road as this warehouse, walk by, looks to be in some kind of dark, sea green robe, and they are carrying a lantern, and they just kind of head up the street. There appears to be a street that kind of intersects and heads straight up the way, and they're heading in that direction. I think once the man passes, I'll go back to the group and tell them that it seems like people are heading to, like, service or mass or something like that. So perhaps this is a good time for us to leave here and get to the available outskirts of town in any direction.

I was thinking maybe we should stay just tight here for the rest of the night. If this is a business, I mean, we... We would only have a few hours. We'd have to go before whatever this is opens up or someone comes to check. If we're in, they can't get us, right? They don't know we're here. Yes, but what about the two down there? This is a good holding spot, but we don't know if they're going to come up in the middle of the night.

If they're going to church right now, it gives us a really good opportunity to skirt through dark in city and get out while they're not looking. Because who knows whether they're going to tell somebody that we were down there in those tunnels, I think we need to get out of here as quick as possible. Do we just, I guess the best way is just walk it? I think we have to. They made it clear that they don't really keep cars around this place, not anything that runs.

Unless we find some bicycles made for two, I think we're walking. It's kind of a game. Everyone we need to avoid is glowing. Let's just not run into the constables again. Freddy's going to try to take a point on the stealth and just like, just keep a general perception. exception check going forward, but honestly, they just want to look like factory workers that have been here too long and are trying to get home. I think you can concentrate on one or the other, Freddy.

You can either lead the stealth or you can keep an eye out. I think someone else will have to do the keeping an eye out work. Okay, yeah, I'll do stealth. Yeah, I can keep an eye out. Okay, so Arthur, make the alertness role, and Freddie give me a stealth role. 65, you're 70. Oh, I pass with a 52. You step out through the main door. It is barely hanging on its hinge, but you manage to get it open enough

that you can all fit through. And you do find yourself in northeastern part of the harbor. If you look to your left, you follow a curve of land around to a point where you see that there is an old lighthouse that is not on, or you can either continue going down the harbor street that will take you farther down to what appears to be the you can see the

river that ends in kind of a sputtering waterfall in the choked harbor or you can head straight west northwest which will lead you to more of the upper class middle class district of town or you see that there is a road called Elliott Street that leads more directly into the downtown area where you recall the Masonic Hall is and other sites. While walking, I say, what do you think is going on at church tonight, Freddie? At my church? I can tell you, fish church. I don't know.

I assume they're killing people. Or maybe some sort of ritual that turns them into fish people or makes the water, whatever it is that turns them into that. I don't know. It's not praise and worship, I'll tell you that. What do you think makes you believe something like that? How do you buy in on an idea like that, floating out your fucking neck of football field long

and worshipping a frog? Where's the bright spot there? They say that angels had, you know, the heads of lions and bears and eyes and things. If you're down in your luck in the ugliest place in America, Almost. You'll accept a fish head calling itself God if it makes something interesting. You think that this might be that as far back as we could tell, the angels were just fish? Oh, I don't think these are angels.

This also came over time. This is like a final symptom of a greater disease, you know. whatever they found years ago, the marshes and all the other families, this is what sowed into the earth. So this is primordial than you think, Doctor, this is something older than the world? Maybe. Part of me doesn't want to believe it then,

but then again, part of me didn't expect to see it in the flesh. It's just odd not to think of us as the apex predator out there. I mean, if these things have been along the entire time, then what are we to them? Some kind of a joke? I think whatever these things were before, Insmith happened, was different, too. Innsmith changed these things. So we're supposed to be together, then, us and the fish? Think about it as more of like an invasive species when it integrates into an ecosystem.

and we still have, we still interact and work alongside of it, but regardless if it's harmful or helpful, we either evolve to meet it or it wipes you out. Right, right. But couldn't we find a phone somewhere in town, see if we could call through to one of Arthur's contacts and get a car sent or something? I'm realizing that it's going to be a long fucking walk. if we try and go from InSmith to Falcon Point by ourselves.

That shelter, that shelter we were at, that your friend was at. They might have a phone. I don't recall it, but that place was in bad sorts. We might try somewhere more affluent, but we could take a chance on it. Looking around, you do see that there is a home, not far from where you are, a kind of run-down shack close to the water. and it does look like there's a person on the patio there. You suspect it's maybe a woman, but you're not exactly sure.

You just know that they're kind of looking away from you. They haven't noticed you yet. I'm going to get really quiet, because even though there might be a little further away, and I'm going to just silently point to the woman. We could take a chance on the kindnesses strangers. Yeah, I mean, she's by yourself. Unless there's someone in the house. Well, as far as she knows, we are a couple of workers at a factory that may have an injury amongst us

and could use a, you know, a good citizen to just help us. No, but that would warrant calling somebody for an emergency like that. I don't know. In a place like this, do you really call the police when you need help? How about this? I can you be right around the side, not in sight, and I can go over there and see, scope it out? just one of us or maybe some of us go we call a car tell him to send the ugliest car they have and we take that back into town yeah yeah we send the prettios among us up there to ask and the rest

of us ugly folk can stay on the street until we the car comes all right cora you got it oh i send clark with you too yeah yes mr clark come with me yes can we get a better book is the the like the crowd of people going to church, is that sort of fading from where we are? Can we see them sort of coalesce in a certain spot? You don't know how long it could go on, but it is currently ongoing that people seem to be heading from their homes and heading to, again, what appears to be the kind of central part of town. The two of you start making your way. What is your alertness score, the two of you?

Uh, 22. Mine was 52. Arthur, you start to notice that littered on the ground are fish bones, sometimes large, sometimes what looks like a tuna skeleton, littered around the ground. And as you get closer, Arthur, go ahead and give me a alertness roll. 31. This is a rotting wharf that kind of juts out in the harbor. It's a single-story warehouse converting.

it into a home. There is rotting trash cans, a couple of old shriveled bushes. The two of you see this woman, you know, an attractive figure in a kind of sundress, kind of a darker color, leaning away from you looking out to the fog and to the waters. You can hear a sound. It's this kind of guttural moaning or it sounds like a human or something like a human making some kind of noise. And it seems to be emanating from inside the home. Mr. Clark, should we... I'm going to motion for a court to be very quiet, and we're going to just retreat.

I think you both need to make stealth checks in this instance. I kind of want to see what your role is because I'm going to base off of you. Baby, it's going to be bad. I only have a base 10 in this bitch. Oh, no. That's a 91. Oh!

Arthur, I don't think I need a roll from you. No. As you are walking up, Arthur, you realize this before Cora does, but something is not right about this situation. And everything in your body says, we've made a mistake and we need to turn around. The problem is that nearby Cora, there is a kind of mangy seagull that is picking at one of these rotting fish corpses. And Cora just happens to kind of spook it in some way. and it clah, cor, and flaps its wings and begins to fly up into the air. I'm sorry?

It's just enough noise to cause this woman to begin to turn. I'm going to push Cora in the way, and I'm going to step in front more into the patio's way. And just give me a persuasion or a charisma role to hold her attention. A 12. Cora, like, noticing that what he's doing after a second, I think the gasp that kind of sneaks out, they kind of close over it with their hands and just curl into a ball in the shadows. This woman hears the noise that you and the Seagull are making and, you know, slowly turns, seeming like she's not in a rush.

And when she does, you see that she is physically quite a beautiful woman in good shape. But what is curious is her face. She seems to have the Insmouth look. These enormous, glassy eyes kind of fixate on you. This very flat nose almost turned in as if it was a open skull. Her lips read from rash and bulbous. Everything that was beautiful about her in silhouette is now revealed in her face. Her greasy hair kind of wrapped around her head.

And she turns to you and her eyes that are already big, kind of open, even bigger. She says, oh, I haven't seen a man like you in some time. What's your name, stranger? And she starts making her way towards the steps, you know, moving seductively. She seems very excited to have a man in her presence. Well, gosh, right? Arthur's going to nod his hat. I'm sorry to bother you on such a evening tonight.

Have you gone and lost yourself in the town of Insmith, young man? You must be psychic because that is exactly, that's exactly what has happened to me. On the ground, car goes, psychic, what the fuck? Cora, while you are kind of huddled by the wall of the building, you know, it's basically a raised platform to avoid when the tide comes into heavy, et cetera. And so the bottom level that you are on is kind of like this fenced wall, and you can hear what sounds like scuttling and groaning noises coming from just behind you. I think that it's disturbing enough that I'd like to ask a sanity check of you to see if you can maintain your composure as you think you can hear somebody breathing behind you. Oh, Sergio, why do you say things like this?

It's yucky. But I save with a 24. You manage to keep your mouth shut and you don't say anything. Cora hasn't moved her hands from over her mouth because she doesn't trust herself. Arthur, she gestures her hand out, you know, leisurely towards us. Well, come on in, child. You don't want to be out tonight. Tonight things are getting wild in town, but I can keep you safe.

Actually, if you don't mind me asking, do you happen to know where I could find a telephone? Oh, yeah, I got a telephone inside. Come on. I got a little ringy-dingy you can use. Ring-a-dingy. Call me old-fashioned. It's just I don't feel comfortable going into a madam's home. with uh without knowing names you can call me ma babson ma bapson that's my last name babson but you can call me ma so uh ma ma why would tonight not be a good night to be around

oh the boys of insmouth get rowdy on church night but never rowdy enough for old ma can i tell if she's lying yes you may make a human intelligence role yes honey i've been to broadway You can't fucking act around me. That's a 24. Arthur, this woman is totally lying. She lives in squalor, and the chances of her of having a functioning phone are probably zero. The problem is, as you are kind of putting this together, you can see there is a shadow. Somebody in the shadows of the home is kind of starting to shuffle towards the front. You can't quite make out features, but somebody else is coming to meet you.

Ma'am, thank you again, but I'll be honest, I do not get involved in marital affairs and I can see your husband's coming, and I don't do that. Tudaloo, and I'm just going to go ahead and shuffle back. Are you going back up to where the party is hiding? Yes, because I don't, and I'll probably, main reason is I want to drag attention away from Cora. Which you are leaving alone with the Babsons. Ma's going to know I'm watching her. I'm like, no, I'm going to keep turning back around like, oh, too.

As you back up and you can see Cora crouched under the house, Ma Babson, her big smile with teeth that you can see fish scales lodged in between. Her big smile just sort of fades and she becomes so insulted that a man would tease her in this way. And she goes, nobody says no to Ma Babson. And she starts yelling off of her patio. This no good piece of shit, she's just yelling. all kinds of profanities and terrible things and you suspect in a matter of minutes

somebody other than her is going to become aware of all this noise. I'm booking it and I'm going to shout, liar, I'm gay, and run. You are able to run from them, but I'm going to need a stealth roll to see if you can get away and hide. The rest of you begin hearing this screaming coming from the patio.

We should get called. Cora and go the opposite way of Arthur? I'm already, I'm already going to go get Cora. When you two go round up, Cora, I'll get the accountant before he shouts any louder. Yeah, I just go and I just, I'm gay? Yeah, I caught it too. That's the defense. Maybe, maybe just to the poor house then.

Maybe just to the poor house for now. So the plan is to reconvene at the poor house, but we are breaking up into teams. Those of you that are heading to Cora, you will need to. kind of circumvent the home, because where you are positioned, I will say that if you walk towards the home, the Babsons will see you. Kennedy, you're going to chase after Arthur. Arthur, did you succeed on your stealth? Oh, that was a hell no. I had it 83. Arthur, you make the turn and you can see that there is somebody carrying a lantern down the street and they were about to make the turn to disappear down another street, but they stopped

after hearing the screaming and can see you running up the street. I'm just going to catch up to Arthur, see if I can grab onto his arm, and then point out the nearest point that we can get off the main street, backhouse portions that we can make towards the poor house that is not us running blatantly in front of all these lanterns. I'm going to need something other than a stealth role. I need either a search role or a navigate role to try to find those dark portions that are easy to hide in. I have a 36 under 50 for navigation. You are able to grab Arthur by the shoulders and rush into the darkness. You're in the back of a home. There's a wooden fence that is sloped to one side, but it is hiding you. And you are able to start here and navigate your way.

You understand that you'll have to head basically west up the hill and then eventually make a right onto Federal Street, which will take you to the poorhouse. At least that's the most obvious way to get there, if you were in a car or something, we'll come back to you guys. The rest of you, the other team trying to retrieve Cora, Cora, what do you do in this time? Are there any windows in the basement where this weird noise has been coming from?

If you look down the wall, yes, about 15 feet away from you, there appears to be, you know, a small little porthole that appears to be a window. Okay, then I think Cora's going to start so slowly, turn over from being back pressed to the wall to hands and knees, shoulder to the wall and really only moving when Ma Babson's like actively shouting and then when she stops to take a breath, Cora will freeze and then keep going. Because Babson is so distracted and so upset, if you want to choose a particular role and justify it, let me know. Otherwise, I think a dexterity times five role makes sense. I was going to say human intelligence also, but they're

the same. So I think either of those are good. But they're both 50. So we'll find out. Straight up Luckroll. Oh, it was so close to being good, and then it was an 81. Ma Babson is in fact distracted, and she doesn't see you scuttle your way down the side of the wall, and as you pass the dark window, it isn't Ma Babson that sees you, but whatever was hiding down there, these pale, sickly, wet hands burst through the porthole and reach out and and grab you. They're going to attempt to hold on to you. So you need to make a athletics or a strength times five roll to resist.

I'm going to go with strength. Okay, that's a seven. They succeeded, however, with a 37. Fuck. You managed to keep your mouth shut, but this thing is making some kind of sucking screaming sound. It's absolutely horrible. And you can just see from a little bit of the moonlight illuminating,

this pale, squishy face. It almost looks like an amorphous blob of a human, but they had these big eyes, and it's that that catches Ma Babson's attention. She looks down to see you, and she says, My baby got one of them, and she runs into the home. Oh, no. Freddie and Dr. Rook, you are making your way around.

You are able to get to a position around the back of the house where you can see Cora, and she's being held by this thing, these hands that are sticking out of the porthole. Yeah, yeah, I'm just trying to cover ground as quick as possible. You're close. The next round, you can absolutely get to Cora. Back to Arthur and Kennedy. I'll say that you are in the shadows, you are hidden, and you are making your way,

but I will need one more role to determine whether you're able to get there in time or whether there is some kind of delay or something. Same navigate? Yes, navigate or search. That one's a failure, unfortunately, with an 81. I think that the failure allows me to make another role to see if another member of town notices you. And that is a critical success with an 11. Fuck.

I'm going to say this time, you kind of make your way through a couple of backyards and you stumble out. And there is not just a couple of citizens, but you also immediately recognize the face of Constable Birch. I knew it. who is also in robes. He stops and kind of notices you guys stumbling out, says, You! As soon as says you, I'm going to be like, you, and then run. Ah, shit, bust it, bust it.

He starts running the other way. He's like, your options are you can run north towards the poorhouse, or you can run south towards the center of town, or you can run past them, which is west. We got to go to the poor house. That's where we all said we were going off to break. But I do think that on the way is, like Kennedy is like hobbling down the street away from the constable

and trying to go as fast as he can with as hurt as he is. He's racking another magazine in his 1911 and getting ready. I need you both to make athletics checks to see if you can evade the constable as he pursues you. I have a pass with a 27 under 50. I failed with a 73. You notice now as you begin to run, he's not wearing shoes. and he has these massive, flat, webbed feet. And when using flippers, you think it's not going,

it's going to be a hindrance to him, but it's not at all. You guys have a good lead on him, and you see him slowly begin to gain on you, eventually making a leap into the air, a leap similar to those things you saw in the caves. And he does succeed at catching you, Arthur. He's going to land on top of you. Kennedy, you think that you are dead meat.

but Arthur was just behind you enough that he was able to get tackled. You see him fall to the ground and this man is kind of manhandling him and stopping him from being able to get away. What do you do? I'm going to take the turn to perform the aim action

with the 1911. That means on my next turn I'll have a plus 20% on any shot I'm taking. So Kennedy is like barreling his eyes down the sights of his handgun trying to center it on the two that are scrambling on the ground and making sure that when he takes this shot,

he's not going to take out Arthur. I think that the constable would see that and probably take his turn to raise Arthur up and hold him as like a shield. And I'm going to basically negate that aim. Okay. And he's going to say,

drop the weapon and you'll be left alive. Your friend and you will be safe. Just drop the weapon. Don't be rash. I don't know if it's worth it. I don't even think Kennedy responds. I think Kennedy fires. I'm 37 under 70.

Oh, God bless. He is going to use Dodge to try to avoid. He rolls a one. Oh, shit. Fishing bitch tits. He sees you serious about firing, and he lets go of Arthur and leaps off into what looks like a little awning for house. He literally leaps on top of the building

and then scuttles around and hides behind it. The other citizens that are, you know, maybe 30 feet away are starting to run deeper into town. Arthur, get your little ass over here. We're not getting another option like this. I pushed you. I was got you out the way. I think it is now obvious that Birch,

along with probably many members of Insmith, are not just human, and I think that calls for a sanity check from the two of you. I fail with a 95. 72. Okay, if you both fail, you're going to roll a D4. Shit, I am so close to breaking point. Ooh, a one. We'll take a two.

Back at the Babson home. Freddie, what are you doing? You can get to Cora in this moment. Then I think I'm going to get there and try to run the blade across the hands. on Cora. I'm gonna try to do a long, long cut up the arm. Go ahead and make that attack. Okay, that's success 61 under 70.

That's three points. You stab into this hand, and what's disturbing is that it's almost as if the bones have lost their solidification. You tear farther into the arm than you were expecting, and the thing inside, let's go of Cora, and begins to squeal, the way a baby seal squeals,

wheels when an orca is eating it. You see a quick glimpse of some kind of face in the darkness a pullback, but Cora is free. Brooke, are you with me? Yeah, I would be right behind them. I was hoping to grab their bag with all the photo

stuff and then sling it around myself as I get Cora to their feet. So the three of you are together when you hear screaming and clamoring coming from the house, you hear mob babs and say, get my And you can hear these occasional kind of guttural sounds.

Now these sounds have kind of been riled up and you hear something is in there with Ma and they are getting riled up and probably coming outside. Yeah, I'm pulled off the bag and pushed it into Theo. And then I am clawing to my feet and just pushing against Freddie to get us both moving. Let's go. Let's run. I'm going to ask all of you to make athletic. checks, and this will determine whether you can get away from the Babsons before they get a good eye on to where the hell you're heading.

39 under 50. Fail, the 78 over 50. It's all on Cora. This is 62 over 30? As the three of you are running to the back of the house where there are four other dilapidated houses that share a backyard, two of these tainted citizens come clamoring out of the house, two men in overalls and tattered shirts and jeans and they see you and they're pointing in your direction when Mob Babson comes out with what looks like an old kind of flintlock rifle and

she's going to aim it at her hip at you and just fire she's going to have a disadvantage because it's a really old piece of shit gun and she isn't particularly good at it as you are making the corner the ground kind of explodes behind you as one of these old bullets strikes the ground, but you are able to get out of sight, but you can hear them yelling and calling and trying to arouse the town. I think I just start, I take one of them in each hand and I just start charging forward towards the poorhouse. Let me ask for a navigate role to make sure that you can get to the poorhouse without getting lost and possibly running into other citizens. Yeah, yeah. That's a six.

I'm going to now roll to see if you run into anyone. Okay. You are not going to run into any citizens, but you are currently lost. I am going to ask you, make a luck roll. On a failure, you're going to head deeper into the city where you don't want to be. On a success, you're going to move farther away from the center of town. Over 50 is good? Under 50 is a success.

Oh, 94. Fuck. Kennedy and Arthur. Yeah. You finally make it to the familiar broken down home that is known as the old Wayne's courthouse. The door is slightly ajar. The lights are on.

We got to, do we take, get some food dressed up, hide amongst the sheep? We got to make a call, Clark. We have to call in a car immediately. We got to get your buddies on them. That's what I'm saying. They have a phone, right? Or no, they wouldn't.

We've got to find out. Let's roll up and ask the woman that runs the food behind, and hopefully she's got one. You're able to steal yourselves, and you move into the building. As you move in, the supper hall is empty, and on the opposite side of the building is what appears to be kind of a large commissary area. And there are many of these homeless folks, many of them older, reading, sitting by the fire. But individuals do notice you. Some of them roll their eyes at Kennedy, remembering him and his obnoxious questions the night before. But you do see what appears to be a volunteer of some kind, kind of walking around, handing out blankets to the individuals.

It's another young woman. Miss, do you happen have any first aid or no, any? You know, she's handing a blanket, and as she turns, she looks at you, and you recognize it. There is the familiar Insmith look on her. She's a woman young, 19 or 20, just beginning to have those strange skin blemishes, just beginning to have those protruding lips and those kind of bulging eyes.

Can Kennedy be sort of floating around these two looking for like doors that are supposed to be closed to the homeless, you know, would indicate the rest of the house? There are closets and there are certain doors that are closed. you don't see padlocks or anything like a keepout, but there are, you know, doors that lead into other places. Yeah, so Arthur sort of gestures towards Kennedy and he's sort of down the hall opening each one

to see if he can find one with a phone in it, pretty brazenly. I don't want to be too much of bothered, but do you just have a happen of a decent first aid kid or anything? Oh, yes, of course are you hurt? My buddy and I, we had an accident on the road earlier, and I just want to just make sure he's touched up. The young girl kind of see, you know, when you gesture to Kennedy, Arthur, she sees him opening doors.

Those aren't there, sir. I'll lead you to them. And she moves over to Kennedy to lead him towards the first aid kit. Kennedy, wherever you go, you don't currently see a phone. But she leads you into what was once the kitchen and has now been transformed into more of a kitchen to serve many people, but she opens one of the drawers and pulls out something, and she says, my name is Ruth. What are your names?

Ruth Billingham. Do you have a phone? Oh, I'm sorry, no. This building really doesn't get electricity to really have a phone, but there are phones in the town. Do you need to use a phone? I could take you back to my home and you could use it. That would be lovely.

Kennedy? How far? is that? Um, it's, it's just up the road and she points in the westerly direction deeper into the residential district. Ah, fuck. That, that's, uh, that's a lovely, uh, what was your name again? I'm sorry? Ruth, Ruth, Ruth, that's very gracious of you. Oh, of course, yes. I mean, uh, you know, if anyone has ever heard or anything, but that's why I volunteer here. Let me see your wound, and she starts kind of trying to take off your coat to take a look at it. Let's go to your house first, and I, I get really defensive, like I step away from her. Um, you. Um, you.

You aren't in any trouble with the constables, are you? No, it just, we had an accident. It's like a fishing accident, and we just want to try to let our friends come pick us up. Of course, yes, yes. I'll help you. Just give me a few minutes to finish up, and then I'll take you to my home.

We don't have a few minutes. You're going to take us now where I'm going to die. It's that bad then, okay. Yes, it is really bad. I guess I can return once I let you use the phone. Yeah, sure, just follow me. And she starts making her way out of the house. Oh, thank you.

You know what? As we're making our way out of the poor house, I'm going to step into that commissary with the other homeless folk and find the nearest one and ask him or them if they could just, if they see a group of people come by, and I give descriptions of Cora, of Freddie, and of Dr. Rook. If they come by, let them know that we would, went down to find a phone. We'll be back as soon as we can. We're just in the city center.

Yeah, you share that with someone and they kind of look you up and down, but they agree that if somebody comes by, they'll tell them that. I'll fish into my wallet too, and I'll give them whatever spare change I have as a thank you. The two of you spill out onto the street with Ruth. As you are walking, both of you make alertness roles. I have a success with a 32. Fail with 69. Nice. Kennedy, you are able to notice that up ahead, in the direction of downtown, there appears to be a cluster of lanterns moving in your direction. You are at the corner of an intersection. Yeah, I'm going to grab Ruth by the arm to sort of guide her off an alternative route.

You don't like to be touched, but you can touch me whatever you want. Listen, if we go down here, things are not going to go well for you, for me, for anybody. So if we could just take another route to your house, I think it's going to be a lot safer for everyone involved. She kind of looks at Arthur and she looks at you Kennedy and she just kind of suddenly sputters out. Do you both know Brian? Are you friends with Brian? Yeah. Yes, we're... I'm sorry.

You guessed it. Yes, Fred. We fucking love Brian. This sweet, innocent 19-year-old. old girl doesn't even need a roll from you. She, her eyes light up and there are tears that kind of well on the edges of her eyes. She says, oh my God, you know, Brian, have you heard from him? He just disappeared the other night and I don't know what he's up to.

You know what? If you get us to a phone, I will get you to Brian. I'm going to extend a tissue out because gentlemen. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, yes, my home's just up here and she starts leaning you. Let's go back to the other group. You three realize that you are not heading in the direction you want to.

Weaving around buildings and through alleyways and through backyards has led you deeper into the city than you'd like. When you poke your head out to survey the space, you can see that you are not only deeper into the city, but you are close to a kind of intersection, a kind of small square where there is a crumbling church to your left. and then to your right you see what looks like a small jail otherwise the coast is clear at the moment

should we hide in the church it's abandoned no one's going to look in there what about Clark and and Kennedy I hate to say but they can take care of themselves right now they have weapons

we have what one knife I have a gun I just didn't want to fire it I have a knife as well I wouldn't come here on arm course. But shouldn't we keep moving? I don't know. That was really loud. And if they come back this way, we're in trouble. If we can hide here long enough for them to pass us, then we had the other direction. Fine, fine, fine. Okay, let's go to the church. Dr. Rook, you can hear the sound of somebody calling out from the jail, a young male voice. And you hear them saying,

is anybody out there? Are you going to eventually let me out of here? Hello? There's somebody in there. Do I recognize that voice? It isn't particularly familiar, no. I promise I won't date Ruth. It's the kid.

Should we lay him out? It's another distraction. If nothing else, not that he... That was awful. That sounded really terrible. Yeah, we're not going to let him go as a fucking bait, but we should let him go. We should get him. Right, right, right. Do we know what side of the building he's on from where he's, from how he's yelling?

You are facing what appears to be some windows with bars on them. You would have to go around the building to get to the entrance. I think Freddie's going to go up to the bars. Um, Brian. Who, who is that? Hello? Shh, don't yell. It's Freddy. Freddie. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Can I come out now? We're going to try to get you out, but you got a whisper. You got to give me a whisper. Okay, yeah, yeah. Do you live here? Do you live in InSmith?

Fuck, no. We're trying to get out. We're going to get you out, too. Just, can you see the door? Yeah, you just have to come around the other side of the building. There's not anybody in here right now. They're all attending the service. Okay, you've seen the freaky shit too, right? Yeah, I've seen some freaky shit while I've been stuck here, yes. Good. I mean, not good. Whatever. Listen, you gotta hurry up because they're saying something about me being part of some kind of ritual or something. Okay, then I guess we don't have much time. Yeah, I'm going to head around to the other side of the building.

The three of you head around to the front. The doors are closed. They open in. And sure enough, as Brian said, there is nobody currently in the jail. It is one-story building where the ends of it are broken up into jail cells. It isn't long before you can see Brian Burnham behind one of the cells and his hands kind of wrapped around one of the bars. He says, do you guys have the keys? No.

We have the keys. I thought if you were here, you would have gotten the keys. The constable has them. Okay. Is the lock like a traditional, like, key? What is your skill in lock picking? 50. Because of the time period, there is a chance that you could probably pick this lock.

I think I have to ask for this role at a minus 20 because you're using tools that are for more traditional locks. and we have to at least imagine that this is a strong cell lock, right? So I think that's a 30%? Yeah, I'm here for that. All right, 30. 54. Wouldn't have worked either way.

Unfortunately, your tools just aren't what is needed for this level of lock, and you can tell that, yeah, there's rather large keys that you probably need to get. As you kind of stop, Brian, you know, kind of looks down at you and looks at these of you, it's not going to work, is it? We can shoot the lock.

We have to move fast. But if we shoot the lock, we are out of here. He was going to stand by the door as far away from the loud noise as possible. Dr. Rook, make a alertness check while you're at the door. He's a three on alertness out of 40. Can I have, is there like a mop or a broom around here, Serge? I think that you could look into a utility closet and find a mop or a broom, yes. I'm just going to grab something so I have some kind of weapon.

I snap off the mop part. And I think while they're like discussing this, I'm going to rip part of my too long pants legs on this jumpsuit and take out my tiny, tiny little pocket knife that is utterly nothing and just like wrap it and tie it onto the end, like a really shitty little spear. Cora, can you make a power times five roll for me? This is what I built Cora for. This in pictures. Oh yeah, that's a five. So as you're tying the knife onto the end of the stick, you finally have a moment to just breathe, and something about being in Insmouth, things feel heightened, almost as if you know what's coming or what the citizens of Insmouth are up to. There's a connection to the energy of the city and of the town. And again, you get the image of the Masonic Hall, the esoteric order of Dagon. Brian, go ahead and step back to. I'm going to grab Freddy before she shoots the lock

and kind of like pull her down to my height so I can whisper. I know last time I didn't tell you why I knew something we had problems, but I'm going to do it again and you just have to trust me, okay? This is, this isn't my business, this is his life. Most of the city is at the esoteric, whatever the fuck, the church,

but there's some of them that are out in the town. They're further away from us, but they're out and they're looking. So there's a group to be on the lookout for, but we might have a chance. I'll try to keep an eye on it. Open it fast. Hopefully they won't hear it.

They're far enough away, I think. Go ahead and make your firearms roll. 36-70. There is a very loud bang, and it appears as if the lock has been severely damaged, but not damaged enough to open as you run to it, and it still won't quite open. I immediately fire the second.

shot. It's 62 under 70. Give me another damage roll of a D-10. That is enough. Finally, the second shot fires, and when you rush up to the bars, they swing open with Brian on the other side. Can I be keeping my mind out for the splinter group?

Crits success 22. Cora, now familiar with these feelings, you reach out again, and you almost get the immediate image of intelligences becoming a, of the gunfire, you feel as if there is probably a group heading in your direction now. Shit, they hurt. We have to move. I don't know where we have to move now. They hurt us. Do you know where they are? We can just go the other way.

We need to get the hell out of here, Brian says. He's like, let's find a car. We don't have time for a car, and we have to be invisible. My car is back at the grocer. If we can get back to my car, I hid the keys. Grocer's a good place to hide, too, if we have to. Okay, fuck it. Yeah. Groceries. Let's go. Your option is to run out into the middle of the street and then I suspect hide if you'd like to try to get away from the crowd

before they notice you, make a stealth check. I'm going to ask for everyone to do it and it's going to be cumulative, so we want at least two successes over three. 24 under 70. Failed in 90. I hate this. That's a three.

You duck into the shadows just as a group of six men and women carrying torches make their way towards the jail, and you see them enter. We're going. We get the fuck out. Your friend Brian is kind of helping guide you as he has been in Insmith for a little while and knows his way around. You can have a plus 20%, but I'll need a successful navigate role to start getting closer

to the grocer. Okay. In 50 it is. Okay, 36. Let's check in with Arthur and Kennedy. You two are making it up the road. You can get to Ruth's home. It's a quaint little setup.

It is slightly better kept than a lot of the homes in the residential district. Ruth happens to mention that her parents are off at church service. Excellent. So instantly, hi, Ruth, darling, uh, phone, please. Of course. She leads you up. You step in, and it is quaint and lovely. Love the decor. Amazing. Well kept. And she is able to lead you over to a regular rotary telephone. Who you call him?

My boss. So you're going to call someone at the Treasury Department. Correct. The receptionist answers the phone. How can I direct your call? Hi, darling. I am calling for Albert Ryan. I'm sorry, sir, but Albert Ryan is. out for the evening. Can you take a message?

Ma'am, I'm going to be very honest. There is seven foot tall amphibian people walking around, and there is a lot of drugs, and this needs the goddamn army and priests. I don't know. Can you please, for the love of God, get

Ryan on the phone. I have an agent down. He is bleeding right next to me. Do you comprehend the situation? One moment. She puts you on hold. Thank you. Talk was that, Arthur. I don't know.

As you wait, and it is a couple of minutes. Ruth is kind of looking out the window, and she looks concerned. She says, I think there's people out there with torches. They just went the opposite way. Not towards here? No, I saw them make a turn. Good, good, good, good, good. What did you all do?

I've never seen the citizens this riled up. Well, we found out what this city is really doing. It seems they really prefer that people keep that secret. Let's just say they're involved in whatever Brian's situation is. You think that the town is to blame for Brian's disappearance? Yeah. Oh, my God. But I really care about Brian.

I believe you. And we can help Brian together, so that's why I appreciate your assistance. I don't know about help, but we can figure out what happened to him. The voice on the other end finally comes on. Clark, is that you? Yeah, goddamn right. It's me. Okay.

How bad is it? What's the situation? It's... It, no, it's a shit show. It's, I'm going to be honest, this asshole made a deal with frogging devils. I'm not joking. There are... Not over the phone.

Oh, that's... Okay. Okay. Listen, I can try to send somebody for you, but it's going to take at least 20 to 30 minutes to get into town. Will it go faster if I tell you that the water makes the frogs here gay, therefore can make men gay. So would that make it a little bit faster if we want to save it? Arthur, what are you saying? We need a car.

Hold on. I am not doing... middle, man, and I'm going to just hold the phone up to fucking Kennedy. Yeah. Hello. Who am I talking to? This is Albert Ryan. All right. I need a car about 10, 15 minutes from the borderline of Innsmith.

You're going to come in from the north of town nearest to Falcon Point by the poor house. Kennedy, I can't risk ruining this entire operation to save you. What I can offer is a car outside of town waiting for you. If you can get to that car in the next hour, then you can make it out. Good. Yeah. Leave it

there. We're going to try our best, We think we have photographic evidence. We're split up right now. We're going to bring ourselves back together. We might have eyewitnesses, too, if we can hunt down this Brian kid. Well, listen, if you think you've got the photographic evidence, then maybe leave the photo somewhere. We can retrieve it later.

If you feel like you can't make it out. Okay, okay. If I think there's no other option, I'll leave them somewhere. I'll leave them in the poor house. Good luck. We'll be waiting for you. All right. Bye, I guess.

Oh, Arthur, this is going to do. complete shit. Arthur's going to take out a cigarette, light it, and extend it out to Kennedy. Yeah, thanks. I appreciate it. Yeah. Ruth, do you smoke? No, I've never had a cigarette before.

Brian liked to smoke, but I haven't tried it yet. There you go. Let's impress Brian. She takes a drag and just begins coughing horribly from it. Oh, it's very nice. We need to find the others. My parents, they don't have a vehicle, but you can. could find a vehicle somewhere. There's ones along the street. I don't know what I can offer. I wasn't

able to protect Brian, but... How comfortable were you with Brian? Like, did he allow you to drive his car? He didn't allow me to drive it, but I drove in it with him. Is it nearby? Oh, he always keeps his vehicle by the grocery store. I suspect since he ran out on me, he just, he took it with him, but now that you're saying maybe he didn't, maybe it's still there. Do you remember where he kept the keys? No. But surely if Brian is still in town, maybe we can find him and get the keys. Get him. See, we want to find Brian, but at the same time, we can't get caught. So that's where we're trying to. And we would like to get out of here as quickly as possible. It might be worth to try. If worse comes to worse, we can't get into that car. We can wait to 20 minutes. It might take for the feds to show up.

So your plan is to leave Ruth's home with Ruth. And you want to get to. the first national grocery store. Yeah. How are you heading there? Are you just walking or are you trying to remain quiet? Well, we're with Ruth. I don't think that's going to help us much. But I think we need to get there as fast as possible anyways.

Skippity doodas. Let's go. Yeah. There's no stealth for us. We're beat up and seen and shot at. Navigating there is going to be easy enough as Ruth knows how to do it. What I guess I'm going to ask is that you make athletics roles to determine that Even if you are seeing, you are able to stay ahead of your assailants. I have a success with a 44.

Oh, finally. Success 27. Ruth proves to be fast as well as you speedwalk your way in the streets, in the sidewalk, just trying to stay in the shadows, but heading south. You know, as Ruth explains, that you'll have to cross the river. As you are going, you see the mob turn a corner behind you and notice you. They begin giving chase, but you begin running as well. We'll say that you are exposed for the moment and that they are maintaining a chase. And I'm going to say one of them is at least carrying a weapon, and they're going to take a pop shot at you.

Even with a minus 20%, they roll a 26, which gives them under 30. So I'm going to say that's a success. Now, the decision is who they fire at. Under 50, Kennedy, and over 50, Arthur gets hit. It was 41, which means that Kennedy is going to get shot at. Kennedy, you could, if you'd like, dodge. I'm really worried about not keeping up, so just go ahead and hit me. Do you have more than 10 health?

I do not. The crowd is running and screaming after you. And as you are running, the three of you, Ruth says, maybe I can distract them for a moment. Maybe I can pause them. What do we do? We just keep running? Just keep going.

It's fine. We just got to get to the grocery store. We can't take any moments to stop or there. As soon as Kennedy says that, you hear the fire ring out. And Kennedy's temple, explodes as a bullet fires straight from the crowd. And as the crowd begins to cheer, Kennedy collapses to the ground dead. Thank you.

Thank you.