Em: Welcome to BlackwaterDnD, where good friends tell better stories. This series, Afterlight, is a miniseries using Blades in the Dark, and is proudly sponsored by Evil Hat Productions and Bookwyrm Games. As this game falls within a post-apocalyptic horror genre, it may contain themes and depictions that are triggering for some listeners. Please take care of yourself and access safe support as you see fit. Content warnings for this episode include: complex family dynamics & interpersonal conflict // apocalypse & societal collapse // darkness and shadow // guns as weapons // knives as weapons // blood and gore // body horror // visions and mind control // violence // grief & loss // death of family members & loved ones // being chased // bugs and insects // hallucinations // severe injury // tight and enclosed spaces // claustrophobia So get comfortable, and keep the lights on. Welcome to Afterlight. Chapter 5: Time to Go Si: Pen. You're in a train station. It looks familiar. Great shafts of sunlight are beaming down on the platform through Victorian style windows high up above the tracks. It is summer, you're wearing light, colourful clothing, and you are six years old again. Standing on the platform, waiting to board the train. It's just arrived and the doors have opened. You can see passengers either side of you are climbing aboard and are taking their seats. Outside the station, the sky is a brilliant blue, and there is a world of adventure to explore. On the train are your parents. They're standing in the doorway, smiling at you, holding out their hands for you to reach out and take, and climb aboard. Their faces are warm and loving. You can see they've got your little suitcase with them, that pink one with a pattern of yellow flowers. And you know it's time to leave, but you're standing on the platform next to Luce, holding her hand. You turned to look up at her. She was always quite a lot taller when you were young. And the first thing you notice is how cold her hand feels. And as you turn, you see it is in the monstrous form it is in now. Pale white skin with thick dark veins showing underneath, creating a spidery web of black lines running up her arm. It feels heavy and strong, and grips you a little too hard. And a wound on the back of her hand oozes black blood that drips across yours. You look up at her face as she looks down at you without expression, her eyes dark and bloodshot, and you realise there is a cold grey mist that has started to surround you both, dampening the sunlight that had brightened the platform before. And you look back to your parents on the train, and they are still smiling at you, but now there is worry in their eyes as they gesture for you to join them. But Luce does not move. She just stares down at you. This all feels less like a vision and more like a dream. Like you have some agency, and you can feel yourself looking around, taking it in, looking at the train, looking back to Luce. And you know the train is about to leave. In this moment, what does Pen do? Gina: I look up to my sister and I squeeze her hand. Gina (as Pen): “What's wrong?” Si: There's no response. Gina: I tug on her hand. Si: She doesn't move. Gina: I look back to my parents, and I can tell they want me to come with them. Then I feel Luce's hand cold in mine and… I don't want to go. So I don't, I, I stay and I move in front of her, to be able to look her in the eyes, still holding her hand. Gina (as Pen): “Do you need to see a doctor? We can go. Let's go.” Si: Her eyes follow you as you move, but she doesn't speak, and behind you you hear the final beeping of the train as the doors close. Gina: I look back behind me. Si: With the doors closed, the glass of the windows is grey and cloudy. You can't see through it to anyone beyond, and the train moves out. Leaves the platform. Gina (as Pen): “Wait!” Gina: I call out to them. I don't move from Luce, from holding her hand, but I call out to them. Gina (as Pen): “Wait, don't go!” Si: The sound of the train on the tracks drowns out the sound of your voice as it disappears into a bright beam of light. Even brighter than the sunlight coming through the window, and it brightens as the train disappears into it, and hits your face, and the light is so bright you squeeze your eyes shut for a second. But the brightness suddenly becomes very dark. And when you open your eyes again, you are back in the hotel, peering into the dark and listening, and Luce is just ahead of you. Gina: I make sure that I still have a firm hold on Evlan as we walk, and I bring my other hand just to, instinctively I want to rub at my eyes, and then I remember. And so I don't, and I just… I think about saying something. And I just think, what's the point? So I just keep moving. Si: Here on the second floor of the hotel, the voice drifts out of the gloom from somewhere up the corridor. There's an airy hollowness to it that puts you on edge. Something not quite right in the spaces between words. Your surprise at hearing someone's voice out here means it takes just a few more moments to realize what you are hearing. It's… A nursery rhyme. It sounds like someone trying to comfort a child. And then the voice stops. Sean (as Danny): “This is bad. This is bad. There's no way there's any kids out here. This is a fucking trap.” Amelia (as Evlan): “Honestly, I think if there were a kid here that'd probably be worse.” Gina (as Pen): “But it, it takes things that we remember, right? People that we’d, people that we know? Does this sound like anyone you, anyone knows?” Em: Si, does this sound like what I would have heard of Francis? Does it sound like his voice? Si: I think the noise that hits you is so warped and echoey, too unfamiliar for you to make that conclusion. The sound is broken and has this kind of strange, a slight ethereal quality to it that makes it sound… It makes it sound abnormal. To such an extent that you couldn't... You couldn't identify it. Amelia: Does it sound real? Si: As far as you can tell, yeah. Em (as Luce): “Look, if this is a trap, then… Then we get the fuck out of here. I need-” Sean (as Danny): “We get the fuck out of here right now. We know it's a fucking trap. Who's reading nursery rhymes in the fucking dark apocalypse? The exit's right there.” Em (as Luce): “Danny, if it's Francis, I need those dog tags.” Amelia (as Evlan): “Then we're doing it.” Em (as Luce): “Look, if you don't want to do this, I understand.” Sean (as Danny): “I don't want to do this,” Em (as Luce): “Then don't!” Sean (as Danny): “But I can't leave you! You do this, then we all do this.” Amelia (as Evlan): “We’re already here. If Luce goes, I go.” Gina (as Pen): “We're still moving in the direction of the trail.” Sean (as Danny): “The trail’s on the ground floor, we're on the second fucking floor! We go back and out and leave whoever the fuck, or whatever the fuck, is reading nursery rhymes to their own fucking business.” Em (as Luce): “I need those dog tags. Or I need to talk to it. Or whatever the fuck this is. If it's Francis, I need a proof of some existence. Or I need goddamn dog tags.” Gina: Si, do I see evidence of that trail like I was following before? It's in this direction, right? Si: Yeah, you've been following the trail through the hotel in the dark, and it's been getting more and more faint. And up here on the corridor, you don't see any of those glowing embers on the ground. No, there's no more traces of blood, but you do see the faintest trace of displaced air in front of you, soft ripples through the atmosphere that continue to about halfway down the corridor ahead. Gina (as Pen): “I know you can't see it, but I can. Someone was here, someone moved this direction. If this was one of those things, I don't think I would see it this way.” Sean: Danny can see that he's on his own for this one, and so he'll just sort of give a non-verbal consenting nod and, having seen tentacles come out of the last place, just give the other three a bit of a lead, but still follow along. Amelia: I pull out my gun. Em: I do as well. Sean: Danny was given the third gun, right? He… I think Danny will actually pull out a gun and the way he holds it isn't quite right. He… It's not a tool he's familiar with, but yeah, he stands back and does his best to be ready. Em: I think Luce would see Danny's discomfort with a pistol. Em (as Luce): “You ever used one of those before, Danny?” Sean (as Danny): “I'm a quick study.” Em (as Luce): “Yeah, uh, these ones are pretty easy. Point, brace yourself, squeeze. In that order.” Sean (as Danny): “I’m braced.” Em (as Luce): “Okay. We go in, we lay eyes. We talk to it whatever the fuck it is, if it's talking it's obviously speaking. If it's Francis then we'll figure it out. If it's not Francis, we get rid of it and we leave. We're not far. We'll get back on the trail soon. We good?” Amelia (as Evlan): “Yeah.” Em (as Luce): “Okay.” Em: And we move. Si: The walls of the corridor feel incredibly narrow. The claustrophobia heightened by the darkness and the constant threat that could be around any corner. You strain your eyes searching for the source of the noise amongst an almost endless row of doors and debris. Dense clusters of particles drift slowly in the air, reflecting some non-existent light like disturbed dust floating in the room when sun hits the window. Amongst the thick shadows, the faintest light flickers halfway down the corridor, almost imperceptible, but you see an orange glow that occasionally cuts through the grey, seeping from the edges of a door, partly open. You slowly make your way down the corridor, silent on the soft carpet. But you can hear the sounds of concrete cracking and crumbling somewhere on another level in the hotel. Some distant echo as its walls are pushed and pulled by the force of the rift. The floor occasionally trembles under your feet and you can feel vibrations from metal straining onto the pressure. Up ahead of you at the far end of the corridor, you can see the walls and the floor have fully caved in, leaving it exposed to the outside, and an immense shadow lingers in the void. As you get further down the corridor a familiar smell hits you. It's the smell of cigarettes. Em: I think, instinctually, my left hand holding the gun, because I don't trust it in my right hand, I would reach that hand into my bag and pull out the container that I know holds one last cigarette in it. Just in case. And I put it in a much more accessible pocket, much closer on my person, just in case I need to trade it, or use it as bait. Gina (as Pen): “You all smell that, right?” Em (as Luce): “Yeah.” Gina (as Pen): “I don't think these things smoke.” Em: Trying to put two and two together here, Luce would slowly approach the door. And I think I would knock. Si: The sound cuts through the quiet. Rings out a little bit down the corridor. What is the response? Jannes (as Francis): “Fuck, fuck's coming around this hour? Yeah come on in.” Si: The door swings slowly open, the room almost too dark to see. Sat leaning against the wall under the grey of the window is a person smoking. Barely more than a cigarette in the dark. But when they bring the lit cigarette up to their face to take a drag you catch a glimpse of the man you've been looking for. Except this isn't the Francis you last saw a little over a week ago. His face is much thinner, and gaunt. His eye sockets sunken, his cheekbones protruding. A mop of greasy hair falls forward just above eyes that are pools of pure darkness, but glisten, wet, like the surface of oil. The skin on his face and hands is cracked and damaged, skin peeling back and oozing black liquid. And where his skin is torn, you can see something dark underneath, pushing through, a kind of crust or a shell. And it becomes clear quite quickly that his shoulders are misshapen. There's some kind of growth on his left shoulder that is torn through his shirt. As he takes another drag, you catch another glimpse of his face staring straight up at you with jet black eyes, not reacting. Em (as Luce): “How many of those you got left on you, pal?” Jannes (as Francis): “I, I don't, I don't really know. Um… Where did I put the pack?” Jannes: You see, he starts attempting to fumble around looking for the rest of them. Jannes (as Francis): “Um, I don't know. You need one? You're looking for one?” Em (as Luce): “Ah, Jacob gave me my last one. I got one here just in case.” Jannes (as Francis): “Jacob? Jacob. Jacob. Um. Who are you?” Em (as Luce): “You used to call me the biggest pain in your ass. It's Luce, Francis.” Jannes (as Francis): “Luce, Luce, Luce… Yeah, I, I don't, I don't have any, I don't have anything to trade today, Luce, you gonna have to come back another time… I, um, it's getting it's late, I don't have anything with me here, so maybe maybe come back tomorrow.” Em (as Luce): “Yeah.” Jannes (as Francis): “I might have something for you then.” Em (as Luce): “No, Jacob sent me around to see if you needed anything. You know I'm good at finding stuff. You been doing okay out here? In your new place?” Jannes (as Francis): “New place?” Jannes: You see his head sort of tilts and shifts slightly, as though he's only now realizing where he is. Jannes (as Francis): “Um. New place, new place, new place, place… The new, the neighborhood, the new neighborhood, outside, outside, we're outside.” Em (as Luce): “Yeah.” Jannes (as Francis): “Outside…” Em (as Luce): “You and our team left about a week ago. And Jacob sent me here to see if you were doing okay.” Jannes (as Francis): “Are you, are you alone?” Em (as Luce): “No. They sent us out in a team of four, just like they did for you.” Jannes (as Francis): “Four of us.” Em (as Luce): “Yeah.” Jannes (as Francis): “Four of us…” Em (as Luce): “Theo, and Henry. Miles.” Jannes (as Francis): “No, no, not four, no, not four. Five, five of us. The mirrors, the mirrors, they took her. The mirrors took her.” Em (as Luce): “Who? Who did the mirrors take?” Jannes (as Francis): “Eve, Eve, she was the, she was the fifth. The mirror took her. They came out of the mirrors.” Em: I'm gonna move into the room and kind of signal people to come a bit closer, but not too far in to overwhelm. I'm gonna move in and I'm gonna kind of sit down across the room to see if he can track where I am, but I want him to be able to see me. And I want to have my gun not drawn and pointed at him, just, like down at my side. And I want to kind of like, slide down the wall, not next to him, but across from him. Em (as Luce): “Well, we're just a team of four. It's me, Danny, Evlan, and my sister. And… I'm sorry that the mirrors took Eve.” Jannes (as Francis): “You're all still together? You all made it this far?” Em (as Luce): “Not without cost, but yeah, we're here.” Si: And I think as I hear Luce say that, that's when I move into the room too, with Evlan, and look back to Danny to see if he'll follow. Amelia: I keep my gun in my hand but have it rested against my side. Sean: Danny has just shaken his head outside the room and is going to be hanging out just on the other side of the door, but is not gonna go in the room with it. Jannes (as Francis): “Pen, right? Pen, Pen. Pen…” Gina (as Pen): “Hi, Francis.” Jannes (as Francis): “Yeah, I'm looking for some clothes for Mia. Um, she's getting quite big and her shoes aren't fitting right anymore. You got anything in a slightly larger size for her? Um…” Gina (as Pen): “Yeah, yeah… I've got, you know, we just got a bunch of new stuff ready for… I can find you something.” Jannes (as Francis): “They, they, they grow so fast, they get so big so quick, and you know, you know he'd come down and get them himself, but he's busy watching everything, and he’s, but yeah, I could bring her around maybe, later today and try some on?” Gina (as Pen): “That'd be nice.” Jannes (as Francis): “Alright that’d be… That’d be great, yeah. Be nice. Be nice.” Em (as Luce): “Francis, was this as far as you made it? Or did you get all the way there and have to come back?” Jannes (as Francis): “The switch.” Em (as Luce): “Yeah.” Jannes (as Francis): “The switch… We got stuck. And... And now the- they killed them all and… I managed to get here, but this was… I've been here so long. Luce, I've been here so long.” Em (as Luce): “I know.” Jannes (as Francis): “I can't… I can’t feel anything anymore.” Em (as Luce): “Can you see? Can you see me?” Jannes (as Francis): “Yes, no, yes, kinda.” Em (as Luce): “What about this?” Em: And I reach out my hand, the one that is not mine. Em (as Luce): “I can't feel this either. So I get it.” Jannes: And I think he would attempt to sort of reach for Luce's hand. Not in a quick or aggressive way, but in a, in just an attempt to feel somebody else. Em: I'd move closer to him and I'd give him my hand. The one I extended. Jannes (as Francis): “I can see it. I can see it. [sighs] Yeah, you have to go. Keep going, you have to keep going. You have to keep going.” Em (as Luce): “Can you move?” Jannes (as Francis): “[chuckles] Now you sound like him. Yeah. Yeah, I might be able to. Um... I... Um… It wasn't safe. It wasn't safe, it wasn’t safe to keep going alone. So I had to wait.” Gina (as Pen): “Well, you're not alone anymore.” Jannes (as Francis): “I haven't been alone the whole time. But it has been a long time since someone else has been here with me. But now that you're, now that you’re here… We can go take care of, we can flip the switch. What do you say, Danny?” Jannes: And he turns and looks through the door where Danny is sort of standing on the outskirts. Sean (as Danny): “You got your dog tags on ya?” Jannes (as Francis): “Um… Yeah. Yeah, why?” Sean (as Danny): “We made a promise to somebody we'd get those back. You wanna toss those to me?” Jannes (as Francis): “I’m... Get them back... You're... you're...” Gina: What is Danny doing as he asks that question? Sean: He is just leaning against the door frame, sort of poking his head in, but not letting his whole body be exposed into the room. It's a very cagey body language. Gina: Where is his hand holding the gun? Sean: It's his right hand, he's leaning left shoulder on the thing, so it's, he's not presenting the gun, it's sort of tucked at his thigh beside him. Amelia: I begin to ready my gun in case anything happens. Em (as Luce): “Francis?” Jannes (as Francis): “Um, yeah?” Em (as Luce): “Jacob asked us to bring proof of what happened to you.” Jannes (as Francis): “Hmm.” Em (as Luce): “We don't know how fast this happens. The transformation, or whatever's happening. My hand is gone. And that's been an hour or two.” Jannes (as Francis): “Hmm.” Em (as Luce): “I'm gonna be real with you, man, they're not gonna let either of us back inside.” Jannes (as Francis): “Mmm.” Em (as Luce): “Not like this. And if something happens while we get you out of here, someone's gotta bring your dog tags and mine,” Em: And I would lift up my set as well. Em (as Luce): “Back so that they can know what happened to us. That's why Danny's asking.” Jannes (as Francis): “And which... Which one of you's going back? Which one of you is taking the tags back?” Sean (as Danny): “I’ll take them back for you. I'll make sure they get where they're going.” Jannes (as Francis): “Alright, I'll make sure that these folks end up finding the power station. You can, you can take the tags. I'll take them.” Em (as Luce): “We move as a unit, Francis. Danny's coming too, but I'm not sending him back alone.” Jannes (as Francis): “[laughs] You… You don't see it yet, do you?” Em (as Luce): “See what, Frances?” Jannes (as Francis): “This is the last stop. You get on the bus here. Doesn't go back home [laughing].” Em (as Luce): “Look, I usually let my sister have the optimism, but we're gonna keep going forward as far as we can. Same job as you.” Jannes: Si, when Francis looks at Pen, what does he see? Si: I think Francis sees the silhouette of a person. And I think you can see the traces of… I think what Francis sees, he doesn't quite understand, but it's… You can almost feel the life there, in all of the people before you, but in different levels of brightness. It's like a light from within. But I think, I think the thing that Francis locks onto when he looks at Pen is the darkness of her eyes. I think they stand out in his vision as these pools of black that darken that brightness within. Jannes (as Francis): “Alright. You all wanna go as one, move together as a team. That's fine. Then I might as well keep my dog tags, ‘cause they'll find them here when the lights are on. I can, I can show you the way.” Em (as Luce): “Francis. I'm gonna be honest with you because at this point you don't deserve anything less. If I don't bring back your dog tags, my aunt is gonna die. And that might sound like a lot, but the chain of events that will be set off if I don't bring back your dog tags will end in her dying. If you get out of here, if we take you out, and you change… You become more than what you are right now and you bolt. Or you attack us. You do something beyond your control… I'm asking you to help me. Please.” Jannes (as Francis): “Alright, I'll give you, I’ll give you my tags, but please, please let me help. Please don’t, please don't leave me alone. I can't...” Em: I'll look back to Danny and Pen and Evlan. Em (as Luce): “I'll take responsibility for him.” Sean: Danny looks at Evlan. How's Evlan doing physically? Si: Evlan, you've been leaning your weight on Pen as she's helped you to keep moving, and here in the hotel room you've been able to rest against the desk to ease the burden of being on your feet but… But there's a moment while everyone is talking that you start to feel different. You don't feel like you need to lean on something anymore. It's been difficult to keep listening to what they're talking about because this feeling is distracting you, and you're realizing you are getting your strength back. In fact, your chest doesn't really hurt much at all anymore. You can definitely feel it, but it's different than pain. It feels heavy, and you feel a little sick, but it's better. And your head feels better too. It's no longer woozy and muddled. But in the clarity you can hear and you can feel the presence of creatures just outside the room, beyond the window, crawling and scuttling across the outside wall of the hotel, their legs scraping against the brick. And you know, because you can feel it, that they are looking for you. All of you. You can remove the harm of the chest wound from Evlan's character sheet. They are no longer impaired. Your skin feels cold and clammy, and your hearing is not back to normal. The foreground still sounds a little muffled. And a thick drop of black oil falls from the corner of your mouth, and you can feel it pooling under your tongue. And I would also like Evlan to take a skill point in prowl and skirmish. Danny, as you look over to Evlan, you can see they are no longer leaning against Pen, no longer leaning against the desk, standing taller, looking stronger. But their eyes are darker. Almost completely black. Amelia: And as you see them kind of wipe that oil from their mouth, and see it on their hand, you can tell it's like, they're looking out the window, like, they can hear something that you can't. And is very clearly checked out of the entire conversation that's happening. Jannes: I think Francis notices Evlan glance away, and his attention snaps to them. Jannes (as Francis): “Do you hear it? Amelia (as Evlan): “Yeah.” Jannes (as Francis): “He keeps telling me it's safe. He keeps saying it's safe, but he, it's not safe. It can't be safe.” Amelia (as Evlan): “Who?” Jannes (as Francis): “Who?” Amelia (as Evlan): “You said, you said he.” Jannes (as Francis): “Oh… I try to help him, but, they were chasing us and, and… He couldn't keep up. It wasn't my fault. I didn't, I didn’t mean to leave him. He was there the one moment, then the next he was gone, and, and I didn't see what happened to him. But now he keeps… He keeps... He keeps coming by. He keeps… I know, I know... I know a way. I know a way. Um, um, um… The switch. The switch. You're here for the switch. I mean, I helped. The plan, it was, there's a way out of the building. There's a way out of the building. I could take you. I could take you.” Gina: I think Pen takes a step forward before she realizes what she's doing, and I look back to Evlan just to give them a nod of acknowledging that they're maybe feeling a little bit better in this moment and I turn back to Francis. What is his body language like right now? Jannes: For all of the jumping around he's been doing and the chaotic nature of his conversation, he hasn't physically shifted all that much. He's still very much leaning against this wall, He seems to almost be stuck even though there's nothing that you can see that would be holding him there. Gina: I glance at Luce as I take another step towards him, Em (as Luce): “Pen…” Gina: And I hold my hands up just to show I don't have anything in them, and I take another step. Em (as Luce): “Pen.” Gina (as Pen): “You're not alone anymore, Francis. But we need to know that you're… With us.” Gina: And I take another step forward. Em (as Luce): “Pen.” Jannes (as Francis): “I'm sorry, if I'm… Scaring you. I don't... I don't know what's happening, and...” Gina (as Pen): “I know.” Gina: And I take another step forward. Em (as Luce): “Pen!” Gina: Can I look into his eyes? What do they look like? Si: Francis' eyes are the darkest black you've ever seen. A complete vacuum of light. A void where there should be life. It feels like staring into that mirror all over again. Gina: I look at him and I just think to myself, this is what we're going to become. Then I turn back to Luce, Gina (as Pen): “We can't… We can't leave him.” Em (as Luce): “We're not gonna leave him.” Em: I look back to Francis. Em (as Luce): “Tags. And you stick with me.” Jannes: Francis let's go of your hand, which he's held onto this entire interaction. Em: I haven't let it go. Jannes: He let's go and you see him reach down on his torso where the dog tag should rest. The chain sort of runs, and just ends. And you see him take his hands and place them on either side of a wound that runs lengthwise down his chest, and he pulls this wound open. And you see there's something dark, similar to what's in his eyes, in his chest. Like there's a void that fills him, and as he pulls this wound apart and grabs the chain, he pulls the dog tags almost as if from this black hole in his chest. He rips them loose, and he holds them out to Pen. Amelia: I’ll get my gun ready, trained on Francis. Si: Pen, being just a few feet away, a front row seat for this inhuman display of body corruption, I think I have no choice but to ask for a resistance roll from you. Gina: Okay, okay, okay… [dice rolling] Okay, highest is a four. Si: Okay, you take two stress markers. Gina: That puts me over the edge. Si: Gina, how would you like to select your trauma condition? Do you want to roll for it or would you like to… Gina: I can, I can, well, let's see. We've already got paranoid, we've already got reckless. It doesn't mean that I can't choose one of those. Um, I’ll roll a d6, there's six of them, right? I know how to do math. Okay. [dice rolling] Ah, well, this one’s a six, so… Obsessed it is. Everything's fine. I'm fine. I have totally normal feelings about this situation. Si: Pen, the stress of seeing Francis up close pushes you over the edge, and your character suffers a trauma condition. It is overwhelming and paralyzes you for a moment, as you just stare at that wound, that hole in his chest, and think about the direction that you're going and the transformation that is occurring to you and your sister. And you think about going home. God, how nice it would be to just go home, go back to your apartment, climb into bed. Go to sleep and pretend all of this is just a dream. But no amount of wishing can make that true. And Luce, I think you see Pen kind of disappear into herself as she stares, frozen. Em: I would bring my non-transformed hand, and place it in front of her, like on her leg, because I'm sitting down, and she's still standing, just to ground her for a second and bring her back into the room. My eyes haven't left Francis. I'm still quite close to him. Em (as Luce): “Pen?” Gina (as Pen): “Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Oh, sorry...” Em: Si, are the dog tags covered in that black ichor? Si: Yeah. Gina: I think I hear you say my name and I assume you're telling me to grab the dog tags in front of me so I just, I... Amelia (as Evlan): “Stop!” Em (as Luce): “Please don't touch the black substance.” Gina (as Pen): “Oh… Right.” Em (as Luce): “Wrap the tags in something. Please.” Gina (as Pen): “Yeah, yeah, I have, um…” Gina: And I sort of, in a daze still, reach into my backpack and I pull out that shirt that I had offered before, and I clumsily just sort of grab the… Wrap it in my hand and grab the dog tags. And I take a breath. And then I look back at Francis, is he still looking at Luce? Is he looking at me? What is he doing? His chest is still open? Jannes: After he reached out with his hand towards you with the dog tags laying in his palm… He didn't have to close the wound in his chest. The swirling black substance that was within it, almost like vines, started to move and grow and pull that gaping wound shut as though it was trying to hide, as though it was trying to remain unseen. And as you take the dog tags, he will look up to you. Jannes (as Francis): “Um… Where, where, Where are we?” Gina (as Pen): “We’re outside. We're in a hotel, I think. But we’re outside.” Gina: You can see that Pen is looking at you, her eyes are locked on you, she's… She looks afraid, but she… She looks determined. Jannes (as Francis): “We should, um, I can show you, there's a way out of the hotel. Um… It wasn't in our, in our original plan. I can show you. Um, I can take you.” Sean (as Danny): “Hey Francis, you want to stand up for me if you're able?” Em: I'd extend my hand out to Francis. I'd kind of move into a crouch to help him up. Jannes: Francis would reach forward and take your hand, and for someone who on appearance looks so rough, I think he stands with an ease that surprises you. Si: Luce, as you stand back up, as Francis stands, you can feel the skin on your back has started to tighten. And you've been doing your best to focus on what's going on in this moment and ignore the feeling, but there's also a sickness in your stomach that's starting to creep up on you. The burning pain in your back has gone. It's now more like an intense heat. And there's a strange pressure from your clothes at the back of your ripped jacket and the shirt underneath. As you move your shoulders around, there's a... It's like a discomfort across the middle and top of your back. It feels like exposed nerve endings are being touched. And you reach a hand over your shoulder to try to figure out what's going on, and it takes you a moment to realize that there are lumps protruding out of your back. You feel three of them around your shoulder blades. Em: I make it look like I'm just itching my back, and I help Francis stand up. Give him a nod. Sean (as Danny): “Francis, just so we all know the plan, this exit of yours, where does it lead?” Jannes (as Francis): “Um…” Sean (as Danny): “Francis, where's it lead?” Jannes (as Francis): “There's a way to get through the building. It'll, it’ll spit you out of the building on the right side, so that it's basically a straight shot to the substation.” Sean (as Danny): “Mmhmm. And what do we have to go through to get to the substation? Because they'd tell you that when you left, right? You know the plan. Because you were from where we're from, right?” Jannes (as Francis): “Yeah, I mean…” Sean (as Danny): “What's between us and the substation?” Jannes (as Francis): “Substation… Um… That's, that’s, that’s, that's [chuckles] that’s where the switch is.” Sean (as Danny): “Yeah. Library, underpass, hotel, what? Then, substation?” Sean: I'll draw my gun on him. Sean (as Danny): “What is it? What is it, Francis?” Gina (as Pen): “You remember?” Jannes (as Francis): “D-Danny?” Sean (as Danny): “Yeah?” Jannes (as Francis): “Um, Danny, where'd you... Where'd you get a gun, Danny?” Sean (as Danny): “I need you to t- hmmm.” Em (as Luce): “Danny.” Sean (as Danny): “What comes…?” Gina (as Pen): “Danny, he's gonna remember, it just takes him a minute!” Sean (as Danny): “I'm not seeing it! Am I fucking crazy for asking? Cause he hasn't said anything that proves that he is what he is. He hasn't told us anything that we can verify.” Gina (as Pen): “About-” Sean (as Danny): “If he is who he says he is, then he would have told him, they would have told him the exact same fucking plan and he should know this. If he says he knows how to get to the switch, then he knows how to get to the switch. It's a straight shot. What comes after the hotel, Francis?” Gina (as Pen): “He talked about Mia, he knows- it's Francis!” Sean (as Danny): “What comes after the hotel, Francis?” Jannes (as Francis): “Hotel… That's, um…” Si: Danny, as you raise your voice, in this moment you hear a noise coming from the other end of the corridor, behind you where the wall has collapsed away. Something from deep within the shadow. It's like a gurgling noise to start with, but then you hear the crying. Gentle sobs, heavy with despair, and a clicking noise, too, echoing out. And looking over to that space you see the shadow at the end of the corridor has started to slowly creep in your direction. Its edges unfurling like a hundred hands trying to grasp for something to hold onto. And from within the dark, a deathly pale creature begins to emerge like a ghost. You see only its head, first. Bulbous and hairless, with an almost translucent grey skin stretched across a warped, wide skull with dark growths pushing through from underneath, like scaly mushrooms. It has two small jet black eyes in the middle of its face. But below it, where you would expect a jaw or a mouth, that part of the head has been ripped off its face, and the skin below is jagged and torn, and hanging loosely, flapping about as the creature moves its head. And a dark ooze drips out of the gap and down onto long spindly arms that stretch out from underneath, bony and holding in on themselves, unnaturally, as this creature begins to crawl towards you, gurgling and making rasping noises. Sean (as Danny): “Oh fuck. We need to go, we need to go, we're not alone!” Sean: And Danny's gonna start backing the way he came. Gina: Do we just see Danny leave us, if he's backing away from the doorway? Si: He disappears out of view. Amelia: I rushed to the hallway before I realized how easy it is for me to do that. I see this creature, Amelia (as Evlan): “Holy fuck, we gotta move. Now!” Em: I would look to Pen, Em (as Luce): “Run after Evlan and Danny, run, now.” Gina (as Pen): “I’m not leaving you!” Em (as Luce): “I'm coming!” Em: And I would grab Francis, Em (as Luce): “You wanna come? Let's go, now! Are you with us?” Jannes (as Francis): “Um, yeah, yeah, of course. We gotta go. We gotta go.” Em (as Luce): “Then fucking move!” Em: And we start running after. I would have a hand on Francis, the hand that he grabbed. I would just have, like, the hand that is not mine. I have it holding his hand and I am pulling him with us. Amelia: As Evlan ran into the hallway, I would keep my gun trained on this creature, not shooting unless necessary because of the noise it will make, but I will wait for Pen to run out before I run behind her. Jannes: As Frances and Luce make it through the door, I see Danny up ahead, moving down the hallway, he's going to yell, Jannes (as Francis): “We gotta get to the conference room. We gotta get the conference room. It's at the back of hotel. We gotta, gotta make for that way.” Si: You rush out of the room holding on to Francis and you get out of the door and turn to go down the corridor, but you suddenly come to a stop because Francis stops. Francis, when you leave the room and look down into the darkness where this noise is coming from, you see this pale spindly creature crawling across the ground. Long bony arms, bulbous head, his hands are large and end in long sharp points where fingers might be, but blackened at the end and with every movement the claws dig into the carpet, ripping holes as it goes. It’s body has these huge scars and dents, these dark marks all across it like it has been caved in and ripped apart and put back together again. And you have to stop when you look at it because you recognize it. It writhes and snakes on the ground as it crawls towards you, spluttering black oil all over the walls from the lower half of its head, which is missing, making these gurgling sounds from within. And underneath its pale skin, there is movement, something pushing at the skin from underneath, like the writhing of snakes. And as it comes a little closer, you know that face. The cheekbones and the heavy ridge in its forehead. This is Theo. Or what's left of him. Em (as Luce): “Francis, we've gotta go now!” Em: And I would yank on his arm to start pulling it. Jannes (as Francis): “Um, um, Luce, Luce, um, give me your gun.” Em (as Luce): “No!” Jannes (as Francis): “Give me your gun, Luce.” Em (as Luce): “No!!” Jannes (as Francis): “You gotta go to the conference room. In the back of the conference room, you can make it to the maintenance rooms, and they will take you down.” Em (as Luce): “I am not giving you my gun!” Em: And I let go of his hand. Jannes (as Francis): “You have your tags!” Em (as Luce): “No!” Jannes (as Francis): “Go! Flip the switch.” Em (as Luce): “Are you coming or not? I will put a bullet in both of you right now.” Jannes (as Francis): “I, I can't leave him again. Run.” Em (as Luce): “He is not him anymore, Francis. You're either coming with me-” Jannes (as Francis): “I'm not me anymore!” Em (as Luce): “Neither am I!” Jannes (as Francis): “Well, when the time comes when you decide, and you realize that you ain't going home, you'll know why I couldn't leave.” Em (as Luce): “Then you stay with him, I am not giving you my gun, Francis.” Em: And I start to back away. Jannes (as Francis): “Tell Danny I'm sorry I couldn't remember the park.” Em (as Luce): “I know.” Em: And I am immediately going to… Oh, fuck… As I begin to move backward, I am going to take out… I don't think Luce wouldn't do this for him. It's that, I think recklessness, it's like, I have the time. I know I'm not going home either. And he tells me I'm going to go home. I'm not fucking going home. I take the cigarette out of my pocket. I light it. I pass it. I like, chuck it towards him. Em (as Luce): “Enjoy this. I'm sorry.” Em: And I run. Si: You rush down the corridor after the others and it, moving quickly, it takes you a few seconds to reach the door, and you begin scrambling down the stairs in the dark towards the lobby. Francis, you watch Luce go for a second, before turning back to this creature on the ground. You see that it's moving in a kind of stilted fashion, like its limbs and muscles are not working properly, kind of tumbling in on itself. But it is moving towards you with purpose. Fully dead eyes, fully pale skin. But I think Francis, in his current state, probably switches between just simply seeing Theo and seeing a monster. And you don't have a gun. What do you do in this moment? Jannes: I think Francis takes a long drag from the cigarette. He looks down at the flickering form of Theo crawling across the floor, and in his mind, after what's felt like weeks of not knowing what's real, and waking up to find himself here when he thought he was somewhere else, as that form flickers to the Theo that he remembers, he wills that to stay. And in his mind's eye, he's back at the underpass. Except this time when he hears Theo get caught, he doesn't keep running. He turns and he closes the distance. He says, Jannes (as Francis): “That's all right, buddy, I got you. We'll get out of this together.” Jannes: And he reaches down to embrace the figure on the floor. Si: Theo's body is heavier than you expect. As the creature begins to pull himself up your body, crawling up, and you brace yourself to take his weight, feeling those arms cling to you and wrap around you… And his hands are cold, as those long sharpened claws drive themselves into the soft sides of your neck. And you fall to your knees and embrace him. He feels so cold. You just need to warm him up a little. Jannes: “It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be alright. We'll be home soon.” Si: And whatever light was left around you goes out. You rush down the steps, getting away from this thing behind you. and Evlan, you can feel around the building on different floors, and outside the movement of more of these creatures. You can feel a connection between them, like some hive mind transmitting signals. It is very clear to all of the things that are out there exactly where you are. And you know you have to keep moving quickly, but you have a newfound strength in your legs and you bound down the steps. As you all burst through the door and make your way across the hotel lobby, there is suddenly a violent crash and cracking to your right. And you turn to see just outside the hotel entrance, there are two huge monsters surrounded by swirling shadow, frenzied and smashing to get inside. The safety glass of the doors has cracked and is splintering, and the metal frame is starting to buckle and give way. The two creatures almost meld together as they smash at the door with such power and ferocity, you wonder how anything could withstand it. Their limbs are flailing and stabbing through the glass, puncturing it and pulling at the whole door frame, as brick starts to crumble and the door begins to cave in, and you know it won't be long before they are inside. Em: Luce would catch up with them, Em (as Luce): “We gotta go! We gotta go now! He's not coming! We're going! We're going now!” Gina (as Pen): “Where’s, where’s Francis?” Em (as Luce): “We're going, Pen, now!” Gina (as Pen): “What happened?!” Em: And I grab her and, I just grab her, and there is no time to explain. That time has gone. And I grab her and I pull. It's stronger than I have ever moved you in the past. Gina (as Pen): “We're gonna die here!” Em (as Luce): “Pen, stop talking, run!” Gina (as Pen): “Okay, okay!” Amelia: I think Evlan has probably pulled ahead and is running toward the back of the hotel, and using the locations of the creatures as a sort of track to avoid certain areas, and also try and figure out the easiest path to get out with the least amount of attention. Si: You all rush forward past the lobby, past the reception desk, onto the other side of the entrance, where a damaged corridor leads through to the back of the hotel. You see broken signs to the conference room beyond. Soft carpet squishes under your feet as you run. In places where the walls have cracked and crumbled, you see long roots and vines have pushed through the brickwork from outside, and are all leading in the direction you are going. They look like all the cables in the Safe Zone running along the edges of the room, like flanking you as you go. And ahead of you stand double doors, and Evlan, as you take the lead and attune once again to these forces outside, you can feel a frenzy behind you. There is a violence and a pursuit, but ahead of you, feel something else. Not movement, but a kind of power, or a signal. Something incredibly heavy, and you feel a pull as you run towards it, a pang of sentiment and emotion, of familiarity, and a knowing, like you're close to home. And you run forward and crash through these double doors which open into a spacious conference room, long with a high ceiling. It looks ready for a wedding reception. You see circular tables, small chairs, everything covered with pristine white sheets, tall decorative curtains running from floor to ceiling, and three crystal chandeliers in gold frames hanging in a row above. But the of the room has cracked right across the middle, from left to right, a huge fault line pushing one half of the floor up and causing the back half to have dropped a few feet and it slopes downwards at an angle. It looks like the end of the conference room has fallen into a sinkhole. And there is this chasm that has opened up across the middle breaking the room in half. Part of the back wall has collapsed and the doorframe of the exit in the corner has crumpled and splintered as the wall has caved in around it. You can see the remnants of what would have been a small stage-like platform at the far end, now just broken pieces of wood. But above it, on the back wall of this collapsed room, still intact, is a massive ornate mirror, filling most of the wall, at least fifteen feet tall, sitting in an ornate gold frame. You see a shimmer on its surface, and almost hypnotic flickers of lightning beyond. Right in the back corner to the left, what remains of the collapsed doorframe has left an opening. A small tunnel and crawl space leading out of the room. Seems to be holding strong amongst a pile of rubble and collapsed brick. There are roots and vines that have grown out of the gap, or maybe that are leading into it, dense and weaving in and out of each other, pushing out into the room and gripping to the walls. They look grey and lifeless, but you can see a cluster of the vines are clinging to the border of the mirror, very deliberately, almost as if they're holding it in place. And you all hear this violent smashing sound coming from the hotel lobby behind you. It sounds like those creatures have smashed through the door. And as you all enter this room, you look again to that crawl space on the other side of this room where the door used to be, in the furthest corner. It's the only way through. But within seconds of you entering, you start to feel the ground tremble, and a low reverberation begins to shake the room. You hear the clinking of the chandeliers above you as they sway and swing back and forth, and parts of the ceiling begin to crack. And as the rumbling noise grows louder, an enormous shadow moves across the mirror, and its surface begins to ripple like water. The sound becomes almost deafening, but it is punctured by a monstrous bellowing roar echoing out from beyond. And smoke and particles and shadow all begins to pour out of the mirror and fill the conference room. And you can see that crackles of lightning jump between the clusters of shadow in the room. And all of this happening in seconds, as you are running through and you're stopped in your tracks, as you see, the mirror is pierced by two limbs as big as tree trunks that push through first, before a huge warped skull dripping with black oil pushes through, almost animal-like with a long bony snout, but hollow, and swirling in darkness. The lurching shadow of pitch black that moves around it and darts out on its own accord. And this monster screeches as it pushes through the portal and reveals three sets of jaws, partly overlapping, partly stuck together, all lined with razor sharp teeth and bony protrusions that pull them in different directions, fracturing and repairing, all big enough to just devour you whole. and a wave of that black liquid cascades down the wall from the mirror and splashes across the floor, and the acrid smell hits you, hard. And it feels like an earthquake hits as this creature the size of a house pulls itself through. It smashes into the chandeliers that shatter the glass. It all falls like confetti. The furniture is smashed and scattered everywhere. And you can already see it is going to fill the entire room. Somewhere within its hulking shadowy mass, there is another sickening guttural noise, warped and full of venom. And some of its limbs touch down on the ground and go straight through the floor, the impact of it nearly knocking you. If you're going to go, you know you have to go now. Amelia: I think as Evlan is darting through, with a body that feels alien and strong in ways they are unfamiliar, I don't know if I could say that it's adrenaline that propels them forward, but it is something based on instinct, and I think they're just going to, without even thinking or planning, just run and jump across. Si: What is everyone else doing? Sean: There's just not a lot of time to do much thinking, but Danny doesn't have a lot of faith in his ability to make it up that slant, so he's gonna just rip off his backpack so he has just no extra weight, take his fucking crowbar in hand, and he's gonna try to land on the other side of this fucking gorge on the angle, and use it like a like an ice pick to just give him some sort of traction on the other side and help himself up. Em: Luce is behind Pen at this point, and would have been kind of pulling and or pushing her forward, and would see Evlan and Danny if they're trying to make their way across the gap, and attempt to make sure that Pen is going to make it, and then would attempt it herself. Gina: Can I tell if I look at Luce, can I tell that she's actually planning to jump? I feel like I know her well enough. Gina (as Pen): “You're coming with me, right?” Em (as Luce): “Of course I am. Go, you need to move, please!” Gina (as Pen): “Promise me!” Em (as Luce): “God, Pen, I have never said please so much in my fucking life! Please jump the fucking gap! Gina (as Pen): “Promise me!” Em (as Luce): “I promise, go!” Gina (as Pen): And I’ll jump. And I turn back immediately as soon as I land and I look to Luce and wait for her to come after me. Em: I would jump. Si: You all sprint forward as fast as you can, in the direction of this gigantic monster, hoping to dart past it to safety, jumping round overturned tables, trying not to get in each other's way. You see more of the creature emerge from the mirror as more horrifyingly brutal looking legs step through. Black oily liquid is pouring out of it and sloshing on the floor, and it reacts as soon as you start running, bearing down on you. Its movements so far have been mostly slow and lumbering, but it quickly thrusts razor sharp limbs towards you with explosive force, smashing into the walls and ceiling as it moves, causing the room to begin crumbling around you, as these huge spear-like limbs are relentlessly getting thrown in your direction. I need everyone to make an action roll. As you run across this space, try to leap across the gaping chasm that cuts through the middle of the room, land safely on the other side of the floor, collapsing into a sinkhole and scramble into a crawl space at the exit as quickly as you can, all while dodging lethal attacks from a giant monster. It is a near impossible feat. But with frenzied monsters smashing through the hotel lobby behind you and this incomprehensibly large creature looming over you, you see no other options. This is as desperate an action as you could possibly imagine. And I think we'll do these roles one at a time. Em: I think it's only fitting that I would be helping Pen, as I am pulling slash pushing her across the gap, and we've had this conversation. So I will take a stress to do that, if Pen wishes. Si: And what skills are you all using for this? Sean: Danny’s using wreck. He's trying to put a fuckin’ crowbar through the ground and use it to pull his way up, and he is pushing himself like he's never pushed himself before. Amelia: Evlan is using prowl. They've always been pretty used to sneaking around and getting into weird crawl spaces, maneuvering, never when something is actively pursuing them, but I think given the recent changes that they've experienced, being able to deftly dodge, and sort of sense and be more aware of how this creature is moving, and adjusting accordingly. I think that's how they dart across without a conscious thought. Em: Luce would be using finesse. I think it takes finesse to both get myself across, and also get Pen across, or assisting Pen, and trying to keep us both unscathed. And I am also going to take two stress and push myself there as well. Gina: It doesn't really matter what Pen is using, because Pen has zero in prowess. But I will be pushing myself and taking two stress. Em: And aboveboard, you have one die from me, Gina: And one die from you. Em: And now one die from... Yeah, and one die, so that's two die, you get to roll at least. Gina: Two die, not at disadvantage anymore, right? Just- right, okay. I know how that works. I know how dice work. Si: Okay, in that case, let's resolve this. And let's do it in the order that I think we're trying to jump across the divide, which I understand to be Evlan, Danny, Pen, and then Luce. Amelia: Okay, I rolled a five and a four. Si: Okay. Okay, Danny? Sean: [dice rolling] One and a four. Si: Okay. Gina: [dice rolling] Five and a four. Si: This is good. Em: [dice rolling] Two and a two. Si: Evlan, as you enter the room, you don't hesitate. You charge forward, feeling that extra strength in your body. And you leap across this giant gap that has opened up in the middle of the room with ease. And you'd land on the other side, and as you do, this huge spear-like limb comes stabbing towards you, and you duck out of the way just at the last second. But another one comes sweeping across from your side, and it slams into your ribs, and sends you flying into the wall and you crash into the side of the room. You're feeling some bones crack inside your torso, some ribs breaking. You slam to the floor and begin sliding down the back of the room towards that crawl space. Danny, you are closely behind, and you heave yourself forward, feeling those old, feeling the strain in your old bones and muscles as you do, but the adrenaline sends you forward and you leap across the gap. And just as you are about to land, one of these legs smashes into you from below and sends you flying up into the air, and you crash into one of the chandeliers above, kind of spinning like a ragdoll and land back down on one of these overturned tables, where the broken frame digs into you, and you feel something break in your leg, as your shin and kneecap shatter on impact, and you also begin to slide down towards Evlan in the corner as this immense shadowy creature just looms above you. You can see the lightning crashing around you, the frenzy of its limbs moving. Pen, you have seen just ahead of you, Evlan and Danny make it to the other side, they get hit pretty hard, but they are scrambling forward kind of crawling to the end, and as you hear the words from your sister, she promises to follow you, turn back and sprint after them, putting all of the force you can into the leap across the chasm. And you'd land on the other side, and you see one of these tentacles come stabbing towards you, and you just throw yourself on the ground. But as you do, you land on some of the splintered wood from the platform up ahead, which slices through your arm along the bicep and digs into your side. And blood comes quickly, but there is no time to think about that as you try to get yourself to your feet. Run forward to the exit, and you immediately, as soon as you get to your feet, you turn to watch Luce run and make the jump. And Luce, seeing your sister land relatively safely on the other side and get to her feet and join the others as they try to get into this tunnel. You run forward after them. But as you see the darkness open up in the ground below, you pause for just a moment, distracted by the endless void below. It seems to widen and darken as you approach it somehow, but you know that can't be real. For a moment it looks too big to jump, but you know you have to. So you take a deep breath and begin to leap forward. But as you do you are suddenly hoisted into the air. And the first thing you feel is the back of your head slamming against the wall. Incredibly hard. The wooziness from the impact helps with the second thing. You look down to see one of these spear-like legs has stabbed straight through your stomach and pinned you to the wall high up near the ceiling. Blood pours from your mouth, and the world starts to swim. You can barely feel it. You know this room is an eruption of violent chaos, but all of that noise becomes soft and dull, and your eyes become fixed on the chandelier in front of you, as it swings back and forth. Spots of light start to appear in your vision, but everything else is getting darker. And your mind drifts into a dream, somewhere comfortable and safe. Where does Luce's mind go when she dreams? Em: Hmm… I think that there is always an alertness to Luce. She's never been a good sleeper, never a deep sleeper. And I think with the last bit of my consciousness before I give in to that feeling that's coming, I reach up with the hand that's still mine. I grab onto my dog tags and I yank them off my neck, and I throw them as hard as I can in the direction of where Evlan, Danny, and Pen, I know are going. And I really wish I would have kept that last cigarette. I think when I dream, Luce dreams about… She was about seventeen, I'd managed to save enough money to buy my first car. And I remember the feeling of driving down an open highway with the windows down, having my hand out of the window, music blaring really loud, and just feeling really free. I think Luce takes a lot of comfort that there was an open road ahead of them, and that finally she was in control of where she was going for once, and nobody could tell me otherwise. My hand moving up and down in the wind. A smile on my face. And feeling really proud of myself for getting out. Si: [Pen sobbing throughout] Pen, in the frenzy of movement, violence and destruction, you turn and watch as Luce is lifted off the ground and slammed into the wall, pinned to it, about twenty feet off the ground. You see her blood drip down the back of the wall, and you her head start to roll. There's a jerking movement as she throws the dog tag out, but she can barely look where she's throwing it, and that is the last movement you see before her body goes limp. It just hangs there. And with another violent thrust, this creature withdraws its leg, and Luce’s lifeless body falls unceremoniously to the ground with a thud, and just lies there. Gina: Pen screams. And I move, and I look at the chasm, and I think about jumping back over, I have to go get her. Is she moving at all? Si: No. Amelia (as Evlan): “Pen…” Gina (as Pen): “I can't leave her! I can't… I prom- I promised her!” Amelia (as Evlan): “I did too… Pen,” Amelia: And I'm, Evlan, just holds their hand out toward you. Pen. Amelia (as Evlan): “Pen…” Si: And the creature begins to turn in the direction of the three of you. Gina (as Pen): “I couldn't fix us, I couldn’t... I tried…” Amelia: I run toward where Pen is, and I am going to pick her up and run back toward the exit. Gina: I let you. I'm sobbing the entire time. Si: You get to this corner, and there is an opening but it is so small, you have to crawl through one at a time. Amelia: I think Evlan looks toward Danny as they approach with Pen, and kind of like, pointedly looks toward the exit as like, need to go first. Sean: Danny's always wished that he was a brave man, but he isn't. And he's gonna pull his mangled leg behind him as… He couldn't save her either. Amelia: As Evlan ushers you guys to line up for the crawl space, they are going to look back at Luce. Is there any chance they could get there and back at all? Is there any movement, any sign of life? Si: Well, those are two different questions. Amelia: Let's answer the second one first. Si: Luce isn't moving, and the injury to her torso is… Brutal, it is not a simple stab. This creature is... It fills the room. Its legs are like tree trunks, and it has gone right through her midsection. Evlan knows there are other forces at work here. There is some thing that keeps, something that can keep people alive, in some form, when they should be dead. But, you've never seen something as bad as this. So Evlan would not know. For all intents and purposes, Luce is dead. But Evlan in their new, evolved form, can get across the gap. Amelia: This is dumb. Luce is dead, and I think anything Evlan has seen would indicate that that is probably the best case scenario right now. But, they can't leave her behind again. Not alone, and… As far as Evlan is concerned, they died thirteen months ago. So, they're going to run and just grab her, if only to hold her one last time. Si: Do you try to recover Luce's body, or is Evlan not even thinking about that? Amelia: That's what Evlan wants to do. There's a lot of things that have to go right for that. Si: Yes. Well in that case, I think we need another action roll from Evlan. And I think I'll make very clear upfront, that where a four and a five counts as a partial success, for Evlan that means you can reach Luce. Amelia: Okay. The only physical thing I am good at is prowl. And I think now, with Danny making his way through the crawl space, Pen standing at the opening just sort of frozen, Luce, dead. This creature is not, it has one singular focus and that is whatever is moving in this room. And my goal, then, is to anticipate, to duck, to dodge, to climb. And to summon anything I have to get to the other side. I will be taking stress. Gina: Can I help, by the fact that Evlan still has my frog? Si: Yeah, Pen can help. You get a d6 from Pen, and Pen takes a stress. Amelia: [dice rolling] That is a two. A four. A five. And a six. Si: Against all odds, ducking and diving and weaving and climbing and jumping. To jump across, grab Luce and get to the exit of the room. You can recover Luce's body. Amelia (as Evlan): “Go now!” Gina (as Pen): “Okay, okay!” Gina: And I turned to go through the crawl space, and I pause just a second and I turned around and I put my hand on Luce's face. And then I go. Si: And Evlan, you have to push Luce's body inside this crawl space, inside this tunnel ahead of you. And just going to shove her forward to allow you to crawl in as well, as the chaos of the room behind you continues, noise erupting, the destruction of the walls and the ceiling as the creature turns and smashes into everything as it does, and the creatures at the hotel lobby burst through the door, and leap across the gap with ease, and their legs stab forward at you, trying to reach you, just as you get into the dark of the tunnel and crawl on your stomachs into this tiny claustrophobic space, leaving the horrifying screeches of the beast behind. It is so cramped you can barely turn your heads around to look behind you, even if you wanted to. And you realize a sea of vines twist and overlap beneath you like snakes, and there is a strange humming noise all around as you crawl, one by one, through this tiny space pushing past rubble and debris and where the building has collapsed above you, and you feel your clothes and skin rip and tear on sharp edges. There is no space to see anything. You just push forward, hoping for a way through and an exit. And there's just this little gap where the building above has crumbled and opened up enough for you to crawl into, and enough space to just sit up in. In the dark, in the quiet. And Evlan, you pull Luce’s his body into this little crater of rubble and debris, and prop her up. She's not breathing and her heart is not beating. Amelia: How does her arm look? Si: It looks the same. It looks as it was. Warped and… Monstrous. Gina: I think as you prop Luce's body up, I move in next to her, and just sort of curl in like we used to- like we used to lay when we were younger, and I rest my head on her shoulder, and I just cry. Amelia: I give Pen a beat, and I crouch down, put my hand on her shoulder. Amelia (as Evlan): “We have to keep moving.” Gina (as Pen): “No.” Amelia (as Evlan): “Pen.” Gina (as Pen): “I can’t, I can’t.” Amelia (as Evlan): “You have to get the dog tags back.” Gina (as Pen): “I can't leave, I can't…” Amelia (as Evlan): “Hey, when we get the lights on, we'll come back to her.” Gina (as Pen): “I don't want her to be alone again.” Amelia (as Evlan): “Pen, we can’t…” Amelia: I kind of look around. Is there any place out here that is like, less out in the open? Si: So the tunnel that you've crawled into, it's almost subterranean. You are underneath the road, or underneath the building. It is this kind of weird, almost like a ventilation shaft, but it is rubble and dirt and vines all around you leading in one direction. Amelia (as Evlan): “Pen, we cannot take her with us. We will turn on the lights. We will come back. And we will return the dog tags.” Gina (as Pen): “So what, we're just gonna leave her out here by herself?” Amelia (as Evlan): “She'll be okay.” Gina (as Pen): “No… You know that's not true.” Amelia (as Evlan): “Pen, these things, they're following us. They're not going to be interested in her. I can't leave you too.” Gina: I look up to Luce, where my head is still on her shoulder. Gina (as Pen): “I love you. And I'm so sorry. And I know you'd want me to be strong, so that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna come back for you, okay?” Gina: And I push myself up a little. Gina (as Pen): “We gotta go.” Amelia: I look at Luce's body. I just lean down really quick, and give her a kiss on the forehead. And I say, Amelia (as Evlan): “Sorry I wasn't there when it counted.” Amelia: And I'm going to like slip underneath her hand, just one last cigarette, and just whisper, Amelia (as Evlan): “Just in case.” Amelia: And I get up. And I put my hand out for Pen. Gina (as Pen): “Can I have my frog back?” Amelia (as Evlan): “Yeah, I'm giving you the frog back.” Gina: I take it. Then I hug it. And I place it under Luce's arm, for her to hold onto it for me until I come back. Gina (as Pen): “Best friends forever.” Gina: Then I take Evlan's hand, and stand up. Gina (as Pen): “Okay.” Gina: And I look to Danny. Gina (as Pen): “Park, right?” Sean (as Danny): “Park.” Em: Afterlight is performed by Amelia Som as Evlan, Em Carlson as Luce, Gina Susanna as Pen, Sean Depner as Danny, and Si Rutherford as our Game Master. Special thanks to our campaign artists. Hannah Harder, who did our cover design, and Lesly Oh, who did our character portraits. Editing, sound design and original music by Si Rutherford. For more stories, come follow us everywhere at @blackwaterdnd, and make sure you check out our Main Campaign on Monday nights at 8pm PST at twitch.tv/blackwaterdnd, as well as our library of campaigns on both youtube and your favourite podcast platform. This show is made possible by our sponsors, who really should have reminded us to bring a torch for this journey out into the endless dark. We are grateful to be sponsored by Evil Hat Productions, publishers of Blades in the Dark, along with other incredible titles such as Monster of the Week, Thirsty Sword Lesbians, Scum & Villainy, Girl by Moonlight, and so many more. With compelling mechanics, stunning art, and rich lore for whatever world you choose to bring towards the apocalypse, head on over to evilhat.com to shed some light on new games to bring to your table. This show is also sponsored by Bookwyrm Games, a Canadian tabletop company bringing you the finest in gaming essentials and accessories. Activate your senses with candles, tea, and coffee to help set the scene in your campaign, ensure your party is rolling with stellar dice at a custom table, or leave the adventure to them with their series of Quest Chests and Quest Coins. 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