The show you were about to listen to was originally a live stream actual play
on twitch dot tv slash onmade gaming horiz Minions and welcome to this unmade gaming
production. Join us on our adventures as we take a jump to the left,
a step to the right, and time work beyond the veil to find
out exactly what happens when you take the path less traveled in this original Tails
and the Loop actual play, a Dari Twilight age of always. Thank you
very much, my friends. It is so so so incredibly wonderful to be
back with this group at this table, in this channel, to do a
fantastic show in a fantastic setting. Again, bottom of my heart. I
love it, Love it, Love it. Friends. Let's go around and
talk to everybody. See what everybody's up to. They'll remind us of who
their characters are, who they'll be playing. We're using the Tales from the
Loop free league system. Let's know what their kit is, all that good
stuff, but more importantly, where you can find them and where you can
support them. Let's start with, gee, what did you want? What
was I supposed to say? Who are you? Who will you be playing?
Who your kit is or your character class is for Free League's Tales from
the Loop and of course where we can find you. Oh, okay,
hullou, I amg a friendly neighborhood of Lightning Evoker. Today I'm playing as
per usual, Scarlett Blake. She is the class jock, she is the
athlete, and you can find me anywhere on make gaming can be found lurking
in the background. Yes, fantastic, fantastic. And let's take those same
group of questions, put them on our backs and carry them over to the
next panel. Chris, all right, I'm Chris Akay Neckrect. You can
only find me in unmade gaming spaces nowhere else. I am currently playing Ricky
Lewis. Ricky is a jock, not thee jock, just a regular jock.
Yeah, that's Ricky. Fantastic, my friend. And finally, let's
pick up all these questions, throw them over on the sack on the shoulder
and carry him down to Melissa. Melissa, same questions. Hi, y'all,
I'm Melissa. I play Heather Jones, who is the group's wirdo.
You can find me in the same places that you can find G and Chris.
Fantastic, And I would like to also mention because it's been a couple
episodes that we do have a fourth member of the Keystones played by Bacon as
JD. Jesse Davis is the fourth member of this crew, and hopefully,
hopefully we will see his return sooner rather than later, my friends, and
he's always always missed. But beyond all that, my friends, before I
get into my little schpiel, we started this in the last couple episodes that
much like my my friend Trooper asks me a question whenever I'm playing at his
table, I'm going to ask you all question. But then I'm going to
do my shield so you can think about it. Because I'm like Trooper,
I'm nice enough to give you time to respond and formulate something. So the
question that I'm going to ask all of you right now is twofold. It's
a question for both your character and for you so the but it's a very
similar question. And so I'm going to ask you in this moment, this
moment, right now, for your character, do you think, as your
character as Scarlet, as Ricky, as Heather, are they going home?
And then as you all the players of all those aforementioned characters, do you
think your character is going home? And do you agree with the character?
Think about it. I'll be back in a second, my friends. I'm
to return to the eighties slash nineties that never were. Time to return to
Atari Twilight and the stories that have unfolded over many, many years, my
friends, and I cannot tell you how happy I am to be back among
the pages of these tales. So let us begin where we left. The
Age of Always is growing. It lives, it breathes, and now it
hungers. War has come to the Age of Always, its beauty turned to
violence. It's people conscripted into a battle eternal, a conflict with no beginning
and no ending, never ending in point of fact, On one side of
the line, Heather, Scarlet, Ricky and the Wizard Mitch stand surrounded by
the Witch's Three and their fateful companions Van Halen, the Lion and Randall Flagg.
But on the other side an army of black clad, mirrored helmeted soldiers
commanded by faces from their hometown, faces like George Butts and Jerry Baker,
Shann and Locke, just to name but a few. And at the the
army's head, the fourth member of the Keystones, Jesse JD. Davis,
sits as general of the Army of the False. The armies have joined death
stalks the field as robotic titans command disguise. The Age of Always can save
these souls or savage them? That is the cost of war in this place.
Sometimes life needs war. Sometimes the only way to survive is to fight,
is to die. For Victory comes when ideals survive and the future holds
fast to the sacrifice of the past. But inside this moment of mania,
this the simplest reason fuels the fight. Differing ideals have led to arguments.
Arguments have led to lines being drawn. Wars begin with lines being drawn,
and if you are not very careful, you will find yourselves on the opposite
sides, staring at those you used to love and perhaps still do. Before
you stands the line, But are you on the right side? Welcome again,
one and all, to Atari Twilight, The Age of Always, Episode
eight. Something good, Wait, something wicked? My friends, as we
go around, and I asked the question before, so now I want to
answer from each and every one of you, and we're going backwards. Melissa.
I think that Heather has finally found a place where she belongs, and
that makes sense. I think, given you know how much she's lived in
stories all her life to live in a land like the Age of Always,
where you know, stories come to the forefront. And I think that she
would prefer to stay in the Age of Always. But there's one thing that
would take her back to the other world, and that's her friends. And
so if that's what her friends need to do, and if she would be
of service to them in that way, she would she would absolutely follow them.
What do I think. I think that Heather can find a way to
belong, whether it's in Garrett or it's in the Age of Always, and
I think she will find, you know, she will become her wonderful adult
self either way. And yeah, that's it. I usually don't ask a
follow up question, but I really had to because you said something that pinged
for me. You said she can find a way to get along. That
doesn't sound like happiness though it sounds like settling. Is that the way you
see it? Or I don't think that we've given her Heather a backstory in
Garrett that's particularly happy, and I think there's like a lot of a lot
of baggage associated with that. And I, you know, the only people
that she really cares about at this point or who have ever cared for her?
Are the Keystones? So yeah, I mean well, and then in
the Age of Always, she has Lyon and I don't know how Lion would
fare and Garret, So yeah, I think it would be a little bit
more of a challenge, but sometimes challenges make a person too right. Fantastic,
great, great, all right, we'll take our questions or the question
up to Chris. Chris, I think my answer goes back quite a way.
Ricky was never going home once, even in the first few episodes.
He found a place that he loved, a place that he wanted to stay,
and the fact that his parents are now there as well, Key's not
going home unless he has to. And my thought on it, yeah,
it fits with Ricky. There's a lot more to be done in the Age
of Always. There's a lot of problems, there's a lot to solve.
Fits for Ricky. No follow up question. Last but not least Gee,
Yeah, I mentioned this in the after show for our last episode. Scarlett
always thought she was going home because that's what Randall promised them, and it
wasn't until they were standing on that platform and then she saw the army of
the false laid out before lead out before them in front of the Emerald City,
and then she saw who was making up that army, and then she
knew in that moment that she was never going home. And for me,
I agree with her. Yeah, did you share the same Did you always
think she was going home? Much like Scarlett always thought she was going home?
Did you change at the same time or same moment that Scarlett did?
Your opinion? Hmm? I yes, I think I think my opinion changed
as soon as hers did. I personally didn't know what was going to happen,
but she believed Randall that they were going to be going home at some
point. So okay, alrighty, So, my friends, as we dive
back into the Age of Always, and specifically this one point along Eternity Road,
Emerald City, where the Emerald City, not of the movie version of
Emerald spires and everything green. This is a a city dominated by the color,
but it is not ruled by it. Other colors exist here, as
do other people other preferences. Because a war is being waged here among the
streets and just outside of this vast capital of the Age of Always, and
in this moment of joined destruction, in this moment of absolute anarchy. We
find our players, and in the current state Scarlet, both versions by upon
the cobblestones of Emerald City. One and older version of Scarlet, seemingly weather
worn and tail tested, with an eye patch over her eye, and dressed
in the rig and meaner and bent of a gunslinger. But that gunslinger,
too lies on the cobbles as Scarlet, the heroine that we know, the
teenager, also lies wounded and unconscious. Ricky, his father, now much
older, a citizen of the Age of Always, watches this situation play out.
His white hat a beacon of many things in this situation, what it
will ultimately signal to the others remains unknown. And just further up the street,
towards the spires that indicate the loop or the building, the Sancta Sanctorum
of Emerald City, Heather speaks with van Halen. But van Halen, the
one that we knew, the one that had her brain addled up, forgotten
many points of her mission, many faces of her past, seems to have
remembered. And now with those eyes turned toward Heather, we begin our tail
buckle up. Everybody the tari Twilight Age of Always, Episode eight something good,
something wicked behind her. A great chunk of the Emerald Loop crashes to
the ground, struck by the final boulder of George Butts and Jerry Baker.
A crack in the fortress, a crack that freed the memory of one of
the greatest fay to have ever been sung into existence. Van Halen, the
Sword Princess Ilaria, daughter of the Lilac Prince, and she who sits the
Mobius throne, the Queen of the Age of Always, the mother of heroes.
Her daughter sits staring at her sister. But just moments before, moments
before, a shot took a gunslinger or two from the space. Something enters
Heather's mind. A voice familiar, yet more weathered g yeah. In her
mind, Heather hears, I'm sorry, Heather, I can't come with you
this time. There's something here I need to do. And she feels an
impression of a kiss on her cheek. So Heather heard van Halen first,
and then her scarlet. Honestly, would have probably happened the other way.
She would have heard Scarlet just a beat or two before van Halen's hand kind
of rested on her shoulder. Okay, so she hears Scarlet. Then a
beat, then Van Halen's hand on her shoulder. Correct, Yes, I
think Heather's had all this energy to move forward, you know, all this
motivation pushing forward, and she has been stubbornly I think, consistent that this
was the right thing to do. And I think the voice of Scarlet shatters
that. And you know, all she says is what And then she has
the hand of VH on her shoulder, and then VH says, when VH
turns you around, her first comment to you, the first thing that she
says, I remember, I remember all of it. I remember the face
of our mother. And as she hits you with that, and again,
Melissa, Vh's entire countenance has changed. She seems to stand straight or she
her eyes are clear. They are unburdened by kind of an unknown worry.
She knows what to worry about now, if that makes sense. These eyes
are free of that indecision. They are focused on you, and they seem
to they seem to be very, very determined. And when she kind of
you kind of come out of this and when she says this, and you're
kind of ringing with what Scarlet is said in your excuse me, what Scarlett
is set in your head and what VH has just said to you. She
reaches out and again with the hand kind of still on your shoulder that you
pivoted around. She kind of now is holding you from the front of the
shoulder. She reaches up and forcefully grabs your other shoulder. And VH is
a being of far greater physical strength than what she appears. She appears as
a human, but she possesses the strength perhaps tenfold of a human, and
so you can feel that strength directed into your shoulders as she kind of orients
your gaze directly into her own, and she says the following, this is
not your fight, not a cost worth our lives. Your world needs you.
The veil is down, but your world is not in phase. Still
like seed pedals on the wind. I can get us back back. Okay,
get everyone, This is over. It's flag was wrong. It's okay,
So you want me to go get everyone? She turns now at this
point as VH breaks for the first time her gaze to you all or to
you Heather. She looks back in the direction of the south, the southerly
direction along the same road, this main street where Ricky you were, and
your dad was, as you all are there. We have both of the
scarlets down. Flag is trying to help, but Flag, remember, is
still wounded from his experiences prior to the arrival at Emerald City. Lyon,
of course, is running along with Heather. So all of this you know,
any of the friends that you need. The Witches three are not present.
They seem to be engaged in manners of war. The Wizard, Mitch
and Wendy are somewhere up Wendy having taken him in a fit of fury and
launched into the air. You no longer can see them through all of the
things that are flying up there, all of the bogies, all of the
good end air quote bad enemies and armies. Ricky, what are you doing
right now? As you seem to be the only upright member of the Keystones
in this particular area. So Ricky, from my memory, correct me if
I'm wrong. Here he has Boubo in his arms, his dad's with him,
and he has received the crystal from Boubo. He turns towards the north,
sees Gunslinger shot scarlet down with Roland, and he looks back to where
JD is on the platform, and JD had said to Boobo, not now,
and he just turns and he puts his arms out and he shrugs to
JD and I hope I'm doing it right as loud as he can. He
turns and runs back towards Scart. Let's roll and investigate before you turn away.
And let's see he would wait to beat before just turning and running.
Sure, sure, yeah, roll me and investigate. Let's see. I'm
going to give you a bonus on this, so reroll. Give me a
bonus of two, just because of the ability to see. And you have
a specific target you're looking at, and again you've got augmented site because of
the age of always so, but there's still a lot of things in between
you, and there no successes. JD does something. You see JD start
to move in kind of like a reciprocation of your move. But just as
he does so, a large metallic form flies by and the fog of war
obscures the area. Before this, whatever this communication could be, is conveyed.
Right, Yeah, Ricky will like a ball, tuck Bobo up against
his against himself, and he runs towards Scarlet on the ground. You quickly
get there Scarlet where she was hit and thrown into the wall, is still
out and again you run past a fallen scarlet to get to this more familiar
scarlet. What would you like to do my friend? As he's passing,
so both scarlets are on the ground. Yeah, oh, okay. As
he passes Gunsinger Scarlet, he would turn to his dad because he's going to
reck. Does he recognized him? Obviously he saw in the last episode.
He would say to his dad, carry her. We can't leave her here,
and he's going to run to young Scarlet to pick her up and start
moving northwards with her. Mister Lewis, who has never shied away from any
hard labor ever ever in his life, is also twenty years older than you
remember him, but even at sixty something or other, he kneels down.
You hear two loud pops coming from his knees since he seldom bends them,
and as he scoops up Gunslinger Scarlet, you see him stop and he looks
up at you. I there is a bullet hole between the eyes of the
Gunslinger Scarlet. That's not good, Greg, It's a really bad place to
have a bullet hole. I've heard CPR mouth to mouth. Okay, does
do either of the scarlets have their rigs on them? You now correct me.
This is a ge. I'm gonna need you to step in here.
It would appear that the scarlet you know, does not have a rig on.
Correct, because it's something that you all can kind of manifest your individual
weapons of legend whenever you need them, and currently they are not visible on
scarlet. However, you do see that there's a gun rig on gunslinger scarlet.
In fact, one of them is still clenched tightly in her right hand.
He looks to his dad then and says, the guns of scarlet,
bring them, and he picks up scarlet and starts to move northwards with them.
You see your father, you know what. Ricky runs off, But
everybody, audience, you can stick around here for a second. As mister
Lewis leans down and he sees that there's still one gun in the two twin
gun rig that's in the left hand holster of this twin rig set, he
takes off the leather work and unclips the large buckle of the secondary kind of
gun belt and slowly kind of pulls it out from underneath her, and he
goes to get the gun from her right hand, and he stops and he
just takes the arm and places it with the gun over her heart, and
he slowly closes her eyes meminjures God speed, Scarlet, and he gets up
and he takes the one gun that was left in the rig and begins making
his way after his son. Ricky, you quickly kind of scoop up,
and we're going to say, you know, a minute or two passes,
but this is a minute where you can actually see Heather and VH up ahead
as you and the rest of the group, including Flag, are able to
move. Flag actually waits for mister Lewis, and together the older men kind
of move behind the rapidly the younger man and Ricky. As Ricky runs ahead,
you're all quickly together, and VH turns to you and well, Scarlet,
you're not awake, but Ricky, you recognize there is a very distinct
difference in Van Halen. Her eyes again seemed crystal clear. She seems sure
of herself. Gone is in many ways the indecision and the fear that had
been kind of plaguing her since the age of always. But you are all
together quickly, and as soon as you get there, VH without releasing.
Heather turns towards Ricky, especially as you get going, get everybody together,
Ricky, I'm going to get you home. This was wrong, and she
looks back at flag. This was a poor decision. My home's here,
it's just off the road. She looks irritated. It's trying to keep you
here, Ricky. It brought your family here. It wants you all to
stay. Just at that moment, in the air above you see Dorothy went
by on a broom, followed by several other unknown bogies in the air,
and without looking VH points up at her. She stayed, Alice stayed,
Wendy stayed. They were all from your world. It's robbing your world of
its defenders. Do you understand? But my mom's not in the city.
We can fix it. We can go back. I can do what he
said he was going to do. This isn't your fight, this isn't your
tail. What do you want us to do? Back in Garrett, she
looks, be children, Be children for as long as you have left.
No, no, I know, no, I'm not going to go back
the age. How does that fix anything? And he looks down to Scarlet.
How does that fix her? You don't understand what is happening here.
Oh well, then explain it. The age of Always, it lives,
it breathes, will savage your soul. It wants you to stay. The
longer that you're here, the longer that all of your heroes are here.
Your world is ripe, the bill is gone, it's alone. I don't
understand, VH. I don't know what you mean by the age of always
ravaging the soul. But don't she think that it's good for the soul to
make a difference. Don't you think it's good for the soul to be somebody?
That's not what you're asking us to do. And Garrett, you're asking
us to step aside and be nothing and do nothing. I think that's way
worse for the soul. She turns on you, Heather, and she roars.
As she was kind of looking at Ricky and directing that last comment.
She turns back, and it's the angriest you've ever seen, VH. As
she rages into your face. You are not You are special weather. You
must be kept safe. Your friends can do nothing here except die, But
then we would die doing what we think is right. What do you think
is right? You don't know what's going on back down, Well, then
tell us m no, I'm going to show you. And she reaches up
and you hear the first kind of synth drawn chord of when Doves Cry and
you all disappear, everybody. If you go to your Spotify playlist, if
you could do me a big favor, I'd like you to go to number
five on the Spotify playlist. It's a little song called Crazy by a awesome
performer known as Seal My Friends. You stand outside the Trade Winds trailer Park.
Snow is on the ground, ruts carved into the county line as vehicles
have dared what looks to be at least eight to ten inches of this fine
white, crystal clear Western Maryland powder. It's cold, Ricky. You'd probably
estimate from your time on the farm and having to work in such conditions.
It's probably around high teens, low twenties, but when the wind blows,
it speaks of much colder and lower temperatures. You are back in Garrett,
at least it looks like Garrett, but you are not cold, and your
feet do not leave prints in this powder scarlet. You are awake. The
last thing you remember being thrown from the platform. The three of you are
here. There is no JD, no Mitch, no Lion, no flag,
and no van Halen. What do you do? Does Ricky still have
the crystal on him? Rick No? Garlette touches the back of her head
where her wound was dantom pain. There's no blood, it's not sore,
but your mind tells you it should be. Well. She just turns and
looks at the two of them like shocked. There's a little shocked herself.
She's uh still taken aback by everything that has happened so rapidly. But she
sees Scarlet turn to her, and then she just wraps her up in a
big pug Scarlet. Are you okay? Yeah? I think she She hesitates
like sorry, not hesitates like. Heather hugs her, and she doesn't hug
her back at first because she's literally my face. And then she will slowly
put her arms around Heather and hug her back tightly. What happened? Where
are we? Withdrawals and like looks at Ricky. There there was a fight
and and van Halen turned into kind of a bitch and then she poofed us
here and she looks at Ricky without JD where's everybody else? She said,
we had to be here, and she's I don't know, and Boobo's not
there. I take it. Sorry, please, I'm just gonna say,
you are just kids. There are no weapons of legend to be summoned.
How evident? Is it great that we're not leaving footprints? Especially for Ricky?
Anybody would come up with this, but I always kind of default to
Ricky when it comes to like the elements of nature and stuff, because Ricky
is kind of so kind of folded into that world. So it just takes
moments when you realize that, like when you move or shuffle your feet,
you're not disturbing the snow. It looks like you're standing from the snow right
right, It looks like you're standing in the snow. You're like standing on
top of it, like legoless or anything like that. But you know you're
you're down where you would be if you were walking through it. But you're
dressed exactly the way that you were when you went to the Age of Always,
not any alterations that you made while in the Age of Always, Ricky,
I think that's my next question. Go ahead by Ricky being quiet for
a couple of seconds, looks and goes, I don't think we're rarely here,
and he steps back a few paces and points to the floor. We're
making no making no difference to where we are. The age did say we
needed to see something. I don't know if she's actually sent us back.
Oh, how did she do that? I don't know. She's a she's
a little different now, she like I told you, she's there's something different
about her. I she remembered, she she got her memories back, and
I think she's a little bit more than what we thought she was. Heather
reaches up and grabs her glasses and tucks them into her pocket. Well,
let's let's see what we need to see, Heather. When you tuck away
your glasses, you realize you're having difficulty seeing. She takes them back out
and she wipes the lenses, and her fingers are shaking as she puts them
back on. Well, let's let's go. Let's let's see her face in
this if it can become so, is even more pale now and withdrawn,
everybody roll me and investigate as you stand along this road just outside Garrett proper
at least as you remember it, do I still have my conditions. I'm
sorry. You all have everything back, luck, pride, no conditions.
You are reset well. I still don't one success, one for Ricky,
one for me. Okay, So Scarlet and Ricky, all of them basically
at the same time. Standing along this road, you would all know that
this is the road that you've traveled several times. This is the road that
if you continue along, it will eventually take you right up, you know,
right through the front yard or front area of Ricky's farm. It's about
almost what do we say, two miles out, Chris, I believe it's
two miles outside of the city. You see a sign that says Alta recruitment
facility ahead on right, two miles two points. That's new Alto. They
were the ones who bought your farm, Ricky. Was it Alta, Greg
You were assuming it was the Loop? That was what your father was told
anywhere? Uh? Loop? She think that's good. I was just gonna
say. She looks to the north where the loop should be. Even from
this distance, even with the snow falling, there should at least be shadows
against the skyline of the Great Stack to dominate the area. The Great Loop
stacks that appear of those there are none. Well that's the that's the sign
for me. I mean, that's news. So maybe that's what we need
to go see. How do we know this is al Garrett other than VH
told us? Does it matter? She wants us to see something. So
let's see it and then we can go back, and then we can tell
her what we're going to do. How are we going to go back?
She's going to bring us back, I'm sure. She looks at Ricky.
You know how to travel the road? Can you? Can you get there?
Uh? This road? Roll me a D twelve chris an eighth,
Greg, you are the master of the road. If you can find it,
you can get to any point that it touches. But you have to
find it. He looks to scoll it then and says, if we can
find the road, show, but we need to know where it is.
We're not. I don't think we're in Garrett, I don't. But I
think it's just like we're in a dream. I don't know. This feels
pretty real. And she she looks again to the north. The loops is
gone, just like Randall said, or not? Yeah Randall, just what
Randall said. I'll look at your feet. Oh, but at You're right,
Heather, let's go look at this place. No, it can be
done, she writes with her hand to Heather, doether will take her hand
and look at Ricky. All right, let's go. As the three of
you turn, presumably towards the direction of Garrett, you take a few pseudo
steps. You're traveling the same distance. It's not like you're on You know
each step is fifty or anything like that. You know your traveling speed is
still your traveling speed. You're just not encumbered or hindered by the snow on
the ground as anybody else would be. But as you take a few steps,
you see as if somebody has drawn in the snow of it, kind
of blowing across and not obscuring the letters, but kind of broadening them in
places. It's written in almost a calligraphy, a very pronounced stylized handwriting,
and it says find the darkness, see for yourself. Okay, so I
guess she left us a note. Do what's her deal? Why is she
gone all bitchy like you said? That's not like her, you think,
because she got her memories back. Now this is what the real her she
said. This isn't our fight. Well, that isn't our fight, and
we need to come home, come home and be children. H I think
she just she shakes her head and just keeps walking. As you're all walking,
roll me a empathize who for Scarlet, two for Heather, damn none
for Ricky. All right, well right over his head, right, fuck
you, Ricky. Scarlet and Scarlet and Heather. As you all were walking,
and I'm going to do this just because I'm a prick, Scarlet,
you know, kind of thinking about that, that what you saw in the
snow there, you know, find the darkness, see for yourself. It
kind of plays over in your mind as you're sitting there, walking with each
step trying to you know, it's it's the one thing that you've seen here.
It seems to speak of it being directed towards you, for you,
So it's a touchstone in many ways. As you think about that, you
get the opposite sensation though, of what this statement means, find the darkness,
see for yourself, And as you are looking, you get the opposite
feeling. You see you feel good, you feel calm, and it seems
to be coming from the north Heather. As you two are thinking about this
statement and thinking about, you know, find the darkness, see for yourself.
It is in that introspection that you begin to feel dread. You begin
to feel a malevolence, but you don't know where it is. It seems
to be all around and for the first time, even in this kind of
blizzard conditions, even at the snow dropping with flakes the size of you know,
tea saucers in some cases, just massive Western Maryland mountain flakes. As
you look around, you realize, is it evening? Why is it so
dark? And then Garrett is upon you. What do you do, my
friends? Is you see the buildings that you understand, the school, the
mall, You see them all there, covered and blanketed in the snow.
They have the same shapes, the same sizes, the same streets, but
they're you know, finer details are covered in the snow. Obviously, no
cars are driving, no people walking. But is there signs of life?
There's absolutely evidence of life. And you see that, you know, chimneys
are blowing smoke out of them. You know, way in the distance,
you see kind of like a road crew in a bright yellow like big dump
truck with a plow in the front of it. Way in the distance,
like over to where the chat and chew would be. How closer you are
to the paperback exchange about a five ten minute walk. Heather has withdrawn her
hand and as her arms wrapped around herself and has pulled her hood up.
There's something terrible here, guys, you need to listen to me. There's
something really bad. No, no, I feel this too. Or no,
you feel the exact opposite, Scarlet. You feel a strength, almost
a point of purpose, a guidance, a support. You don't feel anything
negative. It's not a homecoming feeling, you know, after a long time
of being homesick. It is a much different one, a feeling of unconditional
support. If we're supposed to look for the darkness, I don't, I
think we've already found it. It's here, It's everywhere. I don't doesn't
feel bad to me, she and she'll she looks around like she kind of
like spins in a circle, like a slow circle, taking it in.
I honestly didn't think I would ever get home. I mean, what time
is it? It's why is it so dark? Ricky and Scarlett, that's
the first time you notice it. It almost looks like it's early evening.
Well, sun sets around what four thirty at this time? Terrible things crawl
crawl around in the shadow of scarlet. Do you see the darkness from anywhere
all the Do you get this feeling from anywhere in particular, Heather, any
directions? It's everywhere, right, Greg, is that what you're saying?
It feels like a blankets. Know what you're feeling. It's here, it's
everywhere. I don't feel it. Let's stay close. She's gonna look to
Ricky because way back and uh twist of fate, Ricky described seeing the shadows
and things in the shadows. She and she will. Do you think it's
like what you saw before? Remember you told us you saw you were seeing
things in the shadows. Ricky looks underneath into dark spaces like in alleyways,
under cause he sees nothing. Greg, you can assume, sure, roll
me investigate, just to be sure. Last time failing those was bad.
No success is good news. You don't see any eyes looking at you from
any of the shadowy spaces that you look into. It's certainly clear, surely
looks clear, looks good. Everybody? Are you glad that's over? Ricky
looks back to Scotlands. I don't see anything, Heather, anything under the
cause, anything in the alleys. Like last time, I was seeing eyes,
seeing things watching me, those gremlin galiars things, and I try not
to look at the dark thing. Tricky. We're with you, not alone,
Scarlet. Maybe you're right. Maybe it's the paperbacks exchange. That's where
it was always the worst, you know, with a clown and blood.
And I don't know because that's where Makey is. Maybe she's there. The
message from VH was to find the darkness, and it looks like you found
it. I think we need to find it now as well. And he
looks to Scarlet. So what's your darkest place? School? Cool? I
guess how about an investigate role from Scarlet and Heather, please please Jesus.
Zero successes for Heather. Wel that's two from Scarlet. Huh, bank one
of those for me? You only need one success. So if I ask
you for an investigate, remember you already have one success banked. No as
you are, I'm assuming continuing to kind of walk or at least, you
know, move a little bit towards Garrett proper. Scarlet, you're the first
one to see it heading north, and it's only a few before. It
looks like the snow obscures the rest, but you can still see kind of
like ruts in it in dentations of these tracks that lead to the north,
the first such tracks that you've seen. But these are huge, maybe about
this big, the size of a dinner plate, and they are padded like
those of a wolf. Yeah, that's g saying that she will point them
out. You all can see them. Ricky instinctively goes for his bow and
then realizes it's not there. It is not there. The bow of Locksley
does not appear. Well, we're definitely less prepared for that this time,
and they're heading north, directly into the city. Main Street is the mark
Mark Mark. She doesn't say anything. She just she looks at Ricky because
Ricky got the closest to it, I think other than j D. And
she just has like fear in her face. Did we kill it? Ricky
shakes his head. Well, sure looked like you did. There was blood
and it disappeared. It wasn't there when I went outside. We should agree,
there's nothing darker than this. Right, Scarlett reaches for her guns.
They are not there, but for a moment you can feel them. It's
almost like your hands stops on the hilt and then that mass disappears and your
fingers touch your palm. Think this, we should hurry, and she makes
to start running. Hey, my friends, books on an album for Heather.
Sorry to interrupt. If you have a Spotify playlist up. I would
now say it would be a really good time to go down to Lucky number
thirteen and play Jen Grant's version of I of the Tiger for me. Please.
Heather grabs your key's arm alone. I guess as you all begin to
walk into Garrett proper again, everything's covered in snow so and it's that lovely
blizzard conditions that you are all very familiar with in western Maryland, where not
only are the kind of you know, the roofs and the flat surfaces covered
with snow, but it's even blown against the sides of buildings, you know,
kind of flocking everything in the immediate area. But when you walk in,
you see several things and I'm not going to make your roll an investigation
for this or burn a banked one in with G's. This is Garrett.
The pings is closed, Scarlet, your mom's stor is closed. The sign
is down, the windows soaked, even under a blanket of pure white.
Garrett looks dirty, abandoned, but it's not. It has life. There's
a right aid where things used to be. There's lights on inside. There's
also a clock that's flashing in the window of the right aid. Eleven twenty
three. The date not that great a clock, just the time. Would
you like to find out the date? Yeah, maybe we can we is
there like a newspaper stand or something, or maybe we can go into the
right aid? I'm good. What's good? Sure? If you want to
attempt to go into the right head, let me know. There is a
newspaper stand that you just have to knock the snow off, presumably to she
will run to that. When you go to knock the snow off the front
where you kind of open it to retrieve a paper, you brush your hand
and nothing happens. Snow remains kind of fixed to the front of it,
and as you really grub it, whether it's the wind or you, it
slowly peels off the flakes and powder of snow and it says January twenty third,
nineteen ninety eight. Fuck see what'll point it out? And like shock
on her face, Oh my god, Well, we're not here. Let's
just go see. Let's follow the let's follow the prims so we can go
back, right, Ricky, yeah, h just thinered dust to see.
So let's see. You are walking north still along Main Street, so many
familiar moments. There's the high school, and there's the way into the mall
off to your left. And just as you kind of see the hill upon
which the school sits, and then the opposite hill upon where Maplehurst Mall sits,
you see the small strip mall at the base of the hill. All
the stores are closed, beauty salon, the pet store, save one,
the paperback exchange. A young man is out front, shoveling snow. No
role required. This man is Rob. Does he still look like the robst
the age that we remember up He is in his late twenties. I think,
not breaking any of the snow. You begin your light towards him.
Ricky, Heather, what are you guys doing? Ricky is just sticking with
Heather. So whatever wants to go, Ricky will go at that pace.
He's not leaving outside. Heather's gonna follow Scarlett, but with hesitancy a lot
a lot slower. She's not rushing towards forwards. So Scarlett you get there
first, and you see Rob. He has a hooded kind of parka on
with his face exposed. It's still young enough that you're able to, you
know, pinpoint his identity without too much. And as Robot is sitting there
and shoveling snow, you can hear him humming to himself. As you get
closer, you know he seems abba very pleasant manner about him. But he
does not recognize you. He does not notice you, He does not react
to your approach, does see you. She runs Rob and she will like
skid to a stop in front of him. Rob. He doesn't pass through
you, but as soon as you get in front of him, it's almost
as if he goes to shovel right where you're standing and stops for a minute
and then turns around and shovels just to your right. And he's just humming
to himself. And you see him look in the window of the paperback exchange
and wave and he starts shoveling more. Who does he wave? Then?
Do you want to look in? Yeah, you see a figure in a
chair looking out the big window. But with the snow on there, it's
tough to make out exactly who it is. She'll goes to the window and
scrape it if she needs to. You see that there is a chair there,
but again when you go to scrape it, it's like it's not working.
And as soon as you kind of really furiously do it, she's like
a little stupid. Just a bit of it comes off. And when you
look in you see kind of a profile of an older Maggie sitting in a
chair looking out the window. It's Maggie, she and she'll turn towards Heather
and Ricky. It's Maggie. She's in here. You all get there and
hear that, but Rob does not react to you. And for a moment
you see him look around over each of his shoulders and he pulls the shovel
up like a microphone to his lips and he taps it. Garrett, it's
his thing on Garrett speaking from the paperback exchange. I'm here to report on
the weather, and the weather seems to be shitty. Yeah, back to
shopling and he would you all like to go in. We should go in.
If anybody can talk to us and tell us what's happening, it would
be Miss Maggie. She's gonna go to the door and like, reef the
door open. Your hand passes through the handle. No oh, and she's
scratched, like trying to grab it. You can't. For a moment,
it catches and does that thing where it kind of comes about a quarter of
an inch off of the frame and then closes again. But you can't get
any real purchase to pull it open. If any of you try, you
experience the same thing and you just walk through. He'll try, She'll try,
shoulder, I get you're inside the paperback exchange. Seriously, yah,
you like stumbles in? Are all of you going in? Ricky will hauld
outside for a beat. If Heather goes ahead of him, and he's just
gonna look at the direction that the pole prints went and just in any alleyways
just to see for any signs of the camak and if he sees anything,
roll me and investigate. Investigates. Seems to be the theme. Let's go
rickytation. Those successes, you of course may reroll. You can use your
pride, you got luck in there, whatever you'd like to do. My
friend, I forgot to mention that on one of the earlier fails. Yeah,
let's use luck. Let's reroll that quick one second. But I like
your idea of using luck here and again, just ignore that. Ignore that
for a second because I interrupted you and that kind of stole the mot Joe.
Here's what I'll do, and we can again. I'll even give you
another role for the luck. Okay, take that one away. That that
role is gone. You can have another role for the luck, or or
you can keep your luck and I will give you a positive result of the
investigation. But that gives me something in the future. That's too tempting.
Greg, of course, let's do that. I love you. I love
you because that is the exact type of player that I am blessed to have
in this game. Sure, fuck it, it sounds awful. Let's do
it. That's the worst that can happen, right, you know, hurt
me. I love it now, that's my favorite. All right. So
as you turn and look kind of following, and again, the the the
tracks are not constant. They are you can see them, and you can
see where the snow was broken. But then again you have like a very
distinct kind of print and then just barely noticeable ruts, but you can kind
of follow it in the general direction. Now that you know what you're looking
for, and you see it kind of continuing north and again you don't see
it go any different direction. It doesn't turn to the right or the left
or break off from this main kind of northerly path. And when you are
looking there and just making sure nothing's looking back, checking all the shadows,
looking for those eyes. Now that you're kind of brought that back, you
know that was brought back up to you as a potential thing. You don't
see anything in your confidence that the gomork if this is in fact the Gomrque
is not watching you. And these tracks continue away from this position. But
what you don't notice is until you begin to turn. As you're looking there
independent in that direction, Rob moves up beside you, unaware of your presence,
and he pulls the shovel back up until the handle is by his mouth.
What are you doing? And he is looking in the same direction as
the tracks. A question on the tracks, Greg saying that I should have
asked earlier. Does it look like this thing is just casually walking by?
How the print is or is it slip back as if it's running. I'm
gonna give this one to you for free. Just because, again Ricky's backstory
is so dominated by the outdoors. It looks just like a normal gait.
You don't see any type of you know, when you looked at the pads,
you didn't see that it was running in a way that the weight distribution
would be, you know, that of a run or a fast walk or
anything like that. It just seems like it's, you know, you're not
sure what the average traveling speed is of a creature that would matt to this
pawprint. But he doesn't look like it's running as far as the broken snow
appears. Okay, it's almost like it's a proud it's a ordinary walk.
Okay, sure, yeah. As Rob says that next to him, Ricky
to shake senses. That's what I want to know. He looks at Rob.
Rob says me too, and gets back to shovel. Ricky smiles and
walks into the paperback exchange for our two that walked in first, starting with
Scarlet and then a moment later with Heather. If you could, why don't
we step up and go to the playlist and go to number twelve, the
sleeping at last version of every little thing she does is magic? He as
soon as she stumbles through the wall, she looks Maggie, Maggie, and
she will run to Maggie frantic. You're able to quickly get over to her.
And you see that inside the paperback exchange, where it's warm, and
it still smells of newsprint and comic books and old paperbacks that line the walls,
and it doesn't seem the only thing in Garrett that seems to have remained
timeless. It is not worn down. It is still as vibrant as you
remember it. It's still as whole as you remember it. But Maggie,
isn't you see that the chair upon which she sits is wheeled. She's under
a blanket of beautiful woven fibers, surrounded by her beloved hanging crystals. The
corner of her mouth droops, as does the left side of her face.
A small circle of drools stains her blanket beneath her chin. She stares blankly
ahead Maggie. She will take her hand if she can, and give it
a pat. Maggie, roll me an empathize, can you hear me?
One success? When Scarlet grabs the hand of Maggie Heather, you see just
slightly the right eyebrow of Maggie lift. We're here. So O. The
heather came through some some beats after Scarlet. She uh, she had her
step through with her hands over her eyes and takes a moment when she's in
the room to like drop her hands. And then as she looks up and
see Scarlet with Maggie, I think she just she sees the eyebrow raised,
but she's uh, she's staying back. She's hanging back. Hear me,
Ricky, you come inside, you see the same thing. Maggie begins to
breathe deeper, talking to her Scarlet. I'm sorry. A tear rolls from
her left eye. I think she takes her cloth and she will dab it
away. Have the role me a D twelve. This doesn't work very well
for me, Greg. We will this time. Uh. Yep. You
may push or use luck or your pride type of you don't have to,
of course. I'm just saying ride is a success automatic, but you only
get cheese that wox correcked until I tell you it's refreshed. I will use
luck. Come on, come on, Sally, I'm glad that's the way
it went. To be very honest with you, let's get this, let's
get this D twelve thing, Addie. I don't want that to be a
thing. I don't want that to be a thing that happens, you know.
So let's let's the D twelve's work. Everybody, they're good, Okay,
so you feel almost like you're you know what, everybody, Go to
your Spotify playlist because I should do this right. Track number one by the
Arrhythmics. Go ahead and play that for me. As soon as Scarlett is
talking to Maggie, you feel it, Heather, those captured rain drops of
a waterfall, that cycle of life, of falling and rising and mist,
that birth of magic, and it is coming from Maggie, and it is
coming from you. You see her right finger, her index finger on the
handor the rest of her wheelchair, creep out from beneath the colored blanket that
is over her, and it points to the rows of books, right and
without a word other than that, father turns and moves towards those books and
begins to scan them and run run her fingers along the spines, all those
titles, all those words, all those letters that are kind of facing you
from the spines of these countless books. Roll me a comprehend. Now this
comprehend for you, Heather. You're going to succeed no matter what. This
comprehend rolls to see how quickly you do it, because believe it or not,
time is of the essence. I think as I'm rolling this, what
Heather is thinking about is miss Maggie some months back, I guess a year
and some months back in the paperbacks exchange saying look to the books, look
to the books, and those words are echoing in her mind. Zero successes.
You may push or use pride again, you may do that for time's
sake. You're going to get this. This is Jeff. For how quickly
you get it? Oh you to my pride, gren and no need to
roll as you succeed in seeing what Maggie wants you to see with that statement,
that declaration of look to the books. As you're looking at the spines
of all of these books and kind of taking in the area all of these
words from the titles and these letters, you see a flash and one of
the spines glows, but not just the spine of this book, A specific
word in the title glows for a moment, and you see believe and the
book three down glows in and a book two down you and you hear Maggie's
voice believe in you. Thank you, Ricky Scarlet. You start to see
it too. You start to see now the Heather has kind of used her
own magic and directed it towards the books. You see. These glowing words
appear on all the different titles across that are amplified, and they they have
become larger so you can read them a distance. But despite seeing these words,
the three of you hear in your minds the voice of Maggie. You
hear I believe in you. You are the heroes of this tale. And
again they flash. Trust your hearts. None can tell you your place in
this or any world. And then she looks directly at you, Heather.
The one I it's kind of tough to say, the one I in the
left side of her face doesn't follow you, but the right one does,
and it lights on your face hither it drinks you in. You are the
rightful heir to the mobiest throne. Flag was wrong. He did not bring
you together. You are not woven by fate either, not luck nor happenstance.
Your lights found one another. You are your own family found Believe your
family, all four of you. The right side of her face. Her
lips curl up in a as much of a smile as she can give.
Believe your family, And again the eye looks back at Heather. Tell your
mother, I have kept my watch, but my body has been shattered.
My magic fades. Tell her I am forever in the service of the Queen.
Tell her I give all of my magic that remains to my beautiful boy.
He is everything we thought he'd be, that and more. But Rob
cannot stop it alone, rescue him. Then nothing is here. Garrett is
lost. Forgive me, I have veiled my Queen. And the eye looks
to each of you, to Ricky Scarlet, and it lingers on you.
Heather and her chin slowly drops into that spot of drool on the blanket of
woven colors, just as a bell clinks and the front door opens and Rob
is stomping the snow off of the boots and stepping inside, and he says,
it's really coming down out there, Mom, Mom, and Maggie is
gone. Keystones, those woven together not by fate, not by a lot
or a design, woven together by the spirits that inhabit each of you three,
that should be four? What do you do? Other reaches out for
Ricky's hand and then holds out her hand for Scarlet. Besides to him,
you need to we need to go kill the gork. I think it's more
than the camark. He backs up away from her and looks at Rob.
Rob is as calm as someone that could possibly be in this moment. You
see that he has taken the chair and pulled the brake off of the wheel.
As he moves Maggie over to the glass case that acts as the counter
for the paperback exchange, he grabs the phone and immediately dies was nine to
one one, and he sets the phone down as he's immediately falls on Maggie
beginning CPR and unaware of whether or not the phone has been picked up on
the other end or not, Rob just starts calmly but loudly, my mom
is hurt. I'm at the paperback exchange. Please send the paramedics. My
mom is hurt. I'm at the paperback exchange. Please send the paramedics.
And he states it over and over again as he tries in vain to bring
back the life the Queen's Witch. I'm at the paperback exchange. Please send
the paramedics. My mom is hurt. I'm at the paperback exchange. Please
send the paramedics. Will have to pull her away. What do you all
do? Other walks up to Rob and lays her hand on his shoulder.
I don't know if it passes through, but she makes the effort for just
a moment, and then she walks out the door. Ricky would put an
arm around Scarlet and start trying to bring her towards the door when she comes
easily enough. As you're being pulled out, Scarlet, You're the one that
gets thro all the investigation. I've been putting this on Chris's shoulders too much
recently. Can I use that one bank if you want to? Absolutely,
I'll use that one and a roll to see if I get me more too.
In total fantastic, there are words coming from the open kind of handle
of the phone. Rob recognizes that, and he stops his refrain, and
he also recognizes that his mom is gone, at least as far as his
powers are to bring her back. Rob stands up. He has tears that
are streaking down his eyes, and he reaches behind the counter and pulls out
what looks like a broken piece of plastic that is like the jawline of a
headset, and he puts it up to his face, a face that used
to be much smaller and that this headset could fit much easier. But he
turns it on and he says, God, Mom's gone. I don't have
any help, and the door passes through you. I mean. She wipes
tears from her eyes and she looks at the two of them. We have
to go, and she's gonna start running. She will start running now,
just before you do. I don't usually like to break a moment, but
I'm going to break this. And this is from me to you all,
as the players. Your next decision will impact Garrett in a way that it's
never been impacted before. For those that remain as Midnight gathers, this will
determine the course of what they can do. You can feel this darkness,
Heather, You can feel it now, this malevolence. And though the tracks
lead to the north, you feel this malevolence coming from the south, strongly,
suredly. It's there, almost like a lighthouse with a beam of darkness
instead of that of light. It's calling to you, it's signaling to you,
and it's not signaling the traditional lighthouse message of danger watch out. It's
saying danger is already here. And at the same moment, Scarlet, just
as you begin to take flight, just as you begin to as you've run
these roads so many times in training, as you begin to put your feet
to purpose, you realize that that sense of good, that beauty, that
hope comes from the north. And Ricky, you remember the statement in the
snow, presumably left by van Halen, to find the darkness and to see
for yourselves. But you have a choice. There is darkness to the south
of that Heather can swear, but there is light to the north, to
that Scarlet can attest. Keystones. The fate of Garrett rests with you.
What do you do. Heather had stepped out first, and so having felt
that malevolence from the south, she's already facing in that direction and waiting for
her friends to come. She's already dismissed the paw prints in the snow,
and so when Scarlet comes out, she looks back behind her, and as
Scarlet looks to be heading in a different direction, she says, no,
no, it's this way, this way, Scarlet, it stops. What's
that way? Whatever? It is that we have to do whatever it is
that we have to overcome the terrible things that hide in the shadow. All
of that is there, and we have to go. We have to go
and shine some light on it. He glances like she doesn't turn to the
wards of the north, but she looks. There's help that way, something
something good that way. I don't know what. And then she she turns
and faces Hew. He we don't. We don't need something else. We
don't need something good. We already have that. Just letting you know what
I'm feeling. Be can't interact with this world, not at the moment.
We're just here to observe. Maggie's was special. Is here any reason she
was able to interact with us? She told us that we could help Rob.
You'd have to help Rob. He doesn't have anyone left. I want
to stop. What can hurt him? We have? Then she looks at
both of them. We have to see for ourselves, and she turns south.
Are you heading back in the direction you came towards, towards the darkness
to the south? Ricky, Yeah, she wants to run. I'll run,
but she's doing like the backwards job. Ricky. I'm not leaving Heather.
Heather huffs and then she takes off as fast as she can. Ricky
will then run at like a half step behind Helen. Yeah, I think.
Scarlet grins ever so slightly and runs next to Heller. As you are
running to the south, fire chief truck crosses the intersection in front of you.
You see your dad behind the wheel. Scarlet. He is older,
his mustache is gone. Roll me and investigate. Do successes? The hand
on the steering wheel wheel is not wearing a ring, and he drives by.
Her gaze follows him, and she just s goes Dad, Well,
she continue to the say. She wipes the tears and keeps going. Everybody,
if you could this one's going to hear from Maggie number eighteen, put
her on quiet, just a little fifth dimension. As nineteen sixty nine leaves
the building, as you all were running to the south, and you're heading
in the direction of the evil that you can hear, that you can see,
that you can taste, now that you're all directed towards, each of
your senses is preoccupied by this malevolence, this blanket that seems to be over
all of Garrett. You're not sure if that's what is making it dark.
But even though it's noon ish, it still looks as if it's an hour
past sundown in the winter, just dark, gloomy, without hope. As
one of the trucks drives by, the driver, one of the State Roads
trucks drives by, the driver has the window down and he's smoking, because
you know who wants to enjoy pristine mountain air when you can fill your lungs
with nicotine. I asked that in statement, as a true statement. So
as you go by, you you're the radio, And just as the fifth
dimension kind of closes down, I am Drexel Rod, and you're listening the
WGWD outlaw one O six point three Mountain Maryland's home for all the rock that's
fit to spin. And now a little one from the beginning of this decade,
back when we all had long hair and bad attitudes and questionable fashion sense.
Go to track number seventeen, Friends and cue up a little Nirvana smells
like teen Spirit. As Drexel Rot's voice goes away, it's replaced by Kurt
Cobain. Melissa, I think, Hea, there's gonna stalk her job,
with the expectation that her friends stop, and when they do, she's going
to say, you know, you give terrible things more power when you give
them the grace of your eyes. You know, I try not to look
at them, but lately I've been thinking that maybe I should be looking for
something rather than looking away, you know, like like looking at the stars
instead of looking at the darkness between them. I know things seem bleak right
now, but somewhere out there is hope, and I think maybe maybe that
hope it comes from inside of us. All we have to do is train
our eyes to see it, like looking at the constellations, whatever we face.
I think, like I said, Scarlet, I think the goodness is
inside of us. She nods, runs a hand through her hair. Oh,
mag you saw something at us from the beginning. And she was right.
And I'm not gonna let my home turn into this. And I'm not
gonna let Rob fight alone. Right, And She'll look at Heather again.
Do you know when we'll hum? I don't feel what you feel. Are
we gonna? Are you gonna know when we're there? Does the darkness seem
to have gotten any closer? Oh? It's getting stronger? Do I feel
Do I feel it? You're all starting to feel it now. It's but
for Ricky and for Scarlett, it's more of an unease. It's more of
a and it's an undefined unease because it's not something that you can say,
oh, I'm scared of this or I'm worried about that. It's just like
a generalized anxiety. It's a but it's getting stronger. It's that pit of
homesickness in your stomach that seems to increase use the time you're away from home
and the feeling they're in by days which you step that you take it gets
more profound, more pronounced, more edged. But she puts her hand on
her stomach and just walks in a circle. Heather. For you, the
darkness is almost enveloping, you know. It's like being under a weighted blanket.
It's so palpable you can you think that if given any more substance,
you could actually physically grab it. It feels like you're parting through something.
As you walk now to the south. It's not hindering your movement, it's
just presenting a pressure. You guys, continue, yeah, wordlessly. Heather
just steps forward, but she's not running now. It's like it's like steps
are too heavy. It's like they were walking through water. Yes, Scarlett
will walk this like slightly ahead, and she's got like she's walking with like
just her hand on her stomach and she's like feeling that anxiety just building like
a rock in her chest. Is it a similar feeling that she had before.
She's not. She's not a stranger to panic attacks now, and but
she just doesn't know what that what she's been experiencing. Does she feel like
the same thing is building. It does definitely feel similar it would for to
a panic attack, but again it's undefined. It's there isn't anything kind of
triggering this feeling. It's just with you, and so that kind of association
makes it feel a little alien, you know what I mean. So it's
not like, yes, you feel the same way, you have the same
feelings, but you're aware also of the fact that it's not coming from inside
you. It's something that's being placed upon you. So there's less of a
kind of a you know, a guilt or responsibility of its creation, if
that makes any sense. You know it didn't. You know, it's something
that you're being given, not something that you've wrought. So okay, so
she will she pushes forward and she's just taking like deep breaths. You are
all able to make it basically out of town. You pass the Feed and
Breed on the right, and as you are getting towards the road that will
split off and eventually take you to at least with the land of the Lewises,
you feel that the pool was still coming from the south. Let me
ask you a question. Have any of you ever been to the mag truck
graveyard? Are wait there with when we went to c v H M H.
I think Chris Chris was there under a Vh's tree when she was unconscious
like a princess. Then that, especially for Heather, you feel that you
are being pulled in that exact direction. I need to go to her tree.
Do you remember where her tree was? I guess it was in the
mall? No, the tree where the tree was the first time in the
great in the junk yard with the mag trucks. Yeah, let's go,
and she'll she's still walking, but she's walking a little faster. Ricky's walking
either with a long sid hot like say, half a step behind Heather,
and he's walking, you know, like when you walk through like a really
dodgy area late at night, and you constantly just peering over your shoulder making
sure nothing's following with that unease. He's just keeping an eye out. Head
on a swivel. Ricky, roll me and investigate for a change. And
I want you to roll me with a bonus of two. If you would,
bonus of two, let's go. You may push, You may if
you have it luck, if you want to use pride. If you have
it, of course, you still have that luck. Let's use that two
successes. There we go, Ricky. As you turn around and look,
you realize that there's nothing wrong, nothing following you, nothing hiding in the
shadows. And it takes you a minute. You don't hear any birds,
which is fairly common in a snowstorm. You wouldn't hear any birds. But
you don't hear any squirrels, no wildlife to speak of, No cracks in
the you know, no rustling of crunching of leaves beneath the snow. You
don't even hear the wood cracking with expanding ice or cold, like you always
do when you're in the woods. You know a distant crack or shift or
split. You don't hear the wind, you don't hear anything, not even
the snow falling. It's utter silence except for one thing, the strumming of
a guitar, and that's coming from the south. Is it playing a recognizable
tune? I don't know if it's recognizable, But why don't you queue up
number ten on our playlist and see if you recognize it? Chris definitely does.
I don't think Ricky would as a as a walking Ricky looked to the
others. It's too quiet except for a single sound. It's like everything from
nature is gone. And he looks around every sound you would hear, and
the natural world is just gone, like the life has been drained from here.
Person is Heather's head is down, her wood stilled up, her arms
around, wrapped around herself. She feels like she looks like all of the
weight is on her shoulders. We need to go and see Roll me a
D twelve, Heather Scarlet. Ye uh huh, I want you to roll
me a D twelve M one success. You feel something in the palm of
your hand as one of your guns materialize, and you're able to curl your
fingers around it and slip your forefinger inside the trigger guard, and you hear
a whisper in your mind, the voice of Maggie. You remember the face
of your mother, and the only sound that dominates the scene. I'm gonna
take control of your for just a second. As the hammer cocks back.
That is the only sound that pierces this area. Heather, you can feel
the magic to the south, and it is bad. It is powerful,
and you have no doubt that it is killing Garrett, and you have no
doubt it's the one that murdered Maggie. Do you all keep going? And
how do you go? In what order? Side by side? Being led?
And if you're being led, who's the leader who follows? How do
three of the four keystones meet their fate? Well, I imagine, obviously
we all need to be in all this. I imagine that we all walk
side by side with intent, with purposeful steps towards the south. So as
you all walk shoulder to shoulder through the snow that you cannot break before you
revealed now almost ten years older, the mag Truck Graveyard, and in the
center of the mag Truck Graveyard, a pyramid has been formed. All of
these vehicles stacked perfectly criss crossed with a huge base of maybe eight of these
vehicles, the next base six and four, two and one, and the
one at the tip. It's a brilliant green, almost like a bush,
if a bush looked nothing like a bush. And on top of that,
a figure sits playing a guitar. The figure is inky, black, featureless.
There are licks of this black flame that seemed to be creeping all over
its body, but the guitar it holds is wonderful, a polished wood,
lustrous, perfectly tuned. And as you all walk into what once was a
beautiful glade before all of these broken vehicles became a part of it, you
all walk in, the head lifts up and the song quiets, but does
not stop. The head turns as these black flames lick off again, featureless,
nothing revealing anything of description. But the voice reaches your ears as if
it was spoken directly into them, and you hear by the strings, I
do strum something good this way comes, and my friends, that's where we
end this session. Each world has its heroes. It's witches, it's guides,
it's tricksters, it's gunslingers, it's living and it's dead. But many
of these defenders have their fates chosen for them. They hear stories of destiny
and duty, of what is best for this person or that place. Seldom
do heroes choose their own paths, but when they do, they become legends
now and forever, teaching us to love goodness sake. Join us next time
for Atari Twilight's The Age of Always Episode nine, The Eternity road Less Traveled.
Atari Twilight is an Unmade Gaming production and a proud member of the Unmade
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on Atari Twilight. Stock from Boots Stock compounds still bus stop stands,