Okay, well I'm gonna go back to see if...
It's sunrise so I'm gonna go back and see if they're awake.
Not until you make me.
Yeah, gotta wake him up.
If they're still sleeping, I might walk towards the other people and see if anybody's awake over there,
Yeah, they're still asleep.
You walk by and it looks like Cheryl is just waking up as you go around the corner.
Okay, I just kind of give her a little bit of a wave and tell her to come out.
Yeah, she waves, gets up, cracks her back, walks towards you.
Did you hear anything weird last night?
No, not at all.
Did you?
How many have you stayed out here overnight before?
Yeah, of course, yeah, a times.
Seeing or heard anything strange?
Go ahead and make a persuasion plus 40 with the relationship you've built with her.
Key plus 40.
Okay, I'm looking for 64 with 19.
Alright, well, every once in a while we hear things coming from the swamp, I don't know, like birds or some sort of rhythmic sound.
At first it was a little off-putting, but after a while it kind of disappeared or just was in the background.
Why, did you see something or hear anything?
Yeah, I heard something similar to what you just described.
I was just curious if that was a regular occurrence.
I mean, I'm not out here on any regular basis, but yeah, I've heard it, believe, twice.
But it's been, I guess, weeks since I've, I guess, noticed it, but again, kind of became a part of the background.
It wasn't really bothering me in any way.
Okay.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
You look shooken up.
Are you okay?
I'm okay.
I just was curious about that sound.
So, um, I think my team's waking up, so...
oh I hope you have a great day.
Well, if you need anything, we'll probably try to get out of here this morning when they get up and on the way out if you're still around I'll be sure to stop by and say goodbye.
It's been nice meeting you if I don't see you.
You too.
See you later.
And I just go back and I'm like, okay, I'm going to wake them up.
Guys, some weird shit's happening in that swamp.
You don't say and what wait what?
What?
Yeah, so after you fell asleep, I went down to the water and the chanting got really loud and singular and just like was unrelenting and then when the sun came up, something came
out of the sun you guys and flew over to where the chanting was happening.
Yeah, so some weird shit's happening.
Del, do you have any military science?
Or, Barone, do you have military science?
Yeah.
I have military science land, land vehicles, I guess.
Both of you can roll your military sounds.
Please.
Yeah, 24, let's do it.
You both look at each other and coming out of the sun, you know that it's common practice for any fighter pilot to fly out of the sun when coming into a hostile zone so that
targets don't see them until they're right upon them.
Hmm, but going in the direction of the chanting like there ain't no
That's what it looked like to me.
Like I think the, if there is like a wavelength that we catch of each other being like, is there a natural explanation for this?
Right?
It's like, but like, what business would a craft like that have out in a place like this?
You know, it's not like you could, could stop or drop something with any sort of, like what would the cause be?
It's definitely unnatural.
I couldn't, it was completely quiet, so I cannot sense that it's any kind of aircraft that we've ever seen.
So yeah, definitely not of our technology.
And with Superon road 16 of 50 for science, would I know that as well?
Yeah, absolutely.
In fact, when I said you look at each other, that's you and Dell.
like, okay, you have a military background.
you know, that comes to mind from it.
strategic.
Yeah, that definitely seems strategic.
the ship flew out of the sun and went towards the voices, did the voices stop?
Yes, the chanting completely stopped when that happened.
So maybe there's more parties in play.
Maybe there is a swamp with swamp creatures that are fighting back against the aliens from the sun because that is normal and everything makes sense now and she grabs her canteen
and starts drinking her coffee and she's like maybe I need a little bit more coffee but maybe that's not the craziest idea.
Maybe there's more parties in play than just one.
thought you just cracked it.
I was about ready for you to call Butterfield and tell him the good news.
no, that was another joke, but see, it seems to be every time I make a crazy ridiculous joke that's over the top, it just happens to be true.
So maybe I should lean into that a little more from here forward and I'll hang on to my sanity a little longer.
And sometimes it hurts to be a good guesser.
But boy, sleeping doesn't.
I don't know if that was the right call at all.
Well, I mean, if anything, we do know more than we did, so it's not a negative, but I am pretty freakin' hungry by now.
But other than that, I mean, we know more than we did, even though my brain's a bit scrambled after learning everything you saw, Ryan.
That's insane.
I guess this place is full of mysteries.
I mean, if there was something physical, what might've touched down, you reckon we oughta maybe go make contact with it?
Yes.
I don't know if we can really afford to wait on something like that.
I absolutely hate to admit it, I...
Yep.
Yep, we should do exactly that.
I'm like already walking towards the swamp as you guys were like talking about this.
I'm just like already walking that way.
And I'll finish tying my shoe, grab the water bottle, sling it back over.
Yeah, no, grab that too.
Don't forget your tripod, quote unquote.
And I'll run down the lane after Ryan as well.
I'm just like, I have my arm up in there and I'm just pointing and I'm like, it's this way guys, it's this way.
I saw it come over here, it's this way.
you
still reasonable to think that if it didn't land on top of somebody, we could still be the first responders, right?
We're out in middle of nowhere.
I mean, definitely assuming that it lands at all, mean, alien spaceships, who knows, right?
Yeah, no time to waste, Ryan.
Yeah.
It just gets through this way guys.
Anybody roll me either navigate or survival to get there the fastest.
The gasp of joy.
I'll do it.
Just putting that out there because I'm a Navigatey person.
that was smart.
I have an AD navigate.
That's awesome.
uh
82.
81.
Just to pep over.
Super cool.
front and I saw where, you know, this thing kind of went and went down into the land.
Can I roll navigate plus, you know, a little?
Roll and navigate,
No, 52 out of 30.
Okay, yeah, you set out.
It's hard to figure out which direction you're going in with the size of the sawgrass and how tall it is.
You, I'm assuming you're going in without your full swamp gear unless you were sleeping in it, or did you take time to put that on too?
I have my pack, so I think I might take it out and put it on real fast.
Okay, everybody else.
I was kind of imagining like face and gloves
Okay, I'm imagining facing gloves as well.
Yeah, I don't think we stopped to do full.
I think it was a bit of a rush job for sure.
Great.
You rush, put your things on and get started.
It is a maze in there.
It's hard to get through.
You're not gonna walk past this by luck.
So you have to do some canvassing and you finally get to it.
Your guess is about another 45 minutes later and you get to the edge of the sawgrass.
There's the small muddy clearing, but this whole swamp is still very oppressive.
We don't need to jump into how oppressive it is, but
When you get to the site on the edge, you see more footprints, almost like squished down into the muck like they were standing in one spot for a very long time.
And it looks like there are six sets.
And if you were to have a string, you would trace those in almost a perfect circle.
Can I take a look in my head, judging by the face slash orb head I saw in the water?
These would be definitely like bipedal for sure, but probably more frog-like.
Can I take a look at these footprints and see like shapes and maybe weights-ish and trying to determine human versus definitely not human type thing?
Yeah, go ahead and roll survival.
Survival 33 and we got a 23.
We'll take it.
Awesome.
You peer down into the footprints.
They aren't anything like webbed or specifically fish looking.
They seem heavy enough to be human.
It's not a, there's not a small gate to them too when you see where they've turned around and walked back into the swamp.
They look like they have a similar stride to you.
So.
Okay, okay, great, interesting.
And as you're looking down, you also notice that the sawgrass all around this circle is bent over.
and has just the smallest slightest bend to it and it's all the same way.
all the same way like they were laying down or something moved over it and pushed it over.
Something moved over it and pushed it over.
like close to the ground, does it create a path going in a direction?
Into the swamp, but the circle they were standing in is a circular, like a circular shape with the grass pushed down.
And then there's a row of grass pushed to the swamp.
Guys, do think this is where they were chanting from?
Seems like a-
100 % yeah, yeah without a doubt.
I mean I would assume chanting is probably done in a circle, so Yeah tracks, and it looks like Often often that direction is kind of our lead
I mean...
down into the muck?
I...
You're right, it is a lead.
I just don't know how we follow it.
Yeah, that's a good question.
So off into the swamp, was this kind of like out where I was standing where it cleared out and was like more water for a little bit or is it not quite that and it's more swampy,
muggy, unsure foot terrain.
It's in a different spot.
It's not in the exact spot you waited in, but it is in that similar area where you found the pond of purple looking algae slash muck.
Okay, great.
mean, if anything, they or it or whatever's in this area has witnessed my face before, so I'm willing to go first if you, uh, you know, watch my back a little bit.
I yeah, I don't think there's any reason to think that any of us have had privacy at this point.
You're welcome to go out there and go scouting around.
I think if you do, somebody should have hands on a rope to yank you back, and I'm gonna have eyes on a site to make sure you're the only one standing out there.
yeah, no for sure, let's rope-a-dope it up and I'm gonna have this bad boy and I pull out my GP100.
I'm gonna have this bad boy nice and ready the entire time for sure.
And I'll take the rope, sling it around, do a quick knot and you know, toss it back.
I'm not sure how much rope we actually have and I might reach the end of it real quick but at least give it a try as I head out there.
Can we see how far this path goes?
Yeah, the path goes not too far out of the sawgrass and then it hits the swampier area where there is no grass.
now it's beyond that area.
There are small trees and oak trees in the distance that create like a canopy.
And you'd have to wade through the swamp a little bit under that canopy to get where these footprints are going.
You know, I'm real ding dang good at swimming.
My first job growing up was as a lifeguard, so...
Let's do it.
I hate to say it.
Alright.
Baron.
Yeah, uh
do you want to take my camera in case you see something that might disappear?
I do not because I'm also super clumsy and I'm gonna drop that bad boy in the water almost immediately.
You should keep that on you for sure.
And then I'll start heading out.
You're walking out.
Are you holding your pistol?
think it's close and like usually if I'm carrying my big shirt would be bagging over it but I think in this scenario it's kind of tucked back so it's easy to grab but at the same
time like I just said I'm probably decidedly clumsy.
Cue the shoulder and the wall with coffee is pretty realistic because that happens all the time.
So I think I'm probably gonna try to have my hands free for balance sake.
Agent Ryan, what are you doing?
I mean, I'm just supporting Del, I guess, in this situation.
And I'm very curious about what she's going to see as she treks out there.
So I'm just kind of anxiously moving around a little bit.
Yeah, I got some job for you.
Come over here.
Um, and so like we'll we'll be walking towards the water What baron's gonna wade into we'll find some sort of downed Looks heavy with a space we can get underneath it will tie
clove hitch on the the rope and Tail it off towards baron We probably at least got a hundred feet for each of us just in case we needed to repel So, you know, we could could
lash those together if we need to and Brian you're in charge of this
If you hear or if you feel two tugs from Barone, you're doing nothing but hand over hand, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull until she's back on ground.
You hear?
All right.
And I'll put a little stand up for the rifle and we'll get the scope with the night vision on it.
We'll just, you know, fix it on your six.
As you're walking out, Agent Barone, what are you looking for?
Man, I think top of mind is something big enough to push that grass over.
Del did kind of explain that it was a shifty form that kind of sucks in light, but in my mind, I mean, that's pretty crazy sounding.
I think I'm maybe looking for something more mirror-ish or big and oblong orb-like.
Anything that's big enough to push the ground down in mass.
Great.
You can roll me search or survival.
Let's do, oh search for sure.
I'm looking for a 54, a 48.
success.
Okay, that's gonna hold you for this.
Love it.
Agent Sundusky, give me alertness as you're trailing.
65 out of 66, we're doing it.
Let's go.
Alright, Agent Brown, you're starting to trudge in a little hesitant as you start navigating this area.
You get through the sawgrass, start walking under the trees.
The mud is slurping up around your boots.
It's not deep to where it's overcoming your boots, but it's getting a little deeper as you go.
You're getting your bearings and you look over and you can see the large area of the swamp that has the purple algae on it.
To your left, it's
a little further away, but you're following a trail that looks like it's going beside it.
And as you're looking at this trail and looking for this object, you do notice that it looks like they were dragging something.
You see drag marks further in where the mud is more impressionable, and it looks like it was being drugged by four people.
you get to a point where the rope pulls taut.
Do you keep going?
Do you, what do you do?
Shout back?
Yeah, no, 100%.
Hey, gang, I hate to say it, but I think with the end of the safety leash right now, we could either keep going and get the information or stop and not.
So just a heads up, I'm gonna untie it.
I think I need a little more room.
I'm gonna start untying the rope around my waist.
um And maybe if I could...
lay it somewhere that I could see to where if I get in trouble I could maybe find it again pretty easily and ask for help that way.
But I think I'm definitely gonna undo it and see what I could find still.
You untie the rope, it slops on the ground.
Agent Sindusky, you're still trailing.
You see this happen.
Further down the oak trees have created a canopy that makes it almost like night in there.
It is very thick and it looks like Agent Barone is headed into that area.
And Agent Barone, as you're walking forward, you go another 25 meters or so, not too far, and you see the trail turn.
towards the large swamp.
Okay, so it turns towards the swamp and away from the arch that you just described?
Or I'm in the arch now.
You're under, yeah, you are under the canopy of trees at this.
under the canopy and I'm so knowing full well that there is something here or has been something here looking around I haven't seen any other ripples in the water or anything
like that have I
For that, give me alertness.
sure.
Alertness we're looking for 81 and I got a 38 so success.
Yeah, you stand at the precipice of mucky swamp trash and slightly clear water, but still dirty.
And in the distance you do see ripples, not quite to where the purple hue rises from the swamp, but right before it.
does look like this water has been disturbed recently.
has been disturbed but is not currently moving.
not currently moving, just the remnants of ripples.
Okay.
Gang, think there is a path forward.
I don't think we should stay as splayed out as we are.
Maybe if you guys come up this- I haven't seen anything yet, or at least not what I recognized from yesterday at all.
Yeah, I mean, it sounds like you're about 400 feet away at this point.
So we're, I'm inclined to take off the boots and just go traipsing in after you.
Yeah.
I'm definitely not going to stay behind, that's for sure.
Okay, so you are taking off your boots you said?
I am.
Agent Ryan, what's your approach once you get to this water in the swamp?
I on my swamp boots.
Don't I have those?
You have large boots that go up to almost to your knees.
Okay, then that's what I'm wearing.
Yeah, I guess that's a good question.
Where we are now, I'm imagining we're still, since I haven't gone towards the watery portion where it gets deeper, we're still below knee deep.
I'm sorry.
Yeah, below knee deep at this point, right?
Yeah, if you were stepping lightly, wouldn't sink that much, but if you're trudging, it would probably sink above your entire foot.
Okay, great.
Cool.
That's fine as long as you weren't like, Hey, guess what, Perrone?
Now your waist deep and I'm like, Oh, dip.
didn't know that.
No, that's fine.
Del, wrap up that wrap up that rope on your way up.
Yeah, I'll coil it on my shoulder behind as I'm coming.
Okay, rope is there and you are standing, the three of you fanned out looking toward this purple area further in the swamp.
The water has fully settled.
Do you proceed forward?
What's the purple that we're seeing?
Is that the fungus?
Is it, it's a purple fungus?
Yeah, that was the fungus from before.
and I guess now this is kind of where I'll point out.
Yeah, so right here, kind of just to the side, a little bit closer is where I saw the dome.
I wish I had a pencil or something to draw for you really quick, but I don't.
But this is right about where they were.
And then I'm to kind of like scan the edges and look where they were before and point it out.
But from...
here where I'm so sorry there's it's literally just that in front of us like that orb thing or whatever the vehicle was that's where it settled or the path keeps going past it
around it through it
Yeah, so the...
what you're assuming is the orb thing where the tracks plus the drag marks and that disappears into the water at this point.
Okay, that's...
I was hoping you were gonna say literally any other option that I said just now and you said exactly what I didn't want you to say.
Not the green,
likes to swim.
You know, I did just brag quite literally 40 minutes ago about being pretty good about swimming.
I hate to raise my hand, but I'm willing to take a shot at this and see what we can see.
We don't have swimming goggles and nose plugs by chance, do we?
Goggles.
could probably adapt something to be nose plugs with survival.
I would think Ryan would take baths in with wax in ears and nose plugs in and things like that.
Most definitely.
I can't stand that feeling of having water in my ears.
God forbid you're clean.
Okay, great.
All right, you two.
Not that I'm shy, but if you could turn around for one sec.
And as soon as they turn, I'll start taking.
I'll probably put my bag down first and then put my stuff on top of my bag.
I'll probably strip down to my skivvies so I don't get absolutely soaking wet.
Boots aren't worth shit at the moment, so those are coming off too.
And I'm gonna prepare to dive in.
Here's a question also.
So we have a human brain in a cylinder wrapped in a wrapping with some craziness around it.
Whose bag is that in?
I believe it's in mine.
Okay, cool.
Cool, cool, cool.
I like that.
I like that better than leaving that on my bag sitting on just the top of the grass where anything could get to it.
So that sounds great.
I obviously, I don't think I'm taking my pistol with me, but I will try and take my, I believe I have a knife just like a, what is it, a K-Bar.
Yeah, you should have a knife if you don't work.
Yep, I will definitely take that with me so I'm not going in completely unarmed.
okay, and I'm gonna kind of like, you know, sink down up to my chest-ish and be like, Del, rinse it, repeat, throw me that rope again.
I'm not going in here completely alone if you could toss that back over.
Yeah man, I'll get you re-spooled and re-equipped.
Great, love it.
So I'll take a second, tie that up, shake the knife.
I'm not gonna put it between my teeth, because then gross water would get in my mouth, but I'll at least have it kind of handy.
Maybe, I guess I'll just have it in my hand, but like turned down so it's not like blade side up.
bra strap in the back, like right against your shoulder blade.
Yeah, something right?
Something?
No, all right.
Yeah, heck yeah.
No, that's a great idea.
So that it's just not, you know, in my hands.
So my hands are free, but it's not too far out of reach.
Well, I guess wish me luck.
Shoot, I hope we ain't counting on that.
You betcha, me too.
I am Kellyanne on YouTube though.
Del, Ryan, I haven't known you too terribly long, but two tugs pull like shit on that rope, please.
Please God.
And then I will take a big breath and jump right in.
Nice.
Who's holding the rope and what the other person who's not holding the rope, what are you doing?
I can't hold the rope like last time.
am holding a gun.
Nice, nice.
Big ones, uh
And go ahead and give me alertness.
Everybody, actually.
30.
All good.
Now, 63 out of 44.
Alright.
I was aiming for 81, I 12.
Dang.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
You're wading into black water.
The stuff as you get down and sink into it about chest high, it's cold enough to start making your teeth chatter.
The oaks stand around you.
They're like silent skeletons of old men, like mossy beards dripping down, touching the water.
And your eyes cut nervously across.
the swamp as you're starting to wade out there.
But nothing's showing through the murky water yet.
Occasionally you get a little fish head or something pop up, maybe startle you and create some ripples.
You'll see a mosquito land here and there.
Then you feel it.
You feel something brushes against your leg.
It's not, it doesn't feel like a fish.
It feels like dry, leathery, almost like an old glove soaked in water.
You freeze.
Like I move into it or it moves into me.
it moves into you.
What are doing?
Yeah, I think I will let's do dive in the opposite direction.
Yeah, let's let's just start with that.
I won't necessarily assume that it's like if it was bumping into me, it could have grabbed me already.
I think I'm just going to dive in the opposite direction that I pushed in from please.
Yeah, go ahead and roll athletics or dexterity.
sure.
So Dexterity is 70 which is pretty good, Athletics is 30.
I'm going be giving me a choice so I'm going to do Dexterity for 70 and I got a 32.
Yeah, you jump back out of the way and do you continue swimming the opposite way?
Back toward shore, to the side?
No, man, we got to find out what this is and what's in here.
I think I push away and try and continue forward, but now my body is more faced in that direction instead of forward.
So I'm like more sidestepping and alert faced in the direction that it came from, but I'm still going to try and try and move forward and find a solid object of some sort.
Something's in here.
Yeah, you get to where if you were to stand up, the water would be about as deep as your neck and you're continuing to go.
The rope hasn't ran out yet.
Agent Sandusky, with your alertness roll, you see a black flash come out of the water and it is a hand upon registering it and it grabs you, Agent Barone, from the back around your
hips.
and starts to pull on you.
Can you roll dodge for me?
Absolutely, I can let's Dodge I'm looking for a 30.
I got no nowhere close.
I got a 96 on that
Okay, it failed with its grapple at an 84, but your score's higher, so you're able to dodge it.
So you dodge the hand, you feel that thick leathery feeling just rub across your entire front body from under you and look down and there is the face you saw earlier in the water
laying right below you, reaching up to try to yank you under.
Yeah, absolutely drawn drawn that knife tugging twice and giving out a healthy yelp.
It's time to go back down and I'm going to tug twice on the rope even though they're, you know, 1520 feet away or whatever and start backpedaling immediately knife in hand.
Are you taking a strike or just holding it?
Yeah, no, let's do this.
Yeah, I'll strike.
I'll strike for sure.
Roll melee weapons.
Sure, let's see, melee weapons, so 30.
Okay, you're.
So they failed its dodge and your roll is higher so you still nick it in the shoulder.
And let me roll the damage on that.
It's a d6 right?
It's so you I think I have noted like this is more than two first weapon second.
I don't think it gives me damage.
Okay.
D6 would make sense though.
All right, you firmly jab your K-Bar into its chest and it is underwater.
You see it open almost like nostrils, it's like a mouth nostril snout and suck in a bunch of water as you do that and its eyes flip open in fear.
Interesting, okay.
Yeah, I mean, I don't think I'm take a second strike.
When its eyes flipped, flitted open in fear, did it start moving away immediately like an injured animal or is it pushing forward?
Yeah, as you're thinking that question in your head, a claw comes out of the water to try to slash at your throat.
Go ahead and roll dodge.
Dodge is only a 30 % and I got 80 again.
Wait no, 0.08 % so 8%, so success.
Yeah, it rolled a 97.
So it completely misses you.
And it misses so wide that it starts to kind of roll over.
Maybe the injury from the knife stabbing into it.
You start to see blood come out of it.
It looks black under the water, but everything looks black in the water.
And it rolls over onto its back, looking like it's going to kick away from you.
What do you do?
kick away.
Man.
Do I push in and keep going and try and fight this thing or do I back up expecting it to flee so it's more natural and we're just in their territory?
I'm going to start backing up and see if it does the same.
So when I gave two tugs on that rope, I'm going, I'm just headed towards it's Del and Ryan right now.
It does kick off and you see it disappear into the murkiness and it swims with a pace that you don't think a normal human could.
Agent Sandusky and Agent Ryan from the shore, you see three other heads emerge in the distance behind Barone as they don't come fully out of the water, but they pop up like
crocodiles.
Agent Ryan and Agent Sandusky roll sand for a natural.
Ah 85.
40.
Okay.
You lose one still, Agent Sandusky, Agent Ryan, key roll me a D, and then that's the stand loss you can take or you can project it onto a bond.
project onto a bond.
Okay, roll me the d6 and then roll a d-
Okay, D6 is a four.
Four is a four.
oh
That's good.
You don't lose any sand.
But you lose four willpower and you have to minus four from a bond.
Which bond will you be sacrificing?
you
I will sacrifice my dog.
Okay, that's gonna be an interesting home scene.
You see these heads come out.
They have bulbous eyes.
It's a deep green of the swamp, like they've somehow adapted to camouflage in the swamp.
There are nose holes that look like they've been punctured in with some sort of ice pick.
It's a gruesome looking creature, decidedly humanoid though.
And they rise up and you see all of their heads poke out in the distance.
Agent Sendusky, you see these pop out a good.
From you, 25 meters, about 10 meters from Agent Barone.
What are you doing?
And when Agent Barone kicked off, I leapt up on a stump.
And so I had been trying to find the vantage point to see the one that was following her.
And when these other heads come up, it just turns into a full auto spray across their bodies.
So just like pivot left and away from Barone.
Okay, so you could probably catch two with the spacing with that spray.
Go ahead and roll your firearms and then roll lethality if you hit.
Yeah...
No, I do not hit 96.
Okay, goes why?
You, they're in cover, they're under the water, it's hard to gauge exactly the distance with how quickly you get your shots off.
You don't have time to gauge any of that while you're shooting, let alone look down the site, so you miss.
Agent Ryan, what are you doing?
I'm pulling the rope because I got the tugs.
I see what's going on.
I'm trying to give Agent Barone as much distance from these things as possible.
So I just keep tugging it.
Roll your strength times five or your athletics, whichever is higher.
Okay, I got it, 45 out of 55.
Agent Barone, you feel that rope, like it would hurt you on any other day.
Today it is your saving grace.
It's a stream of light from heaven pulling you up into the clouds.
As Agent Ryan starts just yanking you in, you get a good five and a half meters from them and they are out of range from what you can tell in an instant.
And all of you see, I'm assuming you're looking back, Barone, or you're just straight towards the shore.
No, my eyes are going nowhere but towards the danger.
Even if I'm backpedaling and being pulled, I'm not keeping my eyes off anything.
That adrenaline's pumping.
Yeah, the one that you stabbed is still careening away from you.
It goes fully under.
And then the three other ones, their heads start to move in closer.
You see one of them on your left jump fully under and start swimming towards you.
The others to lurch forward on their feet.
They are a good five meters from you still though.
snap.
cool.
Can I being pulled in the direction of the rope the knife still in hand can I front stroke to help as fast as possible to get back to my gun?
Yeah, do you have swim?
I do have swim.
Rolling swim, I'm looking for 60.
Here we go.
35.
Go.
Yeah, you and Ryan are working in concert.
You are able to time your stroke between his poles and then any slack that Ryan gives, you're able to aid it with a quick stroke and you get another five meters out of their
way.
You're about 10 meters from the shore at this point.
Okay, still some space to go, got it.
Agent Sondosky.
I'm sorry, yeah, there's a lot of bullets in this gun for a reason, so I'm gonna keep that trigger pressed.
I'm probably running radially out, so if you imagine to try and get it to be perpendicular with a barone in the water so that I can fire at the ones pursuing as like line them up,
right?
Great, yeah, so you're trying to flank a little bit and then fire down the line of all of them.
Perfect, roll me that firearms.
Alright, simple as that.
Hey, with a two, I think we've done it.
That's le- Oh, ho-ly!
So, lethality's uh
Alright.
I was gonna say that's the second time that's happened.
So close.
Okay, lethality is just a separate D100 roll?
Yep.
Is that right?
Okay.
Alright, well we hit.
We're looking for a 10.
No, 31 ain't 10.
Okay.
So the damage is you just add those two numbers.
So you do four damage to each target and there were still just two targets.
You think that by the next turn, if you're continuing at the same pace, you will be able to get all three of them and you do.
Four damage to two of them, okay.
Yeah, Agent Ryan, are you continuing to pull the rope or are you doing something else?
That was my question.
Even though I really would love to have my hands free in this moment, I don't want to leave her behind.
Yeah, give me the athletics or strength.
Oh, 19, sorry.
19 out of 55.
You
another five meters, you pull her in, and behind you, Barone, these figures are starting to close in faster.
You see them getting closer and closer and closer.
They're swimming towards you.
Two of them pop up after getting shot by Del.
You see the bullets glance across the water and hit them, various parts of their body, but they have surfaced and they look like they're about to leap towards you.
It is your turn.
Okay, great.
How many are there total now?
Five?
There are four, one is, yeah, one fleed and three are coming after you.
got you that was the fifth one yeah I think if I've reached the shore I think clothes be damned man I'm jumping right up and going straight for my gun that would be you know
sitting you know next to my pile of clothes I don't think I'm standing up I think I'm staying prone kind of barrel rolling if you will using the ground as stability and aiming
right for the closest thing and pop pop let's go
Yeah, you get to the shore from Agent Ryan's polling and then I imagine you just roll over and grab the gun and then that'll have to be your turn.
Perfect, sounds good.
I think at that point in time, I'm not sure what happened to my knife.
I probably either dropped it while I was swimming or it's out of my hands now when I got up on the shore, but I don't think that's on my person any longer.
Yeah, you could have just stabbed it into the soil to yank yourself up onto the shore.
perfect.
Love that.
And then use it for momentum to roll over.
Agent Sandusky, what are you doing?
What am I doing?
Choice is an illusion and I'm shooting.
All right, let's see it.
Firearms are looking good by the skin of my teeth.
79 is enough.
And then we're doing lethality again, right?
Yep, you have all three in your range now if you're opening up.
Amazing.
Yeah, not lethal, but good for seven.
Okay, you see two surface, the two you shot before, maybe they're in pain from your gunshots and you just continue to spray over the swamp and one of them gets hit in the
throat and you see it grab at its throat with humanoid hands and some blood start shooting out and it just slops down into the water.
The other one just gets brained and you see the other side of it, a bunch of brain matter pop out and start splashing over the surface of the swamp and that falls over.
The last one gets hit in the shoulder and continues to swim awkwardly towards the spot where Barone jumped on land.
Let's go at Barone's Barone's pulling that trigger.
Let's level it off and take a shot.
Let's see.
We are aiming for skill 50 And ooh nah, we got 74 74 out of 50 so I did not get it
All right, hits the swamp water around it.
You think maybe you hit it, you're not quite sure.
It's close to the shape of it.
And then, Agent Ryan, what are you doing?
I'm pulling out my gun as well and getting in on this action now that my hands are free.
All right, you were dropping the rope as soon as Agent Barone got on shore.
You level your gun, go ahead and fire.
Poof.
That means I roll?
Okay.
I got 30, or no, 50 exactly.
You don't shoot one of your friends, you consider it a success.
It pretty wide though.
And you're prone, you briefly look behind you, are you shooting at me?
But now she is in fact shooting at the water.
And I'm like, so.
Shocking my eyes and a what the fuck look on my face.
Didn't you go through any type of arms trainees?
What is happening?
Exactly.
Yeah, I imagine Ryan closes his eyes and just starts clicking, but the safety is still on and then turns it off and squeezes one pop off, but eyes are still closed again.
Okay, everybody
So you see this uh figure step fully out of the water, has a very human looking chest, its face is disfigured, but the rest of it does look decidedly human with a green and blackish
tinge to it.
It is fully nude.
You see a strange monster penis hanging between its legs as it steps fully out at just the most awkward droopy sight ever in front of you.
And it
lunges and dives towards you, Barone?
And can you roll your dodge minus 30?
Sorry, minus 20.
Yep, I could do that.
So dodge is 30 minus 20 is 10.
It's a very, very little chance.
Let's see, we got a 38.
So it's a failure.
Okay, it succeeded with a 15.
So as it dives towards you, its fingernails have grown out long and are thick, covered in grime, and they catch your legs and scratch down your legs, and it sticks its fingernails
into you and starts to pull itself onto the shore using you as a means of momentum.
You take four HP damage from the claws.
Woof.
Alright.
Agent Sundusky, it's your turn.
Alright, I kinda give like a little to the barrel, a ch- tat tat towards the one that is looming over Agent Barone.
Fire away, that's a 42 and that'll do.
If I'm doing single shot, do we not do the lethality?
Thanks.
You still have lethality.
All right, lethality coming up.
Ding-Bong 13.
Okay?
So, yeah.
I guess I meant it's it's 67 I meant 13 points of damage
Shit, okay.
Yeah, you don't even need the lethality roll.
Barone, this thing is on you.
It looks like it's about to bear down on you.
And you just see a bullet enter through its jaw line and down into its shoulder.
And you see the bottom of its jaw just tear off and small, strange teeth fall out of its mouth.
And some even get embedded in its own shoulder as it flips.
a circle and barrel rolls off of your body onto the ground but tears out a decent chunk of skin as it does beside you and you are bleeding from your leg.
Jesus Christ, thank you immensely, holy shit, I'm gonna grab...
Shoot, guess one of my pieces of clothing and start stuff...
Well, is there anybody left?
There's one more, right?
The one you stabbed is still in there somewhere.
is fleeing in there somewhere.
I think priority number one is stopping the bleeding.
Because if those nails went that deep and there's that much blood and that other thing isn't coming for me, I think my first thing is stopping bleeding.
So I'm going to grab some piece of my clothing, preferably something that I won't need to put on immediately and start stuffing the wound if I can.
Yeah, go ahead and uh roll your power to see if you can push through this.
So just to be clear, so power times five.
So I'm looking for the 55%, correct?
Yep.
Great.
we got a 60.
So just barely over, failed.
Yeah, so you can use your willpower points to push through and heal yourself if you want.
So you would roll a d6 and then minus that from your willpower to push through.
push through so to push through a success man I think if not now then when yeah I'll absolutely do that did I want to roll higher low okay I got a six out of a d6 okay
You lose six willpower and you're able to pushing or grabbing your clothes and creating a makeshift tourniquet.
It's not bleeding.
It's not an artery, but there's a lot of blood.
Yeah, hey man, I'm gonna stop it if I can.
Nobody wants to bleed into a swamp.
Okay, as you see Barone trying to heal herself, Agent Ryan, Agent Sandusky, what are you doing?
what point are we rolling sanity for seeing a giant droopy monster penis?
Just curious.
As soon as the adrenaline calms, we'll get our sanity rolls.
Okay, just curious.
I'm just like, what just happened?
I just, I'm kind of embarrassed because my shot was so bad, but I'm also like relieved that, uh, we're, you know, we're not in an immediate threat anymore.
But I'm also just like scanning the water because I know that there's probably another one out there.
Okay, you're holding your shot, getting ready to fire on something.
So if something does pop out of the water, you'll get 20 % on your eye.
Okay.
Firearms.
Roll.
Sandusky, what are you doing?
I'm going on over to Barone.
I understand that the bleeding is one thing, but out here, like the you contracting one or a multitude of things seems like the bigger concern.
You know, if you haven't already, you're about to.
So I feel like the right thing to do by you would be to get us on out of here and get you some medical attention.
I was gonna say chop my legs off just right now and just keep the infection then I much prefer your plan we could just you know dip on out of here but we leave with no answers if
that's the case which I'm kind of okay with and I gesture down to my bloody legs
mean, it's not like we ain't coming back, but I guess my question is, are we fit to proceed as is?
Do we know what we're proceeding for other than to know something more than we do now?
Absolutely not.
tell you what, I would love to take a wrap and call this one, maybe come back later.
I'll start trying to get into my clothes so we can beat feet and get out of here.
Ryan, what do you reckon?
Yeah, I mean that sounds good and as you guys are kind of leaving I'm still facing the water with my gun out in case anything comes rushing towards us.
oh
pharmacy?
No.
Zero.
I have first aid and first aid only.
I have a little tiny bit of first aid.
Yeah, anybody can roll first aid to see how much they stabilize Barone.
I'm assuming you would all work together on this.
Absolutely.
Would I roll for myself?
Okay.
I'm looking for a 30.
Nope.
55 crit fail actually, I think is what that is.
Yeah, yeah, you, it hurts really bad and you're trying to do this yourself.
Want to get out of here as fast as possible and start rushing the job.
And it feels like maybe some mud got in there or something from your hands when you were doing this.
It feels dirty and you feel like the grains on your skin, but you're able to stop the bleeding.
Again, it wasn't an arterial wound, just hurt a lot and a big chunk of your skin came out.
Yeah, for sure, but it's a bit dirtier now.
Okay.
Okay, great.
Yeah, I get into my clothes, not even worrying about how wet they get.
It's just get them on and get rolling, toss the backpack on and start scrambling, scrambling on other.
um I think I'm good.
Well, I'm not good, but I'm as good as we could get.
Let's go.
Yeah, we work with what we got and we'll all start guiding this procession out of here.
Okay, yeah, give me survival or navigate.
Sure, 63 will not do it.
Can I take a survival or navigate at a minus maybe because I'm hurt?
see, we would have to sacrifice willpower at this point to even get to focus on that, which is fine.
Yeah.
so I imagine Dell, you're saying, let's get out of here.
Barone, you can walk just fine.
You're limping a little bit, but there's no, you're not extremely slow or falling over on yourself, right?
Go ahead and roll your power to see if you can push through to navigate out of here.
Sure, looking for a 55 % and I got a 25 so...
Great.
So we're going to give it a willpower cost, though.
So roll the D6, and that'll be what you sacrifice on the activation.
for
Okay, four more.
How many, how much willpower do you have left?
Yeah, dog, that was going to be my next question.
I have one.
We are left with one.
Okay.
So you see Dell fumbling around.
looks like you're getting lost, right?
You're like, God, I know that this wasn't the way you start to really just like pull it together, focus your energy and go ahead and roll your navigate or survival minus 20 %
because your willpower is so low.
Yeah, totally makes sense.
Navigate, uh, navigate's 80, so minus 20, we're looking for a 60, and I got a 69.
Okay, yeah.
Okay, you are starting to fumble through the sawgrass again.
I think panic's starting to set in at this point.
Everybody roll sanity based on the traumatic experience that you're starting to process now that you've gotten some distance from it.
undoubtedly yeah grow insanity now as well I feel
56
All right, Adele, you still lose one and put that in your unnatural.
Agent Ryan, are you gonna project onto a bond?
Yes.
Um, go ahead and roll me a d6.
D6 is a sick.
I am my rules today are terrible Terrible and then the D4.
Yeah
You are projecting on your dog still.
You think of that furry little creature.
For some reason, it just pisses you off in this moment, just to think about the dog.
You're not sure why, but you're able to hold back the acute episode you were on the edge of having and panicking and your flight almost kicked in, but you're able to stable
yourself in that.
Agent Barone, go ahead.
Roll me a D.
Sure, definitely my...
I do have the option to project as well.
If you uh
Nope.
ah
what came after and go into a but okay
No?
Nope, I'm good.
I'm good.
We're almost good over here.
I rolled a d6 and I got a six
Okay, so no escaping the acute episode.
When you think of Agent Barone losing her shit, there's a few ways it could go.
Fight, flight, or freeze.
What do think Barone would do?
Got it, yeah, no, for sure.
It would 100 % be flight.
There's nothing to fight.
Freezing isn't an option.
She's packed up, put all of her clothing on, is in ready, run, let's go mode.
So I think flight for sure.
Okay, everybody else, you see Agent Barone just start mumbling to herself and she's describing what she saw and it's not to you, it's not to anybody and she takes off as fast
as she can, which isn't as fast as she usually runs, but it's still quick and starts running through the sawgrass with no...
You see the sawgrass slapping up against her and cutting her as she charges through it.
What are you doing, Agent Sendeski and Agent Ryan?
I mean, I'm probably yelling after her, like, where are you going?
I don't care, just the fuck outta here.
Fuck this place.
I had to go in and try and prove myself and there's that and how do we get here?
Yeah, I think there's a lot of chasing and hollering and like a ho ho ho, hey, I know it ain't working the way that we planned it, but this ain't making anything any better.
You know, just some sort of appeal for like, yo, yo, yo, we all saw the same thing.
We all understand what we're working with here, but this ain't making anything any better for anybody.
Both of you roll your psychotherapy.
Plus 20.
Yeah, with the plus 20 I got it on 28.
okay.
You start shouting at Agent Barone.
You see her slow a little bit as you are.
She's still continuing to march out of here.
What do you do as you're catching up?
Yeah, hey, how do you brave you to be going and put your life on the line like that?
Ain't nobody expected what was about to come out of there and I'm sure you got the meanest face full of it first.
Why don't you tell me what you saw?
I mean, Del, like you just said, we kind of all saw the same thing and that was...
that was fucked, my guy.
I I expected something, maybe one, not four, and definitely not at that level.
I is this...
I mean, guess none of this is really normal, is it?
Oh, but whatever they are, you know, they've been at this for a long time, end up looking like that the way they did.
No shit, did you see their skin?
It was gross and green.
Not that I hate green, but Jesus Christ.
Yeah, it was a gaudy color, you're right about that.
No, I mean, they just have to be in real deep, whatever it is that they got.
So there's no way that those are the people from the town, right?
No way.
I don't know if I would go putting exclusives on anything out here.
It's an improbable hypothesis as far as you're concerned.
I might accept that.
Del, give me another psychotherapy this time, plus 40.
No, no dice.
Okay, Agent Barone, you're gonna have to continue to move and get out of here.
Yeah, absolutely, I'm not slowing down at all.
Yeah, if anybody wants to try to navigate around this and turn Barone in the right direction, you can, but Barone's just walking.
You have no clue where she is going.
Yeah, I mean I could I could try and navigate unless you want to try something right
Go ahead, you know, for me personally, I'm, my mind is still back there, but in not such a negative way.
I'm still like really curious about these things and I don't want to go too far from it, you know?
So I'm, I'm like torn between leaving what we just saw and also going after them and maybe she just needs some space is kind of what I convinced myself of the situation.
Are you still following them or are you gonna stay?
I'm slowly kind of still moving towards them, but I'm not in any rush to catch up.
Well, Agent Sundusky, it's probably up to you to get them out of here.
Yeah, I'll try and navigate and I feel like it's my job to keep up with Barone and if there is nothing wrong with Brian and he just doesn't feel like it, then I will do my best
to break and bend blades of grass as we're walking to leave a trail, but I feel no obligation to baby him at this point.
So yeah, I'll try and get us out of here.
Yeah, 31 out of 50 is good.
you
Yeah, you're walking and you're trying to calm Barone down, talking her through this, at least trying to get her to talk anything.
And you catch out of the corner of your eye the boardwalk that you know you crossed to get to this point.
And you can grab Barone and be like, turn or, know, however, you're gonna point that out is my guess.
Yeah, I'm gonna grab a little rock and I'm just gonna huck it over and so it'll make like the clack clack clack clack sound that, you know, nothing else would make that out here.
And hopefully she just kind of like frantically, you know, latches onto that.
Yeah, Brun, your attention is pulled at the sound of the rock and you see that, you know that's the fastest way out of here and in your panic right now, that's where you want to
be.
Absolutely.
Yep, and I start headed to it adult there there that and then I'll just start hoofing in that direction as quick as I can through this shitty shitty swine
Shoot, I know you'd find the way out of here.
Yeah, I mean, I'm surprised I saw it myself, really.
It's all me on that one, though.
Agent Ryan, what are you doing?
still kind of undecided, I think.
I don't really want to leave, you know, but I also don't want to like leave my agents behind.
So I'm kind of like looking back and forth and like still kind of moving in their general direction, but also not totally thinking clear about the situation, I think.
Yeah, you get to the boardwalk area, they've already started clunking on down it.
You see them pass through a corner under this canopy of trees and you have to decide whether you take that step onto the boardwalk towards them or turn around and walk back
into the swamp.
I take a minute, right, to decide.
I'm looking back at the swamp and everything in me wants to go in that direction, but there's still a little ounce of logic that pulls me up onto the boardwalk and I start to
follow the direction that they went.
you carry on towards him.
Since you are doing something counter to your obsession, any roles the rest of the day for you will be at negative 20 because you will be confused and focused on this swamp.
oh So since it's the first time dealing with obsessions, can you break down kind of what that is for me?
Yeah, she got an acute, or not acute, she got a mental disorder, which is obsession with the unnatural.
And so when she's encountered by it and loses that much sanity, she becomes even more obsessed and wants to go towards it.
And then to fight that, she will have to take 20 % on non-obsession related roles.
Love it dark.
Okay, cool
And then she rests for a night and gets her willpower back and then it's fine.
yeah.
You're walking down the boardwalk and it feels like deja vu and in a strange way you've been here, but you know, when you retrace your steps going the opposite way, a lot of the
time it also looks new.
So you get these strange flashes of like, I've been here, plus this is brand new.
And you finally find the trail.
You get to the fork in the trail before, and you know.
where your pickup truck is.
Right, Del, Del, is Ryan behind you?
I don't where?
And I'll just fish my keys out and start kind of jingling like, we, listen, I'm out, guy.
Like we gotta, we gotta get out of here and to somewhere else.
you
Yeah, who's driving?
but Rone's not letting anybody else in that driver seat.
is, she is itching to go.
And if anything, she pulls kind of like a half a half donut to, to spend the back around so Dell can jump right in and kicks the passenger side door open for Ryan.
Yeah, Ryan follows up a good minute and a half after you get there and flip your car around.
Are you jumping in the car, Ryan?
I'm stepping into the car, yes.
you close the door, Dell, you're in the back.
Yeah, there was definitely a momentary, like, Barone definitely thought she was the only one that was the candidate for driving, but it wasn't clear whether that was an option or
not.
But, like, she seemed steady enough.
Yeah.
All right, Barone, roll your drive.
Usually I wouldn't even have you roll, but since you're in this state, roll it.
No, totally makes sense, let's do it.
We are looking for 70 and we got a zero zero four so okay success
Yeah, you are focused on getting out of there.
This episode that you've just experienced is starting to fade.
You're coming down a little bit.
You have a headache that's pounding behind your eyes.
You realize that you've been sweating, your hair is soaked, and you finally understand, or you finally have some mindfulness around your breathing, and you are literally panting as
you're driving, and are able to calm that if you want.
Start heading.
out of the state park towards Otoka.
Where are you going?
Listen guy, hey, I'm sorry I lost it there.
I just had to get out of there.
I know you guys probably have dealt with shit like that over and over, but being on the newer side, you know, that's a bit for me.
I'm pretty fucked up though, and I look down and I'm bleeding through my pants.
I think I need some type of something.
That gas station, they might have something, I don't know, antibiotics, anything.
Is that alright with everybody?
Yeah, mean, Barone, you should save your sorries for something that really deserves it.
Ain't no accountin' for how a man'll react when you're faced with all manner or whatever.
I mean, yeah, or a woman, you know.
A or B.
Of course, that's what I meant.
We stopped there.
I think we could probably do a little better than the gas station for you, but if you would feel comfortable getting started, like, you know, let's get you a Gatorade or
something to sip on.
Yeah, let's do that.
I'm gonna put on some calming tunes for the drive to calm my nerves.
And I slam the radio to fucking 11 to the metal station that I know is in this area.
91.2, the grot.
The rot, Yeah.
Ozzy Osbourne kicks on the radio and you are flying down the two-lane road and you see the gas station that you passed on your way out here.
This one, just the A is lit up, but it's a gas station.
Okay, do I, so how am I looking right now?
We've decided that I'm decidedly wet from swamp mucking water and goo in my own blood and sweat.
How bad does this blood look through my pants?
Can you tell that it looks like she got stabbed in the leg by something?
Absolutely.
Your pants are bloody and in fact you're just wearing like a white tank top covered in mud because you don't have enough time to put everything on.
you're filthy.
Your face is covered in muck.
All of you are filthy but, Barone, you are the dirtiest.
Yeah, great.
think I will, um, pull up at a decent pace, not trying to draw any more attention than we're about to.
Um, and I'll pull over and, um, I know that they outlined that we have a toolbox in this bad boy, or at least they, uh, mentioned that.
So I'm going to pull over, pull the tarp back a little bit and open up that toolbox.
Um, in that toolbox, uh, is let's see all sorts of things.
uh
screwdriver and pliers set and an inspection mirror and some zip ties and duct tape and a couple other things.
And I'm rummaging through, um, make it a decent amount of sound until I find what I want, which is semi clean rags.
would say they were, you know, maybe oil stained ish, but not all over the place.
Um, and I would like to use some of those rags to at least clean up my face and then find something to wrap around that specific part of my leg.
I don't really care if people see
dirty jeans or whatever, but I don't want anybody seeing blood if at all possible.
Yeah, you have a shirt that's muddy that you can wrap around your waist that would cover it up.
What's everybody else doing?
I'm like very aloof in this situation.
Inside, and I'm not expressing this to anybody else, I'm feeling annoyed that we had to leave this site and, you know, attend to this matter.
I kind of know, like, that's, I'm kind of being an asshole about it, and I should care more about this situation, but I just don't.
for some reason and I just feel more annoyed that we're not exploring more of what we just saw.
Yeah, agents and dusky.
Yeah, I mean, I think I noticed that Ryan's got his undies in a bit of a twist, that there is kind of an unsettledness there.
And I'm gonna try and point him in a productive direction.
Like, everything that, every task that I try to set you to is maybe like, you know, so we can get on the road sooner so we can, you know, get back to the, you know,
what we really set out for, bucko, right?
Like trying to settle the unsettled child on the long road trip.
um See if maybe we can't just temper that while we find something to make Brougham feel better.
Perfect.
Barone, roll me first aid and then roll me a diff search of any amount.
Yeah, do have search.
Search is 54, so pretty good.
My first date is 30.
You want me to roll first date first?
Yeah, both.
Okay, yeah.
Sure, let's do first aid first.
may min for 30 and I get 14.
Yeah, so success.
Straight into search 001.
Which is a one, not 100.
Yeah.
So you, you're looking at this cut and you see that the, the whole front of a finger from this thing was jammed inside of your legs still.
Like it tore off from the momentum of Dell's shot.
And you have a section of finger and fingernail in there that you can grab hold of if you want.
And you're able to
Really use that duct tape and a rag to clinch that and fully stop the bleeding.
Like, in fact, do you feel like I could probably like jog a little bit for a few meters on this with that and how tight?
Nick, that is absolutely putrid.
I'm going to use the plier set that I just found in the toolbox and I'm going to pull that bad boy right on out with a healthy splurge.
Yeah, you pull it out and hold it up in front of your face.
Go ahead and roll sanity for helplessness though.
sure.
Sanity.
Failed.
6453.
Is it any different for helplessness?
You just don't add anything to a natural.
But you can click, do you see that adapted box that says helpless?
I sure do.
I was going to ask exactly that.
Got it.
You look at this finger, the forces at play here overwhelm you.
You feel very small in this moment as you've found this finger inside of your leg and you shake and drop it.
You're able to get it.
Go ahead and roll me a d4 to see how much sand you lose.
Sure.
I'm rolling so high, which is great, sometimes.
I got a four in that d- A short.
He should just left it.
Yeah, for sure.
You get patched up and are you going in the gas station?
Yeah, I think I have to find a number of things.
Clean water, isopropyl alcohol.
I mean, it's the 1990s, like a bunch of the stuff is still over the counter at this point in time.
I think I'm searching for any like antibacterials or crap.
are the pills called?
Still doing hydrogen peroxide.
We're doing mouthwash, if you gotta.
Mount Veyloz.
Yeah, anything like in that space that I could think of that, they would have this here just to start right into it.
Like, I'm feeling full of holes, gross, and you know, all over the place.
I'd like to just find anything to get me going in the right direction.
Great.
Yeah, you get in there.
You're able to definitely find peroxide mouthwash bandages You are not able to find any anti-fungal cream or things like that You find some ibuprofen and clean water some coke
Whatever, whatever tickles your fancy if you want even more cleaning power.
There is some bourbon whiskey as well
Hands down, she is a whiskey girl.
You know it my guy.
Yeah, I think I'll grab a bottle of that as well
Tampons are roughly finger sized.
You could just bandage up like that.
Just plug a bunch of holes.
You know, Del, that might have been a joke, but 100 % I got a nosebleed once.
Shove that bad boy right up in there.
It was fantastic.
Hey, you check my glove box at home.
I keep a whole box in there just in case.
You blow my mind every time I talk to you, hotel.
Yeah, yeah, brother.
Yeah, I'll grab tampons as well for sure.
100%.
That is not something I ever thought Dell would say.
No, me too, right?
He's a man of...
It's about the practicality of the situation.
It's just a bandage in a different package.
Yeah, sure.
Not like, women's rights or anything.
Don't put flowers on the boxes of bullets you think they'd kill any less good.
That's true.
That's fair.
So you get into this gas station, you have a hodgepodge, you go, you find the bourbon first and you're dumping him in this rusty basket and the disinterested teenager behind
the counter is kind of eyeballing you, sitting there leaning.
He's reading a book and it's Isaac Asimov Foundation and he is just watching you above his book and you kind of see him just kind of tracking you as you get everything.
You take it to the counter, he gives it a cursory glance and starts scanning.
says, sir, excuse me, he doesn't start scanning.
He starts writing the prices down on a receipt and typing them into a calculator to add up how much you have grabbed.
And then he says, did you find everything you need?
ah And I'm just dripping directly onto the ground?
Y-yes?
Yeah.
No, yeah.
Yeah, sorry.
Are you okay?
I like to swim in bogs sometimes.
How much is it?
Yeah, it's 1376, 1998, so.
Chris Twain.
A steel, no, a sloppy, wet, half-fungal 20 hits the desktop, or the tabletop.
Yeah, he reaches over, gingerly grabs it, kind of flops it out, throws it in the register, counts out your change, gives it to you.
like, hey, if you're in trouble or anything, lady, I got a phone over there.
Are you sure you're okay?
You know, that's actually extremely nice of you.
Yeah, keep asking when you see people in weird shit like this, but nope, I just like swimming in bogs.
Okay, um, well have a good day.
Thanks.
Hey, I might be right back.
think I might actually make a phone call on that.
I might see you here in a second.
Okay, yeah, yeah, free of charge.
Awesome, thanks.
And I'll grab my bag and walk out the front.
Ding.
Hey guys, so one, actually, extremely nice little podunk gas station, two, there's a phone in there if we want to call back.
What's our handler's name one more time?
Gary Butterfield.
If we want to uh call Butterfield and update it all, don't know if maybe we should wait until a little bit more privacy, but at least nothing can be tracked here.
Nobody's going to track a phone call from a gas station in middle of nowhere, I think.
Yeah, I mean, I don't think Butterfield would find that especially called for, but if you would like to be the messenger, you're more than welcome to.
I don't think we know enough about what we saying to him to give him the time of day.
The only thing I could think of is the brain in the bag.
Maybe we could have them start looking into it and digging before we destroy it.
But I mean, we are leaning that way immediately, I assume.
I guess that's a curious point.
anybody's ever seen or heard of something like this before, maybe there is precedent.
I hadn't thought about that.
Yeah, I mean, you've, you all have proved, I could lean on you quite a bit, so I think we could probably figure this thing out between us all together, but if we could get any more
information and have a bigger network to do that, I don't think that's a bad idea.
And I open my bag and I am grasping the brain.
And I really do not want to destroy this thing.
So I'm like, well, we don't have to destroy it, guys.
It's still intact.
We can just keep it the way it is.
And I'm happy to be the one to hold onto it.
a barone kind of side eyes Dell with like a, you, is this, you serious?
Kind of look on her face.
I mean, we can hang on to it while we work out its nature, as long as we think it has a purpose in this plot.
yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll hold on to it.
No worries.
Yeah.
Yeah, okay, I thought that's what you meant.
Barone, in that gas station, did they have a giant, like, jar of pickles near the cash register that you saw?
I'm I'm sorry, pickles?
Yeah, like giant dill pickles.
You know, fuck me, for some reason my mind was somewhere else I didn't even think about.
Maybe I should look for dill pickles.
ah What do you think?
I don't know, man.
maybe.
I don't know.
Probably.
Okay, just curious.
Just felt like a pickle.
You know now that you say that I could go for a pickle too.
And maybe some coffee.
Well see, like I was telling you, swamps and bogs ain't the same thing.
You fall into a swamp, you're gonna rot, but you fall into a bog and you'll be pickled.
It's an amazing thing.
car.
Little, little known knowledge.
Now we know.
Del, I hate to ask, but if you could make that phone call, think I have something to attend to and I just kind of show my whole body with my arms like this from head to toe
needs something done.
No, we got time.
Del just kicks up with a magazine in the back of the truck.
He is not
You son of a bitch.
Yeah, is anybody gonna call Butterfield?
Okay.
You go into the gas station, the teenager- Ow!
I wanna look for pickles too while I'm inside.
Yeah, you see bread and butter pickles.
Just kidding, it's still.
yeah.
Yeah.
You get there.
He's like, all of you guys are pretty beat up.
Are you okay, too?
Okay, cool.
it's back there.
And I just kinda like saunter back there.
squishy shoes sounding.
You call the number, you've all committed it to memory.
It takes some time, you know it's to a pager, and then you get a phone call back on the phone there.
Hey Butterfield.
Agent, is this Agent Ryan?
yeah, it's Agent Ryan.
Um, that's a quick call.
Anything to report?
Not too much.
You know, we've been in Oklahoma a couple days now.
know, Agent Barone really wanted me to make this call to report back in.
She's a little injured, you know, we're taking care of it.
Nothing unmanageable.
You know, we've definitely seen some activity and, you know, just wanted to report in and let you know.
This sounds like a giant waste of my fucking time, Agent Ryan.
What do you- what specifically are you reporting in?
That Barone got some scratches?
Is that what we're- I can send you a band- I'll airdrop you guys a band-aid.
Okay, we found pickles though in the gas station.
You were 30 seconds from me hiring another team to go out there and assassinate you.
uh
Okay, I'm sorry to waste your time.
Sorry, goodbye.
Bye.
So do you leave the gas station you get?
Okay, you got some pickles a bag of them he pours some of the juice in the the plastic bag for you So you just have yeah, so you have like a bag of six pickles
How much for the whole jar?
He's like, I mean, I've never sold anything.
He starts trying to count them.
He's like, no, just give me three bucks.
That's a great price.
Here you go.
And then I just come out of the gas station, like holding a giant plastic jug of
Barone, you're cleaning yourself up.
Sandusky, you're chilling out, maybe hyping up Barone.
It doesn't look so bad when you see your legs.
And you see Ryan coming out with a pickle jar in his arm.
And he's already has one chomping on it.
Any questions for him?
How's butterman?
He was thoroughly annoyed by me calling him and it was quite awkward to be honest.
What?
Yeah.
That doesn't sound like him.
Should we catch him on an off day?
He doesn't care what we're up to.
Yeah, I mean, I'm not sure if I was in his position that I would be quite awkward with a phone call like, hey, we found we went to a church that was infected with fungus and found
a swirl in the ground and dug it up.
it turns out under that was a brain in a canister with a photo of a family that was all messed up faces and a big scripture.
And, know, can you look into this?
I'd probably be pretty pumped that I had something to do in them.
Agents in the field were doing something.
I didn't tell him about any of that stuff, so...
Yeah, I just didn't think it was relevant.
what did make your list.
I'm curious.
I just told him about Agent Brown being injured and you know that we've seen some stuff but you know we're still investigating and we'll get back to him when we have something
more relevant.
Yeah.
That was the entire conversation.
huh, yeah, yeah, he was mad.
He had been threatened to send somebody to off me for calling him, so...
Yeah, you betcha, don'tcha know.
Absolutely, for sure, Ryan.
Gee, I wonder why.
And she slams the stuff back in the tool chest and slams the top.
Yeah, Ryan, I don't mean to come down hard on you, but I do think phone privileges are probably not in your best interest for the next little while.
It is funny.
It was funny.
Top to bottom.
Hilarious all the way through.
But I do like you somewhat, and I don't think
mean, nobody else wanted to call him, so go ahead.
Well, yeah, I mean, the other option I might suppose it could be not fucking calling him.
But, you know, here we are.
You know, fuck me, that's- this is all- I'm gonna step out on a limb and say this is all my fault, somehow, for suggesting this plan that made some sort of sense.
I guess I'll do it myself next time.
And I'll go and get in the driver's seat and shut the door and start the car quietly.
You all get in the car.
uh What time of day is it right now?
It's about noon.
wow, it's still midday.
Okay great.
Well gang, I know that didn't go quite so well, but we still do have our room at the motel.
I could use a shower.
And that's not an absolute dead end.
We do have two sets of tracks, one coming off the ranger station and one coming off of that town, kind of going in a singular direction.
And I pull out the map and kind of draw like where the tracks.
kind of went and like draw a rough line.
If I had to guess, you know, if we follow either of these tracks somewhere around here and I'll circle kind of a largest area, I can't get too close, but I would assume our guy is
there if we don't want to go immediately back to the swamp.
I don't know what the right course of action, but at least if I could get washed up and we do have a lead.
Roll your Navigate minus 20.
sure.
Navigate.
There it is.
uh So 80 minus 20 is 60.
So pretty good.
Nope.
Not good when you roll a 95.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah, you there's a wide area that you come down on.
It's hard to zero in on any like specific spot based on the data you have.
And you all pile into the car and headed back to the hotel.