Note: Ain't Slayed Nobody is produced for the ear and includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page. Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.

BLEEKER TRAILS, EPISODE 9: JUMP THE SHARK

cuppycup (Keeper): Ain’t Slayed Nobody is a produced actual play podcast intended for adults and may contain material that some people find disturbing. Please see the episode notes for content warnings and listen with care.

Grist: Schlatter! Fetch my dousing sticks. We have science to do. Did you see it? The sheer terror on your friend's faces. My pulse is racing. Take my pulse, dog, man. Feel that.

Chester: Tell me what you know! What the fuck?

Grist: Ah, yes. Forgive me. This must be traumatic for you. But on the brighter side, we have never observed this process fully before. From it, we can conclude that Mills, Fenshaw, and I assume others were abducted in a similar fashion. Which is to say, my hypothesis is starting to gain traction.

Chester: Then tell me what's going on.

Grist: These lands are cursed, of course, but reputable journals will dismiss that truth. We need conclusive evidence, and it seems that the ghostly squids are taking our people upward to El Capitan. The peak.

Chester: They're going to heaven...

Grist: If you wish. Religious allegory often soothes the mundane mind. The creature did, however, return Mills. But why? Perhaps if she should wake, we will have our answers before we too, are devoured.

Chester: Great. Wonderful.

Jimmy: Come on, Chester. What are we waiting for? Moni and Patience are like kin! We can't leave them to die. Did you see those tentacles, man?

Chester: Wow. Alright, alright, let's calm down. I'm trying to get more information from these people that have not been telling us the full truth, I feel like.

Jimmy: Oh, alright. I got you. You need me to muscle them?

Chester: Yeah. Jimmy, That's exactly what I need. Fuck.

Church: Oh, Grist! I've been informed that Mills has returned. Seems my theory. You simply bored her to death, that was an error. Apologies.

Grist: Shut up, Church. You sallow mule.

Church: Say, uh, does Mills have my peaches?

Grist: You'll know who if I ever find those peaches, because I'll be shoving them down your fucking throat.

Church: Oh, like your research, huh?

Grist: Oh, fuck you. I'll kill you.

"Dead Man Walking" by Cody Fry: (lyrics) I am a dead man walkin'. I see the light comin'. And it feels warm on my face, but I can tell it's gonna burn me down.

Church:  Oh, my back.

Grist: Mills found proof!

Church: I see no artifact.

Grist: You are ruining my search for Atlantis.

Jimmy: Can you believe these guys?

Grist: You're older than I thought, Church.

Church: Oh, you are even fatter than I thought. I'm sure you broke one of my ribs. *groans*

Grist: Clearly, I should be the one to care for Bertha. I have more longevity in the field.

Church: Over my dead body!

Grist: Gladly.

Chester: Has this happened before?

Church: Defending one's superior publications is an occupational hazard, especially from lesser minds.

Grist: He means the creature swallowing his friends, you idiot.

Church: Oh. Well, they've attacked our camp before, yes. We think they took Fenshaw and Mills. Dragged them up the mountain, I presume.

Chester: But you all saw it?

Grist: No, no, not exactly.

Chester: What do you mean, not exactly?

Grist: We found torn clothing, loose articles, things like that, until we ascended beyond our comfort.

Chester: I thought I gagged you.

Grist: You did. But we have more pressing matters than another budding grudge. I will help you find your friends, and in return, you will help me find Atlantis.

Chester: Yes. Up the mountain.

Grist: No point in waiting around here to die.

Chester: Let's do it. Do you all have weapons?

Grist: Weapons? Well, your friend stole all of ours, but you have your teeth and claws. And I do still have my dagger. I got that from a sailor in Edgewater, you know.

Chester: Great.

Jimmy: Let's go be heroes, Chester!

Chester: Oh, Jesus. Ok. Yep. Let's go.

cuppycup (Keeper): After gathering what supplies you need, the three of you start up the rocky slopes of the Guadalupe Mountains toward the summit of El Capitan. You're almost an hour into the trek before daylight starts to fade to a blood red and dusk looms over the campsite far below.

Grist: Fenshaw was last seen in this area. If we can perhaps locate him or his remains, we may discover some answers.

Chester: Why didn't you do this before?

cuppycup (Keeper): The sand and grit of the desert are giving way to cracked dried mud, and the smell of death thickens the air.

Grist: Because of that.

Chester: Great. This is great. Really loving this.

cuppycup (Keeper): In the dim, dying light, Chester, you see vultures and crows gorging themselves on a dried slurry of dead fish and rotting mud. It looks to have spilled out from the peak of the mountain, despite the impossibility of that idea. The three of you trudged through thick mud on the sloping dead sea floor as you near the peak. You're surrounded on all sides by the rancid, festering rot of marine life, baking in the desert sun, bloated bodies and slimy, slick earth.

Brandon (Chester): Ok. What else?

cuppycup (Keeper): The thrum of flies and other scavengers. They're particularly attracted to you, Chester.

Brandon (Chester): I would rather not.

cuppycup (Keeper): Despite the smell and these clouds of biting insects, you can't help but notice the mud getting deeper and deeper above your knees now.

Brandon (Chester): Ok, that's not good. I don't know. Like.

Jimmy: Hey, maybe we should turn around. I don't swim so good. It's kind of pulling my shoes off.

Grist: We're almost there. Now isn't the time for cold feet. The key to Atlantis must be here somewhere.

Church: Yeah...

Jimmy:  Oh, I see what you did there.

cuppycup (Keeper): Fighting through the slick mud and slime, you wade deeper and deeper. You feel the submerged bones and decaying fish break into burst underfoot. Then something long and sleek slithers against your leg.

Jimmy: *terrified* Whoa. Chester, was that you?

Chester: Jimmy, shut up.

cuppycup (Keeper): As you turn to address Jimmy, you see him pulled savagely under the mud, spluttering and gasping. He claws at the surface in a panic. If you want to help him, I'll need a STRENGTH roll.

Brandon (Chester): Great. Yeah, That's a SUCCESS.

cuppycup (Keeper): Pulling on Jimmy's arms, you drag him free of the mud, but reveal large coiled worm-like creatures. They're wrapped around his torso and legs, their mouths buried deep into his flesh. They tense, and Jimmy is snatched downward again. Grist wheels around and starts to pry at them, digging his dagger into their heads until the two of you manage to pull him free.

Grist: I've never seen such creatures. What on earth are these things? Marvelous. Marvelous. I shall name them Vermis Gristus Maximus. See how Church likes that!

Jimmy: Chester! Chester, you saved me.

cuppycup (Keeper): He collapses on to you in a grateful hug.

Chester: Get off! Get off. *snarls* 

Jimmy: Thank you. Thank you. I could have died.

Brandon (Chester): Can I check out the worm?

cuppycup (Keeper): Oh, yeah. It was a long, slimy worm, about six inches around and probably longer than you are tall.

Brandon (Chester): That's respectable. Ok, great. Wonderful.

cuppycup (Keeper): You even got a glimpse of its pincer jaws as you pried them from Jimmy's torso.

Brandon (Chester): Ok.

cuppycup (Keeper): You can all push your way through the deep mud until you can climb to a drier surface. Ahead further up the mountainside, the air is thick with insects. They swarm over innards spilled from great carcasses. The ribs of a monstrous creature clog the route and form a twisting passage to the peak.

Grist: Remarkable. Stay close.

Chester: Yes. Ok.

cuppycup (Keeper): Some of the fleshy bits are popping as though they're frying in the sun.

Brandon (Chester): Yeah. No, that's good. Yeah.

Jimmy: *terrified* Oh, shit. Where are we?

cuppycup (Keeper): The good news is you can see the summit from here.

Brandon (Chester): Ok. That is good news. Wonderful news.

Jimmy: *panicking* I don't know, Chester. Maybe we should head back. I don't want to camp up here.

Chester: Nope. I think it's too late to turn back now.

Jimmy: You're right. Of course, it's already past dark. Maybe we could just find the safest spot here. Build a big old fire. We'll huddle together. I brought my harmonica. See? Oh. Oh. Where is it? Oh, man, we got to go back for it.

Chester: No, I think it's time to get to the top, see what we can do.

Jimmy: Oh, well, say, could I ride on your back? This bite, it's given me fits.

Chester: No, you cannot. Nope.

cuppycup (Keeper): The ground is slick with mud and entrails. I'd like a DEX roll.

Brandon (Chester): Great. Thank you. It was a HARD SUCCESS.

cuppycup (Keeper): I'll make a single DEX roll for your companions, and they just need to beat 50.

Brandon (Chester): Of course.

cuppycup (Keeper): Chester, you've walked ahead of the group and Jimmy is sprinting to try and catch up with you.

Jimmy: Hold up, Chester. We got to stick together.

cuppycup (Keeper): He slips on a length of putrefying guts, falling hard against the bloated carcass which violently explodes, hurling him into the air with chunks of guts and bone. The reeking slabs of flesh pound down around you as the air is filled with the animal's wretched internal gases. This explosion is likely to obliterate Jimmy and injure anyone within 30 feet or so.

Brandon (Chester): Including me.

cuppycup (Keeper): That does include you. I'll roll 4d6 damage for Jimmy.

Brandon (Chester): Yikes.

cuppycup (Keeper): Jimmy is delivered back to the ground among the rain of blubber, blood and bone. And he lies unmoving. He is unconscious, but breathing. For you, Chester and Grist, I'll roll 2d6 to see what shrapnel might impale you.

Brandon (Chester): *sarcastic* Ok, great.

cuppycup (Keeper): Grist appears mostly unscathed. Only a small bone impels his foot, which he gingerly pulls out, wincing.

Grist: Oh. What in the hell?

Brandon (Chester): And then you want me to roll the 2d6 for myself?

cuppycup (Keeper): You can roll it or I can do it.

Chester: Ok. No, it's fine. I trust you. It's fine. How bad could it be?

cuppycup (Keeper): A wicked splinter of rib hurtles down and spears Chester through the shoulder and punches out of your back for 10 DAMAGE.

Brandon (Chester): Wonderful.

cuppycup (Keeper): The bone also grazes your ear, reopening the wounds again.

Brandon (Chester): Same ear? Yeah. Ok, cool. That's good. I feel great.

cuppycup (Keeper): The damage was less than half of your max hit points, right?

Brandon (Chester): It was 19 out of 22. No, 9. 9 out of 22.

cuppycup (Keeper): Ok. You narrowly avoided a major wound and remained conscious, but you're in agonizing pain. The impact does knock you off your feet. And you could give me a STRENGTH roll if you want to remove the impaling bone. Medically, that might not be the wisest thing, but it could help you move around.

Brandon (Chester): Wonderful. I FAILED the STRENGTH roll. But it's a 55 under 50. Should I just use some LUCK? I should burn some LUCK here. 5 LUCK.

cuppycup (Keeper): It's up to you.

Brandon (Chester): Yeah, let me just burn 5 LUCK.

cuppycup (Keeper): Since you burned LUCK, I won't take further DAMAGE for this.

Brandon (Chester): Thank you. *growling in pain*

cuppycup (Keeper): Jimmy's lying 20 feet behind you, unconscious, covered in what looks like blubber.

cuppycup (Keeper): Yeah, but Jimmy's like a small kid. How big is Jimmy?

cuppycup (Keeper): He's a pretty average-sized man. You think maybe he's put on a little weight since you met Grist.

Chester: Can you grab him, please?

Grist: Have you not seen my grievous foot wound? I can perhaps drag him, but I'm not carrying the imbecile.

Chester: Ok, Whatever.

cuppycup (Keeper): Professor Grist starts to drag Jimmy along, getting about three feet. Then vultures land and hop after them, trying to pick at Jimmy's wounds.

Brandon (Chester): Oh, fuck. Great. Wonderful. Ok, I'm going to do a STRENGTH test real fast.

cuppycup (Keeper): Sure. The innards are still raining down as you challenge the birds.

Brandon (Chester): Alright. HARD SUCCESS. I can pull Jimmy out from the innard eating. 12/50. Jimmy's coming with us. Get him out of there and tell Grist,

Chester: Get Jimmy up the pass.

cuppycup (Keeper): The vultures take flight again and circle overhead as you hike the last stretch to the summit. After a few minutes of struggling, you make it to the top.

Brandon (Chester): We're at the top?

cuppycup (Keeper): Maybe cresting the pass. You find yourself at the peak of El Capitan. There you find a shallow pool of water in an indent.

Brandon (Chester): Yeah.

cuppycup (Keeper): It's surrounded by the remnants of a campsite. Tents lie beneath the mud, their poles sticking out like broken ribs.

cuppycup (Keeper): So is it a Texas Tech campsite?

cuppycup (Keeper): No, Baylor. Give me a SPOT HIDDEN for Chester.

Brandon (Chester): Ok. Let me do a SPOT HIDDEN. It is a SUCCESS. It's a 29/50.

cuppycup (Keeper): You see bodies in the mud. A hand here, a leg there, a face with a crab making a home in the mouth. These seem to be students. I'd like a SANITY check for Chester.

Brandon (Chester): Let's see. Here we go. It is a FAIL, it's a 42/39. Am I able to LUCK?

cuppycup (Keeper): No, not on SANITY.

Brandon (Chester): No.

cuppycup (Keeper): Roll a d4.

Brandon (Chester): It is a 2.

cuppycup (Keeper): You are certain as you come up closer to the shallow pool that this must be where the ocean has been pouring out. You aren't sure how, but you're sure you're not mad. It's the only logical explanation. This is the epicenter of a bizarre occurrence. And the results are clear from the salt, mud and dead sea life that has cascaded from here. 

Grist: *grunting with effort* Oh, you could have helped me drag the bastard. Ho, ho, ho! You have found the source. Good boy.

cuppycup (Keeper): The professor drops Jimmy's legs unceremoniously and jumps into the water as if searching for something.

Brandon (Chester): The fuck?! 

Grist: Atlantis, where art thou? How did this happen?

Chester: You tell me.

Grist: Peculiar. You ever see anything like this, young man?

Chester: You're calling me a young man?

Grist: Oh, young pup.

Chester: Alright. I have not. And I don't appreciate that tone.

Grist: You corrected me.

Chester: When you started talking to me. Do you know these dead people?

Grist: Some. I did not realize how many the Aggie camp had lost. It's tragic. But you know how archeology can be.

Chester: No, I don't.

Grist: I should have gathered.

cuppycup (Keeper): The sky swirls with purples like twilight. Grist is licking at the air.

Chester: But what are you doing?

Grist: Hmm? Salty. You didn't notice?

Chester: I do. I just thought that...

Grist: I wondered if dogs might not taste salt.

Chester: Alright. Jesus Christ. Do we want to spend the night up here, or do we get back down before it gets too dark?

Grist: No, it's already dark. But spending the night here does seem precarious, especially with you and your friend requiring urgent medical attention and my poor foot.

Chester: But you want to travel down the mountain at night. Hmm.

Grist: I'm not keen to sleep beside the pool of dead bodies. There's no good answer. And could we leave him here? I feel like he can fend for himself.

cuppycup (Keeper): Gesturing to Jimmy.

Chester: Jimmy, how are we doing?

Grist: I believe he's still unconscious.

Chester: Is he?

Grist: Yes, but he looks peaceful.

Brandon (Chester): If I did like a Sam/Frodo, just carried him on my back, if we went down the mountain, it shouldn't be that hard for me, right?

cuppycup (Keeper): Yeah. The tricky parts would be navigating the exploding animals and swamp worms in the darkness.

Brandon (Chester): Sure, I guess. Is there, like, an opportunity for a SPOT HIDDEN or something of looking for an alternate route down the, down the mountain? Or is it just... Is it just this?

cuppycup (Keeper): The environment is changing around you, and I will take that SPOT HIDDEN.

Brandon (Chester): Well, that was a FAIL. I did FAIL the SPOT HIDDEN. And so, you know, that's good.

cuppycup (Keeper): Something cold brushes against Chester, but when you turn, you only catch a glimpse. It was strange. Like a fish darting past, then disappearing into the ether.

Chester: Did you feel that?

Grist: I admit you are an interesting specimen, but I really must focus on Atlantis.

Chester: Oh, Jesus. Did you feel something brush against you?

Grist: Mother of God. What is that?!

cuppycup (Keeper): He points slackjawed at the ghostly form of a two foot long primordial fish. It swims through the air in slow, undulating, predatory thrusts.

Chester: Cool. Good. Normal. You see that, too?

cuppycup (Keeper): Just then, a giant sea scorpion bursts from the mountain and runs the fish in two before it starts to devour it, thrashing.

Chester: What is this?

cuppycup (Keeper): Above in the twilight, those aren't vultures, Chester. Sharks now circle in their place. They dive down to nudge at you, curiously bristling the hair on your arms. I'll need another SANITY check.

Brandon (Chester): Great. Also a FAIL.

cuppycup (Keeper): Let's take a d6.

Brandon (Chester): Yeah, I'll roll. So it's a 2.

Chester: Well, what the fuck is going on? What is that?

Grist: This is a group hallucination. I've read about this.

cuppycup (Keeper): The air is cloying and cold. Every part of you feels sluggish as currents push and pull at your feet and you could swear you see Jimmy get lifted up into an invisible surf as he's pushed several feet down the slope.

Brandon (Chester): Can I try to reach out and grab him and pull him back towards me?

cuppycup (Keeper): Sure you can. Without a rope, I'll let you fetch him. But it feels like you're walking through water. Each breath becomes more labored until you're sent into a coughing fit. Your clothing soaks through.

Brandon (Chester): I peed myself.

cuppycup (Keeper): Your fur is wet, too, And one of the fish swims through you, Chester.

Brandon (Chester): What does it feel like?

cuppycup (Keeper): Like something knocking the wind out of you.

Brandon (Chester): Am I able to reach out and touch the fish or touch the things around me? Like try to put my hand through it?

cuppycup (Keeper): Yeah, sure. You can put your hands out and grab it things as they swim by. There are more of them every second as your hand passes through them. Like ghosts.

Brandon (Chester): Hmm. So I can assume that if I shot one, it wouldn't do anything.

cuppycup (Keeper): It's a good assumption. The surging air gathers and pushes like a strong current lifting your body.

Brandon (Chester): Oh.

cuppycup (Keeper): Drifting upward, the peak is now ten feet below you, the frigid air congealing and thickening as each salty lung full runs out of your mouth with the building pressure. The wind crashes wetly, and sounds become sharply mute as you are submerged into an ocean, held aloft in the serene black depths. Those ghostly creatures suddenly seem awfully real indeed.  
Let's see what became of Moni and Patience. Patience saw Moni entangled by a monstrous, tentacled creature and ran in to pull her from its grasp. Instead, Patience was wrapped up and vanished with Moni. Moni aas in a BOUT of MADNESS And I'd like to start by asking Patience for a SANITY roll.

Rina (Patience): 64 under 70. SUCCEEDED.

cuppycup (Keeper): You lose 1 point.

Rina (Patience): Ok. I'm at 69. Nice.

cuppycup (Keeper): You both find yourselves together in a corridor. It's lit by the pinpoints of light leaking in from alabaster walls, veined with yellows and black. With little light, you can only make out vague shapes, but you are sure the walls are growing, moving, warping and changing the corridor, shrinking it to a crawl space.

Bridgett (Moni): Oh God.

cuppycup (Keeper): As the walls close in, you find that they are carved with frozen faces which stare at you.

Patience: I don't think we're in Texas anymore.

cuppycup (Keeper): The faces and now growing hands pull at your hair as they collapse around you, tasting and smelling at you. The walls finally retract and you see they are part of a larger embossing, the scale beyond your comprehension. But the details are so precise. You think it's an account of human history, but the scenes closest to you are familiar. There, the faces twist into sickly expressions and blacken into mockery of your own thoughts and nightmares. Moni, you see Addison engulfed in flames, her pleas for mercy lost to you.

Bridgett (Moni): Oh God.

cuppycup (Keeper): Patience, you see three people lying in the desert, spouts of blood gushing from them, leaking down the wall from bullet-sized wounds.

The Mural: *sarcastic* Wow. I wonder what might have killed us, Patience?

Patience: Where the fuck are we?

Bridgett (Moni): Can I touch the face in the wall? Can I hug her? Can I grab her?

cuppycup (Keeper): Oh, I would love for you to do that.

Bridgett (Moni): She has to try.

cuppycup (Keeper): The easiest thing in your continuing BOUT OF MADNESS might be pressing your face to Addison's.

Bridgett (Moni): Oh, yeah. Face to the wall where there's Addison. And she's crying at this point.

Moni: I'm not going to let him hurt you again. Come with me. It's fine. I found you.

cuppycup (Keeper): Moni's face begins to melt into this calcified form of Addison, and I'm going to make a roll.

Bridgett (Moni): Oh, shit.

cuppycup (Keeper): You feel like you're pulled through the wall into the Fair Shake Saloon. You're behind the bar with a snaking line of people queued before Mr. Friend. Each person stops at his table to pay him.

Mr. Friend: Oh, thank you. *chuckles* Much obliged.

cuppycup (Keeper): Mr. Friend is stacking coins beside him, adding to the many piles. He marks off each payment on a large ledger. The next person up is Jimmy. But Jimmy can't pay. Jimmy doesn't have any money.

Mr. Friend: Hmm. Uh, come a little closer. Put your finger in here. There we are.

cuppycup (Keeper): And so Mr. Friend kindly takes one of his fingers with a cigar cutter.

Bridgett (Moni): *gasps*

Mr. Friend: *chuckles Run along now.

cuppycup (Keeper): More people pass through the line until it's Milford's turn. Milford can't pay either.

Moni: *yelling* No, I'll pay it!

Mr. Friend: Oh, boo hoo. Well, you know what that means. Come on over.

cuppycup (Keeper): And Mr. Friend makes a mocking pout as he sharpens his knife and moves toward his nose.

Moni: I'll pay it!

cuppycup (Keeper):  And you fall away from the wall hard.

Moni: Oh, God. Jesus.

Rina (Patience): Patience is looking at the three faces, takes their hat off and holds it across their chest. And they're just muttering,

Patience: Thought I did what was best. I was just trying to help.

cuppycup (Keeper): The three of them are joined by more, 20 in all. Each face burned into your memory matches an ugly scar on your arm. They beg you for mercy. The faces change as you move down the corridor. But always the same 20 people pleading for their lives.

Patience: It was only right, what you got. You didn't leave me no choice. Didn't do it lightly, you know that. You had taken lives like they was your own to take. Can't make me feel bad for that. Them three, maybe. But not you lot. You deserved it. And I live with it every day.

cuppycup (Keeper): It's becoming clear to both of you that this is more than a hallway. It's more like a morphing labyrinth with no apparent way out. Give me NAVIGATE rolls.

Bridgett (Moni): Jesus.

Rina (Patience): Oh, man. I FAILED by 2 points.

Brandon (Chester): Guys, I only have a 10% on this one. That's a FAIL.

Rina (Patience): I'm going to PUSH the roll because I don't have that much LUCK.

cuppycup (Keeper): Ok, ok

Bridgett (Moni): Oh, shit.

Rina (Patience): Yeah. So I'll light a match and I'll try and make a burn mark on the wall in various locations.

cuppycup (Keeper): Sure. That's promising.

Rina (Patience):  It's going to go horribly, horribly wrong. It'll be great. Oh, I succeeded! 40 on 40.

cuppycup (Keeper): Oh, my God. Exactly!

Rina (Patience): Exactly right. Oh, my God.

cuppycup (Keeper): That's amazing.

Bridgett (Moni): God loves patience.

cuppycup (Keeper): Despite the wails of the people trapped here, you're not letting that distract you, are you Patience? Angry faces try in vain to blow out your match as you stalk through the hall. They snag and pull at your clothing as you pass. You head into a low curling mist of churning colors. Moni, Patience guides you along, stumbling through the shifting corridors until you recognize the screams you heard from Grist's tent. You thought it was Addison, but now struck with clarity, you remember it coming from the unconscious Professor Mills, who appeared from black ooze. 

Moni: Patience? I don't... I don't know what just happened. I don't... I don't know where we are. You're moving like you know where we are. Do you know where we are?

Patience: Always been good at just...finding my way in and out of things. I suppose it's good in the desert. I don't know where we are.

Moni: Do you hear the screams?

Patience: Mm hmm. If you listen to my ma, she'd say something like purgatory. I don't believe in such things, at least I didn't. But don't know what to say about it now that I'm in it.

Moni: How did you get in it?

Patience: Grabbed on to you. You was flicking in and out of something. So I was trying to pull you out and ended up here.

Bridgett (Moni): And you just get attacked with this huge hug where she just...straight to the chest.

Rina (Patience): Patience looks a little flustered, but returns it.

cuppycup (Keeper): It's a nice moment that's interrupted by the sound of a woman loudly cursing.

Mills: How the fuck do I get out of here, you cocksuckers?! God damn it! Jesus fucking Christ.

cuppycup (Keeper): You see something larger than a pinpoint of light in that area.

Rina (Patience): I look at Moni.

Patience: I think perhaps we should go find our fellow traveler.

cuppycup (Keeper): And give me LISTEN rolls as you enter this new section of hallway.

Rina (Patience): Oh, God, I FAILED.

Bridgett (Moni): Ooh. Moni came through swinging with the EXTREME! 2 out of 55.

cuppycup (Keeper): Ok! Moni, there's something resonating beyond the cursing. It starts as a low rumble. A din of muted noise grows from all around you from both directions. You make out jibbers and hooves, wails and laughter, all descending on your location.

Moni: Mx., we've got incoming from the north east, and it's coming fast.

Rina (Patience): I'm going to pull both of my revolvers out. Cross-body draw.

cuppycup (Keeper): Ok.

Patience: Well, we'll be ready for 'em, won't we?

cuppycup (Keeper): The woman from the camp is prying at the pinholes with a tool, chipping at the alabaster. And she's made considerable progress. But none of you could squeeze through just yet.

Bridgett (Moni): Huh.

Moni: Mills?

Mills: Ok, who the shit are you supposed to be?

Bridgett (Moni): She looks at Patience.

Moni: Who the fuck did... Who the fuck came out of the hole if she's here?

Mills: Ok, well, don't just stand there with your thumbs up your fucking cunts. Come on. They're coming. And we got to break into this.

Rina (Patience): We'll run in.

Bridgett (Moni): Yeah.

cuppycup (Keeper): The hole's not big enough for any of you, but if you'd like to help Mills, I would take a POWER roll. Let's have whoever has the lowest power make this roll. But I will give you a BONUS.

Bridgett (Moni): I FAILED the shit out of that. Come on, guys. 63 over 45.

cuppycup (Keeper): Did you roll the bonus?

Bridgett (Moni): That would have been a 33 under 45. Made it. Boom!

cuppycup (Keeper): Together you pull at the wall. The faces biting at your hands turn to clay and you're clawing away your accusers, Patience, widening the wound in the wall.

Mills: Oh, you beautiful fuckers. Yeah, that's it. Come on, now. Push.

cuppycup (Keeper): The wall gives you all push through, catching glimpses of malformed creatures lumbering and climbing up the corridor. Patience, as you fall through, the wall starts to claw at itself, hauling clods of alabaster back into place until you can't even tell where it was. The wall is gone. The three of you are standing on a vast stretch of beach, the salty breeze blustering at your clothing, with a lone tent in the distance.

Patience: What in damnation?

Mills: Oh, for fuck's sake, these fucking delusions. This is Fenshaw's fault, somehow, I just know it. That fucking prick must have dug into a poisonous vent or something. I mean, I'm probably dying in the desert somewhere, and that ain't no way to go. All I remember is being just tangled up in this massive jellyfish thing. And then I was here. I mean, I wandered these halls for what seemed like goddamn ages. And then I saw him in the fucking halls.

Patience: Well, I don't know about no jellyfish, but we did see something returnin' you to camp.

Mills: But what the fuck are you talking about? What camp?

Patience: You're in camp. Asleep. But you're in camp.

Moni: Or something that looks exactly like you, sweetie.

Mills: I don't understand. Look, I've been stuck here ever since shithead Fenshaw found that fucking egg or whatever the hell it was.

Patience: We've been looking for him, too. But what's this about an egg? First I've been hearing of it.

Mills: Ok, look. During the second expedition, there was this torrential flood that hit the tents. And there were these just, I don't know, these creatures. It was just confusing as fuck. But after that, lots of our people were just gone. I took this red, you know, crystal, that Fenshaw found to show Professor Grist, and that's what he called an egg. And then Grist and Fenshaw had this huge fight over it. Like, Grist was convinced that this was the key to Atlantis and all history. I don't know. Church thought it was God damned peaches and I... Ok. So are y'all my angels or some shit? I mean, how the hell did you get here?

Patience: That's the first time I've ever been called anything like that.

Rina (Patience): Wry smile.

Mills: Oh, I nearly forgot the most fucked up part. So one of those jellyfish came for Grist, and that little bitch pushed me into it to save his own worthless fucking ass, if you can believe that.

Patience: Oh, I can believe it. Last time we saw them, they were arguing over cans of peaches.

Moni: Oh, the fucking cans of peaches.

Mills: No, that's the goddamn egg or the crystal. I really think it was a crystal.

Patience: Oh, well, we don't know how we got here or where we are, but I can assure you it's no kind of delusion.

cuppycup (Keeper): You hear waves crashing in the distance and smell the ocean breeze.

Patience: I ain't never seen an ocean before.

Moni: Baby, I still don't think you have. I mean, this is no real ocean. This right here? This shit is fucked. Some horrible goddamn nightmare.

Patience: Have you been inside that there tent?

Mills: No. Before y'all got here, I wasn't able to get out of that goddamn hallway. God, what the fuck am I even doing here? What the fuck is this? All this for Aagoddamn egg, crystal, whatever. Fucking Fenshaw. Knew that motherfucker was trouble the moment I laid fucking eyes on him and Church and his goddamn peaches. You know what? Fuck them. Fuck those cocksuckers. Fuck all this. Fuck this shit.

Patience: I'm going to go have a look at this here tent. Seems better than just sitting around doing nothing.

Mills: Good idea. Maybe there's an exit from this fucking shithole.

Bridgett (Moni): Moni is actually going to follow Patience to see what's going on in the inside of this tent flap as well. She'll leave Mills.

Bridgett (Moni): The shoreline runs for miles and miles in each direction. You faintly see a coastal desert in the distance, but your attention is going to be drawn to several holes dug out of the sand surrounding this tent.

Patience: Well, howdy? Anyone in there? Hello?

Jimmy: You see the top of a man's head as he darts upright in one of the ditches. He begins to wave his hands frantically.

Fenshaw: Oh! Hello? Hello? Who? Whose voice is that? Hello?

Rina (Patience): Patients just kind of waves with a raised eyebrow.

Patience: Just what you're doing in that there hole?

Fenshaw: Oh, come on over. Come on over. Come closer. Yes, yes, Come closer.

Patience: Uh...Well, now, about that...

cuppycup (Keeper): What makes you all so paranoid?

Rina (Patience): I wonder fucking why.

Moni: Do you have a name, sweetheart?

Fenshaw: Monty. Monty Fenshaw. You probably recognize the name, though. No need to be shy. Famous explorers like me are just like you normal people are.

Patience: They're looking for you back there.

Fenshaw: Who's looking for me? Professor Church? Mills?

Patience: All of them. Well, Mills is back over there.

Rina (Patience):  And I'll point up towards her.

cuppycup (Keeper): Fenshaw is struggling to climb out of his sandpit. Now you'll see he's dressed in colonial Explorer attire. He's shielding his eyes from the sun, looking around.

Fenshaw: You... You said Mills is with you.

Patience: Well, she was just there.

cuppycup (Keeper): And in fact, you don't see Mills. You're not sure where she could have gone, because you have a clear line of sight for miles around.

Fenshaw: Well, don't worry. I've been seeing things come in and out of the sand, but we should probably get back to digging. Don't waste time. Each of you start a new hole. The more holes we can dig, the more fossils we can find.

Patience: Have you found any fossils on this here beach?

Fenshaw: Did you not hear my name properly? Fenshaw! I always find fossils. Famous for it, you know. Look in any of those excavations, if you don't believe me.

Rina (Patience): I'm going to go to the hole that's the furthest away from him, so I can't be pushed in or anything of that sort.

cuppycup (Keeper): *amused* Ok. There are dozens of holes, so you can keep your distance.

Rina (Patience): Alright. So I'll pick one and take a cautious look inside. Not expecting to see anything. I think he's delusional.

cuppycup (Keeper): You do see a little piece of fossil sticking up out of the watery bottom of the hole. It looks like a twisted bone.

Patience: Well, now, Professor, what should I see seeing in this here hole?

Fenshaw: I'm looking for the perfect fossil. I need it. I had it and I lost it. Someone stole it from me. It's... It's buried somewhere here on the beach. And we just need to keep digging.

Patience: Why?

cuppycup (Keeper): And he's pointing to Moni.

Fenshaw: Excuse me, ma'am. Could you be digging too? It will look like an egg. Hmm. Chop, chop. While we still have light.

Bridgett (Moni): Moni is going to give him, like, the really understanding double nod with the thumbs up. And then if she can, she's going to either try to tumble or jump over the holes to get into the flap of the tent.

cuppycup (Keeper): Give me a DEX roll to see if you can get over to the tent flap over a narrow bridge of loose sand. 

Bridgett (Moni): Alright. Ha! So she hit a 62 over 60. I will burn the 2 LUCK to just go ahead and make that a REGULAR SUCCESS.

cuppycup (Keeper): And do you still have all those guns you took from the camps tied to your dress? They make a clacking sound as they trail behind you.

Patience: Professor? Are you looking for a Bertha?

Fenshaw: No, Bertha might be intriguing, but I mean, the perfect fossil, an egg. So detailed, you can see the embryo inside as if. As if it's hard to stop. Now, each time I dig, I, I find a flawed thing. It's wrong. I need to find the right one. Now, why aren't you digging? Look, it's not important. I just need you to dig.

Patience: Will it help us get home out of this here hellhole?

Fenshaw: No, I found the hellhole. You don't want to go in there. What home are you looking for?

Patience: We're in some kind of strange world. Didn't you notice? There ain't no ocean in the middle of Texas.

Fenshaw: Well, where do you think we are?

Patience: Well, did you see any kind of fish or strange blobs or anything of that sort? Because if you did, one of them brought you here. And here, I suspect, is not real. Either that or it's purgatory, in which case my mama's never going to let me hear the end of it.

Fenshaw: Oh, you're talking about the jailers. They stopped us from leaving. I was trying to forget.

Jimmy: Give me a PERSUADE roll.

Rina (Patience): Oh, God. FUMBLED! *laughs*

cuppycup (Keeper): Oh, my God.

Bridgett (Moni): Oh, my God.

cuppycup (Keeper): It's almost like you've awoken memories inside Fenshaw as he drops to his knees in a moment of remembrance and guilt. His eyes are filled with terror as he stares out over the calm ocean.

Fenshaw: Why God? Why God? Why? What did I do for you to forsake me? You gave me the egg. You brought it to me. And now you've taken it away again. I have been ruined for witnessing my desire. Oh! Kill me. You have to kill me. This isn't real. You're right. It's, it's, it's a fiction. A fantasy of my own creation. The man, yes. Oh, yes. Yes, the man. The man we need. We need to find him. The one that brought me the egg in my dreams. He will know where it is. Otherwise the jailors will keep coming. I think they're looking for it, too. You got trapped here with me in this reality of mine on this beach here. I am the source. I have to die. I have to die. Don't you see? Kill me and you'll wake up.

Patience: *horrified* No, no.

cuppycup (Keeper): Moni, entering the tent, you only hear the sobs of the professor outside as the flaps shut behind you. The air inside is hazy and your eyes have trouble adjusting. What are you expecting to find here?

Bridgett (Moni): What Moni was honestly expecting to see in the tent is like one of those aquarium views into her regular world.

cuppycup (Keeper): Hmm. Well, give me a POWER roll.

Bridgett (Moni): Fuck.

cuppycup (Keeper): And I'm going to roll against you.

Bridgett (Moni): REGULAR SUCCESS.

cuppycup (Keeper): Moni, you do get a glimpse of your life, but it's not an aquarium view. It's Addison, the walking corpse of Addison. She's searching for something.

Bridgett (Moni): Oh God.

cuppycup (Keeper): You hear the thrum of a single piano note. And you could swear this whole tent is a lotus flower beginning to bud.

Bridgett (Moni): She is not doing well right now in this tent. So this is, scramble to the floor despite her skirt, crab-walking backwards as quickly as she can out of this tent.

cuppycup (Keeper): Give me a DEX roll with a PENALTY die.

Bridgett (Moni): Oh, how fun. Oh, beautiful. FAIL.

cuppycup (Keeper): Moni, you trip and half-roll backwards, away from the lurching form of Addison as she turns and stares with hollowed out eyes pitching backward. You fall out of the tent and into the waiting excavation, landing hard at the bottom on the exposed fossil. The tent collapses in the soft sand, canvas, books and blankets, all suffocating, moaning.

Brandon (Chester): Well shit.

Jimmy: Within the tangle of movement, perhaps Addison is trying to find you. That's 2 points of DAMAGE.

Bridgett (Moni): Ouch. Taken.

cuppycup (Keeper): You landed on top of one of those pointy fossils. It's jammed into your back. You're not sure if you're bleeding, but it sure does hurt.

Bridgett (Moni): Ok. Yeah. So she's humiliated, she's frantic, she's frustrated. This place is mocking her insecurities, and the last thing she at least remembers is, if you kill me, maybe that'll work. And that's going to be her focus for the next however long she has.

cuppycup (Keeper): The weather along the beach worsens, the sky grows dark and broods over the ocean as the surface intensifies and hammers the beach with every cresting wave.

Fenshaw: Please, just kill me. Oh, you're a killer. Yes. I see it in your eyes.

Patience: I don't take no life that don't need takin'.

Fenshaw: No life ever needed taking more than mine at this moment in history. You have to end the cycle.

Patience: Can I try and knock him out with the butt of my gun?

cuppycup (Keeper): Give me a STRENGTH roll.

Rina (Patience): Hey, just watch. I'm going to fumble this and kill the poor guy. God damn it. I FAILED it.

Fenshaw: Oh, yes! That's the spirit. Keep going!

Patience: I just want you to shut up!

Fenshaw: Shoot me, and you'll never hear me again.

Patience: For fuck's sake. It's mighty tempting, but I got a friend over here in need of some assistance.

Rina (Patience):  And Patience just kind of rubs their temples, muttering to themselves and goes to try and help Moni with the tent and out of the hole, trying to ignore the guy in the hole.

cuppycup (Keeper): Meanwhile, as you turn your back to Fenshaw and to the ocean, Chester is gulping in seawater. Panic is setting in. You see Professor Grist submerged in the water with you and he's struggling. You think he's drowning.

Brandon (Chester): Should I do a SWIM roll or what should I...?

cuppycup (Keeper): First, I'd like a SANITY check as you've gone from a mountaintop into the ocean.

Brandon (Chester): Ok, wonderful. That's also a FAIL, a 94.

cuppycup (Keeper): So give me a d8 roll for the SANITY loss.

Brandon (Chester): A 6.

cuppycup (Keeper): Oh, then I'll take an INTELLIGENCE check.

Rina (Patience): Please pass. Please pass. Please pass.

cuppycup (Keeper): *laughs* That's evil. 

Brandon (Chester): Ok. Can I push that or can I just give some LUCK?

Rina (Patience): You want to fail it.

cuppycup (Keeper): Yeah. So the INTELLIGENCE check doesn't send you into a bout of madness. But I do think Chester's lost enough SANITY today to make him INDEFINITELY INSANE.

Brandon (Chester): Oh, cool.

Rina (Patience): Yeah, because he hit 1/5.

Bridgett (Moni): cup, I hate you so much. I am so pissed right now. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

cuppycup (Keeper): In this panic, Chester's going to do whatever it takes to survive. And in the open ocean, your best chance might be using the professor's drowning body as leverage. If you could just push off him hard, you might be able to surface.

Brandon (Chester): 100% cool with that. Let's do that.

cuppycup (Keeper): He's reaching out as you swim over. He thinks you're coming to rescue him, but instead you're looking to launch off of his flailing body, pushing him downward.

Brandon (Chester): Correct.

Bridgett (Moni): Oh, God.

cuppycup (Keeper): I'd like a CONSTITUTION roll to see how long you can hold your breath.

Brandon (Chester): That's a SUCCESS. That's 31/50.

cuppycup (Keeper): Chester's base animal instincts are kicking in, and you can easily make it over to Grist and position yourself for this propulsion. I think I do need a SWIM roll for Chester.

Brandon (Chester): That's a FAIL, a FAIL by 20 POINTS. So I just burn LUCK at this point?

cuppycup (Keeper):  20 points is a lot of LUCK.

Brandon (Chester): Yeah. Or should I PUSH?

Rina (Patience): *whispers* PUSH the roll.

cuppycup (Keeper): Oh, God. I'd love for you to PUSH this one.

Brandon (Chester): Let's PUSH. Because I feel like propelling is one thing, but I feel I can probably almost shove it, just because in my mind, initially, I was just kind of like using my feet on his stomach to, like, push off. But really, now it's going to be like all fours pushing myself off his body.

cuppycup (Keeper): Kicking away from the professor, you watch him lose consciousness and drift up. He is now still and could make for a better platform since he isn't struggling.

Brandon (Chester): Alright, let's see. That's a 99. FAIL. So, you know.

cuppycup (Keeper): Oh my God. Even though it's not a FUMBLE for you, it is a FAILED PUSH.

Bridgett (Moni): Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.

cuppycup (Keeper): Professor Grist looks limp in the water, and when you swim to him, his eyes open wide and his face twists into this menacing grin. He's holding you down now. And you've been underwater too long, Chester. I'll roll damage.

Brandon (Chester): Great. Thank you.

cuppycup (Keeper): It's 3 points.

Brandon (Chester): Ok, well, that leaves me with a healthy 6 HIT POINTS, so.

Bridgett (Moni): Oh my God.

cuppycup (Keeper): There are now curious sharks circling Chester and Professor Grist.

Brandon (Chester): Hmm.

cuppycup (Keeper): These are massive, primordial sharks, but they aren't aggressive yet. They're just taking little nibbles. And I'd like a DODGE roll.

Brandon (Chester): Ok. I can give you a DODGE roll. That is a FAIL.

cuppycup (Keeper): Ok, let me roll for the sharks.

Brandon (Chester): Sharks? Yeah. Great.

cuppycup (Keeper): Jagged teeth tear at you, but the purchase is poor and you escape with grazes that bloody the water. The other sharks thrash as they sense it.

Brandon (Chester): Yeah. A little love bite. Yeah. That's nice. Yeah.

cuppycup (Keeper): You are still drowning, however. So give me another CONSTIUTION roll

Brandon (Chester): 89. FAIL.

cuppycup (Keeper): You'll need a HARD SWIM roll if you don't want to die.

Brandon (Chester): That is also a FAIL. 96. So kill me. Kill me, cup.

cuppycup (Keeper): Why don't you roll this? Give me another d4 for DAMAGE.

Brandon (Chester): That's a 1! A 1.

cuppycup (Keeper): Another shark surges forward, gaping wide its jaws as you struggle for your life. I need a second DODGE roll here.

Brandon (Chester): That is a SUCCESS, a 26/40. Could I use them to bring me up to the surface?

cuppycup (Keeper): I love that idea. I would need an ANIMAL HANDLING roll. 

Brandon (Chester): That's a FAIL, but it's a 37. Is that worth me burning some LUCK on that? I don't know.

Rina (Patience): Can't take it with you.

cuppycup (Keeper): You could continue drowning.

Brandon (Chester): Yeah. And I feel like at this point, I'm going to die. And LUCK is not going to help me anyway. Let's burn some LUCK, baby. That's 12 LUCK that I'm about to burn. Which brings me from a 43 to a 31.

Bridgett (Moni): Holy shit.

cuppycup (Keeper): You do need it right now.

Church: *groans*

cuppycup (Keeper): Chester, as you move past the shark on its own streamline, you snag its dorsal fin and hold on tight. Pulling at it, you point the shark to the glinting surface.

Brandon (Chester): Yes.

cuppycup (Keeper): Once you grab on, the shark rockets upward.

Brandon (Chester): Here I come!

cuppycup (Keeper): Give me a LISTEN roll for Patience.

Rina (Patience): SUCCESS. Finally.

cuppycup (Keeper): You rush over to where Moni disappeared into the pit, pulling with her that tent she is now thrashing around underneath. But from the malevolent tides, you hear a primal scream of triumph and turn to see an enormous ancient shark breaching the surface of the waves, arching into the dying light. A hairy man is holding white-knuckled onto the shark's back for dear life before he's flung off and the shark crashes back into the surf.

Rina (Patience): Looking like a wet poodle.

Brandon (Chester): Well, that's mean. Yeah.

Rina (Patience): Patience is getting a migraine at this point.

cuppycup (Keeper): Chester, delivered to the shore, you think the shark did so intentionally as it comes back up and bumps against you.

Chester: Thank you, shark friend.

cuppycup (Keeper): Good entrance. That was a nice idea.

Brandon (Chester): Thank you. Chester jumped the shark. It's great.

Rina (Patience): Patience just looks down at the hole.

Patience: Miz Moni, I think our hairy friend has decided to join us. Are you alright down there so I can go lend him a hand? Or would you prefer I stay?

Moni: Yes, I'm fine.

Bridgett (Moni): She's obviously saying from beneath this tent and also very gritted teeth. And you can see blades cutting through the canvas from beneath this tent. And she's like, blendering it from the inside, more out of frustration than strategy.

Rina (Patience): Can I try and pull part of the tent off as I move away towards the beach as well, just like try and drag some of it out?

cuppycup (Keeper): Oh, sure. Just give me a STRENGTH roll to see how fast you can get it off.

Bridgett (Moni): Can they roll with a BONUS die, being that Moni is shredding as they're pulling?

cuppycup (Keeper): Yeah, why not?

Rina (Patience): SUCCESS. So I'll pull the tent off and throw it off to the side and just shake my head in befuddlement as I go see if Chester needs some revivify and or anything of that sort.

Chester: Hello? Whatever... What are you doing here? I found you.

Moni: What are you doing here?

Patience: Well, I could be asking you the same question, Chester.

Chester: I just... I rode a shark to get here. That's all I really know.

Patience: Looks like it might have taken a bite out of you on the way.

Rina (Patience): Just sort of surveying his general appearance.

Chester: Yeah, I am not doing well. I can say that. Let's just phrase it that way.

cuppycup (Keeper): It's like a drowned rat.

Rina (Patience): I'll try a FIRST AID.

cuppycup (Keeper): Yeah.

Rina (Patience): See if I can patch him up a little bit.

Chester: Oh, thank you.

Rina (Patience): Ok, so I'll, I'll grab part of the tent, since I pulled that out and slice up some of the fabric and use it to bandage him up. Let's see how my FIRST AID goes, though. SUCCESS!

Brandon (Chester): SUCCESS!

cuppycup (Keeper): Have a point back.

Brandon (Chester): *fake enthusiasm* 1 point!

Rina (Patience): I'm patching him up while just muttering under my breath about all the weird shit that's going on today. Like:

Patience: Ocean in the middle of Texas. Crazy man in a hole wants to die, Chester riding a shark. Can it get any weirder around here?

Fenshaw: Hello! I still need you to kill me.

Chester: Who can I kill?

cuppycup (Keeper): He pokes his head out of the hole like a prairie dog.

Fenshaw: You! Yes. Yes, of course. A beast should do the job. Kill me.

Patience: Chester, this man has some crazy idea that we need to kill him, which I don't think is the right way to be going. So just settle yourself. Now, look here, Professor. You said someone gave you a fossil. Who is the someone? Because I'm assuming you didn't give it to yourself.

Fenshaw: Well, a young man got terrified. His head was was badly scarred. And he he had these bolts on the side of his neck. Anders? Ambrose. Oh, you have to find him. But kill me first.

cuppycup (Keeper): The sky deepens into a carmine red and the world feels on the edge of violence as the clouds roll in off the ocean like a hungry predator. And it's getting more difficult to hear each other. The storm is intensifying and the waves are striking the beach with force. It's building very quickly.

Fenshaw: Kill me, you idiots!

Patience: What is with you amd the dying thing?

Fenshaw: Oh, how thick are you? People kill me and find the fossil. I am the source.

cuppycup (Keeper): Fenshaw throws his arms wide in a dramatic gesture as he collapses back to his knees.

Patience: What do you mean, you're the source?

Fenshaw: You said yourself: this beach isn't reality. I constructed it. This is my vision. You have to kill me to go home.

Patience: Have you tried going to sleep and waking up?

Fenshaw: Eternal sleep is what I need. Come on, dog boy. Come get some.

Brandon (Chester): I kind of want to kill him. He's kind of annoying. Let's just kill him.

Patience: Chester, we don't kill people for being annoying.

Chester: Well, I don't know. It could be fun.

Patience: We don't go killing people for the sake of killing people.

Fenshaw: Oh, don't lie to me, killer. I know those eyes. You enjoy it.

Patience: How do you know that?

Chester: Where did those guns go?

cuppycup (Keeper): Moni has them.

Brandon (Chester): All the guns?

Rina (Patience): She attached them to her dress.

Bridgett (Moni): Yeah. She throws her hip at you a couple of times and the entire, like, chain link of guns clinks.

Patience: Professor, what did you mean when you said thangs wouldn't let you leave?

Grist: The jailers. The flowing darkness. They destroy anyone who leaves the camp or they bring them here.

Patience: Miz Moni, did you find anything in that there tent?

Moni: No. The tent more or less found me about six feet underground. No, I didn't find anything. But...

Bridgett (Moni):  And she will hop, skip and jump over to that platform. And she'll look through the books, the trunk, and see if there's anything there of value.

cuppycup (Keeper): If you want to thumb through the books, you're going to see that many of them don't have anything written on the cover. Some do, but you'll see that they're incomplete. Give me a LUCK roll.

Bridgett (Moni): 22/60 for HARD SUCCESS.

cuppycup (Keeper): One book stands out and reminds you of Professor Grist's ramblings about Atlantis. Within the scrawl of the pages, you find passages on dreams of a trapped God and depictions of a long sunken temple among the ruins of a kingdom beneath the sea. Among the crude drawings and accounts are what you think are spells. Some have been scored through many times, but others could be complete. I'll award you five CTHULHU MYTHOS points for flicking through this book.

Bridgett (Moni): Any other day. I would be excited about that, but I am so stressed out in this weird place.

Moni:  Mx., I'm not seeing a lot. The only thing that I'm seeing that may be of relevance is an untitled book. Yeah, Sunken Temples. Something about the rise of Atlantis, huh? Oh, well, this is interesting.

Bridgett (Moni): It's like the pages go closer to her nose as she's looking over these spells. Yeah. So she'll pick up the book and she'll look over at Chester.

Moni: Chester, can you summon your shark back?

Chester: I think that was a one time deal and required, let me just say, a lot of luck.

Rina (Patience): Patience is near to Moni to keep an eye on things in case she falls into another hole or something, but is looking up and down the coast to see if there's an exit or a cave or anything of that sort.

cuppycup (Keeper): Give me a LISTEN roll.

Rina (Patience): Ok. It's not my best stat. I FAILED. 63 over 20.

cuppycup (Keeper): Patience, you feel a hand drawing one of your revolvers.

Rina (Patience): Oh, nobody touches my weapons at all. I'm going to slap the hand away.

cuppycup (Keeper): Fenshaw has snuck up behind you and Patience swats at him, making him let go and totter backward. And then, just like that, Patience is gone.

Bridgett (Moni): Damn it!

Moni: Chester. What did you see? What did they touch?

Chester: I don't know. I don't know. One second they were there, one second they were gone.

Fenshaw: Kill me. Don't you see? They're gone because of me. You have to kill me before you vanish too.

Chester: Why is it because of you?

Fenshaw: It's the only explanation. I tried to steal a gun. And now they've disappeared into thin air.

Bridgett (Moni): Moni stops and looks at Chester and just gives him a very blank" Well, Mom's not here, you know, if you want to."

Brandon (Chester): Yeah, I mean, I just take a gun. Can I take a gun from the dress and just shoot the guy?

cuppycup (Keeper): Oh, that's up to Moni.

Bridgett (Moni): Yeah. She'll lift her hip up towards you. You have your pick.

Brandon (Chester): Alright, I pick one, and I'm just going to shoot it. What do I need to roll to just shoot this guy point blank?

cuppycup (Keeper): You take one that still has bullets. You don't need much. Just a FIREARMS roll that doesn't malfunction.

Brandon (Chester): Ok. It's a SUCCESS.

cuppycup (Keeper): Where are you shooting him?

Brandon (Chester): In the face.

cuppycup (Keeper): Fenshaw has this momentary gratitude and relief in his eyes as you raise the gun. Chester pulls the trigger and the professor's face explodes in a spray of blood and his body falls back into the hole.

Chester: We do not speak of this ever again.

Rina (Patience): In another dimension somewhere, Patience is going "What the fuck?"

Moni: Honey, no one can keep a secret better than a whore. Can we get off of this beach, please? And we need to find something else to touch.

Jimmy: You stand over the hole looking down at the dead Professor. His skull grins up at you, and the weather grows darker still. Glancing out at the ocean, you can see the seabed is exposed for miles out. The water withdrawn from the shore and held up against the mournful red sky. The water breaks and a sudden engulfing tidal wave surges toward you on the lonesome sand. Within a second, the deluge of water crashes against the beach and thunders into you. It carries you up in a churning froth and pulls you into its freezing dark depths before it thins into vapor.

Brandon (Chester): Fun. Good.

cuppycup (Keeper): Is there anything you'd like to try?

Brandon (Chester): Survive? I don't know.

Bridgett (Moni): Moni is going to wrap a tendril around Chester.

Brandon (Chester): Thank you.

Bridgett (Moni): This is an "if you go, we go" type of situation.

cuppycup (Keeper): Give me a LUCK roll to see if you're close enough to do that.

Bridgett (Moni): Fuck me. 89 over 64. FAILED.

cuppycup (Keeper): Chester is drifting about 20 yards away from you, Moni. He swept up in this frothy ocean that's transforming into a mist as you begin to tumble down through the air. And then you feel a jolt as you're seemingly spit out of the peak of a mountain and begins sliding down this slick, stinking mud down the slope as dead fish rain from the sky. You both take damage for the fall.

Brandon (Chester): Chester, oh God. You only have 6 HIT POINTS, Chester!

Brandon (Chester): Oh, Jesus. Alright, here we go. Goodbye, everybody. 5! We got 1. We got 1 point left.

Rina (Patience): Good thing Patience did that FIRST AID, huh?

Brandon (Chester): Yeah, seriously.

cuppycup (Keeper): That's right. The 1 point! That's perfect.

Church: Fuck.

Bridgett (Moni): Moni got hit for 5. She definitely got tore up on the way down.

cuppycup (Keeper): You hit the ground hard, Moni. Your head cracks against the rocky mountainside. And you both see the mutilated body of Professor Fenshaw sliding down, his head opened up like a canoe. Bam!

Brandon (Chester): Uh huh.

cuppycup (Keeper): You actually killed this man, Chester.

Brandon (Chester): I really have no no remorse.

cuppycup (Keeper): Chester is HARDENED so I won't take SANITY for that.

Brandon (Chester): I'm HARDENED as hell, yeah.

cuppycup (Keeper): I will take some from Moni, though.

Bridgett (Moni): Fuck you guys. No, her SAN is so good. Whoo! Thank God it's 6/33. She has a very low POW, very low SAN, so. But it is an EXTREME SUCCESS, so she feels very validated.

cuppycup (Keeper): Ok. You won't take a loss for that, either. In the distance, you hear Professor Grist yelling. You haven't seen any sign of Patience, or Mills, or Jimmy, but it's hard to see what's going on as sea life rains down on you.

Grist: Then he said unto me, These waters issue out to what is it, East country, and go down into the desert and go into the sea, which being brought forth into the sea. The waters shall be healed.

cuppycup (Keeper): Since Patience isn't here, give me a group LUCK roll between Moni and Chester.

Brandon (Chester): I have a 31. Yeah. Let's see. It was a FAIL. An 82.

Bridgett (Moni): Oh, shit. Shit, shit, shit.

cuppycup (Keeper): There is a gigantic shadow forming on the ground. Something enormous is over you. I'm going to make a roll for everyone on the mountain. The shadow grows as the wind changes and to the scream of a whale song drifts on the blustering gale. A massive whale plummets toward you and explodes on impact, erupting into bloody ruin, cratering the mountain. It crushes Moni and I'm going to roll 2d10 for DAMAGE.

Bridgett (Moni): JESUS!

cuppycup (Keeper): Oh no.

Mills: What the fuck just hit me?

Bridgett (Moni): Did a fucking whale just land on me?

Ending music: *jazzy song about water*

Bridgett (Moni): I've seen Cthulhu. I've died in terrible ways. I've taken 1d100 SAN loss. I've never had a whale dropped on me, though. That's new.

cuppycup (Keeper): You are listening to Ain’t Slayed Nobody. For ad-free episodes, heaps of bonus content, and special programming please join our posse at patreon.com/aintslayed or subscribe to Ain’t Slayed Nobody+ at Apple Podcasts. See the show notes for full credits, and help us grow by posting friendly reviews and spreading the word to your friends and followers. Thank you and good luck out there!