https://youtu.be/an_xuvsaT14?si=7JAMarwoVugituOU

[Music] [Applause] [Music] w [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] yeah so with all du and Immortal things I'm very appreciative that we have all made it we have the opportunity to diving into this beloved hobby as dark as our subject matter will be because not only is this the dark of Bethany this is our second episode this is when the ramifications as explained mentioned thought up or run across from our previous season and previous episode come home to roost when we last left these characters of our hearts when we last left these heroes in the making no matter where they are on the heroic villainous spectrum they just found or just received a quick history and rumor filled understanding as to what the world they now inhabit actually is there was a wild holy disastrous display of magic that cannot be described as anything else than that it is The Impossible mysterious moving of things from one place to the other they have come to the attention of their betters and far far worse for them they've also come to the attention of their worse alone in the dark with the lights finally back on with the world screaming back into Focus the decision as to what to do and how to do it is still there hanging over their heads they've reached out using the sending Stone they've run across intelligence that was being broadcast out into the ether Jerry doesn't know whether any was actually listening to his shows he doesn't know how he keeps receiving the money that he receives he knowledgeable though he is and Intrepid though he is there are many many Mysteries surrounding how he's able to do what it is he is able to do the Hutchinson much like the leopard are acting on the spots that they have they are Towing the line of outright pure violent criminality in a way that would at best if caught in the act give them nothing more than a slap on the wrist because as any lawyer any intelligent person worth their salt understands the only thing less credible than an eyewitness statement is the veracity of Truth in politics so without much further Ado until we don't this is officially without a shadow of a doubt the dark of Bethany season 2 episode two of aid from them so alone in the dark and the rough equivalent of a middle of nowhere the lights from the carnival mirroring and dimming the lights from the stars above head the clouds moving between causing the sky to be its own version of a deep Endless Sea The Sounds in the night causing each Kindred to realize how small they actually are the voices in their head and The Whispers run across their hearts the lights are on messages are sent calls were made out into the void the question is have they stared long enough into it for it to stare back what is it that they will do knowing that somewhere out there in the dark are things or at least a thing well what I last remember was putting away the totally not Communicator into my my pocket because [ __ ] looking at that thing that that would that said too much in the way of things I agree with but the outcome would be something I don't agree with how do you know Tred curiosity killed the cat and I am far more Curious than said cat but satisfaction brought it back I'm already dead nothing can bring me back well they can if you're only staked we're drained that's true that's true that's true well not that but I believe the hikata might be able to help yeah definitely um as far as Ryan's goals are he was sent here uh on a job from the wonderful Coleman Asher so I'm pretty sure we can all confirm that the job was done so he's going to um follow what line of communication he has for Coleman whether that be like directly calling some some Aid or some some ghoul that Coleman is connected to or uh begin trying to make his way into town to speak to like a a dead drop individual and just kind of looks over to the group uh hey hey I think it's it's high time that we you know communicate what's happened here to to the main body okay all right uh so you don't need me then uh I mean it'd be helpful uh you got you're a part of this you you he kind of gestures towards the carnival you um whatever happed affected it literally got dragged into whatever Happened Here happened to you I not any more than it happened to everyone else I don't see all us got drug through a mirror from far away yeah I don't I don't see everybody else here I'll go with you all right wonderful um he kind of looks around are the Hutchinson still like getting their Monster Mash on in the carnival literally looting you're close enough to hear the screams that from where you're standing southeast of the Cemetery grounds where the carnival set up you are there's a slight rolling rise providing you a small bit of height not a mountain not a hill but just there's a difference in elevation allowing you to look down on that space look down on all of that bright light and Chaos in the offing you can see Vehicles peeling out as quickly as they are possibly able to to get away from what's Happening which mean people are literally running across the street in the dark strickly Springs Road is while one of the busier Road still a country road which means there aren't any lighting every 100 or so feet there isn't any huge bits of Illumination making it safe for fast moving vehicles and slow moving people it is literally growing into the very real potential of being a a death strip not a drag strip but a death strip people are seeking to escape the violence in the offing the sounds of animals being leashed into the night the horrible conis kicking over breaking through things and otherwise causing nothing but chaos as they swarm and they raid what they had previously been hired to protect which unfortunately luckily for you all none of you are lawyers because they are honoring the letter of the agreement to keep any Outsiders from causing trouble they're not Outsiders they're locals it's kind of beautiful if you think about it as do we as far as I'm aware we have no prerogative to try and settle that down there's there's nothing in our directions that says that is our business right Maddie will look over at her cousins like oh that was a nice swing north of where you are just wondering how Ryan ended up on his feet cuz last time she remembers she had knocked the ground she's wondering [Music] how what what sorry you're breaking is just wondering how Ryan got up she had knocked ground she's like on the ground still looking up at him like how the hell did he manage that that's the worst thing for India being a pragmatic child of the area being just being a just a pragmatic person there is a very unsettling understanding that time had passed passed her by there's an unsettling understanding that in the blink of an eye for her several larger swats of time had happened for others she didn't simply drop off the face of the Earth she didn't pass out and go to sleep because Kindred don't dream nor do they pass out yet here you are and you tackled him the dirt is still on his knee and on his back and on his elbow but he's standing and you aren't would you be so kind just go ahead and roll your resolve Plus animalism for me please oh oh God I don't ever like it when animalism is brought into play oh come on it always gives me like a very kind of like Primal something bad's going to happen which is the I think it's just like my experience is as Evergreen my yeah my experience is as Sherry is all like ah animalism great makes bad things stop [Music] happening you obviously don't like that ability that pisses off every animal in a nearby vicinity no not yet success is its own burden and as the questioning of the Lost Time the questioning of what is and has been taking place in their vicinity in their Cipher and to them comes barreling up out of the dark one of the many abilities of being a Outlander being a wolf being a member of India's Clan is the weariness and understanding of the laws of the Jungle being able to sense it on a a cellular level at times sometimes it feels as if there's various magnitudes of heat other times it feels as if there are various magnitudes of cold sometimes it's just the feeling of a million spiders tap dancing on your skin this is one of those that combines all of those a colda so frigid that it begins to burn at the edges of your awareness the feeling of a million small legs crawling over you in various intensities stomping and marching off to war close enough that you are sure just outside of your ability to touch just outside of your ability to LEAP a top there's something stalking you as if there is a group setting up an ambush laying in the Tall Grass waiting till you're not staring or looking in their Direction then you hear it Andy run looks up at the others her eyes having blood to a gold very much big cat um her body is just like trembling and she [Music] stands run and takes the [ __ ] off doesn't say why to run just runs and takes the [ __ ] off this is like dearen headlights moment of what before she Zips off and and Ryan just instinctually that that just m right on after her oh was it Anabelle not Ryan oh my God Joi [ __ ] I did the reverse oh all right give me a second I changed my Discord name and it got me give me a second there there we go there we go f I cannot believe I did it we were just chuckling about nobody doing it last session oh okay sorry so you take off I take off Joi takes off Maddie is going to lean putting all of her weight on one leg throwing her hip out a little bit crosses her arms tilts her head huh don't see that every [Applause] day so okay I'm not going to stay here and Annabelle doesn't like run but she definitely [Music] leaves in the the others Choice lader choice is the as close to godhood as any existing being can ever become at least that's what some philosophers think that's what some people think the opportunity of choice as illusory as it is in many circumstances in many situations is as close close to the Divine as any being stuck here in this Savage Garden might ever [Music] come so as you stare into the darkness around you the warmth of the summer night gently massaging your skin the feel of the wind playing lightly in your hair the understanding that you are in fact in the real world there's gravity there's the sky above and there's hell below unable to pierce this Darkness unable to illuminate even so much as your own steps what lot if anything is your choice that's a good question um I think I'll take off into the night trying to find my way out of the darkness would be some kind to go ahead and Ru your composure Plus either your occult knowledge or if you have blood [Music] sorcery [Music] hello hello okay we just wait for to get that roll that lovely Bean footage out there for to see well now look at that ooh I mean you knowledge is painted as mhm oh please no no please knowledge is is painted as illumination it it's painted as lighting the way forward it is often times in sir beliefs the gift that either Pandora or Atlas gave humans the knowledge the light of knowledge the fire of curiosity in Lita's case and is not only illumination it is a road map for all of existence all of the many myths religious and otherwise that conflate and confound one another yet still highlight the mysteries of the world Beyond this one as someone who's never been physically gifted as someone who's never been an athlete running is a is easy you don't go too far you don't go too fast you just move your feet and get where you need to go it's not like you're competing for a best time in a 50 yard dash or a 300 meter you're not doing any of those events you don't need to be the fastest in the world you don't need to be the fastest in your grade you don't need to be the fastest because you'll get there when you get there and running has never been difficult but it's also never been this easy you're Gliding Over several score of yards with each stride you are the very definition of speed and lightess almost as if and then it tumbles down up across your shoulders there's no way in this world the next or any of those that are but this one that you are actually free in the real world there is no way that you are as unencumbered as you feel there is no way that you're covering as much ground as you feel and then you hit a wall a brightly shimmering wall that shows you all of the heavens above the SK this sky is filled with stars the clouds are gently sliding across and you realize that you are not wherever those clouds are you are not beneath that Sky of stars and this wall Rippling and shimmering before you invisibly so may be your only path out of here here unless you beseech unless you offer unless you find a way to beguile whomever whatever entity resides here in do I see any trace of anything somewhere near your feet as you stand in front of this shimmering invisible wall keeping you from accessing all of that beautiful night sky and going see a brief bit of electronic lit light pollution [Music] it's just there can't see any any real details of what's causing the illumination but whatever is there it is not the light of Heaven is not the celestial bodies reflecting the light of the sun back it is something else it is clearly non natural in its illumination [Music] that is a predatory noise that is scary what is that Darkness it's coming from it is darkness and speaking of [Music] Darkness as you all take off with each of you be so kind as to rule your dexterity or stamina plus Athletics here's the question Fess specifies that I can add it to non-combat deck checks does this okay cool cool cool all right Bueno let me just double check what my values are let try Clos line someone along the way yes my my main Theory my main like hang up was going to be nobody going oh no this is combat oh I'd never tell you because you the character doesn't know that it's combat which mean technically it still flws within line so if it was combat and someone potentially or more accurately one of the nefarious Spirits Unleashed by you wall shattering the mirror seeking to set upon you it would not be combat because you're simply responding to India taking off and I don't like that explanation I'm not going to [Music] lie um oh that didn't go well Annabelle oh and um if I'm if I'm not mistaken we do not reup our willar between sessions you do not yay lovely um Maddie standing still unfortunately does not provide to the opportunity of dodging by sleekness I'm hungry three it does mean that you are in fact flat footed as India Joi and Annabelle proceed to move away from this the epicenter of the incoming horse the very real animosity to your false sense of living which is what's being acted on there Jerry was not lying there is a world of things out there that could not and would not break past or through a circle of protection even if it's a circle of protection made of just simple cold iron backed by belief backed by some level of understanding as to how the Myriad of forces and inter relate it does mean in this particular [Music] case I need to set up one of [Music] these the roller thing the character sheet on here it yeah does mean as you stand watching them take off into the night you be so kind as to roll your do you have dominate that would be of assistance I do not have dominate okay [Music] um kind to roll your resolve plus composure as high high as you possibly [Applause] [Music] [Applause] can for as long as you've been in Bethany there are always rumors Whispers Gossip popping up every couple of weeks every few months those damn kids out there on that Expressway going to get somebody killed you can't see them at night they're always wearing those dark hippity hop clothes and along behold the local police the sheriff would go investigate they'd go look they' go with all of their bright lights and make sure that there's no one out there partying or drinking or running across the road as they have heard hundreds of thousands of times there are cases upon cases of people seeing these kids jading out across the road some of them even asking for money some of them asking to be let in taken to the hospital or what have you you've never put Faith in those wives tales you've never put belief that it was anything more than a usual bit of malarkey you've been traveling the back roads at all hours of the evening and have never run across a group of children a group of high schoolers or grade schoolers out on the roads India takes off Joi follows Annabelle saunters behind them and you're wondering what the [ __ ] are they doing and then you feel the tug small little tug on your literal shirt sleeves ma'am ma'am the face still shrouded in nothing but Shadow they're standing nearly to your sternum in terms of the top of their head it's hard to discern with all of the hippity hop clothes there wearing those hoodies why would you be wearing a hoodie or a night like tonight that cast your face in Shadow doesn't make any sense but it's the man that begin to start things bubbling and percolating at the back of your mind the ma' isn't said in a Tex Arcana accent it's not even said in a lightly French accent the accent if you were to put it anywhere you'd say Birmingham England if you were to put the accent anywhere you say that that's a childish knockof version of Jason ston in Know M but coming from a body a person a being that stands barely to the height of your sternum in the middle of nowhere able to appear without having created any sound getting there next to you pulling on your shirt sleeve a little stronger than they should there's no way a child that height should be able to move you let alone pull your nut that your arm starts to jerk in this direction and there's something percolating at the back of your head some cavan sense of I'm been danger then the second one is there at your left and the third one is menacingly standing just behind you and the fourth one stepping closer stepping into the light of your awareness and then the fifth one moving slowly forward like the lion that's closing in on the prey that the lionesses have downed you slowly begin to understand what a lone hyena might feel in a moment such as this the slow stalking around the edge of your attention then you feel their presence not just the tugging on the sleeves and the blocking off your Paths of Escape but you feel that presence reaching into your space feeling his fingers at the edge of your mind closing off Paths of thought what is madd's stamina is three and I do have resilience oh you're going to absolutely need that there that three that leaves one superficial damage towards your willpower as you feel them literally beginning to Sab away portions of yourself these children these beings cuz part of you don't doesn't want to accept that these are actually children there's no way that children could be that mentally supernaturally ow CED enough to do what you feel they're doing they're just pulling on your sleep could you help us get to the hospital my friend they're they're right over here but then there's more of them why did he say why did they it say friend when there's five no [ __ ] they're six and then they're seven they're literally crawling out of the woodwork the darkness just at the edge of your vision is beginning to slowly multiply child upon child and these children that you're immediately connecting with those rumors begin closing in on you wait is do they have sharp teeth was that no that's just the overly grown K9 kids have problem maybe they need maybe they need braces then there's another and [Music] another [Music] well damn the impossibility of it is weighing and pressing on you freezing you with fear as you are catatonically watches this happens unable to respond Choice it's as close to the Divine for many people many philosophers many ideologues believing that choice is more than an illusion Annabelle the closest to the darkness because that's what it amounts to you're moving after Joi in India you're have an inclination a six sense and you're trying to catch up to them and unfortunately for you the night is dark and long and something trips you something that wasn't there in your view a second ago you know that in life you needed glasses dead there's no such need it's more an affectation you can see perfectly or so you thought cuz it that Branch wasn't there a second ago and as you tumble into the dirt glancing around making sure that no one has to camera out this isn't some stupid prank this isn't someone this isn't something yeah you know in your cold un Beating Heart that it is in fact something glancing back over your shoulder you watches the darkness begins to swaddle and dim the light where Maddie was standing the space between you and her isn't you know it isn't 100 ft maybe 75 Maybe 60 but it's not 100 ft so this it's clear to you and you watch as it dims the space where she was growing in Shadow as more and more seems to be magnifying and multiplying on itself and as you glance forward trying to again plot your path behind India and Joi there's a toddler about 2 and 1/2 ft tall as you are there in the dirt reaching out to you let me help you up oh God [Music] no did you get did you get lost can you help us no sorry no no I can't no I don't need your help child I'm fine are you just just go of course let me and forcefully much like a drunkard in the middle of a bar having struck out for hours on end desperate and unwilling to accept no for an answer he takes your forearm and begins helping you to your feet his left resting against your elbow close enough to feel him there's no way that something someone that small is that strong yet he's lifting you to your feet what are you lost like you isn't she and as he says isn't she there's another who's there on your left I've been lost before and this isn't it get away but we don't want to be lost and you don't want to be lost either there's a third one there life is hard get away from me but we need your help there's a fourth one there you go ahead roll your wits plus [Music] Insight three there are many gates that you can walk through and many gates that you need to pass through to find the truth underneath all the many lies of existence not life life is part of it but there's also the lies of death there's also the petty intrigues of existence the totality of the full spectrum from one end to the next and to gain that truth you must pass through the gates and as your unbeing heart begins to pick up pace there is an understanding as to what this might be Annabelle's been in Bethany long enough that she is aware of the rumors and the gossips of the children playing on the expressway the children out there in the night and all the investigation and all the Scuttle butt and has always turned out to be nothing yet somewhere in the dark she touched a portion of herself and ended up somewhere completely unrelated to where she [Music] was still is death in the truest sense a change from one thing to the next because energy cannot be destroyed merely changed and as you feel the pressure slowly closing in on your mind is there anything that you're attempting to [Music] do no all right that being the case do you have any dominate I sure don't excellent go ahead and roll your resolve plus composure as high as you possibly can three that's a good roll how but to be honest she's not really trying to resist [Music] resistance is futile is that what the Bor say something like that it is it's also what s said want four minus three that is a one there's pain and then there's excoriating of the soul and that's what this feels like a portion of yourself being sapped away being absorbed into the vacuum of the otherness and what is anabel's stamina to oh it is unfortunately for her the rough equivalent of giving birth to twins through the essence of her soul all at once a [ __ ] speaking of there's lot screaming lot of screaming speaking a [ __ ] you don't like being called Indie you never did partially because you thought that your brother was making fun of you by calling you Indie just like that stupid movie him and your dad would watch time and time again over and over and over even to the point where during High School you and he physically fought over him calling you Indie until he explained why yes it was in reference to the movie but only because he saw you as a hero only because he saw you as someone who would boldly go into places that they shouldn't and Come Away with some victory only because saw you very much as Intrepid very much The Brave One while everyone loved the fact that he could score on the football field and that he could out wrestle most of the boys his weight and how he was always part of the popular crowd he in explaining why he called you indie it wasn't bravery that kept him going it was the fear of failure and hearing it now you don't like it any more but there was only him that ever called you that and while you didn't give him a pass to continue it was still very much a term of endearment from him to you and hearing his voice and again for the unth time this night is like an electric prod in the the most sensitive of places cuz it's impossible you don't answer what's out there in the dark grandma always told you that yeah it wasn't calling you it was warning you protecting you so as you run [Music] do you alter your course do you try to Zig and zag do you try to leap over imaginary objects do you or do you just haul ass um thing her brother tended her one of the first times he had come home for basic just to was that they had taught him keep it simple stupid so since he was the one that warned her she's going to keep it ass and things don't see she's dress she'll on her [Music] feet putting as much Earth beneath you as possible putting as much distance behind you as possible it comes upon you fairly quickly the moisture the water the feeling of muck admire Beneath Your Feet causing you to slow not because of any less impetus to keep moving but it's literally almost it feels almost possible to add much more speed when the very Earth itself the mud and muck and M of this Waterway cuz now you have an idea as to where you might be near southeast of Strickland Cemetery you've clearly passed a small Creek there at the uh County Road to in your mental map of where you are you're at the short small Lake space you say it's a lake but the truth of the matter is it would barely fit you know two houses side by side it's not a huge anything but the ground gives away at in the dark to all of that shimmery reflective water you the mud eating up your steps causing it to go from liy split to Splash trudge trudge you're moving southeast of Strickland you know approximately where you are about a 100 yard south of where you are is a fairly major Thorofare Strickland Springs Road that dead ends there at those two out of the way patches of dirt that people have been farming and mining for years people initially thought the area might have had a hidden gas field underneath but that turned out to be a lie turned out to be part of the sales package of getting folks to move into the area all those many years almost centuries ago but as you're there in the water of that little small unnamed Lake that many of the kid local kids have drunk around or had bonfires around or barbecued around and gotten run off you know where you are and all of that shimmery Rippling otherness that is the lake you can't be sure but you can you know that it should be reflecting all the Starlight above your head it should be brighter even with the clouds moving and dispersing itself every few moments you should literally be able to see the full expanse of the lake before you but instead there's a small bit of Shimmer here and there and then there and it's blinking out of existence one behind the next and then another Shimmer over there and there's a small bit of light over there doesn't actually accurately make sense there's something wrong with it [Applause] [Music] no technical difficulties uhoh no I believe that they said that they were going to dip out and pop back in to try and fix their stuff yeah oh I miss things it's okay I I barely spotted it the moment that I I heard you say [Music] that all right well that being the case there's an aesthetic Beauty to fear it's a seasoning that Joi despite himself has drunken of often enough to know it by scent alone there's a palpable change that happens when the blood is moistened and steeped in it not for the first time but for the first time in a very long time Joie feels the essence of it about himself as India takes off and he instinctually follows as only as he realizes that it's only he and India who are moving that he glances over his shoulder and he sees Darkness growing small dark shapes moving across the land behind him you can barely make out Annabelle just there far enough away that your voice would carry easily close enough that it's far too close and just behind her even further just right at the edge there that little small Speck of not quite bright red hair that is Maddie being swarmed you've seen ant hills off and on the entirety of your life it is exactly what happens when a predatory insect finds an antill they all swarm and crawl over and bite and sting and tear and Pull and that's what you see there at the very edge of your vision and as you focus back in on anal which is the rough halfway distance between you and Maddie you hear her scream as if someone is tearing her apart piece by piece [Music] [Applause] H fun okay um glancing over seeing this um he's just going to shout to India who I suppose we can we can re-engage with when she gets back just then you we can't leave then you hear a splash and India is not moving as fast as far away as she had been uhoh I I I look back what what was the splash about you're looking towards India and she's there in a field of stars that blink and disappear and then reappear in front of her but she's not moving forward you don't hear the splash of her moving anymore you see I hear and her a splash and then she's there almost catatonic in is that water are you close enough to one of those small lakes and one of the small creeks and if you are why isn't it reflecting the Stars overhead why isn't it magnifying the light as it had done for years upon years of your existance one of the many things you have had the opportunity of doing is watching bodies of water at motion at night the waves coming in and reflecting and refracting the light from the moon and the stars overhead watching how the water responded to the draw and pull of all those celestial bodies you could if you were able to and you had the implements right now paint sketch carve what water looks like at night you've seen it often enough it's a very helpful meditative tool bodies of water whether it's a river whether it's a creek whether it's a lake or Pond and yet if you're being honest with yourself if you're giving the fear time to become logical there's something wrong okay joi's closer to her than the other two and he can't go and save both of them at the same time so he's just going to you know muster up that that I don't want to do this but I can't leave them here kind of mentality as he just ah and runs in and tries to drag her out of whatever the [ __ ] is forming around her how deep in into this pseudo Pond is she about up to her knees or just over her knees okay then then he's going to try and do his best not to get [ __ ] dunked Into the Depths as he as he grabs by the uh by the upper arm and other hand on the shoulder and just trying to pull her out of it does Yi have any heightened senses yeah excellent would you be so kind as to go ahead and roll your wits plus awareness plus your aspix what is the awareness seven oh that's an angry crit oh oh my dear boy there is an often T out out aphorism a chestnut stare not into the void L the void star back through you and that's exactly what happens in this moment you grab India with all of your strength careful to not bruise the fruit careful not to cause any due harm and yet the Beast reaches out through you and causes you to clinch on her upper bicep as you begin to pull her back staring out into all of that trackless waste that should be this Lake and you see Lita standing there floating there just the other side of the Lake's surface are we talking about like a on the other like legitimately on the other side of the lake or like a reflected in the water in the water but there's no sign that she's actually wet there's nothing about her that moves and undulates with the water around her she is there in that water and not at the exact same time oh great is he's just [ __ ] viciously pulling at India trying to get her out and he looks out and sees he's like L what what the hell are you okay pretty [Music] weird just struggling to maintain composure as he's just yeah oh welcome back Annabelle you've been here before joji you've been here before the memory of being here before is bombarding your decisions is bombarding your awareness about the world around you there is the very accurate hateful feeling of deja vu India as Joi begins pulling you back up out of the water through the muck looking there in that emptiness that should be this reflective surface of all of the light above you all of the stars and the light in your own eyes is empty and dark and few spots of light here and there there is Lita and joji is pulling you away from this away from this body of water away from this moment and you've heard anabal there behind you screaming in pain and what is it that's going on with you Joi and Lita in this moment as Lita is attempting to communicate with you [Music] clearly GOI just shouting over the uh the the body of water L get get out of the water if you [Music] can what exactly do I see right now I'm still like the barrier right yes on the other side of that there's Joi there's India you can kind of almost hear them it's a little muffled but you know they're floating there and and what were you going to say Andia there used to be old group swiming tied one of these trees so in is going to start looking for the Rope she's also to yell toward Lita you have to want to get out I think that's how it works you have to want it it'll move you toward the surface and maybe we can try to get you out okay I can do willpower you certainly oh uh this is why I regret not taking any points of a cult there's mhm mhm as as joi's just kind of looking out into the lake and and seeing all this and remembering what transpired last time there had to be if I remember last time as in the last time they dealt with a [ __ ] up reflective surface if I'm remembering correctly there had to be an exchange of swords of sords speaking of exchange of sorts Maddie how was your actual Embrace what actually transpired how did you die well you know there was a ceremony cuz she's tremier so you know she'd been ghou beforehand it's a whole big Todo so traumatic yes but not necessarily as traumatic as it could have been if she were just kind of like oh H what I'm dead yeah the reason why I ask and the reason why that's relevant in this moment you know what it's like to actually wait for your death to know that your number is up it ends today it's all being flushed down the Toth this is a before and after moment as crazy as it sounds it'll be perfectly fine or we hope because it didn't always take sometimes the death is a little more permanent than expected sometimes the soul refuses to step into the warmth and Dark Gift sometimes that feeling of waiting for death that knowledge that it is in fact all over begins to pervade as you realize that these children are ping into your into quiet moments of your existance taking those moments sing on those moments all those horrid little mouths and row upon row of jagged little teeth nippling and biting on all of those moments that understanding of what this existence was and like children given full B of just chocolatey sugary confection holding it in their m in their mouths holding it in their hands getting it everywhere you can see the sweetness of your personal private thoughts and feelings in those moments began sticking and clinging to their fingertips as they begin supping on more and more of them holding you in place like a pack of wolves having fallen their prey cutting off or trying to cut off your means of escape and aggress as they remind you that they need to get to the hospital they need your help they don't want to are are you okay uh she is going to attempt to calm herself and you basically try to will away the [Music] fear excellent you know what that means to be kind to go ahead and row your resolve plus composure contest [Music] it I could type that would be even better [Music] N I use the talk DET text function the attempt is Valiant the year the years and months of teles and the prince and an alkalite and growing into who and what you are as a member of the warlocks is there that Foundation is solid and yet they're nibbling through the cracks and Corners you feel that morning you got up knowing that your father wasn't there any longer after everything shook [Music] loose it's disturbing For You In This Moment not because you have not done the work not because you had not safely dealt with that conflation of emotions being there on the homestead alone as endemically problematic in this moment because you are neither safe nor secure enough to tear open those wounds again yet that's what's being done to you the agency of choice pulled away snatched away stolen and taken from you by these children wait wait no that's not accurate you know they're not children but every time you look to your left and look to your right a your little cherubic face munching on Christmas treats as they and they're asking for your help clearly they're children they need your help to get wherever it is that they're going but that's not right either that is effectively two superficial willpower as they suck and feed and pull things out of you that you would rather wish not pull things out of you that you've dealt with hundreds of times before pull things out of you that you've squirel away and just accepted as The Way of the World moments that are intimately [Music] personal well now she's just going to start getting [Music] [Music] angry Darkness has always been a problem for humankind because in the dark their tools of stamina and their ability to run down prey means nothing you can only fight what you see coming you can only stand a chairs against the stronger hungry or larger Predators out there if you are able to lay in weight if you are able to run it down if you have strength of numbers point it in the right direction in the dark humankind mankind is one small soft thing and that's what it feels like Anabelle what it feels like you have strayed too far from the campfire you are meat is not the most comforting of feelings considering for the nons you have been a an apex predator if you set your mind to it if you have the inclination there is very few living things that could Prey Upon you successfully yet these [Music] [Applause] children are pulling moments they're taking from you against your will against your want against your best understanding of whom you might be and the pain is excruciating it is a mental anguish that is becoming physical what is it that you are attempting to do if anything um she is going to try to she's going to try and redirect them at somebody else oh and how would you do that somebody clearly more deserving than her oh and and who might that uh it's probably a handy Hutchinson or five around oh oh no not Maddie no I don't know [Music] Maddie I mean strictly speaking that's a few Generations back your red hair says it all so you're attempting to plead with them to barter with with them to offer your skills at finding better more vibrant sustenance yes all right we will use that as your defense pool instead of your resolve plus composure would you be so kind to go ahead and roll your manipulation and subterfuge as they constantly ask for help and nibble on parts of your inner workings that you would much rather not address the fact that you leaped into death versus face the pain of continuing to exist you chose death over the pain of continued life you willingly went into the dark messy critical five long as they don't score a three or higher you're perfectly fine I am [Music] indeed there is a point in every conversation where you know that it is not in fact worth continuing to converse Pride usually has most people push beyond that point when it is clear that the differences in AIM and goal cannot be bridged it's typically the point to call the conversation over and done with but pride gets in the way I've got to win I've got to I've got to and it causes nothing but pain for those involved you end up hurting yourself to prove yourself valid or right or get the other person to admit defeat the old saying the Old aism Pride goes before a fall is proven true time and time again because there's a point when the conversation should end there's a point when agreeing that there is a difference so wide that neither of you are willing to make that bridge happen to meet in the middle there is no middle ground either my way or no and yeah the only thing that comes from that are hurt feelings the only thing that comes from that are animosity and enmity and you know that's where you are the pride and battle [Music] between that's how lost cause a despondency sets in as the moment of you realizing what you needed from your parents was not something that they could give not that they were unwilling they didn't know how they didn't have the necessary components they didn't hold the weariness of what their action might wreak upon you their failings were programmed into them by their nurturing environment by their nature being bent and twisted through their experiences their existences slowly as much as they tried to help the world around them as much as they claimed to be helping the world around them you were not part of that world and that's what Annabelle is beginning to feel as the pain rockets and lances through them as the damn thing on her left bites into that core memory of sitting at the dining room table by herself succulent and delicious it works its lips I told you there are better there's better prey I'm not worth it but AR no I'm not but aren't you no one would miss you no one's coming for you no one ever has [Music] as Annabelle faces that as Annabelle Chomps into that core memory and the children needing her assistance needing her help can only be assuaged by her help can only be helped by her by her hand looking into all of that endless waste that is this lake that is not properly reflecting the light from the stars above and seeing Lita there India the rope swing is a great idea you've been here before you know what this moment is and isn't you were outside of the trailer when all of that went down and as you get to the rope swing you can swear that there's someone sitting on it small little cherubic dark child hoodie pulled up high and tight called in his face to be cast in Shadow is with being go they are [ __ ] up hey India um yeah uh I think you may want to check your connection yeah you're breaking up [Applause] again ah the trials and tribulations of the internet such a Fickle goddess she is Discord Discord is doing what Discord does tonight all right try again when you're [Applause] [Music] [Applause] ready [Music] yeah it is in fact [Music] struggling so as India russes through her moment both Tech wise and in presence of that child sitting there on the swing Joi leita is right there Lita is right there you left her back at the carnival not just you but you left her back at the carnival not sure when she disappeared from your presence but you know for a fact she was behind you and all of that mess and Chaos that the Hudson are wreaking on the Carnival all right well like like how far does she seem out perfectly honest if you would just reach down you could grab her leg and pull her through maybe help her up out of the water but you're have I what's up but you're not that guy you're not the guy that lay down on on the wire and let others crawl over your back you're not the guy to make the sacrifice play the smart thing to do is to not make the sacrifice play the smart thing to do would be to trade Annabelle or Maddie or anyone if you were going to try to save Lita that's clearly what happened right you pulled Maddie free and Lita got stuck you just didn't realize it was that [Music] it or was it something else [Music] ah yes the darkness of my mind come to haunt me for past transgression but is it a transgression to consider your your happiness not that you've ever been happy you've always been just left of center just right of the correct way you've always been right there on the edge has any has even your family come looking for you in all these years has he been your sire hell you came this way to pull India up out of this mess and she leaves you here in [Music] it you're not the hero not in anybody's story not even your [Applause] own be so kind as to go ahead and roll your wits plus Insight DC3 as the water is now just above your knee not that you remember moving okay now this uh feel free to turn me down on this but this heighten senses count towards this wits check it does not all right uh perms to Rouse then as I tempt the Beast okay go ahead add your two then roll your rows afterwards all right thank God I remembered to not do it in the reverse order okay okay here we [Music] go all right well let's just roll because you hate me I guess there we go the Beast does not excise attacks for the strength that it grants you but there is the very troubling sense of being Lo to sleep being lowed into getting into the water being lowed Into the Water Rising around you not that that such a thing could or should be able to happen yet there you are the waters that was just below your calf is now above your knee and rising and you can hear splashing clearly clearly someone's coming to save you you see the little hooded child swimming towards you not that a child should be able to pull you about out of the water but that's what they're doing wait they you just saw one now there's two swimming across the lake towards you what did you do despite all the dark murmurs in in the the corners of his mind slowly making their way towards his core convincing him of this lack of heroism of this lack of Duty that everybody will abandon him and has abandoned him Joi for lack of a better word has certain ropes that he has held on to since the day his life ended that have kept him from falling and one of those ropes is not necessarily that he will be better not necessarily that he will be a hero but that he will at least try and with that in mind he's going to reach into the water and try and pull Lita out [Applause] nice and as you break the water surface reaching for Lita leader the truth of the matter is and always has been your money has gotten you nothing your money has been as much of a prison as anything else and while you distance yourself from that same child that needed to impress the people to win them over by buying them there are still the understanding there that perhaps you are in fact not [Music] nearly as special as you thought there's still The Haunting niggling thoughts there so you have the opportunity in this moment of staying a place where you are appreciated you have in this moment the opportunity of staying in your Heaven you're happily ever after you look over your shoulder and there is that book of mysteries the book of Nod in its fullness the chapters upon chapters that you could lose yourself in and understand the truth as to what you are and what you might become there are walls and walls of books with hidden knowledge about the world and all over the world that AB it there for your reading pleasure forever are you willing to give up your chance at a happily ever after in your version of paradise for the hand that is reaching through this invisible barrier keeping you from all of the pain of the real [Applause] [Music] [Applause] world he's going to want to try one more time this whole real world thing you know that sinking suspicion that you have as a child that when you get home you're going to be in trouble that gut vibrating disase that begins creeping out from the center of your being spreading across your skin causing little jangly nerves that the fingers shaking as you try to both warm yourself up and cool yourself down and that is what lead us feeling there's a cost to everything that's one of the few things that has been equally true across every iteration of appoc cryful document that she's ever had the opportunity of reading there's always a cost there's always a price and she takes Maddie's hand and as he's attempting whatever it is he's attempting where is to push her further in or pull her further out there is the understanding for Lita that there's always a cause there's always a price there's always but she fight today does she fight to give up her Paradise I think she does I think she resist the illusion a little bit that the world can be easy India have you fixed your attack issues [Music] I don't know we'll see yes excellent so there on the swing is the hooded child you were saying um she's had family stories about the weird things that are in the woods so while probably being surprised that the child is there it's not entirely un expected um but now she's got to remember what her grandma told her about said beings so um she's attempting to remember that but then at the same time she's trying to get the Rope so that she engage the child in conversation does she help the child off the swing how is she tried to get the rope and she hears splashing behind her [ __ ] damn it Jo and um hey little man I need that rope are you going to help me well I have to help somebody else right now but I can help you afterwards and it extends both hands to you I'm lost can you I don't want to be lost anym she steps back she is not going to let that thing touch her baby doll we all lost but I need that rope dear so what you saying and it lunges lunges in the way that should not be possible its legs are up its feet are off the ground in that swing instead of kicking itself back and standing in the swing or using it for momentum the swing isn't in motion and it leaps and lunges with all du strength covering the distance between itself and you as it's heading towards you is there anything that you are attempting to do oh she going to dodge side step all right excellent we should be so kind as to go ahead and Roll versus that difficulty [Music] there okay what's the pool dexterity and [Music] Athletics [Music] [Music] [Applause] there's no way you should be able to have moved as quickly as you did you were standing there and in full path of flight its arms seeming to stretch as it grew nearer and nearer towards you and as you move to your left rolling out of its direct path of flight you are sure that it will still take you into its arms you can all but feel that ungodly warmth of whatever that is cuz kids are naturally hot to begin with but you are sure that that's not quite right something somehow it's like a heat seeking missile targeted and locked onto you and as you feel it in advance you pre plan how to it's going to hit me it's going to [ __ ] hit me it's going to [ __ ] God damn it I don't know you feel a hand on your back a small little shelf and it goes tumbling past you in your movement in your circling dodging from it you see Joi bent over the lake up to his elbows in that darkness that not quite right Darkness you hear Annabel some spaces off some further spaces out there in the darkness screaming in pain as if something is disemboweling her you don't hear madting and that's somehow worse than the screams of pain there's silence further back there out there Beyond Annabelle and framing it all far quieter than it should be and far louder than you would imagine the sounds of the carnival being raided by the Hutchinson's the sound of vehicles screaming off into the dark diesel engines revving up carburetors choking and spitting out their poisonous gas into the environment you know that's not normal yet somehow that's more normalized than where you are with this child attempting to wrap its arms around you Joi up to his elbows and the dark MC of the lake lead on the other side of the lake now somehow unwilling to come up for air not that you all need it but it's uncomfortable having your lungs filled with water or anything else Annabelle screaming and it's 4 after 10 let's take a quick 10 minutes and be back here at 14 after 15 after to be sure [Music] and we're live on the scene hey so it's just you and I a Joi mhm yep totally so allow me to act is your conscience no every time you do that I feel [Music] bad okay fine instead of being your conscience your devil and your shoulder let me be your angel in your ear fear is empowering knowing where the boundaries of your fear are knowing when your self-preservation instincts kick in let you know where you can either push past a little bit or push pass a lot we've reached a wall cuz in the moment of Bravery in the moment of of potential selflessness Joi is reaching into the vast unknown and leaving himself open for those children who are swimming towards him rapidly those children who are just there attempting to bridge the gap between him and the help that they [Music] need you could just let Lita go you know that right if you let her go you might have enough time to dodge them as they close on you cuz after all what s of kids swim at nearly midnight dressed in hoodies and jeans and big knockoff Timberland boots see this is why mama said never to go out in the woods at night can always just let go about those kids is to knock off Timberlands that is a pain that I have known oversized clothes a hoodie that's one or two seasons out of date and two or three sizes too big because you're going to grow into them being a latch key kid having the admonishment put to you don't be opening my door just go in there and do what you're supposed to do there's food on the cupboard or understanding you need to be in a safe place to analyze the many scars upon your soul and knowing you not in a safe place and yet unable to stop [Applause] yeah you all instead of fighting you can just let go it's not just for you Joi but think about it if you got everybody to just let go to stop fighting to not go with or stand against or just let go give it just give up give in relent man I thought you were supposed to be the angel on my shoulder not the executive dysfunction on my shoulder you act as as those are two separate things the angel on your shoulder is just ADHD [Music] symptoms that's why it's so tempting come on joj you could do it just get in the wall I can you're right I can do it get in the [Music] wall I know how to scare these kids away don't worry there's not a single child that can stand up against good old Remington buckshot oh sorry I let my American show there for a second oh I'm too old to be in school that's what you think you can never stop learning you should be learning something every day or in this case in Jo's case learning something every night yes I study ballistics and Ballistic Theory no I'm just about the only [ __ ] toror you'll see who's not going to touch a goddamn gun you say that do you hate living what no it's not that I just hate being the I hate seeing the warrior stereotype perpetuated are you aware of the warrior I am not but uh I'm gathering their art form is war yeah so unfortunately they don't have like the best discipline bird Gunslingers uh which is apparently fortitude but they do have Solarity and aspects and because they have those too uh people tend to just go ah yes I will solve all my Powers with the are all my problems with the power of Smith and Wesson if it works it works yeah yeah although when you when you play like a hammer everything becomes a nail although to be fair I think I find that a lot easier to stomach than the other stereotype of tors the damn all in distress wait you Joi H what about what about Jo they're they're to Joi that's that's the stereotype no no Joi is not he's not going to be one of those [Music] characters keep telling yourself that buddy you harm me with your words oh that's my specialty I mean helping people with my words is my specialty that's that's you're talking about being a hoe that's what tutor doors is D is [Music] ho lader we're back yeah excellent so before we stepped away there's there's but one way to summarize what the coder was in the midst of it was a battle of faith in themselves if we were to be so grandio as to give it a title because everything can harm you but nothing can harm you permanently save yourself and that's what's at stake the definition of whom they might be and what they might become and what they've done is what this darkness is evincing is what this darkness is showing them it's what is out there in the night stalking them always so mie as the night is filled with your distant relations having their way with the world sounds of fear and combustion engine doing what combustion engines do as Annabelle scream become part of the cist mudded muddled sounds of the night what is Daddy [Music] doing well at this point sometimes the only way out is through so she is going to dredge up some of her favorite moments uh reflected in the uh Paradise she so artfully was like wait this isn't right um was experiencing and uh just let her love of knowledge even though that's like her secret thing uh just kind of flow through [Music] is she attenting to make her way anywhere is she or she standing in the center of this Pyon and in the center of all of these gaggle of you attempting to have their way with her as she radiates that hidden res deserve of awareness uh yes she is going to just slowly take one step at a time all right and she doesn't have any dominate she does not have dominate [Music] okay that being the case to be kind go ahead and roll your your resolve plus composure and roll as high as you [Music] [Music] can w w okay um these things happen there there is An Occurrence that um occasionally factors in fate lends a hand it reaches through the dark taking you by your shoulders and providing you the strength that purpose to withstand the horrible evisceration that you receive it literally is the very unkind there there buddy you'll be perfectly fine and then your snu attack you're backhanded with a nail bat you see being piled on by a gang of individuals who want nothing but your worst and the Good Samaritan helping you to your feet so they can get a clear shot that is unfortunately that's unfortunately six unav will power damage so you superficial so of course you have it in that B3 that you are absorbing you literally are watching your worst moments not the moments where you know that you were tough enough and you survived them but those moments that even still in your death haunt you from your breathing days even in your un Beating Heart causes a cold sweat to break out a flop sweat to crawl across your lower back those moments that open your eyes that there is in fact darkness that refuses to be illuminated by anyone's brightness by anyone's light by anyone's fire towards knowledge realizing that sometimes no matter how well-intentioned a thing there is nothing but rack and ruin what is Maddie's total willpower presently oh the poor girl is down to one youve experience more pain you can't remember when it is beginning to leave welts and lesions upon your skin you are sure that them pulling and moving and getting to make sure you can't do or Escape in a spiritual thing you are you would be will to bet the promise of your immortality on that fact that they cannot or have not actively physically affected you yet there are lesions growing heat damage here a Brut and contusion there beginning to show on your skin you can feel What In This Moment feel like just an Indian burn or a a rough small abrasion but you know that that is due the damage that you are taking emotionally you know that standing sitting reclining remaining here is the acceptance of the end of your immortality speaking of the end of your immortality pulling Lita [Music] from wherever she is beneath the water beneath the surface of the world wherever she is is just dry and welcoming and safe because you pull her free of the water surface there's not a drop of wetness on her unfortunately you two stand hand in hand arm in arm as the children who are swimming across this body of water reach you Leah Joi they are here they are close enough to nearly touch you to reach out to you for help because just as you pull ler free just as you break the surface leader they to sink they begin to experience the weight of their sot garment pulling them beneath the service and they're reaching out and calling his help help you've got this leader you know the choice to make I believe in you I want to unli yeah and unlive means what for you right now are you going to help the children who are beginning to drown you you going reach out and Pull and free of the water do these look like normal children to me wearing oversized garments swimming at night yeah of course they certainly haven't been eating your soul it's fine well not mine but H India seeing that would definitely yell they're not real get out of the water or are they then more real than any of us reality is [Music] perception hearing that I think iore the children you're ignor the children for the word someone that left you on the other side of the mirror I see they left you yeah they clearly have your best intentions in mind they left you alone as if you were something cheap and easily obtainable something you pick up from the dollar store or the 99 cent store or from the one of Jo's resale bins something cheap and disposable speaking up cheap and disos when you were going to school andelle one of the most popular backpacks was a simple jam sport your parents were too busy to purchase it for you they picked up a bright pink thing was some knof made by carart or Dickies or some work thing they shoved it towards you toward you just like all your just like all of the other kids it'll be fine it'll be perfect mm not sure why you thought of that God forsaken thing right now but those kids that are pulling at you and attempting to need your help they need you to and they're eating so much so much teeth rotting candy and sweets P you're not sure where they're getting it from cuz it's not like you're offering it to them it's not like you have candy or keyboarders in in your pocket but long and behold there they are and you try to get them Point them in the direction of anyone and everyone but yourself yet they want your help they need your Aid your assistance and it's costing you dearly as a psychologist you know that you can only analyze those dark deep moments of your past traumas when you are in a safe and secure location you are the opposite of that the complete and total opposite you are not safe nor secure you're not healthy you're being supported by anything and anyone that loves you yet there they swim up from your past those moments those bits that you carry with you even in death what is it if anything are you attemp to do she stops trying to redirect them and accepts the truth that they offer that he she has no inherent worth but at the same time there's freedom in that [Music] there's there is the the sort of purity of that knowledge and she can help them by helping them understand the same thing that they are all the same that they should it all cease to find cease cease the [Music] struggle to find themselves because only in being lost can you be found and so she's encouraging them to embrace continuing to be lost like she is [Music] so she is in essence attempting to get them to feed on themselves and to in invest in giving themselves over to the depression of the trauma of their existences yes bur into the skid okay okay um instead of resolve and composure would you be so kind as to go ahead and roll your manipulation plus sube roll as high as you possibly can as you attempt to reach into the Dark Void of existence than have it feed upon itself H is it really sube though since she's not lying to herself anymore she's not lying to herself she's lying to them she's resenting to twist their what she understands of their logic onto itself Annabelle just very nicely said kyss o look at that as long as they roll one or less you well two or less you are absolutely perfect one success versus difficulty one this is literally Annabelle there's not an end not an easy one inside but getting them to pause allows the truth of a lot of agent philosophy to filter through to her busy mind requires a calm body calm body requires a busy mind and buying yourself a few seconds to establish a small distance even as they're still touching her and even as they're still suing even as they are still closing off there is a reality in understanding sometimes you don't have to be faster than the bear sometimes just standing up tall and moving away at a good pace is enough to survive the encounter Stillness is very much that of the grave in your pause the truth of staying settles itself across [Music] you not moving not fighting goes very much against the ideologies for survival Joi and as Lita is pulled free and finally begins to experience what being in water is like because her clothing her hair everything about her is completely dry as if she was never actually in the water but yet as she's standing the water begins to slowly creep into the fabric of her garments and those children are closing on you both you hear India call out what is it that you are attempting to do uh I'm going to trying to get back to shore I guess noises in my head were right she just immediately abandons me I don't know what I was thinking I'm sorry depression you were right Depression was only looking out for you exactly exactly and she turned her back on the children who are beginning to go under the water what is what is it that that Joi is doing pardon what is it that Jo's doing is the children drown right in front of him just kind of in a low Mantra just they're not real they're not real they're not real they're not real as he as he's trying to extricate himself as he's trying to extricate himself as well despite how [ __ ] depressing that that mental image is please don't go help help God oh God as you all make your way back out of the deeper portions as you pull yourself out of that sinking moment because that's what it was the the water was slowly Rising which should be impossible you guys didn't go further in there's not like there's actual ways responding to the the moon there's no Tides coming in coming out yet it felt as if you all were sinking into the lake making your way back through the mud back towards this actual safe drier portions of the shoreline you see India facing off with a child a child she's staring at it keeping it in sight as if it is the most dangerous of things as if it was a cornered wild cat and the only way out was through her and it's appealing to her help me I just need help I can't be out here again I can't be out here like this help [Music] me yeah Andia yeah but the appeals towards your assistance and the calls for your Aid and the sounds of children drowning in the lake behind you what is it that you're doing well seeing that they have gotten out and don't need the Rope anymore as far as she knows she is going to skirt around him keeping him in her ey line the whole time and get back to Joi and Lita but for good measure she is snarling at that thing to keep it the [ __ ] away from her so as you three close on one another the children drowning in the lake the child by the swing who missed and attempted to go in for a loving hug from India standing there pitifully in the dark [Music] we always go to such lovely [Music] places um India will tell them both the main road is that way we just got to go it's only 100 more feet yards we got to get out yards 100 yards that way is Maddy still being [ __ ] suffocated by the undead yep and joi's just going to all right you guys go that way I'm going to try and get her out [Applause] [Music] as he just starts making his way over to Maddie because that is not a pretty situation over there that is not it's not there's nothing like being besieged by all of the moments where a step would have br brought you Victory you would have gotten the accolades of your peers you would have been financially situated the hunger of poverty wouldn't have gnawed so deeply on your flesh for one step for one few fractions of a distance it's those moments where you look back and say but had I known had I but had I could I if I'd that's what the darkness encapsulating her looks like it's what it feels like from a distance but is in fact considerably more than that there those moments beyond your control that were never really beyond your control we're never really outside of your agency it's realizing that you chose CH what befil you and you might have chosen different had you but known had you but had the gift of foresight had you but it's those moments the ones that if you were alive would keep you awake denying you sleep and peace it's those moments of having to accept the unacceptable having to rce the frailties and failings of being alive and with that Proclamation from Joi is he's going to head back to race towards Maddie what are India and Lita doing just to see if it shows anything I use where um The Binding feder so you are going to attempt to create a an anchor out of whole cloth from no um it just lets me see them see ifers [Music] exist it is in fact a um there's really no relevance for these Spiritual Beings they're not the spirits of the Deb they're not things that once existed um just quantifying that you have at least one level of Oblivion these are not formerly living entities these beings these children there's nothing that ties them to lives lived cut short otherwise impeded with you having Oblivion and having an idea of the cosmology of the world and worlds in which but our own um would be so kind as to go ahead and roll your intelligence plus Oblivion as Joi heads off as you begin racking your mind and as Lita is scrutinizing the encroaching darkness of these children who need your assistance who demand your Aid who need your touch India as Joi begins heading back towards Maddie is there anything that India is doing India tends to feel better with her her gun in her hand she normally knows that if she's out on the Range by herself it keeps most Predators away so she is going to pull it from her waistband and take the safety off but keep it pointed at the ground later I don't know what you up to but the thing is we need to keep moving we cannot let them touch us cannot let them get close we have to keep moving I don't know what Jo's up to but we need to get out of here one way or the other [Music] sounds I there is a similarity between many of the older faiths and many of the older myths about the power of belief one are the many things that children are taught typically is you know the myth and story of Tinker Bell and Peter Pan and uh various other wives tales that are passed out like you know if you wish upon a star happy birthday wishes and things of that nature the power of belief these children these malformed thoughts and doubts empower though they are in the now are not powered by the dead not powered by the powers of any of the nearby necropoli on the other side of the Shroud on the other side of the veil these are specters and spirits of things lost and most presently there needed to be a sundering or shattering there need to be a break for them to especially in this last volume enter into this world relatively freely there had to be an opening a tearing or a Breaking of a boundary there had to be something larger entering into this world causing all of the ripples in its wake to create these passageways for this many of them the wives tales about them playing in the road probably true but there's never been enough energy for them to manifest in this volume there is an opening there is a tearing down down of some fence speaking of fences and neighbors Maddie the Confluence of these children ping at you pulling at you feasting on you where kindness has not been of assistance and anger only adding fuel to the fire is there anything that Maddie is doing in the face of these hungry feasting children well let's see at this point she is probably fairly exhausted drained rung [Music] out right all right so she is going to take her last ditch effort um and I guess figuratively since these aren't actually fire walk through fire figuratively of [Music] course and how would that look to you I would say maybe it's similar to to the first time that she successfully used one of her rituals uh which is B the fear which you know helps helps keep that nasty little frenzy at Bay um she's she's done it she's had to in her course of Duties so that's probably what she's Conjuring up the first time that that she was successful at [Applause] that um so underneath the onslaught leaguered by Theon slot instead of taking any decisive action Maddie is attempting to use the power of her belief in herself and exactly okay um that being the case but you B kind go ahead and Rule your composure and blood sorcery um not having time to enact one of the rituals she may have learned along the way not having the opportunity to um tap into the BET and and unwilling to yield to the sheer honest lie it's a damn you all I refuse moment it is a digging deep into the semblance of herself and withstanding the onslaught the waves of nebulous energy being output by these things being absorbed from her from all the moments of her past just to double check you said resolve and blood sorcery [Music] yes on let's come back to that fate very much does not seem to enjoy madd's present uh standing no it doesn't um Annabelle the pause the small break and the onslaught of all the things that have come before all of the moments where being a fraction a fraction too little too late too unloved too unappreciated a pause in that Onslaught a breather if you will in the attack of these children CU that's what it is it is literally an attack a unforgiving unrelenting wave upon wave of things that would seek to drown the very heat of the universe hundreds of moments of poor decision- making great decision- making not working out hundreds of decisions hundreds of moments hundreds of instances a death by a million small cuts in places where no one would ever notice no one's ever going to come and help because there's no signs that they can see in the midst of that in the respit of that what is anabo [Music] doing um how distracted are they it is in fact a pause there's one thing you can count on you can count on the Sure Fire bet this is just a pause you manag to keep them preoccupied for seconds that keep give you a moment to breathe clear and free of all of those other moments [Music] [Music] um she's going to just start like casually strolling away while continuing to like encourage them to attack each each other um in uh meanwhile she's thinking come with us Annabelle it'll be fun they said we need you they said and where are they [ __ ] nowhere just like everyone else they are aren't they no one's going to come for you no one is there for you it is I haven't survived by relying on other people no you haven't survived by trusting anyone but yourself have you pleas go ahead and roll your dexterity and stealth this isn't going to go great oh surreptitiously easing out of the center of their fixation surreptitiously slinking past them working towards doing so um is that your final role uh no apparently yes Fate has its way with us all one way or the other just like time it is the thief of always and just like those persistent doubts that won't allow you to be great they catch your movement slow and quiet and attempting to not quite catch their attention or their interest as you really it's perfectly fine like no I'll see myself out like no need to get up no they descend on you as Joi rushes pass heading towards Maddie [ __ ] you [Music] Joi what did I do nothing there is a portion of humanity that ref refuses to accept the pain of others at least in most fully formed mostly empathetic versions of humanity the pain of others causes us sympathetic pain in ourselves and we seek to keep ourselves from experiencing that Pain by helping others as Joi is nearly dead even with animal he watches out of the corner of his eyes CU his gaze is focused on Maddie but as he's moving past at a good clip he watches as pain is materialized in her being the sort of persistent niggling doubts that paralyze others that freezes them to the spot that causes them even as The Inferno is towering above their head crushing down on them the fear of failure freezes them to the spot assuring and ensuring that they will in fact fail they will not survive this moment and like a person on their last gasp as the water takes them under Joy watches as the darkness descends and crawls over anal taking deep gouts and gibbets of her flesh from her the emotional Center of her being being shattered in a 100,000 different small shards with the [Music] additional with the additional one uh superficial willpower and but what does that leave your total willpower [Music] presently there should be three willpower left cuz I don't think I marked it last time um yeah so three willpower left a a [Music] second sooner a moment faster Joie would have been able to see her beneath before the darkness completely encapsulated her and began feeding as the children clinging to her and pulling her further into their grip takes her temporarily for a moment as he whips and rushes past her heading towards Maddie that's that's five superficial many um having that to three what does that leave her total uh willpower [Applause] presently uh that would be oh yay ne2 um so the old the old Axiom the you know I I've dealt with tougher men than you I've dealt with bigger problems than this we all know it's a lie typically we all know that when people tout such things and boast of what they've survived that they rarely have ever actually been in such Dire Straits before Maddie wouldn't lie on herself in that regards she has not been in more Dire Straits she has never receiv received as many blows to her sense of self as she has she has not toughed out any more significant moment than this there's being wounded there's being hurt there's even being stabbed or shot that is less painful than where she is right now [Music] [Music] has she ever had anybody to rely on CU she had anybody else to l a hand not so over much she's uh she was raised to be self-reliant and Joi would you be so kind just go ahead and roll your dexterity plus Athletics when we play this all right will do and what's your total Solarity who okay is this a reactionary or can I Rouse cuz this is kind of a rough one you you can Rouse rousing is always yes yes but you supposed to do that L but that's fine uh ignore me I'm bitching at myself for routinely forgetting the order as you rush through the shadowed grip of these children who are gathered around Maddie as if she is the center of the universe she's the bonfire to which they are warming themselves as if she is the [Music] central got the sun in which the constellation of their Planet Circle and they reach out towards Joi and he can all but hear the laughter as he can all but hear those moment where he was not nearly as strong as he wished himself to be as he was not nearly as beautiful as he wished himself to be as he was just a bit less than he hoped to be and that's a three that brings you to you manage to evade their touch you manage to evade they're actually reaching out to you for help and you're standing there with D is there anything that you are attenting to do besides watch as she kneels under the pressure of all of her moment of failure I am I am fully maintaining my momentum slamming into her just picking her up Bridal style and [ __ ] running nice there is no need to be here any longer this is the end of the con when it's just kind of depressing as everyone's packing up none of the people that you want to meet are there anymore it's just boxes on boxes hey but Jeff Sorbo is still there we don't know why and it's slightly concerning as you truck as you run as you head back towards the Carnival like a better word because you're moving through where she's standing back that in that general direction um choosing a path free of the moment there is a choice there is always a choice whether that's effective or not is does not take away the fact that there is in fact a choice always made and as you India and L are nearly to the road nearly [Music] to Strickland Springs Road there where it turns off into the Dead the three dead ends because if you go north of your location north of where you are presently you're heading towards the road there's another turnout that heads South and technically west of where you are the other two dead ends head north and east and then south and east of your location even more so South by Southeast there's always a choice and as you get closer and closer to where that road should be where that road is just past the three houses there at the end of that particular group of land there's a choice there are lights heading in your general direction North from the north of where you presently are there are lights ringing through the trees as clearly a vehicle is rushing down the road towards the dead end towards the dead ends there's always a choice what is it that you two are attempting or thinking or preparing to do um I think she's going to they're going to stay out of the road so that the car doesn't hit them but get as close to it or head towards the lights so that um maybe they can get out of here or maybe they can take the car from whoever it is and loop back to say save their friends but they want to get out of here or she wants to get out of here she doesn't know what leer [Music] wants what does leader want There's an actual provable phenomenon happening out there just behind you just from where you fled from do you don't you will you want you what is on Lita's mind as she's trundling along behind India as you all are nearly to the [Music] road okay we're experiencing a small bit of technical difficulties Discord being Discord the as a deciding factor in this moment the lights heading your in a Direction but are you when you said maybe uh potentially which of those options are you actually choosing getting out of [Music] there you broke up a bit there Lita disc is in interrupting with your uh oh sorry I'm getting out of there okay so the the lights of the vehicle are which is clearly a vehicle are heading in your general direction what are you attempting to do to get out of there is there anything that you're [Music] doing um just generally trying to get out of the dire coming from okay and India are you allowing the vehicle to pass you by are what is it that you are are attempting or thinking of [Music] doing I guess we're trying to flag them down if they're going I mean it depends on how fast they're going but we're going to try at least to flag them down or she's looking for a rock she might just throw a rock at their back window to get them to [Music] stop understandable so you're not looking in your pockets are [Music] you no no she's a kind of the ground she don't trust nothing that's in her Pockets right [Music] now after Joi pulls out a [ __ ] interdimensional rock from his yeah no it's probably a good idea there is there is no greater feeling than knowing that someone is coming for you to knowing that you are not alone there's no greater sense of you matter more than someone else putting themselves out of sorts even if it's literally just them across that they live across the street from you they live down the block from you they live half ACR way across the city the fact that someone is exerting the effort to come for you is a penultimately powerful feeling knowing that there's someone out there in the dark knowing there's someone out there in the world that considers you worth effort whether it's great whether it's humongous whether it is gargantuan no matter the amount of effort the fact that someone considers you worthy of the effort there's no feeling like it so as you begin to wave your hand and look for a rock to throw into the path of the vehicle to hit the car with it's getting to a stop [Music] and Angela rivers and Renee Logan stepping out of the [Music] vehicle Angela blatantly staring through you all as in where the [ __ ] is there everybody else and Renee very pointedly did you all have to [ __ ] up that big you know how many get in the [ __ ] car and the way that she pronounced this car is always horribly inaccurate cuz as if there's an extra couple of KS and q's mixed in get in the car and it stretched out in the Y bends and twists seeing two members of the reigning powers that be in Bethany what if anything goes through Lita India's mind what is it that they may if anything attempt to to say what is it if anything they are attempting to [Music] [Music] do um India realizes that this is the worst possible not the worst possible scenario but she is glad to see them but at the same time like a [ __ ] bosses are here but she as she's getting in the car we didn't do this [ __ ] demons or some [ __ ] did the the the guy that's running this place he's actually a demon and he had us set some [ __ ] loose trapping Us in the [ __ ] trailer we didn't do this Magister Connor would would beg to differ he said you all release some energy by choice G was he here when it [ __ ] happened he's getting in but he was monitoring y'all SED in stone and the moment you all get in there's no pausing of action there's no we'll sit here by side of road and keep talking about this Angela mashes the gas shifting into gear and flipping a 180 instead of continuing down the Dead End Road when she reaches the break she turns and heads across the clearly you hope mapped out pasture and Fields bouncing between trees and she's heading in a particular direction it is clear that in the interruption of whatever Joi did when he used his stone that it sent them into higher gear than average because there's no reason for Magister Conor to have been monitoring the sending Stone yet he clearly already was there's no reason for this level of response unless of course some one somewhere was taking the whole matter far too seriously should have been a simple Rouse you should have been able to engineer what looks like an accident and got people out there yet there are powers that be that are up in [Music] arms there is more than a little bit of things happening and the ramifications of those happenings unfortunately because your numbers were up and and you all were responsible seems to be settling across your shoulders and as India and Lita settled into the back seat of the mercedesbenz SUV barreling across the very wild dark spaces an anal begin succumbing to all of that un acted on darkness in the edges of her being and as Joi and Maddie race away from the center of the melstrom of a platoon of unliving children I'd like to thank you all for a lovely episode and I look forward to seeing you guys next time thank you all for playing okay

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