greetings listener, It is I, your gay master Grant.
Music This week we have an extra special treat for you instead of
our usual episode. We will be back Monday, I
promise. We're going to give you a friend
of ours. Our friends over at Tales Yet
Told have been running a wonderful series called our
Lives in the Wood, telling one shot tales and indie systems
that all take place in the world of the sublime.
Tales yet Told us one of our favorite podcast.
And this week we're going to give you one of their episodes
to chew on. And trust me, you're going to
want to chew. This week's episode is their
fifth episode, but don't worry, you can listen to any of them in
any order. They will be playing.
This game takes place in your hometown in an episode titled
This Isn't a Football Game. You might be familiar with This
Game takes place in your hometown to prepare yourself
accordingly. I personally have been a huge
fan of Tales Yet Told for years before I even had a podcast, so
it's a wonderful treat to count their GM Kendo as one of my
friends and to be able to give you this feed drop here this
week. So enough of me yapping, because
you're about to be in for the good stuff soon.
We'll take a brief moment for a brief advertisement from yours
truly about some stuff we have coming up on the Twitch.
It is Castaway season after all. And then we will take you to
Kendo, Marceline and Darby for Tales Yet Told Our lives in the
wood. Join us for the third exciting
season of Castaway. This year we are bringing our
competitors to the harshest environment we've ever had,
perhaps the harshest one on earth, the tundra.
It is the middle of winter, the snow is heavy, the temperatures
are below 0, and the wild is out to get you.
Our most recent season of Castaway will be taking place on
the tundra and that will be happening live January 7th
through February 11th at 7:00 PM Pacific Time with a whole new
cast of Incredible A peers from all across the scene.
Get ready to see Nate from What do I Roll?
Abigail the Nerd, Anna Eliza from Hilarity Saves, Ross from
Blades of Maori, Blue from Batty Bards, Jenna Daggers, Hamnish,
the Heed Mags from Streaming Rainbow, Spunky Taylor and Tori
from Athroplay. That again, is Castaway the
Tundra starting on January 7th through February 11th, raising
funds for Feeding America. We hope to see you there on
Twitch. You were listening to Tales Get
Told, an actual play show dealing in horrific and often
heavy topics and themes at the intersection of queerness and
horror. Content warnings, list of cast
and crew, and other relevant links can be found in the
description. Viewer discretion is advised.
October 7th, 85, AE. Dear Diary, did you like riddles
when you were a person? I need help with one.
People say I'm a virtue but treat me like a game.
When all go smooth, they praise my name.
But when trouble stirs, I'm first to blame.
What am I? I found this one on the back of
an envelope tucked away in the filing cabinet in the writers
archive. It's addressed to me, but rather
than writing their name, you know, like a normal person, I
get to do a Riddle. I hate riddles.
Riddles and puzzles and mysteries and questions.
Oh, I've got far too many questions bouncing and bouncing
and bouncing around my soul right now.
I can barely hear myself think Diary.
The system is still bugging me with questions about the second
son and trying to give me the, I don't know, clean things up I
guess. But I still don't know where it
came from. And honestly, that second son is
the least of my problems right now because someone stole my
stories. There are gaps, Diary.
Big gaps. Years worth of stories just
poof, gone. Sure, a few stories might get
misplaced every now and then, the Archive and the Stacks have
millions of them, but they can always be found.
And I've spent far too much time digging around for stories that
I can't seem to find diary. And even worse, it's not just
the stories they've taken diary, but my memories of them.
Someone made me forget the story he said I wrote, and there's
only two people who could have done that diary.
Or so I thought. People say I'm a virtue, but
treat me like the game. When all goes smooth, they
praise my name. But when trouble starts, I'm
first to blame. What am I?
Whoever left this behind wanted me to find this.
I think they know what happened to my stories.
There's a manuscript in here, you see, written by me, dated
before 61 AEA year after the war, right in the middle of one
of those gaps. I've read it and once more I
find myself with more questions with no answers.
But maybe this is a question the system can answer for me.
Why don't I remember a city named Cornwall?
Hello everybody, and welcome back to another episode of Tales
Yet Told, an actual play podcast focused on telling you stories
at the intersection of queerness and horror using NDT RPG.
My name is Kendrick Coquendo, whichever you prefer.
And with me today for the first time in a long time, Marceline.
Hello. Hi, I'm Marceline.
Hi, I mean, well, if you're a real Tales Yet Told fan, you've
definitely heard Marceline's voice and our wonderful series
Strangers in the Wood, and if you're even cooler, Whispers in
the Sea. Oh my goodness.
This is Marcy you're you're OG tales yet told cast.
So much so that there are people right now who have listened to
this show and have never heard your voice because they're
freaks and they don't want to. They're little freaks.
Listen to our little show Hi
Freaks. Yeah, Hi, little freaks.
Well, if you know anything, Marcy is one of the amazing
people that helped create the world of the sublime.
It is through her actions that Dakota has molded the world of
the sublime, and so much of what we've seen in Voices in the Wood
and already in our Lives in the Wood is a direct consequence of
Marceline thinking of something in her head, saying it out loud,
and me having to go, well, here are the terrible things that
happened because because of that decision.
Whoa, you're removing the like the middle, the middleman?
The middleman, The dice. No Dakota.
Oh, yeah, no, no, that's true. That's true, that's true.
No, But sometimes you come up with a night and I'm not even.
Sometimes there are things you come up with where you go, oh,
now what if it's like this and I'm like, that's super cool.
It's going to be worse for you, you know.
Yeah, and that's good. Hey, that's yummy.
Hey, you know, it's won US awards, so I can't say that.
Who can say that's bad? But yes, everybody, this is
another episode of Our Lives in the Wood, keeping these stories
from the sublime coming to you. And this time we are playing the
game. This game takes place in your
hometown by Jack Blair. This is a little horror game
inspired by wonderful works like War of the Worlds and any other
kind of like survival horror kind of deal.
I love this game so much. Yeah, you're the one who brought
this to me to so we could tell this little freaky story in the
sublime. It's so good.
So obviously there will be some slight changes to the fiction of
this world and stuff, but you'll figure that out by the time we
get into our little intro monologue.
But let me break down really quick how this game is going to
work so that you can understand what we're doing as we're doing
it. This is a storytelling game that
you as cards, as prompt. So we will draw cards, they will
give us prompts and we will answer them.
Sometimes that answer will just be a couple of sentences.
Sometimes that answer will be a whole scene, a conversation that
will help build our story as we explore these two childhood
friends reconnecting in their hometown.
One of them has stayed in this hometown for, well, basically
all of their life, and the other one went away for years and has
returned. As we are drawing cards, we will
be answering questions, building out our history together and
exploring where we are right now and how we've changed.
And our goal is to draw four of the twos 2 cards across the
various suits of a suit of cars. So we're trying to get the two
of hearts, 2 of spades, 2 of clubs, and two of diamonds,
which are all little safe havens.
And if we get all four of those before we knock over our
proverbial tower, we are safe. Now that tower I was talking
about, guess what? We don't have the Jenga tower or
the block pulling the block game tower.
I don't know what the brand neutral term.
Yeah, that is that it. You can't say that they have to
pay them royalties every time you say Jenga.
Well, now you have to. Yeah.
You see what you've done.
Here we are.
My tower comes tumbling down. Your tower comes.
Down by nondescript wooden block tower comes tumbling down.
My wooden block block pulling toy game tower.
Oh my God. But yeah, because we're playing
online we don't have a tower to to do anything with.
So instead we will be using some rules that were I believe
originally used by the actual play show Follow the Leader,
where they played the same game where we will be rolling the 20s
to simulate pulling a tower piece or whatever.
So we will roll 1D20 for each time we're supposed to pull and
a 2D20 if the pool needs to be fast.
If we roll the same #3 total times the game ends as if the
tower has fallen, which will mean the hunters have caught us.
Any last words you want to say before we get into this,
Marceline? I'm so excited to be back in
this world. I'm excited to step in.
I mean, I think this game just, I think anyone who hasn't played
this game yet, I encourage you to find a friend that maybe you
haven't talked to in a while that you grew up with.
This is such a great game to like, sit and like or even like
someone that you're meeting for the first time and, like, learn
about each other's, like, lives and kind of the places they come
from and the touchdowns they had in their childhood.
It's just a really great game to bring people together.
Yeah, I please play this game. It's so good.
Hell yeah. Then with that, let's get into
it. This is Cornwall, your hometown
at the end of the war. It's scarred and empty, and the
two of you are alone, except for the Master Sergeant Brittany
Devoe, hero of the 14th Season War, and her hunters.
As you walk around the streets, picking through the rubble for
supplies and signs of the anarchists they've told you are
hiding here, the hunters have heavy footsteps.
The hunters have evacuated all the citizens and captured
everyone else. You and your partner have been
tasked with making sure that is true.
You pick through the scraps of a life you hardly remember, doing
what you're told to survive. The hunters don't need to
scavenge to survive. The citizens do it for them.
The hunters have everything they need to hurt you.
One of you is a hunter finally home after being away for years,
and you were told not to fraternize with the citizens,
only to survey. Who are you?
Bryce Green Bryce Green is a young man who stands about 6162.
He's pretty broad and well built.
He wears a military uniform that's not as in line as it
should be. It's a little disheveled.
He has this like kind of short, tousled dirty blonde hair, thick
brownish eyebrows. He's kind of like gentle and
piercing, bluish Gray eyes, soft cheeks that are kind of dappled
with freckles. Rice Green is a really simple
person, a person who who believes in dreams, who believes
in and passion. Someone who as a soldier he's
never had to see what the consequences of war are like.
War is a idea to him. Closest he knows to war is a
football field and to him that's very clear cut.
The simple and I think frames how he views warfare, where at
the end of the day you get in line, you shake hands and you
say a good game. You've been told your next order
should be coming soon. One of you is a citizen who
never left, evacuated from your home after the explosion, and
you were told you must scavenge so the hunters can help you
survive. Who are you?
Paul Senton is a man who had everything he needed at his
fingertips. He's not from this world, but it
was given to him in a way back when he was younger, and he was
given a family, a community, a role, and it was simpler within
the world he'd come from before. Straightforward, organized,
which made sense for the job that he was given.
Paul is short and lanky, small for his size, easily looked over
in a crowd, which he prefers. I think he goes unnoticed which
allows him to do what he does best.
His job he keeps to himself, staying in his home where he
keeps just all of the things he's collected in his life.
He's not really one to let go of anything.
No objects, no keepsakes, no friends, no family, no loved
ones. He doesn't like losing things,
and so he does his best to make sure that he doesn't.
His clothes are orderly and pristine normally, but since the
explosion, things have been different, an unwelcome change
in his life. You've seen the hunters
preparing for something big. You're both afraid, but you have
each other. All right, Bryce, draw the first
card. No way.
Two of diamonds.
The Public Library here is small, but it had bean bags.
The doors are unlocked. You'll be safe here for a little
while. I think as we're walking through
these streets together, side by side, there is a lot of rubble,
some buildings just kind of desecrated.
We're in this small part of the town that's kind of like a mini
market in the center of like a neighborhood.
And here there would be like a small grocer, a little like pub,
the library, some like an ice cream shop, some basketball
courts and some Public Utilities and spaces for gathering base
community gardens. But a lot of those are defaced,
destroyed. But the only thing that remains
is that library. And I think as we walk, Bryce
kind of points in the direction of it and starts moving
alongside with Paul. Paul sees you point and kind of
begrudgingly he's the satchel over his shoulder.
That's it's not really heavy with supplies.
We haven't found much since we've gotten here, mostly,
mostly a lot of junk. But I'm here to follow what you
say, so I do. As we push through the doors,
like a puff of dust comes across and the smell of paperback.
It's somewhat dark in here, but there's still emergency lights
that light the place. Bryce kind of looks around a
little worried what might be hiding in here.
He tries to ease himself by muttering a little bit to Paul.
He goes kind of looks like the old one from Springfield, huh?
And he kind of walks around like the.
The lounge area, the reading corner that they have and plops
down into a bean bag and sinks in deeper and thuds against the
floor. He's like in this, I guess I'm a
little too big for these now. And like looks up at Paul with
like a very wanting smile. Paul stands there, looking down
at you, trying his best not to let his face show how he feels.
But there's a tension here, a quiet as he does not respond to
you and just kind of rolls his eyes to turn and look between
the sacks. There might be like a back room
somewhere. Sure, there's like a staff
place. Maybe there's food or something
left behind. You, like, see as, like Bryce
kind of like struggles to, like, get to his feet from out of this
bean bag, kind of like stumbling, like fumbling a
little bit. And like, it's just it gets up,
like pushes himself up. And it's like, yeah, yeah.
I mean, absolutely. I mean, yeah, we can.
We can get looking. And he clicks on a flashlight on
the end of his rifle and points it around this Public Library
that's now empty. Do you know where that might be?
I mean, you ran the chess club. You know libraries better than I
do. I yes, I yeah, yeah, it should
be back here. Just follow me, I guess.
Paul looks up towards the signs hanging from the ceiling which
point off into the different directions in the library and
sees the one that says the staff area and Will very tensely start
walking in that direction, not looking back to see if you
follow. Bryce watches him walk past and
takes a deep breath and clenches his jaw and fixes his posture
and marches behind, following into that break room, guarding
the door while Paul searches through all the cabinets and
cupboards and boxes. Yeah, there's some stuff in
here, mostly snacks, Waters should be good for a couple of
people, but not too much. Good.
Yeah, bring them out. We, we, we can you, you can
carry them the rest of the way. There's a soft sigh from inside
of the room as you hear the sounds of Paul struggling with
this, like, large cardboard box, which is like wider than he is.
And he comes walking out of the room and you see him kind of
stop at the door frame, having to lean against the door frame
to like partially help hold up the weight of this.
Come on, can I get a little bit of help just this bigger than
me? There's got to be a better way
to do this. And you like, see Bryce, like,
walk back over to that lounger and he pulls a combat knife off
of a holster near his heart, on his chest and shoulder.
He pulls it out and he slices open a part of the bean bag.
And he dumps all of the beans inside onto the ground and walks
over and starts taking all the supplies from the box into that
empty sack and hands it over to Paul.
All watches mournfully as the knife rips through the cloth
material of the bean bag, watching you dump it out
carelessly onto the ground. In the past, maybe he would have
said something about this, but as you tuck your gun behind you
to open up the bag, as I put the books and I think otherwise, it
is now my turn to pull a card. The Ace of Hearts, your partner
turns their back on you for just a handful of moments.
What do you do while you're alone?
We've already gotten more than I can personally carry, so it's
time for us to start heading back.
And I think as we're heading back, there is a corner store.
It's just and Dinah's place to old women who work together.
They opened up this little corner store.
It had everything you needed, you know, mostly snacks, sodas,
magazines, batteries, you know, little household products.
It was one of the first places raided through when the SCA
came. But it's got a bathroom, and I
think Bryce had had an emergency that needed to be taken care of
that he didn't take care of while we were in the library.
So I'm waiting outside while Bryce is relieving himself,
holding this bag of snacks and water made from the cloth of a
bean bag that we probably used at some point when we were
children. And I just kind of stand here
and I look down the street at the buildings that have been
destroyed, looted and desecrated.
A lot of the SCA members get bored and well, the paint supply
store had plenty of spray paint cans that no one was going to be
using anytime soon. So a lot of the soldiers took it
upon themselves to mark up the place, remind everyone that
they've been here in a city that wasn't theirs.
And I'm looking at the walls that have been marked up with
initials and phallic imagery and seeing the seeing these
cartoonish versions of themselves muscly and gunned
out. And it's a marvel that I can
stand here and look at that and can't do anything about it.
All right, Bryce, would you pull the next card?
The Jack of Clubs. You find a liquor store
unlocked. Do you take anything as Bryce
finishes up and heads out of the market to meet you back in the
street? Kind of like it's like, you
know, readjusting his vests and bandoliers and gun and uniform
and takes, you know, position behind you to kind of usher as
we walk through the street and as we do a few blocks of
silence, a few more blocks of grunts from Paul carrying a
weight too heavy for him is this small brown rectangular building
the parking lot in a small hill of cracked, untamed asphalt and
unpainted lines to for parking spaces.
A white and red sign that has been battered and broken and
only a few letters remain. But from the rows of square
windows that align the front on either side of the door.
You both recognize this as Pappy's, a liquor store that sat
so nestled into this town for such a long time.
A place that through growing up, kind of pass through your
memories until you became a drinking age and then it became
a friend. I think Bryce kind of stops our
moment as we start to kind of get near it.
We're a little deeper into the town that I believe other
scavenges have gone. I don't know if anyone's really
been in here yet. We have plenty of time to check
for here. I haven't been to Pappy's and
damn a hot second I didn't even know if this place was still
here. They could take a miracle to
make a liquor store and go out of business in this town.
I don't remember when Craig got that bad fake.
From that guy over in Walton who like he, like he moved here,
like I want to say like our junior year, right?
Yeah, yeah. And then he was like, oh, yeah,
man, I can get you a fake, you know, I got this guy, you know,
who knows this other guy? And it was like basically like
on like cardboard. It was really bad.
It was bad. He tried it.
Do you think they still have it on the wall in here?
I don't know if anybody throws anything away here, so like
probably, oh. Man, maybe we got to take that
as a souvenir. Are you calling it a souvenir?
I think Paul's demeanor, which had softened a little bit after,
just like we had been silent for a while, like the tension while
there had kind of lowered to just like kind of a numbing
thrum in the back of his mind, which allowed for him to open
up. In this moment.
There's just the the instant reminder of that Bryce and the
other hunters are here to raid this place.
This is a vacation for him or a game.
I don't think Paul has really quite worked out what Bryce
thinks exactly. Yeah, sure.
I guess you're going to have to hold that one though, because
I've got my hands are pretty full so.
Yeah, of course, man. I'm stuck in my pocket.
I think he kind of starts like ushering, you know, us over to
that place kind of, you know, stomping up that like hill that
it's a little too steep for most cars to get up, up into that
liquor store. As we get there would have been
like boards over that window. One of like the the boards to
the windows is been peeled off and is now broken into and
there's like only one way to get in.
It's through that broken window. He kind of takes his rifle and
he uses it to clear any of the glass that's around still in
that window and kind of, you know, leans in with his light on
his rifle, pointing that, scanning the inside of the
building. All right, you can go in first.
OK. Do you want me to just leave the
bag here with because that's not going through the window?
Yeah, it's fine, man. You set it down.
OK, sets the bag down. It's the window is low enough
for someone of about average height to easily get through.
Paul is below average height. And so there's still kind of a
struggle of him trying to lift up his weight to get to like
clear the the window. And so there's like an awkward
moment of like him struggling there, I think for a moment
before he finally like, makes it all the way onto the other side
before like, tripping and falling flat on his ass.
Fuck. What are you doing, man?
Come on. You kind of see Bryce like
climbing effortlessly. Sorry, I'm not built like a
linebacker as he's making his way up.
Come on man, I'm a fall back. It's different.
I don't care. You know you should have done
tryouts. Paul just kind of turns to look
at Bryce with like the most bewildered look me at my I can
play football. I didn't want to play football.
But you were fast man, and like the coordination and all that.
Like you can fix it. I'm I didn't want to play you.
Would have liked it, man. I think also like it would have
got you like some friends, you know, you wouldn't have been
like. What?
I listen. I don't know, man.
After I got on the team, you just kind of tucked away, dude.
I mean, yeah, because you were hanging out with your football
friends. I'm not on the football team.
I don't want to hang out with them.
Well, you could have been, dude. But I I didn't want to be.
I didn't want to be in football, I wanted to be in chess, which
is what I did. Yeah, yeah.
Kind of was like walking like a little bit away.
He's like football is kind of like chess.
Not. Not at all.
Oh, hey, look. And Paul points over to the back
wall behind the counter, where all of the cigarettes and other
small things are held. Right on the side of it, facing
the large windows leading back out there, is the wall of Shame,
where all of the IDs that Pappy and the other employees of
Pappy's Liquor Store had collected over the years.
Dude, no way. And you like, see, like Bryce
Connie slides over the counter and like goes and like and like
takes it off the wall and kind of like holds it up like a
trophy, like gleaming dude. I forgot that they spelled his
name wrong. Yeah, it was a really bad fake.
610 There's no way Craig was 610 bro.
No, he was only like a little taller than me.
Oh man, and we thought it would work too.
That's crazy. Yeah, I mean, we were stupid
kids back then. You can say kick unbuttons like
a chest pocket and kind of slides it in there gently, like
taking very, very precious care of it and kind of buttons it
close and starts like looking at the back wall where those
cigarettes are. And above them is like the high
shelf of liquor, like the top shelf.
Yeah. We had a lot of weird ideas and
thoughts back then. It's like scanning the top shelf
and up there is like a bottle of whiskey that has its own little
special glass box with wooden frame.
Bryce takes second to pop that open and kind of marvel at the
bottle that's in there that he's never been able to actually
touch, let alone taste. You see for a second he takes a
hip flask from part of his uniform and dumps it out on the
ground and begins to fill it with whatever's in this bottle.
Paul watches silently, confused at still seeing his childhood
friend in the man that he sees before him.
Still impulsive, still boyish. Hey, there's I guess do you want
us to take any of this stuff? It might fit in the bag, but
actually, no, never mind. I I'll just mark this down and
I'll let them know so they can send someone else out here to do
this. I don't.
I don't think we're supposed to bring liquor back for anyone
anyways. It's prohibited.
Oh. Wait, so your flask then?
Can we keep between us it it it doesn't have you don't have to
tell anyone man like. Hey, I'm not, I'm not gonna tell
on you. I'm not your your parents man.
I know man, I just. Do you realize what's going on?
Like you? You understand our dynamic,
right? I'm like your boss.
Aha, yeah, I guess if my boss had a gun on me.
I mean, police officers are kind of like bosses.
They usually make sure that you like don't do anything bad.
I that's certainly a way to look at that, huh?
Yeah, sure. Whatever.
Forget I said anything. I'm not going to tell.
Hey man, I didn't want to do this.
Do what? Steal liquor.
You know me man, I I never wanted to like have a gun or
anything. I was supposed to be playing on
a college team and, and maybe GoPro.
Like, you know, I'm, I'm not on the front lines or anything like
fighting anyone. OK.
You know, we're just here to make sure people are safe.
We're like, kind of like firefighters, right?
Firefighters don't carry guns. I haven't even used it.
I don't want to use it. OK, cool.
I don't know what you're going to like.
I don't know what you're looking from for me.
I'm going to be honest. Bryce I.
This We can keep a flash between us.
If you want to take anything, I'm not going to tell, it's OK.
I don't want to take anything, I want to go home.
OK, sorry, sorry, sorry man. Yeah, I, yeah.
You take as Bryce kind of like, you know, close the flash and
puts the bottle back up into the box as if it'll be eventually
sold to someone. He slides over the counter and
he like takes like a couple dollars from his back pocket and
like puts it in the tip drawer and starts to kind of help Paul
to get out the window all. Right, I'm going to draw a card.
The King of Hearts. Here is where you had your first
kiss. Where are you and who did you
kiss? Ask your partner what became of
them. It's getting later in the day as
we make our way from Pappy's Liquor store all the way back to
the makeshift camp that the SCA has made in the center of the
city by the Stranger statue. And I think as we're making our
way there were we pass by a parch, It's one of those small
parks that's in the middle of a commercial area with two strip
malls on either side of it and enough walkways around a central
fountain to make it convenient for dog walkers and people with
children to have a third space without dedicating too much
space for them. It was here where Paul had his
first kiss. It wasn't that long after we had
been assigned to families here in Cornwall.
We were 16, in high school, freshly given our roles, and I
had met someone. It's over by the fountain right
at the foot of it. There is a plaque on the side of
it. This fountain was in.
Memoriam of the founder of Cornwall, one of those early
settlers of the sublime. It was here that Paul had his
first date with Serena. She was another student at the
school that we went to. And I don't know, back in our
world, Paul never had the courage to really ever talk to
anyone. And there was this moment here
in the sublime within the first couple of months that we hear
that someone actually came to talk to him.
And it was Serena, and she asked to go out with him.
And him, the scrawny little nerd that he was, said yes, because
what else do you say when someone so beautiful asked you
to go out to, like, dinner on a weekend after school without any
kind of studying or project being involved?
It was strange. And so he said yes.
And they went on a date and it was fun and he had a lot of fun
and it was wonderful. And they were here at the
fountain at the end of it all, after they went out to get
something to eat, came for a nice walk in the park, came by
this beautiful fountain as the sun was setting.
And she pulled him in for a kiss.
And it felt like nothing. I think as we're standing here
now, as Paul finds himself staring at the plaque,
remembering that moment, he does something unconsciously, like if
we were children again, and just kind of says out loud, kind of
to Bryce, but really to no one. Whatever happened to Serena?
Bryce, like takes a second. You can feel like a tension
build between you, discomfort. He kind of moves back and forth
on his feet, his various belts and gun kind of rattling.
And he goes and he kind of scratches the back of his neck
and he goes, oh, you don't know. There's a certain tone to your
voice that makes Paul turn. It's the kind of tone when
something bad has happened. No, wait, what happened?
I don't know. I don't know all of it.
I don't know every single bit of.
I just heard it from a few people.
What happened? I guess after graduation, I
guess before graduation. What the fuck happened, Bryce?
She didn't want her role, man. Fuck.
Paul kind of slowly gets lower, finding himself sitting beside
the plaque against this fountain that's no longer running.
Fuck. Clara and Thomas try to go after
her and tried to talk some sense into her man, but she was just
going on and on about like how much she hates the stranger.
And I was like, chill, man, chill.
You can't, you can't think. You have to do what are you
going to do? But you're going to ruin your
life. And she wouldn't listen.
I, I don't know where she is, but that's the last time we saw
her. That's why Claire was crying.
And graduation, dude, I. Didn't know.
Fuck, fuck, it's all my fault. That's not your fault.
And you kind of see like Bryce walk over to try and start
comforting Paul, not in like any sort of physical way, but just
in the way that men comfort each other and that standing close
enough is almost like a hug. And he kind of squats down a
little bit and puts his gun on his back.
I mean, that was like months after y'all's thing.
She and she was always kind of like that.
Right. Fuck, I know.
But if I had just if, if I had just gone with it, if I had just
gone with it, she would have been.
Fine, she wouldn't be gone with it, man.
She was fucking nuts. She was not nuts.
She was nice. She's wonderful.
She was fine. You were just an asshole and no
one ever really. It's hard when you know that's
your role and you know you've got to.
You know you don't know, you don't get it.
Of course you don't get it. Why would you get it?
What do you mean what? Being the role of mother, like,
come on. Like if you don't find someone
in high school, that's kind of it for you.
But like, I know people who do it like, it's a pretty sweet
gig, man. You only got to like work.
It's a sweet gig. Yeah, I mean, it's really not
that fucking hard, dude. Like you like put a baby out or
something. Like, come on, dude.
Jesus Christ, you're a fucking child, man.
What you don't like that's it's a whole, it's you don't just
spit out children. That's like you're you have to
be committed to like a person. You have to hope that someone is
actually committed to you. So you can raise a child
together, raise potentially children together.
Who knows how long the stranger wants you to be a mother.
And then what it does to the body and what it like it does to
your relationships when you're a whole, the whole reason why
you're you are tied to a person is because never mind, sorry.
I I know girls who'd kill to have that role, man.
Just let's stop fucking talking about this.
Let's fucking stop talking about this.
I don't know what I said. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, man. It's.
Yeah, whatever. Listen, you were good to her and
I maybe I don't quite get it. I just when the alternative is
to go over and to become one of those things, man, I just, it
seems like a simple choice and I'm I'm sorry if we don't see I
and I in that. Yeah, I'm sorry, we don't.
Do it puts a hand to try and help you up.
I don't take it. Yeah, that makes sense.
If you'll go ahead and pull. The 8 of clubs, the wind whips
past you and a book pulled from some house or shop hits your
body as it's tugged along. I think as we're leaving this
park and kind of walking in some silence, the wind starts like
roaring and blustering about some of these shops that are
along this strip mall. A lot of them are in various
states of destruction or disrepair or looting.
And a lot of their contents are kind of scattered into the
parking lots in front of them, into some of the the park as
well. And as the wind picks up, almost
like these small cyclones kind of form for a minute, like dust
devils almost, but full of debris of various children's
toys and HomeGoods books. And one of them kind of whips
and sends a book flying at Bryce.
And it kind of hits him and checks him in his back.
And for a second you see him kind of yelps for a minute and
he grabs his rifle and he spins around looking for somebody or
something. And he starts like, shouting and
yelling into the distance, asking who it is until like a
moment passes and he recognizes that no one was there and it was
just one of these whirlwinds. And he looks at his feet and
there is a small paperback novel called Clock Tower Assassins.
It's this pulpy fantasy series, something that they read and
that they're familiar with. And he kind of takes a second,
breathes and he's like, I don't it was nothing.
It was just the I think we're, I think we're fine.
I don't think is anyone here. You see, he's like, visibly
shaken. I think as Bryce turns back to
where Paul is, you see Paul has gotten as low as he can, is
scrunched over with hands over his head as if he was prepared
for you to fire, and after hearing your kind of stuttering
appraisal of the moment, slowly turns to look back with the eyes
of a frightened animal. The kind of look when a deer
that has had to cross the same Rd.
So many times and knows of the danger of cars has to look one
dead in the headlights wondering if it's going to stop this time.
We're OK, man. We can get up, we can get
moving. It's it's nothing.
It's fine. Yeah, OK.
Are you OK? Anything hit you?
No, no, just I'm fine. Just watch where you point that
thing. Like very like readily, like
lowers it quickly and like, you know, make sure it's like in
like proper, proper position. It's like, yeah, sorry, sorry,
sorry. I think.
Paul looks down towards the book on the ground, recognizing its
cover. Looks like they got you this
time. I never saw him coming, no.
One ever did. Some say they can hide between
the seconds. He kind of smiles really big.
I think it's like that's like one of like the catch phrases
from like the titles. I think Paul is having a hard
time finding humor in this moment.
Yeah, in between the seconds and all.
Yeah, let's just keep moving. Yeah, this is, you know, it's
kind of like when we used to play assassins as kids, you
know? It's nothing like that.
Oh come on, remember running around the neighborhood in the
dark and we try and see if we could get the other side without
people seeing us? Yes, I remember.
Those were good times, Bryce, But this is nothing like that.
This isn't a game. It's like basic drops and like
he looks anywhere but at you and kind of like kicks the book at
his feet and keeps walking a little bit.
All right, next card, the four of spades.
You feel like you can predict the timing of the Hunter
Searchlight, and you make a break for the next piece of
cover. In a hurry, Pull a block fast.
I think it's the next day. Paul is wary of Bryce with his
new position of power, his new tools of power, but he strangely
seems like the same kid he knew then, so he feels like maybe he
can open up to him. Maybe Bryce is just still a
stupid kid and needs to be show what's up and see what's going
on. And so I think in the morning as
we were getting our stuff together, Paul went to Bryce and
said, hey, look, there's something I need to show you.
And we and we have to keep this, you know, between us.
But I think there's something that you, you really need to see
just just. But we, we have to go quickly
and we can't let anybody know. Will you trust me?
You see Bryce doing math in his head, probably for the first
time in your life. He stands there in silence for
probably 30 seconds. That feel like years, years of
time in which this person became someone that you don't know
anymore. And before answering yes, you
see him reach to make sure his weapons are all on him and his
body armor is on him. He goes.
I can follow you, but let's be quick, yeah?
We'll be quick. And nothing.
Pleased. I'm not trying to hurt you,
Bryce. I just there's something I think
you need to see. I can't tell anyone.
No, it's got to stay between us. I the SCA can't now.
Paul, I'm not supposed to do this, man.
And if I do. Come on, please, Bryce, I'm
begging you here. I want to be able to trust you.
I'm not saying no. I'm not saying no, dude.
I'm not I. Need to be able to trust you
with this. I want to manage if I, if I, if
we fuck this up, then it's my ass and I'm I don't know what
they'll do, Bryce. Some things are bigger than.
You, I don't know what they'll do to you, man.
I already know what they will do to me.
It's nothing new. It's nothing they haven't done
to people before. You know what they will do to
me, and that's I've accepted that.
Bryce, I really, I really need you to trust me here.
There are people's lives who depend on this.
You see that kind of scans around and sees that like the
other hunters that are around are like basically fucking off.
Just, like doing nothing. Like kids in latchkey trying to
pass time that takes a deep breath.
Sick. Fine, fine.
OK, OK. Yeah.
You see her like. Like you meet eyes and you see
the scared kid you used to know. The one who, before coming into
the sublime, was terrified of the jocks who used to get
bullied alongside you. Who you spent hours at the
arcade standing next to at the same cabinet.
Who you went on family vacations together with.
You see the same eyes you saw when you first both came into
the sublime. All right, I will now roll 2D20.
That is a 10 and 11. Jesus, those numbers, it's a
little too close. We now have two numbers on the
board. Oh God.
We find a gap in the security at camp, a place where none of the
soldiers are watching. It is through there that we make
our way back into the city and to the darker places further
beyond the reach of the SCA. For now it is past the threshold
of the soldiers markings of these cities and into the places
where the graffiti of the real people, the people who live
here, mark the walls of their homes and businesses.
We find a place not yet looted by the Sublime County Army that
has been marked with the symbol of a white dove.
I think that's where that scene is going to end.
And then whatever card you are going to pull will give us the
framework for what this place is.
OK, understood The two of spades.
This was your classroom years and years ago.
You don't know all the names of the children you found here or
their teacher, but she whispers that she'd be happy for you to
help if you could offer it. Dude.
What does this place look like? What do we find?
This building with the White Dove is Cornwall High, and as
Bryce and Paul sneak their way into this building halls, they
know each corner, each locker, each classroom, holding memories
for both of them, holding people they used to know and that are
somewhere out in the sublime doing other things or back
clustered in the survivors who are already been quarantined off
by the SCA. But there's one classroom tucked
away that most people forget about, even the students here.
It's an Art Room in the basement that's has its door through
another classroom, a woodworking shop.
As you make your way to the woodworking shop and the
machine's cold and silent, all opens the door.
And inside is a collection of young freshman students from
like 13 to 14, a couple of them in various states of becoming
animals. And the teacher herself is Miss
Bailey, one of the school's favorite teachers, the one that
kids felt seen and heard by. The one that Bryce and Paul
would talk about how cool she was and how they feel like
adults and treated like equals in her class.
How being in her class, Bryce was excited for art, something
that he had washed his hands of as he got older.
And she is a doe person, still bipedal, not fully quadruped
yet. And just like Paul, she looks at
Bryce with these big eyes as if there's a semi truck barreling
down the road at her. And she looks to the both of us
and says, oh, stranger, please. And like, puts her hands up as
it covers like we're children. We're children.
Please no. No, no, no, it's just me.
It's just me. It's just me.
It's Paul.
Paul.
Please. I, I brought some.
I, I got some. And Paul reaches into the
satchel that he surreptitiously had filled with some of the
supplies back at camp that he has brought for the teacher and
these children. And I think it becomes very
clear to Bryce in this moment that Paul knew everyone was here
and has been keeping it a secret and has potentially been
bringing supplies to them over, you know, the course of the last
few weeks. Now, Bryce, I look, I know, I
know normally this is something that you would have to have to
bring in, right? You would have to have to tell
them that there are people, there are citizens here that
need to be evacuated or otherwise questioned and.
And look, I understand that that is normally your protocol, but
look, we really need to get them out of here.
We need to get them out of Cornwall, get them somewhere
else. Some of these kids need medical
attention that the SCA just is not ready to provide.
And, and it doesn't seem like y'all are getting ready to let
us out of here anytime soon. And I don't know when the
construction crew is coming. So we so we really just got to
get them out of here quickly. You know you're asking me to
too, right? Like, why are they here?
I mean, they're supposed to be rounded up, dude.
We have everyone safe in the place.
Like we, we we don't need. Medical attention, there are
supplies and things that the SCA don't know, they just don't know
how to do, We don't have the resources for.
And they would, you know what they would do?
They would get so caught up and trying to process everyone and
get them all singled out that no one people wouldn't get the
actual help they need. And some of these kids would get
worse. You know how they would treat
them. Paul, these people are turning,
yes. Yes, they're turning, but they
are kids. They are children, all right,
and if they're going to get back on the stranger's path, maybe
find some kind of healing or something like that, then then
they can do that. But they can't do that here.
What about her? And you see Bryce look at Missus
Bailey and they make eye contact and there is like a part of her
that breaks when she recognizes who this young man is and he
doesn't see her. You can't really tell who she
actually is for a second. She goes, oh, Bryce, Bryce, I, I
promise, I am just looking for these kids.
I've done nothing. I, I was cooperating with the
SCA up until this point that I just knew that they wouldn't
treat these kids right. I knew, oh stranger, you aren't
kids always have an attitude. They always, even when you were
in my class, right? They can figure it out.
They just need a little bit of time.
And I don't think, I don't think the soldiers in the SCA are
going to give them that time. Bryce.
Bryce, please, we're not asking. You don't got to do nothing too
much. It's just there's a way out of
the city and we just need you to help keep the SCA away from the
path. Just you know, if you can take
up that the the watch there or, or or or something, you know,
get your schedule switched with someone, you can be the person
to watch that path and so they can just step on out.
No one would know. Paul, I need time.
I need time to figure this out. How much time?
I don't know. Could you do it by tomorrow?
I'm not saying it has to be done today, but tomorrow, the next
day, soon. These kids need help.
It's possible. It's possible.
I just, I what if one of these kids is the people that are that
are destroying everything? They are children, Bryce.
They are not. They aren't anarchists.
I know, I know, I know they're. Just children who got a little
lost. That could have been either one
of us. Just give me a second.
Give me a second. And he's just really yelling and
the kids and Miss Bailey are scared and they kind of shrink
even more and you see him like kind of like gripping on to like
his rifle a bit firmer. I just.
Paul looks down towards Bryce's hand, gripping the butt of his
rifle. Let's take this conversation
outside, all right? The kids don't have to listen to
this, OK? And you see it can scan the
room. What are the two kids that are
becoming animals becoming? I think one of them is turning
into a tree frog. You can see that their skin has
lost the hair and definition of human skin and is getting that
kind of mucusy, slimy look as their skin, which was once you
can tell like like a darker brown, is now getting a greenish
tint to it. And you can start to see the
darker colorations of some kind of pattern on it.
And their eyes are just a little too far apart from each other.
And the peoples are not quite right.
And I think the other is beginning to turn into a clown
fish. You can see as alongside their
neck is this wet, thick cotton towel that's been a wrapped
around and it is damp and soaking wet.
They aren't wearing a shirt underneath it, but they're
wearing like a maybe like a varsity jacket that's a little
too big for them over it. But there is this wet towel that
I think one of the kids is actively like pouring one of the
water bottles that Paul brought, like into it, trying to make
sure that it stays moist around the entire circumference of it.
And you can see as their hair has fully fallen out and so in
their bald scalp, you can see the colorations, like the darker
colorations of a clown fish starting to come up.
And their skin is beginning to poke up a bit, as if a dorsal
fins are starting to like sprout alongside their head and spine.
OK. And they kind of step out away
from that classroom. Bryce kind of like watching the
scene as he walks away, not taking his eyes off of it until
Paul closes the door and kind of conceals it as it was.
OK, now this is a. Lot a lot this is everything
dude. This is I, I don't, I don't
think you get it, man. Like this is what they were
warning us about. This is why I'm here these.
Are children These are children I.
I know man, I'm scared. So are they, so are they, and
they are turning and they need medical help.
I can, I, can I see it, dude, I, I just, I don't even know what
the fuck is going on in there, man.
I've never, I've never seen anything like that.
Those people are really far. Yes, yes they are.
That's how things are here. And I don't know what the fuck
you've been doing outside of this town where you haven't seen
it, but like, this is what it is.
It is hard for some people. Bryce kind of starts like pacing
back and forth and it's like they, they told us to look out
for people like this. And I, I just, I don't know.
I, I can't tell the difference, man.
I don't know. You can't tell the difference
between like someone who would blow up a city and a freshman
and a freshman in high school. Come on, what is wrong with you?
People are capable of crazy shit man.
Come on, I really need you. For this, I know I'm thinking,
I'm thinking, I just, I don't want to put more people in
danger. You're not putting anyone in
danger that they are actively in danger.
You would be helping them. You would be saving them.
What's going to happen? What's going to happen if you
turn them in, if you go back right now, turn them into the
SCA, They're going to March down here.
They're going to take her away from those kids.
They're going to take those kids up there.
They're going to process them for what, how many days?
And then they're going to ration out their water.
Not in the same way as they should be getting water.
They're going to be getting less water than they should because
they think they only need as much water as we do, but they
need more. No, you're right.
And the backlog is up to is up to a week now the processing is
taking weeks. Stranger look.
Please, Bryce. I know, I know.
I just. No one would have to know.
You just get your schedule switched and and you just look
the other way when they go through.
That's it. Please, Bryce, you would be
doing good. Actual good.
I, I know man. I just, I'm not saying no.
I just. I need a yes.
I need a yes please for me. And I think Paul reaches out and
puts a hand on your arm, gripping at it desperately.
And I think it's a similar motion that Paul has done to
Bryce before when they were children, just tears in his eyes
and grabbing at his childhood friends arm, desperate for help,
for support in this moment. OK, but you need to be sure
these people are safe. I don't want to put more people
at risk, man. I promise you they are safe, OK?
I'll do it. And as he says that, something
starts to like, change in him. I don't know if either of them
really notice it. Maybe his head kind of twitches
back and forth a little bit more than it used to, almost on a
swivel as he looks back and forth, but something's a little
different. All right, the six of clubs.
How long has it been since the Hunters arrived?
It's been 3 weeks since the hunters arrived.
Master Sergeant Brittany and the hunters came the day after the
explosion. None of us knew what had
happened and none of us had any answers.
It was just one day. In the middle of the day.
There was the sound as the air was separated and filled by
something far more necessary. And then the sounds of death and
destruction. And then there was silence and
screams, then mourning and silence again.
And then there were the sounds of boots marching into our city.
I think it's later that day. I think we've made our way back
to that park from before at the water fountain, and it's just
the two of us as the stars light the night sky and it's quiet
here in this corpse of a place that used to be our hometown.
And as we sit here in the silence between our planning, as
I stare up at the sky, I just say again, out loud, kind of to
Bryce, but maybe also to myself. I don't know when the last time
I got a good night's sleep was. I feel like every night is just
the stress of wondering what I'm going to have to do tomorrow
that I I feel like I I don't really sleep at all.
I don't sleep much either. The barracks, the cots feels.
We first got here. It felt like a camping trip, you
know a. Camping trip.
I don't know. You remember, You know, the the
week that they have and in high school we all went out.
Yeah, no, I remember the camping trip.
This precious isn't a camping trip.
This isn't a game. I know it's just easier to think
of things like that. It's more comfortable sharing a
tent with all these guys I don't know.
And some of them I don't know. I hear them talking and they,
they talk about this place like it's a battleground, man.
They section off parts of the neighborhoods like sectors.
And I hear them talking about how like, you know, we got one
in Sector 3. And they laugh about it and they
cheer and they clap and I think about I think love you didn't
partner with us. That could be you, man.
That I'm going to be some number in a sector somewhere.
Yeah, it could be. I don't know.
I don't know who still lives here or did, I guess.
Can you see for a second, as we're chatting, he takes a deep
breath and he pulls that hit flask out and he takes a swig.
I'll pull a block from the tower.
That is a 12. 1011 and 12 have been marked out.
I think when Paul sees you take a swag of the flask, he's got
this kind of stern face on hearing the way that you talk
about your fellow soldiers and the situation you find yourself
in. And I get up from over by the
fountain where I've planted myself, and I walk over towards
you, and I make the motion as I reach out my hand to give me
some. It hands it over to you.
And I'll take a swig from it. And I will also pull a block
that's also a 12. That's fucking perfect.
I take a swig from it and you watch as my face crunches from
the burn of the whiskey. Oh, now I can't tell anyone
because I'm an accomplice So. It's good.
Not as good as I thought it was going to be though.
I, I've actually had this before a couple of years ago when I
graduated from Community College.
Me and some friends, we got together, you know, we were all
graduating. And, you know, I always
remembered how much I wanted to try it.
And so it felt like a good time to do it.
You know, there were a lot of people there that I don't know,
I think you would have liked to have seen grow up maybe.
You know, there's like Chance and Lauren.
Yeah. Dennis.
Are they still in? They still here?
I haven't seen them at the processing facility.
Paul kind of looks down back at the flask in his hand.
I haven't seen any of them since the explosion.
I'm going to take another drink. Bryce is just going to kind of
sit there, put his head in his hands, just fuck, Fuck.
That's a 20. Damn.
Can I hand the flask back to you?
I can only hope that there's somewhere here.
Maybe they found somewhere to lie low, or maybe they got out
entirely. That's all I can hope, but I
haven't. Hope is all I've got.
Hope that I can help whoever's here and maybe find someone else
who might need it. It'll.
Be OK. That kind of looks up at you.
It's like, kind of like a tear streaming out one of the corner
of his eyes, but he's too proud to actually let himself cry.
Everything's going to figure itself out, you know?
They're probably just got scattered or something.
Helix. He was like, here's to hope.
And he kind of takes the last swig of the whiskey and the
flask. I don't know, there's a 5.
Here's to hope. Hoping they didn't end up a
number in a sector. Bryce kind of stares up at the
sky and goes a little silent, and he lets his gun kind of fall
from the position resting against the, like, playground,
like into the gravel laying on its side, making that all
familiar kind of crunch and swish that gravel makes when you
step through it. Queen of Hearts, someone you
know, got married in this garden.
The marriage has ended now. Think as you know, we're sitting
on this playground, it's just kind of a look around the park.
There's still like that that big kind of like wooded procession
area kind of use the common ground is like a big clearing in
some of the trees. And you see, as Bryce kind of
stares at it for a second, You know, I heard that I heard heard
that Connor and Kaylee, you know, I ended up getting
pregnant senior year and kind of tied the knot in the park.
Ohio, Yeah, yeah, it was, it was, it was pretty nice.
It was, you know, it was nice. I got the feeling that they were
mostly together because their roles just kind of worked
together, you know, where like he was a caretaker and, you
know, she was an entrepreneur. So she had to, you know, she
started that cleaning business and he helped make it happen,
you know, and then they got pregnant and it just, you know,
it felt like it worked at the time, I think.
But I guess you wouldn't have heard.
He got, he got drafted. He did not return.
Fuck, Connor was on the front lines.
That's what they said, or that's what they told us, I guess.
Had someone from the SCA come and, you know, uniformed up and,
you know, knocked on the door and she just bursted out crying,
you know? Fuck, man.
Two of them moved out to that new place.
You know what's it called? It's got that stupid ass name.
Quiet little town, I think. Really.
Yeah, it's some place that they, I figured you would know this is
that place that they're building up with all those veterans.
Yeah, I didn't know that Kaylee was there.
I mean, she moved recently, thankfully, before all of this
happened. Thanks, stranger.
Yeah, thank the stranger. I, I feel like I don't know, I
missed so many of the people. And like, as he's talking,
flashlights start like scanning across this park, over where
those trees are, where the where the wedding was held.
And through some of the tree line, we see blinding orbs
scanning this park. And Bryce goes.
Shit, shit. And like you see him like jump
down from the playground and I grab his rifle and like pull the
collar of your shirt as trying to pull you to to to get out of
sight before they get too close. I will now roll to die.
Oh God. There's a 16 and a 14.
I know, I know. That was close that.
Was close. All right, I'm going to draw the
10 of clubs. You've sprained something and it
hurts to move, but you can lean on your friend.
So I grab your collar and I pull you.
I fall along with you, a little off balance after these two
large swings of whiskey and I think my foot catches the space
in between two concrete tiles and my ankle twists in a way
that it shouldn't as I fall to the ground that is A-17 and A7.
Oh God, you can't look at me like that when you roll.
Oh my God. Like fucking a heart sank dude.
Paul falls to the ground hard. Fuck fuck.
And you can see that he's trying to hold in the yelling as he
reaches for his ankle, curling himself up in a fetal position,
writhing in a red hot pain. Bryce like is like a few steps
ahead and looks back and hears and see this happen and looks up
to the lights that are still a bit a ways off.
And he scoops up Paul, carrying him in his arms easily, his gun
moved to his back instead. It's fine, I got us, I got us
and starts heaving and running with Paul down the length of
this park, making sure to stay hidden behind trees, getting as
far away as he can away from these shirt searchlights.
When was the last time Bryce held Paul like this?
I think when we first got in the Sublime 6 of spades for the
first time, you are retracing your path, I think, running from
these searchlights with you in arms.
Bryce remembers the trip that we made earlier, remembers pappies,
remember how untouched and hidden it was, remembers the
backroom that there's medical supply as a first aid kit,
something to help. And he starts heading that
direction and running with you in arm.
And I think as we get to that hill where that brown building
sits, there's now a generator with a spotlight on the building
and people moving around it, the doors now all wide open and
soldiers with guns standing around it, taking things out of
it. I'll pull a block.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. What did you roll, Marceline?
The result is A5. Fuck you.
There was a moment it stood on a
12 before rolling over. I think as Bryce is running this
way, he gets to that hill. He drowns the corner in his
mind, imagining this safe haven, this place to tuck away, the
place where it can all be OK and we'll roll over and we'll be
fine. Things can go back to normal.
Until he sees that building being ripped apart and drained
of every last drop inside of it. And he like looks to Paul and
he's like the neighborhood. We we can hide in the
neighborhood, right There's. Got to be some house.
Fuck this horse. It's OK.
We're going.
To be OK, fuck. It's going to be OK.
It's. Fine, it's fine, it's fine.
He like, puts his forehead to Paul's forehead for a second.
He's fine. Couldn't.
Be OK. And he takes off like a fucking
train heading for the neighborhood.
OK man, this took such a wild turn and I love it.
This game is so good man, I sold.
You OK? Wait, What'd you the king of
clubs? You've been carrying something
heavy for a while now. What is it?
I think his Bryce burst through one of the doors of a house that
had already been raided along the streets of similar looking
houses. He runs into the living room,
trying to find a place to set Paul down on a couch somewhere,
somewhere comfortable. And as you toss Paul down onto
this old couch, carefully, gently, as you should be with
someone who's in so much pain, something falls out of his
pocket. A small black pistol, 9mm.
It's the same kind of pistol given to each of the SCA
soldiers, something that must have been taken from camp.
Paul hasn't noticed that it's fallen out yet.
He's curled up, holding his ankle, breathing deeply, trying
to hold in his screams. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,
fuck, fuck, fuck. There's got to be some ice.
Can you give me some ice, please?
Can you give me some ice? Rice is frozen.
What the fuck is that man? What the?
Fuck is ice? What is ice?
What the fuck are you talking about?
What's ice? Come on, fuck.
Bryce grabs it and like grabs the pistol and like pulls it.
The fuck is this? Paul freezes, still holding
himself in pain, but seeing. Seeing what he's dropped, Bryce.
I can explain. I can explain.
I swear. I'm sorry.
I.
What the fuck? Bryce, please, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. Please.
I can explain. I can explain.
I'm sorry. Just fucking please.
I'm sorry. You see like Bryce, like, kind
of like coming to Graps, like in his head as his thoughts a
little clouded from a little bit of whiskey.
How long have you fucking had this, man?
Fuck you. You could have fucking killed
me, man. I was going to kill you.
It was just for self-defense. It was just for self-defense.
I probably was. I only took it this morning.
I took it this morning just in case.
In case. Of what did they I'm I'm one of
your guards, man, I'm. Sorry, I'm sorry.
I can't squeeze. Fuck.
God. And I went in pain as I reached
down, having twisted my foot just a little too far in a way
that I shouldn't. I'm sorry.
I Yeah, Yeah. I didn't know.
I, I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure if you were going
to tell. I didn't know.
I, I didn't know. But I wanted to trust you.
I wanted to and, and and I was right to right.
I was right to trust you. And.
What if you weren't? But I was.
I was right. And Bryce looks down and sees
like the holster on his belt is empty.
Fuck, you would have done the same if you were me.
You would have done the exact same.
I just. I had to make sure those kids
were safe. I.
Told you I'd do it, man. What are you doing exactly?
Exactly. You told me you were going to do
it and so it I don't. I just, but I wasn't.
Sure. Fuck.
Please, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I just.
I had to be sure. I just had to be sure.
How can I fucking trust you man? I just, I didn't use it.
Fuck, what do you want from me? I don't know.
Please, Bryce, I'm sorry. I just, I'm sorry.
I know I just give me a second, give me a second.
Then you see me. He puts it into his holster.
He like clips like he like you know, he puts like 2 of the like
both straps and clicks them and pulls them very, very tight
around it. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
Sit there. I'll, I'll find something.
And he takes goes, he goes into the into the kitchen trying to
find something to kind of help like ice or a splint or
something. But you see that like as he does
that, he keeps his like rifle in one of his hands at the side the
ready. He finally finds some like
bandages and he goes and he takes one of like the
dilapidated kitchen chairs and he like stomps on it and snaps
the back of it and uses some of the the splintered wood to make
a makeshift splint around your ankle to kind of hold it a bit
more sturdy. Fuck.
Paul. Paul.
Yes, yes, yes. You can't fucking do that shit,
man. I'm sorry.
I won't do it again. I won't do it again.
I'm sorry. I just.
I was scared. I was scared.
I'm. Scared.
Dude, but you have a gun, you were scared and you have a gun.
I. Have a gun for both of us.
I didn't know if that was true or not.
You fucking know me, dude. Do I?
Bryce?
You've been gone for six years, Bryce.
And then you show up with them. I had to go do my role.
I there's no, I know there's no team to play for here.
I know I. Know I didn't want to leave.
I know, I know. But you did.
The other choice was to become some animal man.
It was either leave and and and go go go play on this team or,
or what. I don't know, Bryce.
I don't know, sorry. If I stayed, I would have been
on the other side of that war and I would be dead.
You're right. And if I'm 100 miles somewhere
else, at least I'm alive and I have my memories of the people I
care about, and I have a dream that I can come back and visit.
Not like this. This is the first time I've been
back, and the town I cared about isn't even here anymore, man.
The people I cared about are scattered to the wind, or dead
or injured or stealing guns in fear of me.
They sent me right here to find an enemy, and all I see are
scared people and I can't tell who wants to hurt me and who
doesn't in a place that is supposed to be my home.
I. Don't want to hurt you, Grace.
I don't want to hurt you. I know Paul, you couldn't if you
wanted to, but the people in that park, the people at that
liquor store, they want to hurt you.
Us, fuck, I mean us talking as much as we have, I get a lot of
shit. So what are you going to do,
Bryce? I'm going to help with the kids.
I'm going to do what I can. Thank you.
But if we aren't careful, we're both going to die.
You're right. I can't stand seeing this.
These people tear this place apart more than it already is.
I know how you feel. I felt that every single day for
the past three weeks, and I've spent all that time fresh, that
you were one of the people tearing it down with them.
I wish so dearly that instead of a gun, I had hammers and nails
to build this place back up from the dirt.
I'm sorry. As he says that, that dirty
blonde hair starts to go a little red.
And a bit of his nose starts to kind of grow a little a little
longer. I don't have enough to notice.
A little bit of his physicality starts to change, I think.
That's a good place to have that seat.
You're next. How that doesn't count?
The Joker, baby. I'm the joker, baby.
We're. Supposed to take the Joker out.
The Joker, baby. All right.
The Queen of Diamonds, I think as we finish up this
conversation and things go a little silent in the room, you
start to look around where you are.
You are in Bryce's family's home and creaking, breaking.
All the silence is the rundown playground in the backyard and
swings moving by themselves and the chains rattling.
Bryce's mind goes to a place looking at those swings,
thinking about when he got accepted to play on a college
team and breaking the news to Paul that he was going to go
into a different college. He was at Paul and he goes.
I guess Dad stopped oiling it after I left.
Yeah, probably no one around to use it.
What's the point? Yeah, you always hated.
Anyways, it was an eyesore. I always appreciated it.
You know, didn't have a playground like this at my
place. Yeah, it was nice.
Yeah. And Bryce kind of looks down at
your ankle and is like, that's not the first time.
I remember. We used to jump off of it just
to see who would get further, pretending to be some kind of
heroes or something running around.
I don't know why I kept trying. I was always so bad at it.
Couldn't get the right angle of the swing down.
Oh, I know. I know.
We could teach you, you know, we'd figure it out.
You know, you're good at learning.
Always been. Well, that's if there's any
swing left for me to learn on after all this.
It'll be all right. I'm sorry I never came back to
visit I. Missed you, you know.
I know I missed you too. You know, it's harder to make
friends here than I thought it'd be.
What in the army or just in general?
In the sublime. Yeah, I barely remember what it
was like outside of it. Yeah.
I don't remember having too many friends out there either.
You had me, you got to punch you in the arm.
Yeah, I had you and then you left, so had to learn to make
more. Seems like you did a good job.
I did the best with what I had. I think people here are good.
You're one of those people. You could be too.
It's not too late, yeah. I think like as we kind of like
sit in this living room tucked away, trying to stay a little
quiet as we see lights kind of go down the streets of this
neighborhood, as the swing creaks back and forth for a
little while and you try and grit your teeth through the pain
of your ankle, cheer drunk. Man, we are not getting any of
these twos. Yeah, it's not looking good for
us. But we're also not getting a lot
of things that are making us pull.
So the Queen of Spades. You notice as you cross from
street to St. that someone has built a community garden where
there used to be an abandoned house.
It is thriving. I think we're starting to make
our way back towards camp, through the darker, less
patrolled areas, trying to find our way back in the quietest and
least observed way possible so that we can sneak back in and
pretend nothing is wrong. And as we're making our way
there, we pass by this plot of land in between two brownstones,
both of which have had their doors kicked open and their
insides plundered for all that could be used.
But in the space between these two houses are 6 plots,
rectangular wooden frames with soil and small sprouts that have
not quite borne fruit. Years and years ago, before
Bryce left, this was the House of Old Man Crotchet.
He died when we were in our junior year and no one moved in
after and so it was empty for a long time.
But now it's a garden with plants waiting to sprout as
Bryce is kind of helping Paul move.
I think Paul was kind of slumped over one of your shoulders as
you're helping him stay off his sprained ankle as you all are
going. I think Paul is the one who sees
this first and kind of points it out to Bryce and goes, OK, this
is going to sound real stupid, but can we, can we stop here
really quick? The Gardens.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, right here. Just I need to sit down for a
second. Yeah, yeah, it's fine.
It's fine. Kind of like sets you on the
edge of one of them and like very quickly like starts like
doing that same like kind of cocking his head rapidly, like
back and forth like looking. Thanks.
I just want to And you see as Paul kind of turns back to look
inside of the planter and you see as his hands kind of like
move through the soil almost observing the different plants
here, checking in on them. OK, good, good, good.
How I'll water them in the morning and.
These are going fine. All right.
OK, Sorry, sorry about that. Let's let's keep moving.
I think Bryce was too busy paying attention to like what
was around and kind of noticed that you, like, you took some
gentle care of this bed, but nothing more.
And it's like, I think internalizes that, like, this is
something that you've, like, taken care of and done, kind of
picks you back up and starts moving along.
All right, I will. I'll draw a card.
Queen of clubs. The clouds are getting heavy
with rain. You seek shelter in an unlocked
greenhouse. Like in around these community
gardens, there is like a large greenhouse we start moving
towards instead of going back to the street as it starts to pour
down on us, raining heavily, drenching.
And we get inside and we close the door for a second, I think
looking around inside the greenhouse, Bryce starts seeing
some work benches and some symbols and icons of a white
dove. This greenhouse is not just
helping to grow food, but helping to grow resistance.
And Bryce kind of looks at Paul. Is this part of the kids?
Something like that. It's it's a bit bigger than just
the kids, but yeah. What do you mean?
Oh, it's a sign of our community, our resistance, our
trying to hold on to something here.
Bryce the white dove is the sign of a rebellion.
Are you one of them? Come on, Bryce, you can't be.
I'm serious. Things have changed since you've
been gone. You're the one who blew this
place up. No, no, no, no, no, no.
Absolutely not. No, we don't know what happened.
We don't know how that happened. It wasn't us.
We are just like a community organization getting resources
and and and and and supplies and medicine to people who need it
who otherwise wouldn't get it. But you call yourself a
rebellion. Because that's what that looks
like to you all helping those kids.
You went through that yourself, right?
Thinking of the danger that it is just to save some children.
What else could I call it? What else could we call it?
Then then who is who? Who?
Who set that off? We don't know.
I just said that I don't know. We were just getting medicine
and, and food and supplies to, to, to help people who were
changing and, and, and that's all we do.
That is all we do. Bryce, whoever did that
explosion wasn't us. And we aren't anarchists.
So maybe it was them, but we are just trying to help people.
I don't know the difference come.
On Bryce, how can you not know the difference between trying to
help kids get medicine and blowing up a fucking city?
Bryce, use your fucking head for once.
Stop letting people tell you what to think.
Think about it. Does it feel right that you felt
bad about trying to get kids to a hospital rather than sacking
them up in a tent for a week? It just doesn't make sense.
Of course it doesn't make sense. None of this fucking makes any
sense. I I'm supposed to be one of the
good guys. Oh my God, Bryce, it is not that
simple. It is not that simple.
This isn't a football game, Bryce.
This is a real fucking world. I've watched so many people
change because they were given roles that didn't fit them,
because they were. Because something happened one
day and they realized this doesn't work for them and they
were given a death sentence because of it.
And not just a quick and easy one.
They were changed slowly, in pain, sleep 1 by 1.
Some of them were kids, Bryce, you, some of them.
I know the only way I know to protect them is to stop them
from changing. That's you can't stop people
from changing who've already been changed.
How do you help them? Why do we keep forgetting about
them? Because I don't know how I, when
I look at them and I and I let myself care and I let myself see
them as children, I can see the people on the other side and it
stops making sense. That tells you something, Bryce.
And Paul kind of hobbles up like off of the thing and like takes
like a couple of very unsteady steps towards you and kind of
trips and falls into you holding both of your arms, kind of
pulling you close so that you can't look away from him.
If that doesn't make sense, Bryce, then that should tell you
something. Maybe this is wrong.
Maybe all of this is wrong. Maybe the stranger is wrong.
I think in the moment, like Bryce goes like still and quiet
and he's shaken and confused and he picks up like a pot, an empty
clay pot, and he goes. It just doesn't.
It doesn't make sense and he throws the pot against the glass
of the greenhouse and I would like to make an impromptu roll
on the. Absolutely, yeah.
That feels like something that could bring attention to us. 14.
That is the 2nd 14. OK.
Honestly I'll also make one because I was yelling a lot.
Yeah, yeah. That is the 3rd, 12th.
I see. I think as you throw the clay
pot and it shatters against the ground of this greenhouse from
outside, there's the sound of discovery, curiosity, a
potential threat, and flashlights begin to move.
And we can see from the inside of the greenhouse as the lights
move over the glass pane walls, illuminating what's inside and
the voices coming closer in, the sounds of boot steps marching
closer. Paul looks to you.
Bryce, we got to get out of here.
Bryce looks at Paul, up from the broken pot in the scattered
plants he's kicked around, and I think he takes a deep breath,
smiles at you, looks at the door on the other side of the
greenhouse, knows you need to get out of here, the kids need
to get out of here. And Bryce steps forward and
pushes Paul forcefully towards that door, stronger than Paul
can withstand, and you hear the racking of a bolt on a rifle.
Wait, come on, Bryce, please. And then I think the sounds of
boots and voices and the blinding flashlights get even
closer, coming closer towards the door, and we hear the sounds
of we know somebody's in there, get out.
Bryce looks back. Come out with your hands up.
I knew he would have made the team and he raises his rifle and
fires a volley of bullets out the front.
Paul stumbles out of the door, mostly out of shock from the
cacophony that a gun has in such a small space.
As we hear the ringing of bullets ripped through the walls
of the greenhouse, and we hear the ringing of bullets being
fired in return, Paul, ripped with pain, runs as quickly as he
can, using the side walls of the buildings nearby to help study
himself as he rushes back towards the high school, far
away from the sounds of gunfire. What are Bryce's last moments
like? The volley of bullets did not go
out the front of the building, they were shot into the ground,
never meant to hit anyone. Bryce lays on the ground, the
greenhouse looking, seeing all of the food and supplies that
Paul had spent time gathering and cultivating bleeding out,
choking on his own blood as feathers are pluming on his
body. And he looks and sees the symbol
of the white dove scattered across this place, seeing what
was built while he was gone. And our camera leaves the
greenhouse floating upwards and upwards, further away from the
blood stained ground riddled with metal casings, as a squad
of six men wearing matching armor, holding matching guns
walk carefully around the body of Bryce, searching for another
that they will not find. And as our camera moves further
and further up and through the city, we see Paul reaching the
high school where we hope he reaches the children and the
teacher, and we hope they make it out because the next day the
order is given. And that is where we're going to
end our session. Oh my goodness, what another
wonderfully happy fun time here on Tales You Got Told.
That's. What we do, baby.
That's what we do. How you feeling, Marcy?
Indeed. I'm playing playing someone who
sympathizes with the SCA for a long period of time.
Yeah, I remember. Hey, you did great.
You did great. You know what?
I'm so happy that Bryce can't turned back around at the end
because that there was a genuine moment there where I was like,
Marcie might shoot me and what? Damn Bryce, that'd be fucked up.
I thought about it. Oh, I could see it.
I could see it in your face. But I don't know, I think, I
think having having pulled 2 twos, that feels like a partial
success. Yeah, God, it's so interesting
where this game took us. So interesting where this.
Game took. I love this.
Game like and like how things were popping up.
Oh man, that second two, that was crazy.
Yeah. It really, really took the game
places that I wasn't fully expecting or like, I guess I was
expecting us to hit some of these beats, but just not in the
way that it did. And the and like those prompts,
beautiful. The card pools, wonderful.
Those dice rolls? Spooky.
It's so good, man. It's so good.
Also, like it's like also giving the players a tool where it's
like, oh, you steal alcohol and now, now anytime you drink you,
you pull a block and it's like, fuck, man.
Like, yeah. It's so good.
Oh my God.
Well, everyone, this was this game takes place in your
hometown. By I almost had her good friend.
I don't know who Jack Blair is, but I hope and that they're a
great person because this game is pretty great.
You can go get this game in the link in the description of this
episode where you can go over to their itch page and go get that
game because you and your friend too can play.
Two people being haunted down by something terrible, whether it
be a big alien robot monster or a fascist regime.
Oh well, everybody, thank you so much.
Hey Marcie, where can people find you on the Internet?
Hello, Well, you can always play my Twitter.
Currently it's at chipped canine.
I don't really post there a super ton just because the
sweater is a little funky, but I do have a blue sky now, silly.
I'm dabbling in, I'm dabbling in.
You're multi classic. I'm multi classic.
Oh my goodness. Yeah.
Because actually, a little spoiler and we're playing D&D
for our next next game. Strangers in the Woods season 2
Road trip. It's D&D.
It's just D&D. It's just.
D&DD&D and the Sublime. I mean, it's not untrue.
It's very untrue. A little bit.
OK. All right.
But yeah, yeah. So my blue skies now I'm squid.
That's it. I'm Squid.
It's I kind of use both the names here and there.
So yeah, I will be there. I'll probably be posting a
little bit more. I might have a little few more
socials. I might create maybe a little
TikTok or an Instagram maybe to try and put some little content
out. But other than that, there's
some things I don't think this will come out in a time where I
can really share yet. There are some other projects
I'm working on that I'm very excited about.
So if this comes out before or after, like either way, just
I'll be promoting those and I'll be in a few more shows and who
are projects. So keep an eye out for those.
I'm really fucking excited about them.
So yeah, I mean, that's kind of it Always a joy to be here with
my friend Kendo and with my my little my little audience who
likes when I make little silly guys.
I'm sorry that I sorry this guy wasn't as silly.
Not as he was trying to be silly, but Paul was not having
it. You cannot be silly while you're
while you were occupying our hometown with, with the fascist
regime. We cannot be silly goofy here.
Yeah, it turns out. Turns out.
But yeah, just thank you. Thank you for having me here.
Thank you for really be a part of this.
It's wonderful. Hey, Marcie, you've been here
since the beginning, so thank you so much for helping make the
sublime what it is and how powerful it is as well, because
a lot of that is you and my fellow players from Strangers in
the Wood, which hopefully you all will be seeing more of very,
very soon. I've been Kendrick or Kendo,
whichever you prefer. You can find this podcast where
you're listening to it right now and on the Internet at Tales Yet
Told on bluesky@talesyettold.com and guess what, at the website
talesyettold.com. Oh.
My goodness. You can go get our merch over at
the website Merch Yet Sold dot shop where you can get some sick
new digs to show off how cool you think our podcast is and
also giving us a little bit of support, which hey, I'll never
say no to, but I will see you all next time.
Same tails yet total channel. I couldn't tell you what time,
but until then, don't forget to go out, eat enough food, drink
enough water, get enough sleep, and take care of yourself.
Because self-care is incredibly important, especially in the
times we're living in now. And please, yeah, take care of
yourself, everyone around you. Stay connected with your
community and keep each other safe.
Absolutely. And don't forget to love
yourself like we love you. Bye.
Love you.