Transcript - Episode 24: Horror at the Innsmouth Inn (Part 2)
Audio for Horror at the Innsmouth Inn Part 2
Horror at the Innsmouth Inn Part 2
Wed, Jan 21, 2026
“Push the Roll with Ross Bryant” is produced for the ear and includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page. Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.
Ross Bryant 00:02
Doogie, Lou and Val, you're breaking out to have your little discussion about sales tactics and perhaps unpack the scene that you all just bore witness to. I want to put you in the lounge of the Innsmouth Inn. It's just off of the main lobby, where the desk is, where that same white-haired woman kind of nods at you as you go by, and you walk through a room where perhaps you all had that bagel breakfast. And you're now in the little room with some rocking chairs and an overstuffed couch, and there's even a little fireplace with a low fire in it. And you can see in the way of a scenic inn, that there's a bookshelf with a lot of books that maybe people have taken and left over the years, and many of which are about the region. And there's a little case under glass with some photos of the area nearby. So this is where we find you, in the low light, there's some like Tiffany lamps around the room. So the light is very golden in here, in stark contrast to the cold darkness of the rain outside.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 01:15
Wow, this place is so cozy.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 01:19
Yeah, I just, I mean, I'm of a mind that we just go knocking on every door in this place until we find that man and we find out what went wrong.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 01:27
Lou, I think you're overthinking this. Some people just aren't interested in the product and that's okay. You know, I was really inspired by what Grace was saying. But the numbers don't lie. You can't make sales 100% of the time, right? So I wouldn't worry about it too much, Lou. Like, don't take it so hard.
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 01:55
I bet you could. I bet you could make a sale 100% of the time.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 02:00
Doogie, you just saw- me, or Val? Who you talking to right now? Like me?
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 02:03
You, you, yeah.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 02:05
You just saw me fail.
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 02:07
But you didn't. Grace counted that. That was a sale. You heard her.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 02:11
To you, but it wasn't one to Mr. Myers.
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 02:14
If it's in the ledger, I mean, that's Introduction to Accounting. It's real, that's business, that's science, business science. And even though we just met, I feel like you could sell anything to anybody. I feel like I know you already.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 02:30
I appreciate you. Bless your heart. You are real sweet. You know, not everybody up here is especially with someone with my accent. You know, they know I'm not from here, but you're just real nice. Why don't you and Val, just you two, sit over there? Val, you could practice your sales pitches on Doogie here, and I'll just try to let go of my failures and embrace my future wins.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 02:58
Oh, I guess I do need a little bit of practice on my sales pitch. I, um,
Paula Deming 03:03
Yeah, I think Lou has stepped, she's like, trying to get you all together a little bit. So I think she's like, in an effort to distract herself, she stepped away from you, maybe gone to look at what books are on the shelf? What are these photos of? You know, to distract herself a little.
Ross Bryant 03:17
Can I have Lou Griffith roll a Library Use roll to take a look at those books?
cuppycup 03:22
Yay.
Paula Deming 03:22
Yes, you can let me see what my Library Use is. It is a base so I'm at 20. Let's go! I rolled a 74,
Ross Bryant 03:35
Okay,
Paula Deming 03:35
And I just, uh, boy! I'm trying to decide if there's any other than meta reason to push this other than I want to find something as a player.
Ross Bryant 03:47
See, this is one of those moments where, let me push beyond the curtain here. This is a moment where your keeper is like dangling the opportunity to, like, put lore in front of you with books and photos, and I'm not saying as we're all improvising this. I don't have a full sense of what this is. It's gonna happen in the moment.
Paula Deming 04:08
You don't know what I may or may not see until you say it. [laughing]
Ross Bryant 04:12
But just because you fail, this does not mean anything absolutely terrible. But if you wanted to push the roll, I wouldn't be mad at you.
Paula Deming 04:19
I'm tired of failing, I want to succeed, so I think at first, like, I think I'm overhearing some of their conversation, and it's keeping me from really being able to, like, pay attention to what is at this bookshelf. So I'm gonna block them out and force myself to read the spines of these books and to look at these pictures. And that is how I'm pushing this roll.
Ross Bryant 04:44
Oh, Paula, you were a gift to a keeper. Thank you. [laughter]
Paula Deming 04:49
Come on. This is so foolish. I only have a 20. [gasps] I rolled a 7.
Mary Lou 04:57
Wow. Hard Success.
Paula Deming 04:59
That is now a Hard Success of my Library Use. A successful push.
Ross Bryant 05:05
High risk, high reward.
cuppycup 05:07
Absolutely.
Paula Deming 05:09
Now, give me something cool, Ross, come up with it off the top of your head. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 05:14
Now the listeners might be like "You wouldn't do that in a real game. He forced you to do that." See, sometimes it works out,
Paula Deming 05:23
Yeah,
Ross Bryant 05:23
Play hard. Play recklessly. That's what we like around here.
Paula Deming 05:27
You didn't force me. I wanted to do it.
Mary Lou 05:29
Yeah,
Paula Deming 05:29
I wanted to push. I wanted to get some info.
cuppycup 05:32
This is Cup in post. I cut out the part where Ross was forcing Paula to make that roll. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 05:37
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Cup.
Mary Lou 05:39
You better do that.
Ross Bryant 05:41
You better do it. You better do it!
Mary Lou 05:43
You better!
Ross Bryant 05:45
Why I oughta...
Mary Lou 05:46
You want to be in any future episodes? [laughing] You better push that roll!
Ross Bryant 05:52
Yes, you're looking at the spines of the books. It's quite a few trade paperbacks. There's some mysteries and political thrillers. And then you get to some hardcover books that are more akin to local histories. These look like monographs that have been published locally, or maybe by historians affiliated with the alma mater of Doogie Wilson, about this region, about Innsmouth, Maine. And in particular, you get the history of what is called Dauberge War, the War of Dauberge. And as you kind of thumb through this text in the 17th century, when Maine was being sort of colonized, you read about how that there was a French trading post here, the Dauberge colony, and there was a lot of strife and violence between French colonists and English colonists around this time. And the Dauberge colony was utterly wiped out. And the historical record differs. Some say a plague hit them. Some say that the native population rose up against them. Some say it was infighting with the English colonists who did take over what would become Innsmouth, the Delmore White colony. You're perhaps like the darkness of this room is like you're seeing this rather dark tale of these people that were utterly wiped out and replaced by these English colonists that renamed the region Innsmouth. You even see like a 17th Century woodcut of Delmore White. And as you look over the images of the photos, you see a lot of like people in lumberjack attire, people cutting down trees, people on lobster fishing boats and robust locals there. You can also see for what you take to be, maybe a minister of sorts in a broad black hat and a high collar photographed in like what looks like an old daguerreotype standing next to a little church or schoolhouse with many little children and locals. And this is what you get, the sense of a rustic community that keeps to itself, hewing its life out of nature, but with this bloody and tragically mysterious past.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 08:16
The cost of failure.
Ross Bryant 08:17
Oh was that a Hard Success on a push, too?
Paula Deming 08:21
It was a Hard Success on that pushed roll.
Ross Bryant 08:24
Okay, as you look at that picture, looking over the children and the face of the minister there, stoically looking back at the camera, the more you look at it, old photos always have this odd aura. People's expressions always seem a little kind of sober and strange, and these particularly so. And when you look at the faces, especially that older man, it looks as though he's- you can't tell what's going on. It looks as though there might be some sort of rash or peeling on his face, around the cheeks.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 09:00
Oh,
Ross Bryant 09:00
That's noticeable, too, and it must just be the garments, but like one or two of these children, it looks as though they have like strange bulges on their torsos, somewhat concealed by the garments of the time.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 09:19
Huh?
Ross Bryant 09:19
[MUSIC: melancholic guitar theme] The cosmos is a cyclopean infinity of chaos, infinite branching paths stretching off to vistas in the distance that will drive the mind mad. Shall we shrink in the face of all this? Or will we climb aboard the chaos and ride it to the end, letting chance guide the way? This is Push the Roll. We're rolling dice against your Patreon suggestions to create improvised Call of Cthulhu adventures in real time with themes of eldritch horror, the weird, the transhuman, the transmundane, the cyberpunk, the splatterpunk, the anything punk. We don't know until we roll. Anytime, anyplace, anything can happen when you push the roll.
Paula Deming 10:11
And I'll, like, kind of turn back to draw Val and Doogie's attention to this very interesting photo, and also catch whether or not they seem deep in their own conversation. Maybe I've made a little bit of a match here?
cuppycup 10:29
I think when you look back, Doogie is just staring at you.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 10:34
Oh yeah. Doogie, Lou is a married woman. I, listen...
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 10:40
Oh, no, I mean, she's married, great. I love that. Good, fantastic. [laughter]
cuppycup 10:45
And he's like scratching at his cheek, like maybe he's having an allergic reaction to the makeup.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 10:50
You know, when Lou got me into this, I saw it as a business opportunity, but, um, I guess I'm more into the strategy, you know, and the books. Not really, haven't always really been a people person.
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 11:07
Oh, well, if you're into the strategy, I feel like I should tell you that, um, this is a pyramid scheme. You're not going to make any money. They taught us all about this in Marketing 225. I'm not saying it's impossible to make money, but virtually nobody does.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 11:24
Oh, sure, no, I get that, but, surely, they also taught you that, um, if you're at the top of the pyramid, it works really well.
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 11:34
Miss Jansson, no disrespect, I swear, but, but if it's a pyramid, doesn't that kind of mean the only way up is to step on everyone who's underneath you. [laughter] Miss Griffith's, I mean, you're competing with people like this. She's so motivated.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 11:47
I don't take offense to this. I'm just here because my cousin, because of Lou, I think that she could be something real big, and I just want to be there with her.
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 11:58
Yeah, she's real pretty, uh, she's pretty good, she's pretty good,
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 12:03
She's pretty good.
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 12:04
Hey, do you think I could sleep in this room? Do you think that lady would kick me out? [laughter]
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 12:11
Doogie!
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 12:12
I can't, I just, I can't afford to get a room for the night, but I really want to stay for the second day,
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 12:18
You don't have a room at the inn!
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 12:21
No, I just, I mean, you saw the rate, it was like $28 a night.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 12:25
Oh, well, to be perfectly honest with you, no, I do not think that she's going to let you sleep in the lounge. But,
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 12:34
I mean, if I'm reading like I'll be really engrossed in the book or something. I just, I really need to interview Grace, and I'm gonna get a C on my project if I don't get more information.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 12:45
I mean, Lou and I are staying in the same room. Maybe we could pull in a cot or something, I don't know. Or if you're not comfortable-
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 12:55
Yeah, I'll sleep on the floor! No, yeah I'll sleep in the bathtub. I've done that before. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 12:59
Oh, poor Doogie.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 13:00
A bath? Why have you slept in a bathtub, Doogie?
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 13:05
Sorry if that sounds weird, but it's just like big family, we do vacation every five years, and everybody piles in like sardines, and somebody's gonna get assigned the bathtub. It's usually me. I sleep better with like, humidity. I don't know the faucet dripping, my brain goes quiet. You won't even know I'm there.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 13:25
That's so sad.
Ross Bryant 13:27
Jeez. Everybody's got a backstory, huh? [laughter]
Oscar Montoya 13:29
It's like Willy Wonka the Chocolate Factory.
cuppycup 13:33
Yeah, a little bit.
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 13:34
Yeah, we'll just throw a couple pillows in the tub. It'll be fine.
Ross Bryant 13:39
Doogie Wilson has big Charlie Bucket energy.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 13:43
Val, Doogie, I know you said that I should let go of what happened before, but I will not, because the people who used to live in this town failed and they got wiped out, and I will not be wiped out. Get up. We're gonna find where Mr. Meyer's room is.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 14:00
Oh, Lou,
Lou Griffith (Paula) 14:00
Let's go, everyone. We're going. Doogie, you can take notes. You can take notes for your marketing class about how persistence is everything in interpersonal sales.
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 14:11
Okay, hold on!
cuppycup 14:13
He presses the button on the tape recorder.
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 14:16
Marketing, 225, field note, persistence is everything.
Ross Bryant 14:21
Are you walking out to the lobby to see if you can find this room?
Paula Deming 14:25
Yes, I will go,
Lou Griffith (Paula) 14:27
Follow me!
Paula Deming 14:28
And I'll go to the lobby to talk to the lady, if she's still there, the older lady at the desk.
Ross Bryant 14:33
The lady is currently having a conversation with a tall man who has a raincoat on, his collar is up, and there's a dripping, large umbrella in his hand, like a cane. And they seem to be talking together in low tones when you walk up. When you approach, he kind of looks over at you and turns away after nodding at the woman.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 14:55
Excuse me. I don't mean to interrupt, but I will. I am looking for the room of, uh, I remember his name very clearly, a Mr. Gerson Myers. Can you tell me what room he's in, please?
Ross Bryant 15:09
The woman just looks back at you placidly.
White-Haired Front Desk Attendant (Ross) 15:13
Oh, is this a friend of yours? He didn't have a packet along with the other attendees of the conference.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 15:21
Yes, he is a friend, and we promised that we would go and check in on him when we were done with our conference so that we could have a little nightcap together.
Paula Deming 15:32
I'll try a Charm if you want.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 15:33
But he forgot to tell us his room number.
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 15:37
He's my uncle.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 15:39
Doogie.
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 15:41
I'm Douglas Wilson. He's pretty sensitive, and if I could just check on him.
Ross Bryant 15:46
The eyes are cutting around. You can tell she's like, this is not hotel policy to give out the room number of a guest.
Paula Deming 15:52
I smile real big, and I pull out a little sample of lip color, a little lipstick sample, and I just set it on the desk, and I roll a 42 under 54 for my Charm, and say,
Lou Griffith (Paula) 16:03
Thank you so much for your help. What a lovely inn you have here.
Ross Bryant 16:08
She looks down and then looks back at you, takes the little palette and slides it towards herself. She kind of leans forward conspiratorially.
White-Haired Front Desk Attendant (Ross) 16:19
You didn't hear it from me, dear. But 241 is Mr. Meyer's room.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 16:26
Thank you, hon. All right, let's go!
Paula Deming 16:28
And I'll go down the hall.
White-Haired Front Desk Attendant (Ross) 16:30
Tell your uncle hi from me.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 16:32
I think that will be a lovely color on you. Lou, wait up a second.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 16:38
Yes, Val?
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 16:40
I just want to make sure that, you know, he seemed like the shy type. Perhaps, if we go, you know, banging on his door in the middle of the night, don't you think that he might take a fright to that?
Lou Griffith (Paula) 16:53
Well, look, sometimes you got to be aggressive. All right, you don't sell anything by not talking to people,
Ross Bryant 17:01
Can you make a Spot Hidden for me, Lou Griffith?
Paula Deming 17:04
Yeah. No, I rolled a 54 and my Spot Hidden is only 25 so that is a fail.
Ross Bryant 17:13
There's something clawing at the back of your mind, just a little connection that you're like is just out of reach of your mind, and it's gnawing at you, but you set it aside for the moment as you mount the stairs,
Lou Griffith (Paula) 17:25
All right, more important things to focus on.
Ross Bryant 17:28
And you take a different route to room 241 than Gerson did. It takes you past a hallway where there's some interior windows. And this is an old building. It looks like it was established, and in fact, you saw a picture of it being established in the early 1900s, but you're walking past a hallway where windows seem to face into an interior space. You know what I mean? Windows are facing into a little carpeted courtyard across which are other windows, and you get the sense that, like if you went through the wrong door here you'd be in a back room where, like, you'd be in a room inside a room inside a room. And, like, just in a strange way that these hotels are kind of laid out like that, maybe this must be a common area of some sort that these windows are facing into.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 18:16
Interesting layout in these old buildings. Don't you think? Quite a lot of charm.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 18:21
Sure.
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 18:22
Hey, you think I could sleep in there? Like, in the middle,
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 18:25
Doogie...
Ross Bryant 18:26
You maybe could sleep in there, Doogie, if you could find a way in
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 18:29
It reminds me of a video game, like, secret levels. And I'd be quiet, like, invisible quiet. I do that a lot.
cuppycup 18:37
Yeah, Doogie is panicking about his grade, and right now he's got no usable data. So, I mean, he just has, like, the complimentary samples. So he's just absolutely looking for wherever Grace stashed the merch. There must be crates and boxes and order forms, anything that he could count as a primary source for his research.
Ross Bryant 18:55
Okay, well, you might want to know where she's staying as well. It sounds like you almost want to search her room.
cuppycup 19:02
He's trying to be a good student, but he's also, like, just a couple steps away from light burglary. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 19:08
Great. Well, I want to move us back to Gerson's room. A lot of time has passed up here, but not as much time has passed with Gerson. This is right after you have retched, and as you're kind of noticing the Tylenol that you can't quite remember being there. You hear a little [quick pounding knocks]
Oscar Montoya 19:26
I still stare at the bottle. I'm trying to make sure that it's, in fact, real and not something that has conjured up in my mind. It's where I'm at right now, because there's so many flashes back and forth, it does feel like I'm in the middle of a like, of a smash cut edit.
Ross Bryant 19:48
Exactly.
Oscar Montoya 19:49
Like I'm right in that space where I live in two realities, and I'm really trying to process. I kind of almost don't hear the knock. It feels so far away from me. All of my attention is at the bottle, and I like to roll a Pharmacy check to see if the bottle has the words that I'm familiar with, or if there's other sort of weird markings on it that feel a little strange to me.
Ross Bryant 20:16
Great.
Oscar Montoya 20:17
Because I think about this idea that I heard when I was much younger, where you know you're dreaming if you can't, like, read. Like words in dreams don't really make sense. So that's where my brain is at. I'm like, is this a nightmare or is this real life?
Ross Bryant 20:34
I love it, yeah. Take a look at the bottle.
Oscar Montoya 20:43
[laughing]
Paula Deming 20:43
What is it? What is it?
Mary Lou 20:45
He rolled a 100.
Paula Deming 20:47
[gasps]
Oscar Montoya 20:48
I have a 70 in Pharmacy, but I did roll, in fact, a 100.
cuppycup 20:53
Oh, my God.
Ross Bryant 20:54
This is what we refer to in the game of Call of Cthulhu as a Fumble.
cuppycup 21:02
This is rough.
Mary Lou 21:03
That's... yeah.
Paula Deming 21:05
Oh, Gerson! We're not gonna get to him in time.
Oscar Montoya 21:08
No.
Ross Bryant 21:09
Man. Cthulhu gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers. [laughter]
Mary Lou 21:12
That's right.
Oscar Montoya 21:13
I just, I'm playing it for the first time! [laughter]
Paula Deming 21:17
It's perfect.
Mary Lou 21:18
Oh boy.
cuppycup 21:19
What timing, too.
Mary Lou 21:20
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 21:22
Okay, here's what you read, Gerson,
Oscar Montoya 21:26
Oh, my god.
Ross Bryant 21:28
[monotone] 100 tablets. Tylenol. Acetaminophen. Safe, fast pain relief without aspirin. Each tablet contains 325 milligrams acetaminophen. McNeil Laboratories, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. Take with a full glass of water and take with food. Oh, god, are you okay? Baby, what's happening? What's happening? Baby, what's happening? Why? Oh, God, no. Please. Please. Should I make you vomit? Should I make you vomit? So hungry, so hungry. We are hungry. We are hungry. We want you. We want you. 325 milligrams of acetaminophen. Roll Sanity for me.
Paula Deming 22:31
Yeah, that made me, sorry. I got emotional.
cuppycup 22:33
Jesus Christ.
Paula Deming 22:34
Ross, you got me!
Mary Lou 22:35
Scary.
Oscar Montoya 22:39
[chuckling] 75.
Ross Bryant 22:41
That's a failure in your Sanity roll.
Mary Lou 22:43
Yeah,
Ross Bryant 22:45
I'm worried about what's about to happen here.
Mary Lou 22:47
Poor Gerson,
Ross Bryant 22:48
By which I mean I'm excited. [laughter] Okay, what was your starting Sanity, Gerson?
Oscar Montoya 22:57
25.
Ross Bryant 22:59
What is it now?
Oscar Montoya 23:01
22.
Paula Deming 23:01
You can normally lose so much more than this and be okay! It is so perfect. You didn't even know that your Sanity was so low when you made this connection with the Tylenol thing. It is like the Kismet is like [kissing noises]
cuppycup 23:02
[laughing] There's no way...
Mary Lou 23:04
Yeah, it's perfect.
Oscar Montoya 23:11
It's all meant to happen. This is, yeah,
Mary Lou 23:22
Yes.
Ross Bryant 23:23
I realize it's really dark, playing, leaning into a real world tragedy, but this is what you're experiencing. This is your guilty conscience in some way, something is taking the inside and putting it on the outside. The inside is outside. And this sort of realization is the kind of thing that comes to you because you lost two points of Sanity, which isn't very much, but it brings you to a total of five over the course of what we've already done, and that is 1/5 of your starting Sanity. You are insane, Gerson Myers. Forgive me, I'll touch base with Cup who I think knows the rules slightly better, and I just want to make sure I get this right. So there's no Intelligence roll here, because this isn't a Bout of Madness.
cuppycup 24:15
It is a Bout but it's an automatic Bout of Madness.
Ross Bryant 24:18
It's an automatic Bout of Madness. Great. So what this means, Gerson, is that we don't even have to do what we do in normal circumstances, which is roll an Intelligence roll to understand what it is you're seeing. You mentioned something about you can't read in a dream, Gerson, and what you realize right now is that you're in a nightmare. And you haven't been able to wake up yet, but you are in a nightmare. This is a dream. It has to be. This isn't real. None of this is real. You don't know when you went to sleep, but you're probably asleep in that bed right behind you right now. You have to be because this is just your guilty conscience talking, and it has to be. There's no pill bottle here, and it certainly can't say that. And there can't be anyone still knocking on the door right now. [five hard knocks]
Unknown Knocker (Ross) 25:11
You okay in there? [three more knocks]
Ross Bryant 25:15
So I think that is the, if you agree, that is the sort of mania that you are under the throes of, that you were in some way trapped in a nightmare at this moment.
Oscar Montoya 25:23
Yes,
Ross Bryant 25:23
And maybe believe that different rules apply because you are in a nightmare.
Paula Deming 25:30
I love this.
Oscar Montoya 25:32
Yeah, I feel like to add on to what you were saying,
Ross Bryant 25:35
Please,
Oscar Montoya 25:36
The idea that I am trapped in a nightmare, and even so much that, like I didn't even drive all the way from Chicago to Maine, that I'm still trapped in Chicago, that I am still in that sort of vortex of pain, of this sort of like stifling madness, of noise, of death. It's still there. It's outside of this shell that I have right now. And right now in my mind, in Gerson's mind, I recognize that this is a nightmare. But in a way, there's a comfort in that.
Mary Lou 26:16
It's not real.
Oscar Montoya 26:17
It's not life, it's not in a way, my body is protecting itself. It's telling myself that, like, this is a nightmare.
Mary Lou 26:27
It's not real, it can't hurt you.
Oscar Montoya 26:29
Let me live this nightmare.
Ross Bryant 26:31
Great. Okay, there's still someone knocking at the door. I love this,
Oscar Montoya 26:35
That realization happens, and I sort of smile to myself. I hear the door knocking louder and louder, almost deafening. [increasingly loud bangs]
Ross Bryant 26:45
Yeah,
Oscar Montoya 26:46
And I slowly, cautiously, step by step, walk towards the door. I'm not scared. I'm not nervous. It is as if I'm walking in sort of this amber. Time doesn't exist. Space doesn't exist.
Ross Bryant 27:08
Yeah,
Oscar Montoya 27:08
My muscles are moving, but my brain is somewhere else. It's floating outside of itself.
Ross Bryant 27:14
Yes, did you leave the window open Gerson?
Oscar Montoya 27:18
I did leave the window open. Yes.
Ross Bryant 27:20
So yeah, slowly, ever so slowly, like that feeling in the dream where you're moving forward, but you're seeming to get no closer to your intended destination. But after what feels like an eternity, your hand closes over the knob.
Oscar Montoya 27:35
I turn the knob and then open the door.
Ross Bryant 27:39
There's a young woman standing outside your door. It's no one you've seen before. She has kind of a curly perm, and she's wearing a black turtleneck and black pants. She has a long necklace with a little crystal on it, and it looks like a little dragon's claw is clutching the crystal. It's just hanging around her neck, just like,
Girl with the Crystal Necklace (Ross) 28:03
Oh, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I thought I heard something. Are you okay?
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 28:09
Why wouldn't I be?
Girl with the Crystal Necklace (Ross) 28:11
Oh, I don't know. I just thought I heard, I didn't know if somebody was screaming or someone was getting sick or what, but we heard something, didn't we babe?
Ross Bryant 28:22
And a guy who looks kind of like a, he's got curly, long hair and a beard, in that sort of like 70s-come-80s way. You're looking at people who are kind of clinging to the hippie thing, maybe a little past its sell-by date. He's shirtless. He's wearing black Levi's jeans, and he has a he has a necklace on, rather like the woman. He's like,
Shirtless Man (Ross) 28:45
Yeah, are you okay, man?
Oscar Montoya 28:48
I don't pay attention to what they're saying. I'm drawn to the necklace. I touch the necklace on the female and say,
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 28:55
These are quite captivating.
Girl with the Crystal Necklace (Ross) 28:59
Oh, yeah. Like, yeah, we um...
Ross Bryant 29:06
She's kind of looking you up and down.
Girl with the Crystal Necklace (Ross) 29:08
Are you into sort of witchy things?
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 29:14
My dear, I'm a man of science. I'm not supposed to believe in such things.
Girl with the Crystal Necklace (Ross) 29:20
Wow.
Ross Bryant 29:21
She just laughs and kind of looks over at the guy like
Girl with the Crystal Necklace (Ross) 29:23
He sounds like a guy from the television. You talk like a man on the news.
Ross Bryant 29:31
She kind of strokes her hair back. She's very beautiful and he, in his kind of rumpled way, is kind of handsome as well. Now you can smell, uh, does Gerson know what marijuana smells like?
Oscar Montoya 29:44
Yeah, well, yes, of course! He's a man of medicine.
Ross Bryant 29:47
Yeah, maybe for the first time you noticed that there's some, their door's open and they have the room next door to yours.
Oscar Montoya 29:53
Oh, I see.
Ross Bryant 29:54
And they're like, kind of just checking in. Like,
Girl with the Crystal Necklace (Ross) 29:57
Yeah, wow.
Oscar Montoya 30:00
Can I take a peek at what I'm seeing behind that door, across the way?
Ross Bryant 30:07
You step out into the hall and are now looking into their room, and you can see the bed is unmade, and there's a bottle of red wine sitting on the end table with a couple of glasses. There's a joint smoldering in an ashtray, and you can see a denim jacket thrown over the chair in there. A few other items of clothing are on the floor.
Girl with the Crystal Necklace (Ross) 30:32
Do you party?
Ross Bryant 30:34
She kind of, she's a close talker.
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 30:37
Not in my real life.
Girl with the Crystal Necklace (Ross) 30:39
Wow.
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 30:40
But I can,
Ross Bryant 30:42
and the guy's like,
Shirtless Man (Ross) 30:43
Wow, yeah. This is a spooky place, huh? I don't know about you, but I always feel like when I'm in a hotel, I'm somehow, like, apart from real life.
Ross Bryant 30:52
He kind of does a little wizard gesture with his hands.
Oscar Montoya 30:56
Oh no, not the Criss Angel [laughter]
Ross Bryant 30:59
You're getting Criss Angel, like it's the 80s, but like,
Shirtless Man (Ross) 31:02
You're kind of apart from real life, that what happens here kind of happens outside of time. You know what I mean?
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 31:09
Who... who sent you to me? [laughter]
Ross Bryant 31:16
They both look at you, like, kind of quizzically, and that's when Lou, Doogie, and Val turn the corner onto the hallway.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 31:22
Oh, perfect. Um, excuse me. Hello. Hi y'all. Oh, excuse me. I know it looks like y'all are having like your own conversation, but I have an important conversation to be had. So do you mind if I interrupt?
Oscar Montoya 31:35
When I'm talking with the two hippies it does feel this sort of like dream scape, like I'm in a certain wavelength, and as soon as Lou talks, it is sort of like, you know, like in action movies when, like a bomb goes off and you hear that [imitates high pitched noise], like when someone's ears,
cuppycup 31:52
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 31:53
Tinnitus, yeah.
Oscar Montoya 31:54
It's like that for, yeah, tinnitus for Gerson. It is such a jarring difference in everything. [laughter] I like sort of flinch and draw my hands to my ears to cover the, to me, just feels like screeching. [high-pitched whine]
cuppycup 32:12
[laughing] Did Lou's voice take him out of his Bout of Madness?
Mary Lou 32:18
Or send him further?
Ross Bryant 32:21
I will say no, but, um, but he's indefinitely, I mean, how would you even roll for that? Or would you could just declare it?
cuppycup 32:29
Even though he's indefinitely insane, he still gets regular Bouts of Madness that end. The difference is that anytime he loses even one SAN point, he goes back into a Bout of Madness.
Ross Bryant 32:39
Then, yes, actually, that tinnitus you're describing is so intense, the jarring presence and the sort of real world, earthy presence of Val, Lou, and Doogie popping in here breaks the spell for a moment, and your Bout ends. You are still insane, but you are no longer in Bout, so to speak, and you can sort of play that how you wish. The two young people kind of look at the three of you. Are like,
Girl with the Crystal Necklace (Ross) 33:02
Oh, wow, maybe you do party. Who are your friends?
Lou Griffith (Paula) 33:05
We do not party. Okay, bless your hearts. No, we are here on business. Okay.
Paula Deming 33:14
In fact, now that there are other people here, Lou, I think, is starting to feel a little self conscious about, like, demanding all of this. And so she'll turn and go,
Lou Griffith (Paula) 33:25
Um, well, you know, my cousin, Val, really felt like we needed to learn something from our interaction earlier. Isn't that, right, Val? And so this was a teaching moment for her,
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 33:38
Sure.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 33:39
And so, Mr. Myers, why didn't you just play along? Couldn't you see how it make us both look better? If you had just said yes and pretended to buy some moisturizer, I wouldn't have made you actually pay for it.
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 33:52
Oh, I think before we get there, I think introductions are in order. Yes, I'm Gerson.
Oscar Montoya 34:00
And I'm like, not really focusing on Lou, to be honest, I'm sort of, like, shifting my position to the two young people.
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 34:09
What are your names?
Ross Bryant 34:11
They're like, wrapped up in each other's arms already. They're like, constantly, kind of touching each other. And the man says,
Dale (Ross) 34:17
Oh, Dale.
Ross Bryant 34:20
And the young woman looks at you and says,
Scarlett (Ross) 34:22
Scarlett.
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 34:23
Hiya, I'm Doogie Wilson, marketing major, Kingsport college. Marketing 225. Sorry, I don't know why I said it like that. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 34:33
They both look at you and give you the feet to eyes, kind of up and down.
Oscar Montoya 34:38
The scan.
Ross Bryant 34:38
Yeah, they give you the full scan.
cuppycup 34:40
He tucks his polo shirt deeper into his corduroy pants.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 34:45
And I'm Val, Val Jansson. It's really nice to meet you all. There sure are a bunch of different kinds of people out here. I didn't quite know what I would expect coming to Innsmouth, Maine.
Scarlett (Ross) 35:00
Oh, yeah, we're going all the way up into Canada for our honeymoon.
Ross Bryant 35:04
She flashes a ring.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 35:06
Oh, congratulations!
Scarlett (Ross) 35:08
But yeah, we party.
Oscar Montoya 35:10
What does the ring look like?
Ross Bryant 35:12
It looks like, everything is kind of witchy vibes. And you see like a little dragon, kind of eating its own tail on her.
Paula Deming 35:19
Yeah,
Oscar Montoya 35:20
They love dragons. I look at Lou because she's the only one that hasn't introduced herself. I'm hoping I don't have to put her on the spot, but I am sort of staring at her.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 35:32
Oh, um, hi. I'm Lou. Lou Ann. Lou Ann Griffith, one of the top sellers for Beauty by Sylvie, and that's why we are here, and that's why we are not partying. We are here on business, all right? so thank you so much. Um, Gerson, do you mind? Can we just step into your room? Please?
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 35:51
You want to step into my room to have a conversation?
Lou Griffith (Paula) 35:53
Well, yes, it might be personal. I don't know. I don't know these people. I met you this morning, so we've known each other.
Oscar Montoya 36:02
I self consciously close the door behind me to my room, and then I say,
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 36:07
I think it's best if we have a conversation in the lobby or a more public area.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 36:12
Oh, sure, we don't want to interrupt your privacy.
Oscar Montoya 36:17
Seems you've already had
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 36:18
I think the Lobster Conference Room was open.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 36:22
All right, let's go to the Lobster Conference Room. Let's do that, thank you. And thank you for your time, Gerson, I do appreciate it. It's going to be so helpful to me and to Val and Doogie, who's studying for class. You would not want to put these two young people at a disadvantage as they move through life. You would want to give them information that will help them know how to be better salespeople.
Oscar Montoya 36:42
As Lou's talking, I just walk towards the I kind of don't even address it, but as I'm walking back, I turn to look back at Dale and Scarlett to see what they're doing.
Ross Bryant 36:54
Yeah, they're still kind of like touching each other, like,
Scarlett (Ross) 36:57
Well, as long as you're okay, Gerson. If you change your mind, we're in 243. 243, what's fun with two is better with three. [laughter]
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 37:12
Oh, my!
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 37:14
Do you think they'd let me sleep in there?
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 37:17
Doogie, I do think they would let you sleep in there. But, ah...
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 37:22
I'm not trying to be like their third wheel, but I also don't have $28 and I'm kind of running out of legal places to sleep.
Ross Bryant 37:29
Scarlett even gives you, Doogie, a little wink as they go back into their room.
cuppycup 37:34
Yeah, his corduroy pants are pretty tight. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 37:39
Damn. Damn, dog.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 37:40
It might not be exactly the kind of room that you want to stay in tonight, though. Unless... [laughing]
Lou Griffith (Paula) 37:47
If Gerson is like kind of walking, I would just follow where he wants to go.
Ross Bryant 37:53
Okay, great.
Oscar Montoya 37:55
I will say that I am walking much slower than normal in a very noticeable way.
Paula Deming 38:02
I think, as well, again, I'm starting to feel a little bit of that, like my kind of southern upbringing is starting to be, like, you have been rude. This is so rude. What you're doing, what would your mother say if she knew? And so now I'm starting to kind of babble nervously.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 38:19
You know, I uh, I saw some interesting pictures downstairs in the lobby of the history of this place. And did you know that people think that maybe there were some people with like a plague around here once, and they got wiped out, like...
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 38:33
Miss Griffith.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 38:34
Yes?
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 38:35
Why did you get into makeup?
Lou Griffith (Paula) 38:37
Well, you know, I'd had a baby, and I felt a little bit out of control in my own life. My emotions after having the baby were kind of like all over the place, you know, and, um, and I had some dark thoughts, and, uh, oh, I don't know. I don't know why I'm telling you this, um, but, you know, I thought. okay, well, I can get control back, and I can have some independence in my life, and I can just start selling things and Beauty by Sylvie is the first, is the first company that I found that made me feel like I could be like a bit of an independent woman, while still having time to be with my family and be a mom.
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 39:14
So none of this is addressing your passion for cosmetics. This is all of a way to get control.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 39:22
Well, yes, I think so it could be something else if, maybe if I had found Tupperware first, that's what I would be selling you.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 39:31
I think I'm the cosmetologist of the family. I've always enjoyed doing my makeup, and you can see here I've got the Beauty by Sylvie Royal Butterfly in blue here on my eyes. And you might not have noticed, because it's a very subtle look, but Doogie is actually wearing the foundation in sand. He has a little bit of a complexion issue, and so I just covered up a little bit of his redness. He'll grow out of it, I'm sure, but with a really light touch-
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 40:03
Who sent you to me? [laughter]
Ross Bryant 40:07
This conversation is taking place as you're walking down hallways, down a staircase, across a little interior courtyard, up a staircase. I don't know about you, but I've been to lodges on lakefronts, where they just snake around in the most kind of strange and MC Escher way. I feel like old lodges have this kind of quality. And I hope you don't think I'm being a naughty boy if I make you make a Navigate roll, a group Navigate roll, whoever has the lowest score roll, and if you succeed, you'll have made it to the Lobster Conference Room.
Oscar Montoya 40:40
Aha.
cuppycup 40:41
There have to be several of us with the base.
Mary Lou 40:43
I have a 10, yeah.
cuppycup 40:45
Yeah, same.
Paula Deming 40:47
I have 21 so not me.
cuppycup 40:49
Why don't you roll it up, Mary Lou?
Mary Lou 40:50
All right, here we go. Oh! that's an 8.
cuppycup 40:55
Oh, my God,
Ross Bryant 40:56
Amazing.
Mary Lou 40:57
I'm gonna navigate.
Ross Bryant 41:00
For a moment, you suddenly feel as though you're lost. Gerson, you have a palpable sense of like, if this is a nightmare, in some way, this hotel is your own head. You're lost in your own mind. If I go up, I'm ascending up into my consciousness. If I go down, I'm going deeper into my subconsciousness. And there's a sense of an interior space here that you want to get to, because it's the center of the nightmare, and you're compelled to go that way. And just as you're about to kind of move the group in that direction, Val is like, this way, and takes you down a corridor, and you find yourself at the Lobster Conference Room. There are pictures of fishing boats on the wall.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 41:41
This place is like a labyrinth.
Oscar Montoya 41:45
You know, after that, I assume there's like different elements at play fighting each other in this nightmare space that I have convinced myself that I'm in, and when Val sort of correctly navigates to where we want to go, I warm up to her. I feel like she's been sent to me by a guiding force. She is the sort of avatar of the compass that is my mind, you know? So I smile, and I sort of gingerly touch her elbow, and I say,
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 42:20
Thank you for getting us here safely.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 42:23
Oh, you're so welcome. I've always had a good compass in my head.
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 42:31
You are a compass,
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 42:32
Oh!
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 42:34
And I shall trust you as that 'til this nightmare is over. [laughter]
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 42:42
Mr. Myers, are you a poet?
Ross Bryant 42:47
You mentioned compass. And as I said, there are pictures of lobster boats and fishing boats on the wall here. And Gerson, as you're talking about compasses, perhaps your eye’s drawn for a moment to a watercolor of a fishing boat out in a little bay with the Acadia mountains behind it. And of course, you see that there's a little captain with a captain's hat on the boat. And you also see that something is crawling out of his torso. [tinnitus sound]
Oscar Montoya 43:15
Like actively? Or it's painted?
Ross Bryant 43:18
It's hard to tell from this vantage point, like it's painted. It's painted on so the artist has rendered from the distance that you're at, it's clear that something is spilling out of him.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 43:27
You seem to have an artist's soul, Mr. Myers. Such a way with words. What brings you here to the Innsmouth Inn?
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 43:39
Now, what's the intention of the artist when they painted that.
Oscar Montoya 43:43
And I point to the painting,
Paula Deming 43:45
Does it look the same to us?
Mary Lou 43:47
Yeah, what do we see?
Ross Bryant 43:50
You see a beautiful watercolor of a fishing boat in the bay, and there is a jaunty little captain there. He's got a stump of a pipe in his mouth, and his coat is blowing in the wind, revealing a red interior. Yeah, nothing's crawling out of his torso. It's just a trick of the light, probably.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 44:10
Okay, I've got this one. Maybe it's about the loneliness of man or technology versus tradition. I took an art history class one semester, and I remember those terms.
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 44:30
That's really smart, actually.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 44:32
Oh, thank you, Doogie.
Quiet Voice (Ross) 44:33
[very softly] I'm hungry.
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 44:36
Miss Griffith, you- I'm sorry.
Quiet Voice (Ross) 44:38
I'm hungry.
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 44:39
Miss... Mrs.
Quiet Voice (Ross) 44:41
I'm hungry. I'm hungry. So hungry.
Paula Deming 44:49
Do we hear, who can hear that?
Ross Bryant 44:52
Gerson, you hear it first,
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 44:54
You're hungry.
Quiet Voice (Ross) 44:55
I'm hungry.
Oscar Montoya 44:55
I say that out loud.
Ross Bryant 44:55
And now the rest of you hear it. It sounds like there's a voice coming from underneath one of the conference room tables, which, like in the room you started out in, are covered with these tablecloths. There's a voice coming from under one of the tables.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 45:12
Somebody... Hello? someone in here?
Ross Bryant 45:14
And you hear crying.
Quiet Voice (Ross) 45:15
[crying] H-h-hungry, h-h-hun...
Doogie Wilson (cuppycup) 45:18
What? Hello? Is someone under the table?
Mary Lou 45:22
Val will lift up a tablecloth and look.
Ross Bryant 45:24
You lift it up, and you see a boy of about maybe 10 years old, knees up to his chin, and he kind of looks up at you.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 45:34
Oh, sweetheart. Are you lost?
Young Boy (Ross) 45:37
Yeah, I came in here and lost my way.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 45:40
Where's your mommy, sweetheart? Is she here with the Beauty by Sylvie convention?
Young Boy (Ross) 45:45
I think so. Can you take me to room 155? I can't find it. This place is a maze.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 45:53
Oh, my goodness, of course I can, you poor thing. Oh, come here. My name is Val.
Paula Deming 46:01
Is this kid, sorry, this is the player now, knowing she's in a Call of Cthulhu game, does he look normal? Does he look out of place? Does he ummm...
Ross Bryant 46:13
Is he a normal boy? [laughter]
Paula Deming 46:14
Yeah. Is he nor- does he-
Mary Lou 46:15
What's he wearing?
Ross Bryant 46:16
I want to say he looks, the word I'll say is "local"
Paula Deming 46:21
Okay,
Ross Bryant 46:22
It's dungarees, a sort of rough cotton shirt that's tucked in. It's that very kind of understated, rustic attire. And he's got kind of a bowl cut of his blonde hair, but he looks, yeah, distressed. His eyes are red.
Young Boy (Ross) 46:36
155?
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 46:39
Oh, I can take you there.
Young Boy (Ross) 46:41
Thank you.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 46:42
I kind of know this place.
Young Boy (Ross) 46:44
You know the way?
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 46:46
Well, I got us here. Sure, I can take you. Why don't the three of you sit and talk and I'll take- what's your name, sweetheart?
Pete (Ross) 46:54
Pete.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 46:55
Pete, I'll take Mr. Little Petey here, back to his mom, and I'll meet up with you in a second. Okay?
Pete (Ross) 47:03
Thank you.
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 47:04
Are you sure?
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 47:05
Oh, I mean, of course, I'm sure.
Gerson Meyers (Oscar) 47:07
All right, I- please. I need my compass. Come back right away.
Ross Bryant 47:16
Lou, you did ask if this kid looks normal. So I mean, why not? Just for the sake of fun, you can make a Spot Hidden,
Paula Deming 47:23
Sure. Why not?
Ross Bryant 47:25
Val and Pete are moving towards the door.
Paula Deming 47:30
Oh, you know what, look, we're doing it. Why not play hard? My Spot Hidden is 25 I rolled a 34. I don't have a lot of Luck, but I will spend...
Mary Lou 47:42
Spend it!
Paula Deming 47:42
...9 points of my 30 Luck...
Mary Lou 47:44
Absolutely
cuppycup 47:45
Nice.
Ross Bryant 47:46
Okay
Paula Deming 47:47
...to make that a regular success, just to see. Just to see,
Ross Bryant 47:51
Great, so you've had your eye on him this whole time.
Paula Deming 47:56
Well, because I did see some kids in that photo, and they looked kind of weird. And that's all, honestly, I just keep thinking about it. I can't get it out of my head,
Ross Bryant 48:06
Yeah. And, in fact, it's bizarre how like, it's almost the haircut is vaguely similar in the way that people in rural areas kind of have this outside-of-time attire sometimes and it's almost as if a kid stepped out of that photo and is now...
Paula Deming 48:21
It's almost like this kid stepped out that photo!
Ross Bryant 48:26
and you're spending luck to make a regular success on Spot Hidden.
Paula Deming 48:29
A regular success. Yes.
Ross Bryant 48:31
As he walks out the door, you see him sort of pass by you in profile, hand in hand with Val, and his ruddy childish face moves by, little red under the eyes from where he's rubbed them, apple cheeks, and as he turns where his bowl cut ends, you can see a hard line where what looks like the hue of his skin totally changes because the makeup isn't covering the back of his neck, which is as white as the underside of a fish.
Lou Griffith (Paula) 49:04
Oh, that's weird.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 49:05
Petey, don't you worry, I was a babysitter all through college, so I know just what you need.
Pete (Ross) 49:15
Thank you. You're the compass!
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 49:17
That's what Mr. Myers called me. I don't know exactly why he's here, but you know what? I think he's like a poet or like an author, and he's here on a retreat. He's researching his new novel, and maybe we'll be characters in it.
Ross Bryant 49:34
Great. You're moving down the hallways now, and you're guiding him back to where you believe 155 is. Why don't you make one of those Navigation rolls that you smashed so well? [laughter]
Paula Deming 49:46
Ooh boy!
Oscar Montoya 49:46
Come on, Val.
Paula Deming 49:47
Don't get lost this time.
Oscar Montoya 49:49
You got this, Val.
Mary Lou 49:50
Okay, I only have a 10!
cuppycup 49:52
Oh, my God!
Mary Lou 49:54
And I rolled a 6! It's meant to be!
Ross Bryant 49:58
Amazing.
cuppycup 49:59
You are the compass.
Mary Lou 50:01
I am the compass.
Paula Deming 50:03
You are the compass.
Mary Lou 50:05
Oh, my God,
Oscar Montoya 50:06
You are the compass.
Ross Bryant 50:08
You find it. Once again, you're walking through these strange interior hallways that branch off at odd angles. Little stairs run up and down as this lodge kind of moves up and over a hill, you feel. And you're counting them off, 151, 153, and here it is, 155
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 50:32
Yeah, we found you, mommy. I'll just knock on the door. She's probably so worried about you. [knocking]
Ross Bryant 50:39
Knocks on the door, there's a pause, and the door opens into total darkness.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 50:49
Oh, your mom must like those blackout curtains. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 50:59
Pete is behind you in the hallway, and you can hear like,
Pete (Ross) 51:02
I'm glad you came. I'm glad Grace gave you to us. We're so hungry.
Ross Bryant 51:14
As you turn around, are you turning around?
Mary Lou 51:17
Yeah, I'll turn around to look at Petey.
Val Jansson (Mary Lou) 51:18
Well, I can get you something from a vending machine, if you-
Ross Bryant 51:22
He's pulling his little shirt up and tugging up his underclothes, and his eyes are sort of like bulging sideways out of their sockets as he's like,
Pete (Ross) 51:32
Hungry!
Ross Bryant 51:34
And you can see now, as his shirt lifts, the other face that Pete has. [laughter and sounds of discomfort]