Transcript - Episode 11: The 1931 Miskatonic University Reunion Disaster (Part 1)
Audio for The 1931 Miskatonic University Reunion Disaster Part 1
The 1931 Miskatonic University Reunion Disaster Part 1
Wed, Oct 22, 2025
“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 00:00
Welcome to "Push the Roll with Ross Bryant." It's so great to be back. We don't know what we're about to do. The blank sheet of paper is in front of us. We have no idea the horror scenario that we're about to improvise for you right now. Today, I am with my wonderful friends and guests. We've got Cup.
cuppycup 00:20
Hi. [laughter]
Paula Deming 00:23
You're supposed to say something, Cup, after... [laughter]
cuppycup 00:25
I did!
Ross Bryant 00:26
Coming in strong with the tepid and anticlimactic "hello."
Paula Deming 00:30
It just took you a second.
Ashly Burch 00:32
Yeah, what a tepid introduction. [laughter]
Rashawn Scott 00:33
Yeah. [laughter]
cuppycup 00:36
Hi Ross! [laughter]
Ross Bryant 00:39
Howdy, there, Cup. We've got my pal, Rashawn Scott.
Rashawn Scott 00:43
Hello, everybody. How's everyone doing today?
Ross Bryant 00:46
Doing lovely.
Rashawn Scott 00:47
Good.
Ross Bryant 00:49
We've got Paula Deming.
Paula Deming 00:50
Oh, hello, it's me. I'm Paula. I'm here. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 00:55
Yes. And we are also joined by Ashly Burch.
Ashly Burch 00:58
Hi! [laughter]
Ross Bryant 01:01
Wow. What a fun, fun, crew. They're a great group of people that all knows how to say hello to me, and I'm lucky to have them. [laughter] Ashly, thank you so much for joining us. You're kind of our special guest for this episode.
Ashly Burch 01:16
Oh my goodness.
Ross Bryant 01:17
So Cup, do you have a list, a massive list of the titles submitted by our friends on Patreon?
cuppycup 01:23
I do. So I have taken the more than 100 titles submitted and randomly created a list of 100 titles so that we can roll a d100 in the spirit of Call of Cthulhu.
Ashly Burch 01:33
Ooh.
Ross Bryant 01:35
Wonderful. We rolled d1-hundos around here. So Ashly, would you like to do the honors and roll a d100, tell us the result, and let chance decide what our title is?
Ashly Burch 01:45
Oh, my God, I get to do it? Okay, here I go. Do I remember how to roll a d100 and read it? 70!
Ross Bryant 01:53
70.
Rashawn Scott 01:54
Whoa. Did everyone just feel that?
Paula Deming 01:56
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 01:57
A nice round, round number.
cuppycup 02:00
Oh, this is interesting, because I feel like we've kind of been avoiding traditional, classic Call of Cthulhu, Ross. But this title comes from Dazzy on patreon.com/pushtheroll, and the title is "The 1931 Miskatonic University Reunion Disaster."
Paula Deming 02:19
Oh my gosh. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 02:28
[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.
Ross Bryant 03:18
Okay, "The 1931 Miskatonic University Reunion Disaster." [laughter] You could interpret this a couple of ways. This is either the reunion that took place in the year 1931 or it's the class of 1931 returning to Miskatonic.
Rashawn Scott 03:33
That's what I thought.
cuppycup 03:34
Oh yeah, I love the open-endedness of that.
Ross Bryant 03:37
Then it could be any old time.
Ashly Burch 03:38
That's true.
Ross Bryant 03:39
That's very fun. That's a cool idea.
cuppycup 03:41
Or we could play across two time periods, Ross.
Ashly Burch 03:45
Oh.
Paula Deming 03:45
We keep flashing back and forth.
cuppycup 03:48
Don't tempt me.
Rashawn Scott 03:49
Oh, my God, he's gonna send us through a portal to hell or something. It's gonna be so scary. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 03:55
Stop burning all the good ideas.
Rashawn Scott 03:57
Sorry! I'm just gonna let you terrify me.
Ross Bryant 04:03
That is interesting because, of course, we got an actual year in this title, which calls to mind time, the ravages of time, moving through time. Reunions are, of course, a time when we reflect on the past and the ways in which the past has shaped us. Out of curiosity, as our minds are kind of cooking on these ideas, have any of you actually been to a college or high school reunion? I never have.
Ashly Burch 04:26
I have not.
Rashawn Scott 04:27
I didn't go.
Paula Deming 04:28
I moved so far away from where I grew up that it was like I could go back for that, I guess. But...
cuppycup 04:35
Yeah.
Paula Deming 04:36
I don't know.
Ashly Burch 04:36
My only reference point is the "30 Rock" episode where Liz goes back to her high school reunion, and she thought that she was being bullied, but actually she was the bully. [laughter] That is my immediate... what my brain immediately conjures is that episode.
Ross Bryant 04:48
Yes, definitely.
cuppycup 04:51
I'm from Delaware, so it's like six people. So no, I have not gone back to any of my reunions.
Rashawn Scott 04:58
I knew that it was happening because, like, Facebook messages... like, the high school student council group was still a thing. And I was like, if we've only been out of school 10 years, who's done anything?
cuppycup 05:08
Oh, yeah.
Ashly Burch 05:09
So this is perfect for us, because none of us has been to one, so we should just take massive flyers about what a high school reunion is actually like.
cuppycup 05:18
This is it. We get to live it now. We didn't have to go.
Ashly Burch 05:21
We get to live it now. Yeah.
Paula Deming 05:22
Yeah, that's right.
Ross Bryant 05:24
That's right. Now is our time to live our dreams. [laughter] I kind of like the multi-time of it all.
cuppycup 05:33
Ooh.
Ashly Burch 05:34
Yeah, that's cool.
Ross Bryant 05:34
Whether or not we actually move through time, let's have this be a 20-year high school reunion. So our show is set in the year 1951, but we are the class of 1931. Just thinking about though that time period, that's kind of interesting. That's the people who would have been at Miskatonic University right before World War II, and probably their lives were affected by that kind of Greatest Generation thing. They maybe, if they didn't directly serve, their lives were certainly touched by that convulsive world historic moment. And now we're solidly in the 1950s. We are in the new Cold War consensus of America. But we're going back now, back to our glory days at Miskatonic University. For the uninitiated, Miskatonic and Miskatonic University is a reference straight out of the canon of H.P. Lovecraft, the certified bad guy and freak who wrote the stories... [laughter]
Paula Deming 06:36
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 06:36
... that this game is based on. But Miskatonic University, imagine it as sort of like, it's not necessarily Ivy League, but it's a school like... you know, there are those schools that are very prestigious, like maybe University of Chicago or something. They're not Ivy League, but they're just almost. [laughter] And Miskatonic is one of those. It's just as old. It is a campus of gothic spires and beautiful brick buildings nestled in Arkham, Massachusetts, and that's where you all went to school. So let's start to think about who you are. Let's pop into those pre-generated character sheets and begin to see who you are. And a lot of these are defined by occupation, so maybe these are what you majored in. Sometimes, although very often, what you study in school doesn't end up being what you do.
Ashly Burch 07:30
I'm gonna do a thing where I let my dice decide everything for me.
cuppycup 07:33
Oh, wow.
Paula Deming 07:34
Yes.
Ashly Burch 07:35
So I'm gonna roll to decide the folder and then roll to decide the character.
Paula Deming 07:38
Yes.
Ashly Burch 07:39
And maybe deeply regret all the choices that I just stated. [laughter]
Rashawn Scott 07:43
That's fun.
cuppycup 07:44
But they won't be your fault.
Ashly Burch 07:46
Oh, I'm going Old West. [laughter]
Paula Deming 07:47
Yes! [laughter]
Ross Bryant 07:50
Great. You're a graduate of Miskatonic University, but you're coming back as the proprietor of an old time medicine show. [laughter]
Ashly Burch 07:58
I'm a farmer, as it turns out. Angel Coffield.
cuppycup 08:02
Oh, nice.
Paula Deming 08:03
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 08:05
You certainly could be. I'm thinking, just with the '50s of it all... Now, granted, you're graduates, but just as a cultural touchstone, something that's kind of swimming into my mind is something like "Mona Lisa Smile" or...
Paula Deming 08:19
Yes. Yes.
Ashly Burch 08:22
I'm sadly unfamiliar.
Ross Bryant 08:24
It's "Dead Poets Society" but girls though. I don't know if this is something that you want to play with, but in this era, of course, you play anyone you like. But there was a kind of stereotype of people attending university, and especially women attending university, that you were going to university, not so much to get an education, but to get a husband.
Ashly Burch 08:45
Right.
Ross Bryant 08:46
And that these were sort of like husband farms for a certain sort of person.
Paula Deming 08:51
Gotta get that Mrs. Degree.
Ross Bryant 08:53
Exactly.
Ashly Burch 08:55
If I embrace the farmer, I have a handlebar mustache, which doesn't preclude me from being a woman.
Ross Bryant 08:59
Absolutely not.
cuppycup 09:01
The name is Angel, right? But you can name the character anything you'd like. We re-skin these sheets very heavily, add our own inventory items, move skill numbers around so that it kind of fits the mold that we want the character to exist in.
Ross Bryant 09:13
Yeah.
Ashly Burch 09:14
Uh huh.
Ross Bryant 09:15
Let's play with the reunion of it all. I know that if I was to go back to a reunion, I'd definitely just want to see what the hell these people had gotten up to in the intervening time. But I feel like kind of an underlying energy of reunions is that you go back kind of with something to prove. You want to show that you have maybe made something of yourself, or if you didn't feel maybe respected in your school that you want to go back to show them, show them all what you have done. [laughter]
Paula Deming 09:47
I'm having a thought. I was looking at the Academic sheet in the official Chaosium folder, thinking about being like the one who never left.
Ross Bryant 09:59
Love that.
Paula Deming 10:00
Kind of just stayed in academia. Maybe I somehow managed to get a Master's. Maybe I'm an adjunct professor. You know now here teaching something, teaching home economics, women's studies. I kind of never left. I've always still been here. But what will everyone think when they... Will they be impressed by that, or everyone else went and had adventures, and I just kind of stayed maybe.
Ross Bryant 10:27
Yes, oh man, yeah.
cuppycup 10:29
I like that.
Ashly Burch 10:30
I'm gonna make this farmer work for me. The thing that Angel has to prove is that when he was at university, he was this, like, scrawny nerd that sort of was dismissed by everyone, and given the sort of political and cultural upheaval of the last World War, he's gone deep into masculinity. So he left all of his intellectual pursuits behind, and he went full farmer. So he's coming back, hoping to seem like a salt of the earth, masculine, chip on his shoulder type of guy hence handlebar.
Paula Deming 11:02
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 11:03
In this era, much like now, I think there was this kind of like crisis. There always is a crisis of masculinity, it seems, because we have to give these grandiose labels to masculine neuroses that constantly recurs. [laughter] So maybe Angel is going through some of that. Interesting. Do you have a name cooking up here, Paula, for your Academic?
Paula Deming 11:27
Well, first name, I think Diane, maybe.
Rashawn Scott 11:32
That's alright, I'll change my name.
Paula Deming 11:34
Oh no, I will do a different one, Rashawn.
Rashawn Scott 11:36
No, no, I was gonna call myself Diana, but no, no, no, I can think of something else.
Ashly Burch 11:40
Do it. It'll be so confusing for Ross. [chants] Do it to Ross. Do it to Ross. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 11:46
Thanks a lot.
Paula Deming 11:47
I am happy to pick a different one. You keep Diana, Rashawn.
cuppycup 11:51
Is it St. Clair, Paula?
Paula Deming 11:53
I will not do St. Clair again. [laughter] I use the last name St. Clair a lot. [laughter] No, no, no, no, stand by. Because I could be anything else.
Ross Bryant 12:07
That's right.
Rashawn Scott 12:08
I have found in the 1920s folder the Nosy Neighbor character sheet, which I...
Ross Bryant 12:13
Oh, my God.
Rashawn Scott 12:15
Yes.
Ross Bryant 12:16
I had no idea that even existed. [laughter]
Rashawn Scott 12:20
Yes. So, you know, I'm Patter, Diana Patter, the Nosy Neighbor, aka, I think I was just like the gossip. I was that girl, and maybe I'm trying to do some sort of tabloid thing, trying to use my my gift of gab and secrets and stuff to, like, make a little bit of money. But I'm trying to prove to you I can be trusted like everybody knows, probably knew that I was a gossip and...
Ross Bryant 12:44
Like a super gossip.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 12:45
But I'm changed, you know. My children are gone, and I guess there's not much shakin' so what's going on with you? [laughter]
Ashly Burch 12:58
For no reason in particular.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 12:59
No!
Ross Bryant 13:00
I love that. Like Diana Patter, a gossip turned... it sounds like you're almost describing like a tabloid journalist. Doesn't have to be this, but maybe you submit columns to Look or The Saturday Evening Post, or McCall's. Great. Diana Patter.
Paula Deming 13:18
This has led me to, I think, an even better idea, which is the name Judy Brown.
Judy Brown (Paula) 13:26
College professor, sort of. They won't give me the title professor, it's the 1950s. But I teach classes, I do. And I don't get paid as much as the male professors. But it's, fine, because I have a lot of my students' respect and the respect of the other faculty. And isn't that better to be paid in respect than in money?
cuppycup 13:52
Yeah, you get paid in course evaluation scores. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 13:56
Okay.
Rashawn Scott 13:56
Scantrons and such. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 14:00
Okay, great. Sounds like Judy is coping somewhat. Has a little crisis of her own going on. Cup, what are you thinking about?
cuppycup 14:10
Well, I was thinking about one thing, and then I opened the character sheet and was surprised by the skills. So I'm gonna let this kind of shape who I am. So my name is Hal Meddler. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 14:21
We've got a Patter and a Meddler? [laughter]
Rashawn Scott 14:26
What?
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 14:27
Should I be Angel Gambler or something? [laughter]
cuppycup 14:31
Well, maybe Meddler should be the nosy neighbor. No. So, Hal... [laughter]
Rashawn Scott 14:35
Oh, Diana Meddler?
cuppycup 14:39
So I chose a Business Associate character sheet, but then when I opened it, I saw that Art/Craft: Cooking was 50% so I think that Hal sells cookbooks, and he is incredibly into the recipes. He's gonna be like a balding guy who tries to slick his hair in different directions with Brylcreem. You know, he's got like, a little pot belly, carries his leather satchel with sample cookbooks, and...
Paula Deming 15:05
Do you sell them door-to-door?
cuppycup 15:07
Oh, yeah, this is door-to-door, absolutely.
Paula Deming 15:09
Okay, yeah, okay, good. Good, good, good, good.
cuppycup 15:11
Yeah he's got, like, the double-breasted suit, probably like out-of-date to the point that it might have fit in better in 1931 but, yeah, you know, he dresses respectably enough to sell things, but he's certainly not fashionable. What does a 1951 salesperson smell like? Like tobacco and coffee.
Ashly Burch 15:29
Hair pomade maybe.
Ross Bryant 15:31
Defeat. [laughter]
Rashawn Scott 15:33
Dapper Dan.
Ross Bryant 15:35
And just the farmer of it all with your thing, Angel Coffield...
Ashly Burch 15:38
Yes.
Ross Bryant 15:38
And this is only because, like, I'm really digging the mid-century vibes of this that we graduated like in the Depression. We lived through the war era. We're now coming back in the early '50s. Are people familiar with this moment in American culture, the Alger Hiss case?
Ashly Burch 15:56
Is Ashly? (laughs) Is Ashly familiar with this?
Ross Bryant 16:00
This was like an early moment of Red Scare, and it happened in the early '50s. Alger Hiss was a guy who worked in the, I want to say, the State Department, and a guy that he worked with named Whittaker Chambers, said that he was a communist spy. This was kind of how Nixon made his name, because he was helping to prosecute this case.
Paula Deming 16:20
Gotta love that guy.
Ross Bryant 16:21
Yeah. But Whittaker Chambers, the sort of witness to this crime was a farmer. Was one of these kind of, like conflicted ex-communists who then became a guy who named names, and he famously hid evidence inside a pumpkin patch, in a pumpkin on his farm.
Paula Deming 16:41
What?
Ross Bryant 16:42
Yeah.
Ashly Burch 16:42
Wow. That's fascinating.
Rashawn Scott 16:45
Wow. Follow the drinking gourd. You know? [laughter]
Ross Bryant 16:47
Yeah.
cuppycup 16:51
Ross, I'm not trying to force your hand here in any way, but because you mentioned a pumpkin patch and we don't have, like, a Halloween special, I'm wondering if the reunion is somehow taking place in the autumn or near Halloween.
Ross Bryant 17:04
That's not forcing my hand at all. That sounds all too Miskatonic. Because all of you, as students, would know and probably experienced while you were at school, there is no university in the entire educational firmament of America that has as much occult lore and urban legend built up around it than Miskatonic University. Every building is haunted by a ghost. Every portrait on the walls, eyes seem to move and look at you if you double take at them. The library contains books of indeterminate age that no one should open and read. So you probably, when you went there, all have kind of memories of rather strange occurrences, maybe none so strange as the adolescent yearning that you experienced while you were there. [laughter] that you're returning now to get a little taste of. So, yes, absolutely, this reunion is a Fall Ball of sorts. It's a costume party. It's in the week of Halloween...
Rashawn Scott 18:09
Yes.
Ross Bryant 18:10
As the Miskatonic reunion is each year and you are coming back to this little homecoming event, you are going to be donning costumes and going to the Miskatonic ballroom and soaking up the atmosphere of alma mater.
Rashawn Scott 18:25
The 1950s reminds me of Carmen Jones and, like, Pearl Bailey and that whole, like, you know, the war effort. Everybody went off to war, and then, like, what are we supposed to do back at home? And mink coats and going to Chicago is, like, the coolest thing you could do if you could get out of whatever small town you were in. Look your best if you could.
Ross Bryant 18:45
Oh yeah, that peak, like ladies who lunch vibe.
Rashawn Scott 18:49
Mm-hmm.
Ashly Burch 18:50
I also feel like a mainstay of high school reunions is that there's like a lost love or like a missed connection thing. So I'm if you're cool with a Paula, I'm gonna say that...
Ross Bryant 19:00
Oh yeah.
Ashly Burch 19:00
Angel had a big fat crush on Judy.
Paula Deming 19:03
This is great, because as soon as you were like, he was like, kind of like, whatever academic. And then he went and he got buff. I was like, okay, that's hot. [laughter] Judy's gonna be all about this. So we're on. This is perfect. Okay. [laughter]
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 19:16
Look who got yoked over the years.
Judy Brown (Paula) 19:20
Wow, is that... Is that Angel Coffield? [laughter]
Ross Bryant 19:25
Great. So since we're already talking plot, let's begin, shall we?
cuppycup 19:31
Oh, yeah.
Ashly Burch 19:33
Okay.
Ross Bryant 19:34
Roll for Luck if you don't have it, that's 3d6 multiplied by five.
Ashly Burch 19:38
I have a luck of 60.
Paula Deming 19:40
55 Luck points.
cuppycup 19:43
I have 35.
Paula Deming 19:45
That's rough dude.
Ashly Burch 19:48
That seems consistent with Hal.
cuppycup 19:50
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, he's down on his luck all the time. If we have any group Luck rolls, I will probably roll it unless Rashawn has a terrible roll.
Rashawn Scott 20:00
60?
cuppycup 20:01
Oh, that's pretty good.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 20:03
Life has always been good for me, I'm Diana Patter. [laughter] Who needs luck when you've got Patter?
Ashly Burch 20:11
Fortune smiles on Diana Patter.
Ross Bryant 20:14
Perhaps that little snatch of dialogue that we just heard Diana say is coming out of the window of a bus (vroom) as it roars past a sign reading, "Welcome to Arkham." [SFX: bus and traffic] As we move up, we can see the rolling hills of Massachusetts spreading out in front of us as a big harvest moon hangs orange in the sky. We can hear like Studebakers roaring by on the street playing snatches of the news we hear as we push towards the town into the campus of Miskatonic, a car drives by and we hear coming out of its window, "are you now or have you ever been a communist?" As we move closer and closer to the campus. We see the gambrel roofs of the farmhouses out in Arkham give way to the gothic spires of Miskatonic University. It is autumn. The hills are the color of fire. Red, orange, yellow paint the forests. The leaves drift down carpeting the grounds of Miskatonic and a nip prickles your nose and a big banner hangs over a student union built of stone right by a quad by a babbling fountain. The banner reads, "Welcome Class of 1931." [MUSIC: swing from hi-fi console] And you can hear sounds of rather sedate swing music being played from inside on a hi-fi. How does everyone look as they arrive here to the reunion. We've already touched in with Diana Patter. Where do you think she is coming from?
Rashawn Scott 21:53
She's probably coming from, like Student Life offices, because she's probably connected with some sort of decorations committee or festival committee, so she's just come from a luncheon with the planning committee for the celebration.
Ross Bryant 22:12
Oh, great, yes, you've been deeply involved in the preparation of this event. You are a member of the planning committee. Naturally.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 22:18
The color is marigold, not simply yellow. I don't understand. Things were different when I was a student. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 22:29
Wonderful. How do you think Hal Meddler makes his entrance?
cuppycup 22:34
[SFX: rain shower] Somehow, Hal walked in like... there was just a very brief rain shower right as he stepped off the bus, and then it stopped when he entered the building. [SFX: wet footsteps]
Judy Brown (Paula) 22:45
Why is Hal so wet?
Hal Meddler (Cup) 22:48
Oh, pardon the puddle. It's always raining around here.
cuppycup 22:51
So he's dressed as a walking newspaper, and he's basically found articles for every year from 1931 to 1951 but it's all sopping wet now. So you might be able to make out like "Hindenburg explodes," or like "flying saucer reported in Roswell, New Mexico." But all of the articles are just like, you know, ink kind of running down his body at this point.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 23:13
But hey, drizzle sells soup and soup's page one of my pitch. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 23:17
Wonderful. Cutting a sad figure.
cuppycup 23:21
Indeed.
Ross Bryant 23:22
A little Ziggy-ass guy comes shuffling through the door.
cuppycup 23:27
Oh yes.
Ross Bryant 23:28
How does Judy Brown make her entrance? I mean, she's on campus damn near every day.
Paula Deming 23:34
On campus, every day with my classes. I have realized on my sheet here I have points in Anthropology and Archeology, so I think those are probably the classes that I teach, and also an Appearance of 70. So she's coming more and more into focus for me. We'll see how much of her backstory comes out naturally. I don't need to dump it all on everyone now, but I think she's dressed as... Okay, because Anthropology, Archeology, she is dressed as, like a Salem Witch Trial, like accused witch. So very... I was gonna say pilgrim. That's not the right word. Puritan costume.
Ross Bryant 24:20
Love it. Love it. So in full Puritan garb, looking like Elizabeth Proctor walking across campus. [laughter]
Paula Deming 24:29
Yes, exactly yes, yes.
Ross Bryant 24:31
If seen out of context of the buildings of Miskatonic it is as though the 17th Century has come to life for a moment as Judy Brown walks past an autumnal vista dressed in her black.
Judy Brown (Paula) 24:43
You know, I like my historical accuracy.
Paula Deming 24:46
And maybe you hear her in conversation with another attendee who she hasn't seen for a while.
Judy Brown (Paula) 24:52
Well, you know, I always stayed to be of assistance to Professor Winston and when he died a few years ago, they just thought, well, I was already assisting with his classes, so I could just teach them. Why hire a new professor? No, it didn't come with a raise, but I am happy to take over the classes.
Ross Bryant 25:09
How does Angel Coffield kind of enter the fray here, striding under the banner into the Student Union?
Ashly Burch 25:18
I think Angel deliberately tried to time it so that he was one of the later people to arrive. And he comes in dressed like a cop. That's his costume. [laughter] He's like, I already have the handlebar, might as well. And because he's jacked now, people are like, did somebody already call the cops? Like there's people around, being like, did someone... and he's just tipping his hat to people and looking around, and notices Judy, and immediately looks away.
Paula Deming 25:48
She's like laughing with someone, and like sipping a drink. [laughter]
Rashawn Scott 25:53
Diana is just staring at you from across the room.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 25:56
Who is that?
Ashly Burch 25:59
My Appearance, by the way, is a cool 50, but...
Rashawn Scott 26:03
Still, well, mine is 50 as well. So,
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 26:06
Who is that?
cuppycup 26:09
You have a rakish charm, I think Angel.
cuppycup 26:12
Yeah, I have a rakish charm.
Ross Bryant 26:14
An L.A. five, but a Miskatonic 10. [laughter] And I might have missed it, is Diana Patter, dressed for the occasion in a particular costume.
Rashawn Scott 26:25
Diana is dressed like a bumblebee. [laughter] Yellow, like leggings and like a cute little kitten heel, and it's a stripey body suit. And it's that the wings are connected to, like my sides, but also my arms, so you get a little, like wavy wing action...
Paula Deming 26:43
Yes!
Ashly Burch 26:44
With that and little like those bobbly antennae, but like, one's kind of bobbling, like too much in her face, and it's kind of annoying her. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 26:54
Fantastic. So I'd like to kind of move us forward in time slightly. There are a bunch of round tables around a central dance floor. There's a bar with a big, brimming punch bowl of red punch and a bunch of little glasses and tea cakes and sandwiches all spread out courtesy of the Planning Committee, led by Diana Patter. And each one of you has a table assignment, and you are all at the same table. There's another guy at your table. It's a young, well, I say young... a young looking man. You're all of roughly the same age within one or two years of one another, being in the same class and all. He has kind of sandy blonde hair and a receding hairline. He is dressed like a pharaoh. He's got like a pharaoh's headdress and a little, you know, flail, the things that the pharaohs cross on their chests, on the sarcophagus and robes. And he's seated there, just like chatting with you. And of course, he's smoking inside. This is the ’50s, after all.
Ashly Burch 27:56
Yeah, I think we're all smoking, is what I've decided as well. Everyone's smoking.
Ross Bryant 28:00
Yeah, everyone's smoking. [laughter] He turns to you, Hal.
Will Bingham (Ross) 28:05
Now Hal, I believe you said you were in business, is that right? [SFX: bag clasps and rummaging] He's gonna pull out his satchel and, like, fumble with it and then just spill a bunch of cookbooks onto the table.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 28:17
Cookbooks door-to-door. Now, I know what you're thinking another fellow with a satchel full of hope and mayonnaise recipes, but hear me out. [laughter] I got a victory spam loaf. Now don't laugh. It's a morale recipe from the war years. You crown it with a pineapple ring. Suddenly Tuesday tastes like Sunday dinner with the family. You can feed six people or just one guy trying to remember what winning feels like. [laughter] But these sandwiches, blech, like a cafeteria, like somebody just boiled the flavor out. [laughter]
Will Bingham (Ross) 28:51
Easy there, Meddler, I think you offended the maven of the sandwiches over there Miss Patter.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 28:55
Oh, jeez, I'm sorry, Diana, I didn't realize.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 28:57
I'm very proud of you for being an author, but it does not go with the decor of the table. The ashtrays are little pumpkins.
cuppycup 29:04
(laughing) Okay. [laughter]
Will Bingham (Ross) 29:08
Well, I think that's swell, just swell that you're getting into the game of sales. That's what it takes, Meddler, a can-do spirit and a positive mental attitude. That's what will make us all rise in life. That's what the Reds don't want us to have. They want us to be all glum bums who want to criticize a system rather than trying to rise ourselves out of it, don't you know?
Judy Brown (Paula) 29:29
Hmm.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 29:30
This is terribly rude to me, but I don't remember you, pal.
Judy Brown (Paula) 29:34
Oh, funny. I didn't remember you either, sorry. But a nice attempt at historical accuracy on your costume. It's close.
Will Bingham (Ross) 29:46
Well, I picked it up at Woolworth's. I suppose it doesn't have the historical accuracy as yours... Judy?
Judy Brown (Paula) 29:52
Yes. I am actually sorry. I am being intentionally rude, and that's not very becoming.
Paula Deming 29:58
I'll put out my cigarette.
Judy Brown (Paula) 30:01
But I'm the same as Hal, what was your name? You must have changed a lot since school.
Will Bingham (Ross) 30:07
Well, maybe I have, I thought we were in the same World Civilization survey class. Will Bingham.
Ross Bryant 30:13
And Will Bingham holds his hand out to you.
Paula Deming 30:16
And we do remember Will Bingham, or?
Ross Bryant 30:19
I think you remember Will Bingham as an annoying guy.
cuppycup 30:24
So we were probably friends. [laughter]
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 30:27
Oh yeah, probably. Yeah.
Judy Brown (Paula) 30:29
Oh, Will. Yes, yes, I remember now. You'll have to forgive me.
Paula Deming 30:36
As I give a look over to Diana, like "that guy, oh yeah."
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 30:39
(whispering) I planned this entire thing, and I do not know who that is. [laughter]
cuppycup 30:47
He was not on the list.
Ross Bryant 30:50
Interesting, yeah, let's get a roll. Is Will Bingham on your list?
Ashly Burch 30:54
Oh.
Ross Bryant 30:55
You don't really recall. Why don't you give me, like, just memory wise, I'm playing fast and loose with the rules here, but like this is sort of like going into your mind palace of your Rolodex and all the people that you mailed out to. I want to call this Library Use. If you can kind of go through your mental Rolodex, so to speak. Can you remember anything about Will Bingham and if you invited him to this party?
Rashawn Scott 31:18
And if I don't have a figure in the box it's 25?
cuppycup 31:23
20 for Library Use. Yeah, 20.
Ross Bryant 31:26
Tough if you don't have anything, but maybe you'll remember. It's hard to do on the fly.
Rashawn Scott 31:30
67.
Ross Bryant 31:33
He seems pretty confident. You probably invited him.
Will Bingham (Ross) 31:37
World Civilization. Yes, I believe we were in that class together, if memory serves.
Judy Brown (Paula) 31:42
Yes.
Will Bingham (Ross) 31:43
But then, of course, I went overseas.
Judy Brown (Paula) 31:45
Oh.
Ross Bryant 31:45
He shoots a look over at you, Coffield.
Will Bingham (Ross) 31:47
You're a strapping fellow. I can't say I remember you at all. Tell me, were you in the Pacific, or did you go abroad, or maybe you were working in some sort of metal treatment plant giving our boys at sea a little helping hand, hmm?
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 31:59
I was uhh...
Ashly Burch 32:00
And he gets like a glance over at Judy to see if anyone recognizes him or can... he's also not doing the same voice. He's affecting a voice. This is not the voice he had when he was in college.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 32:11
I decided to take care of the homeland, became a farmer.
Judy Brown (Paula) 32:16
A noble pursuit.
Will Bingham (Ross) 32:18
That's swell, just swell. We need proud sons of the Great Plains out there hewing a livelihood out of the virgin soil and all that.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 32:26
Sorry, I've been distracted by this all night. Meddler, what are you? [laughter]
Will Bingham (Ross) 32:33
That's right, mister. He's saying what we're all thinking, what the heck are you? [laughter]
cuppycup 32:39
I think he barely has a scrap of newspaper left on him, and he kind of looks down at his dated suit, and he's just like,
Hal Meddler (Cup) 32:44
I was supposed to be the Evening Gazette, but the rain kind of turned me into the obituaries, huh? So now I'm a 1931 time traveler.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 32:55
Oh, I was gonna guess used tissue for sure.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 32:58
I've got some other garb in the back. This is only my first costume. I can lend you another if you're interested.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 33:06
Oh, I'm interested, Diana, sure. I mean, what else you gonna do when your costume melts?
Rashawn Scott 33:11
Sure.
Judy Brown (Paula) 33:12
Diana, you are always so social.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 33:15
I'm just trying to make sure everyone has a good time. There's a photographer running around here, and I want to make sure we have photos of everyone for the next one.
Will Bingham (Ross) 33:22
Wow. You certainly have a fine head on your shoulders, Miss Patter. Forgive me for asking, but is there a Mr. Patter?
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 33:30
Sadly, he has gone on to the great maker in the sky.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 33:36
Condolences.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 33:37
Oh dear.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 33:38
He lived a good, long life. We had children, but now, you know, the days are longer than they used to be. So I'm here. I threw myself into the program.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 33:48
Did you meet here at the university?
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 33:51
Uhh, yeah.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 33:53
Oh yeah, Bill Patter. [laughter]
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 33:55
Yes, exactly. There's this big banner in his honor that's just hanging here. [laughter]
Paula Deming 34:00
Yes, yes.
Ashly Burch 34:02
In Memoriam.
Ross Bryant 34:04
Off to the side, there is a whole "In Memoriam" section, which I would say is probably quite substantial. Not only Bill Patter is there, but many folks who probably served in the war, and there may be a few students that you recall who maybe met untimely and mysterious accidents when you were at school, lending Miskatonic even more of its dark glamor.
Will Bingham (Ross) 34:26
Well, I find companionship to be a great comfort, Miss Patter. Perhaps we can trade addresses if I ever find my way into the city.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 34:36
Maybe you want to back off a little bit, Will. Bit forward for a grieving lady, wouldn't you say?
Will Bingham (Ross) 34:42
I meant nothing by it. I meant nothing by it. Don't arrest me, sir. Don't arrest me, copper.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 34:49
Thank you, Angel. I appreciate it. Let's see how the rest of the evening goes. I haven't even seen you on the dance floor, and you want to correspond with me. Shake a tail feather. Then we'll see.
Will Bingham (Ross) 35:00
You can see how I cut a rug and then maybe then our John Law over here won't be as overbearing, hmm? Once I've proven myself out on the dance floor.
Ross Bryant 35:11
He kind of scoots away to fill himself up a glass at the punch bowl.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 35:17
Could I do a, I don't know what it would be, sort of like the equivalent of a Perception check? Like there's some about this guy that's rankling me.
Ross Bryant 35:28
If you wanted to maybe notice something about him, the way he's dressed, or notice something in particular about anything he's betrayed, that might be Spot Hidden, if you wanted to notice something about his state of mind or something he might be concealing, that might be Psychology.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 35:43
Uh huh. Okay, maybe I'll do a Spot Hidden, because it's better than Psychology. And it's a 40, so I have to get under a 40, right?
Ross Bryant 35:51
That's right.
Ashly Burch 35:52
Okay.
Ashly Burch 35:54
12.
cuppycup 35:55
Ooh.
Ross Bryant 35:56
Oh, great. That's very good. That's a hard success.
Ashly Burch 36:00
It is yes.
Ross Bryant 36:01
Yes. A cloying character, this Will Bingham. He's already dropping these sort of red baiting lines at you and being a little bit pushy. He's in his pharaoh outfit. So that, of course, doesn't tell you much, aside from, he grabbed it at Woolworth's, as he said. But what you noticed with that Spot Hidden roll, that hard Spot Hidden roll, is that something he didn't take off as a nod to his outfit, is probably something that preceded it, which is a pinky ring on his left finger. It looks almost like a class ring. It's pretty fat. It doesn't have the colors of Miskatonic on it though. There seems to be a seal of America on it. What that would tell you is that Bingham, no matter what he's said to you, has some affiliation with or perhaps works for the government.
Paula Deming 36:59
I think while Angel is studying Will, as he leaves, Judy is kind of studying Angel, and then we'll kind of lean forward and say,
Judy Brown (Paula) 37:08
How do you like my costume, Angel?
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 37:11
Uhh... It seems period accurate.
Judy Brown (Paula) 37:19
Yes, I think you would know, didn't we do a reading of,
Paula Deming 37:24
Oh no, it hasn't been written yet. It's literally written about this time. [laughter]
Rashawn Scott 37:29
Could have been the workshop.
Judy Brown (Paula) 37:32
Didn't we do a student written play reading about the Salem Witch Trials, back when we were both students here? If you are the Angel Coffield that I think you are.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 37:48
I didn't think you would remember that.
Judy Brown (Paula) 37:50
Well.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 37:51
I had a small part.
Judy Brown (Paula) 37:53
I remember that experience very strongly. It's actually when I first became closer with Professor Winston. But I remember you, of course, and you changed quite a bit, I think.
Paula Deming 38:05
She takes a long drag of her cigarette.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 38:09
Yeah, you were always close with that Professor Winston.
Judy Brown (Paula) 38:14
We had a very special kind of relationship, and it was very sad his passing, but it's been three years.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 38:25
Right. Three years. Long time.
Judy Brown (Paula) 38:28
Long. Long enough, I guess. (awkward laugh)
Ross Bryant 38:33
Ding, ding, ding, ding. [SFX: tapping on glass] Bingham is drifting back to the table, hustling back because it looks like someone is getting attention in the center of the dance floor. This is someone who's like, sweeping into the center of the dance floor dressed like Marie Antoinette. She's got a big, big pile of hair, like false hair up on her head, and a huge sweeping gown. This, you know immediately, is Ginny Van Vreeland, the social doyenne of your class. [laughter]
Ashly Burch 39:02
Of course it is.
Ross Bryant 39:03
You've worked very closely with her on the planning committee, Diana.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 39:08
Ginny, how you doing, honey?
Rashawn Scott 39:10
Enchanté!
Ginny Van Vreeland (Ross) 39:10
Yes. Enchanté, darling!
Ross Bryant 39:14
She says as she sweeps by, whacking her glass with a tiny little spoon. [SFX: tapping glass]
Ginny Van Vreeland (Ross) 39:20
Well, it seems as though everyone has their table settings and everyone has been divided up into their teams. Now, of course, this is elective only, but before we get into dancing and the rest of dinner, we thought it might be fun to recreate one of the smashing successes of the year 1930-and-one by staging what was the gas of the season when we all graduated. The Miskatonic class scavenger hunt!
Ross Bryant 39:47
She tries very hard to try to get some applause going. [SFX: light clapping]
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 39:52
Yes. Yes!
Judy Brown (Paula) 39:54
Fun idea, Diana.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 39:57
It's going to be so much fun. Weeks and weeks of planning. It's exciting.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 40:02
Oh, I'm really good at these scavenger hunts, yeah!
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 40:06
Yeah, I bet you are Meddler. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 40:10
Yes. And Ginny Van Vreeland is directing everyone to the pumpkin ashtrays. There's a little piece of paper underneath each one, and each one has a list of things to grab for the scavenger hunt. Whichever team brings back the list of treasures on the sheet first will win a prize and then be the sort of the kings and queens of the event going on into the rest of the evening. This is, of course, something that you remember from when you were students. This is a big, big social set piece of the school year.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 40:39
You think we got time to grab that costume before the scavenger hunt kicks off? I'm starting to prune here. [laughter]
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 40:46
Oh, absolutely.
Rashawn Scott 40:47
I lift the curtain of the table and just roll out a suitcase. [laughter; SFX: suitcase rolling] There's a frog, there's a knight, there's the moon, and a lampshade.
Judy Brown (Paula) 41:05
Be the moon, Hal. Ooh or lampshade, either the moon or lampshade.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 41:10
Are you commenting on my figure, Judy?
Judy Brown (Paula) 41:12
No.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 41:12
'Cause I'm built for comfort.
Judy Brown (Paula) 41:15
Oh. Hal, no. Oh, my goodness, I am so sorry. I would never. I'm so sorry. No.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 41:21
Oh, don't be so sensitive, Meddler, put on the moon. [laughter]
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 41:28
You've got a lovely crescent shape. Don't, don't. Don't do that to yourself.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 41:32
Well, I sell cookbooks. I gotta test the goods. Can't sell a soufflé on speculation.
Judy Brown (Paula) 41:38
Of course, of course. No, and I would never pass judgment.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 41:41
You can't trust a skinny cook, they say.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 41:44
There's so much spam, you know.
Judy Brown (Paula) 41:47
Yeah.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 41:48
I've become somewhat of a connoisseur of sodium.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 41:53
It's a spam cookbook? [laughter]
Hal Meddler (Cup) 41:56
You know, spam's not in every one of them, but you know, about 85%.
Judy Brown (Paula) 42:01
Even the Jell-O molds. I was looking through earlier.
Will Bingham (Ross) 42:04
Yes, I was thumbing through one of these books, Meddler, it's mostly Jell-O molds. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 42:12
He holds up the book and there's a picture of, like, a green Jell-O mold studded with pineapple and like, hot dogs. [laughter]
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 42:18
I bet they sell like hotcakes.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 42:20
Oh gosh.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 42:22
You know, I've been thinking about rebranding and well, if you ever want to move product, Diana, we ought to slap your name on it. Diana Patter. It rolls right off the tongue. You know, that's how they built Betty Crocker.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 42:36
No, I don't think I want hot dog Jell-O molds attached to my name.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 42:42
Who would, Diana? Who would?
cuppycup 42:44
He's like, slipping the moon costume on as this is happening. [laughter]
Rashawn Scott 42:49
Zipping you up. Like,
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 42:50
No, thank you, but you, yeah, there you go. [SFX: zipper closes; laughter]
Ross Bryant 42:54
Bingham has already tugged the little scavenger cheat sheet out and is kind of rising to his feet, is like,
Will Bingham (Ross) 42:59
Well, shall we then?
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 43:01
Oh, just before just, I just want to look it over one time.
Will Bingham (Ross) 43:05
Certainly, I would have thought that you'd compiled the darn thing.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 43:08
No, that wouldn't be so fun for me, knowing all the answers ahead of time. I'm completely in the dark.
Rashawn Scott 43:14
Rashawn wants to check if there's anything written on the back or the front, something occult that I need to be aware of now. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 43:24
Wow, why so paranoid? Oh, my God.
Rashawn Scott 43:28
I don't know.
Paula Deming 43:29
It's like the players know we're in Call of Cthulhu.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 43:34
It's just a class reunion, Diana. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 43:37
We're having fun. It's a party.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 43:40
It's just a lovely card stock, and I just wanted to look it over. I think I'm gonna use it for a luncheon I'm gonna throw after this.
Ross Bryant 43:47
It is a lovely card stock, and you can see a list of items on this sheet. There's nothing particularly occult about it that you would notice.
Rashawn Scott 43:57
Okay.
Paula Deming 43:58
That you notice, he said, so...
Ross Bryant 44:01
That's right. The first thing is a piece of bric-a-brac from Herbert West Hall.
Paula Deming 44:07
Oh gosh.
Ross Bryant 44:09
The next thing is a pennant from the natatorium.
cuppycup 44:13
I love this already.
Paula Deming 44:15
Does that mean it also has a pool, a natatorium?
Ross Bryant 44:18
That's right, a natatorium is an indoor pool.
Ashly Burch 44:21
Oh.
cuppycup 44:23
Hal was on the swim team. He says that in character,
Hal Meddler (Cup) 44:27
Hal was on the swim team. [laughter]
Judy Brown (Paula) 44:32
I'd forgotten how Hal talks about himself in the third person so much. [laughter]
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 44:37
Yeah, so charming.
Rashawn Scott 44:39
Kind of nice. The moon is talking about itself in the third person. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 44:45
The third thing is a picture of someone here tonight from the Tillinghast Library.
Ashly Burch 44:52
Oh.
Judy Brown (Paula) 44:54
There's a faculty portrait of me. If we get there fast, no one will find it first.
Ross Bryant 44:59
And let's see. There's a fourth one, a... (laughs)
cuppycup 45:04
When he laughs like that, Ashly, it's bad.
Ashly Burch 45:07
It's not good, I feel, yeah. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 45:10
A rubbing from the Gauldren Cemetery.
Rashawn Scott 45:14
Oh, my God.
Ashly Burch 45:15
Oh, of course. Why wouldn't we?
Ross Bryant 45:18
And you all know that that's just like a little super, super, old cemetery with some gravestones dating back to the early 1700s that's on the grounds of Miskatonic. This is a place where students go to like, you know, spend the night to freak each other out, where secret societies and fraternities do their little hazing rituals, and you've been asked to do a little rubbing from one of the stones. So those are your four challenges.
Rashawn Scott 45:45
Who's got charcoal on them?
Ashly Burch 45:47
When Judy mentions the library, Angel's kind of like,
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 45:50
Uh, we don't want to go to some dusty old library. Might as well take the air, right? I might check out the cemetery. Fancy a night stroll?
Judy Brown (Paula) 46:00
Well, we can't split up. We have to go all as a team.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 46:04
Well, if we divide and conquer.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 46:07
Yeah, splitting up's the move for sure, divide and conquer. Great plan.
Judy Brown (Paula) 46:11
Oh, well.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 46:13
Even though I'd love to spend more time with you, Judy.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 46:16
Oh, do you, Hal?
Hal Meddler (Cup) 46:17
You know, despite what happened back in college.
Judy Brown (Paula) 46:19
I...
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 46:21
What happened?
Will Bingham (Ross) 46:22
Splitting up might be the way to go, division of labor and all that. That's what Henry Ford says.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 46:27
Judy, you're with me, if you'd like.
Judy Brown (Paula) 46:30
Uh sure, but we could do the cemetery, and then maybe the library.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 46:35
Maybe. [laughter] Meddler seems like more of a library type. Maybe you should go.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 46:40
I guess me and the boys will go to the natatorium and get some bric-a-brac, while you two hit the library and the cemetery. Everyone meets in the cemetery.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 46:50
Well, gee, I don't think Angel wants to go to the library, Diana. So maybe we hit the natatorium and then the library.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 46:57
That sounds good to me.
Judy Brown (Paula) 46:59
Just look for a picture of me. It will be fine.
Paula Deming 47:02
Can I do a Psychology roll? It's not good. I only have like 10% but why does Angel not want to go to the library? I would have to roll very well to get any insight on this. But it strikes me strange. [laughter]
Ashly Burch 47:21
I will say that Angel is easy to read. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 47:25
You could just ask!
Rashawn Scott 47:26
That too.
Paula Deming 47:27
That would be rude, and I've rolled a 69 [laughter] so I'm not going to bring it up yet.
cuppycup 47:35
On some shows, that's a crit, but not this one.
Paula Deming 47:38
Not on... [laughter]
Ross Bryant 47:42
Other tables are already kind of standing up and fanning out.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 47:45
Oh, we've got to go.
Ross Bryant 47:47
Do we all have different lists, right? Or are they the same?
Ross Bryant 47:50
You get the sense that other tables have different lists. There might be some overlap. And once again, it's a piece of bric-a-brac from Herbert West Hall, a pennant from the natatorium, a picture of someone in attendance from the Tillinghast Library and a rubbing from the Gauldren Cemetery.
Ashly Burch 48:06
I just want everyone to know I've been holding a fake cigarette this entire time off camera. I just realized it. [laughter] I'm gonna put it down. Ash it.
Paula Deming 48:15
It's good space work, you know?
Rashawn Scott 48:17
Holding a flashlight, but also having a cigarette.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 48:21
Are you sure none of you got an extra smoke for ol' Hal?
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 48:24
I've already given you a costume. Are you not prepared?
Hal Meddler (Cup) 48:27
I'm sorry.
Ashly Burch 48:28
I knock the box and hand him one.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 48:31
Thank you.
cuppycup 48:31
He pulls his out, but it's sopping wet, his box of cigarettes.
Rashawn Scott 48:35
Oh.
Paula Deming 48:36
Alright, okay, so we will go to the cemetery and perhaps Herbert West Hall for the bric-a-brac then if you all are going to the natatorium and the Tillinghast Library.
Ross Bryant 48:48
And Will Bingham is looking at you all like,
Will Bingham (Ross) 48:52
So, who am I...
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 48:55
Well, Willie, why don't you just join us? Me and Hal.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 48:59
Um, you know, the more the merrier.
Diana Patter (Rashawn) 49:02
I love long walks by the pool.
Will Bingham (Ross) 49:06
Very well.
Ross Bryant 49:07
He tries to do a chivalrous little maneuver where he pulls out your chair and sends you away, Diana.
Rashawn Scott 49:14
I stand up, I curtsy, I throw my arm out. Let's see if we can link arms and get going.
Ross Bryant 49:21
Great. Yes, he extends an arm to you, and away you go.
cuppycup 49:25
And I feel like Hal never sat back down after he put on the moon costume, because he just can't. [laughter]
Paula Deming 49:30
Yeah.
Ashly Burch 49:32
I want to say to Hal before he leaves,
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 49:34
You just watch that guy kind of around Diana gives me the willies.
Hal Meddler (Cup) 49:38
Yeah. We'll keep a real close eye on him. So he's the creepy one, right? [laughter]
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 49:46
Yeah, for once, Meddler, it ain't you. [laughter]
Hal Meddler (Cup) 49:49
The best night of my life.
Ross Bryant 49:53
Great. Off you go. Let's follow Angel and Judy. The tension is already electric between these two.
Judy Brown (Paula) 50:02
[MUSIC: 50s slow dance] I have to say Angel,
Paula Deming 50:04
As we're walking to whatever location we're of the two we're going to.
Judy Brown (Paula) 50:09
I don't remember you being against books when we were here at university. Something happen? One bite you in the last 20 years?
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 50:20
Oh, it's not books as a general rule that I'm against more, well, the Tillinghast Library is where all the yearbooks are, right?
Judy Brown (Paula) 50:32
Oh, yes, that's why they would have us go there for a picture of everyone. I'm the academic, and yet I didn't even think of that. That's really smart, Angel.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 50:44
Yeah, just, you know, funny thing to say at a reunion. Not interested in dredging up the past. People get, you know, sentimental around stuff like that. Just not interested.
Judy Brown (Paula) 50:56
Okay. Well, noted. And we don't have to talk about the past and how much you have changed since I saw you last, we will just breeze past it.
Ross Bryant 51:07
Yes, and suddenly on your right looms the large building, the Herbert West Hall. This is where the Anthropology department is. This is where much of the History department is housed, Geography and studies of other cultures in this building. And this is where you've been told to get a piece of bric-a-brac. You can continue on, kind of through the campus. There are trees up ahead of you. You could go down a little lane and into the forest, and that is where the Gauldren Cemetery is.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 51:45
What exactly is a bric-a-brac?
Judy Brown (Paula) 51:49
Oh, it's like a knickknack, or tchotchke or,
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 51:53
Right.
Judy Brown (Paula) 51:54
Just like a random piece of decoration, a little, you know, we have little like rocks, you know, old rocks have been dug out of the ground and things in the building here. This is where I teach a lot of my classes.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 52:09
Oh, is it?
Judy Brown (Paula) 52:11
Yeah.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 52:12
I didn't know you taught now.
Judy Brown (Paula) 52:14
Oh yes. Well, I took over once when I was assisting Professor Winston and then I've taken over his classes after he passed, so I do, yeah. Or maybe a motivational poster of some sort from one of the rooms would be appropriate.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 52:36
That's really great. Judy. I remember you saying that you wanted to be an educator one day, and you finally made it.
Judy Brown (Paula) 52:43
Well, yeah. I mean, I just, it was hard to leave, and then I just never did. And so, yeah.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 52:54
Because of Winston, I'm guessing.
Judy Brown (Paula) 53:00
Yes, I'm realizing maybe you're not the only one who doesn't want to dredge too deeply into the past.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 53:08
Sure. Well, why don't you go ahead and find a bric-a-brac, since you know so many synonyms for it, and I'll just keep watch.
Judy Brown (Paula) 53:15
Well, come with me. Don't let me go through these dark rooms all by myself. It's all creepy in here.
Ross Bryant 53:21
[MUSIC: ominous drone] And it is dark as you enter the door of the hall. [SFX: wood door opens] Moving through these hallways, this academic setting does have a strange eeriness after dark that you've felt countless times, Judy, as you've exited this building after dark, it is shadowy. [SFX: footsteps echo] The electric lights are not on. One or two bulbs burn at the ends of hallways, but for the most part, power is being saved here. Your footsteps echo down the hallways, and you know that there are like trophy cases, is a way to put it, of things taken from various digs and interactions with these anthropological studies, both in like early civilization type, artifacts and gifts from other universities and museums from around the world are sent here to be studied and analyzed.
Judy Brown (Paula) 54:20
Angel, I have the perfect idea. It will make Will Bingham just seethe. I think if we bring back, we have this tiny little bit of carved Egyptian hieroglyph that's in one of these cases. And if we pull that out, then we can show him like this is what a real pharaoh would have.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 54:42
Oh, that'll definitely get him.
Judy Brown (Paula) 54:44
Yeah.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 54:44
Sure. Okay, well, lead the way.
Paula Deming 54:48
I'll go right to where I know that kind of, yeah, Ancient Egypt, kind of little bits of things are.
Ross Bryant 54:56
Wonderful. You go up the stairs, the wooden stairs that creak under your footsteps, up, up, up. [SFX: footsteps on wood stairs] And you now find yourself in a classroom with a case that was there when you were a student. It's made of wood. There are glass panels that sort of hinge outward. And when you were a student, it was crammed with little bits of ceramic with cuneiform writing on them. [MUSIC: airy ominous drone] Little jade icons taken from digs on the far side of the world. Stone tools, early metal implements, tribal lapidary work. It's all in there with little typed-on-a-typewriter informational cards next to each one. But a recent acquisition, as you mentioned, is this piece from a dig in Egypt. You see it right there. It is a piece of jet black stone worked with hieroglyphics. It appears to be sort of a broken tablet, if you've ever seen like the Rosetta Stone, it's rather like that, except in miniature. It's about the size of your palm.
Judy Brown (Paula) 56:09
I think this will count as bric-a-brac. What do you think, Angel?
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 56:14
Looks good to me. I'm surprised you could see it with no goddamn lights on.
Judy Brown (Paula) 56:18
I walk by these cases every day.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 56:21
Sure.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 56:22
Well, is the case open? If we try it, does it actually open? Or is it locked?
Ross Bryant 56:27
Yeah, if you, if you tug on it, yeah, it swings open at your touch. [SFX: glass door opens] Of course, like honor system, you probably shouldn't be taking things out. You definitely tell the students not to. But this is the scavenger hunt for the Class of '31.
Judy Brown (Paula) 56:41
And I'm faculty. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 56:42
And you're faculty.
Paula Deming 56:44
I'll take a little matchbox out that I always carry for my cigarettes, and I'll say,
Judy Brown (Paula) 56:49
Oh, do you need a little light?
Paula Deming 56:50
And I'll strike a match to just hold just the tiniest bit of illumination around the piece. [SFX: match strikes and flares]
Ross Bryant 56:57
You can now see just the typewritten legend that you've seen a thousand times as the fire flares up in front of it and typed there under it, it says, Tablet of Khonsu, K, H, O, N, S, U.
Judy Brown (Paula) 57:11
Tablet of Khonsu. Yes, it will be perfect.
Paula Deming 57:15
And I'll...
Ashly Burch 57:16
Angel is looking at Judy, not at the stone, is all I wanted to say, as you struck the match, he's like, [laughter]
Ross Bryant 57:25
The fire is so bright and the stone so dark that it reflects it like a mirror. The light is sort of refracted by the surface of this little jagged tablet, and you can see the hieroglyphics worked onto it.
Judy Brown (Paula) 57:40
Would you like to do the honors?
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 57:42
Oh, sure, yeah, the honors.
Judy Brown (Paula) 57:45
Yeah, take it.
Ashly Burch 57:46
Okay.
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 57:47
I grab for it, expecting something... Ashly, expecting something scary to happen. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 57:57
Make a Spot Hidden.
Ashly Burch 57:58
Okay.
Paula Deming 57:59
Both or just...
Ross Bryant 58:01
Just Angel who is reaching for it.
Ashly Burch 58:04
I just missed it. Maybe I'll spend two Luck.
Ross Bryant 58:07
Or I'll say this another option, probably not strategic in this case, spending Luck to bring it down is probably the way to go here. But if you ever find yourself in a situation where you failed a roll you really want to succeed at, you can spend Luck, or you can push the roll. When you push the roll, you try again a little bit harder, trying a different strategy to achieve your ends. So you just roll again and see if you succeed. And if you succeed, you succeed, but if you fail a pushed roll, something bad happens to you.
Ashly Burch 58:40
I'm only two over, but I'm also like, that's the name of the show. [laughter] And also I kind of want something scary to happen. [laughter] I'm a chaotic player. I don't know if you guys know this about me.
cuppycup 58:53
That's fantastic.
Ross Bryant 58:54
That's the spirit of this show. So yes, you're pushing the roll in order to grab a piece of rock. [laughter]
Ashly Burch 59:01
Like I really want to impress Judy, you know.
Rashawn Scott 59:05
Pick up a rock?
Ross Bryant 59:06
But this is a Spot Hidden, so it's more as though you're trying to discern something. See something about it, yeah.
Ashly Burch 59:13
Right. Okay, okay, let's see what happens. Oh, my God.
Paula Deming 59:16
What did you?
Ashly Burch 59:17
I got a 92. Definite fail.
Ross Bryant 59:23
Something bad happens to you. [laughter]
Angel Coffield (Ashly) 59:26
Yay,
Ross Bryant 59:28
Umm, cool. I like that.
cuppycup 59:34
Ross's delight.
Rashawn Scott 59:36
Twisted, young man, twisted.
Ashly Burch 59:41
I'm here to be of service, you know, I just want to...
Paula Deming 59:43
We're just here to entertain. We're here to give the folks what they want.
cuppycup 59:47
We want you to have fun too, Ross.
Ross Bryant 59:49
Thanks guys. The match flares. [SFX: match flares] You reach for the little tablet and pluck it up. It's in your hand. [MUSIC: ominous drone] As I said, you saw the light dancing on its almost mirror-like surface. You're trying to see something about it. And perhaps you try a little bit harder to see something about it, putting it right up close to your face, per the rules of pushing a roll. And you fail your pushed roll. But when you fail, sometimes you succeed, but more so.
Paula Deming 1:00:24
Oh no.
Ross Bryant 1:00:27
The light of that match dancing in its surface. As you look at it, you're suddenly captivated by its beauty, Angel. You're a farmer. You work out in the fields, cultivating your crops, and probably get a beautiful view of the nighttime stars if you walk your property in the evening, away from the light pollution of a town even as small as Arkham. And the light of this match suddenly resolves in the dark surface as the night sky. You see the dancing lights of a thousand stars on the surface of this piece of stone. As you hold it up to your face, it is as though you are falling into it, into the space that it seems to represent. A cosmic space. And for a moment, you have the impression that you are not holding a piece of stone, but you are rather holding a hole in space, that this is an aperture through which your consciousness could fall, that this is not an object. This is a gate. This is a door. You see the light reflected in a thousand stars, constellations that are unfamiliar to you and you see your reflection as well, but your reflection is 20 years younger.
Ashly Burch 1:01:52
Oh.